Page:Voyage in search of La Perouse, volume 1 (Stockdale).djvu/395

] to kindle a fire. I was far from foreseeing the intention of those people, who, like the greatest savages, took pleasure in seeing the flames devour the dry plants in the clear spots. Presently one of my guides had the imprudence to set fire to a large bush. The air was then very calm; but a light breeze soon after springing up, drove the flames towards the garden, and I had the mortification to see a part of its paling consumed, without being able to stop the progress of the conflagration.

The manner in which those natives produce fire, well deserves to be described. Their method is not so expeditious as a good flint and steel; but they have the advantage of finding their material almost every where, a piece of bamboo being sufficient.

The following is the way in which they perform it. They split into two equal parts, a bit of bamboo eighteen inches in length. In one of the parts they form a longitudinal slit, and cut the other tapering to about an inch and a half in breadth. They put scrapings of the same wood under the slit, and in the concavity of the largest piece, which they place horizontally, with the convex side uppermost; then introducing the other piece into the middle of the slit; where there is a notch to receive it, and supporting it strongly, they give it