DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.14695#0400
326
The Fire-drill
upper stick is made to rotate by means of a cord or strap. Thus
the Rev. J. Stevenson describes the Brahman's method of getting
fire from wood:
' It consists in drilling one piece of ararii-wood into another by pulling a string
tied to it with a jerk with the one hand, while the other is slackened, and so on
alternately till the wood takes fire. The fire is received on cotton or flax held
in the hand of an assistant Brahman1.'
This type of fire-drill has survived as a toy among the Swiss in the
canton of Neuchatel2, and as an implement of every-day use among
the Eskimo and the inhabitants of the Aleutian Isles (fig. 255)3.
Further modifications are occasionally introduced, such as the
employment of a bow instead of a strap, or the weighting of the
A FlRE-stigk of hard wood
B Soft dry wood
C QM C Handle held by
the teeth
D Thong
D
A. Fire-stick of thin
hard wood
B Fire-stick of thicker
softer wood
A
J
^-— v,
A
Fig. 254.
spindle with a heavy disk: the former may be seen in a Dacotah
fire-drill (fig. 256)4, the latter in an ingenious self-winding apparatus
used by the Iroquois Indians (fig. 2$y)5. This Iroquois drill bears
some resemblance to an eye pierced with a stake. And primitive
folk are quick to catch at quasi-human features. Thus Dr Frazer
reports that the fire-boards of the Chuckchees in the north-east
extremity of Asia
1 J. Stevenson Translation of the Sanhitd of the Sdma Veda London 1842 p. vii f. Cp.
W. Crooke Things Indian London 1906 p. 209 on the fire-drill as used by the Brahman
fire-priests or Agnihotri. A full account of their procedure is given by Frazer Golden
Bough3: The Magic Art ii. 248 ff.
2 J. Romilly Allen 'Need-Fire' in The Illustrated Archaeologist 1894—1895 ii. 77 f.
figs. 1, 2.
3 E. B. Tylor op. cit? p. 242 fig. 25 from an example in the Edinburgh Industrial
Museum, N. Joly op. cit? p. 193 fig. 69.
4 J. G. Wood op. cit. p. 419, cp. E. B. Tylor op. cit.3 p. 243.
5 J. G. Wood op. cit. pp. 420, 422, cp. E. B. Tylor op. cit? p. 244 f.
The Fire-drill
upper stick is made to rotate by means of a cord or strap. Thus
the Rev. J. Stevenson describes the Brahman's method of getting
fire from wood:
' It consists in drilling one piece of ararii-wood into another by pulling a string
tied to it with a jerk with the one hand, while the other is slackened, and so on
alternately till the wood takes fire. The fire is received on cotton or flax held
in the hand of an assistant Brahman1.'
This type of fire-drill has survived as a toy among the Swiss in the
canton of Neuchatel2, and as an implement of every-day use among
the Eskimo and the inhabitants of the Aleutian Isles (fig. 255)3.
Further modifications are occasionally introduced, such as the
employment of a bow instead of a strap, or the weighting of the
A FlRE-stigk of hard wood
B Soft dry wood
C QM C Handle held by
the teeth
D Thong
D
A. Fire-stick of thin
hard wood
B Fire-stick of thicker
softer wood
A
J
^-— v,
A
Fig. 254.
spindle with a heavy disk: the former may be seen in a Dacotah
fire-drill (fig. 256)4, the latter in an ingenious self-winding apparatus
used by the Iroquois Indians (fig. 2$y)5. This Iroquois drill bears
some resemblance to an eye pierced with a stake. And primitive
folk are quick to catch at quasi-human features. Thus Dr Frazer
reports that the fire-boards of the Chuckchees in the north-east
extremity of Asia
1 J. Stevenson Translation of the Sanhitd of the Sdma Veda London 1842 p. vii f. Cp.
W. Crooke Things Indian London 1906 p. 209 on the fire-drill as used by the Brahman
fire-priests or Agnihotri. A full account of their procedure is given by Frazer Golden
Bough3: The Magic Art ii. 248 ff.
2 J. Romilly Allen 'Need-Fire' in The Illustrated Archaeologist 1894—1895 ii. 77 f.
figs. 1, 2.
3 E. B. Tylor op. cit? p. 242 fig. 25 from an example in the Edinburgh Industrial
Museum, N. Joly op. cit? p. 193 fig. 69.
4 J. G. Wood op. cit. p. 419, cp. E. B. Tylor op. cit.3 p. 243.
5 J. G. Wood op. cit. pp. 420, 422, cp. E. B. Tylor op. cit? p. 244 f.