no CANADIAN NIGHTS 



impossible to warm a tent from the outside, 

 however large the fire may be. It must be built 

 at such a distance that the canvas cannot possibly 

 catch fire, and hence all heat is dispersed long 

 before it can reach and warm the interior of the 

 tent. It is far better to make a " lean-to " of 

 the canvas, build a large fire, and sleep out in the 

 open. A " lean-to " is easily made and scarcely 

 needs description. The name explains itself. 

 You strike two poles, having a fork at the upper 

 end, into the ground, slanting back slightly; lay 

 another fir pole horizontally between the two, 

 and resting in the crutch ; then place numerous 

 poles and branches leaning against the horizontal 

 pole, and thus form a framework which you cover 

 in as well as you can with birch bark, pine boughs, 

 pieces of canvas, skins, or whatever material is 

 most handy. You build an enormous fire in the 

 front, and the camp is complete. A " lean-to " 

 must always be constructed with reference to the 

 direction of the wind ; it serves to keep off the 

 wind and a certain amount of snow and rain. In 

 other respects it is, as the Irishman said of the 

 sedan-chair with the bottom out, more for the honour 

 and glory of the thing than anything else. For all 

 practical purposes you are decidedly out of doors. 



