Fig. 3. Fire making Set and Slow Match.
(Cat. No 127.866. U. S. N. M. Quinaielt Indians, Quinaielt, Washington. Collected by Charles Willoughby.)
The Klamaths, of Oregon, of the Lutuamian stock, use a fire apparatus that looks very much like that of the Utes. The hearth is a rounded piece of soft wood thinned down at the ends ([fig. 4]). The drill is a long, round arrow-stick, with a hard-wood point set in with resin and served with sinew (see Ute drill, [fig. 7]). The holes in this hearth are very small, being less than three-eighths of an inch in diameter. They are in the center, and the fire slot being cut into the rounded edge widens out below, so that the coal can drop down and get draught. The wood is quite soft, apparently being sap-wood of yew or cedar, while the drill-point is of the hardest wood obtainable. It is probable that sand is used on the drill. The hearth is 13 inches long, and the drill 26.
The Chinooks, a tribe of Indians of a separate stock, called Chinookan, formerly lived about the mouth of the Columbia River, in Oregon, but are now nearly extinct. Hon. James G. Swan, the veteran explorer, investigator, and collector among the Northwest coast tribes, says that the Chinooks are the best wet-weather fire-makers he ever knew.[3]
To kindle a fire the Chinook twirls rapidly between the palms a cedar stick, the point of which is pressed into a small hollow in a flat piece of the same material, the sparks falling on finely frayed bark. Sticks are commonly carried for the purpose, improving with use.[4]
Fig. 4. Fire-making Set.
(Cat. No 24096, U. S. N. M., Klamath Indians, Oregon, Collected by L. S. Dyar.)
Fig. 5. Fire-making Set.
(Cat. No. 77193, U. S. N. M., Hupa Indians, California. Collected by Lieut. P. H. Ray, U S A.)
Mr. Paul Kane[5] describes the hearth as a “flat piece of dry cedar, in which a small hollow is cut with a channel for the ignited charcoal to run over. In a short time sparks begin to fall through the channel upon finely frayed cedar bark placed underneath, which they soon ignite.” The Ahts and Haidas also use cedar fire-sticks of the usual Indian kind.