By The Aid Of
Strips Of Bark For Rope, The Stems Of Bamboos For Rafters,
And The Large Leaf Of The Banana For A Thatch, The Tahitians
In A Few Minutes Built Us An Excellent House; And With
Withered Leaves Made A Soft Bed.
They then proceeded to make a fire, and cook our evening
meal.
A light was procured, by rubbing a blunt pointed
stick in a groove made in another, as if with intention of
deepening it, until by the friction the dust became ignited.
A peculiarly white and very light wood (the Hibiscus tiliareus)
is alone used for this purpose: it is the same which
serves for poles to carry any burden, and for the floating
out-riggers to their canoes. The fire was produced in a few
seconds: but to a person who does not understand the art,
it requires, as I found, the greatest exertion; but at last, to
my great pride, I succeeded in igniting the dust. The
Gaucho in the Pampas uses a different method: taking an
elastic stick about eighteen inches long, he presses one end
on his breast, and the other pointed end into a hole in a piece
of wood, and then rapidly turns the curved part, like a
carpenter's centre-bit. The Tahitians having made a small fire
of sticks, placed a score of stones, of about the size of
cricket-balls, on the burning wood. In about ten minutes the
sticks were consumed, and the stones hot. They had previously
folded up in small parcels of leaves, pieces of beef,
fish, ripe and unripe bananas, and the tops of the wild arum.
These green parcels were laid in a layer between two layers
of the hot stones, and the whole then covered up with
earth, so that no smoke or steam could escape.
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