Plants as Fuel

Outside the larger coastal villages (where bottled gas and other fuels are more readily available), wood is the only source of fuel on the island. Traditional rules insist that only dead wood can be collected for this purpose. The island is sufficiently wooded - and periods of drought sufficiently frequent - for there to be a regular and adequate supply of firewood, though nevertheless the collection of wood, like the fetching of water, is still a major and time-consuming chore for the women and girls of pastoralist families. Firewood is used for cooking, for lighting and for warmth. Also smudge fires are lit by herders at milking times : the miich animals see the rising smoke from afar and slowly make their way to the milking area to stand over the smoking fire of dung or woods chosen for their property of producing abundant smoke as well as warmth: woods such as Buxus, Euphorbia arbuscula or Jatropha - all widely available throughout the island. The smoke both soothes and warms, and in addition acts as a temporary deterrent to the myriads of biting insects that plague livestock. During wet weather, people make use of tinders made from the crumbly heartwood of trees such as the date palm, Dracaena or Jatropha stored in a dry place for just this purpose. Although matches are available on the island, it is still not uncommon in the more remote areas to see islanders making fire with firesticks: wood from Commiphora ornifolia, the 'fire tree', is splinted into a piece of hardwood from Buxus or Trichocalyx, for example, and then twirled with great energy in a hollow shaped in another piece of wood such as the dried stem of Withania. This is carried out ideally over an iron blade, and continues until a faint wisp of smoke becomes visible, when the fragile spark is fed with tinder and kindling until it flares into a true flame. Dead wood of, preferably, Zizvphus, Ormocarpum or Buxus used to be made into charcoal by the island blacksmiths, though few of these remain now. Firewood is also collected for sale : in 1993 in the central area of the island, a load of firewood sold for some 1,000 shillings.