538 



REPORT OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



Moqueluuiuian stocks. 



Fire-making Set. 



(Cat. No. 19640, U. S. N. M. 

 Washoe Indians, Nevada. 

 Collected by Stephen How- 

 em. J 



In fact, it has a close affinity in appearance to 

 those of the very near Athapascan 

 (Hupa, etc.) stock. It is a matter 

 of very great interest to compare 

 with this a stick from the Macken- 

 zie Eiver. (See Fig. 28.) The re- 

 semblance is striking; it is as 

 though one found a word of famil- 

 iar sound and import in an unex- 

 pected place. The related tribes 

 of the Indians dwelling on the 

 Mackenzie have a wider range than 

 the distance between the localities 

 whence the respective sticks came; 

 in fact, the Athapascans range 

 about 50 degrees in latitude and 

 the southern colonies of this great 

 family are only about 250 miles 

 southeast of the Washoans, while, 

 as has been stated, the Hupas are 

 quite near. 



It would be presumptuous to say 

 at present that this tool is a rem- 

 nant of the influence of the Atha- 

 pascan wave that swept along 

 the Great Interior Basin, leaving 

 groups here and there in Califor- 

 nia and other parts to mark its 

 progress, but there is 'more to its 

 credit than a coincidence of form 

 and function. 



The museum is in possession of a 

 complete collection of fire-making 

 material from the tribes of the 

 Shoshonian stock. They were col- 

 lected by Maj. J. W. Powell. The 

 native name for the Ute fire set is 

 ichn-tu ni-tveap. While the lower 

 member of the set — the hearth — 

 differs among the several tribes in 

 point of material, shape, etc., the 

 spliced drill is characteristic of the 

 whole stock. It has never been 

 noticed outside of the southern 

 part of the Great Interior Basin 

 but in one instance — among the 



Fig. 7. 

 Fire MAKiXG Set. 



(Cat. No. 17230, U. S N. M. 

 Pai-Ute Indians, Southern Utah. 

 Collected by Maj. J. W. Powell. ) 



