PREPARATION OF THE DESIGN 71 



a survey, as one's chief need is to have some one 

 at the other end of the tape. There are recog- 

 nized gestures to obviate shouting orders, which 

 are difficult to hear at a distance, or in wind. The 

 arm is moved to the side to show in which direction 

 the tape must lie to be straight. An upward ges- 

 ture means " lift your end and follow on " ; a 

 downward gesture means " set a stake/' Setting 

 out stakes in a straight line requires a good deal 

 of watching. The most common difficulty is 

 that the youth with the poles sets them right at the 

 bottom but leans them out of the perpendicular, 

 which makes them useless for sighting. To cor- 

 rect this incline the head to show which way the 

 top should go. 



When the tape has to be laid several times 

 the leader carries a definite number of pointed 

 sticks, or iron pins, one of which he places at the 

 end of the -tape. The tape is carried forward, the 

 back man knowing from the stick where to stop, 

 and the process is repeated. The back man picks 

 up the stick as he goes forward again, and at the 

 end the number of sticks in his hand show the 

 number of times the tape has been laid, and with a 

 100 ft. tape this is readily added to the odd feet of 

 the final section. Until one has tried, it could 

 hardly be believed how easy it is to forget the 

 number of times the tape has been laid, particu- 

 larly if there have been details to see to on the way. 

 The tape should be wound into its case when 



