On the right hand of the illustration is shown the surgical cradle, as a defence to a damaged leg. On the left is shown the curious natural cradle of the Gad-fly while undergoing its change into the perfect state. It is quite hard and rounded, being formed from the skin of the larva, and allows the pupa to lie within it, protected from any ordinary pressure.
Another point now comes before us.
We cannot well have our bedclothes—indeed, any kind of clothes—without the use of needles and thread. The simplest form of sewing is that which is adopted in many parts of the world, namely, of boring holes and pushing a thread through them, no eye being required in the needle. In this way the Kafirs of Southern Africa and the Esquimaux of the Polar regions make their beautiful garments of skins. I have for many years had in constant use two South African cloaks, or karosses, and one made by the natives of Vancouver’s Island, and they are now as good as they were when they were first given to me. Naturally, such a mode of sewing consumes much time, but, as time is not of the least value to these native furriers, no harm is done, and the junctions of the different skins is absolutely perfect. Even where holes have been made in the skin, the native furrier has supplied their places with circular pieces so neatly inserted, that on the outside not a trace of the junction is visible, and even the very set of the hairs is preserved.
Our very modern needles, with their eyes which carry the thread, are but a modification of the original plan of boring holes, and pushing the thread through them.
Nature has a singular parallel in the case of the Tailor-bird, which sews leaves together by their edges, and makes its nest inside them. It acts exactly like one of our own shoemakers, using its slender and sharply pointed beak in lieu of the awl, and employing a slight but strong vegetable fibre in place of the “waxed end” of the shoemaker, or the sinew-thread of the Kafir.
In the illustration an ordinary needle and thread are seen on the right-hand side, and on the left are two nests of the Tailor-bird, taken from specimens in the British Museum.
The mode of sewing is strangely like that which is employed by the uncivilised furriers who have been described, and much superior to that which is seen in many other parts of the world. For example, I have a West African quiver made of hide sewn together with stitches infinitely more clumsy than those of the Tailor-bird.
The reader will also remark that I might have placed this singular nest in the category of beds, on account of the soft and warm lining on which the young repose. I have, however, thought that it more properly belongs to the present division of the subject.
Sometimes we require a temporary as well as a permanent shelter from the elements, and procure it by means of the Umbrella.