580 



EEPOET OF NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1888. 



The fliut, steel, aud tinder were always carried in a pouch, usually 

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

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

 fring-ed, ornamented with bells of tin. It supports a flapped pouch for 

 the flint, etc. The tinder used was fungus. 



Fig. 51. 

 Flint and Steel. 



(Cat. No. 22431, U. S. N. M. Otoe Indians, Kansas and Nebraska. Collected by J. W. Griest.) 



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

 made of leather (fig. 52). The equipment is complete aud of a supe- 

 rior 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 use. The Lenguas 

 of Brazil use a horn for the same purpose.* In the Aiuo set, (fig. 57), 

 and the Eskimo strike-a-light, (fig. 45), 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 de- 

 scribed, but much poorer in equipment (fig. 53.) A broken rasp, a piece 

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

 from a saddle skirt to hold them, completes the outfit. 



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



*Se6 figure in JalirbucU Mittekcliweiz. Commercial. GegeUsch, Arau, :5weiter 

 Baud, 1888, pp. 114-115. 



