Some Indian Ways 471 



THE INDIAN OR WILLOW BED 



The only bed I know of which is light, portable, scout- 

 like, made of wildwood stufif that can be got anywhere, 

 and costing nothing but a Httle labor, is the willow or prairie 

 bed used by all the Plains Indians. 



This is how it is made: On your first short hike to the 

 country go to some stream bank or swamp, and cut about 

 seventy straight rods of red willow (kinnikinik), gray willow, 

 arrow-wood, or any straight shoots, each about as thick as a 

 pencil, when peeled, except one or two that are larger, 

 up to half an inch thick; and all thirty inches long. Tie 

 them up in a tight bundle with several cords until you get 

 time to work them. Peel them, cut a slight notch in the 

 butt of each rod, three quarters of an inch from the end, 

 and you are ready to make the bed. 



And here I may say that some fellows, who could not get 

 to the country to cut willow rods, have used the ordinary 

 bamboo fishing-poles. These are sawed up in 30-inch 

 lengths and split to the necessary thinness; the butt end 

 yields four or even five of the splints, the top, but one. 

 This answers well, and three poles furnish material enough 

 for the bed. This is allowable because, though the stuff is 

 not of our own woods, it is American; it grows in the 

 Southern States. One or two fellows in town have made 

 the bed of dowels from a furniture factory. 



Now get a ball of cord, that will stand a 25-lb. pull, 

 a ball of fine linen thread, and a piece of shoemakers' wax, 

 to complete your materials. 



If outdoors, you can stretch your cords, between two 

 small trees about seven feet apart, but it is much easier if 

 you make a rough frame of strips or poles seven feet by 

 three inside to work on. 



Cut four pieces of the cord, each about twenty feet long. 



