A SUPPOSITION 153 



trouble in making a fire. He finally found a tree 

 that had been set on fire by lightning. ' ' 



" Would you wait for a thunderstorm to come and 

 set fire to a corner of the forest? Long before that 

 we should have time to starve, for it is very seldom 

 that lightning starts a fire. ' ' 



"Must we, then, give up the roast that I was pro- 

 posing!" Jules asked. 



"Before giving it up we might try the means em- 

 ployed by certain savage tribes for obtaining fire. 

 The operator takes his seat on the ground and holds 

 between his feet a piece of soft and very dry wood 

 in which a small cavity has been hollowed; then he 

 twirls rapidly between his hands a stick of hard wood 

 with its point in the cavity. As a result of this en- 

 ergetic friction the soft wood becomes heated at the 

 bottom of the hollow, and ends by catching fire. Suc- 

 cess necessitates, it is true, a rapidity of friction and 

 a skill that certainly we should not be able to acquire 

 without a long apprenticeship ; but I pass over that 

 difficulty and assume that we have a fire. 



6 ' Now for the game. A hare will be a great plenty 

 for us. This animal abounds, and we should be very 

 unskilful if we did not soon find one curling its mus- 

 taches with its velvety paw under a tuft of broom. 

 But the hare has quick ears and sharp eyes. Long 

 before we can get within striking distance it hears 

 and sees us, and decamps. Eun after it now if you 

 think you can catch it." 



"For my part," said Jules, "I won't undertake 

 it." 



