The Art of Travel Part 5

The dimensions of the axe-heads are as follow: -- No. 1. -- Length of blade measured from the wood.. 4 1/2 inches.

Breadth of blade at widest part..........1 1/2 "

Weight, including the braces............13 1/2 oz.

No. 2. -- Length of blade measured from the wood.. 3 1/2 inches.

Length of pick.......................... 4 1/2 "

Breadth of blade at widest part......... 1 3/4 "

Breadth of pick......................... 0 1/2 "

Weight, including the braces............15 1/2 oz.

No. 3. -- Length of blade measured from the wood.. 4 inches.

Length of pick.......................... 5 "

Breadth of blade at widest part......... 2 1/4 "

Breadth of pick......................... 0 5/8 "

Weight, including the brades............21 1/4 oz.

We much desired to recommend to the Club some means by which the axe-head might be made moveable, so as to be capable of being put on and taken off the handle quickly and easily. We regret to say, however, that we were unable to discover any plan by which this can be effectually done. We examined very carefully the numerous and formidable weapons which have been sent in by members for exhibition, most of which had elaborate contrivances for fastening on the axe-head. These were all, however, liable to very serious objections. Some were evidently insecure; with others it was necessary that the axe-head should be surmounted by a huge k.n.o.b, which would prove a most serious impediment in step-cutting; while in the best and firmest which we found, the axe-head was attached to the pole by means of nuts and screws projecting at the side or over the top of the axe. This latter method of fastening seems to us awkward and possibly dangerous, as the nuts, from their position, are very likely to become loose or to get broken off, and cannot, except when dangerously loose, be fastened or unfastened without a key or wrench--a troublesome article, certain to be lost on the first expedition.

The Handle of the Axe should, we think, be made of ash. We recommend this wood in preference to deal, which is lighter and nearly as strong, because in choosing a piece of ash it is easier to select with certainty thoroughly sound and well-seasoned wood; and in preference to hickory and lance-wood, which are stronger, because these woods are extremely heavy.

The handle should, we believe, be of a very slightly oval form, as it is then more convenient to the grasp than if round. As to the thickness of the wood, we are satisfied it ought nowhere to be less than 1 3/8 inch, since a pole of that diameter, made of ordinarily good ash, is the smallest which cannot be permanently bent by a heavy man's most violent effort; although we have seen some pieces of unusually strong ash of a less thickness, which proved inflexible.

We recommend, then, that the oval section of the handle should have a shorter diameter of 1 3/8 inch, and a longer diameter of 1 1/2 inch, and that the thickness should be the same from one end to the other. The length of the handles for Nos. 1 and 2 should be such that they will reach to just under the arm at the shoulder. The handle for No. 3, which is intended to be used exclusively as an axe, should be between 3 1/2 and 4 feet long. The lower end of the handle should be strengthened in the usual way by a ferrule, and armed with a spike.

The spike should be from 3 1/2 to 4 inches long, clear of the end of the handle, and should be prevented from moving by a slight rivet pa.s.sed through it near the upper end after it is fastened in. The exact form of the spike and ferrule are represented in the diagram.

We have further to recommend for axe-handles an addition which is liable to suspicion as an entire innovation, but which, we are confident, will be found valuable at those critical moments when the axe is required to hold up two or three men. It has happened that when the axe has been struck into the snow a man has been unable to keep his hold of the handle, which slips out of his hand, and leaves him perfectly helpless.

To guard against this mischance, we propose to fasten a band of leather round the handle, at a distance of a foot from the ferrule at the lower end. This leather should be about an eighth of an inch thick, and will be quite sufficient to check the hand when it is sliding down the handle. It should be lashed round the wood and strained tight when wet.

Alpenstocks.--What we have said about the handle of the axe applies in all respects to the Alpenstock, except that the length of the latter should be different, and that the leathern ring would of course not be required. It is generally thought most convenient that the Alpenstock should be high enough to touch the chin of its owner, as he stands upright; but this is a matter on which it is scarcely possible, and, were it possible, scarcely necessary to lay down an absolute rule.

Boots.--Several nails are sure to be knocked out after each hard day's work, therefore a reserve supply is necessary in lands where none other are to be found. No makes.h.i.+ft contrivance, so far as I am aware, will replace the iron last used by shoemakers when they hammer nails into the boot. There is a well-known contrivance of screws with jagged heads, for s.c.r.e.w.i.n.g into boots when a little ice has to be crossed. They do excellently for occasional purposes, but not for regular ice-work, as they are easily torn out. Crampons are soles of leather with spikes; they are tied over the shoes, but neither English mountaineers nor modern guides ever employ them: nailed boots are better.

Snow Spectacles.--The Esquimaux, who have no coloured gla.s.s, or any equivalent for it, cut a piece of soft wood to the curvature of the face; it is about two inches thick, and extends horizontally quite across both eyes, resting on the nose, a notch being cut in the wood to answer the purpose of the bridge of a pair of spectacles. It is tied behind the ears; and, so far as I have now described it would exclude every ray of light from the eyes. Next, a long narrow slit, of the thickness of a thin saw-cut, is made along the middle almost from end to end. Through this slit the wearer can see very fairly. As it is narrower than the diameter of the pupil of his eye, the light that reaches his retina is much diminished in quant.i.ty. c.r.a.pe or gauze is a subst.i.tute for coloured gla.s.s.

Mask.--Is merely a pocket-handkerchief, with strings to tie it over the face; eye-holes are cut in it, also a hole for the nose, over which a protecting triangular piece of linen is thrown, and another hole opposite the mouth, to breathe through it is drawn below the chin so as to tie firmly in place. The mask prevents the face from being cut to pieces by the cold dry winds, and blistered by the powerful rays of the sun reverberated from the snow.

CATTLE.

Happy is the traveller who has the opportunity of hiring his cattle with their attendants: for his delay and cares are then reduced to those of making a bargain, and of riding what he has hired; and when one set of animals is tired or worn out, he can leave them behind and ride on with others. But, for the most part, explorers must drive their own beasts with them: they must see to their being watered, tended, and run after when astray; help to pack and harness them; fatigue themselves for their benefit; and drudge at the work of a cowherd for some hours a day.

In fitting out a caravan, as few different kinds of animals should be taken as possible, or they will split into separate herds, and require many men to look after them.

The dispositions of the animals that compose a caravan affect, in no small degree, the pleasure of travelling with it. Now, it is to be noticed that men attach themselves to horses and a.s.ses, and in a lesser degree to mules and oxen, but they rarely make friends of camels.

Weights carried by Cattle.--The net weights that these different animals carry in trying, long-continued journeys--through stages uncertain in length, sometimes leading to good pasture, sometimes to bad--must not be reckoned higher than the following; and an animal draws about 2 1/2 times as much net weight as he carries:--An a.s.s, 65 lbs.; a small mule, 90 lbs.; a horse lbs.; an ox lbs.; a camel lbs. to 200 lbs.; elephant lbs. In level countries--where there is grain, and where the road is known and a regularity in the day's work can be ensured--the weights that may be carried are fully double those of the above list.

Captain Burton's donkeys, in East Africa, carried immense weights. Dogs will draw a "travail" (which see) of 60 lbs. for a distance of 15 miles a day, upon hard level country.

Theory of Loads and Distances.--How should we load men or animals of transport, and how should we urge them, in order to obtain the largest amount of effective labour? If they carry a mere feather-weight, they may make long days' journeys; but their value, as animals of transport, is almost nothing. Again, on the other hand, if we load them with an excessive weight, they will soon come to a standstill; and in this case, as in the first, their value as beasts of transport is almost nil. What then, is that moderate load by which we shall obtain the largest amount of "useful effect"? this is a problem which many of the ablest engineers and philosophers have endeavoured to solve; and the formulae--partly based on theory and partly on experiment--which were used by Euler, are generally accepted as a fair approximation. They are very simple, and peculiarly interesting on account of their wide applicability. They are equally true for men, animals, or machines; and are wholly independent of the way in which the power is applied: whether, for instance, a man carries his burden, or draws it, or rows or punts it in a boat, or winds it up with a crank or tread-mill.

Travellers might well turn the theory to account on their own behalf; they are well situated for testing its truthfulness, by observing the practices of the countries in which they are travelling. Reliable facts upon the extreme distances that can be travelled over, day after day, by people carrying different loads, but equally circ.u.mstanced in every other respect, would be very acceptable to me.

The formulae are as follow:--Let b be the burden which would just suffice to prevent an animal from moving a step; d the distance he could travel daily if unloaded. Also, let b1 be some burden less than b; and let d1 be the distance to which he could travel daily when carrying b1.

Then b1 d2 = b(d-d1)2. (1)

Again, the "useful effect" is a maximum, if b1d1 is a maximum. When this is the case, then

b1 = 4/9 b. (2) And 3 d1 = d. (3)

In other words, an animal gets through most work in the day if he carries 4/9 of the greatest load he could just stagger under; in which case he will be able to travel 1/3 of the distance he could walk if he carried no load at all. (Machinery requires no repose; and therefore d, the distance per day, is convertible into v, the velocity of movement.)

As an example:--Suppose a man is able to walk 10 miles a day, with a load of 130 lbs., and 33 miles a day when he carries nothing. Then, from equation (1), the value of b (the burden under which he would be brought to a standstill) would be about 267 1/2; and the best load for him, from equation (2), would be 119 lbs., which he would be able to carry, according to equation (3), 11 miles a day.

Horses.--The mode of taking wild horses is by throwing the la.s.so, whilst pursuing them at full speed, and dropping a noose over their necks, by which their speed is soon checked, and they are choked down.

Mr. Rarey's sixpenny book tells all that can be told on the subject of horse-breaking; but far more lies in the skill and horse-knowledge of the operator, than in the mere theory. His way of mastering a vicious horse is by taking up one fore-foot, bending the knee, slipping a loop over the knee until it comes to the pastern-joint, and then fixing it tight. The loop must be caused to embrace the part between the hoof and the pastern-joint firmly, by the help of a strap of some kind, lest it should slip. The horse is now on three legs, and he feels conquered. If he gets very mad, wait leisurely till he becomes quiet, then caress him, and let the leg down and allow him to rest; then repeat the process. If the horse kicks in harness, drive him slowly on three legs.

In breaking-in a stubborn beast, it is convenient to physic him until he is sick and out of spirits, or to starve him into submission.

Salt keeps horses from straying, if they are accustomed to come up to the camp and get it. But it is a bad plan as they are apt to hang about, instead of going off to feed. They are so fond of salt, that they have been known to stray back to a distant house where they had been allowed to lick it.

Shooting Horse.--Spur him as much as you will, but never use a whip; else, whenever you raise your gun to fire, he will feel a dread that it may be the whip, and will be unsteady.

Horse neighing.--Mungo Park tells how he clutched his horse's muzzle with both hands to prevent his neighing, when he was in concealment and hors.e.m.e.n were pa.s.sing near.

Addenda.--In climbing a steep hill hang on to the tail of your horse as you walk behind him. Horses are easily driven in file by securing the halter of each horse to the tail of the one before him. To swim horses across a river, to sleep by their side when there is danger, to tether them, and to water them from wells, are all described elsewhere. (See "Horses" in index.)

Mules.--Mules require men who know their habits; they are powerful beats, and can only be mastered with skill and address. A savage will not a.s.sist in packing them, for he fears their heels: the Swiss say mules have always an arriere-pensee. They have odd secret ways, strange fancies, and lurking vice. When they stray, they go immense distances; and it is almost beyond the power of a man on foot to tend them in a wild country: he can neither overtake them easily, nor, when overtaken, catch them. The female is, in most breeds, much the more docile. They suffer from African distemper, but in a less degree than horses. The following descriptions of mule caravans are exceedingly graphic and instructive:--"The madrina (or G.o.dmother) is a most important personage. She is an old steady mare, with a little bell round her neck, and wheresoever she goes the mules, like good children, follow her. If several large troops are turned into one field to graze in the morning, the muleteer has only to lead the madrinas a little apart and tinkle their bells, and, although there may be 200 or 300 mules together, each immediately knows its own bell, and separates itself from the rest. The affection of these animals for their madrina saves infinite trouble. It is nearly impossible to lose an old mule: for, if detained several hours by force, she will, by the power of smell, like a dog, track out her companions, or rather the madrina; for, according to the muleteer, she is the chief object of affection. The feeling, however, is not of an individual nature; for I believe I am right in saying that any animal with a bell will serve as a madrina."

(Charles Darwin.)

"After travelling about 14 miles, we were joined by three miners; and our mules, taking a sudden liking for their horses, jogged on at a more brisk rate. The instincts of the mulish heart form an interesting study to the traveller in the mountains. I would (were the comparison not too ungallant) liken it to a woman's; for it is quite as uncertain in its sympathies, bestowing its affections when least expected, and, when bestowed, quite as constant, so long as the object is not taken away.

Sometimes a horse, sometimes an a.s.s, captivates the fancy of a whole drove of mules, but often an animal nowise akin. Lieutenant Beale told me that his whole train of mules once galloped off suddenly, on the plains of the Cimarone, and ran half a mile, when they halted in apparent satisfaction. The cause of their freak was found to be a buffalo-calf, which had strayed from the herd. They were frisking around it in the greatest delight, rubbing their noses against it, throwing up their heels, and making themselves ridiculous by abortive attempts to neigh and bray; while the poor calf, unconscious of its attractive qualities, stood trembling in their midst. It is customary to have a horse in the mule-trains of the traders of North Mexico, as a sort of magnet to keep together the separate atoms of the train, for, whatever the temptation, they will never stray from him." (Taylor's 'Eldorado.')

a.s.ses.--Notwithstanding his inveterate obstinacy, the a.s.s is an excellent and sober little beast, far too much despised by us. He is not only the most enduring, but also one of the quickest walkers among cattle, being usually promoted to the leaders.h.i.+p of a caravan. He is nearly equal to the camel in enduring thirst, and thrives on the poorest pasture, suffers from few diseases, and is unscathed by African distemper. The long desert-roads and pilgrim-tracts of North Africa are largely travelled over by means of a.s.ses.

a.s.ses taught not to kick.--Mungo Park says that the negroes, where he travelled, taught their a.s.ses as follows:--They cut a forked stick, and put the forked part into the a.s.s's mouth, like the bit of a bridle; they then tied the two smaller parts together above his head, leaving the lower part of sufficient length to strike against the ground if the a.s.s should attempt to put his head down. It always proved effectual.

Not to bray.--Messrs. Huc and Gabet, who were distracted by the continual braying of one of their a.s.ses throughout the night, appealed to their muleteer: he put a speedy close to the nuisance by what appears to be a customary contrivance in China, viz., by las.h.i.+ng a heavy stone to the beast's tail. It appears that when an a.s.s wants to bray he elevates his tail, and, if his tail be weighted down, he has not the heart to bray. In hostile neighbourhoods, where silence and concealment are sought, it might be well to adopt this rather absurd treatment. An a.s.s who was being schooled according to the method of this and the preceding paragraph, both at the same time, would be worthy of an artist's sketch.

Oxen.--Though oxen are coa.r.s.e, gross, and phlegmatic beasts, they have these merits: they are eminently gregarious, and they ruminate their food. The consequence is, first, that one, two, or more, are very seldom missing out of a drove; and, secondly, that they pick up what they require, in a much shorter time than horses, mules, etc., who have to chew as they eat. Oxen require less tending than any other beasts of burden.

To train a Pack-ox.--An ox of any age, however wild he may be, can be broken in, in three or four days, so as to carry a pack of about 70 lbs.; though it is true that he will frequently kick it off during the journey, and give excessive trouble. It would be scarcely possible to drive more than three of these newly-taught oxen at a time, on account of the frequent delays caused by the unruliness of one or other of them. Muich depends on the natural apt.i.tude of the animal in estimating the time required for making a steady pack-ox, some will carry a good weight and go steadily after only a fortnight's travel; some will never learn. But in all cases they prove unruly at the beginning of a journey.

To break-in an ox, take a long thong or cord, make a noose at one end of it, and let two or three men lay hold of the other; then, driving all the herd together in a clump, go in among them and, aided by a long stick, push or slip the noose round the hind leg of the ox that you want, and draw tight. He will pull and struggle with all his might, and the other oxen will disperse, leaving him alone dragging the men about after him.

Next, let another man throw a noose round his horns, and the beast is, comparatively speaking, secured. It is now convenient to throw the animal down on his side, which is easily done by the judicious tugging at his tail and at the thongs. To keep him on the ground, let one man take the tail, and, pa.s.sing it round one thigh, hold him down by that, while one or two men force the horns down against the ground. His nose has next to be pierced. A stick, shaped like a Y, eight inches long, is cut of some tough wood; and the foot of it, being first sharpened, is forcibly poked through the wall that divides the nostrils, and a thin thong is tied firmly to either end of this nose-stick. The thong is gathered together, and wound in a figure of 8 round the two horns, where it henceforward remains while the animal feeds, and by clutching at which, he is at any time caught.

Next for the packing: as the ox lies on the ground, sc.r.a.pe a hole in the sand under his belly, and then, having laid a few skins on his back, pa.s.s a thong round him and them, several times; tie the ends fast, and, taking a stick, pa.s.s it through and twist it round, until the las.h.i.+ngs are extremely tight, then let it be secured. Now let the ox go, and get quickly out of his way, in case he should be savage. When the ox gets up, he is sulky and ferocious by turns; and kicks, jumps, and bellows, but at last joins his companions.