Sleeping-bags.--Knapsack Bags.--These have been used for the last
twenty-five years by the French 'douaniers', who watch the
mountain-passes of the Pyrenean frontier. The bags are made of sheepskin,
with the wool inside. When not in use they are folded up and buckled with
five buckles into the shape of a somewhat bulky knapsack (p. 152), which
the recent occupant may shoulder and walk away with.
The accompanying sketches are drawn to scale. They were made from the
sleeping-bag belonging to a man 5 feet 6 inches in height; the scale
should therefore be lengthened for a taller person, but the breadth seems
ample. Its weight was exactly seven pounds. The douaniers post themselves
on watch more or less immersed in these bags. They lie out in wet and
snow, and find them impervious to both. When they sleep, they get quite
inside them, stuff their cloaks between their throats and the bag, and
let its flap cover their faces. It is easy enough for them to extricate
themselves; they can do so almost with a bound. The Spanish Custom-house
officers who watch the same frontier, use their cloaks and other wraps,
which are far more weighty, and far inferior in warmth and protection to
the bags. I described these knapsack bags in 'Vacation Tourists for
1860,' p. 449, and I subsequently had a macintosh bag lined with drugget,
made on the same principle. I had a hood to it, and also the means of
buttoning it loosely under my chin, to make myself watertight during
heavy rain. In that bag I passed many nights of very trying weather. On
one instance, I selected a hilltop in Switzerland, on the way from
Chambery to the Dent du Midi, during a violent and long-continued
thunderstorm. The storm began above my head, then slowly sank to my
level, and finally subsided below me. Many Alpine travellers, notably Mr.
Packe and Mr. Tuckett, have adopted these bags, and used them
continually. Macintosh is certainly oppressive to sleep in, though less
so than might have been expected, as the half-unconscious fidgeting of
the sleeper changes the air. A man in travelling "condition" would
probably find a drugget-bag more healthy than macintosh, even though he
became somewhat wet inside it. Beds used to be almost unknown in some
parts of the Pyrenees. Sheepskin sleeping-bags were employed instead.
Thus, I am assured that at the beginning of this century, there was
hardly a bed in the whole of the little republic of Andorre. The way of
arranging them as knapsacks is, as I have said, a recent invention.
In fig. 1 the wide opening to the mouth of the bag is shown; also the
ends of the buckles and straps that are sewn (on patches of leather, for
additional strength) to the lower side of the bag, as seen in fig. 2.
[Fig 1 and 2].
It must be understood that the woolly sides of the skins are inwards. The
straps that hold the knapsack to the shoulders are secured by a simple
fastening, shown in figs. 2 and 3. But the ordinary knapsack hooks and
rings, if procurable, would answer the purpose better. The straight lines
in fig. 1 show the way in which the bag is to be folded into the shape of
fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows the sleeper inside his bag, in which he fits very
like a grub in its cocoon. There is no waste of space. For the sake of
warmth, the bag is made double from the knees downwards, and also
opposite to the small of the back.
[Figs 3 and 4].
During the daytime, when the weather is wet or cold, the bags are of much
use, for the douaniers sit with them pulled up to their waist. When
carried in the manner of a knapsack the bag sits perfectly well against
the shoulders; but, owing to the yielding nature of its substance, it
lies too close to the back, and is decidedly oppressive. A wicker frame
might well be interposed.
Arctic Sleeping-bags.--Arctic travellers use coarse drugget bags, covered
with brown holland to make them less pervious to the wind, and having a
long flap at the upper end to fold down over the face. I have already
extracted passages from travellers' accounts relating to them, in
speaking of "Encamping on Snow," p. 140, and another, when speaking of
"Snow-walls with Tenting for their Roofs," p. 143.
Macintosh Sack.--Mr. Falconer writes to me as follows:--"I travelled in
1841 from Austin in Texas to Mexico through New Mexico. I left Austin in
June, and reached Zacateras on Christmas Day. During nearly the whole
period we travelled from Austin to New Mexico, I camped without any
covering at night for myself, except a large macintosh, made up as a
sack, with a piece so laid as a continuation of one side, as to be used
as a coverlet, sufficient in length to be brought from the back, over the
head, and down on the breast. Inside I placed my blankets. I slept under
this covering during many a heavy storm at night, and got out of my
soft-coated shell dry in the morning. My opinion is, that every traveller
who works his way with a horse should fix on his own saddle the said
macintosh sack, two blankets, a tin cup, and a frying-pan. It is amazing,
when you get into real working order, how few things are sufficient."
Peasants' Sack.--The peasants in the northern parts of Germany use a
strong linen sack, made to draw at one end. This they stuff with straw,
hay, dry leaves, etc.; and, putting their feet into it, pull its mouth up
to their armpits. They use them when driving their wagons in winter, and
when lodging at their wretched roadside inns. (See a letter in the Times,
February 125.)
Bag, combined with Tent.--I should think that a combination of a sleeping
bag with a very small tent, just large enough to enclose the man's head
and shoulders, so as to permit him to eat or write when lying in his bag
without fear of the wet would be the smallest and lightest arrangement,
compatible with efficiency, in a stormy climate.