The art of travel

TENTS.

General Remarks.--Although tents are not worth the trouble of pitching, on dry nights, in a healthy climate, they are invaluable protectors to a well-equipped traveller against rain, dew, and malaria. But a man who is not so equipped, who has no change of clothes, and no bedstead to sleep on, will do better to sleep in the open air, in front of a good camp fire. Napoleon I., speaking of soldiers, says ('Maximes de Guerre'):--"Tents are not healthy; it is better for the soldier to bivouac, because he sleeps with his feet to the fire, whose neighbourhood quickly dries the ground on which he lies; some planks or a little straw shelter him from the wind. Nevertheless a tent is necessary for superior officers, who have need to write and to consult a map." To a party encamped for a few days, tents are of great use as storehouses for property, which otherwise becomes scattered about, at the risk of being lost or pilfered.

Materials for Tenting.--Light canvas is usually employed, and is, to all intents and purposes, waterproof. Silk, of equal strength with the canvas, is very far lighter: its only disadvantage is its expense. Calico, or cotton canvas, is very generally used for small tents. Leather and felt are warm, but exceedingly heavy; and would only be used in very inclement climates, or where canvas could not be met with. Light matting is not to be despised: it is warm and pretty durable, and makes excellent awning or covering to a frame-work.

Diagonal Bracing.--A worn-out tent may be strengthened by sewing bands of canvas, which cross each other, and make a kind of net-work: old sails are strengthened in this way.

Tent Pegs should be of galvanized iron; they are well worth the weight of carriage, for not only do wooden ones often fail on an emergency, but cooks habitually purloin them when firewood is scarce.

Tents.--Large Tents.--The art of tent-making has greatly advanced since the days of the old-fashioned bell-tent, which is so peculiarly objectionable, as to make it a matter of surprise that it was ever invented and used. It is difficult to pitch; it requires many tent-pegs; it has ropes radiating all round it, over which men and horses stumble; and it is incommodious and ugly.

In choosing a tent, select one that will stand in some sort of shape with only four pegs, or with six at the very utmost; it should admit of being pegged close to the ground without any intervening 'fly;' it is no objection that it should require more than one pole; and, when considering how much weight it will be possible to carry, it must be borne in mind that the tent will become far heavier than it is found to be in the peculiarly dry atmosphere of a tent-maker's show-room. It is very convenient that a tent should admit of being pitched in more than one form: for instance, that one side should open and form an awning in hot weather; also, that it should be easy to attach flys or awning to the tent to increase its available size during the daytime. All tents should be provided with strong covers, for pack-ropes are sure to fray whatever they press against; and it is better that the cover should suffer than the tent itself.

Comparative Size of Tents.--The annexed diagram will show the points on which the roominess of a tent mainly depends.

A man wants space to sit at a table, and also to get at his luggage in order either to pack it or to unpack it; lastly, he wants a reasonable amount of standing room. A fair-sized tent ought to include the figures drawn in the diagram; and I have indicated, by lines and shaded spaces, the section of various descriptions of tents that would be just sufficient to embrace them.

One side of the ordinary conical tents (fig. 1), of a front view of fig. 5, and of pyramidal tents (fig. 6), are represented by the line ABC. Those that have a "fall" (fig. 2), by the lines CDLF. Gipsy-tents, as described p. 161, umbrella-tents (fig. 4), and Jourts, p. 157, by the lines GHBK. Marquees (fig. 3), and a side view of fig. 5, by GLBM.

Notwithstanding the great height and width of conical tents, compared to the others, we see by the diagram that they afford scanty space at the level of the head of a seated person. There is a recent contrivance by Major Rhodes, to be seen at Silver and Co.'s, that is a modification of the gipsy-tent. Among ordinary, well-known tents, I believe none will satisfy the varied wants of a traveller so well as Edington's three-poled tents (fig. 5). After these I should choose a small marquee (fig. 3); but it is less secure in wind, and the pitch of its roof is bad for rain, and the numerous straggling tent-ropes are objectionable.

A pyramidal tent (fig. 6), of seven or nine feet in the side, is remarkable for its sturdiness: it will stand any weather, will hold two people and a fair quantity of luggage besides; it weighs from 25 to 40 lbs. It is not a good tent for hot weather, for it is far too stuffy, though by taking an additional joint to the tent-pole, and using tent-ropes (as may also be done with any other kind of tent), it may be made more airy by being raised up, and by having walls added to it (fig. 7). In default of canvas, the walls may be constructed of other materials. (See "Materials for Huts.")

Tent Pitched over an Excavation.--A hole may be dug deeply beneath the tent floor, partly for the purpose of a store-room, and partly for that of a living-room when the weather is very inclement. This was practised before Sebastopol in the manner shown in the fig. p. 158. The notched pole acts as a ladder for ascending from below.

Jourts.--The Kirghis-jourt is a capacious, solid, warm, and fireproof structure, that admits of being pitched or taken to pieces in an hour, and withstands the cold and violent winds of the steppes of Central Asia, in a way that no tent or combination of tents could pretend to effect. A jourt of from 20 to 25, or even 30 feet in diameter, forms two camel-loads, or about half a ton in weight.

One camel carries the felt, the other the wood-work. Fig. 9 shows the jourt half-covered; and fig. 10 gives an enlarged view of a portion of the side. There are four separate parts in its structure:--1. The door-way, a solid piece of ornamental carpentering, that takes to pieces instantly. 2. The sides, which consist of lengths of wood-work, that shut up on the principle of the contrivance known sometimes as "lazy-tongs," and sometimes as "easy-back scissors:" they tie together and make a circle, beginning and ending with the doorway; a tape is wound round them, as shown in fig. 9, about one-third from their tops. 3. The roof-ribs. The bottom of each of these is tied to the sides of the jourt (A, fig. 10), and its top fits into a socket in--4, the roof-ring, which is a hoop of wood strengthened by transverse bars. Over this framework broad sheets of felt are thrown: their own weight makes them lie steadily, for they are quite an inch in thickness; however, in very stormy weather, if I recollect aright, they are weighted with stones, or they are stitched together. There is no metal in the structure: the laths of willow-wood that form the sides are united, where they cross, by pieces of sinew knotted at either end; these act as pivots when the sides are shut up. I am indebted to the late Mr. Atkinson for my information on these interesting structures. Further particulars about them, the native way of making the felt, by continually rolling sheepskins with the wool between them, and numerous pictures, in which jourts form a striking feature, will be found in his beautifully illustrated work on Siberia.

Small Tents.--For tents of the smallest size and least pretensions, nothing can be better than the one represented in fig. 1: the ends are slit down their middles, and are laced or buttoned together, so that, by unfastening these, the tent spreads out to a flat sheet of the form of fig. 2, well adapted for an awning, or else it can be simply unrolled and used with the bedding. It is necessary that a tent should be roomy enough to admit of a man undressing himself, when wet through, without treading upon his bed and drenching it with mud and water; and therefore a tent of the above description is found to be unserviceable, if less than about 7 feet long, or ending in a triangle of less than 5 1/2 feet in the side. Peat, the saddler in Bond Street, once made them; they cost 2 l. 10s., and weighed 9 lbs. when dry. They are liable to bag in the side when the wind is high: a cross-pole or two sticks, following the seams of the canvas in the above sketch, would make them tauter.

Alpine Tent.--Mr. Whymper contrived a tent for his alpine explorations, which he found eminently successful. It has a waterproof floor, continuous with the sides: it is supported by poles, that slip into hems of the cloth--two poles at either end. These tents have been used on various occasions by Mr. Whymper's brother in Alaska, and by Mr. Freshfield in the Caucasus, and were highly approved of, but I do not know whether these tents would be altogether suitable for more comfortable travel. I myself had a tent made on this principle some years ago, but disliked it, for I found the continuity of the floor with the sides to act unsatisfactorily; the tent retained the damp, and the weight of the body, acting on the floor of the tent, was apt to disturb its walls. Mr. Whymper's tent is procurable at Carter's, Alpine Outfitter, 295, Oxford Street, London.

Boating Tent.--Further on, in the chapter on "Boats," the way is shown by which sailors make a tent out of their lug-sail, throwing it over a framework of oars.

Gipsy Tent.--A traveller who has only a blanket, a plaid, or broad piece of material of any kind, with which he wishes to improvise a tent, may make a framework of long wands, planting their ends in the ground, bending their tops together, and lashing or wattling them securely; over this the blanket is thrown (fig. 3). If the sticks are sufficiently long and pliant, their ends should be bent over the roof half-way down the opposite side, as in fig. 1. This adds considerably to the strength of the arrangement.

The gipsies in England use the following excellent contrivance to save the trouble of tying the sticks together. They carry a light bar of wood, 2 1/2 feet long, bound with string here and there to keep it from splitting; through this, six holes, each big enough to admit the tip of the little finger, are bored or burnt; they also carry eight hazel rods with them, each six feet long, and arrange their framework as in fig. 2. It will be observed that the two rods which are planted behind give additional roominess and stability to the affair. The rug and pillow show the position in which the occupants sleep. Blankets, not sheeting, pinned together with wooden pegs, are thrown over the whole, as in fig. 3.

Tente d'abri.--The French, "tente d'abri" has not, so far as I know, been adopted by travellers: it seems hardly suitable, except for soldiers. Each man carried a square of canvas (fig. 1), with buttons and button-holes all round it, by which it can be doubly attached to other similar squares of canvas, and thus, from several separate pieces, one large cloth can be made. The square carried by the French soldier measures 5 feet 4 1/2 inches in the side, reckoning along the buttons; of these there are nine along each edge, including the corner ones. Each soldier has also to carry a tent-staff, or else a proportion of the pegs and cord. When six men club together they proceed as follows:--Three tent-sticks are fixed into the ground, whose tops are notched; a light cord is then passed round their tops, and fastened into the ground with a peg at each eng (fig. 2). Two sheets, A and B, are buttoned together and thrown over the cord, and then two other sheets, C and D; and C is buttoned to A, and D to B (fig. 3). Lastly another sheet is thrown over each of the slanting cords, the one buttoned to A and B, and the other to C and D; and thus a sort of dog-kennel is formed, in which six men--the bearers of the six pieces of canvas--sleep. The sides of the tent are of course pegged to the ground. There are many modifications in the way of pitching these tents. Should the sticks be wanting, faggots or muskets can be used in their place.

Tent of Mosquito-netting.--I have been informed of a sportsman in Ceylon, who took with him into the woods a cot with mosquito-curtains, as a protection not only against insects, but against malaria. He also had a blanket rolled at his feet: at 3 in the morning, when the chill arose in the woods, he pulled his blanket over him.

Pitching a Tent.--It is quite an art, so to pitch a tent as to let in or exclude the air, to take advantage of sun and shade, etc. etc. Every available cloth or sheet may be pressed into service, to make awnings and screens, as we see among the gipsies. There is a great deal of character shown in each different person's encampment. A tent should never be pitched in a slovenly way: it is so far more roomy, secure and pretty, when tightly stretched out, that no pains should be spared in drilling the men to do it well. I like to use a piece of string, marked with knots, by which I can measure the exact places in which the tent-pegs should be struck, for the eye is a deceitful guide in estimating squareness. (See "Squaring.") It is wonderful how men will bungle with a tent, when they are not properly drilled to pitch it.

To secure Tent-ropes.--When the soil is loose, scrape away the surface sand, before driving the tent-pegs. Loose mould is made more tenacious by pouring water upon it. When one peg is insufficient, it may be backed by another. (See fig.) The outermost peg must be altogether buried in the earth. Heavy saddle-bags are often of use to secure the tent-ropes; and, in rocky ground, heavy piles of stones may be made to answer the same purpose. The tent-ropes may also be knotted to a cloth, on which stones are afterwards piled.

"Dateram" is, as the late Dr. Barth, informed me, the Bornu name for a most excellent African contrivance, used in some parts of the Sahara desert, by means of which tent-ropes may be secured, or horses picketed in sand of the driest description, as in that of a sand dune, whence a tent-peg would be drawn out by a strain so slight as to be almost imperceptible. I have made many experiments upon it, and find its efficiency to be truly wonderful. The plan is to tie to the end of the tent-rope, a small object of any description, by its middle, as a short stick, a stone, a bundle of twigs, or a bag of sand; and to bury it from 1 to 2 feet in the loose sand. It will be found, if it has been buried 1 foot deep, that a strain equal to about 50 lbs. weight, is necessary to draw it up; if 1 1/2 feet deep, that a much more considerable strain is necessary; and that, if 2 feet deep, it is quite impossible for a single man to pull it up. In the following theoretical case, the resistance would be as the cube of the depth; but in sand or shingle, the increase is less rapid. It varies under different circumstances; but it is no exaggeration to estimate its increase as seldom less than as the square of the depth. The theoretical case of which I spoke, is this:--Let x be part of a layer of shingle of wide extent: the shingle is supposed to consist of smooth hard spherical balls, all of the same size. Let s be a dáterám buried in x; and T the string to which it is tied. Now, on considering fig. 2, where a series of balls are drawn on a larger scale and on a plane surface, it is clear that the ball A cannot move in any degree to the right or the left without disturbing the entire layer of balls on the same plane as itself: its only possible movement is vertically upwards. In this case, it disturbs B1 and B2. These, for the same reason as A, can only move vertically upwards, and, in doing so, they must disturb the three balls above them, and so on. Consequently, the uplifting of a single ball in fig. 2, necessitates the uplifting of the triangle of balls of which it forms the apex; and it obviously follows from the same principle, that the uplifting of S, in the depth of X, in fig. 1, necessitates the uplifting of a cone of balls whose apex is at S. But the weight of a cone is as the cube of its height and, therefore, the resistance to the uplifting of the dáterám, is as the cube of the depth at which it has been buried. In practice, the grains of sand are capable of a small but variable amount of lateral displacement, which gives relief to the movement of sand caused by the dateram, for we may observe the surface of the ground to work very irregularly, although extensively, when the dáterám begins to stir. On the other hand, the friction of the grains of sand tends to increase the difficulty of movement. The arrangement shown in the diagram, of a spring weighing-machine tied to the end of a lever, is that which I have used in testing the strain the dateram will resist, under different circumstances. The size of the dateram is not of much importance, it would be of still less importance in the theoretical case. Anything that is more than 4 inches long seems to answer. The plan succeeds in a dry soil of any description, whether it be shingly beach or sand.

Bushing a Tent means the burying of bushes in the soil so far as to leave only their cut ends above the ground, to which a corresponding number of tent-ropes are tied.

Tent-poles.--When a tent is pitched for an encampment of some duration, it is well to lay aside the jointed tent-pole, and to cut a stout young tree to replace it: this will be found far more trustworthy in stormy weather. If the shape of the tent admits of the change, it is still better to do away with the centre pole altogether; and, in the place of it, to erect a substantial framework of poles, which are to be planted just within the rim of the tent, and to converge to a point, under its peak. A tent-pole can be lengthened temporarily, by lashing it to a log, with the help of a Toggle and strop (which see). A broken tent-pole can be mended permanently by placing a splint of wood on either side of the fracture, and by whipping the whole together, with soft cord or with the untwisted strand of a piece of rope.

To prevent Tent-poles from slipping.--When the tent is pitched in the ordinary way on a smooth rocky surface, there is considerable danger that the foot of the pole may slip whenever a gust of wind or other sudden impulse sways the tent. This danger is to be obviated on precisely the same principle as that by which builders secure their scaffolding-poles upon the smooth footways of a street: they put the foot of each pole into a bucket, filled with sand. As the base of the bucket is broad, the scaffolding is much less liable to slip, than if the narrow bases of the poles had rested directly upon the pavement.

To tie Things to Tent-poles.--To hang clothes, or anything else, upon a smooth tent-pole, see "Clove-hitch." A strap with hooks attached to it, buckled round the pole, is very convenient. The method shown in the sketch suffices, if the pole be notched, or jointed, or in any way slightly uneven. Bags, etc., are supposed to be hung upon the bit of wood that is secured to the free end. Convenient pegs, made of bits of wood roughly sharpened, may be driven into the tree, if any, when the encampment is made.

Preparations for a Storm.--Before a storm, dig a ditch as deep as you can round the outside of the tent, to divert the coming sheet of surface-water, and see that the ditch has a good out-fall. The ditch will also drain the floor of the tent, if the rain should soak in. Even a furrow scratched with a tent-peg, is better than no ditch at all. Fasten guy-ropes to the spike of the tent-pole; and be careful that the tent is not too much on the strain, else the further shrinking of the materials, under the influence of the wet, will certainly tear up the pegs. Earth, banked up round the bottom of the tent, will prevent gusts of wind from finding their way beneath. It is also a good plan to prepare a small hole near the foot of the tent-pole, with a stone firmly rammed into the bottom, into which the tent-pole may be shifted, as soon as the strain of the tent, under the influence of the wet, becomes dangerous to its safety.

To warm Tents.--"When living in a tent in Otago (New Zealand) during a severe winter, we were perfectly numb with cold at nights, until we adopted the Maori plan, which is to dig a hole about a foot square in the clear, to cover the bottom with a stone or stones, and to fill it at night with red-hot cinders from the camp fire, and lastly, to close the tent excepting a small opening near the top. The cinders are not nearly burnt out by morning. They diffused a pleasant warmth through the tent, and rendered us comfortable all night. There is no danger of suffocation, unless the tent be closed up very tight indeed."--(W. M. Cooper.)

Permanent Camp.--The accompanying sketch shows a tent pitched for a lengthened habitation. It has a deep drain, a seat and table dug out, and a fireplace. (See the following paragraphs.)

Lost Articles.--Small articles are constantly mislaid and trampled in the sand of the floor of the tent. In searching for them, the ground should be disturbed as little as possible: it is a usual plan to score its surface in parallel lines, with a thin wand. It would be well worth while to make a small light rake to use for this purpose.

Precautions against Thieves.--Natives are apt to creep up to tents, and, putting their hands under the bottom of them, to steal whatever they can: a hedge of thorn-bushes is a protection against this kind of thieving. In some countries a net, with three or four bells attached to it, is thrown over the packages inside a tent. Strings tied horizontally, a foot above the ground, from package to package, are found effective in tripping intruders, See also "Guns set as Spring-guns."

FURNITURE.

Furniture.--The luxuries and elegances practicable in tent-life, are only limited by the means of transport. Julius Cæsar, who was a great campaigner, carried parquets of wooden mosaic for his floors! The articles that make the most show for their weight, are handsome rugs, and skins, and pillows; canteens of dinner and coffee services; and candles, with screens of glass, or other arrangements to prevent them from flickering. The art of luxurious tenting is better understood in Persia than in any other country, even than in India.

Bedsteads.--A portable bedstead, with mosquito-curtains, is a very great luxury, raising the sleeper above the damp soil, and the attacks of most creatures that creep on it; in tours where a few luxuries can be carried, it is a very proper article of baggage. It is essential where white ants are numerous. A very luxurious bed is made on the principle of a tennis-player's raquet; being a framework of wood, with strips of raw hide lashed across it from side to side and from end to end. It is the "angareb" of Upper Egypt.

Hammocks and Cots.--I stated in previous editions of this book, that hammocks and cots had few advocates, owing to the difficulty of suspending them; but Captain M'Gwire's recent ingenious invention quite alters the case. His method will be easily understood by the annexed sketch. The apparatus is adapted for use on the wooden floors of houses, or ships, by the employment of eyelet-bolts or screw rings instead of pegs, and by putting wooden shoes below the staves to prevent their slipping inwards: the shoes are tied to the eyelet-bolts by a cord.

The complete apparatus, in a very portable form, can be bought at Messrs. Brown's, Piccadilly.

Mosquito Nets and their Substitutes.--A mosquito-curtain may be taken for suspension over the bed, or place where you sit; but it is dangerous to read in them by candle-light, for they catch fire very easily. (See "Incombustible Stuffs.") It is very pleasant, in hot, mosquito-plagued countries, to take the glass sash entirely out of the window-frame, and replace it with one of gauze. Broad network, if of fluffy thread, keeps wasps out. The darker a house is kept, the less willing are flies, etc., to flock in. If sheep and other cattle be hurdled-in near the house, the nuisance of flies, etc., becomes almost intolerable.

Chairs.--It is advisable to take very low strong and roomy camp-stools, with tables to correspond in height, as a chamber is much less choked up when the seats are low, or when people sit, as in the East, on the ground. The seats should not be more than 1 foot high, though as wide and deep as an ordinary footstool. Habit very soon reconciles travellers to this; but without a seat at all, a man can never write, draw, nor calculate as well as if he had one. The stool represented in the figure (above), is a good pattern: it has a full-sized seat made of canvas or leather, or of strips of dressed hide. A milk-man's stool, supported by only one peg, is quickly made in the bush, and is not very inconvenient. The common rush-bottomed chair can be easily made, if proper materials are accessible. The annexed diagram explains clearly the method of their construction.

Table.--The table may consist of a couple of boards, not less than 2 feet long, by 9 inches broad, hinged lengthwise, for the convenience of carriage, and resting on a stand, which should be made on the same principle as the framework of the chair described above. It is well to have the table made of mahogany, for deal warps and cracks excessively. There is no difficulty in carrying furniture like the above, on a pack-horse.

Makeshift Chair and Table.--For want of a chair, it is convenient to dig a hole or a trench in the ground, and to sit on one side of it, with the feet resting on its bottom: the opposite side of the trench serves as a table, on which things may be put, within easy reach.

"In a box 2 feet long and 1 foot square at the ends, the lid and its bottom, of course, both measure 2 feet by 1 foot. Now, if the bottom opens on hinges, just like the lid, and if the hinges of both lid and bottom are fixed to the hindmost side of the box, then when the box is laid face downwards, and both the lid and the bottom are opened out and secured in the same horizontal plane with the side to which they are hinged, a table of 3 feet by 2 feet is made. The lid and bottom form the two leaves of the table, and what was the hindmost side, when the box stood on its bottom, is now uppermost, and forms the middle of the table. Such a box would hold, during travel, the things wanted when encamping." --(Peal.)

Hooks.--I have spoken of the way of hanging articles in tents, under "Tent Poles." In a permanent bivouac or in a hut, it is convenient to fix hooked sticks or the horns of animals, against the walls, as pegs.

FIRE.

General Remarks.--Although, in the teeth of every precaution, fires constantly break out, yet when a traveller wants a light and does not happen to have any of his ingenious fire-making contrivances at hand, it is very difficult for him to obtain it. And further, though sparks, of their own accord and in the most unlikely places, too often give rise to conflagrations, yet it requires much skill and practice to succeed without fail, in coaxing a small spark into a serviceable camp fire. Therefore every traveller should carry on his person the means of procuring a light, under ordinary circumstances of wind and weather; that is to say, he should have in his pocket a light handy steel, a flint or an agate, and amadou or other tinder. I also strongly recommend that he should carry a bundle of half-a-dozen fine splinters of wood, like miniature tooth-picks, thinner and shorter than lucifer-matches, whose points he has had dipped in melted sulphur; also a small spare lump of sulphur of the size of a pea or bean, in reserve. The cook should have a regular tinder-box, such as he happens to have been used to, and an abundance of wax lucifers. Paper fusees are not worth taking in travel, as wet entirely spoils them.

There are usually three separate agents in making a fire, each of which may be varied in many ways and requires separate description. 1. The Spark or other light to start with. 2. The Tinder; that is, some easily ignited and smouldering substance. 3. Fuel, judiciously applied to the burning tinder, or other feeble light, so as to develop it into a serviceable fire.

To obtain Fire from the Sun.--Burning-glasses.--The object-glass, and every other convex glass of a telescope is a burning-glass, and has only to be unscrewed to be fit for use. The object lenses of an opera-glass are very efficient. The larger the glass and the shorter its focus, the greater is its heating power. Convex spectacle glasses and eye glasses are too small and of too long a focus to be used with effect, except when the sun is very hot. An old-fashioned watch-glass, filled with water, and having the rays of a powerful sun glittered down upon it vertically by help of a mirror, will give a light. Dr. Kane and other arctic travellers have made burning-glasses of ice.

Reflectors.--The inside of the polished metal cover of a hunting-watch will sometimes converge a sufficiency of rays, to burn. The vestal fire of Rome and the sacred fire of the Mexicans were obtained by means of reflectors. If I understand aright, they consisted of a stone with a conical hollow, carefully polished, the apex of the hollow cone was a right angle: the tinder was held in the axis of the cone. See Tylor's 'Early History of Mankind.'

Black Tinder.--Tinder that is black by previous charring, or from any other cause, ignites in the sun far sooner than light-coloured tinder.

Fire by conversion of motion into heat.--General Remarks.--When a moving body is arrested, heat is given out; the quantity of heat being in exact proportion to the mass, multiplied into the square of its velocity. Thus if a cannon ball be fired at an iron target, both it and the ball become exceedingly hot. There is even a flash of light when the velocity of the ball is very high. When bullets are fired with heavy charges at a target, the lead is just melted by the heat of impact, and it "splashes," to use a common phrase. It is obvious from these two examples, that no velocity which the hand of man is able to give to a steel, when striking a flint, or to one stick rubbing against another stick, will be competent to afford a red-hot temperature unless the surface against which impact or friction is made be very small, or unless great care be taken to avoid the wasteful dissipation of heat. The spark made by a flint and steel, consists of a thin shaving of steel, scraped off by the flint and heated by the arrested motion. When well struck, the spark is white-hot and at that temperature it burns with bright scintillations in the air, just as iron that is merely red-hot burns in pure oxygen. This is the theory: now for the practice.

Flints.--If we may rely on a well-known passage in Virgil, concerning Æneas and his comrades, fire was sometimes made in ancient days by striking together two flints, but I confess myself wholly unable to light tinder with flints alone, and I am equally at a loss to understand what were the "dry leaves" that they are said in the same passage to have used for tinder. Neither can I obtain fire except with a flint and steel, or, at least, hardened iron; a flint and ordinary iron will not give an available spark. Flints may be replaced by any siliceous stone, as agate, rock-crystal, or quartz. Agate is preferred to flint, for it gives a hotter spark: it is sold by tobacconists. A partly siliceous stone, such as granite, will answer in default of one that is wholly siliceous. I have been surprised at finding that crockery and porcelain of all kinds will make a spark, and sometimes a very good one. There are cases where a broken teacup might be the salvation of many lives in a shipwrecked party. On coral-reefs, and other coasts destitute of flinty stones, search should be made for drift-wood and drifted sea-weed. In the roots of these, the pebbles of other shores are not unfrequently entangled, and flint may be found among them. The joints of bamboos occasionally contain enough silex to give a spark.

Steels.--The possession of a really good steel is a matter of great comfort in rough travel, for, as I have just said, common iron is incompetent to afford a useful spark, and hardened iron or soft steel is barely sufficient to do so. Any blacksmith will make a good steel out of an old file, if he has nothing more appropriate at hand. A substitute for a steel can be made, even by an ordinary traveller, out of common iron, by means of "casehardening" (which see). The link of a chain, or the heel of a boot, or a broken horse-shoe, is of a convenient shape for the purpose.

Pyrites are, and have been, widely used for striking sparks. Two pieces struck together, or one piece struck with a steel, gives a good spark; but it is a very friable mineral, and therefore not nearly so convenient as flint.

Guns.--If you wish to get a light by means of a flint-and-steel gun, the touch-hole may be stuffed up, and a piece of tinder put among the priming powder: a light can be obtained in that way without firing the gun. With a percussion-cap gun, a light may be obtained by putting powder and tinder outside the nipple and round the cap; it will, though not with certainty catch fire on exploding the cap. But the common way with a gun is to pour in a quarter of a charge of powder, and above it, quite loosely, a quantity of rag or tinder. On firing the gun straight up in the air, the rag will be shot out lighted; you must then run after it as it falls, and pick it quickly up. With percussion-caps, gunpowder, and tinder, and without a gun, a light may sometimes be had on an emergency, by scratching and boring with a knife, awl, or nail, at the fulminating composition in the cap, till it explodes; but a cap is a somewhat dangerous thing to meddle with, as it often flies with violence, and wounds. Crushing gunpowder with hard stones may possibly make it explode.

Lucifers.--An inexperienced hand will waste an entire boxful of them, and yet will fail in lighting a fire in the open air, on a windy day. The convenience of lucifers in obtaining a light is very great, but they have two disadvantages: they require that the air should be perfectly still, while the burning sulphur is struggling to ignite the stick; and, again, when the match is thrust among the wood, the sticks upon which is has to act, have not been previously warmed and consequently, though one or two of them may become lighted, the further progress of the fire is liable to cease. On the other hand, in methods where the traveller begins with tinder, and blows its spark into a flame, the adjacent wood becomes thoroughly heated by the process, and the flame, once started, is almost certain to maintain itself. Consequently, in lighting a fire with lucifers, be careful to shield the match from the wind, by throwing a cloak or saddle-cloth, or something else over the head, whilst you operate; and secondly, to have abundance of twigs of the smaller sizes, that there may be no uncertainty of the lucifer-match being able to light them, and set the fire a-going. In a steady downfall of rain, you may light a match for a pipe under your horse's belly. If you have paper to spare, it is a good plan to twist it into a hollow cone; to turn the cone with its apex to the wind; and immediately after rubbing the match, to hold it inside the cone. The paper will become quickly heated by the struggling flame and will burst into a miniature conflagration, too strong to be puffed out by a single blast of air. Wax lucifers are undoubtedly better than wooden ones, for in damp weather, wooden ones will hardly burn; but wax is waterproof, and independent of wet or dry. When there is nothing dry, at hand, to rub the lucifer-match against, scratch the composition on its head with the edge of a knife or with the finger-nail. It is a sure way of lighting it; and with care, there is no need of burning the fingers.

Fire-sticks.--In every country without exception, where inquiry has been made, the method of obtaining fire by rubbing one stick against another, has been employed. In savage countries the method still remains in present use; in nearly all the more civilised ones, it has been superseded within historic periods by flints and steels and the like, and within this present generation by lucifer-matches. The only instance I know in which flints are said to have preceded fire-sticks, is in the quotation below from Pliny. A light has also been obtained in pre-historic times, as I have already mentioned, by reflecting the sun from a hollow surface; but this method required costly apparatus, and could never have been in common use. Hence, although so far as I am aware, the Bible, and Homer, and other records of great antiquity, are absolutely silent on the contemporary methods of procuring fire; and although Pliny says the reverse--I think we are justified in believing that the plan of rubbing sticks together was absolutely universal in the barbaric infancy of the human race. In later Greek History, Prometheus is accredited with the invention of fire-sticks. Among the Romans both Seneca and Pliny write about them. Pliny says (Nat. Hist. xvi. 76, 77), "There is heat in the mulberry, in the bay-laurel, in ivy, and in all plants whence fire-sticks are made. The experience of soldiers reconnoitring for encamping-grounds, and that of shepherds, made this discovery; for a stone is not always at hand whence a spark might be struck. One piece of wood therefore, is rubbed by another, and it catches fire through the friction, while a dry tindery substance--fungus and leaves are the most easilyattainable--is used to perpetuate the fire. Nothing is better than ivy used as the stick to be rubbed, and bay-laurel as the stick to rub with. Wild vine--not the 'labrusca'--is also found good."

I have made a great many experiments with different kinds of wood, having procured an assortment of those used by the fancy toy-makers of Tunbridge Wells, and the chippings from botanical gardens. I find what I have heard from savages to be quite true; viz., that it is much more difficult to procure good wood for the "fire-block" than for the drill-stick; any though hard, and dry stick will do for the latter, but the fire-block must be of wood with little grain; of a middle degree of softness; readily inflammable; and, I presume, a good on-conductor of heat; but I do not know if there be much difference, in this latter respect, between woods of the same quality. If it be too hard, the action of the drill-stick will merely dent and polish it; if very soft, it will be worn away before the friction has time to heat it sufficiently: ivy is excellent. I find it not at all difficult to produce smoke (it is much more difficult to produce fire) with a broken fishing-rod, or ramrod, as a drill-stick, and a common wooden pill-box, or tooth-powder box, as a fire-block. Walnut, also, does as a fire-block, and the stock of a gun is of walnut. Deal and mahogany are both worthless for fire-sticks.

It is well so to notch the fire-block, that the wood-dust, as it is formed by the rubbing, should all run into one place: it will then glow with a smouldering heat, ready to burst out into an available flame with a very little fanning, as soon as a degree of heat sufficient to ignite tinder has been attained. Tinder is a great convenience, in ensuring that the fire, once obtained, shall not be lost again; but it is not essential to have it.

There are many ways of rubbing the sticks together, in use among different nations. Those curious in the matter should consult Tylor's 'Early History of Mankind.' But the traveller will not obtain much assistance from these descriptions, as it will be out of his power to obtain fire by any but the simplest of them, on a first trial. He is only likely to succeed at first by working at leisure, with perfectly dry wood. Even savages, who practise the art all their lives, fail to procure fire in very wet weather, when the shelter is bad. Of the plans employed by savages, the simplest is that in use both in South Africa and in Australia.

The Australian blacks use the flower-stem of the grass-tree, which is of a tough pithy nature, and about one inch in diameter. The operation of making the fire is assisted by the use of a little charcoal-powder, which, in Australia, is found on the bark of almost every tree, from the constant passage of grass-fires over the ground. The process is as follows:--One piece of the stick is notched in the middle, fig. 1, and the notch slightly hollowed out; another is roundly pointed at one end. The black fellow, being seated on the ground, holds down one end of the notched stick with each foot, fig. 2, and placing the point of the other stick into the notch, twirls it rapidly and forcibly between the palms of his hands. In doing this his hands gradually slip down the stick, and he has to shift them rapidly up again, which loses time: but two people, seated opposite, can alternately take up the rubbing, and more easily produce fire. A little of the above-mentioned powdered charcoal is dropped into the notch during the operation. In a very few minutes red-hot powdery ashes commence to work up out of the notch, which falling on a small heap of tow, or of dry tow-like bark, or lint, or cotton stuff, is quickly blown into a flame. The Africans carry the drill-stick, which in shape and size is like an arrow, in a quiver with their arrows, and the fire-block--a stick three inches long and one in diameter, of a different wood--as a pendant to their necklace.