Pith.--Many kinds of pith are remarkable as tinders; that whence the well-known pith hats are made, is used as tinder in India. Pieces of pith are often sewn round with thin cotton or silk, so as to form a long cord, like the cotton lamp-wick I have described above, and they are carried in tubes for the same reason.
b. We now come to the different kinds of tinder that fall into our second division, namely, those that are too friable to bear handling.
Rags.--Charred linen rags make the tinder that catches fire most easily, that burns most hotly when blown upon, and smoulders most slowly when left to itself, of any kind of tinder that is generally to be obtained. In making it the rags are lighted, and when in a blaze and before they are burnt to white ashes, the flame is stifled out. It is usual to make this kind of tinder in the box intended to hold it; but it can easily be made on the ground in the open air, by setting light to the rag, and dropping pinches of sand upon the flaming parts as soon as it is desired to quench them. The sand is afterwards brushed away, and the tinder gently extricated.
Touch-wood is an inferior sort of tinder, but is always to be met with in woody countries.
Dry Dung.--Dry and powdered cattle dung--especially horse-dung--will take a spark, but with trouble. After it is lighted it can be kept burning with little difficulty.
Tinder-boxes.--There are three ways of striking a flint, which are best explained by sketches. Fig. 1, p. 180, shows how tinder that is tough enough to bear handling, is grasped together with the flint. When no tinder-box is at hand the more friable kinds of tinder, as touch-wood, may be enveloped in a roll of rag and be used either as in fig. 1 or in fig 3. Fig. 2 shows how tinder may be laid on the ground, and how sparks may be struck upon it. The household tinder-boxes of thirty years ago, before lucifers were invented, were for use in this way. Fig. 3 shows how sparks may be struck into a small tinder-box. It is the method most commonly adopted by travellers: for instance, it is universally used in South Africa and in North America. A hollow cylinder of wood or metal, about three inches long, and corked up at one end, is all that is essential. If it be barrel-shaped the flint lies against its sides, at the most convenient angle for striking sparks into the box, as is shown by the bottom drawing of fig. 3.
Wet Weather.--In long-continued soaking weather, the best way of keeping a tinder-box dry is to put it into a small pocket hung close under the armpit.
Fuel.--Firewood.--There is a knack in finding firewood. It should be looked for under bushes; the stump of a tree that is rotted nearly to the ground has often a magnificent root, fit to blaze throughout the night.