[B] On the platform.--(Ed.)

{The balsas.}

The balsas, at Guayaquil, as described by Sir E. Belcher, in his

journal of the voyage of the "Sulphur," are rafts of ten logs 14in. in

diameter, and 60ft. long. The wood is a kind of bombax, called balsa

wood, they bear fifteen or twenty tons independent of their crew, and

bring fresh water down the river in jars of seven gallons each. Houses

thirty or forty feet long, and twelve feet wide, are built on some of

them, and families take passage or live permanently on board.

The balsas, at Arica, in Peru, are differently constructed; they are

simply skins, stripped off the animal, with as little cutting as

possible; the absolutely necessary incisions are then securely closed,

the hides are inflated and allowed to dry and harden, and two being

laid alongside each other a platform is laid across them, on which

the cargo is kept sufficiently high above the spray or ripple, and

brought dry ashore even through a heavy surf. Two ox-hides would make

a very serviceable balsa, as would also a pair of the large seal, the

sea-elephant, porpoise, or other marine animal of suitable size.

{Cape waggon chests as rafts.}

We will now endeavour to show how the chests that are usually

carried in Cape waggons might be converted into a buoyant, roomy,

and manageable raft. These chests are generally about three feet in

length, and sixteen inches wide and deep; two of them, the fore and

after chests, are indispensable, as the waggon cannot be kept in

shape nor the cargo properly secured without them; sometimes more are

carried, and others of smaller size are affixed to either side, but

the objection to these is that in a densely-wooded country, stumps and

stout branches are apt to catch the angles of the side chests, and

damage or carry them away.

[Illustration: CAPE WAGGON BOXES SO FITTED AS TO BE AVAILABLE FOR

A RAFT.]

We propose that, in the waggon used by the traveller for his own

conveyance, as many of these chests should be stowed as will stand

fairly on the floor beside each other, say ten, as in the illustration

(A, p. 142). Then, instead of the two usual square-ended side chests,

we would advise that four should be fitted (Nos. 11 to 14), each of

them having one end 16in. square like the other chests, but tapering at

the other end to the mere thickness of the plank, and with the bottom

also sloping, so that the narrow end should be only 8in. deep. Two of

these with the broad ends together could be fitted on each side the

narrow points passing well clear within the wheels. Care should be

taken to have them water-tight; and, if made of well-seasoned plank

and well oiled, they would remain so for a long time. When they are

required for a raft, take them from the waggon and place them in two

rows about three feet apart, and also with an interval of 3in. between

the ends of the boxes in the same line--as shown in the illustration

(B, p. 142)--with the tapered side boxes, as indicated by the numbers,

forming the four ends. If you have been able to carry a couple of

long stout bamboos, lay them along the inner side of each line of

boxes, and if you have lighter ones to lay along the outer sides so

much the better; if you have not bamboos, the dissel-booms and lifter

poles of the waggons must be pressed into service, or poles sought in

the nearest forest, as long and as straight as possible; then take

the yokes of the oxen and lay them across in the 3in. spaces between

the boxes, and passing the "reims" or other thongs cut from raw hide

through the holes made for the yoke "skeis," lash each yoke to the

fore and aft poles, securing the boxes each in its own compartment

by passing a few turns through the handles in the ends and round the

yokes. When this is completed, you will have a very serviceable raft or

double canoe. The hinges of the chests will, of course, be towards

the centre, so that when opened the lids will fall inwards; and if

other poles are now laid fore and aft upon the yokes, they will support

the lids so as to form the deck, leaving the chests open, so that, if

any of them should leak, the water may be at once seen and baled out;

but should it be thought preferable to keep the boxes closed, the buik

plank or floor of the waggon, or even its sides, may be made use of for

the deck. If the traveller contemplates a long voyage, and requires a

sharper boat so as to attain more speed, he may make four of his boxes

(marked D 7, 8, 9, 10) tapering diagonally to 8in. at one end; but he

must take care that they are made in pairs, so that he may be able to

place the straight and the diagonal side of each in its proper position

in the raft. He will then also find that they will be easily arranged

so that each pair will stow square in the waggon; then the side boxes

(D 11 to 14) must be made only 8in. wide at the larger end, tapering

as before at the smaller, and, with a slight diminution of floating

power, he will have a sharper and more speedy boat. The figures in the

central spaces of B indicate the changes of position in the numbered

boxes, and the dotted lines show the increase of sharpness at the ends.

It is of importance that in the boxes which taper, one side should be

straight and square with the end, and one only diagonal, as it might be

necessary in a narrow stream, to place both the lines of boxes close

together, and then the line of the inner sides being perfectly straight

and the outer tapering, the whole would form one boat sharp enough at

either end.

Some of the yoke "skeis" might be left in their sockets where required,

as shown in the elevation, or other pieces might be cut to a proper

length, to serve for tholes or rowlocks, awning stanchions, or belaying

pins. If a mast were needed, it might be stepped by cutting jaws like

those on the gaff of a cutter, and setting them across one of the

yokes. The fork of a branch might serve; but as poles generally become

thinner upward, and the natural position would be thus reversed, it

would be less laborious to cut or fit on jaws to the butt of the pole,

and leave the fork at top for the halyards to run over. Two back stays

would be required, spreading at a considerable angle; and one or two

fore stays, with sufficient spread not to interfere with the free

motion of the yard; two, three, or four poles, set up as a triangle

or sheer legs, would also serve, and then only one stay, stretching

perpendicularly downwards between them, would be required.

In ferrying wheels over, the readiest way (if the breadth of the boat

permits) is to keep each pair on their own axle, which is laid across

the boat, with the wheels overhanging each side.

Even if the traveller be not provided with a waggon, he must have with

him a quantity of stores, or materials for whatever scientific pursuit

he is engaged in, as well as beads, calico, or other currency of the

country, to pay for service, or purchase food; and if his boxes for

containing these were all of uniform size, they would serve equally

well as a raft; the copper boxes described at pages 8 and 9 are

expressly designed for this service.

{To float waggons.}

In floating a waggon over without extraneous assistance, the buik plank

or floor, the water cask, the fore and after chests, and the side

boxes, will be sufficient, if tolerably water-tight--and if not, they

may easily be made so, either by covering them with canvas, by caulking

them or even laying them in the river all night to let the wood swell,

which will generally have the desired effect. But it would be well, if

this is at all doubtful, to remove the drag-chains, "reim-schoens," and

all easily detachable ironwork, and first float over only the under

carriage and its wheels. If a line can be previously stretched across

the river, and the oxen ready in their yokes on the other side attached

to it, they may save much trouble by towing it across, while one or two

men steer till the wheels take the ground, and it is drawn on shore

in the natural way. The buik plank, with the casks and chests still

fast to it, can be taken back for the rest of the heavy gear, and as

much of the cargo as it will carry. If large hollow reeds--the drier

the better--can be obtained, faggots of these can be fastened fore and

aft, within the side chests, filling up nearly the whole space, except

sufficient for the men to stand on in the centre; and a light platform

can be laid above the top of the chests, on which to lay light goods

which require to be kept dry. But bear in mind that the cargo a raft

can carry above water is always small, and not at all like the mountain

of treasure invariably represented on that of Robinson Crusoe.

About 1849 or 1850, while staying with our fellow-traveller, Joseph

Macabe, at Vaal River, an extraordinary drought prevailed; the

great river could be crossed dryshod at the "drift" by means of

stepping-stones, though there were long reaches above and below in

which a good-sized vessel might have floated, and on one of the

sand-banks then laid bare appeared an upright pole, belonging to a

waggon which the owner had attempted to float over with bundles of

green reeds, leaving the "rein-schoems" and drag-chains on as ballast,

and previously removing the sides, the chests, buik plank, and

everything else that could impede its passage to the bottom.

[Illustration: EXTEMPORE SHEARS.]

{Extricating waggons from quicksands, &c.}

Whilst gazing at this odd landmark, Mynheer appeared; with him came a

goodly staff of tall athletic sons and nephews, attended by a numerous

train of native helpers. On digging for the waggon, it was found to

have settled so far below the sand that when the tallest of the family

stood on the tire of the wheel his shoulders were barely at the surface

of the water, and Mynheer had yoked his oxen and was attempting to draw

out the waggon by a horizontal strain. We forbore to offer advice which

would certainly have been rejected, but retired to the house, and when

one of the sons visited us after the day's fruitless labour, we rigged

a pair of miniature shears, and, letting them incline over a weight,

showed how easily it might be lifted by applying a horizontal strain to

cause the shears to rise to a vertical position. The result of this was

that Mynheer sent up a request that, as "een groote zee-water's men,"

we would come and give him a bit of advice. We accordingly suggested

that, as the sand was not firm enough to set the shear legs upon, he

should cut three good-sized beams, and laying one horizontally, cut

mortices in the ends, while tenons were cut on the other two to fit in

them, the apex of the triangle being firmly lashed with the "reims" or

thongs of softened hide, used for spanning in the oxen. The triangle

was now set up, sloping somewhat over the fore-stell or carriage of the

buried waggon, and one of the drag-chains was fastened to the wheel and

led over the top of the shears, whence, lengthened out by the other

chain and spare rope, it was bent on to the "trek-touw," to which the

oxen were already yoked. At length the cattle bent them to the yokes,

the gear tightened and strained, the dissel-boom, that so long had been

our beacon, began to rise, when some fastening gave way and all came

down by the run; the pole, however, remaining a foot higher than it

was before. A native was desired to refasten the chain; and, sticking

two fingers of his left hand into his nostrils in a manner no European

could imitate, he settled down below the water, and worked with his

right hand only. Piece by piece the waggon was hauled out during the

succeeding days, after having been three years and three days imbedded.

In exploring countries covered with dense forests or difficult to

be traversed, rafts are wonderfully useful for navigating lakes and

rivers, or for conveying your goods. Dr. R. Brown, commander of the

expedition in Vancouver's Island, favours us with the following note:--

{Trenneled rafts.}

"We travelled long distances by rafts in Vancouver's Island, and, in

order to have facilities for making them, we caused an auger (2in.) to

be constructed with a ring-head instead of the usual spike with a nut,

so that, by a piece of wood being put through it, a handle might be

extemporised. Generally speaking we could find dry fallen cedar (_Thuja

gigantea_, Natl.) by the borders of lakes or rivers, or if not living

cotton wood (_Salix Scouleriana_) will do; and in fact any wood, though

pine is rather too heavy and apt to get waterlogged.

"Cutting two lengths of logs, the length of the raft required,

sharpening the 'bows' off roughly, we laid them on the ground,

parallel, and as far apart as we wished them. Then two cross-pieces,

composed of a log split in two, were pegged by means of the auger

across near the ends, over them was built a floor of split cedar

boards. Two rowlocks were pegged in here and there according to the

number of rowers required, and one pair at the end for a steering oar.

Oars were soon extemporised by means of the axe, and the raft moved

lazily along at about one and a half or two miles an hour on a lake,

but the labour was infinitely easier than working through the wood with

a seventy or eighty pound load on your back.

"Sometimes we constructed even ruder rafts than these. Mr. Frederick

Whymper and Mr. Ranald M'Donald once descended twenty miles of a river

on a little raft composed of the boards out of an Indian's hunting

lodge, tying it together with withes of cedar twigs, which are very

tough, and used by the Indians for sewing their canoes and fastening

their lodge planks together. The holes they made with pistol bullets."

{Principles of raft building.}

The general principle on which all rafts are or ought to be constructed

is nearly the same; that is, if they are intended to be worked or to

make progress through the water, as in most cases is desirable. The

exceptions to this are generally when it is merely desired to float

down a stream, abandoning the raft as worthless when the voyage is

completed, or when produce or manufacture of any kind has to be brought

down from a higher country to a lower, and, from its buoyancy it may

be collected into a raft, which, on reaching its destination, may be

reduced to its component parts and sold; or where, as in still more

exceptional cases, it is necessary to provide floating habitations for

families or small communities without reference to locomotion, which is

effected by other means.

In the first and most general case, the object is to obtain sufficient

carrying power with as little resistance to progression as possible;

and to this end the larger spars, on which the buoyancy of the whole

depends, ought to be laid parallel to, and at such a distance from,

each other as seems necessary either to insure the requisite stability,

to give sufficient room on deck, or to suit the length of those that

are to be used as cross-beams; but they should never be laid close

together so as to present a broad united surface to be forced through

the water, nor even so close as to convert that portion of fluid

between them into dead water to be dragged like a solid body with the

raft. We would say, if there be two or more spars of equal size, let

the interval between them be at least three times as broad as their

diameter, and generally let the width of your raft be not more than

one-sixth of its length. If you have only one large spar, let that form

the centre, or, as it may be called, the keel, and let the smaller

ones, either singly or lashed together in bundles of convenient size,

be laid parallel to it at proper distances on either side. Endeavour

as much as possible to keep your cross-beams as high above the water

as possible, for if these are submerged, their sides will offer as

much resistance to your progress as if the whole raft had been filled

up with solid logs. On this account, therefore, it would be advisable

to lash or pin on the top of each of the main beams either a smaller

one to increase its height, or short pieces at intervals, as chocks on

which to lay the cross-beams.

Let the ends of the spars that form your floats be pointed to an acute

angle by either sawing off wedge-shaped pieces of about 15° or 20° in

the sides, or chopping them with axe or adze.

The cross-beams at each end and one in the centre must be securely

fastened. Do not have too many, nor keep them too close together; but

let the others cross diagonally in opposite directions, or even brace

the frame thus formed by stout ropes stretched diagonally from corner

to corner, and seized together with smaller lines where they cross each

other in the centre, which will give great firmness and rigidity to the

structure.

Let us suppose, for instance, the case of a stranded or waterlogged

brig of about 200 tons, of which the lower masts and the wreck of some

of the other spars are still available. If the masts can be got out

so much the better, for they would be in the whole not much short of

60ft. long; but it is much more probable they would have to be cut by

the board, and perhaps also below the hounds, which would still leave

clean spars between 30ft. and 40ft. in length, and most likely 14in.

thick. If the mast-heads were left on they would be at least 10ft.

longer, but the tops should be removed, and the projecting portion of

the hounds chopped down so as to offer as little impediment to progress

as possible; the masts should be laid parallel to each other about

8ft. apart, and the main boom, lower yards and jib boom, or spare

topmast, if available, lashed together as a faggot, and laid between

them as a central spar. A short, stout spar, such as the heel of a

broken topmast, should then be laid across at 6ft. or 8ft. from either

end, and firmly lashed to them, and one, or at most two, more may be

laid across in like manner near the centre; the intervals between these

should be occupied by small spars laid across diagonally, or by cross

bracings of rope as before described; it is of little use to peg or

treenail the parts together, unless the water is very smooth, for the

pegs would be sure to break with the working of the raft in a heavy

sea. We have suggested the heels of the topmasts as crossbeams, because

their thickness would help to raise the platform above the level of the

sea, and this might be farther raised by laying a couple of studding

sail booms fore and aft upon the masts under them, and laying the deck

with short spars or pieces of plank across the booms. If tools can be

got at or used, mortices may be sunk in the masts, or fore and aft

spars, and handspikes or capstan bars set upright in them at intervals

of 6ft.; these will carry a light rail to prevent men being washed off,

and will serve to spread an awning when such a luxury can be attempted,

and also as supports to which rowlocks can conveniently be fastened.

If the vessel is provided with sleeping bunks, which are sometimes

lashed to ring-bolts on the deck, it might be well to secure at least

one of them; if not an empty hogshead or anything that can serve as a

place of temporary shelter for a wearied man, or for the commander to

consult his charts and compass in, should be fitted on the platform.

A sheet of iron, or non-combustible material of any kind, should be

taken to form the foundation of a fire-place; and if there is choice of

provisions, preserved fresh meat should be taken in preference to salt,

with as much biscuit, vegetables, vinegar, sugar, tea or coffee, and

fresh water, as circumstances permit. If canvas is at hand, sails will

be easily made, if not, any flat surface, sheets of iron or planks,

either separate or framed together, may be set up that the raft may

sail free, or trimmed for her to go as near the wind as she will lie.

If three casks are available as floating power, make a triangle of

studding sail booms, and lash each angle firmly on the top of one

of the casks, taking care to keep their heads pointing forward to

that which is intended to be the bow; then on these spars build such

platform as you need, and erect your mast and sail.

[Illustration]

A couple of spare topmasts brought together at their heads, and

extended by a shorter spar at their heels, so as to form a triangle

more or less acute, form a good foundation for a raft; the space

between may then be filled with whatever buoyant material you possess,

whether casks, boxes, or smaller spars. No rules can be considered

absolute in raft making; anything that will float, and can be lashed

together in any manner, must be used; if a portion of the vessel's deck

can be cut out by axe or saw it may form a good foundation; if the raft

can be built on board the wreck, or on the beach beside her, so much

the better, but it would be better to throw the materials overboard,

and, at the cost of any extra labour, construct it in the water, than

not be able fairly to launch it when completed. We have seen the waist

stanchions of a waterlogged vessel cut away for such a purpose, or in

extreme cases the hull may be expected to go down, and then the only

anxiety will be to complete the raft so that it may be capable of

floating off the sinking vessel. In the water a rectangular raft is

best built alongside the vessel, but the triangular one must be built

astern.

{Pot raft.}

Of buoyant merchandise formed into rafts for the purpose of floating

down rivers to the markets, we have an example in the pottery floats

upon the Nile, where a number of jars having been made, are bound

together, and a platform of reeds laid on them. Tho long timber rafts

upon the Rhine and on the rivers of Canada and North America are also

examples of this principle.

{Sedge-grass rafts.}

On some of the larger rivers of Africa, as the Okovango, discovered

by our late friend C. J. Andersson, the Teoughe and others, rafts of

sedge grass are used; sometimes these, if only intended to carry a

few persons across a river, are small and comparatively manageable,

and have even an attempt at comfort and security in a kind of rail

raised round them of faggots of the same material. Others, used in

hippopotamus hunting, are mere floats on which the small canoes are

drawn up, and their chief merit is that they are so like natural

accumulations that the animal does not think of getting out of their

way.

On a still larger heap of these Mr. Andersson descended the tortuous

course of the Teoughe for many miles; and Mr. Oscar T. Lindholm, who

accompanied the eminent but unfortunate Swedish naturalist Wahlberg,

gave us a most graphic account of a similar voyage. Immense quantities

of sedge was collected, and bundles of it were thrown upon the water

in some quiet nook, without any regularity and with no other fastening

than its own natural cohesion and entanglement when one layer was

thrown almost at random across another. A small hut was built upon the

heap when it had acquired sufficient size, and the whole, when ready,

was forced out into the stream, which brought it down at an average

rate of two and a half miles per hour. If it took the ground, the only

consequence was the loss of a few reeds from the bottom layer as the

mass swung round and cleared itself. Snags, projecting points, or other

impediments might tear off more, but nothing could stay the quiet but

irresistible movement of the great raft, which, as the grass below

became densely pressed and sodden, began to draw nearly 6ft. of water,

and sank deeper every day; to remedy which, fresh grass was cut and

thrown daily upon the upper layers. Frequently overhanging trees tore

off portions, and once a large trunk lay so close to the water that it

fairly swept the decks fore and aft; the occupants saved themselves by

climbing over the tree, but the hut, with many valuables, was carried

right away. With this exception the voyage was accomplished safely, but

it was a task of great difficulty to prevent the unwieldy mass being

swept by the stream into Lake Ngami, in the still waters of which it

might have floated for an indefinite period without coming nearer to

the shore.

The obelisk of Luxor was removed by laying a vessel ashore, with her

head towards it, when the river was at its highest; the masts were

lifted and shored up from the deck, so as to allow an immense packing

case to be built upon the keelson; ways like those for launching a

ship were built, and on them the heavy monolith was forced onward till

it lay at length fairly in the vessel, occupying nearly her entire

length; a deep channel cut from the vessel to the river, and at the

next rise of the water she floated off. But without forgetting this, we

do not remember a case of more ingenious and persevering adaptation of

apparently insufficient means to great and important ends, than that

of the conveyance by our countryman Layard of the great human-headed

bulls and lions from the magnificent ruins in which he found them to

the point of embarkation on the Tigris, and thence, by rafts so frail

that we almost wonder how the ponderous masses were supported, to a

place where vessels more adequate to the carriage of such a burden

could receive them. It would be a pity to curtail the brief and graphic

description, and we therefore give it in his own words:--

"I did not doubt that the skins, once blown up, would support the

sculptures without difficulty as far as Baghdad. The journey would take

eight or ten days, under favourable circumstances. But there they would

require to be opened and refilled, or the rafts would scarcely sustain

so heavy a weight all the way to Busrak; the voyage from Baghdad to

that port being considerably longer, in point of time, than that from

Mosul to Baghdad. However carefully the skins are filled, the air

gradually escapes. Rafts bearing merchandise are generally detained

several times during their descent to enable the raftmen to examine and

refill the skins. If the sculptures rested upon only one framework,

the beams being almost on a level with the water, the raftmen would

be unable to get beneath them to reach the mouths of the skins, when

they require replenishing, without moving the cargo. This would have

been both inconvenient and difficult to accomplish; I was, therefore,

desirous of raising the lion and bull as much as possible above the

water, so as to leave room for the men to creep under them.

"It may interest the reader to know how these rafts, which have

probably formed for ages the only means of traffic on the upper parts

of the rivers of Mesopotamia, are constructed. The skins of full-grown

sheep and goats are used. They are taken off with as few incisions as

possible, and then dried and prepared. The air is forced in by the

lungs through an aperture, which is afterwards tied up with string.

A square framework, formed of poplar beams, branches of trees, and

reeds, having been constructed of the size of the intended raft, the

inflated skins are tied to it by osier and other twigs, the whole

being firmly bound together. The raft is then removed to the water and

launched. Care is taken to place the skins with their mouths upwards,

that, in case any should burst or require filling, they can be easily

opened by the raftmen. Upon the framework of wood are piled bales of

goods and property belonging to merchants and travellers. When any

person of rank or wealth descends the river in this fashion, small huts

are constructed on the raft, by covering a common wooden "takht," or

bedstead of the country, with a hood formed of reeds and lined with

felt. In these huts the travellers live and sleep during the journey.

The poorer passengers seek shade or warmth by burying themselves

amongst bales of goods and other merchandise, and sit patiently, almost

in one position, until they reach their destination. They carry with

them a small earthen "mangal," or chafing-dish, containing a charcoal

fire, which serves to light their pipes and to cook their coffee and

food. The only real danger to be apprehended on the river is from the

Arabs, who, when the country is in a disturbed state, invariably attack

and pillage the rafts.

[Illustration: INFLATED FLOATS.]

"The raftmen guide their rude vessels by long oars--straight poles, at

the end of which a few split canes are fastened by a piece of twine.

They skilfully avoid the rapids, and, seated on the bales of goods,

work continually, even in the hottest sun. They will seldom travel

after dark before reaching Tekrit, on account of the rocks and shoals

which abound in the upper part of the river; but when they have passed

that place they resign themselves, night and day, to the sluggish

stream. During the floods in the spring, or after violent rains, small

rafts may float from Mosul to Baghdad in about eighty-four hours; but

the large rafts are generally six or seven days in performing the

voyage. In summer, and when the river is low, they are frequently

nearly a month in reaching their destination. When the rafts have been

unloaded, they are broken up, and the beams, wood, and twigs are sold

at a considerable profit, forming one of the principal branches of

trade between Mosul and Baghdad. The skins are washed and afterwards

rubbed with a preparation of pounded pomegranate skins, to keep them

from cracking and rotting. They are then brought back, either upon the

shoulders of the raftmen or upon donkeys, to Mosul or Tekrit, where the

men engaged in navigation of the Tigris usually reside."

[Illustration]

In one of the sculptures thus brought to our own country by the

energetic traveller, an army is represented crossing a river, and the

soldiers are supported each by an inflated goatskin held under the

chest, while one of the legs being led upwards to the swimmer's mouth

enables him to keep it distended, should any air escape. In making

these bags, the only sewing necessary is at the aperture through which

the animal is skinned; the neck, cut close to the head, may be tightly

bound up with a thong, and an over-hand knot cast in the three legs;

the fourth being left with a tube for re-inflation.

Sir Samuel Baker says, when speaking of crossing the Atbara River, "I

had eight inflated skins attached to the bedstead, on which I lashed

our large circular sponging bath, 3ft. 8in. in diameter. This was

perfectly safe for my wife, and dry for the baggage; the watertight

iron box that contained the gunpowder was towed as a pinnace behind the

raft. Four hippopotamus hunters harnessed themselves as tug steamers,

and there were relays of swimmers. The raft answered well, and would

support about 300lb.; the sponging bath would carry 190lb."

{American portable boat.}

Colonel R. C. Buchanan, of the United States service, is the inventor

of a very useful form of portable boat. It was used in several

expeditions, in Oregon and Washington territory, with much advantage.

It is thus described:--

"It consists of an exceedingly light framework of thin and narrow

boards, in lengths suitable for packing, connected by hinges,

the different, sections folding into so small a compass as to be

conveniently carried upon mules. The frame is covered with a sheet

of stout cotton canvas or duck, secured to the gunwales with a cord

running diagonally back, and put through eyelet holes in the upper

edge. When first placed in the water, the boat leaks a little, but

the canvas soon swells, so as to make it sufficiently tight for all

practical purposes. The great advantage to be derived from the use of

this boat is, that it is so compact and portable as to be admirably

adapted to the requirements of campaigning in a country where the

streams are liable to rise above a fordable depth, and where the

allowance of transportation is small. It may be put together or taken

apart and packed in a very few minutes, and one mule suffices to

transport a boat, with all its appurtenances, capable of sustaining

ten men. Should the canvas become torn, it is easily repaired by

putting on a patch, and it does not rot or crack, like india-rubber

or gutta-percha; moreover it is not affected by changes of climate or

temperature."

[Illustration: COLLAPSIBLE BOAT.]

{Collapsible boat.}

We have not seen Colonel Buchanan's boat, but we remember one perhaps

not very dissimilar, it was, in fact, a collapsible boat--the gunwales,

the keel, and all the intermediate pieces being exactly alike, and made

of 3/4in. plank from 4in. to 6in. wide; these were hinged together at

the two ends, just as are the frames of the oval reticules, and covered

with stout canvas; the thwarts have hinges below the centre, from

which also the third board, serving as a stanchion, reaches downward

to rest upon the keel. There is a ring-bolt near the centre of each of

the midship thwarts, and when the boat is hoisted out of the water

by tackles at either end, a couple of small lines from these rings

jerk up the centre of the thwarts and allow the gunwales and all the

corresponding boards on either side to fall down beside the keel, as

shown in the upper figure of our illustration (p. 155). There are also

ring-bolts to the gunwales, and a couple of lines from these are held

fast while the boat is lowered; the gunwales rise, and a man sitting

upon the thwarts presses them into their place and the boat assumes

its proper shape: of course the segments of plank below the gunwales

have to be cut a little shorter at each end as they come nearer to the

keel, or the boat would not shut up on its hinges. A boat 4ft. wide

would collapse into a width of not more than 1ft. Such a frame could

be readily taken to pieces by withdrawing the bolts of the hinges, and

if each piece, supposing the boat to be 4ft. wide and 16ft. long were

hinged in its centre, it would not be much too long to carry on a mule,

except the country were more than ordinarily difficult, when it might

be hinged in three lengths.

At the meeting of the British Association, in Birmingham, we saw some

model boats of good form, but with very little projection of keel or

stem or stern post, so that one might be fitted into the other without

rising more than a few inches above the gunwale of the first; the

thwarts of the lower one are stowed between the two very conveniently,

and three or four may be thus packed, the uppermost, however, retaining

all her fittings in readiness for immediate use.

{Canoe birch.}

The aborigines of many countries make use of the bark of certain trees

for the purpose of canoe building. The most important of these is the

canoe birch (_Betula papyracea_); its range may be estimated at 37°

north to 43° south. Trees of this description not unfrequently grow to

70ft. in height, and are proportionately thick, so that sheets of bark

of very large size can be readily stripped from them. The bark canoes

of the Canadians and Indian traders are often of a very large size.

In the absence of forest conservators, economic considerations go for

very little. It may be convenient, when canoe building or repairing is

the object, to "fall" the tree, and, in doing so, care must be taken

that the bark shall not be rent or bruised, either by fracture of the

tree or by falling across a rock or stump, while the log ought to

lie with both ends somewhat supported, so that the required sheet of

bark may not be crushed between it and the ground. Perhaps it will be

found generally easier to detach the bark while the tree is standing,

and in this case a cut must be made all round the tree at the lower

end of the sheet; the most perfect side should be left for the bottom

of the canoe, and the longitudinal slit should be so made as to cut

right through any defective portion which may thus be cut out with the

least possible waste of material. If the tree has an inclination, it

will be easier work to make the slit on the upper side. The bark should

be detached by broad round-edged spuds of soft wood, thrust gently

and cautiously between it and the tree; and it may also be previously

loosened by striking it with a broad log or mallet on the outside,

taking care not to break its texture. Steps may be cut in the wood to

stand in, and hand-holds also as the work proceeds; and the lower part

of the bark should be made fast with cord or slips of bark, passed

loosely round, so that it may not swing clear of the tree and split the

upper part before it is finally detached.

[Illustration: CANADIAN BARK CANOE.]

{Canadian bark canoe.}

The sheet should now be taken to a plot of level ground, carefully

spread out with the inside downward, and the outside should be cleaned

from any knots, excrescences, or hard and brittle layers that increase

its weight without adding to its strength; and it should then be cut

nearly to the form shown in the sketch (Fig. 1). A sufficient number

of ribs or hoops of light flexible wood should be provided, and great

care should be taken, in bending it, not to split or unduly to force

any part so as to make an unsightly protuberance, which would also most

probably become a leak. The holes should be carefully bored along the

edges that come in contact, and they may be sewn with fibres from the

roots of pine trees or from small cedar twigs, and rendered water-tight

by the use of pine-tree gum. Flexible poles or laths are then stitched

in for gunwales or thwart stringers, and the canoe is more or less

tastefully trimmed off and ornamented, according to the taste of the

builder, as in Fig. 2 (p. 157).

Nothing can be lighter or handier than these canoes, but their very

lightness and want of "hold on the water" makes them difficult for

Englishmen to handle until experience has been their instructor.

{Queen Charlotte's Island canoe.}

Canoes of this description are wonderfully buoyant, and draw very

little water; and, when managed by skilful hands, few boats are more

reliable. Our friend, Mr. F. Poole, who has spent many years among the

Indians of North-West America, and is a canoeman of no ordinary skill,

has recently completed a tour of extraordinary extent and interest,

paddling fearlessly, and alone, far out to sea. The dimensions of the

canoe he uses, which was made expressly for him by the Indians of Queen

Charlotte's Island, are as follows: Length, 15ft.; width across beam,

3-1/2ft.; depth, 15in.; weight, 100lb.

[Illustration: BIRCH BARK CANOE OF QUEEN CHARLOTTE'S ISLAND.]

In her Mr. Poole started from Liverpool, paddling to New Brighton, from

thence to Southport, Blackpool, Fleetwood, Dutton Sands, Whitehaven,

Kirkcudbright, Whitehorn, Port William and Glen Luce. From thence by

the use of wheels--two pairs of which, composed of iron, mounted on

iron axles, are kept, until required, stowed away in the canoe--Mr.

Poole proceeded overland to Stranraer; from thence paddled along the

coast and up the river to Glasgow; then by canal to Grangemouth, and

by sea to Leith. For two nights and the greater part of two days Mr.

Poole was out of sight of land, and the voyage was prosecuted during

the prevalence of the equinoctial gales. Such of our readers as may

contemplate canoe voyaging will do well to borrow a few hints from

Mr. Poole's equipment. A powerful bull's-eye lamp was always carried,

lashed fast to the stem at night, and a mariner's compass was provided

to steer by.

The wheels before referred to are extremely useful in many ways. They

are like those of an ordinary perambulator, only of light wrought iron;

they are 1ft. in diameter; the axle is also of wrought iron, 3/4in.

square, and long enough to carry the wheels clear of the canoe's sides

when mounted on them. To travel the canoe on dry land, the axles, each

covered with a strong common pillow, are brought under the fore and

after portions of the canoe, like the axles of a long narrow carriage.

Rope lashings are now brought from the thwarts down to the axle

bars, through which iron belaying pins pass; these keep the lashings

from shifting, and keep all secure when the canoe is pushed or drawn

onwards. The wheels are an immense assistance in beaching the canoe

and getting her above high-water mark, when there is but one voyager.

They also serve as ballast, and are useful for a number of camping and

make-shift purposes.

[Illustration]

The paddle shown in the accompanying illustration, kindly furnished by

Mr. Poole, is of the exact form requisite to obtain perfect efficiency.

It is composed of red cedar, and is exactly one-tenth, diminished

scale.

[Illustration: CEDAR-BARK CANOE.]

{Cedar-bark canoe.}

The bark of the cedar (_Thuja gigantea_) is also much used by

certain Indians of North-West America for canoe building; but the form

usually made from it differs materially from that just described.

The cedar-bark canoes are in shape much like some of our iron-clad

rams, having projecting beaks, or prows, almost in a line with their

keels. The Indian paddling one of these frail craft, sits, or rather

squats, at one extreme end of the bottom, which has the effect of

tilting the bow end up in the air, burying the stern end deeply in the

water. The sharp tail-like point thus immersed seems to impart speed

and capability of evolution to a remarkable degree; much practice

is required before the exact poise and adjustment of weight are

acquired. The Indians, who half live in their canoes, manage them with

extraordinary dexterity, ascend and descend rapid rivers, and cross

wide stretches of lake fearlessly. [Illustration] The form of these

canoes, and of the bark sheet used for making them, is shown in the

above illustration. The mode of sinking the stern of a canoe is also

had recourse to by the Rockingham Bay savages, who manage the so-called

shoe canoe with much skill. The frame is of rough wicker-work, the

covering of hide, and the two short shovel-shaped paddles made use of

are shown in our illustration. A canoe of this kind is very easily

made, and is not difficult to manage.

[Illustration: SHOE CANOE.]

[Illustration: FUEGIAN CANOE.]

{Fuegian canoe.}

We have just seen a small canoe sent from Terra del Fuego by the

Governor of the Falkland Islands to the Royal Geographical Society. It

is small, and was paddled by a girl eight years of age; it is chiefly

interesting as showing how small pieces of bark may be utilised. It is

about 8ft. long, 22in. wide, and 18in. or 20in. deep; the centrepiece

of the bottom is nearly 3ft. long and 10in. wide, and to this are

stitched two pieces, each about 4ft. long, tapering to a point, and

curving upward to a high peak at either end. The sides are pieces of

bark nearly 8ft. long and 18in. deep, straight on the upper edge, and

cut to the curve of the bottom on the lower. The whole are stitched

together with wood fibre, for which sometimes strips of whalebone are

substituted, and caulked with the fibre of the wild celery. The boat is

kept in shape by ribs of winter bark twigs, not thicker than the little

finger, and packed closely side by side through the whole length; nine

small sticks lashed athwart the gunwales keep them in their proper

shape, and a sheet of bark midships serves to sustain a patch of

clay on which to keep a small fire. A bundle of weapons of the chase

accompany this canoe.

The spears are pointed with bone, and the barbed one used for fish

and cetaceans is only shipped loosely into the shaft, to which it is

attached by a lanyard, so as to remain fast during the struggles of the

animal; while that used for birds is serrated, and is firmly fastened

into the shaft.

[Illustration: AUSTRALIAN BARK CANOE.]

{Australian bark canoe.}

The tea-tree bark is sometimes used in Australia for canoes. We have

seen a length of it roughly tied up at the ends, and strengthened a

little by poles along the gunwales, in use at Moreton Bay, as shown

in our illustration. It is just possible to make the bark of the gum

tree answer the purpose in the absence of better material. We have

often searched in Africa for a tree with bark fit to make a canoe

of, but never succeeded in finding one. Along the eastern coast of

Australia, especially towards Torres Strait, we frequently fell in with

canoes, some with outriggers and others double. They were generally

long straight logs, of very little breadth or depth; and the advantage

of this seemed to be that though the ripple would frequently wash

into them, yet, if they pitched ever so little, their great length

and shallowness would tilt out the greater portion of the water. The

outriggers were mostly logs of wood sharpened at either end, and with

pegs set up in them, so that the outrigger beams might not dip into

the water and impede the motion of the canoe.

[Illustration: MANGROVE FLOATS.]

When we reached the Victoria River we found that the natives were

accustomed to support themselves in crossing on logs of the light

mangrove wood, either singly or tied up in bundles. The part near the

roots seemed to be the favourite, as the stumps of the roots formed

pegs on which to hang their spears, skins, or other possessions. The

wood of the milk bush, which is about half the specific gravity of

cork, is much used by the natives of equatorial Africa for the above

purpose.

{Long canoes.}

At Shupanga, on the Zambesi, we have seen dug-out canoes, 50ft. long

and about 5ft. wide and deep; at all events, a tall man standing beside

them did not stoop much when he rested his arms upon the gunwale. These

were hollowed and roughly shaped in their native forests, and hauled

along nearly thirty miles, on rollers, by the long rope-like stems

of the vines and creepers common in tropical forests. They were made

only for the Portuguese. The upper part of the bows expanded into a

platform sufficiently large for the chief boatman to stand on, while

the stern was cut into an imitation of a run and dead wood, with a

couple of holes in the after part, to which a rudder was secured by

lashings. Nothing can be better for hollowing a canoe than the adze,

but our Kroomen used a broad spud or chisel on a staff about 6ft. long,

driven in a manner which will be best understood by a glance at the

statue of "Michael overthrowing Satan." The Krooman's method of baling

is characteristic. Should the canoe fill, all hands jump overboard,

seize the gunwales, and sally her fore and aft till the water flies

out at either end and leaves her absolutely free. We have seen a

canoeman, near Lake Ngami, walk to one end of his leaky craft and, thus

depressing it, cause the water to flow towards him, when, making his

broad foot do duty for a scoop, by a succession of vigorous kicks, he

soon had his canoe as free as he desired.

[Illustration: MASSOOLAH BOATS.]

{Massoolah boats.}

In many parts of the world, boats of almost any size are built without

metal fastenings, and the Massoolah boat of Madras may be taken as

a fair type of those which are sewn or laced together. It will be

seen in our illustration, copied by permission from a model in the

United Service Museum, that the bottom boards are flat and form an

oval elongated and pointed at the ends, so that the side planks curve

naturally to meet the stem and stern-post, and give the boat an easy

sheer. They are sewn together with coir yarn (or cocoa-nut husk fibre),

the stitches crossing over a wadding of coir or straw, which presses

on the seam and prevents much leakage. They are very elastic and give

to the shock as they take the ground in the surf, which runs sometimes

nearly 16ft. high; they are from 30ft. to 35ft. long, 10ft. or 11ft.

wide, and 7ft. or 8ft. in depth; they pull double banked, six oars on

a side, made of long rough poles with oval pieces of board lashed on

the ends; they are steered by an oar. Our illustration shows also the

catamaran or log float, on which the natives will pass to and from the

shore when no other craft, not even the Massoolah boat, would venture.

It must be remembered, however, that the men are themselves nearly

amphibious, and care as little for being washed off their rafts as so

many frogs; while the letters or small parcels they carry are kept dry

only by being worn in a kind of oil-cloth turban.

[Illustration]

{Norwegian boats.}

We have seen very nice boats built in Norway with dowels instead of

nails; they were clinker built, and the dowels were about 1/2in., or

fully as thick as the planking. A number of rods, from 3ft. to 4ft.

long, are planed up to the required size, and cut into lengths say,

when two thicknesses of 1/2in. plank are to be clinched, to 1-1/2in.,

or, when the two planks and a timber of perhaps 1in. are to be

fastened, to 2-1/2in., so that both ends may project a little beyond

the wood they are to fasten; the dowel is then split at each end with a

sharp chisel, taking care that the cut is made at right angles to the

grain of the plank or rib, wedges are driven in, and the end, being

slightly spread out by the use of the clinch hammer, is trimmed off not

too close; the wedges should be all neatly cut with a fine saw, and by

sawing them in breadths from a board, and then splitting them to the

required size, labour may be greatly economised. The holes should be

bored with a sharp centre-bit; and if the dowels fit tightly the wedges

may be dispensed with, as the ends will spread sufficiently under the

clinch hammer without breaking the grain.

In building, if any difficulty should be found in drawing down the end

of the plank to the stem, it will be advisable, after having fitted

it carefully, to slack up the centre, let the end come to its place,

fasten it, and then again bend the plank downwards. In some boats,

especially in the navy, the planks do not run fore and aft, but two

thin layers are crossed over each other diagonally, and clinched

together; this leaves the outside perfectly smooth, and is perhaps the

strongest known method of boat building. In planing up the edges of

planks, &c., it is absolutely necessary to have a vice of some kind,

and nothing is better than a tree vice, unless you have a blacksmith's.

Saw off a young tree from 6in. to 8in. thick, at about 3-1/2ft. from

the ground; saw the stump down the middle as low as you can; bind the

lower part tightly with thongs of raw hide to prevent its splitting,

then insert wedges to open the upper part, put your planks in, withdraw

the wedges, and it will hold tight enough. It is as well to cut the

upper part of the opening sufficiently wide to admit an inch plank, as

short pieces can easily be put in to fill up should you wish to hold a

thinner one.

[Illustration]

{Portable steel boat.}

We have already mentioned the principle on which Mr. E. D. Young's

portable steel boat for the Livingstone Search Expedition was built;

and although, as we then said, none but a skilled workman could

hope to turn up the edges of a curved sheet of metal, we think the

principle might be applied to a flat-bottomed boat by merely snipping

the flanges at the turn of the bilge, and bending upward the sides at

any convenient angle; by cutting these more and more diagonally from

the centre, the boat might be tapered to each end--not, indeed, in a

true curve, but in a succession of short straight lines, which would

tolerably represent one.

[Illustration]

The number of pieces composing the "Search"--the boat used in the

expedition sent in quest of Dr. Livingstone--were as follows:

Thirty-six side pieces of steel, each being a load for one man; the

midship piece required 2; the stern piece, 3; the bow piece, 3; the

mast, 2; the boom, 2; the sails, 2; chain cable, 6; anchor, 1; and the

whole with provisions, luggage, &c., made up 180 loads.

Captain Faulkner, who, as a volunteer, accompanied Mr. Young on

the Search Expedition, has determined on returning with a party of

ardent hunters and explorers, and an engineer, to Lake Nyassa, and

for this purpose an iron steamer has been built 50ft. long, 5-1/2ft.

deep, and 11-1/2ft. broad. The little craft, appropriately named the

"Faugh-a-ballagh," is composed of 75 sections, put together with 8000

screws, so that she may be carried, as was the "Search," past the

rapids and cataracts of the Shire River.

[Illustration]

{American life raft.}

The American life raft "Nonpareil," which recently made the voyage

across the Atlantic, may be taken as a successful application of the

tubular system. It will be seen that she was constructed of three

parallel inflatable tubes, covered with stout canvas, connected by

breadths of the same, and with a rectangular frame laid over all to

support the masts and rudder fittings; but the sketch is introduced

here also to show the use of the droge, by which the little craft may

in effect be anchored in the open sea, or at least may have her drift

effectually checked, while the sea itself is broken before it reaches

her. The droge in the present instance is of canvas, stretched on a

large hoop with four lines, so attached to its circumference that when

the strain comes on it it stands vertically in the water, and opposes

the resistance of its entire surface. The oars or mast, and sails

of a boat, will also answer this purpose; and we have heard of one

instance in which the imperilled crew added also a number of the skins

of freshly-killed seals, the oil working out of which calmed the water

for a considerable distance. It is necessary to watch the length of

the sea, so that the boat may be veered as far from the droge or raft

as it will serve to protect her against the breaking waves. We have

heard the captain of a vessel say that he would never incur the risk

of wearing in a gale, but would rather sacrifice some spar or piece

of lumber to bring the ship's head to the wind. In doing this, the

hawser would be carried round from the droge on the weather bow, under

the bobstays and bowsprit rigging to the lee bow, and finally to the

quarter; the droge would be thrown over, sufficient line paid out, and

then held on to till the ship's head came to the wind; the strain would

be then changed for a moment to the lee bow, and then to the quarter,

whence it would be cut away as the ship fell off upon the other tack.

A spar held by a hawser and bridle, with a stout sail bent to it--the

clews, or lower corners, being weighted with shot, lead, or iron, to

make them heavy--forms an excellent droge for a small craft to lie to

under.

{Temporary repairs of vessels.}

Although this subject may seem almost beyond the province of our work,

it is by no means improbable that explorers may have to turn their

attention to it, or that shipwrecked crews, or dwellers on a lonely

coast, may have to repair or build small craft for themselves. We have

seen first-class waggons built by missionaries, and others have built

vessels; and the reader may remember with advantage the description

given by Ulysses of his laying down side by side ten or a dozen pine

trees more or less smoothed off as a foundation on which to build his

upper works.

During the progress of the North Australian Expedition, we were

ascending the Victoria River with our little schooner, the "Tom

Tough." There was little or no wind, and with the boat ahead towing

and the lead going we were drifting up with a strong flood-tide, and

the captain, elated by success, and anxious to make the most of his

opportunity, kept going onward instead of prudently anchoring while the

tide was still rising. In consequence of this, when the vessel touched

the ground, there was no subsequent rise of water to float her off;

indeed, it was remarked that the water began to fall while the tide

was still running upward, and she was left at low water on the 27th of

September, 1855, on a mud bank, with her bows uncomfortably propped up

by a projecting rock.

On the 29th she floated; but the flood-tide was so nearly done, that we

had no time to choose an anchorage, and the schooner grounding with the

ebb, parted her chain cable and heeled over with the force of the tide

till we could barely stand upon her decks.

Day after day the schooner drifted to and fro upon this sand-bank,

sometimes moving a length or two, and sometimes only a few feet during

a tide; the sand scoured out from beneath her bow and stern, leaving

holes with 6ft. or more of water there, while hillocks accumulated

under her in midship; and the sand seemed to travel so evenly with

her, that the usual criterion--a hand lead, allowed to trail upon the

ground--was of no service in enabling us to estimate the distance she

had moved.

On the 10th of October the decks had rifted, the combings of the main

hatch had started up, the starboard side between the masts was hogged

up 18in., and at the turn of the bilge, where the floor timbers join

the ribs, one of the planks had split for 15ft. or more, leaving spaces

into which the flat hand might easily be passed.

We laid broad strips of blanket and sheepskin well tarred on the

principal rents, and nailed thin planks over them (Fig. 8, p. 170), but

in another day or two she was just as bad on the other side; her stern

was peaked into the air, while her bows dipped about 7ft. into a hole,

the water pouring out of the fresh rifted planking as the tide fell.

The mainmast rose up through the partners, so that we were obliged to

slack off the rigging, and it became a question whether the stanchion

under the main hatch should be knocked away to prevent its bursting up

the deck, or whether it should remain so that the strength of the deck

might keep the bottom a little longer from breaking.

On the 25th we again floated, after nearly a month of straining to and

fro upon the sand-banks, and drifted rather than navigated the vessel

up to the camp we had established below Steep-head.

Captain Gourlay with his crew, and some of the expedition men, found

suitable trees some little distance up the river at Timber Creek,

which, however, after a rather exciting adventure with some wandering

natives, acquired the name of Cut-Stick Creek instead. Two long heavy

gum trees as straight as possible were selected, brought to the

vessel, and laid as sister keelsons (Fig. 2) alongside the real one,

which, as well as all the original framework, is marked Fig. 1 in our

illustration. Three or four pair of heavy crooks, each representing the

half of a floor timber (Fig. 3), were then laid on the inner skin, with

the inner ends abutting on the sister keelson, and the outer reaching

up above the junction of the ribs with the floor heads. Heavy riders

(Fig. 4) were placed upon them crossing the three keelsons, and were

secured by clamps (Fig. 5) made of the tires of our dray wheels, which

we had no hope of being able to put to their proper use. Being now

above the rise and fall of the tide we could not beach the vessel, and,

therefore, the frame could only be bolted to the true sides above the

water line (Fig. 6), but it was pressed down upon the bottom not only

by its own weight but by stanchions (Fig. 7) between it and the deck

beams.

[Illustration]

The schooner being detained for repairs, it was decided to undertake an

expedition to the Albert River in the long boat; and thus, by reaching

Mr. Gregory in time to assure him that a vessel was coming, prevent

his starting for the colony with insufficient supplies; Mr. George

Phibbs, the overseer of the expedition, and Mr. Graham, the mate of the

"Messenger," volunteering for the trip, we commenced our preparations.

The boat was cleaned, repainted, the leaks stopped; and two inflatable

tubes were made, each of them of one piece of canvas, 14ft. long, lined

with waterproofed calico, folded so that the two sides should come

together, a rope along the seam, with eyes turned in at the corners,

to make it fast by, and, with one of the screw valves from our worn-out

boat (p. 48), let into the after end, to receive the nozzle of the

bellows. These we at first intended to stretch beneath the thwarts,

inside, but eventually laced them outside each gunwale, where they were

less in the way, and, when kept in a state of semi-inflation, projected

sufficiently to prevent a great deal of the ripple of the sea washing

into the boat, and this advantage we made the most of when we were

fairly at sea, by fitting light bamboo stanchions forward, and securing

the tubes to them, so as to make a kind of raised wash streak round the

bows.

[Illustration: BOAT FITTED WITH INFLATED TUBES.]

We left the vessel on the 23rd of October off New Year's Island, and

at first had fine weather with good working breezes, but in a few days

strong adverse gales came on. On the 2nd of November we worked all day

clawing off a lee shore, the sea raging furiously over the shallow

bottom; but our boat, though only 18ft. long and 6ft. beam, behaved

well, and we weathered the rocks by less than a quarter of a mile

after sunset. Darkness came on at once, and, as we dare not run in for

shelter, we made the boat snug and hove to under foresail and mainsail

all night. We ran through between the Crocodile islands, the crest

of the short sea behind us foaming around our quarters, while our

bowsprit was actually dipping in the next, and began to fear that we

should have to pass the islands without finding a shelter, when Phibbs

volunteered to swim ashore. We let go our carronade as an anchor, and

ran in to the full length of the line; he sprang overboard, and with

some difficulty reached the shore, where he soon found a quiet little

nook to which he beckoned us to steer.

We will only add that on the 17th of November, after having sailed

nearly 750 miles, we reached the mouth of the Albert River, in the Gulf

of Carpentaria.

{Sails and their substitutes.}

We cannot dismiss the subject of boats without appending a few remarks

on such simple forms of sails as are likely to be of service in such

small craft as a traveller might possess, and we shall take, as the

maximum, one of those swift and handy fore and aft schooners in which

the Americans push their trade in all quarters of the world. Each lower

mast and topmast would most likely be in one piece, combining great

strength with neatness, and obviating the necessity for much staying.

The bowsprit is also of a single piece; the sails are a jib from the

foremast head to the bowsprit end, a forestaysail set to the stem

head, a foresail and mainsail on gaffs made to lower when the sail is

reefed or taken in; the foot of the mainsail is always extended by a

boom, and that of the foresail sometimes; if they are laced to the

boom, as in the yacht "America," which had booms even to the foot of

her jibs, the sails sit flatter and better on a wind, but if they are

not, there is the advantage of being able to reduce the sails without

the trouble of reefing, by tricing up the foot; gaff topsails may be

either jib-headed, like the fore, or on a gaff, like the main, in Fig.

1. The mainstay causes some little difficulty; if it goes from mast to

mast, the tack and sheet of the fore gaff topsail must be passed over

to leeward of it when the vessel goes about; if it leads down to the

deck there must be two parts, one on each side the foresail, and the

lee one ought to be slacked, and the weather one set up on each tack.

If a foreyard, or rather a cross-jack, is carried, a flying squaresail,

half the width of the yard, may be sent up on the weather side, and a

topsail may be set in the same manner, the fore and aft sails supplying

canvas enough on the lee side.

The cutter (No. 2) has a jib, a foresail on the stay, and a mainsail;

the jib topsail runs with grummets on the topmast stay, but the

halyards only reach the lowermast head; a lug-headed gaff topsail gives

opportunity for a greater spread of canvas.

The boat (No. 3) is rigged with foresail and spritsail. An eye in the

peak of the latter receives the upper point of the sprit, while the

lower end is set into the eye of a snorter, a bight of rope passing

round the mast and tightened chiefly by the strain of the sail upon it.

Sometimes it is pushed up by hand while the sail shakes, so as to set

it properly up, but it is better to have a small tackle as seen on page

171 to set it up with.

[Illustration: 1-4]

No. 4 has shoulder-of-mutton sails, the peaks of which are bent on to

small taper yards which slide up and down on and abaft the lower masts

like gunter topmasts; this facilitates the reefing of the sails, and

also the setting of the jib from the foremast head.

No. 5 is a lugger, the yards are slung in the thirds, the shortest

and thickest arm is forward, and the longest tapers aft; the foremost

leach of the sail is very strongly roped, so that the tack holds down

the forearm and elevates the peak. Sometimes in well-manned vessels

the lugs are dipped so as to pass to leeward of the mast whenever they

go about, and in this case the tack may be bowsed down considerably in

front of the mast and a large sail carried; but in short-handed craft

the tacks are brought down to the mast, and the foresail and mizen are

set on one side and the mainsail on the other, and are not dipped. The

after leach of the jib must be cut so as to go clear of the foreyard,

the topmasts to slide abaft the lower masts; and there is always some

difficulty in setting a fore topsail, as there must either be a double

tack to pass the sail over the jib halyard in going about, or its fore

leach must remain to leeward of it.

The lateen (No. 6) has triangular sails with very long taper yards, the

head and fore leach becoming one; indeed, if there be any distinct fore

leach, the sail becomes an ill-shaped lug, and not a lateen. The masts

are somewhat short; sometimes mere stumps, but then the halyards and

the tacks must be enormously strong to counterpoise the immense length

of the yard.

The proa sail (Figs. 7 and 8, p. 173), a triangle spread upon two

bamboos, hitched upon a stump mast in small boats, we have described

at p. 135. No. 9 is a modification of it, by which a boat sets jib and

mainsail in one, the angle formed by the yard and boom becomes more

acute at each reef as indicated by the lines. It would be difficult,

however, to work the boat without a small mizen to help her round in

staying. No. 10 is the shoulder-of-mutton sail, set on a single taper

yard or mast.

[Illustration]

Palm leaves are sometimes used as sails; our sketch represents three

or more cocoanut leaves, so woven together as to present a surface

to receive the wind. Blankets and articles of clothing are used in

emergencies. Oars are set up, and a boat will gather considerable way

under them. Planks, the broader and flatter the better, are excellent

substitutes, and may be trimmed at pleasure. It must not be forgotten

that, however graceful in art and poetry the bellying canvas may be,

the chief object of the sailmaker is to get it "to sit like a board."

[Illustration]

{Reefing of sails from the sides.}

Sometimes when a sail is split, or otherwise rendered unserviceable,

it is desirable to use another for a substitute without spoiling it by

cutting. We remember reading of a vessel in which the topsail was split

in a heavy gale; a spare foresail was got out and stout bands sewed on

it, from the clews to the reef-band, diminishing upwards to the width

the topsail head ought to be; eyelet holes were worked in, points or

lacings inserted, and the sail, thus reduced, sent up to do duty as a

topsail.

[Illustration]

Captain (now Admiral Sir E.) Belcher, when in command of H.M.S.

"Sulphur," made use of a very clever expedient for imparting motion

to his vessel when the wind failed. He constructed a couple of bolts,

with stout umbrella framework covered with canvas at their heads, and

with their butts so thickened as to fit loosely into the bow guns. A

line was attached to each butt, and one was given in charge to the

port and the other to the starboard watch; the first was fired to

a good distance ahead, and as soon as the line was hauled upon the

frame expanded and opposed its full resistance, so that, as it could

not be drawn backwards through the water, the vessel must begin to

move. Before this was hauled in the next was fired, the ship would

increase her rate of progress, and, the impetus being once acquired,

she would "hold her way," so that eventually the men would have little

more to do than gather in the slack of the line. No sailor likes the

inaction of a calm, and besides this the captain had judged rightly

in exciting the emulation of his men by giving one to each watch, and

further stimulating it by an occasional glass of grog to the hardest

working side, so that the cry of the port watch would be, "Haul away,

and run her up to the umbrella before the starbowlines get theirs

laid out," and _vice versâ_, till sometimes a speed of four knots an

hour was obtained. Thus was the good ship hauled out of many a belt

of calms, and brought into the region of the winds, which might be

only a few miles distant, while other vessels not so provided might

have lain becalmed for weeks; and not only this, but her position

in a bay or anchorage could be shifted at pleasure, and she became

almost independent of wind or extraneous assistance by this ingenious

expedient.

Paddles worked by mill sails have been proposed; but of these it will

be sufficient to remark that the power of the paddles to drive the

vessel's head to wind will be less than that of the wind to drive her

backward by the full amount of all that is expended in overcoming the

friction of the machinery; in every other position the wind on the

sails would do its work without the paddles.

{Hints in emergencies.}

A Prussian vessel, with the leaks gaining on her and her crew

exhausted, was saved by lashing a spar across the mainmast, with one

end projecting overboard with a barrel half full of water fast to it,

so as to rise and fall with the sea. The pump brakes were made fast

to the spar, and the vessel was thus kept afloat, while the crew were

relieved from their labour.

A boat has been known to come ashore safe through a heavy sea by means

of a handful of oil judiciously thrown over by one of the men whenever

a wave threatened to break near her; and Captain Basil Hall relates how

one of his boats was hove to all night under a droge of all her spars

and sails and two or three seal skins, the oil of which working out

calmed the water for a considerable distance.

Instances of this kind might be indefinitely multiplied; but we note

only a few as suggestions. No amount that we could give would supply

the want of presence of mind and the ready power of adapting the means

at hand to the emergency.

Our space will not allow us to go into all the details of boat sailing,

but we must find room for one or two general rules. In seeking to land

through breakers, which must always be effected by the oars, wait just

outside them till you find the heaviest roller coming in; then give

way, and come in upon it, with your boat's bow all but overhanging its

crest, and, as it lands, you jump out and haul your boat beyond the

power of its reflux. Some crews are in the habit of giving two or three

powerful strokes just before they reach the shore, and then pitching

their oars simultaneously as far from them as possible, picking them up

again when they have secured their boat. It is well, however, to know

that there is no current to set the oars out to sea before doing this.

In coming off face the breakers boldly, but judiciously watch the

smaller waves, and give her good way through them. Keep your boat's

head on to the sea, and never let her take a breaker more than two

points on either bow.

Trim the sails so that when brought to the wind the boat will very

nearly steer herself, and she will attain her utmost speed. The action

of the rudder has always a slightly-retarding influence, but if there

is any want of balance let it be on the side of ardency or tendency to

fly up in the wind, so that she may carry a little weather helm rather

than want helping up by a lee one, and thus, in case of sudden squalls,

the boat will, as if by instinct, obey the first touch of the lee helm,

and, shaking the wind out of her sails, will right herself. The main

sheet of an open boat should never be made fast, but held either by the

steersman, or some one near him, in readiness to ease off. A squall

seldom comes so suddenly that the first puff, if well watched, will not

help the boat into the wind before the full strength comes; but on the

coast of Australia we have known a squall come so suddenly through the

dead calm of the night that it struck us at once like a blow from a

sledge-hammer, and, though we had taken all the usual precautions, the

sea was pouring like a jet-black cataract flecked with diamonds over

8ft. of the lee gunwale before the boat came to the wind; and we would

say, therefore, if there is not an air to bring the boat's head up when

you expect a squall, help her with the sweep of an oar into the best

position to receive it.

If you want to carry on sail do not attempt to stiffen the boat by

making all the crew sit to windward; for, should the mast break, as

is not unlikely with the increased strain, nothing can prevent her

capsizing; let them sit in the bottom. In the way of ballast, nothing

can be better than bags nearly filled with fresh water. They will

assume the form of any place you want to stow them in, and will not

sink the boat if she should fill; in fact, being lighter than salt

water, they would impart a trifling buoyancy.

{Temporary rudders.}

The loss of the rudder, an accident which is by no means so unfrequent

at sea as may be imagined, involves also, for a time at least, the loss

of control over the vessel's course. Even in the open sea this must be

attended with considerable peril; but when it happens in the vicinity

of rocks or shoals, and the vessel has not sea-room, the danger becomes

appalling. The careful and vigilant trimming of the sails is the

readiest means of regaining command of the vessel, and we believe the

"Wager" was extricated from a most perilous position by this alone;

but it is a work of immense labour, and harasses the crew severely.

A stream cable payed out astern, and veered to either quarter, is

sometimes used; or, if the accident should occur in moderate weather,

by striking on a bar, the jolly boat with the plug out may be lowered

and towed astern, but both these plans check the speed of the vessel,

and are only useful when they can be made to impede one side more than

the other; and that this is not the true principle of steering is

known to every butcher's boy, who apologises for wearing but one spur

by saying "if one side of his horse goes the other must." The rudder

may be considered as a continuation of the keel, capable of moving on

a hinge to an angle of 22-1/2° on either side, and when the vessel

moves forward, and the helm, for instance, is put to port, the water

impinging on the starboard side of the rudder is reflected from it at

an equal square to that of its incidence, and the resulting force tends

to drive the stern to port and incline the head to starboard. But as

the force acts in the direction of a line midway between the angles of

incidence and of reflection, it has also a retarding tendency, and if

the helm were put over to an angle of 45° the greater part of the power

would be expended in stopping rather than in steering the vessel. If

a ship could be made so flexible as to be converted like a fish into

the segment of a circle either way at pleasure, the very perfection of

steering would be attained, and the rudder is merely the best imitation

of this that can be devised.

[Illustration]

Our illustration shows one expedient for the remedy of the misfortunes

we have named. A warp or cable is faked down upon the deck in lengths

equal to that of the required rudder, all the parts are then so closely

pressed together that it resembles a board of the required breadth; it

is then stiffened by longitudinal and cross bars, a weight is attached

to the bottom, and a tiller projects aft, from the extremity of which

the steering tackles (A) lead in over each quarter. When lowered into

its place, the heel is confined to the stern-post by chains or hawsers

leading to the gangway on either side, and in the present instance

ropes are reeved through the gudgeons on the stern-post. Sometimes two

parts of the cable are left longer than the rest to come up the rudder

trunk and form the neck of the rudder, a short spar passed through the

bight on deck serves to suspend the whole. Very frequently, however,

when the rudder goes, the gudgeons, and perhaps also part of the

stern-post, are carried away, and it then becomes necessary to devise

some plan which shall supply their loss.

[Illustration]

Several expedients are given in the _Nautical Magazine_ for 1836,

and from these we extract two or three examples. A spar, such as the

spanker-boom or jibboom, is first passed over the stern, secured to

the centre of the taffrail by temporary "partners," and to the heel of

the stern-post by stout guys leading forward to the gangways on either

side; the gaff is then fitted on this, just as it would be on a mast,

and one of the smallest and stoutest storm staysails is laced, with the

head downwards, to the upright spar, and also to the gaff, the foot

of the sail being cut off, if it be too large. It is then hauled down

to the lower end by a halyard previously reeved, and the gaff, which

should go a little below the surface of the water, is hoisted until the

sail sits "as flat" as a board. If greater power is thought necessary,

the outer end of the gaff can be sawn vertically down the centre, and

boards clinched in, as shown in the sketch (Fig. 3); or either the

sail or boards might be used separately. The ship is steered by guys

leading from near the end of the gaff over each quarter. Sometimes the

principle of the steering oar is adopted: a spar, with planks fastened

on its outer end, is got over, and the foremost end is fitted to the

stern by ring-bolts or lashings, so as to allow it to work freely

without too much play. The outer end is kept down either by a lower guy

or by a piece of pig ballast or other weight; and if a topping-lift be

attached, leading to a boom over the stern and thence to the mizen

topmast-head, the oar may be lifted out of the water when one stroke

has been completed, carried back again to the other side, and thus

bring the ship's head round by a succession of sweeps.

Sometimes it is necessary to make a temporary stern-post, and the spare

lower cap (which, however, we may remark, is generally stowed away

where it is least likely to be found on an emergency) can be fitted

on this by enlarging the masthead hole and securing it, as before,

by lower guys. A topmast, with its heel upwards, may be passed down

through it, and such additional spars or planking bolted on as will

give the needful increase of breadth. The surface should be as smooth

as circumstances permit, so that the water may glance off readily; the

fid-hole will then receive the tiller, but the spar must be well banded

or lashed round to prevent its splitting with the strain, or perhaps

breaking off where the sheave-hole weakens it.

[Illustration]

{Scarfing or fishing of broken spars.}

The captain of our battered little vessel had always some rough and

ready expedient at his finger-ends. When one of the iron davits of

the quarter boat was bent by a collision, he extemporised a forge

with some pig ballast, on deck, and, though the planks beneath were

somewhat scorched, he rendered the davit again effective. Once, when

running before the wind, the mainsail jibed in consequence of careless

steering, and the boom, being fastened by a "lazy guy," a slovenly

shift a little too common among us, broke short off; however, a good

stout plank was found, cut into four pieces, which were laid round

the fractured part so as to inclose it in a kind of packing-case, of

which the four sides did not meet at their edges; wooldings of rope

were passed round at intervals and tightened by driving in wedges,

and the boom, though somewhat clumsy, was again fit for duty. (See

illustration.)

If a spar, with both ends alike, breaks at either end, a very neat and

effective scarf may be made by sawing it down the centre and reversing

the two parts, end for end, so that the fracture in one half may come

against the unbroken part of the other, as in our sketch (p. 181). If

the fracture is long, there may be no need for that unsightly appendage

called a fish, and, even if it is short, a very small one will serve

the purpose.

[Illustration]

If a mast breaks, much above the deck, it may be again used, with

little or no diminution of its strength, by reversing it, and stepping

what used to be the masthead upon the keelson, so that the fractured

part may come below the deck, while that which was the heel is shaped

and fitted to become the head. It will be evident from the sketches we

give that in a ship with a very deep hold, where very nearly half the

mast is below the deck, this plan is more likely to be of service than

in a shallow one, where the part below bears but a small proportion to

that above.

* * * * *

{Kites.}

As a substitute or as an auxiliary to the common sails, or as a means

of sending up a signal or effecting communication between a ship and a

lee shore, a kite of sufficient power would frequently be useful.

Every voyager knows how frequently all the lower and larger sails of a

vessel are becalmed, the uppermost and smallest catching only a gentle

air, while at a little height above them the wind, as indicated by the

fleecy clouds, may be blowing much more briskly.

In this case, when even the flying kites, as the upper sails are

figuratively called, have become useless, real kites flying at a

sufficient elevation would do good service; and even though the wind

might not be fair, still so long as it was a little abaft the beam

the vessel might be steered to her course. One thing must be kept in

mind, and that is, that when it has once fallen calm below the kites

cannot be raised to the breeze that is blowing above, therefore it

would be well either to send them up before the breeze fails, or at

least to send up in preparation a small one, to the line of which the

larger could be hitched, and jerked clear when it had been carried to a

sufficient altitude.

A kite of 12ft. in height spreads about 50ft. square of canvas, and

will pull, in a fresh breeze, with a strength of about 200lb., if

the height were doubled the strength would, of course, be fourfold;

and as it would act as a lifting or buoyant instead of a depressing

sail, the only risk in "carrying on" would be the parting of the line

connecting it with the vessel; on this account it would be the best

possible form of sail to rig in an open and over-crowded boat when

leaving a wreck, for its tendency would be to lift the bows over the

seas instead of depressing them. And even if a man about to risk the

passage by swimming from a stranded ship to a lee shore could send up

a small kite, such as he could make with a cotton shirt, a couple of

sticks, and a few fathoms of fishing line, it would most likely buoy

him over the crests of the breakers in which he would otherwise be

overwhelmed. But the greatest objection to the general use of the kite

is, that in the usual mode of flying we have no command of it except

that of letting it go higher or hauling it in at the risk of breaking

the line; this has been met by a very ingenious invention, and although

it is patented, we think that we may do the public some service, and

Mr. Pocock, the patentee, no harm, by describing it.

[Illustration: POCOCK'S KITE.]

The common form of kite is best. The standard is made into two or three

equal lengths, connected either by fishing-rod, by tent-pole, or by

parasol joints; the wings have hinges at the head of the standard,

and, if large, joints in each pinion. The flight band consists of two

lines, the uppermost of which has an eye upon it through which the

lower, called the brace line, reeves, and both come down to the hand

of the conductor, and by these the deviation of the standard from the

perpendicular is controlled. By hauling on the brace line the surface

is opposed fairly to the full strength of the wind (Fig. 1); by

slackening it the kite floats more horizontally, allowing the wind to

pass gently beneath it, so that even in the strongest gale the power

may be regulated at pleasure (Fig. 3). The power may be increased by

backing the first with a second kite as in Fig. 2, all the lines of

the second kite being made fast to their corresponding places on the

first, so that both assume the same relative position in all cases.

Two smaller lines from the wings, also passing through eyes on the

upper line, act as braces by which to trim the kite upon a wind; and it

appears from a diagram given by the inventor that a vessel braced sharp

up will lie within about five and a half points of the wind, or as

close as most vessels can with their usual sails, and, therefore, may

turn to windward. With a kite the operation of tacking would be very

easy. Even should the boat not answer her helm, the kite line taken

aft would bring her head up to the wind, and, being carried round on

the other quarter, and again forward to its proper place, would help

her to her proper course; and in manoeuvring the absence of masts

would be an advantage rather than not. A carriage with the fore wheels

capable of being turned by a tiller would also turn to windward, and

the draught power might be increased at pleasure by backing one kite

with another, the connecting lines all being fastened in their proper

places, as in the illustration (p. 183), so that whatever change of

position was imparted to the lowermost kite might be also assumed by

all that were harnessed to it.

Signals by day or night might be sent up with great facility by

hitching the halyard block upon any part of the kite line, when the

flags or lanterns might be sent far above any spars or sails that could

obstruct the view of them. In case of shipwreck, even a common kite

extemporised with the roughest materials would very generally be useful.

[Illustration: SENDING LINE FROM WRECK TO LEE SHORE BY MEANS

OF A KITE.]

When the ship is on a lee shore, a common kite, flown from on board,

could not fail to bring a line to land, and, with this communication

once established, all hands could probably be saved. Their own boat

might be veered ashore, or the men sling themselves with grummets and

warp themselves hand over hand; or if passengers are on board, a cot

or hammock, slung to notched blocks running on a hawser with a line

to haul it back to the vessel, and one to bring it again towards the

shore, might be employed.

But with kites rigged as we have described, there would have been a

greater chance of safety, for they may be braced to fly three and a

half points either way from the direction of the wind, and if they are

employed to carry a grapnel or small kedge, they may be braced and

veered within a limit of seven points of the compass towards a suitable

spot; may be lowered gradually by the slacking of the brace line, and,

if the hold is not good, again elevated by hauling it in, to drop the

anchor in a more suitable spot.

In our full-page illustration the extemporised kite is not so

completely rigged, but the flight line is led through a block, so that

the wrecked crew could make fast to one end a stronger line; and,

having hauled that through, could next bend on a sufficiently stout

hawser.

The inventor states that he has travelled in a carriage, at twenty

miles per hour; that a boat so drawn outsailed the speediest vessels

of the usual rig; that a lady ascended to a height of a hundred yards;

and that his son, with a 30ft. kite, scaled a cliff 200ft. high. Tho

main and brace line of a kite of this size were 1/2in. in diameter,

the braces (proper) were somewhat smaller. The discovery that a statue

once stood on Pompey's Pillar was made by some merchant captains who

ascended it by means of a line carried over by a kite.

* * * * *

{Weather signs.}

The canoe or boat voyager should at all times pay particular attention

to the instructions which foretell the approach of storms; these are

not at all times so unmistakable as to enable him to surely count on

the kind of day or night which he has to pass through; still, the

remarks of the late Admiral Fitzroy, published by the Board of Trade,

are of much practical value:

"Whether clear or cloudy, a rosy sky at sunset presages fine weather;

a red sky in the morning, bad weather, or much wind (perhaps rain); a

grey sky in the morning, fine weather; a high dawn, wind; a low dawn,

fair weather. Soft-looking or delicate clouds foretell fine weather,

with moderate or light breezes; hard-edged oily-looking clouds,

wind. A dark, gloomy blue sky is windy; but a light, bright blue sky

indicates fine weather. Generally, the softer the clouds look, the

less wind (but, perhaps, more rain) may be expected; and the harder,

more 'greasy,' rolled, tufted, or ragged, the stronger the coming wind

will prove. Also, a bright yellow sky at sunset presages wind; a pale

yellow, wet; and thus, by the prevalence of red, yellow, or grey tints,

the coming weather may be foretold very nearly, indeed, if aided by

instruments, almost exactly. Small inky-looking clouds foretell rain;

light scud-clouds driving across heavy masses show wind and rain; but,

if alone, may indicate wind only. High upper clouds crossing the sun,

moon, or stars, in a direction different from that of the lower clouds,

or the wind then felt below, foretell a change of wind. When sea-birds

fly out early, and far to seaward, moderate wind and fair weather may

be expected; when they hang about the land, or over it, sometimes

flying inland, expect a strong wind with stormy weather. There are

other signs of a coming change in the weather known less generally than

may be desirable, and, therefore, worth notice; such as when birds

of long flight, rooks, swallows, or others, hang about home, or fly

up and down or low--rain or wind may be expected. Also, when animals

seek sheltered places, instead of spreading over their usual range;

when pigs carry straw to their sties; when smoke from chimneys does

not ascend readily (or straight upwards during calm), an unfavourable

change is probable. Dew is an indication of fine weather: so is fog.

Neither of these two formations occur under an overcast sky, or when

there is much wind. One sees fog occasionally rolled away, as it were,

by wind, but seldom or never formed while it is blowing."

* * * * *

{Waterproofing.}

The traveller will not unfrequently wish to render sailcloth, duck,

calico, and other materials water-proof; few handy methods surpass that

of the Chinese. They proceed as follows: to every ounce of melted white

wax is added one quart of spirits of turpentine. The mixture must be

stirred with a stick until quite cold, when the material to be treated

is thoroughly dipped, allowed to drain out, and then finally hung by

the corners in a current of air to dry. In making common tarpaulins it

is well to soak the canvas thoroughly in sea-water before laying on the

dressing, and as the water evaporates the tar penetrates the fabric. In

Africa we used the acrid milky juice of the _Euphorbium_, mixed with

a little boiled oil, on calico. It was very flexible, and perfectly

protected a common open packing-case, with books and papers, on the

deck of the vessel from the Cape to London. Boiled linseed oil, when

allowed to soak into linen or cotton cloth, much increases its power of

resisting the action of water.

* * * * *

{The deep-water glass.}

To those who are engaged in boat expeditions, researches along the

sea-coast, or lake investigations, it is of the greatest importance to

be able to see far down into the depths below; as, for example, for

the recovery of sunken seals, which often go to the bottom like lead

when struck dead by a shot, the examination of rocks, and the detection

of lost objects. The late Mr. Wheelwright gives such a thoroughly

practical account of his deep-water glass that we insert it in his own

words: "I have had a little experience myself in seal-shooting off our

north-west coast, and when I first began I had the mortification of

seeing many a seal which I had shot stone dead go down like a plummet,

and we lost him. But afterwards we used a seal-glass, a kind of machine

very similar to a small hand-churn, like a bucket, about one yard high,

tapering towards the top, about 9in. wide at the top and 18in. at the

bottom. Of course the top was open, and in the middle of the bottom was

fitted a square piece of glass (I believe common window glass). As soon

as a seal sunk dead, we cast over a small buoy, kept in its place by

a grapnel, as near the spot where the seal sank as possible, and then

we examined the bottom after this fashion: We sunk the glass over the

boat's side (just where we fancied the dead seal lay) into the water,

within about two inches of the top (glass downwards), and by steadily

looking down through the little glass window we could distinctly see

the bottom of the sea and what lay on it. As soon as we saw the dead

seal we hooked him up with a line and a drag. I don't know what is the

greatest depth of water in which such a glass is available, and it is

now some time since I used one; but I am sure I have often seen a dead

seal lying in eight or ten fathoms; and just round the rocks where we

shot the seals the water was never very deep, but still we rarely could

see the bottom with the naked eye. I do not believe the glass at all

has any magnifying properties, but I suppose the focus of vision is

better concentrated below the surface of the waves in the comparatively

still water. I was at this time living with one of the Customs'

officers on the coast, who often used such a glass with great success

in finding kegs that were sunk by smugglers off this coast.

* * * * *

{Treatment of the apparently drowned.}

Our remarks and directions concerning the various means which may be

had recourse to for traversing rivers, lakes, and the sea would be

incomplete without instructions for the restoration of the apparently

drowned. None that can be drawn up are more perfect than those given by

the authority of the Royal Lifeboat Institution, which were published,

with some of the following remarks, in the _Field_ newspaper some short

time since:--"Hanging the body up by the heels to drain out the water

which is supposed to have been swallowed, is not one of the least

injurious of the popular expedients in cases of suspended animation,

and it is, in itself, sufficient to keep up the engorgement of the

brain, which is one of the chief dangers to be apprehended. So, also,

warm baths, tobacco smoke, and other depressing influences, should be

strictly prohibited; and also that horrible practice of rolling the

body over and over, which is so frequently adopted by those who are

ignorant of its effects. The Royal National Lifeboat Institution and

Humane Society constantly circulate printed papers containing cautions

against the adoption of these expedients; but, unfortunately, they are

seldom to be met with when they are wanted, and, on that account, we

venture to impress upon our readers the importance of making themselves

intimately acquainted not only with the objectionable practices to

which we have alluded, but also with the methods which scientific men

are agreed upon as those most likely to restore the circulation and

respiration.

"In the first place, it may be observed that for several hours after

the submersion all hope of recovery should not be given up, unless it

is declared by a medical man of experience that life is extinct. The

signs by which this opinion may be formed are pretty clear to him, but

by an ordinary spectator they are liable to be mistaken, since they

are all more or less comparative in their nature. When, however, for

half an hour there is not the slightest evidence of breathing, or of

the action of the heart--when the eyelids are half closed, with the

pupils turned upwards and dilated, the jaws clenched, and the fingers

semi-contracted--there is little doubt about the result, especially

if the tongue is partially protruded, and the lips and nostrils are

covered with frothy mucus. The temperature of the body is often not a

reliable sign, because that is kept up by artificial means; but if, in

spite of these, and in addition to the existence of the above symptoms,

the coldness of the surface is very manifest, even if there is no

medical authority for the relaxation of all efforts at restoration, it

can serve little purpose to persevere. Still it is better to err on the

safe side, and in this country there is seldom a long interval of doubt.

"But supposing a body to be brought out of the water, it becomes a

question, What shall be done? Shall it be taken to the nearest house,

or at once be treated on the spot? The answer is, proceed at once in

the open air, whether on shore or afloat, and lose not a moment in the

attempt to _restore breathing_, and _keep up the temperature of the

body by the application of dry heat_. The first of these is the main

object, and the second must be for a short time sacrificed to it, but

only for a few minutes, after which the two objects must be jointly

pursued. These efforts must be continued energetically till they are

either found to be successful, or declared to be useless. Should the

breathing be restored, the circulation should next be encouraged by

rubbing the limbs in the direction of the heart, with firm and steady

pressure, and with the aid, if possible, of warm flannels or silk

handkerchiefs, protected by a blanket over all. Beyond these general

directions, however, it is necessary to give others more minute, and

this will be best done in the words used in the printed directions of

the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, which are given in a succinct

tabular form, and should be hung up in every public place near which

accidental drowning is at all likely to occur." These directions are as

follow:

TO RESTORE BREATHING. TO PREVENT ANY FURTHER

_To clear the Throat._ DIMINUTION OF WARMTH.

1. Place the patient on the floor or N.B.--These efforts must

ground with his face downwards, and one be made very cautiously,

of his arms under the forehead, in which and must not be such as

position all fluids will escape by the to promote _Warmth_ and

mouth, and the tongue itself will fall _circulation rapidly_; for

forward, leaving the entrance into the if circulation is induced

windpipe free. Assist this operation by before breathing has been

wiping and cleansing the mouth. restored, the life of the

patient will be endangered.

2. If satisfactory breathing commences, No other effect, therefore,

adopt the treatment described below to should be sought from

promote warmth and natural breathing. If them, than the prevention

there be only slight breathing, or no of evaporation, and its

breathing, or if it fail, then-- result, the diminution of

the warmth of the body.

_To excite Breathing_--

1. Expose the face,

3. Turn the patient well and instantly neck, and chest, except

on the side, and-- in severe weather (such

as heavy rain, frost, or

4. Excite the nostrils with snuff, snow).

harts-horn, smelling salts, or tickle

the throat with a feather, &c., if they 2. Dry the face, neck,

are at hand. Rub the chest and face warm, and chest, as soon as

and dash cold water on it. possible with handkerchiefs

or anything at hand;

5. If there be no success, lose not a and then dry the hands

moment, but instantly and feet.

_To imitate Breathing_--

6. Replace the patient on the face, raising

and supporting the chest well on a folded

coat or other article of dress.

7. Turn the body very gently on the side

and a little beyond, and then briskly on the

face, back again; repeating these measures

deliberately, efficiently, and perseveringly

about fifteen times in the minute, or 3. As soon as a blanket

once every four seconds, occasionally or other covering can be

varying the side: obtained, strip the body;

but if no covering can

[_by placing the patient on the chest, be immediately procured,

the weight of the body forces the air out; take dry clothing from

when turned on the side, this pressure is he bystanders, dry and

removed, and air enters the chest._] re-clothe the body, taking

care not to interfere with

8. On each occasion that the body is the efforts to restore

replaced on the face, make uniform but breathing.

efficient pressure with brisk movement,

on the back between and below the

shoulder-blades or bones on each side,

removing the pressure immediately before

turning the body on the side:

[_the first measure increases the

expiration, the second commences

inspiration._]

[stars] The result is--_Respiration_ or

_Natural Breathing_; and, if not too

late, _Life_.

_Cautions._

1. Be particularly careful to prevent

persons crowding round the body.

2. Avoid all rough usage and turning

the body on the back.

3. Under no circumstances hold the body

up by the feet.

N.B. The directions are printed in parallel columns to avoid confusion,

and to insure that the efforts to obtain both objects shall be

carried on at the same time.