Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

ACCIDENTS AND EMERGENCIES 4596e longer than the bone that Is broken, so as toclamp the connecting joints as well. Cover theconcave insides with cloth, dr)^ moss, crumpled grass,or other soft padding, to cushion the limb and preventirritation. The edges of splints should notquite meet aroand the limb. Then get a longbandage, about two inches wide. Having set thebone, apply the splints on each side, and bandagethem firmly enough to hold in place, but by nomeans so tightly as to impede circulation.In default of bark, almost anything will do forsplints that isstiff enough to hold the parts in place—barrel staves, thin boards, sticks, bundles ofrushes, etc. Pad them well.If a bone is broken in more than one place, orif it protrudes through the skin, and you cannotfetch a surgeon to the patient, then get him outof the w^oods at all hazards. The utmost painsmust be taken in transporting him, lest the sharpedges of the bones saw off an artery or pierce animportant organ.Transportation of Wounded.—A two-horselitter is better than a travois ; but if the latter mustbe used, then make one shaft a little shorter thanthe other, so that, in crossing uneven places, theshock will not all come at one jolt."A travois may be improvised by cutting polesabout 16 feet long and 2 inches in diameter at thesmall end. These poles are laid parallel to eachother, large ends to the front, and 2^ feet apart;the small ends about 3 feet apart, and one ot themprojecting about 8 or 10 inches beyond the other.The poles are connected by a crossbar about 6 feetfrom the front ends and another about 6 feet backof the first, each notched at its ends and securelylashed at the notches to the poles. Between thecrosspieces the litter bed, 6 feet long, is filled in withcanvas, blanket, etc., securely fastened to the polesand crossbars, or twith rope, lariat, rawhide strips,etc., stretching obliquely from pole to pole in manyturns, crossing each other to form the basis for alight mattress or an improvised bed; or a litter maybe made fast between ^he poles to answer the same