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Belated thanks to Peter, Jared and Bill for their suggestions, however:

I'm not sure that lanolin would be much of a substitute for tallow. My
impression (which may well be wrong) is that lanolin has much lower
viscosity -- if that is the right term to use for a grease. In any case,
I am no closer to having a supplier for that than one for tallow.

Same for Crisco and other shortenings. They also share with peanut
butter the tendency to go rancid rather quickly: Not something I really
want smeared across my boat's spars. Suet is, of course, either raw
animal fat or perhaps fat melted once and allowed to solidify. The
latter would be a step towards tallow but not, I suspect, tallow itself.

Various mineral greases, of varied consistencies, are available of
course. But I don't think they would be very compatible with leather
chafing gear. I'm looking for the organic alternative.

And Bill: Yes, tallow candles were once used by anyone who could not
afford spermaceti but I would be very surprised if anyone outside
museums and historic re-enactment societies deals with such awful things
today.


I guess I will go on searching for a way to make, or somewhere to buy,
tallow.



Trevor Kenchington



P.S.: Bill wrote:

> I do maintain that bushwhacking 2000-or-so years ago in the "old world" is
> on-topic.  What trade/military routes were established and why?  What
> methods did the Roman Empire et al use to establish the routes?  How many
> are major roads these days?  Curious.

Not much call for bushwacking in most of Europe in 4 AD: the area was
well populated, with tracks and roads to follow.

I don't know much about how the Roman's planned the overall routes of
their roads but their technique for laying down the detailed route was
straightforward: Get up on the ridge lines, establish a beacon where the
route of the road crossed each ridge, then have the work crew build the
road heading towards the next beacon. The result is roads that run
straight from hilltop to hilltop, with slight angles where they cross
the ridges.

When I was a kid (1960s), the routes (though not the original structure)
of most of the major Roman roads in England (and I believe in France
also) were still used as roads and many had major highways built along
them. However, settlement patterns had changed and some of the roads no
longer connected major centres and so had dwindled. Then came Motorways
(equivalent to U.S. Interstates) which deliberately skirted towns and
cities, while following sweeping curves rather than the straight lines
suited to marching troops. I doubt that they follow the Roman routes
other than in the most general sense.


--
Trevor J. Kenchington PhD                         Gadus@iStar.ca
Gadus Associates,                                 Office(902) 889-9250
R.R.#1, Musquodoboit Harbour,                     Fax   (902) 889-9251
Nova Scotia  B0J 2L0, CANADA                      Home  (902) 889-3555

                     Science Serving the Fisheries
                      http://home.istar.ca/~gadus

   

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