Crook and prong house, to build.
It often becomes necessary for the traveller, if he contemplates a stay of a few months, or even weeks, in any one place, to build his own hut; and it is as well that this should be, if possible, somewhat superior in size and form to the dwellings of the natives around him. If the nature of the ground and the materials at hand will admit of it, this may as well be a house regularly walled and roofed, and at least the four corner posts, as well as the two which support the gables, should be firmly let into the ground. If care is taken to cut all these with a fork, so that the ridge pole of the roof may rest in the forks of the gable poles, and the wall plates in those of the four corner posts, the building will be much stronger, and the work greatly facilitated. The rafters may also have forks, which can rest upon the wall plate, but this would leave the thickest part of the branches upward; a little labour in thinning them off would remedy this, or they might, in favourable localities, be so chosen that it would be of very little consequence. Every alternate rafter should be reversed, so that its forks might help to support the battens. All the poles forming the side walls should have forks to help to support the wall plate, and those which form the sides of the doors or windows should be so selected that smaller forks, at the proper height, would serve to receive the sills of the door and windows. Such a frame as this would present the greatest amount of strength and firmness with the least possible necessity for lashing, pegging, or other fastening.
The sketch of the framework of a house indicates the manner in which the forks and branches may be used to the best advantage. If trees of proper size are abundant, the builder will be able to choose them so as to suit their places, with as much regularity as indicated in the drawing; if not, he must make the best of the materials.
The smaller framework beside it represents that of a hut we built at Depôt Creek. We set up three forked poles as a triangle at either end, laid a ridge pole between them, and lashed it firmly there. Rafters and battens were added, and we stripped off large sheets of tea-tree bark (Eucalyptus melaleuca?) to cover it. We also obtained some of the white-barked red-gum tree (Eucalyptus resinifera); but this is more brittle, and did not answer so well.
The roof may be covered with the reed mats already spoken of, one or two thicknesses of which, if the roof has a pitch of not less than 45°, will suffice to keep out rain; or it may be thatched with grass, reeds, or the broad leaves of the fan palm-remembering that, whatever material is used, it will cast off water much better if the point of the leaf is downward. The lowest course will be laid and securely fastened first; then the next, overlapping it; and so on to the top. This may be done by simply lashing the stalks of each course to the proper batten; or a thatching needle may be made of wood, smooth and flat, an inch or more in breadth, and pierced near the point with an eye to carry the lashing. The inner bark of many trees, though unfit to make cord which is to remain permanently flexible, will answer very well for this purpose; for if stripped as required, and used while still wet, it will tie in any knot, and bear straining tightly. It will hold well enough when dry, though it would not again bear working up, on account of its brittleness. The leaves of the Phormium tenax, of New Zealand, which grow much like those of the common flag, are very generally used in that country, just as they are gathered, for binding various matters. Excellent twine, thread, cloth, and rope are made from the fibre, as will be seen as our work proceeds.
The walls may be filled up, according to taste or necessity, with mats or reeds; or, if permanent shelter from bad weather is required, nothing is better than wattle and daub, and if the wattling is carefully done, and good clay or broken ant-hills and “kraal mist” used for the daub, a very neat job may be made of it. We have shared the hut of a sergeant of Sappers in the forest of the Pierie Hills in Kafirland, where he had a clay hearth, and wattle and daub chimney, and, though a roaring fire was kept up, he did not anticipate any danger. He had charge of a party who were cutting timber, and one noble “yellow wood” they had just felled was no less than 7ft. diameter at its base. The bush vines hung in long straight lines, like ropes from the upper branches of this tree; and on one of these, 60ft. or 80ft. long, and not more than an inch thick, the sergeant, who was a heavy man, raised himself, and swung to and fro without fear of breaking it. In fact, these vines may be used while green for many of the purposes of rope or cord. We have disentangled nearly 30ft., as fine and almost as tough as a small fishing line, from the forest in front of the Victoria Falls, and rolled it into a small coil; but once dry, it becomes brittle, and cannot be straightened. Some of these vines bear fruit, which, though not equal to the cultivated grape, is by no means to be despised.