The Evolution of the Art of making Fire. 161 



thong from its ends over a notch in the t9p of the fire-stick pro- 

 duces, when worked up and down pump-fashion, an alternate 

 rotary motion similar to that produced by the simple hand- 

 twirled stick, but much more effective. This form of drill is an 

 exceedingly interesting one ; it is found in some of the islands of 

 the South Pacific, as well as in North America, where it was in 

 use by the Iroquois Indians. It is also one of the oldest types 

 of tool (as a drill) to be found in the workshops of European 

 carpenters, where it was possibly introduced from Asia in early 

 times. According to Professor Kuhn, the early European fire- 

 making instrument was the drill and not the groove, as the 

 operation is described as boring or drilling. The usual European 

 method, and indeed a very widespread method of producing fire, 

 is by the percussion of flint and steel in some form or another. 

 This method is of great antiquity, and paradoxical as it may 

 seem, dates back to the stone age, when metals were unknown,- 

 — that is, as workable substances. 



The lecturer then referred to the cliff cavern discovered by 

 him in Jersey, the floor of which had yielded a large quantity of 

 worked flint-knives, spear-heads, charred shells, remains of teeth 

 and bones, and most important of all, a calcined nodule of iron 

 pyrites. Chalk flints and iron pyrites are unknown in situ in 

 the Channel Islands, the rocks of which are chiefly syenites, 

 basalts, traps, rhyolites, and some altered clay-slates ; so that 

 the flint and iron pyrites must have been brought to the cave by 

 prehistoric man for a purpose, the former to make implements, 

 and the latter no doubt to make fire. Indications of the use of 

 flint and pyrites in prehistoric times are recorded from many 

 sources ; the most remarkable are those in which these objects 

 were deposited in the graves of the dead. 



In the earliest historical times it is difficult to obtain any 

 trustworthy account as to the means adopted in this country of 

 obtaining fire, but there is no reason to think that any other but 

 the flint and steel method was in general use from that time 

 down to the introduction of matches in 1884. Before the per- 

 fection of the tinder-box it must always have been a matter of 

 considerable difficulty to get the desired spark; consequently 

 the utmost precautions were taken to preserve fire from year's 

 end to year's end. Even within the lasb eighty years a Yorkshire 

 Dale village actually lost fire, and was some time in getting it 

 again, as it was during a severe winter, and none of the tinder- 

 boxes were of any use, showing conclusively that where possible 

 the flint and steel were quite neglected, and the perpetuity of 

 live fire relied upon. 



