Netting.
The art of netting with the needle and mesh is so generally understood that it is not our intention to deal with the subject here further than to advise all those who may chance to be ignorant of the manner in which net making operations are conducted, to take a few lessons before quitting home to explore wild regions. The aborigines of every part of the known world can make nets, but it is well that the European traveller should be capable of manufacturing his own. Almost any piece of dry, tough wood, can, by the exercise of a little ingenuity, be fashioned into a needle and mesh, and twine, tendons, strips of hide, and a variety of other material, can be wrought into network, for hunting, fowling, fishing, &c.
Splicing.
Splicing is effected by opening the strands of the two ropes to be united, for some little distance down the cord. The two sets of diverging strands are then thrust between each other, so that they may be evenly reversed. A sharp bone, metal, or hard wood stilet or pricker is now used to raise the strands one by one for the passage of the corresponding strand, until both sets have been worked far enough down the rope to render the union complete. A loop is spliced by opening the strands of the end, forming a loop in the rope of sufficient capacity, and then raising the strands, in the manner before described, one by one at the required point of union.
CHAPTER XXIII.
BUSH VETERINARY SURGERY AND MEDICINE.
Before starting on an expedition in which, the services of horses, mules, bullocks, and other animals are required it is well to be provided with such a store of veterinary requisites as are given at page 84 of this work; the nature of the work and the country in which it is intended to operate will mainly determine the necessity or otherwise for a portable forge and regular set of shoeing smith’s appliances. When these are requisite it will be well to secure the services of one or more working farriers to take charge of and use them. A loose shoe, or even a set ready fitted, can be pretty successfully applied by an ingenious and handy amateur; but few, save those practically acquainted with the smith’s art, could undertake the regular shoeing and fitting of an expedition train. Still we strongly recommend all those about to cast their fortunes in wild lands to attend frequently, before quitting England, at some good forge, in order that as many hints as possible may be gathered and stored up for future use. Horse shoeing like horse riding, cannot be taught by books. Every traveller should know how to take off and put on a shoe, and also how to use the drawing knife and searcher. In some countries horses are not shoed at all; in others, the fore feet only have shoes attached to them. And here we would offer a word of advice to travellers. Never attempt to alter the pattern of the shoe in which the horses of the country visited are in the habit of working, or disappointment and vexation are pretty sure to be the result. On our first visit to Turkey we regarded the round plates of iron with holes in their centres and hobnailed borders, called in that country by courtesy horse shoes, in the light of perfect abominations, and had our newly purchased animals shod in the English style. At the end of a week, however, we gladly gathered the cast off native shoes together and had them replaced by a native smith in order to avoid a broken neck. Should a horse or any other animal of burden, not excepting even an elephant, fall lame from any cause not absolutely patent and well known, look first to the foot of the affected limb and be sure that no stray nail, piece of broken iron, thorn, or other sharp substance, has found a lodgment. It is not our intention to enter on a consideration of the various diseases and ailments to which the animals of the traveller or settler are subject in different countries, as our space will not permit of our doing so. We must therefore content ourselves by giving such general hints and directions as may prove useful in the absence of a qualified veterinary surgeon. Many diseases to which pack and draught animals are subject are of such a character as to render it requisite that they should be either destroyed or left by the way in the hands of some responsible person for treatment.
It is never advisable to travel an animal suffering from lingering sickness. The first loss is generally the least in such cases. Severe cases of sore back should never occur in a well-regulated expedition; as pads or chambering should be had recourse to the very instant the slightest tendency to gall is perceived, and it is well, in many cases, to compel the rider of the animal to walk until the back is sound. Galls on the withers and poll of the head are more to be feared than any other injury of like kind, as matter is extremely liable to burrow in such situations, and lead to the formation of fistulous cavities and excessively troublesome wounds. Hot bathing and poultices formed from bran, or ground oil seeds and warm water, should be first used, with a view to the palliation of the mischief; but when once matter is formed, freely opening the pouch formed from top to bottom is the only course. To make a horse-poultice bag sew two pieces of soft tough material together in the form of a common shot-bag, closing both ends and sides; fasten a wide soft string to each corner, cut a straight slit in one face of the bag, and through it thrust the mixed poultice material until it is nearly full, when it can be secured over the seat of injury. Animals obtained from natives not unfrequently suffer from a peculiar description of gall, known as a “sitfast.” Examination shows an irregular piece of dry, hard, dead skin, surrounded by a border or channel of sore. The only way to effectually treat such a case as this is to first secure the animal, and then, with a sharp-pointed knife, cut the island of dead cuticle clean from the wound, which, if kept clean and properly treated with any simple dressing, will soon heal. A mixture, consisting of common nitre, 1oz., to a pint of cold water, we have found very useful in such cases.
Makeshift casting ropes.