HINTS TO SrORTSMEN. 35 



threatened to ingulf me at every step, clambering like a 

 squirrel over felled and slippery trees and up steep bluffs, 

 dashing down precipices with the celerity of a mountain 

 goat, or rushing through heavy shrubbery, that lashed my 

 face incisively, with almost the ease of a startled fawn. I 

 was only a short distance from camp on these occasions, 

 yet I could not find it, although I moved around it in a 

 circle. One cause of this was that it was night, and that I 

 could not tell by leaves, trees, or footsteps where I was go- 

 ing ; I was, therefore, compelled to sleep alone in the lonely 

 forest and amidst wild animals more than once — incidents 

 by no means pleasant. Had not my companions been bet- 

 ter backwoodsmen than I was, I would in all probability 

 have been lost, for I was in a portion of the forest where it 

 would have been almost impossible to track me, and where 

 I must have died of hunger. I learned from these inci- 

 dents not to travel in unknown forests without a compass ; 

 to take bearings of all the prominent landmarks, and the 

 peculiarities of the trees on my route; and not to depend 

 on the sound of a horn to lead me to camp in a region cov- 

 ered with woods and seamed by canyons, as the latter 

 cause an echo to sound in every direction, and to repeat it 

 from so many quarters at the same time that one gets be- 

 wildered. I have been much in the forest since then ; and 

 though I have sometimes had to grope my way through it 

 in doubting fear, yet, by carrying a compass, I was always 

 enabled to reach my destination in time enough to prevent 

 any apprehensions about my safety. It may be all well 

 enough for persons who know a piece of woods as well as 

 they do their own kitchen, to smile at the caution of those 

 who carry a compass to guide them back to camp ; yet I, 

 for one, would advise the sporting novice to pay no heed 

 to their criticisms, and to consider life, or even the danger 

 of getting lost, of much more importance than any idle rid- 

 icule. I would, therefore, never move out without one, 

 even if it were only for a distance of a few miles, unless I 

 was familiar with the country. 



After some experience in wood-craft, and learning to be a 



