WHAT TO DO IF LOST IN THE WOODS 233 



soft substance, to allow the skin to rotate. With 

 a sharp knife it is then cut into strips of an inch 

 wide, beginning at the hind part and working 

 around till the neck is reached, when it is cut off 

 and the head thrown away. This will make a 

 strip of about eight feet long for each skin. This 

 skin, while still fresh and moist, is twisted 

 around rope fashion and laid aside. To twist it 

 easily, one end is secured, and a small rounded 

 stick with a split in one end to hold the strip, is 

 applied at the other extremity, and then twirled 

 around between the hands, or betwen the hand 

 and thigh. The knitting is done on the fingers 

 in the same way as a net is made, and when com- 

 pleted one can just push the fingers through the 

 meshes. In common with many other things, a 

 hare skin blanket has its good and bad points. 

 Its advantages are its warmth, lightness and 

 cheapness, and the fact that it can be made in 

 the woods. Its disadvantages are the readiness 

 with which it tears, and the fact that it cannot 

 be washed or cleaned. We used to throw it away 

 after our hunt was over, and make a new one the 

 following season. Some years when hares are 

 abundant, a hundred or so can be snared by one 

 man in three or four days. In an old brule a 

 burnt forest covered with second growth I once 

 shot fifty-two in one afternoon. Shooting, how- 

 ever, is seldom practiced as it is considered a 

 waste of ammunition in the woods, snaring being 

 the usual method of capture. 



