equally hard.]

Another method of obtaining fire by friction from bamboos is thus
described by Captain T.H. Lewin ("Hill Tracts of Chittagong, and the
Dwellers Therein", Calcutta, 1869, p. 83), as practiced in the
Chittagong Hills. The Tipporahs make use of an ingenious device to
obtain fire; they take a piece of dry bamboo, about a foot long, split
it in half, and on its outer round surface cut a nick, or notch, about
an eighth of an inch broad, circling round the semi-circumference of
the bamboo, shallow toward the edges, but deepening in the center
until a minute slit of about a line in breadth pierces the inner
surface of the bamboo fire-stick. Then a flexible strip of bamboo is
taken, about 1½ feet long and an eighth of an inch in breadth, to fit
the circling notch, or groove, in the fire-stick. This slip or band is
rubbed with fine dry sand, and then passed round the fire-stick, on
which the operator stands, a foot on either end. Then the slip,
grasped firmly, an end in each hand, is pulled steadily back and
forth, increasing gradually in pressure and velocity as the smoke
comes. By the time the fire-band snaps with the friction there ought
to appear through the slit in the fire-stick some incandescent dust,
and this placed, smouldering as it is, in a nest of dry bamboo
shavings, can be gently blown into a flame.--_The Gardeners'
Chronicle._

* * * * *




EXPERIMENTS IN MEMORY.