Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

PREFACEaround a camp-fire proclaim the superiority of theirkits with a jealousy, loyalty, and enthusiasm theywould not exhibit for the flesh of their flesh andthe bone of their bone. On a campaign you mayattack a man's courage, the flag he serves, the newspaperfor which he works, his intelligence, or hiscamp manners, and he will Ignore you ; but If youcriticise his patent water-bottle he will fall uponyou with both fists."Yet all of us who spend much time in the woodsare keen to learn about the other fellow's " kinks."And field equipment is a most excellent hobby toamuse one during the shut-in season. I knownothing else that so restores the buoyant optimismof youth as overhauling one's kit and planning tripsfor the next vacation. Solomon himself knew theheart of man no better than that fine old sportsmanwho said to me *' It isn't the fellow who's catchinglots of fish and shooting plenty of game that's havingthe good time: it's the chap who's getting readyto do it."I must thank the public for the favor It showedmy Book of Camping and Woodcraft, which passed,with slight revision, through seven editions in tenyears. For a long time I have wished to expand thework and bring it up to date. As there is a welldefinedboundary between the two subjects of campingand woodcraft. It has seemed best to devote aseparate volume to each. The first of these is hereoffered, to be followed as soon as practicable by theother, which will deal chiefly with such shifts andexpedients as are learned or practised in the wildernessitself, where we have nothing to choose frombut the raw materials that lie around us.Acknowledgments are due to the D. T. AbercrombleCo.,New York, the Abercromble & FitchCo., New York, and the New York Sporting GoodsCo.,for permission to reproduce certain illustrationsof tents and other equipment.This book had its origin in a series of articles