ACTUAL FIRING OP THE TRACES. 441 



trol. The men should be distributed equally on both sides of the 

 trace. Unless the trace is narrow or the grass short, an interme- 

 diate line of fire should be lit on each side to accelerate and facili- 

 tate the burning of the cushion of dry grass on that side. If the 

 trace is narrow, no intermediate line of any kind will be required 

 or u single line of fire run along the middle will suffice. A single 

 torch-trailer is enough for each line of fire. The day's work should 

 begin where the previous day's work was closed, or on the edge 

 of a cross road or watercourse at which the fire can be controlled 

 and prevented from sweeping backwards. When a sufficient length 

 of the cushion of dry grass ( the same length on both sides ) has 

 been lighted, the men trailing the brands should move off at right 

 angles and meet in the middle of the trace. The cross-line of fire 

 thus lit will sweep backwards rapidly before the wind, amalgamating 

 in its progress with the fire advancing inwards from the sides of the 

 trace. Another length of the trace will next be fired in the same 

 manner, and then a third, and so on. In this way the trace will be 

 burnt in successive sections of more or less rectangular shape. 

 If the wind is not changeable or too strong, a fresh section may be 

 taken in hand before the fire has swept over the whole of the 

 preceding one. 



(b) Wind blowing obliquely across trace (Fig. 126, diagram to 

 right). More men should be ranged along C D than along A B in 

 proportion to the inflammability of the grass on the trace and to 

 the strength of the wind and the approach to a right angle its 

 direction makes with the line of the trace. The firing should here 

 also be carried on counter to the wind, i. e. from A C towards B D. 

 The party along A B should each time advance their line of fire 

 only when the grass along G D has burnt far away enough from 

 the edge to remove any risk of the fire, as it sweeps onwards from 

 A B, reaching across the burnt portion and setting ablaze the grass 

 beyond C D. The position of the party on A B with reference to 

 that on C D will thus depend on the force and direction of the 

 wind and on the inflammability of the grass on the trace, that is to 

 say, on the rapidity with which the fire lit along A B rushes across 

 the trace. Hence it may sometimes be permissible for the party 

 on A B to keep ahead of the men working along C D, when the 

 wind is not changeable and the condition of the grass prevents the 

 fire from travelling very quickly. No inner line of fire is required 

 on the windward side ( A B ) of the trace, but one can seldom be 

 dispensed with on the lee side. Each time a new length of grass 

 is lit along C D, the fire-braiid should be run back obliquely inside 



