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.



ON FINDING THE WAY.


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.

[Sketch as described above].

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.

[Table as referred to above].

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.)

[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 AND DEPOTS.


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.

[Sketch of direction plate].

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.

In Case A, each man             carries 1 1/2 day's rations.
"    B.      "   (or horse)    "     3 1/2 days' rations for
himself (and drivers).
"    C. each man (or horse)  carries 5 1/2 days' rations for
himself (and drivers).

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.

[Full page diagram as described above].

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.



MANAGEMENT OF SAVAGES.


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--

"The simple rule, the good old plan--
That they should take, who have the power;
And they should keep, who can."

Where there is no civil law, or any kind of substitute for it, each man
is, as it were, a nation in himself; and then the traveller ought to be
guided in his actions by the motives that influence nations, whether to
make war or to abstain from it, rather than by the criminal code of
civilised countries. The traveller must settle in his own mind what his
scale of punishments should be; and it will be found a convenient
principle that a culprit should be punished in proportion to the quantity
of harm that he has done, rather than according to the presumed
wickedness of the offence. Thus, if two men were caught, one of whom had
stolen an ox, and the other a sheep, it would be best to flog the first
much more heavily than the second; it is a measure of punishment more
intelligible to savages than ours. The principle of double or treble
restitution, to which they are well used, is of the same nature. If all
theft be punished, your administration will be a reign of terror; for
every savage, even your best friends, will pilfer little things from you,
whenever they have a good opportunity. Be very severe if any of your own
party steal trifles from natives: order double or treble restitution, if
the man does not know better; and, if he does, a flogging besides, and
not in place of it.

Seizing Food.--On arriving at an encampment, the natives commonly run
away in fright. If you are hungry, or in serious need of anything that
they have, go boldly into their huts, take just what you want, and leave
fully adequate payment. It is absurd to be over-scrupulous in these
cases.

Feast-Days.--Interrupt the monotony of travel, by marked days, on which
you give extra tobacco and sugar to the servants. Avoid constant good
feeding, but rather have frequent slight fasts to ensure occasional good
feasts; and let those occasions when marked stages of your journey have
been reached, be great gala-days. Recollect that a savage cannot endure
the steady labour that we Anglo-Saxons have been bred to support. His
nature is adapted to alternations of laziness and of severe exertion.
Promote merriment, singing, fiddling, and so forth, with all your power.
Autolycus says, in 'A Winter's Tale'--

"Jog on, jog on, the foot-path way,
Merrily bent the stils-a:
A merry heart goes all the day,
Your sad tires in a mile-a."

Flogging.--Different tribes have very different customs in the matter of
corporal punishment: there are some who fancy it a disgrace and a serious
insult. A young traveller must therefore be discriminating and cautious
in the licence he allows to his stick, or he may fall into sad trouble.

Kindliness of Women--Wherever you go, you will find kindheartedness
amongst women. Mungo Park is fond of recording his experiences of this;
but I must add that he seems to have been an especial favourite with the
sex. The gentler of the two sexes is a "teterrima causa belli."

When you wish a Savage to keep count, give him a string of beads. The
boxes and parcels that are sent by the overland route are, or were,
counted in this way by an Arab overseer. He was described as having a
cord with great beads strung on it, and the end of the cord was thrown
over his shoulder. As each box passed him, he jerked a bead from the fore
part of the cord to the back part of it, over his shoulder.

Drawing Lots.--It is often necessary to distribute things by lot. Do it
by what children call "soldiering:" One stands with his back to the rest'
another, pointing to the portions in succession, calls out "Who is to
have this?" To which the first one replies by naming somebody, who at
once takes possession.



HOSTILITIES.


To Fortify a Camp.--Forts at opposite Corners.--Explorers have frequent
occasion to form a depot: either a few men are left in charge of the
heavy luggage, while the rest of the party ride on a distant
reconnoitring expedition; or else the whole party may encamp for weeks,
until the state of the season, or other cause, permits further travel. In
either case, a little forethought and labour will vastly increase the
security of the depot against hostile attempts. For instance, it should
be placed at least 200 yards from any cover, or commanding heights; if
the ground on which it stands have any features of strength about it, as
being near the side of a stream, or being on a hill, so much the better;
the neighbourhood of shingle prevents persons from stealing across
unheard; and, finally, the camp should be fortified. Now the principle of
fortification best suited to a small party, is to form the camp into a
square, and to have two projecting enclosures at opposite corners, where
all the men who have guns may place themselves to fire on the assailants.
It will be seen by the sketch, how completely the guns in each enclosure
can sweep the edges as well as the whole of the environs of the camp.

[Sketch of camp with fortifications].

A square is better than a round for the projecting enclosures, as it
allows more men to use their guns at the same time on the same point; but
it is so convenient to make the walls of the enclosure serve as sidings
for the tents, that it is perhaps best to allow the size and shape of the
tent to determine those of the enclosures. A square of nine or ten feet,
inside measurement, is amply sufficient for three guns or archers. The
parapets can be built of large stones. A travelling party rarely carries
spades, but when they have them, the parapet may be formed of the earth
thrown up by digging a trench outside it; the common calculation is,
that, with good tools, a labourer can dig one cubic yard of earth an
hour, and can continue working for eight hours in the day. The parapet
should be raised four feet above the ground, as that is the most
convenient height to fire from when standing; and it is high enough to
shield a person kneeling down to load. Upon this parapet, large stones
should be laid, having loop-holes between them, and above the stones the
tent may be pitched; its pole being lengthened by lashing apiece of wood
to it, or by cutting a fresh pole altogether. It will make a high roof to
the enclosure, and will complete a comfortable abode. We have thus a
square enclosed camp for the cattle, the wagons, and the natives of the
party; and, at opposite corners of it, two fortified houses: one of which
would naturally be inhabited by the leaders of the party; and the other,
either by the storekeeper, or by the white servants generally

Trous de Loup are holes, with sharp stake driven in the bottom of each of
them (see "Pitfalls," p. 264) with the pointed end upwards. The South Sea
Islanders use them in multitudes to prevent the possibility of an enemy's
approach at night, otherwise than along the narrow paths that lead to
their villages: if a man deviates from a path, he is sure to stumble into
one of these contrivances, and to be lamed. The holes need not exceed one
foot in diameter; and the stake may be a stick no thicker than the little
finger, and yet it will suffice to maim an ill-shod man, if its point be
baked hard. A traveller could only use these pitfalls where, from the
circumstances of the case, there was no risk of his own men, cattle, or
dogs falling into them.

Weapons, to resist an Attack.--Unless your ammunition is so kept as to be
accessible in the confusion of an attack, the fortifications I have just
described would be of little service. If the guns are all, or nearly all,
of the same bore, it is simple enough to have small bags filled with
cartridges, and also papers with a dozen caps in each. Buck-shot and
slugs are better than bullets, for the purposes of which we are speaking.
Bows and arrows might render good service. The Chinese, in their junks,
when they expect a piratical attack, bring up baskets filled with stones
from the ballast of the ship, and put them on deck ready at hand. They
throw them with great force and precision: the idea is not a bad one.
Boiling water and hot sand, if circumstances happened to permit their
use, are worth bearing in mind, as they tell well on the bodies of naked
assailants. In close quarters, thrust, do not strike; and recollect that
it is not the slightest use to hit a negro on the head with a stick, as
it is a fact that his skull endures a blow better than any other part of
his person. In picking out the chiefs, do not select the men that are the
most showily ornamented, for they are not the chiefs; but the biggest and
the busiest. A good horseman will find a powerful weapon at hand by
unhitching his stirrup leather and attached stirrup from the saddle. I
know of a case where this idea saved the rider.

Rockets.--Of all European inventions, nothing so impresses and terrifies
savages as fireworks, especially rockets. I cannot account for the