NORTHERN TERRITORY HAMMOCK.
This hammock, which is almost a standing bedplace when rigged, is constructed as follows:—To a piece of strong canvas 7 feet long and 2½ feet wide, put a broad hem, say 3½ inches wide at each end. Into this hem run a tough stick, about 2 feet 8 inches long by 1½ inches diameter. Round the centre of the stick pass a piece of strong three-quarter inch rope, 8 to 10 feet long and knot it, so as to leave a short end in which a metal eye is inserted. To each end of the two sticks a piece of quarter-inch lashing, about 6 feet long, is securely attached [(Fig. 30)].
Fig. 30. Northern Territory Hammock.
To make the mosquito covering take 18 feet of ordinary strong cheese cloth, and two pieces of strong calico of the same size as the canvas bed; put hems in the ends of the upper one large enough to take half-inch sticks, to all four extremities of which 8 feet of whipcord is to be attached. The calico forms the top and bottom of what we used to call the “meat safe,” the sides being of cheese cloth. A small, flapped opening is left on the lower side. When once inside you are quite safe from mosquito bites.
To rig the above, two trees are chosen 7 to 8 feet apart, or two stayed poles can be erected if no trees are available. The bed is rigged about 3 feet from the ground by taking the rope round the trees or poles, and pulling the canvas taut by means of the metal eyelet. Then the lashings at the extremities of the sticks are fixed about 3 feet further up the trees and you have a bed something between a hammock and a standing bed. The mosquito net is fixed above the hammock in a similar manner, except that it does not require the centre stay [(Fig. 31)].
Fig. 31. Northern Territory Hammock (set up).