After many casts when it has caught, test with two or three people to make sure the line is secure. Fasten the near end of the rope to a convenient anchor, and then the person crossing the line (usually the lightest member of the party) hangs onto the line, lifts his legs and hooks them over the rope, with his feet towards the opposite bank. By this means he can work himself across the river, fasten the rope, and do all the work which has to be done on that side of the river.
SAFETY LINE FOR RIVER CROSSING
A bush rope can be spun to serve as a safety line for crossing flooded or fast rivers. The rope is taken across by one member of the party, and fastened to an anchor on the opposite bank. As a safety line it should be above water level. The person crossing should stand on the downstream side of the rope, and face upstream. He crosses by moving his feet sideways, one step at a time, and holding all the time to the rope which helps him keep his balance. If by chance the current is so strong that it sweeps him off his feet, his grip on the line will save him from being washed downstream, and he can work his way shoreward hand over hand, until he is a less strong portion of the current where he can regain his footing.
1-2-3 ANCHOR
A very stout stake is driven into the ground, at an angle of about 45°, and to the foot of this the main rope to be anchored is fastened. To the head of this stake two ropes are secured and these are fastened to the foot of two stakes to the rear. The heads of these stakes are in turn tied back to the foot of three other stakes. This anchor will hold secure under almost all conditions.
ANCHORING A PEG IN SAND
The only way to anchor a rope into soft sand is to attach it to a peg, and bury the peg in the sand.
Scrape a trench in the sand to a depth of between a foot and eighteen inches, deeper if high winds or very stormy weather are expected. Pass the rope round the centre of the peg; scratch a channel for it at right angles to the pegtrench.
Fill in the trench and rope channel, and fasten the free end of the rope to the standing end with a stopper hitch, and pull taut. The buried peg should hold a tent rope in sand under all normal weather conditions.
BUSH WINDLASS
A bush windlass, capable of taking a very heavy strain on a rope can be made by selecting a site where a tree forks low to the ground, with the fork facing the direction in which the pull is required. Alternatively, a stout fork can be driven in and anchored with the “1-2-3” method.
The windlass portion is a forked log. The forks are notched to take the lever (up to seven feet long). The rope is passed round the roller a few times so that it locks upon itself. (If the fork of the roller is long, the rope may pass through the fork.)
This type of bush windlass has many uses.
CHAPTER 2
HUTS AND THATCHING
Little skill is needed to make a comfortable, thatched, weatherproof hut using only material locally available.
Such huts can be expected to have a useful service life of 4 to 6 years without maintenance. With maintenance, such as renewing lashings, and repairs to ridge thatch, the life is anything up to 20 years.
Where rammed earth is used for walls, the life of the structure is indeterminate. Many earth wall buildings have stood undamaged for hundreds of years.
The building of a thatched hut from local materials is a creative exercise. Design must provide for the anticipated weather conditions. Finding suitable materials almost anywhere presents no problem, but considerable organisation may be required to collect the material. For the actual structure and thatching, good teamwork is required.
The final hut, with its promise of long periods of protection and shelter, is the result of combination of head work and hands. With this comes the inward reward of having created a weather-proof hut out of nothing except the natural materials garnered from the surrounding area.
Circular hut 20 feet diameter at ground; no nails or man-made materials used in its construction. Time of erection, 12 to 18 man hours. Left half is thatched with palm leaves—right half thatched with eucalypt branches. Shortly after erection there was 4½ inches of rain in 75 minutes. The inside of the hut was completely dry after this terrific drenching.
THATCHED HUTS
The making of huts and shelters for occasional or continuous use from exclusively local materials and without the aid of any man-made equipment is not difficult. In place of nails, lashings, either of vine, bark strips or other fibrous material are used. Framework is of round poles. Weatherproof roofing is provided by thatching with long grass, ferns, reeds, palm leaves, sea weeds, bark sheets, split shingles or even sods of clayey turf.
The material you will use depends on what there is in your vicinity.
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