Case V.—Waggon Limber disabled.
This case is so similar to Case IV. that the details would only be a repetition, except when the word “trail” is used in Case IV. use the word “perch” in this. The waggon body being secured the same as the gun.
Yoking or harnessing draught oxen.
In South Africa, the oxen draw from the neck, or, rather, the yoke is laid upon the neck, and is prevented from slipping backward by the hump, which, when the ox presses forward, is pushed strongly against it. The form of the yoke and its furniture is shown on [p. 217]. The yoke is about 6ft. in length, and 3in. thick. In its centre is a strong staple, through which are passed several turns of reim or hide thong, to lace it to a corresponding ring on the “dissel-boom” ([a]K]), or on the “trek touw” (8). Near each end are two mortices, 3in. long, ¾in. wide, and about 1ft. apart, through which to pass the “jeuk skeis,” or yoke keys, which keep it in place on the neck of the ox. The ends should be rounded so as not to chafe the animal. A knobbed head, more or less ornamented, keeps them from slipping through the mortices, and on the outside edge of each key are cut two notches, to receive the throat strap, which is simply a double thong of softened hide, so twisted as to leave a loop at each end. This is hitched to the upper or lower notches to tighten or loosen it, and it may be more nicely adjusted by twisting or untwisting it till it attains the required length. The strap will readily be recognised on [p. 217].
When the oxen are to be “inspanned,” the span or team is driven to the waggon, and the nooses of the reims or raw hide halters are thrown over the horns and tightened on the forehead. The oxen are then arranged in pairs, and held by one or more assistants, as seen near waggon No. 9, on [p. 298]. The driver then leads out the fore oxen, lifts the yoke over the neck of the farthest, hitches the throat strap into the nicks, and then, holding up the yoke with one hand, with the other he draws forward the other ox, and induces him to walk to his proper place under the yoke. The “voor looper,” or boy that leads them, then holds the reims of the fore oxen so as to keep the “trek touw” tolerably tight, while the other oxen are yoked, as seen before waggon No. 2, on [p.298] In outspanning the order is reversed, the fore oxen being left to keep the trek rope tight till the very last. An ox requires fully 8ft. to pull in; therefore, a trek touw for twelve oxen must be fully 40ft. long, as the two after oxen will be yoked to the dissel-boom, and require no rope. Our accompanying sketch of Cape oxen in their yokes will sufficiently show the arrangements. A Cape waggon is supposed to be loaded with about 2000lb. of cargo, but 3000lb. is not uncommon, and we have seen a waggon with 4000lb. start as lightly as could be wished, though when it came on bad roads it was too heavy for the oxen. The trek touw is usually of hide rope, but hunters sometimes use chain and sometimes hempen rope, either of which defy the teeth of jackals and hyænas. Chain may, perhaps, gall the sides of the oxen, but we have seen it used on long journeys without bad effect. Hemp is apt to rot, from exposure to alternate wet and excessive dryness, but we have seen it do good service. With a hempen rope, get a sailor to splice in all the rings before you leave the coast. A Hottentot will do well with a hide rope, but not with one composed of hemp.
CAPE OX TEAM.
In Australia, two-wheeled drays, somewhat like the Scotch cart, are used. They will sometimes carry 3000lb. of wool over bad roads. They are very handy, but strain the necks of the pole oxen rather. Sometimes, only two oxen are used, as in our sketch—sometimes, six or more. The yoke lies upon the neck, like the African, but is fastened by iron bows passed up through the yoke and keyed above it, so that, when once an ox is yoked, nothing on earth can free him till the bow is removed. The long bamboo whip of Africa is unknown in Australia. The handle is short, the lash long and heavy, and is often terminated by a bit of silk, to produce a more effective crack.
In many parts of Spain, the yoke is simply laid across the foreheads of the two oxen, and lashed fast to the base of their horns. This is not only a source of great discomfort to the animals, but is an absolute waste of their muscular power; for, strong as the neck of an ox undoubtedly is, that part of the spinal column which forms it cannot with impunity bear the continued heavy strain or the occasional concussions which might without injury be received upon the shoulder.
THE SWING OX GOAD.
In some parts of the world the yoke is laid across the back of the head, and is lashed fast to the roots of the horns. This plan is followed by some of the Hispano-Americans, who make use of an enormously long goad, hung in a sling, to drive the cattle with. In addition to the point of the weapon a sharp “dropper,” or bob, is hung on in such a way that, by lowering the shaft of the goad, it may fall end downwards on the bullocks, working too close to be attacked by the point. The preceding illustration will serve to show the nature of this contrivance and the mode of fastening on the yoke.
GERMAN OX HARNESS.
Some of the Germans adopt a much better plan. They take a broad band of stout leather, so stuffed and padded as to form a cushion, and fit this upon the hump of the ox, as shown in our sketch. In each end of this are stout rings, to which the traces are attached, and there is a slight collar and a belly band to keep it from slipping in its place, but the whole strain comes upon the part best able to support it, i.e., the shoulder hump; and this simple gear has the advantage of being applicable to one or any number, while the yokes can only be used for pairs of oxen. Remember that the prudent as well as the merciful man is merciful to his beast; and if you want an animal to work for you, take especial care that he is not galled nor incommoded by superfluous or ill-fitting gear, nor fretted and irritated by unnecessary chastisement, inflicted in such a manner that he cannot understand it. If it is necessary to flog him, take care to do it in such a manner that he can escape the punishment only by going to his work, and discontinue it as soon as he really does so.
Little good could result from our describing the various modes by which bullocks are harnessed in different parts of the world, as the explorer will, in great measure, have to be guided in the selection of the way in which he intends to work his teams by the description of animal with which he is about to deal. Humped cattle draw efficiently by either the German plan, before described, or the yoke and pin plan shown in the annexed illustration (A), because a much larger amount of pressure comes on the anterior point of the hump, or bearing point of the yoke piece, than in any other direction, the pin merely keeping the neck of the bullock in the proper position, and regulating the line of draught; whilst humpless cattle require, in lieu of a collar, either a neck bow, as shown at B, or some other mode of adjustment, by which neck and shoulder power can be brought to bear. The Indian, African, and Eastern cattle work according to the former rule, whilst the English and Australian draw by the latter. The Australian ox bow, as we have before stated, is usually composed of iron, bent into the required form; whilst that in general use throughout the western counties of England is made from a pole of tough wood, commonly elm, moulded to the requisite shape by the aid of heat. The yoke should be made from some tough light timber, and the neck bows of some wood not liable to splinter.
CHAPTER X.
HARNESS AND PACK ANIMALS.
Whether mules or horses are selected for waggon and cart draught too much attention cannot be paid to the arrangement and fitting of the harness they are intended to work in; and, although the pattern will vary somewhat not only in every country, but in every province, the traveller passes through, the leading principles remain much the same, and whether the traces are of rope chain or leather, the office they perform remains unaltered. Collars, let the pattern be what it will, require especial care in fitting, as nothing tends more effectually to disable a harness animal (mule or horse) than a collar carelessly or injudiciously applied. Every animal in the team should have its own, and on first selecting the collar for fitting so put it on that the collar strap can be buckled up to the last hole in the tongue strap. When you have done this there should be room enough at the bottom of the collar in front of the animal’s chest to pass the open hand when laid flat freely forward and back between the inside of the collar and the animal’s neck. When new collars are found to fit uneasily and chafe in particular places, it is a common expedient among mule teamsters to lay the ill-fitting collar in water, and allow it to soak for the night; it is then taken out wet and fitted to the animal’s neck, to which it at once adapts itself. Much trouble is often experienced on long and toilsome expeditions from loss of condition and leanness of the animals causing the saddles and collars to fit badly and, consequently, cause severe sores. Take, therefore, plenty of curled hair stuffing with you, in order that deficiencies in the padding may be from time to time made good. When a collar is too large to be adapted to a thin neck by stuffing, it will be well to cut a portion out of its centre at once, which can be done by first measuring the excess of space roughly, then take the collar off the animal; lay it on a board or table, and cut out evenly as much as is thought requisite, and if on testing the collar it is found still too large, cut out a little more from each side of the incision until the collar takes its proper bearing, but take care that a proper medium is observed regarding the position of the lower end, or bow, of the collar. If it hangs too far down the movements of the muscles of the shoulder are interfered with. If it presses too far upwards the windpipe becomes unduly pressed on. Some persons use what is called “crown pads” for the top, or ridge, of the neck, under where the narrow portion, or crown, of the collar rests. These are sometimes made from sheepskin with the wool on, but it will be better to get some moderately stout but smooth and soft leather. Cut this into pad pieces, each of which may be 13in. long and 8in. wide. Make a cut at each end of the pieces about 2½in. from the end of the pad, extending it to about an inch from the centre. Then turn your pad, and cut from the opposite side until only the inch of sound leather remains between the two cuts. Treat the other end of the pad in the same way, and it will be fit for use.
A very tolerable makeshift collar and pair of hames may be made as follows: Collect a good quantity of reed, either wheat or marsh reed; cut off all the heads, or tops, leaving nothing but the clear shafts of the plant. Make these up in a bundle, and place them to soak in water for one night. Measure the horse’s or mule’s neck for size of intended collar with a piece of cord; lay this on the ground in the form and of the size of the collar; then close to the string, as it is placed on an even spot, drive in a double row of long pegs at about 6in. apart; then proceed to lay in your reed between the two walls of pegs, so disposing the reeds that too many ends do not appear at any one place; continue to lay in reeds, working them round the ends of the oval and thumping them well down in their places, until sufficient substance has been gained for the fore part of the collar; then, with fine twine, proceed to bind the reeds firmly together by lashing them spirally. Now make a second reed collar just as you did the first, only let it be larger and more bulky; and, with a packing needle and twine, sew the two collars together, one on the other—that first made on the top. Now try the united collars on the animal, the large collar being next the shoulder. See that there is plenty of space below the windpipe in front of the chest when it is made to fit at both top and bottom. Line the inside of the bearing or large collar with soft pliant leather laid over a layer of soft moss, fine cocoa fibre, fur of animals, or anything else you can get calculated for stuffing purposes. A piece of hide laid on and sewn wet will cover the outsides of both collars; but whilst it is drying the hames should be fastened in the groove formed by stitching the two collars together.
The hames are made as follows: Get two well-seasoned pieces of tough strong wood; cut them to the shape of the curve and length of the collar, and fashion them as shown in the annexed [illustration]. A is the trace hame-tug, formed of a loop and several turns of raw hide; A is the hame strap fork, below which an oblong square hole is cut for the strip of hide forming the hame strap to pass through; C is the lower end of the hame cut into hook form, to admit of its being securely lashed with hide strips to its fellow on the opposite side.
Breast straps may be used in lieu of a collar and hames.
When starting on an expedition take plenty of harness leather with you. Raw hide and strips of sinew are admirable for repairs, but good tanned and curried leather is needed for the harness itself.
The illustration on next page represents a very useful and plain set of mule harness, and also the way in which a long rope or lasso is used for securing a refractory mule to the side of a waggon whilst the harness is being put on. Some mules are so dangerously skilful in the use of their fore and hind feet, that even an accomplished prizefighter might view their feats in the art of attack with envy. To guard against the effects of this objectionable skill, we proceed as follows: Throw the running noose end of your lasso over the mule’s head, and let it settle well over his neck; then edge him quietly away until he is standing stem and stern with the waggon on the near or left-hand side; then, keeping well before your mule, pass the free end of the lasso between the upper spokes of the near fore wheel; draw out your end by walking backwards with it, keeping up a steady strain until you walk in a wide circle well outside the range of mules’ heels; slip dexterously behind the wheel and tail of the waggon, keeping your lasso tight all the while; then pass your lasso end, from without, inwards between the spokes of the near hind wheel; haul taut and belay. There are very few mules that cannot be successfully handled in this way. The guide as to the proper height of the lasso is given by the point of elbow and the line of the stifle joint. If the mule is a small one, choose lower spokes in the wheel than for a tall, long-legged animal.
The adaptation of hames to collars is almost as important as the fitting of the collars to the animals. Hames are sometimes made of wood fitted with iron work, but they are far better when made from good tough wrought iron. Here we again say, beware of “malleable cast.” During the rough work of a campaign hames are constantly getting broken, particularly at the union of the ring point and the blade of the hame. The old pattern used by our horse artillery and field batteries was especially objectionable, as the point of union (shown in the above [illustration] at A) was so unmechanically effected that incessant trouble and constant breakage was the result. We have submitted to the Horse Guards authorities that which we believe to be a far more durable and efficient pattern (as shown at B, p. 460). The hames now in use are certainly better than they were at the commencement of the Crimean war; but those which we used during our long forced marches in India during the mutiny were very far from being perfect.
We, some time since, invented and patented a very simple contrivance, by which a fallen or disabled horse or mule could be instantly freed from the tension of the traces without cutting or unbuckling. The latter operation, by-the-bye, it is next to impossible to perform, from the strain on the trace. By the use of our slip (represented in the accompanying illustration) the trace can be released by turning up the pendulum (A) until it matches with the slot (B), when it drops out to the front, and forms a cross handle, like that of a corkscrew, to draw the lock pin by. The instant the pin is drawn as far as it can be pulled out, the trace is detached from the ring of the hame. The lock pin cannot be lost, as it can only be drawn out to a certain distance—in fact, just far enough to free the trace from its hold.
Much mischief is done to team animals by having bits of insufficient substance and solidity. See that they are of sufficient diameter to prevent cutting, and that they are long enough from cheek to cheek to prevent pressure on the angles of the mouth and lips. See also that the bit is so attached to the headstall that the corners of the mouth are not drawn up by it. Let the throat latch be long enough to see plenty of daylight under, or, by drawing on the headstall, the poll of the head may be severely rubbed and a poll evil established. The nature of this injury will be fully dealt with under the head of “[Veterinary Surgery.]” If bearing reins are used at all, see that they are slack. A good store of anti-friction pads will be found of the greatest value on the march to keep such portions of the harness as are found to rub the skin of any animal in the team from doing further mischief. These are made of very soft pliant leather, stuffed with soft curled hair. Seven inches long by 4½in. wide, and 2½in. thick, will be found a convenient size. They are secured between the strap causing irritation and the skin by bits of thong fastened to their backs for the purpose. Galls from saddles or collars are not unfrequently caused by some hard and uneven point of bearing. When this is the case, take a long sharp-pointed instrument, pass it through the leather or woollen, and, by working it about and pushing in every direction, force the stuffing back until a cavity much larger than the gall is formed; thump the covering over and into the cavity well with the round end of a tool handle until it fits the injured spot without pressure. Never allow teamsters or drivers to tie knots in straps of any kind with a view to shortening them. Insist on more holes being punched for the buckle tongue, or the cutting of the strap to the proper length. Knotted straps and serious galls go hand in hand. In adjusting your traces to the swingle trees, see that there is length enough given them when slack for the swingle tree to reach just sufficiently far down the back of the hind leg to cross half-way between the point of the hock and the hollow of the heel. As the trace is tightened, there will then be enough space for the animal to move his legs freely in. Watch him as he walks off, and see that nothing touches him behind at full stride. There are more kickers made by ill-adjusted swingle trees than any other cause. The weaker the animal is, the more liable he is to get his hind legs battered by the bar, as he lacks spirit and energy to keep well clear of it. The bar is, however, his enemy from that time, and it is difficult to make him forget past sorrows.
Chains and links.
Waggon chains of one sort and another often snap when it is highly inconvenient to repair them. Keep, therefore, in your “odd and end” box a good number of union links, made as shown in the above illustration. They are forged rather flat, stouter in proportion than the chain they are intended to unite, in order to guard them against opening. A leather thong or tie, with a toggle end, is passed through the slots at the two ends of the union, in order that the links may not come out when the chain is slack. The looped ends of ropes are conveniently attached to chains, or chains to standing rings, by these union links. The illustration on [p. 462] represents one of them uniting the ends of two chains.
Pack animals.
Pack animals are of the greatest service and value to the explorer, as they travel easily through tracts of country which are impassable for wheeled carriages of all descriptions. Horses, ponies, mules, donkeys, oxen, elephants, camels, dromedaries, lamas, goats, and dogs are all, more or less, used as pack animals in different countries; and no two can be found in which the pack saddle and its gear will exactly correspond. The nature of the ground to be passed over, and the description of load to be carried, will in great measure call for some special arrangement in the form and adjustment of the gear. For the use of a well-organised exploring or hunting party, provided with horses or mules, we know of no pack saddle equal to that described and figured at pp. 25 and 36. Saddles of this description, although admirably adapted for carrying the well-made and evenly-formed bags of the explorer, would not answer to the requirements of the professional packer, who carries objects of every imaginable shape, from a bundle of pick-heads, or a case of bottled ale, to a barrel of powder. For the safe transport of such matters as these no saddle is better than the Hispano-American pack saddle.
No people in the world understand the management and packing of mules as well as the Spaniards and their descendants. The foundation of the Spanish pack saddle may be said to be the “aparejo,” which is, so to speak, a framework for the back of the mule composed entirely of hide. Its form is represented at A in our illustration entitled “[Horse Equipments.]” Each side flap of the aparejo is composed of a double layer of hide, with space sufficient between the layers to introduce an efficient stuffing of hay, dry moss, fibre, or other stuffing material. The cushions or side pads, when stuffed, should be about 3ft. 8in. long by 2ft. 8in. wide. Each flap and side cushion will thus constitute one side of the saddle body. These, when stitched together at the top, will form a sort of hollow ridge within which the backbone will rest free from pressure and friction. The aparejos of the Andalusian muleteers who, with their mules, accompanied us from Spain to the Crimea had layers of small twigs disposed between the stuffing of the panels and the covering of hide, so that the “riata,” or rope used in securing the load, was prevented from cutting grooves in the padding. Each of these aparejos weighed, when new and dry, 35lb. On the inside of each cushion leather a hole is left, through which the material constituting the stuffing can at any time be got at. The careful packer will constantly avail himself of this orifice, in order that such portions of stuffing as may become shifted and worked up into hard lumps by the movements consequent on travel may be redistributed and evenly disposed of. The above illustration represents this aparejo when placed on the back of the mule.
Next the skin of the animal is placed a piece of soft well-washed canvas, 4ft. 6in. square; on this is then laid three layers of thick woollen blanket; on these layers, the true saddle cloth—the “corona” of the packers. This is made of stout woollen cloth, with fringed, worked, and ornamented borders. The corners of each of these cloths bear on them the letter or number of the mule to which it belongs. When removed from the mule, it is placed with the saddle gear on or under the aparejo, so that every mule can be at once fitted with his own trappings.
GROUP OF HARNESS.
To secure the aparejo, and the cloths beneath it, to the mule’s back, a wide girth, called a “synch,” is used. This may be composed either of hide, grass, cloth, or common sail canvas doubled. Its edges should be sewn in a broad hem. The width may be about 13in., and the length not sufficiently great to go round the mule’s body, over the aparejo and cloths under it. One end of this girth has a ring sewn into it, and the other a bent stick of natural growth, as shown at B in full-page [illustration] of “Horse Equipments.” To tighten the synch by drawing the two ends together, a long strip of well-greased thong is used. This is passed several times through both ring and wooden eye, after one end has been made fast. By powerful and continuous hauling on the free end, the ring and eye are at length drawn close enough together below the saddle to make all secure. A loop is then formed in the free end, and the bow pulled under the forward and back lashings of the thong. When the synch is to be relaxed, it is only necessary to pull on the free end to set all free.
Pack ropes and saddles.
Two ropes are used for lashing on the load. One is called the “riata,” and should be of pliant, evenly-spun 2½-in. rope, 70yds. long; the second, or sling rope, is best made of stout patent sash line. Forty feet will be found long enough for a sling rope. No written directions or pictorial illustration will give the least idea how to lash fast the heterogeneous objects constituting a general pack load; nothing but experience and ingenuity in the handling of rope will ever teach the traveller how to form the intricate spider-web-like lashing, interlacing, and cross-binding, which by a professional Spanish or Mexican packer are woven until as tense as a harp string.
Cross-tree saddles.
The Hudson’s Bay Company and many traders and explorers in North West America make use of the so-called cross-tree saddle for transporting their peltries and stores. One of these is shown at C in our full-page [illustration] representing “[Horse Equipments.]” The girth for that description of saddle has two sets of holes made in it, so that the ends may be laced together by the use of a strip of hide, represented at D.
Tightening harness.
A good number of narrow flat battens of tough wood and bundles of twigs will be found very useful for placing between the load ropes and load, as in the case of bags containing soft substances, or articles likely to be crushed in, a groove is at once formed by the tension of the strained rope, and without some interposing medium no little mischief is done. When a rope is found loose from any cause, it can be tightened by thrusting a short curved stick into the loop formed by the slack part, when, by twisting the lever round and round, the required tension is soon gained. When packing a mule or adjusting a disarranged pack it is well to partially blindfold the animal. This is done by the Spaniards by the use of a contrivance called a “tapajo,” represented at E in the full-page illustration of “[Horse Equipments.]” The hind strap of this is placed behind the ears, just as the head strap of a halter would be. The leather part hangs before the mule’s eyes, whilst the fringe-like tails hang down at the sides. When not on a mule’s head, the tapajo is used instead of a whip by placing the forefinger through the ring in its middle.
Bell mules.
In travelling through a country tolerably free from large animals of prey or hostile Indians, it will not be requisite to hobble a large train of mules during the night, as they will not stray far from the hobbled bell mare. This animal leads the march by day and keeps the “mulada” together at night. A gelding not uncommonly takes the place of the mare as the bearer of the bell. White or grey animals should be selected to perform this duty. Never, on any account, allow a stud mule to accompany your band; he rarely thrives, is always ready for a fight, and is as bad as an enraged wild beast when fairly roused. It is not wise to work mules hard until after three years old—four, five, and six are better ages to buy at.
Hints to mule buyers.
Examining a strange or ill-tempered mule’s teeth with a view to ascertaining his age is at times rather a risky operation. To do this, put on a blind, get a halter put on the mule’s head; stand well in against the near fore-shoulder, pass the right hand gently up the neck, patting the animal as it goes until you are enabled to take a steady firm grip of the root of the ear with your right hand; then, with your left, seize quickly, but tightly, on the upper lip and nose. Do this quickly and resolutely, guarding against a blow from the fore-foot, and you will probably get a glance of the front teeth, or incisors, and see if the corner tooth is temporary or permanent.
Another piece of important information will be gained at the same time, and that is whether the dentition of the upper jaw is free from deformity. It sometimes happens that both mules and horses are what is called overhung or parrot-beaked, which simply means that the upper row of front teeth projects so far beyond the lower that the two rows can by no effort of the animal be brought in contact. This defect is often overlooked, but when present is a fruitful source of loss of condition and consequent weakness, as food, easily gathered by animals with naturally-formed rows of teeth, is all but lost to the unfortunate possessor of a parrot-mouth. See, too, that the tongue is perfect.
Mules for packing purposes should not be too large or high on their legs. Some of those which accompanied us from Andalusia to the East were 16 hands and over; whilst the great majority of the trains we worked in Central India were very little larger than common donkeys, and certainly less than a great many we have seen in Egypt.
The experience of the last American war has shown that the Hispano-Mexican mules are a most hardy and valuable strain. Speaking of these animals, the superintendent of the Government mule corral at Washington says:—“There is in Old as well as New Mexico a class of mules that are known to us as Spanish-Mexican mules. These mules are not large, but for endurance they are very superior, and, in my opinion, cannot be excelled. I am not saying too much when I assert that I have seen nothing in the United States that could compare with them. They can apparently stand any amount of starvation and abuse. I have had these Spanish mules in a train of twenty-five six mule teams, and starting from Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, on Colonel (since General) Sumner’s expedition in 1857, have travelled to Walnut Creek, on the Santa Fé route, a distance of 300 miles in nine days, and this in the month of August. The usual effects of hard driving, I noticed, showed but very little on them. I noticed, also, along the march, that with a halt of less than three hours, feeding on grass that was only tolerably thick, they will fill up better and look in better condition for resuming the march than one of our American mules that had rested five hours and had the same forage. The breed, of course, has something to do with this; but the animal is smaller, more compact than our mules, and, of course, it takes less to fill him up. It stands to reason that a mule with a body half as large as a hogshead cannot satisfy his hunger in the time it would take a small one. This is the secret of small mules outlasting large ones on the prairies. It takes a large one so long to find enough to eat when grass is scanty that he has not time enough for rest or recuperation. I often found them leaving camp in the morning quite as hungry and discouraged as they were when we halted the previous evening. With the small mule it is different. He gets enough to eat quickly, and has time to rest and refresh himself. The Spanish or Mexican mules, however, are better as pack animals than for a team. They are vicious, hard to break, and two-thirds of them kick.”
These observations of the superintendent are highly practical, and well worth bearing in mind in the purchase of pack mules. We are of opinion, however, that there are other qualities to be found in small well-formed animals, apart from the comparatively small amount of food required to support them.
Activity, endurance, and muscular power do not, so far as our experience has enabled us to judge, increase in the ratio of size; and the great majority of noteworthy and remarkably clever performances under saddle or pack related by hunters and explorers have been achieved by animals of comparatively small size. We do not think that even the English hunter will be found an exception to the rule. Often have we devoutly wished that it might be our good fortune to possess a 16-hand horse with going and staying qualities, equal in proportion, size for size, to those of a sturdy, but very tiny cob we were once ’cute enough to select from a drove fresh from the wilds of Bulgaria. We conceive that a well-formed mule—that is to say with clear bright eyes, hocks not inclined to give in like those of a cow, stout muscular haunches, a short back, and dark small compact feet—should, for average service, be about 14 hands high, and weigh about 8cwt. Avoid all spotted, dappled, or white mules. These are, among the packers, known as “painted” or calico mules, and are by no means as hardy as those of dark uniform colours. Mares are always to be preferred to horse mules. They are more tractable, and follow the bell mare better on the march.
Hints on mule equipment.
About 140lb. is as much as a mule of average power can travel well with from day to day. Never start a mule train without looking carefully at each mule as he passes; and if you see one of them raising his lips and twitching his mouth and nose depend upon it he is getting galled, and requires looking to. Particular care should be taken that the halter heads fit easily across the back of the head, and that, in putting the halter on, the ears of the mules are not injured or roughly handled. Nothing makes a mule so shy and disposed to be vicious as sore ears. The halters used for pack mules are just such as we use in this country. We, however, prefer leather head collars with ropes attached to them.
Hobbling cattle.
There are many ways of preventing horses and mules from straying from the spot at which they are intended to remain. The Indian method of picketing horses by the use of head and heel ropes is by far the best and most convenient we have ever had recourse to. The heel hobbles—the subject of the accompanying illustration—are best made of stout tanned leather; the inside surface should be lined, and have a slight stuffing of curled hair put in to prevent friction; one hobble end terminates in a leather loop; the other, in a leather toggle. The heel ropes themselves should be made from soft flexible rope (cotton is often spun into heel ropes); the strands are opened and untwisted to a short distance, in order that they may be securely stitched fast to each hobble. At about 6ft. from the hobbles the two heel ropes are spliced together and form one tail rope, which is secured round a peg driven into the earth. Two ropes attached to the head collar are also secured to pegs, as shown in the illustration on p. 471. When on the march each horse should carry his own head and heel ropes secured in a leather wrapper behind the saddle.
Head ropes may be conveniently fastened to the head collar by having a strap and buckle like that represented at A in the annexed illustration attached to the end of each rope, if the other end is finished, as shown at B. One head rope left on when the horse is equipped for marching forms a convenient head-collar rope, which can be coiled up and secured as shown at [p. 37].
The Cape hunters usually secure their horses during a temporary halt by the use of the knee halter. The manner of adjusting this is shown at A in the following illustration. In Australia, the hook hobbles, figured at [p. 33], are adjusted as at B in the illustration below.
CAPE KNEE HALTER AND AUSTRALIAN HOBBLES.
It is a common practice in the army to stretch a long rope between a number of posts, and then secure the horses to it at intervals by fastening the ends of the head-collar chains. We have seen mule trains in India fastened in a similar manner to a long cord stretched out on the ground. Although space is economised by the adoption of these plans, they lead to an endless number of serious accidents from kicks, bites, and stake wounds from the splintered posts. The addition in weight to the present scale of military horse equipment may be, perhaps, urged as a reason why the head and heel ropes of India have not been universally adopted by the troops of this country. The result of our experience is that the very slight addition which is made to the burden by the strapping on of a pair of light strong head and heel ropes to the rear of the saddle is a mere mite in the balance when compared with the constantly recurring and serious evils we have just referred to.
INDIAN HEAD AND HEEL ROPES.
Horses, to tie up.
If you are without hobbles, your horse or mule may be prevented from straying far by fastening the fore and hind leg on the same side together with a piece of rope or a couple of leather belts. The two fore feet may be hobbled together in much the same manner, allowing just a short scope for the animal to move one foot before the other. In countries where the lasso is used either in the form of hide lasso or hair cabresto (the manufacture of which will be treated of further on in our work), a horse or mule may be secured by first putting the noose end over the head and adjusting the neck loop just to fit the small of the neck easily, and then with the free or trail end taking a single hitch knot through the loop. This prevents the noose from running up and strangling the animal should it become suddenly alarmed and hang back. Mustangs, however, very rarely hang on a lasso after once experiencing its powers. Never trust the security of your riding animal, when either hunting or scouting, to either the regulation head-collar chain or headstall-rope, as, should a sudden alarm from any cause arise, your steed will in all probability give a sudden snort, tuck his haunches well under him, get his fore legs well to the front, give his head a violent shake, with one effort send all your head gear to the four winds, and go scampering away perhaps for ever. Lassoes are not so easily broken. If halting among trees or bushes fasten the trail end to a flexible branch; if there are no bushes, and you have a peg, fasten the lasso to it. If out on the prairies without a peg, dig a deep hole in the earth with your knife; tie a large knot in the end of the lasso, force it to the bottom of the hole, and then stamp the earth and turf well in over it. On sandy desert ground the lasso end may be secured to any odd article, such as a bag or blanket, which may be then deeply buried in the sand. An ox may be conveniently secured by passing two or three turns of a rope round the roots of the horns and then making a knot in front. All ropes long enough to admit of the animal walking and feeding in a moderately large circle should have one of the forms of wooden swivel before described attached to it in order to prevent twisting and entanglement.
Should a party of Iceland horsemen wish to halt for a short time, they place their horses with their heads together, and heels forming the outer border of the circle; the bridles are then looped and knotted together. Horses secured in this way cannot stray because no two animals pull in the same direction. This plan will only answer with very quiet animals. The entire horses of the East would fight desperately if thus brought in contact.
Horses, to lead.
Large bands of horses may be driven or led in strings fastened head and tail, or marched on what is called a waggon line. This is a long strong rope fastened at each end to a cart or waggon, sufficient distance being maintained between each vehicle to keep the rope moderately tight. The halters of the horses to be led are fastened at convenient intervals along the line of the rope, and as the waggons travel so the horses march in a line. If there are many stores to be transported at the same time, put them in the rear waggon, as the line of marching horses aid greatly in drawing the load. An arrangement of this kind is very convenient when a stampede from Indians is to be dreaded.
Embarking horses.
Horses may be conveniently embarked by the use of the sling shown in the illustration on p. 474. The belly-band is made of very stout sail canvas, mounted on two straight strong bars of wood. The ropes, which should be of thoroughly reliable 4½in. or 5in. rope, after passing round under the edges of the belly-band, are securely fastened to the ends of the bars, and each terminates in a loop. Four strong rope loops are secured to the edges of the band for the breast and breech ropes to pass through. One man holds the horse’s head steady by the halter, and, if requisite, adjusts a blind; two men, one on each side, pass the rope loops through each other; whilst others bring round the breast and breech ropes, haul them up tight and double knot them. At the word “hook on,” the hook of a fall working from a derrick is passed through the upper loop and stopped with a piece of small stuff. At a given signal the men on board at the tail of the fall, walk smartly away with it, and the horse moves rapidly aloft guided by two guy ropes until directly over the hatchway, which should be well padded with bags of straw. At the signal to lower away, the horse is lowered steadily to the hold or lower deck, where a deep bed of straw is spread, and men wait to cast loose and conduct it to the stall allotted for its reception.
EMBARKATION SLING.
In regularly-fitted horse transports, boxes are not unfrequently fitted for the horses to walk into before being lowered in them. Sometimes, when near the shore, horses are allowed to swim to land.
The management of horses on board ship will be treated of under the head “Veterinary Surgery.”
HOLD ON, ALL!
Pack animals and packs.
Horses and ponies for packing should be of sturdy short-legged, cobby breed. A full-sized horse’s pack for moderately fast and continuous travelling should not weigh more than about 120lb. A lively well-formed ox will carry about the same burden. Donkeys will carry from 50lb. to 60lb., according to size and condition. A pair of strong cane or wicker panniers, with lids made to hinge and lock, and covered with stout waterproofed duck, will be found very useful for putting in articles for immediate use. Cooking utensils, food for the day, and a change of dry garments, are conveniently stowed away in these receptacles. Beware how you pack a number of rattling, clattering pots, pans, and kettles loosely on a timid ox’s back. Should sudden alarm seize him, it will most probably lead to such a scene as is represented in the illustration on the opposite page.
Camels.
Camels and dromedaries are frequently most valuable to the traveller; and, although generally associated with the torrid zone and its belongings, we see no reason why the camel should not be successfully acclimatised in many countries in which it is now practically unknown to the packer and traveller. “Camel Land” has been said to embrace the Canaries, Morocco, Algiers, Tunis, Tripoli, the Great Desert, Egypt, Africa, Arabia, Turkey in Asia, Persia, Cabool, Beloochistan, Hindoostan, Burmah, Thibet, Mongolia, Tartary in Asia, the Crimea, and a comparatively small tract of country in the neighbourhood of Constantinople. The camel has been kept and rendered available for general use on the estates of the Grand Duke of Tuscany, at Pisa, for very nearly two centuries. Australia and America are, we conceive, particularly well calculated for the utilisation of the labours of the camel. The opinion commonly entertained that the camel can only flourish in tropical lands is most erroneous. The ordinary geographical range of this animal may be roughly stated as being between 15° and 52° of north latitude, and 15° of longitude west of Greenwich to about 120° east of it. We have had opportunities of working camels of the Bactrian, Arabian, and Saundney breeds, under more than common vicissitudes of both climate and labour; we have ridden, muffled up in fur helmet and gloves, through the deep snow, where the woolly-coated Bactrians, crouching behind a sheltering rock, discussed their meal of coarse steepe hay contentedly, and were hardy to a degree; we have seen the burden camels of Egypt, under huge loads, trooping across the dry deserts of that land as if they were in their element; we have performed over 3000 miles of packing with Indian camels, and have taken part in most severe forced marches with Saundneys, carrying two men (an Englishman and a native), a heavy saddle, two sets of arms, accoutrements, and ammunition, over difficult tracts of country bordering on the sandy desert regions of Central India.
Harnessing camels.
Although we have seen the camel harnessed much after the manner of an ox, and used in draught, it will rarely be found of much service to the explorer when used in harness: as pack animals, camels are invaluable. A good form of camel pack saddle is given at F in our full-page illustration of “[Horse Equipments]”; and the above diagrams will serve to show how ordinary camel riding saddles may be made. Any strong tough wood will answer for the uprights and side pieces; the lashings are of raw hide; the cushions, or pads, of leather, stuffed with wool or curled hair; the girths are of spun goats’ hair; and the breast strap is a wide band of plaited thongs. Some idea may be formed of the courage, power, and speed of the camel when we state that, before the opening of the Suez Railway, the mails were transported on camels’ backs twice per month across the Desert between Grand Cairo and the head of the Red Sea, a distance of eighty-four miles, without halting, in about eighteen hours. The weight of each camel-load (four mail boxes, &c.) was about 300lb.
Few matters of animal nomenclature have led to more confusion and misunderstanding than the terms “camel” and “dromedary;” and this has mainly arisen from the distinction laid down by Buffon, who states that the camel has two humps, whilst the dromedary has only one. If this point of distinction were correct, there would be no camels in Egypt, and one would have to travel to Tartary and some remote parts of Asia to find them; and the dromedary, and that only, would be found in Turkey, Arabia, Grand Cairo, Africa, and India. Amongst the Arabs and Egyptians the word “gimel” is applied to all the members of the genus—the term “dromedary” never being made use of. An animal used exclusively for riding purposes is called a “hagine”. It will, therefore, be convenient to follow their example, and call a baggage animal of this family a “camel,” and that used for riding purposes a “hagine.” Our space will not admit of our entering on the subject of camel breeding, or the various crosses of breeds found in different parts of the world, as, like those of the horse, they would fill a volume.
CHAPTER XI.
CATTLE MARKING.
In all large and imperfectly settled countries the use of a private mark, or brand, is most important, not only as a means by which animals can be identified and recovered when lost, but as the evidence of legal transfer and of particular breed or strain of stock. Animals are most commonly marked with either some conspicuous and tenacious pigment, by slits or cuts of definite form made in the ear, or by initials or some symbol branded with a heated iron on some part of the body. Sheep may be both ear-marked and lettered with either red or black paint. The lettering is easily and expeditiously effected by the use of the cover or bottom of an old biscuit tin. Lay your sheet of tin on the table, and with the point of your knife sketch out the outline of the letter or letters you have determined on as your mark, taking care that they are of conspicuous size; then with a mallet and chisel cut out the letters. You will then have a sort of stencilling sheet; cut it to a convenient size, nail a piece of wood to it for a handle, and your marker is complete. Place it against your sheep, paint over the outside of the plate with a large paint-brush, and your mark is made in an instant. Your sacks, bags, and boxes can be marked in the same manner with the same contrivance. A herd of cattle can be temporarily marked by a newly-arrived settler in a quarter of an hour or twenty minutes, as follows: Procure a waggon whip handle or a long pole; then lash to its end a round ball of either hide, with the hair on, or a bit of old blanket, fixing on your ball to the stick just as the striker of a drum-stick is made. Dip this in a pot of paint or tar, and then put it adroitly against the haunch or shoulder of the animal to be marked. Give it a sudden sharp twist round, and there will be instantly formed a round ball-like spot. With a lot of timid newly-purchased cattle, with which you are anxious to move off at once, the above plan will be found a good one.
A native herdsman would despise such means of recognition; and many of the colonial farmers would know individually every horse, ox, or sheep in their possession, just as we know by expression of the countenance or peculiarity of figure any person among our own acquaintance; and we have even heard of a case in which the calf of a cow, that had been stolen many years before, was recognised by its resemblance to its mother, and the theft thus traced out and detected.
The cutting of marks in the ear seems to be the more primitive and, perhaps, the easier, as involving less need of tools or apparatus; but it is difficult to give sufficient variety to enable many farmers to have each a distinctive mark. One slit, or more, in the right or left ear, a “swallow-tail” in one and a slit in the other, or a hole punched with a wad cutter, are among the most common; but all are liable to be torn off by dogs or wild animals; and the hole in the ear is especially objectionable, as the creature itself is almost sure to tear it through by scratching with his hinder foot.
Moreover, almost all are liable to be altered should the marked property fall into dishonest hands; and most farmers, and, it may be said, all traders, now employ the branding iron—fashioned to represent either their own initials or some arbitrary sign, as a cross, a square, a triangle, a circle or any segment of it, a star of any particular number of rays, the figure formed by crossing two triangles (as here shown).
In America, and some other countries, it is requisite on the purchase of animals—horses and mules especially—that the traveller should not only get a receipt for his purchase money, but get indorsed on it by the seller his acknowledgment of the new owner’s counter-brand, in manner as follows: “Received of Capt. ——, the sum of —— dollars, in payment for a brown mare mule. Seller’s brand, O. B.; buyer’s brand, W. Signature, &c.” The new brand should be placed under the old one, and unless these precautions are taken the new purchaser stands a very excellent chance of having his recently-acquired stock seized on at some frontier post, and detained until the legality of the transfer has been ascertained. It is sometimes agreed on that the owner shall renounce all claim to an animal by reversing his own brand above that originally made by him, thus,
.
There are tales, however, of certain dwellers at a distance from the law who have acquired considerable skill in altering the marks of any stray cattle that may fall into their hands, and this is an operation requiring no little skill, for should the mark be old, an iron made too hot will burn the addition in so deeply that it will for a long time display an air of freshness not in accordance with the original. Some initials are very easy of alteration; thus, C may be converted into O, or Q, or G; I may be made at least into thirteen letters without increasing its size, which, when it is used in combination with others, is a point of considerable importance, and into several more if a slight increase may be ventured on. P may become B or R, and L or F may be changed to E. It may be well for us to point out to those who have charge of Government stock, or are likely to have stolen animals offered them for sale, that the thief not unfrequently sees fit to adopt an anchor as his brand, as, if it is of proper size, the broad arrow, by the addition of the stock and flukes, makes a very respectable one. We have heard of an unscrupulous colonist who branded all his cattle with a frying pan, and had no particular place on which to apply it; thus, no matter what the brand on a stray horse or ox might be, he had nothing to do but to clap the red hot disk above it, and his own mark speedily and effectually obliterated every other. It is said that he afterwards repented, and, in proof of it, led a most exemplary life in a Government department for fourteen years.
It is a good plan to have a small iron and to brand cattle upon the horns, as it is impossible to efface the mark by any process that would not betray itself. This iron may also be used for branding small articles—such as tent poles, yokes, waggon-gear, or anything in the traveller’s possession—not only as a precaution against theft, but as a means of affording an indication of his fate should he perish, as many a poor fellow has done in a gallant but fruitless effort to explore an unknown country.
Any man with a few tools and a moderate share of ingenuity can make his own branding iron from a suitable-sized chunk of soft iron. File it to the right form, give it an even surface; then with a pencil sketch the letter, or mark, on the iron, only taking care to reverse the object as you would in drawing on wood. When your pencil lines are complete, scratch them in with a sharp hard point. Rub a little gunpowder and grease into them in order that they may show conspicuously, and then, with a hammer and small cold chisel, proceed to chip away the superfluous iron until the pattern stands boldly and sharply out. Heat it and try the print on a board, and, if requisite, trim and file again until it is to your satisfaction. A large drill is of great service in making branding irons, which, when finished, can be attached to handles either by leaving a piece of metal on the back of the chunk long enough to weld the hand iron to, or a screw may be made at the back to hold it in its place. Some persons make chunk, hand iron, and all from one piece of metal; others form the letters, &c., from narrow strips of iron, bending them to the required figure, and then riveting them fast to a sort of frame. We, however, consider the solid chunk form of iron by far the best and most durable. A clear charcoal or wood fire is best for heating the brand in. It should be heated just hot enough to singe rather than burn into the skin; so long as the roots of the hair are destroyed the burning may be considered effective.
As we have before stated, the particular strain, or breed, of certain animals may be known by the peculiar way in which they are branded. The Arabs have a great number of private marks, which few, save themselves, understand. Horses and dromedaries are marked in an entirely different manner. There is also a distinction drawn by them between large and small horses. The former are known as “Aneezah” Arabs, and, if of high cast, usually bear the peculiar mark of the tribe by which they are reared. All Arab horses under 14 hands are called “Nedjdi.” These, when found by any tribe to possess more than ordinary purity of breed and excellence, are marked with an extremely narrow crescent, like a new moon, with the horns a little more than an inch apart. In the illustration on [p. 481] we give a few examples of dromedary branding, as showing the particular class of animal indicated by it. 1. Amadabieh. 2 shows the general mark of a Bicharieh tribe, which will be seen to exist on all the other examples. The additions show the private brand of each small community, or division of the tribe, thus: 3. Amitirah; 4. Mahomed-Ouzabieh; 5. Menacir; 6. Achabab; 7. Cawarah; 8. Mahazi; 9. Valgat.
Having shown the marks by which many strains or breeds of camels may be known, it may not be amiss to give a few general hints on camel and hygeene purchase and management.
CHAPTER XII.
HINTS ON HYGEENS AND CAMELS.
The following directions to purchasers of these animals are given by Linant Bey, engineer-in-chief of dykes and bridges to the Viceroy of Egypt, and were translated for the information of the President of the United States of America.
Points in the dromedary.
“To avoid deception in the choice of a dromedary one must be very much of a connoisseur of the animal, for I think it is more difficult to be skilled in dromedaries than in horses. One must have lived with Arabs and their dromedaries to appreciate either the one or the other. It may be conceived, then, how difficult it is to designate clearly what constitutes a good dromedary.
“A dromedary should not be too tall, nor its legs too long, which would give it a gaunt appearance; nor should the chest be too wide nor too heavy.
“The fore-legs should not touch the callosity upon the breast. The two rowels or mullets (molettes) of the fore-feet should be far from touching each other when the animal walks.
“The belly should be round, without being puffy; and the hump should not be too big.
“The neck should be rather wide than narrow, the head well set on, the eye large, and the lips closed.
“In walking the animal should show suppleness in the neck, and have a wavy movement of the head. The more suppleness there is in this motion the easier will be the gait.
“To be highly esteemed a dromedary should not cry when touched; and, when bridled, haltered, or saddled, it should give utterance only to a low grumbling.
“A dromedary should not be taken that has been seriously hurt near the shoulders, where the saddle rests, though it does not indicate disease, but proceeds only from the little care the Arabs give to keeping their saddles in repair. In a female this is less objectionable; for, in giving birth, if her wounds have caused any disease, it is almost always cured. Fine cautery marks on either side of the callosity, on the breast, or on the belly near the navel, indicate always internal, incurable disorders.
“The hind-legs should not be too angular, but rather straight. The hump should not be too much to the front; rather to the rear is better, as then the saddle is more easily adjusted. The hair should not be too short, as then the animal is more easily injured.
“The feet should be small, the nails and the hair round them black rather than white.
“Fawn-coloured dromedaries are more highly prized than those entirely white.
“When mounted, the dromedary should instantly and quickly rise and start off.
“When the dromedary moves, it should be with such spirit that the rider is obliged to hold him in; this supports both. To urge him on kick him on the shoulder with the foot. It is very difficult to find a dromedary uniting in itself all these requisite qualities, and very rarely can such an one, especially if it is a female, be purchased; for the Arabs love their fine-blooded dromedaries as much as they do their horses, and it is only as presents, or else at enormous prices, that the choicest animals can be obtained.
“A first-rate Nomanieh is worth in Cairo from five hundred to six hundred dollars; but those ordinarily met with there sell from one hundred to two hundred dollars.
“The Bichariehs sell for less; good ones—that is to say, such as are for sale—may be had for from sixty to one hundred dollars.
“At nearly for the same prices as for the Bicharieh can be purchased also the other breeds of the Mahazi, Cawarah, and Ababdi. I will remark here that the Bicharieh dromedaries do not carry as heavy burdens as the Nomanieh. These last carry a saddle called ‘gabit,’ fitted with pads, and with saddle-bags termed ‘krourque,’ that hang down on both sides of the saddle and carry the baggage, provisions, &c., of the rider and of the dromedary.
“The Bicharieh carries a wooden saddle, laid over two small pads, which are not fastened to it. This saddle is called ‘kyarpah,’ ‘maraloup,’ &c., &c., according to its shape. Saddle-bags cannot be carried over it, on account of its form; but behind it a small sack of hide called ‘bila,’ in which a little luggage can be packed, may be attached after the manner of a valise or portmanteau.
“Often, in expeditions, a servant or follower rides behind upon the dromedaries of the two breeds. Both riders carry their arms.
“In a word, the Nomanieh generally carries from 200lb. to 230lb.; the Bicharieh, 180lb. At the utmost their burdens are 300lb. and 350lb. A dromedary, well equipped, well ridden, and in good condition, can easily make in a day over suitable ground, level and a little sandy, about ninety miles, that is, between morning and evening; but it cannot keep on at that rate. It can make fifty miles a day for fifteen or twenty days, and for a long journey can be counted upon for that. I have myself travelled upon one ninety miles in eleven hours, and gone twelve miles in forty minutes.”
The carrying power of the camel will depend in great measure on the stock they came of and the climate in which they are employed, the Central Asiatic camel being, as a rule, more vigorous and enduring than that of either Africa or India. The loads of camels will vary greatly with the nature of the work they are employed to perform. Where very short distances under burden have to be travelled, as for instance from the depôts of a town to a camp in the immediate vicinity, a powerful and healthy camel can carry from 1100lb. to 1200lb.; for the march, or when produce or baggage has to be carried any distance, from 300lb. to 400lb. will be found quite heavy enough to admit of regular and continuous performance of carrying duty. We always roughly estimate our weight of stores and equipments at seven camels to the ton; for slow ordinary travelling of about twenty miles per day of from eight to ten hours in duration; for more rapid movements the loads should be proportionately lightened.
Camels and their loads.
The following table of camel burdens made use of in various parts of the world may prove useful to the traveller in many lands:
| COUNTRY. | WEIGHT. | DESCRIPTION OF ANIMAL. | ||
| Algeria, Morocco, Tunis, Tripoli, | From 300lb. to 400lb. | Ordinary camels of the country. | ||
| Egypt, | From 350lb. to 550lb. | Camels of the country. | ||
| Syria, Asia Minor, Turkey in Asia, Persia and Tartary, | From 500lb. to 600lb. | Large-sized bull camels (lōks, as they called)and hybrids (or booghdee). | ||
| Beloochistan, Cabool, Hindoostan, Thibet, Birmah, Mongolia, | From 300lb. to 400lb. | Ordinary breeds. | ||
| Crim-Tartary and the borders of Southern Russia, | From 300lb. to 500lb. | Bactrian. |
Hints on camels.
The age of a camel, like that of a horse or mule, may be judged of by the teeth. It remains without incisor teeth until the termination of the third year of its life, when it has two; at five years old, it will have four; at six years old six incisors; and at eight there will be a full complement—canines and molars.
The condition of the hump is a good index of the general well-doing of the animal, as that structure is the first to fail or diminish from want or overwork.
The food of camels may be said to be found everywhere on the earth’s surface where vegetation, of even the most scanty and unattractive character, is to be found. All is food that comes to tooth with the camel, and when low trees have been scarce, we have often sent a native armed with our hatchet or billhook to climb into a large peepul, neem, or baubul thorn tree, and chop down a cartload or two of branches. These, when dragged with hook-ended sticks to where the camels were picketed, were received with cavernous rumblings and grunts of satisfaction; and the same tree, by the use of the same implement, yielded not unfrequently the supper for the camels and the fuel to cook our own evening meal.
The Arabs generally maintain that the camel should not drink more frequently than once in every three days, although in dry hot weather we have known them drink much more frequently without being apparently the worse for the indulgence. We have on many occasions endeavoured to ascertain the quantity of water taken at each period of thirst-quenching, and the result of our investigations have led us to the conclusion that about five gallons should be allowed as a drink to each camel when he takes in water on the march. The stomachs of the camel, like those of other ruminating animals, are constructed so as to admit of a store of both food and water being laid up in them to meet the demand when other sources of supply fail.
In cases of extreme necessity, and when the preservation of human life depends on the obtainment of water, the supply to be found in the stomach of the camel should not be overlooked or forgotten.
During the Algerian campaign the French made some investigations in order to find out the quantity of water a dead camel’s stomach would contain, and the result was that about 15 pints was the average arrived at. This water, although green and turbid, had no offensive smell; and it was at the time asserted by the Arabs that water of this character required three days to clear itself. This period, however, could rarely, if ever, be allowed to elapse, as three days would probably close the scene of suffering, exhaust the patience of the distressed traveller, or lead him to more natural sources from which to obtain the precious fluid.
In a case of emergency, we should simply pass the water through our pocket filter, which will be described under the head “Water, and the Sap of Plants,” and drink it at once.
Camels, to embark.
The regular purchase, collection, embarkation, and transport of camels has rarely been so carefully and successfully conducted as by the officers appointed by the Government of the United States of America, and the report forwarded to Congress by the officer in charge of the embarkation department will not fail to be of interest and value. He says: “In the first place, the ship is anchored as close as possible to the place of embarkation to save time. The camel boat with the car in it is rowed on shore, and a force of about ten men sent to get the camels in. There is also sent on shore in the boat a good tackle (not very large), a camel harness complete, spare plank, hammer and nails, and about 50 fathoms of 2in. rope, all of which will be of use.
EMBARKATION TACKLE.
“It is requisite to select a place for the boat where she will lie with her bow on a level with the wharf. If this cannot be done, and it is necessary to ‘beach’ her, then a strong bridge made of stout plank, and about 8ft. wide, will have to be constructed, strong enough to bear not only the camel’s weight, but to stand their struggling. This I was obliged to do. The bow of the boat being secured firmly to the wharf or bridge, the harness is placed on the camel, which is led up as close as it will go. If it will walk right into the car, one end of which is placed on the gunwale of the boat, so much the better (in no instance did we find them willing to go without force), but if it will not go in then hook on the tackle to the breaststrap of the harness on the camel; let the men keep a steady pull upon it, and the camel will go in without a hurt, no matter how much he may resist. Four men guide the camel, and keep it in the centre of the planks, and one man leads it by the halter into the car, through which the tackle is led, one block being hooked to the other end of the boat. After the camel is in it is made to lie down, the knees tied round with ropes, a rope across the neck and made fast to the knees, and two or three ropes across the back to keep it down. It is then hoisted on to the camel deck without fright or excitement of any kind.”
The opposite illustration will serve to show how the ropes and tackle are arranged for the purpose of urging a reluctant camel onwards.
PREPARED FOR ROUGH WEATHER.
When the camels were all on board the report goes on as follows:—
“Having taken in all the camels, two days we occupied in fitting to each one its proper harness (for almost every one of them differed in size and form), marking their numbers on the harness, and fitting out each one with brush and currycomb—all of which it is necessary to be done before going to sea. Hayracks, made of large open network, were fitted amidships, extending the whole length of the camel deck. Large bags filled with hay were also placed against the ship’s sides for their haunches to rest against, and two ropes fitted for securing to the harness on each camel.” The above engraving will show the manner in which the camels were secured when a gale of wind or a heavy sea prevailed.
“To enable the camel guard to efficiently watch their charge at night, four large lanterns with reflectors were put up, and lighted every evening at sunset; and, in case of accidents from fire, two large water tubs were kept always full.”
Camel journal.
The American camel journal kept on board the United States ship Supply is so thoroughly practical and useful, that we insert a specimen of its form of construction for the guidance of travellers who may have to perform a voyage with camels newly purchased for an expedition or campaign.
Camel Journal.
| DATE. | HAY. | WATER. | OATS. | PEAS. | MEAL. | MEDICINES. | REMARKS. |
| 18 . | Bales. | Galls. | Bags. | Galls. | lb. | lb. | |
| Jan. 21 | 280lb. | 30 | 2 | — | — | ¼ sulphur | Received on board 6 camels (2 of them males). Washed them and secured them in their stalls. Put sulphur in their water. |
| ” 22 | 220lb. | 40 | 1 | — | — | — | Fitted the harness when required, and rubbed the camels well with curry-combs and brushes. Named the camels and lettered the harness. |
| ” 23 | 1 bale. | 40 | 1 | — | — | — | Refilled the netting with hay, as also the fenders for their behinds. Went round the camels with sulphur ointment, and applied it on all suspicious-looking places. Ceased to issue oats. Littered with hay. |
The treatment of camels when suffering from disease or accident will be given under the head “[Veterinary Surgery].”
CHAPTER XIII.
WATER, AND THE SAP OF PLANTS.
Locality for water.
The whole success of an expedition and the preservation of the lives of those composing it have not unfrequently depended on the obtainment of this precious fluid; and, as its importance to the traveller is vital, so the sources from which it is to be obtained are numerous. Rivers, lakes, springs, and rain pools are the most common and obvious, needing no comment here. Showers of rain often yield a considerable quantity, which may be caught in sails or sheets spread for the purpose, selecting those which are free from the perspiration of men or animals. Deep clefts among rocks and ravines often contain a great deal, and the cliffs by the sea-shore, although there are no rivulets to be discovered, frequently contain cracks and crevices, through which water runs and loses itself in the sand.
The beds of apparently dried-up watercourses should be always explored carefully, as high up as possible, and the stones at the bottom of the deepest pools lifted out, and their resting places examined. A piece of woollen cloth, a sponge, or a bunch of soft moss, will much facilitate the withdrawal of chance finds in such places. Spots of low ground, on which reeds, rushes, or other water plants are found, should be carefully examined, and their depths probed with a strong sharp-pointed stick.
The tracks of wild animals are often valuable guides to water; but careful examination is needed lest the searcher should take the back track, and go from, instead of towards, it. A sharp lookout overhead towards evening will often be rewarded by a sight of the flocks of wild-fowl or other birds winging their way towards the drinking places. Baggage animals and dogs at times show extraordinary instinct in finding pools and springs where they are least expected to exist. We have also seen Indians apparently guided by some singular faculty to its neighbourhood. In most countries some particular kind of tree will be met with generally associated with the presence of water, and growing near it.
Should moisture be discovered a hole should be at once dug by loosening the earth and gravel with the stick, and then clearing out the hole with the hand, a small “well” as deep as the arm is long, may be very rapidly made in this manner: Well hardening the point of the digging stick in the fire will add much to its efficiency, and is much better than a mere pointing with a sharp instrument. Where the soil is of a loose character and the sides of the well likely to fall in, a long bundle of reeds or rushes should be bound together and thrust down. Holes of this kind may be long preserved as drinking places by making up a round ball of slender twigs just sufficiently large to fit the hole, ramming it firmly to the bottom, then placing a bamboo or other hollow tube long enough to reach a couple of feet or so above the surface, and then filling in the hole with earth and pressing the whole well down. The water is thus preserved from evaporation, and can be sucked freely through the tube. At times it will be found to flow up the tube and run over, or a second tube may be put in to blow through, when the water can be caught in any convenient vessel by boring a hole through a bit of bark for the upper end of the tube to fit into, thus forming a shoot for it to run off through, as in the above [illustration].
When horses or cattle have to be watered from a pool or “well” of any size, and the water is any distance below the surface, the old expedient of the lever and post, so common all through Egypt and most Eastern countries, will be found an exceedingly useful one. (See the following full-page [illustration].) When travelling through Central India, where the wells are often very large and deep, we used to find our small brass “lota pot,” which was carried strapped fast to the front of the saddle, with a long coil of whipcord stowed away in it to lower and raise by, of great service.
Drinking troughs for cattle are conveniently made from hollow tree trunks, sheets of bark with the ends nipped up, or by digging a trench in the ground and placing a piece of canvas or an indiarubber ground sheet in it. In watering cattle from contrivances of this kind two separate herds should be formed, consisting of those which have to drink and those which have drunk, letting them up one at a time, and keeping back the rest. Much confusion and irregularity are thus avoided, and you are sure that each animal has had its share.
Water, to find.
We can only give a few general hints on searching for water. Perhaps the surest way is if there are natives in the country to make friends of them, not by hurriedly and lavishly forcing upon them presents—costly, it may be, to the giver, but valueless to them—but by quietly waiting to see what they value, and giving it in moderate quantities, as if the donor knew its worth as well as they. Half a stick of tobacco, a short pipe, a sixpenny knife, or cotton handkerchief, blue spotted with white, or a few strings of beads of the kind they value—generally white, red, blue, or black opaque seed beads—will gain their good will better than useless tinsel or gewgaws of ten times the cost; while a Dutch brass-barrelled tinder-box, with flint and steel, value 1s. or 1s. 6d., becomes far in the interior an article of such value that it ought not to be given except as a reward for real service. Extravagant liberality will only be attributed to fear, more especially if haste accompanies it; therefore, it is wise to spend a little time before making even the preliminary offer of a pipeful of tobacco, and more before giving the real present and making known what is desired in return. But in reality the traveller will save time, and when he does ask for water the native will bring him a supply, or point out where to obtain it; whereas, were he to open the negotiations by hurriedly demanding information, the natives would become suspicious of his motive, and would in the first instance tell him a lie in order to throw him off the scent and gain time to discover his supposed intentions.
In the absence of native guides, converging footpaths of men or animals will probably lead to a pool. Most antelopes drink every day, but this is not the case with the gemsbok or the eland, the last of which never drinks, or, if it ever does, the instances are quite exceptional.
As before stated, the flight of birds morning and evening should also be watched, but this, however, is not always an infallible sign, as we have seen cockatoos drinking water so black that we could not use it; but when, as we have also seen, even the parrots desert an island before sunset it becomes tolerably certain that no water will be found upon it.
Depressions on the ground should be followed, and additional freshness of vegetation carefully sought for. An iron ramrod may be thrust into the ground when there is any chance of dampness below the surface, and the traveller should make himself acquainted with the peculiar plants of the country which grow near the water. The pandanus, or screw pine of Australia, is one of these.
In savage countries the labour of seeking and digging for water falls principally on the women, who usually make use of a fire-hardened grubbing stick for working a hole in the ground. The stick is loaded with a perforated stone of several pounds weight to give additional force to each stroke, and as the soil is loosened it is cleared out by the insertion of the hand and arm, using the bent fingers as a scoop. Use is also made of a stick split to about 12in. or 15in. from the end, and this, when worked down into soft soil, catches and brings up a quantity in the cleft, and this being shaken out upon one side the stick is again clear and fit to bring up more. A bamboo cane, with the end split up into several filaments, is used for the same purpose by the natives of India.
Where only salt or saline water is to be obtained recourse may be had to distillation, which may serve, as it has done in many well-authenticated cases, to at least save the lives of the human beings and dogs of a party. Little hope could, however, be entertained of being enabled by this means to supply the wants of cattle or horses.
Makeshift still.
A “still” may be very easily made from any vessel which will stand fire, such as one of the copper water barrels hereafter described, or even a common cooking pot and a gun barrel (single or double), a hollow bamboo with the knots removed, or, in fact, any hollow tube. If a pot is used, a stout heavy wooden cover must be fitted to it, through which two holes are to be cut—one at the side for the barrel or tube, and the other a bung-hole at the top, which must have a stopper fitted securely to it, and is used to introduce the water as it becomes exhausted. This saves the trouble of removing the cover, and thus disturbing the other arrangements. The annexed illustration will serve to explain the nature of a contrivance of this kind. The boat-shaped box resting on the forked sticks is made of bark, pinned at the ends with wooden pins. This is filled with a couple of woollen blankets or a quantity of moss, or even seaweed. The barrel passes directly through the centre, and is kept cold by constantly throwing cold water over it. The fresh water runs out through the hole from which the nipple is unscrewed, and is caught in any suitable vessel; and the waste salt water through holes bored in the bark for the purpose. Many modifications of this plan might, of course, be had recourse to, but this will be found about as convenient as any. Barrels, or hooped vessels of any kind, are about the very worst that can be taken into a wild country, as the hoops come off as the wood shrinks, causing leaks and endless trouble.
Copper water flasks.
For carrying water on the backs of animals a pair of thin sheet copper flasks (20in. long, 12in. broad, and 8in. thick) will be found exceedingly convenient. These should have broad and strong loops soldered on to pass leather straps and lashings through, and in using water it should be taken alternately to preserve an even balance. The bung-holes should be at the ends and have a stout raised ring round them, through which a hole is drilled; through this a pin is run, passing through a corresponding hole in the wooden stopper, thus keeping it secure. These flasks, when made, should be thoroughly tinned inside. They are useful for a number of purposes. Water can be boiled in them as well as carried. They can, on an emergency, be converted into a “still,” as before stated, and when corked up air-tight are a great support to a raft. One at each end of an outrigger pole renders the upsetting of a canoe or float log next to impossible. No knocking about hurts them, and should at any time a leak be discovered a bit of solder puts the matter to rights at once.
Water skins and pails.
Next in value to flasks, perhaps, come leather mussacks, of the description used in the East. They can be made of any size, and, when injured or pricked, as they sometimes are by sharp sticks or thirsty niggers, they are readily repaired for the time by pinching up a piece of leather at the orifice and passing a sharp-pointed stick through, over which a clove hitch (see “[Knots and Hitches]”) may be secured. A patch may be sewn on when there is time to do it, just as a cobbler mends a shoe. But bear in mind that, instead of the ordinary thread or hempen cord used in mending or making leather utensils or articles in this country, a dry carefully-cut leather thong should be used instead, as when once in place it swells from the action of the water on it, and completely fills the holes through which it has been passed, thereby preventing leakage.
In Mongolia they use a very useful pail or bucket for carrying water. It has a head fixed into it much like that of an ordinary barrel, and there are two openings or bung-holes; one tolerably large on one side, just below the edge of the head, and another through the head itself. In these orifices wooden plugs or stoppers are fitted, and, when water is to be poured out, the stopper in the head is just eased like the vent peg of a cask, so that air may be admitted; when the stopper is taken out the larger hole freely discharges the water, which would not run without the vent-peg arrangement.
During the year 1865, when we had entered the Victoria River, North Australia, and the Tom Tough was still drifting, in daily danger of breaking up upon the sand-banks, we had become tired of carrying water overland from distant pools to supply 140 sheep; and, considering that if our inflatable boat (p. 48) would hold air to float upon the water she would also hold fresh water to float in salt, we determined to seek supplies farther up the river; and putting the four sections into the schooner’s gig, we sailed or pulled alternately thirty or forty miles up the river, till the entire cessation of the mangroves and the appearance of the pandanus, or screw pine, upon the banks and islands showed that we were above the influence of the tide and in a stream of permanently fresh water.
Canoe water-transport.
We halted at Palm Island, and, choosing a place where the water was a little more than knee deep, we threw the inflatable sections overboard, and, fixing the bellows in the valves, held them beneath the surface and pumped water into them, just as we would have pumped air had we required them for boats. We did not quite fill them with water, but forced in a little air to give them buoyancy, and, at the same time, to preserve their shape. In towing them, however, the pressure of the water caused the foremost ends to assume a wedge-like form, while the water and air, being forced aft, carried all the buoyancy thither, and they went down head-foremost. We remedied this by cutting a long spar and lashing them to it, making fast also an indiarubber mattress to the parts most liable to go down.
Tedious enough was our voyage down the river. To make anything like speed with such a drag astern of the boat was impossible, either with oars or sails; and during the heat of the day we found the cement of the bags beginning to soften and give way. They had been warranted to stand 170°; but, testing them by the thermometer, the internal heat was only 120°. We gathered up the defective part, knotted it with a bit of twine, and laced the bag along the gunwale of our boat—keeping her in trim by lacing its fellow on the other side—leaving only one pair to be towed astern. The extensive shallows, where for half a mile on a stretch the river percolated through rather than flowed over broad banks of angularly-broken stones, caused us considerable labour and anxiety lest some sharper point than usual should pierce our bags and deprive us of the fruit of all our toil. We found, however, that they yielded kindly to the varying pressure; and we rolled them, one by one, over the successive reaches—working for hours together through the night, and frequently in pools in which we saw alligators, and sometimes sharks of considerable size.
Our week’s work, however, toilsome as it was, resulted in a supply of 600 or 800 gallons of fresh water, tasting somewhat of indiarubber, but still available for the sheep. This supply we could have obtained in no other manner.
Ships’ water-bags.
Water-bags for ship use may be made of stout No. 1 canvas. They should be of oblong form, about 2ft. long by 18in. wide. They should be in two thicknesses—the inside or lining being kept perfectly clean, and the outer one previously oiled with good boiled linseed oil and allowed to dry before it is made up, so as to keep the inner canvas as free from taint as possible. Generally the canvas is wetted with salt water, and then hung up till it is wind dry, or just so damp that no water will drip from it. It is then considered to be capable of absorbing just so much oil as will suffice to render it waterproof without clogging it or making it unpleasant to handle when it is dry. A sufficiently stout rope should be stitched round the seam of the bag; beckets or loops should be left in it at the four corners for convenience of handling; and a wooden tube or stopper should be inserted, and firmly seized in with small cord at one corner.
These bags are most convenient when a supply of water is needed on any emergency, especially if the landing be difficult or dangerous, or the inhabitants hostile. They occupy no room in the boat while empty. The oarsman may pull in unencumbered through the surf; or, if it is necessary to fight, the riflemen may use their weapons. When the landing is effected each carrier may seize his bag, sling it over his shoulder with a lanyard, and experience no hindrance until he actually fills it, when, of course, the weight of the water will become a burden. The bags will lie flat in the boat’s bottom, accommodating their form to that of the space they occupy. If it is necessary to carry sail they serve as ballast; and even were the boat to fill, they would not sink her, but, as fresh water is of somewhat less specific gravity than salt, would, if secured by bottom boards laid over them and beneath the thwarts, help to keep her up; and on this account they would form the most eligible ballast for boats on separate service, and even for pleasure boats on excursions, where they might not be in actual need of a large supply of fresh water.
Calabashes, horns, and egg-shells.
Cattle horns serve in South Africa for powder-flasks or water vessels, some, especially among the Bechuana tribes, being 13ft. from tip to tip, and capable of containing several gallons each; while the Hottentots use them to hold honey beer, and the Abyssinians for “tedge” or mead. A calabash, or gourd, is used by most of the natives of South Africa, as well as many other countries, as a water vessel. It is light, water-tight, not very easily broken, and even if an unfortunate fracture should take place the natives repair it by boring holes on either side the crack, pointing them diagonally towards each other, so that, by giving a slight turn to the point of the sinew used for thread, they either pass it through the next hole or bring it so near that it may be caught, crochet fashion, by a fine thorn or a crook-pointed needle. The leakage is stopped by a little grease and clay rubbed into the holes. A calabash with a long neck may be cut so as to form a spoon or ladle. Others of smaller size are used as snuff-boxes, or receptacles for many trifles; and in some parts of Turkey calabashes are used for powder flasks. An ostrich’s egg-shell with a net worked tightly round it makes a good water-bottle.
Bladders and paunches.
The bladders, or paunches, of slain animals are very generally used as water vessels. If an animal has drunk recently water may be found in its stomach. We have quenched our thirst with the milk of a blesbok doe as she lay dead, though not yet cold, upon the plain.
We have often seen our followers, when a buffalo or other animal has been killed, take out the paunch, shake out its contents, and hasten with it to the nearest stream, where, with barely a preparatory rinsing, they would fill it with water quite clean enough for their idea of culinary operation; and, calling on the nearest native resident, would invite him to bring his pots with him and assist in cooking the banquet.
Sometimes the paunch scraped thin is suspended by thongs passed through like purse strings. Occasionally two mimosa thorns, which are not unfrequently 4in. or 5in. long, or a couple of skewers, are thrust through and the cord tightened round under them. If a small hole should be found, it may be stopped by putting a somewhat larger pebble upon the place, gathering the skin around it, and then tying the neck firmly with a cord; or the edges may be skewered together with a thorn, and the neck bound tightly with cord.
When a rhinoceros has fallen we have seen the Damara women carefully extract the long intestines, distend them with air, and bring them home coiled round their bodies, to be used thereafter as water vessels.
Waterproof baskets.
The Kafirs on the frontier of the Cape Colony plait baskets of so fine a texture that they employ them for holding milk and even water; but it is better that they should become saturated with the first before they are used for the latter, as, though they swell while wet and are perfectly tight, pure water would dry out with the heat from the fibre of an empty basket, and the consequent shrinking of the texture would make it leaky.
We have seen most elegant and serviceable baskets made in Timor of the leaves of the fan palm. The ends of all the spreading leaflets are gathered together in a point, and a cord of twisted fibre is passed as a handle from this point to the stump of the footstalk. A pair of these baskets, holding two or three gallons each, are slung to the ends of a bamboo, and the bearer taking this across his shoulder carries water, or sometimes palm juice, about the town. The latter refreshing beverage is sold at a doit per cup; the cup itself being made of a smaller palm leaf, and also purchasable for a doit or two.
At Walvisch Bay, in South-West Africa, where rain falls perhaps once in two years, and the river runs with fresh water once in ten, there is a small water hole called Sand Fountain. This is about four miles from the landing place, and the water was, and perhaps still is, brought by two or more Hottentots dragging a cask fitted up like a garden roller, with the pivots set firmly into stout cross-pieces nailed or screwed upon each end of the cask.
Shafts of wood, with holes bored in them to fit upon the pivots, may be used as means of traction, or, if more convenient, ropes with thimbles or grummets turned in the ends for the same purpose; but in this case the trek ropes should be kept apart by a horizontal bar that they may not chafe upon the chine of the cask. It will also be advantageous to fit on felloe-pieces, near each end, so as to form a substitute for wheels, on which the cask may travel, and this will save a great deal of wear and tear should the country be rough or stony.
A larger cask mounted on the after wheels of a waggon, and fitted with chocks on a frame lying on the axle is useful.
Camp filter.
Filtering bags can be made of woollen or other cloth. An excellent and convenient camp filter is thus made: Take a wooden box or barrel, long and deep. Bore a number of holes in the bottom, fasten in a blanket bag, and then place a layer of grass, small twigs, or moss on the bottom, over the holes; then a layer of sand; then a thick bed of coarse lumps of charcoal; then fresh layers of grass or moss, until the box or barrel is about half filled. Then fashion a false head or cover, making it just large enough to move up and down the cask or box freely; burn or bore a number of holes in it, and, when fitted in, press it firmly down on the arrangement below, and drive a few nails in above to keep it from rising. When this contrivance is partially sunk in a pond or lake the water will ascend to the upper compartment above the false head, from which it can be dipped or drawn for use.
Another useful barrel filter can be made by knocking both the heads out of a small cask, boring it full of gimlet holes, placing it on a thick layer of charcoal and pebbles in a larger cask, also bored full of holes, and then filling in all the space between the outer and inner barrels with the mixture, as shown in the above illustration.
The following is an expedient easily extemporised and frequently used in damp soils, where water is scarce. A quantity of grass is tied up in a wisp, or plaited into a bag; two reeds are inserted in this—one as a suction tube, and the other to admit air; and the apparatus is buried wherever a sufficiency of moisture is likely to permeate the soil.
The annexed illustration shows a very common expedient. Suppose the waters of a river to be excessively turbid: a well may be dug in the bank at any convenient distance, and the water that collects in it will at least be much clearer than that of the river. Of course none of these modes will correct chemical impurity.
Hints on springs.
We have heard it said that even sea-water by filtration through a considerable mass of sand will lose much of its saltness and become drinkable, and that, by digging wells at some distance from the margin of the beach, it may be obtained with a very small amount of brackishness. We should like to hear a well-authenticated instance of this, in which there could be no doubt that the sea-water had been thus purified, and that the diggers had not in fact struck upon a stratum moistened by the inland drainage, and rendered more or less brackish by meeting with the sea-water.
We have known a remarkable instance of the discovery of a spring of fresh water in the immediate vicinity of the salt. In 1855, while attached to the North-Australian Expedition, we had great difficulty in supplying the sheep carried by our schooner, Tom Tough, with water. We made one trip up the Victoria River, with indiarubber bags—and this we purpose to notice more fully under its proper heading—and searched the country on either side the river in all directions. We found many little pools in shady hollows of rock, or of alluvial soil, marking the course the rivulets would take in the rainy season, and many of them decked with waterlilies. But these were too distant to be of service to us, and we again examined the country in our vicinity. In one cleft of rock we found a pint or two of water, and with a long twig and the broken shell of a gouty stem fruit we drew up enough to allay our thirst; but after traversing the arid ridges for hours we were returning unsuccessfully, when, passing at half-tide along the muddy margin of the river where a bold projecting headland forbade us any other path, Mr. Gregory noticed a little water collected in a hollow of the mud around a boulder. We thought at first it was only the drainage of the retiring tide, but on tasting it, we coincided in his opinion that it was not salt water. We set to work with our hands and cleared away the mud and brackish slime till, having reached a stratum too hard for our fingers’ ends, we rested, and soon had the satisfaction of seeing a small threadlike streamlet of clear water forcing its way through the muddy sediment. In a few minutes nearly half a pint of fresh water had collected, and, having satisfied ourselves of the value of our discovery, we returned to our schooner, and, putting a couple of puncheons in the long boat, waited till the turn of the next tide, and dropped down with the ebb to the headland. Our well was not yet uncovered, but we began to work as soon as the water fell below our knees, greatly to the astonishment of our Dutch sailor, who could hardly find terms strong enough to express it. “Allamagtig,” said he over and over again, “have I lived so long in this world that I must come to dig for fresh water underneath the salt!”
We made a fire on the uncovered boulder to give us light, at no small risk of injury from the splitting off of heated fragments; and, removing as many large stones as we could, cleared out a spring of perfectly pure fresh water, abundant enough to fill both our puncheons before the tide again rose high enough to cover it. Nor was this a transient phenomenon, for the next year, before we left the river, we again cleared out the “Gregory” well and filled all the casks of our vessel for her voyage. The sketch represents very nearly the locality in question; the high-water level is shown by the upper horizontal line, and the half-tide by the lower one, and that of the well is observable between them.
A makeshift filter can be made as follows: A small reed is inserted into a walnut shell, or any other receptacle of about the same size, pierced with small holes, and packed, not too tightly, with hemp, cotton, coir sponge, or other porous material; it is then placed in the shell of a cocoa-nut, an ostrich’s egg, or tin pannikin of any kind, and the interval between the two moderately packed with charcoal made either from wood or, still better, bones, with any fibrous material, and a mixture of sand or gravel. This is plunged beneath the water, and the tube being taken into the mouth, a little suction does all the rest. The shank or wing-bone of a crane, a stork, or albatross, may be used as a tube in the same manner.
The Bushmen of South Africa always carry one or more suction reeds in the quiver with their arrows, and, whenever the water is surrounded by banks so steep that the lips cannot conveniently reach the surface, lie down and suck the water through the tube. When there is only damp soil they dig a hole, and, wrapping up the end of the reed in a tuft of grass, they bury it, and suck the water that filters through. But as the Bushwoman fills the ostrich’s egg-shells, to be carried away for home consumption, she takes another reed, or often merely a bit of grass or straw, as a conductor, and spirts the water along it from the other side of her mouth into the shell. The orifice is then plugged with a wisp of grass; and, a dozen or more of the shells being packed in a net, she takes them on her back and marches, perhaps, many a mile to deposit them wherever the men require water.
Grass filters.
Sometimes the Bushmen take a good handful of grass, and lash it very tightly up at the taper end, leaving the butt spreading and at liberty; in fact, they tie it on exactly the opposite principle to that on which a broom or birch rod is made. They dip the large end into the muddy pool, and then allow the water to drip from the taper end into their mouths if they have no other vessel at hand to receive it. Often, when the mud is composed mainly of vegetable matter, and is too light to separate and fall to the bottom of a pannikin as sediment, this is about the best way of clearing it.
Many plants, like the aloe in South Africa, or others whose leaves point upward and have a cup-shaped cavity at their junction with the stalk, retain a considerable quantity of water after rains; and some seem to have the power of imbibing moisture from the air, even though no rain falls.
Rain-water is collected at sea by spreading the ship’s awnings, and hanging buckets under them by means of sail hooks; these, of course, depress that part of the canvas to which they are hooked on; the water flows towards it, and runs down the lanyard into the bucket.
In situations where a good supply of reeds is to be obtained a tolerably effective contrivance for water-clearing may be made as follows: Cut enough reeds to form a bundle as large as a six-gallon barrel; lay them evenly, with their heads one way and their cut ends the other. Now cut three long slender poles or rods; form them into hoops by lashing their ends with cord, raw hide, or a few creepers, and then secure them round the bundle of reeds, as shown in the following [illustration]. The reed cylinder, if properly made, should be firm, compact, and capable of standing alone like a cask. It should now have a bowl-shaped depression cut in its centre, and be placed in the foul water, and secured there by driving a stout rough pole down through the centre of the depression. The bottom of the reed cylinder may or may not touch the bottom. In deep water it remains hung, or, rather, impaled on the pole in such a way that about 6in. of the cut ends of the reeds are above the surface. The water will quickly fill the depression, out of which it may be dipped with a cup or other vessel.
The Indian water-carriers spread a piece of thick native cloth over the mouth of an earthen chatty pot, and then pour the tank water on it until the vessel is full, when the contents are transferred to the leather “mussac,” or water-bag. We have often had recourse to this expedient on a small scale, and made use of our brass lota pot, with a double silk handkerchief spread over its mouth, to strain off impurities.
Clearing nut.
Turbid water is cleared to some extent by placing a piece of common alum in it. A lump the size of a common nutmeg will be found sufficient to throw down a heavy sediment from a pailful of foul water. In India a species of nut or seed is made use of in the same way, and appears to act much in the same manner, although from different chemical affinities. In speaking of this water-clearing nut, the late Sir Emerson Tennent, in his admirable work on Ceylon, says: “To correct the impurity of the tank water when intended for their own use, the natives employ a horny seed (the production of a species of ‘strychnos’) about the size of a coffee bean, called by the Tamils ‘tettan kotta,’ and by the Singhalese ‘ingini’ (Strychnos potatorum). This they rub round the inside of the unglazed earthen chatty in which the muddy water is held till about one-half the seed is ground off, which, mingling with the water, forms with it a delicate mucilage. In the course of a few minutes the impure particles, being seized by this, descend, and, on their subsidence, form an apparently viscid sediment at the bottom, whilst the clear fluid remains at the top; and, although not altogether bright, is sufficiently pure for ordinary purposes. The curious and valuable plant S. potatorum, or the ‘clearing nut bush’ is abundant in the woods and mountains of the East Indies. It bears a shining fruit, which becomes black as it ripens. The trinal name is derived from the use which is made of the seeds, which, when dried, are sold by the native dealers in the bazaars expressly for the purpose of purifying turbid water.” This plant (Strychnos St. Ignatii, or St. Ignatius’s bean) is a climbing shrub without tendrils, bearing long drooping white flowers, which have the perfume of jasmine. The species is identical with the Ignatia amara of Linnæus. It is a native of Cochin-China and the Philippines, as well as of India proper.
Patent filter.
We, a short time since, invented and patented a small portable filter, which can be carried either in the breast pocket or holster. Its mode of use will be understood on reference to the [illustration]. Place the end of the tube (A) firmly in the pipe (B); fix the cover securely on the cup, and then thrust it with the hand beneath the surface of the foul water. Hold the mouthpiece (C) between the lips, and draw the air by sucking from the interior of the flask until the water flows freely into the mouth. If a draught of water is required for immediate use, the cover may be now removed, when the cup will be found full. If a larger quantity of water is needed, one or more flasks may be placed in an erect position in a tub or pail of water, set in action as before directed, and allowed to run until the water in the tub has reached the level of the flasks, which will not require holding under water when once filled by exhausting the air contained in them. To renew or cleanse the packing, which may consist of sponge, woollen cloth, flannel, wild cotton, or fine moss, unscrew the cover of the packing box within the cover, when it can be easily withdrawn and replaced. The tube, when not in use, is carried, coiled up, within the flask, which, on an emergency, may be made use of for boiling water, tea, soup, eggs, or meat. We have had the honour of exhibiting this simple but useful contrivance at meetings of the members of both the Royal United Service Institution and the Royal Society.
We have now applied the same principle to stoppers for bottles, or any other vessels, so that a common beer or sodawater bottle can be instantly converted into a syphon filter, as shown in the annexed illustration.
By the use of our invention we effectually get rid of the ova and larvæ of water insects, and the thousand and one living and dead impurities which are so abundant in the lakes, streams, and ponds of tropical countries. To get into the water contained in the flask or bottle, they would first have to pass through metal grating No. 1; then through the pores of closely-impacted sponge, woollen, or fine fibrous matter; and, lastly, through another grating, or strainer No. 2.
There is scarcely any possibility of foreign substances of any kind passing through the stuffing box, so that water, unless chemically tainted or poisoned by mineral solutions, can be rendered fit for use in two or three minutes by the use of either the metal flask or stopper.
We extemporised a camp filter in the Crimea by knocking out the bottom of a common claret bottle, turning it large end upwards, fastening a piece of doubled rag over the orifice intended for the cork, stuffing the neck tightly with sponge and sand in alternate layers, hanging it up with twine over another bottle, and then filling it with the by-no-means clear fluid brought to the tents by the water carriers.
Ice, even when taken from a very dirty puddle, is comparatively pure, as in freezing most of the impurities are set free.
Very impure water from stagnant pools should, before use, be boiled in the camp-kettle with a good netful of charcoal. This process not only tends much to purify it, but kills all water insects, their ova, and the legions of animalculæ which inhabit the pools of the tropics.
In some parts of the world, Central India for example, the waters in certain wells, although perfectly bright and clear, is so highly charged with saline matter as to be perfectly undrinkable.
INDIAN WELL.
Water raising.
The accompanying full-page illustration represents one of the modes by which ox-power is, in the East, brought to bear on water raising. The greater number of the extensive tracks of irrigated land devoted to the growth of the opium poppy, the cotton plant, and the various native grains are watered by its aid. The form of the water-bag, or bucket, differs somewhat in particular localities. By some makers it is formed from tanned hides fastened to an iron frame; by others, the hides are merely tanned (according to directions given further on), spread open at the top, and tapered off to a long narrow open bag at the end. To explain the use of this contrivance, we will suppose that the bag is at the bottom of the well, at the end of the well rope and point guide, which latter cord is fastened to the taper end or delivery mouth of the bag. Now this guide being shorter than the main well rope, on which all the strain falls, draws up the tapered point like a doubled coat-sleeve above the level of the bag’s mouth. At a signal (usually a shrill yell) from the well boy, the well-trained ox walks away down an inclined plane, hauling on the main well rope, which works over a smooth round stick fitted above the well, whilst the point guide rope works over another fitted at the side. Now it will be seen that as the great leather sack, with its doubled-up sleeve bottom, reaches the mouth of the well, the point guide will draw the cuff of the sleeve out over the round stick, which will then be considerably lower than the mouth of the bag, or bucket; all the water will then gush out through the sleeve, which will be as the small end of an enormous funnel. The water thus poured out is usually received in a sort of pond made from pieces of matting filled with earth. A large hollow tree trunk is then fitted to one side, or the end, for the water to flow through into the main canal of the system of irrigation.
In Tartary, water is raised in much the same manner; but a man on horseback makes the line fast to his girth or saddle, and gallops from the well up to a mark previously made at a proper distance from the well, and which should be a trifle more than the actual depth from which the water is to be raised.
In almost all countries, from the earliest times to the present, levers, heavily weighted on the shorter arm, and with a bucket attached to the longer, have been used for raising water from deep wells. The pictorial records of Ancient Egypt attest the antiquity of this method. The shadoof of modern Egypt is the same, and we have seen it used both in that country and on the remotest mission stations in Southern Africa. The mode of applying it will be seen by a glance at our full-page engraving. The water raised by the shadoof is commonly used for irrigation. We, however, found it very valuable during the Crimean war for raising water for both men and horses. When used among the crops, the water is received sometimes in a reservoir with embankments, guarded by matting, and at others, into troughs which lead direct to the main irrigating channel, from which smaller furrows lead off to every part of the field. These are stopped with lumps of clay or earth, and when the water is required in any direction, the irrigator removes the obstruction by thrusting his toes beneath and lifting it out of the way.
In Egypt, India, and other countries, wheels and machines, more or less elaborate, are used for lifting water. There must be, for this purpose, at least one vertical wheel of sufficient diameter to carry an endless band, on which are fastened a series of buckets, in such a manner that they will retain very nearly their perpendicular position, until they surmount the highest portion of the circumference of the wheel, and will then “tip” and discharge the water into a trough or reservoir. These buckets may be wooden bowls, earthen chatty pots, bags of leather or canvas, joints of bamboo, or anything that is moderately water-tight; but, of course, the less leakage there is the better. The band should run round a similar wheel the axle of which is nearly level with the water, so that the band is kept tight and the buckets forced beneath the surface; but this may be dispensed with if the band and upper wheel are sufficiently rough, or if there be studs or points to catch the full buckets and prevent their slipping. The wheel may be turned either by a crank, by manual labour, or oxen or other animals may be employed. In this latter case there may be another larger wheel or drum upon the same axle, and several turns of rope being taken over it, the ox may be driven away, unwinding it as he goes; or an endless screw, sloping at an angle of 45°, may be cut upon the axle, while a similar one working in it is cut upon a vertical shaft. Or cogged wheels of the same angle (as shown in our figure) may be used; the vertical pillar will then be turned by an ox yoked to a cross-bar and walking round it in a circular path; but it will be necessary that the discharging trough should pass beneath a little bridge in this path, and that the communication with the water to be drawn up should either be by a well within the circle, or by a channel to the river passing under a similar bridge. The stancheons of the frame which supports the vertical bar must stand outside and well clear of the path.
We give, also, an example of a box pump. Four deals or boards, of any length or breadth, are nailed together, but their lower ends for about a foot or more should be left a little wider than the rest of the length; two wheels of nearly equal diameter should be fixed, one with part of its circumference below the water, and the other somewhat higher than it is requisite to raise it; an endless band of canvas or other material must pass round both wheels, and one side of it through the trough. On this band must be fastened by one edge a number of boards or floats of such size as nearly to fill the inner diameter of the trough, without being so tight as to stick in any part of it; a hole should be bored in the centre of each, and a small line run through and knotted, so as to keep the floats always at right angles to the band. There should be a spout near the top of the trough, to lead the water off in any required direction. Fig. 2 on the same illustration shows part of an endless band, with pockets or bags stitched on it; these may be of almost any stout material of tolerably close fibre—No. 1 canvas would answer very well. They would discharge the water over the wheel into a reservoir, and no tube, as in Fig. 1, would be needed.
We give, also, an example of wheels driven by water power over and undershot. It would be superfluous to mark these with distinctive figures. In the first the water is conveyed by a pipe or trough, and allowed to fall upon the wheel into buckets or receptacles formed in its periphery by fixing boards across between the two rims, at such angles as are indicated by the dotted lines, which may be taken to represent the heads of the nails driven into their edges; and thus they will retain water until, by the revolution of the wheel, they have sunk so far as to be below the level of the axle, when they allow the water to escape, and come up light and empty on the other side. Some of these wheels are as much as 30ft. or more in diameter; indeed, the larger they are, the greater is the leverage obtained from a given amount of water; and, the wheel once set in motion, the power thus gained may be applied by connecting gear to any mechanical purpose.
The “undershot” simply has boards or floats fixed across it with their edges coinciding with the lines of the spokes. Indeed, if a paddle steamer were anchored in a tideway, and her wheels disconnected and allowed to revolve with the force of the tide, they would furnish a good example of the undershot wheel; and the paddle of a wrecked steamer would be better than anything a colonist with scant appliances could make for the purpose.
Still, with a few tools and a moderate share of ingenuity very fair makeshift water-wheels may be constructed in situations where they may be found most valuable. We have, when among the Tartars, seen them erect a small wooden hut over a narrow rapid mountain stream, leave a sort of trap in the floor, fix in some rough forked tree trunks and beams, and on them mount a little water-wheel made of hewn planks and bars treenailed together on the double-cross system, like that adopted in building up the wheel a in the illustration on p. 511, which is supposed to be erected for mining pumps, and is fed by a two-plank shoot. The Tartar wheels were invariably undershot, like that at B, and were used for setting in motion the trip hammers used in fulling their coarse native woollen.
In the beautiful valley of the Kowie River, a few miles below Grahamstown, we saw a rather ingenious application of wind power to a horizontal wheel. The principle will be best shown by calling to the reader’s memory the well known nautical toy which consists of four or more cutters, or fore and aft rigged vessels, sailing in a circle on a mast-head or flag-staff. In the fore and aft sails the foremost leach, or edge, is attached by rings, or otherwise, to the mast or stay of the respective sail, and is stretched tight, while the after leach is left more or less free, according as the sheet is hauled in or eased off. In consequence of this when the vessel is before the wind the sails fill, but as their surface catches it obliquely they do not exert their full force till the vessel receives the wind upon her quarter. When the wind is “a-beam,” or blowing across her at right angles, the sails are still helping her forward, and continue to do so, even when her head comes up so near as just not to shake the wind out of them. When this happens, the sails lose their power, as they present only their foremost edge to the wind, and not a broad surface like those of a square-rigged ship when she is taken aback. (We will therefore suppose four cutters, a, b, c, d.) The cutter a is before the wind, b has the wind somewhat on the quarter, while c, having “come up” several points, is now nearly head to wind with her sails shaking, and d has taken the wind on the other tack. Thus, there are always three vessels whose sails are helping them round in one direction, while the fourth, for the moment that she is in the “wind’s eye,” is powerless to resist them.
This power can be applied to a large horizontal wheel. There should be two wheels, one 18in. or 2ft. above the other; they are made as light as possible, and each has a smaller rim or felloe, say 18in., within the other. The sails are in this instance flat boards, with a dowel left on each end for a hinge. These dowels work in holes in the upper and lower spokes, midway between the inner and outer felloes. It will be seen that the sails marked will receive the wind on one side until, coming so far before it that they “jibe,” they assume the position of those which receive it on the other. When they come up to the wind on the other side the wheel they present their hinged edge to the wind, and shift like the sails of cutter c, but without shaking. The best angle for them to make is 22½° on either side the central line, and this is also the angle at which the sails of a windmill should present their surfaces.
Well sinking.
The explorer, or settler, will not unfrequently have to sink wells for the obtainment of water for himself and his animals. It will often happen that Nature has commenced the formation of a well, which merely requires the labours of man to complete. The crowbar and pick will, in such cases, very quickly enable the traveller to deepen it sufficiently to meet his temporary needs. Where a long-continued residence is intended, and a regular and continuous supply of water is required, apart from that obtained from rivers or lakes, wells of greater or less depth, according to the nature of the ground and water supply, must be undertaken.
The Indians manage to construct walled wells of great depth in loose sandy soil in the following ingenious manner: They first mark a circle, the size of the intended well, on the earth. They then dig a groove, or trench, of the width of the intended thickness of the lining wall of the well, much as our masons sink a foundation for a house. They now proceed to build a circle of masonry in the groove, and carry it up to a few feet in height above the surface. Other Indians now get inside the wall, and, with short-handled hoes and fire-hardened sticks, dig away the sand from beneath the foundation of the wall round the entire circle. As the sand is loosened and dug out, it is taken up in cane baskets and thrown outside. As the wall sinks into the earth by being undermined, it is constantly added to by building above until the required depth is reached.
The Chinese sink very narrow and deep wells by the use of a kind of jumper, or boring bit. This is hung suspended from the end of a long bamboo spring beam, which is constantly worked up and down, thus causing the bit to constantly drop and pick, so to speak, on one spot. The bit is hollow, and when it becomes full of sludge produced by its incessant tapping, it is withdrawn from the hole, cleared out, and entered again. A little water added from time to time much assists the operation, and tends to keep the bit from becoming heated. As it will be seen this method, although very useful as a makeshift, is tedious to a degree.
Much fear was entertained at the commencement of the Abyssinian war that there would be a great scarcity of water in consequence of the comparatively limited number of wells and indifferent quality of the water to be found in that portion of the country over which our troops had to march shortly after their arrival; and there is little doubt but that serious inconvenience, if no worse, would have been experienced, had not a contrivance, known as the “American tube well-borer,” the invention of Mr. Norton, been brought to the notice of the Government authorities. The wells formed by these deeply-penetrating sets of tubes were found to supply water freely and expeditiously in that country. How far the perforated end of the tube would be effective, if driven through clay, we have had no means of ascertaining; but we are of opinion that for reaching deeply-buried water-yielding deposits of ordinary character the tube-borer will be found most valuable. Its action is simplicity itself.
The foregoing illustration represents the contrivance fixed on the ground and ready for use. B, B, B are the legs of a triangle, C is the striking point for the monkey (D), which is raised by the pulley ropes (E, E) until it reaches the head of the triangle when it is allowed to fall on C, which is secured to the joint of tube F, which, having a sharp arrow headlike point, readily enters the earth. Joint after joint are added, like those of a fishing rod, until the required depth has been reached, when a small pump is attached, as in the annexed cut, which shows the position of the set of tubes in the earth after the water-yielding bed, or deposit, has been penetrated. When very large quantities of water are needed, as for the use of troops, troop horses, and baggage animals, several tubes can be driven in at one spot and coupled together at the top, when one pump can be made to draw from all.
The weight of such an arrangement as that represented would be by no means great, and the cost a mere trifle when compared with the costly process of Artesian well boring as usually carried out. Should it be decided on to abandon a well, the tubes can be drawn up and driven elsewhere.
With regard to the quantity of water which tube wells of a certain diameter of bore are capable of bringing to the surface, Mr. Norton informs us that some of his 1¼in. wells yield as much as 900 gallons of water per hour, whilst some of the large bores have poured forth as much as 10,000 gallons per hour.
The modes by which water can be raised from common pit or shaft wells are numerous. Some of them we have described; others, such as the old-fashioned bucket and rope, are too well known to need description.
The miner’s pump will be found described at [p. 266]. A very useful and effective pump may be readily made by boring an auger hole through a tree-trunk, mounting it with a brake-piece and handle as at A in the annexed illustration; fixing on a valved sucker and plunger, as represented at B. C represents a barrel pump. This is made by fixing a short square wooden box in the bottom of a large strong cask in such a manner that a large bung-hole may be bored where the centre of the box comes. (The accompanying engraving will serve to show the nature of the arrangement.) Then outside the hole attach a long tube made of stout sail canvas. Wind a stiff rope into a spiral, round a spar or pole, which can be withdrawn when the coil is complete, and attach it here and there with stitches of twine. This spiral coil will keep the tube from collapsing when in use. Then in your square upright box fix a valved sucker, made as shown at D, and another valve in the bottom of the box, as at E. A brake and handle may be fitted to the side of the barrel, and a hard wood or iron plunger attached, when the pump will be ready for use. As the water flows out over the rim of the box it is caught in the barrel, to which a spout of leather, tin, or bark may be attached.
There are numerous trees and plants to be found in various parts of the world which yield, in addition to their fruits, large quantities of sap and other products, which often prove of inestimable value to the traveller. It would be next to impossible to separate arbitrarily the fruit-yielding members of the vegetable world from those which furnish juice or sap only. We shall therefore in this work treat of the most valuable and noteworthy, dealing with them as they happen to come under notice. Even in the most desert parts of South Africa the traveller ought not to despair of finding means to quench his thirst, even though water may not be obtainable. In some parts he may, perhaps, catch sight of small antelopes pawing the hard red soil, or may at least come on places that have been so scratched; and though in many instances this may have been done only to clean the hoofs, he will find that in others holes of several inches in depth have been made for the purpose of obtaining succulent roots looking very like small turnips. Sometimes these may be found partially eaten, or left behind entire, when the timid animal has been startled from his repast. The form of these roots should be carefully noted, together with that of their leaves, as the traveller can only discover the whereabouts of other roots by external indications, and cannot be guided—as the antelope probably is—by the scent of moisture beneath the ground.
The natives of nearly every separate district know of some peculiar root that is, perhaps, confined to their own locality; and it is always well to encourage them to bring a supply, not only of the root, but of its leaves, and to ask them to point out the plant, so that its appearance may be observed before it is disturbed. Some of these are small tubers, about the size of a pigeon’s egg, on a long underground stem; others are much larger; and we have seen one of the kind called “marquæ,” which measured in its longest circumference 3½ft., and 2½ft. in its shortest. The “marquæ,” or “markhwæ,” is properly of a flattened spherical figure, with an indication of tap-root below and a small conical protuberance above, from which the slender stem springs up. Its seeds are strung upon a skein of fibres in long round tapering pods, 4in. to 6in. long, and thicker than a goose-quill. The taste and appearance, when cut, would be something like that of a very fibrous watery turnip; but when thirst-quenching plants are sought for, we believe that the more tasteless they are the better. The smaller roots are more agreeable than those of larger size; and we have frequently found that the mastication of even a small portion of such a root affords more relief than the drinking of any quantity of water.
In certain countries, where rain seldom falls and the night dews are heavy, a very considerable quantity of water may be obtained from the grass and low bushes before sunrise, by shaking them over some wide shallow vessel; or a piece of waterproof cloth stretched across the prong end of a wide-forked stick. When properly put together an implement of this kind is not unlike a large dustpan. Sponges, or soft porous cloths, absorb a large quantity of water when brought in contact with wet plants or moist surfaces of any kind. They can be squeezed out as fast as they become charged with water.
After a long journey, when the throat is parched, the skin of the lips dried and cracking for want of moisture, the teeth fouled, and the tongue, with all its papillæ, dry and hard as the teeth of a rasp, rattling against them, there is no immediate relief in drinking water.
We have at times halted in a melon patch, and have selected and cut into slices the tasteless melons for our horses. The Hottentots and Bushmen collect these in quantities, and with a stick mash up the inside until it becomes a pulp; and, as the water exudes from the broken cells, they obtain perhaps a mouthful from each melon.
In some parts of the Kalahari Desert it is noticed that there are individual elephants, rhinoceroses, or other animals, that never drink water, having attached themselves to a locality in which they find melons and succulent roots as substitutes. Indeed, we believe that at least one tribe of Namaqua Hottentots live very comfortably in an absolutely waterless country, subsisting chiefly on the milk of their cattle, which in turn quench their thirst solely by eating water melons.
Our fellow traveller, Joseph Macabe, in his arduous journey to Lake Ngami, travelled long distances without water; and one day he had to drive his oxen ten miles to eat water melons, and then to drive them back to the waggons to perform their day’s work. This privilege was duly purchased from the Bushmen who lived near, and who therefore might be supposed to look upon these wild fruits as their own. A line was traced upon the ground; but it required all the efforts of the Bushmen, and the herdsmen too, to make the thirsty cattle understand that they were only to eat within a certain limit.
The beautiful “traveller’s tree” of Madagascar collects and retains through almost the driest seasons a welcome store of water. Its ample leaves point upward to the heavens; and all the rain, dew, or atmospheric moisture from their broad surfaces, is conducted down until it lodges in the hollow formed just above the junction of the midrib with the stem. The natives pierce the leaf-stalk with a spear; the water gushes out, and is caught in a vessel held under to receive it. So unfailing is the supply from these trees, that where one of them is seen no native will trouble himself to walk even a short distance to a river. The most valuable property, however, of this tree is that it may be tapped again and again without vital injury. It is most likely that the orifice will close, and the wounded leaf will again collect water; or, at most, the injured leaf will die off, leaving the others in full vitality. It is different with the collection of palm juice, in which the tree itself is materially injured and often completely destroyed.
On the low lands at the Delta of the Zambesi, where the various species of mangroves have fulfilled their office in winning from the dominion of the ocean the broad sand-banks annually deposited by the river, an abundant growth of the Doum palm and wild date begins to occupy the new formed land. The natives seek those that have grown to not more than a man’s height, and, cutting off all the leaf-stalks with the exception of the merest sprout in the centre to continue the vitality, make a deep incision where the leaves should be, stick in it a bit of folded leaf as a spout, and hang an earthen pot under it by a strip of leaf, sheltering it from the sun by a kind of basket, loosely but ingeniously woven from another leaf in the manner shown in our sketch on [p. 519].
In connection with the subject of water we may here appropriately notice the expedients used by many nations for the separation of juices from the fruit containing them, or for expressing from grain or fibrous substances the water in which they have been washed or steeped, and which may either be collected as holding in solution some nutritious matter, or thrown away as carrying off something distasteful or even poisonous.
In Kafirland the stem of a species of Zamia is laid for several days in a running stream, and we have generally seen it pointed in the direction of the current so that the moisture with which it is surcharged might drain gradually from the lower end, carrying with it the acrid or unpleasant juices, while the impact of the stream from above would force more water into its pores and continue to dislodge all that it was desirable to remove, leaving the farinaceous matter between the fibres.
Another plant, commonly known by the appropriately descriptive name of elephant’s foot (Testudinaria of Burchell, or Tamus elephantopus), is used as an article of food by the Hottentots, and on this account is often called Hottentot’s bread. We have not actually seen the preparation of it, but believe that very little is required beyond cutting out the internal pith, which resembles the inside of a turnip, and baking it on the embers. The remarkable lump which rests upon the surface of the ground bears, in general shape and colour, some resemblance to the foot of an elephant, and averages nearly the same size; but we have seen some nearly 3ft. in diameter. It is covered with rough angular projections, reminding one of the scales on the shell of a tortoise.
On the Zambesi, near Logier Hill, we have seen the native women frequently washing a kind of cassava, cut into discs across the grain so thin as to leave the fibre as short as possible. These were put into the closely-woven baskets of the country, which, being about half immersed, were worked with a rotatory motion similar to that of gold washing—removing some acrid juice, and leaving what little nutriment might be contained in the fibre.
In many countries great and long-continued pressure is employed. Some vegetable substances contain, in addition to their nutritious properties, juices so acrid as to destroy almost every other fibre that might be used to contain them; and therefore, as in South America, particular kinds of palms or other trees are valued because pressure bags can be woven of them that will resist this action. These bags are of various shapes; but a very favourite one is that of a long double cone, loosely woven with the slips, which represent the threads, crossing each other in a long lozenge-like form, so that when the bag is filled it shortens up and greatly enlarges its central diameter; but when it is hung by one end to a tree, and a considerable weight is attached to the other, its elongation contracts its diameter and squeezes out the juices of whatever is placed inside it.
We have seen various forms of these bags, which were in use amongst the ancient Egyptians for expressing the remainder of the juice after the grapes had already been trodden in the wine-press. Both the ancient and modern contrivances appear to have been matted bags of elongated form, and with a very stout eye or loop at either end; and the chief difference is in their size. The upper one is worked by two men, who, inserting staves into the loops at the ends, twist them opposite ways; while the lower is worked by five—four of whom, having twisted it as tightly as they can, haul the staves apart, while the fifth, throwing himself between the upper ends, forces them apart still farther. The effect in each case is the flow of a copious stream of second quality wine, which pours from the twisted bag into the receptacle placed for it.
There is a plant, which much resembles the “bachelor’s pillow” of our hothouses, found growing in Mexico and some other countries. When it is rooted in the earth it is more like a vegetable hedgehog than aught else, being covered with long pointed thorns, like those of the cactus. Hunters and travellers often collect these unpromising-looking productions for the sake of the water they contain. When freed from their attachment to the ground, they are taken on a forked stick, which is held in the left hand, whilst the thorn-covered rind is sliced off with a hunting-knife held in the right. The pulp, thus laid bare, affords enough moisture to quench the thirst of either man or horse.
The agave (Agave Americana) yields a very large quantity of sap. To obtain this, the crown is cut off, and a deep hole scooped out in the substance of the plant. This, in a short time, fills with fluid, which, when collected, fermented, and properly prepared, is the celebrated “pulque” of the Mexicans.
Large-sized bamboo canes not unfrequently hold bottled-up between their internodes a considerable quantity of water, the presence of which can be detected by giving the canes, one after another, a sharp sudden shake, when the imprisoned fluid gives out a hollow, gurgling sound easily recognised. To obtain the cane-water, it is only necessary to tap the joint or cut down the cane. This juice is not only an agreeable and refreshing drink, but is by the natives believed to be particularly wholesome and sanitary in its effects on the constitution.
It is somewhat curious that the silicious element found covering the outside of the cane like a hard varnish should be held in solution by this fluid; but that it is so there can be no doubt, as, when the liquid, or sap, is allowed to remain for any length of time in the tubular cavity of the cane, it either becomes absorbed altogether, or leaves a hard concrete substance far more like a mineral than a vegetable substance; possessing, in fact, all the attributes of an earth product. It is not acted on by any of the ordinary acids; it remains unaltered by fire; and forms, with the alkalies, a clear glass, just as flint would. This curious substance is the celebrated “tabascheer,” which is renowned throughout the East for its marvellously curative qualities; and it is not improbable that this, like many other Oriental productions, may contain virtues little dreamed of by the medical practitioner at home.
In some of the forests of the tropics a large description of pitcher plant is found. The natural cups found on it not only contain a considerable quantity of water, but have the disadvantage of being natural traps for insects and all sorts of small creeping things, which, attracted by the moisture, fall in, and are drowned. Sometimes, however, a pitcher is found with perfectly clear and deliciously cool water in it, which well repays the thirsty searcher.
In many nations, the palm trees peculiar to them supply an almost inexhaustible variety of the necessaries or the conveniencies and luxuries of life, from timber for house or ship building to fine cloth for wearing apparel, as well as many articles of food and refreshing, or often intoxicating, drinks.
Nearly all the palms contain what is called a cabbage, or in other words a mass of young vegetable matter in taste, nearly resembling the heart of a cabbage stalk, and both in Australia and Africa we have occasionally availed ourselves of this. We do not advise it, except in cases of necessity, because the cutting of it out even from a young tree involves considerable labour, and it is always with some regret that a man feels himself obliged to destroy a noble tree, perhaps 40ft. or 50ft. in height to obtain hardly vegetable matter enough to serve him for a single meal.
At Coepang, in Timor, we have seen the leaves of the fan palm converted into buckets or pails by simply drawing the points or leaflets together and securing them; while the lesser leaves or fronds were in the same manner made into exquisite little drinking cups, capable of containing one “doit’s” worth of palm juice, which, when perfectly fresh, is most delicious and refreshing.
The large leaves of the palm may be used for the collection of dew or occasional showers. The water casks of one of the Dutch gunboats were set out upon the beach near her anchorage, and the stems of three or four palm leaves inserted in each bung-hole to conduct thither all the moisture that might fall upon their broad surface.
Palms, to climb.
The tall palm tree is usually climbed by the aid of a loop of loosely-twisted rope, or a hoop of any sufficiently strong and flexible material large enough to encircle the tree and the body of the climber, allowing him to lean back in it at such an angle that the pressure of his feet against the trunk is sufficient to support him. Short steps are taken upward, and the rope is jerked up skilfully a little at a time; but great care must be taken duly to proportion these motions, for if the feet be too high, the head and shoulders will project so far that the power of the arms will not suffice to bear the strain, while if they are too low they will not be pressed with sufficient force against the tree, and will slip downward.
The northern limits of the palms are—in Europe 43°, in Asia 34°, and in America 34° of latitude; the southern are—in Africa 34°, in New Zealand 38°, and in America 36°. The known species amount at present nearly to 600, but it is supposed that at least from 1000 to 1200 will be found. The stems of some do not rise above the ground, while others are 200ft. high; some are no thicker than a goose-quill, while others are as large as a hogshead; some are climbing plants, with long flexible stems; some are covered with fibrous network, and some have spines or thorns 8in. or 10in. long, that may be used for needles or arrows. Some of the leaves are 50ft. long and 8ft. wide—these are composed of numerous leaflets on a strong midrib; some are undivided, and yet are 30ft. long and 5ft. wide; and others again are fan-shaped. The fruits are generally small, the cocoa-nut being the largest of the family; the kernel is often too hard to be eaten, and the covering fibrous or woody; but in some the seeds are covered with a pulpy or farinaceous mass that offers sweet and nutritious food; one species on the Zambesi reminded us of gingerbread.
The cocoa-nut, especially in its green and immature state, is a most agreeable fruit, and the water, or milk as we call it, is then most cooling and refreshing; when it more nearly approaches to ripeness the kernel may be scraped or pounded upon its own liquor, and it then forms a very efficient substitute for milk in a cup of tea. A large amount of oil and other valuable products may be obtained from the tree and its fruit.
Each young nut, when in the true milk stage of its growth, will yield about a pint of fluid, cool, and of slightly acid taste. The younger nuts contain a soft, rich substance, not unlike blanc-mange, which can be easily scooped out. From the juices of these immature nuts the natives manufacture an indelible black dye. Toddy, cocoa-nut wine, arrack, or rack as it is sometimes called, is made from the sap of the cocoa palm. In favourable seasons the plumes of cocoa-nut blossom are shot out from amidst the fronds of the tree crown about every six weeks. Immediately on the appearance of the new flower spathe the toddy maker ascends the tree after the manner before described, or, as on the Malabar coast, by cutting a train of notches in the tree trunk. On arriving at the cluster of young fronds and the sheath containing the blossom, he binds the whole together with twine. He then makes a puncture in the stalk of the spathe with his toddy knife, raps the part well with the handle, and then hangs a chatty pot to receive the juice as it drains out during the night. Before sunrise he reascends the tree, lowers the full pot, which may contain from two to six pints, and replaces it with an empty one. Immediately on obtainment this juice is extremely cool and sweet to the taste. In the course of a very few hours fermentation sets in, and it becomes slightly acid. In twenty-four hours it becomes quite sour. Before too great a change takes place, however, the toddy man properly treats his brew by the aid of the true vinous fermentation, and then distils it in a rough, makeshift still, which among some of the Easterns is extemporised from a hollow stone, rock, or piece of hollow tree trunk, which forms the head of the still. A long hollow cane for a tube, and piece of bark, and some coir saturated with cold water for a condenser, almost any pot or jar will, with a little ingenuity, form a tolerably efficient still.
Excellent vinegar is made as follows from the palm juice: After collection, the toddy or sap is placed in earthen pots and covered down for about four weeks. At the end of that time the fluid is strained and returned to the pots, with a few pods of capsicum, a piece of the fruit of the gamboge tree, and a pod from the Indian horseradish (Hypertanthera moringa) are thrown into each pot of fluid, which is then allowed to remain at rest for five weeks, when excellent vinegar, well adapted for the use of the settler, is the result.
If, instead of toddy or vinegar, sugar is required, it can be readily made from the palm sap, which, for this purpose, is treated before fermentation. It is, on being drawn from the tree, boiled in a suitable pot or other vessel until it becomes thick and stringy; a little lime is added; rough crystallisation takes place, and “jaggery,” or palm sugar, is the result. Cocoa-nut oil is valuable for a great number of purposes. It is obtained from the ripe or mature nut in a variety of ways. The natives of many of the islands of the Eastern seas cut the kernels of the nuts in pieces, boil them with water in a large kettle; collect such oil as rises to the top with a sea-shell mounted on the end of a stick; then pound the boiled nut in a mortar made from a piece of hollow log with a wooden pestle; reboil the paste thus formed; skim again, and so on. The mills used for the expression of this and other oils, and the crushing of sugar-canes, we shall describe as our work proceeds. The shell of the cocoa-nut makes excellent cups and bottles. To extract the kernel to form the latter, the natives bore out one of the eyes, pour out the milk, fill the nut with sea-water, and bury it in the sand exposed to the sun’s rays. In a short time decomposition is set up, and all the contents of the shell can be easily shaken out at the eyehole.
The fibrous husk from time immemorial has supplied the native craft of India, as well as our vessels trading there, with a cheap and generally useful kind of rope, called coir, which possesses the valuable property of being so light as to be of much less specific gravity than water, and which is, therefore, much used for buoy ropes, life lines, warps, and cables, and the ropes for the upper edges of fishing nets. Hats, bags, baskets, sandals, and many other things, are made from it; its leaves form the covering of huts, and its leaf-stalk form their framework, and serve any purpose for which light elastic wands are required.
The date palm, both wild and cultivated, furnishes fruit more or less delicious according to the species from which it is taken. The Arab and his horse, and camel too, upon emergency, will live upon it; and without it the deserts, to which it is indigenous, would be uninhabitable.
An African species (Œleis guianensis) affords palm oil, which is the basis of our candles. A vessel taking in palm oil once started it into a tank built in the hold, but the task of digging it out when it reached England was so arduous that nothing was saved by not providing casks.
Sago is the produce of a palm, which in the East yields the food of thousands; it is the pithy centre of the stem, requiring scarcely any preparation to fit it for food, and a single tree sometimes yields 600lb. weight. Those which furnish the so-called cane for chair bottoms are a species of calamus; they hang on trees by long hooked spines, and are sometimes 600ft. or 1000ft. long. These are often used as stays or standing rigging among native vessels, and sometimes we believe as cables. When split into smaller sections and twisted they form tolerable, but not perfectly flexible, ropes; and slips of them, as is well known, are commonly used by the Chinese for tying up various packages. The helmet which we wore through the Indian campaign is composed of this material closely woven.
Many varieties all over the world yield a sugary sap from their yet unopened spathes or from their stems, and this, when partly fermented, is the palm wine of Africa and, as we have shown, the toddy of the East Indies; while similar beverages are obtained by the South Americans from the Mauritia oinifera and others.
A nation at the mouth of the Orinoco River live almost entirely on a palm (probably Mauritia flexuosa); they build their houses elevated on the trunks, and live upon the fruit, sap, and such fish as the waters around them may afford.
Resins and wax are produced by some species. The fruits of a calamus, in the Eastern Archipelago, are covered with a red resinous substance, which, in common with the produce of other trees, is the dragon’s blood of commerce, and is used as a colour, a varnish, and in tooth powder.
The Ceroxylon audicola, a lofty palm growing in the Andes of Bogota, secretes in its stem a resinous wax, used for making candles. In the north of Brazil, the Carnauba (Copernicia cerifera) has the underside of its leaves covered with pure white wax, with no admixture of resin.
Thatch for houses, awnings for boats, and even the upper streaks of large canoes, umbrellas, hats, baskets, water buckets, cordage, and numberless other things, are made of palm leaves. In Cuba the Chamærops argentica, and in Sicily the Chamærops humilis, is used for making hats and other fine work. In India the place of the papyrus was supplied by palm leaves, on whose hard and glossy surfaces Pali and Sanscrit characters were inscribed with a metal point; the leaves of Corypha talieri, strung together, form the Hindoo volume. The fruit of Areca catechu is the betel nut, the favourite stimulant of the Eastern people, which they chew with lime. The fibre of the piassaba palm is made into cheap and durable cables on the Amazon, and is introduced into England in the form of brooms, &c.
Although the settler or explorer who directs his steps to North America has no palms to supply him with food, drink, and clothing, he will find other members of the vegetable kingdom ready to his hand.
Maple sugar is of vast importance to the settler in the backwoods, as it serves not only as a substitute for cane sugar, but is not unfrequently used instead of salt. It is obtained by treating the sap of the Acer saccharinum, or sugar maple. The range of this valuable tree is very extensive. It is met with, in greater or less abundance, from the neighbourhood of St. Jean in Upper Canada to Virginia. It abounds in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Vermont, and New Hampshire, some of the trees being found to reach 80ft. in height. Sugar-making may begin early in the month of April, or, in fact, directly the sap begins to rise. Frosty nights, followed by warm, genial days, are the most favourable for the process of sap drawing, which is proceeded with as follows: One or more auger holes, up to four, are made, at a convenient distance from the ground, in the trunk of each tree to be treated. Into each of these holes a little hollow shoot or tube of bark is thrust, which conveys the sap as it flows into vessels placed for its reception. Each tree will produce from 15gals. to 20gals. of sap, and 5gals. of sap will yield about 1lb. of sugar. When the vessels under the spouts are nearly full the sap should be ladled from them into pails and carried to a shed, in which a large barrel, with the upper head removed, has been set up as a reservoir. In this it is allowed to remain at rest until all foreign substances have settled to the bottom. It is now quickly drawn off and conveyed to the boiler, which, in the absence of a proper arrangement, may be a large camp kettle, in which it is heated steadily until evaporated down to the consistence of treacle, when it is again removed and placed in an open vessel to cool. When cold, it is strained through a flannel bag into a second boiler, where it is again heated, clarified with eggs, a little bullock’s blood, or new milk. The boiling is now continued until a little of the syrup, taken on the point of a clean chip and held in the air, shows a disposition to assume a crystalline appearance, when the heating process is stopped and the charge withdrawn from the pot.
It is now in the candy state, and is cast into a variety of quaint forms by the use of small moulds prepared for the purpose. If granulated sugar is required, a small barrel is set up at a moderate distance from the ground; the upper head is removed, and the lower one bored full of gimlet holes. On the charge of candy being thrown into this, all the fluid portions drain away in a state of thin molasses through the holes into a tub or box placed below the barrel, in which the sugar is soon found fit for use.
Gum sugar is made by throwing the candy when hot from the pot out on the snow. This treatment has the property of checking crystallisation and converting the sugar into a tough material much used for chewing.
A settler’s family in a good maple district can, by the use of proper sized boilers, &c., make upwards of 700lb. of good serviceable sugar in one favourable season.
Manna, to prepare.
Manna is a substance well worth the attention of the explorer, as it is, curiously enough, produced by trees and shrubs of totally different orders in different geographical ranges. The Arabs and Persians obtain a kind, known as “Guzunjbeen,” from a species of tamarisk called the “Guz bush.” The description known on the Arabian coast, and in the district surrounding Mount Sinai, by the name of “Toofra,” is also procured from the tamarisk thickets, where it drains from the ends of the thorns, and falls on the dry leaves, small twigs, and sticks which have fallen to the ground; it there congeals into hard masses, and is in that condition gathered for use. It is by the Arabs consumed as a substitute for honey, and is eaten on bread or other food. The “camel thorn” of India and Syria is manna yielding, producing the description known in the East as “Al haj.” The so-called Beiruk honey is in reality a kind of manna which is yielded by a low stunted tree, not unlike a dwarf aspen, which is known as the “Ghrab bush.” In the Uzbec country manna is obtained from a small tree whose trunk is divided into knots by a series of annular rings. In Arabia, the “Ashur” is the manna-bearing plant. In Mesopotamia, it flows from a species of oak, and is most abundant on such trees as have the largest share of gall nuts. A medicinal and highly valued manna is obtained in some districts in Persia from a peculiar willow, which grows in moist ground. A kind of larch furnishes the Manna Brigantica, and in the Lebanon district it flows from the cedars. In Europe, the ash is the manna bearer, and three kinds are found to produce it more or less abundantly. The two most commonly treated for its obtainment are Fraxinus rotundifolia and Ornus Europæa. To obtain the manna from these trees incisions are made in the bark with a knife; the first cut is made near the ground, and the others at 2in. or 3in. apart, the cuts being 1in. long and ½in. deep. These cuts are made at the rate of one per day, mounting upward, cut by cut, in each row. Immediately below these perpendicular cuts
-shaped incisions are made in such a way that each cross cut may receive and hold fast the end of a leaf gathered from the tree, which serves to conduct the sap away from the trunk and allow of its dropping into Indian fig leaves placed on the ground for its reception. The Indian fig leaf, cultivated for the purpose, has the peculiar property of drying with its edges curled up, rendering it extremely useful as a sap receiver. August is the month usually selected for tapping the manna trees, and dry warm weather is most favourable for the operation, as rain dissolves and destroys the congealing mass of produce. The manna collected from the bark by scraping, after having run in long tears down the trunk, is considered very inferior to that caught in the fig leaves, and is, consequently, sold at a much lower price.
A great number of fruit, berry, and nut bearing trees and bushes are to be found on various portions of the North-American territories. Further south, the productions assume a more tropical character. Here we are merely dealing with some of the forest stores of the north and north-west. The following is but a brief list, as our space is limited:
American wild fruits.
The “pagessaveg” of the Indians, Prunes sauvages of the French-Canadians, or “wild plum” of the trappers, is usually collected late in the month of October. It grows abundantly on the river sides and lake shores. The Indians either dry or boil it with maple sugar, when it is converted into a sort of cake by boiling and stirring the fruit about in the kettle until the mass is thick enough for treatment, when it is thrown from the pot and spread out to about an inch deep in a flat layer on a piece of birch bark, when it is exposed to the sun until it becomes quite tough and tenacious. It is then rolled up like soft leather, placed in a birch-bark box, and buried in the earth until wanted. During the winter season, when dried meat is in use, large pieces of this preparation are cut off with a knife and boiled with it.
The “sand cherry” of the trappers, or “la cerise à grappe” of the Canadians, grows abundantly about the borders of sugar-maple groves, on the edges of old clearings, and about the borders of the prairies. It is fit to gather in the month of August. The Indians gather large quantities, crush them between flat heavy stones, stir the mass well together with deer fat, and then boil it in a kettle until it becomes a thick tenacious cake or paste, when it is, like the wild plum cake, buried until required.
The small red forest crab apples can be thoroughly prepared by drying, when they are both wholesome and nutritious.
The “wortleberry” of the trappers, or “bellois” of the Canadians, is extremely abundant in a great number of localities. To prepare the fruit a thick close basket-work tray, or hurdle of white cedar, is used. This, when covered with a layer of ripe berries, is suspended over a slow steady wood fire until dry, when they are packed away in bark boxes. They are either mixed with dough to form cake, or boiled with meat or fish.
The “mashkigimin” of the Indians, “les ottakas” of the Canadians, the “cranberry” of the trappers: this fruit, although commonly known among trappers and English settlers as the cranberry, is much larger than the European variety. Swampy ground is most congenial to its growth. It is fit to gather as early as the month of October, but remains on the bushes even after being thickly buried by snow in the winter season. Immense quantities of these berries are annually gathered by the Indians, not only for their own use, but as a branch of trade with the United States traders, who readily purchase them for preserving. For Indian use, they require no treatment, as they do not readily decay; but by settlers they are usually boiled in syrup, or preserved in maple sugar.
Wild hazel nuts are found in great abundance. These are best kept by first packing, and then burying them in an earthen jar or bark box.
“Swan potatoes” are found growing on the shallow margins of rivers, lakes, and streams. These, when dug from the soft ooze and washed clean, are strung on a long thin strip of white cedar wood, and hung up over the fire to dry. They are boiled for use, when they become plump and palatable.
Wild raspberries, strawberries, &c., are to be met with in many parts of America.
Butter nuts, hickory nuts, and pinons, or cone nuts, are all, more or less, deserving of the attention of the hunter or explorer.
Sago-making.
In some islands of the Indian Archipelago nature has so bountifully provided for the wants of the human race that it seems as if a remnant of Paradise yet lingered upon earth, and man had never been sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. At all events, the inhabitants of these islands are relieved from that necessity, and to all appearance they are little better for it. The man who, by chopping down a tree and washing its pith for a week or two, can provide himself with a substitute for bread for a whole year is not likely to be, nor is he really equal either in physical strength, activity, or intelligence to him who must earn his food by cultivation of the soil, by chasing wild animals in their forest haunts, or by launching his little craft upon the waters, and ensnaring or doing battle with the denizens of the ocean.
Our sketch represents the principal processes of sago-making. The palm which yields the sago is cut down; a slab is chopped off from the upper side of the trunk, leaving the pith which occupied the large internal hollow exposed; this is beaten out in fragments, rather than chopped, by a club of heavy wood, in the end of which a sharp angular fragment of quartz or other stone is set. The pith is then washed in a trough composed of the swelling portions of the leaf stems, where they embrace the trunk on which they grow, just as the jaws of a cutter’s gaff go round the mast. Two of these are placed with their broad ends together, supported by stakes and cross-bars, so as to form a long trough widest in the middle, and out of level. A third is set with its narrow end meeting that of the next piece, whilst the wide end rises at a slight elevation. Across this is placed a screen of fibrous cloth, supported by another stick, elastic enough to keep it always tolerably tight without undue strain, and a mass of the pith being placed behind this is washed by water poured repeatedly upon it and allowed to percolate through and run off till all the superfluous matter is washed away, and the sago alone is left.
The different members of the banana and plantain family, too, lend their aid in furnishing a larger quantity by far of life-supporting elements than the finest descriptions of wheat grown on the same area of ground. Whether eaten in a ripe state as a fruit, or boiled green as a vegetable (when it is not a bad substitute for the potato), this production is both palatable and wholesome. A good store food is made by cutting the fruit into slices, hanging it up to dry, and, when required for use, boiling it into a pulp.
Useful roots.
Plantain flour is made by thoroughly drying the fruit, and then grinding it in one of the native mills hereafter described. Then the root of the Taro (Calandium esculentum), that of the sweet potato (Battata convolvulans), and the roots of certain edible ferns (Pteris esculenta amongst the number), are valuable as yielding food. Many of these productions furnish drink as well. The plantains before referred to yield a very palatable cider, which is made as follows: A deep hole is dug in the earth, and a number of plantains stripped from the main stem is thrown in; straw and earth are cast on, and the plantains are allowed to remain at rest for eight days. The peel is then stripped off, and the pulp is placed in a large open trough with water, where it is thoroughly washed and mixed with it. At the end of two days the cider may be strained off for use.
Whisky may be made from sweet potatoes in the following manner: Dig up as many of the tubers as you may find it convenient to treat; boil them until quite soft; place them in large jars, or other vessels, with about their own bulk of water; stir this mixture well about, and then to each jar add a little “merissa” barm (obtained from native beer-brewing), which may be placed on a small bundle of cocoa-fibre or cotton. When fermentation has taken place, erect your still, which may be of the kind described and figured at [page 495]; or a large native pot may be mounted on a hollowed-out ant-hill to serve as the still boiler; a smaller pot inverted and placed on the open mouth of this forms the still head or dome. When the lower pot is charged with the fermented “wash,” the upper pot is luted fast with clay. A small hole is bored near its top for the reception of the end of any hollow tube you can get; this is also secured with clay. The condensing process is carried out by keeping the tube cold with cloths or mats and cold water. The depending end of the tube should discharge itself into any convenient vessel partly sunk beneath the surface of cold water. A native pot, or a common tea-kettle, will make a good receiver; and an ordinary pail, or tub, a convenient water tank in which to place it. By the use of such a contrivance as this, half-a-dozen bottles of very good spirits may be made in one day’s distilling.
Milk-spirit.
The Mongols make their milk-spirit—known as “kumis”—in the following manner: A large quantity of milk of any kind (mare’s milk is considered best) is first turned sour, and then allowed to ferment. It is then poured into a large iron camp-kettle or pot; one of the wooden bowls or dishes in use among the Tartars is now fitted closely into the mouth of the kettle or boiler, and luted fast round the edges with wet cow-dung or clay; an elbow-shaped, hollow branch of a tree, or a curved tube, is now fitted into a hole in the convex surface of the bowl, and more cow-dung or clay is applied. Into the mouth of this bent pipe a wooden tube is fixed, which is kept cold by the constant contact of a wet sheepskin. As the pot boils the spirit passes over, and is collected for use in some suitable vessel placed as a receiver. This is also kept cold by the aid of sheepskins and water.
CHAPTER XIV.
CAMP COOKERY.
After the obtainment of food, the art of preparing it in its most nutritious, wholesome, and palatable form ranks next in importance. It is well, when travelling with a large party, to ascertain the qualifications of a couple of steady men, and regularly appoint them to the cooking department, taking care that exemption from guards, with a few other privileges, may make the office of cook one to be rather envied; and, in order that his operations may be successfully conducted, he should fully understand the art of fire-making.
Fire, to make.
The natives of Australia, the Bushmen of South Africa, and the tribes along the whole course of the Zambesi, as well as many other wild nations, kindle fire by the friction of two pieces of wood against each other; there are of course varieties of method, but the principle, that of whirling the point of a moderately hard stick in a hollow, cut in one of a somewhat softer character, is very generally the same. The Bushmen carry these fire-sticks in the quiver with their arrows; and when they need fire, two men sit opposite each other, and one, laying his sandal on the ground, places on it the fire-stick, perhaps as thick as the little finger, and holds it between the soles of his feet, or between his toes, which for many purposes can be used by the natives with little less effect than the fingers. In the end of this stick a small notch is cut, and in this is placed the pointed end of another stick, about the thickness and nearly the length of a common ramrod. One man, taking this between the palms of his hands, rubs them so as to communicate to it a rapid whirling motion, keeping at the same time a gentle, steady, downward pressure. In a few seconds, this causes his hands to reach the bottom, and his companion therefore sits ready to clap his hands to the top and continue the motion till they also come down, and he in turn is relieved by the first. Very shortly fine wood dust is produced, and soon after the end of the whirling stick and the hollow in which it turns become charred, and smoke rises from the little heap of dust.
OBTAINING FIRE BY THE AID OF THE WHIRLING ROD.
A small nest of very carefully prepared dry grass or fibrous bark, rubbed very fine, has already been provided, and in our illustration a third man is applying this to the smouldering wood-dust, some ignited particles of which he will try to catch on the nest of fibre, the whole will then be enveloped in coarser material, and whirled rapidly round, at arm’s length, until it bursts into a blaze.
Where two or three men assist each other in this manner, a couple of minutes suffices to obtain fire; but if one man attempts it alone, he cannot keep up a continuous friction, for he loses speed and heat every time he has to shift his hand from the bottom to the top of the whirling rod, and, even when he has produced the first ignition, he is more liable to lose the spark than a third man who would watch his opportunity for catching it while the other two were keeping up the heat by the vigorous motion of the whirling rod. Among many tribes the producing of fire in this manner is a thing of daily occurrence.
The inhabitants of some of the Pacific Islands obtain fire by placing a piece of bamboo, which has been previously split in half, convex side upwards, on the ground; a small cut is then made in it as a sort of holding-point for the end of a flat piece of bamboo, held somewhat after the manner of a chisel, to work on. The flat piece, on being driven by the hands rapidly forward and back on the surface, or back of the long hollow piece of cane joint, rapidly works a hole through it; the wood dust, formed by the friction, falling through the orifice soon begins to smoke, smoulder, and burn, when it is placed in a tuft of dry fibre, like an egg in a nest. A small creeper or vine is now fastened to the nest, which is then rapidly whirled round the head until it flames.
There is a very convenient and portable means of carrying fire, sold under the name of a “strike-a-light,” or “chucknuck;” it is formed from a brass tube of 1in. calibre and 3in. in length, which has a cap and a sliding bottom to it; it is filled with tinder, made as usual by setting fire to a piece of rag and extinguishing it as soon as it has ceased to blaze; it contains also a gun flint or bit of agate, and its chain passes through an oval of steel or case-hardened iron. When fire is required, the cap is taken off, and the box held in the left hand, with the flint so held against its edge that any sparks struck from it by the steel, which is taken in the right, must fall upon the tinder. When it is done with, the flint is put in again, the cap put on, and the movable bottom is pushed up so as to leave no vacant space, but to exclude all the air, and to extinguish the burning timber. These tinder-boxes are highly prized; and one of them, value one shilling or so, is by no means a despicable present to a native in the remote interior. The shank bone of any small animal is easily converted into a chucknuck tube.
Slow match and tinder are important matters to the explorer. Loose cotton, or almost any other vegetable fibre twisted into a cord, and then soaked in water in which a little saltpetre or gunpowder has been dissolved, will serve for a slow match. The large puff-balls, or devil’s snuff-boxes as they are called by hunters, found growing about the borders of the forest, form excellent punk or tinder. After being gathered they should be hung on a string to dry, then cut into thin slices, and beaten on a board with a stick until all the powder or snuff is driven off, when it will be fit for use, either as tinder or to smoke wild bees from their holes. The soft, partially-decayed wood found in dry dead logs or hollow trees makes a very good description of tinder.
In default of a tinder-box, most persons carry a pocket-knife and a gun-flint. If a bit of rag, with a little dry gunpowder bruised into it, is rolled up tightly, and held with the flint in the left hand so that the sparks may fall on the end of the roll, it is very likely to take fire.
Many stones, as quartz, agate, jasper, iron pyrites, &c., will give forth a spark, so that if the traveller has a knife, a bit of steel, or case-hardened iron about him, he need not despair if he can only find a stone.
The Malays not unfrequently obtain a spark by striking a piece of broken chinaware sharply against the hard flinty surface of a well-developed bamboo joint.
Lucifer, congreve, or vesta matches are now so common, that few travellers think of carrying anything else; yet it is not safe to trust to them alone, as a little accidental damp may spoil the whole stock. If they ignite by simple friction there is danger of accident; if they “ignite only on the box,” a supply of friction tablets should be carried, for the box will soon go to pieces with rough usage.
The trappers of North-West America make use of the German matches, such as are packed in round wooden boxes being preferred. The composition ends of these are dipped in a varnish composed of shellac and a little methylated spirit, which, when dry, as it will be in about half-an-hour, renders them perfectly damp-proof.
In countries where the sun shines continuously, a burning glass, such as the lens of a telescope or a Stanhope microscope, will obtain fire at any time during the day.
The Parsees, when serving on board European ships, carry their own fire; and we have seen a boat’s crew with 3ft. of good stout rope, used as a slow match to retain it.
A man armed with a gun or pistol has always the means of obtaining fire. If it be a flint lock, he need not even draw the charge, but, throwing out the priming on some dry surface, he may plug up the touch-hole with a bit of wet clay, wet or greasy rag, string, or wood; in fact any of these materials, even though dry, if rammed in tightly, become incombustible. The end of a bit of packthread wetted, or of raw hide reimpjie, is better than any, because the remainder can be used to pull it out with. The priming can then be rubbed on a bit of rag—dry or slightly moistened—a corner of it stuck into the pan, the gun full cocked and the trigger pulled, when most likely the sparks will be found to have ignited the tinder. With a percussion gun the charge, if it be loaded, must be drawn or fired away so as to leave the barrel empty, then a little powder must be put in, and a bit of dry rag, with powder rubbed upon it, rammed loosely into the barrel; the gun should be fired with its muzzle downwards or towards a rock or stump, that the rag may not be blown too far away.
The fire being obtained by any of these means, and secured by being communicated to a small collection of inflammable material, the next process is to build up and ignite the fuel that is to serve the traveller for warmth or culinary purposes. This will, of course, have been already collected. Prudent cooks generally tie a dry thorn branch behind their waggon on leaving their outspan, so as to have it ready as soon as they again halt; or, if fuel be scarce, they keep a bright lookout upon the way for dry sticks or the dung of tame or wild animals. Such fuel should be broken up, and the sticks roughly assorted into sizes. A small elevation will be chosen or made on a dry patch of ground, and the fire being laid on a little faggot of small sticks, others are carefully piled round it pointing upward, at an angle of 45° or more towards the centre—just as if a conical roof or a church steeple were to be built—and round these the larger ones are arranged in the same manner, and in successive sizes. (See Fig. 2, p. 551.) Thus, the property of heated air being to ascend, the flame is led naturally up along the twigs, and through the interstices, and when sticks as thick as the thumb are well kindled, others may be piled on with less attention to regularity. If the intention is to make a transient blaze as large as possible, perhaps for a night signal, dry thorn branches of the mimosa, with their large thorns and loose twigs, thrown on as lightly as possible, will answer excellently. We have seen in the Karroo veldt of South Africa a bush or shrub of which the leaves blaze up with almost a resinous flash, but of which the stem is almost incombustible. This would serve well for such a signal; but when wanted for the purposes of cooking, the fire requires constant replenishing, and from the repeated calls for fresh supplies, the shrub has acquired the expressive name of the “Bring on bush.”
A species of “prolea,” locally called “Waggon bush,” is also highly in request, as its resinous blossoms maintain a more steady heat.
If the fire is required as a day signal, large quantities of green wood, leaves, &c., should be heaped on to make as much smoke as possible; and vice versâ if concealment is desired—green wood should be avoided, and only small quantities of dry wood used.
We have often, during a night halt among the date-palm jungles, selected a tree at a convenient distance from its fellows, to form a sort of gigantic torch. The dry fronds give off in burning sufficient heat to make the whole crown of the tree inflammable; this, in turn, ignites the trunk, which burns for some time, and gives a most brilliant light.
The lighting of a fire in a hot dry climate is a matter of comparative ease when compared with the obtainment of one in the damp woods of a cold inclement region. An experienced campaigner will generally contrive to carry with him a few pieces of dry resinous wood, known as “kindling chips,” with which to start his fire. In the absence of these, look out sharply for a dead tree or hollow log, and from the lee side of it, if rain is falling, chop out a good supply of wood as a foundation for your fire. If you cannot find a dead tree or log, select the dry side of a living one; chop off the bark with your axe, and then from the exposed timber remove some long thin chips. Now, under the shelter formed by spreading your blanket or coat, proceed with your hunting knife to cut these chips into long, thin, narrow shavings, much like those used in making the Bavarian toy brooms. When a good quantity of these has been prepared gather a bundle of the very finest and most slender brushwood you can find. The largest sticks should not be stouter than wheat straws; cut these up into foot lengths; place your bunch of shavings on as dry a spot as you can find. If there are stones to be obtained, place one on each side of it. Now, with your small sticks, build a sort of cone loosely over the shavings, each stick being arranged end upwards, just as hop poles are stored for the winter; lay over and outside these a few stouter sticks and bits of bark. When your cone is complete introduce your fire to the centre of the cone’s base. A tube of bark or hollow reed, a piece of curled up dry hide, or a gun-barrel with the nipple taken out, serves for a blowpipe to gently urge on the fire with. We—as stated in the early portion of this work—endeavour, if possible, to have a small pair of bellows as part of our travelling kit. It is well, however, to know how to manage without them. Small quantities of gunpowder cautiously sprinkled in will aid considerably in setting up the first flame of a sluggish fire. The greatest care must, however, be exercised in order to guard against accidents from explosion.
We in our early days narrowly escaped the loss of a hand by strewing a little powder from the flask on some damp moss, which we were endeavouring to coax into a fire. The instant the grains of powder reached the fire they ignited, communicated with the contents of the flask, and, fortunately, blew the brass top from the copper body, without bursting the metal. On another occasion, nearly a half-charge of powder exploded in the left hand, whilst we were strewing in the powder with the right finger and thumb in a manner which we are to this day utterly at a loss to account for. When making use of gunpowder as a fire stimulant, we now invariably pour the quantity about to be used on a leaf or a piece of bark, and place the flask in a place of perfect safety, some distance from the fire, which, when once fairly established, may be treated with more boldness, and supplied with sticks of larger size. If you intend camping down for the night with your party, the first thing to do, after seeing that your fire is burning strongly, is to collect a good and sufficient store of fuel to last through the night and well up into the morning. One of the elements of fitness in the locality for camping purposes will be the close vicinity of proper firewood; and here we must caution the inexperienced against the choice of soft wood trees for a true camp fire. Pines, and other members of the coniferæ, are very ill adapted to the purpose. Ash, maple, beech, birch, and other hard woods are the sorts to be sought for. Trees of about 1ft. to 14in. in diameter are the best for the purpose. When felled with the axe, they should be cut into logs of about 12ft. in length, and all the branches chopped up short to feed the fire with. Prepare two strong heavy stakes of about 5ft. in length, sharpen the points and drive them into the earth just behind your fire, in such a way that they may stand at about 6ft. apart. Cut a notch in the rear of each near the top for the support or back stake to key into. Now place three of your fire logs one on the other, as if you were building a log wall. This forms your fire-back; now take two shorter logs and fix them at the ends as log rests, and on these lay another long fire log, when the arrangement will be complete. A fire of this kind, when once thoroughly established, will burn during the longest night, form a perfect wall of fire, and cause little trouble, as all the feeding fuel is cast in between the front log on the log rests and the fire-back. A pot, to be boiled on a fire of this kind, is conveniently suspended from a stout green pole, so placed as to rest above the fire-back, whilst its point is forced into the ground behind.
To keep a small fire steadily burning, let three logs as large as possible be laid end to end, diverging at an angle of 60° from each other (as in Fig. 1, p. 551), push their burning ends occasionally together, and they will last many hours, with but little attention. The natives of Australia take dry logs, 6ft. or more in length, and laying them down 3ft. or 4ft. apart, set them on fire in several places. Letting shorter logs meet them from the outside, and laying good-sized pebbles around them, they then stretch themselves on the ground and sleep between the two lines of fire, and when the wood is consumed the stones continue for some time to radiate the heat they have previously absorbed. Many tribes of American Indians have their own especial fashion of fire-building, so that a deserted camp fire will not unfrequently reveal the identity of the tribe by whom it was made.
In South Africa, when the flats are swamped with heavy showers, and it would seem almost impossible to kindle the scanty fuel that can be obtained, the ant-hills with which the plain is covered prove the greatest imaginable boon to the traveller. One of these hills, 3ft. or 4ft. high, is selected, its top cut flat off, and a hole dug like an oven in its side. In this the fire is kindled, the flame rushes up through the galleries, the clay becomes red hot, and the kettle or frying-pan soon begins to feel its influence. But this is not all, for the galleries are most likely full of vegetable matter as well as of ants’ eggs, and larvæ, and these help to increase the flame. Of course it is cruel, but the traveller and his followers must have food. By the exercise of a little ingenuity, hollows can be cut in it for convenience of baking bread, &c. Most farmers build a clay oven at some little distance from their houses to avoid the necessity of having a fire actually under their roof. In the Zuur veldt, in Tartary and Central India, where fuel is scarce, we have seen the cattle-dung collected and piled along the tops of all the walls and other enclosures to dry.
When camping down for any length of time a stack of logs and split hard wood should be formed. Straight logs are easily split by wedges, but stump ends, which form excellent fuel, are so tough that they require blowing open with gunpowder. To do this, we bore an auger hole into the substance of the stump, pour in our charge of powder, and then screw into the hole a tapered iron plug, on which a very deep rough screw thread has been cut. This plug has a ring made in its upper end to admit of the passage of an iron pin used in screwing it in, and the ring of a bit of old ox chain, the other end of which is secured to the log under treatment by a large staple, or a screw bolt, in order to prevent the plug from being blown away and lost. The annexed illustration represents a section of the stump; and it will be seen, on examination, that the plug has a hole running longitudinally through it for a slow-match to go through. The inside end of this match is allowed to remain long enough to reach the powder in the bottom of the hole, and that at the outside of sufficient length to enable you, after lighting it, to get behind a tree, or in some other safe place, until the explosion takes place, and the flying splinters and fragments settle. In the absence of one of these iron blasting plugs, a hard wood treenail may be used to stop the auger hole, and the vent may be bored with a gimlet.
Makeshift mills.
THE QUERN.
In dealing with many of the food, drink, and oil yielding products with which we shall have to deal, mills or crushing contrivances, more or less complicated, will be required. The most simple and primitive of these is formed by placing the substance to be treated between two stones, and grinding it by working them forward and back with the hands. The tortillas or thin pancakes of Spanish America are made from flour prepared by the aid of a contrivance of this kind. The maize or Indian corn used in their manufacture is first steeped in water to soften it. Handfuls of the prepared grain are then thinly scattered over the surface of the lower or bed stone. The top stone is then brought into play until the whole is reduced to a species of paste. This, when flattened out between the palms of the hands, and rapidly baked over the fire, forms a description of bread in general use throughout Mexico and other countries where the Spanish races have formed settlements.
THE QUERN.Most of the Eastern races and tribes make use of the ancient quern or hand-mill to crush their grain. This primitive mill, the subject of the annexed illustration, is, with trifling modifications of arrangement, almost world wide. A bed stone, slightly convex, is capped by a running stone somewhat concave. A hole in the centre admits of the grain being poured in with the left hand, whilst a second hole out of centre receives the end of the handle used in causing the upper stone to revolve on the lower. As the grain is reduced to powder it falls out on a cloth placed to receive it, and by repeatedly passing between the stones a meal of sufficient fineness for practical purposes is soon formed. When two or more persons work at a mill of this description, supplementary handles are attached to the upright turning stick by strips of raw hide. The “chupatees” or “aps” of India are usually made from meal ground in mills of this description. Chupatees, like tortillas, are not unlike pancakes, and form a most important element of an Indian hunter’s diet. Our native followers always contrived to bear with them in some way or another the pair of stones necessary to form a quern, and a piece of sheet iron to bake the aps on, so that, wherever grain of any kind was procurable, we were at least sure of bread. When a sufficient quantity of meal has been ground out, it is, by the aid of a little water and much manipulation, converted into dough or “attar.” This is divided into balls, each ball being sufficient to form one chupatee. The balls are then one by one taken between the palms of the hands and dexterously slapped and patted until quite round and as thin as an ordinary pancake, and then adroitly transferred to the piece of sheet iron which rested on a small fire close at hand. A little ghee, or native butter, was then added. The aps, when baked brown, are taken off the plate, and eaten hot or stored away for future use.
When attached to the expedition sent into the jungles for the capture of the Nahwab of Banda, we saw our native hunters and followers, when particularly short of grain, gather the seed of a thin wiry grass called “nardoo” for meal-making purposes. This nardoo must not, however, be confounded with the Australian seed of the same name, as that grows on a plant not unlike our English wood sorrel, the “hare-bell,” or a long-stemmed clover; whilst that of India is a true cereal, with a head furnished with many grains, like very diminutive barley.
In Africa and many other countries the pestle and mortar are extensively made use of for grain and seed crushing. A hard wood log is easily hollowed out by the aid of fire and cutting tools, and a pestle is extemporised from any suitable piece of heavy wood.
A powerful and simple description of mill is made by making a round and somewhat tapering hole in a large slab of sandstone or grit. In this a conical block of stone is fitted in such a manner as to admit of its being turned round by a cross-handle, as shown in the annexed illustration. The corn or other grain to be crushed is thrown into a groove which surrounds the hole in the bed stone.
A generally useful oil or sugar-cane mill is in general use throughout India and Ceylon. Its main bed or cylinder is formed from a solid block of hard stone, which is hewn out until of the form of an upturned mortar; in the bore or barrel is fixed, at an angle, a piece of hard, heavy, and massive baubul thorn tree, which acts as a pestle or crusher; to this is attached, by lashings of raw hide, a head bar, which serves to guide its movements and direction. This head bar is in turn connected with the travelling bar, which runs round the cylinder much as the jaws of a boom might be made to run round a mast. The illustration below will serve to show the manner in which the arrangements are made. One or more bullocks are made use of to turn the pestle of the mill; and such liquid as may be forced out of the substance under treatment runs through an orifice, like the vent of a cannon, into a cane tube, which conducts it into a pot sunk in the earth. The greater portion of the native cane sugar made in the East is manufactured by the aid of this description of mill.
NATIVE MILL.
Whilst at Tette, in Africa, we had an opportunity of seeing the process of cane sugar making carried out by the native cultivators, which is conducted as follows: Early in the morning a quantity of canes, minus their tops, were brought in, and a couple of men, armed with thin double-edged soft iron knives, 2ft. long and 3in. wide, caught up the canes in their left hands and chopped off pieces about 2ft. long, letting them fall in heaps, whence they were taken by others, who dressed off any knots or young shoots that might impede their progress through the mill. As soon as this was completed, the parts of the machine, which are always taken asunder and cleaned after a day’s work, were set up, the whole consisting of eight pieces of wood—first, the trough, or canoe as the natives call it (an oblong block 5ft. long, 2ft. 6in. wide, with a hollow 3in. deep to catch the juice, and three circular holes or sockets in the centre, cut not quite through, to receive the lower ends of the rollers); secondly, two posts, one at either end of the trough, with their upper ends tenoned to carry another log with corresponding sockets for the upper end of the rollers; thirdly, three vertical rollers, 4ft. long and 8in. diameter, their upper parts being cut into the form of a long screw, the worm of the centre one running in the usual direction, and those of the two others in the opposite. The head of the central roller projects above the framework, and is squared so as to fit into a mortice in the middle of a long beam, the two ends of which are used as levers, and, when turned, the deep-cut worm, acting on those of the other rollers, causes them to revolve in the opposite direction. A heap of cane was laid by the mill; and, while eight or ten men ran round with the lever bar, a native, squatting on the receiving side, fed the canes by handfuls between the centre and the right-hand roller; while another, catching them as they came out (as shown in the above illustration), sent them back again between the centre and the opposite roller on his own right. This was repeated till the canes were crushed dry and the trough filled.
SUGAR-CANE MILL.
The juice was baled out with a calabash; and when it became shallow was scooped up by the hand, strained through a basket into two large copper pans 30in. wide and 8in. deep, and boiled on open wood fires, a couple of women stirring it till sufficiently evaporated. The pans were then placed on small heaps of soft earth, and the stirring continued till the whole mass assumed the consistency of dough or toffy, and eventually crystallised into a fine bright yellowish brown sugar, leaving no treacle, molasses, or refuse of any kind.
The green cane chewed to express the juice is pleasant and nutritious; the fresh sap is a most luxurious draught; the syrup, thickened by boiling, but not yet crystallised, is of a bright golden colour, and better in taste than what we call treacle; the pap or toffy is by no means bad.
Next morning, as the friction of the rollers had worn the outer side of the sockets and thus increased the space between them, a native carpenter let in pieces of hard wood across the grain of the beam, and in them cut hollows to the proper outline of the sockets. This is frequently necessary; and, if it is too long delayed, the rollers separate so much that the thread of the centre screw catches the edge instead of the hollow of the others, and is liable to break both. A set of rollers will last from one to three seasons, according to the amount of work required. The panellas, or earthen sugar jars, are made by women.
Sugar pots, to make.
A shallow wooden dish, of about 14in. internal diameter, is chosen, and in this the clay, previously kneaded into a long roll, is so coiled as to make a circular wall; this is next pressed and patted into a compact mass, with a smooth surface; it is then built upon, tapering into a kind of pear shape towards the top, which is 4in. in diameter, and is finished in a smooth edge (a woman will do this in about ten minutes); it is then gently lifted from the dish and set aside to dry. Next day it is turned up, and the wide part, which had previously been the base, is gradually built upon with fresh clay, till it arches over so as to leave a very small aperture; the fingers of the left hand are introduced to support the work, while the hole is being diminished by applications of fresh clay until it becomes so small that the last finger has to be withdrawn, and it is finally closed by the dexterous application of a small piece, quite moist, dabbed on with correct aim, and slightly smoothed off at the edges by gentle application of the fingers. A hemispherical cap is then made for the finished panella, which appears beside it. The jars are then baked to a dull red. From 15lb. to 20lb. of sugar is put in each, making the gross weight from 27lb. to 29lb., a pad of grass to give a flattened base is laced to each jar with strips of palm leaf, a couple of loops or beckets are left to lift it by, and each jar is sold for about three fathoms of calico.
Cakes, to bake.
In cooking an “as-koekie,” or ash cake, a fire is made upon a smooth flat piece of ground, and when this is well heated, and there are plenty of glowing embers, the fire is swept away; the cake, generally of meal or of seconds flour and water, with a pinch of salt in it, is laid upon it, the ashes are then strewed over the cake, and the embers raked over all, fresh wood being heaped over if necessary, and it is left for two or four hours according to its size and the intensity of the fire. The Australian damper is made in the same manner, except that the finest flour is used and kneaded with as little water as possible; in fact the flour is merely damped sufficiently to make it adhere, and then by dint of hard kneading is converted into a solid mass, the object being to have no moisture in it that would cause it to become mouldy if kept or carried for several days upon a journey. As this article of breadstuff is such a general favourite with old bushmen, it may not be amiss to give full directions for its preparation. The size of the damper of course depends on the numerical strength of the party for which it is about being prepared. The first thing to do is to obtain a flat, broad, dried sheepskin, or slab of bark, large enough to constitute a kneading-board; on this pour from your flour sack enough flour for use; sprinkle in some salt; work a wide basin-shaped hole in the middle of the flour, keeping the right hand moving round it whilst water is thrown in a little at a time from any convenient vessel held in the left. Continue to do this until a thick, strong, adhesive dough is formed; work this well about on the board with dry flour until a large pudding-shaped ball is formed; strew your board with fresh flour, dust over your ball with a little, and proceed to press and flatten it out until a round, even, pancake-shaped mass is formed—about 2½in. in thickness will be found a convenient substance. This may be ascertained by cutting a notch in a sharp stick at 2½in. from the joint, and thrusting it through here and there, working away in the meantime until the thickness is uniform. The red hot embers of your camp fire, which should be good, clear, and well-burned, must now be scooped aside with a shovel, flat-pointed stick, or a sheet of green bark, leaving a clear even surface of hearth. Now, deftly taking the damper in the palms and outspread fingers of your two hands, drop it evenly and lightly on the heated ground, making all flat and compact with your hands, and then with your shovel or makeshift spade rake back the heated embers over your damper until it is deeply buried in them, and in between one and two hours, depending on the weight of the batch, it will be cooked to a turn, be of a light rich brown, and a feast for a king. Hungry men not unfrequently satisfy their hunger by making dough nuts, or “beggars on the coals” as they are called, whilst the damper is cooking. These are merely small lumps of dough hastily twisted off and cast on the embers to grill. The dried yeast powders prepared by some good makers are well worth taking on an expedition, when very superior bread can be made by their aid. We have made good bread with and without them, by placing the loaf under an upturned copper or iron cooking pot, heaping on the ashes until the baking process was completed, and then dusting the loaf well with a bunch of fresh green twigs. We made an excellent oven in the Crimea from an old powder canister. This we buried in an horizontal direction in the bank at the back of the cook house. Clay was well rammed in round it, and after it had been sufficiently heated by a charge of vine roots and aught else we could obtain, it was swept out, the bread pies or tarts (for we even arrived at that stage of the baker’s art at last) were put in, the copper cover of the canister was luted fast with wet clay, and the baking proved most satisfactory. A small iron-hooped barrel makes an excellent oven. Lay it on its bilge in a deep groove, scooped in a convenient bank, cover it with a complete and thick coating of strong clay, leaving one head, the outer one, open; then fill in the earth above the cask, and well stamp it down; now lay a few stones in the cask, and light a fire on them, letting it smoulder the whole of one day and a night, in order that the clay may dry. Now remove the stones, and light a strong fire of dry wood in it. This will burn out all the staves, and leave the clay oven fit for use. A large flat stone and some clay makes a good oven stopper.
If a light cake for present use is required, and the ashes adhering to the outer surface are thought objectionable, a frying-pan, of which the handle had been broken off, may be inverted over it, or a plate of iron may be supported upon four stones, and the fire piled over all as before. (See Fig. 3.) The three-legged iron pot, or Meg Merrilies (Fig. 4), forms an excellent oven; light bread may be baked in it, or joints may be roasted, or pastry made to suit the most fastidious taste. A fire must be made underneath it, and a sufficient quantity of clear glowing embers raked out and piled upon the iron cover, which ought not to be lifted until the moment when the contents are judged to be properly cooked.
Flesh meat.
But it is when the larger animals of the wilderness fall before the hunter’s rifle that the resources of the African chef de cuisine are really called into requisition. Suppose an elephant has been laid low, and, after an extemporised supper of steaks, or “carbonatjies,” the party determine to have a foot for breakfast, the fire, which has already partially dried the ground, is swept away, or perhaps a new spot is chosen, and a hole 30in. in width and depth is made, a fire is lighted in this, and a quantity of dry wood thrown on and allowed to burn until the sides of the hole and the earth immediately surrounding it are thoroughly heated; the fire is then raked out, the foot, generally a fore one, which has been amputated at what may be called the wrist-joint, and answering to the knee of the horse, is placed in its natural position in it (Fig. 5), the ashes are shovelled in, the hot embers above them, the hot earth over all, and a roaring fire is lighted on the top and left to burn all night. In the morning this is cleared off, the foot is dug out, the upper parts soiled by the contract of the ashes are cut away, and the rich gelatine and other morsels are left to be dug out by the stout keen pointed knives of the expectant hunters, the tough skin serving all the purposes of a dish. Very frequently a piece of the trunk is put in at the same time, and this is generally left as a stand-by, to be eaten cold, when it looks and tastes almost like coarse tongue; the foot, on the contrary, being best while still warm. The hump of the white rhinoceros, treated in nearly the same manner, is in reality a most delicious morsel, the rich juices accumulating in the dish formed by the thick skin, while the upper part and adhering ashes is cut off and thrown away; but, if proper care has been taken, another flap of skin slightly larger will have been cut out and skewered, as in Fig. 6, for a dish cover, and this will not only prevent the annoyance caused by dirt and ashes, but will prevent the absorption of the juices which would otherwise take place.
A mode of cooking a dish of hippopotamus, discovered by Sir Samuel Baker, is well worth bearing in mind. Speaking of it, he says: “I tried boiling the fat flesh and skin together, the result being that the skin assumed the appearance of the green fat of the turtle, but is far superior. A piece of the head thus boiled, and then soused in vinegar, with chopped onions and cayenne pepper and salt, throws brawn completely into the shade.” The rump steak from an eland is also a delicacy hardly to be surpassed. The side of the rump, skin and all, with as much flesh as can be dug out with it, is cut off; the edges of the skin are then gathered together and skewered like a pudding bag (see Fig. 7), and it is then put into the heated hole, or a fire is built around and over it upon the surface, the advantage being that the juices have no chance of escape and the meat is most deliciously cooked; in fact, if the quantity be insufficient, all the inner portions of the skin may be pared away and eaten, leaving only the scorched cuticle. The gipsies’ method of rolling up a fowl in a ball of clay, putting it into the fire till it becomes red hot, and then breaking it open, with all the feathers scorched so as to be no longer recognisable, and the fowl itself deliciously cooked, is well known. Fish when dressed in this way are delicious.
In some countries the natives appear to have a taste for boiling or stewing their food, although at the same time they do not possess vessels of iron, or even of clay, that will bear the action of the fire: nevertheless their case is not hopeless. We have frequently seen the cooking holes of the Australians—generally beside some rivulet, where fish and fresh-water mussels were easily to be obtained, and even an alligator might occasionally be killed. A hole (see Fig. 8, p. 551), 2ft. in diameter and 1ft. in depth, is dug in the ground, and the inside nicely clayed; the fish or flesh, carefully wrapped in grass or in the leaves of the pandanus, is put in and the hole filled with water. In the meantime large stones have been heated at a fire not far off, and these are dropped one after another into the water, being removed by means of crooked sticks as they cool to make room for others more thoroughly hot; then, when the water boils, or is as nearly boiling as it is possible for hot stones to make it, the hole is covered with grass; earth is heaped on it, and the food is left to steam until it is considered sufficiently cooked. Should the mess be large, and require longer boiling, a fire may be lighted above the cooking hole, less for the purpose of imparting fresh heat than for that of preventing the loss of the heat already produced below it. The New Zealanders, Sandwich Islanders, and some of the Indian tribes of North West America, cook most of their food in this manner. In the Pacific Islands a pig, with the potatoes, yams, or other vegetables, is nicely wrapped in several folds of mat or native cloth and left to stew all night; and we have heard it said that flesh may be boiled by this process in a sufficiently water-tight basket. Salmon and other fish are commonly boiled by Indians in birch bark by the aid of hot stones.
Makeshift furnace.
While coasting along the shores of North Australia we were often at a loss for something like a warm meal; fortunately, we had as a compensation a case of gin with us, and, as long as it lasted, we thankfully availed ourselves of it as a means of restoring the animal heat after we had been chilled and wearied by a night of exposure and incessant labour. When the weather moderated a little, we took a 6lb. preserved beef tin (see the following engraving), cut out the top of it, and then, after making a number of triangular cuts in the sides about half-way down, we turned the tongues inwards so as to make at the same time supports for the piece of tin we had cut out from the top, and holes by which the air could enter freely; the upper edge we cut into van-dykes, turning alternately one point inward and one a little out, so as to make a firm rest and secure hold for another tin of the same size, which we used as a boiler. We set the whole upon the bottom of our upturned baling tub, and lighted our fire upon the false bottom with coir, or fibre of cocoa-nut husk, steeped in cocoa-nut oil, and with chips of deal cut off the trail of our little carronade. In this manner we not only made tea and coffee, but warmed up our preserved meat, and fried our salt pork.
During this voyage we fell in with one of the very few so-called “edible” things we have been unable to eat, and this was the “trepang” (beche le mer, or sea-slug); this, with the scanty boiling or roasting we could afford it, was about as tender and well tasted as the sole of a shoe well saturated with sea-water; but, after having been parboiled and dried by the Malay collectors, sold by them for 15l. per ton to the Chinese, and subjected to the elaborate culinary operations of that people, we have no doubt that, with sufficient condiment, it produces a soup quite worthy of the praises they bestow upon it.
When we were left with a couple of Krooboys in the pinnace of H.M.S. Hermes, on the Zambesi, we took an empty preserved potatoe box, composed of sheet iron, between 16in. and 18in. square, and, cutting out the top as in the case before described, we made half-way up the sides a series of triangular cuts, turned the points inward as supports, and let the top sheet previously punched full of holes down upon them; above this we cut a good-sized hole for the admission of fresh fuel, and another below for access to the ashes accumulating there. This proved a first-rate portable furnace; it was large enough to accommodate the coffee kettle and a moderate-sized stew pot or frying-pan. The bottom being made with a flange riveted to the sides, as shown by the rivet heads in the sketch, was sunk nearly 1 in. within the edges, and therefore left just that amount of vacant space between it and the boat’s thwarts or other plank that it might be set upon, thus preventing any danger of burning the plank should even the falling embers heat the iron before they died out. For additional security, we put a couple of chocks under to raise it; but there was no necessity for securing it by cleats or lashings; still we have drawn them to show how they might be applied, if requisite.
A piece of the iron wire netting, now commonly sold for fencing, if neatly turned up at the sides, would make a very efficient fire-basket; and, if the meshes prove too large, a couple of pieces so cut or folded that they cover each other unequally would reduce the size of the apertures to something less than half. This might be slung by wires (as in Fig. 1), set upon legs, or supported according to convenience. The form of the old cresset, which may be well enough imitated with a few bits of iron hoop (Fig. 2), with or without rivets, is worth bearing in mind. Light may be obtained by sticking a pole into the ground, splitting the top of it, and sticking in the cleft a slip of red pine or other resinous wood; the burning may be accelerated by depressing the lighted end (as in Fig. 3), or retarded by raising it.
Fuel.
When wood is scarce, almost any animal substance may be used as fuel; the dung of all graminivorous animals, the dried flesh, cartilage, fat and bones, will all burn. Dr. Livingstone once burnt the dried bones of an elephant in the furnace of the little steamer Ma Robert; and in trying down the blubber of a whale, the scraps from which no more oil can be extracted are used as fuel to melt the rest. Arctic explorers constantly burn bones to obtain heat. Parties away from a vessel on boat service frequently have blue lights or rockets with them. A blue light is usually provided with a percussion cap, so that it bears its own means of ignition; but, if there should be no need to burn it, the sulphur may be removed and used in small quantities to tip the ends of bits of paper, wood, or any light combustible matter to serve as matches.
A candle may be saved from guttering by being placed in a tube large enough to contain it with a small aperture to let the wick come through; if a spiral spring is at hand to force the candle gradually up, so much the better; if not, have the tube long enough to allow a stick of the same size to be inserted under the butt of the candle, then weight the tube heavily (see Fig. 4, [p. 555]), and it will of itself press downwards as the candle burns away.
Fig. 5 is a clay mould used by the natives of some of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago for cooking sago; it is heated nearly red hot, the sago paste is ladled into the hollows shown in it, and, when cooked, taken out in the form of very palatable biscuits. In South Africa we make very excellent fritters by mixing a stout batter of meal or flour with a little sugar; then setting a pot of sheep’s-tail fat upon the fire, we keep it boiling, and taking up a spoonful of the batter drop it into the boiling fat. When a South Sea whaler is trying out blubber, the men take biscuits, saturate them thoroughly with water, tie them in a cloth to which a line is made fast, and throw them into the boiling oil. They also tie up fish in a cloth and throw them into the pot, secured in the same manner.
Hints on food.
Commander E. Belcher says that farmers throw a bag of flour into the water to keep it cool; the outer layer only forms paste half an inch in thickness. The American whalers put their flour casks into salt water to prevent weevils getting in; the outer paste dries as hard as flint, and resists their attacks. And lastly, speaking from his own experience, he says the flour balls washed ashore from a wreck, dirty-looking and studded with sand, gravel, and pebbles till they seemed almost like plum puddings, were most carefully gathered up and preserved; they were broken when required, and the dry flour inside made into cakes; this, with a little rum from the wreck and a scanty supply of salmon purchased from the natives, supported him and his crew for ten days; even the flour which had been reached by salt water was not quite spoiled, if the gravel and sand could be extracted.
What we rather absurdly reject as the offal of an animal contains in reality some of its tenderest and best parts, and the natives who follow a white man for the game he kills are well aware of this; and they know that he has a prejudice in favour of cleanliness, which to them seems groundless. However, they do not fail to take advantage of it, and, in cutting up an animal, generally contrive to break up the interior in such a manner that, without actually spoiling the tit bits, they give them a very unsightly appearance. If the traveller is content with the solid flesh, of course he can let them do as they like; if not, he must look out in time. It is quite well to know that the marrow-bones slightly warmed afford most delicious food; the marrow of the ox is good, that of the buffalo is better, but that of the koodoo is the ne plus ultra. The bones of the quagga—at least, so far as our experience goes—afford no marrow; indeed, there is no hollow for it, the inside being a cellular structure filled with oil. The flesh, also, being rather rank, persons of very delicate taste do not relish it. The wild Hottentots, however, not only eat it, but use the name “quagga” as the general term for food. We have frequently eaten it, and can safely say that it only requires a good appetite to make it palatable enough. The head of this or any other animal is best cooked in its skin—a good fire being made round it and earth heaped over the embers all night.
The skin of most animals will afford nutriment—of course, the thicker it is the better; that of the hippopotamus, which varies in different parts from half an inch to two inches, is very good. It may be roasted, or broiled, or boiled down to a soft jelly or even to a soup or gelatine, and in all these various forms it is good. We have saved large slabs of the hide after killing a hippopotamus; and after the flesh was gone the skin served us well, the Damaras washing it and pounding it between a couple of stones till it was tender enough to eat. When that was done, however, and we had to come down upon the hides of buffaloes shot three months before, and at that time dried so hard in the sun that we had to cut them up with a hand-saw, we found that, even after a couple of days’ soaking in the pool and two days more of boiling, nothing but the simple fact that we had nothing else would have induced us to eat them. The quagga skin is even harder; but our native followers cut it out piecemeal from under a Dutch lad who was using it as a bed till they barely left him enough to lie upon. We had used the hide of a black rhinoceros to make side chests for the waggon, and these, though much harder than the hardest wood we know, were taken off, roasted, pounded between stones, and eaten. Meat that has been cut into small pieces and exposed to the heat of the sun, so as partially to dry without allowing it to become tainted, may be eaten without further cooking.
In Tartary it is said to be common for a rider to cut a thin steak of beef and lay it under his saddle before he sets out on his journey, and after some hours he finds that the combined effects of constant pressure and warmth have, if not cooked it, at least rendered it palatable enough to be eaten.
In Norway, the stew-pot, after having stood for some time upon the fire, is taken off and wrapped in a thick covering of felt, which, being a bad conductor, prevents the escape of the heat, and forces it to expend itself on the continued cooking of the meat. A very neat arrangement of this kind was recently exhibited at the Polytechnic under the name of the Norwegian cooking stove. It consists of a small wooden box, thickly lined with felt, in which there is just room to deposit a stew-pan. After it has been brought to boiling heat upon the fire, it is then shut close, and in three or four hours the dinner is thoroughly cooked. We should think this, in waggon travelling in Africa, for soldiers on the march, or on board fishing boats or small vessels, would be a very desirable acquisition.
In Australia we constantly ate our ration of salt pork uncooked; and, even when recently taken from the cask, it was very good in this manner, with a little lime-juice and sugar. Per contra, however, the pork, with the bone cut out, and packed in canvas bags for carriage by pack horses, soon became dried by the sun; the fat all melted out of it, and was used to grease our boots or harness; and the once juicy, succulent, full-sized four-pound piece of pork became, after a few months’ carriage, a semi-fossilized bit of nondescript matter, not much bigger than our fist, and weighing just three-quarters of a pound. Nevertheless, we had to take it at its nominal value, as we had no opportunity of replenishing our stores until our return to camp; and we found experimentally that we could not afford to diminish our scanty rations any further by boiling it.
It may be of interest here to give the scale of rations on which we travelled, and on which, though we could certainly have consumed more, we lived and worked for several months without finding our health or strength in any way impaired:
| Salt pork, per diem, 1 lb. (nom.) | Sugar, 3 oz. |
| Flour, 1 lb. | Tobacco, ¼ oz. |
| Coffee, roasted and ground, ¾ oz. | Soap, ¼ oz. |
| Or tea, ¼ oz. |
In camp, if we killed a sheep, the allowance was 1¼ lb. of fresh meat instead of salt; a pint pannikin was also used as holding an equivalent to 1 lb. of flour. But on the journey we were never able to issue a full pound, because drying it in the sun diminished its weight; and, beside this, as we carried two ½-lb. tins of gunpowder in each 50 lb. bag of flour, their weight, as well as that of the double canvas bag, had to be deducted, leaving a net weight of very little over 48 lb. In serving the weekly rations, our plan was to weigh every man’s bag of flour against our own, and, if he thought his was in any way deficient, to give him the option of changing; also, when the pork was laid out, to let every man choose his ration, and to take that which remained for ourselves; and we found, as we believe will generally be the case, that the men, seeing that they were fairly treated, did not abuse the confidence we placed in them.
Sheep killing.
In times of scarcity, it may be well in killing a sheep to follow the example of the Tartars, who are perhaps the most dexterous sheep butchers in the world. When they kill a sheep nothing is wasted; even the blood is most carefully preserved for use. Instead of cutting the throat of the animal in the usual way, they pass a long slender knife in by the side of the breast-bone in such a way that all the large vessels above the heart are instantly severed. All the blood therein contained is poured out into the cavity of the chest without the escape of any. When requisite, it is ladled or scooped out, and placed in some convenient vessel. To skin the animal, the knife is first run along the whole abdominal line, from the top of the throat under the chin to the inside of the root of the tail, lines are then cut up each leg to the hoof, and the skin is dexterously stripped back from each side until nothing but a mere line of adhesion is left from the top of the tail, along the middle of the back, and up the neck. The sheep is now turned on its back, and the skin spread evenly out, like a mat, under it. The process of division into convenient joints now takes place, each piece being arranged in order on the skin, whilst the offal is secured in a wide basket. When all the joints have been duly cut out, the skin is taken by two men, one before to grasp the skins of the fore-legs and the other those of the hind, just as a hand-barrow is carried; and in this way the meat is carried to the tents for use.
Economy in food.
Once, in Australia, after having emptied a 50lb. bag of sugar, we rinsed out the bag with half a pint of water, making a strong syrup, which we poured into a small iron bucket; then, rinsing it again with another half pint, we obtained a like quantity, somewhat less sweet; and this we repeated till the bag was washed clean and we had about three pints of sweetened water in our bucket. We then drew from the store half a ration of sago for four persons—i.e., ½lb. each—boiled it in the syrup, and thus produced a mess which everyone who tasted it declared to be delicious.
One of our party devoted a spare hour to fishing, and, with hook and line, caught a large water tortoise and some fish; and shot a bird. The first of these when killed—i.e., so far as the division of the jugular would kill it—was laid upon its back upon the embers, served up in its own shell, and was a most palatable addition to our meal.
The large lizards of Australia, sometimes from 4ft. to nearly 6ft. long, are most excellent and delicate food, but the proper method is to roast them in the skin; and we have known the most intense anxiety felt lest we should require the skin of a particularly fine one as a specimen of natural history. This was somewhat calmed by the assurance that we only wished to sketch it, but the operation was most jealously watched, and, when we had completed our picture, we divided the body into quarters and the tail into four junks, for the four members of the party; and these dainties, carefully spread upon forked branches cut for the purpose, were set up above the embers of an ample fire, raked out into glowing heaps under each junk or quarter. In about twenty minutes they were thoroughly cooked, and proved, indeed, a delicacy, the flesh being white as chicken, and the taste reminding us rather of turkey than anything else.
The various cockatoos, parrots, wood-pigeons, storks, and cranes are all good. The dawn or rose-breasted cockatoo (Cacatoa eos), the white variety with the sulphur-coloured crest, or the black cockatoo, each form a very tolerable, though not an ample, meal for one man. Various species of hawks or kites, though not so delicate, may also be eaten; and in Australia, where carrion is not so plentiful as in Africa, and the hawks feed principally upon insects or small fish, their flesh, though dark in colour and tough, is by no means bad. We have eaten the white-headed African fish-eagle and the large horned owl, which, though somewhat tough and rank, were better than going upon scanty fare.
We first ate the flesh of a snake at Graham’s Town, South Africa. A friend had brought us a puff-adder as a specimen; and, when we had skinned it, the flesh looked so white and firm that we cut out a junk, about 6in. long and as thick as our wrist, and desired the Kafir girl, who acted as cook, to fry it. An acquaintance who partook of it acknowledged that it was good, and that only the thought of eating snake prevented his enjoying it more fully.
The Australian blacks eat snakes of every kind, as well as any small animals they can catch; and we have often seen fellows whose sole apparel consisted of a snake girded round their waist, with two or three rats hitched by their tails to it. We were taught the orthodox way of cooking them by a first-rate fellow, John Fahey, an Irishman, who had been nearly fourteen years among the blacks. He first let the flame expend itself, and then spread out the embers, on these he coiled up the snake until the scales were slightly scorched; then taking it by the tail, he drew it repeatedly through his hand, brushing the crisp scales off toward the head, and again coiled it on the embers till it was thoroughly cooked; then opening it and throwing away the offal he picked out the tit bits and offered them to us, and afterwards divided the body.
The flesh of the alligator while young, and not more than 6ft. in length, is very good; but when larger, it becomes very strong, and acquires a musky flavour. We once killed an alligator of 11ft. on the Horseshoe flats, near Curiosity Peak, Victoria River, North Australia. The smell was to a degree rank; yet when we took the carcase to the vessel next morning, and the second overseer cleaned the skin and skeleton, we found that excellent cutlets were to be obtained from the muscular portion of the tail; and after breakfast, when the prejudices of the crew had given way, claimants were found for the flesh as fast as it could be stripped from the bones. Considerable seasoning was required, but still it was better than salt junk.
White ants.
In South Africa, just when the white ants are about to swarm and take the half-hour’s flight which is allowed them before their wings drop off, the natives collect with torches; the ants, being attracted by the light, assemble, and are swept up by basketsful. After being scorched, they are kept in mat bags, holding two or three gallons each, and are really delicious food. They are pleasant to the taste, and very nutritious; for if one be left on a sheet of note-paper when the sun is shining brightly on it oil enough will exude to make a spot a couple of inches in diameter. The chief convenience of these is that they require no cooking, but any quantity may be carried in a bag, and a handful taken out and eaten when wanted.
The vast clouds of locusts, which in some countries both darken the air and devastate the land, are eaten greedily by nearly everything possessing life—men, animals, birds, fish, and insects, all join in the locust feast. The provident savage lays by a store merely smoke dried, to consume at his leisure with such tuberous roots or other underground productions as his sable spouse, armed with her sharp pointed grubbing stick, can procure for him.
The inhabitants of many of the islands of the Eastern Archipelago consume certain insects as food, wherever they can procure them. Mr. Wallace, who resided some time among the Dyaks, says: “Every day boys were to be seen walking along the roads, and by the hedges and ditches, catching dragon flies with birdlime. They carry a slender stick, with a few twigs at the end, well anointed, so that the least touch captures the insect, whose wings are pulled off before it is consigned to a small basket. The dragon flies are so abundant at the time of the rice flowering, that thousands are soon caught in this way. The bodies are fried in oil, with onions and preserved shrimps, or sometimes alone, and are considered a great delicacy.” In Borneo, Celebes, and many other islands, the larvæ of bees and wasps are eaten either alive as pulled out of the cells, or fried like the dragon flies. In the Moluccas the grubs of the palm beetles (Calandra) are regularly brought to market in bamboos and sold for food; and many of the great horned Lamellicorn beetles are slightly roasted on the embers, and eaten whenever met with. In many districts where the cocoanut palm grows abundantly, the curved and tightly rolled up immature fronds are perforated by the workings and burrowings of the “Tucuma” or “Grugru,” the larvæ of Oryctes rhinoceros. These are large plump grubs, with black hard heads, and are esteemed a great luxury, being either fried in cocoanut oil, or seized by the head, dipped in a little lime juice and disposed of without further preparation.
The nests of the white ants are often broken by the natives in search of the eggs, and even of the insects, for scarcity of animal food compels them to eat anything, and the grubs that lurk under the bark of the gum trees are accounted delicious fare. John Fahey was an adept in searching them out; and in fact, when we first made our camp, girdled several trees in order that they might die, and that grubs might accumulate under the bark. The grubs are eaten fresh, raw and living, just as they are taken from the tree.
In most countries there will be some vegetable product or other available for food. In Australia we have cut out what may be called the cabbage from the roots of the pandanus leaves, and found it, when boiled, almost as good as a very inferior turnip. The seeds from the large globular fruit were also worth looking for, because in the pencil of fibre, by which they are attached to the base, is contained a quantity of sweet and farinaceous matter; this we found also was highly relished by the small fish and fresh-water tortoises in the rivulets, and we frequently baited our hooks with them.
In Africa, if we were accompanied by a Damara on a shooting trip, and were unsuccessful, we returned hungry, but if we took a Makalaka, he would be sure to dig up roots or gather wild fruit, or vegetables of some kind or other; and perhaps catch a lizard or other small creature, or occasionally discover a bees’ nest in a hollow tree. Once when we were much exhausted with long-continued want of food, the man who accompanied us saw a few of the small African bees around the branch of a tree, he forthwith climbed it, and chopping off a piece of bark, bruised up the ends with the head of his axe, till he had formed a kind of trough, which he set his assistants to hold, and chopped away till he had sufficiently enlarged the hole to allow him to extract the honeycomb.
The roots of the lotus or blue water-lily are very good, and have a taste, when roasted, something between that of a chesnut and a potatoe.
Lotus roots are obtained from the bottoms of some of the Eastern lakes and rivers by making use of a very long and soft leather sack. Into this the lotus gatherer gets until the top of the sack is on a level with his neck. He then walks, or rather hobbles, into the water, wades by short steps out to the lotus beds; and, when he feels the roots beneath his feet, he digs and works with his toes and heels until they are detached from their hold on the bottom, and float on the surface, from which they are readily raked and collected for use.
The Bushmen wade in the shallow pools and pluck them up by hand, but in the deeper rivers the canoe men have long poles with a hook at the end for detaching the roots. In these pools, also, they frequently capture the “matamaetlie” or edible frog, which is sometimes nearly as large as a chicken. The Bushmen grip them by the nape of the neck, strike them across the thighs and across the spine to disable them, and then, placing their lips to the vent, blow till they force the stomach and all the entrails out at the mouth. The flesh of these frogs is exceedingly good, more like chicken than anything else, and we often found a good-sized one make us a very satisfying meal.
Lotus seed.
The seed of the lotus is extensively used as food throughout the East; the Chinese esteem it highly, and prepare it in a great number of ways. Sir Samuel Baker, in speaking of lotus seed, says: “All the tribes of the White Nile have their harvest of lotus seed; there are two species of water-lily, the large white flower, and the small variety. The seed pod of the white lotus is like an unblown artichoke, containing a number of light red grains, equal in size to mustard seed, but shaped like those of the poppy, and similar to them in flavour, being sweet and nutty. The ripe pods are collected, and strung upon sharp pointed reeds, about 4ft. in length. When thus threaded they are formed into large bundles, and carried from the river to the villages, where they are dried in the sun and stored for use. The seed is ground into flour, and made into a kind of porridge.”
Rice, to boil.
Rice is so well known as a food grain that little need be said of it further than that a wild kind is found growing in many of the swamps of America; the grain from this is beaten off with sticks into canoes which are propelled through the shallow water in which the rice stalks grow. Some skill is required in cooking rice, in order that each grain may be separate. Our native Indian cook used to proceed as follows: The rice was first thoroughly washed in a large jar of clean cold water, two washings being generally required to remove all stain. The water was then strained off, and the clean rice drained quite dry. A cooking pot full of water was then placed on a brisk fire, and allowed to boil actively; when in full ebullition the rice was cast in, the fire stirred, and the boiling continued actively for about sixteen minutes, when the pot was lifted off, placed on one side, and a pint lota pot of cold water thrown suddenly into it; the sudden chill thus communicated divides every grain from its fellow, and, when strained dry, rice prepared in this manner is truly excellent and attractive.
Ostrich’s eggs have often been treated of, and every traveller speaks of them according to his particular experience. Probably, when a party of half-a-dozen men have plenty of bread and every other necessary for a good meal, they will find that one egg is quite enough for them; while a stout fellow, destitute of everything but a keen appetite, would find an ostrich’s egg not more than enough to satisfy himself. The capacity of a good-sized one is about 2½ pints, the taste is rich, and sometimes a trifle strong; in fact, we could never eat much of one unless it were in some way diluted, say mixed with flour and made into a cake. The readiest way of cooking them is to break one end of the shell, set the other end into the embers on the ground, and so cook and serve the contents in their own shell. We prefer, however, to start the egg into an earthen pot, and add nearly an equal quantity of flour or meal, making cakes or fritters, seasoned or not according to taste.
Various foods.
Indeed, we should think that, if eggs in plenty could be obtained, this would be a very economical and effective way of provisioning a small party for a journey where everything must be carried, and where the means of carriage was scant or perhaps altogether wanting; but, in this case, the eggs would have to be mixed with as much flour as they would take up, and the cakes baked as dry as possible without burning any part of them. A nautical friend has told us of a plan adopted on surveying expeditions, when boats are sent for several days from the ship. A rough grater is made by punching holes in a sheet of tin, and a junk of salt meat grated down tolerably fine; the meat powder is then mixed with flour with very little water, rolled up into small balls or cakes, and dried in the galley. When wanted, a portion is broken off, kneaded with a little water, enveloped in a crust of flour and water, tied up in a cloth, and boiled in the boat’s copper as a meat pudding.
The North Australian expedition was abundantly supplied with preserved fresh meat, but the tins in which it was packed could not conveniently be carried in bags on pack horses, and therefore, in preparation for an extensive inland journey, estimating the quantity required, we took out of store equal weights of preserved beef and flour; then taking the contents of a 6lb. tin of beef and 6lb. of flour, he kneaded them together, divided the mass into forty-eight parts of ¼lb. each, and baked them in an oven built of clay and the schooner’s pig ballast for the purpose. Nearly 3lb. weight were lost by the evaporation of the moisture in the process of baking, so that the forty-eight cakes representing 12lb. of meat and flour, and forming six days’ rations for one man, could be carried at a weight of 9lb.; the rations of sugar and other groceries making the total weight only about 10½lb. or at most 11lb. As long as the biscuits remained whole four of them were considered equivalent to 1lb.; but when they were broken up into dust a pannikin about three-quarters full was reckoned an equivalent. In either case, the best way of using it was to mix it with water and warm it up as a thick soup. This compound has been adopted by other travellers in Australia, and found to answer the purpose exceedingly well.
We should think that where fresh and really good fruit is plentiful it might be treated with flour nearly in the same manner, and would form a very agreeable variation in the diet. Dried fruit may be had in many countries, such as Cape Colony, where dried peaches, raisins, &c. are constantly in the market, and these stewed with the meat are not to be despised; but in some form or other vegetable matter, as acid as possible, is absolutely necessary; for no one who has not been compelled to live for weeks together upon meat alone can imagine how utterly disgusting the smell and taste of even the freshest and most savoury joints become when unvaried by any vegetable, to say nothing of the injury to health that such a diet must cause. In Australia we have gathered the young shoots of the wild vine and made what our cook called rhubarb tarts of them; and when these failed, a small succulent herb called “portulac,” or more popularly “potluck,” which could be eaten as a salad, supplied their place. In Africa we have found unspeakable relief from a bundle of dry tamarinds brought from a distant tribe; and when recrossing the desert during the rainy season, we found abundant supplies of wild grapes growing luxuriantly along our path. No matter that they were not ripe; the more tart and sour they were the better; and by the time we had got well within the desert border, and were beginning to find that the intense sourness, which had already served its purpose as a corrective, was beginning to set our teeth on edge, we also began to find riper clusters on the bushes as we advanced; they were, of course, not equal to the cultivated varieties, but were by no means a bad substitute.
We also gathered daily large quantities of the beer berry, or “ovúmbapoov,” about the size of a cranberry, but nearly filled with a hard stone or kernel; these were of a pleasant, sweetish, acid taste, and could be eaten as we gathered them and walked along, or when we halted could be pounded with water in a “halwe stamp block,” or modern mortar, into a very pleasant pulp; the only drawback was the small quantity of food in proportion to the amount of kernel, and the difficulty of getting rid of the latter. Sometimes we would collect a quantity, pour boiling water upon them, let it stand to extract the juices, and then put it aside to ferment. The liquor thus obtained was not unpleasant, it was something between inferior beer and second-rate cider. Once we boiled the juice down to a thick syrup, which was so sweet that a spoonful of it served instead of sugar to our tea, but the quantity produced was so small in proportion to the trouble that we never repeated the process. Many other fruits, roots, and vegetables might be named; but if the traveller makes friends of the natives they will find whatever the country produces for him, and they will never refuse to share what they pick up either with him or with their hungry comrades. Indeed their language supplies no title of contempt equivalent to that of “the man who eats alone,” or who saves anything for the morrow.
We cannot omit, however, to mention the fruit of the Baobab or “Adansonia,” which both in Africa and in Australia we have found extremely valuable. The tree will at once be known by its enormous size. We have generally seen young, well-conditioned trees 30ft. in circumference, while others have been 50ft. or 60ft., and the largest we know of was actually 101ft.; its height, however, is by no means proportionate, it being seldom more than 60ft., or at most 70ft. or 80ft. The fruit is generally about the size of an ostrich’s egg, though we have seen it much larger; the rind is about as thick as the egg-shell, and easily broken; the interior is occupied by seeds imbedded in a pleasant sub-acid pulp, of a white colour, which when dry resembles cream of tartar, and has caused the Dutch Africans to bestow upon it the name of “krem tart boom,” or cream-of-tartar tree. This pulp the Bushmen pound up with a little water, and sometimes mix with it a little meal of grass seeds, to thicken it, or by adding more water make a very pleasant drink.
In Australia we found even the soft wood so succulent that we could cut out a junk with the axe, and chew it for the moisture it contained like a wet sponge; while the fruit of the Gouty-stem tree (Adansonia Gregorii), when boiled up with a little sugar, acted as a powerful antiscorbutic among the sailors of our little schooner, completely curing the disease, and leaving only the unavoidable weakness, from which, with the advantage of better food, they gradually recovered. Millet of various kinds, known under the general denomination of Kafir corn, can be purchased from most of the Kafir and Bechuana tribes. It may be eaten boiled with meat, but should be previously husked in a wooden mortar, and would be better and more digestible if it were also bruised. We have ground it to a kind of rough meal in a coffee-mill, but found that it would not knead up into cakes without a little European or colonial flour to bind it. Sometimes the native women bruise it to meal in their wooden mortars, and in times of scarcity gather the seeds of several wild grasses, which they treat in the same manner.
This meal will not make bread in our sense of the word, but it will make a very good mess, something between bread and pap or porridge, called “maassa.” An earthen pot with water is set upon the fire, and when the water boils a little meal is dropped in and stirred, more and more is then gradually added and stirred until the mess thickens, and is served up like a very dense paste. A very little soup or meat gravy makes it agreeable enough.
Maize or Indian corn is very extensively grown in Africa, and most other warm countries, and nothing can be more delicious than the young ears, either boiled or roasted in their sheath, the leaves of which everyone strips off for himself when it comes to table, spreading a little butter on the ear according to taste; it is perfect etiquette in this case to take the ear up in both hands just as you would pick a bone, and bite the grains off; indeed, the young corn cannot be properly eaten in any other manner.
Maize grains, when in the milk stage, can be preserved for future use in the following manner: The heads are first cut from the stalk, the covering of leaves and the tassel are then stripped off, and all the grains broken from the cob or core with the fingers into a shallow basket; a wide pit is then dug in the earth, and red hot stones and embers are cast in until the bottom and sides of the pit are thoroughly heated. All the stones and ashes are then removed, and all dust brushed away with green branches. A quantity of maize leaves are now brought and made use of to line the pit, and form a sort of nest for the reception of the maize, which is covered with a thick layer of leaves and left until baked. The grain subjected to this process, instead of becoming parched and dry, remains sweet, and when boiled with meat much resembles green peas.
The ground nut, such as is brought from Sierra Leone, is obtainable in many parts. It may be eaten raw, but is better slightly roasted. The Portuguese make a very nice confect of it, and it contains so much essential oil that one nut will burn with a clear flame, like a wax candle, for fully a minute. This oil makes it one of the best substitutes for coffee we know of. Slightly roasted and ground, and infused in the ordinary manner, it is exceedingly good. Most of the indigenous grains and grasses are also used, but some of them only act as a kind of vegetable charcoal to give a toast-and-water like colour to the morning beverage. We have frequently tried the beans of various species of mimosa, and have found them valuable in exact proportion to the quantity of essential oil contained in them. The dwarf shrubs, carrying generally the largest beans, were the best, and we should think the diminutive tree, scarcely 18in. high, and bearing a pod more than a foot long, called “Eland’s boontjie,” would be best of all. At other times we have used burnt pumpkin, but this produced rather a kind of vegetable soup.
Uses of tea.
Tea is one of the most valuable and important stores carried by the explorer or traveller, and an ample supply should always be taken. We prefer the Australian method of tea-making to any other; and, whether with our brass lota pot or tin quart mug and pint cup, proceed in the same manner to brew it. We first pour as much water as we think requisite in the pot, put it on the fire, and raise it to the boiling point; then take it off and add tea in proportion to the number to be brewed for, covering down the vessel with an inverted tea bowl until the tea has drawn; it is then fit for use. By adopting this plan the tea for the early morning’s start need not be made the night before; a few chips, sticks, dead leaves, or a lamp, will serve to give heat enough to boil a well-blackened pot; and a very few minutes will suffice, while the packs are being arranged, to prepare a bowl of warm tea, which, with a little bread or native cake, will serve as a stand-by until the regular breakfast hour. For a very long time it was our custom when in India to strike tent at 2 A.M. and march at 3, in order to avoid the heat; but we never omitted our bowl of tea.
Among the natives of Chinese Tartary extensive use is made of brick tea, not only as an article of diet, but as a medium of currency and exchange.
This curious preparation is commonly made use of by travellers and the lower orders throughout the length and breadth of Tartary, Tibet, and the Kirghis steppes. The bricks vary in size according to the particular district in which they are made; but to be of convenient and saleable character they should be about 1ft. long, 6in. wide, and from 1in. to 1½in. thick. To make tea-bricks, all the late shoots, imperfectly-formed leaves, and immature buds to be found in the tea plantations, after the tea harvest is over, are collected; they are then subjected to the action of water until soft and pliable, bullock’s blood is then added, the mass is then thoroughly mixed and incorporated, and, when of a tough, firm consistence, it is divided into portions of convenient size, which are pressed into brick moulds prepared for them. When turned from the moulds the bricks are laid on hurdles, and subjected to heat until dry. They are then fit for the market, to which the finished commodity is usually carried in sheepskin bags. When required for use, the portion to be consumed is broken from the brick with the head of a hatchet or a heavy stone; the fragments thus detached are broken up small between two flat stones, and then rubbed between the palms of the hands until fine enough for preparation.
There are several ways of preparing brick tea for consumption. One is to place the rough powder in a pot or kettle with water, and boil it until a red decoction is formed, a little salt is then thrown in, which causes a slight effervescence to be set up; when this ceases, and the liquid becomes tranquil, and of dark colour, milk is added. If it is desired to make the tea thus prepared more than commonly attractive to the visitor, butter is added. Sometimes a mixture, called “Imitanka,” is made from it; this is formed by adding a quantity of clotted cream which has become sour to the boiled tea water, and when it has boiled a short time, adding salt and a bowlful of millet seed flour. The whole mixture is then boiled for about three-quarters of an hour, and is ready for the table, or rather floor of the tent, on which it is usual to sit. Barley meal and suet added to the tea water makes a kind of gruel, or stirabout, which is much relished by the wandering Tartars, and appears to agree vastly well with them. Brick tea is not only used as we have described, but is common among Tartar dealers, and those who attend the fairs held for the purpose of sale and exchange as a medium of currency, just as the beaver skin and the Dentalium shell are by the North West Indians of America.
Almost every country has its own peculiar method of preserving animal food for future use. The salting of meat, and the consequent deterioration of its nourishing properties, must be well known to all who have made long voyages, unless, indeed, they have always sailed in first-class ships, where the appearance of salt junk upon the cabin table is quite exceptional. Where it can conveniently be carried, we think that boiled fresh beef, preserved in air-tight tin canisters, is by far the best, as being in effect equal to fresh killed meat cooked in the same manner. We have seen considerable quantities of this meat used after being carried by land and sea about the world for years, and we do not remember that we have ever opened a tin which was not in good order, and perfectly fit for food. And we should also think that in many places where immense herds of cattle almost encumber the land they live upon, this method of transporting their flesh to a better market would be well worthy the attention of their owners. There are many variations in the method of preserving, but we believe the simplest and most effective to be as under. Kill the animal by a rifle shot behind the ear or otherwise, skin it, and hoist it by block and tackle to a convenient tree, then commencing at the hind-legs, which are of course uppermost, strip off all the flesh from the bones, leaving the skeleton still hanging, cut the flesh into pieces as nearly 6lb. in weight as possible, put them into a cauldron with very little water, and boil them well. Have a number of cylindrical 6lb. tins, and set them ready in a trough of boiling water, kept hot by a steam pipe or other available means; put a piece of beef in each tin, with liquor enough nearly to fill it, and then solder on the top, which should have a hole in it; when all the tins of meat are thus far advanced, pour in at the small hole liquor enough to fill the tin, clean round the edges of the hole, and close it with a drop of hot solder, so as to seal the tin hermetically; then remove them from the water, dry the outsides, paint them with any coarse colour, mixed with boiled oil, and they are ready for exportation to any part of the world.
Where meat in this form cannot be carried, perhaps the next best method is to cut it into strips or flakes, and dry it thoroughly in the sun, with, or more frequently without, a little salt upon the surface. Meat by this process loses some of its nutritious quality, but it is so conveniently kept and carried, and so little liable to damage, that there is scarce a country in the world having sun enough for the purpose when it is not adopted in North America. The flesh of the buffalo, or bison, and in South America that of the domestic, or rather half-wild, ox, is used; and Sir F. Head, in his rough notes of the pampas, remarks that a man can live longer on dried beef and water than he can on any other unvaried diet.
The trappers and traders of North West America make extensive use of a kind of prepared food known as “pemmican,” and very large quantities of it are manufactured on the buffalo range. It is thus made. Buffalo flesh is cut with the hunting knife into convenient flakes and flat steaks or layers. These are either hung in the sun or near a slow fire until dry, when the dried meat is ground between two stones until sufficiently fine. A bag is then made of buffalo hide, with the hair side out, and the preserved flesh, after having been thoroughly mixed with hot fat, is well rammed and pressed in. The bag is then securely stitched up, and the pemmican allowed to cool and harden. When required for use, it is cut from the mass like hard sausage meat, and either eaten cold, or, when mixed with flour or meal, a sort of thick porridge, called by the trappers “robiboo,” is made from it.
Food to preserve.
In many of the Australian islands and New Zealand vast quantities of sea-fowl (the sooty petrel or mutton bird, especially) are captured for food by the sailors and natives. These birds visit the islands annually in vast flocks, arriving generally about the latter end of November, for the purpose of depositing their eggs, of which each hen bird lays one or two, about size of ordinary goose eggs, and somewhat similar in flavour. The cock bird takes charge of the nest during the day and the hen by night, taking in turn the duty of going to sea for food. Perfect warrens, like those of rabbits, are formed by these birds, who burrow in the soft ground for a distance of 2ft. or 3ft., and there form their nests. Some of the islands are so thickly and completely honeycombed by these feathered miners as to render walking a very unsafe proceeding.
The collection of the eggs and young birds from the depths of the holes is a task usually assigned to the native women, who not uncommonly find a snake coiled up where the young petrel should be. When a large catch is determined on for preservation and the obtainment of feathers, a number of bird hunters assemble and construct a sort of hedge or fence a short distance from the beach, and just before daybreak, when the birds, about to proceed to sea to feed, are out of their retreats, a sudden rush is made by the whole assembled party of birdcatchers who, with the most hideous yells and cries, drive the throngs of waddling, flapping victims, who cannot rise from the ground to fly, towards the centre of the fatal barrier, where a deep pit has been prepared for their reception. Into this they are forced, layer on layer, until they literally suffocate each other in their vain endeavours to escape from the treacherous pitfall. The feathers, when plucked from the birds, are worth about 3d. per pound, and it requires the joint plumage of about twenty to produce that quantity. Thirty bags of feathers, constituting the cargoes of two trading boats, were obtained by the sacrifice of 18,000 birds. A portion of the birds are preserved by dry smoking, and are extensively made use of. Some of the New Zealand tribes, by whom this bird is called the “Titi,” have recourse to a most ingenious and effective method of preservation for it and some other articles of food. The petrels, after having been carefully plucked, have all their bones removed. They are then cooked over the fire in large shallow dishes or platters, made from the bark of the “Totara” tree, and when sufficiently done are placed in the natural bottles or flasks formed of a species of seaweed, like a huge variety of the bladder-wrack (Fucus vesiculosus) of our own coasts. The heated fat from the birds is then poured in, and the sea-bottle securely tied up. Provisions treated in this manner remain perfectly good for a very long time, being completely excluded from both air and moisture. The Indians of Vancouver Island make use of seaweed bottles, made like those just described, to store up fish oil in.
Hints on large game.
In Africa, the flesh of the ox and of all the game animals—from the antelope and buffalo to the giraffe, and the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and elephant—is used under the general name of “biltong.” The scene, when one of the larger animals has been shot, and is found perhaps next morning by the hunter’s native followers, is exciting enough. In the case of an elephant which has lain till ten or eleven o’clock, when the heat of the sun will have begun to form gases in the stomach, and to distend the carcase till a man may tread upon it as he would on an unyielding rock, the man, whose duty it is to make the first incision, approaches cautiously, taking care, if possible, not to to come leeward, and especially to see that his retreat is clear; then reaching forward at the full length of his arm, he drives his spear into the abdomen, leaping backward at the same time to avoid the gaseous and liquid discharge which ensues. The rest wait until the carcase has collapsed, and the stench is somewhat dissipated, and then rush in and commence the cutting up. The thick skin is torn in broad planks from the sides, groups of men mount upon the ribs, and, squatting there upon their hams, use their assegais in cutting down through the flesh; others, having effected a breach in the thinnest part of the abdomen, enter and tear out the internal dainties, and then, assegais in hand, begin to cut the flesh from the inside of the ribs—an operation, it will be readily believed, involving no small risk to these who happen to be sitting just above them, and who not unfrequently receive a hint that the human skin is by no means invulnerable. The surrounding bushes now begin to be covered with blanket-like flaps of skin and meat, by membranes and sheets of the internal fat, and from every fire arises the savoury odour of some tit bit, being hastily grilled to appease the appetite while the pot which has been filled with the first cuttings of the flesh is being boiled. Long, straight poles are next cut, and laid across like rails from fork to fork of other trees, and on these the flesh, cut into strips from 3ft. to 16ft. long, and about two fingers thick, is hung to dry, care being taken not to hang it so closely as to prevent the air passing freely between the pieces. Two or three days will generally be enough to dry the meat, which is then taken down, and either tied up in bundles if to be carried by men, or stowed as loosely as possible in the waggon, being opened and spread out at every halt for the first few days to guard against the possibility of putrefaction; further cooking is not absolutely necessary. The biltong may be bruised up with a yoke skei, or the head of an axe, and eaten raw, or it may be broiled and bruised as before, or if boiled it may be put into a native mortar and pounded with a pestle or a yoke skei until the fibres are thoroughly separated, and much trouble is saved in the way of mastication. With the addition of a little cinnamon or other spice, dried peaches, shreds of dried onion, or any little thing to vary the taste, this is by no means a bad dish for hungry men.
In all cases, however, it is well to make a proportion of the meat carry itself; and here the traveller will be called upon to exercise great caution. It will never do to purchase at random a number of animals of various species, because, in the first place, the different kinds will not herd together, and, therefore, each will require separate attendants; and, secondly, because the country to be explored may be unfavourable to the existence of some of them. In North Australia we took no cattle, because we had reason to think that plants poisonous to them abounded there. Of our flock of sheep we took none beyond the standing camp, and even of them we lost more than three-fourths by the disasters of the sea and river voyage before they were landed. If men would make up their minds to eat horseflesh, we believe it would be more economical, and would give less trouble to the exploring party, who might purchase at the outset a considerable additional number of horses, young of course, but at least sufficiently docile to carry a pack and travel with the others; and when the burden of one of these had been eaten off, to shoot him, and convert as much of his flesh as could not be eaten in the first two days into biltong.
In many of the later expeditions camels have been used more or less successfully, and their flesh has also served as food to the explorers on emergencies.
In South Africa oxen are so generally used that no one thinks of undertaking a journey of any extent without them, and, not less as a matter of course, his vehicle is the ox waggon; horses, as many as the traveller can afford, also accompany him; but, if he is really a hunter, these are seldom or never ridden until their energies are required for active service, but leisurely driven on by a Hottentot lad, and carefully tended, so as to husband their strength and keep them in good condition till they are really wanted. Sheep and goats are taken because most of the native tribes are so essentially pastoral that these animals may be cheaply purchased from them; and young lads, willing to drive them, may be hired for a trifling reward in addition to their food.
Nevertheless, all these animals are liable to casualties on the road: the goats or sheep may die from feeding on the beans that fall from the kameel doorn and various acacias; the stud may be thinned off by the annual horse sickness, even though the traveller may have taken the precaution to buy, at a higher price, what are called salted horses—i.e., such as have once had the sickness—for it is well known that if a horse takes the sickness in a district where it prevails in a mild form, which is generally the case in such as have been for a considerable time colonised, it will not protect him in the remote wilderness where the disease still maintains its unmitigated strength. It is, therefore, always advisable to ask not only whether the horse has had the sickness, but where he passed through the ordeal. We have known as much as 100l. given by a hunter for a horse up to his weight and warranted to be salted, with the proviso, however, that if the horse died of sickness during the first season his price was to be reduced by 60l.
Hints on food gathering.
In all cases of extreme scarcity of food, we strongly advise the traveller to leave no stone unturned which may yield aliment of some kind to help him on his way before he sacrifices his riding horse or mule. Where a number of animals accompany an expedition, a few may perhaps be parted with from time to time; but we earnestly advise the solitary hunter or explorer to exercise every faculty he possesses for food finding before he makes up his mind to destroy his four-footed friend. Different regions not only furnish different food-yielding products, but possess climates which necessitate the use of appropriate kinds of aliment. Food may be viewed in the light of fuel, and man as a lamp. The more intense the cold and severe the exertion the greater will be the expenditure of elements rich in carbon, such as oil, fat, blubber, flesh, &c. Arctic travellers and those who dwell in the regions of ice and snow find themselves compelled to follow very closely the customs of the Esquimaux in their diet scale. Dr. Kane, the Arctic traveller, says: “Our journeys have taught us the wisdom of the Esquimaux appetite, and there are few among us who do not relish a slice of raw blubber or a chunk of frozen walrus beef. The liver of a walrus (Awuktanuk) eaten with little slices of his fat, of a verity is a delicious morsel. Fire would ruin the curt pithy expression of vitality which belong to its uncooked pieces. Charles Lamb’s roast pig was nothing to Awuktanuk. I wonder that raw beef is not eaten at home. Deprived of extraneous fibre, it is neither indigestible nor difficult to masticate. With acids and condiments it makes a salad which an educated palate cannot help relishing; and as a powerful and condensed heat-making and antiscorbutic food it has no rival. I make this last broad assertion after carefully testing its truth. The natives of South Greenland prepare themselves for a long journey in the cold by a course of frozen seal. At Upernavik they do the same with the narwhal, which is thought more heat making than the seal, while the bear, to use their own expression, is ‘stronger travel’ than all. In the far north, where the explorer has to carefully husband such food as good fortune may cast in his way, no portion of an animal is wasted.” The Doctor, when speaking of the value of every part of a beast, says: “The skin makes the basis of soup, and the claws can be boiled to a jelly; lungs, larynx, stomach, and entrails are all available.” Starvation is far less to be feared by an experienced traveller in tropical climates than among the ice of the polar regions, as, in the first place, the large quantities of animal food consumed to sustain vital heat are not needed; and, in the next, the vegetable and insect world far more abundantly contribute their aid in furnishing his larder. Here again the explorer will do well to follow, in cases of necessity, the example set by the natives, who not unfrequently manage to sustain life in regions which to the unpractised eye would present nothing but hopeless barrenness. The inhabitants of very extensive tracts of country, extending through the Presidio del Norte, in Mexico, subsist for months together on the large bulbous roots of the Maguay (Agave Mexicana), which grows in the dry arid soil of these regions. These roots vary in size from the diameter of a 4lb. loaf to that of a two-gallon jar, and are not unlike a huge onion in external appearance. When intended for food they are simply dug up and roasted in hot ashes, when they become palatable and wholesome. It is from these roots that the Mexicans prepare their celebrated “Mescal,” or aguardiente, a spirit stronger than the best whisky. To prepare this, a pit is dug in the ground to about the depth of 3ft. and about 10ft. in diameter; a complete layer of stones is then made on the bottom and round the sides of the pit, which is then filled with billets of wood and branches of bushes; these are then ignited, and the fire is suffered to burn until the stone lining and borders of the pit are strongly heated; a quantity of freshly-gathered grass is then thrown in and formed into a sort of lining for the stones, and on this the bulbs of the maguay are cast until the pit is nearly full, when a quantity of grass is thrown over the top layer, and the baking or roasting process is suffered to go on until the roots are thoroughly cooked. Large leather sacks are then brought to receive the roots. Water is thrown in until a sort of gruel is formed, which ferments for about a week, and is then distilled in a rough makeshift still, when the liquor is fit for consumption. This is the plant which produces the pulque, which we have before described. The fibres of the leaves make excellent ropes and twine; the young and immature leaves, when doubled up in the hand, make an excellent substitute for soap and the fresh crisp sprouts are good for cattle food. The region of the Gila and the Sonora district also produce the “Petahaya,” the great candelabra cereus. This curious plant grows in the form of either a fluted column or gigantic candelabrum; the stem is not unfrequently from 2ft. to 3ft. in diameter, and grows to a height of from 40ft. to 50ft. Mr. T. R. Bartlett, in his exploration of the Gila, made extensive use of the fruit of this plant. He thus describes it: “The plant probably blooms late in May or early in June, and the fruit is matured in July and August. The flowers, borne on the summits of the branches, are 3in. in diameter, and about the same in length. The petals are stiff and curling, and of a cream-white colour; the stamens are yellow and very numerous. The fruit is about the size and shape of an egg, sometimes rather longer than the true egg shape, having a few small scales without spines. The colour of the fruit is green, tinged with red when fully ripe. It consists of an outer coat or skin filled with red pulp, inclosing numerous small black seeds. The fruit when mature bursts at the top, and exposes the pulp, which at this time is rather mawkish to the taste; but a few days’ exposure to the sun dries it to about one-third its original bulk, and the whole mass drops out of the skin. In this state it has the consistency of the pulp of a dried fig, and the saccharine matter being concentrated by drying, it somewhat resembles that fruit in taste. The Pimo and other Indians collect the pulp and roll it into balls, in which state it probably keeps the whole year, as it was offered to our party which passed through in January. They also boil the pulp in water and evaporate it to the consistence of molasses, after which it is preserved in earthen jars.”
Insects, as well as fruit and fruit products, contribute largely in some parts of the world to the subsistence of the natives.
Wild honey not unfrequently proves an acceptable addition to the explorer’s larder. To obtain this the movements of wild bees should be carefully watched. Sometimes they may be seen high overhead flying in a direct and steady double stream; one throng bending its way heavily laden to the hive or colony, and the other departing on a fresh expedition. In some parts of the world—India, for example—the wild bees usually construct their combs either beneath the shelter afforded by the bifurcation of the large branches of a timber tree or the stems of the palm fronds as they shoot from the main trunk. In America, Africa, and some other countries they generally seek the protection afforded by a hollow and partially decayed tree trunk. To find the stores of a swarm of wild bees, cast your eye sharply overhead and note the general line of flight. Catch a bee and tie a thin filament of down, wild cotton, or white floss silk to his leg and let him fly; he will generally wing his flight homewards, and can be followed. If there is any uncertainty about the line of direction in which the bees fly, which may proceed from other swarms being in the neighbourhood, catch two bees at different points, plume them, and carefully note the point at which their line of flight joins. When you have to track a long bee flight, it is a good plan to dress a piece of bark with honey, in order that it may act as a lure to the bees. As they take in a store and fly away with it, note their flight, taking the line followed by the greatest number; advance your bark a couple of hundred yards in the line; take a fresh departure, and so on until the bee tree is discovered. The honey guide of Africa (Cuculos indicator) will, by his restlessness and efforts to attract attention, not unfrequently conduct the traveller to the bees’ nest; but when following this feathered conductor be on the alert and keep both barrels of your rifle at full cock, as he sometimes brings you face to face with a creature far more formidable than a honey bee. To take possession of the honey few Europeans like to venture on the bold course followed by many natives, as from some cause or another, which we are utterly at a loss to explain, a naked black fellow will invade the stronghold of the bees and carry off the honeycomb in their very midst, with little or no preparation. When bees are in a hollow tree the best plan is to fell it with the axe, light a long line of damp brushwood to leeward, make as much smoke as you can, and during the panic caused by the general crash, split up the log, chop the bee hole large enough to be practicable, and get the honeycomb out as fast as you can into some convenient vessel.
In New Caledonia we find the large spider there found (Aranea edulis) greedily partaken of. It is simply roasted over the fire when required for use. There is another curious description of food made use of by the natives of the lake borders in the neighbourhood of Chalco and Texococo; this is made from the eggs of a species of boat fly (Notonecta) and two or three insects of similar habits. The insects deposit their eggs by myriads on the stalks of the reeds growing in and about the margins of the lakes. The natives, when going on an egg-hunting expedition, provide themselves with cloths and sticks. The reeds, when bent to the edge of the spread cloth, are beaten and shaken, when the eggs drop off into the sheet placed for their reception. After being spread on other sheets, and thoroughly dried in the sun, they are treated just as if they were grains of corn. Flour is made from them by grinding; this is regularly packed in suitable bags, marked as to weight, &c., and sold in the native markets.
In laying in the stores of an expedition about to start from any large city it is well to obtain, if possible, a good supply of Challet’s preserved vegetables, as they can be made available when nature furnishes no green food. The space occupied by this useful preparation is so small that a very large quantity can be stowed away in a very small compass. It has been computed that 3ft. of cubic space will contain 16,000 full allowances. In pastoral countries there is usually little difficulty in obtaining milk; and in regions destitute of domesticated cattle the explorer can generally manage to get on without it. Goats yield a great deal of excellent milk, and trot along freely with animals on a march. When it is desirable to carry milk for any distance for the use of children or sick people, it may be preserved as follows: Take a tin canister, a bottle, or a large ox horn, with a bottom and mouth made in it; fill the vessel with milk; put it in the camp kettle, and let it boil steadily for three quarters of an hour. Now, if your vessel is a canister, solder down the cover; if a bottle or horn drive in the stopper and wax it down with melted beeswax. The milk will then keep well. In some countries preserved toad-stools are extensively made use of as an article of food; but here we must give the traveller a caution regarding the mushroom or Agaricus family when viewed in the light of aliment, as, strange to say, varieties which are found perfectly wholesome in one country are not so in another. Thus, for instance, we find some of the most poisonous toad-stools found in England (A. virosus and A. muscarius) amongst the number eaten with impunity in some parts of Tartary and Russia. There may be said to be only three kinds of true edible Agarici found in Great Britain. A. campestris, the common meadow and garden mushroom, remarkable for its pleasant odour and the colour of its gills; A. pratensis, or the fairy-ring mushroom (which is found growing in the green rings or circles in our grass lands, attributed by the superstitious to supernatural agency); and A. Georgii, which in some respects resembles A. campestris, but has lighter coloured gills and less flavour. When driven by necessity to seek mushroom food, either in this country or out of it, bear the following rules in mind: Avoid every one you see with its cap or head thin in substance as compared to the thickness of the plates or gills—with the upright or stalk attached to one side of the crown—with the plates or gills all of the same length—yielding a juice like thin milk; and, if you find any with a sort of band composed of a substance like the webs of spiders surrounding the upright, have nothing to do with them. We have seen whole strings of dried A. muscarius suspended to dry from the rafters of Tartar huts. These you may eat safely in Tartary, but not out of it. Fish roe, like mushrooms, when intended for food, requires care in selection. The large barbel, found in many of the large rivers and lakes abroad, yield at times a very considerable quantity of roe or spawn. This we have known on several occasions to prove very unwholesome, if not absolutely poisonous. Herring spawn is collected on some coasts in vast quantities by the natives, who place long lines of bushes at low-water mark for the ova to collect on. Salmon roe is also eaten to a great extent by many Indian tribes. We have seen great quantities of sturgeon spawn collected for conversion into “caviare.” To prepare the spawn large bags, with their ends sewn up, are made; a slit is then made in the side, just large enough to put the hand through; into this the roe and a good quantity of strong “bay salt” brine are introduced and the hole is then secured with a wooden skewer. When the brine has nearly all soaked out through the bag, a pair of hand sticks are fastened to its ends; these are seized by two men and twisted round until the bag resembles a thick rope. Roe pickled and pressed in this way will keep a long time, and is very nutritious. The eggs of poultry or seafowl can in some countries be collected in considerable quantities and laid in as a store. Eggs boiled hard in a strong solution of salt keep well. They may also be preserved by first breaking them into boiling water, with a little salt dissolved in it, just as you would prepare poached eggs; boil for three or four minutes, and then take them out of the water; place them to drain, and when dry heat them on a thin iron sheet over the fire until deprived of moisture; they are then fit to pack away. To preserve native butter, first melt, then strain it through a cloth, boil it steadily in a camp kettle, skim off all the froth with a large shell, set in a stick, until no more rises; then pour it whilst hot into leather bags or earthen jars to settle. Do not omit the straining process, or you will find more hairs in your butter than are agreeable. A search among the rocks, pools, and over the ledges on the seacoast will generally repay the food hunter. Shell fish, small crustaceas, and in some localities edible seaweeds, may be found; both lavar weed and caragreen moss will help to furnish out a meal. When shooting seafowl to help to fill the larder do not pick them; open the skin across the vent, taking care not to cut through into the abdominal cavity; turn back the skin with your knife, cut off the projection or oil gland, known as the parson’s nose, and then strip the skin forward, cutting off the legs at the knee-joints, wings at the pinions, and the head half way up the neck; now remove the entrails from your bird, wash it well in the sea, and if you have an onion or two for stuffing cut them up and put them in the bird, which may be sewn or skewered up, and then roasted. A sea bird makes a good grill if split down the back, pegged open with a stick, well peppered and salted, and then broiled over the embers. Captain Bligh found that by keeping seafowl in a hencoop and feeding them with grain that they became fat and of good flavour.
Snails form nutritious and wholesome food, as do the Unios and Adontas (popularly known as fresh-water mussels). These shells are to be found in most lakes and rivers. Fish of one kind or another will generally repay those who search for them.
CHAPTER XV.
FISH AND AMPHIBIOUS ANIMALS.
Makeshift hooks.
The sea, estuaries, rivers, lakes, brooks, and ponds often yield an acceptable supply of food to the explorer, who usually adopts the most effective means of securing his prey, without troubling his head much as to whether the mode of capture is strictly sportsmanlike or not. The inhabitants of little known waters are not, as a rule, particularly shy in taking a bait; but some investigation will at times be needed to discover what description of fish are procurable before a successful plan for capturing them can be put in force. Sea fish are generally to be taken with small fish, pieces of fish, fish entrails; shellfish, such as mussels, clams, limpets, cockles, &c.; small strips of salt pork rind, the lug worms from the sand, and the rag worms from beneath stones and drift wood. Artificial baits, too, are often used with much advantage. The bowl of a common pewter spoon, mounted with a pair or three strong hooks, tied back to back, is an extremely killing lure for most predatory fish in both fresh and salt water. To mount and prepare one of these, it will be requisite to cut off the handle of the spoon close to the bowl. Drill a small hole just inside the point from which the stem has been taken off, and another at the small end. Loop through the hole at the large end a piece of strong fine line, about 4ft. long, and to this attach a swivel; then loop on 3ft. more line of the same description to the first swivel, and to the end of this attach a second swivel. A loop fastened to the end ring of this serves to attach the trace and spoon to the main line by. Gut or gimp may be used, instead of ordinary line, when it is desirable to fish “fine.” The hooks, either in the form of a “triangle” or simple pair, must be of size proportioned to the description of fish they are intended to catch; and, when securely attached to a 3-in. piece of very strong double gut, should be fastened to the hole in the small end of the spoon. When used with a rod the spoon is spun with, after the manner of any other spinning bait; but when used from a boat or canoe a lead of sufficient weight must be attached to the trace, in order to keep it some considerable distance below the surface, when, as the boat is urged onwards, its rapid revolutions and glittering, flickering play prove most fatally attractive. Many of the pearl-shell baits used by the South Sea Islanders are much the same in principle, only that the hooks they use are usually of shell, wood, or bone.
Boneta and albecore are at times taken in considerable numbers by making use of a rude imitation of the flying fish; and the form of this contrivance (represented at Fig. 4 in the accompanying illustration) will show that one need not despair of catching fish because he has no fish hook. Makeshift hooks. A piece of oak or other hard wood, about 7in. long, is procured. This is cut slightly tapering towards the tail, like the body of a fish. About 1in. from the tail a hole is bored, and through this a strong sharp nail, such as carpenters use, is driven obliquely. A few turns of twine round the wood and nail serve to prevent shifting or splitting. The “head” end of the stick has a notch cut round it to fasten the line to, and secure a couple of strips of white rag in, so that the free ends may represent the wings or fins of the fish. This affair, when finished and attached to a strong line, is cast into the sea, and kept leaping from wave to wave, when it is greedily seized by the pursuing boneta or albecore, who discovers when too late that, instead of securing a rich and palatable flying fish, he has swallowed a nail instead. The Esquimaux make an excellent substitute for a fish hook by scraping a strip of whalebone round and fine, and then binding on a piece of hard, finely-pointed bone at an acute angle, with a strip of sinew or split ground willow, as shown at Fig. 3. A sail needle may be made to do duty for a hook by attaching it to the line, as shown at Fig. 2.
The albatross can be conveniently taken when following a ship at sea by the use of a baited sailmaker’s hook. The point holds in the curved portion of the bird’s beak, whilst the swivel at its looped end prevents the line from twisting and becoming entangled. Fig. 1, p. 586, represents the manner in which this hook is formed.
The shanks of horse-nails make very good fish hooks. These, when filed down to the proper thickness, must be laid, one by one, in a narrow groove made in a piece of hard wood, and the barb struck up with a chisel or the sloped edge of a knife. One smart, well-directed blow on the instrument usually effects this. The point is now to be filed up sharp, the wire gently heated in the fire, and twisted with pliers—or, in the absence of these, a split stick—into proper hook form, when it is to be subjected to the case-hardening process. (See “[Case-hardening].”) Hooks of any size may be made in this way, merely taking care to use good tough iron for the purpose.
Stout, large-sized needles may be used straight for the capture of eels and some other kinds of fish. When so used, the line is firmly secured by waxed thread or silk to the centre of the needle, which is baited by drawing a large worm or other bait over both needle and line, which, when so prepared, lie in a line with each other. On the fish swallowing the bait and the line being drawn tight, the needle at once becomes fixed across the throat, and thus holds the captive until dragged to the shore. The needle is then easily withdrawn by pressing back one end with a bit of stick.
Tackle, to select.
We strongly advise the traveller to include in his list of stores a liberal supply of fish hooks of various sizes, for both sea and river fish, together with some strong brass swivels, a few hanks of stout gut, and fishing lines for river and sea fishing. The former should be of the kind known as prepared salmon line, and the latter hemp or cotton sea line. The sea lines should be all “barked” before use; any tanner will subject them to that process for a mere trifle. Lines so treated are infinitely more durable than those used in a raw state. It will sometimes happen that when separated from your stores, short of food, and with very few appliances with you, a catch of fish proves highly acceptable, and tackle of some kind has to be extemporised. We have had on many occasions to do this. Rods can be made very easily from tough sticks or bamboo canes. Fishing lines should never be put away wet, as they will soon decay, and become weak and unreliable.
The most portable and convenient form of hand reel we have ever used is made as follows: Two pieces of well-seasoned wood are cut flat, like stout round-ended paper knives. Two holes are burned or bored in each, as at 1 in the annexed illustration; then two round bars are cut with points and shoulders, as at 2. A cork bung is then fashioned and bored in the centre, as at 3; the hole in this admits one of the round bars, and serves to stick the points of the hooks in. No. 4 represents the frame or reel put together, and shows the position of the bung and the loop of the line. The ends or shoulder pieces of the round bars are secured by small pins driven through them. Reels of this description afford free ventilation to the lines coiled on them. They can be taken asunder in an instant, and will pack in a very small space.
Hints on tackle making.
We made an excellent outfit for fly-fishing in the Crimea as follows: We selected a set of straight tough dog-wood sticks from the fascines for the joints of our rod; these were feruled with tubes made from preserved-meat tins cut and soldered. The rings were made from wire buttons with the thread covering cut off; the line from hair pulled from the horses’ tails, twisted or laid up by the aid of a set of quill sticks, the use of which will be described as our work proceeds. The winch was made from a large-sized cotton reel mounted on a frame of forage hoop iron, and the handle from a piece of a broken Russian ramrod. We were often asked by envious fellow campaigners where we had picked up such an excellent fly-rod and fittings. Our having made it from the limited means at our disposal was never even suspected by them.
A dinner extemporised.
The following adventure will serve to illustrate the manner in which a little ingenuity will often procure a dinner. Our little party encamped one morning, after a very long fatiguing night march in Bengal, under the shelter of an immense banyan tree which grew on the banks of a deep reed-fringed lake. A small native village, situated at no great distance, had been pillaged and deserted some time before, and a miserable pariah dog or two wandering disconsolately about between the huts, and a few inquisitive-looking crows perched on the roofs, were the only living creatures to be discovered. No land of Canaan was this; commons of the very shortest kind stared us unpleasantly in the face. Still we had some bags of grain of the country, and a little “ghee” or native butter. An old corn mill, of the “quern” pattern before described, was foraged out from some forgotten nook or corner, and set to work preparing flour. A needle from the doctor’s instrument case, when heated in the fire and bent to a proper form, made a very tolerable hook; a skein of his suture silk, a line; a bamboo cane, pulled from the roof of a hut, a rod; a bit of bark with a stick through it made a float; a few shot, split with a knife, sinkers; and some beetle larvæ, which were routed out of a decayed log, formed a very toothsome bait. The lake was clearly our larder, and to it we betook ourselves with as little delay as possible, the long cane over one shoulder, a double-barrelled gun over the other, and a leather bucket swung over the arm in lieu of a fishing creel. No Waltonian enticements in the shape of ground bait were needed here; the bait was hardly out of sight before the float vanished, and then, on the “haul devil, pull baker” principle, out our floundering victims came amongst the sedges and reeds. A shrill blast on our railway whistle not only brought one of the sable camp followers to carry the welcome capture to the cook, but roused six or eight large grey wild ducks, which had lain like so many water rails amongst the tall reeds, and sent them with outstretched necks and whistling wing wheeling round the lake, when by dropping under a hollow bank and keeping well down we lulled suspicion, and the flock come cutting the air right overhead. Now is our time, and, pitching the heavy double well before them, we let drive in rapid succession the two charges of big shot. Three thumping ducks come like clods to the earth; a few feathers drift off on the wind far in the rear of the survivors, who do not linger on the wing; and little did we care where their flight might lead them—our hunter’s dinner had been earned, and in less than two hours from its obtainment was duly cooked, eaten, and its merits discussed.
Alligators, to catch.
A very effective contrivance for taking caymans or alligators was made use of by Waterton’s followers in British Guiana. The annexed illustration represents a modification of it. Two or more tough fire-hardened sticks are notched at the large end like the head of a tent peg, and barbed at the point like a straightened fish hook. The notched ends are bound fast with raw hide lashings to a stout rope, which has been served for about 6ft. or 7ft. with stout wire. When this contrivance is to be used, the barbed tines and rope are thickly wound round with the entrails of some animal, and then suspended just above the water by supporting the rope on an upright crutch, which is so adjusted as to give way on the bait being taken. When the whole mass has been pouched by the alligator, and the rope is hauled on, the tines open, catch across the gullet, and act as a hook. We have heard of alligators being destroyed by inclosing a canister of powder, with the wires of a galvanic battery attached to it, in the offal of any animal; this, when fitted with a line and float, was cast into the water, and, on a bite being perceived, the connection of the circuit was made, when the alligator was shattered by the force of the explosion which followed.
FISH SPRING.
Alligators, to baffle.
Alligators are incorrigible pests to the fisherman, waiting until the fish is securely hooked, and then carrying it off, line and all. The following plan is the best we know to baffle the greedy marauders. Strong flexible sticks, like small fishing rods, are to be cut, taking care to select such as have lateral branches some distance down. One of these is to be cut to about 2in. from the main stem, and a notch made in its end for a button on the line to catch in, as shown in the above illustration. This, when freed by the biting of the fish, allows the rod to spring smartly up, and swing the fish high enough to be beyond the reach of the prowling pirate.
Liggers and trimmers.
A variety of fish may be taken in ponds and lakes by the use of inflated bladders, of which several can be used at once. They are thus prepared. The bladder, after being well filled with air by blowing into it through a quill or bit of cane, must have its neck securely tied up with twine, and to this fastening a piece of stick the size of the little finger must be attached, so that it forms a sort of stem-like appendage to the bladder. The line, with the baited hook attached, is now to be knotted fast to the centre of the stem, and then wound on it just as thread is wound on a reel. The lower end of the stick or stem must now have a slit made in it. The line, when pulled into this, should have just a sufficient length to hang freely in the water. The bladder is now to be taken to the windward side of the pond or lake, and cast adrift. On the bait being seized by the fish, the line is jerked from the slit. The bladder, revolving on its own axis, allows the coil to unwind from the stem, and from its extreme buoyancy soon tires out the largest captive, whose position it serves to indicate to the fisherman, who gathers up his prizes at his leisure from his canoe or reed boat. Bundles of rushes, large corks, empty bottles, and a number of other things, can be used as substitutes for the bladders. Contrivances of this kind are commonly called “trimmers” or “liggers.” Large turnips are often used by poachers to mount lines on for the capture of pike in preserves, as, unless rather experienced hands, the keepers do not suspect the dangerously destructive character of these floating roots.
BARBEL LINE.
On the Vaal River, in South Africa, we caught barbel up to 27lb. weight by thus using an empty powder canister; but it was anchored in mid stream by a stone not heavy enough to prevent a large fish from dragging it. This was left all night, and if in the morning it was missing from its place, a black boy was sent up or down to discover it. Our canoe was then launched, and the prize secured. If barbel were fished for, the hook was allowed nearly to reach the bottom; if otherwise, it was kept but a little below the surface. Frogs were generally used as bait. If the fisherman is not occupied as we were by other work, and can spare the time, or does not possess a canoe, he may make fast a sufficiently strong hauling line, and so bring his capture to the shore whenever he wishes. The method of arranging this contrivance is shown in the preceding illustration.
Otters, to make.
“The otter” is another contrivance with which great numbers of fish are often taken, and thus it is made: Procure a piece of very light strong wood, and from it fashion a board 22in. long, 9in. wide, and 2in. thick. Trim the ends to a sharp edge, and round them off in boat form. Then, on that portion which would correspond with the keel of a boat, fasten a long strip of lead of the same thickness as the board, and so adjust its weight that, when your board with its lead keel on is placed in water, about 1in. only of the upper edge appears above the surface. Two holes are then to be bored at each end, and through these two separate strings are to be passed, and the ends so knotted as to prevent them from pulling through the holes. The loops thus formed must be just long enough to come in contact in the centre of the board. Four knots will thus be on one side of the board, and the loops the other. A 4-in. piece of very strong, stiff brass wire must now be used to connect the two loops, and on this a stout ring must be placed so that it may travel forward and back on the wire. To this ring the main line on which the hooks are fastened is to be attached by a loop and swivel. To work the otter, it will be necessary to launch it in the water, and walk away along the bank until it runs out with the line, which is coiled on a wooden frame or reel and carried in the hand. The otter travels backward or forward according to the direction in which the string or line is pulled, and is in principle much like a paper kite, the loops performing the part of the “belly-band.”
Ground lines, to manage.
Ground lines often well repay the trouble bestowed on setting them. They are best made of strong, fine hempen line. A heavy rifle ball or other suitable weight must be fastened to one end, and a pointed peg to the other. A number of hooks on twisted horsehair traces are to be looped on, at equal distances apart, at the end nearest the sinker. The line when duly baited and pegged fast to the bank is to be taken on a long fork-ended stick, so that the end has a swing of about 8ft. or 9ft. With this the baits and sinker can be cast a very long distance out; and when it is requisite to take up the line to re-bait or take off fish, the fork is again made use of to draw it over, and thus keep the hooks clear of the bank. When using a night line, it is a good plan to fasten the shore end to a tough branch twisted in the form shown in the annexed illustration, as by the play it affords when the fish makes a sudden rush the line is saved from being broken.
Traveller, to make.
Wide pools in rivers and the stretches of sea beach frequented by fish at the rising of the tide are conveniently fished by the use of a “traveller.” This is simply a double line with one half only mounted with hooks. It is thus used: At dead low water a heavy stone is procured, and round it is placed a piece of strong cord, to the end of which is fastened a link of chain, the bow of an old key, a slice from the end of a marrow bone, or a common curtain ring; and through this one end of the doubled line is passed, and brought back to the standing place of the fishermen. As the tide flows and approaches the shore, that half of the line without hooks is drawn in, which, of course, causes the drawing out of that half provided with them. A small cross stick knotted to the centre of the line prevents the first hook from passing through the ring and causing entanglements. As fish are caught, or the bait requires renewing, the line is hauled out and pulled back again to its old position without the trouble of casting. By this method a much larger space can be covered by the tackle than could be commanded by the ordinary method.
Harpoon arrow.
The harpoon arrow is at times a very effective means of securing fish, especially when they are basking on the surface of the water or among the weeds. The arrow-head is made from a large-sized sea-fish hook, heated in the fire and straightened. This when cut to the right length is secured to the shaft of the arrow with waxed thread. A small loop is also fastened on, to attach the harpoon line by. This should be composed of very fine strong line; and when about to be used it is coiled carefully away in a small wooden bowl or calabash. The bow should be rather short, and of considerable power. A little practice at floating corks or other light substances will soon serve to teach the method of discharging the harpoon and adjusting the line.
Basket fish traps.
Basket traps, of different forms of construction, are much used by Indians for the taking of fish. Some are simple in the extreme, and much resemble a lady’s crinoline. With it the native wades about in the wide shallow lakes, keeping the bell-shaped mouth downwards, and frequently striking the bottom with it. When a fish happens to become inclosed, it immediately darts off and endeavours to escape; but its head coming in contact with the side of the basket, the shock is at once felt by the wader, who thrusts his bare arm down through the small or upper opening of his contrivance, and so secures his victim, who, when a strip of vine or ground cane has been passed through his gills, is allowed to trail after his captor. On the Zambesi the women wade in the clear shallow water with a funnel-shaped basket, the smaller end of which is prolonged by a pole or handle. When a fish is seen, the wide lower end of the basket is at once darted down upon him, and he is captured at leisure.
Wicker cages of trumpet form, constructed much on the principle of the ordinary eel basket, appear common amongst the aborigines of nearly every part of the world. Some we once discovered when hunting in the Bheel country were of most elegant form, and woven entirely from the finely-split fibres of single bamboo joints, the knot being left entire at one end, to form a ring through which the bait is introduced. By some tribes of North American Indians long rods are used to form these, just as we employ willows. Some traps made in this way are very large. Huge baskets are often suspended and secured beneath waterfalls in the run of the salmon, which on missing their leap fall back into these traps. When a sufficient number have been inclosed, the Indians, armed with short clubs, enter the baskets and despatch the ill-fated fish, which are then cast out on the rocks to the dusky ladies of the tribe, who are waiting to receive them. On the Zambesi, the Bō-tlét-lē River near Lake Ngami, and in North Australia, the natives are very ingenious in the construction of dams or weirs; and creels or trap baskets are skilfully placed at the outlets. Some of these are of stiff reeds or osiers; others, of rushes so flexible as to be merely a bag or net. Long semicircular pounds are, by the natives of some countries, constructed of sticks and twigs between high and low water marks. The fish, getting embayed within these, are left high and dry as the tide falls, and are gathered up before the return of the waves.
Dams, weirs, and spears.
Dams and fishing weirs are built across streams by the inhabitants of most countries. At these the fish are either entrapped in hutches furnished with bars, on the eel-basket or sparrow-cage principle, shot with arrows, scooped up in hoop nets, or speared with hand spears of various forms. Some of these are perfectly simple in construction, whilst others are remarkably ingenious and curious. The annexed illustration (Fig. 1) represents one much used by the inhabitants of northern regions for the capture of the salmon. By the Esquimaux these implements are made principally of horn. The handles are of drift wood, neatly bound together with strips of tendon. The centre spikes are of sharpened bone, whilst the barbs in the jaws of the spear are usually made from two common iron nails, obtained by burning chance fragments of wreck. Fig. 2 represents the trout spear of the trappers. The tines are of steel, set in an iron head-piece.
Many of the natives of Africa and Australia are very skilful in the construction of dams and weirs. We have seen in some rivers the smaller channels effectually blocked against the passage of fish, which have at first been gently led—by very slight obstructions, and then forced by impassable barriers, narrowing like a funnel as they went on—to take the desired course, at the end of which creels or basket traps, sometimes of soft rushes, or in other cases of twigs or cane, have been set to receive them; while in sluggish waters, such as the Bō-tlét-lē River at Lake Ngami, long zigzag fences of reeds are set up, inclosing a considerable space, and narrowing gradually to several funnel-shaped outlets, at each of which one or more creels are set, belonging to various families. Openings are left in the lines for the ordinary passage of canoes; but when a “take” is to be made these are carefully closed, and the canoes in deep water, with a promiscuous medley of waders in the shallows, form an extended line, gradually closing in and driving the fish toward the traps.
Most of the creels are pointed at the farther end, so that the fish wedging themselves in cannot escape, and in all the mouth is armed with a set of elastic reeds like the wires of a mouse-trap, allowing free ingress, but opposing any return. Fig. 1 shows a Zambesian creel of this class, and several of them are annually washed away by some unexpected rise of the river, and either carried over the falls or washed ashore on rocks or points of land near them. Fig. 2 is ingeniously made of a pole of bamboo, as before mentioned, which is carefully split in the direction of its fibre, into any number of thin rods or strips, care being taken to leave the last joint or internode intact, so that they all remain connected like branches springing from one root; they are then opened out, bent into the proper form, and either laced together with smaller cross pieces of cord or fine rattan, or the strips themselves are often interwoven or plaited so as to form a most elaborate piece of artistic basket work. Fig. 3 is a creel or trap extemporised with three iron hoops, four poles to keep them at a proper distance apart, and sufficient spunyarn to form a net round them; there is an entrance at each end, and, as these are also formed of yarn, their ends must be kept in form and position by lines stretched tightly between them.
Fishing lines can be made of a variety of materials. Prepared sea-weed of a particular description is extensively used by some of the coast Indians of North-West America. Wild hemp is also made use of by them; narrow strips of hide are in use for some kinds of fishing amongst the Esquimaux; whilst yucca, aloe, and pineapple fibres are made available in tropical countries. The inner bark of trees and the hair of animals, horses especially, are materials well adapted for the purpose.
To twist this into traces for fastening hooks to, in the absence of silkworm gut, a common pocket knife can be conveniently used, as shown at Fig. 1 in the annexed illustration. When a hair line of many strands, of considerable length and free from knots, is required, recourse may be had to “quill sticks,” as they are called (Fig. 2). These are made as follows: Three pieces of deal, or any other light wood, are to be cut to the size of common penholders, and to 4in. in length; one end of each is to be very slightly tapered, and have a half-inch piece of quill fitted to it like a “float cap.” Supposing a twelve-hair line is wanted, that number of hairs from an “entire horse’s” tail are knotted together at one end, and then all the free ends at the other are to be cut to uneven lengths; four are then placed in each quill, and a stick put in to hold them fast. The knotted end is then secured to a fixed point by a pin, and the sticks laid side by side in the left hand. The right-hand stick is now taken up by the forefinger and thumb of the right hand, the proper twist given to the united strands, and the stick passed over the other two, so that it may lay the third in the row. The next stick is now taken up, twisted, and passed on in the same way, drawing out the hairs from under the cap as the strand shortens until a hair is free of the cap, when another is inserted in its stead, taking care to keep all the lengths uneven. To taper the line, drop a hair from time to time until the line is long enough, when the protruding ends are nipped off. The line will then be fit for use. The above engraving will explain the arrangement of the sticks, quills, &c., and the way in which the horsehairs are inserted. Many descriptions of fibre admit of being twisted in the same manner. Fig. 3 shows the manner in which wires are twisted by the aid of a winch handle and hollow stick; Fig. 4, the way in which a ring can be taken from the finger by the aid of a bit of twisted line. The finger is bound above the ring, and the free end used to draw off the ring, like the worm of a screw.
Silkworm gut, to make.
Very strong serviceable lines can be made from almost any of the endless number of vegetable fibres to be obtained by soaking the stems of plants or the inner bark of trees, and then “laying them up,” as it is called, which is done by forming the number of strands intended for twisting by dividing a small hank of fibres equally, and then, after imparting the required degree of twist to the strand nearest to the right hand, passing it over the other to the extreme left, and so on, laying in fresh fibres as they are needed. The Indians often twist their lines on the thigh under the hand, as shown in the annexed illustration. The surplus twist may be taken out of all lines by fastening one end to a tree or other fixed point, and then, after having taken a turn round a piece of smooth stick, walking backwards until all the line has been passed under a moderate strain round the stick. In such countries as produce silk-yielding caterpillars, excellent lines may be made from the silk wound directly from the cocoons, and then twisted into thread. Silkworm gut, to make.“Silkworm gut” can also be obtained wherever silk-spinning worms are met with. To make it, a number of the caterpillars are to be collected just prior to their time of spinning. These are to be placed in a pot or other convenient vessel, containing a mixture of vinegar and water in equal quantities; they are then to be covered down and allowed to stand about twelve hours. A worm may be then taken out, opened, and tested as to its fitness for drawing. If, on pulling the yellowish green coils which will be found within it to their full extent and extreme length, they break from softness of texture, the worms must be allowed to remain in the vessel some time longer, temperature having much to do with the condition of the pickled insects. When the coils are found to be tough, and stand stretching fully out, one end of the strand must be placed in a slit made in the end of a thin board or sheet of bark prepared for the purpose. The strand is now to be drawn and evenly stretched to the other end of the board, in which corresponding slits have been made, when the extremity of the gut is secured in one of them. When all the worms have been thus treated, the stretching board is to be placed in the sun, in order that the gut may dry, which it usually will in about twelve hours. It will now be found that a considerable quantity of yellow substance will remain adhering to the gut. This must be removed, and in order to do so dissolve a piece of common soap about the size of a musket ball in a gallon of rain water. Place this with the gut in it in a boiler, and boil it for ten minutes, when the gut must be turned out on a cloth to drain. Before cooling each strand must be lightly and smartly drawn through a pledget of cotton held between the finger and thumb, which will at once strip off the yellow coating; but great care must be taken not to press the softened strand hard enough to render it flat or curled. As fast as the strands are run through the cotton they must be replaced on the board and again dried in the sun, after which they can be selected as to size, quality, length, &c., and packed up in hanks by twisting cotton or any other kind of thread round them.
FISHING RAFT WITH LEVER NET.
Fishing nets.
Nets of various forms have been in general use from periods of the most remote antiquity, and, so far as we know, no aboriginal people have yet been discovered who were ignorant of their use. The material and form of construction are found to vary with the region in which they are had recourse to, and the character of prey sought to be captured. Perhaps the most primitive form is that of the common hoop or landing net, so generally used on our coasts for catching shrimps. A forked pole, a net bag, and a little twine, are all that is required to construct one of these of efficient pattern. The two sticks constituting the fork are bent round towards each other, the two ends overlapped, and then lashed together. The net bag is then fastened on. A great number of modifications of this description of net are used, some worked by hand, and others raised from the water by mechanical contrivances. The following illustration represents a fishing raft and lever net as used by the natives of Ceylon and some other islands of the Eastern seas. Some of the Chinese fishermen construct engines much on the same principle; only, instead of raising the net by a rope and lever, a long plank is made use of. This runs along the centre of the fishing boat, and on it sits the fisherman waiting for the shoal to pass over the radius of his trap, when with a sudden backward movement he throws his whole weight on the extreme end of the balance-board on which he has been crouching, and thus raises the nets with a smart upward jerk. The trammel is another form of net of much value to the voyager and explorer. It simply consists of two nets—one coarse in the mesh, and the other comparatively fine—leaded at the bottom and corked at the top, and so moored with heavy stones that they may hang curtain-like in the water across the run of the stream or tide. The fish in their nocturnal wanderings dart against the first net, which is forced through the large meshes of the second, forming a sort of purse in which the fish are secured. Many others become entangled by the twine of the meshes, which in their efforts to escape gets under the gill covers and so holds them fast. Incredible quantities of fish are at times taken in nets of this kind. They are especially valuable on account of the ease with which they can be set and taken up, two men being sufficient for the performance of either operation.
When a promising spot has been selected, the first anchor stone is cast over, together with a buoy line and large cork. The foot line, net, and cork line then follow, being cast evenly over by one man, whilst the other either rows or sculls slowly ahead. When all the net has been thus allowed to run out, the other end is secured by an anchor stone and indicated by a float. The spoils are secured in two ways. One is to raise the first anchor stone by the buoy line, and then gather in the net fold after fold, with all it may contain, in the bottom of the boat. The other is to raise one of the stones, pass it over the boat and allow it to sink again to the bottom, thus leaving the foot line and leads in the hands of the boatmen, who proceed to draw the boat along by it, clearing the net of fish, weeds, or entanglements as they go, and allowing the net to sink again as they proceed, until the whole length has been overhauled and re-set.
“Tip-up,” to make.
A trammel net may be used under the ice by cutting two holes through it at a convenient distance apart. A pole is then passed from one to the other, as shown in the above illustration. The net is suspended from a set of rings which run freely on the pole, and ropes are rove so as to haul the net forward or back to either of the holes, at which the fish are taken out. When clear, the net is set again. Great numbers of fish may at times be taken by fishing with the hook through holes made in the ice. A contrivance known as a “tip up” is often used. The annexed illustration will serve to show the nature of the arrangement. A hole is bored in a piece of flat stick; through this a cross-pin is driven, leaving it long enough at the ends to rest across the hole in the ice. The line, hook, and bait are attached to one end of the flat stick, and a bit of coloured rag to the other. When the fish has taken the bait, the flag end of the stick tips up, and the little pendant flutters aloft and signals “fish caught here.” A number of tip ups may be set at once, and are easily watched.
When fishing with a common line at an ice hole it is well to rig up a little wigwam or break wind. Strips of cow’s udder make excellent baits for use under the ice. Seals may be speared in their blow holes by waiting patiently over them. The form of the excavation in the ice made by the animal is shown in the annexed illustration; an examination of it will show that it is requisite that the harpoon or spear should be very carefully, yet powerfully, thrust down or the seal will probably escape.
The trunk or bow net is extremely useful for catching fish in comparatively narrow streams. These are long tunnel-shaped network bags, flared out widely at one end, and tapered to a pocket form at the other. Hoops of suitable size are made use of to keep the tube properly distended, and a mousetrap-like arrangement of meshes and twine prevents such fish as may enter from going back again. The purse end of the net is made to untie like a bag, and has a piece of rope and a stone fastened to it, so that the wide end of the net is always down stream and in the run of the fish, which is upwards. The larger descriptions of nets, such as seines, drift nets, trawls, dredges, &c., do not strictly come within the province of this work; still all vessels, and even large boats proceeding on surveying or exploring expeditions, should be furnished with both lines and nets. A small ground seine, Cornish pattern, and a light trammel, such as are made and sold by the French, will occupy but little space, and pay well for taking. A few pieces of spare net, and a good supply of twine, are matters by no means to be overlooked.
When engaged in fishing from a boat on rocky ground, it not unfrequently happens that the grapnel or creeper, if simply secured to the end of the painter, and lowered away, will, on an attempt to haul it up again being made, resist every effort and remain firmly fixed among the rocks. To prevent this pass the painter down the shank of the creeper, and take a turn with it over one of the claws just at the back of its bend; now bring your painter up the shank again, and with a piece of common twine tie it fast to the head ring, as shown in the accompanying illustration. Should the creeper get fast, the string will give way on being hauled on, causing the claws or flukes to be upset, when they are at once set free, and the creeper can be weighed.
Crustaceans, to catch.
Crayfish and some other crustaceans can be taken readily in some situations by stretching pieces of net over hoops of casks, and then, when suspended by cords weighted with stones, and baited with any offal, these contrivances are lowered down to the haunts of the fish. Crayfish are met with in incredible numbers on some portions of the coast of South America and the adjacent islands, that of Juan Fernandez yielding them, as well as other fish, in vast numbers.
Fishing implements, &c.
In Table Bay crawfish are caught in great numbers in baskets made of rough netting of rope yarn, stretched upon an iron hoop, and baited with bits of fish or offal (as in Fig. 1), let down nearly to the bottom, and hauled up as soon as the “krief” is seen or felt tugging at the bait. The crawfish constitutes the food of a great proportion of the Malay or Mahometan population. Fig. 2 is a crab pot. Fig. 3 is a peculiar kind of mace, with spikes as long and as sharp as possible, used by the Malay lads in Table Bay. We do not at present remember the name by which it is locally known; but it is thrown in the manner of a lobstick into the midst of the shoals of small fish that frequent the bay, and seldom fails to secure one or more of them.
Hints on the haunts of fish.
The haunts of fish will be found to vary considerably, particular species abounding in situations where other inhabitants of the same waters are but rarely met with; and, although no absolute set of rules can be laid down for the discovery of the fish of either rivers, lakes, or the sea, still there are conditions favourable to their congregation. Thus the mouths of streams discharging themselves into the sea are usually good fishing pitches, as are the waters covering reefs and beds of sunken rock, which crop out and raise their crests above the ordinary sea bottom. On sand and gravel stretches flat fish of most kinds are to be successfully sought for; whilst a rugged, rock-strewed bottom, broken up into deep crevices and yawning weed-fringed gulfs, is a favourite resort of the larger crustacea. Nearly all sea fish are most disposed to feed as the tide rises. In tidal rivers many species of fish come “down” in force to the coming flood; whilst others run up from the sea—mullet, bass, and many others do this. Tributary streams and rivulets discharging themselves into lakes, rivers, or ponds, usually supply a considerable quantity of food suitable for fish, and form gravel beds on which spawn can be deposited. The mouths of such streams are much frequented by all kinds of fish. The deep, well-like spots amongst the beds of water plants, and the still deeps beneath the shade of overhanging trees, are favourite spots with most of the soft-mouthed fish, such as carp, and many others of similar habits and tastes.
Hints on baits.
In some localities the seeds and blossoms of certain plants overhanging the water, and occasionally falling in, act as a lure to considerable numbers of fish. In North Australia the large globular fruit of the water pandanus yields seed round which is a sweet, well-tasted farinaceous pulp, which may not only be eaten by the fish, but by the traveller as well. This substance is an excellent bait for both fish and water turtle. The latter are best caught by a short, strong hook, which need not be barbed, as it is not expected to pierce through, but only to catch in, the horny bill, and to bear the heavy back strain as the creature resists the attempt to heave him in. A short, stiff pin bent into a hook will do for the small kinds, or a sailmaker’s hook for the larger. Ship-biscuit dust, cast by the handful into the water and allowed to sink gradually, will frequently attract large shoals of many kinds of fish.
The fish inhabiting ponds and water holes are at times destroyed by some tribes of Indians by the use of juices of the euphorbia, or the Indian milk bush. The juicy branches of either of these are crushed between stones until a sort of pulp has been formed. This is cast into the water, and soon poisons the fish, which float helplessly about, and are soon collected. A powder made from the Coculus Indicus, when mixed with dough, is also used for this purpose. Small pellets of the paste are broken off and thrown to the fish, who soon become intoxicated, and swim round in a circle at the surface, when they are taken up with a small hand net, or a piece of cloth stretched on a forked stick. Lime is often made use of to destroy fish, but dire necessity can alone justify the use of either of these latter modes of fish capture, as they lead to wholesale and indiscriminate slaughter. Pools, wells, and water holes are often completely drained of their contents by thirsty men and equally thirsty cattle. Search should always be made under stones and in sly corners for both fish and water tortoises, which will frequently repay the trouble of looking for. Some chains of ponds in Australia and water holes in other countries contain enormous eels. These should be well looked after, as they make a most palatable and nutritious meal. The largest are to be taken with night lines, the lesser ones in the eel baskets, before described.
When mackerel fishing off the island of St. Helena, we provided ourselves with a good supply of biscuit dust, which, when sprinkled broadcast in the sea, brought immense numbers of the small-sized brilliant mackerel usually taken there round our boat. The bait we used was a narrow strip of very white pork rind. The hook was a very small one, and the tackle as fine as that usually used for trout fishing. There is no limit to the quantity to be thus taken when the fish are off the island. We on one occasion had great sport amongst the bream at the Cape de Verds by having recourse to the same expedient. We often attract numbers of sea fish to the neighbourhood of our boat or canoe by placing bran, biscuit dust, or pulverised crab shells, with all the fish offal we can collect, in a piece of old fishing net, and then lower the mass, with a good-sized stone in it, by a stout cord until within about 6ft. of the bottom and directly under the boat, when the cord is made fast. Bait with fish entrails or strips of fish, and use a lead sinker.
When about to fish the waters of little-known lands, it will at times be requisite to employ baits gathered about the immediate neighbourhood of the scene of operations, and the naturalist-sportsman will usually discover some kind suited to his purpose. Some species of ground nuts when roasted over the fire make a very attractive bait for some members of the carp family, amongst which is the “Roheta,” or sacred carp of India. Grasshoppers, locusts, mantis, beetles of various kinds, and the larvæ found feeding amongst the leaves or burrowing in the decayed logs, are all good in their way. Small fish, frogs, and young birds are excellent for trolling with, or for baiting night lines. Earthworms, slugs, snails, and pieces of meat from any animal or bird which may be shot, are all available. Pieces of beef are in high repute as baits on many rivers of South America and amongst the Falkland group. Artificial flies of the rudest style of manufacture often prove as destructive as the most elaborately finished specimens. Feathers and coloured fur or wool secured to a hook, in the shape of a rough hairy worm, form a very killing bait for both sea and river fish. It is hard to say what these anomalous-looking contrivances are taken for. Flies they in no way resemble. Still they are greedily snapped at by the fish, and that is the main point after all. The Indians of the lakes and Pacific coast of America make use of a very singular feather contrivance, with which they attract the fish within their reach. A shuttlecock-like affair is constructed and loosely attached to the end of a long rod or pole, which is thrust far down in the clear deep water. The shuttlecock is then detached by a sudden jerk, and comes spinning and gyrating towards the surface. The fish on seeing it make a rush and endeavour to effect a capture, but are transfixed by the ready spear of the Indian sportsman.
Fish spearing.
Fish spearing by the aid of fire has been practised in all parts of the world from the very earliest ages. Canoes or boats of light draught of water may be used. Pine knots, or any other resinous or fatty fuel, is usually made use of. A species of grate or fire pan is fixed so as to project beyond the bow, and the spearman stands ready with his weapon—such as is represented at Fig. 2, [page 596]—and strikes the fish when he sees him. Torches of reed or vegetable fibre bound together are often carried along the banks of rivers, or out on the wide sand shallows of certain seas, to effect the same object. Great numbers of turbot and small sturgeon are speared in this manner by the Tartars inhabiting the Russian shores of the Black Sea. Fig. 4, [p. 604], is a set of grains for striking dolphins or small fish. The smaller pair of prongs screw on and off, or turn on a pivot, so that they can be laid flat with the others, and stow in less room. The line is made fast round the neck of the iron close by the barbs, and the end of the staff is heavily loaded with lead, so that when a fish is struck the weight turns up the points, and prevents any chance of its escape. Along the shallow beach of Walvisch Bay we used frequently to wade with a harpoon, striking sting-rays, flat sharks, fiddle or angel fish, or occasionally a more dainty sole in the shallow water; although not unfrequently sharks of larger size would cruise in our vicinity, and sometimes try to get between us and the shore. We found in striking the smaller fish that the great barb of the common harpoon would frequently either drive them out of its path with a superficial wound, or would cut through their sides without securing them; and we therefore took as a substitute a soft iron Kafir assegai, or spear (Fig. 5, [p. 604]), and, fitting it into a bamboo shaft, cut several barbs in each of its edges with a fine tenon saw, which caused it to hold all it penetrated.
The few Hottentots who maintain themselves in the vicinity of the bay do so partly by assisting in the fishery or in discharging the cargoes of vessels, and also in a great measure by spearing sand sharks and sting-rays in the shallows of the lagoon. For this purpose they use either sticks pointed and hardened in the fire, or the sharp straight horns of the gemsbok (Oryx capensis) set like a pike-head upon a stick; and, because they have to wade a great distance in the shallow waters, and it would be inconvenient to go ashore with every fish they kill, they set up a tripod of sticks near them, and on this they hang their prizes until they have accumulated enough to be worth carrying ashore to the women, whose task it is to clean and dry them for winter use.
The spear or javelin—launched from the hand, projected from a bow, dropped from a height overhead, or in some cases fired from a gun, and yet secured to a line—seems to be known in some form or other to most nations, whether civilised or barbarous.
The elaborate combinations of mechanical skill and scientific knowledge supplied to our whalers, and intended in some cases to be fired from swivels or shoulder guns, sometimes to destroy the creature in whose body they are buried by their explosive power, and sometimes to paralyse the vital energies by chemical compounds or by powerful poisons, are beyond the province of this work, and we shall take, therefore, as our type of this species of weapon the harpoon in its most simple and, as we believe, its most generally effective form, as used by whalers in every ocean that has yet been traversed. The weapon itself consists of two parts, the iron and the shaft, so fitted as to remain firmly united till the blow is struck, and then, when the strain comes upon the line, to separate from each other, so that there may be no danger of the barb being torn from its hold by the weight or leverage of the staff when violently swayed by the convulsive struggles of the whale.
The head of the harpoon is triangular, or perhaps more nearly heart-shaped, the point representing the apex, and the barbs the two sides of the base. Its size is about 3½in. each way, or as large as the palm of a moderately-sized hand, and its thickness where it joins the shank nearly three-quarters of an inch, and from this it rounds off gradually, rather than tapers, to the edges. There are various opinions as to the metal of which it should be made; some prefer iron so soft that the back of a sailor’s jack knife will scrape it to an edge, somewhat rough and anything but permanent, but yet sufficiently keen to cut through the skin and blubber into the flesh of the whale; others say soft steel which may be sharpened by a file; and some insist on having it edged with steel of the finest quality, and ground and set to as fine an edge as a razor. Each has its advantages. The fine keen edge of the last will be more certain to enter, and will pierce more deeply, but, if once blunted, it cannot be so readily sharpened by the simple appliances at the command of the sailor. Against this, however, it should be guarded by being kept in a leather sheath of such form that the edges cannot be blunted by contact with any portion of it, and at the same time cannot damage it by cutting the seams. It is well partially to fill this sheath with grease or tallow, in which the edge of the harpoon may be embedded, and so kept perfectly secure from rust.
Of the material of the shank there can be but one opinion. It should be of ½-inch iron of the best possible quality, smooth, even free from flaws, tough of fibre, and so pliable as to admit of being coiled round its own staff, uncoiled, and straightened again without breaking. It should be from 20in. to 2ft. in length, and should terminate in a conical socket to receive the shaft. The shaft should be of ash, hickory, or other strong and even-grained wood, 3in. in diameter, and generally about 5ft. long; though in one of full size it would be 6ft., and the iron part 3ft., making a total length of 9ft. A lanyard about 3ft. in length, and of 2½in. rope, is attached to the shank by simply taking two turns of it tightly round the iron, and then returning and seizing the end down upon itself. The lanyard is “stopped” to the staff with spunyarn so tightly as to keep the point of the wood firmly pressed down into the iron socket under all ordinary circumstances, and in its farther end is spliced an eye, into which, when required for service, the line is hitched, the regular whale line being 2½in. in circumference and 200 fathoms long; and when the whale is struck, and the line checked as the wounded animal darts away, the increased tension draws the staff from its socket, and it remains fast by the “stops” already mentioned to the lanyard, secure from being lost, and incapable by its leverage of loosening the hold of the barbed iron upon the flesh.
Many of the less frequented bays and harbours in our colonial possessions are frequented by whales and cetaceans of various kinds; and we have seen exciting chases even within the limits of the anchorage in Table Bay. The peculiar construction of the whale boat is well known. She is generally from 25ft. to 30ft. in length, 6ft. or 7ft. in breadth, and 2½ft. or 3ft. deep, rising with a graceful sheer till the stem and stern would be from 4ft. to 5ft. high. She generally pulls five oars, the boat-steerer taking the bow, while the boat-header steers with a long oar or sweep, confined by a grummet to the stern-post. A tub, with the whale line coiled in it, is placed in the stern sheets; the harpoons, each properly sheathed, are hung in beckets in the bows, and near them are the lances. These are half-inch rods, 5ft. or 6ft. long, with one end flattened out to the shape and dimensions of the bowl of a large table-spoon, only that the narrow end is attached to the shank, while the broad one is forward, and is sharpened as the cutting edge. The other end of the iron has also a conical socket, in which a shaft of wood similar to that of the harpoon is fitted, making a weapon about 14ft. in length, to which is attached a lanyard of perhaps 20ft. to prevent its loss. The blades are also sheathed like those of the harpoons, not only to preserve their edge, but to prevent their accidentally cutting any of the crew; a broad-bladed knife is also kept handy in its sheath for the purpose of cutting the line should it be necessary.
Generally the whalers keep a man on watch upon some commanding height, or agree with the keeper of some signal station to hoist a private signal when a whale is in sight, and sometimes even to turn the advantage of his elevated position to account by signalising to the men in the boat the movements of the whale.
The end of the line is taken from its tub, led forward over the thwarts between the rowers, and bent on to the eye of the harpoon lanyard. As the boat approaches, the boat steerer lays in his oar and stands up, harpoon in hand, watching the most favourable moment to drive it with all his force, through skin and blubber, deep into the solid flesh, the boat sometimes actually touching the whale before the harpoon is launched. The oarsmen back the boat off as quickly as possible out of the reach of the sweeping tail, and the whale generally dives, then darts forward at full speed, sometimes below and sometimes at the surface of the water. The boat steerer now makes his way aft, and takes the steering oar, while the header goes forward and takes charge of the line. While the whale is strong it is allowed to run out, checked only by one turn round the bollard, while the boat is towed with almost alarming swiftness through the water; but as soon as he becomes weakened or slackens his speed another turn is taken, and the line checked as much as possible, or even hauled in, if it is safe to do so, water being freely used to keep the rope from burning when the line is running on the strain.
As soon as possible the boat is hauled close up to the whale, the long lances are thrust into his side, still further weakening him with wounds and loss of blood, until some vital organ is reached, and the condensed breath blown from his nostrils is crimsoned with his blood. Then the boat backs off till the death struggle is over, and the carcase of their mighty victim being taken in tow, is beached upon some convenient spot for cutting it up and trying down the blubber.
Of course the whale is towed head first, as in that position the involuntary action of the fins, moved by the ripple of the sea, helps the boatmen; while were they to attempt to tow him by the tail, the same action would not only neutralise all their efforts, but would most probably tow them in the opposite direction.
HIPPOPOTAMUS TRAP.
Few sailing vessels bound upon long voyages go to sea without a harpoon, a dolphin grains, and a shark hook; and the former is called into requisition whenever a shoal of porpoises are seen keeping way with the vessel, ever and anon letting her pass them, and then darting ahead to recover their position in advance. A rope, generally the end of the fore bowline, passing through its own block at the bowsprit end, is then bent on to the lanyard of the grains. One of the crew goes out on the martingale guys, and, having made a line fast about waist high to the martingale or dolphin striker, to give him a little additional support, stands watching the movement of the porpoises beneath. At length one comes directly under him, keeps the same course as the ship, and perhaps, for a moment, the same speed. He launches the grains, and, if his aim has been true, the porpoise is transfixed. The men at the inner part of the bowline haul on, and raise the victim clear of the water. The harpooner seizes the end of a rope previously laid near him, and passing it round the harpoon line quickly ties in it a running bowline knot. This he passes over the head of the porpoise, and tightens it at the juncture of the body with the tail; and not till then does he consider his prize secure. Of course in this case the sport, the trial of skill, the opportunity for displaying quickness of eye and skill in the management of the weapon, is the chief inducement; yet the capture is not without its value. The flesh of the warm-blooded porpoise is in reality fresh meat, and is sold as such among the lower classes in many foreign ports. Several gallons of oil may be obtained from one of moderate size, and the skin furnishes good tough leather for making thongs, or covering any portion of the rigging that needs serving with raw hide. Long narrow strips of the fish, when carefully cut out with a sharp knife, make a kind of porpoise biltong; this, when thoroughly aired by laying it in the sun, makes a fair kind of food. A kind of rissole is also made from the solid portions of the fish; these are cut into mincemeat, formed into balls of suitable size, and then fried. Steaks are also to be extemporised from the best cuts.
The hippopotamus harpoon of the Zambesi differs considerably from that just described. The iron is only 6in. or 8in. long, with a small barb at one end and a spike in the other, to stick loosely into a staff of light wood 2in. thick and about 5ft. long. The iron has a kind of knob or thickening in the centre to serve as a catch for the line, which is knotted round it. The line is about the thickness of a small lead line. It is very neatly and firmly twisted by hand from the fibres of plants and shrubs bordering the river, and is coiled tightly and evenly round the staff of the harpoon from end to end, so as to increase its thickness, and make it as large as can conveniently be grasped in the hand. The end of the line is securely stopped to the staff, which is secured from splitting by being bound round with small cord, with a kind of Turk’s-head knot turned upon the end that receives the iron.
The hippopotami live in families or small herds of from half a dozen to twenty each, basking upon the sandbanks in the tropic sun, bathing in the depths and raising their clumsy-looking equine heads above the surface to look out, or taking nightly walks for miles into the country to crop the herbage of some favourite spot. Taking advantage of the prowling habits of the animal, the natives construct in his path or run, a harpoon trap or drop. The full-page illustration will serve to show the manner in which this contrivance is arranged. The instant the ground cord is detached from its hold by the advancing foot of the hippopotamus, the heavy beam holding the barbed iron drops with tremendous force, and fixes the spear-head deeply in the flesh beneath the tough skin of the victim, who rarely escapes with his life. A general hippopotamus hunt is not unfrequently undertaken, which is conducted as follows: The natives, having decided which herd they intend to attack, muster about half a dozen canoes, each carrying two men—a harpooner and a paddler; they close gradually and cautiously round the herd, and deliberately select their victim; closer and closer they draw in, till, as the semicircle of canoes narrows round them, the animals exhibit first curiosity and then alarm, and extreme caution is necessary to avoid so terrifying them as to make them break the line and take to flight instead of gazing at the advancing boats. When the animals dive, the canoes come on; when they rise or appear much alarmed, they stop, or approach but slowly. At length a fortunate harpooner finds himself near an animal; the hippopotamus dives, the canoe perhaps gains another length and is close upon him; when he again rises, the harpooner stands erect and next to naked, like a magnificent statue, in the bow, his upraised right hand grasping the harpoon, and his left a paddle, every muscle of his body as rigid and immovable as if he were in reality of bronze. The hippopotamus eyes him suspiciously; he seems to know that danger threatens him; but, like a cunning fencer, he waits the moment of the blow, and will not expose himself by prematurely attempting to avoid it. His instinct, however, is no match for the cunning of his enemies; the harpooner makes a feint of striking with the paddle; the animal starts aside to avoid the expected blow; and as he does so the hunter delivers the harpoon with all his force. The small barb penetrates the tough thick skin, and no power can draw it out again; the line uncoils; the light staff, sometimes even with a bladder attached, floats behind to mark his track; the wounded animal finds no rest; other harpoons are delivered; and as he becomes wearied with exertion, pain, terror, and irritation, opportunities are found to thrust at him with broad-bladed spears until he sinks beneath his wounds and dies.
The harpoon of Lake Ngami and the Bō-tlét-lē River differs from that of the Zambesi, and more nearly resembles our own, except that, as iron is scarce and valuable, the head is still a mere spike, barbed at one end and pointed at the other, for insertion in a heavy beam of mimosa or kameel-doorn. The iron draws from the staff as soon as the barb pierces the thick hide, and the animal springs forward in its efforts to escape; but it is attached to the staff, not by a long line like the Zambesian, but by a short skein of twenty or thirty small cords of mimosa bark loosely twisted together, firmly seized or lashed to the iron at one end and to the staff at the other, and slightly stopped to it in the middle, still further to prevent any risk of fouling. The staff is of wood too heavy to float; a hole is bored in the upper end, and a short loop of strong rope woven or twisted into it, and to this loop is bent on the end of a stout rope of twisted palm leaves, which serves as the harpoon line, and is kept in the canoe, paid out or hauled in again like ours, and has beside the advantage of being so light that, even were the hunter to let go the end, it would float upon the surface, and eventually lead to the discovery of the animal. In consequence of this arrangement the chase of the hippopotamus nearly resembles that of the whale, differing chiefly in the fact that it is carried on in a freshwater river or a shallow lake, instead of the sea. When hippopotamus hunting on Lake Ngami the canoes approach with the same caution as those on the Zambesi, until the harpooner finds an opportunity to strike; then, when the wounded animal darts away, the canoe men hold on to the line, slacking it out when they are obliged, and gathering in as much as possible at every opportunity, and endeavouring to haul alongside as soon as they notice the first symptoms of fatigue, and use the formidable spear they carry for this especial service. This is, however, a task of difficulty and danger, for the irritated animal may turn and crush a tolerably large canoe in his tremendous jaws, and has been known, although not carnivorous, completely to sever the body of a man; more frequently, however, as the natives dexterously avoid his charge, he champs the staff of the harpoon, and endeavours to bite through the skein which connects it with the iron in his side. Were this a single rope he would soon liberate himself, but the small cords become entangled between his teeth, and, though he may cut through a few of them, others are sure to remain strong enough to hold him. Many canoes join in the chase, annoy him on every side, bewilder and weary him, and drive him at length into shallow water, where the hunters, carrying the line ashore, catch a turn round the nearest tree, yielding a little if his strength appears yet sufficient to tear out the barb, but always gathering it in as the assailants, some in canoes and others wading in the shallows, drive him nearer and nearer to the shore, inflicting wound after wound with their broad-bladed spears, till, spouting blood from his nostrils like a whale in its mortal agony, he ceases to resist, and becomes the prize of the hunters.
The carcase of an animal like this is indeed a valuable acquisition; the flesh of even a moderate-sized one is at least equal to that of three oxen, even after allowing for the wasteful manner in which wild flesh is generally consumed. His hide, 2in. in thickness on the neck and withers, is excellent as food, or profitable as an article of barter with the colonists, who make the great “agter zambocs,” or whips for the after oxen of their waggon teams; while the tusks, which will frequently weigh 6lb. or 7lb. each, and sometimes more, are, or used recently to be, worth about 18s. per pound in London, though, since the introduction of mineral compositions for dental purposes, we believe the value of “Zeekoë” ivory has much declined.
The natives of Australia use spears of considerable length, varying from 10ft. to 12ft., and are also remarkable for the great distance to which they can throw them, attaining in some instances, we have been assured, to a distance of 270 yards, a range for which they are indebted to the use of the womera or throwing stick, an instrument that assumes different forms among various tribes, though its principle is the same in all. Those we had an opportunity of seeing in North Australia were rather narrow boards, 3in. wide, and little more than ½in. thick, so cut as to be conveniently grasped, and tapering from the handle till they were barely ¾in. wide at the point, on which a little reverted piece of bone about the size of a cock’s spur was affixed with gum and lashings of vegetable fibre, and the point of this just fitted a corresponding indentation in the end of the spear shaft.
The womera is about 30in. in length, and is held in the right hand, the forefinger of which sometimes grasps the spear also, to steady it until the moment before it is thrown, while the left hand supports the centre of the shaft, prevents the weight from depressing the point, and steadies and directs the aim.
The advantage gained by the use of the womera will be readily understood by anyone who will remember that the length of stroke is an important element in estimating the power of a steam engine. Suppose the length of a man’s arm, from collar-bone to fist, to be 3ft., and the chord of the arc through which he is able to swing his body in the act of throwing 4ft., we shall have 10ft. as the length of his stroke; and if we add to this double the length of the womera, or 5ft., we shall find that he is able to apply propelling force to the weapon while it is passing through 15ft. of space, an advantage which naturally exhibits its corresponding effect in the increase of range. The spear point is generally charred to harden it.
The boomerang, a weapon whose apparently mysterious property of coming back to the hand that has thrown it, must be now much better understood in England than it was before the arrival of the Australian cricketers. It is a thin blade of wood, curved either sabre-like in the segment of a circle, or bent in the centre at an obtuse angle. But its peculiar property is that, owing to a slight twist or change in the plane of surface on either side the centre, it becomes in reality a segment of one turn in the flange of a screw of exceedingly small pitch, and if its length were indefinitely increased it would assume the form of the spiral springs used in candle lamps, or in the well known toy of Jack-in-the-box; and supposing a small segment of one turn cut from the wire of such a spring and flattened, without altering either its circumferential or its spiral curve, we should have an exact representation of the boomerang. Little more need be said of this weapon, as no one but a native could ever hope to use it effectively.
Turtle spears.
A very simple form of harpoon is used for spearing turtle by some Australians we fell in with near the Goulburu Islands. They had evidently been alongside European ships, and it was probably from this source that they had acquired the essential part of their harpoon—an iron spike about 6in. long, and pointed at both ends. To this was fastened a small line, which was also stopped to the staff—a light pole about 8ft. long—the remainder of the line being held loosely coiled in the hand. Sometimes the Australians use their paddle as a spear by having the blade end sharpened, barbed, and hardened.
CHAPTER XVI.
POISONED WEAPONS, ARROWS, SPEARS, &c.
Poisoned arrows.
The arrows of the South African Bushmen are worthy of notice, not only for the ingenuity displayed in making formidable weapons from such apparently insignificant materials, but for the deadly poison with which in many cases they are imbued. A crooked stick, a few reeds, bits of bone, and the dorsal sinews of any antelope, are all the materials required in the formation of the weapons. The poisoning is sometimes a more elaborate affair. Among the southern tribes, some of whom still maintain an existence as hunters and occasional marauders on the borders of the colony, the juices of the bulbs of various species of amaryllis and hæmanthus, mixed sometimes with serpent poison, and aided by the adhesive acrid juice of the euphorbium, are boiled down in the hollow of a stone to the tough viscous consistency of birdlime, and sparingly smeared upon the arrow heads. Farther to the north the process is much more simple. The Bushmen of the Kalihari Desert, and the regions in the vicinity of Lake Ngami, use the entrails of a grub called ’kaa or ngwa, an almost inarticulate sound, which it is impossible to write so as to enable the English reader to pronounce it with anything like correctness. Both forms of spelling are attempts to indicate a click of the tongue against the teeth, followed by a slight nasal ringing, and ending in the broad sound of the vowel “a.” The grub is of a creamy white, and is soft, with the exception of its head; and when full-sized seldom much exceeds three-quarters of an inch in length. It lives chiefly, perhaps almost exclusively, upon the leaf of a tree called “Maruru papeerie,” which varies from the size of a small low-growing shrub to that of a moderately-sized tree, upwards of 20ft. high, or 12in. or 14in. in thickness. It is covered with thorns, and its wood in the vicinity of Lake Ngami was soft and of a very even texture; but toward the Zambesi it seemed harder. When we first saw it it was feeding on these leaves, and we were rather puzzled by a loose ragged mantle or envelope of green matter, which seemed to be peeling off like a skin in process of being cast. It lay in loose rolls, mostly parallel to the muscular rings upon the body, and was gradually forced forward, so as to form a hood or shield above the head, where it dried and broke off as it accumulated, and was replaced by fresh matter. Our highest magnifying power was the microscope of a sextant; but this at length enabled us to decide that the green matter was merely excrement issuing not only in the usual manner, but also from pores ranged along the whole length of the body. As the grub attains its full size, this matter issues more sparingly, and is of a browner colour. The grub drops to the ground, buries itself to the depth of a couple of feet, and forms its cocoon of a thin shell of earth, cemented by glutinous juices around its body. This is quite hard enough to bear handling, even rather roughly, so long as it retains its perfect form, and we brought several specimens to England; but if it is once broken, the slightest touch is enough to complete its destruction.
In applying this poison to their arrows, the Bushmen collect a number of the cocoons, which they lay near them on a skin, a leaf, or on a sandal; they break one of these, and, taking out the grub, hold it between the thumb and forefinger, and squeeze the entrails, or rather the internal juices, in small drops upon the arrow head, which is then carefully laid upon any extemporised rest to dry in the sun, much as an artist lays his brushes on something that will keep the hair from contact with anything capable of giving or receiving damage from the colour with which they are charged. They take the greatest possible care not to let these juices come in contact with any cut or sore, or abrasion of the skin, for they would in such case produce the same excruciating agony that is inflicted upon a wounded animal; and it is said that a man with a wound, however slight, so infected, would become a maniac, and would probably destroy himself in the extremity of his pain. It is, however, believed that fat rubbed plentifully on the wound, and taken internally in sufficient quantities, would prove an antidote; but this is a medicine by no means likely to be always at hand among persons living a nomadic life, and but occasionally supplied with animal food like the Bushman. Fortunately for them they possess another remedy, growing plentifully and naturally in most parts of their country. We were aware that they knew of this; and a friend, who had been personally acquainted with the chief for a considerable time, had long attempted to induce him to reveal its name, but he was unwilling to do so, till in a conversation with another member of his tribe he mentioned its name; and our friend, who perfectly understood the Sechuana and some of the other native languages, asked him at the next opportunity if the remedy in question were not the “Kàla haétlwe,” and thus surprised him into the confession that white men knew everything, and that further attempts at concealment were useless. The word kala signifies friend, but we are not aware of the meaning of the concluding syllables. The “Kàla haétlwe” is a small, soft-stemmed plant; the flower is yellow, star-shaped, and has five petals; the stamens are numerous, and the calyx is divided into two sepals. The root is something between a bulb and a tuber—rough and brown outside—and, when cut, is seen marked with concentric lines of light reddish brown and purple. The leaves are 2½in. in length, and ¼in. wide. The mid-rib of the leaf projects on the under surface, and forms a depression on the upper. There are, however, two other plants which bear the same name, and are used for the same purpose. One of them has a broader leaf and larger flower, and tastes like sorrel; and the third has a waved or wrinkled leaf. The root or bulb is chewed and laid on the wound, and is followed by plentiful application of fat.
The natives use an arrow with a bone head dotted over with the ngwa or ’kaa poison, and loosely inserted into the shaft. This is a slender reed, seldom more than ⅜in. thick. It is bound with sinew at the end to keep the head from splitting it, and is also bound for the same purpose near the notch. In fastening this sinew no knots or hitches are used, but the end is frayed out very fine, chewed soft, and, while still soft, is firmly pressed down upon the rest, where its glutinous properties cause it firmly to adhere.
The Bushman makes use of a simple and effectual method of sheathing his arrows, so as to render any accidents impossible. When not intended for use the point is reversed and enters the socket in the shaft.
They make use of a very ingenious expedient for tightening the bowstring. A small knob of hardened sinew is firmly lashed to one end of the bow, the string made of the dorsal sinews of the springbok or other antelope, slightly twisted, has a loop at one end, which is hitched on to the end of the bow; the other is brought up and passed between the knob and the wood, several turns are taken loosely round the latter. When required for use the bow is bent by holding it with the hand and knee, with the action represented in the beautiful statue of Cupid, and then with the other hand turning the coil of sinew around the end of the bow until the string is sufficiently tightened.
They also adopt a very simple plan of preserving an ostrich feather. The Bushman, it may be after weeks or months of patient stalking, kills an ostrich. He knows the feathers are valuable, and that from a white trader he may obtain for them tobacco, clasp knives, tinder boxes, or other articles of value to himself, but he also knows that he must keep them clean and unbroken. He therefore inserts the quill first into a reed, and taps it on the ground till the whole feather has vanished, and he can carry it about in his quiver; and, to say truth, it is at first sight a little astonishing to a European when a Bushman offers for inspection a slender reed, to see him draw from it a gracefully waving ostrich plume of the finest quality and largest size.
The simple apparatus by which the Bushmen obtain fire is shown at page 536. It consists of two sticks of moderately close-grained but not very hard wood. One of these, which may be called the fire stick, is somewhat thicker than the little finger, and may be of any length, generally about 1ft. or 18in., and in this small notches are cut with the point of an assegai, at about 1in. apart, for the reception of the end of the other, or the whirling stick. This is about the size and length of the ramrod of a common fowling piece, and both are carried in the quiver, with their arrows, sucking reeds, and rushes, for the manufacture of bracelets, &c.
The preparation of the wourari poison is usually conducted by natives, from whom it is best obtained. This substance may be at times of service to the explorer. The sumpitans of the Dyaks and Borneans should also be noticed. Mr. Bates says that salt is put on the tongue of the coati as a restorative from the stupor induced by the wourari poison. We have often heard of poisoned bullets, and once saw an experiment tried. A hole was bored in a revolver bullet and filled with the juices of the ’kaa or ngwa—the Bushman’s poison grub; this was fired into the rump of an ox; the animal showed little or no sign of acute pain, but seemed to be dull and stupefied for some hours. At length it seemed as if it were likely to recover, and, partly because the flesh was really wanted for food, and partly to end an experiment which seemed likely to lead to no useful result, the poor creature was shot dead. Probably the fire might have neutralised or destroyed the active principle of the poison.
We have heard of some native tribes who prepare arrow poison by first making a hollow nest in the liver of a dead animal. They then fill this with living centipedes, scorpions, tarantulas, and other poisonous creatures. These they irritate by striking the liver with a stick, when the virus of the united assemblage of venom bearers is poured out and at once absorbed by the liver, which is rubbed over the weapon to be treated. The Chinese plunge their arrows in a putrid carcase in order to poison them. The Malays keep their poison preparations strictly secret. Poisoned weapons retain their destructive qualities for years, and should therefore be handled with extreme caution.
A square of paper, folded diagonally across, may be used as a “feather” for a blowpipe arrow. Wild cotton is also used to make the arrow fit the tube.
A cross-bow of peculiar construction is used by the Chinese; the action of the trigger is sufficiently simple to need no explanation, and the chief peculiarity consists in the fact of its having a kind of reservoir above the barrel, in which half a dozen or more arrows or bolts lie one upon the other; this is connected with the barrel only at the foremost end, the string passing beneath it, and the lowermost arrow resting on the string until the bow is bent; then the string being pulled back allows one arrow to drop into its place in the barrel, from which, of course, a sufficient length of the upper part has been cut away to admit of the arrow falling in. When the trigger is pulled, the string drives the lower arrow out from beneath the others; the next arrow then rests on the string, and, when that is again drawn back, drops like the first into the barrel; and so on until all are exhausted, and it becomes necessary to replenish the reservoir.
The pellet bow, the subject of the illustration below, is an instrument with which many tribes make excellent practice with small pellets of hardened clay. For the inexperienced, a padded glove is necessary for the protection of the left thumb, and there is also a peculiar knack in so holding the bow that that arm shall be the merest trifle out of the line of flight of the pellet.
Many semi-barbarous nations are perfectly aware of the advantage to be gained by rifling their arrows, and this is done sometimes by having rather large barbs, and giving them a pitch or turn on opposite sides, or by putting on the feathers spirally.
In using the arrow for the capture of tortoises on the South American rivers, the archers like to shoot at such a distance that they may give their arrow a good elevation, and allow it to fall more perpendicularly on the back of the tortoise, as it has then a better chance of penetrating the shell. It has no barb, as, if its broad point once pierces, there is not much fear of its being dragged out.
A thorn wreath is used by the Uganda and other nations in Central Africa, and is described by Captain Speke. The thorns all point to the centre, and yield just enough to allow an antelope or other animal to put his foot through, when their points are sure to enter the leg, and prevent its coming off. A log is made fast to it, heavy enough to impede the motions of the animal, but not sufficiently so to tear the wreath off from his leg and allow him to get away. Young branches of many kinds of mimosa in South Africa, which have thorns 5in. or 6in. long, would answer well for this. The ancient Romans and Greeks made use of this contrivance in deer hunting.
We remember seeing, several years ago, the foot of a Vaal rheebok encumbered with a joint of the spine of a horse or ox. The poor creature had literally put its foot in it some time before, and had worn the painful appendage till the skin beneath was destroyed and the tendons weakened, which led to its being eventually caught.
The manufacture of stone weapons.
Europeans are very rarely reduced to such a state of destitution as to be entirely without some tool or weapon of iron or steel, even if it is merely an old jack knife; yet such cases may, and sometimes do, happen. We remember reading with great interest the tale of two seamen who, during many weeks’ sojourn on a small island, possessed absolutely nothing but one knife, which served them to cut up the sea birds they managed to catch, till at length this, having been wrapped in a bloody cloth and carefully stowed away in a crevice of the rocks, was found by some bird, dragged from its hiding place, and irrecoverably lost; then they with great labour beat out and ground down upon the rocks an old spike nail. Under such circumstances, the ability to produce a cutting edge from a flint or other pebble of sufficient hardness would have stood them in good stead; and even, if we remember how often edged tools are spared by using a piece of glass as a scraper, we shall be ready to acknowledge that a keen-edged fragment of flint, obsidian, or agate may advantageously be used in the same manner. Perhaps it may be thought absurd to give directions for the breaking of glass for this purpose, yet, simple as the matter seems, a hint may not be thrown away: Take the back of a knife, or the smooth straight edge of any piece of iron fixed with tolerable firmness for a moment, then, taking the piece of glass in both hands, rest its edge midway between them on the edge of the iron; let the upper edge of the glass lean from you, and push it gently along the iron, so as slightly to indent the edge of the glass; then, reversing its position so as to make it lean towards you, draw it smartly along the iron, and you will find it separated by a clean fracture directly across, forming a line more or less curved, and leaving one edge of the glass much sharper than the other. By a little practice, and by pressing a little more with one hand than the other, almost any curvature that the work to be done may require may be achieved.
In North Australia we had reason to believe that many of the tribes through whose country we passed were utterly ignorant of the use of iron. Fragments of jasper and other stones were found in several localities, where they had evidently been used for cutting up or skinning animals. Spear heads that they had dropped or lost in the chase were occasionally picked up; and once we came across a considerable area profusely strewn with chips of every form and kind, indicating that the manufacture of weapons had been extensively carried on there. Some of these might be relics of antiquity; but those strewn upon the surface over an area of 200yds. or 300yds. were quite recent; while along the river side were holes in the earth surrounded by scorched shells of the freshwater mussel, of the tortoise and turtle, besides bones of fish and alligators, and fragments of charred wood and blackened stones that had been used in cooking. The savages might have been few in number; perhaps in one instance the cooking holes would indicate the presence of twenty or thirty; while, from the number of chips, from six to eight seemed to have been engaged in making weapons; and it must be remembered that, thoroughly as they enjoy the pleasure of doing nothing, they are neither ignorant nor idle when employed either in the chase or in the preparation of snares or weapons for it. Besides this—as only the perfect weapons would be taken away for actual service, and the failures and imperfect ones would far outnumber them—it is easy to imagine how such chips would accumulate during successive generations.
The following explanation of the progress of stone-implement making was given us by a fellow traveller, and our own examination of the fragments on the spot confirmed his statement:—The operator, squatting down before a block large and solid enough to be used as an anvil, selects a pebble as nearly oval as possible, and about the size of an ostrich egg or a cocoanut. One end of this he strikes on the large block, so as to detach a fragment, which leaves a flattened base; then, taking it vertically in his hands, he strikes the edge of this base upon the anvil, detaching in succession two ovate chips as nearly as possible equal in form and size; and this, if cleverly done, leaves a sharp and well-defined central rib, with a slightly hollowed facet on either side. The next blow should, if successful, split off another piece, small at the base, spreading slightly as it goes upwards, and finally tapering to a keen point, with the rib previously formed running truly along the centre; and this chip constitutes the spear head, which is fastened to the shaft with gum and lashings of bark or vegetable fibre. If this is well done, at least three chips must have been made in the production of one head; but if, as is most likely, the failures greatly outnumber the successes, the proportion of chips must be greatly increased. Sometimes, when a pebble is found well suited for the work, facets are struck off on all sides, and spear heads are formed as long as the cleavage of the “core” remains sufficiently perfect. Some of these, when about half worked out, present so great a resemblance to a common beer glass with facets on it, that we hardly know how to convey a better idea of the peculiar form. The stone tomahawks discovered were generally of trap or greenstone. They were first chipped out into a long wedge-like form, and then with great labour ground up to a uniform rounded edge upon other stones, and with gum and lashings securely fixed into a branch, part of which is generally made to bend round them as a handle. Blacksmiths in this country secure their cold chisels much in the same manner.
CHAPTER XVII.
TRACKING, HUNTING, AND TRAPPING.
Most readers of works on travel must be familiar with the apparently wonderful power possessed by savages of following the tracks of men or animals, and yet this is in reality only a habit of closely observing effects, and referring them to their natural causes. On the roads of a populous country, passengers, animals, and vehicles succeed each other so rapidly that no continuous spoor of any one of them remains; but it is otherwise in the desert and the wilderness. There it is impossible for man or beast to efface the track that he has made. In countries such as Kafirland, where cattle thefts are common, no evidence is required but the track of the stolen animals entering a village, and the headman is considered responsible until he shows where the same track has gone out again. Kafirs have been known to sweep out the spoor with branches where they were about entering a river; but such a ruse, though it might prevent a farmer making oath to the exact place at which they crossed, would never actually deceive him, or prevent his finding the track on the other side.
Sometimes a number of men will tread in each other’s footsteps, or they will walk backward for short distances, or will put on their shoes heel foremost; but a practised eye will soon detect the deceit, and be aroused to double vigilance. It may be thought that a man passing barefooted over a hard rock would leave no trace; and yet the fine dust of the road he left, caked by perspiration, has been sufficient to betray him. Sometimes, in a grassy country, the track is best seen by looking out ahead, when it appears as a continuous line, showing where the grass has been turned, although it is almost invisible at a short distance; and this is sometimes the case on plains of coarse sand or shingle. Very frequently, though no actual footprint may remain, stones or pebbles will have been turned so as to lie with that side uppermost which has for a long time rested on the ground, and an eye accustomed to observation detects this at once, and will sometimes see, by the condition of the upturned side, whether it has been moved so recently as not yet to be perfectly dried. If a shower has fallen, it will at once be seen whether the tracks were made before the rain, during it, or afterwards; in the same manner the morning or evening dew upon the tracks will furnish a test of time, as will the grass withering, if crushed in the heat of the day or partially restored if bent while the dew was on it.
If there has been wind, it may be known whether the tracks were made during its continuance, by the position of the grass, or by the sand or dust drifted from it; and if the wind has changed at a remembered time, it may be possible to tell exactly the point at which the track and change took place. If periodical or alternate winds blow, as, for instance, the land and sea breezes near the coast, it will be easy to tell during which of them the track was made.
Sleeping places, or halts for rest, for food, drink, or other purposes, should be carefully sought for. The condition of the grass cropped by an animal, and the fragments dropped from its mouth, must be examined, as also its dung, the comparative moisture or dryness of which is an unfailing index to the time that has elapsed since it was dropped.
If there are two or more tracks, and the time when one was made is known, that of the others may be inferred by looking sharply for any place where they cross, and ascertaining which overlies the other. We have been followed for many miles at night by a lion, but though we knew by the panic spreading among the oxen that something was disturbing them, we were not aware of the fact till our Hottentot went back next morning and reported the track of “a great man lion, step for step upon our horse’s spoor.”
Not only can the period of time at which tracks are made be very closely estimated, but various circumstances connected with the track will not unfrequently afford most important information. As, for instance, where the tracks of naked feet are investigated, it will generally be found that savages in walking turn their toes in, whilst Europeans turn theirs out; if the track is left by shod men, the description of foot gear will often tell a tale. A mocassin print with the toes turned out would indicate that a white man in Indian gear had passed. The army pattern boot or shoe, the native sandal, worn by aborigines of some countries, the shooting boot, and the light buck-skin shoe, all leave their well-marked and distinctive tracks. The particular manner in which a boot or shoe sole has been nailed or repaired will enable an experienced tracker to follow its print unerringly amongst fifty others; large or small, narrow or wide, the track will in almost all cases retain its individuality, except when cunning Europeans put on other men’s boots for the purpose of crime.
The nature of a footprint will, by its comparative depth and form, show whether the person who made it carried a burden, or was in light marching order; if in a hurry, or travelling leisurely; whether travelling willingly, or led as a captive; whether sober or intoxicated. In following horse tracks the pace at which the animal or animals were going can be judged by the impressions left on the ground. A stray horse walking leisurely away, feeding as it goes, will usually leave an irregular but well-marked track, causing but little disturbance of the surface of the ground; a sudden fright caused by the appearance of a wild animal or an attempt at capture will be shown by a scattering of earth, sand, or gravel, and probably by the casting out of the pellets which collect in the hollows of the feet. A frightened horse starting without a rider will usually leave the deep and disturbed tracks caused by ill-directed speed at the very commencement of the run, which will in most cases prove rather erratic. Had the same horse been galloped away by a rider, the man’s track might be found, or if not, the first sixteen or twenty hoof strokes will vary in distance, depth, &c., from those farther on, where the animal had been caused to strike into his regular stride. Most hunters can identify the track of their own horse. A defect in either hoof, a broken shoe, and the mode of shoeing, are all matters to be well looked to. The horses of wild tribes, from not being shod, are to be distinguished from those belonging to Europeans, who either shoe “all round” or leave the hind feet bare, and only shoe the fore hoofs. Mule tracks are not of the same form as those of the wider and rounder footed horse, and can be instantly recognised. Tracking on snow is usually followed with much greater rapidity than when prosecuted on the uncovered ground; still no little experience is needed to successfully follow up partly obliterated and wholly filled up footsteps. The impressions left in snow by different animals require some study before the inexperienced hunter can with certainty distinguish one from another. The art of tracking can no more be taught without the aid of the forest and the plain to demonstrate in, than can a skilful cricketer be made without allowing him to play the game. The hints which are here given are merely intended to form a sort of groundwork, on which the experienced hunter must himself build. In traversing the woods and wilds let nothing escape the eye, and never allow the slightest deviation from the common order of things to pass without close scrutiny and the application to the case of a system of inductive reasoning. No living creature acts voluntarily without aim; and, although at times much mystery surrounds the doings of some furred or feathered inhabitants of the wilderness, depend on it a little close scrutiny will not fail to show both plan and purpose in that which at first appeared an enigma. The stranger to the wilds would feel no little compassion for the poor crippled lapwing plover, who, crying plaintively, totters on and struggles to escape from the hunter, until at length, on a good space of ground being travelled over in fruitless pursuit, the cunning bird wheels away aloft with a mocking whistle, and shortly rejoins her brood of mouse-like little ones among the moss hags. We once saw a hyena near our camp take a piece of old dry goat’s hide in his mouth and perform a number of strange and uncouth movements, as if either lame or drunk; a second, however, crouched, partly concealed by some euphorbium bushes and stones. Their object was to lure away our dogs whilst they themselves remained at a safe distance, when the pair would have made short work of some of them. In tracking wounded game look out sharply for even the most minute blood specks or flakes of foam, these, where found, are great helps over hard ground. Dead or dying animals are discovered in an incredibly short space of time by birds of prey; and when they are seen curling and wheeling over any particular spot you may rest assured that food is the attraction. Nothing requires greater care and circumspection than the approach of the hunter to the lurking place of any animal capable of doing mischief when suffering from the effects of a wound. We have known even antelopes to use their horns freely when unable to escape. No large beast of prey should be approached, although apparently dead, until all doubt on the subject is removed by either a shot through the head or a pelting with stones.
Within the colonies, of course, roads are regularly made, but in the wild country beyond, and less important places within, the boundary the so-called roads are merely foot or bridle paths or waggon tracks. We have heard a farmer say, “I have made a new road round the mountain to-day,” and we understood by this merely that he had driven his waggon by a fresh route, leaving others to follow his track if they thought it better than the old one. Sometimes the waggon is not employed upon this work, but the track having been first carefully estimated by the eye a thorn tree is cut down, dragged along it by the oxen, and the road is made. A waggon track across the country seems practically indelible, the wheels are almost sure to crush the side of an ant-hill here and there, and even if the insects repair the damage the new work will always show. If it passes during the rains, the clay kneaded by the feet of the oxen, or furrowed by the wheels, is baked so hard by the succeeding hot weather that ordinary vegetation for many seasons will not efface the marks. If in the dry season grasses are crushed down, the stumps of a tuft will show for a long time the passage of the wheels. More especially is this the case if a fire sweeps over the plain immediately after, or if the waggon passes during or after a prairie fire. We have known a fellow traveller recognise in this manner the tracks his waggon had made seven years before. The lines of charred stumps crushed short down remaining to indicate the passage of the wheels, though all other impressions had been obliterated by the rank annual growth of grass, fully 12ft. in height.
Often when waggons have passed for the first time across a grassy plain, the vegetation they have crushed down will be partially replaced or mingled with other kinds, either indigenous, and only waiting for this opportunity to spring up, or growing from undigested seeds from other localities deposited in the droppings of the oxen; or even it may be exactly the same vegetation simply rendered more luxuriant by being thus manured. We have seen a broad grassy plain looking like an immense corn field, but right across it the road was marked by a broad band of yellow flowers contrasting with the deep green around.
Points of the compass.
In many countries the prevailing winds leave unfailing indices of the direction of the points of the compass. Thus all the unsheltered trees on the road from Cape Town lean towards the north-west or north-north-west; and on the sub-tropical plains of South Africa and Australia we frequently noticed that the continued winds from the south-east had laid the grass towards the opposite point. The rising or setting sun is a useful guide, so is the moon, and also the stars; but the traveller must acquire for himself the habit of observing where any of the heavenly bodies are likely to be at a given time, by day or night, and this while he is upon known paths, and not in actual need of them, and then his knowledge will serve him if by accident he should lose the road. If the declination is the same as the latitude of the place, the sun will be vertical at noon, and therefore of no service as a guide for nearly a quarter of an hour, but by extemporising a plumb line, and observing whether its shadow shortens or lengthens, it may soon be found whether the sun is east or west of the meridian. In using stars select, if possible, those that are far north or south, and as low as possible; or, if the pole be far above the horizon—as it must be in all places far removed from the equator—take the star that is nearest to it, and that consequently revolves with the least possible change of position. In the north the constellation of the Great Bear will serve, but if the pole star can be seen, it is, of course, the best—the two stars called the Pointers will guide the eye to it. And in the south, when the southern cross is vertical, either above or below the pole, it is due south; and this may be ascertained by trying when the two stars of the longer beam coincide with a plumb line, but at any time the position of the pole may be estimated by remembering that it is half-way between the lower star of the cross and the little Magellan cloud.
In travelling with a waggon from almost any civilised colony, it will generally be found that traders and hunters have penetrated so far, that for perhaps 1500 or 2000 miles there is nothing to be done but to let the waggon driver follow their tracks, which will generally be in every respect the best that could be selected, while the traveller hunts or explores on either side the path, or gains experience as to the slope a waggon can climb, descend, or travel on without capsizing; the average size of trees under the branches of which it can pass, and the density of the grove in which it can continue a gently meandering course between the trees without the absolute necessity of cutting a road, which, of course, he avoids if possible by making even a considerable détour, for the labour is excessive and severe.
Hunting.
The professional hunters in South Africa, and indeed most of the amateurs who are ardent in the pursuit of game, not only follow the wild animals by day, but as they become shy, or few in number, lie in wait for them at the waters at which they come to drink by night; for the less dangerous animals they merely throw up a circular wall of loose stones, 2ft. or 3ft. high, to hide the hunter from the view of the approaching animals; and not unfrequently an experienced hand will even watch in these for the lion, the rhinoceros, or the elephant, trusting for security to a quick eye and ear, and to skill in handling the two or three spare guns which are kept ready loaded within easy reach.
SOUTH AFRICAN “SCHERM,” OR RIFLE PIT.
With the larger animals it is, however, more advisable to dig a pit about 10ft. long, 3ft. deep, and 30in. wide, and to roof in 5ft. or 6ft. of the central part of this with stout logs, that an elephant would not break were he to tread on them in passing over; the ends are left open, and a bank of earth is left in each, large enough for the hunter to sit upon, with nothing but his head showing above the edge of the “scherm.” Generally two men lie in each pit, one watching whilst the other sleeps. The pit should be made in a spot carefully chosen to leeward of the path by which the elephants or other animals are likely to come, and great care must be taken to cover any signs of human work about it. The cut ends of the logs placed across it must especially be hidden, and if chips have been made in the vicinity, they ought to be removed, and everything reduced as nearly as possible to its natural appearance and condition. Most hunters carry a pick and one or two spades for this and similar purposes, but we have found a worn-out adze exceedingly handy and much liked by native servants. The work should be commenced early in the day, so that it may be finished by a little after noon, and left to recover its natural quiet, and the air to purify itself from the taint of man, for even though the elephant may not be so early on the watch, smaller animals, disregarded by the hunter, are sure to be about him, and any alarm among them will most assuredly spread itself, until a general sense of danger pervades the wilderness; and if this extends to the keen senses of the elephants, they will not approach till they have assured themselves by every possible precaution that all is safe.
We have seen the path marked for a considerable distance by the serpentine track of the extended proboscis, sometimes actually touching the ground, and at others moving so closely in contact that the breathing would disturb the dust, as the leader of the herd deliberately tested the scent for every inch of the way. And the change of elephantine tactics since rifle pits were introduced sufficiently proves that what we call instinct is in reality an intelligence capable of receiving new ideas and guiding its possessors in meeting novel dangers. A few years since, when all the elephants had to fear was the pitfall of the Bushmen, with its sharpened stakes at the bottom, they would come fearlessly on, trusting to their leader, as with extended trunk as above mentioned, would literally feel the ground inch by inch, and, having once detected a frail deceitful covering that masked the pitfall, would toss aside the sticks and grass, and the whole herd would follow in contemptuous security along the very edge of the now undreaded snare. Far differently do they now act; if they but suspect the presence of a pit they will not approach until, by making a careful circuit far to leeward, they have assured themselves that their chief enemy man, and especially the white man, has not recently been near the water.
If a taint remains upon the air they act with the extremest caution; for hours they will remain motionless, waiting till their keen senses detect the recently tainted breeze, or their huge expanded ears catch the crackling of a twig or the slightest sound made by the incautious hunter. If their fears preponderate, they may not only refrain from drinking, but even desert the locality, and travel 50 or 100 miles during the night to another water, but thirst may overcome their prudence, and they may approach and enter the water; the hunter must then, in perfect quietude, make himself acquainted with the individuals of the herd, selecting the male that carries the heaviest ivory, and wait patiently until he comes near enough and exposes his shoulder, then, aiming upwards, at the lower part of the after lobe of the huge ear, he reckons either to cripple the animal by breaking its shoulder bone, or to kill it by sending his bullet to the heart; then, judging at once the effect of his shot, he catches up his spare gun and either fires again at the same elephant or selects another, and endeavours to cripple him also.
If two hunters are together, they can agree beforehand whether they shall fire together at the word given by one, or whether one man shall fire both guns. In the latter case at the word, or rather at the sign signifying “be ready,” both set the hair triggers of their rifles, and the man who is to fire being assured that his comrade is prepared, waits a favourable moment and fires; the other does not consciously pull the trigger, but, with his gun carefully aligned upon the vital part and his forefinger hardly touching the trigger, waits patiently till either the concussion of the air or the slight nervous action induced by the report of his friend’s gun causes his finger to contract upon the trigger, and his gun is fired.
In elephant shooting it is always well that two men should be together, for though it is not probable, it is at the same time possible that an elephant may attack the scherm. An attack of this kind occurred to the brothers Green, the well-known African travellers and hunters; the enraged elephant began tearing off the beams and earth that roofed the scherm, and in a few moments more would have dragged forth his victim, when the brother fired with deliberate aim and killed the enraged animal. We have already said that the favourite place for the death shot is behind the lobe of the ear, just where it overlaps the shoulder, but if the shot can penetrate about 1ft. below any part of the spine it may cut the large blood vessels there; or if fired from behind, and striking about 1ft. below the insertion of the tail, it may pass through to the vital organs in the chest, and prove fatal.
If an elephant is walking or running in such a manner that the death spot (“dood plek”) behind the shoulder is exposed the shot should be delivered, if possible, so as to strike when his leg is thrown forward and the thinnest part of the skin is tightly stretched; if the leg is backward, the skin will hang in loose yielding folds, and the shot will most likely fail to enter. African hunters seldom fire at the head of an elephant unless he is charging and they must check him—he seldom fails to swerve from his course on receiving the bullet—but this rule is not infallible; we have hit an elephant as fairly as possible in the forehead without effecting this.
Another rule is to run from the elephant the moment you have fired, and then look round to see if he is giving chase; if he is, you can increase your speed, if not, you can easily stop and get another shot; but if you wait for him to charge before you run you give him the chance of diminishing the distance very materially before you can get up the requisite speed. Wahlberg, the eminent Swedish naturalist, held that a man ought to stand like a rock, and the elephant would be sure to swerve before he reached him; sometimes the boldest course is the safest, but in his case at length it failed, the elephant came right on, and the career of the brave naturalist was closed for ever.
Sir Samuel Baker, although he has personally killed African elephants by shots in their head, found that he could by no means depend upon being able to do so, and remarks that the man who stands to meet the charge of an elephant by a shot in the head cannot feel the proper amount of confidence that his shot will be effective; indeed, the probability is that it will decidedly fail to kill.
Captain Faulkner, who volunteered to accompany Mr. E. D. Young in his search for Dr. Livingstone, told us that he determined to prove experimentally whether an African elephant could be killed by a head shot, and that he, by walking close up to them, killed several in that manner. It must, however, be remembered that he travelled in a new district, where never white hunter had been before, and that the elephants there were ignorant of their danger, and not prepared to meet or avoid it like those frequenting the old hunting grounds.
In hunting the elephant the favourite shot of the hunter in India is that in the head; but in Africa this is seldom successful. It is related in the early history of Natal that a party of sailors (Lieut. Farewell’s, we think) were challenged to go out with the Zulus to kill an elephant, chiefly with the desire that their defective weapons or want of skill would render them objects of ridicule to the natives. Neither their courage nor their good fortune, however, failed them; they formed front as the elephant came on, fired at the head, and killed it.
In Africa, as we have before stated, the “dood plek,” or death spot, of all the animals of the chase is considered to be behind or in the shoulder; and in the case of the elephant this is marked by the posterior and lower edge of the ear, which is so large that in a male 10ft. 9in. high at the shoulder the ear measured 5ft. 3in. in depth and 3ft. 9in. from front to rear. The African elephant is much larger than the Indian, which does not average more than 10ft.; while one shot by a friend measured 11ft. 8in. at the shoulder, and probably between 12ft. and 13ft. at the highest part of the back. Mr. Petherick also tells of one 12ft. 4in. at the shoulder, with a pair of tusks weighing 140lb.; and of another of 15ft. at the shoulder, whose pair weighed 100lb.
In general a bull’s tusk will weigh from 501b. to 90lb., and a cow’s not more than 30lb. The largest we have ever seen weighed, one 153lb. and the other 163lb.—100lb. Dutch being equal to 108lb. English.
The native methods of killing the elephant seem to alarm the survivors but little, and would probably never drive them from the country; but since the introduction of firearms they have gradually been forced so far towards the interior that it is difficult to believe that herds of them had once browsed on the slopes of Table Mountain. A few are left in the dense forests of the Kuysna, where they may not be shot without special permission, and some in the Addo and Sundays River Bush, between Algoa Bay and Grahamstown, and it will be long ere they are thoroughly extirpated from the country to the northward of Natal; but in the district of Lake Ngami they are becoming scarce, and the hunters from Walvisch Bay have to go yearly much farther to the northward, and follow them to new districts. Under these circumstances the waggons of the hunters have to be fitted out for the season’s journey like ships for a long voyage. Groceries and meal must be purchased before starting. If bread should be desired, corn may in general be bought for beads, and flesh will be supplied by spare cattle, sheep, or goats, driven with the waggons, or by the hunter’s rifle. Of working oxen there must be a sufficient number to replace those that die from the deadly sting of the tsetse, or other causes; and the stud should also be numerous enough to allow for the ravages of the horse sickness, for exhaustion, and for casualties in the field. A “salted” horse—i.e., one that has recovered from the sickness, and is, therefore, supposed not to be liable to it again—is worth any money; but this depends much on the locality, for if a horse that has passed the ordeal in a district where the sickness is in a mild form be taken to one where it is more severe he is liable again to disease and death.
The Western negroes are very ingenious and clever in hunting elephants. The herds are watched for weeks, their haunts are ascertained, their paths carefully traced, and the possibility of catching them in, or driving them to, the thickest parts of the forest debated on; then the bush vines, monkey ropes, lianas, or bindweed are cut, so as not quite to fall, but to hang loosely from the branches. Some of the paths are blocked by trees felled across them; others are left open as entrances and others as escapes; and in these last, where two stout trees, with conveniently forked branches, narrow the pass between them, a heavy beam, pierced with several holes, into which spear-heads are inserted and tightly wedged, is raised, so as to hang as high as possible directly across the path; a stout rope at each end of the beam is looped over the short thick end of a pole, which rests on a forked branch, and of which the longer end is held down by another rope attached to a peg stuck into the ground at the foot of the tree, the immense leverage afforded by the longer arm making it easy for a small strain to keep it down, and the shorter end pointed up, so that the loop cannot slip off. When all is ready another line, about 16in. from the ground, is stretched from peg to peg across the path.
The forest is then surrounded, the elephants disturbed with loud noises, driven from their favourite haunts, and forced to take refuge in the thickest forest; and here men, previously stationed in the trees, cut the remaining bush vines, and let the tangle fall like a boarding netting among and around the elephants; spears and assegais are also hurled down on them at every opportunity. This is, however, a service of great danger, for the persecuted animal, with his far-reaching trunk, may seize the nearest hunter and dash him to jelly against a tree, or trample him to death. But while thus engaged, the others cut and let fall more tangle, and drive down upon him their broad-bladed spears until he sinks exhausted; while others that break away are driven with loud shouts into the openings that gradually narrow as the paths approach the beam falls (contrivances much like those used in the capture of the hippopotamus), where at the next step the elephant must trip the horizontal line, draw out or break the pegs, release the lever ends of the long triggers, and the next moment, with wounded body and disabled spine, lie writhing in the power of his enemies, some of whom, if they approach too closely his powerful wide-sweeping trunk, may yet, however, pay dearly for their victory.
It is fortunate, perhaps, that nearly all occupations necessary for the obtainment of animal food in a wild country not only entail the necessity for the expenditure of sufficient physical force to serve as healthful exercise, but also afford enjoyment enough to induce men to engage in them. It might be shown that even the daily labour of the mechanic is not always the exception to this rule. But for the present purpose it is enough that the chase, besides supplying food and raiment to savages and semi-barbarous tribes from the remotest antiquity till now, has always possessed such charms for the vigorous and healthy man rejoicing in his strength, and proud of the opportunity of displaying it, that not only the savage, confident in his personal address, and the support of his fellow-hunters, exults in open battle with the fiercest animals; in trials of speed and endurance with the fleetest; or of patience and watchful skill in ensnaring the most wary. But our own countrymen, led by the love of adventure and excitement, will leave behind the luxuries of civilised life, and cheerfully endure the privations of a toilsome journey for the mere chance of engaging single-handed with some fierce creature which, with their inferior weapons, a whole tribe of natives would find it difficult to subdue.
Nor is this love of excitement and adventure to be classed with the cold-blooded cruelty so often attributed to hunters. The battue system, by which herds of timid, helpless animals are driven from all quarters into an inclosure before some potentate—who sits in safety in his gallery with ready-loaded rifles, handed to him by obsequious attendants, who score off the hundreds he has slain—we surrender freely to the reproach and reprobation it deserves. There may be enjoyment in wholesale slaughter, but the spirit that could find it is not of the sort which urged a young military friend of ours to chase four lions across the plains near Bloem Fontein, and to regret only that his horse failed to bring him to close quarters before they gained the shelter of the broken rocky hills.
Of course there are “butchers” who, when animals happen to be plentiful and easy of approach, will kill for the mere pleasure of boasting of the numbers they have shot; but the true sportsman would turn disgusted from such facile slaughter. Some exercise of skill, endurance, and more or less personal risk, is necessary to his enjoyment; and when to his ardour for the chase he adds the accomplishments of the artist, the naturalist, and the geographer, he deserves the praise instead of the reproach of those who sit at home at ease, and cannot enter into the enthusiasm which alone has enabled him to endure privation and conquer difficulty, instead of turning weary and defeated from the hardships of travel. All travellers, and many missionaries in Africa, are from choice or necessity hunters—and those who do not desire in some way to improve the opportunities cast in their way are few in number—and if they enjoy the task of killing savage animals which, in the interests of humanity, had better be thinned off, the cattle farmers, the agriculturists, or the hungry natives, as they satisfy their cravings for animal food, will thank them, and hail the hunters as friends in need.
The Cape farmer, whether English or Dutch, is seldom so spiritless as not to enjoy the hunting of his own lions, and the avenging with his own hand the depredations on his cattle. With game more worthy of his lead, the Dutch colonist works more methodically; and though in general he exhibits but little of the dash and recklessness characteristic of the British officer, he lacks not courage or determination when occasion calls it forth.
Lion hunting.
When it becomes known that a lion has established himself in the vicinity, and his depredations become annoying to the cattle owners, his “spoor” or trail is taken up and followed as far as prudent towards his lair; this ascertained, a council is held as to the best means of dislodging him and bringing him into position to receive the fire of the hunters. If there be natural shelter so much the better; if not, the horses are fastened together in line, and, held by the after riders or Hottentot servants, are backed down so near as to afford the marksman an opportunity of a fair shot; one or more, who can be implicitly relied on for certainty of aim and steadiness of hand in the moment of peril, are chosen to reserve their fire in case the rest should miss, and the others are told off to fire in regular order. The marksman, edging a little clear of the shelter of the horses, sits down, rests his elbows on his knees, and, grasping his ramrod as an additional support, takes as deliberate an aim as circumstances permit at the lion, aiming to hit him, if possible, in the breast; for it is seldom that the animal, when thus bearded in his den, refuses to face his foe, or expose his shoulders to the deadly missile. Possibly, he lies with head extended forward, so that it would be useless to fire at the sloping skull; and it is likely also that the fore-paws so cover the chest that there is the chance, by breaking one of them, of somewhat crippling, but at the same time provoking him to a headlong charge, in the fury of which even the loss of a fore-paw would be unheeded, and would diminish but little his power of doing mischief. Suppose him irritated by a painful wound, with a roar like thunder he bounds forward, and the inexperienced hands, if any such there be, discharge their guns as he comes on; but there are always some cool-headed fellows who know that within about five and twenty yards he will stop and gather his energies for a final spring. Deliberate as the Dutchman is, he knows when time is precious; the heavy roer is steadily aligned, and, if the aim be true, the monarch of the forest falls dead upon the spot, or, collecting his last energies, springs upon the horses. Now is the time for the reserve. At a glance he takes in the exigencies of the situation, he steps aside for a clear view, his bullet crushes through skull or shoulder, and the fierce animal falls helpless to the ground.
The restless steeds are brought again to quietude, the visitors gather round the prostrate foe, examine the perforations, and adjudge to each the merit of his respective shot.
Not always, however, is the affair so happily ended. In 1850, while passing through the Orange River Sovereignty, now the Free State, on our way to Vaal River, we heard of a contest that had nearly proved fatal to a brave old boer and his no less gallant nephew; and as we soon after became acquainted with many of the witnesses and actors in the scene, and saw the horses deeply scored by five sharp talons on either quarter, we have no hesitation in relating it. The lion, after receiving the fire of the uncle, had sprung upon him, knocked him down, and lay upon him, glaring defiance at his enemies. The young man, confident of his skill and steadiness of hand, boldly advanced close up to him, set his “Sneider” or hair trigger, and aimed deliberately at the forehead; one gentle touch of the forefinger, and instead of the expected death shot, the hammer fell into half-cock. Again he proved the edge of his flint, set his hair trigger, and again and again it failed him. The lion was growing restless; his trusted weapon was useless in his hand. What wonder that his courage failed, and, dashing it to the earth, he turned and fled. In an instant the lion was upon him, and he in his turn lay helpless beneath the monster’s weight. For some time he waited patiently, expecting his comrades to fire; but only one of them raised his gun, and that barrel wavered, so that the rest begged him not to fire. The uncle rose, and catching up his gun hastened to the rescue, but it had been discharged; and with his broken arm he attempted in vain to load it. The young man advised his comrades, and then entreated them to come on and shoot the lion while he was yet quiet enough to give them a good chance; but they came not. He cursed them for a set of cowards. Next he cursed the lion, and in the recklessness of despair he kicked him. The astonished beast turned round and seized the left knee, but this was a false move, for the young boer now drove his right foot so vigorously and rapidly into the exposed flank that the lion stared around him in bewilderment, and finally walked off, leaving the young fellow lamed only for a time. About the same time we became acquainted with a young boer, who, while lying in the power of the lion, had been so mangled that there was not sufficient muscle left upon his right arm to enable him to raise it without the assistance of his left. No one could see him advance to give his hand without a feeling of pity, yet his grip was as hearty as ever; and when his fingers closed upon the gunstock, the needful strength to raise it to the shoulder seemed to return. And notwithstanding his misfortune no man was readier or bolder in the hunting field.
Of the method adopted by English hunters, so many illustrative anecdotes are before the public, that in our limited range it is difficult to select one that shall be new and, at the same time, sufficiently striking to arrest attention. Generally, if the country is tolerably open, two or three gentlemen, with their native servants, and perhaps a few dogs, to distract the attention of the lion, will ride up, and one, checking his horse as he passes, will fire from the saddle, starting forward if the lion springs, and trusting to his comrades to relieve him.
Among the Bushmen the lion is not much hunted; in fact, some of them seem to look upon him as an involuntary benefactor, who, after he has killed his prey, will certainly let some remain for them, and may, perhaps, be scared from his repast, so as to leave them all. Sometimes, perhaps, they venture, if annoyed by one of men-eating propensities, to track him to his lair, and as he lies in dreamy enjoyment after a full meal, to lodge a poisoned arrow in his side.
But in general they prefer to enlist the white man in their cause, partly because they know his weapons to be more instantaneously effective, and partly because they are sure he will reward them for showing him the sport. The feat of Gordon Cumming delivering a village from the persecution of a pair of man-eaters, by killing them both with two shots from his double-barrel gun was still talked of by the natives when we were in the Sovereignty. The general introduction of firearms among the half-castes and the native tribes has rendered obsolete many of their customs, and it is now rare even in Africa to see some of the weapons they formerly used; such, for instance, as the long spears with which the Kafirs attacked the hippopotamus or elephant. But a lion hunt on fair and open ground, by a tribe of savage warriors, must have been an exciting scene. With them the preparatory tracking up and gathering of information essential to the English hunter are needless; the haunts and habits of the lion they intend to hunt have long been too familiar to them. The hunters with their naked bodies fresh anointed, and lithe and well-turned limbs, assemble around with light assegais or javelins, and with long sticks tufted with black ostrich feathers. A few feints and false attacks are made, and the lion is drawn or driven from his covers to the open plain. Now the fight begins. Encircled by the active warriors the lion stands at bay, perplexed and baffled by their rapid change of place, and perhaps somewhat confused by shouts from every quarter. At length the irritated beast exposes himself to the attack. Some bold warrior rushes past and darts his assegai, escaping if he can, while the manœuvre is repeated by the next. Not all are thus successful. The wounded animal charges furiously, but in the moment of extreme peril the native strikes his plumed staff into the ground, and, before even the quick eye of the lion can detect the cheat, darts off in another direction, driving home, perhaps, another assegai as he passes. Many, perhaps, are wounded; but unless he does it at a stroke the lion has no time to kill, for he is already bristling like a porcupine with spears, and one moment of inaction would expose him to the fatal shower that would pour in upon him from every side. His fate sooner or later is sealed; whatever way he charges his foes elude him; wound after wound exhausts his strength, till, bleeding and helpless, he sinks upon the ground, and his skin and paws are borne in triumph to the chief; while the women of the kraal, with clapping of hands and extemporary songs of triumph, welcome and congratulate the victors.
The elephant, unfortunately for his love of ease and indolence, or perhaps rather quiet and undisturbed enjoyment, is endowed with many qualities which offer peculiar temptations to his apparently contemptible, yet in reality formidable, enemies. To savage tribes the amount of flesh acquired by the destruction of an elephant is a sufficient inducement for a small tribe to labour in digging pitfalls, or unite in the attempt to weary out and irritate him almost to death by numberless light javelins, till some one, bolder or more fortunate than the rest, is able to approach and drive the larger spear with skill and strength sufficient to give a deadly wound. To the ardent sportsman, who is also a clever artist and lover of nature, the mere act of engaging with and conquering single-handed this gigantic animal, affords an almost delirious excitement.
But beyond all other considerations, the paramount inducement to traders, hunters, and even to natives among whom white men have already penetrated, is that, like the greatest of marine animals, the whale, he carries about him that which may be made profitable in a commercial point of view, and thus repay the hunter for the labour of destroying him. Of course, in the case of the elephant this inducement is the ivory, with which in Africa both males and females are provided; while in India the hunters find the females without tusks, and the males so frequently so that profit from this source rarely enters into the sportsman’s calculations, nevertheless, great numbers are annually killed in Ceylon and other parts of the Indian Empire. It requires a knowledge of the immense damage a single elephant is capable of doing among the cane or grain fields of the natives to induce those who cannot enter into the enthusiasm of the sportsman, to return a verdict of justifiable elephanticide.
Tigers, panthers, leopards, pumas, &c., are taken in various ways. The former animals, as we have before stated, are captured in large cage traps fitted with drop doors and trigger levers, which are thrown out of gear when the animal seizes a bait suspended from them. The Malays are very skilful in setting traps of this description. The systems adopted in shooting the large animals of prey just mentioned in the jungles of the far East are too well known to need description here. They may be said mainly to consist in shooting from a howdah placed on an elephant’s back; shooting on foot, aided by beaters; watching a live or dead bait from a “meechaum” or scaffolding erected in a tree; or shooting at night from the rifle pit, after the manner already described. To hunt antelopes by the aid of tamed leopards, or to take deer with the bearcoot, or hunting eagle, it is necessary to secure the services of a regular staff of native hunters, keepers, and trackers—in fact, a retinue which few mere travellers could support. Sword hunting, as practised by the inhabitants of the Abyssinian borders, is a pursuit requiring more than ordinary skill and adroitness—in short, almost a lifetime may be passed in fruitlessly endeavouring to successfully imitate the feats of the “Aggageers.” There are, however, many weapons and hunting appliances used in wild countries which the traveller will do well to familiarise himself with. The spear, the bow and arrow, the sling, the lasso, the bolas, the sumpitan or blow pipe, and the club, may as makeshifts stand him in good stead. A knowledge of the use of the boomerang would be extremely valuable; but we have never known a white man who could throw it even passably well. The spear, as cast from the womera, or throwing stick, is another weapon marvellously accurate, long-ranged, and deadly in the hands of the black fellow, but resolves itself into a mere sharp pointed stick when the European attempts to use it. It is much the same with the Kafir assegai. Very few Englishmen learn to use it well, whilst the natives hurl it with astonishing force and precision. There are calls, too, which are successfully used by the natives of many countries for attracting game to the lurking place of the sportsman. The birch bark calling trumpet of the American and Canadian moose hunter is an example of these; but practice alone will enable the traveller to use it successfully.
Pitfalls.
The natives of South Africa excel in the construction of pitfalls, and there is scarcely a tribe, with the exception of the pastoral Kafirs on the frontier, or the half-castes, who possess firearms, that does not more or less supply itself with wild flesh in this manner.
The tools used in sinking pitfalls resemble chisels, perhaps a hand breadth broad, and 8in. or 1ft. long; these are set in stout handles 6ft. or more in length, and used in a manner that may be understood after a glance at the beautiful group of Michael overthrowing Satan. The pits will be 10ft. or 12ft. long, 2ft. or 3ft. wide, and more than 8ft. deep, but they taper wedge-like towards the bottom, which is only a few inches wide, the intention being that an antelope or other animal shall jam his body immovably between the sides before he can touch the bottom with his feet. About the centre the pit is crossed by a wall of the hard soil, reaching about half-way to the top, and left standing for the purpose of catching any animal that, having once fallen in, is able to spring forward, and of holding him helplessly suspended by the belly.
The top is carefully covered with small sticks, over which reeds or grass are laid, and earth dusted over the whole as naturally as possible. A little water is then sprinkled over all to equalise the surface. Of course this has to be very artistically done to deceive the timid game; therefore there is no wonder that a mounted hunter, or even a traveller on foot, should occasionally fall in. Sometimes, to insure the capture of the animal, a small hole, also carefully covered, is made just before one end of the pit, and the creature stumbling in this, leaps forward and precipitates itself into the true snare.
We have on three occasions fallen into such pits (unprovided with the little hole last mentioned, which might have proved a warning to a man, who, if possible, would instinctively step backward), and once had considerable difficulty in getting out, because, owing to the wedge-shaped form, our hips were tightly jammed between the sides, while our feet could not reach the bottom; but, by vigorously sticking our elbows into the sides above, we at length extricated our lower extremities.
A fellow hunter had a more dangerous adventure than this; for the one that he fell into had three stakes, that would certainly have impaled an antelope, fixed upright in it; but fortunately a man goes straight down feet foremost, and seldom or never falls lengthwise. These pits for single animals, however, are but petty affairs compared with the extensive hopo or tellekello fences, built for the purpose of inclosing large herds of game, that are either driven during the day by extended lines of men from all quarters into the wide entrance, or suddenly find themselves forced into it when they come by night to drink at the water; in either case the space between the fences narrows rapidly, funnelwise, the fences themselves being made stronger in proportion to the diminution of the space between them, until this becomes little more than a narrow lane, and the fences assume the proportions of palisades, high and strong enough to prevent the escape even of the large animals that crowd into it. At the end of this passage is a low fence, partially concealing from view the yawning pit beyond, the apparent size of which is diminished by beams and poles so laid as to cover a considerable portion of each side, and thus rendering it impossible for any animal attempting to spring out to make his escape.
We have often seen these fences; but the Bushmen will very seldom get up a drive when white hunters are in the vicinity, preferring, very naturally, to eat game which, with very little trouble to themselves, has been shot by the European or the colonist, rather than to assemble their tribe and be on watch all night at the tellekello.
On occasions such as we have referred to, the widest opening of the fences is kept as near as possible to the pool or river where the wild game comes to drink, without encroaching so far as to interfere with their free access to the water. The Bushmen dig holes outside the fence, make in them large fires of hard wood, and cover the still glowing embers with dry earth, which absorbs a great amount of heat, and gives it out gradually during the night to those who come to sleep, or at least to lie down and watch beside it. In addition to this, they fashion a number of torches of some dry light wood, preferring that of a dead baobab; and at night, when the herds come down to quench their thirst, they draw their cordon round in rear of them, light their torches, and, waving them in the air, rush forward with wild gesticulations and loud outcries. Sometimes the larger animals, such as the black rhinoceros, or others, instead of submitting to be driven, will endeavour to break through the fence, but the active Bushmen swarm along the outside, and meet every attempt by waving their blazing torches, or throwing them in the faces of the animals; at length the herd crowded together comes to the narrowing neck of the funnel. The height and strength of the palisade forbids all hope of escape; the natives, wild with delight, are shouting and pressing on their rear, they rush thundering on to the narrowest part, the slight fence which hides the pit from view is easily leaped, others follow, blindly pushed on by the crowd in the rear, until at length the pit is filled with perhaps one or two hundred animals, writhing, struggling, and suffocating, and moreover bruised and stunned by the hoofs of those which rush madly on, seeking to escape over them. The Bushmen now assemble near the pass and stab with their assegais, as many as they can, but these are few in comparison; and when the pit is once filled, the escape of the majority of those that remain is tolerably certain.
Tsetse fly.
The most serious impediment which stands in the African hunter’s road to success is the tsetse fly, which haunts the forests and the banks of streams in many parts of southern and subtropical Africa. Horses and dogs are also liable to be fatally affected; but men, mules, and donkeys, as well as sheep or goats and wild animals, are not injured. When cattle are “bitten” by “the fly,” as this dreaded pest is called, par eminence, they begin to lose condition, the coat ceases to be sleek and glossy, and in a period, proportioned to the severity or number of the bites, generally from twelve hours to a fortnight or three weeks, or even a month, the animals die.
If the tsetse infested district is not large, it is much better to make the circuit of it, or to pass through it in the night. We have seen a horse thus taken through the belt on the shores of the Zambesi as a present for Tekalatu. He would be towed by a canoe across the broad river, and hurried on to a place of security before the morning. The fly, as may be supposed from these remarks, is very local. One of the Transvaal republicans told us that a mimosa tree, with bright yellow bark (probably the sweet gum), was one tolerably certain indication of its habitat; but it is best to inquire of the natives what are its particular limits, and especially to learn whether the tribes in advance keep cattle or dogs, and if they do not, to ask why so. Have they possessed cattle, and been plundered of them, or can they not keep them because of the proximity of the fly? If this is the case, the oxen must be kept beyond the bounds; but mules or donkeys may be used with safety.
The boundaries of this pest are well defined; and we have heard the Dutch colonists speak of “De Kant van de Vleigen,” or the “edge of the flies,” with as much precision as a municipal officer in defining the boundary of his parish. Frequently one side of a waggon road will be spoken of as infested, while the other is safe; and sometimes the hunters speak of riding up to the “edge of the fly,” and going in on foot to shoot game. Whether the rather more than half-reasoning elephants know that the fly kills horses or not, we cannot undertake to say; but they certainly connect the idea of comparative security with the “fly country,” just as an Australian horse knows that the stockyard is the only place in which he is never flogged, and retreats to it whenever he hears the cracking of the dreaded stock whip.
That the fly is local there can be no doubt; and the only chance, so far as we have heard, of this pest being found out of its proper district, is that a herd of buffaloes or other game may be chased to some distance, and carry the fly with them; but if they remain long the insect will leave them and return to its proper range.
The fly, a little more than half an inch long and more slender in proportion than a common house fly (the illustrations given below, Figs. 1 and 2, give the true size and an enlarged view of the insect), hovers steadily over the devoted cattle with a peculiarly rapid motion of the wings. To speak either of its bite or its sting would convey an erroneous idea; it seems to pierce the skin, and dilute the blood it wishes to drink by the injection of a fluid, just as the mosquito does; the surplus liquid mingles fatally with the blood. We believe neither goats nor sheep are injured by the virus. The piercing apparatus must be of considerable length, as the insect will penetrate a pilot coat and full suit of underclothing; the puncture leaves no subsequent pain like that of a mosquito, but is startling enough at the moment. The description of the fly may be thus summed up: The abdomen is marked with transverse stripes of yellow and dark chesnut, fading towards the back, and imparting the appearance of a longitudinal stripe of yellow down the centre of the back. The belly is a livid white; dusky glassy-brown wings folding over each other; eyes, brownish purple. It has six long legs. Its proboscis is about one-sixth of an inch long. It has tufts of hair on the body, which are dingiest about the mouth, on the back, and near the tail. It is keen of smell, quick of sight, and its flight is rapid and straight.
It is said that a peculiar breed of dogs, known as the “Moscoba,” or Bàylyè dogs, remain exempt from injury, from having from time immemorial been reared in the fly district, and escaped a cow-milk diet as the natives say. It has no injurious effect upon game whatsoever.
The Cape Colony, the Free State, Kafirland, Natal, and most of the Transvaal Republic, as well as Namaqua and Damara land—the Kalihari Desert and the desert between the Bō-tlét-lē and Zambesi rivers—may be regarded (speaking generally) as clear of the fly, but the hunters on the various tributaries of the Limpopo suffered very heavy losses; and Mr. Coqui and party, who travelled from Origstadt to Delagoa Bay, lost all their cattle, we believe, from the tsetse, not far from the last-named place. When travellers first began to find their way to Lake Ngami many, for want of local knowledge, lost sometimes half their cattle. At Tette, and the other Portuguese possessions on the Zambesi, very few cattle and no horses are kept, but Senhor Pascoal possessed a few donkeys. The natives in the vicinity have no cattle. We do not remember that we saw the tsetse there, but possibly this may have originally prevented their introduction, and the fly may have died out in places where the wild animals have been destroyed. When we travelled from Walwisch Bay, we fell in with no fly all the way to Lake Ngami, but turning thence to the north-west we feared to push too far to the northward, as the banks of the Teoughe, and probably the woods some distance from it, were known to be infested.
From the lake eastward we travelled in comparative safety along the Bō-tlét-lē River, and turned north over the elevated riverless plain towards the Zambesi. In the valley of that great river system we first felt ourselves in actual proximity to the fly. At Dāká, the cattle grazed in safety; but a servant, who was sent to outspan, ten or twenty miles to the west, had to return because he had got into an infested locality; and when we started with one waggon only to visit the Falls, we found that patches of mimosa and other forests on the banks of the Matietsie River were also frequented by these little pests.
We tried to save the oxen by rushing them past whenever the edge of the bush approached too closely to the river; but an accidental delay exposed the cattle to the fatal influence of the tsetse. At the Anyati, or Buffalo River, we had to leave the waggon and cattle as the long bed or sand hill covered with mopani and other trees, between it and the Falls, was known to be infested.
Mr. Baldwin also on his way to the Victoria Falls, from Natal, left his waggons in Moselekatses country, on account of the fly in the intervening districts, and made his way on foot. A fellow traveller of ours had a safe camp for several months with cattle at Boana; and at Logier Hill on the Zambesi (lat. 18° 4′ 58″ S.; long. approx. 26° 38′ E.) we do not remember to have seen any, though we resided there from September to the following February, in 1862–63.
In the parts about Chobè the fly is found near rivers only, in or near rich soils, and marshy spots—generally in mimosa or mopani forests. It sometimes shifts its position, and has been known to leave a spot which has been greatly hunted with guns—probably because the game had diminished or left.
The following are the first symptoms in oxen of being bitten: A swelling under the throat, which, if lanced, emits a yellowish fluid; the hair stands on end or reversed; they become debilitated, and though the herbage is ever so luxuriant, refuse to fill themselves and become very thin; their eyes water, and at length, when their end is approaching, a continual rattling in the throat or chest may be heard a few paces off. Sometimes one out of the number recovers, but very rarely, and only when it has no work to perform after being bitten. Horses generally swell about the eyes, nostrils, and testacles, where, probably, the bites are most numerous; the hair becomes reversed, and pining gradually away, they die. Both cattle and horses live from a fortnight to six months after being bitten, but generally all die shortly after the first rain falls.
After death the heart of an ox is encased in a yellowish and glutinous substance, which might be mistaken for fat. The flesh is full of little bladders of water, and the blood is half water at heart, which, on cooling, becomes congealed into a yellow glutinous substance. The vitals are of a livid colour.
We do not believe that the flesh is rendered unfit for food if the animal be killed in the early stages, but when the poison has made much progress in the blood, and the creature becomes much out of condition, it must of course be greatly deteriorated. We do not know of any remedy, and no certain preventive; it would be a great boon to travellers if any composition, disgusting to the insect, innoxious to the animal, and easy of carriage and application, could be discovered. We have heard a hunter propose to tar his horse, and then ride “into the fly,” and shoot elephants; and it is supposed that the anointing of cattle with their own excrement mixed with milk will save them from being bitten, but both these expedients, beside being annoying to the animals, would be liable to lose their efficacy in a short time.
Catching cattle.
The vang-stock is generally used to slip the noose over the hind leg of an ox unwilling to be caught. If a turn can be got round the other leg so much the better; another noose is thrown over his horns; men catch him by the tail, another seizes him by the horns, using them as levers, and, with all his members thus pushed and hauled in contrary directions, down he must go. If he is meant for a waggon ox the yoke is put upon his neck, and once fast in the middle of a dozen well-drilled yokefellows his struggles are unavailing, and he soon begins to feel the necessity of taking kindly to his work.
If he is wanted for a pack ox, a hole is bored through the cartilage of the nose, and a small stick 4in. or 6in. long, with a fork at one end like a Y pushed through; this serves as a bit, to which his halter is made fast; a long reim is passed very tightly, with many turns, round his body, some old skins are tied upon his back, and he is forced to stand or walk with these for several hours. Next day heavier packages are put on, and he is thus exercised till he is well accustomed to carry a load. The Kafirs very frequently tie packages upon the horns of their oxen. For riding oxen, those that seem of a less gregarious or dependent temper, and go most freely alone, are selected, as they give less trouble to the rider. Many of the most highly valued have loose, pendent horns, swinging, like locks of hair, with every motion of the head. We believe this is malformation, and is produced by beating and breaking the core of the horn while still young. In riding, the reim is carried from the nose-bit over the forehead, and thus the nose can be jerked up into the air at the rider’s pleasure, or the animal guided by a gentle pull from side to side.
Riding oxen.
Among completely uncivilised Kafirs or Hottentots the ox is ridden with only a few skins lashed on his back, but after communication with Europeans they generally improvise some sort of saddle, perhaps a couple of pads connected by strips of skin, or a piece of skin with the ends turned up towards the middle and stitched, so as to form two bags, which may be filled either with grass or with any soft articles that have to be carried. We have ridden oxen very comfortably with an English saddle, and have used spurs, which are well enough for gentle admonition, but the sambok, or hide whip, must be at hand as a more convincing argument.
The armament of a hunter is expensive. A couple of hundred pounds may very easily be spent upon his rifles, without subjecting him to the imputation of extravagance. He must have his good, stout, plain gun (smooth-bored) for general purposes—double-barrel, of eleven gauge; then his rifles, carrying bullets of from 2oz. to 6oz. each; and most probably one or more smooth bores, of still heavier metal, for night shooting at close quarters, when extreme accuracy of aim is not of much importance, and where the shock to the nervous system by the concussion of a large round bullet which bruises the parts around, instead of merely penetrating them like the sharp pointed cylindro-conical, is much more likely to bring down the animal before he has had time to wander very far from the place where he was shot.
Powder is required in large quantities, for, besides being always liable to waste or injury from damp, the loading of guns, with from 6drs. to 10drs. to a charge, the number of shots fired for practice at ant-hills, ineffectively in the chase, or shot away by native servants, counts for something. A liberal stock of shot of various sizes, caps, wadding, and gun requisites should be laid in.
Of course there must be a proportionate amount of mercury, tin, or type metal, to harden the bullets, till they can just be indented between the teeth, when they are supposed to be hard enough, without losing too much of their weight.
Spring guns.
PORCUPINE TRAP.
When engaged in hunting in the forests during the day, the hunter will not unfrequently find it convenient to set either gun or bow traps for the purpose of destroying mischievous and roving night prowlers. Almost any old gun or musket, provided that it will go off when the trigger is pulled, and will not burst from the effects of a good heavy charge, will answer the purpose.
The most convenient form of gun trap we have ever used is formed by lashing a piece of horn, bone, or polished wood, to the back of the trigger guard with waxed thread, as shown in the annexed illustration.
The trigger string is then brought back, passed through behind it, and led forward through the ramrod hoops. The gun, when heavily loaded, is lashed fast to some tree or post at a convenient height from the ground. A stout forked stick placed in the ground, about 18in. from the muzzle, will, according to its length, serve to regulate the line of fire to the height of the animal the trap is intended for. The trap is baited either by attaching a piece of meat of suitable size to the end of the trigger string in such a way that, as the food is seized and dragged away, the trigger may be drawn, and the gun exploded. Where jackals or other small animals of prey are abundant, they are very apt to spring your trap and waste your ammunition. In order to prevent them from doing so, it is well to form a sort of pass or road up to a large bait staked to the earth with crook posts or pegs, and then carry your trigger line at a slight strain high enough for a jackal to go under it, but low enough to be struck on the advance of a larger animal. The outer end must now be tied fast to a tree or post, as shown in the engraving on the opposite page.
Some hunters we have known adjust their trigger lines on the lever principle, as shown in the accompanying illustration. The plan is a good one for drawing a trigger with a heavy pull; but we prefer our own plan, because it is always available. The bit of horn need never be taken from the guard when once properly secured there.
PORCUPINE TRAP. A very good porcupine trap is made from the barrel of an old cavalry pistol, stapled to a block of wood, and exploded by the fall of a piece of old spring. A little bone peg or setting pin rests on the top of the barrel, and supports the spring until the string which is fastened to the middle of the setting pin is drawn. The least pull on the string causes the lower end of the pin to slip off the barrel, and allows the spring to fly sharply down on the crown of the nipple.
Arrow traps.
Bow and arrow traps are in use in many parts of the world. The Chinese and Tartars are very clever at constructing them. Very large and powerful cross-bows, charged with poisoned arrows, and set much after the manner of a gun-trap are often used for the destruction of tigers and other animals.
Large and very strong bamboo bows, charged with a number of arrows placed in a row, are set with a line stretched across the run of the animals in such a manner that a set of trigger sticks, shown in the annexed illustration, may be acted on when the line is drawn on.
There is an arrow trap, the “Elg-Led,” used for the destruction of elk in the forests of northern Europe. No bow is used in the construction of this engine. The hunter, when about to set an elg-led, seeks for a regularly used elk track. Each side of this, when found, he plants a post about 4ft. in height, like the posts of a gate. At about 6ft. from one of the posts he plants another in the same line, and on the tops of the two uprights he fixes by pins a fir-pole chopped flat, just as a hand rail of a bridge is made. He then cuts a long tough spring pole, and lashes its large end fast to two more uprights in such a way that, when forcibly bent back like a spring, its small end may sweep the whole length of the hand-rail, as we will call it. On the top of this hand rail a deep groove is cut, and in it rests a heavy-headed arrow. When the spring pole is drawn back to its full extent, it is held in place by a hard wood pin, set at a slope in a notch cut in the top of the hand rail. To the bottom or heel of this pin is attached one end of a stout copper wire, whilst the other end is carried across the elk track and made fast to the other gate post. Brushwood skilfully disposed on either side of the track keeps the elk in the direct road, whilst fresh young branches and “elk food lichen” scattered freely here and there serve to so attract the attention of the advancing animal that the first intimation he receives of anything being amiss is the passage of the massive steel-pointed shaft through his body. We were first shown how to set an elg-led by an old Norse skipper, who as a warning informed us that the best cow he ever possessed, or was ever likely to possess again, was found dead within ten yards of the first elg-led he ever constructed. Whilst on the subject of traps of this kind, it may not be amiss to caution our readers against placing any of them in situations where either domestic animals or human beings are likely to stray. When you set gun or bow traps near camp, warn all your followers that you have done so. In setting a gun trap be sure that the cocking of the gun and putting on the cap are the last two operations performed. In the case of arrow traps never lay in your arrow until every detail of your arrangements have been completed. Never cross in front of a set trap, or you may pay dearly for doing so.
In situations where it is not convenient or profitable to construct arrow traps, deer are often taken in considerable numbers by first forming a rough fence of tree trunks and branches, and then making openings just large enough for the animals to pass through at intervals. In these pass ways nooses of strong cord are suspended in such a way that, as the deer endeavours to force its way through, the slip knot tightens round his neck and holds him fast until dispatched. Tough, elastic young trees are not unfrequently made to do duty as deer traps, by bending them down until their tops are a few feet from the earth; a running loop of strong cord is then made fast to the extreme end of the natural spring, which is held down by a line, peg, and trigger arrangement set in the deer path. As the animal, in straying onward, catches his leg in the line, the trigger sets the bow free, the noose runs home, and the captive swings aloft. Some of the jungle tribes of India make use of an ingenious hook arrangement for deer and antelope catching, which is thus prepared: A pebble from the river bed, a stout, sharp, hook-shaped thorn and a short piece of twisted hide or grass rope are used to make the trap.
The pebble has a hole made in one of its ends, through this one end of the rope is looped, whilst the other end is securely lashed to the thick end of the hooked thorn, as shown in the annexed illustration. This contrivance is baited by placing a small round jungle fruit, of which deer are very fond, on the hook, which is, with its cord and pebble, laid in the path which the animals follow in going to and from water. On the bait being taken into the mouth, the hook quickly becomes embedded in the loose skin below the tongue. The deer, being unable to get rid of it, strikes impatiently upwards with one of its fore-feet, stamping furiously, like an enraged sheep; in doing this, the cleft between the two hoof-tips, being open, receives the cord, the pebble runs up to the back of the pastern, into the hollow of the heel, holds fast there, and so compels the deluded beast to caper about on three legs, when a well-directed arrow soon settles the matter. On the American Continent a sport known as fire-hunting is much followed. This mode of hunting is prosecuted at night. The hunter provides himself with a rifle, an old frying-pan, fastened to the end of a pole, and a good supply of resinous pine knots. These he ignites in the pan, and as the bright flame leaps up, he watches carefully for the gleam from the eyes of the deer amongst the dark shadows of the forest. When the two glowing orbs are perceived a ball is directed immediately between them. Canoes are not unfrequently used in fire-hunting, when the deer are lily-root hunting on the borders of lakes and rivers. Salt-licks or saline incrustations are powerful attractions to deer, who will travel long distances at night to indulge their fondness for salt, when they can be often shot in great numbers by the aid of fire kindled near the lick. Trappers and squatters at times manufacture artificial salt-licks by boring a great number of auger-holes in prostrate tree trunks; these, when tightly rammed with salt, seldom fail to attract such deer as may be in the vicinity. Care must, however, be taken that domestic cattle are not shot at the lick in mistake, as the salt is much relished by them.
When a deer is killed by the hunter at some distance from camp, he either protects it from the attacks of animals or birds of prey until it can be conveniently removed, or proceeds to prepare it for packing at once on his horse, pony, or mule. In countries where there are no vultures, animals of medium size may be kept in safety by attaching them to a spring-pole, or “riser.” This is made by bending down a tough, elastic young tree until the crown fork is reached; trim this in such a way with your hunting knife that a sort of hooked crutch is formed. Now lock the hind legs of your animal together by making a slit behind one back tendon, and running the opposite leg through until the hough joint prevents its return; place the loop thus formed over your hook-crutch, and then let the tree spring back to its original erect position, and your game will be safe from ground pilferers. The pole will be too small for bears to climb. Birds and wild cats are scared away by attaching a few bits of coloured rag, or a fluttering pocket handkerchief to the prong. Large red deer or moose can be cut up before suspension. When large animals have to be left whole and unskinned in the woods, lay them longways against the side of a fallen log; cover them with thorn bushes, and then proceed to cut some long thin wands, or small branches; strip the bark from them, in order that the white stick may show. Plant the ends in the earth, and bend the upper portions of the rods over the thorn bushes, amongst which they can be wattled. Few wolves will face this arrangement, as it looks too much like a trap to be safely ventured on. To prepare a deer for packing on a horse which has to carry the hunter as well, proceed as follows:—First make an incision directly behind the back of the head, above what is called the pithing spot, or joint between the atlas and dentata of anatomists; cut round the neck until the muscles, &c., are all divided; then twist the head round, using the antlers as a pair of levers; divide the attachment between the two bones just mentioned, and the head is separated from the neck. Cut the neck from the body just at the last neck joint, which lays in front of and above the shoulders. Cut off all the feet at the pastern joints. Now pass your knife directly in through the front line of the breast bone, and cut forward and back until the brisket is completely divided. Then in the same line carry your cut straight down the centre of the belly until the point of your knife rests on the root of the tail. Feel for the arch bone of the pelvis, skin back the tissues from it, place your knife on its centre with the heel of the blade close to the border of the bone. If the knife is a powerful one, and in good order, a little dexterity in its use will suffice to divide the arch at once. When this has been done, return to the brisket, force open the cut made in it, insert the two hands, and pull right and left until you can bring your knee to bear in flattening out the two sides by the giving way of the heads of the ribs. Take the two thighs and spread them open in the same manner. When this is done seek for the end of the windpipe; when found make a hole through it and pass in a short stick for a cross handle to hold on by, pull it upwards and backwards, cutting away right and left above it such adhesions as will be found, turn out all the intestines by freeing them in the same manner, taking care not to puncture them during the operation. If the work has been properly done nothing but the kidneys will remain in the body of the deer, which can be easily lashed fast to the Ds behind the saddle. The liver and heart can be made a separate package of, as they are well worth taking home.
Fall-traps.
A great number of forms of the fall-trap, as it is called, are to be found in different parts of the world, and trappers of fur-bearing animals avail themselves extensively of the use of engines of this description. From the largest bear to the tiny ermine the drop or deadfall produces death, just as we see the common slide-door cage successfully used in taking alive either the royal Bengal tiger or the pilfering kitchen mouse. Deadfall traps are especially valuable to the northern trapper, who, with axe, knife, and rifle, penetrates vast solitudes in search of furs. The materials for his traps cost him merely the trouble of cutting them from the surrounding forest; but no little ingenuity, forethought, and deep calculation are needed to so arrange the tree-trunks, pegs, sticks, and baits, as to successfully impose on creatures so richly endowed with instinct as the fur-coated inhabitants of the wilds.
FIGURE OF FOUR TRAP, SET AND DIVIDED.
BEAR TRAP.
SQUIRREL TRAP.
PLANK FALL-TRAP.
The martin trap is a contrivance much used for taking small animals of the weasel tribe, is generally useful, and is made as follows: When you have reason to suspect the presence of the animals you are in search of, either from having seen their tracks or noted their movements, proceed to build your pound wall, as it is called. This is a horse-shoe or half-tower arrangement, about 4ft. in height, built up with heavy stones and pieces of hard compact turf. Through the centre of the back of your half tower pass a stout, rounded, smooth stick, about the size of a common broom handle, sharpen the end which comes to the front, and adjust it so that, when the wall is completed, it may project at about 2ft. 6in. from the ground, and 4in. within the line of the two side walls.
BEAR TRAP.Now, with your axe, fell a good heavy straight young log, long enough to lay well across the front of your pound when brought up almost in contact with the stones forming the ends. Now, with your knife, make your “figure of four,” the principle of which is shown in the above illustration. When this is completed make your loop-line. This is a stout strand of twisted cedar bark, with a smoothly-tied loop at one end.
SQUIRREL TRAP.This loop is run on the projecting stick in the centre of the pound, and pushed back until the loop touches the back wall. The other end of the line is made fast, about 4in. from the ground to the bait, which must be perfectly fresh, clean, sweet, and uncontaminated, to be of any use. Any small pieces of bird or squirrel will do. When the bait is attached, the figure of four is brought into use. The main stem or king post rests on the sharpened end of the centre projecting stick which holds the loop and bait, whilst the drop log rests on the crown point at a slant. Immediately on the animal taking the bait, he walks backward with it, draws the loop along the stick until it draws the king post away, when down drops the fall log across his back and instantly kills him, without injuring his skin.
PLANK FALL-TRAP.In the North of Europe a variety of modifications of the “figure of four” are used for destroying bears, gluttons, and other animals. The woodcuts given on this and the previous page will serve to explain the nature of three of them.
Great numbers of foxes are taken by the Swedish hunters by the use of a contrivance known as a “tana.” This is usually made from the stump end of a small tree, chopped with the axe to a sloping or wedge-like form. Two cuts are then made, one on each side the centre or highest point, on which the bait, usually a cat’s head, or any piece of offal, is fixed. In performing a series of leaps to get at the bait, the fox gets one of his fore-paws in a slit, as shown in the annexed illustration, when he remains a prisoner until dispatched by the hunter.
The fox hook is another contrivance for the capture of foxes and wolves. The illustration on the following page shows the hook when set and before baiting. The body or slip of the contrivance is made by pinning two hard wood sheaves or trucks to a block-piece of any tough wood; a tough young tree is bent down to form the spring; a loop, or bellying of the line, which must be of strong cord, is placed between the trucks, and a small wedge inserted to keep it there. The hook, which is best made from bone or horn, is next baited with a piece of meat, and placed on the ground. When a fox or wolf seizes the bait, the first determined tug he gives draws out the wedge. The block-piece, with its trucks, remains attached to a stump, whilst the pole-spring flies violently up, and carries with it the prowler, who hangs like some fur-jacketed and odd-looking fish. Assafœtida, when rubbed against stumps and logs, is said to attract wolves.
The professional trapper, who derives his livelihood from the sale of the skins which good fortune and skill combined may cast in his way, avails himself largely of the use of the steel trap or gin for the capture of animals of all kinds and descriptions; and in no country in the world has the manufacture and use of this valuable contrivance reached such perfection as in the United States of America. The steel traps manufactured at Oneida, on the Newhouse principle, are admirable, and range from the “0” size, adapted for musk-rat, to No. 6, or “the great bear tamer,” represented in the annexed illustration.
When large traps, such as that just described, are used, there will not unfrequently be some risk and danger in setting them. Mr. Newhouse, the maker of the Oneida trap, gives the following hints on the subject in his valuable work on American trapping: “All that is necessary to be carried into the woods to do this is four strong leathern straps furnished with buckles. When you wish to set a trap, cut four levers of a size and length proportioned to the size of the trap, take two of them; make a loop of one of the straps and slip it over one end of each, then bring the trap spring between them, press them together, and adjust a loop over the other ends of the levers. Serve the other spring in the same way. Now spread the jaws, adjust the dog and pan, loosen the levers, and your trap is set. The straps weigh only a few ounces, and are easily carried.” He also gives us a valuable hint or two on the use of so-called “sliding poles,” which are contrivances much used by trappers, and astutely remarks as follows: “Animals of aquatic habits, when caught in traps, invariably plunge at once into deep water, and it is the object of the trapper, availing himself of this plunge, to drown his captive as soon as possible, in order to avoid his violence, and keep him out of the reach of other animals. The weight of the trap and chain is usually sufficient for this purpose in the case of the musk rat. But in taking the larger amphibious animals, such as the beaver, the trapper uses a contrivance which is called the ‘sliding pole.’ It is prepared in the following manner: Cut a pole 10ft. or 12ft. long, leaving branches enough on the small end to prevent the ring of the chain from slipping off; place this pole near where you set your trap in an inclined position, with its small end reaching into the deepest part of the stream, and its large end secured at the bank by a hook driven into the ground; slip the ring of your chain on to this, and see that it is free to traverse down the length of the pole. When the animal is taken, it plunges desperately into the region towards which the pole leads. The ring slides down to the end of the pole at the bottom of the stream, and, with a short chain, prevents the victim from rising to the surface or returning to the shore.”
Whilst on the subject of steel traps, it may be well to observe that the bait, whatever it may be, should never be placed on the plate of the trap. Hang it up on a stick; strew it round about; lay it before or behind the trap in a run, or set the trap without bait, but do not bait the trap itself, as doing so with wild forest animals is next to useless. Do not secure your trap chain to a fixed object, as the animal will probably get free. When setting your traps, cut clogs for them; these clogs are merely short lengths of pole, of weight and size proportioned to the size of the trap. Do not fasten the clog so that it may drag crosswise, or it will become fixed amongst the undergrowth. To make it travel end-on place the ring of the chain over the end of the clog, which should be large enough to fit it moderately tight, then with your tomahawk (which should always be at your side whilst trapping) split the clog end, insert a stout flat wedge, and drive it home; this will effectually keep the ring on and prevent crossing. Traps should be rendered perfectly sweet before setting by putting them in the camp fire and heating them up to a point just below that which would tend to injure the springs. Boiling hot water and wood ashes are sometimes used for the same purpose. Sheepskin gloves with the wool on may be used to handle the traps with in order that no taint from the trapper may remain about them. Many baits are prepared by trappers for luring animals to the trap. The much-lauded beaver medicine, or castor bait, is a white creamy secretion found in the neighbourhood of a set of glands near the scrotum of the male beaver. Foxes are often attracted by laying down some earth taken from a fox den, or by scattering small pieces of fried meat dressed with honey about the neighbourhood of the traps. Mr. Newhouse strongly recommends as a fox bait the following preparation: Obtain from the female of the dog-fox, or wolf, the matrix in the season of coition, and preserve it in a quart of alcohol tightly corked; leave a small portion of this preparation on something near the trap, and then, putting some of it on the bottoms of your boots from time to time, strike large circles in two different directions leading round the trap. A very attractive baiting oil for mink and other fish-eating animals may be made by cutting any kind of fish into small pieces, leaving them in an unstoppered bottle, and allowing them to be exposed to the sun and air; putrefaction soon takes place, and a thick strong oil is formed, the smell of which is a great attraction.
Musk rats, which abound in many of the shallow lakes and river bottoms of America, are either speared through the walls of their winter houses by trappers who travel over the ice in pursuit of them, or captured in steel traps of the description already spoken of. A musk-rat spear is made by mounting a smooth polished rod of highly-tempered steel in a 3ft. or 4ft. handle, just as a chisel is fitted. The blade or tine should be about a yard long and a little under half an inch in diameter. The point should be as sharp as a needle. In using this instrument, the hunter looks out sharply for a spot of white or hoar frost on the dome of the musk rat house; through this he plunges his spear, knowing that the sleeping family is beneath it. The heat given off by the animals causes a partial thaw, which leads to the tell-tale white incrustation. On the rats being transfixed, a hole is cut with a tomahawk through which to take them out, when a steel trap is set for the capture of such fugitives as may have escaped the pointed steel.
Catching birds.
The explorer’s larder will not unfrequently depend for a supply on such feathered game, large or small, as good fortune may place at his disposal. In many regions animals of the chase, properly so called, do not exist; in others, they are so thinly scattered over a large extent of country that their capture is at the best precarious and uncertain. Few routes, however, which the traveller could select on the face of the habitable globe will be found destitute of feathered inhabitants of some kind. We know of no bird which could not, under the pressure of hunger, be turned to account. Vultures are, perhaps, the most repulsive feathered creatures in creation, and yet instances are not wanting in which starving men have fed on them. Our space will not admit of our entering on a description of the various and complex net arrangements made use of in the capture of wildfowl in decoys by the continental sportsman. We shall deal only with such contrivances as may be turned out of hand by the exercise of a little ingenuity and the use of simple tools and common appliances. Ostrich catching—the ostrich being the largest known bird—perhaps deserves the first place in our list.
A variety of methods are adopted for the capture of the ostrich and emu by the natives of the countries in which they are found. The Arabs and Cabiles of Algeria organise regular ostrich hunts, for which the horses are systematically trained by having their food gradually decreased in bulk, and being ridden long distances daily in the full heat of the sun. The ostriches, when found, are headed towards an ambuscade of mounted hunters, who, when the birds approach within the required distance, dash out from their concealment, and literally ride down the game, which, when thoroughly exhausted, is knocked on the head with short heavy sticks. The Bushmen of Africa lie carefully concealed, with their bows and arrows, at a convenient distance from the nests of the birds or the edge of a vley or pool to which they come to drink. Stalking is an art the Bushman excels in; and, with a piece of ostrich skin on his back, a stick roughly hewn into the form of the neck and head of the bird, together with his short bow, in the left hand, and a supply of arrows in his head band (as shown in the annexed woodcut), the cunning hunter creeps up wind towards the feeding flock, and not unfrequently succeeds in shooting down more than one before the alarm is given. The Australian native, when emu hunting, provides himself with a leaf-covered branch large enough to effectually conceal him as he advances step by step up wind towards the birds as they stalk forward and back on the plain in search of food. When within range the native fits the hollow end of his long fire-hardened spear into the tooth of his womera, or throwing stick, and sends it whistling on its mission of death. In South America the ostrich is hunted by mounted men, who capture it by the aid of the bolas, which consists of three rounded pebbles sewn up in raw hide cases and attached to strips of hide, which are united in the centre. In the use of this contrivance the balls are made to whirl rapidly round the head of the hunter as he gallops towards his prey, and diverge to the full extent of their thong attachments. When sufficiently close to the object of pursuit, the whole affair is launched forth with extraordinary force and precision, entangling the legs, wings, or neck of the bird, and not unfrequently inflicting a heavy stunning blow or two as well. In districts where wheeled vehicles are employed by either settlers or natives, ostriches or emus may be successfully approached by concealing yourself in one of them as they go creaking and jolting slowly in a line with the flock. By a little management the bullock team may be so guided as to edge down until at very close quarters, when a heavy charge of buckshot under the wing, or a well-directed bullet through the body, seldom fails in bringing the game to bag. We have successfully approached bustards in this manner, both in India and Tartary. Before commencing your stalk, it is well to arrange some straw or reed in the cart, waggon, or hackery in such a manner that it shall afford concealment without preventing you, when within shot, from instantly starting, gun in hand, to a kneeling posture, which we have found the best attitude to shoot in when subjected to the irregular motion of a vehicle with wheels out of circle, and travelling over a plain without roads. For this description of shooting, a strong hard-shooting gun is needed. One of the kind described at [page 9] of this work will be found well adapted for the purpose, and is identical in size of bore—viz., 11—weight, &c., with one we always use. When about to commence bustard shooting, it will be well, if you have no Ely’s wire cartridges, which are of the greatest value for all large fowl, to prepare some from old kid-glove fingers, or oiled silk, as directed at [pp. 235 and 236]. It is seldom, even when shooting with heavy charges of powder and cartridges, that standing or running shots at bustards prove fatal. We have found it the best plan to continue the approach steadily, until the bird, becoming alarmed, makes a short rapid run, as it almost invariably will, and then spreads its wide wings for flight. Then fire well to the front and below the wing, and the chances are greatly in favour of the sportsman.
TRAPS FOR SMALL GAME.
Wild turkeys are approached by the aid of a call made from a hollow bone. Some skill and experience are needed both to make the call and use it when made. Some hunters succeed in imitating the cluck, or “yelp” as it is called, without the aid of the bone; but to do this it is necessary to study the exact pitch and intonation of the bird’s voice, which can only be done by listening to it. Great numbers of wild turkeys are taken in “cribbets,” or pens, which are made much on the same principle as the bird trap shown at the front of our full-page illustration, only that, instead of sticks of ordinary size, poles are made use of. The following directions for making a wild turkey pen or trap are given by Audubon, and are thoroughly practical and to the purpose: “Young trees of four or five inches in diameter are cut down and divided into pieces of the length of twelve or fourteen feet. Two of these are laid on the ground parallel to each other, at a distance of ten or twelve feet. Two other pieces are laid across the ends of these at right angles to them, and in this manner successive layers are added until the fabric is raised to the height of four feet. It is then covered with similar pieces of wood placed three or four inches apart, and loaded with one or two heavy logs to render the whole firm. This done, a trench about eighteen inches in depth and width is cut under one side of the cage, into which it opens slantingly and rather abruptly. It is continued on its outside to some distance, so as gradually to attain the level of the surrounding ground. Over the part of this trench within the pen, and close to the wall, some sticks are placed so as to form a kind of bridge about a foot in breadth. The trap being now finished, the owner places a quantity of Indian corn in its centre as well as in the trench, and as he walks off drops here and there a few grains in the woods, sometimes to the distance of a mile. This is repeated at every visit to the trap after the turkeys have found it. Sometimes two trenches are cut, in which case the trenches enter on opposite sides of the trap, and are both strewn with corn. No sooner has a turkey observed the train of corn than it communicates the circumstance to the flock by a cluck, when all of them come up, and, searching for the grains scattered about, at length come upon the trench, which they follow, squeezing themselves one after another through the passage under the bridge. In this manner the whole flock sometimes enters, but more commonly six or seven only, as they are alarmed by the least noise, even the cracking of a tree in frosty weather. Those within, having gorged themselves, raise their heads and try to press their way through the top or sides of the pen, passing and repassing on the bridge, but never for a moment looking down or attempting to escape through the passage by which they enter. Thus they remain until the owner of the trap, arriving, closes the trench, and secures his captives.” Great numbers of both capercailzie and blackcock are taken in the forests of northern Europe by the aid of traps and snares. The former differ in form of construction with the district in which they are used. Deadfalls are in common use. They are either made in such a way as to allow one long heavy pole to fall on the bird, or seven or eight stout poles are battened together as they would be to form a door. A hole is cut in the upper end large enough for the main post or setting stick to pass up through as the flap of the trap falls. The figure-of-four form of release is that usually made use of. The illustrations at [page 663] will serve to show the arrangement when put together and the mode of notching the separate portions. Birch or beech wood makes excellent figure-of-four traps. Cowberries and other forest fruits are used as baits to strew in and about the traps. A very ingenious form of pen trap is also much used in the North for blackcock capture; it is called the “orre tratt,” and is thus constructed: A young pine of about 12ft. high is selected as the centre pole; all the branches are removed, and the top of a well-grown young spruce fir tree lashed in a reversed position to the pole about 4ft. from the ground; a crutch or fork is now fastened with cord to the head of the pole; within about 1ft. of the top in this crutch is lashed the tip stick, which is so tied as to act as a scale-beam or the see-saw used by boys; a bunch of wheat or other corn in the ear is secured to the extreme end of the main pole. When these arrangements have been made, a number of larch poles with the bark on are driven in round the main pole in funnel form, much as young trees are defended from the attacks of deer or rabbits in this country. The top of the funnel should be about 4ft., and the bottom about 20in. across. A few tough sticks or vines wattled in here and there give firmness and compactness to the structure. When this is complete, plant a few poles, with bunches of partly threshed oat or barley reed tied to their tops in such a way that a good foothold may be afforded to birds on cross branches left for the purpose, which should be near enough to the tip stick of the main pole for a blackcock to hop easily off when attracted by the bunch of wheat ears. The instant he settles on the tip stick it gives way, and allows him to drop down into the pen on the fir-branch frill in the centre, which instantly gives way under his weight, and lets him down to the bottom. Should he attempt to rise, the barb-like pine branches keep him down. The tip stick, having fallen back to its original position, is ready for a fresh victim, who quickly descends to join his fellow in the bottom of the pen, which has been known to become well filled during a short winter’s day.
Snares.
Snares may be made of annealed brass or copper wire, or of several strands of twisted horsehair. Twisted copper or brass wire makes excellent snares, but it must be very soft and pliable. Iron wire, when used as a makeshift for the two former descriptions of material, should be annealed before use: this process, which adds greatly to the pliability and tenacity of iron wire, is conducted as follows: Double your wire into a hank or bundle of convenient size; twist a loose rope made of dried grass or straw round it in all directions until the coil is completely covered; ignite the straw or hay band, and let it burn to ashes; let your wire cool gradually, and you will find it almost as pliant as a thong. The snoods, or “grains” as they are called, are best made from stout white horsehair, twisted by the aid of a half-opened pocket knife, as at Fig. 1, [page 598].
Immense numbers of these are made in some districts for the capture of snipes and woodcocks, and are used in a kind of trap known as a “springle.” As a ground trap for birds, it is, perhaps, the most remunerative that can be set; its form, when adjusted for use, is shown at the front of the full-page illustration, “[Traps for Small Game.]” Common hazel is the best material to make all the woodwork of a springle from. The annexed illustration shows the arrangement in a divided form. The parts consist of the riser A, the “sweik” B, the bow C, the hookpost D, and the button E. The riser line—a piece of stout twisted twine—the grains, and the button in place are shown at F. The riser should be planted so as to lay well back, in order that it may exercise its full power when in action. When setting this description of trap for snipes or woodcocks no bait is used.
A convenient spot is chosen on the ground in which they bore for food; and a roading is then made with small bent twigs, as in the annexed illustration, in extended V form. The sweik is set directly across the narrow pass, formed by the convergence of the two twig walls or hedges. No woodcock or snipe will ever pass out over the barrier formed by the bent twigs. Feeding and running onwards, they merely touch their beaks against the border hedge, work their way up the gradually narrowing passage, until the sweik, with its surrounding of grains or snare, is reached, when the head or feet of the bird, pressing down the former, releases the button from its hold on the notch. The riser flies up, and the neck, or some other portion of the body of the bird, is caught within the noose, which holds the game firmly against the bow, until strangled or taken out by the trapper. We have seen hundreds of springles set along the lines formed by the wheels of a waggon across an open stretch of plain or moorland. Water settling in these forms a sort of water road for snipes to run in. Two or three twigs on each side are all that will be needed at each trap, in such a favourable trapping ground as this. On an open flat or marsh meadow, 14ft. or 15ft. of twig roading will not be too much for each side or limb of the double or single V arrangement. Springles set for birds, requiring a bait such as fieldfares, blackbirds, missel thrushes, redwings, &c., should have their sweiks placed over shallow oval pits; hawthorn, paracanthus or cotoneaster berries, rotten apples, or ears of unthreshed wheat or barley make good baits for springles. Vast numbers of migratory birds of the thrush tribe are taken for the market on the Continent and in the north of Europe by the use of various forms of the “dona.” This is a trap made by either bending into half-hoop form a stick either growing or inserted in an auger hole bored in a tree. The string used to bend the bow, and form a head line for the hair nooses or snares, is usually made of bast obtained from the lime or linden tree; twine, or any other cord-like material, will answer the same purpose. Several forms of this kind of trap will be seen suspended from the trees in the full-page illustration, representing “[Traps for Small Game.]” A very excellent form of spring bow trap is made by bending a strong pliant hazel or other stick into the form shown in the annexed illustration. Bore a hole through one end with a red-hot wire; draw the snare or grains through the hole until the two ends of the bow closely approach each other, then force the end of the tread-fork (A), which must be cut to a truncated conical form, into the hole (B), until the grains is held by it in such a way that the force of the bow cannot draw it through the hole, and yet pressure on the tread-fork will displace it, and set the grains free to be drawn through the hole, unless the bird which has stepped on the fork is caught, in which case it is held, as shown in the full-page illustration. Larks, quails, finches, &c., are readily taken in snares, hung either from bows or stretched lines adjusted so as to hang just above the ground; several of these arrangements are shown in the full-page illustration. Chaff or grain should be scattered about traps of this kind, which answer best when snow is on the ground. A great number of both birds and small animals are to be taken in “cribbets:” these are pyramidal-shaped pens, or cages, built up by placing round, straight sticks, with the bark on, one on the other, just as a log house is built, only that cribbet sticks are not notched as logs are for building. When the cribbet is built to the required size and height for the description of game to be caught in it, a string at each corner, brought to the apex of the trap, gathered together in a knot, and made tight by twisting round a stick placed in the loop, makes all firm and compact. A piece of bent vine or briar serves to set the trap, which is arranged as shown in the full-page illustration.
Wild geese, ducks, widgeon, teal, water rails, coots, &c. &c., are taken readily by traps properly set for them. On the coasts of Finland and Lapland great numbers of wild geese are taken by forming a little fence or hurdle (which stands about breast high to a goose), on projecting points or spits of land which stretch out into the bays or harbours. Unbarked sticks, about the size of a common walking-stick, are thrust firmly into the ground, at about 10ft. or 12ft. apart, and then at every third or fourth stick a second is placed at about a foot from the other, forming, so to speak, a pair of gate posts, and in such a manner as to form an irregular line, completely surrounding the sea-line of the spit. A string or wire is now stretched tightly from stick to stick, only omitting the spaces left between the pairs of posts. These are left unfenced, and are each provided with a running noose, made of twisted hair or wire, which is secured to one of the posts. When the arrangement is complete, barn refuse is scattered inside the fence. The geese, coming in from the sea to feed, breast the fence, until an opening, formed by one of the gates, is found. This is quickly entered, and the noose, running in round the neck of the intruder, holds him fast. A sort of trap raft frame is much used for duck catching during winter in the north. Some short pieces of board serve to form the side and end floats of the raft. An upright post is set at each corner, and a top line is stretched round the heads of the side and end posts, as shown in the annexed illustration. Hair or wire nooses are set all round the duck raft, which is usually floated in a hole made in the ice; a quantity of water plants, pulled up by the roots, are thrown within the barriers. The ducks or other fowl, in endeavouring to force their way through the loops, are hung by the neck, and strangled.
Wooden frames are also mounted with wire snares and cross strings, as shown in the illustration on page 677, and prepared for sinking, by the aid of stones, through holes in the ice, until they are about 3ft. or 5ft. beneath the surface. The ducks congregate in these holes, and in diving after food become entangled in the snares, and are drowned. The frames are hauled up once or twice during the day, for the purpose of removing the dead birds. Small-sized fish hooks, fastened to stout line or twine, and baited with bits of unio, pond mussel, or other fresh-water molluscs, removed from the shell, make good traps for ducks. Herons, storks, egrets, and other wader birds, can be caught by hooks baited with small fish. Sea-fowl are caught in considerable numbers by baiting ordinary fishing hooks and lines with bits of pork rind or fish offal.
Ducks and other wildfowl are captured by the natives of Australia by the aid of a long rod or wand, to which a fine strong noose of twisted bark is attached. Furnished with this contrivance, the native proceeds to make for himself a head dress or crown of river weeds, and then, wand in hand, swims and wades out to where the unsuspecting fowl are feeding and disporting themselves; here, with the rod resting on the surface of the water, and pushed forward, duck after duck is first noosed by the neck, and then drawn under the surface to the duck-catcher, who quickly attaches the victims to his belt by slip-loops fastened to it for the purpose. Both the Chinese and Indians take wildfowl on ponds or lakes by the aid of a gourd shell placed on the head. A few real gourds or pumpkins are first launched well to windward, and allowed to float amongst the birds in order to allay suspicion. The fowler then, with his gourd-shell cap (in which two small peepholes are cut) on his head and neck, enters the water at some spot where a clump of reeds or rushes can be found as a concealment, and then swiftly swims or wades, as the depth of the water may render necessary, out amongst the birds. Here he proceeds to draw as many as he requires down by the feet, securing his game just as the Australians fasten theirs. The shooting or trapping of wildfowl by the white hunter or explorer is often much facilitated by the use of false or decoy birds. These may be either solid blocks of carved wood, painted so as to imitate the plumage of real birds (the heads and necks of these should be made to take off), stuffed skins mounted on wooden or bark floats, sheet metal, or gutta-percha models; many of these are beautifully made, but are rather costly and troublesome to carry. We prefer, when making use of a few decoys, to employ duck, goose, or widgeon skins stuffed with bark chips, and balanced with lead attached to a loop fastened to the breast. Bits of lead pipe make good weights. Each decoy bird should have an anchor weight and cable string attached to it, so that it may remain in its proper place until picked up from the canoe by the aid of a long forked pole. Ambushes are often made use of in marshes, on the borders of lakes, or the banks of tidal rivers, for the purpose of concealing the sportsman from the quick eyes of the passing fowl. A good sized cask sunk in the ooze, and then well furnished with straw, makes a good lurking place. On flats, where the tide flows, it is a good plan to plant four stout posts in a square. Bore sets of auger holes up each post in such a way that four stout iron or hard wood pins may be passed completely through the holes in the posts, and project about six inches towards the interior of the square. On these projecting ends a light platform or stage of boards is fixed for the sportsman to stand on; a few bundles of marsh reeds, fastened to the frame, are so spread out as to form an effectual screen. A narrow board to sit on is supported on two bars run through each pair of end posts. When shooting ducks on the marshes of Southern Russia we used to form a sort of screen by cutting a bundle of marsh reeds, fastening their tops together with a piece of twine, spreading the lower ends out like a large extinguisher or the hat of a beehive, and then placing the whole arrangement on the head. When seated thus arrayed on a good thick pile of reeds, with your legs encased in well-greased boots, and your gun placed well under cover, the ducks, geese, widgeon, and other fowl, come fearlessly by on whistling wing, and are knocked over and bagged accordingly. A contrivance, known as the “crinoline stalker,” may be used with advantage in approaching many descriptions of wildfowl; this contrivance is made from four bars of wood nailed together in a square, as a picture frame is made. At each corner a leg is placed, about knee high. A string serves to sling the arrangement over the shoulders of the sportsman, just as a falconer’s hawk stand used to be carried. A number of short lengths of cord or ropeyarn attached to the frame serve as lashings for bundles of reeds or long green branches, so that, when the stalker is adjusted properly, the sportsman walks as though in a very large and high topped crinoline. When he wishes to remain stationary, he drops his frame so that the legs may rest on the ground. He can then sit down on the hind bar and remain well concealed. The gun is usually carried slung until required for use, in order that the hands may be free to manage the crinoline.
Calls.
Calls of different kinds are generally made use of to attract deer, wildfowl, rails, plover, and partridges. The moose deer is called with a trumpet formed from birch bark. Duck and goose calls vary in form with the locality in which they are used. The natural windpipe and larynx, freshly stripped from the bird, are, in the hands of a skilled performer, the best that can be devised. Landrails can be brought close to the sportsman by the use of a small thin flat bone (beef-rib bone is as good as any), cut into teeth, like those of a saw. Over these a thin flat strip of bone is drawn sharply and repeatedly until the answering bird is within shot. Partridge calls are made by stretching a bit of stout parchment or moistened vellum over the mouth of a common bottle neck, broken off short. When the stretched membrane is dry, a small pin hole is made in its centre, and through this a knotted horsehair is passed, until the knot is drawn against the inside of the drum-head. A little powdered resin is placed on the fingers, and the hair is drawn sharply through in such a way that the voice of the real bird is closely imitated.
Woodpigeon, plover, and weasel calls can be purchased for a small sum from any respectable gunmaker, and are far better than most amateurs could hope to make. They occupy a small space, and can be easily stowed away in the gun case. Much might be said on the subject of wildfowl punts, sunk flats, fowling canoes, &c., but a consideration of such appliances can be scarcely entered on in this work.
Birdlime.
The use of birdlime may be often had recourse to for the capture of a great variety of birds, particularly such as assemble in large flocks about the neighbourhood of springs or water holes. The most expeditious and best mode of preparing birdlime is to place about a pint of linseed oil in an earthen pot or other vessel, which should be set upright in the hot ashes of the camp fire, and boiled slowly and steadily until reduced to about a third in quantity, when, instead of oil, birdlime will be left in the vessel. The inner bark of the holly, some kinds of elm, a parasitical plant like a mistletoe which grows from the mango tree, the straight upright shoots of the common elder, and several creepers or vine-like plants found in tropical countries, produce birdlime. To prepare it, the bark, after being scraped free from the outer shell, must be boiled in rain-water for at least ten hours; throw it then in a mass out on a cloth to drain; dig a pit in the earth in a cool place, put a flat stone in the bottom of the pit, throw your bark in on the stone, letting it rest as a pile or heap. Now place another flat stone on the top of the pile, throw in grass round the edges to keep any earth from getting in, fill up your pit with earth so as to leave a slight depression in the middle; throw a little water into this every other day for three weeks, when the bark will have become stringy and tough. Lay it now little by little between two rough stones, and grind it into a paste. Work the paste with clean hands in a clear running stream, until all impurities and foreign substances are washed away, and then place it in a clean earthen pot, covered with a tile or flat stone for a week, when the lime will be fit for use. When intended for the capture of small birds, it should be smeared on sets of twigs or branches, so set that the birds may settle easily on them. When used for crow catching, it is placed in a thick coat on the inside of paper cones, which are made as though intended for silkworms to spin in; each cone is baited by placing a piece of raw meat in its narrow end, and then thrusting a thorn or sharp splinter of wood through both it and the paper. The crow, in attempting to get at the bait, thrusts its head into the cone, which remains fixed on like an extinguisher. Birds thus caught either flap about helplessly or keep mounting in the air until, becoming exhausted, they fall to the earth, and are easily taken. On some of the islands of the Pacific vast quantities of dragon flies are taken for food by boys, who, armed with long wands tipped with birdlime, lightly touch the insect, which is at once secured, and placed in a basket carried suspended from the shoulders.
Poison.
We have always a great aversion to the use of poison as an agent for the destruction of animal life; and it is only in cases of absolute necessity that recourse should be had to it. The skins of fur-bearing animals so destroyed are very inferior to those obtained in the usual way. The flesh of birds and animals poisoned by strychnine (the agent commonly made use of by hunters and travellers for poisoning purposes) is so intensely poisonous, that any creature partaking of it is almost sure to perish. It is, therefore, the best plan, when it is considered advisable to rid the vicinity of the camp of the presence of furred or feathered carnivora, to destroy some suffering or worn-out baggage mule or horse with strychnine, and then place its remains in a position in which access to them is easy; but see that your own dogs are secured, or they, with all the magpies, crows, vultures, wolves, wild dogs, &c., &c., in the district, will stand a fair chance of being destroyed.
We remember hearing of two settlers in Australia who, finding that their crops were seriously damaged by cocatoos, tried all in their power to shoot them, but to no purpose. They at length prepared a quantity of corn with strychnine, and spread it about the clearings. The cocatoos eagerly devoured the grain, fell dead in the forest, and were in due time devoured by the “dingoes” or native wild dogs, who in turn fell beneath the powers of the potent vomic nut. It is best to take such strychnine as may be required from England. Apothecaries’ Hall is the best place to obtain it from. The best way to pack it for travelling is in a stout glass-stoppered bottle, which has had a strong tin case or jacket soldered over it. The tin cover or cap fitting over all should have a skull conspicuously marked on it. (See “Box markings.”) Too much caution cannot be used in handling or dealing with this most deadly and fearful poison.
CHAPTER XVIII.
PALANQUINS, STRETCHERS, AMBULANCES, ETC.
In many countries where it is difficult to keep riding or draught horses, or where the want of roads precludes the use of wheeled carriages, those who can afford to ride are borne upon the shoulders of men in conveyances more or less simple or elaborate; and not only do these vary much in different countries, but the mode of shouldering, and even the step of the bearers is as various as the fashion of the vehicle. The peculiar short trot of the palkee bearers differs from the elastic spring of the Zambesians when they carry in single file, and that again from their swinging walk or run when they carry in pairs—each man embracing his comrade, while the pole rests on the right shoulder of one and on the left of the other; while they walk on separate paths, about 3ft. apart, each man leaning inward, at an angle of 15 degrees or 20 degrees towards his comrade, just as the horse and rider lean inward in a circus.
The machila, or masheela, is simply a couch, slung by chains or leather thongs to a pole of female bamboo of the largest possible diameter, so that it may bear easily on the shoulders of the men, and not cut them, as a smaller pole would. Generally an awning of chintz or calico, spread on yards like a boat’s awning, with curtains on either side, is attached to the bamboo; but sometimes, when the masheela is intended to be more strictly a private carriage, a sloping roof or pent-house of reeds is slung saddle-wise over the pole, completely screening the occupant from the public eye, while a small window on each side affords sufficient facility of observation from the interior. All the Portuguese on the Zambesi keep masheelas and sets of bearers, who generally have a tolerably easy time of it, their duty being to convey their master or mistress to and from the corn land, the church, or any house in the little town where an evening party is afoot or a morning call to be made.
When it is actually necessary to carry a sick or disabled man, a hammock may be extemporised, by rolling a small stone into each corner of a blanket, and thus forming a knob, or projection which will prevent the slipping of the cords or thongs with which it is made fast to the pole. We saw a young Dutch lad, under the influence of fever, carried by a couple of Zambesian natives in a skin hammock, two corners of which were fastened to a short cross-pole, or yard, at the head, while the other end was gathered up and tied altogether to the main or bearing pole.
The pressure of this pole on one shoulder was partially relieved by a stick held lever-wise over the other, so as to take a portion of its weight, as shown in our illustration; and, in connection with this, we may well remember the carrying stick of hawkers and packmen:—Smooth, round, and just thick enough to be grasped with comfort in the hand; then spreading to nearly 3in. in breadth as it curves gently over the shoulder, and again turning more decidedly upwards, to form a hook for the pack to hang upon. Almost anyone with ordinary ingenuity and a little patience could find out the most convenient form for himself.
Fig. 1, in the following series of sketches, is a hammock, either of canvas, like a seaman’s, or of ornamental grass rope, like those of South America, Sierra Leone, or other places, where considerable taste is often shown in weaving in the different lace-like patterns of the borders or in arranging the various colours. The ends are spread by two sticks or stretchers, about 2ft. long; these may either be stitched or woven into the material, or simply kept in place by having the ends of the clews knotted round them. It is slung to a pole of female bamboo, which should be as light and of as large diameter as possible.
Fig. 2 is a cot, a most luxurious arrangement, which may be made up to any degree of simplicity or completeness. The bottom consists of one breadth of stout canvas, fully 6ft. in length, or more if for a very tall man. A piece about 1ft. in depth is then strongly seamed on to each end, and a similar piece along each side; and the upper edges of these should be turned down, and sewn into pipes capable of containing poles or stretchers of about 1½in. in diameter. These pieces should not be stitched together at the edges, which meet when they are turned up, but should have eyelet holes and lacings, so that when not in use, or when laid down as the foundation for a bed, or taken apart to be washed, the canvas may lie like a flat sheet. The eyelet holes for the clews should be so made that each clew may encircle the stretcher in its canvas pipe and tie round it. The ends of the stretchers should have holes bored in them, so that they may be firmly, but not too stiffly, lashed together with small cord; and those at the bottom may either be secured in the same manner, or a regular frame of joiner’s work may be made to fit it, and a web of stout sacking or of cords tightly interlaced, as in Fig. 6, may be substituted.
Fig. 3 is the common military stretcher, which may be thus made: Take 6ft. of 30in. wide stout canvas, draw a line with chalk or charcoal 6in. from each side and parallel to it, or fold and crease the canvas along a thread; turn each edge down to one of these marks, and stitch it so as to make a pipe of 6in. in circumference, into which a pole, somewhat smaller or a little less than 2in. in diameter, will slip easily in and out; these poles should be at least 8ft. or a trifle more to leave sufficient ends for the bearers. Then take two boards, 5in. broad, 1in. thick, and a little over 2ft. long; bore or cut in each two holes large enough to let the ends of the poles pass through; and with the nearest parts of their circumference, just 18in. apart, put them together, as shown in Fig. 3; when not in use, lay the boards in, as in Fig. 4, and roll them upon the stretcher; in this figure one of the poles is shown withdrawn from the side pipe. In active service one of these is usually carried by a soldier in the rear of his company; and if a comrade is wounded, four men carry him on the stretcher, while four more carry their muskets, and act, if necessary, as a relief. The wounded man’s blanket and great coat serve for his pillow, and those of his comrades, if necessary, are used to cover or support him in any position his injury may require. A plot of ground, as smooth and as much sheltered from shot as possible, is selected. The sufferer is laid down, the poles are withdrawn from the pipes on each side, so that there may be no impediment to medical examination; and when the wound is dressed, the poles are once more inserted, and the man borne to the temporary or permanent hospital.
Fig. 5 shows a little addition we improvised in Damara land. We screwed clamps of wood upon the end pieces, and in them inserted other poles, the lower ends of which were short, and stout enough to serve as legs, and converted the stretcher into a low bedstead, while the upper supported a small awning, and were steadied by stays leading to the ends of the bearing poles. This was constructed for the purpose of bringing home a friend who had been wounded, at a distance; and during our journey towards the spot we used it nightly, and found it a most comfortable bed; it rolled up like the military stretcher, and the clamps of the awning poles increased its bulk very slightly.
Fig. 6 is the “kadel,” or bed frame, usually slung in a Cape waggon, with two of the yokes, or more, if necessary, lashed under it as bearers.
Fig. 7 shows how the muskets of a small party may be used to carry a wounded comrade. The belts serve as lashings, and overcoats or blankets as bedding; or if grass, or small branches are available, a quantity may be cut, and a tolerably soft couch made of them. Of course it is quite possible that eight muskets could not be spared; in this case two only might be laid side by side, with three across them—one to support the head and shoulders, one under the hips, and the third under the knees, the belts passing as much as possible under the other portions of the body.
Fig. 8 indicates the use of lances and swords for the same purpose; the sketch is purposely made in the simplest possible form, in order to show more clearly the principle of construction. If more lances or swords are at hand, the possessors of them will see at any moment how to suit the comfort of the wounded man better than any details we could give would teach them.
The form of stretcher indicated in the accompanying engraving is worthy of remembrance: it resembles two short ladders, hinged side by side, and is furnished with stout straps, being often used with more regard to the security of the prisoner than to his comfort.
In some countries a couple of horses or donkeys are harnessed between the ends of two long poles or shafts, on the centre of which the load is supported, as shown in the annexed illustration. This arrangement might, under favourable circumstances, be made available for the carriage of a wounded man, or in a case of great emergency the ends of a blanket might be knotted together; and, two men being laid in the bights, the central part might be laid across the back of a horse, with one man hanging on each side, and secured with the best means available at the moment. Among civilised nations it would, perhaps, be better to leave the wounded to the mercy of a victorious enemy than to risk the extinction of life by such rough means; but in fighting savages no living man ought, under any circumstances, to be left in their power, and a soldier had better die under the rough, though kindly, efforts of his comrades to remove him than become a prisoner—to be kept alive as long as he is capable of enduring torture.
The Kaffirs, and we suppose most other savages, carry off not only their wounded, but also the dead, not from any motives of humanity, but simply to deprive the enemy of a trophy. Among some tribes a quantity of reeds are cut and made into a bundle, with the corpse inside; this is firmly lashed to a long pole, and is easily carried upon men’s shoulders. When our late friend, C. J. Anderson, was wounded in his gallant and self-sacrificing attempt to free the Damaras from their Namaqua oppressors, we had to adopt a somewhat more elaborate arrangement. The fact that a limb had been shattered rendered it impossible that he could lie with comfort upon the yielding canvas of the stretcher (Fig. 5 of the group given on page 684); and, therefore, when it was found necessary to remove him, we sent to Objimbengue for planks, and with them made a level and unyielding surface, supported by cross battens, notched at each end, so as to lie securely on the bearing poles. On each side we raised one breadth of about 9in., making them work upon claw hinges of brass wire, so that they could either be turned down or entirely removed at pleasure; on these sides we screwed uprights or stanchions, with notches in their edges, so that crossbars could be laid in them (as may be seen in our full-page illustration), and raised or lowered from notch to notch as needful. One of these crossbars was near the head of the stretcher, so that he could occasionally rest his shoulders, by taking hold of it by partially lifting himself from his bed; and two others were nearer to the foot, for the purpose of slightly supporting and steadying a box, with falling sides, in which, for further security, we encased the shattered leg. When we halted to dress the wound the crossbars were first removed, the sides let down or taken away, the sides of the small box containing the limb also removed; while the awning was left spread, and occasionally blankets were stretched from trees to shield it from the direct action of the sun. When the dressing was completed everything was easily restored to its place, and a few points and lanyards, knotted in their proper places, made all fast again. The same engraving also shows a rude but not an uncomfortable form of litter, extemporised for a wounded Damara, from a forked branch, with the smaller twigs lopped off where they were in the way, or interwoven where they would serve to fill up a gap in the bed; other boughs and cross pieces were added, and a few skins, karosses, or blankets, converted it into a very comfortable couch.
Sometimes a man, though unable to walk, can sit and practically support himself; in this case two men may lay their muskets together, end for end, and hold them across between them for him to sit on, with his arms upon their shoulders; and even if they have no weapons at hand they may make him a very comfortable seat by joining their hands and arms, as shown in the above illustration.
VARIOUS MODES OF CARRYING THE SICK OR WOUNDED.
Thus, the two bearers stand side by side, and half facing each other, No. 1 grasps his own right wrist with his left hand; No. 2 does the same; No. 1 then grasps the left wrist of No. 2 with his disengaged right hand, and this brings the right hand of No. 2 into the proper position to catch the left wrist of No. 1. In this easily extemporised chair they can bear a tolerably heavy man without undue strain on the muscles of their own arms; and when they become weary two others can at once take their places, or they may gain a little relief by interchanging the position of their right and left hands, while nothing can be more comfortable to a disabled man than the easy chair thus formed for him. Fig. 4 shows how a short pole can be used to form a seat-rest for carrying.
The mode of carrying used in mountainous countries by a chair strapped on the back of a porter, and still further secured by a band passing round his forehead, as shown at Fig. 5, might occasionally be found useful. The principle of the sedan, or of the electioneering chair, fastened on two fore and aft shoulder-poles, in a manner which any sailor could effect with a few bits of cord, should also be borne in mind, to be used or not, according to the necessity of the case.
Bandages and medical appliances.
In our illustration on p. 690, Fig. 1 represents the cross bandages applied to an injured head; and here we may remark, once for all, that in bandaging, as in knotting or lashing, simplicity is the essence of security. Let as many turns of the bandages be used as are absolutely necessary to cover and secure the dressings of the wound; all in addition are not only superfluous, but detrimental.
Fig. 2 (p. 690) shows the support for a dislocated shoulder or broken collar-bone: a roll or pad of calico is placed under the armpit, and secured by a bandage over the opposite shoulder; another bandage is then passed in figures-of-8 fashion round the arm and the body, in order to confine the arm close to the side. The arm of this figure, with the palm of the hand placed against the breast, as at Fig. 3 (p. 690), shows the position in which the limb should be placed in cases of fracture of the bones or other injury; the hand then lying between the prone and supine positions, and the bones and muscles assuming, without constraint, their natural relative position towards each other. This figure also shows the manner of applying a bandage to a taper limb. If the bandage were wound spirally round, one edge would be unduly tight while the other would be slack; therefore, at every turn round the limb a turn more or less decided is taken in the bandage, which thus accommodates itself easily and exactly to the shape of the limb.
In the next figure is shown another form of head bandage (Fig. 4), one part of which forms a loop, while the next, passing through it, is turned upwards at right angles over the head, and this is repeated until the whole, or as much of the scalp as is necessary, is covered. This is a very convenient form when, from any other injury, it is not advisable to pass a cross bandage under the chin.
Fig. 5 is the strapping or bandage for a broken jaw. It is made of sticking plaister, a hole is cut for the chin, and the ends are cut in swallow tails, to allow them to take the shape of the face they are laid on.
Fig. 6 is the bandage for a broken rib. If the body is at rest, the bones will assume their natural place, but the expansion and contraction of the chest in breathing disturbs and disunites them. Sometimes, therefore, the whole chest is tightly bandaged; but as it will answer the purpose just as well if the injured side is prevented from expanding, strips of adhesive plaister may be cut sufficiently long to reach from the sternum to the spine, and so to confine the wounded side and leave the other free.
If the back of the hand should be injured, it may be necessary to place a ball of calico or other soft substance in the palm of the hand, then closing the fingers upon it to bind the fist firmly down, as in Fig. 7.
If it is required to keep the elbow bent, a bandage may be applied, as in Fig. 8; this may be in case of cuts in the bend of the arm or similar injuries.
Figs. 8, 9, and 10 are Ｔ and cross bandages in case of injuries in the groin.
Fig. 11 is in case of a broken knee-cap. The limb must be supported with the foot as high as possible, so that there be no possibility of the muscles drawing asunder the parts of the patella, which must farther be drawn together by bands of sticking plaister, crossed over, to prevent the broken edges rising out of their place.
Fig. 12 is a many-tailed bandage. It may be made of several slips of calico stitched upon one, crossing them all in the centre; or, if the sore be of such a, nature that, it may be necessary to remove one or two without displacing the others, it is better simply to lay them on a flat sheet of calico or a small pillow made for the purpose, and gently introduced beneath the limb.
In the figure the bands nearest the knee are laid first on the pillow, the others overlap them as they go down, then that which is nearest to the toes is first lapped round the foot, and the others follow in succession to the knee; the last band alone needs fastening, and this is perhaps the neatest and most secure bandage known.
Fig. 13 is a cross, or figure-of-8 bandage, exceedingly useful when applied to the turn of a joint, as in the sketch.
Splints, &c.
Fig. 1, in the group of illustrations on p. 692, is in case of injury to the radius close to the wrist joint. It may be necessary to have a crooked splint and bend the hand on it, as shown in the figure. We believe it will more frequently be found advisable to place the palm of the hand to the splint; but this must be left in a great measure to the judgment and daily experience of the operator and his patient.
Fig. 2 is a splint, in case of fracture of the bones of the lower arm. There will also be a short splint on the inner side, and the arm must be supported by a sling.
Fig. 3 is an angled splint for injuries near the joint. It may be carried ready made of gutta percha, or may be extemporised with the best materials at hand.
Figs. 4 and 5 of the annexed illustrations are splints for the inner and outer bend of the arm; the outer may support the arm nearly to the wrist; the inner should be shorter; others should be ready made in gutta percha.
Figs. 6 and 7 are substitutes for them, extemporised from the smooth bark of a young tree, as near the size of the arm as possible. Fig. 8 is a piece of bark so cut as to allow of its being bent to the form of No. 6. Figs. 9 and 10 are inner and outer splints for the leg, usually made of gutta percha, and of course made right and left. Sometimes a fully sufficient hollow is left for the ankle, and sometimes a hole is cut entirely through.
Fig. 11 is a leg with a cradle of bark supporting the thigh, the calf, and the sole of the foot, and with a splint or shield of the same covering the instep and the shin.
Fig. 12 is a leg which has been broken, bandaged and supported in the best position to avoid any derangement of the parts by unequal tension of the muscles. Of course splints would have to be secured above these bandages.
Fig. 13 is a jointed rest, sometimes used in fractures of the thigh, to give ease to the limb when there is not much fear of muscular action disarranging it. The pegs at the sides draw out for convenience of dressing, and serve at other times to keep in position the pads or cushion which are placed under the limb.
Fig. 14 is the full-length splint for a broken thigh. The limb is bandaged, the splint secured at the ankle and hip, and the over-all bandage partially passed on. We have had to wear a splint bound over all with starched bandages from toe to armpit. Sir Samuel Baker mentions one of the Agageers who broke his thigh, and whom he bound up in this manner like a mummy with strips of bark and calico, stiffened with gum, and who, after lying on his back a few weeks, was able to rise and join in the chase as energetically as before.
Fig. 15 shows the extension of the leg without a splint, by folding a long strap of sticking plaister up each side of the calf, making a line fast in the bight, leading it over a sheave or roller, and attaching a weight, say of 6lb. or 8lb., to the other end.
Fig. 16 is a sheet, or long towel, or piece of cloth, with two half hitches made in the middle, and passed over the ankle for the purpose of extending the limb; care must be taken that ends on which the pull is made come out on the inner side, abreast of the hollow of the foot.
These last two expedients are useful in case of fracture in a strong and muscular limb; for, by keeping up a continued strain, they weary out the muscles, and cause them to relax, when the bone may be set with less difficulty. We once assisted Dr. Kirk to set the thumb of a Zambesian negro. We had no appliances at hand, but had to sit behind him, embracing and holding him back, while Dr. Kirk grasped and hauled upon the thumb. The involuntary contraction of his muscles was for a long time more than a match for us; but at length we succeeded in wearying him out, and slipping the thumb into its socket.
Fig. 17 (p. 693) is a foot-rest we made for our friend Anderson. It is simply a piece of board about 27in. or 30in. long, hollow where the calf of the leg comes, and cut completely through where the heel would otherwise rest. A piece of thin board is then cut nearly to the shape of the foot, and is fixed by a pivot joint across this space; a couple of strings leading from holes in the board support it at any angle that is most comfortable for the foot, which is bound to it; and a small bracket beneath the end of the principal board raises it so far that the heel cannot chafe or press upon the mattrass, which, however slight may be the contact, becomes, when endured for hours without a change of position, more painful to a helpless man than one in health, and free from constraint, can readily believe.
Fig. 18 (p. 693) is a box-splint, with sliding bottom and falling sides, which we also made on the same occasion. Its use was to serve as an external case and protection for the wounded limb. When all the dressings were on, the hinges were merely pieces of cord, passed figure-of-8 fashion through the holes, and the lanyards were strong enough to suspend the whole perfectly clear of the bed when it was necessary to change the linen.
Fig. 19 (p. 693) is a light awning frame to support the weight of the bed clothing, which might otherwise press painfully upon the toe. The last three articles were made at Barmen, a remote mission station in South-West Africa, with no more tools than a traveller usually carries with him, and therefore we presume that they are by no means beyond the power of others who may be similarly situated.
The illustration on the opposite page represents the mode of setting a dislocated shoulder. A man takes off his boot, sitting beside the patient, places his foot under the armpit, then taking hold of the wrist he pulls it steadily towards him, until the muscles relax and the bone slips into its place. A pad must then be secured under the armpit and the arm bound firmly to the side.
Sometimes it is necessary to stop the too copious flow of blood from a wound; and for this purpose a tourniquet (Fig. 1), as shown in the annexed illustration, must be extemporised: a handkerchief may be rolled up with a stone in it, or an overhand knot may be turned in the thickest part, or any means adopted to insure pressure on the injured blood-vessel; each end of the handkerchief must be then returned upon itself, so as to form a bight, through both loops so formed a short stick must be passed and twisted tightly, until the compression stops the flow of blood; if an artery is cut, the blood gushes forth in regular pulsations, bright and red; if only veins are injured, the flow, however copious, is steady, and the colour is darker.
Many of the South African Kafir and Bechuana tribes have a very ingenious method of cupping. They take the end of an ox-horn, about the size of a small wine-glass (Fig. 2), and perforate the smaller end with a small hole communicating with the internal cavity; they scarify the part to be operated on with a group of perhaps half a dozen cuts, half an inch long and a quarter of an inch deep, made with an assegai or rough-edged iron knife; the large end of the horn is then placed over the wounds, the operator sucks with all his might, and as soon as he has produced a partial vacuum dexterously plugs the little hole with a bit of wax, and allows the horn to remain until the blood drawn from the wounds so far fills the cavity that there ceases to be a vacuum, and the horn drops off. The clot of blood, about as large as a florin and half an inch thick, is then cleared out and thrown aside, a fresh operation is then performed, and others in succession, till the whole surface of the limb, generally the inside of the thigh or arm, is covered with groups of little scars, and blood enough has been extracted.