Part 29 (1/2)
Short cords of india-rubber with a hook at either end, are sold under the name of ”acc.u.mulators.” It is proposed that each of these should be stretched and hooked by one of its ends to a fixed ring, and by the other, to the body to be moved; by applying a number of these, in succession, an immense acc.u.mulation of force can be obtained.
Levers.--A piece of green wood has insufficient strength to be used as a crowbar; it must first be seasoned. (See ”Green Wood, to season.”)
Other Means of Raising Weights.--I do not propose to take s.p.a.ce by describing jacks, ordinary pulleys, differential pulleys, Chinese windla.s.ses, and the like. It is sufficient that I should recall them by name to the traveller's recollection; for if he has access to any of these things he is probably either a sailor or engineer and knows all about them, or he is in a land where mechanical appliances are understood.
To raise Weights out of Water.--If the ma.s.s should lie below water, a boat may be brought over it and sunk to its gunwales; then, after making fast to it, the boat can be baled and the thing floated away. A raft weighted with stones will serve the same purpose. In some cases a raft may be built round the ma.s.s during low water; then the returning tide or the next flush of the stream will float it away.
”Although from its bulk several men might be puzzled to lift a cow-fish from the water when dead, yet one single Indian will stow the largest in his montaria without a.s.sistance. The boat is sunk under the body, and rising, the difficult feat is accomplished.” (Edwards' 'Amazon.')
The huge blocks of marble quarried at Carrara are s.h.i.+pped in the small vessels of the country, as follows:--at low water the vessel is buried bodily in the sand, and a temporary railway laid down from the quarry to withinside of it. Along this the blocks are conveyed, and, when deposited in the vessel, the sand is dug away from under them, and they settle down in its hold, and the s.h.i.+p floats away at the returning tide.
KNOTS.
Elementary Knots.--The three elementary knots which every one should know are here represented--viz., the Timber-hitch, the Bowline, and the Clove-hitch. (See also ”Knots,” p. 49; ”Malay hitch,” p. 147.)
Timber-hitch.--The virtues of the timber-hitch (fig. 1, p. 326) are, that, so long as the strain upon it is kept up, it will hold fast; when the strain is taken off, it can be cast loose immediately. A timber-hitch had better have the loose end twisted more than once, if the rope be stiff.
Bowline.--The bowline (fig. 2) makes a knot difficult to undo; with it the ends of two strings are tied together, or a loop made at the end of a single piece of string, as in the drawing. For slip nooses, use the bowline to make the draw-loop. When tying a bowline, or any other knot for temporary purposes, insert a stick into the knot before pulling tight. The stick will enable you, at will, to untie the knot--to break its back, as the sailors say--with little difficulty. A bowline is firmer, if doubled; that is, if the free end of the cord be made to wrap round a second time.
[3 fig of knots tied as described].
Clove-hitch.--The clove-hitch (fig. 3) binds with excessive force, and by it, and it alone, can a weight be hung to a perfectly smooth pole, as to a tent-pole. A kind of double clove-hitch is generally used, but the simple one suffices, and is more easily recollected. A double clove-hitch is firmer than a single one; that is, the rope should make two turns, instead of one turn, round the pole beneath the lowest end of the cord in the figure. (See”Tent-poles, to tie things to.”)
Knots at End of Rope.--To make a large knot at the end of a piece of string, to prevent it from pulling through a hole, turn the end of the string back upon itself, so as to make it double, and then tie a common knot. The string may be quadrupled instead of doubled, if required.
Toggle and Strop.--This is a tourniquet. A single or a double band is made to enclose the two pieces of wood it is desired to lash together; then a stick is pushed into the band and forcibly twisted round. The band should be of soft material, such as the strands of a rope that has been picked to pieces for that purpose: the strands must each of them, be untwisted and well rubbed with a stick to take the kink out of them, and finally twisted in a direction opposite to their original one.
[Sketch of knot as described].
To sling a Jar.--Put it in a handkerchief or a net.
To tie a Parcel on the back, like a Knapsack.--Take a cord 10 feet long, double it, and lay the loop end upon a rock or other convenient elevation; then place the object to be carried upon the cord, taking care that the loop is so spread out as to admit of its ultimately enclosing the object with a good hold and balance. Next pa.s.s the free ends of the cord over the object and through the loop; then, bringing your shoulder to a level with the package, draw the free ends of the cords over your right shoulder: the cords will by this time have a.s.sumed the appearance shown in the sketch.
[Sketch of cords as described].
Now pa.s.s the left arm between the left-hand cord and the package at B, and the right arm between the right-hand cord and the package at C.
Lastly, draw the cords tight, and the object will be found to be fastened on to your back like a knapsack. A gun may be pa.s.sed between the cords and the top of the object. This is a capital method of carrying a load of game over a broken country, where at least one hand is required to be free. I am indebted to Mr. F. M. Wyndham for a knowledge of it: he found it frequently in use in Norway. In hot countries the plan would not be so convenient, as the heat of a soft package strapped closely to the back is very oppressive.
WRITING MATERIALS.
Paper.--Its Numerous Applications.--Captain Sherard Osborn, in writing of the j.a.panese, says:--”It was wonderful to see the thousand useful as well as ornamental purposes to which paper was applicable in the hands of these industrious and tasteful people. Our papier-mache manufacturers, as well as the Continental ones, should go to Yeddo to learn what can be done with paper. With the aid of lacker varnish and skilful painting, paper made excellent trunks, tobacco bags, cigar cases, saddles, telescope cases, the frames of microscopes; and we even saw and used excellent water-proof coats made of simple paper, which did keep out the rain, and were as supple as the best macintosh . . . . . The inner walls of many a j.a.panese apartment are formed of paper, being nothing more than painted screens; their windows are covered with a fine translucent description of the same material; it enters largely into the manufacture of nearly everything in a j.a.panese household, and we saw what seemed b.a.l.l.s of twine, which were nothing but long shreds of tough paper rolled up. . . . In short, without paper, all j.a.pan would come to a dead lock.”
Sizing Paper.--The coa.r.s.est foreign paper can be sized, so as to prevent its blotting when written on, by simply dipping it in, or brus.h.i.+ng it well over with, milk and water, and letting it dry. A tenth part of milk is amply sufficient. Messrs. Huc and Gabet inform us that this is the regular process of sizing, as used by paper-makers in Thibet.
Subst.i.tutes for Paper are chips of wood, inner bark of trees, calico and other tissues, lead plates, and slaty stone. I knew an eminent engineer who habitually jotted his pencil memoranda on the well-starched wristband of his left s.h.i.+rt-sleeve, pus.h.i.+ng back the cuff of his coat in order to expose it. The natives in some parts of Bengal, when in the jungle, write on any large smooth leaf with the broken-off moist end of a leaf-stalk or twig of any milky sap-producing tree. They then throw dust upon it, which makes the writing legible. If the leaf be so written upon, the writing is imperceptible until the dust is sprinkled. This plan might, therefore, be of use for concealed writing. A person could write on the leaf without detaching it from the tree. (See Sympathetic Ink.”)
Prepared Paper, for use with pencils of metallic lead (see ”Pencils”), is made by rubbing a paste of weak glue and bones burnt to whiteness and pounded, on the surface of the paper.