Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

TRIPS AFOOTI03to clean.The kettles must not be too big to stowin the knapsack. Anywa}^ when one is going afoothe does not want to bothei with food that takeslong boiling, and so has no use for a large kettle,1 choose two I -quart aluminum buckets, which canbe bought through any dealer in kitchen ware, fillthem with part of my foodstuffs, set them bottomto bottom, and tie them tightly in a bag so thatthe covers w^ill not come off. So there is no wastespace, for the food must go somewhere, anyway.The kettles are good protection for perishables.Thus no sooty vessel goes inside another, and youhave a package of small diameter.A seamless tin cup is carried wherever convenient,generally outside the pack, where it can be gotat when one is thirsty. Aluminum is much too hotfor cup and spoon. The complete kit weighs just2 lbs. 2 oz. including bags. No table knife is carried,as I w^ear a sheath knife.Tools, etc.—In summer the little i2-ouncetomahawk already mentioned is all that is needed inthat line, its chief uses being to get kindling m wetweather, provide poles and thatch for shelter, blazea trail, and so on. A small pair of side-cuttingfliers is well worth its weight, if you are a fisherman.The first aid kit mentioned in the following listsIS made up as described in Vol. I. (p. 175), with theaddition of a "snake doctor'* which consists of ahard rubber tube, about half the size of a fountainpen, in one end of which is a lancet (very dull asyou buy it) and in the other a receptacle containingpotassium permanganate in crystals ready to berubbed into the incision. There is also a pair ofsplinter forceps. The w^hole goes in a tin tobacco box,4^x3 j^xi^ inches, sealed airtight with adhesiveplaster, and weighs 5 ounces.Other small "icta" wnll vary according to one'spersonal taste and requirements. The point is tohave them compact and of unnoticeable weight.For a trip afoot there is no need of a whole SDooI