418 



WOOD-TRANSPORT BY WATER. 



wings (a c and b d) of the sections then fold back over the 

 rest of the section, recovering their former position as they 

 emerge from the passage. It is evident therefore that rafts for 

 floating on mountain- streams must be throughout quite loosely 

 jointed. Suppose now, the long raft, which is lying in the 

 nearly dry bed of the stream and overlaps it here and there 

 on both sides, is to be floated : a few days beforehand all the 

 sluice-gates of tributary streams must be closed, as well as the 

 sluice-gates on the weirs down-stream, so that as much water 

 as possible may be available in the upper course of the rafting- 

 channel. Men are posted out on the hills along the stream to 

 receive notices from those in charge of the raft and pass them 



Fig. 284. Flexible raft. 



on (in Galicia, telephones, of a total length of 50 kilometers in 

 one instance, are used for this purpose). 



While the raft remains fastened firmly by ropes to the banks 

 of the stream, the filled reservoirs and weirs up-stream are 

 opened, and the foaming flood rushes over and past the raft. 

 This flood must be allowed half-an-hour's start ; for the raft, 

 once released, descends the stream quicker than the torrent, 

 and should the latter be caught up, the raft would run into 

 the dry bed of the channel, and its end-sections overshoot its 

 front-sections, forming a chaotic heap of logs. As soon as a 

 sufficient start has been given to the flooded water, the ropes are 

 loosened, and most of the men mount the five or six front- 

 sections to direct the raft. All the other sections, except the 

 end ones, are left to themselves, and, as the middle sections 

 are often broader than the bed of the stream, the butt-ends of 

 their wings dash along the banks. Men are placed also on 

 the four to six last sections to manage the brakes. The brakes 



