To Francis Galton 28 May [1854]1
Down Bromley Kent
May 28th
My dear Galton
I heartily wish I could give you a spark of information on lighting fires worth your having.—2 I know nothing of myself. But FitzRoy in his voyage (vol 2 p. 187)3 says the Fuegians procure a spark with two stones, usually Iron pyrites, “which received among tinder & then whisked round in the air, soon kindles into a flame. The tinder used is the inner down of birds well dried; very fine dry moss; or a dry kind of fungus found on the under side of half-rotten-trees.”
I have seen the Iron pyrites in the possession of the savages.
You may remember the apparatus which was made, & I believe used, to light mines in order to avoid explosion of gas, viz a steel wheel revolving, & rubbed against iron-pyrites: & this was said to produce quite a fair light.— I do not know where I read the description.—
I have got some most vague idea I have heard that the wool of the leaves of the Mullein or Verbascum serves as tinder.
I remember that the finely triturated dust of the wood of the Hibiscus produced by the friction of the wood, in the Tahitian fashion of getting fire, acted as tinder, & the accumulation of this fibrous dust was said to be an important part of operation.
I am very much surprised at FitzRoy’s statement of down of Birds serving: would it not be well to try that of some water Bird, as of Duck or Goose.—
I wish I cd. have given better information.—
Your’s most sincerely | Ch Darwin
Footnotes
Bibliography
Galton, Francis. 1855. The art of travel; or, shifts and contrivances available in wild countries. London.
Journal of researches: Journal of researches into the geology and natural history of the various countries visited by HMS Beagle, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, RN, from 1832 to 1836. By Charles Darwin. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Narrative: Narrative of the surveying voyages of His Majesty’s ships Adventure and Beagle, between the years 1826 and 1836. [Edited by Robert FitzRoy.] 3 vols. and appendix. London: Henry Colburn. 1839.
Summary
Discusses how Fuegians and other primitive peoples light fires.
Letter details
- Letter no.
- DCP-LETT-1881
- From
- Charles Robert Darwin
- To
- Francis Galton
- Sent from
- Down
- Source of text
- UCL Library Services, Special Collections (GALTON/1/1/9/5/7/2)
- Physical description
- ALS 4pp
Please cite as
Darwin Correspondence Project, “Letter no. 1881,” accessed on 20 April 2024, https://www.darwinproject.ac.uk/letter/?docId=letters/DCP-LETT-1881.xml
Also published in The Correspondence of Charles Darwin, vol. 5