140 
just below the ridge, through which I pass 
a stout young tree-trunk altogether out of 
proportion to the size of the habitation it 
is to support. This will not sag. The tent 
poles may be either inside or out; I gener- 
ally prefer them long enough to cross one 
another, thus making a fork in which the 
ends of the ridge pole rest. Of course, in 
this case, the tent poles must be four in 
number and placed outside the tent. 
This method also gives more room _in- 
side. I do not care for a rope support, 
though such a method of hanging a tent 
does well enough for a night or so, should 
neither rain nor wind intervene between 
dusk and dawn. 
” At the foot of each seam in the drilling I 
sew a Stout whipcord loop, about six inches 
long. Through these I drive improvised 
‘tent pegs—if the tent needs a bracer, I tie 
one of the tump lines, or pack ropes, to 
the ridge pole and also to some near-by 
tree or bush. 
The weight of these one-man tents is 
just three and a-half pounds, and the cost 
may vary from $2.50 to $4, according to 
where you have it made. The life of such 
a shelter is about six months’ steady wear, 
day after day, and with frequent puttings 
up and takings down—at least that is the 
average with mine, but I do not recollect 
one that died a natural death, if I may be 
permitted the expression. They all came 
to grief either by fire or water, or by woods 
or deer mice. I lost one nearly new one by 
wrapping up some bacon in it and going off 
for the night to visit a surveyor’s camp some 
two miles across the prairie. The man I 
sent next morning fo fetch it said he killed 
sixty deer mice in it, but by the look of the 
remnant some five hundred odd must have 
escaped his boot heel. 
A tent of drilling that will hold four men 
comfortably should not weigh more than 
ten pounds. I would not take a canvas 
tent on a long, difficult trip, as such tents 
weigh too much, but for a stationary en- 
campment they are, perhaps, to be pre- 
ferred to those of less substantial material. 
Even so, a tent of drilling with a fly will 
weigh less than one of heavy canvas and 
keep out more cold or heat. 
The tent is peculiarly the habitation of 
the wandering Anglo-Saxon, and many 
RECREATION 
other races have excellent substitutes for it. 
In the East Indies I have slept under a 
shelter made of the leaves of the talipot 
palm, that shed heavy tropical rain better, 
or at least as well, as a slate roof. When a 
lot of natives are traveling each one carries 
a large single leaf of this palm. At night 
six poles with forks are cut and driven into 
the ground, three at each end of the pro- 
posed shelter, the two center ones being the 
longest to serve as supports for the ridge 
pole. Three long, straight poles are laid on 
these six crotches and the talipot leaves 
used as a thatch. Roaring fires are built 
opposite each side and end to keep away 
wild beasts, and a more comfortable en- 
campment no man need ask for. But such 
a shelter would not do for a Canadian 
winter camp, as the fire would be too far — 
away and there is nothing to break the 
fotce of the wind. 
When one has decided to remain in any 
one locality for a few weeks it is often best 
to build a rough log cabin. Four men will 
build a good one in a day, and then you 
may bid defiance to every storm that blows. 
But do not copy the absurd cabins seen in 
various works purporting to instruct the 
tyro in the art of woodcraft. There is 
absolutely no need to have the walls as 
high as those of a small house, and such 
a camp takes far too long to build and is, 
moreover, difficult to heat. For a double 
log camp, make the walls four feet high at 
the sides, with the twin ridge poles not over 
six feet in the clear. Have your door at 
one end and your open fireplace in the 
center, with bunks just far enough from it 
to allow the cook fair play, but not so far 
that you cannot enjoy the grateful heat as 
you lie smoking the evening pipe and yarn- 
ing with your companions. A sheathing 
of birchbark adds greatly to the warmth of 
such a camp, but bark will not peel well after 
July, so that it is not always possible to so 
finish a camp. 
A single log camp to hold two, or three 
men at most is made as follows: A straight 
wall of logs some six feet high is built, the 
other three sides being composed of log 
walls not more than three feet in height. 
The door is cut out of one side, and poles 
laid from the back to the front at a fairly 
steep slant. The roof and ends above the 

