H 
= 
. 
; 
F 
3 
: 
2 
es 
H 

canvas lean-tos, made as follows: Foraparty 
of four, five or six, take sufficient drilling to 
make two half tents, nine feet long by five 
feet high, with the ends closed in by tri- 
angular pieces. These should be pitched 
facing one another, with the fire between. 
For a very luxurious winter camp it is 
better to carry a third strip twelve feet long 
and five feet high, to stretch along the wind- 
ward side of the fire. So, if the wind is 
blowing from the west, as it generally 
does in cold weather, the two half tents 
are pitched facing north and south respect- 
ively, and the wind-break stretched from 
north to south and to windward of the fire. 
Such open camps presuppose, however, 
that there is an abundance of wood at 
hand and that the axe is swung vigorously. 
The Indian loveth not to exert himself, 
hence he invented the tepee. For its own 
particular purpose, and especially in: a 
prairie country where ponies are available 
for packing, the tepee is simply ideal. 
Every one who kas attended the circus in 
his youth—and who has not?—must re- 
member the tepee. It is often, in fact 
usually, pitched in the side show and is the 
resort for p of rest and refreshment 
of the fat lady, the wild man from Borneo, 
and the gentleman with the rubber skin. 
So it will not, Iam sure, be necessary for me 
to describe minutely the outside appearance 
of the tepee. Beyond saying that it re- 
sembles the old-fashioned extinguisher that 
was used with tallow candles when I was 
a boy, and is undoubtedly so used yet in 
certain benighted ceuntries, I shall pass on 
to its construction. 
The true tepee of the plains is made by 
cutting long willow or cottonwood poles 
and leaning them together in the form of 
a ring, the butts being spread sufficiently 
to enclose a circle of some sixteen feet. 
This frame was covered with buffalo or 
deer skins to within a few feet of the apex, 
where an opening was left to serve as a 
chimney. A cowl, of tanned hide, could be 
affixed to windward of the opening, and a 
door formed by a slit in one of the walls 
permitted ingress and egress to this dwelling 
of the nomad. Inside a little fire of dried 
buffalo chips would keep the braves, their 
squaws and pappooses from freezing, 
though the everlasting smoke generally 
THE ART OF CAMPING 139 
gave them bleared and watery eyes. It is 
quite possible to make a tepee that will not 
trouble its occupants with smoke, but the 
Indian objected so little to the discomfort 
of the smoke that he rarely took sufficient 
pains to ensure a good draft. By making 
the covering in two tiers and letting the 
upper overlap the lower, leaving an air 
passage between, the smoke can escape and 
the ventilation of the tepee is much im- 
proved, but the warmth is not quite so 
great. 
The tepee ' is crept east, and is used 
to-day by the idians living north of Lake 
Superior and cven as far east as Quebec— 
but only where they can travel for long 
distances without too many portages; and 
the covering is in these cases made of 
canvas or drill but never of hides. Such 
tepees are far inferior to the tepee of the 
Sioux or the Blackfoot. 
For my own use I have come to the plain 
“A” tent, just a wedge of drilling with 
square ends and no ropes or complications 
of any kind. The size I take when travel- 
ing with Indians is six feet long, five feet 
wide and six feet high. My men always 
have their separate shelter, which is usually 
of the most primitive description, as they 
rarely bother to pitch a tent in fine summer 
weather. Men who have slept out in the 
open night after night in January are quite 
ready to accept whatever a summer night 
may have to offer in the way of chill. 
This little tent if pitched carefully will 
shed the heaviest rain that I have encoun- 
tered. Once on the height of land south 
of Hudson Bay I was kept in by a twenty- 
four-hour downfall that raised the rivers 
almost to spring level and yet the tent did 
not leak. Only you must be very careful 
not to touch it; should you do so a leak will 
be established which will continue to in- 
crease and be an annoyance to you until the 
tent is thoroughly dry once more. I have 
used a tent of this description in the forest 
and on the plains of the Northwest, as well 
as far up the slopes of the Rockies, and 
it has never yet failed to give satisfaction. 
One point I look upon as important, and 
yet it might escape the attention of a novice. 
To stretch the tent as it should be stretched 
you must have a good ridge pole; so I have 
round openings at either end of the tent 
