Bushes.—I have shown that the main object before sleeping out at night is to secure a long wind-tight wall, and that the next is to obtain a roof. Both these objects may be attained by pleachingtwo or three small neighbouring bushes into one; or branches may be torn off elsewhere and interwoven between the bushes. A few leafy boughs, cut and stuck into the ground, with their tops leaning over the bed, and secured in that position by other boughs, wattled-in horizontally, give great protection. Long grass, etc., should be plucked and strewn against them to make them as wind-tight as possible.

Walls.—A pile of saddle-bags and other travelling gear may be made into a good screen against the wind; and travellers usually arrange them with that intention. Walls of stone may be built as a support to cloths, whose office it is to render the walls wind-tight, and also by lapping over their top, to form a partial roof. We have already spoken of a broad sod of turf propped up on edge.

"The Thibetan traveller cares for no roof overhead if he can shelter himself from the wind behind a three-foot wall. Hence the numerous little enclosures clustered together like cells of a honeycomb at every halting-place, with one side always raised against the prevailing wind. (Shaw.) These walls are built round shallow pits, each with its rough fireplace in the middle.

Cloths.—Any cloth may be made to give shelter by an arrangement like that in the sketch.

[Sketch of cloth shelter].

The corners of the cloth should be secured by simple hitches in the rope, and never by knots. The former are sufficient for all purposes of security, but the latter will jam, and you may have to injure both cloth and string to get them loose again. It is convenient to pin the sides of the cloth with a skewer round the ropes. Any strip of wood makes a skewer. Earth should be banked against the lowest edge of the cloth, to keep out the wind, and to prevent its flapping. The sticks may, on an emergency, be replaced by faggots of brushwood, by guns, or by ropes carried down from the overhanging branches of a large tree. (For a sail supported by oars, see "Sail Tent" p. 108.)

Fremont, the American traveller bivouacked as follows:—His rifles were tied together near the muzzles, the butts resting on the ground widely apart; a knife was laid on the rope that tied them together, to cut it in case of an alarm; over this extempore framework was thrown a large india-rubber cloth, with which he covered his packs when on the road; it made a cover sufficiently large to receive about half of his bed, and was a place of shelter for his instruments.

Gordon Cumming.—The following extract is from Mr. Gordon Cumming's book on Africa: it describes the preparations of a practised traveller for a short excursion from his wagons away into the bush. "I had at length got into the way of making myself tolerably comfortable in the field, and from this date I seldom went in quest of elephants without the following impedimenta, i.e. a large blanket, which I folded and secured before my saddle as a dragoon does his cloak, and two leather sacks, containing a flannel shirt, warm trousers, and a woollen night-cap, spare ammunition, washing-rod, coffee, bread, sugar, pepper and salt, dried meat, a wooden bowl, and a tea-spoon. These sacks were carried on the shoulders of the natives, for which service I remunerated them with beads. They also carried my coffee-kettle, two calabashes of water, two American axes, and two sickles, which I used every evening to cut grass for my bed, and likewise for my horses to eat throughout the night; and my after-rider carried extra ammunition and a spare rifle."

Importance of Comfort.—To conclude these general hints, let the traveller, when out in trying weather, work hard at making his sleeping-place perfectly dry and comfortable; he should not cease until he is convinced that it will withstand the chill of the early morning, when the heat of the yesterday's sun is exhausted, and that of the coming sun has not begun to be felt. It is wretched beyond expression for a man to lie shivering beneath a scanty covering and to feel the night air become hourly more raw, while his life-blood has less power to withstand it; and to think, self-reproachfully, how different would have been his situation if he had simply had forethought and energy enough to cut and draw twice the quantity of firewood, and to spend an extra half-hour in labouring to make himself a snugger berth. The omission once made becomes irreparable; for in the cold of a pitiless night he has hardly sufficient stamina to rise and face the weather, and the darkness makes him unable to cope with his difficulties.

Bivouac in Special Localities.—Encampment in Forests.—A clump of trees yields wonderful shelter. The Swedes have a proverb that "the forest is the poor man's jacket." In fir-woods there is great facility in making warm encampments; for a young tree, when it is felled, yields both poles to support branches for shields against weather, and finer cuttings for flooring above the snow or damp. A common plan is to support a cross-bar by two uprights, as shown in the figure; against this cross-bar a number of poles are made to lean; on the back of the poles abundance of fir branches are laid horizontally; and lastly, on the back of these are another set of leaning poles, in order to secure them by their weight.

[Sketch of pole shelter]. On Bare Plains.—Avoid sleeping in slight hollows during clear still weather. The cold stratum of air, of which I spoke in the section of "Shelter from the Sky," pours down into them, like water from the surrounding plain, and stagnates. Spring frosts are always more severely felt in hollows. Therefore, in a broad level plain, especially if the night be clear and calm, look out for some slightly rising ground for an encampment. The chilled stratum of air drains from off it, and is replaced by warmer air. Horses and cattle, as the night sets in, always draw up to these higher grounds, which rise like islands through the sea of mist that covers the plain.

Walls have been built for shelter against the wind, on a bare sandy plain, by taking empty bags, filling them with sand, and then building them up as if they had been stones.

Buried, or in Holes.—A European can live through a bitter night, on a perfectly dry sandy plain, without any clothes besides what he has on, if he buries his body pretty deeply in the sand, keeping only his head above ground. It is a usual habit of the naked natives in Australia to do so, and not an unfrequent one of the Hottentots of South Africa. Mr. Moffat records with grateful surprise how he passed a night, of which he had gloomy forebodings, in real comfort, even luxury, by adopting this method. A man may be as comfortable in a burrow as in a den. I shall speak of underground houses under "Hutting;" and for the present will only mention that, in arid countries, dry wells, dug by natives and partially choked by drifted sand, are often to be met with. They are generally found near existing watering-places, where they have been superseded by others, better placed and deeper. Now, there are few warmer sleeping-places than one of these dry wells; a small fire is easily kept burning at the bottom, and the top may be partially roofed over.

In Ashes of Camp Fire.—A few chill hours may be got over, in a plain that affords no other shelter, by nestling among the ashes of a recently burnt-out camp fire.

Warm Carcases.—In Napoleon's retreat, after his campaign in Russia, many a soldier saved or prolonged his life by creeping within the warm and reeking carcase of a horse that had died by the way.

By the water-side.—A stony beach makes a fine dry encamping-place, and has this advantage, that it makes it impossible for marauders to creep up unheard. But the immediate neighbourhood of fresh water is objectionable, for, besides being exposed to malaria and mosquitoes, the night air is more cold and penetrating by its side, than at one or two hundred yards' distance from it. (I will speak of walls of rushes and reeds, under "Huts.")

By Rocks.—In the cruel climate of Thibet, Dr. Hooker tells us that it is the habit to encamp close to some large rock, because a rock absorbs heat all day, and parts with it but slowly during the night-time. It is, therefore, a reservoir of warmth when the sun is down, and its neighbourhood is coveted in the night-time. Owing to the same cause, acting in the opposite direction, the shadow of a broad rock is peculiarly cool and grateful, during the heat of the day, in a thirsty land.

On Heather.—Mr. St. John tells us of an excellent way in which Highland poachers, when in a party usually pass frosty nights on the moor-side. They cut quantities of heather, and strew part of it as a bed on the ground; then all the party lie down, side by side, excepting one man whose place among the rest is kept vacant for him. His business is to spread plaids upon them as they lie, and to heap up the remainder of the heather upon the plaids. This being accomplished, the man wriggles and works himself into the gap that has been left for him in the midst of his comrades.

[Sketch of sleeping arrangement].

On Snow.—I shall have to describe snow-houses and snow-walls covered with sail-cloth, under "Huts." Here I will speak of more simple arrangements. Dr. Kane says:—"We afterwards learnt to modify and reduce our travelling-gear, and found that in direct proportion to its simplicity and to our apparent privation of articles of supposed necessity, were our actual comfort and practical efficiency. Step by step, as long as our Arctic service continued, we went on reducing our sledging outfit, until we at last came to the Esquimaux ultimatum of simplicity—raw meat and a fur bag." Lieut. Cresswell, R.N., who, having been detached from Captain McClure's ship in 1853, was the first officer who ever accomplished the famous North-West passage, gave the following graphic account of the routine of his journeying, in a speech at Lynn:—"You must be aware that in Arctic travelling you must depend entirely on your own resources. You have not a single thing else to depend on except snow-water: no produce of the country, nor firewood, or coals, or anything off the sort; and whatever you have to take, to sustain you for the journey, you must carry or drag. It is found by experience more easy to drag it on sledges than to carry it. The plan we adopt is this:—we have a sledge generally manned by about six or ten men, which we load with provisions, with tents, and all requisites for travelling, simple cooking utensils, spirits-of-wine for cooking, etc., and start off. The quantity of people can generally drag over the ice is forty days' provisions; that gives about 200 lbs. weight to each. After starting from the ship, and having travelled a certain number of hours—generally ten or eleven—we encamp for the night, or rather for the day, because it is considered better to travel at night and sleep at day, on account of the glare of the sun on the snow. We used to travel journeys of about ten hours, and then encamp, light our spirits-of-wine, put our kettle on it to thaw our snow-water, and after we had had our supper—just a piece of pemmican and a glass of water—we were glad to smoke our pipes and turn into bed. The first thing we did, after pitching the tent, was to lay a sort of macintosh covering over the snow; on this a piece of buffalo robe was stretched. Each man and officer had a blanket sewn up in the form of a bag; and into these we used to jump, much in the same way as you may see a boy do in a sack. We lay down head and feet, the next person to me having his head to my feet, and his feet to my head, so that we lay like herrings in a barrel. After this, we covered ourselves with skin, spreading them over the whole of us; and the closer we got, the better, as there was more warmth. We lay till the morning, and then the process was the same again." It appears that people may bury themselves in snow, and want neither air nor warmth. I have never made the experiment; but have read of numerous instances of people falling into snow-drifts, and not being extricated for many days, and when at length they were taken out, they never seem to have complained of cold, or any other sufferings than those of hunger and of anxiety.



HUTS.

Huts and Snow-Houses.—In making a depot, it is usual to build a house; often the men must pass weeks in inactivity, and they had better spend their time in making their quarters comfortable than in idleness. Whatever huts are used by the natives are sure, if made with extra care, to be good enough for European travellers.

Log-huts.—In building log-huts, four poles are planted in the ground, to correspond to the four corners; against these, logs are piled one above another as in the drawing below; they are so deeply notched where their ends are crossed, that the adjacent sides are firmly dovetailed. When the walls are entirely completed, the door and windows are chopped out.

[Sketch of cabin].

The spaces between the logs must be caulked with moss, etc., or the log-cabin will be little better than a log-cage. It requires a great many logs to make a hut; for, supposing the walls to be 8 feet high, and the trees to average 8 inches in diameter, twelve trees would be required to build up one side, or forty-eight for all four walls. Other timber would also be wanted for the roof.

Underground Huts are used in all quarters of the globe. The experience of our troops when encamped before Sebastopol during an inclement season told strongly in their favour. Their timely adoption was the salvation of the British army. They are essentially, nothing else than holes in the ground, roofed over, fig. 1.

[Sketch of roof and geometrical measure].

The shape and size of the hole corresponds to that of the roof it may be possible to procure for it; its depth is no greater than requisite for sitting or standing. If the roof has a pitch of 2 feet in the middle, the depth of the hole need not exceed 4 1/2 feet. In the Crimea, the holes were rectangular, and were roofed like huts.

Where there is a steep hillside, a a', fig. 2, an underground hut, b, is easily contrived; because branches laid over its top, along the surface of the ground, have sufficient pitch to throw off the rain. Of course the earth must be removed from a', at the place intended for the doorway.

Reed Huts.—The reed huts of the Affej Arabs, and other inhabitants of the Chaldean marshes, are shaped like wagon-roofs, and are constructed of semicircular ribs of reeds, planted in the ground, one behind the other, at equal distances apart; each rib being a faggot of reeds of 2 feet in diameter. For strength, they are bound round every yard with twisted bands of reeds. When this framework has been erected, it is covered with two or three sheets of fine reed matting (see "Matting"), which forms a dwelling impervious to rain. Some of the chiefs' huts are as much as 40 feet long, and 12 high; the other huts are considerably smaller. Many of these reed dwellings are contained in compounds enclosed by lofty reed fences; the reeds being planted upright, and simply strung together by a thread run through them, as they stand side by side. (See "Straw and Reed Walls.")

Snow-houses.—Few travellers have habitually made snow-houses, except Sir J. Franklin's party and that of Dr. Rae. Great praises are bestowed on their comfort by all travellers, but skill and practice are required in building them. The mode of erection of these dome-shaped buildings is as follows:—It is to be understood that compact, underlying snow is necessary for the floor of the hut; and that the looser textured, upper layer of snow, is used to build the house. First, select and mark out the circular plot on which the hut is to be raised. Then, cut out of that plot, with knives, deep slices of snow, 6 inches wide, 3 feet long, and of a depth equal to that of the layer of loose snow, say one or two feet. These slices are to be of a curved shape, so as to form a circular ring when placed on their edges, and of a suitable radius for the first row of snow-bricks. Other slices are cut on the same principle for the succeeding rows; but when the domed roof has to be made, the snow-bricks must be cut with the necessary double curvature. A conical plug fills up the centre of the dome. Loose snow is next heaped over the house, to fill up crevices. Lastly a doorway is cut out with knives; also a window, which is glazed with a sheet of the purest ice at hand. For inside accommodation there should be a pillar or two of snow to support the lamps.

Snow Walls with Tenting for their Roofs.—Sir L. McClintock says:—"We travelled each day until dusk, and then were occupied for a couple of hours in building our snow-hut. The four walls were run up until 5 1/2 feet high, inclining inwards as much as possible, over these our tent was laid to form a roof. We could not afford the time necessary to construct a dome of snow. Our equipment consisted of a very small brown-holland tent, macintosh floor-cloth and felt robes; besides this, each man had a bag of double blanketing, and a pair of fur boots, to sleep in. We wore mocassins over the pieces of blanketing in which our feet were wrapped up, and, with the exception of a change of this foot-gear, carried no spare clothes.

"When we halted for the night, Thompson and I usually sawed out the blocks of compact snow, and carried them to Petersen, who acted as the master-mason in building the hut. The hour-and-a-half or two hours usually employed in erecting the edifice was the most disagreeable part of the day's labour; for, in addition to being already well tired and desiring repose, we became thoroughly chilled while standing about. The dogs were then fed, then the sledge unpacked, and everything carried into it. The door was now blocked up with snow, the cooking-lamp lighted, foot-gear changed, diary writing up, watches wound, sleeping-bags wriggled into, pipes lighted, and the merits of the various dogs discussed, until supper was ready; the supper swallowed, the upper robe or coverlet pulled over, and then to sleep. Next morning came breakfast, a struggle to get into frozen mocassins, after which the sledges were packed, and another day's march commenced. In these little huts we usually slept warm enough, although latterly, when our blankets and clothes became loaded with ice, we felt the cold severely. When our low doorway was carefully blocked up with snow, and the cooking-lamp alight, the temperature quickly rose, so that the walls became glazed and our bedding thawed; but the cooking over, or the doorway partially opened, it as quickly fell again, so that it was impossible to sleep, or even to hold one's pannikin of tea without putting mits on, so intense was the cold."—Sir L. McClintock is here speaking of a temperature of -39 degrees Fahr.

Materials for building Huts.—The materials whence the walls and roofs of huts may be constructed are very numerous: there is hardly any place which does not furnish one or other of them. Those principally in use are as follows:—

Wattle-and-daub, to be executed neatly, required well-shaped and flexible sticks; but a hut may be constructed much like the sketch (see p. 120) of the way of "Drying Clothes." It is made by planting in the ground a number of bare sticks, 4 feet long, and 1 foot apart, bending their tops together, lashing them fast with string or strips of bark, and wattling them judiciously here and there, by means of other boughs, laid horizontally. Then, by heaping leaves—and especially broad pieces of bark, if you can get them—over all, and banking up the earth on either side, pretty high, an excellent kennel is made. If daubed over with mud, clay, or cattle-dung, the hut becomes more secure against the weather. To proceed a step further:—as many poles may be planted in the ground as sticks have been employed in making the roof; and then the roof may be lifted bodily in the air, and lashed to the top of the poles, each stick to its corresponding pole. This sort of structure is very common among savages.

For methods of digging holes in which to plant the hut-poles, see the chapter on "Wells." The holes made in the way I have there explained are far better than those dug with spades; for they disturb no more of the hardened ground than is necessary for the insertion of the palisades. To jam a pole tightly in its place, wedges of wood should be driven in at its side, and earth rammed down between the wedges.

Palisades are excellent as walls or as enclosures. They are erected of vast lengths, by savages wholly destitute of tools, both for the purposes of fortification and also for completing lines of pitfalls across wide valleys. the pitfalls occupy gaps left in the palisading. The savages burn down the trees in the following manner:—a party of men go to the forest, and light small fires round the roots of the trees they propose to fell. the fires are prevented from flaming upwards by the judicious application of leaves, etc. When the fire has eaten a little way into the tree, the man who watches it scrapes the fire aside and knocks away the charred wood, exposing a fresh surface for fire to act upon, and then replaces the burning embers. A single man may easily attend to a dozen trees, and, indeed, to many more, if the night be calm. Some hours elapse before the trees actually fall. Their tops and branches are burnt off as they lie on the ground. The poles being thus procured for the palisading, they are carried to the required place, where holes are dug for their reception, on the principle described in "Wells," to which I have just alluded.

Straw or Reed Walls of the following kind are very effective, and they have the advantage of requiring a minimum of string (or substitute for string) in their manufacture. The straw, reeds, or herbage, of almost any description, is simply nipped between two pairs of long sticks, which are respectively tied together at their ends, and at a sufficient number of intermediate places. The whole is neatly squared and trimmed.

[Sketch of straw walls].

A few of these would give good help in finishing the roof or walls of a house. They can be made moveable, so as to suit the wind, shade, and aspect. Even the hut door can be made on this principle. In reedy countries where there are no sticks, thin faggots of reeds are used in their place.

Bark.—Bark is universally used in Australia for roofs of huts and temporary buildings; the colonists learnt the use of it from the natives, and some trees, at least, in every forest-country might very probably be found as well fitted for that purpose as those in Australia. The bark may be easily removed, only when the sap is well up in the tree, but a skilful person will manage to procure bark at all seasons of the year, except in the coldest winter months; and even then he will light on some tree, from the sunny side of which he can strip broad pieces. The process of bark-stripping is simply to cut two rings right round the tree (usually from 6 to 9 feet apart), and one vertical slit to join them; starting from the slit, and chipping away step by step on either side, the whole cylinder of bark is removed. The larger the tree, the better; for if the tree is less than 18 inches, or so, in diameter, the bark is apt to break when flattened out. When stripped for huts, it is laid on the ground for some days to dry, being flattened out on its face, and a few stones or logs put on it. the ordinary bark of gum-trees is about half an inch to three-eighths thick, so that a large sheet is very heavy. Most exploring expeditions are accompanied by a black, whose dexterity in stripping bark for a wet night is invaluable, as if the bark will "come off" well, he can procure enough of it in an hour's time to make a shelter for a large party.

Mats can be woven with ease when there is abundance of string, or some equivalent for it (see "String"), in the following manner:—

[Sketch of loom].

A, B, are two pegs driven into the ground and standing about a foot out of it. A stake, A B, is lashed across them; a row of pegs, E, are driven into the ground, parallel to A, B, and about 6 inches apart. Two sets of strings are then tied to A B; one set are fastened by their loose ends into clefts, in the pegs E, and the other set are fastened to the stick, C D. If there be ten strings in all, then 1, 3, 5, 7, 9, are tied to C D, and 2, 4, 6, 8, 10, to A B. By alternately raising and depressing C D, and by pushing in a handful of rushes between the two sets of strings after each of its movements, and, finally, by patting them home with a flat stick, this rough sort of weaving is carried on very successfully. Mats are also plaited in breadths, and the breadths are stitched together, side by side. Or a thicker kind of mat may be made by taking a wisp of straw and working it in the same way in which straw beehives are constructed. Straw is worked more easily after being damped and beaten with a mallet.

Malay hitch.—I know no better name for the wonderfully simple way (shown in the figure) of attaching together wisps of straw, rods, laths, reeds, planks, poles, or anything of the kind, into a secure and flexible mat; the sails used in the far East are made in this way, and the moveable decks of vessels are made of bamboos, joined together with a similar but rather more complicated stitch.

[Sketch of fastening].

I may remark that soldiers might be trained to a great deal of hutting practice in a very inexpensive way, if they were drilled at putting together huts, whose roofs and walls were made of planks lashed together by this simple hitch, and whose supports were short scaffolding poles planted in deep holes, dug, as explained in the chapter on "Wells," with the hand and a small stick. The poles, planks, and cords might be used over and over again for an indefinite time. Further, bedsteads could be made in a similar way, by short cross-planks lashed together, and resting on a framework of horizontal poles, lashed to uprights planted in the ground. The soldier's bedding would not be injured by being used on these bedsteads, as much as if it were laid on the bare ground. Kinds of designs and experiments in hutting could be practised without expense in this simple way.

Tarpaulings are very suitable for roofs. Those made after the method used by sailors are much superior to others in softness and durability. The plan is as follows:—As soon as the canvas has been sewn together, it is thoroughly wetted with sea-water; and, while still wet, it is smeared over on one of its sides with tar and grease, boiled together—about two parts tar and one of grease. After being hung up till it is dry, it is turned; and the other side, being a second time well wetted, is at once painted over with the tar and grease, just as the first side had been before. The sailors say that "the tar dries in, as the water dries out;" a saying which I confess I cannot understand.

Other Materials.—I will merely mention these by name, for they require no explanation. They are fascines or faggots; bricks, sun-dried or baked in the oven; turf; stones; and bags or mats, filled with sand or shingle.

Whitewash is lime and water. Lime is made by burning limestone, chalk, shells, or coral in a simple furnace.

Roofs.—Thatching.—After the framework of the roof has been made, the thatcher begins at the bottom, and ties a row of bundles of straw, side by side, on to the framework. Then he begins a second row, allowing the ends of the bundles composing it to overlap the heads of those in the first row.

Wood-shingles are tile-shaped slices of wood, easily cut from fir-trees. They are used for roofing, on the same principle as tiles or slates.

Floors.—Concrete for floors, is made of eight parts large pebbles, four parts river-sand, and one part lime (to make lime, see "Whitewash"). Cow-dung and ashes make a hard, dry, and clean floor; such as is used for a threshing-floor. Ox blood and fine clay kneaded together are excellent. Both these latter compositions are in use in all hot dry countries.

Windows.—A window, or rather a hole in the wall, may be rudely shuttered by a stick run through loops made out of wisps of grass. In hot weather, the windows of the hutmay be loosely stuffed with grass, which, when watered, makes the hut cooler.

Glass, to cut.—Glass cannot be cut with any certainty, without a diamond; but it may be shaped and reduced to any size by gradually chipping, or rather biting, away at its edges with a key, if the slit between the wards of the key be just large enough to admit the pane of glass easily.

[Sketch].

Substitutes for glass.—These are waxed or oiled paper or cloth, bladder, fish-membranes, talc, and horn. (See "Horn.")



SLEEPING-BAGS.

Sleeping-bags.—Knapsack Bags.—These have been used for the last twenty-five years by the French 'douaniers', who watch the mountain-passes of the Pyrenean frontier. The bags are made of sheepskin, with the wool inside. When not in use they are folded up and buckled with five buckles into the shape of a somewhat bulky knapsack (p. 152), which the recent occupant may shoulder and walk away with.

The accompanying sketches are drawn to scale. They were made from the sleeping-bag belonging to a man 5 feet 6 inches in height; the scale should therefore be lengthened for a taller person, but the breadth seems ample. Its weight was exactly seven pounds. The douaniers post themselves on watch more or less immersed in these bags. They lie out in wet and snow, and find them impervious to both. When they sleep, they get quite inside them, stuff their cloaks between their throats and the bag, and let its flap cover their faces. It is easy enough for them to extricate themselves; they can do so almost with a bound. The Spanish Custom-house officers who watch the same frontier, use their cloaks and other wraps, which are far more weighty, and far inferior in warmth and protection to the bags. I described these knapsack bags in 'Vacation Tourists for 1860,' p. 449, and I subsequently had a macintosh bag lined with drugget, made on the same principle. I had a hood to it, and also the means of buttoning it loosely under my chin, to make myself watertight during heavy rain. In that bag I passed many nights of very trying weather. On one instance, I selected a hilltop in Switzerland, on the way from Chambery to the Dent du Midi, during a violent and long-continued thunderstorm. The storm began above my head, then slowly sank to my level, and finally subsided below me. Many Alpine travellers, notably Mr. Packe and Mr. Tuckett, have adopted these bags, and used them continually. Macintosh is certainly oppressive to sleep in, though less so than might have been expected, as the half-unconscious fidgeting of the sleeper changes the air. A man in travelling "condition" would probably find a drugget-bag more healthy than macintosh, even though he became somewhat wet inside it. Beds used to be almost unknown in some parts of the Pyrenees. Sheepskin sleeping-bags were employed instead. Thus, I am assured that at the beginning of this century, there was hardly a bed in the whole of the little republic of Andorre. The way of arranging them as knapsacks is, as I have said, a recent invention.

In fig. 1 the wide opening to the mouth of the bag is shown; also the ends of the buckles and straps that are sewn (on patches of leather, for additional strength) to the lower side of the bag, as seen in fig. 2.

[Fig 1 and 2].

It must be understood that the woolly sides of the skins are inwards. The straps that hold the knapsack to the shoulders are secured by a simple fastening, shown in figs. 2 and 3. But the ordinary knapsack hooks and rings, if procurable, would answer the purpose better. The straight lines in fig. 1 show the way in which the bag is to be folded into the shape of fig. 3. Fig. 4 shows the sleeper inside his bag, in which he fits very like a grub in its cocoon. There is no waste of space. For the sake of warmth, the bag is made double from the knees downwards, and also opposite to the small of the back.

[Figs 3 and 4].

During the daytime, when the weather is wet or cold, the bags are of much use, for the douaniers sit with them pulled up to their waist. When carried in the manner of a knapsack the bag sits perfectly well against the shoulders; but, owing to the yielding nature of its substance, it lies too close to the back, and is decidedly oppressive. A wicker frame might well be interposed.

Arctic Sleeping-bags.—Arctic travellers use coarse drugget bags, covered with brown holland to make them less pervious to the wind, and having a long flap at the upper end to fold down over the face. I have already extracted passages from travellers' accounts relating to them, in speaking of "Encamping on Snow," p. 140, and another, when speaking of "Snow-walls with Tenting for their Roofs," p. 143.

Macintosh Sack.—Mr. Falconer writes to me as follows:—"I travelled in 1841 from Austin in Texas to Mexico through New Mexico. I left Austin in June, and reached Zacateras on Christmas Day. During nearly the whole period we travelled from Austin to New Mexico, I camped without any covering at night for myself, except a large macintosh, made up as a sack, with a piece so laid as a continuation of one side, as to be used as a coverlet, sufficient in length to be brought from the back, over the head, and down on the breast. Inside I placed my blankets. I slept under this covering during many a heavy storm at night, and got out of my soft-coated shell dry in the morning. My opinion is, that every traveller who works his way with a horse should fix on his own saddle the said macintosh sack, two blankets, a tin cup, and a frying-pan. It is amazing, when you get into real working order, how few things are sufficient."

Peasants' Sack.—The peasants in the northern parts of Germany use a strong linen sack, made to draw at one end. This they stuff with straw, hay, dry leaves, etc.; and, putting their feet into it, pull its mouth up to their armpits. They use them when driving their wagons in winter, and when lodging at their wretched roadside inns. (See a letter in the Times, February 125.)

Bag, combined with Tent.—I should think that a combination of a sleeping bag with a very small tent, just large enough to enclose the man's head and shoulders, so as to permit him to eat or write when lying in his bag without fear of the wet would be the smallest and lightest arrangement, compatible with efficiency, in a stormy climate.



TENTS.

General Remarks.—Although tents are not worth the trouble of pitching, on dry nights, in a healthy climate, they are invaluable protectors to a well-equipped traveller against rain, dew, and malaria. But a man who is not so equipped, who has no change of clothes, and no bedstead to sleep on, will do better to sleep in the open air, in front of a good camp fire. Napoleon I., speaking of soldiers, says ('Maximes de Guerre'):—"Tents are not healthy; it is better for the soldier to bivouac, because he sleeps with his feet to the fire, whose neighbourhood quickly dries the ground on which he lies; some planks or a little straw shelter him from the wind. Nevertheless a tent is necessary for superior officers, who have need to write and to consult a map." To a party encamped for a few days, tents are of great use as storehouses for property, which otherwise becomes scattered about, at the risk of being lost or pilfered.

Materials for Tenting.—Light canvas is usually employed, and is, to all intents and purposes, waterproof. Silk, of equal strength with the canvas, is very far lighter: its only disadvantage is its expense. Calico, or cotton canvas, is very generally used for small tents. Leather and felt are warm, but exceedingly heavy; and would only be used in very inclement climates, or where canvas could not be met with. Light matting is not to be despised: it is warm and pretty durable, and makes excellent awning or covering to a frame-work.

Diagonal Bracing.—A worn-out tent may be strengthened by sewing bands of canvas, which cross each other, and make a kind of net-work: old sails are strengthened in this way.

Tent Pegs should be of galvanized iron; they are well worth the weight of carriage, for not only do wooden ones often fail on an emergency, but cooks habitually purloin them when firewood is scarce.

Tents.—Large Tents.—The art of tent-making has greatly advanced since the days of the old-fashioned bell-tent, which is so peculiarly objectionable, as to make it a matter of surprise that it was ever invented and used. It is difficult to pitch; it requires many tent-pegs; it has ropes radiating all round it, over which men and horses stumble; and it is incommodious and ugly.

In choosing a tent, select one that will stand in some sort of shape with only four pegs, or with six at the very utmost; it should admit of being pegged close to the ground without any intervening 'fly;' it is no objection that it should require more than one pole; and, when considering how much weight it will be possible to carry, it must be borne in mind that the tent will become far heavier than it is found to be in the peculiarly dry atmosphere of a tent-maker's show-room. It is very convenient that a tent should admit of being pitched in more than one form: for instance, that one side should open and form an awning in hot weather; also, that it should be easy to attach flys or awning to the tent to increase its available size during the daytime. All tents should be provided with strong covers, for pack-ropes are sure to fray whatever they press against; and it is better that the cover should suffer than the tent itself.

Comparative Size of Tents.—The annexed diagram will show the points on which the roominess of a tent mainly depends.

[Sketch of tent and occupants].

A man wants space to sit at a table, and also to get at his luggage in order either to pack it or to unpack it; lastly, he wants a reasonable amount of standing room. A fair-sized tent ought to include the figures drawn in the diagram; and I have indicated, by lines and shaded spaces, the section of various descriptions of tents that would be just sufficient to embrace them.

One side of the ordinary conical tents (fig. 1), of a front view of fig. 5, and of pyramidal tents (fig. 6), are represented by the line ABC. Those that have a "fall" (fig. 2), by the lines CDLF. Gipsy-tents, as described p. 161, umbrella-tents (fig. 4), and Jourts, p. 157, by the lines GHBK. Marquees (fig. 3), and a side view of fig. 5, by GLBM.

[Fig 1-4—sketches of tents].

Notwithstanding the great height and width of conical tents, compared to the others, we see by the diagram that they afford scanty space at the level of the head of a seated person. There is a recent contrivance by Major Rhodes, to be seen at Silver and Co.'s, that is a modification of the gipsy-tent. Among ordinary, well-known tents, I believe none will satisfy the varied wants of a traveller so well as Edington's three-poled tents (fig. 5). After these I should choose a small marquee (fig. 3); but it is less secure in wind, and the pitch of its roof is bad for rain, and the numerous straggling tent-ropes are objectionable.

[Fig 5-7—sketches of tents].

A pyramidal tent (fig. 6), of seven or nine feet in the side, is remarkable for its sturdiness: it will stand any weather, will hold two people and a fair quantity of luggage besides; it weighs from 25 to 40 lbs. It is not a good tent for hot weather, for it is far too stuffy, though by taking an additional joint to the tent-pole, and using tent-ropes (as may also be done with any other kind of tent), it may be made more airy by being raised up, and by having walls added to it (fig. 7). In default of canvas, the walls may be constructed of other materials. (See "Materials for Huts.")

Tent Pitched over an Excavation.—A hole may be dug deeply beneath the tent floor, partly for the purpose of a store-room, and partly for that of a living-room when the weather is very inclement. This was practised before Sebastopol in the manner shown in the fig. p. 158. The notched pole acts as a ladder for ascending from below.

Jourts.—The Kirghis-jourt is a capacious, solid, warm, and fireproof structure, that admits of being pitched or taken to pieces in an hour, and withstands the cold and violent winds of the steppes of Central Asia, in a way that no tent or combination of tents could pretend to effect. A jourt of from 20 to 25, or even 30 feet in diameter, forms two camel-loads, or about half a ton in weight.

[Fig. 8].

One camel carries the felt, the other the wood-work. Fig. 9 shows the jourt half-covered; and fig. 10 gives an enlarged view of a portion of the side. There are four separate parts in its structure:—1. The door-way, a solid piece of ornamental carpentering, that takes to pieces instantly. 2. The sides, which consist of lengths of wood-work, that shut up on the principle of the contrivance known sometimes as "lazy-tongs," and sometimes as "easy-back scissors:" they tie together and make a circle, beginning and ending with the doorway; a tape is wound round them, as shown in fig. 9, about one-third from their tops. 3. The roof-ribs. The bottom of each of these is tied to the sides of the jourt (A, fig. 10), and its top fits into a socket in—4, the roof-ring, which is a hoop of wood strengthened by transverse bars. Over this framework broad sheets of felt are thrown: their own weight makes them lie steadily, for they are quite an inch in thickness; however, in very stormy weather, if I recollect aright, they are weighted with stones, or they are stitched together. There is no metal in the structure: the laths of willow-wood that form the sides are united, where they cross, by pieces of sinew knotted at either end; these act as pivots when the sides are shut up. I am indebted to the late Mr. Atkinson for my information on these interesting structures. Further particulars about them, the native way of making the felt, by continually rolling sheepskins with the wool between them, and numerous pictures, in which jourts form a striking feature, will be found in his beautifully illustrated work on Siberia.

[Fig 9 and 10 as referred to above and Fig. 1 for following section].

Small Tents.—For tents of the smallest size and least pretensions, nothing can be better than the one represented in fig. 1: the ends are slit down their middles, and are laced or buttoned together, so that, by unfastening these, the tent spreads out to a flat sheet of the form of fig. 2, well adapted for an awning, or else it can be simply unrolled and used with the bedding. It is necessary that a tent should be roomy enough to admit of a man undressing himself, when wet through, without treading upon his bed and drenching it with mud and water; and therefore a tent of the above description is found to be unserviceable, if less than about 7 feet long, or ending in a triangle of less than 5 1/2 feet in the side. Peat, the saddler in Bond Street, once made them; they cost 2 l. 10s., and weighed 9 lbs. when dry. They are liable to bag in the side when the wind is high: a cross-pole or two sticks, following the seams of the canvas in the above sketch, would make them tauter.

[Fig. 2].

Alpine Tent.—Mr. Whymper contrived a tent for his alpine explorations, which he found eminently successful. It has a waterproof floor, continuous with the sides: it is supported by poles, that slip into hems of the cloth—two poles at either end. These tents have been used on various occasions by Mr. Whymper's brother in Alaska, and by Mr. Freshfield in the Caucasus, and were highly approved of, but I do not know whether these tents would be altogether suitable for more comfortable travel. I myself had a tent made on this principle some years ago, but disliked it, for I found the continuity of the floor with the sides to act unsatisfactorily; the tent retained the damp, and the weight of the body, acting on the floor of the tent, was apt to disturb its walls. Mr. Whymper's tent is procurable at Carter's, Alpine Outfitter, 295, Oxford Street, London.

Boating Tent.—Further on, in the chapter on "Boats," the way is shown by which sailors make a tent out of their lug-sail, throwing it over a framework of oars.

Gipsy Tent.—A traveller who has only a blanket, a plaid, or broad piece of material of any kind, with which he wishes to improvise a tent, may make a framework of long wands, planting their ends in the ground, bending their tops together, and lashing or wattling them securely; over this the blanket is thrown (fig. 3). If the sticks are sufficiently long and pliant, their ends should be bent over the roof half-way down the opposite side, as in fig. 1. This adds considerably to the strength of the arrangement.

[Fig 1-3 as described in text].

The gipsies in England use the following excellent contrivance to save the trouble of tying the sticks together. They carry a light bar of wood, 2 1/2 feet long, bound with string here and there to keep it from splitting; through this, six holes, each big enough to admit the tip of the little finger, are bored or burnt; they also carry eight hazel rods with them, each six feet long, and arrange their framework as in fig. 2. It will be observed that the two rods which are planted behind give additional roominess and stability to the affair. The rug and pillow show the position in which the occupants sleep. Blankets, not sheeting, pinned together with wooden pegs, are thrown over the whole, as in fig. 3.

[Fig 1 and 2 as described in the text].

Tente d'abri.—The French, "tente d'abri" has not, so far as I know, been adopted by travellers: it seems hardly suitable, except for soldiers. Each man carried a square of canvas (fig. 1), with buttons and button-holes all round it, by which it can be doubly attached to other similar squares of canvas, and thus, from several separate pieces, one large cloth can be made. The square carried by the French soldier measures 5 feet 4 1/2 inches in the side, reckoning along the buttons; of these there are nine along each edge, including the corner ones. Each soldier has also to carry a tent-staff, or else a proportion of the pegs and cord. When six men club together they proceed as follows:—Three tent-sticks are fixed into the ground, whose tops are notched; a light cord is then passed round their tops, and fastened into the ground with a peg at each eng (fig. 2). Two sheets, A and B, are buttoned together and thrown over the cord, and then two other sheets, C and D; and C is buttoned to A, and D to B (fig. 3). Lastly another sheet is thrown over each of the slanting cords, the one buttoned to A and B, and the other to C and D; and thus a sort of dog-kennel is formed, in which six men—the bearers of the six pieces of canvas—sleep. The sides of the tent are of course pegged to the ground. There are many modifications in the way of pitching these tents. Should the sticks be wanting, faggots or muskets can be used in their place.

Tent of Mosquito-netting.—I have been informed of a sportsman in Ceylon, who took with him into the woods a cot with mosquito-curtains, as a protection not only against insects, but against malaria. He also had a blanket rolled at his feet: at 3 in the morning, when the chill arose in the woods, he pulled his blanket over him.

Pitching a Tent.—It is quite an art, so to pitch a tent as to let in or exclude the air, to take advantage of sun and shade, etc. etc. Every available cloth or sheet may be pressed into service, to make awnings and screens, as we see among the gipsies. There is a great deal of character shown in each different person's encampment. A tent should never be pitched in a slovenly way: it is so far more roomy, secure and pretty, when tightly stretched out, that no pains should be spared in drilling the men to do it well. I like to use a piece of string, marked with knots, by which I can measure the exact places in which the tent-pegs should be struck, for the eye is a deceitful guide in estimating squareness. (See "Squaring.") It is wonderful how men will bungle with a tent, when they are not properly drilled to pitch it.

To secure Tent-ropes.—When the soil is loose, scrape away the surface sand, before driving the tent-pegs. Loose mould is made more tenacious by pouring water upon it. When one peg is insufficient, it may be backed by another. (See fig.) The outermost peg must be altogether buried in the earth. Heavy saddle-bags are often of use to secure the tent-ropes; and, in rocky ground, heavy piles of stones may be made to answer the same purpose. The tent-ropes may also be knotted to a cloth, on which stones are afterwards piled.

"Dateram" is, as the late Dr. Barth, informed me, the Bornu name for a most excellent African contrivance, used in some parts of the Sahara desert, by means of which tent-ropes may be secured, or horses picketed in sand of the driest description, as in that of a sand dune, whence a tent-peg would be drawn out by a strain so slight as to be almost imperceptible. I have made many experiments upon it, and find its efficiency to be truly wonderful. The plan is to tie to the end of the tent-rope, a small object of any description, by its middle, as a short stick, a stone, a bundle of twigs, or a bag of sand; and to bury it from 1 to 2 feet in the loose sand. It will be found, if it has been buried 1 foot deep, that a strain equal to about 50 lbs. weight, is necessary to draw it up; if 1 1/2 feet deep, that a much more considerable strain is necessary; and that, if 2 feet deep, it is quite impossible for a single man to pull it up. In the following theoretical case, the resistance would be as the cube of the depth; but in sand or shingle, the increase is less rapid. It varies under different circumstances; but it is no exaggeration to estimate its increase as seldom less than as the square of the depth. The theoretical case of which I spoke, is this:—Let x be part of a layer of shingle of wide extent: the shingle is supposed to consist of smooth hard spherical balls, all of the same size. Let s be a dateram buried in x; and T the string to which it is tied. Now, on considering fig. 2, where a series of balls are drawn on a larger scale and on a plane surface, it is clear that the ball A cannot move in any degree to the right or the left without disturbing the entire layer of balls on the same plane as itself: its only possible movement is vertically upwards. In this case, it disturbs B1 and B2. These, for the same reason as A, can only move vertically upwards, and, in doing so, they must disturb the three balls above them, and so on. Consequently, the uplifting of a single ball in fig. 2, necessitates the uplifting of the triangle of balls of which it forms the apex; and it obviously follows from the same principle, that the uplifting of S, in the depth of X, in fig. 1, necessitates the uplifting of a cone of balls whose apex is at S. But the weight of a cone is as the cube of its height and, therefore, the resistance to the uplifting of the dateram, is as the cube of the depth at which it has been buried. In practice, the grains of sand are capable of a small but variable amount of lateral displacement, which gives relief to the movement of sand caused by the dateram, for we may observe the surface of the ground to work very irregularly, although extensively, when the dateram begins to stir. On the other hand, the friction of the grains of sand tends to increase the difficulty of movement. The arrangement shown in the diagram, of a spring weighing-machine tied to the end of a lever, is that which I have used in testing the strain the dateram will resist, under different circumstances. The size of the dateram is not of much importance, it would be of still less importance in the theoretical case. Anything that is more than 4 inches long seems to answer. The plan succeeds in a dry soil of any description, whether it be shingly beach or sand.

Bushing a Tent means the burying of bushes in the soil so far as to leave only their cut ends above the ground, to which a corresponding number of tent-ropes are tied.

Tent-poles.—When a tent is pitched for an encampment of some duration, it is well to lay aside the jointed tent-pole, and to cut a stout young tree to replace it: this will be found far more trustworthy in stormy weather. If the shape of the tent admits of the change, it is still better to do away with the centre pole altogether; and, in the place of it, to erect a substantial framework of poles, which are to be planted just within the rim of the tent, and to converge to a point, under its peak. A tent-pole can be lengthened temporarily, by lashing it to a log, with the help of a Toggle and strop (which see). A broken tent-pole can be mended permanently by placing a splint of wood on either side of the fracture, and by whipping the whole together, with soft cord or with the untwisted strand of a piece of rope.

To prevent Tent-poles from slipping.—When the tent is pitched in the ordinary way on a smooth rocky surface, there is considerable danger that the foot of the pole may slip whenever a gust of wind or other sudden impulse sways the tent. This danger is to be obviated on precisely the same principle as that by which builders secure their scaffolding-poles upon the smooth footways of a street: they put the foot of each pole into a bucket, filled with sand. As the base of the bucket is broad, the scaffolding is much less liable to slip, than if the narrow bases of the poles had rested directly upon the pavement.

To tie Things to Tent-poles.—To hang clothes, or anything else, upon a smooth tent-pole, see "Clove-hitch." A strap with hooks attached to it, buckled round the pole, is very convenient. The method shown in the sketch suffices, if the pole be notched, or jointed, or in any way slightly uneven. Bags, etc., are supposed to be hung upon the bit of wood that is secured to the free end. Convenient pegs, made of bits of wood roughly sharpened, may be driven into the tree, if any, when the encampment is made.

Preparations for a Storm.—Before a storm, dig a ditch as deep as you can round the outside of the tent, to divert the coming sheet of surface-water, and see that the ditch has a good out-fall. The ditch will also drain the floor of the tent, if the rain should soak in. Even a furrow scratched with a tent-peg, is better than no ditch at all. Fasten guy-ropes to the spike of the tent-pole; and be careful that the tent is not too much on the strain, else the further shrinking of the materials, under the influence of the wet, will certainly tear up the pegs. Earth, banked up round the bottom of the tent, will prevent gusts of wind from finding their way beneath. It is also a good plan to prepare a small hole near the foot of the tent-pole, with a stone firmly rammed into the bottom, into which the tent-pole may be shifted, as soon as the strain of the tent, under the influence of the wet, becomes dangerous to its safety.

To warm Tents.—"When living in a tent in Otago (New Zealand) during a severe winter, we were perfectly numb with cold at nights, until we adopted the Maori plan, which is to dig a hole about a foot square in the clear, to cover the bottom with a stone or stones, and to fill it at night with red-hot cinders from the camp fire, and lastly, to close the tent excepting a small opening near the top. The cinders are not nearly burnt out by morning. They diffused a pleasant warmth through the tent, and rendered us comfortable all night. There is no danger of suffocation, unless the tent be closed up very tight indeed."—(W. M. Cooper.)

Permanent Camp.—The accompanying sketch shows a tent pitched for a lengthened habitation. It has a deep drain, a seat and table dug out, and a fireplace. (See the following paragraphs.)

Lost Articles.—Small articles are constantly mislaid and trampled in the sand of the floor of the tent. In searching for them, the ground should be disturbed as little as possible: it is a usual plan to score its surface in parallel lines, with a thin wand. It would be well worth while to make a small light rake to use for this purpose.

Precautions against Thieves.—Natives are apt to creep up to tents, and, putting their hands under the bottom of them, to steal whatever they can: a hedge of thorn-bushes is a protection against this kind of thieving. In some countries a net, with three or four bells attached to it, is thrown over the packages inside a tent. Strings tied horizontally, a foot above the ground, from package to package, are found effective in tripping intruders, See also "Guns set as Spring-guns."



FURNITURE.

Furniture.—The luxuries and elegances practicable in tent-life, are only limited by the means of transport. Julius Caesar, who was a great campaigner, carried parquets of wooden mosaic for his floors! The articles that make the most show for their weight, are handsome rugs, and skins, and pillows; canteens of dinner and coffee services; and candles, with screens of glass, or other arrangements to prevent them from flickering. The art of luxurious tenting is better understood in Persia than in any other country, even than in India.

Bedsteads.—A portable bedstead, with mosquito-curtains, is a very great luxury, raising the sleeper above the damp soil, and the attacks of most creatures that creep on it; in tours where a few luxuries can be carried, it is a very proper article of baggage. It is essential where white ants are numerous. A very luxurious bed is made on the principle of a tennis-player's raquet; being a framework of wood, with strips of raw hide lashed across it from side to side and from end to end. It is the "angareb" of Upper Egypt.

Hammocks and Cots.—I stated in previous editions of this book, that hammocks and cots had few advocates, owing to the difficulty of suspending them; but Captain M'Gwire's recent ingenious invention quite alters the case. His method will be easily understood by the annexed sketch. The apparatus is adapted for use on the wooden floors of houses, or ships, by the employment of eyelet-bolts or screw rings instead of pegs, and by putting wooden shoes below the staves to prevent their slipping inwards: the shoes are tied to the eyelet-bolts by a cord.

The complete apparatus, in a very portable form, can be bought at Messrs. Brown's, Piccadilly.

Mosquito Nets and their Substitutes.—A mosquito-curtain may be taken for suspension over the bed, or place where you sit; but it is dangerous to read in them by candle-light, for they catch fire very easily. (See "Incombustible Stuffs.") It is very pleasant, in hot, mosquito-plagued countries, to take the glass sash entirely out of the window-frame, and replace it with one of gauze. Broad network, if of fluffy thread, keeps wasps out. The darker a house is kept, the less willing are flies, etc., to flock in. If sheep and other cattle be hurdled-in near the house, the nuisance of flies, etc., becomes almost intolerable.

Chairs.—It is advisable to take very low strong and roomy camp-stools, with tables to correspond in height, as a chamber is much less choked up when the seats are low, or when people sit, as in the East, on the ground. The seats should not be more than 1 foot high, though as wide and deep as an ordinary footstool. Habit very soon reconciles travellers to this; but without a seat at all, a man can never write, draw, nor calculate as well as if he had one. The stool represented in the figure (above), is a good pattern: it has a full-sized seat made of canvas or leather, or of strips of dressed hide. A milk-man's stool, supported by only one peg, is quickly made in the bush, and is not very inconvenient. The common rush-bottomed chair can be easily made, if proper materials are accessible. The annexed diagram explains clearly the method of their construction.

Table.—The table may consist of a couple of boards, not less than 2 feet long, by 9 inches broad, hinged lengthwise, for the convenience of carriage, and resting on a stand, which should be made on the same principle as the framework of the chair described above. It is well to have the table made of mahogany, for deal warps and cracks excessively. There is no difficulty in carrying furniture like the above, on a pack-horse.

Makeshift Chair and Table.—For want of a chair, it is convenient to dig a hole or a trench in the ground, and to sit on one side of it, with the feet resting on its bottom: the opposite side of the trench serves as a table, on which things may be put, within easy reach.

"In a box 2 feet long and 1 foot square at the ends, the lid and its bottom, of course, both measure 2 feet by 1 foot. Now, if the bottom opens on hinges, just like the lid, and if the hinges of both lid and bottom are fixed to the hindmost side of the box, then when the box is laid face downwards, and both the lid and the bottom are opened out and secured in the same horizontal plane with the side to which they are hinged, a table of 3 feet by 2 feet is made. The lid and bottom form the two leaves of the table, and what was the hindmost side, when the box stood on its bottom, is now uppermost, and forms the middle of the table. Such a box would hold, during travel, the things wanted when encamping." —(Peal.)

Hooks.—I have spoken of the way of hanging articles in tents, under "Tent Poles." In a permanent bivouac or in a hut, it is convenient to fix hooked sticks or the horns of animals, against the walls, as pegs.



FIRE.

General Remarks.—Although, in the teeth of every precaution, fires constantly break out, yet when a traveller wants a light and does not happen to have any of his ingenious fire-making contrivances at hand, it is very difficult for him to obtain it. And further, though sparks, of their own accord and in the most unlikely places, too often give rise to conflagrations, yet it requires much skill and practice to succeed without fail, in coaxing a small spark into a serviceable camp fire. Therefore every traveller should carry on his person the means of procuring a light, under ordinary circumstances of wind and weather; that is to say, he should have in his pocket a light handy steel, a flint or an agate, and amadou or other tinder. I also strongly recommend that he should carry a bundle of half-a-dozen fine splinters of wood, like miniature tooth-picks, thinner and shorter than lucifer-matches, whose points he has had dipped in melted sulphur; also a small spare lump of sulphur of the size of a pea or bean, in reserve. The cook should have a regular tinder-box, such as he happens to have been used to, and an abundance of wax lucifers. Paper fusees are not worth taking in travel, as wet entirely spoils them.

There are usually three separate agents in making a fire, each of which may be varied in many ways and requires separate description. 1. The Spark or other light to start with. 2. The Tinder; that is, some easily ignited and smouldering substance. 3. Fuel, judiciously applied to the burning tinder, or other feeble light, so as to develop it into a serviceable fire.

To obtain Fire from the Sun.—Burning-glasses.—The object-glass, and every other convex glass of a telescope is a burning-glass, and has only to be unscrewed to be fit for use. The object lenses of an opera-glass are very efficient. The larger the glass and the shorter its focus, the greater is its heating power. Convex spectacle glasses and eye glasses are too small and of too long a focus to be used with effect, except when the sun is very hot. An old-fashioned watch-glass, filled with water, and having the rays of a powerful sun glittered down upon it vertically by help of a mirror, will give a light. Dr. Kane and other arctic travellers have made burning-glasses of ice.

Reflectors.—The inside of the polished metal cover of a hunting-watch will sometimes converge a sufficiency of rays, to burn. The vestal fire of Rome and the sacred fire of the Mexicans were obtained by means of reflectors. If I understand aright, they consisted of a stone with a conical hollow, carefully polished, the apex of the hollow cone was a right angle: the tinder was held in the axis of the cone. See Tylor's 'Early History of Mankind.'

Black Tinder.—Tinder that is black by previous charring, or from any other cause, ignites in the sun far sooner than light-coloured tinder.

Fire by conversion of motion into heat.—General Remarks.—When a moving body is arrested, heat is given out; the quantity of heat being in exact proportion to the mass, multiplied into the square of its velocity. Thus if a cannon ball be fired at an iron target, both it and the ball become exceedingly hot. There is even a flash of light when the velocity of the ball is very high. When bullets are fired with heavy charges at a target, the lead is just melted by the heat of impact, and it "splashes," to use a common phrase. It is obvious from these two examples, that no velocity which the hand of man is able to give to a steel, when striking a flint, or to one stick rubbing against another stick, will be competent to afford a red-hot temperature unless the surface against which impact or friction is made be very small, or unless great care be taken to avoid the wasteful dissipation of heat. The spark made by a flint and steel, consists of a thin shaving of steel, scraped off by the flint and heated by the arrested motion. When well struck, the spark is white-hot and at that temperature it burns with bright scintillations in the air, just as iron that is merely red-hot burns in pure oxygen. This is the theory: now for the practice.

Flints.—If we may rely on a well-known passage in Virgil, concerning AEneas and his comrades, fire was sometimes made in ancient days by striking together two flints, but I confess myself wholly unable to light tinder with flints alone, and I am equally at a loss to understand what were the "dry leaves" that they are said in the same passage to have used for tinder. Neither can I obtain fire except with a flint and steel, or, at least, hardened iron; a flint and ordinary iron will not give an available spark. Flints may be replaced by any siliceous stone, as agate, rock-crystal, or quartz. Agate is preferred to flint, for it gives a hotter spark: it is sold by tobacconists. A partly siliceous stone, such as granite, will answer in default of one that is wholly siliceous. I have been surprised at finding that crockery and porcelain of all kinds will make a spark, and sometimes a very good one. There are cases where a broken teacup might be the salvation of many lives in a shipwrecked party. On coral-reefs, and other coasts destitute of flinty stones, search should be made for drift-wood and drifted sea-weed. In the roots of these, the pebbles of other shores are not unfrequently entangled, and flint may be found among them. The joints of bamboos occasionally contain enough silex to give a spark.

Steels.—The possession of a really good steel is a matter of great comfort in rough travel, for, as I have just said, common iron is incompetent to afford a useful spark, and hardened iron or soft steel is barely sufficient to do so. Any blacksmith will make a good steel out of an old file, if he has nothing more appropriate at hand. A substitute for a steel can be made, even by an ordinary traveller, out of common iron, by means of "casehardening" (which see). The link of a chain, or the heel of a boot, or a broken horse-shoe, is of a convenient shape for the purpose.

Pyrites are, and have been, widely used for striking sparks. Two pieces struck together, or one piece struck with a steel, gives a good spark; but it is a very friable mineral, and therefore not nearly so convenient as flint.

Guns.—If you wish to get a light by means of a flint-and-steel gun, the touch-hole may be stuffed up, and a piece of tinder put among the priming powder: a light can be obtained in that way without firing the gun. With a percussion-cap gun, a light may be obtained by putting powder and tinder outside the nipple and round the cap; it will, though not with certainty catch fire on exploding the cap. But the common way with a gun is to pour in a quarter of a charge of powder, and above it, quite loosely, a quantity of rag or tinder. On firing the gun straight up in the air, the rag will be shot out lighted; you must then run after it as it falls, and pick it quickly up. With percussion-caps, gunpowder, and tinder, and without a gun, a light may sometimes be had on an emergency, by scratching and boring with a knife, awl, or nail, at the fulminating composition in the cap, till it explodes; but a cap is a somewhat dangerous thing to meddle with, as it often flies with violence, and wounds. Crushing gunpowder with hard stones may possibly make it explode.

Lucifers.—An inexperienced hand will waste an entire boxful of them, and yet will fail in lighting a fire in the open air, on a windy day. The convenience of lucifers in obtaining a light is very great, but they have two disadvantages: they require that the air should be perfectly still, while the burning sulphur is struggling to ignite the stick; and, again, when the match is thrust among the wood, the sticks upon which is has to act, have not been previously warmed and consequently, though one or two of them may become lighted, the further progress of the fire is liable to cease. On the other hand, in methods where the traveller begins with tinder, and blows its spark into a flame, the adjacent wood becomes thoroughly heated by the process, and the flame, once started, is almost certain to maintain itself. Consequently, in lighting a fire with lucifers, be careful to shield the match from the wind, by throwing a cloak or saddle-cloth, or something else over the head, whilst you operate; and secondly, to have abundance of twigs of the smaller sizes, that there may be no uncertainty of the lucifer-match being able to light them, and set the fire a-going. In a steady downfall of rain, you may light a match for a pipe under your horse's belly. If you have paper to spare, it is a good plan to twist it into a hollow cone; to turn the cone with its apex to the wind; and immediately after rubbing the match, to hold it inside the cone. The paper will become quickly heated by the struggling flame and will burst into a miniature conflagration, too strong to be puffed out by a single blast of air. Wax lucifers are undoubtedly better than wooden ones, for in damp weather, wooden ones will hardly burn; but wax is waterproof, and independent of wet or dry. When there is nothing dry, at hand, to rub the lucifer-match against, scratch the composition on its head with the edge of a knife or with the finger-nail. It is a sure way of lighting it; and with care, there is no need of burning the fingers.

Fire-sticks.—In every country without exception, where inquiry has been made, the method of obtaining fire by rubbing one stick against another, has been employed. In savage countries the method still remains in present use; in nearly all the more civilised ones, it has been superseded within historic periods by flints and steels and the like, and within this present generation by lucifer-matches. The only instance I know in which flints are said to have preceded fire-sticks, is in the quotation below from Pliny. A light has also been obtained in pre-historic times, as I have already mentioned, by reflecting the sun from a hollow surface; but this method required costly apparatus, and could never have been in common use. Hence, although so far as I am aware, the Bible, and Homer, and other records of great antiquity, are absolutely silent on the contemporary methods of procuring fire; and although Pliny says the reverse—I think we are justified in believing that the plan of rubbing sticks together was absolutely universal in the barbaric infancy of the human race. In later Greek History, Prometheus is accredited with the invention of fire-sticks. Among the Romans both Seneca and Pliny write about them. Pliny says (Nat. Hist. xvi. 76, 77), "There is heat in the mulberry, in the bay-laurel, in ivy, and in all plants whence fire-sticks are made. The experience of soldiers reconnoitring for encamping-grounds, and that of shepherds, made this discovery; for a stone is not always at hand whence a spark might be struck. One piece of wood therefore, is rubbed by another, and it catches fire through the friction, while a dry tindery substance—fungus and leaves are the most easilyattainable—is used to perpetuate the fire. Nothing is better than ivy used as the stick to be rubbed, and bay-laurel as the stick to rub with. Wild vine—not the 'labrusca'—is also found good."

I have made a great many experiments with different kinds of wood, having procured an assortment of those used by the fancy toy-makers of Tunbridge Wells, and the chippings from botanical gardens. I find what I have heard from savages to be quite true; viz., that it is much more difficult to procure good wood for the "fire-block" than for the drill-stick; any though hard, and dry stick will do for the latter, but the fire-block must be of wood with little grain; of a middle degree of softness; readily inflammable; and, I presume, a good on-conductor of heat; but I do not know if there be much difference, in this latter respect, between woods of the same quality. If it be too hard, the action of the drill-stick will merely dent and polish it; if very soft, it will be worn away before the friction has time to heat it sufficiently: ivy is excellent. I find it not at all difficult to produce smoke (it is much more difficult to produce fire) with a broken fishing-rod, or ramrod, as a drill-stick, and a common wooden pill-box, or tooth-powder box, as a fire-block. Walnut, also, does as a fire-block, and the stock of a gun is of walnut. Deal and mahogany are both worthless for fire-sticks.

It is well so to notch the fire-block, that the wood-dust, as it is formed by the rubbing, should all run into one place: it will then glow with a smouldering heat, ready to burst out into an available flame with a very little fanning, as soon as a degree of heat sufficient to ignite tinder has been attained. Tinder is a great convenience, in ensuring that the fire, once obtained, shall not be lost again; but it is not essential to have it.

There are many ways of rubbing the sticks together, in use among different nations. Those curious in the matter should consult Tylor's 'Early History of Mankind.' But the traveller will not obtain much assistance from these descriptions, as it will be out of his power to obtain fire by any but the simplest of them, on a first trial. He is only likely to succeed at first by working at leisure, with perfectly dry wood. Even savages, who practise the art all their lives, fail to procure fire in very wet weather, when the shelter is bad. Of the plans employed by savages, the simplest is that in use both in South Africa and in Australia.

[Fig 1 as described].

The Australian blacks use the flower-stem of the grass-tree, which is of a tough pithy nature, and about one inch in diameter. The operation of making the fire is assisted by the use of a little charcoal-powder, which, in Australia, is found on the bark of almost every tree, from the constant passage of grass-fires over the ground. The process is as follows:—One piece of the stick is notched in the middle, fig. 1, and the notch slightly hollowed out; another is roundly pointed at one end. The black fellow, being seated on the ground, holds down one end of the notched stick with each foot, fig. 2, and placing the point of the other stick into the notch, twirls it rapidly and forcibly between the palms of his hands. In doing this his hands gradually slip down the stick, and he has to shift them rapidly up again, which loses time: but two people, seated opposite, can alternately take up the rubbing, and more easily produce fire. A little of the above-mentioned powdered charcoal is dropped into the notch during the operation. In a very few minutes red-hot powdery ashes commence to work up out of the notch, which falling on a small heap of tow, or of dry tow-like bark, or lint, or cotton stuff, is quickly blown into a flame. The Africans carry the drill-stick, which in shape and size is like an arrow, in a quiver with their arrows, and the fire-block—a stick three inches long and one in diameter, of a different wood—as a pendant to their necklace.

A plan more practicable to an unpractised hand is that in use among some of the North American Indians. I copy the illustration of it from Schoolcraft's work upon those people.

One person works the "drill-stick" with a rude bow, and with his other hand holds a piece of stone or of wood above it, both to steady it and to give the requisite pressure—gentle at first, and increasing judiciously up to the critical moment when the fire is on the point of bursting out. Another man puts his hands on the lower piece of wood, the "fire-block," to steady it, and holds a piece of tinder ready to light it as soon as fire is produced. If a serious emergency should occur, it is by no means hopeless to obtain fire after this method. A large party have considerable advantages over only one or two men, because as the work is fatiguing, the men can undertake it in turns; and, again, as considerable knack is required for success, it is much more probable that one man out of many should succeed, than that only one man, taken at hazard, should do so. But the best plan of all for a party of three or more men is for one of them to hold the upper block, another to hold the lower block and the tinder, should there be any, and the third man to cause the drill-stick to rotate. He will effect this best by dispensing with the "bow," and by simply using a string or thong of a yard or four feet long. He makes one or two turns with the string round the drill-stick, and then holding one end of the string in either hand, he saws away with all his force. I believe that a party of three men, furnished with dry wood of an appropriate quality and plenty of string, would surely produce smoke on the first few trials, but that they would fail in producing fire. If, however, they had a couple of hours' leisure to master the knack of working these sticks, I think they would succeed in producing fire before the end of that time. The period of time necessary for a successful operation is from one to three minutes. It is of little use fatiguing yourself with sustaining the exertion for a longer period at a time, unless the wood becomes continuously hotter. As soon as the temperature remains uniform it shows that you have let the opportunity slip; it is then the best economy of effort to desist at once, to rest, to take breath, and recommence with fresh vigour.

[Sketch unlabelled].

Fire by Chemical Means.—It is not in the province of this book to describe the various matches that take fire by dipping them into compositions; and I have already spoken of lucifer-matches in the last section. Only one source of fire remains to be noticed, it is—

Spontaneous Combustion.—It is conceivable that the property which masses of greasy rags, and such-like matter, possess of igniting when left to themselves, might under some circumstances, be the only means available to procure fire. It is at all events well that this property should be borne in mind when warehousing stores, in order to avoid the risk of their taking fire. Any oil mixed with a hatful of shavings, tow, cotton, wool, or rags, heaped together, will become very hot in one, two, or more days, and will ultimately burst into flame. The rapidity of the process is increased by warmth.

Tinder.—General Remarks.—There are two divisions of tinder: those that are of a sufficiently strong texture to admit of being grasped in the hand, and those that are so friable as to require a box to hold them. In the first division (a) are the following:—amadon, a roll of rag, a cotton lamp-wick, a roll of touch-paper, a mass of hair of certain plants, and a long string of pith sewed up in a sheath. To ignite these, we must hold them as in fig. 1, and use the steel to strike downwards upon the flint. In the second division (b) are:—tinder of burnt rags, tinder of any kind with grains of gunpowder strewed over it, and touch-wood. All these require tinder-boxes, as explained below. There are also many other substances belonging to both divisions of tinder, in use. A traveller should inform himself about those peculiar to the country that he visits.

a Amacou, punk, or German tinder, is made from a kind of fungus or mushroom that grows on the trunks of old oaks, ashes, beeches, etc.; many other kinds of fungus, and, I believe, all kinds of puff-balls, will also make tinder. "It should be gathered in August or September, and is prepared by removing the outer bark with a knife, and separating carefully the spongy yellowish mass that lies within it. This is cut into thin slices, and beaten with a mallet to soften it, till it can easily be pulled asunder between the fingers. It is then boiled in a strong solution of saltpetre."

A Roll of Rag.—Cotton rag will easily take fire from the spark from a flint, in a very dry climate, if well struck. It must be rolled up moderately tight, so as to have the end of the roll fluffy; the rag having been torn, not cut. A rag rolled in this way is not bad tinder, if the sparks are strong, and one commences to blow it the instant one of the fibres is seen to be alight. If its fluffy end be rubbed into a little dry gunpowder, its property as tinder is greatly improved.

Cotton Lamp-wick.—A piece of it drawn through a tin tube, to shield the previously charred part from being rubbed off, is excellent in dry climates. (See fig. 1, p. 180.)

Touch-paper is merely paper dipped in a solution of saltpetre, or what comes to nearly the same thing and is somewhat better, paper smeared with damp gunpowder until it is blackened. Some grains of uncrushed gunpowder should be left adhering to the paper, and a few more should be allowed to lie loosely upon it. Unsized paper, like that out of a blotting-book, is the best suited for making into touch-paper; paper is rendered unsized by being well soaked and washed in water. (See next paragraph.)

Saltpetre for Tinder.—In all cases the presence of saltpetre makes tinder burn more hotly and more fiercely; and saltpetre exists in such great quantities in the ashes of many plants (as tobacco, dill, maize, sunflower), that these can be used, just as they are, in the place of it. Thus, if the ashes of a cigar be well rubbed into a bit of paper, they convert it into touch-paper. So will gunpowder, for out of four parts of it, three are saltpetre; damaged gunpowder may be used for making touch-paper. If it be an object to prepare a store of tinder, a strong solution of saltpetre in water should be obtained, and the paper, or rags, or fungus, dipped into it and hung to dry. This solution may be made by pouring a little water on a charge of gunpowder, or on the ashes above-mentioned, which will dissolve the saltpetre out of them. Boiling water makes a solution forty-fold stronger than ice-cold water, and about eight times stronger than water at 60 degrees Fahr.

Hair of Plants.—The silky down of a particular willow (S. lanata) was used by the Esquimaux, with whom Dr. Kane had intercourse; and the botanist Dr. Lindley once informed me that he had happened to receive a piece of peculiarly excellent tinder that was simply the hair of a tree-fern. The Gomuti tinder of the Eastern Archipelago is the hair of a palm.

Pith.—Many kinds of pith are remarkable as tinders; that whence the well-known pith hats are made, is used as tinder in India. Pieces of pith are often sewn round with thin cotton or silk, so as to form a long cord, like the cotton lamp-wick I have described above, and they are carried in tubes for the same reason.

b. We now come to the different kinds of tinder that fall into our second division, namely, those that are too friable to bear handling.

Rags.—Charred linen rags make the tinder that catches fire most easily, that burns most hotly when blown upon, and smoulders most slowly when left to itself, of any kind of tinder that is generally to be obtained. In making it the rags are lighted, and when in a blaze and before they are burnt to white ashes, the flame is stifled out. It is usual to make this kind of tinder in the box intended to hold it; but it can easily be made on the ground in the open air, by setting light to the rag, and dropping pinches of sand upon the flaming parts as soon as it is desired to quench them. The sand is afterwards brushed away, and the tinder gently extricated.

Touch-wood is an inferior sort of tinder, but is always to be met with in woody countries.

Dry Dung.—Dry and powdered cattle dung—especially horse-dung—will take a spark, but with trouble. After it is lighted it can be kept burning with little difficulty.

Tinder-boxes.—There are three ways of striking a flint, which are best explained by sketches. Fig. 1, p. 180, shows how tinder that is tough enough to bear handling, is grasped together with the flint. When no tinder-box is at hand the more friable kinds of tinder, as touch-wood, may be enveloped in a roll of rag and be used either as in fig. 1 or in fig 3. Fig. 2 shows how tinder may be laid on the ground, and how sparks may be struck upon it. The household tinder-boxes of thirty years ago, before lucifers were invented, were for use in this way. Fig. 3 shows how sparks may be struck into a small tinder-box. It is the method most commonly adopted by travellers: for instance, it is universally used in South Africa and in North America. A hollow cylinder of wood or metal, about three inches long, and corked up at one end, is all that is essential. If it be barrel-shaped the flint lies against its sides, at the most convenient angle for striking sparks into the box, as is shown by the bottom drawing of fig. 3.

[Fig 2 and 3 as described].

Wet Weather.—In long-continued soaking weather, the best way of keeping a tinder-box dry is to put it into a small pocket hung close under the armpit.

Fuel.—Firewood.—There is a knack in finding firewood. It should be looked for under bushes; the stump of a tree that is rotted nearly to the ground has often a magnificent root, fit to blaze throughout the night.

Dry Cattle-dung.—The dry dung of cattle and other animals, as found on the ground, is very generally used throughout the world, in default of better fuel, and there is nothing whatever objectionable in employing it. The Canadians call it by the apt name of "Bois de Vache." In North and South Africa it is frequently used; throughout a large part of Armenia and of Thibet the natives rely entirely upon it. There is a great convenience in this sort of fuel; because, as it is only in camps that fuel is wanted, so it is precisely at old encamping-places that cattle-dung is abundantly found.

Bones.—Another remarkable substitute for firewood is bones; a fact which Mr. Darwin was, I believe, the first to mention. The bones of an animal, when freshly killed, make good fuel; and even those of cooked meat, and such as have been exposed to the air for some days, will greatly increase the heat of a scanty fire. Their smell is not disagreeable: it is simply that of roast or burnt meat. In the Falkland Islands, where firewood is scarce, it is not unusual to cook part of the meat of a slaughtered bull with its own bones. When the fire is once started with a few sticks, it burns well and hotly. The flame of course depends on the fat within the bones, and therefore the fatter the animal the better the fire. During the Russian campaign in 1829, the troops suffered so severely from cold at Adrianople, that the cemeteries were ransacked for bones for fuel. (Moltke, in the Appendix.)

Sea-weed makes a hot though not a cheerful fire. It is largely used. The vraic or sea-weed gatherers of the Channel Islands are represented in many picturesque sketches. The weed is carted home, spread out, and dried.

Peat.—Travellers must bear in mind that peat will burn, especially as the countries in which it is found are commonly destitute of firewood; and, besides that, are marshy, cold, and aguish.

Charcoal is frequently carried by travellers in sacks; they use a prepared charcoal in the East, which is made in the form of very large buttons, that are carried strung together on a string. An Indian correspondent informs me that they are made by mixing powdered charcoal with molasses, in the proportion of ten to one, or thereabouts, rolling the mass into balls, and drying them in the sun. A single ball is called a "gul." They are used for igniting hookhas: they are also burnt inside the smoothing-iron used by washermen in order to heat it. The juice or sap of many plants would probably answer the purpose of molasses in their preparation.

Small Fuel for lighting the Fire.—Shreds and Fibres.—The live spark has to be received and partly enclosed, in a loose heap or nest of finely-shredded fuel. The substances for making such a nest, are one or other of the following list:—

Dry grass of the finest kinds: leaves: moss: lichen, and wild cotton; stalks or bark, broken up and rubbed small between the fingers; peat or cattle-dung pulverised; paper that has been doubled up in many folds and then cut with a sharp knife into the finest possible shavings; tow, or what is the same thing, oakum, made by unravelling rope or string; and scrapings and fine shavings from a log of wood. The shreds that are intended to touch the live spark should be reduced to the finest fibre; the outside of the nest may be of coarser, but still of somewhat delicate material.

Cook should collect them.—It is the duty of a cook, when the time of encamping draws near, to get down from his horse, and to pick up, as he walks along, a sufficiency of dry grass, little bits of wood, and the like, to start a fire; which he should begin to make as soon as ever the caravan stops. The fire ought to be burning, and the kettle standing by its side, by the time that the animals are caught and are ready to be off-packed.

Small Sticks.—There should be abundance of small sticks, and if neither these nor any equivalent for them are to be picked up, the traveller should split up his larger firewood with his knife, in order to make them. It is a wise economy of time and patience to prepare plenty of these; otherwise it will occasionally happen that the whole stock will be consumed and no fire made. Then the traveller must recommence the work from the very beginning, under the disadvantage of increasing darkness. I have made many experiments myself, and have seen many novices as well as old campaigners try to make fires; and have concluded that, to ensure success, the traveller should be provided with small bundles of sticks of each of the following sizes:—1st, size of lucifer-match; 2nd, of lead pencil; 3rd, smaller than little finger; 4th, size of fore-finger; 5th, stout stakes.

In wet Weather, the most likely places to find wherewithal to light a fire, are under large stones and other shelter; but in soaking wet weather, little chips of dry wood can hardly be procured except by cutting them with an axe out of the middle of a log. The fire may then be begun, as the late Admiral the Hon. C. Murray well recommended in his travels in North America, in the frying-pan itself, for want of a dry piece of ground.

To kindle a Spark into a Flame.—By whirling.—1st. Arrange the fuel into logs; into small fuel, assorted as described above, and into shreds and fibres. 2nd. Make a loose nest of the fibre, just like a sparrow's nest in shape and size, and let the finer part of the fibres be inwards. 3rd. Drop the lighted tinder in the next. 4th. Holding the "nest" quite loosely in the half-closed hand, whirl the outstretched arm in vertical circles round the shoulder-joint, as indicated by the dotted line in the diagram. In 30 seconds, or about 40 revolutions, it will begin to glow, and will shortly after burst out in a grand flame. 5th Drop it, and pile small twigs round it, and nurse the young fire carefully, bearing in mind the proverb that "small sticks kindle a flame, but large ones put it out."

By blowing.—Savages usually kindle the flame by blowing at the live spark and feeding it with little bits of stick, just so much as is necessary. But it is difficult to acquire the art of doing this well, and I decidedly recommend the plan I have described in the foregoing paragraph, in preference to it. When the wind blowssteadily and freshly, it suffices to hold up the "nest" against the wind.

Sulphur matches are so very useful to convert a spark into a flame, and they are so easily made, in any quantity, out of split wood, straw, etc., if the traveller will only take the trouble of carrying a small lump of sulphur in his baggage, that they always ought to be at hand. The sulphur is melted on a heated stone, or in an old spoon, bit of crockery, bit of tin with a dent made in it, or even a piece of paper, and the points of the pieces of wood dipped in the molten mass. A small chip of sulphur pushed into the cleft end of a splinter of wood makes a fair substitute for a match. (See "Lucifer-matches.")

Camp Fires.—Large Logs.—The principle of making large logs to burn brightly, is to allow air to reach them on all sides, and yet to place them so closely together, that each supports the combustion of the rest. A common plan is to make the fire with three logs, whose ends cross each other, as in the diagram. The dots represent the extent of the fire. As the ends burn away, the logs are pushed closer together. Another plan is to lay the logs parallel with the burning ends to the windward, then they continue burning together.