92 BULLETIN 139^ UNITED STATES NATIONAL MUSEUM 



AFRICA 



Africa is a continent in which the simple drill is almost exclusively 

 employed in fire making. Except on the Mediterreanean fringe, 

 there is no rudimentary machinery for actuating the drill. With 

 some degree of probability the Egyptians are supposed to have used 

 the bow drill for making fire. In the Egyptian Sudan the natives 

 are said to mount the drill in a frame and revolve it by means of a 

 wheel and crank. No information can be procured as to this device, 

 but if true this method is unique in the history of the drill. The 

 Bushman description of fire making from a tree is applicable to all 

 Africa : 



"The tree's name was | n'au- | kumm; and (he had) two sticks; 

 the fire stick (that is, the one which he held in his hands) was long, 

 small, and long like a reed. The other (fire) stick lay on the ground; 

 for he had laid (it) the other stick upon grass; he rubbed fire, the 

 fire fell upon the grass; and he took up the fire (that is, the grass); 

 he blew the fire. " *^ 



The following extract from the admirable work of H. A. Junod re- 

 lates to fire making and fire customs among tribes of southern Bantu : 



"As regards fire (ndjilo, mu-mi), the Honwans knew it already be- 

 fore the fifteenth or sixteenth century. The tradition of Shoki- 

 shahumba shows that among the Hlengwe there was a time when food 

 was not cooked. 



"There are four trees used to produce fire by friction (tsika): 1. 

 The bulolo, a kind of hibiscus growing in the estuary of the Nkomati, 

 in the region regularly watered by the tide, is the best ntsiko or 

 wooden flint. It is a very light and soft wood and is still used near 

 the coast, though matches are now to be found everywhere. 2. 

 The mpahala (mu-mi), a bush of the Compositae family, whose wood 

 is very hard and used to make handles for hoes. It grows all over 

 Thongaland, in the plain as well as in the mountainous regions, 

 3. The nkewa (mu-mi), the large wild fig tree, which covers the banks 

 of the Nkomati and the Maputju Rivers, and is common in the 

 lowlands. 4. The ntjopfa (mu-mi), the wild custard tree, employed 

 to light the sacred fire of nyokwekulu (vol. 1, p. 364). It is taboo to 

 use it for ordinary purposes, or to warm oneself at its embers. 

 Medicine men only are allowed to make ntjopfa fire, having drugs to 

 prevent the disease caused by its use. 



" Dealing with fire taboos, I may add that it is taboo to use branches 

 of a tree which has been struck by lightning; taboo also to keep 

 alight the fire of a deceased person after the conclusion of the great 



M Specimens of Bushman Folklore. Collected by W. H.l. Bleek, Ph. D., and L. C. Lloyd. Edited 

 by the latter. London 1911, p. 413, note, which is a translation of 1 Kun text. For illustration of these 

 sticks see fifth plate between pages 432 and 433. 



