them: nailed boots are better.
Snow Spectacles.--The Esquimaux, who have no coloured glass, or any equivalent for it, cut a piece of soft wood to the curvature of the face; it is about two inches thick, and extends horizontally quite across both eyes, resting on the nose, a notch being cut in the wood to answer the purpose of the bridge of a pair of spectacles. It is tied behind the ears; and, so far as I have now described it would exclude every ray of light from the eyes. Next, a long narrow slit, of the thickness of a thin saw-cut, is made along the middle almost from end to end. Through this slit the wearer can see very fairly. As it is narrower than the diameter of the pupil of his eye, the light that reaches his retina is much diminished in quantity. Crape or gauze is a substitute for coloured glass.
Mask.--Is merely a pocket-handkerchief, with strings to tie it over the face; eye-holes are cut in it, also a hole for the nose, over which a protecting triangular piece of linen is thrown, and another hole opposite the mouth, to breathe through it is drawn below the chin so as to tie firmly in place. The mask prevents the face from being cut to pieces by the cold dry winds, and blistered by the powerful rays of the sun reverberated from the snow.
CATTLE.
Happy is the traveller who has the opportunity of hiring his cattle with their attendants: for his delay and cares are then reduced to those of making a bargain, and of riding what he has hired; and when one set of animals is tired or worn out, he can leave them behind and ride on with others. But, for the most part, explorers must drive their own beasts with them: they must see to their being watered, tended, and run after when astray; help to pack and harness them; fatigue themselves for their benefit; and drudge at the work of a cowherd for some hours a day.
In fitting out a caravan, as few different kinds of animals should be taken as possible, or they will split into separate herds, and require many men to look after them.
The dispositions of the animals that compose a caravan affect, in no small degree, the pleasure of travelling with it. Now, it is to be noticed that men attach themselves to horses and asses, and in a lesser degree to mules and oxen, but they rarely make friends of camels.
Weights carried by Cattle.--The net weights that these different animals carry in trying, long-continued journeys--through stages uncertain in length, sometimes leading to good pasture, sometimes to bad--must not be reckoned higher than the following; and an animal draws about 2½ times as much net weight as he carries:--An ass, 65 lbs.; a small mule, 90 lbs.; a horse lbs.; an ox lbs.; a camel lbs. to 200 lbs.; elephant lbs. In level countries--where there is grain, and where the road is known and a regularity in the day's work can be ensured--the weights that may be carried are fully double those of the above list. Captain Burton's donkeys, in East Africa, carried immense weights. Dogs will draw a "travail" (which see) of 60 lbs. for a distance of 15 miles a day, upon hard level country.
Theory of Loads and Distances.--How should we load men or animals of transport, and how should we urge them, in order to obtain the largest amount of effective labour? If they carry a mere feather-weight, they may make long days' journeys; but their value, as animals of transport, is almost nothing. Again, on the other hand, if we load them with an excessive weight, they will soon come to a standstill; and in this case, as in the first, their value as beasts of transport is almost nil. What then, is that moderate load by which we shall obtain the largest amount of "useful effect"? this is a problem which many of the ablest engineers and philosophers have endeavoured to solve; and the formulae--partly based on theory and partly on experiment--which were used by Euler, are generally accepted as a fair approximation. They are very simple, and peculiarly interesting on account of their wide applicability. They are equally true for men, animals, or machines; and are wholly independent of the way in which the power is applied: whether, for instance, a man carries his burden, or draws it, or rows or punts it in a boat, or winds it up with a crank or tread-mill.
Travellers might well turn the theory to account on their own behalf; they are well situated for testing its truthfulness, by observing the practices of the countries in which they are travelling. Reliable facts upon the extreme distances that can be travelled over, day after day, by people carrying different loads, but equally circumstanced in every other respect, would be very acceptable to me.
The formulae are as follow:--Let b be the burden which would just suffice to prevent an animal from moving a step; d the distance he could travel daily if unloaded. Also, let b1 be some burden less than b; and let d1 be the distance to which he could travel daily when carrying b1.
Then b1 d2 = b(d-d1)2. (1)
Again, the "useful effect" is a maximum, if b1d1 is a maximum. When this is the case, then
b1 = 4/9 b. (2)
And
3 d1 = d. (3)
In other words, an animal gets through most work in the day if he carries 4/9 of the greatest load he could just stagger under; in which case he will be able to travel ⅓ of the distance he could walk if he carried no load at all. (Machinery requires no repose; and therefore d, the distance per day, is convertible into v, the velocity of movement.)
As an example:--Suppose a man is able to walk 10 miles a day, with a load of 130 lbs., and 33 miles a day when he carries nothing. Then, from equation (1), the value of b (the burden under which he would be brought to a standstill) would be about 267½; and the best load for him, from equation (2), would be 119 lbs., which he would be able to carry, according to equation (3), 11 miles a day.
Horses.--The mode of taking wild horses is by throwing the lasso, whilst pursuing them at full speed, and dropping a noose over their necks, by which their speed is soon checked, and they are choked down.
Mr. Rarey's sixpenny book tells all that can be told on the subject of horse-breaking; but far more lies in the skill and horse-knowledge of the operator, than in the mere theory. His way of mastering a vicious horse is by taking up one fore-foot, bending the knee, slipping a loop over the knee until it comes to the pastern-joint, and then fixing it tight. The loop must be caused to embrace the part between the hoof and the pastern-joint firmly, by the help of a strap of some kind, lest it should slip. The horse is now on three legs, and he feels conquered. If he gets very mad, wait leisurely till he becomes quiet, then caress him, and let the leg down and allow him to rest; then repeat the process. If the horse kicks in harness, drive him slowly on three legs.
In breaking-in a stubborn beast, it is convenient to physic him until he is sick and out of spirits, or to starve him into submission.
Salt keeps horses from straying, if they are accustomed to come up to the camp and get it. But it is a bad plan as they are apt to hang about, instead of going off to feed. They are so fond of salt, that they have been known to stray back to a distant house where they had been allowed to lick it.
Shooting Horse.--Spur him as much as you will, but never use a whip; else, whenever you raise your gun to fire, he will feel a dread that it may be the whip, and will be unsteady.
Horse neighing.--Mungo Park tells how he clutched his horse's muzzle with both hands to prevent his neighing, when he was in concealment and horsemen were passing near.
Addenda.--In climbing a steep hill hang on to the tail of your horse as you walk behind him. Horses are easily driven in file by securing the halter of each horse to the tail of the one before him. To swim horses across a river, to sleep by their side when there is danger, to tether them, and to water them from wells, are all described elsewhere. (See "Horses" in index.)
Mules.--Mules require men who know their habits; they are powerful beats, and can only be mastered with skill and address. A savage will not assist in packing them, for he fears their heels: the Swiss say mules have always an arriere-pensee. They have odd secret ways, strange fancies, and lurking vice. When they stray, they go immense distances; and it is almost beyond the power of a man on foot to tend them in a wild country: he