FiRE-MAKiNG APPARATUS. 



563 



I 



u, in effect accomplishes what the use of wood of different 

 qualities results in. The hearth and drill are in the 

 neighborhood of 12 inches long, the former with a diam- 

 eter of three^eighths of an inch and the latter one-fourth 

 of an inch. They were collected by Dr. Charles Pick- 

 ering in 1843. 



It is possible that the Somalis may have carried this 

 method with them from Arabia. They conquered this 

 coast, driving back the earlier tribes inhabiting the coun- 

 try in the early part of the fifteenth century. Long since 

 that time, and even now, some Arab tribes practice the 

 drilling of wooden sticks to produce fire. 



In eastern equatorial Africa the Wataveita, says Mr. H. 

 H. Johnston, generate fire in the common African way 

 by rapidly drilling a hard-pointed stick into a small hole 

 in a flat piece of wood. An interesting bit of custom 

 comes out in connection with this art among the people. 

 "It is the exclusive privilege of the men, and the secret 

 is handed down from father to son, and never under any 

 conditions (as they say) revealed to women." I asked 



w 



Fig. 19. 

 FiuE-MAKixG Set. 



(Cat. No. 129971, U.S. N. 

 M. SoTiiiili.sE. Africa. 

 Collected Ijy Dr. Charles 

 Pickering. Lent by 

 Peabody Museum 

 through Prof. F. W. 

 Putnam.) 



Pig 20. 



Taveita Afuicans Making Fire. 



After H. H. .lohnston. (See Jour. Soc. Arts, .Tune 24, 1887. ) 



one man why that was. " Oh," he said, " if women knew 

 how to make fire they would become our masters."* The 

 figure (fig. 20) shows how this people of the great Bantu 

 stock make fire; this tribe visited by Mr Johnston lives 

 on the slopes of the beautiful Kilimanjaro Mountain. 

 * J. Anthrop. lust. Great Britain and Ireland. 1885. xv, p. 10, 



