Page:Firemaking Apparatus in the U.S. National Museum.djvu/75

 FIKE-MAKING APPARATUS. the point of the steel. These articles are kept in a rush poiicU of twined weaving. A much ruder pouch of fishskin is in the Museum. The Japanese tinder-box has two compartments, one with a damper for the tinder, and the other larger one for the flint and steel. This box is a familiar object in Japanese kitchens yet. The mounting of the steel in wood is an improvement on holding it between the fingers (fig. 58 and 59). No one it seems ever thought of so mounting the steel in Western countries. The matches are broad shavings tipped at both ends with sulphur, and are the Japanese rendering of the "spunks" used with our tinder-box. ris 60. Smokers' Strikk-a-ltght. U. S. N'. M. Tukio. J:ipan. Gift, of the Japinese Department of Education.) Smokers in Japan carry a very small strike-alight (fig. 60). The cloth pouch with a long flap that can be rolled around several times and tied, contains the three essentials, flint, steel, and tinder, the latter of burnt cotton.