sharpening a tool, is to grind it until it is sufficiently thin, and then to give it an edge whose sides are inclined to one another, about as much as those of the letter V. The edge of a chisel is an obvious case in point; so also is the edge of a butcher’s knife, which is given by applying it to the steel at a considerable inclination.  A razor has only to cut hairs, and will splinter if used to mend a pen, yet even a razor is shaped like a wedge, that it may not receive too fine an edge when stropped with its face flat upon the hone.

Nails, Substitutes for.—­Lashings of raw hide supersede nails for almost every purpose.  It is perfectly marvellous how a gunstock, that has been shattered into splinters, can be made as strong again as ever, by means of raw hide sewn round it and left to dry; or by drawing the skin of an ox’s leg like a stocking over it.  It is well to treat your bit of skin as though parchment (which see) were to be made of it, burying the skin and scraping off the hair, before sewing it on, that it may make no eyesore.  Tendons, or stout fish-skin such as shagreen, may also be used on the same principle.  An axle-tree, cracked lengthwise, can easily be mended with raw hide; even a broken wheel-tire may be replaced with rhinoceros or other thick hide; if the country to be travelled over be dry.

Sketch of lathe as described below].

Lathes may be wanted by a traveller, because the pulleys necessary for a large sailing-boat, and the screw of a carpenter’s bench, cannot be made without one.  The sketch will recall to mind the original machine, now almost forgotten in England, but still in common use on the Continent.  It is obvious that makeshift contrivances can be set up on this principle, two steady points being the main things wanted.  A forked bough suffices for a treadle.  A very common Indian lathe consists of two tent-pegs, two nails for the points; a leather thong, and some makeshift hand-rest; neither pole nor treadle is used, but an assistant takes one end of the thong in one hand, and the other end in the other hand, and hauls away in a see-saw fashion.  For turning hollows, a long spike is used instead of a short point:  then, a hole is bored into the wood to the depth of the intended hollow, and the spike is pushed forward until it abuts against the bottom of the hole.  One form of lathe is simplicity itself:  two thick stakes are driven in the ground, so far apart as to include the object to be turned; a cross piece is lashed to them (by a creeper cut out of the jungle), for the double purpose of holding them together, and of serving as a rest for the gouge.  The object is turned with a thong, as already described.

Charcoal, Tar, and Pitch.—­Charcoal.—­Dig a hole in the earth, or choose some gigantic burrow, or old well, and fill it with piles of wood, arranging them so as to leave a kind of chimney down the centre:  the top of the hole is now to be covered over with sods excepting the chimney, down which a brand is dropped to set fire to the wood.  The burning should be governed by opening or shutting the chimney-top with a flat stone; it should proceed very gradually, for the wood ought to smoulder, and never attain to a bright red heat:  the operation will require from two days to a week.  The tarry products of the wood drain to the bottom of the well.