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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 73 



piece of boord wherein was a hole half thorow ; into that hole he puts 

 the end of a round sticke like unto a bedstaffe, wetting the end thereof 

 in Trane, and in a fashion of a turner with a piece of lether, by his 

 violent motion doeth very speedily produce fire." ^* 



Eskimo graves and village sites yield evidence also that the fire- 

 making tools were not different from those at present used higher 

 north along the coast and on the east coast. 



Doctor Bessels, speaking of Itah Eskimo of Foulke Fiord in Smith 

 Sound, says: ''The catkins of the Arctic willow are used as tinder to 

 catch the sparks produced by grinding two pieces of stone. Also the 

 widely diffused 'fire-drill' is found here; the spindle is held between 

 a piece of bone and a fragment of semi-decayed wood, and is set in 



Fig. 24.— Boeing 



SET. (ANGMAGSALIK ESKIMO, EASTERN GREENLAND. 



Ethnologick of Angmagsalikerne) 



G. HOLM'8 



motion by the well-known bow, and is turned until the wood begins 

 to ignite."" 



The "fire bag" is an accompaniment to all sorts of fire-making 

 apparatus. The fire bag shown (fig. 25) was collected by Captain 

 Hall, at Holsteinberg, western Greenland in 1860. It is made of 

 sealskin, and is a good specimen of the excellent needlework of these 

 Eskimo. It was used to carry, more especially, the fire drill and 

 tinder which require to be kept very dry. 



There is a wide gap in the collections of the Museum between the 

 locality of the specimen just mentioned and the fire hearth from the 

 Mackenzie River. (Fig. 26.) This specimen is from Fort Simpson 

 presumably, where B. R. Ross collected. It is said to be difficult to 

 discriminate the Eskimo from the Indian on the lower Mackenzie. 

 This hearth may be Indian, as it has that appearance; besides, no 



»• Hakluyt Society, vol. 3, p. 104. 



*i Die amerikanlscbe Nordpol-Expedition, p. 358, Leipzig. 



