CHAPTER III. 
hygiene :■ — gear for dragging. pack-gear. care of gear, 
summary of general hygiene. 
Gear for Dragging. 
For timber-dragging, the harness in most general use consists of 
numdah, saddle, girths, back sling, and chains, and to describe them 
in order we will take first the numdah : — - 
This consists usually of the dressed bark of the bambwe 
tree e)§GgSGolo5 (Careya arborea) in pads of about 3 ft. 
by 4 ft. in size. The bark is stripped from the tree in 
one piece, and prepared for use by beating it with some 
heavy instrument sufficiently to loosen the fibre, with- 
out shredding it altogether as with coir. If properly 
prepared, a piece of bambwe so treated is made as soft 
and pliable as jute, and very seldom causes a chafe. 
The bark itself has also astringent properties, which are 
cooling and hardening to the skin on which it is directly 
laid. There are other barks used, namely, shaw GcgiS 
{Sterculia ornata, versicolor and vtllosa), all prepared 
in much the same way ; but the first mentioned is more 
generally used. Over the bark is spread a green hide 
or two, on which are placed the ohn-dones. 
Saddles or ohn-dones (3^$sq$), (see Fig. 6). — These are pieces 
of any light wood, 
about 18 ins. by 4 ins. 
by 4 ins., hollowed out 
roughly to decrease 
the weight. They are 
connected by ties (12 
ins. to 1 8 ins.) and of 
sufficient length to 
allow them to rest on 
each side of the spine, 
and high enough to p^^,^ 6. -Elephant dragging saddle 
remove pressure from in present use. 
the back-bone itself, when the slings are in place. 
Another variety of saddle in common use, called a 
