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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL > MUSEUM 



VOL. 73 



conquered this coast, driving back the earlier tribes inhabiting the 

 country in the early part of the fifteenth century. Long since that 

 time, and even now, some Arab tribes practice the drilling of wooden 

 sticks to produce fire. 



In eastern equatorial Africa the Wataveita, says H. H. Johnston, 

 generate fire in the common African way by rapidly drilling a hard- 

 pointed stick into a small hole in a flat piece of wood. An interest- 

 ing bit of custom comes out in connection with this art among the 

 people. "It is the exclusive privilege of the men, and the secret is 

 handed down from father to son, and never under any conditions 

 (as they say) revealed to women." I asked one man why that 

 was. "Oh," he said, "if women knew how to make fire they would 

 become our masters." ^^ The figure (fig. 18) shows how this people 

 of the great Bantu stock make fire ; this tribe visited by Mr. John- 

 ston lives on the slopes of the beautiful Kilimanjaro Mountain. 



Fig. 18. 



-Tayeita Africans making fibe. After H. H. Johnston. 

 (See Jodb. Soc. Abts, June 24, 1887) 



Fire-drill survivals in Asia are now difficult to find. In the ancient 

 writings of India there are many references to the use of the two-stick 

 apparatus. The collection contains a specimen from the BhUis of the 

 Rajputana, India. It consists of a hearth made from half of a split 

 branch, while the drill is a slender shoot wuth bark left on. The speci- 

 men was collected by Captain Lovett, of the English Army. (PL 4, 

 fig. 1,1a, Cat. No. 167334; Edward Lovett; hearth, 18 inches long 

 (45.7 cm.); drill, 20.5 inches long (51 cm.).) 



There was presented to the United States National'Museum by the 

 Natural History Museum of Oxford, England, through Henry Balfour, 

 a replica of a Hindu sacred fire making set. This consists of a squared 



« Journ. Anthrop. Inst., Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 15, p. 10, 1885. 



