Part 23 (1/2)
Carrying Game.--To carry small Game, as Fallow Deer.--Make a long slit with your knife between the back sinew and the bone of both of the hind-legs. Cut a thick pole of wood and a stout wooden skewer 8 inches long. Now thrust the right fore-leg through the slit in the left hind one, and then the left fore-leg through the slit in the right hind one, and holding these firmly in their places, push the skewer right through the left fore-leg, so as to peg it from drawing back. Lastly run the pole between the animal's legs and its body, and let two men carry it on their shoulders, one at each end of the pole; or, if a beast of burden be at hand, the carcase is in a very convenient shape for being packed. In animals whose back sinew is not very prominent, it is best to cross the legs as above, and to lash them together. Always take the bowels out of game, before carrying it; it is so much weight saved. ”I rode out accompanied by an after-rider, and shot two springboks, which we bore to camp secured on our horses behind our saddles, by pa.s.sing the buckles of the girths on each side through the fore and hind legs of the antelopes, having first performed an incision between the bone and the sinews with the couteau de cha.s.se, according to colonial usage.” (c.u.mming's 'Life in South Africa.') ”After he had skinned and gutted the animal, he cut away the flesh from the bones, in one piece, without separating the limbs, so as to leave suspended from the tree merely the skeleton of the deer.
This, it appeared, was the Turkish fas.h.i.+on in use upon long Journeys, in order to relieve travellers from the useless burden of bones.” (Huc's 'Tartary.') See also the section on ”Heavy weights, to raise and carry,”
especially Mr. Wyndham's plan.
To float carcases of Game across a river.--Sir S. Baker recommends stripping off the skin of the animal, as though it were intended to make a water-skin of it: putting a stone up the neck end of the skin; thus forming a water-tight sack, open at one end only. All the flesh is now to be cut off the bones, and packed into the sack; which is then to be inflated, and secured by tying up the open end. The skin of a large antelope thus inflated, will not only float the whole of the flesh, but will also support several swimmers.
”To carry Ivory on pack-animals, the North African traders use nets, slinging two large teeth on each side of an a.s.s. Small teeth are wrapped up in skins and secured with rope.” (Mungo Park.)
Setting a gun as a spring-gun.--General Remarks.--The string that goes across the pathway should be dark coloured, and so fine that, if the beast struggles against it, it should break rather than cause injury to the gun. I must however, add, that in the numerous cases in which I have witnessed or heard of guns being set with success, for large beasts of prey, I have never known of injury occurring to the gun. The height of the muzzle should be properly arranged with regard to the height of the expected animal; thus, the heart of a hyena is the height of a man's knee above the ground; that of a lion, is a span higher. The string should not be tight, but hang in a bow, or the animal will cause the gun to go off on first touching the string, and will only receive a flesh-wound across the front of his chest.
1st Method.--The annexed sketch (p. 258) explains the method I have described in previous editions of this book. The stock is firmly lashed to a tree, and the muzzle to a stake planted in the ground. A ”lever-stick,” 8 inches long, is bound across the grip of the gun so as to stand upright; but it is not bound so tightly as to prevent a slight degree of movement. The bottom of the ”lever-stick” is tied to the trigger, and the top of it to a long, fine, dark-coloured string, which is pa.s.sed through the empty ramrod tubes, and is fixed to a tree on the other side of the pathway. It is evident that when a beast b.r.e.a.s.t.s this string, the trigger of the gun will be pulled.
[Sketch of man setting up gun to be fired as above].
1nd Method.--I have, however, been subsequently informed of a better plan of adapting the ”lever-stick.” It is shown in the accompanying diagram (below). The fault of the previous plan, is the trouble of tying the string to the trigger; since the curvature is usually such as to make it a matter of some painstaking to fix it securely. A, B, C, is the ”lever-stick.” Notch it deeply at A, where it is to receive the trigger; notch it also at B, half an inch from A; and at C, 5 inches or so from B.
In las.h.i.+ng B to the grip of the stock at D, the firmer you make the las.h.i.+ng, the better. If D admit of any yielding movement, on C being pulled, the gun will not go off, either readily or surely; as will easily be seen, on making experiment.
[Sketch of rifle with stick rigged as above].
3rd Method.--I am indebted to Captain J. Meaden for the following account of the plan used in Ceylon for setting a spring gun for leopards:--
”Remove the sear, or tie up the trigger. Load the gun, and secure it at the proper height from the ground. Opposite the muzzle of the gun, or at such distance to the right, or left, as may be required, fasted the end of a black string, or line made of horsehair or fibre, and pa.s.s it across the path to the gun. Fasten the other end to a stake, long enough to stand higher than the hammer. Stick the end of the stake slightly in the ground, and let it rest upright against the lock projection, the black line being fastened nearly at that height. Pa.s.s round the small of the stock a loop of single or double string. Take a piece of stick 6 or 8 inches long, pa.s.s through the loop, and twist tourniquet fas.h.i.+on until the loop is reduced to the required length. Raise the hammer carefully, and pa.s.s the short end of the lever-stick, from the inner to the outer side, over the comb, and let the long end of the lever rest against the stake: the pressure of the hammer will keep the lever steady against the stake. To prevent the lower end of the stake flying out, from the pressure of the lever on the upper part, place a log or stone against the foot.
”An animal pus.h.i.+ng against the black string, draws the upper end of the stake towards the muzzle, until the lever is disengaged and releases the hammer.
”In laying the long arm of the lever against the stake sufficient play must be allowed for the contraction of the black string, when wet by dew or rain.
”If a double gun is set, two stakes and two levers will be required. The stakes to be connected above and below the gun, by cross sticks. The levers must be pa.s.sed round the combs the opposite way, to allow of the long arms pressing outwards from the gun, and enable the levers to disengage without entangling.
”The carcase or live bait must be hedged round, and means adopted to guide the leopard across the string, by running out a short hedge on one side. In this case the black line to be set taut, and some 4 inches from the line of fire. The breast than catches the string, and the push releases the hammer when the muzzle is in line with the chest.
”On this principle, two or more guns can be set, slightly varying in elevation, to allow of one barrel at least being effective.”
Bow and Arrow set for Beasts.--The Chinese have some equivalent contrivance with bows and arrows. M. Huc tells us that a simply constructed machine is sold in the shops, by which, when sprung, a number of poisoned arrows are fired off in succession. These machines are planted in caves of sepulture, to guard them from pillage. They use spring-guns, and used to have spring-bows in Sweden, and in many other countries.
Knives.--Hunting-knife.--A great hunting-knife is a useless enc.u.mbrance: no old sportsman or traveller cares to enc.u.mber himself with one; but a butcher's knife, carried in a sheath, is excellent, both from its efficient shape, the soft quality of The steel, its lightness, and the strong way in which the blade is set in the haft.
Pocket-knife.--If a traveller wants a pocket-knife full of all kinds of tools, he had best order a very light one of 2 3/4 inches long, in a tortoise-sh.e.l.l handle, without the usual turnscrew at the end. It should have a light ”picker” to shut over its back; this will act as a strike-light, and a file also, if its under surface be properly roughened. Underneath the picker, there should be a small triangular borer, for making holes in leather, and a gimlet. The front of the knife should contain a long, narrow pen-blade of soft steel; a cobbler's awl, slightly bent; and a packing-needle with a large eye, to push thongs and twine through holes in leather. Between the tortoise-sh.e.l.l part of the handle and the metal frame of the knife, should be a s.p.a.ce to contain three flat thin pieces of steel, turning on the same pivot. The ends of these are to be ground to form turnscrews of bra.s.s instruments: when this excellent contrivance is used, it must be opened out like the letter T, the foot of which represents the turnscrew in use and the horizontal part represents the other two turnscrews, which serve as the handle. It may be thought advisable to add a b.u.t.ton-hook, a corkscrew, and a large blade; but that is not my recommendation, because it increases the size of the knife and makes it heavy; now a heavy knife is apt to be laid by, and not to be at hand when wanted, while a light knife is a constant pocket companion.
Sheath Knives, to carry.--They are easily carried by half-naked, pocketless savages, by attaching the sheaths to a leather-loop, through which the left forearm and elbow are to be pa.s.sed. A swimmer can easily carry a knife in this way; otherwise he holds it between his teeth.
Subst.i.tutes for Knives.--Steel is no doubt vastly better than iron, but it is not essential for the ordinary purposes of life; indeed, most ancient civilized nations had nothing better than iron. Any bit of good iron may be heated as hot as the camp-fire admits; hammered flat, lashed into a handle, and sharpened on a stone. A fragment of flint or obsidian may be made fast to a handle, to be used as a carpenter cuts paper With a chisel; namely, by holding it dagger-fas.h.i.+on, and drawing it over the skin or flesh which he wishes to cut. Sh.e.l.ls are sometimes employed as subst.i.tutes for knives, also thin strips of bamboo, the sharp edges of which cut meat easily. (See ”Sharpening Tools.”)
Night-gla.s.s.--Opera-gla.s.ses are invaluable as night-gla.s.ses, for, by their aid, the sight of man is raised nearly to a par with that of night-roving animals; therefore, a sportsman would find them of great service when watching for game at night. A small and inexpensive gla.s.s is as useful for this purpose as a large one; but there is a considerable difference between the clearness of different opera-gla.s.ses.
OTHER MEANS OF CAPTURING GAME.
General Remarks.--A trapper will never succeed, unless he thoroughly enters into the habits of life and mind of wild animals. He must ever bear in mind how suspicious they are; how quickly their eye is caught by unusual traces; and, lastly, how strong and enduring a taint is left by the human touch. Our own senses do not make us aware of what it is disagreeable enough to acknowledge, that the whole species of man yields a powerful and wide-spreading emanation, that is utterly disgusting and repulsive to every animal in its wild state. It requires some experience to realise this fact: a man must frequently have watched the heads of a herd of far distant animals, tossed up in alarm the moment that they catch his wind; he must have observed the tracks of animals--how, when they crossed his path of the preceding day, the beast that made the tracks has stopped, scrutinised, and shunned it--before he can believe what a Yahoo he is among the brute creation. No cleanliness of the individual seems to diminish this remarkable odour: indeed, the more civilised the man, the more subtle does it appear to be; the touch of a game-keeper scares less than that of the master, and the touch of a negro or bushman less than that of a traveller from Europe.
If a novice thinks he will trap successfully by such artless endeavours as putting a bait on the plate of a trap that is covered over with moss, or by digging a pitfall in the middle of a wild beast's track, he is utterly mistaken. The bait Should be thrown on the ground, and the trap placed on the way to it; then the animal's mind, being fixed on the meat, takes less heed of the footpath. Or a pitfall should be made near the main path; this being subsequently stopped by boughs, causes the animal to walk in the bushes, and to tumble into the covered hole. The slightest thing diverts an animal's step: watch a wild beast's path across a forest --little twigs and tufts of gra.s.s will be seen to have changed its course, and caused it to curve. It is in trifles of this sort that the trapper should look for auxiliaries. After setting traps, Mr. St. John recommends the use of a small branch of a tree; first, to smooth the ground, and then, having dipped it in water, to sprinkle the place: this entirely obliterates all foot-marks.