Hammock

“ The hammock to a bed is what flying is to walking. Here a stratum of cool air surrounded us, and the close packing of the boat was forgotten.
From my hammock in the porch I could look out upon the fair landscape Arcadian, over the exquisitely undulating greensward, unbroken as far as the eye could reach, except by the scattered huts and their small enclosures. Each of these was marked by its rich grove of orangetrees, and its shading, ever-tremulous cocoa-palms. Cattle, droves of horses, and all the smaller domestic animals, strayed about. ”

“ A naval hammock differs largely from those used ashore. A hammock aboard ship is of canvas, seven feet long, with holes a few inches apart at each end, through which are reeved pieces of strong cord. The latter are called clews, and they meet at an iron ring, which is attached to the hooks in the carline beams when the hammock is in position for use. When a hammock is properly slung it hangs almost straight, with very little sagging. To get in properly, one grasps two hoops near the head, and, with an agile spring, throws body and feet into the canvas bed. ”

“ Sometimes in the morning, and oftener in the afternoon, when the sun has withdrawn from that part of the mansions, a young woman appears on the piazza with some mysterious Penelope web of embroidery in her hand, or a book. There is a hammock over there—of pineapple fibre, it looks from here. A hammock is very becoming when one is eighteen, and has golden hair, and dark eyes, and an emerald-colored illusion dress looped up after the fashion of a Dresden china shepherdess, and is chaussee like a belle of the time of Louis Quatorze. ”

“ When it is actually necessary to carry a sick or disabled man, a hammock may be extemporised, by rolling a small stone into each corner of a blanket, and thus forming a knob, or projection which will prevent the slipping of the cords or thongs with which it is made fast to the pole. We saw a young Dutch lad, under the influence of fever, carried by a couple of Zambesian natives in a skin hammock, two corners of which were fastened to a short cross-pole, or yard, at the head, while the other end was gathered up and tied altogether to the main or bearing pole. ”

“ One of the first rules for a commuter to follow after he locates the railroad station, and hikes there a couple of times to get in training, is to get a red and pink and blue hammock.
A hammock is a necessary evil in the country, because only by this means can the insects become acquainted with the new commuter.
The day after we first put up our new hammock Uncle Peter came rubbering around to look it over. He was all swelled up over being elected Mayor, and he dropped in the hammock with a splash. Ten seconds later the rope exploded and Uncle Peter made a deep impression on the stone porch. ”

“ There are people who believe that a hammock understands what is going on, and occasionally indulges in a joke.
It is certain that an old person with a lame back can swing in a hammock half the day and it will never kick up. Servant girls and children can get in a hammock as thick as three in a bed and there is no danger, but let a spoony young couple sit down in a hammock ever so carefully and it seems as though the confounded thing was alive, and had taken a contract to spill them out on the ground in all sorts of embarrassing shapes. ”

“ If they have been slung overnight, they are as white as any laundress could have made them; and, of course, the hammock-stowers take more than ordinary care to place them neatly in the nettings, with their bright numbers turned inwards, all nicely lashed up with the regulated proportion of turns, each hammock being of a uniform size from end to end. ”

“ With regard to making a network hammock, proceed as we have described, and to make a full-sized hammock you would require between fifty and sixty two-inch meshes each way.
Then make the clews, as described in the article on canvas hammocks, and fasten them in the usual manner to each end of the hammock, tying the ends as regularly as you can.
Netting is a very pleasant as well as useful occupation, and is more suitable for boys than girls, owing to the strain of pulling the knots tight. ”

“ And then his dirty hands pulling your sheets and pillows about, so as to place them away properly in the hammock, and that it should appear on deck in its proper shape to be stowed in the hammock-netting, well scrutinised by some very strict officer of the watch or mate of the deck! Woe betide you if the hammock looked too full of bedding, or in excess of what his critical eye might notice! I have often seen an unfortunate sleepy mid roll out of his hammock, cover himself with a blanket or a rug, and give himself another hour or so of rest by lying on the top of his chest, his own little home ”

“ Sometimes one will see several persons stowed away in a single hammock. It is not an unusual thing to see two persons in the same chinchorro, and one may now and then see a mother and three children serenely reposing in one of these aerial cots. How they do it, it is difficult to say, but the fact is that they do it, and there is apparently not a budge in the hammock’s occupants until they are awakened in the morning by the call of the birds—Nature’s alarm clocks in the tropics. ”

“ The hammock was made fast, one end of it17 to an iron belaying-pin in the saddle of the mizzen mast, in the shade of the spanker, and the other end to the rail. A hammock meets you at every point with the needed support. It brought strange sensations of rest to lie and listen to the plashing of the water against the sides of the ship. The measured roll of the vessel now was pleasurable. ”

“ Most people, I presume, know what sort of a thing a hammock is. It consists of a piece of canvass, five feet long by two wide, suspended to the deck overhead by means of two sets of small lines, called clews, made fast to grummets, or rings of rope, which, again, are attached by a lanyard to the battens stretching along the beams. ”

“ Between the upright posts, and sometimes from the transverse beams, are suspended the hammocks, some of which are almost invariably occupied, as the master has a natural genius for lying in his hammock when he is not absolutely obliged to be on his feet. The number of hammocks under a single roof is almost incredible. ”

“ Miss Mason had been measuring the cherries impartially, half for the individual pickers and half for Mrs. James, when the first accident happened. She was out of the house and crossing the grass when the second scream reached her ears. She saw an old hemp hammock hanging from a clothes pole on the drying-place, and had a sudden idea.
The hammock was snatched and carried over to the tree where the Scout hung. “Here, girls! Spread it out quickly! We will have a life-saving net and win a reward for our presence of mind!” ”

“ Every hammock is warranted by the manufacturers; and nothing but the best material and workmanship enter into their construction. Each grade is tested at a given number of pounds. They are warranted, when colored, not to soil the finest fabric.
THE HERCULES.
Given for one new subscription to The Pansy or Our Little Men and Women, and 40 cents cash additional.
This is the strongest hammock made, warranted to hold 1100 lbs. It is made of very heavy cord. Length, 13 feet; length of bed, 6 feet. Price $1.15. Postage and packing 30 cents additional. ”

“ The bell was struck, and one of the watch on deck, after a preliminary thumping with the large end of a handspike upon the forecastle, vociferated down the fore scuttle,
"All the starboard watch, ahoy! Rouse out there, starbowlines—show a leg or an arm!"
This last phrase designates the manner in which "turning out" of a hammock is accomplished, which hammock, a person unacquainted with such kind of sleeping accommodations, would never dream contained a live man, until one or the other of the aforementioned limbs was protruded. ”

“ The hammocks were made of canvas, and were suspended from hooks in the ceiling, so high up that a person could walk under the hammocks by stooping slightly.
“Each of you,” said the instructor, “will be expected to sling his hammock every night and lash it in the morning. If you will observe me I will show you how it is done.”
The apprentices gathered about.
“You first hook the ring of the clews to the 46 hammock hook; then pass each outer nettle from out inwards through the eyelet on its own side of the hammock. Square the two nettles and take a half hitch with each. ”

“ I then brought up my hammock and swung it as low down as possible for the girl, and took back the mainsail, that had once formed a tent at Farm Cove, to use for my own bed at the shed. I explained as well as I could how she should sleep in the hammock, and gave her one of the blankets. She assured me she had often slept in a hammock and thought she could manage it. She was then about to explain how she and her father came to be adrift in the boat; but I stopped her by saying, “No, let us wait until to-morrow. You are both exhausted and need sleep and rest. ”

“ The Chief posted the first watchman, and taps began blowing as we started in stringing our hammocks.
It was great sport. Everyone had a theory about it, but we were told that, whatever we did, [79] we must get the hammocks straight, because a sagging hammock is death on the back.
At nine, to the dot, lights were out. It was pitch black in our room. Somewhere outside one feeble standing light flickered, but inside, nothing doing.
Remember, these hammocks are about seven feet above ground—say, the fun started right there. How to get up in them was some problem. ”

“ Seine twine, of 24-ply, is the best material and it will take 11⁄2 lb. to make a hammock. The twine comes in 1⁄2-lb. skeins and should be wound into balls to keep it from knotting before the right time. Two galvanized rings, about 21⁄2 in. in diameter, are required.
The Tools Necessary Consist of a Needle or Shuttle, a Guage Board, and a Mesh Stick
The equipment for netting a hammock consists of a wood needle, or shuttle, a gauge board for the long meshes at the ends, and a mesh stick for the regular netting of the main body of the hammock, all of which will be described in detail. ”

“ Substantial little hammocks which will hold good-sized dolls, and even a real pussy with no danger of the material breaking, can be made of ordinary kindling wood or strips of pasteboard (Fig. 135) . Both styles of hammocks are woven in the same manner. The weaving is like that used for the [77] raft and is of the simplest, most primitive kind, merely crossing of the two ends of each side string between each piece of wood (or pasteboard) slat, with loops of string left at each end of the hammock for hanging it up. ”

“ A canvas fly may be arranged overhead to keep off rain. It takes some experience to be able to rest easily in a hammock, but once the habit is acquired there is no more comfortable bed. The hammock is the bed of our sea jackies and marines, and they thrive on that kind of a couch.
In summertime a raincoat and a pair of blankets for each person, with hammocks, car beds, or tent, should care for the necessary sleeping equipment so far as covering goes. ”

“ A Bird Hammock.
In his voyage to India, Sonnerat speaks of a Cape titmouse, the nest of which is made of cotton and is shaped like a bottle. While the female is hatching inside, the male, a most watchful sentinel, remains outside in a pouch or hammock, fixed to one side of the neck of the nest. When his mate moves off and he wishes to follow her, he beats the opening of the nest [Pg 273] violently with his wing until he closes it, in order to protect the young from enemies. ”

“ In addition to these, a manila rope lanyard was spliced to one of the rings to facilitate swinging the hammock between hooks fixed rigidly, in almost every conceivable corner, to the overhead beams of the ship. Each man's hammock had a small piece of canvas sewed to it about eighteen inches from the head upon which was his watch number in stencil. These watch numbers corresponded to the numbers over the hooks where their hammock berths or sleeping places were located. Every man on shipboard who swings in a hammock has two issued to him ”

“ With a rapidity which would surprise a landsman, the crew dress themselves, lash their hammocks and carry them on deck, where they are stowed for the day. There is system even in this arrangement; every hammock has its appropriate place. Below, the beams are all marked, each hammock is marked with a corresponding number, and in the darkest night, a sailor will go unhesitatingly to his own hammock. They are also kept exceeding clean. Every man is provided with two, so that while he is scrubbing and cleaning one, he may have another to use. ”

“ They are made on hand-looms from the fibres of various species of palm and bromelia or from cotton thread. In their manufacture the Indian women often display considerable skill and taste. This is particularly true of the hammocks made in the regions of the upper Rio Negro, which are beautifully decorated with the feathers of parrots, toucans and other birds of brilliant plumage.
“The hammock,” as Schomburgk well observes, “is the most indispensable article in the Indian’s house, or for an Indian’s journey. ”

“ There is no more comfortable conveyance in the world than a hammock in Africa. It is slung from a long bamboo pole, overhead a thick awning keeps the sun from the hammock. Across the ends of the pole boards of some three feet long are fastened. The natives wrap a piece of cloth into the shape of a muffin and place it on their heads, and then take their places, two at each end of the pole, with the ends of the board on their heads. They can trot along at the rate of six miles an hour, for great distances, often keeping up a monotonous song. ”