Bearings by Sun and Stars.--It requires very great practice to steer well by stars, for, on an average, they change their bearings even faster than they change their altitudes. In tropical countries, the zodiacal stars - as Orion and Antares--give excellent east and west points. The Great Bear is useful when the North Pole cannot be seen, for you may calculate by the eye whereabout it would be in the heavens when the "pointers" were vertical, or due north; and the Southern Cross is available in precisely the same way. The true North Pole is about 1 1/2 degree or 3 diameters of the full moon, apart from the Pole star; and its place is on a line between the Pole Star and the Great Bear. An almanac, calculated to show the bearing, and the times of moonrise and moonset, for the country to be travelled over, as well as those of sunrise and sunset, would be a very great convenience; it would be worth while for a traveller accustomed to such calculations to make one for himself.
Diagram.--The diagram (preceding page) is intended to be traced in lines of different colours, when it will be found to be far less confused than at present.
Its object is to enable a traveller to use the sun, both as a rude watch and as a compass. The diagram is calculated for the latitude of London, but will do with more or less accuracy for the whole of England. A traveller going to other countries may easily draw up one for himself, and on a larger scale if he prefers it, by using the Azimuth tables and the Horary tables of Lynn.
The diagram represents, 1st, circles of equal altitudes; 2ndly, the path of sun, stars, etc., for each 10th degree of declination; 3rdly, the hour angles, all projected down upon--4thly--the level compass card.
Thus, six circles are drawn round the centre of the compass card at equal distances apart, each ring between them representing a space of 15 degrees in altitude.
The following angles were then calculated for each 10th degree of declination in turns, viz.:--The height of the sun, etc., when above the horizon at each point of the compass. 2ndly, the bearing of the sun at each consecutive hour. These points were dotted out; and, by joining the several sets of them, the drawing was made.
The broken lines which diverge in curves from P are hour lines; those which surround P in more or less complete ovals, are the paths of the sun and stars, for each 10th degree of declination; the prominent line running from E. round to W. being its path when on the Equator.
The diagram, when it is traced out for use, should have the names of the months written in coloured ink on either side of the south line at places corresponding to the declination of the sun during those months: viz.:--
To use the card.--Draw a broad pencil line, which may afterwards be rubbed out, corresponding to the date of travel, and there will be no further confusion.
Then, to know what o'clock it is, "span out" (see "Spanning") roughly the altitude of the sun. The point in the diagram where the altitude so obtained crosses the pencil mark, corresponds to the position of the sun. The hour is then read off; and the compass bearings on the diagram are adjusted by holding it level, and turning it round until a line, drawn from its centre through the point in question, points towards the sun. As to the moon or a star, if its declination be unknown, but its bearing and altitude being given, its declination and path may be found, and therefore the time since its rising or before its setting; a most useful piece of information to a traveller. Watches break, and compasses cannot be used on horseback without stopping, and therefore a diagram of this description, of which any number of copies can be traced out, may be of use for rough purposes.
Other Signs of Direction.--Bearings by the Growth of Trees.--In exposed situations and near the sea, the growth of trees is rarely symmetrical; they betray by their bent heads and stunted branches the direction of the prevalent influences most adverse to their growth. This direction is constant over wide districts in a flat country, but cannot be equally relied upon in a hilly one, where the mountains and valleys affect the conditions of shade and shelter, and deflect the course of the wind.
Moss grows best where there is continuous damp, therefore it prefers that side of a tree which affords the most suitable combination of exposure to damp winds and shelter from the sun. When the winds do not differ materially in dampness, the north side of the forest trees are the most thickly covered with moss.
Bearings by the shape of Ant-hills.--That most accurate observer, Pierre Huber, writes as follows concerning the nests of the yellow ants, which are abundantly to be found in the Swiss Alps and in some other mountainous countries. It must be recollected, in reading his statement, that the chief occupation of ants is to move their eggs and larvae from one part of the nest to another, to ensure them a warm and equable temperature; therefore, it is reasonable to expect that the nests of ants should be built on a uniform principle as regards their shape and aspect. Huber says "they serve as a compass to mountaineers when they are surrounded by thick mists, or have lost their way during the night; they do so in the following manner:--The ant-hills (of the yellow ants), which are by far more numerous and more high in the mountains than anywhere else, are longer than they are broad, and are of a similar pattern in other respects. Their direction is invariably from east to west. Their highest point and their steepest side are turned towards the point of sunrise in the winter-time (au levant d'hiver), and they descend with a gradual slope in the opposite direction. I have verified these experiences of the shepherds upon thousands of ant-hills, and have found a very small number of exceptions; these occurred only in the case where the ant-hills had been disturbed by men or animals. The ant-hills do not maintain the constancy of their form in the lowlands, where they are more exposed to such accidents."
Ripple-marks on Snow or Sand.--The Siberians travel guided by the ripples in the snow, which run in a pretty fixed direction, owing to the prevalence of a particular wind. The ripples in a desert of sand are equally good as guides; or the wind itself, if it happens to be blowing, especially to a person pushing through a tangled belt of forest. Before leaving a well-known track, and striking out at night into the broad open plain, notice well which way the wind blows as regards the course you are about to pursue.
Flight of Birds.--I have read somewhere that in the old days coasting sailors occasionally took pigeons with them, and when they had lost their bearings they let one fly, which it did at once to the land.
To follow a Track at Night.--Where the track is well marked, showers of sparks, ably struck with a flint and steel, are sufficient to show it, without taking the pains of making a flame.
Smell of an Old Track.--The earth of an old and well-trodden road has a perceptible smell, from the dung and trampling of animals passing over it, especially near to encampments. It is usual at night, when a guide doubts whether or no he is in the track, to take up handfuls of dirt and smell it. It is notorious that cattle can smell out a road.
Marks on Trees--Cutting Marks.--A very excellent "tree-line" is made by cutting deep notches in a line of trees, starting from some conspicuous object, so that the notches will face the men that are to be guided by it: the trees must be so selected that three, or at least two of them, are in sight at once. The notch or sliced bark of a tree is called a "blaze" in bush language. These blazed trees are of much use as finger-posts on a dark night. They are best made by two persons; one chipping the trees on his right, and the other those on his left. If the axes are quite sharp, they only need to be dropped against the tree in order to make the chip. Doing so, hardly retards a person in his walking. Another way more suitable to some kinds of forests, is to strike the knife into the left side of the tree, to tear down a foot of bark, and to leave the bark hanging, for a double extent of white surface is shown in this way. Also, to break down tops of saplings and leave them hanging: the undersides of the leaves being paler than the upper, and the different lines of the reversed foliage make a broken bush to look unnatural among health trees, and it quickly arrests the attention. If you want a tree to be well-scored or slashed, so as to draw attention to it without fail, fire bullets into it, as into a mark, and let the natives cut them out in their own way, for the sake of the lead. They will effect your purpose admirably, without suspecting it.
Stamping Marks on Trees.--The keepers of some of the communal forests in Switzerland are provided with small axes, having the back of the axe-head worked into a large and sharp die, the impression of the die being some letter or cipher indicating the commune. When these foresters wish to mark a tree, they give it first a slice with the edge of the axe, and then (turning the axe) they deal it a heavy blow with the back of the axe-head. By the first operation they prepare a clean surface for their mark; and, by the second, they stamp their cipher deeply into the wood.
Branding Trees.--Some explorers take branding irons, and use them to mark each of their camping-places with its number. This is especially useful in Australian travel, where the country is monotonous, and there are few natives to tell the names of places.
Faggot hung to a Tree.--A bundle of grass or twigs about 2 feet long, slung by its middle athwart a small tree, at the level of the eye, by the side of a path, is well calculated to catch the attention. Its lines are so different to those seen elsewhere in the forest, that it would be scarcely possible to overlook it.
Boat or Canoe Routes through lakes well studded with islands, can be well marked by trimming conspicuous trees until only a tuft of branches is left at the top. This is called, in the parlance of the "Far West," a "lopstick."
Wooden Crosses.--A simple structure like fig. 1 is put together with a single nail or any kind of lashing. It catches the attention immediately.
Marks with Stones.--Marks cut on Stone.--I have observed a very simple and conspicuous permanent mark used in forest-roads, as represented in fig. 2. The stone is 8 inches above ground, 3 1/2 wide, 8 inches long: the mark is black and deeply cut. An arrow-head may be chiselled in the face of a rock and filled with melted lead. With a small "cold" chisel, 3 inches long and 1/4 inch wide, a great deal of stone carving may be readily effected.
Piles of Stones.--Piles of stones are used by the Arabs in their deserts, and in most mountain-tracts. "An immense length of the road, both in the government of the Don Cossacks and in that of Tambov, is marked out on a gigantic scale by heaps of stones, varying from 4 to 6 feet high. These are visible from a great distance; and it is very striking to see the double row of them indicating the line of route over the Great Steppe - undulations which often present no other trace of the hand of man." (Spottiswoode.)
Gipsy Marks.--When gipsies travel, the party that goes in advance leaves marks at cross-roads, in order to guide those who follow. These marks are called "patterans;" there are three patterans in common use. One is to pluck three large handfuls of grass and to throw them on the ground, at a short distance from one another, in the direction taken; another is, to draw a cross on the ground, with one arm much longer than the rest, as a pointer--a cross is better than any other simple mark, for it catches many different lights. (In marking a road, do not be content with marking the dust--an hour's breeze or a shower will efface it; but take a tent-peg, or sharpened stick, and fairly break into the surface, and your mark will be surprisingly durable.) The third of the gipsy patterans is of especial use in the dark: a cleft stick is planted by the road-side, close to the hedge, and in the cleft, is an arm like a signpost. The gipsies feel for this at cross-roads, searching for it on the left-hand side. (Borrow's 'Zincali.') A twig, stripped bare, with the exception of two or three leaves at its end, is sometimes laid on the road, with its bared end pointing forwards.
Other similar marks of direction and locality, in use in various parts of the world are as follows:--Knotting twigs; breaking boughs, and letting them dangle down; a bit of white paper in a cleft stick; spilling water, or liquid of any kind, on the pathway; a litter made of paper torn into small shreds, or of a stick cut into chips, or of feathers of a bird; a string, with papers knotted to it, like the tail of a boy's kite--tie a stone to the end of it, and throw it high among the branches of a tree.
Paint.--Whitewash (which see), when mixed with salt, or grease, or glue size, will stand the weather for a year or more. It can be painted on a tree or rock: the rougher the surface on which it is painted, the longer will some sign of it remain.
Black for Inscriptions is made by mixing lamp-black (which see) with some kind of size, grease, wax, or tar. Dr. Kane, having no other material at hand, once burnt a large K with gunpowder on the side of a rock. It proved to be a durable and efficient mark. When letters are chiselled in a rock, they should be filled with black to make them more conspicuous.
Blood leaves a mark of a dingy hue, that remains long upon a light-coloured, absorbent surface, as upon the face of sandy rocks.
Recollection of a Path.--It is difficult to estimate, by recollection only, the true distances between different points in a road that has been once travelled over. There are many circumstances which may mislead, such as the accidental tedium of one part, or the pleasure of another; but besides these, there is always the fact, that, in a long day's journey, a man's faculties of observation are more fresh and active on starting than later in the day, when from the effect of weariness, even peculiar objects will fail to arrest his attention. Now, as a man's recollection of an interval of time is, as we all know, mainly derived from the number of impressions that his memory has received while it was passing, it follows that, so far as this cause alone is concerned, the earlier part of his day's journey will always seem to have been disproportionately long compared to the latter. It is remarkable, on taking a long half-day's walk, and subsequently returning, after resting some hours, how long a time the earlier part of the return journey seems to occupy, and how rapidly different well-remembered points seem to succeed each other, as the traveller draws homewards. In this case, the same cause acts in opposite directions in the two journeys.
To Walk in a Straight Line through Forests.--Every man who has had frequent occasion to find his way from one place to another in a forest, can do so without straining his attention. Thus, in the account of Lord Milton's travels, we read of some North American Indians who were incapable of understanding the white man's difficulty in keeping a straight line; but no man who has not had practice can walk through trees in a straight line, even with the utmost circumspection.
After making several experiments, I think the explanation of the difficulty and the way of overcoming it are as follows:--If a man walks on a level surface, guided by a single conspicuous mark, he is almost sure not to travel towards it in a straight line; his muscular sense is not delicate enough to guard him from making small deviations. If, therefore, after walking some hundred yards towards a single mark, on ground that preserves his track, the traveller should turn round, he will probably be astonished to see how sinuous his course has been. However, if he take note of a second mark and endeavour to keep it strictly in a line with the first, he will easily keep a perfectly straight course. But if he cannot find a second mark, it will not be difficult for him to use the tufts of grass, the stones, or the other accidents of the soil, in its place; they need not be precisely in the same line with the mark, but some may be on the right and some on the left of it, in which case, as he walks on the perspective of their change of position will be symmetrical. Lastly, if he has not even one definite mark, but is walking among a throng of forest trees, he may learn to depend wholly on the symmetry of the changes of perspective of the trees as a guide to his path. He will keep his point of sight unchanged and will walk in its direction, and if he deviates from that direction, the want of symmetry in the change of perspective on either side of the point on which he wishes to walk, will warn him of his error. The appreciation of this optical effect grows easily into a habit. When the more distant view happens to be shut out, the traveller must regain his line under guidance similar to that by which a sailor steers who only looks at his compass at intervals--I mean by the aspect of the sky, the direction of the wind, and the appearance of the forest, when it has any peculiarity of growth dependent on direction. The chance of his judgment being erroneous to a small extent is the same on the right hand as on the left, consequently his errors tend to compensate each other. I wish some scientific traveller would rigidly test the powers of good bushmen and find their "probable" angular deviation from the true course under different circumstances. Their line should be given to them, and they should be told to make smokes at intervals. The position of these smokes could be easily mapped out by the traveller.
The art of walking in a straight line is possessed in an eminent degree by good ploughmen. They always look ahead, and let the plough take care of itself.
To find the way down a Hill-side.--If on arriving at the steep edge of a ridge, you have to take the caravan down into the plain, and it appears that a difficulty may arise in finding a good way for it; descend first yourself, as well as you can, and seek for a road as you climb back again. It is far more easy to succeed in doing this as you ascend, than as you descend: because when at the bottom of a hill, its bold bluffs and precipices face you, and you can at once see and avoid them: whereas at the top, these are precisely the parts that you overlook and cannot see.
Blind Paths.--Faintly-marked paths over grass (blind paths) are best seen from a distance.
Lost in a Fog.--Napoleon, when riding with his staff across a shallow arm of the Gulf of Suez, was caught in a fog: he utterly lost his way, and found himself in danger. He there-upon ordered his staff to ride from him, in radiating lines, in all directions, and that such of them as should find the water to become more shallow, should shout out.
Mirage.--When it is excessive, it is most bewildering: a man will often mistake a tuft of grass, or a tree, or other most dissimilar object, for his companion, or his horse, or game. An old traveller is rarely deceived by mirage. If he doubts, he can in many cases adopt the following hint given by Dr. Kane: "Refraction will baffle a novice, on the ice; but we have learned to baffle refraction. By sighting the suspected object with your rifle at rest, you soon detect motion."
Lost Path.--If you fairly lose your way in the dark, do not go on blundering hither and thither till you are exhausted; but make as comfortable bivouac as you can, and start at daybreak fresh on your search.
The bank of a watercourse, which is the best of clues, affords the worst of paths, and is quite unfit to be followed at night. The ground is always more broken in the neighbourhood of a river than far away from it; and the vegatation is more tangled. Explorers travel most easily by keeping far away from the banks of streams; because then they have fewer broad tributaries and deep ravines to cross.
If in the daytime you find that you have quite lost your way, set systematically to work to find it. At all event, do not make the matter doubly perplexing by wandering further. Mark the place very distinctly where you discover yourself at fault, that it may be the centre of your search. Be careful to ride in such places as will preserve your tracks. Break twigs if you are lost in a woodland: if in the open country, drag a stick to make a clear trail. Marks scratched on the ground to tell the hour and day that you passed by, will guide a relieving party. A great smoke is useful for the same purpose and is visible for a long distance. (See "Signals.")
A man who loses himself, especially in a desert, is sadly apt to find his presence of mind forsake him, the sense of desolation is so strange and overpowering; but he may console himself with the statistics of his chance of safety--viz., that travellers, though constantly losing their party, have hardly ever been known to perish unrelieved.
When the lost traveller is dead beat with fatigue, let him exert a strong control over himself, for if he gives way to terror, and wanders wildly about hither and thither, he will do no good and exhaust his vital powers much sooner. He should erect some signal--as conspicuous a one as he can--with something fluttering upon it, sit down in the shade, and, listening keenly for any sound of succour, bear his fate like a man. His ultimate safety is merely a question of time, for he is sure to be searched for; and, if he can keep alive for two or three days, he will, in all probability, be found and saved. (To relieve thirst, p. 223; hunger, p. 197)
Theory.--When you discover you are lost, ask yourself the following three questions: they comprise the ABC of the art of pathfinding, and I will therefore distinguish them by the letters A, B, and C respectively:--A. What is the least distance that I can with certainty specify, within which the caravan-path, the river, or the sea-shore, that I wish to regain, lies? B. What is the direction, in a vague general way, towards which the path or river runs, or the sea-coast tends? C. When I last left the path, did I turn to the left or to the right.
As regards A, calculate coolly how long you have been riding or walking, and at what pace, since you left your party; subtract for stoppages and well-recollected zigzags; allow a mile and a half per hour for the pace when you have been loitering on foot, and three and a half when you have been walking fast. Bear in mind that occasional running makes an almost inappreciable difference; and that a man is always much nearer to the lost path, than he is inclined to fear.
As regards B, if the man knows the course of the path to within eight points of the compass (or one-fourth of the whole horizon), it is a great gain; or even if he knows B to within twelve points, say 120 degrees, or one-third of the whole horizon, his knowledge is available. For instance, let us suppose a man's general idea of the run of the path to be, that it goes in a northerly and southerly direction: then if he is also positive that the path does not deviate more than to the N.E. on the one side of that direction, or to the N.W. on the other, he knows the direction to within eight points. Similarly he is sure to twelve points, if his limits, on either hand, are E.N.E. and W.N.W. respectively.
C requires no further explanation.
Now, if a man can answer all three questions, A, B, to within eight points of the compass, and C, he is four and a half times as well off as if he could only answer A; as will be seen by the following considerations. A knowledge of B in addition to A, is of only one-third the use that it would be if C also were known.
1. Let P (fig. 1) be the point where the traveller finds himself at fault, and let P D to be a distance within which the path certainly lies; then the circle, E D F, somewhere cuts the path, and the traveller starting from P must first go to D, and then make the entire circuit, D E H F D, before he has exhausted his search. This distance of P D + D E H F D = P D + 6 P D nearly, = 7 P D altogether, which gives the length of road that the man must be prepared to travel over who can answer no other than the question A. Of course, P D may cut the path, but I am speaking of the extreme distance which the lost man may have to travel.
Supposing that question B can be answered as well as question A, an that the direction of the line of road lies certainly within the points of the compass, P S and P R. Draw the circumscribing parallelogram, G L H E M, whose sides are respectively parallel to P S and P R. Join L M. By the conditions of this problem, the path must somewhere cut the circle E D F; and since L M cuts L H, which is a tangent to it, it is clear it must cut every path--such as a a, parallel to L H, or to P R--that cuts the circle. Similarly, the same line, L M, must cut every path parallel to P S, such as b b. Now if L M cuts every path that is parallel to either of the extreme directions, P R or P S, it is obvious that it must also cut every path that is parallel to an intermediate direction, such as c c, but
PL = PH/cos HPL = PD/cos 1/2 RPS;
The consequence of which is that P L exceeds P D by one-sixth, one-half as much again, or twice as much again, according as R P S = 60 degrees, 90 degrees degrees, or 140 degrees.
The traveller who can only answer the questions A and B, but not C, must be prepared to travel from P to L, and back again through P to M, a distance equal to 3 P L. If, however, he can answer the question C, he knows at once whether to travel towards L or towards M, and he has no return journey to fear. At the worst, he has simply to travel the distance P L.
The probable distance, as distinguished from the utmost possible distance that a man may have to travel in the three cases, can be calculated mathematically. It would be out of place here to give the working of the little problem, but I append the rough numerical results in a table.
The epitome of the whole is this:--1. If you can only answer the question A, you must seek for the lost path by the tedious circle plan; or, what is the same, and a more manageable way of setting to work, by travelling in an octagon, each side of which must be equal to four-fifths of P D. (See fig. 2.)
That is to say, look at your compass and start in any direction you please; we will say to the south, as represented in the drawing. Travel for a distance, P D; then supposing you have not crossed the path, turn at right angles, and start afresh--we will suppose your present direction to be west--travel for a distance 4/10 of P D, which will take you to 1; then turn to the N.W. and travel for a distance 8/10 of P D, which will take you to 2; then to the N. for a similar distance, which will take you to 3; and so on, till the octagon has been completed. If you know B to eight points, and not C, adopt the L M system; also, if you know A and C, and B to within thirteen points (out of the sixteen that form the semicircle), you may still adopt the L M system; but not otherwise. A rough diagram scratched on the ground with a stick would suffice to recall the above remarks to a traveller's recollection.
Caches.--It is easy enough to choose a spot, which you yourself shall again recognise, for digging a hole, where stores of all kinds may be buried against your return: neither is it difficult to choose one, so that you may indicate its position to others, or else leave it to a party who are travelling in concert, to find it out for themselves. But excessive caution in the mode of depositing the stores is, in every case, required, as hungry and thieving natives keep watch on all the movements of a party; they follow their tracks and hunt over their old camping-places, in search of anything there may be to pick up. And hyenas, wolves, wild dogs, and all kinds of prowling animals, guided by their sharp scent, will soon scratch up any provisions that are buried carelessly, or in such a way as to taint the earth.
The natives in Ceylon, when they wish to make a depot of game, jerk it, put the dry meat into the hollow of a tree, fill up the reservoir with honey, and plaster it over with clay.
Some dried plants of M. Bourgeau, the botanist attached to Captain Palliser's expedition to the Rocky Mountains, remained underground for ten months without injury.
Newly disturbed Ground sinks when Wetted.--If a cache be made in dry weather, and the ground be simply levelled over it, the first heavy rain will cause the earth to sink, and will proclaim the hidden store to an observant eye. Soldiers, in sacking a town, find out hastily-buried treasures by throwing a pailful of water over any suspected spot: if the ground sinks, it has surely been recently disturbed.
Best place for a Cache.--The best position to choose for a cache is in a sandy or gravelly soil, on account of its dryness and the facility of digging. Old burrows, or the gigantic but abandoned hills of white ants, may be thought of, if the stores are enclosed in cases of painted tin: also clefts in rocks: some things can be conveniently buried under water. The place must be chosen under circumstances that admit of your effacing all signs of the ground having been disturbed. A good plan is to set up your tent and to dig a deep hole in the floor, depositing what you have to bury wrapped in an oil-cloth, in an earthen jar, or in a wooden vessel, according to what you are able to get. It must be secure against the attacks of the insects of the place: avoid the use of skins, for animals will smell and dig them out. Continue to inhabit the tent for at least a day, well stamping and smoothing down the soil at leisure. After this, change the position of the tent, shifting the tethering-place or kraal of your cattle to where it stood. They will speedily efface any marks that may be left. Travellers often make their fires over the holes where their stores are buried; but natives are so accustomed to suspect fireplaces, that this plan does not prove to be safe. During summer travel, in countries pestered with gnats, a smoke fire for the horses (that is, a fire for keeping off flies), made near the place, will attract the horses and cause them to trample all about. This is an excellent way of obliterating marks left about the cache.
Hiding Small Things.--It is easy to make a small cache by bending down a young tree, tying your bundle to the top, and letting it spring up again. A spruce-tree gives excellent shelter to anything placed in its branches. (See also what is said on "Burying Letters," p. 303.)
Hiding Large Things.--Large things, as a wagon or boat, must either be pushed into thick bushes or reeds and left to chance, or they may be buried in a sand drift or in a sandy deposit by a river side. A small reedy island is a convenient place for such caches.
Double Caches.--Some persons, when they know that their intentions are suspected, make two caches: the one with a few things buried in it, and concealed with little care; the other, containing those that are really valuable, and very artfully made. Thieves are sure to discover the first, and are likely enough to omit a further search.
To find your Store again, you should have ascertained the distance and bearing, by compass, of the hole from some marked place--as a tree--about which you are sure not to be mistaken; or from the centre of the place where your fire was made, which is a mark that years will not entirely efface. If there be anything in the ground itself to indicate the position of the hole, you have made a clumsy cache. It is not a bad plan, after the things are buried, and before the tent is removed, to scratch a furrow a couple of inches deep, and three or four feet long, and picking up any bits of stick, reeds, or straw, that may be found at hand lying upon the ground, to place them end to end in it. These will be easy enough to find again by making a cross furrow, and when found will lead you straight above the depot. They would never excite suspicion, even if a native got hold of them; for they would appear to have been dropped or blown on the ground by chance, not seen and trampled in. Mr. Atkinson mentions an ingenious way by which the boundaries of valuable mining property are marked in the Ural, a modification of which might serve for indicating caches. A trench is dug and filled with charcoal beat small, and then covered over. The charcoal lasts for ever, and cannot be tampered with without leaving an unmistakable mark.
Secreting Jewels.--Before going to a rich but imperfectly civilised country, travellers sometimes buy jewels and bury them in their flesh. They make a gash, put the jewels in, and allow the flesh to grow over them as it would over a bullet. The operation is more sure to succeed if the jewels are put into a silver tube with rounded ends, for silver does not irritate. If the jewels are buried without the tube, they must have no sharp edges. The best place for burying them is in the left arm, at the spot chosen for vaccination. A traveller who was thus provided would always have a small capital to fall back upon, though robbed of everything he wore.
A Chain of gold is sometimes carried by Arabs, who sew it in dirty leather under their belt. They cut off and sell a link at a time. (Burton)
The gun-stock is a good receptacle for small valuables. Unscrew the heel-plate and bore recesses; insert what you desire, after wrapping it tightly in cloth and plugging it in; then replace the heel-plate. (Peal.)
Depositing Letters.--To direct Attention to the Place of Deposit.--When you make a cache in an inhabited land, for the use of a travelling party who are ignorant of your purpose, there is of course some difficulty in ensuring that their attention should be directed to the place, but that the natives should have no clue to it. If you have means of gashing, painting or burning characters, something of this sort (see fig.), they will explain themselves.
Savages, however, take such pains to efface any mark they may find left by white men, entertaining thoughts like those of Morgiana in the 'Arabian Nights' tale of the Forty Thieves, that it would be most imprudent to trust to a single mark. A relief party should therefore be provided with a branding-iron and moveable letters, and with paints, and they should mark the tree in many places. A couple of hours spent in doing this would leave more marks than the desultory efforts of roving savages would be likely to efface. A good sign to show that Europeans have visited a spot is a saw mark (no savages use saws): it catches the eye directly.
A system occasionally employed by Arctic expeditions, of making a cache 10 feet true north (and not magnetic north) from the cairn or mark, deserves to be generally employed, at least with modifications. Let me therefore suggest, that persons who find a cairn built of a tree marked, so as to attract notice, and who are searching blindly in all directions for further clue, should invariably dig out and examine that particular spot. The notice deposited there may consist of no more than a single sentence, to indicate some distant point as the place where the longer letter is buried. I hope it will be understood, that the precaution of always burying a notice 10 feet true north of the cairn mark is proposed as additional to and not in the place of other contrivances for giving information. There will often arise some doubt as to the exact point in the circumference of the cairn or mark whence the 10 feet measurement should be made. This is due to the irregularity of the bases of all such marks. Therefore, when searching for letters, a short trench, running to the north, will frequently have to be dug, and not a mere hole. I should propose that the short notice be punched or pricked on a thin sheet of lead, made by pouring two or three melted bullets on a flat stone, and that the plate so made and inscribed should be rolled up and pushed into a hole bored or burnt through the head of a large tent peg. The peg could be driven deeply in the ground, quite out of sight, without disturbing the surrounding earth. It might even suffice to pick up a common stone and to scratch or paint upon it what you had to say, and to leave it on the ground, with its written face downwards, at the place in question.
To secure Buried Letters from Damp.--They may be wrapped in waxed cloth or paper, if there be no fear of the ravages of insects. Lead plate is far more safe: it can be made easily enough by a traveller out of his bullets. (See "Lead.") A glass bottle (with something that insects cannot eat, such as lead-plate, sealing-wax or clay, put carefully over the cork) or an earthen jar may be used. The quill of a large feather will hold a long letter, if it is written in very small handwriting and on thin paper, and it will preserve it from the wet. After the letter has been rolled up and inserted in the quill, the open end of the latter may be squeezed flat between two stones, heated sufficiently to soften the quill (see "Horn") but not so hot as to burn it, and then, for greater security against wet, the end of the quill should be twisted tight. Wax affords another easy means of closing the quill.
Picture-writing.--A very many excellent bushrangers are unable to read, rude picture-writing is often used by them, especialy in America. The figure of a man with a spear or bow, drawn as a child would draw, stands for a savage; one with a hat or gun for a European; horses, oxen, and sheep are equally to be drawn; lines represent numbers, and arrow-heads direction. Even without more conventional symbols, a vast deal may be expressed by rude picture-writing.
Reconnoitring Barren Countries by help of Porters and Caches.--The distance to which an explorer can attain in barren countries depends on the number of days' provisions that he can carry with him. Half of his load supports him on his way out, the other half on his way home. But if he start in company with a laden porter, he may reserve his own store and supply both himself and the porter from the pack carried by the latter. When half of this is consumed, the other half may be divided into two equal portions. The one is retained by the porter who makes his way back to camp, consuming it as he goes, and the other is cached (see "Caches") for the sustenance of the traveller on his return journey. This being arranged, the traveller can start from the cache with his own load of provisions untouched, just as he would have started from the camp if he had had no porter to assist him. It is evident a process of this description might be frequently repeated; that a large party of porters might start, and by a system of successive subdivisions, they could enable the traveller to reach a position many days' journey distant from his camp, with his own load of provisions and with other food placed in a succession of caches, for the supply of his wants all the way home again. The principle by which this may be effected without waste, is to send back at each successive step the smallest detachment competent to travel alone, and to do this as soon as one half of their load of food has been consumed by the whole party. Then, the other half is to be divided into two portions; one consisting of rations to supply the detachment back to the previous cache, whence their journey home has been provided for, the other portion to be buried, to supply rations for the remainder of the party, when they shall have returned (either all together or else in separate and successive detachments) back to the previous cache, whence their journey home has also been provided for. An inspection of the Table which I annex (p. 307) makes details unnecessary. The dotted lines show how the porters who first return may be dispatched afresh as relief parties. I give, in the table, a schedule of the three most important cases. In these the regular supply of two meals per diem, and a morning and an afternoon journey, are supposed. I wrote a paper on this subject, which is published in the 'Royal Geographical Society's Proceedings,' vol. ii., to which I refer those who care to inquire further into the matter. Cases where each man or horse carries a number of rations intermediate to those specified in the Table, are, perhaps, too complicated for use without much previous practice. It would be easy for a leader to satisfy himself that he was making no mistake, and to drill his men to any one of the tabulated cases, by painting a row of sticks, 50 yards apart, to represent the successive halting-places of his intended journey, and by making his men go through a sham rehearsal of what they would severally have to do. Then each man's duties could be written down in a schedule and all possibility of mistake be avoided.
The Table represents the proceedings of four men (or horses and men), who leave camp. Two turn back at P1, one more turns back at P2, and the remaining man pushes on to P3. Food has been cached for him both at P2 and P1; but to make matters doubly sure, a relief party, as shown by the dotted line, can be sent to meet him at P2.
We will take the case C as an example. The figures that refer to it are in the lines adjacent to the letter C in the Table. They are those in the uppermost line, and also those in the line up the left-hand side of the diagram, and they stand for days' journey and for days respectively. P1 is reached after 1 1/2 day's travel, P2 after 3 days, P3 after 6 days from camp. The entire party might consist of 5 men, 2 carts (one a very light one), and four horses, together with one saddle and bridle. The heavier cart and 2 men and 2 horses would turn back at P1. One of the two horses of the second cart would be saddled and ridden back by a third man from P2; and, finally, the remaining cart, single horse, and 2 men, would turn back, after 6 days, from P3.--The relief party would originallyconsist of the first cart and 3 horses. On arriving at P1, a horse and man would be sent back. At P2 it would have more than enough spare rations to admit of its waiting two whole days for the exploring cart, if it were necessary to do so.
It will be seen from the Table that as 6 days' journey is the limit to which C can explore, so 4 days' journey is the limit for B, and 2 days for A. But where abundance of provision is secured at P2 by means of a relief party, the explorers might well make an effort and travel on half rations to a greater distance than the limits here assigned.
General Remarks.--A frank, joking, but determined manner, joined with an air of showing more confidence in the good faith of the natives than you really feel, is the best. It is observed, that a sea-captain generally succeeds in making an excellent impression on savages: they thoroughly appreciate common sense, truth, and uprightness; and are not half such fools as strangers usually account them. If a savage does mischief, look on him as you would on a kicking mule, or a wild animal, whose nature is to be unruly and vicious, and keep your temper quite unruffled. Evade the mischief, if you can: if you cannot, endure it; and do not trouble yourself overmuch about your dignity, or about retaliating on the man, except it be on the grounds of expediency. There are even times when any assumption of dignity becomes ludicrous, and the traveller must, as Mungo Park had once to do, "lay it down as a rule to make himself as useless and as insignificant as possible, as the only means of recovering his liberty."
Bush Law.--It is impossible but that a traveller must often take the law into his own hands. Some countries, no doubt, are governed with a strong arm by a savage despot; to whom or to whose subordinates appeals must of course be made; but, for the most part, the system of life among savages is--