Shifts and Expedients of Camp Life, Travel & Exploration

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the axe lays in a straight and true line according to the stature of the axe man. The check or flange at the end of the axe helve should rest in the hands as the arms are extended towards the tree. This will give the distance at which the axe blade may be best brought to bear on the tree trunk. In delivering the cuts, which should follow the distance test, the axe should be dexterously and powerfully whirled round the head; sometimes obliquely from above downwards, and at others in a straight and direct sweep across the line of the log. The horizontal form of the lower cut and the wedge shape of the upper will be thus preserved until the tree is half cut through, when exactly the same system of operation should be followed out on the side of the tree opposite to that on which the first incision was made. On the second chop being nearly completed, the tree will fall directly away from the axe man in the line of its inclination. On all the tops, lops, and branches being removed, and the log cleared from surrounding impediments, it may become a question as to what purpose it is to be applied. If it is of great length, and comparatively short pieces are required, the process known as "logging up" must be had recourse to. This is carried out as follows: After measuring the length of the log, and dividing it into the requisite number of pieces by marking it with the axe, stand on the tree trunk, with your fee

o cut

st that could by any possibility be chosen for cutting timber. Charged as it is with vegetable juices, rich in saccharine matter and albumen, the seeds of dry rot and decay are carried with it, which no after treatment will serve to eradicate. In tropical climates it is well to fell such timber as is intended to be kept for future use at the end of the dry season and before the setting in of the rains; all logs intended for rails, posts, &c.,

r, to

be operated on, are sawn off. The sides or cheeks of these pieces are then chopped off with the axe in approximately true wedge form, an even surface and exact pitch is afterwards given to them with a cooper's drawing knife or a spoke shave. Wedges, whether of iron or wood, should never be driven with an iron hammer. A wedging beetle, of form shown in the accompanying illustration, should be always made use of. The hardest and toughest wood to be obtained should be used to form the head; the ends are usually hooped with flat iron rings, and the handle fashioned from some tough elastic wood, such as ash or hickory. Scarcely any two men use the same size beetle, but the following will be found fair average dimensions from which to make one: Length of beetle head 9in., binding hoops 1?in. wide and ?in. thick, diameter of beetle head 5?in., length of handle 2ft. 8in. Great care should be taken in fitting in the handle, as it is essential to the efficiency of the instrument that it and the head should be exactly true with each other. A slightly flattened handle lies in the hand more compactly, and works more freely, tha

ee will split without the aid of wedges; the axe alone being used to cleave them. Two axe men attack a log, one chops in his axe blade in the line

Each cheek of the timber should be smoothly and evenly sloped off to about the proportion show

r stones alternately between them. A wooden pin driven through the heads of both posts at each nip keeps all compact and secure. To erect a fence by the second plan, posts are driven into the ground singly, in the position shown in the diagram on the next page, and then poles are laid with their ends crossing at a sufficient inclination to rest against and be held by the posts. The rails can be adjusted to any distance apart, by fitting in short pieces or junks of pole between the en

k a sawpit as we do in this country, but set up a pair of cross legs or shears, and run the log obliquely across the upper fork until it is some distance in the air. They then saw down to the fork of the shears, and, when that is reached, reverse the log, end for end, by tilting it, and commence at the other extremity. The hunter or explorer will, as a r

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use, t

ends should be notched with the axe, as shown in the illustration. The four ground logs are then laid and keyed together by their notches; the second row are then placed on these, either by the aid of skid bars placed in a slanting direction on the lower logs, or by manual labour. When all the walls are high enough, the doorway must be cut in the following manner: Begin on the upper log and chop through at each end, the exact width of the proposed opening follow down, cutting log by log until the ground log is reached; cut this nearly half through and then split out the piece, the other portion below forms your threshold. Take a fresh log, and in it split out a space exactly to correspond with that in the ground log, place this as a crowning log with three others, uncut, to form your wall plate, the split-out piece will form the top of your doorway; the square hole for the window or shutter is chopped out in the same way. The gable ends and ridge log must be adjusted at such a pitch as to insure a free run for rain water or melted snow; the four ends or butts of the gable angles should rest and be firmly wedged in four holes axed out for them in the ends of the upper row of wall-plate logs; where the gable peak crosses, the logs should be notched together and pinned; the ridge log will then rest in the crutches formed by the intersection. Now, after having selected the most convenient spot for a fire-place, chop a hole through the logs, including that on the ground, about 3ft. wide and 4ft. 6in. high. There are several ways of forming a chimney and fire-back; one is to build a beehive-shaped wall outside the opening, plastering the inside with clay, and forming a rough chimney stack with turf

ary wi

ally made of boards obtained from split logs pinned together with cross-bars, and are generally called dowel hinged; an auger hole is bored a few inches into both frame and door, a hard wood peg placed half-way into each hole gives perfect freedom of motion, and will last as long as the house. A flooring is very easily made by splitting a large log into rough boards, and much increases the comfort of the establishment. The above illustration represents a rough temporary wigwam, which may be easily made as follows: Select either a large fallen log or high bank for a back; drive two stout

ts of

is laid on either side, and set on fire in several places. Equally simple is the hut of the desert bushman. A few sticks are set up against each other, so as to form an irregular cone, with one side left open to admit "the body" of the sleeper, as shown in the illustration on p. 279. In almost all tribes the commencement is made in the same manner. A circle is traced or imagined on the ground, and the women, squatting down, with sharp pointed sticks work holes a foot or more apart all round it; long flexible wands are

ound and round outside the hut, and laced with smaller strips through the thatching to the inner frame. The floor is nicely clayed with a compost of "kraal mist" or cattle dung, and the fine clay of ant-hills broken up and wel

at night, as should any accident befall us our "spoor" could be traced, and the owner of the hut or headman of the village be held responsible; while, on the contrary, should we sleep

stands up his lower extremities may be absolutely chilled, while from the waist upward he is immersed in a bath of smoke or heated air; and when the fire has gone low, and the i

ground, then another on them, with the edges projecting a little inward, so that the circumference of each course is less than that of the one immediately beneath it; a l

stakes from 4ft. to 7ft. high, set up in a circular form, and of a conical roof, the frame of which is mostly made separately on the ground, and then lifted into its place, and bound firmly upon the upright wall. In the larger huts a smaller concentric circle of stakes (of course much longer than th

HUT, VAA

h nicety that, as good housewives say at home, "you might eat off it." Raised seats are generally built in the form of segments of a circle, and these are as carefully smoothed over as the rest. The hut of a Bechuana chief at Vaal River was a model of neatness in its way; the walls had been marked off into blocks, zigzag lines had been traced on them, and uncouth patterns were painted in black or coloured clay over the low door of his inner chamber, which, hung round with antelope skins, was, as he said, very nice and warm-in fact, insufferably hot. The outer apartment was 3ft. or 4ft. broad, and ran all round

onial Hottentots, is simple and easy enough to make. It has one straight side, and one

to risk the few drenching showers of the wet season than to take the trouble of making their huts waterproof. Sometimes the hides of the few cattle they slaughter are spread over their huts, and kept in their places by stones or heavy poles laid on them. In one respect only they have an advantage over the Kafir hut, and that is, the smoke escapes

e, may also be here; but, with the exception of their cattle, the Dama

than one or two small bushes, the lower branches of which are cut away, while the upper ones are

orm very convenient huts or arbours. The Bechuana women, in making a kraal, beat the mimosa branches on the gr

sed for sewing the mats. These might be easily made by a traveller needing them, and he could best do it by having two or three needles of any convenient length, from 4in. or 5in. to 20in.; they should be flattened at the point, and pierced with an eye to carry the cord on which the reeds are strung. The most convenient method would be to fix the needles upright at the proper distance from each other, and then press upon them as many rushes as their length would allow; these, with the strings

prong hous

care is taken to cut all these with a fork, so that the ridge pole of the roof may rest in the forks of the gable poles, and the wall plates in those of the four corner posts, the building will be much stronger, and the work greatly facilitated. The rafters may also have forks, which can rest upon the wall plate, but this would leave the thickest part of the branches upward; a little labour in thinning them off would remedy this, or they might, in favourable localities, be so chosen that it would be of very little cons

best advantage. If trees of proper size are abundant, the builder will be able to choose them so as to suit the

ge pole between them, and lashed it firmly there. Rafters and battens were added, and we stripped off large sheets of tea-tree bark (Eucalyptus melale

it; and so on to the top. This may be done by simply lashing the stalks of each course to the proper batten; or a thatching needle may be made of wood, smooth and flat, an inch or more in breadth, and pierced near the point with an eye to carry the lashing. The inner bark of many trees, though unfit to make cord which is to remain permanently flexible, will answer very well for this purpose; for if stripped as required, and used while still wet, it w

b chimney, and, though a roaring fire was kept up, he did not anticipate any danger. He had charge of a party who were cutting timber, and one noble "yellow wood" they had just felled was no less than 7ft. diameter at its base. The bush vines hung in long straight lines, like ropes from the upper branches of this tree; and on one of these, 60ft. or 80ft. long, and not more than an inch thick, the sergeant, who was a heavy man, raised himself, and swung to an

gainst the pretty little sequestered spots beside the tributary rivulets, as they were certain to be infested by mosquitoes. We, therefore, having in view also the probability of

to r

e inner bark, stripped from the branches just mentioned. To lift this, as its weight was considerable in proportion to its strength, and all the people were away collecting poles or grass for the completion of our huts, was rather difficult, but we had fortunately a small coil of manilla line and a few blocks. With two of these we made a tackle, and lifting one side of the roof 2ft., supported it by a forked branch while we raised the rest, shoring it in the same manner all round, and then lifting it again and supporting it on longer forks till it was high enough to be fastened securely in its place. We placed forked uprights under it at proper intervals, but as the eaves projected considerably

le white-shouldered beetle that feeds on skins, preserved hides, and specimens of all kinds-seeming rather to enjoy arsenic soap and other preservatives-ravaged everything made o

he leaves pointing down, or the water will be retained, and allowed to leak through instead of being thrown off; and this rule holds good when grass or such like material is used. If the roof of the hut be conical, the ends may simply be brought up and tied tightly t

rs, and added fresh poles and grass to the outside. Sir Richard Glyn, who visited the hill after we had been compelled to aban

, for b

its glossy surface and neat and uniform appearance, rendering it in every sense most valuable for such purposes. Poles of uniform size may be planted closely so as to form a wall, or pillars may be placed more or less apart, and mats or blinds of smaller reeds, or larger ones

h destroys without mercy all the softer kinds of wood and vegetable or animal fibre, whether in the form of boxes, furn

of the roof will act as a non-conductor, and may not unfrequently avert the flas

ates, to ma

gs or lashings; round this and the corresponding doorpost a strap or thong of leather or cord should be passed in figure of 8 fashion to form each hinge, or it may simply be passed round both and "seized" between them with smaller cords. This, however, will not hold the door with sufficient stiffness to let it swing true and easily; theref

l make the lower one. Never be in a hurry to trim off small branches; generally they will weave in and add to the strength; and, if not, they are easily cut off afterwards. When the posts are set up on the ground, it is as well to char the ends as a protection against damp or wood-destroying insects; cut notches near the ends, and in them wedge good

st as a cutter's gaff does on the mast. This is easy to make, can be unshipped at a moment's notice, and hung up again as readily. Fig. 3 is a more regularly made gate on the same principle. The top rail

farther from the gate post than the lower one, as in Fig. 5. If it is requisite that the gate should remain open-which is sometimes, though not often, the case-the upper hook should project less than the lower

quite detached, sawing it down in the direction of the diagonal line; a pair of these are matched together, as in Fig. 7, and the lower end morticed into a flat plank so far as to let one ho

, to

ill up the middle with loose stones-their weight would be sure to force out the sides and bring down the whole structure; but large flat stones should be chosen, as in Fig. 9, to reach either quite through the wall, or at least so far that the stones on the other side may meet and have a bond with them. Su

put on or taken out of them; and it is much better to have reels, either like the log-reel of a ship, or like

creens

nd pass the longer end through; then lead the spare line at each end of your screen over the forks of trees, or sheer legs, or whatever support you mean to use, and hoist away simultaneously and carefully; for this arrangement, though perfectly strong and secure while every part remains in its proper place, is most easily disarranged; and in fact the great advantage of it is that, when no longer required, it can be shaken to pieces like a house of cards, leaving neither holes or imperfections in the planks nor kinks or knots in the rope. We have shown the boards rather far apart in our illustration for the sake of disti

commencing from the bottom plank and fastening the upper ones as you go on. Each plan will have its advantages under peculiar circumstances. In the Indian islands, large hollow bamboos are either split into three or four parts, making somewhat roun

ift sh

btained by doubling two cords of sufficient length, working an eye in the bight of each, passing the ends down through the holes in the first plank, and turning dou

s, screens

eds are distributed in two or three layers, according to the required thickness of the wall; other battens are laid on the upper side to correspond with those below, and the cords-slips of bark, palm leaf, twisted grass rope, or thin and flexible forest creepers-are passed through to bind the whole tightly together. If a number of these are made say 12ft. or 15ft. square, they

nipped between them, as shown in the above illustration. When in the Tartar country, we saw a number of very comfortable huts made by cutting out a kind of notch in the hill side. The space thus formed was first framed over with strong poles, and then covered with brushwood; a layer of turf covered all, and soon took root, forming feeding grounds for whole families of goats, which walked about on the houses qu

ble far

could turn and straighten himself in the doorway, must present his head in the most convenient possible position to have it split by the defenders. A large water cask was kept filled in the fort, and even should the enemy gain possession of the lower room the women and children could still be tolerably safe in the upper, except from random shots fired upwards through the floor, and which of course could be returned in the same manner from above. Against fir

ckh

s formed by laying timbers horizontally across the inclosed area and covering them with fascines and earth. The interior breadth of the building may be from 18ft. to 20ft., in order to allow a passage between the two rows of bedsteads. These are placed with their heads to the side walls, and serve as stages on which the men may stand to fire through the loopholes when the latter are much elevated above the floor. In a mountainous country the blockhouse possesses great advantages over an ordinary field fort, inasmuch as the interior of the latter would be incessantly ploughed up by the fire of artillery directed into it by the enemy from the surrounding heights. Here, then, the blockhouse may with propriety be constructed as an independent work; its plan may have re-entering angles, or be in the form of a cross

an tribes, who are not the possessors of artillery, the fascine and ear

onstruct a raised breastwork of small logs round the margin of the roof; these may be roughly squared and doweled together with short wooden pins. The roof itself should, after shingling, have a goodly layer of sand, earth, or raw hi

e frontier posts are merely squares of heavy log palisades, with all the requisite offices and buildings erected within them. A banquet runs from end to end of each side of

burgs,

st such an angle with it that the dozen or thereabouts of vehicles form an almost perfect circle, their poles and trek gear extending on the outside, so that the oxen can again be yoked to each without disorder or confusion. There is room inside for the horses and cattle beside the defenders; and, should danger be imminent, the waggons can be locked together by the drag chains, and all the interstices choked with thorn bushes, the stems of

village,

nt of material; but, if it were made triangular, with bastions on the two angles nearest, the guns of the defenders would sweep the other two sides, their fire crossing at the farthest angle, and leaving no place for an enemy to conceal himself. The house itself, with its outbuildings, should if possible be in the form of a square, inclosing as large a courtyard as is convenient for the accommodation of the defenders and their allies, a

VILLAGE OF

ap the crop before there is any possibility of its being swept away by the floods of the next season. On the east of the village is a small tributary, generally dry, called the Artip (Fig. 4), and beyond this, and the limits of the picture, would be the Mission House of Regterveldt and the Damara village, with its curious entrenchments scattered without order, but not without great judgment, over the face of the hill wherever a few men could find a place to shoot from. The trench (Fig. 5), fronted by the mound of earth thrown out of it, and by a breastwork of dabbie logs, made by the Damaras, formed the outer line of defence of his homestead, and he could in emergency have depended on a thousand men to man it. Fig. 6 is the opening for the southern road leading across the river from the country of the hostile Namaquas. Fig. 7, the road

ounds before them, commanding the eastern gate of the village; Fig. 18, the graveyard; Fig. 19, the workmen's cottages; Fig. 20, the slaughter-house and waggon-shed; the walls of all these buildings being musket-proof, and the windows more or less convenient for firing from. Figs. 21 and 22 are stoutly stockaded cattle kraals; they were both square, but the triangular outline of Fig. 21 show

ge, and as a last stronghold against savage assailants; and on the east coast, the natives, when t

s, to f

e of our own engineer officers. Bastions were raised at the angles of the outer wall, the

be behind the trench, and not before it, so that they might look from the very edge of the pit and see the dark figure of an approaching enemy against the sky, whilst they would be invisible against the mound behind them; whereas,

ches, plans

mmodate, and also to the number and skill of the assistants, whether European or native, he can employ or persuade to join in the work. Generally, it is better so to draw the plan that a portion of the church may be commenced, and sufficiently furnished for almost immediate

eek cross, and the seats of the men must be placed in one arm and those of the women in the other; while the position of the pulp

The wings or shorter limbs on the north and south give very great support to the walls, and serve for vestries or other offices; the tower and porch at the easter

er to blast out more solid material would be expensive. Tools for quarrying would be unattainable, and men with skill or industry to work them even still more so, while ant-hill

en merely sun-dried, or inefficiently burned, and are in no case equal t

re than 20ft. apart; the top should not be less than 12in. or 15in. in width, and if good planks for wall plates cannot be procured, they ought to be rather more to allow for the proper bedding in of rough substitutes. The roof mu

rafter thus-18+9=27-27ft. to the outside of the walls, or about 24ft. in the clear; this, with 4ft. of passage down the centre will give two benches of 10ft. capable of accommodating six persons each. Each

e ground, or will bring their own seats with them. At least 15ft. or 20ft. ought to be reserved

to build the wall 15ft. higher for that purpose; and it is much better, therefore, to make the end

s are 20ft. apart there may be two windows, 2ft. wide between each. The rafters ought not to come o

ill not be impaired. Fig. 2 shows more clearly the manner in which the square ends of the rafters abut on the king-post. If it should be desirable to avoid having cross-beams the rafters may be framed as in Fig. 3; but unless this is very substantially done the weight of

es, foundation

arges or vessels being grounded and houses built upon them, and have in fact seen instances of this as well as of the deck houses being removed from wrecks and set up, sometimes raised on low walls, forming very comfortable habitations ashore, and of tents being set up as roofs over walls of rough stone. We have heard of the foundations of a house in San Francisco being laid with the 21lb.-sized oblong boxes of tobacco with which the market

by an embankment of sand, supported by posts and planking. Rain would not occur perhaps once in two years, and the fresh water from the Kuisip overspread the flats so rarely t

or parties who can afford the carriage, corrugated galvanised iron houses offer as convenient a method as any of obtaining accommodation sufficiently permanent, and yet easily removable. The rigidity imparted by the corrugation could not be attained by any thickening of plain sheets, while scarcely more room is required in packing; for although one sheet of plain iron occupies much less room than one of corrugated, the sheets of the latter fit so closely one upon the other that a dozen or twenty require not much more space than o

the Portugu

s to carry off the deadly exhalations, which, being heavier than air, naturally seek the lowest level. The dwelling rooms are also further elevated by being built over a basement, which serves as a store-room, the elevation of a few feet frequently making all the difference between the chance of catching fever and of escaping it. In these store-rooms they build isolated platforms about 3ft. high, on f

HOUSE-ZAM

e central and side walls a row of pillars, into the thickness of which stout poles are built, with the fork

deadly influence of fever, though when removed to another locality that is not perceptibly worse, they are as liable to be attacked as Europeans), and that the proprietors should have their residences upon the hills, as far as possible above the level of

egro

of small poisoned arrows hangs near it. With these the Indian procures birds for food or for gay feathers, or shoots the hog or tapir; and it is from the stem and spines of two palms that they are made. His great bassoon-like musical instruments are of palm stems; the cloth to wrap his valued feather ornaments is a fibrous palm spathe, and the rude chest for his treasures is woven from palm leaves. His hammock, his bowstring, and his fishing line are fibres of palm leaves; the first from the miriti, and the other two from the tucum. The comb on his head is the hard bark of a palm. He makes fish-hooks of the spines, or uses them to puncture on his skin th

tree

s were made by thinning away some of the branches, and laying horizontal poles on others sufficiently stout to bear them; the uprights are cut with forks, which rest on the lower branches, while their upper ends are lashed with cocoa-nut fibre to those above; the sides are formed by bamboos lashed closely together; the roofing is also of cane covered by sheets of thick bark sewed together, and perfectly proof against the heavy rains. The flooring is laid with split bamboos and light

TREE

n India

e prevented from falling off by cross-bars and a lashing of hide or twisted bark rope, as shown in the full-page illustration. When the camp is about being formed, the poles are freed from their attachments and set up in a circle, forming an irregular cone, the apex of which consists of the converging and collected ends of the poles, through which the smoke escapes. The lodge covers are made from prepared skins, on which are depicted, in rough outline, some of the most noteworthy a

AN L

Lodges," will serve to explain the manner in whic

n pole

the heads of the poles come together (which form exits for the smoke), are filled in tightly with a mixture of clay and thick soft moss. Huts thus built will resist the action of the heaviest storms, and are tolerably dry. Peat, when cut in slabs or blocks, makes a valuable building material. We once built a shooting house, or rather hut, near the banks of a l

the Arcti

them. Water, either for drinking or other purposes, is as scarce as in the driest parts of India or Africa; for though in temperate countries it may be a luxury to let a piece

. A sheet of ice is as dry as a piece of glass, and snow seems to hav

reeze invariably carried off any snow that had settled on it in calm weather, and also from the masts, yards, sails and rigging. His opinion is that in high lati

18ft. square, and packed the walls forming it, from floor to ceiling, with the same materials. The floor was carefully caulked with plaster of Paris and common paste, on this was laid a stratum of Manilla oakum 2in. thick, and over this deposit a canvas carpet was spread. The entrance was from the hold, by a long moss-lined passage or tunnel, for

ked up with moss, and over that

all of sufficient height was built about 4ft. from them, and loose snow was thrown in till it covered nearly the whole of the upper works; about 8in. of snow was also laid on the decks and hatches, and above this a layer of sand cemented by water, for the double purpose of preventing the escape of heat from below, and saving the planks from being rifted by the frost; and the waste heat of the galley fire was uti

make the actual dwelling room as small as possible, and the passage to it so long and narrow, that it requires almost a long journey to reach the external air. Dr. Hayes describes a snow house, or rather cave, dug by an Esquimaux in a snow drift that had collected in a sheltered hollow. He dug downward first about 5ft., then horizontally about 10ft. more, tossing the detached snow blocks out behind

-ARCTIC

uimaux village sprung up near the vessel, induced some of the natives to build a hut, and found that two or three hours were enough to complete the establishment. The only materials are snow and ice, the latter being only used for windows. A number of slabs of compact snow, 6in. or 7in. thick and 2ft. long, are cut and laid edgewise in a circle, on a level spot, covered with snow, from 8ft. to 15ft. in diameter; on this is a second tier, sloping a little inward, each slab made to fit closely by running a knife along its edges, the top is then smoothed off with the knife, and the builder, standing in the centre, receives the slabs for the successive tiers from the men outside. When the walls are 4ft. or 5ft. high they begin to lean inward, so that it appears as if the blocks laid on them would fall; but the workman still goes

ommonly a little smaller than the rest, which are entered by arched doors 5ft. high. Sometimes the ground plan assumes the form of a cross, as in the instance we now illustrate. A hole is cut int

LAN OF S

tter the end opposite the door. The beds are made by covering the snow with a layer of stones, on which are spare paddles, tent poles, whalebone, pieces

f from a long strip of blubber hung near enough to be melted gradually, and drop slowly into the hollow of the stone; over the lamp is a network, on which wet bo

open air being at the same time 25° below zero. If the temperature is raised higher than this, the melting of the roof causes great inconvenience; but when an inclination to drip is observed, a patch of cold s

joined by lacings of sinew, or rivets of copper, iron, or lead, which, with a sufficient coating of dirt, makes them a

ed moss in it, and a little floss from the seed of the ground willow helps to convey

ater, and roofed with skins, which are replaced by snow as winter advances. The entering tunnels are also of slabs of ice, as are the kennels for bitches and puppies. The skin canoes are propped up on slabs of ice high enough to be out of the reach of the dogs. The semi-transpa

HUT OF I

n the middle by a pole of several deers' horns or bones of other animals lashed together. On the top of this is a cross or T-piece, which serves to extend the top of the tent, 6ft. or 7ft. from the ground the lower part of the tent pole rests loosely on a large stone, from which

r from the wind is given

se bags are made to overlap at the edges

tingly filthy; but it is to be remembered that the great necessity of the Esquimaux is to keep himself warm,

ir feet to be 1° below zero, while overhead the smoke had raised it to +7°, the outer air being -5°, soon falling to -15°. It was then found possible to dig a kind of cavern in the snow, the spade being le