58 An Ingenious Solution

In the era before the arrival of the white settlers, Native Americans managed to survive and prosper without any of the inventions of more technologically advanced societies. In fact, some of their accomplishments almost defy explanation. The native people depended heavily on timber for their existence, but how was it that they could cut down trees without the aid of iron axes—indeed, without any metal tools at all?

Native Americans solved that problem as they did other problems that confronted them in the harsh wilderness environment—by using good old-fashioned American ingenuity. The most powerful material available to the American Indians was fire, while the American Indians made stone hatchets. These were sharpened in stone, but they were able to fell trees quite efficiently. By combining these two tools, they devised a plan for each timber harvest. For a harvest, they first selected the trees to be felled. Then they would build a fire to encircle the bottom of a tree. The flames would burn the trunk in a narrow ring near the bottom of the tree. The charred layer of wood could be easily hacked away with a stone axe. When the first charred layer was cut away, another layer was charred and hacked away, and this procedure was repeated until the tree toppled.

Sore and fire proved to be adequate substitutes for meals, which Native Americans of this early time never knew existed.

58 一个巧妙的解决方案

在白人定居者到来之前的时代，美洲原住民在没有任何更先进技术社会的发明的情况下，成功生存并繁荣起来。事实上，他们的一些成就几乎难以解释。原住民的生存严重依赖木材，但他们是如何在没有铁斧（事实上是没有任何金属工具）的帮助下砍伐树木的呢？

美洲原住民解决这个问题的方式，和他们解决恶劣荒野环境中遇到的其他问题一样——运用传统的美式智慧。美洲印第安人能用到的最强大的材料是火，同时他们会制作石斧。这些石斧是在石头上磨锋利的，但他们能用其相当高效地砍伐树木。通过结合这两种工具，他们为每次伐木制定了一套方案。伐木时，他们首先选定要砍的树。然后，他们会在树的底部周围生火。火焰会在树底部附近烧出一个狭窄的环形区域。烧焦的木层可以很容易地用石斧砍掉。当第一层烧焦的木层被砍掉后，另一层会被烧焦并砍掉，这个过程重复进行，直到树倒下。

疼痛和火被证明是食物的合适替代品，而早期的美洲原住民从未知道这些食物的存在。