HINTS TO SPORTSMEN. 64$ 



the upper, and show distinctly. In following a blind trail, the eye 

 should always run casually in advance. If it is cast down directly 

 in front, the sign is lost ; but if raised, the trail can usually be 

 traced quite distinctly. In all cases where a man discovers him- 

 self lost, he should stop short and carefully consider the situation 

 — the position of the sun, direction of the wind, character of adja- 

 cent prominent objects, etc., and then retrace his steps as nearly 

 as possible. It is senseless to plunge headlong into trackless un- 

 certainty, when it may be quite possible to go back on one's own 

 track to the point started from, which, though a loss of time in 

 reaching a desired destination, is better than a loss of way and an 

 involuntary bivouac in the woods. The writer remembers having 

 once tracked back through a laurel brake with such nicety of cal- 

 culation as to pick up a handkerchief which had been pulled out 

 of his pocket, and was clinging to a bush. As a general thing, a 

 man does not go far off his course before he discovers his mistake. 

 A quarter of a mile in a jungle or a strange forest seems a great 

 distance. It is not impracticable either, when one is in doubt to 

 climb a tall tree and take a survey from the top. Caribou hunters 

 often adopt this practice when looking for barrens where game 

 are likely to be found. Rivers and streams are certain highways 

 to deliverance provided a person has previously some idea of the 

 general lay of the land. 



One never should be without a compass ; thoygh in some per- 

 sons animal magnetism is so strong that they determine the cardi- 

 nal points instinctively. Indeed there are individuals who cannot 

 sleep with their heads to the south, but instantly detect a bed so 

 placed. Backwoodsmen acquire by practice and careful obser- 

 vation a certain craft in reading signs which is almost infallible. 

 As a rule, but not always, moss grows more densely on the north 

 side of trees, nature providing against the cold that comes from 

 that quarter. But a more reliable sign is the limbs of trees, which 

 grow longest on the south side, those on the north side being ex- 

 posed to the wintry blasts which twist, scathe and stunt them. 

 A laurel swamp is the worst conceivable place in which to get 

 lost. The tendency to travel in circles is well known. It is a phys- 

 iological freak not easily explained. In an article on this subject 

 which we clipped from the Scientific American fifteen years ago, 

 the writer, who is a Texan, says : 



