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Preface HAVE you ever sat in the saddle from dawn until dark, and watched your pony pick his steps up steeps where a goat would have difficulty, and where the trail winds about, a foot or so wide, dropping sheer a thousand feet on one side, and rising to the white floating clouds on the other? Have you ever paddled a canoe up a winding river, where the alders and birches form a protecting arch that let in delicious glimpses of blue upon you? Have you ever paddled noiselessly along shore where the rushes nod and whisper, to find, on suddenly rounding some point, the full moon climbing over the hill, and where - your breath ceasing for a moment - daintily comes a deer to drink, antlers and body black against the light? Possibly you know the lure of the sea, and love the stinging beat of the salt spray crusting your face and lips. Have you ever sat all day on the rail of a dancing sloop, and beat to windward, your lee rail awash, and then come to anchor in your safe harbor, hung out your riding light, and sat down to a meal that a king might envy? You sit back in lazy contentment, listening to the water lapping about the bows, the slap of the halyards against the mast, the cry of some distant water fowl, and you feel good all through. Did you say that you have not the means or the time to do such things, or that you do not know where to go or how to go about? Nonsense. There are places within twenty-five miles of New York where you can pitch your tent and watch the sun go down across wide stretches of woodland and water that will make you think you are a hundred miles from any city. There are white tents under the Palisades, where, under canvas, many are gaining health. There are good cruises and sailing in the wonderful waterways around New York. The Sound, the river, and the great bays on the south shore of Long Island, all offer pleasant and varied experience. The highways to Sleepy Hollow, to the land of Rip Van Winkle, and the sleepy Dutch towns extend their invitation to all who will accept. Young man, get out into the open. The world demands strength and staying qualities. Do not, oh, do not, spend your vacation time in a hotel, or Pullman car. It will do you more good at twenty to sleep under boughs aslant, by a mountain lake with the trout broiling, than to see the Congressional Library or Niagara Falls. The great cry of "Back to Nature" that is spreading abroad over our land is full of deep significance, and the heeding of Nature's ever-calling voice, and an adaptation of our lives to her laws, is going to become a salvation of the American race. EUGENE L. SWAN. Introduction THE popularity of Harper's Practical Books has brought many suggestions and inquiries for a guide to camplife which should be modern and comprehensive, but at the same time simple and explicit. The aim of the books in this series is self-development. They show how to do things instead of dealing in description. This idea of doing for one's self is the keynote of this book of camping, woodcraft, and various phases of the outdoor life which has grown so enormously in favor of recent years. It does not deal in description of scenery or tales of outdoor experiences, and its information will be found of immediate practical value whether the reader is a member of any organization or not. This is an American book, intended to show American boys and girls how to make camps at their own homes or abroad, how to prepare for outdoor life, where to go, how to choose a camp-site and make camp, how to live in camp, how to dress and cook and eat, how to amuse themselves, how to take care of themselves in the woods and on the trail or river, and, together with these general subjects, there are explanations adapted to the very different kinds of camps which appear throughout our country every summer. There are boys and girls who find infinite pleasure in pitching home-made tents in the lee of their own houses, or in building shelters or tree-huts in their own grounds. Here are helpful suggestions for them as well as for those who camp farther afield. While no exact estimate is possible, it has been said that over one hundred thousand boys and girls go into camps for a longer or shorter time every summer. There are the camps of Y. M. C. A. Associations, Fresh Air Camps, camps for invalids, school camps, military camps, individual camps, camps on Western ranches and mountains, and camp-life on beaches, on house-boats and with caravans, and also the immense and significant development of private camps for boys and girls, a subject hitherto so inadequately treated that the special attention of parents as well as younger readers may be called to the part of the book in which Dr. Eugene L. Swan draws upon the stores of his experience in his treatment of private summer camps. With all this increase in outdoor life there has naturally come an increased supply of equipments. Some of the older books contain directions for making fishing-rods and hammocks, but to-day, in view of the number and range of prices of such articles which are easily accessible, it is not necessary to spend the time, although some hints in this direction are afforded. Nevertheless it is essential to be guided by accurate knowledge in making selections of outfit or supplies. The vast number of canned goods and prepared foods simplifies the work of the commissary department in one sense, and yet renders a discriminating choice more than ever necessary. The danger now is of being led away by the temptations of patented but experimental equipments, by the attractive exteriors of superfluous and occasionally worthless articles, and by mere novelties in the way of prepared foods. Without any argument for the primitive simplicity of a Maine "cruiser's" outfit, it is safe to say that the great majority of camping-parties are overloaded with superfluities. As a matter of course, the equipment for a hunting-trip in Mississippi or Louisiana cane-brakes differs radically from the outfit for a camp in the Adirondacks, just as very different provision is needed for a pack-train outfit in Montana or Wyoming and a fishing-camp in Maine, New Brunswick, or Quebec. Local conditions are naturally dealt with only in a general way, but there are plenty of matters of universal consequence which should be made clear to boys and girls in the United States and Canada, and, for that matter, to a large proportion of older readers. For example, after outfit and place are settled upon, there is, in many cases, a question of guides, and it must be confessed that with the growth of extravagant taste and of the tipping habit and the establishment of luxurious hotels in proximity to camping-grounds many guides have become enervated, greedy, and inefficient. This is a matter of which a modern camping-book must take cognizance, just as something must be said of commercially organized private camps for boys where the supervision is more or less irresponsible. Subjects like the considerations governing the exact choice of a camp-site, questions of drainage, water, etc., are explained as a matter of course, but there are other things which must be dealt with as frankly as the matter of guides, among them the necessity of "policing" a camp effectively, the removal and burial of tin cans and rubbish, a regard for trees and natural beauties in short, sanitation and a regard for the amenities of outdoor life, as well as the elementary and obvious precautions against fires. The need of emphasis upon such points has been shown too often among adults, noticeably in some phases of military camp -life. This book includes some of the newer lessons drawn from military experience. There are few boys who are not followers of Izaak Walton when the chance is offered, and this book affords them practical general suggestions and counsel which are based upon a long experience. Fly-fishing is naturally placed first as the most sportsmanlike and delightful way of matching one's wit against game fish. While trout-fishing takes precedence, there are adequate general explanations of fishing for bass and ouananiche and also pickerel and other fish. And one point which the authors of this book impress upon their readers is true sportsmanship. Never kill for the sake of killing. Never catch more fish than can be used. These are homely maxims, but they are to be reiterated until the "trout-hog" disappears. Fortunately, there is a better spirit in outdoor life to-day, and among other phases of this more humane attitude is the substitution of the camera for the indiscriminate use of gun or pistol upon squirrels and birds in the woods. The subject of woodcraft is explained simply and naturally. It is an American inheritance. A knowledge of woodcraft was enforced upon the first-comers to this continent, and "Nessmuk," and others who have aided in adapting this knowledge to modern use have helped the education of American boys and girls. England has approached certain phases of outdoor life from a different point of view. In this book the simpler essentials of woodcraft and certain desirable phases of "scouting" are explained without any desire to impose arbitrary rules or to increase youthful self-consciousness. Subjects like personal care in camp, illness, accidents, first aid, protection against insects, and many others receive proper attention, and some space is devoted to camp cookery and camp receipts. Through the courtesy of Dr. George Bird Grinnell, the outdoor literature published by the Forest & Stream Company has been generously placed at the disposal of the publishers, and it is a pleasure to make acknowledgment of the aid afforded through comparison and selection in the case of the books of "Nessmuk" and others. The effort of the editors has been to bring together a consensus of the opinions and experience of experts in the various phases of the modern outdoor life which, happily, is assuming such large consequence on this continent. Contents PREFACE. By Eugene L. Swan, M.D INTRODUCTION Part I THE CAMPER'S OPPORTUNITIES CHAPTER I. WHERE TO CAMP. By James Wellman CAMPING NEAR HOME - CAMPING IN MAINE - CANADA - THE ADIRONDACKs - WEST AND SOUTH CHAPTER II. INDIAN CAMPS AT HOME. By Joseph H. Adams Joint Author of Harper's Outdoor Book for Boys, etc. A WIGWAM - A SQUARE TEPEE - A RIDGE-POLE TEPEE CHAPTER III. TREE HUTS AND BRUSH-HOUSES. By Joseph H. Adams A LOW TWIN-TREE HUT - A HIGH TWIN-TREE HUT - A SINGLE-TREE HUT - A LOW SINGLE-TREE HUT - A BRUSHHOUSE - A BRUSH "LEAN-TO" Part II CAMPING FARTHER AFIELD By Joseph H. Adams (With the exception of the first chapter) CHAPTER IV. CHOOSING A CAMP-SITE PERSONAL OUTFIT - CAMPS ON LAKES - RIVER CRUISING - COOKING UTENSILS - PROVISION SUPPLY CHAPTER V. TENTS AND TENT-MAKING A TENT OF MEDIUM SIZE - A LARGE CAMPING-TENT - FLIES AND CANOPIES - A HOUSE-TENT - THE NEW TENT CHAPTER VI. HOW TO FIT OUT THE CAMP CANVAS COTS AND HAMMOCKS - TABLES AND BENCHES - CAMPING EQUIPMENT - LOCKERS AND MESS-KITS CHAPTER VII. CAMP-FIRES AND SIMPLE COOKING STONE STOVES - OTHER FIREPLACES - CAMP-COOKING - "UNCLE HARRY'S" ADVICE CHAPTER VIII. FISHING RODS AND TACKLE SPORTSMANLIKE FISHING - CARE AND PATIENCE - TACKLE - THE CHOICE OF RODS - LINES AND HOOKS - OTHER TACKLE - BAIT-RODS AND FLY-RODS CHAPTER IX. FISHING WITH BAIT A SEINE NET - A BAIT-BOAT - BAITS, AND WHERE TO FIND THEM - A TRAP FOR SMALL FISH - A WATER-TURTLE TRAP - AN EEL-POT - A SCAP-NET - A HOOP DROP-NET Part III FLY-FISHING AND WILDERNESS CAMPING CHAPTER X. HOW TO LEARN FLY-FISHING. By Henry P. Wells Author of Fly-rods and Fly-tackle, The American Salmon Fisherman, etc. PRACTICE AT HOME - FIRST POSITION - THE BACK CAST - THE FORWARD CAST - THE STRIKE - A CARDINAL PRINCIPLE - THE MANIPULATION OF THE FLY - PRACTICAL CONCLUSION - A FISH STORY CHAPTER XL REPAIRS. By Henry P. Wells FIRST PRINCIPLES - THE INVISIBLE KNOT - APPLYING THE LESSONS - THE ANGLER AND THE NOVICE CHAPTER XII. WILDERNESS CAMPS AND FISHING. By James Wellman HINTS FOR A LONG TRIP - A FEW OUTFITTING POINTS - PERSONAL BELONGINGS - THE VEXED QUESTION OF GUIDES - INSECT PESTS - WARNINGS FOR CAMPERS - CARE OF FIRES - SOME FAMILIAR FISH - BROOK TROUT - LAKE TROUT - BLACK BASS - MUSKALLUNGE - PlCKEREL - YELLOW PERCH - BURBOT OR CUSK - THE LEAPING OUANANICHE Part IV ORGANIZED CAMPS By Eugene L. Swan, M.D. CHAPTER XIII. THE GROWTH OF ORGANIZED CAMPS THE MOVEMENT TOWARD OUTDOOR LIFE - UNUSUAL OPPORTUNITIES FOR BOYS' CAMPS - FAMILY CAMPS - ORGANIZED CAMPS - ORIGIN - OBJECTS OF BOYS' CAMPS CHAPTER XIV. HOW TO CONDUCT A CAMP TRAINED DIRECTORS - THE PROFESSION OF CONDUCTING A BOYS' CAMP - SANITATION - DIETETICS - BOYS' GROWTH - LOCATION OF THE CAMP - PHYSICIAN - SURROUNDINGS - SOIL - MOSQUITOES - PRIVACY - TENT-PLACING - TENT MATERIAL - To ERECT A TENT - TENT POLES - FLOORS - FLOOR BOUGHS - A WIGWAM OR TEPEE IN THE WOODS - SIBLEY TENTS CHAPTER XV. THE BILL OF FARE FOOD FOR CANOE TRIPS - BEVERAGES - POINTERS - RECIPES FROM SOUP TO DESSERT - PRACTICAL HINTS CHAPTER XVL KEEPING A CAMP CLEAN CARE OF KITCHENS AND FOOD - COOKS - LATRINES - LAUNDRY AND CLEAN CLOTHES - POLICING CAMPS - TENT HYGIENE CHAPTER XVII. HOW TO USE A CANOE CANOES AND THEIR COST - REPAIRING A CANOE - How TO PADDLE - EQUIPMENT - LOADING - ROUGH WATER CHAPTER XVIII. MAKING A TEMPORARY CAMP UNPACKING - GETTING FIREWOOD - ARRANGEMENT OF COOKING DISHES - BUILDING FIRES - MAKING FIRES WITHOUT MATCHES - WOODS - BUILDING FIRES IN THE RAIN - To LIGHT THE FIRE - CAMP STOVES CHAPTER XIX. HIKING OR TRAMPING DISTANCE TO MARCH - GENERAL RULES - CLOTHING - OTHER EQUIPMENTS - DRINKING-WATER - FOOD - HOURS OF REST CHAPTER XX. CAMP OR SCOUTING GAMES OUTDOOR GAMES - WAR GAME No. I - THE BESIEGED CITY GAME - ATTACKING PARTY IN CANOES - ENSAI-TAI PARTIES - CANOE TAG - CAPTURING THE FLAG - INDIAN GAMES - MAPMAKING - FEET AND INCHES - HELPFULNESS AND COURTESY - SHOOTING THE CHUTE - SEEING AND REMEMBERING - IDENTIFICATION - WIND-BALL CHAPTER XXI. THE HANDLING OF BOATS CAMP LIFE ON THE WATER - NECESSARY KNOWLEDGE - RULES OF THE ROAD - NAUTICAL TERMS - MANAGING SAILS - PRUDENCE AND CARE - POWER-BOATS - CAMP-YACHTS - NAUTICAL SCHOOLS CHAPTER XXII. IN CASE OF ILLNESS OR ACCIDENT TREATMENT OF WOUNDS - How TO STOP BLEEDING - DRESSING WOUNDS - SIMPLE AND COMPOUND FRACTURES - DISLOCATIONS - SPRAINS - DROWNING - ARTIFICIAL RESPIRATION - UNCONSCIOUSNESS -- FAINTING - SUNSTROKE - POISONING - MEDICAL AND HEALTH HINTS Part V BOY SCOUTS CHAPTER XXIII. THE BOY SCOUTS OF ENGLAND. By Sydney Brooks ORGANIZING THE BOY SCOUTS - THE ENGLISH SCOUTS' OATH - THE SCOUT LAW IN ENGLAND - PATROLS AND TROOPS - TESTS - BADGES CHAPTER XXIV. THE BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA. By John L. Alexander Acting Managing Secretary of The Boy Scouts of America BEGINNING AND GROWTH - LEADERS OF THE MOVEMENT - WHAT A BOY MUST Do TO BELONG - THE SCOUT LAW CHAPTER XXV. TRAINING IN SEEING CLEARLY. By Eugene L. Swan, M.D KEEP YOUR EYES OPEN - REMEMBER WHAT YOU SEE - WEATHER SIGNALS - PROVERBS ABOUT THE WEATHER - BIRDS, FLOWERS, AND TREES CHAPTER XXVI. HINTS FOR CAMPERS AND SCOUTS. By Eugene L. Swan, M.D MEASURING A TREE'S HEIGHT - APPROACH OF AN ENEMY - TRAILING - FOOTPRINTS - TALKING WITHOUT WORDS - WHEN LOST IN THE WOODS - DETERMINING DIRECTIONS CHAPTER XXVII. SIGNALLING AND SIGN LANGUAGE. By James Wellman THE MORSE ALPHABET - OTHER MEANS OF COMMUNICATION - SIGN LANGUAGE AMONG THE INDIANS - EXAMPLES FOR PRACTICE - WIGWAGGING, ETC. Part VI MOUNTAINEERING AS A SPORT By Garrett P. Serviss Author of Round the Year With the Stars, etc. CHAPTER XXVIII. MOUNTAINEERING AS A SPORT IN THE WHITE MOUNTAINS - AN ADIRONDACK ADVENTURE - MT. TACOMA OR RAINIER - IN A WONDERFUL FOREST - MIDSUMMER SNOWBANKS - THE HEALTH-GIVING MOUNTAINS Part VII OUTDOOR LIFE FOR GIRLS CHAPTER XXIX. CAMPING FOR GIRLS. By Miss Marie J. Warren A DAY'S PROGRAM - WORK AND PLAY - THE REST-HOUR - TAPS - VARIETY OF AMUSEMENTS - CAMPING TRIPS - OUTFIT - How TO CHOOSE A CAMP - COUNSELLORS - ADVANTAGES OF THE LIFE CHAPTER XXX. A CARAVAN TRIP IN ENGLAND. By G. Phillips PRINCE AND THE WAGON - THE START FROM BATH - MAKING CAMP - A STRENUOUS LIFE - SIGHT- SEEING - REST IN A TURN-PIKE HOUSE - AFTER Two HUNDRED MILES INDEX.
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