Public-domain ebook
by Lord, William Barry; Baines, Thomas
Language: en1,211 downloads on Project Gutenberg
Subjects
In: Adventure·Travel Writing·How To ...
Public-domain ebook sourced from Project Gutenberg #46446.
The work is a practical handbook for explorers, soldiers, hunters and anyone who must survive in remote or hostile environments. Its opening frames the text as a joint compilation of “shifts” and “expedients” gathered by two Englishmen who have each endured harsh campaigns, from the jungles of Central India to the rugged ravines of the Crimea and the wilds of North Australia. The authors promise a systematic guide, beginning with the selection of clothing and equipment and moving through topics such as makeshift boats, improvised bridges, timber work, medical care for livestock, and field sketching. The detailed table of contents and the introductory passage make clear that the book is organized by subject, offering step‑by‑step instructions and illustrated references for each technical problem a traveller might encounter.
Written in a straightforward, instructional style typical of the late‑Victorian era, the prose combines military precision with the enthusiasm of a seasoned naturalist. Its language is formal yet accessible, peppered with occasional technical notes and practical anecdotes. Readers who enjoy historic adventure manuals, military logistics, or Victorian‑era natural history, especially those with an interest in the practicalities of 19th‑century exploration, will find this volume both informative and evocative of the period’s spirit of self‑reliance.
The opening · free to read
The title page consists of an image, which has been transcribed.
This version of the text cannot represent certain typographical effects. Italics are delimited with the '_' character as italic. There are instances of vowels modified by macrons. These are given as, e.g., [=e], [=u], etc. Symbols in the form of bold figures are printed as =T=, =V=, =Y=, etc. There is one instance of an inverted T, which is represented as [=invertedT=]. The 'oe' ligature is given as separate characters, that is, 'OE' or 'oe'.
For consistency, fractions are usually represented, for example, as 2-1/2 for 2½. In tabular data, the available Latin-1 fractions ¼, ½, ¾ were used on occasion to minimize width. Superscripted characters are indicated using the carat '^'.
The few footnotes have been positioned following the paragraph where their references appeared.
There are many invaluable illustrations, most without captions, which could not be included in this version. These are almost always referred to and described in the text. The positions of sketches without captions are usually indicated in-line as [Illustration], except where the reference to its position is obvious. Where there is a caption, the illustration is positioned either before or after the paragraph where it is referenced. Many illustrations are composite sketches, which use numbers or letters to indicate the parts thereof. A caption has been added indicating the number of these sketches as [Illustration: 1-20], to give the reader a notion of which sketch is which. The reader who would like to see these illustration is referred to the following link, where HTML, Kindle and Epub versions may be found at: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/46446
There are many sidenotes, or paragraph descriptions, which are sometimes used as keywords for cross-reference. Those which seem to describe the entire paragraph, or its first topic are given as {Sidenote} in a separate line at the top of the paragraph. Other notes, which are usually brief, are placed in-line in the text, again enclosed in brackets as above.
Please see the notes at the end of this text for a more detailed list of specific issues encountered and the resolutions of each.
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