WAYS AND MEANS 



to say, it is much cheaper to build such a 

 tent than to buy an ordinary one of the 

 same capacity. 



It is worth the noting, that a miner's (or 

 better, a foreman's) acetylene lamp, with 

 carbide, weighs less than the equivalent in 

 candles, gives abundant light for reading 

 or cards, and does not blow out. Should it 

 be necessary to cover a rough trail in the 

 dark, this makes quite simple what is not 

 easy of accomplishment, even with birch- 

 bark torches. 



There was a promise to disclose another 

 virtue for 'gabardine', and this turns upon 

 the colour. The fact slowly forced its 

 way home that flies prefer dark things and 

 dark people. Perhaps this has to do with 

 the absorption of heat rays, or the choice of 

 a protective background, or both. Bru- 

 nettes suffer more than blondes; Indians are 

 badly bitten; black horses and cows fairly 

 run blood in fly-time. It was the canoe- 

 man's dark hat, with black-flies crawling 

 over it by the score and circling round it 

 like a saint's halo, which gave the final 

 proof. At the same moment my own gray 

 felt would be almost deserted. This 

 settled the practice of wearing light- 

 coloured clothes in the woods; I commend 

 243 



