Part 3 (1/2)

The greater number of Indians, however, built conical wigwams. If made of the materials I have described, it was customary to transport the rolls of bark from place to place; the poles were cut at each new camp or left in place at the old ones. Sometimes gra.s.s and rushes were braided into mats and used as coverings and carpets. The Plains Indians used buffalo hides, nicely tanned and sewed together in semicircular shape.

The skeleton of the conical teepee is made by tying three poles together near the top, and, when raised, separating them to form a tripod.

Against this place in a circle as many poles as you think necessary to support your outer covering of cloth or thatch, usually twelve to fifteen. If of canvas, the covering is tied to a pole and then raised and wrapped about the framework and secured with wooden pins to within about three feet of the ground. This s.p.a.ce is left for the entrance and covered by a movable door, which may be merely a small blanket. If you have nothing better, a quant.i.ty of dry gra.s.s will make you a warm bed.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 4.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 5.]

Suppose an Indian brave starts out alone, or with one companion, to lay in a supply of meat or to trap for furs. All the outfit he really needs is his knife and hatchet, bow and arrows, with perhaps a canoe, according to the country he has to traverse. He proceeds on foot to a good camping-place, and there builds his shelter of whatever material is most abundant. If in the woods, he would probably make it a ”lean-to,”

which is constructed thus:

In a dry and protected spot, find two trees the right distance apart and connect them by poles laid upon the forks of each at a height of about eight feet. This forms the support of your lean-to. Against this horizontal bar place small poles close together, driving their ends in the ground, and forming an angle with about the slant of an ordinary roof. You can close in both sides, or not, as you choose. If you leave one open, build your fire opposite the entrance, thus making a cheerful and airy ”open-face camp.” Thatch from the ground up with overlapping rows of flat and thick evergreen boughs, and spread several layers of the same for a springy and fragrant bed. You can make a similar shelter of gra.s.s or rushes, but in this case you must have the poles closer together.

The dome-shaped wigwam or ”wicki-up” is made in a few minutes almost anywhere by sticking into the ground in a circle a sufficient number of limber poles, such as willow wands, to make it the size you need. Each pair of opposites is bent forward until they meet, and the ends interlocked and tied firmly. Use any convenient material for the covering; an extra blanket will do.

You can make any of these tent shelters with no tool save your hatchet or strong knife. The object is to protect yourself and your possessions from cold, wind, rain, and the encroachment of animals. As to the last, however, they are not likely to trouble you unless very hungry, and a fire is the best protection. He is the natural and true man who utilizes everything that comes in his way; a cave, a great hollow tree, even an overhanging rock serves for his temporary home, or he cheerfully spreads his bed under the starry night sky.

X-FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES AND COOKING WITHOUT POTS

It is often of interest to boys to make a fire in the primitive way: by friction; perhaps to produce the ”new fire” for some ceremonial occasion, or it may be to win honors as a scout. If a boy is fond of wilderness camping, it is possible that such knowledge may prove of vital importance to him some day, for even the experienced woodsman may be caught out without matches, or may get his matches wet.

This is the way the Indians made fire before they obtained matches or flint and steel from the white man, and the way I have many times done it myself as a boy. For tools you need a block, a drill, a bow, a socket, and some tinder, dry punk, or cat-tail down, all of which you can make or find in the woods.

For the first, take a smooth piece of pine board, cedar, ba.s.swood, cottonwood, or any other wood, but these are soft and easy to work. It should be a foot long by two inches wide and about half an inch in thickness. Make a round hole or pit in the center half through the board. From this hole cut a notch or groove to the edge of the board.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 6.]

For the drill, take a hard wood stick about a foot long, whittled down at both ends to fit the hole in block. A piece of wood two by six inches with a hole halfway through its thickness to fit the upper end of the drill forms the socket.

If you have no bow with you, make one of any limber stick two feet long, with a loose buckskin or other thong.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 7.]

Now put a little tinder-shredded birch-bark or dry pine-needles-along the groove in your block and especially at its upper end. Adjust your fire-maker, wind the bowstring once about the drill, place a foot on each end of the block while your left hand supports and presses down on the socket, and your right saws with the bowstring, causing the drill to revolve rapidly in the hole. This friction in time produces smoke and then sparks, which, when you blow upon them, ignite the tinder. It is then only a matter of sufficient dry bark and kindling to make a good fire. You cannot fail after a little practice, if you follow directions carefully. Mr. Seton's record time for making fire in this way is thirty-one seconds, but it will be more likely to take you from one to three minutes, even after you have experimented a little.

The Indian or expert woodsman is never at a loss for dry fire material in the wettest woods. He knows how to look for the _inside_ bark of the birch and the _inside_ of dead stumps and logs; and a good fire, once kindled, will burn on even under discouraging circ.u.mstances.

Indian methods of cookery are of interest in camp, more particularly if the common utensils have been dispensed with as too c.u.mbersome to carry.

Neither pots, pans, nor dishes are essential to a good meal in the woods. Berries, some roots, smoked or sun-dried meats may be eaten raw, also eggs, though the latter are preferred cooked by the Indian. He is especially fond of turtle eggs, which are buried in the sand along the lake sh.o.r.es and may be found by searching for them with a pole in the spring.

The simplest method of cooking thin pieces of meat is by broiling over a bed of live coals, upon a long-handled p.r.o.nged stick or fork of green wood. The meat is turned as often as necessary and is perfectly done in a few minutes.

Roasting is done by spitting your haunch of venison or other large piece of meat upon a stick two to four feet long and sharpened at both ends.