BAMBOO PIPES, BUCKETS, ETC.
Cocoa-nut palm.
Water pipes, for irrigation, can be made from a train of canes with their ends thrust into each other, and secured by transverse pegs, as at Fig. 1, on opposite page. All long bamboos, intended for pipes or tubes, must have their internodes removed. This we used to do as follows: We prepared some short pieces of round bar iron of a size just to fit the bore of the canes easily. We then pointed one end of the iron chunk and sloped the upper end, by hammering on the anvil, to a wedge form. Through the centre of the upper edge we punched a hole, through which we passed a wire long enough to reach the entire length of the cane to be treated. The chunk was then heated red hot in the fire and dropped down, like a bucket in a well, on the first knot, through which it would rapidly burn. It was then lowered away until it reached the second knot, and so on until all were entirely removed. When the chunk became cooled by contact with the wood, it was reheated and entered again. Fig. 2 shows the form of the knot chunk, &c. Excellent tar buckets (Fig. 3) or water pails (Fig. 4) are to be made from the ends of large cane joints. Boxes for wheel grease (Fig. 5), drinking cups, boxes, and a whole host of other receptacles for various matters, solid and fluid, are made from the same material. The mode of cutting and bending bamboos is shown by Figs. from 6 to 13. In Eastern countries one occasionally meets with specimens of the female bamboo of such gigantic proportions and huge growth that no little wonder is excited as to the mode of cultivation had recourse to in their production. We were for a long time quite at a loss for a solution of the mystery, but at length discovered that among the stools or root clumps of the canes one of promising appearance was by the natives selected for treatment. This was dug up and carefully replanted in a favourable locality. All the shoots which sprout up save one are cut away. This is allowed to grow up until it has reached a fair average size. It is then cut off to within about 6in. of the ground, leaving a hollow projecting stump. Into the bore of the cane thus left, a mixture of sulphur and stable litter is tightly rammed, just as you would charge a hole for blasting or would load a gun. For a period of three years every shoot which shows above the ground is cut away. The best shoot of the fourth year is allowed to grow to its full altitude and bulk, which at times is truly prodigious, leading to the false conclusion that some cane of peculiar species was the subject of wonder and investigation. From the lesser members of the bamboo family water-wheels, bows, arrows, spear heads, paper, bow strings, pens, baskets, brooms, brushes, shoulder poles, buckets, masts, spars for boats, &c., are made. The male bamboo differs from the female in having scarcely any cavity running through it. Canes of this description are peculiarly well adapted for the handles of hog spears, waggon whip handles, and a multitude of other purposes where great strength and elasticity are required. Cocoa-nut palm. The cocoa-nut palm is a tree which, on the score of usefulness, is perhaps second to none. On the uses of its fruit, leaves, gum, fibre, and sap we shall have more to say further on in our work. The wood is extensively used for canoe building. It is hewn into form by the small sharp adzes of the islanders. Clamps are left on the inside and bored through. Dowels of hard wood are inserted in the edges, and the planks are sewn together with rattan or fibre of the cocoa-nut husk, while the timbers are bound to the clamps by lashings of the same material, as shown in the full page illustration. Much of the coir, or cocoa fibre, used in the manufacture of this and other descriptions of twine, and for caulking seams and crevices in the canoes when finished, is obtained by the natives of the islands which dot the Eastern seas and Pacific Ocean from the underground burrows of the great cocoa-nut-eating crab (Birgus latro), whose subterraneous workings are at certain seasons abundantly stored with this useful material, which is sometimes hooked out with long flexible sticks armed with a species of barb, and at others procured by digging out the crab, nest and all. Canoe paddles and clubs are often made from the stalk of the cocoa palm.
WOODEN SWIVELS.
Wooden swivels.
A great number of useful and almost indispensable articles called into daily use by the traveller and explorer can be made from wood. Swivels of one kind or another are in constant demand, as the ropes used for tethering animals would without their aid soon become masses of hopeless entanglement. A very neat and useful form is shown in Fig. 1; it consists of two bars of flexible wood, bent by steaming or otherwise into the requisite curve. The parts which form the neck of a are thinned off, but the ends are left of their full thickness; the neck of b is also left thick, and in each of its parts a groove is cut, forming a hollow through which a passes; b is then closed by a lashing, and the swivel is ready for use. Fig. 2 is very effective, and easily made. A bit of wood has three holes bored in it; a short piece of rope is passed through the end holes, and double knots turned upon its ends. This forms a “bridle;” and, if it is requisite to attach a longer line, this should not be looped through so that one cord may saw upon the other, as at c, but properly hitched, as shown at d. The other line is passed through the central hole; and it will work more easily and wear out less quickly if a small ring or washer (f) of hard wood or sole leather is put on before the knot is turned upon its end. Fig. 3 is a plain form of swivel, and easily made, but is apt to chafe the rope. Fig. 4 is a very neat and useful form. A longitudinal hole is bored in a block of wood, two larger ones are bored across it, and with a knife or chisel these are cut into one large opening; the ends of the lines are passed in towards the centre, washers are put on, the knots are made, and the swivel is complete. Fig. 5 is a useful pattern. The swivel is made of the joint of a fir tree, and any number of lines may be hooked on to it. The collar is made of two parts, lashed together and suspended from each end; the washer is also in two parts, like the collar. Fig. 6 is easily made with two pieces of wire. Fig. 7 would form either a crutch for a rowing or sculling oar, or a swivel rest for a gun or telescope, &c. Fig. 8 is a rod of flexible wood, with the two ends passed through the collar and fore-locked, leaving the loop to turn freely. Fig. 9 is simply a broad-headed nail passed through a piece of wood, and with its point bent into a hook: a washer of iron saves wear and tear. This is very similar to the swivels used by rope-makers.