s a piece of tinder ready to light it as soon as
fire is produced. If a serious emergency should occur, it is by no means
hopeless to obtain fire after this method. A large party have
considerable advantages over only one or two men, because as the work is
fatiguing, the men can undertake it in turns; and, again, as considerable
knack is required for success, it is much more probable that one man out
of many should succeed, than that only one man, taken at hazard, should
do so. But the best plan of all for a party of three or more men is for
one of them to hold the upper block, another to hold the lower block and
the tinder, should there be any, and the third man to cause the
drill-stick to rotate. He will effect this best by dispensing with the
"bow," and by simply using a string or thong of a yard or four feet long.
He makes one or two turns with the string round the drill-stick, and then
holding one end of the string in either hand, he saws away with all his
force. I believe that a party of three men, furnished with dry wood of an
appropriate quality and plenty of string, would surely produce smoke on
the first few trials, but that they would fail in producing fire. If,
however, they had a couple of hours' leisure to master the knack of
working these sticks, I think they would succeed in producing fire before
the end of that time. The period of time necessary for a successful
operation is from one to three minutes. It is of little use fatiguing
yourself with sustaining the exertion for a longer period at a time,
unless the wood becomes continuously hotter. As soon as the temperature
remains uniform it shows that you have let the opportunity slip; it is
then the best economy of effort to desist at once, to rest, to take
breath, and recommence with fresh vigour.

[Sketch unlabelled].

Fire by Chemical Means.--It is not in the province of this book to
describe the various matches that take fire by dipping them into
compositions; and I have already spoken of lucifer-matches in the last
section. Only one source of fire remains to be noticed, it is--

Spontaneous Combustion.--It is conceivable that the property which masses
of greasy rags, and such-like matter, possess of igniting when left to
themselves, might under some circumstances, be the only means available
to procure fire. It is at all events well that this property should be
borne in mind when warehousing stores, in order to avoid the risk of
their taking fire.