The Gunpowder Wallet or Bag.

As the name suggests, the gunpowder wallet is used to carry extra gunpowder (Black Powder) for use in muzzle-loading guns. This bag also serves to store plant tinders for flint & steel fire lighting once the wallet is empty of gunpowder. Spent round ball is retrieved from shot game & re-moulded & re-used, so the need to carry large amounts of lead is reduced. These bags were made from linen, wool or leather, I have three leather gunpowder wallets.
Keith.




“…fungus that grows on the outside of the birch-tree…used by all the Indians in those parts for tinder…called by the Northern Indians Jolt-thee, and is known all over the country bordering on Hudson’s Bay by the name of Pesogan…there is another kind…that I think is infinitely preferable to either. This is found in old decayed poplars, and lies in flakes…is always moist when taken from the tree but when dry…takes fire readily from the spark of a steel: but it is much improved by being kept dry in a bag that has contained gunpowder.”
~Samuel Hearne, Northern Canada, 1772