EAFTING. 



.19 



throughout quite loosely jointed. Suppose now, the long raft 

 which is lying in the nearly dry bed of the stream and here and 

 there overlaps it on both sides is to be floated ; a few days before- 

 hand 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 

 <i0urse of the rafting-channel. Men are posted out on the 

 hills along the stream to receive notices from those in charge of 



Fig. 253. 



the raft and pass them on (in Galicia, telephones, of a total 

 length of 50 kilometers in one instance, are used for this 

 purpose). 



While the raft remains firmly fastened 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 the latter should 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 

 sufticient 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 breaks. The breaks are now used at 

 short intervals to slacken speed at narrow places and dangerous 

 <iorners, and the men must know exactly when the front of the 

 raft will reach a dangerous place, so that they may apply the 

 breaks in time. When the breaks are applied, the whole raft 



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