SANDY TRAVEL
I realize it may well qualified me for being listed in the “Booby-Book of the Year”, but , until recently, it never occurred to me that navigation was a requirement in desert travel.
Without it one cannot be sure of getting wherever it was you thought you were going. Our Nabatean navigators have been guiding rich caravans across desolate desert terrain for centuries and they use a handy little instrument called a kamal. That's right - with a “K”.
“C-type” camels and deserts seem to go together naturally. A brand of cigarettes used to show a picture of a single-humped Bactrian camel and sugar-cured fruit such as dates, had a picture of a two-humped camel called a dromedary. Or, was it the other way around?
All you need to make a kamal is a flat piece of wood, smooth and about half the size of an old-fashioned HERSHEY Chocolate bar and about as thick as one used to be. You will need about a yard and half of string, too. You'd best go with two yards because you will be required to tie a series of knots in that string- how many depends on how many places you want to navigate toward.
Drill a small hole through the center of the board. Pull the string through the hole and knot it so it does no slip through.
This is the point at which he men are separated from the boys ; navigators from the would-be navigators or eternally lost souls. The technical lore which old timers pass on to the new generation are amazing clutter. Here's a sample explaining how you go about trying those critical knots.
“The science of qiyas is the simple method. There are 224 isba in a 360 degree circle. The width of four finger is considered to be 4 isba.” And there is more such hi-tech jargon you'll need to learn ,too if you want to make a career in this ancient scientific field.
What you need to do is to stop yakking about the waves rocking the boat if you are “at sea” or the wind and sand blowing your bernoose loose if you are “at sand”. You also have to hold the string between your teeth and let it slip through as you move the string out from the pole star placement until the proper knot is on the chosen star which allows you to think you now know what the exact latitude of your destination might be.
The Polynesian travelers, it is said had a version of the kamel made with a strip of bamboo and length of notched vine.
It amazes me that anyone got anywhere by such methods of computation. Perhaps those heading toward the Americas from the Pacific islands had a long coastline at which they might aim, and those going the other direction had a scattered host of many islands so they were sure to hit one of them.
A.L.M. October 15, 2004 [c501wds]
