410 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[June 2, 1887 



THE DIAMOND HITCH. 



INTRODUCTION. 



IN the rugged mountains of Western America, where 

 roads, even now, are not too common, freight is 

 transported on the backs of animals. The load is tied 

 on the saddle with ropes, and the burdened beast can 

 travel over rough country or through forests where the 

 timber stands close together, going wherever a man can 

 ride a horse. 



Down in old Mexico they have been carrying loads on 

 mules' backs for more than three hundred years, and 

 from there we have received a system of packing which 

 is perfect for its purpose. The manner in which the 

 single rope passes over and about the pack, in a regular 

 symmetrical fashion, is called the diamond hitch. In 

 this hitch there are no knots which can untie or become 

 loose; the rope pulls always against itself. By means of 

 this method in Mexico they will pack a twenty-gallon keg 

 of water on a mule's back over the mountains day after 

 day. 



The origin of the diamond hitch is, so far as I know, 

 buried in obscurity. Whence it came, or how, I cannot 

 tell. Possibly the old Aryans, when they poured into 

 Europe from the East, lashed their household goods on 

 the backs of horses .with this hitch, and thus transported 

 them over the rough mountains of Transylvania. Or it 

 may be that the Moors brought it from Africa into Spain, 

 and that so it came to Mexico. Perhaps it is a slow de- 

 velopment, painfully worked out little by little after 

 years of patient thought and study, or it may be that it 

 was the brilliant inspiration of some genius among 

 packers. At all events, we have it to-day, the most satis- 

 factory system for lashing a load on a saddle of which 

 we have any knowledge. 



Of the methods employed in packing in other countries 

 I am ignorant , but I am told by a gentleman who was 

 for many years resident in India and who has traveled 

 extensively in the Himalaya Mountains, where packing 

 is the only means of transportation, that the sawbuck 

 and aparejo, or saddles essentially similar in type to these, 

 are in common use among the Mahomedan people of India, 

 the former for loading camels, the latter for mules. He 

 believes, too, that the method of lashing with the diamond 

 hitch is essentially the same. 



If this is the case we are perhaps warranted in 

 assuming that it was introduced into both Europe 

 and India by the early Mahomedan conquerors, reaching 

 this country through the Spaniards. This would put the 

 Aryan people out of the race as regards any credit to 

 the invention, leaving the rival claims of the Semitic 

 and Tartar races whose united forces constituted the con- 

 quering armies of the Middle Ages. At that period it 

 may have been in general use by the people of both 

 races from the wall of China to Asia Minor, for the con- 

 querors, whether Arab or Tartar, introduced it wherever 

 they went. The invention might possibly be traced back 

 to a far more remote antiquity if Chinese records were 

 investigated. 



The diamond hitch may be thrown in several ways, 

 and from either the near or off side of the animal. 

 The method with which I am most familiar, and 

 which is generally employed in Montana and Wyoming, 

 is called the "old Government hitch." It is perhaps the 

 most simple. There are some minor modifications of this 

 which it is quite unnecessary to give. The essentials are 

 always the same, while almost every packer has his own 

 way of attending to the details. 



The amount which an animal can carry depends of 

 course on the size of horse or mule, and somewhat on the 

 shape which the load takes. Thus a heavier burden of 

 oats could be transported than of bird cages. From 200 

 to 2501bs. is a good load for a fair country. Much more 

 is sometimes put on, but it does not pay to overload. If 

 animals have too much to carry, they are almost sure to 

 get sore backs. One hundred and fifty pounds is enough 

 for a moderate-sized animal. 



Strictly speaking, but two types of saddles are used in 

 packing. The aparejo, which is of leather, and the saw- 

 buck, of wood, may be taken as representatives of these 

 types. Old-fashioned wooden pack saddles with rings are 

 still sometimes used, and an ordinary riding tree makes 

 a very good pack saddle. Nothing, however, is so easy 

 on a mule as an aparejo. It will carry, without injury, 

 a much heavier load with one of these than it possibly 

 can on a wooden saddle. This is due partly to the fact 

 that an aparejo is more flexible and yielding than wood, 

 and partly to the fact that its bearing surface is much 

 greater than that of a wooden saddle, and that the weight 

 is therefore more widely and more evenly distributed. 



The aparejo consists of a flat rectangular leathern bag. 

 a little more than twice as long as wide, or sometimes of 

 two nearly square leathern bags laced or sewed together 

 along the edges which are to go over the animal's back. 

 The sides of these bags are held apart by small willow 

 twigs introduced through the hand holes on the inside of 

 the aparejo, and are stuffed with fine springy hay. A 

 reference to Fig. 1 will show that the aparejo is placed 

 across the mule, either end of the bag coming down on the 

 sides nearly to the belly and close behind the forelegs, 

 while the after edge is just above the short ribs. To 



the after edges of the bag on either side is sewn a strip of 

 leather lOin. wide. Each of these runs well back around 

 the hips, curving up on the lower side until they meet 



Fig. 1.— Aparejo Set up, and Crupper. 



in a round smooth leather under the tail, forming a 

 strong crupper, which pulls against the buttocks rather 

 than against the tail. 



The process of "setting up a rigging," by which is' 

 meant putting in the hay and placing the willows in posi- 



2,0"t<r 50" g-<k" ZO"terZO u 



Fig. 2. — Aparejo. Inside, Showing Hand Holes. 



tion, need not be described. It requires much exper- 

 ience and can only be performed by a competent 

 cargador. 



The wooden pack saddle, from its shape commonly 

 termed a sawbuck, consists of two thin flat boards shaped 

 to fit either side of the animal's back, screwed to stout 

 crosspieces, which meet and are firmly bolted together in 

 front and behind. Fig. 3 gives an idea of the saddle on 

 the animal's back. This is by far the most common form 

 of saddle in use in the mountains, and is convenient 

 enough for short journeys and for light loads. Its popu- 

 larity is chiefly due to the readiness with which it can be 

 made, and its small cost as compared with the aparejo, 

 but it is not nearly so good to pack on. The aparejo being 

 made of leather throughout, and either laced or sewed, by 

 hand or on a machine, is much more expensive, the three 

 different sizes costing from $15 to $30, while a sawbuck, 

 with ropes, cinches and all, costs only from $5 to $10, 

 according to the character of the rigging. Notwithstand- 

 ing this difference the more expensive saddle is to be pre- 

 ferred for long trips. 



Fig. 3.— Sawbuck. Sling Ropes in Position. 



The aparejo is put on by a wide, heavy cinch, usually 

 of canvas, which passes about the middle of the aparejo 

 and under the animal's belly. At one end of this cinch 

 is a broad ring, or better a piece of hard wood somewhat 

 longer than the cinch is wide, an inch thick from above 

 downward and two inches wide from side to side. Through 

 this from above downward are cut two long, narrow slits, 

 through one of which the canvas of the cinch passes to 

 be sewed to itself again, and the other is to receive the 

 latigo. A foot or 18in. from the other end of the canvas 

 cinch, a small ring is laced to it, by one side, and to this 

 ring the latigo is attached. This is a flexible strap, l£ to 

 2in. wide, and perhaps 10ft. long, tapering very gradually 

 to its free end, where it is perhaps an inch wide. When 

 the aparejo is put on, the canvas cincli is thrown over the 

 animal, the wooden piece is brought up to within a foot 

 of the nearside of the aparejo; the latigo passes through 

 the slit in the wood, then up and through the ring, down 

 again through the wood, and so up and down several 

 times. Then a strong pull on the latigo draws the cinch 

 tight. The aparejo must not rest close to the ridge of the 

 animal's back but must be lifted up before cinching so 

 that it and its blankets do not touch the backbone. A 

 wooden pack saddle is usually put on with double cinches 

 in the ordinary way. 



A pack saddle, whether it be an aparejo or a wooden 

 saddle, requires plenty of blanket under it. There should 

 be enough to thoroughly protect the animal's back, and 



yet not so much as to make it possible for the saddle to 

 slip or work. But the blankets must not set down close 

 over the animal's backbone; they should be lifted up 

 off it so that the air can circulate through them, 

 otherwise you will have sore backs. Just before cinch- 

 ing, grasp the blankets over the backbone with the 

 right and left hand behind and before the saddle, and 

 pull and lift them well up into the crotch of the saddle 

 and off the animal's backbone. The saddle must be so 

 tightly cinched that there is no possibility of its turn- 

 ing. Dead freight is much more severe on a horse's 

 back than is live weight. There is no spring or give 

 to it, no relief to the animal. It bumps clown with a 

 heavy jar all the time. It is, therefore, of the greatest 

 importance that the saddle should stick close to the 

 animal and the load' close to the saddle, so that there 

 shall be no motion between the various parts of the 

 load, and no motion to it as a whole, apart from that 

 of the animal that is carrying it. The pack must, there- 

 fore, be lashed on the animal's back as firmly as possible, 

 and every effort made to keep the ropes tight and the load 

 compact. 



Two ropes are used in packing, one for slinging the 

 side packs on either side of the animal, where they bal- 

 ance each other, and one for lashing the whole load on 

 the saddle. If the lash rope remains tight the slings will 

 probably do so also, but the lash rope must be kept tight 

 if the load is to stay on. The office of the sling ropes is a 

 minor one. and after the pack is securely lashed on they 

 may even be removed and the load will ride well, but 

 if the lash rope becomes loose anywhere, the incessant 

 jolting of the pack makes it constantly more so, and 

 presently the load tips to one side or falls off, so that 

 the pack has to be taken off and put on again. This 

 takes time and is to be avoided, if possible. The skillful 

 packer arranges his loads so that they will not be dis- 

 turbed, except in case of accident, during the day. 

 Nothing more than an occasional tightening of the ropes 

 should have to be done. 



These ropes are stubborn things to handle. In damp or 

 wet weather they shrink and in a dry time they stretch. 

 However tight you may pull them they will always take 

 a little away from you again. Moreover, often the articles 

 to be packed are perfectly hard and stiff — as mess boxes — 

 and do not yield at all to the rope, and if there is the 

 least play in such a case it tends always to become loose; 

 while if it passes over something soft, such as a roll of 

 blankets, which yields to the strain and then springs out 

 when it is relaxed, the rope loosens much more slowly. 



When you know how to do it, to throw the diamond 

 hitch is as easy as "falling off a log." Until you under- 

 stand it thoroughly, it is a most complicated operation. 

 You may watch its execution and may have it explained 

 to you a thousand times, and may still know nothing 

 more about it than you did the first time. It is necessary 

 to have an expert show you each operation in detail, but 

 when you have once fairly mastered the subject, you will 

 be surprised at its simplicity. 



So far as I can learn, nothing has ever been written 

 about the method of throwing the diamond hitch. Good 

 packers are not very numerous, even in the western coun- 

 try, though there are plenty of men who can lash on a load 

 in a slovenly fashion, so that it will ride for a few hours. 

 In this matter, as in so many others, constant practice is 

 required to attain perfection, and it is only the man who 

 has had this practice who is really master of his art. 

 The good packer not only has no trouble with his loads, 

 but his animals seldom, under ordinary circumstances, 

 have'sore backs. His eye is quick to catch the first indi- 

 cation of a tipping load, and he at once remedies it. 



Whether it is possible for any one to learn by reading 

 about it how to throw the rope is doubtful; but I a?n quite 

 sure that the person who has once had the intricacies of 

 the diamond hitch explained to him , will afterward, by 

 references to these papers, be able so to refresh his mem- 

 ory that he can always throw the ropes, and after a little 

 practice become a skillful packer. 



In the papers to which this is the introduction I shall 

 endeavor to explain as clearly as possible what I consider 

 the simplest method of throwing the diamond hitch. I 

 shall give first the operation as performed on the ordinary 

 pack saddle or sawbuck, and afterward say something 

 about packing with an aparejo; for, although the system 

 is the same in both cases, the differences in the saddles 

 necessitate certain variations of detail which must be ex- 

 plained. 



Here and there will be found allusions to and directions 

 for some of the ordinary duties of camp life in the moun- 

 tains, but it must be understood that these are only men- 

 tioned incidentally and where they bear on the subject of 

 packing. The papers are in no sense intended as treating 

 of anything more than the operation of packing. 



I have myself packed over some thousands of miles of 

 mountains, and after the d aught of these papers was 

 made, it was submitted to two other practical packers 

 of great experience, Mr. H. G. Dulog and Mr. E. Hofer, 

 and to these gentlemen I am indebted for suggestions on 

 several points. I am, therefore, hopeful that the papers 

 will prove to be what they are intended for, a clear and 

 intelligent exposition of the method of throwing the 

 diamond hitch. Yo. 



