RorH] FIRE, STONE, TIMBER, TOOLS val 
the literature. I have seen several specimens of the ‘‘fire stones.”’ 
Red and green jasper stones, on account of their extra hardness, are 
eagerly sought. by the Arekuna at Roraima, and traded as far as the 
coast (App, a, 281). The Akawai brought with them from Roraima 
pieces of jasper which are in great request lower down on the Mazaruni 
and on the coast for striking fire (App, 1, 167). Schomburgk also 
speaks of flint-stones for catching fire (Sr, 1, 252). 
3. It has been pointed out that among the natives fire has seldom 
to be lighted afresh, for it is kept constantly burning in every house, 
and even on long canoe journeys a large piece of smoldering timber is 
usually carried (on an earthen hearth). Even when walking across 
the savanna an Indian sometimes carries a firebrand (IT, 327). 
On the Rio Tiquie at the present time the Bard carry with them 
from stream to stream a box made from a segment of bamboo-reed, 
with a hole drilled through its base, to allow the air to fan the glowing 
tinder within, a substance obtained from a certain ant’s nest. In 
this way they are provided with the means of lighting a new fire 
without much trouble (KG, 1, 337). 
4. To fell a tree the Carib Islanders were obliged to set fire to its 
base, surrounding it above with moistened moss to prevent the fire 
_ ascending; thus they undermined the tree little by little (RO, 508). 
On the mainland, in Cayenne, the larger trees were also felled by the 
application of fire to their trunks (PBA, 152). On the Orinoco, 
even in Gumilla’s day, many of the Indians manufactured their 
weapons, drums, and canoes by the aid of fire and water only, at a 
cost of much time and patience. By the action of fire, from time to 
time blowing on the cinders, they destroy and remove as much as is 
not required, and by means of water, which is kept always at hand, 
they quench the fire so as not to waste more wood than is necessary. 
So slow is this labor that its advance can be compared with the rate 
at which plants grow (G, u,-99). Again Gumilla speaks of the 
Indians’ spades or shovels for digging in the field as being formed of a 
very hard timber; these also are shaped by burning some parts and 
leaving others free, not without skill and symmetry, at an expendi- 
ture of much time (G, 11, 229). 
5. Fire, once caught, could be applied for illuminating purposes 
through the agency of beeswax, certain gums, and even of the timber 
itself. Thus torches, or rather wax candles, made of cotton threads 
drawn through melted beeswax until the requisite size was obtained, 
were found among the Carib of the Upper Pomeroon (SR, 1, 420) 
and as I have occasionally observed, the Akawai of the Barima 
(SR, 1, 206), and Makusi on the Essequibo (ScG, 230). Bancroft 
had previously drawn attention to this application of beeswax after 
purification by melting, steaming, and boiling; from this, he says, 
