When I was a child a haversack (the name in
Portuguese is "embornal")
was a very common household possession, especially in the rural environment
where I grew up.
Every one of the farm employees had one, almost
always white made from discarded and reclaimed flour or sugar cotton sacs and
with their initials embroiled by hand, with greater of lesser skill. Every
morning around 9:30 the wives or daughters would bring the haversacks with the
just cooked lunch and rang them in hooks outside the farm workshop from where
they would be taken to fields.
That pretty much defined the standard dimension
of the haversacks, since they had to have enough room for a caldron about six
inches in diameter, which contained he inevitable rice and beans filling about
three quarters of the volume and some sort of meat, pork or chicken being the
most common, since almost every family kept at least one capon and several
piglets plus a number of chickens, hens, and at least one nice looking rooster.
The lid was kept in place by an elastic band,
and together with it would go a former soft drink glass bottle filled with very
sweet, and soon to be cold, coffee. Those haversacks had a very practical use,
but almost every one of those men also liked to fish, and some to hunt, even if
only to provide some free protein for their families, but none had fishing
boxes, all they need would fit in another haversack. And why not, since their
wives could make them for almost free?
My brothers and I had our lunches in haversacks
many times, more out of wanting to be part of the environment than for need,
but like most of the other children in the farm we used ours to help us in our
adventures.
So I started to consider what a haversack should
be stuffed with to make us feel like children again!
First and foremost it should have a pocket knife
of any type imaginable. Of course a Swiss Army knife would be the most
desirable and useful knife anyone could carry, but they were too expensive and
rare for children, and probably we would have to rely on a single blade
friction folder, almost certainly with a sheep's foot blade that was handled
down by some salesman, most likely chemicals being used o fight a losing battle
win the boll weevils that were destroying our cotton, and that my father to his
grave would swear where parachuted in Brazil by the CIA, so the big American
companies could sell us their chemicals.
Next we must have a slingshot, as no self-respecting
boy at the time would go out in the bush unarmed. Many dangerous mangos and
other less desirable fruits would still be haunting the country if we did not
have our slingshots to bring them down from their towering heights. Of course
we could also try our luck at the multiple doves and pigeons that populated our
woods or some careless tinamou that decided to prove Darwin wrong.
Marbles would be third in line, for they
provided both entertainment during long lazy days and also could use as
ammunition to the slingshots in case a trophy of enough importance would
present itself for such expensive and high performance ammunition.
Following these basic staples we have a long
list of absolute must haves, at least in the opinion of a professional small
boy like me, and I will present the in no particular order.
Fishing hooks, sinkers and line that could all
be accommodated inside a match box allowed us to y our hands for the "lambaris"
(Astyanax sp.) and "traíras"
(Hoplias sp.) among other fish that
hid themselves in the dark muddy waters of the Córrego do Rosário that bisected our property, and that would
come out in the early evening, about the same time that the annoying mosquitos
would wake up to make us company and render us misery. A small glass jar with a
screw in top that formerly held medicine or food is always useful to carry
earth worms, rotting corn or other bait.
It is hard to overstate the importance of twine
or cord or even some steel wire. They are essential to make an "arapuca" a very effective trap to
catch birds and other small animals.
There is no reason not to carry as small
container of .177" air gun pellets, even if your father, like mine, did
not allow you to have an air gun. You could always come across another kid that
had one, but had no pellets, and the priceless gift of half a dozen pellets or
so would surely grant you access to that coveted gun. But I can't complain
about my father for as much as he was afraid of air guns, he would allow me to
carry a small bore shotgun, so in my haversack I always had a small handful of
.310" rimfire shotshell made by CBC. The older version had glass wads that
let us see the No. 11 shot while the newer ammunition was crimped.
Matches or a Bic lighter are critical to start
our fires so we can cook our fish or the rare birds we hunted with our mortal
slingshots. The frying pans were made from discarded cooking oil cans and were
generally good for a single meal. More cans could be found when necessary. Of
course the pocket knife was used to make he fry pan and then become the cooking
utensil.
The haversack should also carry a small and
inexpensive flashlight. Nowadays we have reliable and bright LED hand torches
that cost next to nothing, but to us professional small boys (and I freely
steel once more the expression from Robert Ruark) nothing is better than and
old and barely functional flashlight, with worn out batteries that barely light
the old bulb, and that before the night is over will have to be boiled or
frozen to give us a couple more lumens that reflected from the eyes of a timid
alligator someplace win the lagoon.
Being the nerd that I always was my haversack
was also home to a magnifying glass, mostly used to burn black holes in mango
leaves, and a small notebook and pencil, that of course was sharpened by the
inseparable pocket knife.
A whistle is very useful if you are lost, or
even if you just like to annoy people and disturb their early afternoon nap and
any child will soon find out how easy it is to lose it when overused or
misused.
A very important item is a magnetic compass,
especially if it is inexpensive and not too reliable, as it provides us a good
reason to get lost for as long as we desire.
A good haversack can carry many other
essentials, but it cannot transport or contain the most essential and necessary
"items" for a us, professional small boys, adventure spirit and
imagination.
Just get away from this computer screen and go
explore your own backyard! You will discover a world that you thought was lost.
