Popular Science MontJiIi/ 



485 



Rub-a-dub-dub, three me i in a tub. Not exactly. 

 This is an army transport used on the River Tigris 



The "Goofa" Is Now a Modern Side- 

 Wheel Ferryboat 



OVER on the River Tigris in Meso- 

 potamia (Eastern Arabia) English 

 soldiers are 

 having unusual 

 e.xperiences 

 in adapting 

 ancient utili- 

 ties to modern 

 uses. One of 

 the first insti- 

 t u t i o n s to 

 receive their 

 attention has 

 been the ven- 

 erable "goo- 

 fas," or ferry- 

 boats, which 

 natives have 

 used u n - 

 changed for thousands of years. The 

 English soldiers put paddle wheels on 

 the "goofas." 



"Goof as" are perfectly round in shape 

 and made of willow limbs and twigs, just 

 like a large basket. The 

 outsides are covered with 

 skins. 



Navigating a goofa in its 

 unimproved form must be 

 akin to floating around on a 

 magnified butter chip. 

 When ordinary paddles are 

 used as motive power, the 

 goofa has a disconcerting 

 habit of going off in any di- 

 rection but that desired. 

 Since it has no keel, or other 

 directing device, it is diffi- 

 cult to keep it on a given 

 course. But with paddle- 

 wheels the goofa crosses the 

 river with unprecedented 

 directness. 



Simple cranks and the 

 sturdy arms of the soldiers 

 furnish the motive power. 



The fleet of 

 goofas has been 

 duly numbered 

 for identification 

 and is doing yeo- 

 man service in 

 the Far East for 



When is a tree not a tree? When it's an observation 

 moving SUpphes. tower. More camouflage as practised in Belgium 



Camouflaged Observation Towers 

 Used in Flanders 



IN low, marshy Belgium, half flooded as 

 it now is to interrupt the course of the 

 Germans, 

 there is almost 

 no natural 

 cover for ob- 

 servation 

 posts. Cam- 

 ouflage is a 

 necessity. 



The two ob- 

 servation 

 posts, here 

 illustrated, 

 were erected 

 about a mile 

 and a half be- 

 hind the front 

 lines, one at an 

 eminence of sixty feet, the other three 

 feet lower. A situation was chosen where 

 there was one natural tree. The two 

 towers are so camouflaged that a cluster 

 of what seemed to be three trees was pre- 

 sented to the enemy's 

 eye. 



These observation 

 towers can be speed- 

 ily built and as 

 speedily dismem- 

 bered. All of the 

 parts are easily 

 transportable, and 

 require no special 

 lifting apparatus to 

 haul them into place. 

 The material used is 

 wood. The joists 

 are held together by 

 iron bolts. 



The width of the 

 towers is eight 

 feet. On their 

 top platforms 

 are placed the 

 instruments, 

 necessary for 

 artillery obser- 

 vations. Steel 

 wire braces are 

 attached from 

 four angles, 

 to steady the 

 structure. 



