Camping and woodcraft - Scoutmastercg.com

TYPES OF LIGHT TENTS 81Nos. 5 and 6 in placing the wall loop pins. After all thepins are placed they are driven home, all assisting.isThis takes a long time to describe, but the thingdone in a jiffy.Teepees.— The teepee (pronounced tee-pee) ofthe plains Indians was an admirable shelter for thecountry they roamed over. Being of conical shape,and erected on a set of inside poles meeting at the topand with their butts radiating in every direction, itwas proof against anything but a tornado. A verysmall fire in the center sufficed to keep it warm, andthe smoke was wafted out of a hole at the top by aningenious arrangement of flaps set according to thedirection of the wind, in combination with an innercurtain around the bottom of the teepee, a littlehigher than a man's head, with its lower edge confinedlike a sod-cloth. The draught, entering freelythrough the gaps between tent pegs, emerged at topof curtain, and was drawn " a-fluking " upward bythe warm current of air from the fire.* It has beenin a teepeesaid that no white man can manage a firewithout smoking the occupants out. This is anerror: I have done it myself; but I had the best ofdry wood in plenty, and I gave that fire more attentionthan it deserved.The beauty of the teepee is that there is no centerpole in the way. However, it needs at least ninelodge poles, and they should be slender, stiff, andstraight. This rules it out of consideration by campersgenerally. Remember, too, that the real Indianimpermeable to wind andteepee was made of skins,proof against sparks. Under modern conditions, ifyou must have a fire in your tent, use a stove.Pyramidal Tents.— For a party of only two orthree, traveling light, in a region where trees andsaplings are scarce, as on the plains, or the coast, orin the mountains above timber-line, and where storms* For details and illustrations see Edward Cave's The Boy'sCamp Book, pp. 31-33-