THE ART OF CAMPING 
and the meshes small; where the snow is 
damp and heavy, as is generally the case 
near the sea, the webbing will be coarse. 
The finer web gives the better result, but is 
impracticable where the snow balls through 
being moist. 
There is but one way to tie the snowshoe 
string—which is or should be of smoke- 
tanned moose or caribou or deer hide—so 
that it will permit of free movement and yet 
never allow the shoe to slip off. The attach- 
ment is shown in the accompanying sketch. 
To tighten the thong, only necessary until 
the leather is fully stretched, just twist it 
until the requisite tension has been gained. 
An expert seldom needs to handle the thong 
when getting into or out of his snowshoe; a 
twist of the ankle does the trick. Shoes are 
always better left outside the camp, but you 
must see to it that none of the smaller ro- 
dents or dogs get a chance to gnaw the web- 
bing. Strings when new had best be treated 
to a’ little preliminary stretching; so soak 
them in hot water, and then hang to dry 
with ten pound weights at theirends. When 
almost dry, rub in melted tallow, or suet, 
and you should then have little trouble 
through stretched strings. Otherwise, your 
life will be made miserable for many days, 
for moose hide, though beautifully soft, is 
very easily stretched. 
XI.—AIDs TO VISION 
Each Indian, when young, carries a tele- 
scope in his head. His eyesight is very keen 
and, moreover, it is a trained eyesight. The 
tenderfoot looks for a statuésque deer, such 
- as Landseer painted, but the Indian for a 
brown or red blur that is as inconspicuous 
as possible. So he sees game much farther 
off than his white brother, and thereby gets 
a tremendous reputation for keenness of 
sight that is, in part, not merited. The 
white hunter can, however, by the aid of his 
magic, see game infinitely farther than the 
439 
keenest dusky hunter of them all. He may 
choose one of the new prism glasses, or do 
as does the Scotch stalker, carry a telescope 
of from 18 to 30 power, though the latter, 
being somewhat of a load, is generally, in 
point of.fact, toted by the gillie, or guide, as 
KAA 
sae 
7 OOO07R \/\ 

METHOD OF TYING A SNOWSHOE STRING 
he would be called over here. Personally, I 
prefer an ordinary field glass having a power 
of not more than ro, as if of too high power 
it must be steadied on some fixed support. 
A magnification of ro brings an animal that 
is 200 yards away seemingly to 20 yards, 
which is enough for all practical purposes. 
Moreover, the high power glasses are dark 
in proportion to their power, and this mili- 
tates against their usefulness in poor lights. 
It is not always that the article that will seem 
the best when tested under favorable condi- 
tions carries out the promise made when 
tried under the adverse ones that naturally 
occur frequently in sport. 
With these few hints on camping I must 
bring my papers to a close, as the editor has 
a long list of experienced and entertaining 
writers eagerly awaiting their turns to speak 
a few brief words in season. I can only hope 
that my readers have derived half as much 
information out of these contributions as I 
have enjoyed pleasure in writing them. No 
one, I am sure, appreciates their shortcom- 
ings more than myself. 
THE END 
