ART. 14 FIRE-MAKING APPARATUS HOUGH 57 



paedia, article, "Pyrites,"®^ is authority for the statement that pyrites 

 was used in kindling powder in the pans of muskets before the gun 

 flint was introduced. 



It is thus seen that this art has a high antiquity and that on its 

 ancient areas its use comes down nearly to the present day, the flint 

 and steel being its modern or allied form. 



In North America this art is distributed among the more northerly 

 ranging Indian tribes and the Eskimo of some parts. Its use was 

 and is yet quite prevalent among the Indians of the Athapascan (for- 

 merly Tinne) stock of the north. By specimens in the Museum and 

 notes of explorers it is found to range from north of Dixon's Sound 

 to Labrador, the following localities being represented : Stikine River, 

 Sitka, Aleutian Islands, Kotzebue Sound, Point Barrow, the Mackenzie 

 River district, at Fort Simpson, and probably Hershel Island, Pelly 

 Bay, Melville Peninsula, Smith Sound, and Labrador. The Canadian 

 and Algonquins strike two pieces of pyrites {pierres de mine) together 

 over an eagle's thigh, dried with its down, and serving instead of tin- 

 der.*^ From other sources we know that the extinct Beothucs of 

 Newfoundland did the same.^^ 



As far as can be ascertained, the Eskimo and Indians both use the 

 method, so that it is not characteristic of either, as the four-part drill 

 is of the Eskimo, as contrasted with the simple rotation sticks of the 

 Indians. A description of a flint and pyrites outfit, as at present 

 used, will give a general idea of the status of the invention. In dif- 

 ferent localities the manipulation differs somewhat, as will be noted 

 farther on. 



The strike-a-light (No. 128405) was collected by Capt. E. P. Heren- 

 deen from natives who told him that it came from Cape Bathurst, 

 hence he assigned the specimen to this locality on the evidence. 

 John Murdoch has, with a great deal of probability, questioned this 

 and thinks that it came from Herschel Island with the rest of Mr. 

 Herendeen's collections and did not come from as far east as Cape 

 Bathurst. While there is no improbability that this method is prac- 

 ticed at Cape Bathurst, yet the specimen has the appearance of the 

 Mackenzie River strike-a-lights, hence it is deemed advisable to locate 

 in the Mackenzie River district at Herschel Island. 



The essential parts of the apparatus are a piece of pyrites, a piece 

 of flint, and tinder. In the more northern parts of the Eskimo area 

 tinder is made from the down from the stems and catkins of various 

 species of dwarf arctic willows. At present the natives often soak 

 the tinder in a strong solution of gunpowder and water to make it 

 quick; an older way was to mix powdered charcoal with it. This 



•' Journ. Anthrop. Inst., Great Britain and Ireland, vol. 7, p. 83. 



" Lafitau. Moeurs des Sauvages Amerirjuains, p. 272. An earlier account is found in Le Jeune, Rela- 

 tion de 1C34, p. 24. Quebec, 1858. 

 "Journ. Anthrop. Inst., GreatJBritain and Ireland, vol. 5, p. 225. 



