Fire lighting by friction is a
very difficult skill for a man here
to admit
that he can’t make fire in the forest
when he can do everything else.
That takes a real sense of courage.
I think
it’s a real testament
to the strength of character
of these people,
and it’s very difficult
for me to broach that issue without
it’s very difficult for me to broach
that issue
without questioning his manhood
and we’ve been able
to get past that stage
and hopefully
will make some fire here today.
And we put that skill back.
What I’m going to show
them is the way I make fire
and it may be
that this is slightly different
to their cultural way of making fire
but I think at the end of the day,
what is important
is the ability to go into the forest
and find fire from what nature provides.
Because this drill is
a little bit too short.
What we’re going to do
is I’m going to attempt to lengthen it
with another stick, which needn’t be dry.
This was uncertain ground
both for me and then
Benito,
how far
do you have to
go to get matches or a lighter?
And in this area is very far
with anything. It takes a long time.
How long?
It can take
from 15 days to even one month.
If you go in a canoe in
15 days to a paddling in a canoe
in a box of matches.
It kind of tells a story, doesn’t it?
If you can just hold
that for me for a moment.
When I drill, a powder will collect
and that will eventually start to glow.
Okay.
This is our ember.
In a rain forest like this,
you have to have
the materials prepared really,
for this sort of fire lighting.
And in the past,
people would have kept these materials
nice and dry, ready for their need.
And we haven’t got
those materials to hand.
So I’m robbing the BBC’s medical kit
and helping myself to some cotton wool,
which we’ll use as timber.
But there are trees in the rainforest
provide seeds at the right time of year,
which are just like that.
Harder.
One of the things about the rainforest
is so humid today
that this isn’t catching
fast straightaway.
It’s not the ideal tinder,
but we have got fire now.
We’ll add some little shavings on there
and a way it will go.
Some years ago
we worked on an island
in the middle of the Pacific Ocean
and the people
there still keep these skills alive
because like you,
they’re a long way
from from sort of the outside world.
There was a wonderful woman there
who said that
when you can make fire by friction,
you carry your fire in your
mind and in your muscles.
