WATER, AND THE SAP OF PLANTS.
{Locality for water.}
The whole success of an expedition and the preservation of the lives
of those composing it have not unfrequently depended on the obtainment
of this precious fluid; and, as its importance to the traveller is
vital, so the sources from which it is to be obtained are numerous.
Rivers, lakes, springs, and rain pools are the most common and obvious,
needing no comment here. Showers of rain often yield a considerable
quantity, which may be caught in sails or sheets spread for the
purpose, selecting those which are free from the perspiration of men
or animals. Deep clefts among rocks and ravines often contain a great
deal, and the cliffs by the sea-shore, although there are no rivulets
to be discovered, frequently contain cracks and crevices, through which
water runs and loses itself in the sand.
The beds of apparently dried-up watercourses should be always explored
carefully, as high up as possible, and the stones at the bottom of the
deepest pools lifted out, and their resting places examined. A piece of
woollen cloth, a sponge, or a bunch of soft moss, will much facilitate
the withdrawal of chance finds in such places. Spots of low ground,
on which reeds, rushes, or other water plants are found, should be
carefully examined, and their depths probed with a strong sharp-pointed
stick.
The tracks of wild animals are often valuable guides to water; but
careful examination is needed lest the searcher should take the back
track, and go from, instead of towards, it. A sharp lookout overhead
towards evening will often be rewarded by a sight of the flocks of
wild-fowl or other birds winging their way towards the drinking
places. Baggage animals and dogs at times show extraordinary instinct
in finding pools and springs where they are least expected to exist.
We have also seen Indians apparently guided by some singular faculty
to its neighbourhood. In most countries some particular kind of tree
will be met with generally associated with the presence of water, and
growing near it.
[Illustration]
Should moisture be discovered a hole should be at once dug by loosening
the earth and gravel with the stick, and then clearing out the hole
with the hand, a small "well" as deep as the arm is long, may be very
rapidly made in this manner: Well hardening the point of the digging
stick in the fire will add much to its efficiency, and is much better
than a mere pointing with a sharp instrument. Where the soil is of a
loose character and the sides of the well likely to fall in, a long
bundle of reeds or rushes should be bound together and thrust down.
Holes of this kind may be long preserved as drinking places by making
up a round ball of slender twigs just sufficiently large to fit the
hole, ramming it firmly to the bottom, then placing a bamboo or other
hollow tube long enough to reach a couple of feet or so above the
surface, and then filling in the hole with earth and pressing the whole
well down. The water is thus preserved from evaporation, and can be
sucked freely through the tube. At times it will be found to flow up
the tube and run over, or a second tube may be put in to blow through,
when the water can be caught in any convenient vessel by boring a hole
through a bit of bark for the upper end of the tube to fit into, thus
forming a shoot for it to run off through, as in the above illustration.
When horses or cattle have to be watered from a pool or "well" of
any size, and the water is any distance below the surface, the old
expedient of the lever and post, so common all through Egypt and most
Eastern countries, will be found an exceedingly useful one. (See the
following full-page illustration.) When travelling through Central
India, where the wells are often very large and deep, we used to find
our small brass "lota pot," which was carried strapped fast to the
front of the saddle, with a long coil of whipcord stowed away in it to
lower and raise by, of great service.
Drinking troughs for cattle are conveniently made from hollow tree
trunks, sheets of bark with the ends nipped up, or by digging a trench
in the ground and placing a piece of canvas or an indiarubber ground
sheet in it. In watering cattle from contrivances of this kind two
separate herds should be formed, consisting of those which have to
drink and those which have drunk, letting them up one at a time,
and keeping back the rest. Much confusion and irregularity are thus
avoided, and you are sure that each animal has had its share.
{Water, to find.}
We can only give a few general hints on searching for water.
Perhaps the surest way is if there are natives in the country to
make friends of them, not by hurriedly and lavishly forcing upon
them presents--costly, it may be, to the giver, but valueless to
them--but by quietly waiting to see what they value, and giving it in
moderate quantities, as if the donor knew its worth as well as they.
Half a stick of tobacco, a short pipe, a sixpenny knife, or cotton
handkerchief, blue spotted with white, or a few strings of beads of
the kind they value--generally white, red, blue, or black opaque seed
beads--will gain their good will better than useless tinsel or gewgaws
of ten times the cost; while a Dutch brass-barrelled tinder-box,
with flint and steel, value 1_s._ or 1_s._ 6_d._, becomes far in
the interior an article of such value that it ought not to be given
except as a reward for real service. Extravagant liberality will
only be attributed to fear, more especially if haste accompanies it;
therefore, it is wise to spend a little time before making even the
preliminary offer of a pipeful of tobacco, and more before giving the
real present and making known what is desired in return. But in reality
the traveller will save time, and when he does ask for water the native
will bring him a supply, or point out where to obtain it; whereas, were
he to open the negotiations by hurriedly demanding information, the
natives would become suspicious of his motive, and would in the first
instance tell him a lie in order to throw him off the scent and gain
time to discover his supposed intentions.
In the absence of native guides, converging footpaths of men or animals
will probably lead to a pool. Most antelopes drink every day, but this
is not the case with the gemsbok or the eland, the last of which never
drinks, or, if it ever does, the instances are quite exceptional.
As before stated, the flight of birds morning and evening should also
be watched, but this, however, is not always an infallible sign, as
we have seen cockatoos drinking water so black that we could not use
it; but when, as we have also seen, even the parrots desert an island
before sunset it becomes tolerably certain that no water will be found
upon it.
Depressions on the ground should be followed, and additional freshness
of vegetation carefully sought for. An iron ramrod may be thrust into
the ground when there is any chance of dampness below the surface, and
the traveller should make himself acquainted with the peculiar plants
of the country which grow near the water. The pandanus, or screw pine
of Australia, is one of these.
In savage countries the labour of seeking and digging for water falls
principally on the women, who usually make use of a fire-hardened
grubbing stick for working a hole in the ground. The stick is loaded
with a perforated stone of several pounds weight to give additional
force to each stroke, and as the soil is loosened it is cleared out by
the insertion of the hand and arm, using the bent fingers as a scoop.
Use is also made of a stick split to about 12in. or 15in. from the
end, and this, when worked down into soft soil, catches and brings up
a quantity in the cleft, and this being shaken out upon one side the
stick is again clear and fit to bring up more. A bamboo cane, with the
end split up into several filaments, is used for the same purpose by
the natives of India.
Where only salt or saline water is to be obtained recourse may
be had to distillation, which may serve, as it has done in many
well-authenticated cases, to at least save the lives of the human
beings and dogs of a party. Little hope could, however, be entertained
of being enabled by this means to supply the wants of cattle or horses.
{Makeshift still.}
A "still" may be very easily made from any vessel which will stand
fire, such as one of the copper water barrels hereafter described, or
even a common cooking pot and a gun barrel (single or double), a hollow
bamboo with the knots removed, or, in fact, any hollow tube. If a pot
is used, a stout heavy wooden cover must be fitted to it, through
which two holes are to be cut--one at the side for the barrel or tube,
and the other a bung-hole at the top, which must have a stopper fitted
securely to it, and is used to introduce the water as it becomes
exhausted. This saves the trouble of removing the cover, and thus
disturbing the other arrangements. The annexed illustration will serve
to explain the nature of a contrivance of this kind. The boat-shaped
box resting on the forked sticks is made of bark, pinned at the ends
with wooden pins. This is filled with a couple of woollen blankets
or a quantity of moss, or even seaweed. The barrel passes directly
through the centre, and is kept cold by constantly throwing cold
water over it. The fresh water runs out through the hole from which
the nipple is unscrewed, and is caught in any suitable vessel; and
the waste salt water through holes bored in the bark for the purpose.
Many modifications of this plan might, of course, be had recourse to,
but this will be found about as convenient as any. Barrels, or hooped
vessels of any kind, are about the very worst that can be taken into a
wild country, as the hoops come off as the wood shrinks, causing leaks
and endless trouble.
[Illustration]
{Copper water flasks.}
For carrying water on the backs of animals a pair of thin sheet
copper flasks (20in. long, 12in. broad, and 8in. thick) will be found
exceedingly convenient. These should have broad and strong loops
soldered on to pass leather straps and lashings through, and in using
water it should be taken alternately to preserve an even balance.
The bung-holes should be at the ends and have a stout raised ring
round them, through which a hole is drilled; through this a pin is
run, passing through a corresponding hole in the wooden stopper, thus
keeping it secure. These flasks, when made, should be thoroughly tinned
inside. They are useful for a number of purposes. Water can be boiled
in them as well as carried. They can, on an emergency, be converted
into a "still," as before stated, and when corked up air-tight are a
great support to a raft. One at each end of an outrigger pole renders
the upsetting of a canoe or float log next to impossible. No knocking
about hurts them, and should at any time a leak be discovered a bit of
solder puts the matter to rights at once.
{Water skins and pails.}
Next in value to flasks, perhaps, come leather mussacks, of the
description used in the East. They can be made of any size, and, when
injured or pricked, as they sometimes are by sharp sticks or thirsty
niggers, they are readily repaired for the time by pinching up a piece
of leather at the orifice and passing a sharp-pointed stick through,
over which a clove hitch (see "Knots and Hitches") may be secured. A
patch may be sewn on when there is time to do it, just as a cobbler
mends a shoe. But bear in mind that, instead of the ordinary thread or
hempen cord used in mending or making leather utensils or articles in
this country, a dry carefully-cut leather thong should be used instead,
as when once in place it swells from the action of the water on it, and
completely fills the holes through which it has been passed, thereby
preventing leakage.
In Mongolia they use a very useful pail or bucket for carrying water.
It has a head fixed into it much like that of an ordinary barrel, and
there are two openings or bung-holes; one tolerably large on one side,
just below the edge of the head, and another through the head itself.
In these orifices wooden plugs or stoppers are fitted, and, when water
is to be poured out, the stopper in the head is just eased like the
vent peg of a cask, so that air may be admitted; when the stopper is
taken out the larger hole freely discharges the water, which would not
run without the vent-peg arrangement.
During the year 1865, when we had entered the Victoria River, North
Australia, and the _Tom Tough_ was still drifting, in daily danger of
breaking up upon the sand-banks, we had become tired of carrying water
overland from distant pools to supply 140 sheep; and, considering that
if our inflatable boat (p. 48) would hold air to float upon the water
she would also hold fresh water to float in salt, we determined to
seek supplies farther up the river; and putting the four sections into
the schooner's gig, we sailed or pulled alternately thirty or forty
miles up the river, till the entire cessation of the mangroves and the
appearance of the pandanus, or screw pine, upon the banks and islands
showed that we were above the influence of the tide and in a stream of
permanently fresh water.
{Canoe water-transport.}
We halted at Palm Island, and, choosing a place where the water was a
little more than knee deep, we threw the inflatable sections overboard,
and, fixing the bellows in the valves, held them beneath the surface
and pumped water into them, just as we would have pumped air had we
required them for boats. We did not quite fill them with water, but
forced in a little air to give them buoyancy, and, at the same time,
to preserve their shape. In towing them, however, the pressure of the
water caused the foremost ends to assume a wedge-like form, while the
water and air, being forced aft, carried all the buoyancy thither, and
they went down head-foremost. We remedied this by cutting a long spar
and lashing them to it, making fast also an indiarubber mattress to the
parts most liable to go down.
Tedious enough was our voyage down the river. To make anything like
speed with such a drag astern of the boat was impossible, either with
oars or sails; and during the heat of the day we found the cement of
the bags beginning to soften and give way. They had been warranted to
stand 170°; but, testing them by the thermometer, the internal heat was
only 120°. We gathered up the defective part, knotted it with a bit of
twine, and laced the bag along the gunwale of our boat--keeping her
in trim by lacing its fellow on the other side--leaving only one pair
to be towed astern. The extensive shallows, where for half a mile on
a stretch the river percolated through rather than flowed over broad
banks of angularly-broken stones, caused us considerable labour and
anxiety lest some sharper point than usual should pierce our bags and
deprive us of the fruit of all our toil. We found, however, that they
yielded kindly to the varying pressure; and we rolled them, one by
one, over the successive reaches--working for hours together through
the night, and frequently in pools in which we saw alligators, and
sometimes sharks of considerable size.
Our week's work, however, toilsome as it was, resulted in a supply of
600 or 800 gallons of fresh water, tasting somewhat of indiarubber,
but still available for the sheep. This supply we could have obtained
in no other manner.
{Ships' water-bags.}
Water-bags for ship use may be made of stout No. 1 canvas. They should
be of oblong form, about 2ft. long by 18in. wide. They should be in two
thicknesses--the inside or lining being kept perfectly clean, and the
outer one previously oiled with good boiled linseed oil and allowed to
dry before it is made up, so as to keep the inner canvas as free from
taint as possible. Generally the canvas is wetted with salt water, and
then hung up till it is wind dry, or just so damp that no water will
drip from it. It is then considered to be capable of absorbing just so
much oil as will suffice to render it waterproof without clogging it
or making it unpleasant to handle when it is dry. A sufficiently stout
rope should be stitched round the seam of the bag; beckets or loops
should be left in it at the four corners for convenience of handling;
and a wooden tube or stopper should be inserted, and firmly seized in
with small cord at one corner.
These bags are most convenient when a supply of water is needed on
any emergency, especially if the landing be difficult or dangerous,
or the inhabitants hostile. They occupy no room in the boat while
empty. The oarsman may pull in unencumbered through the surf; or, if
it is necessary to fight, the riflemen may use their weapons. When
the landing is effected each carrier may seize his bag, sling it over
his shoulder with a lanyard, and experience no hindrance until he
actually fills it, when, of course, the weight of the water will become
a burden. The bags will lie flat in the boat's bottom, accommodating
their form to that of the space they occupy. If it is necessary to
carry sail they serve as ballast; and even were the boat to fill, they
would not sink her, but, as fresh water is of somewhat less specific
gravity than salt, would, if secured by bottom boards laid over them
and beneath the thwarts, help to keep her up; and on this account they
would form the most eligible ballast for boats on separate service,
and even for pleasure boats on excursions, where they might not be in
actual need of a large supply of fresh water.
{Calabashes, horns, and egg-shells.}
Cattle horns serve in South Africa for powder-flasks or water vessels,
some, especially among the Bechuana tribes, being 13ft. from tip
to tip, and capable of containing several gallons each; while the
Hottentots use them to hold honey beer, and the Abyssinians for "tedge"
or mead. A calabash, or gourd, is used by most of the natives of South
Africa, as well as many other countries, as a water vessel. It is
light, water-tight, not very easily broken, and even if an unfortunate
fracture should take place the natives repair it by boring holes on
either side the crack, pointing them diagonally towards each other,
so that, by giving a slight turn to the point of the sinew used for
thread, they either pass it through the next hole or bring it so
near that it may be caught, crochet fashion, by a fine thorn or a
crook-pointed needle. The leakage is stopped by a little grease and
clay rubbed into the holes. A calabash with a long neck may be cut
so as to form a spoon or ladle. Others of smaller size are used as
snuff-boxes, or receptacles for many trifles; and in some parts of
Turkey calabashes are used for powder flasks. An ostrich's egg-shell
with a net worked tightly round it makes a good water-bottle.
{Bladders and paunches.}
The bladders, or paunches, of slain animals are very generally used as
water vessels. If an animal has drunk recently water may be found in
its stomach. We have quenched our thirst with the milk of a blesbok doe
as she lay dead, though not yet cold, upon the plain.
We have often seen our followers, when a buffalo or other animal has
been killed, take out the paunch, shake out its contents, and hasten
with it to the nearest stream, where, with barely a preparatory
rinsing, they would fill it with water quite clean enough for their
idea of culinary operation; and, calling on the nearest native
resident, would invite him to bring his pots with him and assist in
cooking the banquet.
Sometimes the paunch scraped thin is suspended by thongs passed through
like purse strings. Occasionally two mimosa thorns, which are not
unfrequently 4in. or 5in. long, or a couple of skewers, are thrust
through and the cord tightened round under them. If a small hole should
be found, it may be stopped by putting a somewhat larger pebble upon
the place, gathering the skin around it, and then tying the neck firmly
with a cord; or the edges may be skewered together with a thorn, and
the neck bound tightly with cord.
When a rhinoceros has fallen we have seen the Damara women carefully
extract the long intestines, distend them with air, and bring them home
coiled round their bodies, to be used thereafter as water vessels.
{Waterproof baskets.}
The Kafirs on the frontier of the Cape Colony plait baskets of so fine
a texture that they employ them for holding milk and even water; but
it is better that they should become saturated with the first before
they are used for the latter, as, though they swell while wet and are
perfectly tight, pure water would dry out with the heat from the fibre
of an empty basket, and the consequent shrinking of the texture would
make it leaky.
We have seen most elegant and serviceable baskets made in Timor of the
leaves of the fan palm. The ends of all the spreading leaflets are
gathered together in a point, and a cord of twisted fibre is passed as
a handle from this point to the stump of the footstalk. A pair of these
baskets, holding two or three gallons each, are slung to the ends of a
bamboo, and the bearer taking this across his shoulder carries water,
or sometimes palm juice, about the town. The latter refreshing beverage
is sold at a doit per cup; the cup itself being made of a smaller palm
leaf, and also purchasable for a doit or two.
At Walvisch Bay, in South-West Africa, where rain falls perhaps once in
two years, and the river runs with fresh water once in ten, there is a
small water hole called Sand Fountain. This is about four miles from
the landing place, and the water was, and perhaps still is, brought by
two or more Hottentots dragging a cask fitted up like a garden roller,
with the pivots set firmly into stout cross-pieces nailed or screwed
upon each end of the cask.
Shafts of wood, with holes bored in them to fit upon the pivots, may be
used as means of traction, or, if more convenient, ropes with thimbles
or grummets turned in the ends for the same purpose; but in this case
the trek ropes should be kept apart by a horizontal bar that they may
not chafe upon the chine of the cask. It will also be advantageous to
fit on felloe-pieces, near each end, so as to form a substitute for
wheels, on which the cask may travel, and this will save a great deal
of wear and tear should the country be rough or stony.
A larger cask mounted on the after wheels of a waggon, and fitted with
chocks on a frame lying on the axle is useful.
{Camp filter.}
Filtering bags can be made of woollen or other cloth. An excellent
and convenient camp filter is thus made: Take a wooden box or barrel,
long and deep. Bore a number of holes in the bottom, fasten in a
blanket bag, and then place a layer of grass, small twigs, or moss on
the bottom, over the holes; then a layer of sand; then a thick bed of
coarse lumps of charcoal; then fresh layers of grass or moss, until the
box or barrel is about half filled. Then fashion a false head or cover,
making it just large enough to move up and down the cask or box freely;
burn or bore a number of holes in it, and, when fitted in, press it
firmly down on the arrangement below, and drive a few nails in above to
keep it from rising. When this contrivance is partially sunk in a pond
or lake the water will ascend to the upper compartment above the false
head, from which it can be dipped or drawn for use.
[Illustration]
Another useful barrel filter can be made by knocking both the heads
out of a small cask, boring it full of gimlet holes, placing it on a
thick layer of charcoal and pebbles in a larger cask, also bored full
of holes, and then filling in all the space between the outer and inner
barrels with the mixture, as shown in the above illustration.
[Illustration]
The following is an expedient easily extemporised and frequently used
in damp soils, where water is scarce. A quantity of grass is tied up in
a wisp, or plaited into a bag; two reeds are inserted in this--one as a
suction tube, and the other to admit air; and the apparatus is buried
wherever a sufficiency of moisture is likely to permeate the soil.
[Illustration]
The annexed illustration shows a very common expedient. Suppose the
waters of a river to be excessively turbid: a well may be dug in the
bank at any convenient distance, and the water that collects in it
will at least be much clearer than that of the river. Of course none of
these modes will correct chemical impurity.
{Hints on springs.}
We have heard it said that even sea-water by filtration through a
considerable mass of sand will lose much of its saltness and become
drinkable, and that, by digging wells at some distance from the
margin of the beach, it may be obtained with a very small amount of
brackishness. We should like to hear a well-authenticated instance of
this, in which there could be no doubt that the sea-water had been thus
purified, and that the diggers had not in fact struck upon a stratum
moistened by the inland drainage, and rendered more or less brackish by
meeting with the sea-water.
We have known a remarkable instance of the discovery of a spring of
fresh water in the immediate vicinity of the salt. In 1855, while
attached to the North-Australian Expedition, we had great difficulty in
supplying the sheep carried by our schooner, _Tom Tough_, with water.
We made one trip up the Victoria River, with indiarubber bags--and this
we purpose to notice more fully under its proper heading--and searched
the country on either side the river in all directions. We found many
little pools in shady hollows of rock, or of alluvial soil, marking
the course the rivulets would take in the rainy season, and many of
them decked with waterlilies. But these were too distant to be of
service to us, and we again examined the country in our vicinity. In
one cleft of rock we found a pint or two of water, and with a long twig
and the broken shell of a gouty stem fruit we drew up enough to allay
our thirst; but after traversing the arid ridges for hours we were
returning unsuccessfully, when, passing at half-tide along the muddy
margin of the river where a bold projecting headland forbade us any
other path, Mr. Gregory noticed a little water collected in a hollow of
the mud around a boulder. We thought at first it was only the drainage
of the retiring tide, but on tasting it, we coincided in his opinion
that it was not salt water. We set to work with our hands and cleared
away the mud and brackish slime till, having reached a stratum too
hard for our fingers' ends, we rested, and soon had the satisfaction
of seeing a small threadlike streamlet of clear water forcing its
way through the muddy sediment. In a few minutes nearly half a pint
of fresh water had collected, and, having satisfied ourselves of the
value of our discovery, we returned to our schooner, and, putting a
couple of puncheons in the long boat, waited till the turn of the next
tide, and dropped down with the ebb to the headland. Our well was not
yet uncovered, but we began to work as soon as the water fell below
our knees, greatly to the astonishment of our Dutch sailor, who could
hardly find terms strong enough to express it. "Allamagtig," said he
over and over again, "have I lived so long in this world that I must
come to dig for fresh water underneath the salt!" We made a fire on the
uncovered boulder to give us light, at no small risk of injury from
the splitting off of heated fragments; and, removing as many large
stones as we could, cleared out a spring of perfectly pure fresh water,
abundant enough to fill both our puncheons before the tide again rose
high enough to cover it. Nor was this a transient phenomenon, for the
next year, before we left the river, we again cleared out the "Gregory"
well and filled all the casks of our vessel for her voyage. The sketch
represents very nearly the locality in question; the high-water level
is shown by the upper horizontal line, and the half-tide by the lower
one, and that of the well is observable between them.
[Illustration]
A makeshift filter can be made as follows: A small reed is inserted
into a walnut shell, or any other receptacle of about the same size,
pierced with small holes, and packed, not too tightly, with hemp,
cotton, coir sponge, or other porous material; it is then placed in the
shell of a cocoa-nut, an ostrich's egg, or tin pannikin of any kind,
and the interval between the two moderately packed with charcoal made
either from wood or, still better, bones, with any fibrous material,
and a mixture of sand or gravel. This is plunged beneath the water,
and the tube being taken into the mouth, a little suction does all the
rest. The shank or wing-bone of a crane, a stork, or albatross, may be
used as a tube in the same manner.
The Bushmen of South Africa always carry one or more suction reeds in
the quiver with their arrows, and, whenever the water is surrounded
by banks so steep that the lips cannot conveniently reach the surface,
lie down and suck the water through the tube. When there is only damp
soil they dig a hole, and, wrapping up the end of the reed in a tuft
of grass, they bury it, and suck the water that filters through. But
as the Bushwoman fills the ostrich's egg-shells, to be carried away
for home consumption, she takes another reed, or often merely a bit of
grass or straw, as a conductor, and spirts the water along it from the
other side of her mouth into the shell. The orifice is then plugged
with a wisp of grass; and, a dozen or more of the shells being packed
in a net, she takes them on her back and marches, perhaps, many a mile
to deposit them wherever the men require water.
{Grass filters.}
Sometimes the Bushmen take a good handful of grass, and lash it very
tightly up at the taper end, leaving the butt spreading and at liberty;
in fact, they tie it on exactly the opposite principle to that on which
a broom or birch rod is made. They dip the large end into the muddy
pool, and then allow the water to drip from the taper end into their
mouths if they have no other vessel at hand to receive it. Often, when
the mud is composed mainly of vegetable matter, and is too light to
separate and fall to the bottom of a pannikin as sediment, this is
about the best way of clearing it.
Many plants, like the aloe in South Africa, or others whose leaves
point upward and have a cup-shaped cavity at their junction with the
stalk, retain a considerable quantity of water after rains; and some
seem to have the power of imbibing moisture from the air, even though
no rain falls.
Rain-water is collected at sea by spreading the ship's awnings, and
hanging buckets under them by means of sail hooks; these, of course,
depress that part of the canvas to which they are hooked on; the water
flows towards it, and runs down the lanyard into the bucket.
In situations where a good supply of reeds is to be obtained a
tolerably effective contrivance for water-clearing may be made as
follows: Cut enough reeds to form a bundle as large as a six-gallon
barrel; lay them evenly, with their heads one way and their cut ends
the other. Now cut three long slender poles or rods; form them into
hoops by lashing their ends with cord, raw hide, or a few creepers, and
then secure them round the bundle of reeds, as shown in the following
illustration. The reed cylinder, if properly made, should be firm,
compact, and capable of standing alone like a cask. It should now have
a bowl-shaped depression cut in its centre, and be placed in the foul
water, and secured there by driving a stout rough pole down through
the centre of the depression. The bottom of the reed cylinder may or
may not touch the bottom. In deep water it remains hung, or, rather,
impaled on the pole in such a way that about 6in. of the cut ends
of the reeds are above the surface. The water will quickly fill the
depression, out of which it may be dipped with a cup or other vessel.
[Illustration]
The Indian water-carriers spread a piece of thick native cloth over
the mouth of an earthen chatty pot, and then pour the tank water on
it until the vessel is full, when the contents are transferred to
the leather "mussac," or water-bag. We have often had recourse to
this expedient on a small scale, and made use of our brass lota pot,
with a double silk handkerchief spread over its mouth, to strain off
impurities.
{Clearing nut.}
Turbid water is cleared to some extent by placing a piece of common
alum in it. A lump the size of a common nutmeg will be found sufficient
to throw down a heavy sediment from a pailful of foul water. In India
a species of nut or seed is made use of in the same way, and appears
to act much in the same manner, although from different chemical
affinities. In speaking of this water-clearing nut, the late Sir
Emerson Tennent, in his admirable work on Ceylon, says: "To correct the
impurity of the tank water when intended for their own use, the natives
employ a horny seed (the production of a species of 'strychnos') about
the size of a coffee bean, called by the Tamils 'tettan kotta,' and by
the Singhalese 'ingini' (_Strychnos potatorum_). This they rub round
the inside of the unglazed earthen chatty in which the muddy water
is held till about one-half the seed is ground off, which, mingling
with the water, forms with it a delicate mucilage. In the course of
a few minutes the impure particles, being seized by this, descend,
and, on their subsidence, form an apparently viscid sediment at the
bottom, whilst the clear fluid remains at the top; and, although not
altogether bright, is sufficiently pure for ordinary purposes. The
curious and valuable plant _S. potatorum_, or the 'clearing nut bush'
is abundant in the woods and mountains of the East Indies. It bears a
shining fruit, which becomes black as it ripens. The trinal name is
derived from the use which is made of the seeds, which, when dried, are
sold by the native dealers in the bazaars expressly for the purpose of
purifying turbid water." This plant (_Strychnos St. Ignatii_, or St.
Ignatius's bean) is a climbing shrub without tendrils, bearing long
drooping white flowers, which have the perfume of jasmine. The species
is identical with the _Ignatia amara_ of Linnæus. It is a native of
Cochin-China and the Philippines, as well as of India proper.
[Illustration]
{Patent filter.}
We, a short time since, invented and patented a small portable filter,
which can be carried either in the breast pocket or holster. Its mode
of use will be understood on reference to the illustration. Place the
end of the tube (A) firmly in the pipe (B); fix the cover securely on
the cup, and then thrust it with the hand beneath the surface of the
foul water. Hold the mouthpiece (C) between the lips, and draw the air
by sucking from the interior of the flask until the water flows freely
into the mouth. If a draught of water is required for immediate use,
the cover may be now removed, when the cup will be found full. If a
larger quantity of water is needed, one or more flasks may be placed in
an erect position in a tub or pail of water, set in action as before
directed, and allowed to run until the water in the tub has reached
the level of the flasks, which will not require holding under water
when once filled by exhausting the air contained in them. To renew
or cleanse the packing, which may consist of sponge, woollen cloth,
flannel, wild cotton, or fine moss, unscrew the cover of the packing
box within the cover, when it can be easily withdrawn and replaced. The
tube, when not in use, is carried, coiled up, within the flask, which,
on an emergency, may be made use of for boiling water, tea, soup, eggs,
or meat. We have had the honour of exhibiting this simple but useful
contrivance at meetings of the members of both the Royal United Service
Institution and the Royal Society.
[Illustration]
We have now applied the same principle to stoppers for bottles, or
any other vessels, so that a common beer or sodawater bottle can be
instantly converted into a syphon filter, as shown in the annexed
illustration.
By the use of our invention we effectually get rid of the ova and larvæ
of water insects, and the thousand and one living and dead impurities
which are so abundant in the lakes, streams, and ponds of tropical
countries. To get into the water contained in the flask or bottle, they
would first have to pass through metal grating No. 1; then through the
pores of closely-impacted sponge, woollen, or fine fibrous matter; and,
lastly, through another grating, or strainer No. 2.
There is scarcely any possibility of foreign substances of any kind
passing through the stuffing box, so that water, unless chemically
tainted or poisoned by mineral solutions, can be rendered fit for use
in two or three minutes by the use of either the metal flask or stopper.
We extemporised a camp filter in the Crimea by knocking out the bottom
of a common claret bottle, turning it large end upwards, fastening a
piece of doubled rag over the orifice intended for the cork, stuffing
the neck tightly with sponge and sand in alternate layers, hanging
it up with twine over another bottle, and then filling it with the
by-no-means clear fluid brought to the tents by the water carriers.
Ice, even when taken from a very dirty puddle, is comparatively pure,
as in freezing most of the impurities are set free.
Very impure water from stagnant pools should, before use, be boiled in
the camp-kettle with a good netful of charcoal. This process not only
tends much to purify it, but kills all water insects, their ova, and
the legions of animalculæ which inhabit the pools of the tropics.
In some parts of the world, Central India for example, the waters
in certain wells, although perfectly bright and clear, is so highly
charged with saline matter as to be perfectly undrinkable.
[Illustration: INDIAN WELL.]
{Water raising.}
The accompanying full-page illustration represents one of the modes by
which ox-power is, in the East, brought to bear on water raising. The
greater number of the extensive tracks of irrigated land devoted to the
growth of the opium poppy, the cotton plant, and the various native
grains are watered by its aid. The form of the water-bag, or bucket,
differs somewhat in particular localities. By some makers it is formed
from tanned hides fastened to an iron frame; by others, the hides are
merely tanned (according to directions given further on), spread open
at the top, and tapered off to a long narrow open bag at the end. To
explain the use of this contrivance, we will suppose that the bag is at
the bottom of the well, at the end of the well rope and point guide,
which latter cord is fastened to the taper end or delivery mouth of
the bag. Now this guide being shorter than the main well rope, on
which all the strain falls, draws up the tapered point like a doubled
coat-sleeve above the level of the bag's mouth. At a signal (usually
a shrill yell) from the well boy, the well-trained ox walks away down
an inclined plane, hauling on the main well rope, which works over a
smooth round stick fitted above the well, whilst the point guide rope
works over another fitted at the side. Now it will be seen that as the
great leather sack, with its doubled-up sleeve bottom, reaches the
mouth of the well, the point guide will draw the cuff of the sleeve out
over the round stick, which will then be considerably lower than the
mouth of the bag, or bucket; all the water will then gush out through
the sleeve, which will be as the small end of an enormous funnel. The
water thus poured out is usually received in a sort of pond made from
pieces of matting filled with earth. A large hollow tree trunk is then
fitted to one side, or the end, for the water to flow through into the
main canal of the system of irrigation.
In Tartary, water is raised in much the same manner; but a man on
horseback makes the line fast to his girth or saddle, and gallops
from the well up to a mark previously made at a proper distance from
the well, and which should be a trifle more than the actual depth from
which the water is to be raised.
In almost all countries, from the earliest times to the present,
levers, heavily weighted on the shorter arm, and with a bucket attached
to the longer, have been used for raising water from deep wells. The
pictorial records of Ancient Egypt attest the antiquity of this method.
The shadoof of modern Egypt is the same, and we have seen it used
both in that country and on the remotest mission stations in Southern
Africa. The mode of applying it will be seen by a glance at our
full-page engraving. The water raised by the shadoof is commonly used
for irrigation. We, however, found it very valuable during the Crimean
war for raising water for both men and horses. When used among the
crops, the water is received sometimes in a reservoir with embankments,
guarded by matting, and at others, into troughs which lead direct to
the main irrigating channel, from which smaller furrows lead off to
every part of the field. These are stopped with lumps of clay or earth,
and when the water is required in any direction, the irrigator removes
the obstruction by thrusting his toes beneath and lifting it out of the
way.
In Egypt, India, and other countries, wheels and machines, more or
less elaborate, are used for lifting water. There must be, for this
purpose, at least one vertical wheel of sufficient diameter to carry
an endless band, on which are fastened a series of buckets, in such a
manner that they will retain very nearly their perpendicular position,
until they surmount the highest portion of the circumference of the
wheel, and will then "tip" and discharge the water into a trough or
reservoir. These buckets may be wooden bowls, earthen chatty pots, bags
of leather or canvas, joints of bamboo, or anything that is moderately
water-tight; but, of course, the less leakage there is the better. The
band should run round a similar wheel the axle of which is nearly level
with the water, so that the band is kept tight and the buckets forced
beneath the surface; but this may be dispensed with if the band and
upper wheel are sufficiently rough, or if there be studs or points to
catch the full buckets and prevent their slipping. The wheel may be
turned either by a crank, by manual labour, or oxen or other animals
may be employed. In this latter case there may be another larger wheel
or drum upon the same axle, and several turns of rope being taken over
it, the ox may be driven away, unwinding it as he goes; or an endless
screw, sloping at an angle of 45°, may be cut upon the axle, while
a similar one working in it is cut upon a vertical shaft. Or cogged
wheels of the same angle (as shown in our figure) may be used; the
vertical pillar will then be turned by an ox yoked to a cross-bar and
walking round it in a circular path; but it will be necessary that the
discharging trough should pass beneath a little bridge in this path,
and that the communication with the water to be drawn up should either
be by a well within the circle, or by a channel to the river passing
under a similar bridge. The stancheons of the frame which supports the
vertical bar must stand outside and well clear of the path.
[Illustration: Fig 1, 2]
[Illustration: A, B]
We give, also, an example of a box pump. Four deals or boards, of
any length or breadth, are nailed together, but their lower ends for
about a foot or more should be left a little wider than the rest of
the length; two wheels of nearly equal diameter should be fixed, one
with part of its circumference below the water, and the other somewhat
higher than it is requisite to raise it; an endless band of canvas or
other material must pass round both wheels, and one side of it through
the trough. On this band must be fastened by one edge a number of
boards or floats of such size as nearly to fill the inner diameter
of the trough, without being so tight as to stick in any part of it;
a hole should be bored in the centre of each, and a small line run
through and knotted, so as to keep the floats always at right angles
to the band. There should be a spout near the top of the trough, to
lead the water off in any required direction. Fig. 2 on the same
illustration shows part of an endless band, with pockets or bags
stitched on it; these may be of almost any stout material of tolerably
close fibre--No. 1 canvas would answer very well. They would discharge
the water over the wheel into a reservoir, and no tube, as in Fig. 1,
would be needed.
[Illustration]
We give, also, an example of wheels driven by water power over and
undershot. It would be superfluous to mark these with distinctive
figures. In the first the water is conveyed by a pipe or trough, and
allowed to fall upon the wheel into buckets or receptacles formed in
its periphery by fixing boards across between the two rims, at such
angles as are indicated by the dotted lines, which may be taken to
represent the heads of the nails driven into their edges; and thus they
will retain water until, by the revolution of the wheel, they have sunk
so far as to be below the level of the axle, when they allow the water
to escape, and come up light and empty on the other side. Some of these
wheels are as much as 30ft. or more in diameter; indeed, the larger
they are, the greater is the leverage obtained from a given amount of
water; and, the wheel once set in motion, the power thus gained may be
applied by connecting gear to any mechanical purpose.
The "undershot" simply has boards or floats fixed across it with their
edges coinciding with the lines of the spokes. Indeed, if a paddle
steamer were anchored in a tideway, and her wheels disconnected and
allowed to revolve with the force of the tide, they would furnish
a good example of the undershot wheel; and the paddle of a wrecked
steamer would be better than anything a colonist with scant appliances
could make for the purpose.
Still, with a few tools and a moderate share of ingenuity very fair
makeshift water-wheels may be constructed in situations where they may
be found most valuable. We have, when among the Tartars, seen them
erect a small wooden hut over a narrow rapid mountain stream, leave a
sort of trap in the floor, fix in some rough forked tree trunks and
beams, and on them mount a little water-wheel made of hewn planks and
bars treenailed together on the double-cross system, like that adopted
in building up the wheel a in the illustration on p. 511, which is
supposed to be erected for mining pumps, and is fed by a two-plank
shoot. The Tartar wheels were invariably undershot, like that at B, and
were used for setting in motion the trip hammers used in fulling their
coarse native woollen.
In the beautiful valley of the Kowie River, a few miles below
Grahamstown, we saw a rather ingenious application of wind power to a
horizontal wheel. The principle will be best shown by calling to the
reader's memory the well known nautical toy which consists of four or
more cutters, or fore and aft rigged vessels, sailing in a circle on a
mast-head or flag-staff. In the fore and aft sails the foremost leach,
or edge, is attached by rings, or otherwise, to the mast or stay of the
respective sail, and is stretched tight, while the after leach is left
more or less free, according as the sheet is hauled in or eased off. In
consequence of this when the vessel is before the wind the sails fill,
but as their surface catches it obliquely they do not exert their full
force till the vessel receives the wind upon her quarter. When the wind
is "a-beam," or blowing across her at right angles, the sails are still
helping her forward, and continue to do so, even when her head comes up
so near as just not to shake the wind out of them. When this happens,
the sails lose their power, as they present only their foremost edge to
the wind, and not a broad surface like those of a square-rigged ship
when she is taken aback. (We will therefore suppose four cutters, _a_,
_b_, _c_, _d_.) The cutter _a_ is before the wind, _b_ has the wind
somewhat on the quarter, while _c_, having "come up" several points,
is now nearly head to wind with her sails shaking, and _d_ has taken
the wind on the other tack. Thus, there are always three vessels whose
sails are helping them round in one direction, while the fourth, for
the moment that she is in the "wind's eye," is powerless to resist them.
This power can be applied to a large horizontal wheel. There should be
two wheels, one 18in. or 2ft. above the other; they are made as light
as possible, and each has a smaller rim or felloe, say 18in., within
the other. The sails are in this instance flat boards, with a dowel
left on each end for a hinge. These dowels work in holes in the upper
and lower spokes, midway between the inner and outer felloes. It will
be seen that the sails marked will receive the wind on one side until,
coming so far before it that they "jibe," they assume the position of
those which receive it on the other. When they come up to the wind on
the other side the wheel they present their hinged edge to the wind,
and shift like the sails of cutter _c_, but without shaking. The best
angle for them to make is 22-1/2° on either side the central line, and
this is also the angle at which the sails of a windmill should present
their surfaces.
{Well sinking.}
The explorer, or settler, will not unfrequently have to sink wells for
the obtainment of water for himself and his animals. It will often
happen that Nature has commenced the formation of a well, which merely
requires the labours of man to complete. The crowbar and pick will, in
such cases, very quickly enable the traveller to deepen it sufficiently
to meet his temporary needs. Where a long-continued residence is
intended, and a regular and continuous supply of water is required,
apart from that obtained from rivers or lakes, wells of greater or less
depth, according to the nature of the ground and water supply, must be
undertaken.
The Indians manage to construct walled wells of great depth in loose
sandy soil in the following ingenious manner: They first mark a circle,
the size of the intended well, on the earth. They then dig a groove,
or trench, of the width of the intended thickness of the lining wall
of the well, much as our masons sink a foundation for a house. They
now proceed to build a circle of masonry in the groove, and carry it
up to a few feet in height above the surface. Other Indians now get
inside the wall, and, with short-handled hoes and fire-hardened sticks,
dig away the sand from beneath the foundation of the wall round the
entire circle. As the sand is loosened and dug out, it is taken up in
cane baskets and thrown outside. As the wall sinks into the earth by
being undermined, it is constantly added to by building above until the
required depth is reached.
The Chinese sink very narrow and deep wells by the use of a kind of
jumper, or boring bit. This is hung suspended from the end of a long
bamboo spring beam, which is constantly worked up and down, thus
causing the bit to constantly drop and pick, so to speak, on one spot.
The bit is hollow, and when it becomes full of sludge produced by its
incessant tapping, it is withdrawn from the hole, cleared out, and
entered again. A little water added from time to time much assists the
operation, and tends to keep the bit from becoming heated. As it will
be seen this method, although very useful as a makeshift, is tedious to
a degree.
[Illustration: A-F]
Much fear was entertained at the commencement of the Abyssinian war
that there would be a great scarcity of water in consequence of the
comparatively limited number of wells and indifferent quality of the
water to be found in that portion of the country over which our troops
had to march shortly after their arrival; and there is little doubt but
that serious inconvenience, if no worse, would have been experienced,
had not a contrivance, known as the "American tube well-borer," the
invention of Mr. Norton, been brought to the notice of the Government
authorities. The wells formed by these deeply-penetrating sets of
tubes were found to supply water freely and expeditiously in that
country. How far the perforated end of the tube would be effective,
if driven through clay, we have had no means of ascertaining; but we
are of opinion that for reaching deeply-buried water-yielding deposits
of ordinary character the tube-borer will be found most valuable. Its
action is simplicity itself.
The foregoing illustration represents the contrivance fixed on the
ground and ready for use. B, B, B are the legs of a triangle, C is the
striking point for the monkey (D), which is raised by the pulley ropes
(E, E) until it reaches the head of the triangle when it is allowed to
fall on C, which is secured to the joint of tube F, which, having a
sharp arrow headlike point, readily enters the earth. Joint after joint
are added, like those of a fishing rod, until the required depth has
been reached, when a small pump is attached, as in the annexed cut,
which shows the position of the set of tubes in the earth after the
water-yielding bed, or deposit, has been penetrated. [Illustration]
When very large quantities of water are needed, as for the use of
troops, troop horses, and baggage animals, several tubes can be driven
in at one spot and coupled together at the top, when one pump can be
made to draw from all.
The weight of such an arrangement as that represented would be by no
means great, and the cost a mere trifle when compared with the costly
process of Artesian well boring as usually carried out. Should it be
decided on to abandon a well, the tubes can be drawn up and driven
elsewhere.
With regard to the quantity of water which tube wells of a certain
diameter of bore are capable of bringing to the surface, Mr. Norton
informs us that some of his 1-1/4in. wells yield as much as 900 gallons
of water per hour, whilst some of the large bores have poured forth as
much as 10,000 gallons per hour.
The modes by which water can be raised from common pit or shaft wells
are numerous. Some of them we have described; others, such as the
old-fashioned bucket and rope, are too well known to need description.
[Illustration: A-E]
The miner's pump will be found described at p. 266. A very useful and
effective pump may be readily made by boring an auger hole through
a tree-trunk, mounting it with a brake-piece and handle as at A in
the annexed illustration; fixing on a valved sucker and plunger, as
represented at B. C represents a barrel pump. This is made by fixing a
short square wooden box in the bottom of a large strong cask in such
a manner that a large bung-hole may be bored where the centre of the
box comes. (The accompanying engraving will serve to show the nature
of the arrangement.) Then outside the hole attach a long tube made of
stout sail canvas. Wind a stiff rope into a spiral, round a spar or
pole, which can be withdrawn when the coil is complete, and attach it
here and there with stitches of twine. This spiral coil will keep the
tube from collapsing when in use. Then in your square upright box fix a
valved sucker, made as shown at D, and another valve in the bottom of
the box, as at E. A brake and handle may be fitted to the side of the
barrel, and a hard wood or iron plunger attached, when the pump will
be ready for use. As the water flows out over the rim of the box it is
caught in the barrel, to which a spout of leather, tin, or bark may be
attached.
There are numerous trees and plants to be found in various parts of
the world which yield, in addition to their fruits, large quantities of
sap and other products, which often prove of inestimable value to the
traveller. It would be next to impossible to separate arbitrarily the
fruit-yielding members of the vegetable world from those which furnish
juice or sap only. We shall therefore in this work treat of the most
valuable and noteworthy, dealing with them as they happen to come under
notice. Even in the most desert parts of South Africa the traveller
ought not to despair of finding means to quench his thirst, even though
water may not be obtainable. In some parts he may, perhaps, catch sight
of small antelopes pawing the hard red soil, or may at least come on
places that have been so scratched; and though in many instances this
may have been done only to clean the hoofs, he will find that in others
holes of several inches in depth have been made for the purpose of
obtaining succulent roots looking very like small turnips. Sometimes
these may be found partially eaten, or left behind entire, when the
timid animal has been startled from his repast. The form of these roots
should be carefully noted, together with that of their leaves, as the
traveller can only discover the whereabouts of other roots by external
indications, and cannot be guided--as the antelope probably is--by the
scent of moisture beneath the ground.
The natives of nearly every separate district know of some peculiar
root that is, perhaps, confined to their own locality; and it is always
well to encourage them to bring a supply, not only of the root, but
of its leaves, and to ask them to point out the plant, so that its
appearance may be observed before it is disturbed. Some of these are
small tubers, about the size of a pigeon's egg, on a long underground
stem; others are much larger; and we have seen one of the kind called
"marquæ," which measured in its longest circumference 3-1/2ft., and
2-1/2ft. in its shortest. The "marquæ," or "markhwæ," is properly of a
flattened spherical figure, with an indication of tap-root below and a
small conical protuberance above, from which the slender stem springs
up. Its seeds are strung upon a skein of fibres in long round tapering
pods, 4in. to 6in. long, and thicker than a goose-quill. The taste and
appearance, when cut, would be something like that of a very fibrous
watery turnip; but when thirst-quenching plants are sought for, we
believe that the more tasteless they are the better. The smaller roots
are more agreeable than those of larger size; and we have frequently
found that the mastication of even a small portion of such a root
affords more relief than the drinking of any quantity of water.
In certain countries, where rain seldom falls and the night dews are
heavy, a very considerable quantity of water may be obtained from
the grass and low bushes before sunrise, by shaking them over some
wide shallow vessel; or a piece of waterproof cloth stretched across
the prong end of a wide-forked stick. When properly put together an
implement of this kind is not unlike a large dustpan. Sponges, or soft
porous cloths, absorb a large quantity of water when brought in contact
with wet plants or moist surfaces of any kind. They can be squeezed out
as fast as they become charged with water.
After a long journey, when the throat is parched, the skin of the lips
dried and cracking for want of moisture, the teeth fouled, and the
tongue, with all its papillæ, dry and hard as the teeth of a rasp,
rattling against them, there is no immediate relief in drinking water.
We have at times halted in a melon patch, and have selected and cut
into slices the tasteless melons for our horses. The Hottentots and
Bushmen collect these in quantities, and with a stick mash up the
inside until it becomes a pulp; and, as the water exudes from the
broken cells, they obtain perhaps a mouthful from each melon.
In some parts of the Kalahari Desert it is noticed that there are
individual elephants, rhinoceroses, or other animals, that never drink
water, having attached themselves to a locality in which they find
melons and succulent roots as substitutes. Indeed, we believe that
at least one tribe of Namaqua Hottentots live very comfortably in an
absolutely waterless country, subsisting chiefly on the milk of their
cattle, which in turn quench their thirst solely by eating water melons.
Our fellow traveller, Joseph Macabe, in his arduous journey to Lake
Ngami, travelled long distances without water; and one day he had to
drive his oxen ten miles to eat water melons, and then to drive them
back to the waggons to perform their day's work. This privilege was
duly purchased from the Bushmen who lived near, and who therefore
might be supposed to look upon these wild fruits as their own. A line
was traced upon the ground; but it required all the efforts of the
Bushmen, and the herdsmen too, to make the thirsty cattle understand
that they were only to eat within a certain limit.
The beautiful "traveller's tree" of Madagascar collects and retains
through almost the driest seasons a welcome store of water. Its
ample leaves point upward to the heavens; and all the rain, dew, or
atmospheric moisture from their broad surfaces, is conducted down until
it lodges in the hollow formed just above the junction of the midrib
with the stem. The natives pierce the leaf-stalk with a spear; the
water gushes out, and is caught in a vessel held under to receive it.
So unfailing is the supply from these trees, that where one of them is
seen no native will trouble himself to walk even a short distance to a
river. The most valuable property, however, of this tree is that it may
be tapped again and again without vital injury. It is most likely that
the orifice will close, and the wounded leaf will again collect water;
or, at most, the injured leaf will die off, leaving the others in full
vitality. It is different with the collection of palm juice, in which
the tree itself is materially injured and often completely destroyed.
[Illustration]
On the low lands at the Delta of the Zambesi, where the various species
of mangroves have fulfilled their office in winning from the dominion
of the ocean the broad sand-banks annually deposited by the river, an
abundant growth of the Doum palm and wild date begins to occupy the new
formed land. The natives seek those that have grown to not more than a
man's height, and, cutting off all the leaf-stalks with the exception
of the merest sprout in the centre to continue the vitality, make a
deep incision where the leaves should be, stick in it a bit of folded
leaf as a spout, and hang an earthen pot under it by a strip of leaf,
sheltering it from the sun by a kind of basket, loosely but ingeniously
woven from another leaf in the manner shown in our sketch on p. 519.
In connection with the subject of water we may here appropriately
notice the expedients used by many nations for the separation of juices
from the fruit containing them, or for expressing from grain or fibrous
substances the water in which they have been washed or steeped, and
which may either be collected as holding in solution some nutritious
matter, or thrown away as carrying off something distasteful or even
poisonous.
In Kafirland the stem of a species of Zamia is laid for several
days in a running stream, and we have generally seen it pointed in
the direction of the current so that the moisture with which it is
surcharged might drain gradually from the lower end, carrying with it
the acrid or unpleasant juices, while the impact of the stream from
above would force more water into its pores and continue to dislodge
all that it was desirable to remove, leaving the farinaceous matter
between the fibres.
Another plant, commonly known by the appropriately descriptive name of
elephant's foot (_Testudinaria_ of Burchell, or _Tamus elephantopus_),
is used as an article of food by the Hottentots, and on this account
is often called Hottentot's bread. We have not actually seen the
preparation of it, but believe that very little is required beyond
cutting out the internal pith, which resembles the inside of a turnip,
and baking it on the embers. The remarkable lump which rests upon
the surface of the ground bears, in general shape and colour, some
resemblance to the foot of an elephant, and averages nearly the same
size; but we have seen some nearly 3ft. in diameter. It is covered with
rough angular projections, reminding one of the scales on the shell of
a tortoise.
On the Zambesi, near Logier Hill, we have seen the native women
frequently washing a kind of cassava, cut into discs across the grain
so thin as to leave the fibre as short as possible. These were put into
the closely-woven baskets of the country, which, being about half
immersed, were worked with a rotatory motion similar to that of gold
washing--removing some acrid juice, and leaving what little nutriment
might be contained in the fibre.
In many countries great and long-continued pressure is employed.
Some vegetable substances contain, in addition to their nutritious
properties, juices so acrid as to destroy almost every other fibre that
might be used to contain them; and therefore, as in South America,
particular kinds of palms or other trees are valued because pressure
bags can be woven of them that will resist this action. These bags are
of various shapes; but a very favourite one is that of a long double
cone, loosely woven with the slips, which represent the threads,
crossing each other in a long lozenge-like form, so that when the bag
is filled it shortens up and greatly enlarges its central diameter;
but when it is hung by one end to a tree, and a considerable weight
is attached to the other, its elongation contracts its diameter and
squeezes out the juices of whatever is placed inside it.
We have seen various forms of these bags, which were in use amongst the
ancient Egyptians for expressing the remainder of the juice after the
grapes had already been trodden in the wine-press. Both the ancient
and modern contrivances appear to have been matted bags of elongated
form, and with a very stout eye or loop at either end; and the chief
difference is in their size. The upper one is worked by two men, who,
inserting staves into the loops at the ends, twist them opposite ways;
while the lower is worked by five--four of whom, having twisted it as
tightly as they can, haul the staves apart, while the fifth, throwing
himself between the upper ends, forces them apart still farther. The
effect in each case is the flow of a copious stream of second quality
wine, which pours from the twisted bag into the receptacle placed for
it.
There is a plant, which much resembles the "bachelor's pillow" of our
hothouses, found growing in Mexico and some other countries. When
it is rooted in the earth it is more like a vegetable hedgehog than
aught else, being covered with long pointed thorns, like those of the
cactus. Hunters and travellers often collect these unpromising-looking
productions for the sake of the water they contain. When freed from
their attachment to the ground, they are taken on a forked stick, which
is held in the left hand, whilst the thorn-covered rind is sliced off
with a hunting-knife held in the right. The pulp, thus laid bare,
affords enough moisture to quench the thirst of either man or horse.
The agave (_Agave Americana_) yields a very large quantity of sap. To
obtain this, the crown is cut off, and a deep hole scooped out in the
substance of the plant. This, in a short time, fills with fluid, which,
when collected, fermented, and properly prepared, is the celebrated
"pulque" of the Mexicans.
Large-sized bamboo canes not unfrequently hold bottled-up between their
internodes a considerable quantity of water, the presence of which can
be detected by giving the canes, one after another, a sharp sudden
shake, when the imprisoned fluid gives out a hollow, gurgling sound
easily recognised. To obtain the cane-water, it is only necessary to
tap the joint or cut down the cane. This juice is not only an agreeable
and refreshing drink, but is by the natives believed to be particularly
wholesome and sanitary in its effects on the constitution.
It is somewhat curious that the silicious element found covering the
outside of the cane like a hard varnish should be held in solution
by this fluid; but that it is so there can be no doubt, as, when the
liquid, or sap, is allowed to remain for any length of time in the
tubular cavity of the cane, it either becomes absorbed altogether,
or leaves a hard concrete substance far more like a mineral than
a vegetable substance; possessing, in fact, all the attributes
of an earth product. It is not acted on by any of the ordinary
acids; it remains unaltered by fire; and forms, with the alkalies,
a clear glass, just as flint would. This curious substance is the
celebrated "tabascheer," which is renowned throughout the East for
its marvellously curative qualities; and it is not improbable that
this, like many other Oriental productions, may contain virtues little
dreamed of by the medical practitioner at home.
In some of the forests of the tropics a large description of pitcher
plant is found. The natural cups found on it not only contain a
considerable quantity of water, but have the disadvantage of being
natural traps for insects and all sorts of small creeping things,
which, attracted by the moisture, fall in, and are drowned. Sometimes,
however, a pitcher is found with perfectly clear and deliciously cool
water in it, which well repays the thirsty searcher.
In many nations, the palm trees peculiar to them supply an almost
inexhaustible variety of the necessaries or the conveniencies and
luxuries of life, from timber for house or ship building to fine cloth
for wearing apparel, as well as many articles of food and refreshing,
or often intoxicating, drinks.
Nearly all the palms contain what is called a cabbage, or in other
words a mass of young vegetable matter in taste, nearly resembling the
heart of a cabbage stalk, and both in Australia and Africa we have
occasionally availed ourselves of this. We do not advise it, except in
cases of necessity, because the cutting of it out even from a young
tree involves considerable labour, and it is always with some regret
that a man feels himself obliged to destroy a noble tree, perhaps 40ft.
or 50ft. in height to obtain hardly vegetable matter enough to serve
him for a single meal.
At Coepang, in Timor, we have seen the leaves of the fan palm converted
into buckets or pails by simply drawing the points or leaflets together
and securing them; while the lesser leaves or fronds were in the same
manner made into exquisite little drinking cups, capable of containing
one "doit's" worth of palm juice, which, when perfectly fresh, is most
delicious and refreshing.
The large leaves of the palm may be used for the collection of dew or
occasional showers. The water casks of one of the Dutch gunboats were
set out upon the beach near her anchorage, and the stems of three or
four palm leaves inserted in each bung-hole to conduct thither all the
moisture that might fall upon their broad surface.
{Palms, to climb.}
The tall palm tree is usually climbed by the aid of a loop of
loosely-twisted rope, or a hoop of any sufficiently strong and flexible
material large enough to encircle the tree and the body of the climber,
allowing him to lean back in it at such an angle that the pressure of
his feet against the trunk is sufficient to support him. Short steps
are taken upward, and the rope is jerked up skilfully a little at a
time; but great care must be taken duly to proportion these motions,
for if the feet be too high, the head and shoulders will project so
far that the power of the arms will not suffice to bear the strain,
while if they are too low they will not be pressed with sufficient
force against the tree, and will slip downward.
The northern limits of the palms are--in Europe 43°, in Asia 34°, and
in America 34° of latitude; the southern are--in Africa 34°, in New
Zealand 38°, and in America 36°. The known species amount at present
nearly to 600, but it is supposed that at least from 1000 to 1200
will be found. The stems of some do not rise above the ground, while
others are 200ft. high; some are no thicker than a goose-quill, while
others are as large as a hogshead; some are climbing plants, with long
flexible stems; some are covered with fibrous network, and some have
spines or thorns 8in. or 10in. long, that may be used for needles or
arrows. Some of the leaves are 50ft. long and 8ft. wide--these are
composed of numerous leaflets on a strong midrib; some are undivided,
and yet are 30ft. long and 5ft. wide; and others again are fan-shaped.
The fruits are generally small, the cocoa-nut being the largest of the
family; the kernel is often too hard to be eaten, and the covering
fibrous or woody; but in some the seeds are covered with a pulpy or
farinaceous mass that offers sweet and nutritious food; one species on
the Zambesi reminded us of gingerbread.
The cocoa-nut, especially in its green and immature state, is a most
agreeable fruit, and the water, or milk as we call it, is then most
cooling and refreshing; when it more nearly approaches to ripeness the
kernel may be scraped or pounded upon its own liquor, and it then forms
a very efficient substitute for milk in a cup of tea. A large amount of
oil and other valuable products may be obtained from the tree and its
fruit.
Each young nut, when in the true milk stage of its growth, will yield
about a pint of fluid, cool, and of slightly acid taste. The younger
nuts contain a soft, rich substance, not unlike blanc-mange, which
can be easily scooped out. From the juices of these immature nuts the
natives manufacture an indelible black dye. Toddy, cocoa-nut wine,
arrack, or rack as it is sometimes called, is made from the sap of
the cocoa palm. In favourable seasons the plumes of cocoa-nut blossom
are shot out from amidst the fronds of the tree crown about every six
weeks. Immediately on the appearance of the new flower spathe the
toddy maker ascends the tree after the manner before described, or, as
on the Malabar coast, by cutting a train of notches in the tree trunk.
On arriving at the cluster of young fronds and the sheath containing
the blossom, he binds the whole together with twine. He then makes a
puncture in the stalk of the spathe with his toddy knife, raps the
part well with the handle, and then hangs a chatty pot to receive the
juice as it drains out during the night. Before sunrise he reascends
the tree, lowers the full pot, which may contain from two to six
pints, and replaces it with an empty one. Immediately on obtainment
this juice is extremely cool and sweet to the taste. In the course of
a very few hours fermentation sets in, and it becomes slightly acid.
In twenty-four hours it becomes quite sour. Before too great a change
takes place, however, the toddy man properly treats his brew by the
aid of the true vinous fermentation, and then distils it in a rough,
makeshift still, which among some of the Easterns is extemporised from
a hollow stone, rock, or piece of hollow tree trunk, which forms the
head of the still. A long hollow cane for a tube, and piece of bark,
and some coir saturated with cold water for a condenser, almost any pot
or jar will, with a little ingenuity, form a tolerably efficient still.
Excellent vinegar is made as follows from the palm juice: After
collection, the toddy or sap is placed in earthen pots and covered down
for about four weeks. At the end of that time the fluid is strained
and returned to the pots, with a few pods of capsicum, a piece of
the fruit of the gamboge tree, and a pod from the Indian horseradish
(_Hypertanthera moringa_) are thrown into each pot of fluid, which is
then allowed to remain at rest for five weeks, when excellent vinegar,
well adapted for the use of the settler, is the result.
If, instead of toddy or vinegar, sugar is required, it can be readily
made from the palm sap, which, for this purpose, is treated before
fermentation. It is, on being drawn from the tree, boiled in a suitable
pot or other vessel until it becomes thick and stringy; a little lime
is added; rough crystallisation takes place, and "jaggery," or palm
sugar, is the result. Cocoa-nut oil is valuable for a great number of
purposes. It is obtained from the ripe or mature nut in a variety of
ways. The natives of many of the islands of the Eastern seas cut the
kernels of the nuts in pieces, boil them with water in a large kettle;
collect such oil as rises to the top with a sea-shell mounted on the
end of a stick; then pound the boiled nut in a mortar made from a piece
of hollow log with a wooden pestle; reboil the paste thus formed; skim
again, and so on. The mills used for the expression of this and other
oils, and the crushing of sugar-canes, we shall describe as our work
proceeds. The shell of the cocoa-nut makes excellent cups and bottles.
To extract the kernel to form the latter, the natives bore out one of
the eyes, pour out the milk, fill the nut with sea-water, and bury it
in the sand exposed to the sun's rays. In a short time decomposition is
set up, and all the contents of the shell can be easily shaken out at
the eyehole.
The fibrous husk from time immemorial has supplied the native craft of
India, as well as our vessels trading there, with a cheap and generally
useful kind of rope, called coir, which possesses the valuable property
of being so light as to be of much less specific gravity than water,
and which is, therefore, much used for buoy ropes, life lines, warps,
and cables, and the ropes for the upper edges of fishing nets. Hats,
bags, baskets, sandals, and many other things, are made from it;
its leaves form the covering of huts, and its leaf-stalk form their
framework, and serve any purpose for which light elastic wands are
required.
The date palm, both wild and cultivated, furnishes fruit more or
less delicious according to the species from which it is taken. The
Arab and his horse, and camel too, upon emergency, will live upon
it; and without it the deserts, to which it is indigenous, would be
uninhabitable.
An African species (_OEleis guianensis_) affords palm oil, which is
the basis of our candles. A vessel taking in palm oil once started it
into a tank built in the hold, but the task of digging it out when it
reached England was so arduous that nothing was saved by not providing
casks.
Sago is the produce of a palm, which in the East yields the food of
thousands; it is the pithy centre of the stem, requiring scarcely any
preparation to fit it for food, and a single tree sometimes yields
600lb. weight. Those which furnish the so-called cane for chair bottoms
are a species of calamus; they hang on trees by long hooked spines,
and are sometimes 600ft. or 1000ft. long. These are often used as stays
or standing rigging among native vessels, and sometimes we believe
as cables. When split into smaller sections and twisted they form
tolerable, but not perfectly flexible, ropes; and slips of them, as
is well known, are commonly used by the Chinese for tying up various
packages. The helmet which we wore through the Indian campaign is
composed of this material closely woven.
Many varieties all over the world yield a sugary sap from their yet
unopened spathes or from their stems, and this, when partly fermented,
is the palm wine of Africa and, as we have shown, the toddy of the East
Indies; while similar beverages are obtained by the South Americans
from the _Mauritia oinifera_ and others.
A nation at the mouth of the Orinoco River live almost entirely on a
palm (probably _Mauritia flexuosa_); they build their houses elevated
on the trunks, and live upon the fruit, sap, and such fish as the
waters around them may afford.
Resins and wax are produced by some species. The fruits of a calamus,
in the Eastern Archipelago, are covered with a red resinous substance,
which, in common with the produce of other trees, is the dragon's blood
of commerce, and is used as a colour, a varnish, and in tooth powder.
The _Ceroxylon audicola_, a lofty palm growing in the Andes of Bogota,
secretes in its stem a resinous wax, used for making candles. In the
north of Brazil, the Carnauba (_Copernicia cerifera_) has the underside
of its leaves covered with pure white wax, with no admixture of resin.
Thatch for houses, awnings for boats, and even the upper streaks
of large canoes, umbrellas, hats, baskets, water buckets, cordage,
and numberless other things, are made of palm leaves. In Cuba the
_Chamærops argentica_, and in Sicily the _Chamærops humilis_, is used
for making hats and other fine work. In India the place of the papyrus
was supplied by palm leaves, on whose hard and glossy surfaces Pali and
Sanscrit characters were inscribed with a metal point; the leaves of
_Corypha talieri_, strung together, form the Hindoo volume. The fruit
of _Areca catechu_ is the betel nut, the favourite stimulant of the
Eastern people, which they chew with lime. The fibre of the piassaba
palm is made into cheap and durable cables on the Amazon, and is
introduced into England in the form of brooms, &c.
Although the settler or explorer who directs his steps to North America
has no palms to supply him with food, drink, and clothing, he will find
other members of the vegetable kingdom ready to his hand.
Maple sugar is of vast importance to the settler in the backwoods,
as it serves not only as a substitute for cane sugar, but is not
unfrequently used instead of salt. It is obtained by treating the sap
of the _Acer saccharinum_, or sugar maple. The range of this valuable
tree is very extensive. It is met with, in greater or less abundance,
from the neighbourhood of St. Jean in Upper Canada to Virginia. It
abounds in Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Vermont, and New Hampshire, some
of the trees being found to reach 80ft. in height. Sugar-making may
begin early in the month of April, or, in fact, directly the sap begins
to rise. Frosty nights, followed by warm, genial days, are the most
favourable for the process of sap drawing, which is proceeded with as
follows: One or more auger holes, up to four, are made, at a convenient
distance from the ground, in the trunk of each tree to be treated.
Into each of these holes a little hollow shoot or tube of bark is
thrust, which conveys the sap as it flows into vessels placed for its
reception. Each tree will produce from 15gals. to 20gals. of sap, and
5gals. of sap will yield about 1lb. of sugar. When the vessels under
the spouts are nearly full the sap should be ladled from them into
pails and carried to a shed, in which a large barrel, with the upper
head removed, has been set up as a reservoir. In this it is allowed
to remain at rest until all foreign substances have settled to the
bottom. It is now quickly drawn off and conveyed to the boiler, which,
in the absence of a proper arrangement, may be a large camp kettle, in
which it is heated steadily until evaporated down to the consistence of
treacle, when it is again removed and placed in an open vessel to cool.
When cold, it is strained through a flannel bag into a second boiler,
where it is again heated, clarified with eggs, a little bullock's
blood, or new milk. The boiling is now continued until a little of the
syrup, taken on the point of a clean chip and held in the air, shows
a disposition to assume a crystalline appearance, when the heating
process is stopped and the charge withdrawn from the pot.
It is now in the candy state, and is cast into a variety of quaint
forms by the use of small moulds prepared for the purpose. If
granulated sugar is required, a small barrel is set up at a moderate
distance from the ground; the upper head is removed, and the lower one
bored full of gimlet holes. On the charge of candy being thrown into
this, all the fluid portions drain away in a state of thin molasses
through the holes into a tub or box placed below the barrel, in which
the sugar is soon found fit for use.
Gum sugar is made by throwing the candy when hot from the pot out on
the snow. This treatment has the property of checking crystallisation
and converting the sugar into a tough material much used for chewing.
A settler's family in a good maple district can, by the use of proper
sized boilers, &c., make upwards of 700lb. of good serviceable sugar in
one favourable season.
{Manna, to prepare.}
Manna is a substance well worth the attention of the explorer, as it
is, curiously enough, produced by trees and shrubs of totally different
orders in different geographical ranges. The Arabs and Persians obtain
a kind, known as "Guzunjbeen," from a species of tamarisk called the
"Guz bush." The description known on the Arabian coast, and in the
district surrounding Mount Sinai, by the name of "Toofra," is also
procured from the tamarisk thickets, where it drains from the ends
of the thorns, and falls on the dry leaves, small twigs, and sticks
which have fallen to the ground; it there congeals into hard masses,
and is in that condition gathered for use. It is by the Arabs consumed
as a substitute for honey, and is eaten on bread or other food. The
"camel thorn" of India and Syria is manna yielding, producing the
description known in the East as "Al haj." The so-called Beiruk honey
is in reality a kind of manna which is yielded by a low stunted tree,
not unlike a dwarf aspen, which is known as the "Ghrab bush." In
the Uzbec country manna is obtained from a small tree whose trunk
is divided into knots by a series of annular rings. In Arabia, the
"Ashur" is the manna-bearing plant. In Mesopotamia, it flows from a
species of oak, and is most abundant on such trees as have the largest
share of gall nuts. A medicinal and highly valued manna is obtained
in some districts in Persia from a peculiar willow, which grows in
moist ground. A kind of larch furnishes the _Manna Brigantica_, and
in the Lebanon district it flows from the cedars. In Europe, the ash
is the manna bearer, and three kinds are found to produce it more or
less abundantly. The two most commonly treated for its obtainment are
_Fraxinus rotundifolia_ and _Ornus Europæa_. To obtain the manna from
these trees incisions are made in the bark with a knife; the first cut
is made near the ground, and the others at 2in. or 3in. apart, the cuts
being 1in. long and 1/2in. deep. These cuts are made at the rate of one
per day, mounting upward, cut by cut, in each row. Immediately below
these perpendicular cuts [=invertedT=]-shaped incisions are made in
such a way that each cross cut may receive and hold fast the end of a
leaf gathered from the tree, which serves to conduct the sap away from
the trunk and allow of its dropping into Indian fig leaves placed on
the ground for its reception. The Indian fig leaf, cultivated for the
purpose, has the peculiar property of drying with its edges curled up,
rendering it extremely useful as a sap receiver. August is the month
usually selected for tapping the manna trees, and dry warm weather
is most favourable for the operation, as rain dissolves and destroys
the congealing mass of produce. The manna collected from the bark by
scraping, after having run in long tears down the trunk, is considered
very inferior to that caught in the fig leaves, and is, consequently,
sold at a much lower price.
A great number of fruit, berry, and nut bearing trees and bushes are
to be found on various portions of the North-American territories.
Further south, the productions assume a more tropical character. Here
we are merely dealing with some of the forest stores of the north and
north-west. The following is but a brief list, as our space is limited:
{American wild fruits.}
The "pagessaveg" of the Indians, _Prunes sauvages_ of the
French-Canadians, or "wild plum" of the trappers, is usually collected
late in the month of October. It grows abundantly on the river sides
and lake shores. The Indians either dry or boil it with maple sugar,
when it is converted into a sort of cake by boiling and stirring
the fruit about in the kettle until the mass is thick enough for
treatment, when it is thrown from the pot and spread out to about an
inch deep in a flat layer on a piece of birch bark, when it is exposed
to the sun until it becomes quite tough and tenacious. It is then
rolled up like soft leather, placed in a birch-bark box, and buried in
the earth until wanted. During the winter season, when dried meat is
in use, large pieces of this preparation are cut off with a knife and
boiled with it.
The "sand cherry" of the trappers, or "la cerise à grappe" of the
Canadians, grows abundantly about the borders of sugar-maple groves,
on the edges of old clearings, and about the borders of the prairies.
It is fit to gather in the month of August. The Indians gather large
quantities, crush them between flat heavy stones, stir the mass well
together with deer fat, and then boil it in a kettle until it becomes
a thick tenacious cake or paste, when it is, like the wild plum cake,
buried until required.
The small red forest crab apples can be thoroughly prepared by drying,
when they are both wholesome and nutritious.
The "wortleberry" of the trappers, or "bellois" of the Canadians, is
extremely abundant in a great number of localities. To prepare the
fruit a thick close basket-work tray, or hurdle of white cedar, is
used. This, when covered with a layer of ripe berries, is suspended
over a slow steady wood fire until dry, when they are packed away in
bark boxes. They are either mixed with dough to form cake, or boiled
with meat or fish.
The "mashkigimin" of the Indians, "les ottakas" of the Canadians, the
"cranberry" of the trappers: this fruit, although commonly known among
trappers and English settlers as the cranberry, is much larger than the
European variety. Swampy ground is most congenial to its growth. It
is fit to gather as early as the month of October, but remains on the
bushes even after being thickly buried by snow in the winter season.
Immense quantities of these berries are annually gathered by the
Indians, not only for their own use, but as a branch of trade with the
United States traders, who readily purchase them for preserving. For
Indian use, they require no treatment, as they do not readily decay;
but by settlers they are usually boiled in syrup, or preserved in maple
sugar.
Wild hazel nuts are found in great abundance. These are best kept by
first packing, and then burying them in an earthen jar or bark box.
"Swan potatoes" are found growing on the shallow margins of rivers,
lakes, and streams. These, when dug from the soft ooze and washed
clean, are strung on a long thin strip of white cedar wood, and hung up
over the fire to dry. They are boiled for use, when they become plump
and palatable.
Wild raspberries, strawberries, &c., are to be met with in many parts
of America.
Butter nuts, hickory nuts, and pinons, or cone nuts, are all, more or
less, deserving of the attention of the hunter or explorer.
{Sago-making.}
In some islands of the Indian Archipelago nature has so bountifully
provided for the wants of the human race that it seems as if a
remnant of Paradise yet lingered upon earth, and man had never been
sentenced to eat his bread in the sweat of his brow. At all events, the
inhabitants of these islands are relieved from that necessity, and to
all appearance they are little better for it. The man who, by chopping
down a tree and washing its pith for a week or two, can provide
himself with a substitute for bread for a whole year is not likely to
be, nor is he really equal either in physical strength, activity, or
intelligence to him who must earn his food by cultivation of the soil,
by chasing wild animals in their forest haunts, or by launching his
little craft upon the waters, and ensnaring or doing battle with the
denizens of the ocean.
[Illustration]
Our sketch represents the principal processes of sago-making. The palm
which yields the sago is cut down; a slab is chopped off from the upper
side of the trunk, leaving the pith which occupied the large internal
hollow exposed; this is beaten out in fragments, rather than chopped,
by a club of heavy wood, in the end of which a sharp angular fragment
of quartz or other stone is set. The pith is then washed in a trough
composed of the swelling portions of the leaf stems, where they embrace
the trunk on which they grow, just as the jaws of a cutter's gaff go
round the mast. Two of these are placed with their broad ends together,
supported by stakes and cross-bars, so as to form a long trough widest
in the middle, and out of level. A third is set with its narrow end
meeting that of the next piece, whilst the wide end rises at a slight
elevation. Across this is placed a screen of fibrous cloth, supported
by another stick, elastic enough to keep it always tolerably tight
without undue strain, and a mass of the pith being placed behind this
is washed by water poured repeatedly upon it and allowed to percolate
through and run off till all the superfluous matter is washed away, and
the sago alone is left.
The different members of the banana and plantain family, too, lend
their aid in furnishing a larger quantity by far of life-supporting
elements than the finest descriptions of wheat grown on the same area
of ground. Whether eaten in a ripe state as a fruit, or boiled green
as a vegetable (when it is not a bad substitute for the potato), this
production is both palatable and wholesome. A good store food is made
by cutting the fruit into slices, hanging it up to dry, and, when
required for use, boiling it into a pulp.
{Useful roots.}
Plantain flour is made by thoroughly drying the fruit, and then
grinding it in one of the native mills hereafter described. Then the
root of the Taro (_Calandium esculentum_), that of the sweet potato
(_Battata convolvulans_), and the roots of certain edible ferns
(_Pteris esculenta_ amongst the number), are valuable as yielding food.
Many of these productions furnish drink as well. The plantains before
referred to yield a very palatable cider, which is made as follows:
A deep hole is dug in the earth, and a number of plantains stripped
from the main stem is thrown in; straw and earth are cast on, and the
plantains are allowed to remain at rest for eight days. The peel is
then stripped off, and the pulp is placed in a large open trough with
water, where it is thoroughly washed and mixed with it. At the end of
two days the cider may be strained off for use.
Whisky may be made from sweet potatoes in the following manner: Dig
up as many of the tubers as you may find it convenient to treat; boil
them until quite soft; place them in large jars, or other vessels,
with about their own bulk of water; stir this mixture well about, and
then to each jar add a little "merissa" barm (obtained from native
beer-brewing), which may be placed on a small bundle of cocoa-fibre or
cotton. When fermentation has taken place, erect your still, which may
be of the kind described and figured at page 495; or a large native pot
may be mounted on a hollowed-out ant-hill to serve as the still boiler;
a smaller pot inverted and placed on the open mouth of this forms the
still head or dome. When the lower pot is charged with the fermented
"wash," the upper pot is luted fast with clay. A small hole is bored
near its top for the reception of the end of any hollow tube you can
get; this is also secured with clay. The condensing process is carried
out by keeping the tube cold with cloths or mats and cold water. The
depending end of the tube should discharge itself into any convenient
vessel partly sunk beneath the surface of cold water. A native pot, or
a common tea-kettle, will make a good receiver; and an ordinary pail,
or tub, a convenient water tank in which to place it. By the use of
such a contrivance as this, half-a-dozen bottles of very good spirits
may be made in one day's distilling.
{Milk-spirit.}
The Mongols make their milk-spirit--known as "kumis"--in the following
manner: A large quantity of milk of any kind (mare's milk is considered
best) is first turned sour, and then allowed to ferment. It is then
poured into a large iron camp-kettle or pot; one of the wooden bowls or
dishes in use among the Tartars is now fitted closely into the mouth of
the kettle or boiler, and luted fast round the edges with wet cow-dung
or clay; an elbow-shaped, hollow branch of a tree, or a curved tube,
is now fitted into a hole in the convex surface of the bowl, and more
cow-dung or clay is applied. Into the mouth of this bent pipe a wooden
tube is fixed, which is kept cold by the constant contact of a wet
sheepskin. As the pot boils the spirit passes over, and is collected
for use in some suitable vessel placed as a receiver. This is also kept
cold by the aid of sheepskins and water.