Twirling the stick or using the wooden knife or file to procure fire is regarded by many as a sign of the inferiority of the Australian tribes; that they have no better or readier method of getting it is commonly cited as a proof that they are not ingenious. I have shown, however, that this method, variously modified, is practised in many parts of Polynesia, is used by some tribes in Asia, is known in Japan, is to this day practised by Brahmans in India, is the only mode known to tribes in America, and that in Africa the Kaffir has exactly the same sticks, and uses them in precisely the same manner as the Aborigines of the Yarra. They are not then, as regards this art, in any degree inferior to savage, barbarous, or even partially-civilized peoples. Even the pseudo-civilization of Peru and Mexico knew of this art, and it was resorted to when the necessity arose. It borrowed its splendour from the religious rites associated with the practice of the art; and had these peoples been permitted to prosper, and had they advanced to a higher state of civilization, the simple art would never have been forgotten.
The practice of the art is common to all uncivilized peoples; and more than that, any evidence of its having existed at any time amongst any people—however high they may have been or are now amongst the races of the world, and however far removed from barbarism—must be regarded as a proof that that people had at one time the same habits, if not the same instincts and the same origin, as those amongst whom the art is still practised.
When, and how, and where the first improvement on the commonly practised method of twirling the upright stick by the hand was made known to men of our own race is not in any record, because it preceded that epoch in which records became possible.
Any method better than that known to the Australian must have been welcomed by the people amongst whom there were probably some other signs of civilization, and in their minds that craving for a better condition which is only satisfied by new discoveries and the promulgation of new truths.
The discovery of a new fire-generator was perhaps the beginning of civilization amongst the peoples of the Aryan race—or if not that, at least an indication that they had emerged from barbarism.[1]
- ↑ "The Invention of the chark," says Kelly, "was an event of immeasurable importance in the history of Aryan civilization. Scattered through the traditions of the race there are glimpses of a time when the progenitors of those who were 'to carry to their fullest growth all the elements of active life with which our nature is endowed' had not yet acquired the art of kindling fire at will. From that most abject condition of savage life they were partially raised by the discovery that two dry sticks could be set on fire by long rubbing together. But the work of kindling two sticks by parallel friction effected by the hand alone was slow and laborious, and at best of but uncertain efficacy. A little mechanical contrivance of the simplest and rudest kind completely changed the character of the operation. The chark was invented, and from that moment the destiny of the Aryan race was secured. Never again could the extinction of a solitary fire become an appalling calamity under which a whole tribe might have to sit down helpless, naked, and famishing until relief was brought them by the eruption of a volcano, or the spontaneous combustion of a forest. The most terrible of elements, and yet the kindliest and most genial, had become the submissive servant of man, punctual at his call, and ready to do whatever work he required of it. Abroad, it helped him to subdue the earth and have dominion over it; at home, it was the
