General Remarks.--I have spoken of the strength of different cords in
"Alpine outfit," p. 48. All kinds of cord become exceedingly rotten in
hot, dry countries: the fishermen of the Cape preserve their nets by
steeping them occasionally in blood. Thread and twine should be waxed
before using them for sewing, whenever there is reason to doubt their
durability.
Substitutes.--The substitutes for thread, string, and cord, are as
follows:--Thongs cut spirally, like a watch-spring, out of a piece of
leather or hide, and made pliant by working them round a stick; sinew and
catgut (pp. 346); inner bark of trees--this is easily separated by
long steeping in water, but chewing it is better; roots of trees, as the
spruce-fir, split to the proper size; woodbines, runners, or pliant
twigs, twisted together. Some seaweeds--the only English one of which I
have heard is the common olive-green weed called Chorda Filum; it looks
like a whip-thong, and sometimes grows to a length of thirty or forty
feet; when half-dried, the skin is taken off and twisted into
fishing-lines, etc. Hay-bands; horsehair ropes, or even a few twisted
hairs from the tail of a horse; the stems of numerous plants afford
fibres that are more or less effective substitutes for hemp, those that
are used by the natives of the country visited should be notices; "Indian
grass" is an animal substance attached to the ovaries of small sharks and
some other fish of the same class.
In lashing things together with twigs, hay-bands, and the like, the way
of securing the loose ends is not by means of a knot, which usually
causes them to break, but by twisting the ends together until they
"kink." All faggots and trusses are secured in this way.
Sewing.--Sewing Materials.--These are best carried in a linen bag; they
consist of sail needles, packed in a long box with cork wads at the ends,
to preserve their points; a sailor's palm; beeswax; twine; awls;
bristles; cobbler's wax; large bodkin; packing-needle; ordinary
sewing-needles; tailor's thimble; threads; cottons; silks; buttons;
scissors; and pins.
Stitches.--The enthusiastic traveller should be thoroughly grounded by a
tailor in the rudiments of sewing and the most useful stitches. They are
as follows:--To make a knot at the end of the thread; to run; to stitch;
to "sew'\;" to fell, or otherwise to make a double seam; to herring-bone
(essential for flannels); to hem; to sew over; to bind; to sew on a
button; to make a button-hole; to darn; and to fine-draw. He should also
practise taking patterns of some articles of clothing in paper, cutting
them out in common materials and putting them together. He should take a
lesson or two from a saddler, and several, when on board ship, from a
sail-maker.
Needles, to make.--The natives of Unyoro sew their beautifully prepared
goat-skins in a wonderfully neat manner, with needles manufactured by
themselves. "They make them not by boring the eye, but by sharpening the
end into a fine point and turning it over, the extremity being hammered
into a small cut in the body of the needle, to prevent it from
catching."--Sir S. Baker.