SUMATRA- 
55 
of the fmaller Hick; but it has not penetrated far, before the larger one 
takes fire. I have alfo feen the fame effect produced, more fimply, by 
rubbing one bit of bamboo, with a fliarp edge, acrofs another*. 
Water is conveyed from the fprlng, in bamboos, which, for this pur- 
pofe, are cut, either to the length of five or Cix feet, and carried over* 
the ihoulder, or into a number of (Ingle joints, that are put together in 
a baiket. It is^ drunk out of the fruit called labsa here, and calabajbf in 
the Weft Indies, a hole being made in the iide of the neck, and an- 
other at top for vent. In drinking, they generally hold the veiTel at a 
diftancc above their mouths, and catch the ft ream as it defccnds. Baf- 
kets (bremngy hamk) are a conliderable part of the furniture of a man's 
houfe, and the number of thefc feen hanging up, are tokens of the 
owner's fubftance : for in them his harvefts, of rice or pepper, are 
*' Tills mode of kindling fire is nor peculiar to Sumatra ; wc read of the flunc pra^c€ in Africa, 
and even in Kamfchatka. Ii is furprizing, but confinntti by abunJani authoriiy, that raany na* 
tioijs of the earth, have, at certain periods, being ignorant of the ufe of fiine. To our imtnediatc 
apprehenfion, human exiflcnce wouUt feem in fuch circumftancea impofliblc. Every art, every 
convenience! every nectjOfary of life, is now in the moft intimate maimer conue£ted with it : and 
yet the Chincfe, the Egyptians^ PhGcnicians and Greeks acknowledged traditions concerning ic$ 
firft dircovery in their rcfpeftivc count ries. But in fa^l, if we can once fuppofe a man^ or fociety 
of men, unacquainted with the being and ufes of this element, I fee no difficulty in conceiving 
the poilibility of their fapporting life without it j I mean in the ti-opical elimatcsi and of centuries 
pafiing before ihey fhould arrive at the important difcovery* It is true tliat lightening and its 
cfteils, volcanos, die firijig of dry fubftanccs by fortutiou* attrition, or of moill, by fermentation, 
might give them an idea of its violent and dtflru&wt properties \ hut far fioEti being thence indu- 
ced to appropriate find apply it, (hey would, on the contrary, dread and avoid it, even in its lefs 
formidable appearances. They might be kd to worfliip it a& their deity, but not to chcrilh it as 
their domeftic. There is every reafon to concljade that the man who firil reduced it to fubitftbiJ, 
and rendered it fubfervicnt to the purpofes of life, procured it from the collifion of r\vo flints; 
but the fparks thus produced, whctlier by accident or dcGgn, might be obferved inniimcrabltr 
timet, without its fuggefting a beneficial application. In countries where tliofe did not prcfeot 
themfelves, the difcovcry had,-moft probably, its origin in the rubbing together of dry flicks, and 
in this operation, the agent and fubjefl co-exi fling, flame, with its properties and ufes, became more 
immediately apparent. Still, as no previous idea wa? conceived of this latent principle, and con- 
fcquently" no Jfearch made, no endeavours exerted, to bring it to light, I fee not the impoffiuiiity 
a prmi, of its having remained aimofk as long concealed from mankind, as the properties of the 
loadftonfij or the qualities of gunpowder. 
gathered 
