Tumpline

Tumplines in use in Mexico

/tump-lyne/ A tumpline is a strap attached at both ends to a sack, backpack, or other luggage and used to carry the object by placing the strap over the top of the head. This utilizes the spine rather than the shoulders as standard backpack straps do. Tumplines are not intended to be worn over the forehead, but rather the top of the head just back from the hairline, pulling straight down in alignment with the spine. The bearer then leans forward, allowing the back to help support the load.

Tumplines are often used to transport heavy loads across uneven terrain such as footpaths and portages. The voyageurs of the North American fur trade used tumplines exclusively to carry their cargo of pelts and rations across portages.

Backpacks for the military and recreational campers were redesigned to carry larger loads during the middle and late twentieth century, and tumplines have become less common in the developed world.

The Indians in Mexico (and other Latin American countries) traditionally have used the tumpline for carrying heavy loads, such as firewood, baskets (including baskets loaded with construction materials and dirt for building), bird cages, and furniture. In the 1920s there was a man in Mexico City who delivered pianos on his back using a tumpline. In Mexico a common name for tumpline is "mecapal". Modern highland Mayans of southern Mexico use tumplines for various pedestrian transport.

References

• Conover, Garrett and Alexandra (April, 1991). Beyond The Paddle - A Canoeist's Guide to Expedition Skills: Poling, Lining, Portaging and Maneuvering through Ice. ISBN 884480666. {{cite book}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)

Notes

• An Andean Indian Peruvian man or boy may use for a tumpline a sling that can double as a sling (weapon). Often the sling is for auxiliary support to a sack formed of a cloth rectangle folded into a triangle and whose opposite corners are tied across the chest and bear on chest, shoulders, and back. Andean women and girls use almost exclusively a manta or shawl or plain rectangle of cloth. This is folded into a triangle, opposite corners are tied across the chest above the breasts, and the load is borne on upper chest, shoulders, and back. Infants and toddlers usually are carried this way. The difference in use between highland Mexico and highland Peru may be because Andean natives almost always wear brimmed hats (both sexes) or crocheted or knitted hats (men, boys, and babies). Brimmed hats make the use of tumplines more cumbersome. Brimmed hats were introduced and imposed onto Andean native Indians by early Spanish colonists to facilitate identity of natives who tried to migrate to other areas to escape the de facto slavery . So, tumplines may have been more common in the Andes before the arrival of Spanish conquistadors.

See also

• Duluth pack
• portage