ART. 14 



FIRE-MAKING APPARATUS HOUGH 



13 



finely frayed cedar bark placed underneath, which 

 they soon ignite." The Ahts and Haidas also use 

 cedar fire sticks of the usual Indian kind. 



The Hupa Indians of California are of the Athapas- 

 can stock. Their fire drill is a carefully made piece of 

 apparatus. (Fig. 5.) The hearth is of a reddish, 

 punky piece, made from the roots of a willow {Salix 

 laevigata), or of cottonwood roots {Populus trichocar- 

 pus). The drill is made from the root of the willow 

 mentioned. Fire has been made in one of the holes; 

 the others show the rough, frayed cavities which have 

 been made to start the drill. The notches at each end 

 of the hearth seem to be to facilitate the tying of the 

 pieces together as a precaution to prevent their loss 

 or separation. They are usually intrusted into the 

 hands of the most skillful fire maker, who wraps them 

 up to keep them from becoming damp. The effec- 

 tiveness of the sticks increases with use and age; a 

 stick and hearth that have been charred by the for- 

 mer making of fire in most cases yields the spark in 

 half the time required for new apparatus. Another 

 advantage is that the drill is softer from incipient 

 decay. 



That this set is in the highest degree efficient is 

 shown by the fact that the writer repeatedly got a 

 glowing coal, the size of a pea, from it in less than 

 20 seconds. The hearth is 18 and the drill 21 inches 

 long. 



The Nokum Indians of Lassen County, Calif., use a 

 small hearth with wedge shape end, probably to steady 

 the piece against a support while making fire. Small 

 block hearths like this are customary among the Ute 

 tribes. The drill is a slender rod worked from cedar, as 

 is the hearth. (Cat. No. 131078; Susanville, Calif., L. L. 

 Frost; hearth, 7 inches long (18 cm.); drill, 11 inches 

 long (28 cm.).) 



The McCloud River Indians (Copehan stock) make 

 the drill from the buckeye tree. 



The Indians of Washoe, Nev., from their language 

 have been classed by the Bureau of Ethnology as a 

 separate stock, the Washoan. Stephen Powers 

 many years ago collected a rather remarkable hearth 

 from these Indians. It has eight rather small holes, 

 in every one of which fire has been made. The 

 wood is soft, well-seasoned pine. Apparently sand 

 has been made use of to get greater friction, as is the 



.1 



