The Art of Travel Part 20

Still, made with Earthen Pots and a Metal Basin.--A very simple distilling apparatus is used in Bhootan; the sketch will show the principle on which it is constructed.

[Sketch of apparatus].

Salt water is placed in a pot, set over the fire. Another vessel, but without top or bottom, which, for the convenience of ill.u.s.tration, I have indicated in the sketch by nothing more than a dotted line, is made to stand upon the pot. It serves as a support for a metal basin, S, which is filled with salt water, and acts as a condenser. When the pot boils, the steam ascends and condenses itself on the under surface of the basin S, whence it drops down and is Collected in a cup, C, that is supported by a rude tripod of sticks, T, standing in the inside of the iron pot.

Occasional Means of Quenching Thirst.--A Shower of Rain will yield a good supply. The clothes may be stripped off and spread out, and the rain-water sucked from them. Or, when a storm is approaching a cloth or blanket may be made fast by its four corners, and a quant.i.ty of bullets thrown in the middle of it; they will cause the water that it receives, to drain to one point and trickle through the cloth, into a cup or bucket set below. A reversed umbrella will catch water; but the first drippings from it, or from clothes that have been long unwashed, as from a macintosh cloak, are intolerably nauseous and very unwholesome. It must be remembered, that thirst is greatly relieved by the skin being wetted, and therefore it is well for a man suffering from thirst, to strip to the rain. Rain-water is lodged for some days in the huge pitcher-like corollas of many tropical flowers.

Sea-water.--Lives of sailors have more than once been saved when turned adrift in a boat, by bathing frequently and keeping their clothes damp with salt-water. However, after some days, the nauseous taste of the salt-water is very perceptible in the saliva, and at last becomes unbearable; such, at least was the experience of the surgeon of the wrecked 'Pandora.'

Dew-water is abundant near the sea-sh.o.r.e, and may be collected in the same way as rain-water. The storehouse at Angra Pequena, in S. W. Africa, in 1850, was entirely supplied by the dew-water deposited on its roof.

The Australians who live near the sea, go among the wet bushes with a great piece of bark, and brush into it the dew-drops from the leaves with a wisp of gra.s.s; collecting in this way large quant.i.ties of water. Eyre used a sponge for the same purpose, and appears to have saved his life by its use.

Animal Fluids are resorted to in emergencies; such as the contents of the paunch of an animal that has been shot; its taste is like sweet-wort. Mr.

Darwin writes of people who, catching turtles, drank the water that was found in their Pericardia; it was pure and sweet. Blood will stand in the stead of solid food, but it is of no avail in the stead of water, on account of its saline qualities.

Vegetable Fluids.--Many roots exist, from which both natives and animals obtain a sufficiency of sap and pulp, to take the place of water. The traveller should inquire of the natives, and otherwise acquaint himself with those peculiar to the country that he visits; such as the roots which the eland eats, the bitter water-melon, etc.

To purify water that is muddy or putrid.--With muddy water, the remedy is to filter, and to use alum, if you have it. With putrid, to boil, to mix with charcoal, or expose to the sun and air; or what is best, to use all three methods at the same time. When the water is salt or brackish, nothing avails but distillation. (See Distilled Water," p. 218.)

To filter Muddy Water.--When, at the watering-place, there is little else but a mess of mud and filth, take a good handful of gra.s.s or rushes, and tie it roughly together in the form of a cone, 6 or 8 inches long; then dipping the broad end into the puddle, and turning it up, a streamlet of fluid will trickle down through the small end. This excellent plan is used by the Northern Bushmen--at their wells quant.i.ties of these bundles are found lying about. (Anderson.) Otherwise suck water through your handkerchief by putting it over the mouth of your mug, or by throwing it on the gritty mess as it lies in the puddle. For obtaining a copious supply, the most perfect plan, if you have means, is to bore a cask full of auger holes, and put another small one, that has had the bottom knocked out, inside it; and then to fill the s.p.a.ce between the two, with gra.s.s, moss, etc. Sink the whole in the midst of the pond; the water will run through the auger-holes, filter through the moss, and rise in the inner cask clear of weeds and sand. If you have only a single cask, holes may be bored in the lower part of its sides, and alternate layers of sand and gra.s.s thrown in, till they cover the holes; through these layers, the water will strain. Or any coa.r.s.e bag, kept open with hoops made on the spot, may be moored in the mud, by placing a heavy stone inside; it will act on The same principle, but less efficiently than the casks. Sand, charcoal, sponge, and wood, are the substances most commonly used in properly constructed filters: peat charcoal is excellent. Charcoal acts not only as a mechanical filter for solid impurities, but it has the further advantage of absorbing putrid gases.

(See below, "Putrid Water.") Snow is also used as a filter in the Arctic regions. Dr. Rae used to lay it on the water, until it was considerably higher than its level, and then to suck the water through the snow.

Alum.--Turbid water is also, in some way as yet insufficiently explained, made clear by the Indian plan of putting a piece of alum into it. The alum appears to unite with the mud, and to form a clayey deposit.

Independently of the action, it has an astringent effect upon organic matters: it hardens them, and they subside to the bottom of the vessel instead of being diffused in a glairy, viscous state, throughout the water. No taste of alum remains in the water, unless it has been used in great excess. Three thimblefuls of alum will clarify a bucketful of turbid water.

Putrid Water should always be purified by boiling it together with charcoal or charred sticks, as low fevers and dysenteries too often are the consequences of drinking it. The mere addition of charcoal largely disinfects it. Bitter herbs, if steeped in putrid water, or even rubbed well about the cup, are said to render it less unwholesome. The Indians plunge hot iron into putrid water.

Thirst, to relieve.--Thirst is a fever of the palate, which may be somewhat relieved by other means than drinking fluids.

By exciting Saliva.--The mouth is kept moist, and thirst is mitigated, by exciting the saliva to flow. This can be done by chewing something, as a leaf; or by keeping in the mouth a bullet, or a smooth, non-absorbent stone, such as a quartz pebble.

By Fat or b.u.t.ter.--In Australia, Africa, and N. America, it is a frequent custom to carry a small quant.i.ty of fat or b.u.t.ter, and to eat a spoonful at a time, when the thirst is severe. These act on the irritated membranes of the mouth and throat, just as cold cream upon chapped hands.

By Salt Water.--People may live long without drinking, if they have means of keeping their skin constantly wet with water, even though it be salt or otherwise undrinkable. A traveller may tie a handkerchief wetted with salt water round his neck. See p. 223.

By checking Evaporation.--The Arabs keep their mouths covered with a cloth, in order to prevent the sense of thirst caused by the lips being parched.

By Diet.--Drink well before starting, and make a habit of drinking only at long intervals, and then, plenty at a time.

On giving Water to Persons nearly dead from Thirst.--Give a little at a time, let them take it in spoonfuls; for the large draughts that their disordered instincts suggest, disarrange the weakened stomach: they do serious harm, and no corresponding good. Keep the whole body wet.

Small Water Vessels.--General Remarks on Carrying Water.--People drink excessively in hot dry climates, as the evaporation from the skin is enormous, and must be counterbalanced. Under these circ.u.mstances the daily ration of a European is at least two quarts. To make an exploring expedition in such countries efficient, there should be means of carrying at least one gallon of water for each white man; and in unknown lands this quant.i.ty should be carried on from every watering-place, so long as means can possibly be obtained for carrying it, and should be served out thus:--two quarts on the first day, in addition to whatever private store the men may have chosen to carry for themselves; a quart and a half during the second day; and half a quart on the morning of the third, which will carry them through that day without distress. Besides water-vessels sufficient for carrying what I have mentioned, there ought to be others for the purpose of leaving water buried in the ground, as a store for the return of a reconnoitring expedition; also each man should be furnished with a small water-vessel of some kind or other for his own use, and should be made to take care of it.

Fill the Water-vessels.--"Never mind what the natives may tell you concerning the existence of water on the road, believe nothing, but resolutely determine to fill the girbas (water-vessels)." (Baker.)

Small Water-vessels.--No expedition should start without being fully supplied with these; for no bushman however ingenious, can make anything so efficient as casks, tin vessels or macintosh bags.

[Sketch of water-vessel].

A tin vessel of the shape shown in the sketch, and large enough to hold a quart, is, I believe, the easiest to carry, the cleanest, and the most durable of small water-vessels. The curve in its shape is to allow of its accommodating itself to the back of the man who carries it. The tin loops at its sides are to admit the strap by which it is to be slung, and which pa.s.ses through the loops underneath the bottom of the vessel, so that the weight may rest directly upon the strap. Lastly, the vessel has a pipette for drinking through, and a larger hole by which it is to be filled, and which at other times is stopped with a cork or wooden plug. When drinking out of the pipette, the cork must be loosened in order to admit air, like a vent hole. Macintosh bags, for wine or water, are very convenient to carry and they will remain water-tight for a long period when fairly used. (Mem.--Oil and grease are as fatal to macintosh as they are to iron rust.) But the taste that these vessels impart to their contents is abominable, not only at first but for a very long time; in two-thirds of them it is never to be got rid of. Never believe shopkeepers in an india-rubber shop, in their a.s.surances to the contrary; they are incompetent to judge aright, for their senses seem vitiated by the air they live in. The best shape for a small macintosh water-vessel has yet to be determined. Several alpine men use them; and their most recent patterns may probably best be seen at Carter's, Alpine Outfitter, Oxford Street. A flask of dressed hide (pig, goat, or dog) with a wooden nozzle, and a wooden plug to fit into it, is very good. Canvas bags, smeared with grease on the outside, will become nearly waterproof after a short soaking. A strong gla.s.s flask may be made out of a soda-water bottle; it should have raw hide shrunk upon it to preserve it from sharp taps Likely to make a crack. Calabashes and other gourds, cocoa-nuts and ostrich eggs, are all of them excellent for flasks. The Bushmen of South Africa make great use of ostrich sh.e.l.ls as water-vessels. They have stations at many places in the desert, where they bury these sh.e.l.ls filled with water, corked with gra.s.s, and occasionally waxed over. They thus go without hesitation over wide tracts, for their sense of locality is so strong that they never fear to forget the spot in which they have dug their hiding-place.

When a Dutchman or a Namaqua wants to carry a load of ostrich eggs to or from the watering-place, or when he robs a nest, he takes off his trousers, ties up the ankles, puts the eggs in the legs, and carries off his load slung round his neck. Nay, I have seen a half-civilised Hottentot carry water in his leather breeches, ties up and slung in the way I have just described, but without the intervention of ostrich eggs; the water squired through the seams, but plenty remained after he had carried it to its destination, which was a couple of miles from the watering-place. In an emergency, water-flasks can be improvised from the raw or dry skins of animals, which should be greased down the back; or from the paunch, the heart-bag (pericardium), the intestines, or the bladder. These should have a wooden skewer runing and out along one side of their mouths, by which they can be carried, and a lashing under the skewer to make all tight (fig. below).

[Sketch of bag with skewer and bag being carried].

The Bushmen do this. The water oozes through the membrane, and by its evaporation the contents are kept very cool. Another plan is, after having tied a length of intestine at both ends, to roll it up in a handkerchief and wear it as a belt round the waist. The fault of these membranous bags, besides their disgusting character and want of strength is, that they become putrid after a few days' use.

Vessels for Cooling Water may be made that shall also act efficiently as flasks. Porous earthen jars are too brittle for long use, and their pores choke up if slimy water be put inside them. But the Arabs use a porous leather flask, called a Zemsemiya, which is hung on the shady side of the camel, and by evaporation keeps the water deliciously cool: it is a rather wasteful way of carrying water. Canvas bags are equally effective.

Open Buckets, for carrying water for short distances, or for storing it in camp, may be made of the bark of a tree, either taken off in an entire cylinder, and having a bottom fitted on, or else of a knot or excrescence that has been cut off the outside of a tree, and its woody interior scooped out; or of birth bark sewed or pegged at the corners, and having its seams coated with the gum or resin of the pine-tree. Baskets with oiled cloth inside, make efficient water-vessels; they are in use in France as firemen's buckets. Water-tight pots are made on the Snake river by winding long touch roots in a spiral manner, and lashing the coils to one another, just as is done in making a beehive. Earthenware jars are excellent, when they can be obtained.

To prevent Splashing.--When carrying water in buckets, put a wreath of gra.s.s, or something else that will float, on the water, to prevent it from splashing; and also make a hoop, inside which the porter may walk, while his laden hands rest on its rim: the hoop keeps his hands wide from his body, and prevents the buckets from knocking against his legs.

Mending Leather Water-vessels.--If a water-vessel becomes leaky, the hole should be caulked by stuffing a rag, a wedge of wood, a tuft of gra.s.s, or anything else into it, as shown in the upper figure and also in the left side of the lower one (p. 230), and then greasing or waxing it over. A larger rent must be Seized upon, the lips of the wound pinched up, a thorn or other spike run through the lips, and lastly a piece of twine lashed firmly round, underneath the thorn; the thorn keeps the string from slipping off (See the right-hand corner of the lower figure.) When there is an opportunity, the bag must be patched, as is also shown in the lower figure.

[Sketch of parts of two bags as referred to in text].

Repairing a battered Metal Flask.--Fill it with dry seed, such as peas or mustard-seed; then pour in water and put the stopper into it. After a period varying from 1 to 3 or 4 hours, according to the nature of the seeds, they will begin to swell and to force the sides of the flask outwards into their original shape. The swelling proceeds rather rapidly after it has once commenced, so the operation requires watching, lest it should be overdone and the flask should burst.

Corks and Stoppers.--Thrust a cork tightly into the mouth of the flask, cut a hole through the cork and plug the hole, which will henceforth form the outlet of the flask--with a stopper of wood, bone, or other hard substance. Thread, wound round a slightly conical plug that has been sufficiently notched to retain it in its place, makes it nearly water-tight as a stopper. It is of less importance that the stopper should fit closely, if the flask be so slung that its mouth shall be always uppermost: a very imperfect cork will then be sufficient to check evaporation and splashing, and to prevent the loss of more than a few drops from occasional upsets.

Drinking, when riding or walking.--It is an awkward matter to drink when jolting on wheels, on horseback, or on foot. I adopted the plan of carrying a piece of small india-rubber tubing 6 or 8 inches long, and when I wished to drink, I removed the stopper and inserted the tube, just as an insect might let down its proboscis, and sucked the contents. Sir S. Baker says of the people of Unyoro, "During a journey, a pretty, bottle-shaped, long-necked gourd is carried with a store of plantain-cider; the mouth of the bottle is stopped with a bundle of the white rush shreds, through which a reed is inserted that reaches to the bottom: thus the drink can be sucked up during the march, without the necessity of halting; nor is it possible to spill it by the movement of walking."

Kegs and Tanks.--Keys for Pack-saddles.--Small barrels, flattened equally on both sides, so that their tops and bottoms shall be of an oval and not a circular shape, are the most convenient vessels, notwithstanding their weight, for carrying water on pack-saddles across a broken country. They are exceedingly strong, and require no particular attention, while bags of leather or macintosh suffer from thorns, and natives secretly p.r.i.c.k them during the march, that they may suck a draught of water. These kegs should not exceed 22 inches in length, 10 in extreme breadth, and 7 in extreme width; a cask of these measurements would hold about 40 lbs. weight of water, and its own weight might be 15 lbs. As the water is expended, it is easy to replace the diminished weight by putting on a bag from one of the other packs. Before starting away into the bush, these kegs should be satisfactorily fitted and adjusted to the pack-saddle that is intended to carry them, in such a way that they may be packed on to it with the least possible trouble. A couple of leather or iron loops Fixed to each keg, and made to catch on to the hooks which are let flush into the sides of the pack-saddle, will effect this.

[Sketch as described below].

The sketch represents a section of the pack-saddle, at the place where one of the hooks is situated on either side, but the front of the kegs themselves, and not their section, is given. Above and between the kegs lies a bag, and a strap pa.s.sing from the near side of the saddle goes over the whole burden, and is buckled to a similar short strap on the other side. It is of importance that the bung-hole should be placed even nearer to the rim than where it is drawn, for it is necessary that it should be convenient to pour out of and to pour into, and that it should be placed on the highest part of the keg, both when on the beast's back and also when it stands on the ground, lest water should leak and be lost. According to the above plan, when water is ladled into it, the rim keeps it from spilling; and in pouring out water, the run acts as a spout. In making the bung-hole, a metal plate, with a screw-hole in it, is firmly fixed in the face of the cask; into this a wooden stopper, bound with iron, is made to screw (natives would probably steal a metal one). The stopper has a small head and a deeply-cut neck, by which it is tied to the cask, and its body has a large hole bored in it, which admits of a stick being put through, to prize it round, if it should become jammed. A spigot, to screw into the bung-hole on arriving at camp, might be really useful; but if used, a gimlet-hole must be bored in the cask to act as an air-vent. A large tundish is very convenient, and a spare plug might be taken; but a traveller, with a little painstaking, could soon cut a plug with his own knife, sufficiently well made to allow of its being Firmly screwed in, and of retaining the water, if it had a bit of rag wrapped round it. A piece of rag rolled tightly, will suffice to plug a hole.

Siphons.--A flexible tube of some kind, whether of india-rubber, gutta-percha, or, still better, of macintosh, strained over rings, would be very valuable as a siphon: both for filling large kegs out of buckets and for emptying them again. Vulcanised india-rubber becomes rotten after short use, and gutta-percha will stand no extremes of temperature.

Tanks for Wagons.--There still remain many large districts in Asia, Africa, and Australia which may be explored in wagons, but, so far as I am aware, no particular pattern of a water-tank, suitable for carriage on wheels, has yet been adopted by travellers. I believe kegs are generally used, but they are far too heavy for the requirements of a wagon.

Probably the tins used for sending milk by cart and railway to towns, would be very serviceable for carrying water on expeditions. They are invariably made of the same shape, and only of few different sizes.

Therefore experience must have shown that their pattern is better than any other yet devised. Their mouths can be padlocked, which is an important matter.

Macintosh Bags.--I would also recommend a trial of square bags of strong macintosh--say 18 inches deep and 10 inches square, in which case they would hold 60 lbs. of water--fitting into square compartments, in large panniers, like those in a bottle-basket. I have made some experiments upon this arrangement. The basket-work gives protection against blows and the jolting together of packages, and it yields without harm to a strain, and the bags yield also. Moreover, water is less churned in half-empty bags than in half-empty barrels. No unusual strength of materials would be required in making these bags: their mouths should be funnel-shaped, and corked at the neck of the funnel. The funnels should be wide at their mouths, for convenience in filling them; and a string to secure the cork should be tied round the neck of the funnel. The bags should have loops on their sides, through which a strap, pa.s.sing underneath, might run, in order to Give a good hold for lifting them up. They could easily be filled as they lay in their compartments, and would only require to be lifted out in order to empty them; there is, therefore, no objection to their holding as much as 60 lbs. weight of water. An india-rubber tube as a siphon, and with a common spigot at the end of it, would be particularly useful. A pannier not much exceeding 30 inches long, by 20 broad, and 18 deep, would hold six of these bags, or 360 lbs. weight of water in all; and two such panniers would be ample for exploring purposes. I had a pannier and two bags made for a trial, which were quite satisfactory, and I found that the weight of the panniers and bags together was at the rate of 6 lbs. for each compartment; therefore the weight of these water-vessels is not more than 10 per cent. Of that of the water which they carry. It might be well to vary the contents of some of the compartments; putting, for instance, two or even three small bags into one, and tin cases into a few of the others, instead of the large bags. These panniers, with the bags inflated, and connected together by a stage, would form an excellent and powerful raft. If secured within a wagon about to cross a deep river, they would have enough power, in all ordinary cases, to cause it to float and not to sink to the bottom. I trust some explorer will try this plan. I may add that the macintosh water-bags cost me about 1 pound each.

Raw Hide Bags/--Captain Sturt, when he explored in Australia, took a tank in his cart, which burst, and besides that, he carried casks of water. By these he was enabled to face a desert country with a degree of success to which no traveller before had ever attained. For instance, when returning homewards, the water was found to be drying up on all sides of him. He was encamped by a pool where he was safe, whence the next stage was 118 miles, or 4 days' journey, but it was a matter of considerable doubt whether there remained any water at the end of the stage. It was absolutely necessary to reconnoitre, and in order to do so, he had first to provide the messenger with the means of returning, should the watering-place be found dry. He killed a bullock, skinned it, and filling the skin with water (which held 150 gallons), Sent it by an ex-dray 30 miles, with orders to bury it and to return. Shortly after he despatched a light one-horse cart, carrying 36 gallons of water; the horse and man were to drink at the hide, and then to go on. Thus they had 36 gallons to supply them for a journey of 176 miles, or 6 days, at 30 miles a day at the close of which they would return to the ox-hide--sleeping, in fact, 5 nights on 36 gallons of water. This a hardy, well-driven horse could do, even in the hottest climate.

To raise Water from Wells for Cattle.--By hand.--Let one man stand in the water, or just above it; another 5 feet higher; and again another higher still, if the depth of the well requires it. Then let the lowermost man dip a bucket in the water, and pa.s.s it from hand to hand upwards; the top man pours the water into a trough, out of which the cattle drink. This trough may be simply a ditch scratched in the ground; a piece of canvas should be thrown over it, if the soil be sandy, to keep the water from being lost before the cattle have time to drink it. Thus Eyre speaks of watering his horse, out of his black servant's duck frock.

Light gutta-percha buckets are very useful in temperate climates; and so are baskets, with oilcloth inside them.

The drove of cattle should be brought up to 60 yards from the watering-place; then three or four should be driven out--they will run at once to the water. After they have drunk, drive them to one side, and let another three or four take their place, and so on; keeping the two droves quite distinct--those that have drunk, and those that are waiting to drink. They will drink at the rate of one per minute; sheep and goats drink very much faster. Never let the cattle go in a rush to the well, else they will stamp it in, most of them get no water, and they will all do a great deal of damage.

By horse power.--It does not fall within the scope of this book to describe water-wheels worked by cattle, or elaborate mechanism of any kind; I therefore only mention under this head, that the Tartars sometimes draw water from their wells, of 150 feet deep and upwards, by a rider harnessing the bucket-rope to his horse, and galloping him off to a mark that tells the proper distance. Their ropes are of twisted hair, and are made to run over a smoothed stone, or a log of wood.

[Sketches of pole and bucket and pump as described below].

A pole and bucket is a very convenient way of raising water from 4 to 12 feet. The bucket may be made of canvas, basket-work, leather, wood, or almost any other material; leakage, though considerable, is of little consequence, because the action of the apparatus is so quick, that there is not time for much water to be lost. This contrivance is used over almost the whole globe--less in England than elsewhere; it is very common where long poles can easily be obtained, as in fir forests.