General Scouting Outdoors 



193 



Bow. Make a bow of any bent stick two feet long, 

 with a strong buckskin or belt-lacing thong on it (Cut i c). 



Socket. Finally, you need a socket. This simple little 

 thing is made in many different ways. Sometimes I use 

 a pine or hemlock knot with a pit one quarter inch deep, 

 made by boring with the knife point. But it is a great 

 help to have a good one made of a piece of smooth, hard 

 stone or marble, set in wood; the stone or marble having 

 in it a smooth, round pit three eighths inch wide and three 

 eighths inch deep. The one I use most was made by the 

 Eskimo. A view of the under side is shown in Cut i (fig. d). 



I. Tools for firemaking 



Now, we are ready to make the fire: 

 Under the notch in the fire-block set a thin chip. 

 Turn the leather thong of the bow once around the drill: 

 the thong should now be quite tight. Put one point of the 

 drill into the pit of the block, and on the upper end put the 

 socket, which is held in the left hand, with the top of the 

 drill in the hole of the stone (as in Cut 2). Hold the left 

 wrist against the left shin, and the left foot on the fire-block. 

 Now, draw the right hand back and forth steadily on level 

 and the full length of the bow. This causes the drill to 

 twirl in the pit. Soon it bores in, grinding out powder, 



