The Apaches and Navajos belong to the great Athapascan stock, that ranges so widely in North America. Capt. John G. Bourke, U. S. Army, collected the hearth of yucca wood shown ([Fig. 14]), and says:
With the stick you now see, the Apache Indians in my presence made fire in not quite eight seconds by the watch, and one asserted that he could make it in a number of motions, which, on the watch, occupied exactly two seconds, that is, under most favorable circumstances. The experiments, made under my own observation, ran all the way from eight to forty-seven seconds; sand is generally used, although not essential to success.
Captain Bourke’s observation is very interesting, as it records the fact that the Apache is the most skillful fire-maker in the world. Many other tribes can make fire in less than a minute; I think by far the majority of them, but there is no eight-second record, while if he could prove his ability to do it in two seconds he would arrive at the facility of striking a match.
Fig. 13. Lower Stick of Fire-making Set.
(Cat. No. 35268, U. S. N. M. From a cave at Silver City, New Mexico. Collected by Henry Metcalf.)
Fig. 14. Lower Piece of Fire-making Set.
(Cat. No. 130672, U. S. N. M. Apache Indians, Arizona. Collected by Capt. John G. Bourke, U.S.A.).
Mr. William F. Corbusier has noticed the fire-making of the Apache-Yumas of Arizona (Yuman stock).[7] They use a drill about 2 feet long and one-half inch thick, made of o-oh-kad-je, or “Fire-stick bush.” Its end is dipped in sand and drilled on a soft piece of agave or yucca stalk held down by the feet. They carry a slow torch of dead wood (spunk) and also use a flint and steel. For tinder they use dry grass or bark fiber. They use also a fungus, polyporus sp., for the same purpose.
Another reference to the fire making of this stock (Yuman) is found in the translation by the late Dr. Charles Rau of the writings of Father Baegert on the Californian Peninsula.[8] He says:
To light a fire, the Californian makes no use of steel and flint, but obtains it by the friction of two pieces of wood. One of them is cylindrical and pointed at one end, which fits into a round cavity in the other, and by turning the cylindrical piece with great rapidity between their hands, like a twirling-stick, they succeed in igniting the lower piece if they continue the process for a sufficient length of time.