52 



PEOCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 73 



alleged to suggest the way and to repeat the process that would 

 give to fireless man the hint. Dr. W, T. Hornaday relates that 

 many fires are started in the jungle by bamboo rubbing together in 

 a high windstorm. The creaking is indiscribable; the noise of the 

 rasping and grinding of the horny stems is almost 

 unendurable. 

 I In many tribes it is found that often there is more 



I than one method of fire-making practiced. For 

 i instance, in Borneo, as we have seen, the Tungaras 



I use the sawing method, the Saribus Dyaks the 



II "besiapi," or fire syringe, a most interesting fact,^^ 



i other Dyaks the rotary drill, *^ while the Rev. Dr. 



I Taylor says that the Dyaks are acquainted with 



? the use of the bow and string and the upright stick 



I and cord (pump drill) . In connection with all these 



I methods probably flint and steel were used. 



i So in Australia, while the rotary drill is the usual 



i way, some tribes have acquired the art of produc- 



i;i ing fire with knife or rubber — that is, the sawing 



^ method presumably under foreign influence. *^ 



I The specimens of fire saws in the Museum come 



i from the Philippines, collected 25 years ago. They 



indicate that a node of bamboo from 13 to 15 inches 

 l< ... 



I long was sectioned longitudinally for the lower piece 



; and the saw made by splitting off a narrower piece 

 j and sharpening one or both edges. In the middle 

 I of the hollow of the lower piece fibers are torn up, 

 forming a groove which reduces the thickness of 

 1 the wall of the bamboo, allowing the saw to cut 

 i through to the tinder affixed in the groove and 

 I held in place by loose fibers. The saw is worked 

 across the bow of the bamboo hearth at right angles 

 over the spot where the tinder had been previously 

 located. Sometimes this is reversed bj^ holding the 

 saw firmly edge up and rubbing the hearth on it. 

 The use of the fire saw was quite general in the Phil- 

 ippines among all the tribes, while the hand drill or 

 or plow were not used so far is known in the entire 

 archipelago. The specimens shown are from Min- 

 danao and Luzon. (PI. 8, figs., 1,1a, 2, 2a, Cat. No. 

 216,716; Col. F. F. Hilder ; 13.5 inches long and 15 inches long (34.5 

 cm. and 38 cm.). 



Fig. 38.— Malay fire 

 STICKS. Cat. No. 129775, 

 U.S.N.M. Models in 



BAMBOO MADE BY DOC- 

 TOR Hough after a. R. 

 Wallace's descrip- 

 tion. The Malay 

 Archipelago, p. 332. 



" The American Anthropologist, vol. 1, No. 3, p. 294. Washington, 1888. 



" J. Q. Wood. The Natural History of Man, vol. 2, p. 602. 



" R. Brough Smyth. The Aborigines of Victoria, vol. 1, p. 393. London, 1878. 



