Adventure Magazine Cover — page 203: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

wis How to Make an Overall Pack N aman foots it out over far, unsettled country, he must pack his home on his back. Here is the way a pack is made by a Typical Tropical Tramp, or an Alaskan sourdough: Question: —“T read in Adventure a mention about using overalls for packing. Will you kindly tell me in some detail just how the overall pack is made, how much it will carry, how to sling it on to the back, etc.?’”—CarL BLoom- guist, Bow, Wash. Answer; by Mr. Young:—Overalls or trousers are used for ing in the following fashion: We will assume, for instance, that you are going to carry the regulation load which would include a change of clothing and gia, 4 other things needed by a man on the trail, or anything that would roll— including blanket—into a pack about the size of a man’s body. Here is how you proceed to make up your pack: _ Distribute your load in one end of blanket (after same has been spread on the ground) so that it will form a pile about eighteen inches to two feet long. The blanket should be a single army, or other good blanket. Then bring the sides over until they meet and lap, making a flat tube just as wide as your pile of belongings. If your blanket is a very wide one you will have to double it before beginning. Then start rolling, using your load you intend to pack as a core, until you have rolled up the full length of the blanket. This should make a roll about the size of your body, with your belongings sealed within by the manner in which it was rolled. _ hen start roping. Start with a running noose and pull up as tight as you can on one end of the roll, then pass to the other end and rope that end. Then take the rope around endwise, knotting it as you cross the other ropes. It’s just like roping a trunk, or tying up a package. The rope is around both ends and then goes around endwise. Now you have a compact bundle about as large as a man’s body from his neck to his hips, and it is complete in itself. Take your pair of overalls and unbutton them and shove your bundle down into them just as if you were putting a pair of pants on the bundle. Button them up and belt them on the bundle as tightly as possible. Now you have the legs of your overalls lying there empty. Take hold of one and without allow- ing it to twist bring the end up and tie it to the rope that passes around the opposite end of bundle by passing around the rope and wrapping the end of _ the overall leg that you passed around the rope to the overall leg. Bring up the other end of the other overall leg and tie it beside this one. Now, if you have followed me, you have your pack ready to put on. You want to slip it on as if you were putting onavest. The seat of your packing overalls wants. to be up in the air. It should set just right on your back if you have made your roll as I have said, bat if not you can adjust by loosening the belt around the pack and getting it to just the right spot where it will sit right on you. Z You see the advantage this gives for packing is that you have the broad legs of the overalls across Ask Adventure re your shoulders, instead of trying to cut your shoul- ders to pieces with ropes. I had saddle sores on my back and shoulders from packing with ropes down through Mexico; and right on the frontier I met up with an old Alaskan “sourdough” who showed men how to rolla pack. I have never packed any other way, and I have taught several pals who left off the way they had been packing and adopted this way. You can sling your pack high or low on your back by taking up or letting out on the ends of your over- alllegs. You will soon find out just the right length. Samoa A NEW era has dawned for that group of innumerable islands of which American Samoa is one of the most ideal. Ever westward sets the tide of emigration. And many a ship, laden with trade goods and traders, harrows and planters, steams out through the Golden Gate toward the new land of promise: . Question—:“Kindly furnish me information re- garding the Samoan Islands covering particularly the following questions: 1. Extreme range of climate. 2. Annual average rainfall, 3. Duration of rainy season. 4, Present ownership of the Islands since the war. 5. Name and population of largest town on the Islands. 6. Does the tropical ailment known as Amoebic Dysentery exist? 7. Would it be possible or feasible for an Ameri- can to acquire land there and operate a plantation for the purpose of raising cocoanuts, etc.? 8. Is there at present a good market for copra? 9. I have understood that white settlers were not desired in the Islands and that passengers dis- embarking had to put up a cash bond with the local authorities as a guarantee of good faith that they would not remain permanently. Is this true? 10. In case plantation land could be acquired how should one proceed with the negotiations and what is the average price of good sandy beach land per acre? 11. What is the total white population at pres- ent? 12. How often do boats call at the port? 13. What, if any small game exists on the Islands? 14. Do the port stores carry the usual plantation supplies and shotgun ammunition? 15. What would you think of the chances of success of a man accustomed to roughing it in the tropics who had several thousand dollars and wished to go into the plantation business there, particularly with a view to cocoanut raising? 16. Do you know of any of the South Sea Islands where you think that his chances would be better?” —F. D. N. Harrison, Ark. Answer, by Mr. Mills:-— | ; 1. The thermometer seldom goes higher than 82 degrees or lower than 72 degrees F. _ 2. Norainfall data available. If this is essential, ~ 189. ~comicboo cS ~ “a —_ ee