18 



PKOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 73 



wm 



Figs. 11 and 12.— FraE-MAKiNo 



SET AND BLOW MATCH. CAT. 

 NOS. 127708 AND 69850 

 U.S.N. M. ZuSi Indians, New 

 Mexico. Collected by James 

 Stevenson 



Viewed in another aspect than as 



an implement of necessary or common 



use, this set is an important cult appa- 

 ratus in the wonderfully complicated 



religious worship of the Zuhis. These 



people make the sacred fire that was 



used in their ceremonies by friction of 



wood that has been wet. New fire is 



made at the beginning of their new 



year with great ceremony. The house 



is swept and everything is moved out 



of it until the fire is made. Their 



regard for fire and their customs with 



reference to it add them to the list of 



peoples who have held it in similar 

 reverence and have prac- 

 ticed similar customs all 

 over the world, ranging 

 widely in time. The wet- 

 ting of the drill, increasing 

 their labor, may be done to 

 please their gods. 



This art must have been 

 practiced for a long time 

 in this region, for Henry 

 Metcalf found a hearth (fig. 

 13) with three fire holes in 

 a cave dwelling at Silver 

 City, N. Mex. It is appar- 

 ently very ancient. The 

 wood is much altered and 

 has become heavy by impregnation with 

 some salt, probably niter. Specimens are 

 found during nearly every exploration in the 

 cliff dwellings. They show entire uniformity 

 in all parts of the region. 



The Apache and Navaho belong to the 

 great Athapascan stock, that ranges so 

 widely in North America. Capt. John G. 

 Bourke, United States Arm}^, collected the 

 hearth of yucca wood shown (fig. 14), and 

 says: 



With the stick you now see, the Apache Indians 

 in my presence made fire in not quite eight seconds 

 by the watch, and one asserted that he could make 



Fig. 13.— Lower stick 

 OF fire-making set. 

 Cat. No. 35268, 

 U.S.N. M. From a 

 CAVE AT Silver 

 Citt.N.Mex. Col- 

 lected BY Henry 

 Metcalf 



i^v^, 



