TVOODCRAFT. 13 



rises in the east, and sets in the west, and, therefore, 

 that his shadow will fall in a certain direction at a 

 certain hour. This is all very well; but there are few 

 men who retain self-possession enough to think of all 

 this when first they find themselves astray in an 

 American wilderness. 



Let him once turn round, so as to forget in which 

 direction he was going, and all his knowledge and 

 self-confidence will most probably evaporate. It is 

 not until the American hunter has had some little 

 practice, under the tuition of others wiser than him- 

 self, that he will be able to put into use the various 

 woodland signs, which may have been pointed out 

 to him as finger-posts in case of emergency. 



For example, he may have been told that the moss 

 grows with greater profusion upon the northern side 

 of a tree-trunk than upon the southern, and that the 

 longer branches point towards the south ; and, for a 

 time, he may go on quietly enough, until he happens 

 to come upon a damp soil where the moss grows in 

 equal luxuriance upon both the northern and southern 

 sides of the huge stems, and then he will begin to be a 

 little puzzled to know what it means. When he looks 

 up amongst the branches of the trees, his surprise and 

 bewilderment will be increased ten-fold when he finds 

 that the vegetation points with equal luxuriance to 

 every quarter of the compass. Our tiro is certainly 

 lost in the wood. No ! He has still a shadow, and that 



