404 WOOD TRANSPORT BY WATER. 



enters a difficult place and blocks the way for the rest of the 

 sweep ; it may thus block the channel and drive the flooding 

 water over its banks, or in the most favourable case allow it to 

 run away uselessly. In order to prevent such a mischance, the 

 sweep is accompanied by some men of the floating-gang, and 

 also men are placed beforehand at any places along the channel 

 where a block is to be feared, so that with their hooked poles 

 they may push off all pieces that are jammed. It is necessary 

 for overseers to supervise these men, and hence, a fairly good 

 pathway must be provided all along close to the side of the 

 channel (vide p. 382) . 



Although in the case of floating split firewood billets in well- 

 regulated channels the work may be very light and easy, it 

 involves extremely hard labour and danger to life in the case 

 of saw-mill butts coming down from high mountain-regions. 



Wessely thus writes in his excellent work about the Austrian 

 Alps : " The mere releasing a jammed mass of logs is a 

 formidable undertaking. In order to save labour, it must be 

 set free from below ; a single crossed log often detains the 

 whole pile of timber ; this is at once recognised by the wood- 

 man, who drags it out, but he has hardly done so before all 

 the logs come crashing down on him and roll thundering down 

 the flood. If he does not succeed by skill and good luck in 

 jumping aside, it is all over with him. There is mutch jodeling 

 over the break-up or a jam, but only too often does the mass 

 of timber fall on the daring man who ventures upon it, and 

 but rarely is he fished seriously injured from the flood by 

 the help of a hooked pole. In gorges and there are such 

 50 fathoms deep a man is let down by a rope into the 

 foaming torrent, and must actually stand on the heap of 

 wood. If his comrades do not draw him back at the very 

 moment when the logs are set in motion, he will be carried 

 down hopelessly with them." 



In the Bavarian gorges, as has been already stated, this 

 dangerous work is assisted by means of galleries let into the 

 rocks. 



Once the wood has been carried down to the main floating 

 channel, the sweep of logs now becomes the principal sweep 

 HI id iloats on to the boom. In the case of larger brooks and 



