Part 10

"The soldering of the turned-up edges to the bottom, on the outside, may then be done. Separate slips of tin 2 inches wide should then be bent up longitudinally in halves, like angle-iron, and fitted along the joining of the bottom and sides, on the inside, and soldered; these slips may also be clipped on either side, when necessary, to make them take the curves.

"The measure round the gunwale may now be taken within the edge of the tin, and an iron rod 3/8 of an inch thick, to go round this gunwale, bent to the form of the outline of fig. III., i b k c, which will now be that of the boat, and the ends welded at their meeting. Sufficient iron rod must be taken to form eyes at i and k to receive rings of 3 or 4 inches diameter, through which a pole is to be passed, for carrying the boat, and for their welding at the meeting of the ends.

"The iron-rod gunwale may now be put in, and the 2 inches width of tin, allowed in excess on the sides and ends of the bottom, turned down closely over the rod, all round and soldered on the inside. The side elevation of the boat will now be as w x y, fig. IV. "The boat should be proved as to being water-tight by filling it with water, any leak being stopped by more solder.

"The outside must now be covered with pitched canvas, thus:--

"Turn it upside down, in a sheltered spot exposed to the sun, or warm it by other means, and have a caldron of boiling pitch on a fire at hand, also have sufficient canvas sewn together in breadths as will quite cover the boat, bottom and sides; then, beginning across the middle of the bottom, brush on a layer 3 or 4 inches wide of the boiling pitch, and quickly press down the corresponding central portion of the canvas upon it; work on thus, from the centre of the bottom to the ends, laying on a breadth of pitch, and then pressing down and stretching a portion of canvas over it; then turn down the canvas over each side, and pitch in the same way, butting out the parts of the canvas that would overlap too much at the bends, but leaving no tin uncovered; the boat may then be righted, the excess of canvas cut off, and the edge laid down with pitch, a little short of the gunwale.

"The bottom may then be pitched over the canvas for 6 inches up, and the rest of the outside, with the inside, be painted with two or three coats.

"A flooring of thin planking for 3 1/2 feet of the central portion of the boat must now be made as follows:--Make five planks, between 8 and 9 inches wide, to fit across the beam of the boat, and in each of the outer planks, o o, p p, fig. III., fix uprights m n, 6 inches high, to support a seat, mortised on the pair of uprights in each board; the ends of each seat should be short of the breadth of the boat by an inch or so, so as not to bear against the sides; then lay down two ribs of tough wood, fitted to bear equally across the planking, on each side, as rs, r1 s1, and screw each end of them down to the outer planks only.

"Wooden cleats can be fixed on each board at t t, each to receive the butts of two guns, while their barrels lie in hollows formed in the cushions of the seat opposite them, so that the rower can put down his paddles and take up his gun instantly; steps for a mast can be also contrived at the same points. The woodwork is to be also well painted; it can be taken out with ease, as it is nowhere connected with the tin of the boat. Care should be taken that no projections in this woodwork, such as screw-heads, etc., should chafe the tin, and that it should be always kept well painted.

"The boat, of which this is a description, drew 2 1/2 inches water with one person in, with two guns and ammunition, etc.; it was furnished with two short paddles, which were tied by a short length of string to the sides, so as to be dropped without loss of time on taking up the gun to fire; the boat turned with the greatest ease, by one backing and pulling stroke of the two paddles, and was very stiff in the water.

"Iron rowlocks were fitted to it, on the outside at b, e, fig. I. (I do not give the diagram by which the author illustrated his description; the rowlocks were applied to the sides of the boat, and each rowlock was secured to the side by three bolts.) The two upper bolts had claw-heads to seize the iron-rod gunwale on the inside, and a piece of wood was fitted on the inside, through which the three bolts passed, to give substance for their hold, their nuts were on the outside. With these rowlocks two oars of 7 feet long were used. The breadth between the horns should be only just enough to admit the oars.

"This boat could be carried on the shoulders of two persons, when suspended on a pole passed through the end rings, for a distance of twelve or fifteen miles daily, with guns and ammunition stowed in it. It could be fired from, standing, without risk, and be poled over marshy ground barely covered with water, or dragged with ease by the person seated in it, through high reeds, by grasping a handful on each side and hauling on them. A rudder was unnecessary. It was in use for more than three years, and with due care in getting in and out, on a rough shore, and by keeping it well painted and pitched, it never leaked or became impaired in any way."

Boats.--Of Wood.--English-made boats have been carried by explorers for great distances on wheels, but seldom seem to have done much useful service. They would travel easiest if slung and made fast in a strong wooden crate or framework, to be fixed on the body of the carriage. A white covering is necessary for a wooden boat, on account of the sun: both boat and covering should be frequently examined. Mr. Richardson and his party took a boat, divided in four quarters, on camel-back across the Sahara, all the way from the Mediterranean to Lake Tchad. A portable framework of metal tubes, to be covered with india-rubber sheeting on arrival, was suggested to me by a very competent authority, the late Mr. M'Gregor Laird.

Copper boats have been much recommended, because an accidental dent, however severe it may be, can be beaten back again without doing injury to the metal. One of the boats in Mr. Lynch's expedition down the Jordan was made of copper.

Corrugated Iron makes excellent boats for travellers; they are stamped by machinery: Burton took one of them to Zanzibar. They were widely advertised some ten years ago, but they never came into general use, and I do not know where they can now be procured.

Canoes.--The earlier exploits of the 'Rob Roy' canoe justly attracted much attention, and numerous canoe voyages have subsequently been made. The Canoe Club is now a considerable institution, many of whose members make yearly improvements in the designs of their crafts. Although canoes are delicately built and apparently fragile, experience has amply proved that they can stand an extraordinary amount of hard usage in the hands of careful travellers. As a general rule, it is by no means the heaviest and most solid things that endure the best. If a lightly-made apparatus can be secured from the risk of heavy things falling upon it, it will outlast a heavy apparatus that shakes to pieces under the jar of its own weight.

A hole cut in the square sail enables the voyager to see ahead.

To carry on Horseback.--Mr. Macgregor, when in Syria, took two strong poles, each 16 feet long, and about 3 inches thick at the larger end. These were placed on the ground 2 feet apart, and across them, at 3 feet from each end, he lashed two stout staves, about 4 feet long. Then a "leading" horse was selected, that is, one used to lead caravans, and on his back a large bag of straw was well girthed and flattened down. The frame was firmly tied on this, and the canoe, wrapped in carpets, was placed on the frame. This simple method was used for three months over sand and snow, rock and jungle, mud and marsh--anywhere indeed that a horse could go. The frame was elevated in front, so as to allow the horse's head some room under the boat's keel. Two girth-straps kept the canoe firmly in position above, and carpets were used as cushions under its bilge. A boy led the horse, and a strong man was told off to hold fast to the canoe in every difficulty. It will be seen, that in the event of a fall, the corners of the framework would receive the shock, not the canoe.

Boating Gear.--Anchors may be made of wood weighted with stones. Fig. 1 shows the anchor used by Brazilian fishermen with their rude boat or sailing-raft already described. Fig. 2 shows another sort of anchor that is in common use in Norway.

Mast.--Where there is difficulty in "stepping" a mast, use a bar across the thwarts and two poles, one lashed at either end of it, and coming together to a point above. This triangle takes the place of shrouds fore and aft. It is a very convenient rig for a boat with an outrigger: the Sooloo pirates use it.

[Fig. 2--sketch of anchor].

Outrigger Irons.--Mr. Gilby informs me that he has travelled with a pair of light sculls and outrigger irons, which he was able to adapt to many kinds of rude boats. He found them of much service in Egypt.

Keels are troublesome to make: lee-boards are effective substitutes, and are easily added to a rude boat or punt when it is desired to rig her as a sailing-craft.

Rudder.--A rude oar makes the most powerful, though not the most convenient rudder. In the lakes of North Italy, where the winds are steady, the heavy boats have a bar upon which the tiller of the rudder rests: this bar is full of small notches; and the bottom of the tiller, at the place where it rests on the bar, is furnished with a blunt knife-edge; the tiller is not stiffly joined to the rudder, but admits of a little play up and down. When the boatman finds that the boat steers steadily, he simply drops the tiller, which forthwith falls into the notch below it, where it is held tight until the steersman cares to take the tiller into his hand again.

Buoys.--An excellent buoy to mark out a passage is simply a small pole anchored by a rope at the end. It is very readily seen, and exposes so little surface to the wind and water, that it is not easily washed away. A pole of the thickness of a walking-stick is much used in Sweden. Such a buoy costs only a rope, a stick, and a stone. A tuft of the small-branches may be left on the top of the pole.

Log.--For a log use a conical canvas bag thus--

[Sketch of bag in two positions].

When the peg is drawn out by the usual jerk, the bag no longer presents its mouth to the water, but is easily drawn in by the line attached to its point.

Boat Building.--Caulking.--Almost anything that is fibrous does for caulking the seams of a boat. The inner bark of trees is one of the readiest materials.

Securing Planks.--In default of nails, it is possible to drill or to burn holes in the planks and to sew them together with strips of hide, woodbine, or string made from the inner bark of fibrous trees. Holes may be drilled on precisely the same principle as that which I have described in making fire by friction.

Lengthening Boats.--If you have an ordinary boat, and wish to make it of greater burden, saw it in half and lengthen it. Comparatively coarse carpentering is good enough for this purpose.

Boat Management.--Hauling boats on Shore.--To haul up a boat on a barren shore, with but a few hands, lay out the anchor ahead of her to make fast your purchase to; or back the body of a wagon underneath the boat as she floats, and so draw her out upon wheels. A make-shift framework, on small solid wheels, has been used and recommended.

Towing.--A good way of fastening a tow-rope to a boat that has no mast is shown in the diagram, which, however, is very coarsely drawn. A curved pole is lashed alongside one of the knees of the boat, and the tow-rope, passing with a turn or two round its end, is carried on to the stern of the boat. By taking a few turns, more or less, with the rope round the stick, the line of action of the tow-rope on the boat's axis may be properly adjusted. When all is right the boat ought to steer herself.

[Sketch of boat being towed].

When Caught by a Gale recollect that a boat will lie-to and live through almost any weather, if you can make a bundle of a few spare spars, oars, etc., and secure them to the boat's head, so as to float in front of and across the bow. They will act very sensibly as a breakwater, and will always keep the boat's head towards the wind. Kroomen rig out three oars in a triangle, lash the boat's sail to it, throw overboard, after making fast, and pay out as much line as they can muster. By making a canvas half-deck to an open boat, you much increase its safety in broken water; and if it be made to lace down the centre, it can be rolled up on the gunwale, and be out of the way in fine weather.

In Floating down a Stream when the wind blows right against you (and on rivers the wind nearly always blows right up or right down), a plan generally employed is to cut large branches, to make them fast to the front of the boat, weight them that they may sink low in the water, and throw them overboard. The force of the stream acting on these branches will more than counterbalance that of the wind upon the boat. For want of branches, a kind of water-sail is sometimes made of canvas.

Steering in the Dark.--In dark nights, when on a river running through pine forests, the mid stream canbe kept by occasionally striking the water sharply with the blade of the oar, and listening to the echoes. They should reach the ear simultaneously, or nearly so, from either bank. On the same principle, vessels have been steered out of danger when caught by a dense fog close to a rocky coast.

Awning.--The best is a wagon-roof awning, made simply of a couple of parallel poles, into which the ends of the bent ribs of the roof are set, without any other cross-pieces. This roof should be of two feet larger span than the width of the boat, and should rest upon prolongations of the thwarts, or else upon crooked knees of wood. One arm of each of the knees is upright, and is made fast to the inside of the boat, while the other is horizontal and projects outside it: it is on these horizontal and projecting arms that the roof rests, and to which it is lashed. Such an awning is airy, roomy, and does not interfere with rowing if the rowlocks are fixed to the poles. It also makes an excellent cabin for sleeping in at night.

Sail Tent.--A boat's sail is turned into a tent by erecting a gable-shaped framework: the mast or other spar being the ridge-pole, and a pair of crossed oars lashed together supporting it at either end; and the whole is made stable by a couple of ropes and pegs. Then the sail is thrown across the ridge-pole (not over the crossed loops of the oars, for they would fret it), and is pegged out below. The natural fall of the canvas bends to close the two ends, as with curtains.

[Sketch of tent].

Tree-snakes.--Where these abound, travellers on rivers with overhanging branches should beware of keeping too near inshore, lest the rigging of the boat should brush down the snakes.

FORDS AND BRIDGES.

Fords.--In fording a swift stream, carry heavy stones in your hand, for you require weight to resist the force of the current: indeed, the deeper you wade, the more weight you require; though you have so much the less at command, on account of the water buoying you up.

Rivers cannot be forded if their depth exceeds 3 feet for men or 4 feet for horses. Fords are easily discovered by typing a sounding-pole to the stern of a boat rowing down the middle of the stream, and searching those places where the pole touches the bottom. When no boat is to be had, fords should be tried for where the river is broad rather than where it is narrow, and especially at those places where there are bends in its course. In these the line of shallow water does not run straight across, but follows the direction of a line connecting a promontory on one side to the nearest promontory on the other, as in the drawing; that is to say, from A to B, or from B to C, and not right across from B to b, from A to a, or from C to c. Along hollow curves, asa, b, c, the stream runs deep, and usually beneath overhanging banks; whilst in front of promontories, as at A, B, and C, the water is invariably shoal, unless it be a jutting rock that makes the promontory. Therefore, by entering the stream at one promontory, with the intention of leaving it at another, you ensure that at all events the beginning and end of your course shall be in shallow water, which you cannot do by attempting any other line of passage.

[Sketch of river as described].

To Cross Boggy and Uncertain Ground.--Swamps.--When you wish to take a wagon across a deep, miry, and reedy swamp, outspan and leg the cattle feed. Then cut faggots of reeds and strew them thickly over the line of intended passage. When plenty are laid down, drive the cattle backwards and forwards, and they will trample them in. Repeat the process two or three times, till the causeway is firm enough to bear the weight of the wagon. Or, in default of reeds, cut long poles and several short cross-bars, say of two fee long; join these as best you can, so as to make a couple of ladder-shaped frames. Place these across the mud, one under the intended track of each wheel. Faggots strewn between each round of the ladder will make the causeway more sound. A succession of logs, laid crosswise with faggots between them, will also do, but not so well.

Passing from Hand to Hand.--When many things have to be conveyed across a piece of abominably bad road--as over sand-dunes, heavy shingle, mud of two feet deep, a morass, a jagged mountain tract, or over stepping-stones in the bed of a rushing torrent--it is a great waste of labour to make laden men travel to and fro with loads on their backs. It is a severe exertion to walk at all under these circumstances, letting along the labour of also carrying a burden. The men should be stationed in a line, each at a distance of six or seven feet from his neighbour, and should pass the things from hand to hand, as they stand.

Plank Roads.--"Miry, boggy lines of road, along which people had been seen for months crawling like flies across a plate of treacle, are suddenly, and I may almost say magically, converted into a road as hard and good as Regent Street by the following simple process, which is usually adopted as soon as the feeble funds of the young colony can purchase the blessing. A small gang of men, with spades and rammers, quickly level one end of the earth road. As fast as they proceed, four or five rows of strong beams or sleepers, which have been brought in the light wagons of the country, are laid down longitudinally, four or five feet asunder; and no sooner are they in position than from other wagons stout planks, touching each other, are transversely laid upon them. From a third series of wagons, a thin layer of sand or grit is thrown upon the planks, which instantly assume the appearance of a more level McAdam road than in practice can ever be obtained. Upon this new-born road the wagons carrying the sleepers, planks, and sand, convey, with perfect ease, these three descriptions of materials for its continuance. The work advances literally about as fast as an old gouty gentleman can walk; and as soon as it is completed, there can scarcely exist a more striking contrast than between the two tenses of what it was and what it is. This 'plank road,' as it is termed in America, usually lasts from eight to twelve years; and as it is found quite unnecessary to spike the planks to the sleepers, the arrangement admits of easy repair, which, however, is but seldom required." (Sir Francis Head, in Times, Jan. 25.)

Snow.--Sir R. Dalyell tells me that it is the practice of muleteers in the neighbourhood of Erzeroum, when their animals lose their way and flounder in the deep snow, to spread a horse-cloth or other thick rug from off their packs upon the snow in front of them. The animals step upon it and extricate themselves easily. I have practised walking across deep snow-drifts on this principle, with perfect success.

Weak Ice.--Water that is slightly frozen is made to bear a heavy wagon, by cutting reeds, strewing them thickly on the ice, and pouring water upon them; when the whole is frozen into a firm mass the process must be repeated.

Bridges.--Flying Bridges are well known: a long cord or chain of poles is made fast to a rock or an anchor in the middle of a river. The other end is attached to the ferry-boat which being so slewed as to receive the force of the current obliquely, traverses the river from side to side.