When we reached the lower end of the canal, the firewood were lifted out from the water. This was where a lorry could reach.They were left to dry on the banks and mean while my father arranged with the owner of the only lorry in our village to transport them back to our house.
The logs were further swan into shorter lengths of about 2-foot long each.
Then they are split into smaller pieces with a huge axe. Watching my father splitting the firewood, it all seemed so simple. He lifted the axe high above his head and with one chop, the round block split into two and fell off to the floor.But when I tried to do it, it was so heavy that when I lifted it above my head I was almost pushed down backwards by its weight.
Therefore I could only lift it up to my eye level and chopped it, of course I had to chop it few more times in order to split it.
The split firewood were then strewn about in the front yard and allowed to dry. I assume everyone knows that wet firewood are difficult, if not impossible, to catch fire and will create a lot of thick smokes if added to a burning fire. You all may have heard about allergy of all kinds, but have you ever heard of allergy to wood? I bet many of you haven't.
There is a type of tree in Malaysia called Qi Shu (Paint Tree or Seven Tree). It is a hard wood and is dark brown in colour. When a piece of chopped Qi Shu is soaked by rain water,the brownish water oozing out from it is harmful
to a person allergic to it, when he comes into contact with it while walking in the rain will trigger his symptoms. His body will be covered with red rashes, in adverse case his face will be swollen and can hardly open his eyes.You may not believe it, but I had seen many such cases with my own eyes in the village.Some claimed that even without coming in contact with the tree, just the sighting of it will trigger allergy symptoms in them.Now, that is a little hard to believe.
Starting a fire was a skill every child in the village learned for cooking with firewood when he/she reached the age of 10. Before that they were not allowed to try it because they may start a fire but did not know how to control it and could burn down the whole house, worse still, together with the neighbour's.
Every household has a gas stove in this modern day and there is no need for it any more. But it is still useful if you like camping or outdoor life. You may impress your peers by starting a fire with ease for BBQ or a camp-fire!
