64 Tree Climbing 
I have visited several nests in very lofty trees by this means ; 
usually the only trouble is at the start but if the branch bears the 
strain then it may be reckoned on as a safe one throughout, and it 
naturally gets stronger every foot one swarms up it. A branch of 
this sort is climbed in a similar fashion to a rope but is, as a rule, 
easier. 
When no such accidental advantage can be utilized, recourse 
must be had to ropes. For tree-climbing nothing can equal rd in. 
manila rope. It is pliable and ‘‘renders” well over a bough and 
its lightness enables it to be cast upward and over a bough at some 
height above the ground. One hundred feet of manila will do for 
most trees as it will serve to sway up a climber 45 ft., allowing 
10 ft. spare for the bowline and the portion in the hands of the 
assistants. 
But a 14-inch rope cannot be cast over a branch 45 ft. overhead 
or in fact at anything approaching that height. For this purpose 
a light line is wanted, a deep-sea fishing-line of the pattern known 
in our Navy as a mackerel-line is as good as any. To the end of 
this should be attached a leaden weight of suitable size and form. 
After many experiments I have found a disc measuring about 
23 in. in diameter and with an axis of } in. bevelled off to 4 in. 
round the circumference by far the most suitable for “shying.” 
Its weight is 18 oz. A picture of this appears at the end of 
this chapter. 
By coiling the line neatly in the left hand, with a few spare 
coils on the ground beside one, this leaden disc can be thrown up 
a considerable height. When it has been cast over the bough 
required, the line is jerked until the weight overhauls the line and 
runs down, The weight is then removed, and the line made fast to 
the 13 inch rope by means of a rolling-bend or a clove-hitch about 
a foot or so from its end, great care being taken to make a half 
hitch close to the point of the rope. 
