ART. 14 



FIEE-MAKING APPARATUS HOUGH 



19 



it in a number of motions, which, on the watch, occupied 

 exactly two seconds — that is, under most favorable cir- 

 cumstances. The experiments, made under my own ob- 

 servation, ran all the way from 8 to 47 seconds. Sand 

 is generally used, although not essential to success. 



Captain Bourke's observation is very interest- 

 ing, as it records the fact that the Apache is the 

 most skillful fire maker in the world. Many 

 other tribes can make fire in less than a minute, 

 I think by far the majority of them, but there is 

 no eight-second record, while if he could prove 

 his ability to do it in two seconds he would arrive 

 at the facility of striking a match. 



William F. Corbusier has noticed the fire mak- 

 ing of the Apache- Yumas of Arizona (Yuman 

 stock).* They use a drill about 2 feet long and 

 one-half inch thick, made of o-oh-kad-je, or " fire- 

 stick bush." Its end is dipped in sand and drilled 

 on a soft piece of agave or yucca stalk held down 

 by the feet. They carry a slow torch of dead- 

 wood (spunk) and also use a flint and steel. For 

 tinder they use dry grass or bark fiber. They 

 use also a fungus, some species of Polyporus) , for 

 the same purpose. 



Another reference to the fire making of this stock 

 (Yuman) is found in the translation by the late 

 Dr. Charles Rau of the writings of Father Baegert 

 on the Calif ornian Peninsula.^ He says: 



To light a fire, the Californian makes no use of steel 

 and flint, but obtains it by the friction of two pieces of 

 wood. One of them is cylindrical and pointed at one end, 

 which fits into a round cavity in the other, and by turning 

 the cylindrical piece with great rapidity between their 

 hands, like a twirling stick, thej' succeed in igniting the 

 lower piece if they continue the process for a sufficient 

 length of time. 



The Navaho fire set looks very much like a 

 mere makeshift. The hearth is a piece of yucca 

 stalk and the fire holes have but a shallow side 

 notch. The drill is a broken arrow shaft, to which 

 has been rudely lashed Avith a cotton rag a smaller 

 piece of yucca wood. (Fig. 15.) This careless- 

 ness, which it is rather than lack of skill, is char- 

 acteristic of the Navaho in their minor imple- 

 ments. They resemble the crude Apache in this 



' American Antiquarian. Mendon, 111., vol. f , September, 1886, p. 283. 

 ' Smithsonian Report, 1865, p. 367. 



Fig. 14.— Lower piece of 



FIRE-MAKING SET. CaT . 



No. 130G79, U.S.N.M 

 Apache Indians, Ari- 

 zona. Collected bv 

 Capt. John O. Boueke 

 U. S. Army 



