Great Belt

“ Belt upon belt of fifty-yard-deep wire protected these points, either directly or at such angles as should herd and hold up attacking infantry to the fire of veiled guns. Nothing in the entire system had been neglected or unforeseen, except knowledge of the nature of the men, who in due time, should wear their red way through every yard of it. ”

“ Our Settlements are scattering, and some of them at a great Distance from others, and many of our Men are from Home a hunting; we have, however, sent the Belt of Invitation forward to those who live at a greater Distance, that they may be able at the Time appointed, to come and join us in the War, as by your Belt we were desired. ”

“ Sometimes, however, old women and children wear the ancient national girdle, namely a broad belt ornamented with knobs and buttons, and clasped in front by an oval piece of silver of great size and weight and heavily embossed. ”

“ Mounted Militia sometimes wore the saber on a waist belt and the carbine cartridge box on a shoulder belt. It is interesting to note that the custom of using elements of state seals on waist-belt plates was not followed to any great extent in the embellishment of shoulder-belt plates except in the Southern States.
CARTRIDGE-BOX-BELT PLATE, SOUTH CAROLINA, C. 1845 (?) USNM 604451-M (S-K 598) . Figure 259.
Figure 259
In size and pattern this plate is exactly like that prescribed for the Regular Establishment in 1841, substituting the arms of South Carolina for the eagle. ”

“ It is either seen to be confined by a broad belt round the waist, or else is covered from the waist to the knees by two falls of a heavy and deep fringe. In this latter case, a broad cross-belt is worn over the left shoulder, and the upper fall of fringe hangs from the cross-belt. A fillet is worn upon the head, which is often highly ornamented. The feet are sometimes bare, but more often are protected by sandals, or (as in the accompanying representation) by embroidered shoes. Earrings adorn the ears; bracelets, sometimes accompanied by armlets, the arms. ”

“ The archers are either light-armed or heavy-armed, and of the latter there are two clearly distinct varieties. The light-armed have no helmet, but wear on their heads a mere fillet or band, which is either plain or patterned. [PLATE XCVI., Fig. 3.] Except for a cross-belt which supports the quiver, they are wholly naked to the middle. Their only garment is a tunic of the scantiest dimensions, beginning at the waist, round which it is fastened by a broad belt or girdle, and descending little more than half-way down the thigh. ”

“ Minutely accurate in his description of facts and bold in his reasoning upon them, Belt covered so much ground that some of his theories have not held their own; but others have stood the test of time and been absorbed into the world's stock of knowledge, while all bear witness to the singular grasp of his mind and have stimulated thought and observation—which is a great virtue in theories, be they true or false. ”

“ On the darkest nights innumerable fire-flies flash their intermittent lights as they pass amongst the low bushes or herbage, making another twinkling firmament on earth. On other evenings, sitting inside with lighted candles and wide opened doors, great bats flap inside, make a round of the apartment, and pass out again, whilst iris-winged moths, attracted by the light, flit about the ceiling, or long-horned beetles flop down on the table. ”

“ The belts received at treaties, councils and other assemblies were entrusted for presentation to the care of one individual, usually the sachem, who was expected to keep in mind the occasion and purport of each, which he could readily do by the aid of the devices emblematic of the event it signalized that were traced upon each. [17] Thus a belt presented to Sir Wm. Johnson by the Six Nations, had wrought upon it the sun, the emblem of light, and symbols of the Six Nations. ”

“ Sometimes the ground is carpeted with large flowers, yellow, pink, or white, that have fallen from some invisible tree-top above, or the air is filled with a delicious perfume, for the source of which one seeks around in vain, as the flowers that cause it are far overhead out of sight, lost in the great overshadowing crown of verdure. ”

“ The banana tree shoots up its succulent stem, and unfolds its immense entire leaves with great rapidity; and a group of them waving their silky leaves in the sun, or shining ghostly white in the moonlight, forms one of those beautiful sights that can only be seen to perfection in the tropics. ”

“ When we turn from these works and remains of a great and united tribe to the miserable huts of the present natives, we feel how great a curse the Spanish invasion has in some respects been to Central America. The half-breed, wrapped up in himself, lives from year to year in his thatched hut, looking after a few cows, and making cheese from their milk. He perhaps plants a small patch of maize once a year, and grows a few plantains, content to live on the plainest fare, and in the rudest style, so that he may indulge in indolence and sloth. ”

“ But a crossed belt is open to the objection that the surfaces of the belt rub against each other at the point of crossing, which tends to rapidly wear out the laced joint of the belt. By crossing a vertical belt the lower pulley receives part of the weight of the belt. ”

“ A belt.
“Brethren, if you are in earnest to be reconciled to us, you will keep your young men from attacking our country and killing and carrying captive our back inhabitants; And will likewise give orders, that your people may be kept at a distance from Fort Duquesne; that they may not be hurt by our warriors, who are sent by our king to chastise the French, and not to hurt you. Consider the commanding officer of that army treads heavy, and would be very sorry to hurt any of his Indian brethren.” A large belt. ”

“ The sides of the valley rose steeply, and a fair view was obtained from the tramway in the centre over the shrubs and small trees on each side, so that the walk was not so hemmed in with foliage, as is usual in the forest roads. Insects were plentiful by this path. In some parts brown tiger beetles ran or flew with great swiftness; in others, leaf-cutting ants in endless trains carried aloft their burdens of foliage, looking as they marched along with the segments of leaves, held up vertically, like green butterflies, or a mimic representation of a moving Birnam wood. ”

“ Up and down the fallen timber would stalk gigantic black ants, one inch in length, provided with most formidable stings, and disdaining to run away from danger. They are slow and stately in their movements, seeming to prey solely on the slow-moving wood-borers, which they take at a great disadvantage when half buried in their burrows, and bear off in their great jaws. They appear to use their sting only as a defensive weapon; but other smaller species that hunt singly, and are very agile, use their stings to paralyse their prey. ”

“ Our Belt has now been in extensive use for a long time, and the fact that it has won the patronage of the first medical autho­rities of the land, and been adopted by the highest personages of the empire, is a guarantee of its utility. ”

“ The object of this chapter is not to say how belts are made, but to impress upon the minds of belt users that to get the best results, belts, like all good servants, must be well cared for, and all responsibility should rest with one man, just as with your engine or any high-priced machine. ”

“ They do not grow in clusters or masses of single species, like our oaks, beeches, and firs, but every tree is different from its neighbour, and they crowd upon each other in unsocial rivalry, each trying to overtop the other. For this reason we see the great straight trunks rising a hundred feet without a branch, and carrying their domes of foliage directly up to where the balmy breezes blow and the sun's rays quicken. Lianas hurry up to the light and sunshine, and innumerable epiphytes perch themselves high up on the branches. ”

“ Ultimate strength of ordinary leather belting = 3086 lb. per square inch. Belts vary from 3∕16 in. to 1⁄4in. thick, average 7∕32 in.
Power of Single Leather Belts.
To calculate the power of single leather belts, the following formula may be used: Let HP = actual horse-power. W = width of belt. F = driving force. T = working tension from 70 to 150 lb. V = velocity of belt in feet per minute.
Example:—A 10-inch belt running 2500 feet per minute, what horse-power will it transmit? Assuming the working tension to be 100 lb.,
[179] ”

“ At Hoxne itself, on the east side of Gold Brook, there is a gravel-pit showing seams of gravel and sand exactly similar to that at Syleham, but surmounted by sandy "trail" instead of by bowlder-clay. The gravel is not to be distinguished from the other, being composed like it of subangular flint-pebbles with rounded ones of quartz and quartzite, and with many small pebbles of chalk in the lowest seams. Notwithstanding this great similarity, Mr. Prestwich considers the beds at Hoxne to have been formed by river-action in post-glacial times ”

“ Mills Infantry Belt, Dismounted. Model of 1910, Ten Pockets, 20 Clips, 100 Rounds, Calibre .30.
Becoming known at Washington, two ordnance inspectors were sent to inspect the equipment of the armies of General Terry and General Crook, confronting the hostile Sioux, in 1876. They reported it was [316] impossible to compel soldiers on the frontier to use the regulation McKeever cartridge boxes, and recommended the manufacture of a uniform belt at arsenals. The Chief of Ordnance approved, and thirty [317] thousand sewed canvas belts were made at Watervliet. ”

“ Some run and fly only in the daytime, others towards evening and in the short twilight; but the great majority issue from their hiding-places only in the night-time, and during the day lie concealed in withered leaves, beneath fallen logs, under bark, and in crevices amongst the moss growing on the trunks of trees, or even against the bare trunk, protected from observation by their mottled brown, grey, and greenish tints—assimilating in colour and appearance to the bark of the tree. ”

“ For instance, find the center of any piece of leather on one side of the belt, and then look on the opposite side and see if the joint is right under your center mark. It should be by all means, for right here lies the most important thing about the construction of leather belts. A belt whose laps are all the same length, and which has all its joints broken correctly, will put the same load on the glue throughout, and that is what must be done in order to get the best results. See Fig. 80. Here we have a belt that is 36 inches in width and a double ply. ”

“ We had now to ascend the side of a ravine, the road, or rather path, being through a bamboo thicket for about a mile, the bamboos touching our knees on either side and arching close overhead, so that we had to lie on the mules' necks a great part of the way. Some portions of the road were dangerously steep and rocky; but as fully a league in distance is saved by taking this by-path, instead of the main road by way of La Puerta, I generally preferred travelling by it, especially as I often took rare and new beetles on the bushes. ”

“ The main belts never entirely disappear, and never depart very far from their mean positions with respect to the equator, but the smaller belts toward the north and south are more or less evanescent. Round or oblong spots, as distinguished from belts, are still more variable and transient. The main belts themselves show great internal commotion, frequently splitting up, through a considerable part of their length, and sometimes apparently throwing out projections into the lighter equatorial zone, which occasionally resemble bridges, diagonally spanning the broad space between the belts. ”

“ So, the fishes would pity their comrades caught by the kingfisher, the birds those in the claws of the hawk—every creature considering the fate that overtook its fellows, and which might befall itself—the great blot in nature's plan. ”

“ And now, as the Indian sank down into his blanket before the fire, Sir William produced a belt from the folds of his cloak and held it out. The belt was black with two figures woven in white on it. The hands of the figures were clasped together. It was a chain-belt.
"Brother," he said, slowly: "The clouds which hang over us prevent us from seeing the sun. It is, therefore, our business, with this belt, to clear the sky. And we also, with this belt, set the sun in its proper course, so that we may be enabled to see the narrow path of peace." ”

“ The ends of round belts are usually joined by means of cylindrical hooks and eyes, which are threaded so as to screw on to the end of the belt, but for twisted round belts it is better to place in the centre of the belt a small core of soft wood. ”

“ The stately observant way in which they stalk about, and their great size, compared with the others, always impressed me with the idea that in their bulky heads lay the brains that directed the community in its various duties. ”

“ About noon, we arrived at a poor-looking hacienda near the top of the range. The proprietor owned about two hundred cattle, and lived in a house, mud-walled and grass-thatched, consisting of one room and a kitchen. Round the sides of the room were crowded eight rude bedsteads, and hammocks were slung across the centre. A mob of twenty-one men, women, and children lived at the house, and must have herded together like cattle at night. There were a great number of half-clothed and naked children running about. ”