Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

96 CAMPING AND WOODCRAFTGoing there, you have ascended a distance equal tothe height of your eye from the ground. Many ap^plications of this method will suggest themselves.I do not give more elaborate processes of measureing and leveling, because the simple ones heredescribed are accurate enough for a woodsman'spurposes, and they take little time or trouble.Time.—A leaf of an almanac for the month youare out is useful in case your watch runs down.The JVorld Ahnanac shows the time of rising andsetting of sun and moon for four different zonesfrom the Atlantic to the Pacific. These, of course,are dependable only when you can observe them ona level horizon ; but the time when the sun is in thezenith (directly overhead) is also given for everyday in the year, on the meridian of Washington, andyou can allow for the difference in time whereveryou may be. The sun is in the zenith when astraight pole casts its shortest shadow.A practical sundial is easily extem.porized bysweeping of¥ a level place and planting in it a 5-footstick slanted toward the north by compass. Nailthe stick to a stout stake driven under it,so it cannotbe moved, and sharpen the upper end so as to casta finely tapered shadow. When the sun shines, take5^our watch and stick a peg at the end of the shadowfor each even hour. Subdivisions of the hour canbe marked by shorter pegs. In a fixed camp sucha sundial is handy near the cook's fire. Often Ihave boiled my three-minute eggs by one. If thepegs are altered every week they will indicate nearenough actual sun time for practical purposes.