236 Note- Taking and the Use of Maps, Etc. — Foerste. 
is clerical work of the simplest order, some school boy or girl 
may be readily entrusted with this indexing at a very reason- 
able expense. 
For use in the field a 6 H. Faber lead pencil has been found 
the best, both for marking the map and for writing the notes. 
It will not suffer from rain as would any ink. It will not rub 
nor need as frequent resharpening as would a softer lead pen- 
cil, and if good white linen paper note book be used, it is 
readily legible. Linen paper has the additional advantage of 
being very strong, holding the maps pasted in the same firmly, 
and does not suffer as readily from the rain. The note book 
itself should be covered by undyed leather even if its general 
appearance be less prepossessing, since rains will come unex- 
pectedly and dyes will penetrate the leaves. 
The best compass is one in which the degrees are marked 
at the N. and S. poles and then are numbered both toward the 
E. and W., forming four quadrants numbered from to 90. 
All strikes should be referred to the N. pole, for instance, 
either N. 30 W. or N. 30 E., never S. 30 E. or S. 30 W. This 
obviates many slips made in counting up the number of degrees 
variation on a compass numbered up to 360 degrees, making 
a desperate effort to remember a few moments later whether 
at that particular moment you were standing with your face 
towards the N. or towards the S. The bar holding the needle 
when not in use should be controlled by a spring managed by 
pressure on the outside, and not by a screw, as in the larger 
instruments in use, since the screw arrangement sometimes 
leaves the bar neatly poised in some position holding the 
needle, from which very rough shaking, spoiling the delicate 
mounting of a good needle, will alone bring it down. 
Maps too large or too small may easily be redrawn by use of 
the pentagraph, and be arranged for any desired size. Exten- 
sion dividers are of great use in filling in more or less by free 
hand drawing, details from some other map. Blue prints may 
be used to directly copy the larger maps. 
While to the uninitiated the system here described ma}^ 
seem a complex one on account of the length of space required 
to describe the same, five minutes practice with some note 
book prepared for the purpose will make the beginner as 
expert as the one who may have used this system for years. 
Tlie letters of the alphabet here suggested for use can readily 
