AET. 14 



FIEE-MAKING APPARATUS HOUGH 



41 



old times. It seems primitive enough; the knucklebone might well 

 have been the first mouthpiece. The Eskimo farther east sometimes 

 use a fish vertebra for the same purpose; one from the Anderson 

 River has this. The cord without handles is undoubtedly the earliest 

 form also. 



The small wooden and bone 

 mouthpieces of the Eskimo east 

 of Point Barrow to Cumberland 

 Gulf seems to be copies of the 

 deer knucklebone. Another prim- 

 itive adaptation is found in an 

 Anderson River bow, which is 

 made of the fibula of a deer. (See 

 fig. 28.) 



The fire-making drill collect- 

 ed from the Chukchis b}^ the 

 Vega expedition in the Cape Wan- 

 kerem region, in northeastern 

 Siberia, about the same latitude 

 as Point Barrow, is figured in 

 Nordenskiold's report.^^ It is 

 worked by a bow, and the drill 

 turns in a mouthpiece of a deer 

 astragalus like the Point Barrow 

 specimen. The block has central 

 holes, with short grooves running 

 into each one. 



Nordenskiold's description of 

 the manner of making fires is 

 very detailed. He records that 

 the "women appear to be more 

 accustomed than the men to the 

 use of this implement." 



He gives also a most interest- 

 ing observation on the use of a 

 weighted pump drill among the 

 Chukchis. The Chukchis also use 

 flint and steel. ^^ 



The drilling set from Point Bar- 

 row shows the appearance of the 

 parts of the fire drill if we substitute the round stick for the flint 

 drill. Some of the old drill stocks are pointed, with finely chipped 

 flint heads. The length of these points varies from 2 to 4 inches; 



Fig. 28. — Fire-making set. Cat. No. 1327, 

 U.S.N.M. Eskimo of Anderson River, 

 British Columbia. Collected by 

 C. P. Qaudet 



" Voj'age of the Vega, London, 1881, vol. 2, pp. 121, 122. 

 «' Idem, vol. 2, pp. 120, 121. 



