The beaver-mat camp is a new one and, under favorable conditions, a good
one. Cut your poles the length required for the framework of the sides,
lash them together with the green rootlets of the tamarack or strips of
bark of the papaw, elm, cedar, or the inside bark of the chestnut (_A_,
Fig. 22); then make a bed of browse of any kind handy, but make it in the
manner described for making balsam beds (Fig. 7). You will, of course,
thatch so that when the side is erected it is shingled like a house, the
upper rows overlapping the lower ones. Then lash a duplicate frame over
the browse-padded frame and the side is complete (_B_, Fig. 22). Make the
other side or sides and the roof (_C_, Fig. 22) in the same manner, after
which it is a simple matter to erect your shack (Fig. 22, and _E_, Fig.
22).
Fig. 22. Fig. 23. Fig. 24. Fig. 25. Fig. 26. Fig. 27. Fig. 28.
[Illustration: Shelters adapted to conditions. The beaver-mat and the
fagot shack.]
The great advantage of this sort of shelter is that it is much easier to
do your thatching on the ground than on standing walls, and also, when
done, it is so compact as to be practically water-proof.