GUNNING-PUNT ACCESSORIES 163 



to the finish. In this, however, he is always ready and glad 

 to find a means of rendering a hard job an easy one. This, 

 of course, he can only do by the assistance of tools. 



To pull a punt up a steep drain or creek-side by hand is 

 very laborious, whereas with the assistance of a pair of pur- 

 chase blocks and a rope fall it is an easy task indeed. A pair 

 of small iron blocks — one a three-sheave and the other a two 

 — rove with a rope about i^ inches in circumference, are about 

 right for hauling a large double punt, and capable of lifting 

 about half a ton. In addition to the blocks, a couple of spare 

 falls, two-inch rope ten fathoms long, and a couple of strops 

 made of the same size rope, will be found of assistance. The 

 strops should be about four feet long when spliced and ready 

 for use. 



When the punt is in an awkward position, and to be hauled 

 over rough and stony ground, an oak roller{three inchesdiameter, 

 four feet long) will assist her to move and save rubbing the paint 

 off the bottom. This roller — or better if two be installed — 

 can be mounted on two small brackets with pin-bearings at 

 each end, the brackets fixed to an inch by six-inch board. 

 Mounted in this way the rollers will last for an indefinite 

 length of time, and work much better into the bargain. 



A useful tool for levering up a punt to put a roller under, is 

 a handspike. It should be about seven feet long, three 

 inches round 5 ft. 6 in. of the way, and tapering a little towards 

 the end, and three inches square the rest of its length. 

 Hickory or ash would be suitable for this handspike. 



Every wildfowler afloat will find a use for a small pocket 

 compass. It must not be imagined that the punter will need 

 to use this for navigating his craft — far from it ; but the pur- 

 poses it can be employed to serve are many. Out on an 

 extensive foreshore, with a haze hanging around, the main- 

 land is not always visible, and to tell what part the wind is 

 coming from cannot be done without a compass, unless one is 



