Shifts and expedients of camp life, travel & exploration

by William Barry Lord; Thomas Baines

Extempore baggage derrick.

It not unfrequently happens that there is greater difficulty in transporting the baggage of an expedition across a river than in getting over the men and animals. This was the case in the following instance. We were exploring the Victoria River, in North Australia, when we came to a branch of one of its tributaries (Jasper Creek) so much swollen that it was unsafe to attempt crossing it with loaded horses. We found, however, a passage to an island, on which stood a couple of tall overhanging gum trees. We had with us several fathoms of Manilla line, about ½in. in diameter, this was passed over a fork of one of the highest and most projecting branches. Mr. Gregory swung himself across, we followed; and while our head stockman, with a fatigue party of five horses, brought the packs to the island, one man lifted the pack that had been bent on to the line as high as possible; another gave an extra pull upon the other part to lift it as clear of the water as possible during its passage, letting go by the run as it swung to the other shore, where one of the party stood ready to catch the pack, while we, making a sharp run with a small line, helped it across, and checked any tendency to swing back again. In this manner we brought over a ton and a half of provisions and stores in between two and three hours; the unloaded horses found a practicable ford a little higher up.

Tree footways.

Sometimes the interlacing of overhanging branches answered our purpose; or we found it possible to fell a tree so that its head might fall on the other shore, or into the water pointing up stream, so that it would drift and jam against the opposite bank.

On another occasion, coming to the Lua, a tributary of the Zambesi, rushing through a narrow place, we went to the edge of the forest, and with a small tomahawk cut down the best tree we could find, and, assisted by three or four Makololo, carried it to the brink, raised it, and let it fall across.

Chain bridges, to construct.

In many of the colonial streams it is necessary to provide the means of passage, for the fords may be inconveniently far apart. In such cases the general expedient is to purchase the chain cables of some wrecked ship, and stretch them across, securing the ends either to stout posts or bars wedged into clefts in the rocks, or to tolerably broad surfaces of timber buried 6ft. or 8ft. in the earth. Of course strong purchases are required to stretch the chains, especially if the distance between the river banks is great; but the buyer would most likely take care also to provide himself, when he obtained the chains, with a pair of large double blocks with iron-hooked straps, and twenty or thirty fathoms of stout rope; so that, when such a tackle is hooked on, and the fall made fast to the trek gear of a span of well-trained oxen, the chain must come or something give way.

Two parts of the chain must be stretched so as to assume perfectly parallel curves, and on these the planks for the roadway are laid, the lashings passing conveniently through the links and preventing any possibility of slipping; other chains or ropes are stretched as hand-rails, and for the supports of these it is a good plan to cut young trees, say 12ft. long, sling them about 4ft. from the top, and fasten them to the chain, so that the upper part will support the rope, while the 8ft. of butt hanging below serves as a counterpoise to keep it upright. This, however, must depend on the height of the bridge; for if the water catches any part of it during the rainy season, there is great danger of the whole being swept away; and it is therefore advisable to make all the fittings as light as is consistent with the safety of passengers, so that in case of extraordinary floods they may be swept off before they communicate strain enough to break the chain—just as the masts of a vessel ought to be of such strength as to be carried away before they capsize the ship. We have seen a bridge built of planks and trestles, very slightly fastened together, but every part was moored by a long line to one or other of the banks. The whole affair would go to pieces when the floods came, and when they subsided the pieces were hauled in, and the bridge reconstructed.

Fly bridges and ferries.

In broader rivers the chain is carried across, and a barge is built with a winch at either end, round the barrels of which a turn of the chain is taken; the waggon about to cross is drawn upon the platform by two or more of its own oxen, the winches are hove round, and the oxen draw the waggon up the other shore, without even having been unyoked during the passage.