14 HINTS ON rOEEST AND PRAIRIE LIFE. 



may enable him to extricate himself from his some- 

 what awkward 'fix.' He looks downwards, but no 

 shadow is visible. The sky is overcast, and, even if 

 it were not so, the light of the sun could scarcely 

 penetrate through that mass of dense green foliage 

 overhead. 



How is he to get clear of the forest, now that both 

 moss and trees combine to delude him, and there is 

 no shadow ? Why, — by making a shadow. 



' But, surely, you cannot do so ! ' he will say, * Now 

 the sun is obscured by the clouds : Pray explain that ? ' 



It is quite true that the sky is so overcast with 

 clouds that your body will throw no shadow ; but still 

 one may be produced from the shining blade of your 

 huntiug-knife ; and it can be done thus : Hold the knife 

 by the extreme end of its handle perpendicularly, so 

 that the point shall rest upon your thumb-nail. A 

 shadow will then be cast across the nail from the sun, 

 whose position will thus be determined ; and then, 

 if you can give a pretty good guess at the time of 

 day, your position north, east, south, and west, can be 

 decided with tolerable accuracv. 



It is impossible for the backwood's-man to know 

 every tree on his beat, with the familiarity of an 

 English forester, who goes over the same ground 

 frequently ; but he must know the lay of the forest, 

 and which way the river that divides it runs, or the 

 outlines of the prairie that skirts it, so that he may 



