CHAPTER X 



LANDMARKS 



LANDMARKS and their surrounding scenes 

 form pictures which every frontiersman or 

 outdoor person learns to keep in mind. The 

 explorer and the scout frequently look back, also 

 to the right and to the left. Sometime the trail 

 may be retraced, the landmark may be seen from 

 the opposite direction, or the trail may be crossed. 

 For the outdoor person to know where he is, to 

 know what lake, cliff, meadow, or spring is to the 

 north, south, east, and west of him is the most im- 

 portant part of all woodcraft. 



This information prevents one becoming lost. 

 It enables the prospector to return to the place 

 where the rock outcrop carrying gold was dis- 

 covered. It is both interesting and necessary for 

 one who enjoys the outdoors to be able to return 

 to the lightning-struck tree, the almost hidden 

 beaver colony, the nest of the humming-bird, and 

 to recall the peculiarities of a particular place and 

 its distance from the orchid or the bear sign which 

 he saw. Like a poet he must be able to give to 

 each special thing a local habitation and individual 

 character. 



159 



