Papua New Guinea native firemaking with string

[redcollective]

Interesting! Indeed a little extra reading indicates it's the silicates in bamboo (produced more so than incorporated?) that give it some of it's mechanical strengths and high density.

Presumably the pottery shard has something in it as well or is of sufficient softness/hardness to throw the spark?

Stuart when you were cutting through the bamboo did you get any idea the spark was coming off your parang or eminating from the bamboo itself?

Stu

 

[Stuart]

Stuart when you were cutting through the bamboo did you get any idea the spark was coming off your parang or eminating from the bamboo itself?

its hard to tell, the sparks are quite dull so its hard to spot their origin and they usually come as a suprise.

I would be inclined to think that they came from the edge of the parang as it struck the sand.

its seems improbable that striking sand with pottery as that translation suggests should cause a spark

 

[Galemys]

its seems improbable that striking sand with pottery as that translation suggests should cause a spark

Thanx for your input Stuart,
here's another link which mentions the bamboo percussion method, even with two pieces of bamboo!
http://encyclopedia.jrank.org/FAT_FLA/FIRE_in_O_Eng_f_jr_the_word_is_.html

"Mr Frederick Boyle saw fire produced by striking broken china violently against a bamboo, and Bastian observed the same process in Burma, and Wallace in Ternate. In Cochin China two pieces of bamboo are considered sufficient, the silicious character of the outside layer rendering it as good as native flint".

Back to the original subject, here's a tempting link:

http://www.perigee.net/~benjamin/books.htm

"Fire Saw or Fire Thong Fire Making
The Wola people in New Guinea use a method of fire making using a bamboo strip and a piece of Holly. This sheet explains this fire making method and how you can duplicate it with native materials"

Tom

 

[rich59]

If china on bamboo or even bamboo on bamboo can cause a spark then we may need to think a bit more clearly what is causing the spark. Sparks with flint and steel or with ferrocerium and a sharp edge arise from a piece of metal separated by friction actually burning.

If a spark comes from bamboo then it is not from stone like material is it? Anyone ever got a spark from 2 flints?

 

[Galemys]

Time to revive this thread!

I found another citation on the bamboo spark method in a book called "Wanderings in the great forests of Borneo" by an Italian 19th century botanist called Odoardo Beccari. He mentions the local name of the bamboo-species used:

"The Dyaks from Singhi know also how to get a spark from a kind of bamboo called Bulu Tamian, on which they strike with a bit of silicous stone or a fragment of porcelain."

I don't know of Bulu tamian is a local or Malay name and if the name is still in use or what it means, but maybe it can be a starting point for finding out more about this method. Although Beccari was a botanist, he fails to mention the scientific name of the plant.

So Stuart or BOD, I hope one of you will be reading this & can shed some more light on this method in the near future.

The book also mentions the hand drill & metal fire piston as means of creating fire "but to all these methods they now prefer the flint & steel". The power of progression is unstoppable...

Tom

 

[Stuart]

"Bulu tamian" I'll ask somone to show me some when i am out there next, BOD will most likley get an oppotunity before me though

 

[george]

Bulu Tamian - pretty sure its a local name not Malay.

I'll see if my wife has anything on it - she's done a lot of work on tropical ethnobotany.

George

 

[BOD]

Will go and talk to the Iban and let you know. Know an old chap who is very knowledgeable about this stuff and was able to describe the traditional fire piston. He even has one now

Net search throw up anything?

I am in Western North Borneo. Singgi sounds as if it is/was in Eastern Borneo

 

[george]

Bulu Tamian - pretty sure its a local name not Malay.

I'll see if my wife has anything on it - she's done a lot of work on tropical ethnobotany.

George

Had a look through a few books and some field notes - nothing on Bulu Tamian.

Looks like BOD is the best bet.

George

 

[Galemys]

I am in Western North Borneo. Singgi sounds as if it is/was in Eastern Borneo

Singhi is situated in the Kuching area of Kalimantan, on the western side of the island.
After reading some more in the book I believe Bulu is a generic term for ´bamboo´, used by the land dyaks.

Tom.

I did a google-search on Bulu tamian (with both words, single words and with alternative, ´Dutch´spelling; ´boeloe´) but found nothing of interest.

 

[Stuart]

I am acquainted with an Iban community near that part of Borneo, so if it turns out to be a regional thing I will try to visit them and ask if they have a knowledge of it

 

[Galemys]

Another quote from the same book
All bamboos in Borneo are apt to be bored, on drying, by insects, except the bulu tamian, which is so hardened by silica that the mandibles of these pests can make no impression on it. It is for this reason used, as i have already said, as asubstitute for flint in striking a light.

BOD, George, Stuart, thank´s for your input, I hope there´s still something to find on this firestarting method in Borneo.

Tom

 

[Stew]

Anyone ever got a spark from 2 flints?

Yesish

I've seen very tiny sparks occur. Nothing you could utilise as they were so micro and shortlived.

 

[BOD]

Don't count on me to find my way around!!

I live in NORTH EASTERN BORNEO not WESTERN as I said. Utterly hopeless.Sorry about the lapse into a senior moment

"Bulu" is actually a Malay word and is used to describe feathers fur or any sort of fuzzy nap usually animal. Many words are shared by the Malays and the indigenous peoples after such along period of coexistence

That suggests that the bamboo in question has a fuzzy or hairy texture but as with all these matters may be a reference to something completly different.

How could the incorporation of silica happen? Would it be dependant on growing in silica rich soil or could some other process create it?

If the former it may be a regional phenomenon.

Who used the technique? Land Dyaks are Bidayuh and lived in hilly areas and fortified long houses to protect themselves from the Sea Dayaks (aka Dayak and Iban). If it is the former the answer may be in that area only as there are few Bidayuh where I am.

Thanks for tasking me with this 'quest'. Just the excuse for me to take time off and do some fieldwork. I am deeply grateful.

I am in Western North Borneo. Singgi sounds as if it is/was in Eastern Borneo

 

[Galemys]

Don't count on me to find my way around!!

"Bulu" is actually a Malay word and is used to describe feathers fur or any sort of fuzzy nap usually animal. Many words are shared by the Malays and the indigenous peoples after such along period of coexistence

That suggests that the bamboo in question has a fuzzy or hairy texture but as with all these matters may be a reference to something completly different.

From the text in the book I believe the term 'bulu' is used by the singhi dayaks for any bamboo, thus in itself meaning 'bamboo'.

Who used the technique? Land Dyaks are Bidayuh and lived in hilly areas and fortified long houses to protect themselves from the Sea Dayaks (aka Dayak and Iban).
The singhi dayaks are classified by Beccari as land dyaks. The bamboo-spark technique may however not have been restricted to the singhi dayaks so there's always a little chance that other ethnic groups know (knew?) something about it. I hope there is still some knowledge floating around & it would be fantastic if we (well actually you all overthere in Borneo) could revive that.
I never knew there were so many ethnic groups in Borneo! sea dayaks, land dayaks, malay, chinaman, kayan, ukit, penan...

Tom

 

[Galemys]

"Mr Frederick Boyle saw fire produced by striking broken china violently against a bamboo, and Bastian observed the same process in Burma, and Wallace in Ternate. ".

Here's a quote on the bamboo fire-saw & bamboo-spark methods from famous Mr. Wallace (he is the co-founder of the evolution theory) :

During this voyage I had several times had an opportunity of seeing my men get fire by friction. A sharp-edged piece of bamboo is rubbed across the convex surface of another piece, on which a small notch is first cut. The rubbing is slow at first and gradually quicker, till it becomes very rapid, and the fine powder rubbed off ignites and falls through the hole which the rubbing has cut in the bamboo. This is done with great quickness and certainty. The Ternate people use bamboo in another way. They strike its flinty surface with a bit of broken china, and produce a spark, which they catch in some kind of tinder.

http://etext.library.adelaide.edu.au/w/wallace/alfred_russel/malay/chapter23.html

Tom

 

[BOD]

"Buloh" = bamboo

"Bulu" = fur etc.

Just working on the assumption that Beccari was correct and the Bidayuh may have had a reason for calling it bulu as some bamboos do have a kind of surface that one might apply the term to.

Yesterday, I went accross the border and spoke to a few Iban (Sea Dayaks) from two diffrent longhouses in Western Sarawak . These people inhabit the former Bidayuh lands having driven them up into the hills.

No one knew anything about:

1. Bulu Tamian

2. Buloh Tamian

3. Any kind of bamboo that could generate sparks by being struck by another piece of bamboo

One should not be discouraged as they were relatively young Iban.

However they knew of a type of thin dense bamboo called "Temiang" which is used for making buckets and baskets. This may be the same as "Tamian".

Beccari would have had Malay interpreters and "Tamian" would be pronounced TUM - E- JAN (J being pronounced as a Dutch speaker would say the name 'Jan'. "Temiang" would be pronounced TEM - E - YOUNG

In a week or so I will go and speak with some old timers (Baram Ibans) and let you know the outcome.

Ibans are the best bet as they occupy the sorts of areas that Bidayuh did. They were also historically the buffer between the coastal peoples and the people of the interior and controled the lower reaches of the rivers. They know much about the others since they were in constant contact or conflict with almost everybody else.

The old boys I am thinking about still live a largely traditional life and told me about the fire piston a couple of years ago.

I spent part of the morning striking various type of bamboo with the spine of the parang. Not a spark. The amah thought I was mad!

 

[Galemys]

"Buloh" = bamboo
"Bulu" = fur etc.

Bod,
After your post I'm pretty sure Beccari's Bulu is a corruption of buloh for he uses the term only when different kinds of bamboo are mentioned i.e: bulu pretja (a slender type), bulu kassa (another slender reedlike type), bulu gading ('ivory bamboo')
It's just a way of phonetic spelling I suppose.

I have no experience with parang striking whatsoever but would it make a difference if you struck the bamboo with flint instead of a parang? I'm asking this because with the bamboo-spark method the bamboo is used as a substitute for the steel used in the flint & steel-method.

Looking forward to your next inquiries!

Tom

PS What's an Amah? The headman?

 

[Big John]

If a spark comes from bamboo then it is not from stone like material is it? Anyone ever got a spark from 2 flints?

Yes, I remember when I was a cub we used to often camp at a favourate site (Small Dole, Sussex), there was a farm track near there that was surfaced with loose flint and we used to have great fun on night hikes kicking and throwing the flints and watching the sparks coming off. (the rubbish I remember 20+ years later - happy days!)

Never saw anything other than fun in it at the time!

 

[BOD]

Can't easily get my hands on flint.

Would a firesteel do?

Could you also let me know what Beccari said the various others were used for?

I could then ask lots of questions and compare what the old and current uses are