34 Travel and Equipment 
A compass also is most useful when engaged in any geological 
or archeological researches but I will not inflict on my readers 
a disquisition on these matters. Suffice it to say that many a day’s 
birdsnesting, blank as regards nests found or birds seen, has brought 
me to places of absorbing interest where without aheroid, compass 
and (shall I venture to avow it ?), a clinometer or level, I should have 
been unable to take advantage of sundry delightful opportunities 
for study and research brought unexpectedly within my reach. 
(5) Sketchbook and Small Hand Camera. 
These will be found described at length in the next chapter. 
Over and over again I have endeavoured to reduce the number 
of articles I carry (and consequently the total weight) by relegating 
one or both of these to the ‘second line” of my field equipment. 
But as often as I have done so I have sooner or later had ample 
cause for regret and have reverted to my original plan of never 
being parted from them. I can recall lost opportunities of a sketch 
of some glorious view or of a photograph of which the like will 
hardly occur again, both ascribable to the desire to reduce one’s 
load. 
So much for the lighter articles, now as to the more bulky, 
which are usually carried on pack-animals or by men. On arriving 
at any locality where any climbing or exploring has to be done, a 
redistribution of the gear is made and articles suitable for the task 
immediately before one are selected and divided out among the party 
to carry. Among these are usually the egg-boxes, the necessary 
ropes, rope-soled boots and the second camera and spare films. 
(1) Ropes, Canvas-sling, Casting-line and Weight. 
These are fully dealt with in the chapters on Tree and Cliff- 
climbing. 
