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PROCEEDINGS OF THE NATIONAL MUSEUM 



VOL. 73 



The flint, steel, and tinder were always carried in a pouch, usually- 

 suspended from a belt as in specimen No. 8481 from the Assiniboins 

 (Siouan stock) of Dakota. This is a buckskin waist belt, beaded and 

 fringed, ornamented with bells of tin. It supports a flapped pouch 

 for the flint, etc. The tinder used was fungus. 



The pouch of the Cheyennes (Algonquian stock) is compact, and 

 neatly made of leather. (Fig. 48.) The equipment is complete and 

 of a superior order. The bone cup is used to hold the tinder while 

 striking a spark into it. It is the tinder horn of early days, a cow's 

 horn which was used to hold tinder before sheet-iron boxes came into 



Fig. 47.— Flint and steel. Cat. No. 22431, U.S.N.M. Otoe 

 Indians, Kansas and Nebraska. Collected by J. W. Qriest 



use. The Lenguas of Brazil use a horn for the same purpose.^^ In 

 the Aino set (fig. 54) can be seen this feature. The tinder with this 

 set is rotten wood. Nearly all Indians know the value of fungus 

 tinder. 



The Comanche Indian strike-a-light is a similar pouch to the one 

 described, but much poorer in equipment. (Fig. 49.) A broken rasp, 

 a piece of chert, and a piece of spunk is enough for the purpose, and a 

 bag made from a saddle skirt to hold them completes the outfit. 



The flint and steel is still used nearly all over Mexico, Doctor 

 Palmer informs me. There is at present a manufacture of gun and 

 strike-a-light flints at Brandon, England, whence they are shipped to 

 Spain, Mexico, Italy, and other civilized countries. Doubtless this 



«» See figure in Jahrbuch Mittelschweiz. Commercial. Qesellsch. Arau, vol. 2, 1888, pp. 114-U5. 



