272 



The Book of Woodcraft 



We all know that a camp without a campfire would be 

 no camp at all; its chief est charm would be absent. 



Your first care, then, is to provide for a small fire and pre- 

 vent its spreading. In the autumn this may mean very 

 elaborate clearing, or burning, or wetting of a space around 

 the fire. In the winter it means nothing. 



Cracked Jimmy, in "Two Little Savages," gives very 

 practical directions for lighting a fire anywhere in the 

 timbered northern part of America, thus : 



"First a curl of burch bark as dry as it can be, 

 Then some twigs of soft wood, dead, but on the tree, 

 Last of all some pine-knots to make the kittle foam. 

 And there's a fire to make you think you're settin' right at 

 home." 



If you have no birch bark, it is a good plan to shave a dry 

 soft-wood stick, leaving all the shavings sticking on the end 

 in a fuzz, like a Hopi prayer stick. Several of these make a 

 sure fire kindler. Fine splinters may be made quickly by 

 hammering a small stick with the back of the axe. 



In the case of a small party and hasty camp, you need 

 nothing but a pot hanger of green wood for a complete 



kitchen, and many hundreds of times, on prairie and in 

 forest, I found this sufficient. 



