Wearing a tumpline

There was a set of excellent instructions for tying a tumplineon the web written by David Wells, but the link has disappeared. There have been others available on the web too at various times, but they seem to have gone the way of the dodo bird. I'll try to get a new set written soon. Once you've tied it, you should end up with something that looks about like this:

I don't wrap around the ends like Nita suggests, just around the body a couple of times. If you have a short European military type, you can just tie it and use leather straps/buckles or ropes to secure the bedroll itself.

Notice the slack in the brow/chest strap is very short. That's because you want to make sure it fits you right. For most people, the bedroll should hit where it does in the following pictures (thanks to Sam for being the model, and apologies for the image quality. They were taken during hurricane Ivan):

Above: He's wearing it across both shoulders, up high enough to move his arms rather freely. The bedroll sits just in the curve of his back, sort of on top of his butt, but not banging against it as he walks. This length will also fit well if worn diagonally.

Above: Here's the traditional brow band method. The same length strap pulled up onto the head allows the bedroll to sit across the breadth of the shoulders, but not on top of them. If you lean forward as you walk, it sits comfortably.

To see an image of a tump in use, see the "Indians going hunting" painting from von Reck that's on the Images of Southeastern Natives In von Reck's drawings page of this site.