Page:Popular Science Monthly Volume 92.djvu/501

 Popular Science MontJiIi/

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���Rub-a-dub-dub, three me i in a tub. Not exactly. This is an army transport used on the River Tigris

��The "Goofa" Is Now a Modern Side- Wheel Ferryboat

OVER on the River Tigris in Meso- potamia (Eastern Arabia) English soldiers are having unusual e.xperiences in adapting ancient utili- ties to modern uses. One of the first insti- t u t i o n s to receive their attention has been the ven- erable "goo- fas," or ferry- boats, which natives have used u n - changed for thousands of years. The English soldiers put paddle wheels on the "goofas."

"Goof as" are perfectly round in shape and made of willow limbs and twigs, just like a large basket. The outsides are covered with skins.

Navigating a goofa in its unimproved form must be akin to floating around on a magnified butter chip. When ordinary paddles are used as motive power, the goofa has a disconcerting habit of going off in any di- rection but that desired. Since it has no keel, or other directing device, it is diffi- cult to keep it on a given course. But with paddle- wheels the goofa crosses the river with unprecedented directness.

Simple cranks and the sturdy arms of the soldiers furnish the motive power.

The fleet of goofas has been duly numbered for identification and is doing yeo- man service in the Far East for

��When is a tree not a tree? When it's an observation moving SUpphes. tower. More camouflage as practised in Belgium

��Camouflaged Observation Towers Used in Flanders

IN low, marshy Belgium, half flooded as it now is to interrupt the course of the Germans, there is almost no natural cover for ob- servation posts. Cam- ouflage is a necessity.

The two ob- servation posts, here illustrated, were erected about a mile and a half be- hind the front lines, one at an eminence of sixty feet, the other three feet lower. A situation was chosen where there was one natural tree. The two towers are so camouflaged that a cluster of what seemed to be three trees was pre- sented to the enemy's eye.

These observation towers can be speed- ily built and as speedily dismem- bered. All of the parts are easily transportable, and require no special lifting apparatus to haul them into place. The material used is wood. The joists are held together by iron bolts.

The width of the towers is eight feet. On their top platforms are placed the instruments, necessary for artillery obser- vations. Steel wire braces are attached from four angles, to steady the structure.

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