418 WATKll-TKANSroirr. 



Eafting on shallow mountain-streams always tlemands the 

 greatest attention and care, long experience of the rafting 

 channel, und assiduous, trusty workmen. Men engaged in 

 rafting require an amount of skill and daring which only experi- 

 ence from their youthful days can give. The workmen on the 



"Wolf and Kinzig rivers 



^'^' -•''^- and their tributaries, in the 



•-^~^~ -" ^'^^^^^%- ' |2^^ ~~*~"~ lUack Forest, are veritable 



^^ - _7^-^ 4H5=^-^4m ~ '--'- ^^^sters in the art of raft- 



' ^-■niMiii gf^j^ ^M|£i"if ¥j gil i^^^^"''' ^^"' ^^^ ^^ ^^ "^^^ proposed 

 ^~ ~ ^3l ^^^BE7 -^ ^^ follow a raft down one 



""" ^ ^|t^;=|»^ ^ £ of these rivers. The logs 



^* "^ are floated down to a boom 



and sorted along the river- 

 bank ; they are then fastened together in its bed into raft- 

 sections and rafts. The rafting-channel here is only 3 to 4 

 meters (10 to 13 feet) broad, with a rocky bed strewn with 

 boulders and a fall of ^V to fV (sometimes even \) ; in the worst 

 places it is somewhat improved by simple weirs, and at the time 

 the wood is floated has a depth of only 15 centimeters (Cinches). 

 At longer or shorter intervals there are weirs in its upper course, 

 and sluice-gates where its higher tributaries join it. 



The raft, consisting of forty to fifty sections, is got ready, and 

 is attached by ropes to the shore. The front section consists of 

 only four small logs, which run together like a wedge in front, 

 terminating in a short piece of planking. The second, third, 

 and succeeding sections gradually increase in width, up to a 

 middle width of 4 to 5 meters (13 to 16 feet), which is also 

 attained by all the remaining sections of the raft, except the last, 

 on which are the breaks, and which is only as broad as the water 

 in the stream. The sections are fastened so that all the small 

 ends of the logs are in front, which gives them a fan-shaped 

 appearance as represented in fig. 253. Owing to this form, 

 the raft may be actually broader than the stream and the 

 passages through the weirs, provided that the latter are not 

 narrower than a b, as the wings ((( c and h d) of the sections then 

 fold back over the rest of the section, recovering their former 

 position as they emerge from the i)assage. It is therefore 

 evident that rafts for tloatin*' on mountain-streams must be 



