MANUAL OF PACK TRANSPOETATION. 61 



"near" packer. Always place the packs lengthwise. Top packs 

 should never be carried when possible to avoid them. They cause 

 delay and are troublesome. 



HOW TO DOUBLE CROSS SLING SIDE PACKS WHEN LENGTH OF PACKS 



REQUIRES IT. 



Sec. 31. The near packer takes a sling rope l)y its middle and 

 passes the ends over to the "off" side in similar manner as in single 

 cross sling wdth the exception that the rope is evenly divided — that is, 

 by retaining as much of the loop on the near side as the ends indicate 

 on the "off" side; proceeds and ties as in double slinging, i. e., at 

 rear and front. 



LASHING THE LOAD HOW TO FORM THE DIAMOND HITCH. 



Sec. 32. In the formation of the diamond hitch and tightening of 

 the load, two packers are employed. One, termed the "near" packer, 



Fig. 13. 



stands on the "near" side of the animal, looking toward rear; his 

 mate, termed the "off" packer, stands on the "off" side, facing toward 

 the front. The side packs being slung on the animal (sees. 26-27-28) 

 the "near" packer throws the end of the lash rope in rear of animal, 

 and the cincha portion under the animal's belly, convenient to the 

 "off" packer, who picks them up and holds them in the left hand, 

 as indicated in fig. 19, and stands erect. 



(1) The near packer now picks up the rope, about 5 or 6 feet from 

 cincha, and holding about 2 feet of rope between the hands, stands 

 close to the animal's neck; now with both hands extended downward, 

 he draws the right hand backward, to give impetus to the motion, 

 and with one motion he swings the rope fore and aft between the side 



Eacks, clearing the animal's haunch in the action, allowing the rope 

 eld by the left hand to drop. (See fig. 13.) 



