Greetings.

> Both M& P and Jones translate what she had about her waist not as
> a belt, but as "touchwood." I thought maybe it had something to
> do with the superstitious "knock on wood" or "touch wood" thing
> people still do today, but I finally got a chance to look it up
> and it seems to mean tinder or a particular type of fungus that is
> good to use to start fires. So unless this material is usually
> pounded before use or was in a different pouch on her belt, it
> seems unlikely that anything so fragile would be dangling from
> her belt.
> Grace
> Fred and Grace Hatton
> Hawley Pa
>

Grace, thank you for such a wonderful post. It added fuel to my
thinkings.

Having started to follow the push to learn flint-and-steel
firemaking, I can offer this web site which has a picture of what's
called "Tinder Fungus":
http://jas-townsend.com/product_info.php?products_id=363

Although, I haven't ordered or worked with this stuff yet, it is
dried and looks farily durable.

Frith,
Adrian