200 



'RECREATION. 



front wall of the tent and 5 or 6 feet 

 apart. On the ground against, these 

 stakes, on the side next the te^nt, place a 

 green log 8 to 12 inches in diameter. On 

 top of it place a smaller log, and above this 

 one still smaller. Drive a stake at either 

 end so as to keep them in place. 



In front of these logs dig a hole 2 feet 

 x 2 feet one foot deep. Start your fire 

 at the bottom of this pit and pile wood on 

 generously till you have a pit full of coals. 

 This will form the best oven in the world 

 for your purposes. The shape of your log 

 heap will throw the heat and light tentward, 

 and with little trouble the fire can be 

 kept going all night. On a few coals 

 raked to one side may be placed the coffee 

 pot and in the pit a hole can be raked to 

 receive your potatoes, game, fish, or 

 roasting ears. Anything you wish to bake 

 or roast can be cooked in a smother of 

 coals and ashes in such a way as to give 

 it a juiciness and flavor imparted by no 

 range or oven at home. Your trout, sim- 

 ply disemboweled and sprinkled inside, 

 with salt and pepper, with a slender strip 

 of bacon where the "in'ards" belonged, 

 then wrapped in a few thicknesses of wet 

 paper and buried in the pit while the 

 bread is made and the coffee boiled, will 

 lay over any fish ever served at Delmon- 

 ico's. 



A tin plate, tin cup, fork and spoon for 

 each person should be included in the 

 outfit, or, if you can afford it, aluminum 

 ware instead of tin will be neat. It is 

 light and pretty, and doesn't rust. A piece 

 of birch bark, if in reach, will make as 

 good a plate as one needs. 



In roasting green corn, if the outside 

 shucks be removed, and the half stripped 

 ear be buried in the roasting pit, it will 

 cook in its own steam, coming to the tooth 

 sweeter and finer than any from the do- 

 mestic dinner pot. 



Chicken, rabbit, squirrel, 'possum, fish, 

 may be rolled in clay and cooked in the 

 same way. When done, crack the baked 

 clay loose and tell me if the meat isn't 

 fine. Of course, with all these one must 

 not forget to season. A fish split down 

 the back, spread open and fastened against 

 a slabbed chip with strips of bacon over 

 it, and set up before the fire will cook 

 nicely and be a delicious morsel. 



Dough may be mixed on a flour sack 

 or a piece of clean bark, and baked on a 

 chip or a flat stone before the fire. When 

 done on one side turn over and bake the 

 other; or if a Dutch oven be part of the 

 outfit good baking powder bread, dodg- 

 ers, or pone may be baked with success. 



Below is a list of desirables, when my 

 camp is to be accessible by boat, rail or 

 wagon: 

 Duck tent 14x16 feet, 12 ounces, for 



cook tent. 



Duck tent 12x14 feet, 12 ounces, for sleep- 

 ing tent. 

 One fly for each. 

 Plenty of blankets and quilts. 

 Good sheet-iron camp stove for cook 



tent. 

 Sibley stove for sleeping tent. 

 One good ax. 

 One good hatchet. 

 One good hand saw. 

 Nails. 



One coil of No. 1.6 annealed iron wire. 

 Several old rugs. 

 /Tin plates, knives, forks, spoons. 

 One 12-quart tin pail. 

 Two 8-quart tin pails. 

 One large tin pan. 

 Several small tin pans. 

 Rope and cord for tying packages. 

 Ham, bacon, lard, butter, crackers, cof- 

 fee, salt, pepper, mustard, vinegar, flour, 

 matches. 



With good water, good woods, a good 

 camping place, a good crowd, good 

 weather, good luck and good health, one 

 can have a good time for a month of out- 

 ing, especially in this far Western world, 

 where game and fish are yet abundant, 

 and where is to be found the grandest 

 scenery on the planet. 



Nessmuk, whose pleasant pen has given 

 us all so much delight in years gone by, 

 gave the plans for a tent to be made of 

 good stout muslin, rendered fireproof by 

 being treated with alum, which was sim- 

 plicity itself and cheap. It was sewed to- 

 gether so as to form, when stretched, a 

 box-like shelter 5 feet high in front, 4 

 feet at the back, 3 feet wide, and 7 feet 

 deep. Building in front of it such a fire 

 as is described above, of green logs, 

 stacked up, and laying a pine bough mat- 

 tress for his blankets, he could live com- 

 fortably for any length of time. 



One wants dry, hard wood when obtain- 

 able. It burns more freely, makes better 

 coals, more heat, and will kindle more 

 quickly. 



Nessmuk also shows how little one 

 really needs in the woods in order to be 

 perfectly comfortable. A hatchet and 

 knife are almost the only indispensables. 

 With these a cosy shelter can be easily 

 and quickly made. A pole 12 to 15 feet 

 long may be leaned against a sapling or 

 caught in 2 forks V'd together at the top, 

 6 or 8 feet high, the other ends resting on 

 the ground. Against this pine boughs are 

 leaned, butts up, till a heavy wall is made, 

 the top being of "fine stuff." Building 

 such a fire as above described in front of 

 this shelter, one may weather quite a rain 

 and not get wet, or may bid defiance to 

 the cold. 



Finally, a summer or fall camp should 

 face the North, a winter camp the South. 



£. E. Oliver* 



