68 THE PINE-TREE, OR 



These preliminaries being settled, we commence "right mer- 

 rily" our camp. The top strata of leaves and turf are removed 

 from the spot upon which the structure is to be erected ; this is 

 necessary, as we should otherwise be in great danger of fire from 

 the dry turf. "While this process is going forward, others are 

 engaged in felling the trees on the spot, and cutting them the 

 length determined upon for our edifice. The work commences 

 by throwing the larger logs into a square, notching the ends to- 

 gether. Thus one tier after another is laid up until the walls 

 attain the proper height, the smallest logs being used to finish 

 out the upper tiers. In form they resemble a tin baker, rising 

 some eight feet in front, while the roof pitches down within two 

 or three feet of the ground in the rear. A double camp is con- 

 structed by putting two such squares face to face, with the fire 

 in the middle. The Spruce-tree is generally selected for camp 

 building, it being light, straight, and quite free from sap. The 

 roof is covered with shingles from three to four feet in length. 

 These are split from trees of straight and easy rift, such as the 

 Pine, Spruce, and Cedar. The shingles are not nailed on, but 

 secured in their place by laying a long heavy pole across each 

 tier or course. The roof is finally covered with the boughs of 

 the Fir, Spruce, and Hemlock, so that when the snow falls upon 

 the whole, the warmth of the camp is preserved in the coldest 

 weather. The crevices between the logs constituting the walls 

 are tightly calked with moss gathered from surrounding trees. 



The interior arrangement is very simple. One section of the 

 area of the camp is used for the dining-room, another for the 

 sleeping apartment, and a third is appropriated to the kitchen. 

 These apartments are not denoted by partitioned walls, but sim- 

 ply by small poles some six inches in diameter, laid upon the floor 

 of the camp (which is the pure loam), running in various direc- 

 tions, and thus forming square areas of different dimensions, and 

 appropriated as above suggested. The head-board to our bed 



