of the British Isles according to the months.
"Beasts of the Field" by William J. Luy. (Pub. Ginn & Co.).
"Countryside," weekly, Illustrated, 1d.
"Wild Sports of the Highlands," by C. St. John. (Murray.)
"I Go A-walking Through Lanes and Meadows." Photos and short accounts of
English birds. Rev. C. Johns. (Foulis.)
* "The Jungle Book," by Rudyard Kipling.
"Jock of the Bushveld," by Sir Percy Fitz Patrick. A story of big game
hunting in S. Africa, and the active part that "Jock" the terrier played
in it.
PLAY.
"The Wild Animal Play." By Mrs. E. Thompson Seton. A musical play in
which the parts of Lobo, Waahb, and Vixen are taken by boys and girls.
Price 6d. Published by Doubleday, Page & Co., 133 East 16th Street, New
York City, U.S.A.
CAMP-FIRE YARN.--No. 10.
PLANTS.
Trees and their leaves--Eatable Plants--Practices and games
connected with Plants--Books about Plants.
TREES.
Although they are not animals, trees are things about which scouts
should know something. Very often a scout has to describe country which
he has seen, and if he says it is "well-wooded" it would often be of
great importance that the reader of his report should know what kind of
trees the woods were composed of.
For instance, if the wood were of fir or larch trees it would mean you
could get poles for building bridges; if it were palm trees you know you
could get cocoa-nuts (or dates if they were date palms), and the palm
juice for drinking. Willow trees mean water close by.
Or if pine woods or sugar bush or gum-trees it would mean lots of good
fuel. And he must know a poplar tree by sight, so as not to use poplar
wood in camp if there are any old scouts present--they have a
superstition that poplar brings bad luck.
A scout should, therefore, make a point of learning the names and
appearances of the trees in his country.
He should get hold of a leaf of each kind and compare it with the leaf
on the tree.
[Illustration: Oak.]
[Illustration: Elm.]
[Illustration: Poplar.]
[Illustration: Plane.]
[Illustration: Sycamore.]
[Illustration: Ash.]
[Illustration: Spanish Chestnut.]
Horse chestnut is not so called because horses like the chestnuts, but
because it has on the bark of its smaller branches small marks like
horse-shoes with all the nails in them; and then get to know the general
shape and appearance of each kind of tree, so as to be able to recognise
it at a distance, and not only in summer, but also in winter.
The common trees in Great Britain which a scout should know by sight
are:
Oak Poplar Holly Beech
Elm Pine Horse Birch
Plane Sycamore Chestnut Spanish
Cedar Larch Ash Chestnut
Fir Willow Lime Walnut
PLANTS.
But especially you ought to know which kinds of plants are useful to you
in providing you with food. Supposing you were out in a jungle without
any food, as very often happens; if you knew nothing about plants you
would probably die of starvation, or of poisoning, from not knowing
which fruit or roots were wholesome and which dangerous to eat.
There are numbers of berries, nuts, roots, barks, and leaves that are
good to eat.
The same with crops of different kinds of corn and seed, vegetable
roots, and even grasses and vetches. Seaweed is much eaten in Ireland
(Sloke) and Scotland. Certain kinds of moss are also used as food.
HINTS FOR INSTRUCTOR.
_PRACTICES._
_Take out scouts to get specimens of leaves, fruits, or blossoms of
various trees, shrubs, etc., and observe the shape and nature of the
tree both in summer and in winter._
_Collect leaves of different trees; let scouts make tracings of them and
write the name of the tree on each._
_In the country make scouts examine crops in all stages of their growth
so that they know pretty well by sight what kind of crop is coming up._
_Start gardens, if possible, either a patrol garden or individual
scout's garden. Let them grow flowers and vegetables for profit to pay
for their equipment, etc._
_Show all the wild plants which may be made use of for food._
_COMPETITIONS AND GAMES._
_Marks towards a Badge of Honour may be awarded to first-class scouts
for collection of not less than twenty-five kinds of leaf--pressed, with
names neatly written against them. Marks, 3; or the leaves may be drawn
on paper. Marks awardable, 4._
_Prize for best window-box of flowers planted and grown by the scout
himself._
GAMES.
PLANT RACE.
Start off your scouts, either cycling or on foot, to go in any direction
they like, to get a specimen of any ordered plant, say a sprig of yew, a
shoot of ilex, a horseshoe mark from a chestnut-tree, a briar rose, or
something of that kind, whichever you may order, such as will tax their
knowledge of plants and will test their memory as to where they noticed
one of the kind required, and will also make them quick in getting there
and back.
BOOKS TO READ.
"School Gardening," by W. E. Watkins, 2s. (Philip & Son.)
PLAY.
THE DIAMOND THIEF.
(Best performed in the open air and in dumbshow.)
A party of prospectors have been out into the wild country in South
Africa, and have found a magnificent diamond. They are now making their
way back to civilization with it. Horse-sickness has killed off their
horses, and so they are doing the journey on foot, carrying their
blankets, food, and cooking pots.
As the heat of the day comes on they camp for the day, meaning to push
on again at night. They rig up blanket-tents and light fires and cook
their food, weave mattresses, sing songs of home, play cards, etc. The
diamond is taken out of the sardine tin in which it is kept for all to
look at and admire. It is then put carefully back. The box is placed out
in the open where it can be seen and one man is told off as a sentry to
guard it. The remainder have their food, and then gradually lie down to
sleep. When the camp is all still, the sentry gets tired of standing and
presently sits down and begins to nod.
While he is dozing the diamond thief sneaks into sight, creeps near to
the camp, and crouches, watching the sleeping man; when the sentry wakes
up for a moment with a start the thief crouches flat.
Eventually the sentry reclines and goes to sleep. Inch by inch the thief
creeps up, till he stealthily removes the sentry's gun (or pistol) out
of his reach; then he swiftly glides up to the diamond-box, seizes it,
and sneaks quickly away, without being discovered, dodges about, walks
backward, and wipes out his tracks as he goes in order to confuse
pursuers.
The leader wakes with a yawn, and, when looking round, starts when he
sees there is no sentry standing about. He springs up, rushes to the
sleeping sentry, shakes him up, and asks him where is the diamond.
Sentry wakes up confused and scared. Remainder wake and crowd angrily
together threatening and questioning the sentry.
When one suddenly sees the footprints of the thief he follows in jerks
of a few paces; along the trail the rest follow and help to pick it up,
first one and then another finding it till they go off the scene. The
leader is about to follow them when he stops, and waves them onward, and
then turns back to the sentry who is standing stupefied. He hands him a
pistol and hints to him that having ruined his friends by his
faithlessness, he may as well shoot himself. The leader then turns to
follow the rest, looking about for them. A shout is heard in the
distance just as the guilty sentry is putting the pistol to his
head--the leader stops him from shooting himself. And both stand
listening to shouts in the distance.
Remainder of the men return bringing in with them the thief and the
diamond all safe.
They then sit round in a semicircle, the leader on a mound or box in the
centre with the diamond in front of him. The thief standing with arms
bound, is tried and condemned to be shot. He goes away a few paces and
sits down with his back to the rest and thinks over his past life.
They then try the sentry, and condemn him as a punishment for his
carelessness to shoot the thief.
All get up. They start to dig a grave. When ready, the thief is made to
stand up, his eyes are bound. The sentry takes a pistol and shoots him.
Remainder then bring a blanket and lift the dead man into it and carry
him to the grave--to the opposite side from the audience so that
everyone can see the "body" lowered into the grave. They then withdraw
the blanket, fill in the grave, and trample the earth down. All shake
hands with the sentry to show that they forgive him.
Pack up camp, put out fire, and continue their journey with the diamond.
N.B.--The grave is managed thus: A hole must be previously prepared
rather near to the edge of the scena. Then a tunnel must be made by
which the "corpse" can creep out of the grave and get away underground.
This is done by digging a trench and roofing it with boards or hurdles
and covering it over with earth and turf again, so that the audience
will not notice it. The grave, too, is made in the same way, but
shallower and partly filled up with sods; the diggers remove the top
earth, then, hidden by the rest crowding round, they remove the board
and pile up the sods on the surface. As soon as the corpse is lowered
into the grave he creeps away down the tunnel, and so goes off the scene
The diggers throw in some earth, jump down and trample it, then pile up
the sods on top till they make a nice, looking grave.
The whole thing wants careful rehearsing beforehand, but is most
effective when well done, especially if accompanied by sympathetic
music.
It is a good thing to use for an open air show to attract a crowd when
raising funds for your troop.
SCOUTING FOR BOYS.
PART III.
will be published on February 12th, 1908,
at FOURPENCE.
_CONTENTS_--
Chapter IV.--CAMP LIFE.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 11.--PIONEERING.
" " " NO. 12.--CAMPING.
" " " NO. 13.--COOKING.
PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAY.
BOOKS ON CAMP LIFE.
Chapter V.--CAMPAIGNING;
or, Work in the Woods and Plains.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 14.--LIFE IN THE OPEN.
" " " NO. 15.--PATHFINDING.
" " " NO. 16.--INFORMATION BY
SIGNAL.
PRACTICES. GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAY.
BOOKS ON CAMPAIGNING.
Published by HORACE COX, Windsor House,
Bream's Buildings, London, E.C.
CONTENTS OF THE PARTS.
PART I.
SCOUTCRAFT AND SCOUT LAW, giving the
Duties of Boy Scouts, their Secret Signs,
Laws, Badges, War Dance, etc.
PART II.
OBSERVATION AND TRACKING.
WOODCRAFT AND KNOWLEDGE OF ANIMALS.
PART III.
CAMPAIGNING AND CAMP LIFE.
PIONEERING AND RESOURCEFULNESS.
PART IV.
ENDURANCE AND HEALTH.
CHIVALRY AND BRAVE DEEDS.
DISCIPLINE.
PART V.
SAVING LIFE AND FIRST-AID.
PATRIOTISM AND LOYALTY.
PART VI.
SCOUTING GAMES, COMPETITIONS, AND PLAYS.
WORDS TO INSTRUCTORS.
Part III. FORTNIGHTLY. Price 4d. net.
SCOUTING
FOR BOYS
LIEUT GEN.
BADEN POWELL C.B.
PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX, WINDSOR HOUSE,
BREAM'S BUILDINGS, LONDON, E.C.
Scouting for Boys.
A HANDBOOK FOR INSTRUCTION
IN
GOOD CITIZENSHIP,
BY
Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
_All communications should be addressed to_--
LIEUT.-GENERAL BADEN-POWELL,
BOY SCOUTS' OFFICE,
GOSCHEN BUILDINGS,
HENRIETTA STREET,
LONDON, W.C.
_by whom Scouts will be enrolled, and from where
all further information can be obtained._
Copyrighted by Lieut.-General R. S. S. BADEN-POWELL, C.B., F.R.G.S.
1908.
_All rights reserved._
PART III
CONTENTS: CHAPTER IV.
CAMP LIFE.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
11.--PIONEERING: Knot-tying; Hut-making; Felling Trees; Bridging;
Measurements; Handicrafts.
12.--CAMPING: Comfort in Camp; Camp Fires; Tidiness; Camp Orders.
13.--COOKING: Cooking; Bread-making; Driving Cattle; Cleanliness; Water.
PRACTICES, GAMES, COMPETITIONS, Etc.
BOOKS TO READ ON CAMP LIFE.
CONTENTS: CHAPTER V.
(_Commences on page 172._)
CAMPAIGNING.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
CAMP FIRE YARNS.
14.--LIFE IN THE OPEN: On the Veldt; Exploring; Boating; Watermanship;
Mountaineering; Patrolling; Night Work; Weather Wisdom.
15.--PATHFINDING: Finding the Way; Judging Heights and Distances;
Finding the North.
16.--SIGNALLING INFORMATION: Hidden Information; Signalling; Whistle and
Flag Signals.
PRACTICES, GAMES, and COMPETITIONS IN CAMPAIGNING.
BOOKS ON CAMPAIGNING.
CHAPTER IV.
CAMP LIFE.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 11.
PIONEERING.
Knot-tying--Hutmaking--Felling
Trees--Bridging--Measurements--Handicrafts.
Pioneers are men who go ahead to open up a way in the jungles or
elsewhere for those coming after them.
When I was on service on the West Coast of Africa I had command of a
large force of native scouts, and, like all scouts, we tried to make
ourselves useful in every way to our main army. So not only did we look
out for the enemy and watch his moves, but we also did what we could to
improve the road for our own army, since it was merely a narrow track
through thick jungle and swamps. That is, we became pioneers as well as
scouts. In the course of our march, we built nearly two hundred bridges
of timber over streams. But when I first set the scouts to do this most
important work I found that, out of the thousand men, a great many did
not know how to use an axe to cut down the trees, and, except one
company of about sixty men, none knew how to make knots--even bad knots.
So they were quite useless for building bridges, as this had to be done
by tying poles together.
So every scout ought to be able to tie knots.
To tie a knot seems to be a simple thing, and yet there are right ways
and wrong ways of doing it, and scouts ought to know the right way. Very
often it may happen that lives depend on a knot being properly tied.
The right kind of knot to tie is one which you can be certain will hold
under any amount of strain, and which you can always undo easily if you
wish to.
[Illustration: Pioneering Scouts in Ashanti.]
A bad knot, which is called a "granny," is one which slips away when a
hard pull comes on it, or which gets jammed so tight that you cannot
untie it.
The following are useful knots which every scout ought to know, and
ought to use whenever he is tying string or rope, etc.
[Illustration: 1.--Reef Knot, for tying ropes together.]
[Illustration: 2.--Sheet Bend, for tying two rope ends together.]
[Illustration: 3.--Clove Hitch, for fastening a rope to a pole.]
[Illustration: 4.--Two Half-Hitches to make a rope fast to a pole with a
sliding loop.]
5.--Bowline, for making a loop that will not slip, such at you tie round
a man when you want to rescue him from fire, etc.
[Illustration: First step in the bowline.]
[Illustration: Second step in the bowline.]
[Illustration: 6.--Overhand Knot.]
[Illustration: 7.--Middleman's Knot.]
[Illustration: NOTE.--In the above diagrams this means the end of the
rope.]
[Illustration: This means the continuation of the rope.]
[Illustration: Rope.]
We had no rope with us in West Africa, so we used the strong creeping
plants, and also used thin withes or long whippy sticks which we made
still more pliant or bendable by holding one end under foot and twisting
the other round and round with our hands. The best wood for withes in
England is willow or hazel. You see them used for binding faggots of
wood together. You cannot tie all knots with them as with rope--but they
can generally make a timber hitch; or this withe knot.
HUT BUILDING.
To live comfortably in camp a scout must know how to make a bivouac
shelter for the night, or a hut if he is going to be for a long time in
camp.
It all depends on the country and weather as to what sort of shelter you
put up.
In making your roof, whether of branches of fir-trees, or of grass or
reeds, etc., put them on as you would do tiles or slates, beginning at
the bottom so that the upper overlap the lower ones and thus run off the
rain without letting it through.
Notice which direction the wind generally blows from and put the back of
your shelter that way with your fire in front of it.
The simplest shelter is to plant two forked sticks firmly in the ground,
and rest a cross bar on them as ridge-pole. Then lean other poles
against it, or a hurdle or branches, and thatch it with grass, etc.
Or another good way, and quicker, is to cut one pole only and lean it
against a tree, binding its end there; then thatch it with branches or
brushwood, etc.
Where you have no poles available you can do as the South African
natives do--pile up a lot of brushwood, heather, etc., into a small wall
made in semi-circle to keep out the cold wind; and make your fire in the
open part.
If your tent or hut is too hot in the sun, put blankets or more straw,
etc., over the top. The thicker the roof the cooler is the tent in
summer. If it is too cold, make the bottom of the walls thicker, or
build a small wall of sods about a foot high round the foot of the wall
outside. Never forget to dig a good drain all round your hut, so that if
heavy rain comes in the night your floor will not get flooded from
outside.
[Illustration: Framework of a Bivouac Shelter, to be thatched with
brushwood or grass. A second lean-to roof on opposite side of ridge pole
will then make a hut.]
Zulus make their huts by planting in the ground a circle of long whippy
sticks standing upright, then they bend the tops all down towards the
centre and tie them together, then they weave more whippy sticks round
in and out of the uprights horizontally until they have made a kind of
circular bird-cage, this they then cover with a straw mat or thatch, or
with straw woven into the sticks. Sometimes a small hole is left at the
top where all the sticks join, to act as a chimney.
[Illustration: Hut.]
The Red Indians make their "Tee Pee" with several poles tied together in
the form of a pyramid, and over these they pass a piece of canvas, which
at a little distance looks like a bell tent.
FELLING TREES.
A scout must know how to use an axe or bill-hook for chopping down small
trees and branches.
The way to cut down a tree is first to chop out a chunk of wood near the
bottom of the stem on that side to which you want the tree to fall, then
go round to the other side, and chop away on the opposite side of the
stem a few inches above the first cut until the tree topples over. It is
a matter of practice to become a wood-cutter, but you have to be very
careful at first lest in chopping you miss the tree and chop your own
leg.
HOW TO MAKE BRIDGES.
As I told you before, my scouts in Ashanti, when also acting as
pioneers, had to build nearly two hundred bridges--and they had to make
them out of any kind of material that they could find on the spot.
There are many ways of making bridges. In the Army they are generally
made of poles lashed together. In India, in the Himalaya Mountains the
natives make bridges out of three ropes stretched across the river and
connected together every few yards by V-shaped sticks, so that one rope
forms the footpath and the other two make the handrail on each side.
They are jumpy kind of bridges to walk across, but they take you over;
and they are easily made.
[Illustration: How to Fell a Tree.]
The simplest way for bridging a narrow, deep stream is to fell a tree,
or two trees side by side, on the bank, so that they fall across the
stream. With an adze you then flatten the topside; put up a hand-rail,
and there you have a very good bridge.
Rafts, too, can be used. You build your raft alongside the bank, in the
water if the river is shallow; on the bank if deep. When it is finished
you hold on to the down stream end, push the other out from the bank and
let the stream carry it down into position.
[Illustration: Rope Bridge.]
SELF MEASURES.
Every pioneer should know his exact personal measurement in the
following details (of which I give the average man's measure):
Nail joint of forefinger, or breath of 1 inch.
thumb
Span of thumb and forefinger 8 inches.
Span of thumb and little finger or other 9 inches.
finger
(This also gives you the length of your
foot).
Wrist to elbow 10 inches.
Elbow to tip of forefinger (called 17 inches.
"cubit")
Middle of kneecap to ground 18 inches.
Extended arms, from finger-tip to finger-tip, is called a fathom and
nearly equals your height.
Pulse beats about 75 times a minute: each beat is a little quicker than
a second.
Pace: A pace is about 2-1/2 feet: about 120 paces equal 100 yards. Fast
walking paces are shorter than when going slow.
Fast walking you walk a mile in 16 minutes, or nearly four miles an
hour.
THE SCOUT IS ALWAYS A HANDY-MAN.
Pioneers are always "handy-men." In the Army the Regimental Pioneers are
the men who in war make bridges and roadways for the troops to get
along; they destroy the enemy's bridges and railways so that he cannot
get away; and they blow up his fortifications so that the rest of the
soldiers can rush in and capture the place, and so on. In peace-time the
pioneers do all the useful jobs in barracks, such as carpentering, doing
plumbers' and painters' work, bricklaying and metal work, making chairs,
tables, bookshelves, etc. So scouts, if they want to be handy pioneers,
should also learn this kind of work; and it will always be useful to
them afterwards.
Also scouts must know how to mend and even to make themselves clothes
and boots. I have made myself boots as well as shoes out of all sorts of
materials, but always wished I had, while a boy, learned to do a bit of
boot-mending from a cobbler.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Start a carpentry class, or instruction in electricity, or plumbing,
elementary engineering, etc., with a view to teaching the boys
handicrafts that may be of real use to them in their future life. If you
do not know enough about it yourself, get a friend to come and
demonstrate with models or instruments for a few evenings._
_Get leave to take the scouts over a factory to study the engines, etc._
_Teach the boys to chop firewood. If they learn to chop up old packing
cases, etc., and make the billets into bundles for the trade, they can
earn a good deal towards their funds._
_Teach them to make wooden mechanical toys, (from one or two penny ones
as models.) Thereby teaching them elementary mechanics, and handiness
with tools._
_PRACTICES._
_Knot-tying should be practised against time, by knot-tying races
between scouts in heats, the losers to pair off again for further heats
till the slowest knot-tyer is found. In this way (which should be used
in other branches of instruction also) the worst performers get the most
practice--and the emulation is just as great to avoid being the worst,
as it would be in striving to be the best, and win a prize._
_Knot-tying races should also be carried out in the dark, the instructor
turning out the light for a few seconds on naming the knot to be tied._
_Hurdle-making by planting a row of upright stakes and weaving in
withes._
_Make models of bridges with scouts' staves, cords, planks out of old
packing cases._
BOOKS TO READ.
"Manual of Military Engineering": War Office Publication.
"Active Service Pocket Book," by Mr. Bertrand Stewart, 3s. 6d. (Clowes
and Son.)
"Romance of Engineering and Mechanism," 5s. (Published by Seely and Co.)
"How it Works." Showing how such things work as steam engines, motors,
vacuum brakes, telephones, telegraphs, etc.
1s. books on Carpentering, Joinery, Engine-driving, etc.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 12.
CAMPING.
Comfort in Camp--Useful Tricks and Dodges--Camp Fires and all about
them--Tidiness.
COMFORT IN CAMP.
Some people talk of "roughing it" in camp. Those people are generally
"tenderfoots"; an old backwoodsman doesn't rough it, he knows how to
look after himself and to make himself comfortable by a hundred little
dodges. For instance if there are no tents he doesn't sit down to shiver
and grouse, but at once sets to work to rig up a shelter or a hut for
himself. He chooses a good spot for it where he is not likely to be
flooded out if a storm of rain were to come on. Then he lights up a camp
fire and makes himself a comfortable mattress of ferns or straw. An old
scout is full of resource, that is he can find a way out of any
difficulty or discomfort. He is full of "dodges," like the boy who had
to rap on the door with the knocker which he could not reach. He showed
resourcefulness.
A bivouac is a halt without tents and generally is not meant to last for
many hours; a camp generally means a resting place with tents or huts to
live in.
There are many ways of making a comfortable bed in camp, but always if
possible have some kind of covering over the ground between your body
and the earth, especially after wet weather. Cut grass or straw or
bracken are very good things to lay down thickly where you are going to
lie, but if you cannot get any of these and are obliged to lie on the
ground, do not forget before lying down to make a small hole about the
size of a tea-cup in which your hip joint will rest when you are lying
on your side; it makes all the difference for sleeping comfortably. A
very comfortable bed, almost a spring mattress, is made in Canada by
cutting a large number of tops of the fir-tree branches and planting
them upright in the ground as close together as possible, like bristles
in a brush, so close that when you lie down on them they form a
comfortable and springy couch.
[Illustration: Resourcefulness in Doing a Good Turn.]
Remember when sleeping in camp the secret of keeping warm is to have as
many blankets _underneath_ you as you have above you. If a patrol were
sleeping round a fire you would all lie with your feet towards it like
the spokes of a wheel. If your blankets do not keep you sufficiently
warm, put straw or bracken over yourselves and newspapers if you have
them. It is also a good tip in cold weather, if you have not
sufficiently warm clothing, to put a newspaper under your coat or
waistcoat up your back and round your body, it will be as good as a
great-coat in giving you extra warmth.
To make a bed, cut four poles--two of seven feet, two of three--lay them
on the ground so as to form the edges.
[Illustration: Bed.]
Cut four pegs, two feet long, and sharpen, drive them into the ground at
the four corners to keep the poles in place.
Cut down a fir tree; cut off all branches and lay them overlapping each
other like slates on a roof till a thick bed of them is made; the
outside ones underlapping the poles. Cover with a blanket.
To make a mattress you first set up a camp loom (see "Hints to
Instructors," page 163) and weave a mattress out of bracken, ferns,
heather, straw, or grass, etc., six feet long and two feet nine inches
across.
With this same loom you can make grass or straw mats, with which to form
tents, or shelters, or walls, or carpets, etc.
Camp candlesticks can be made by bending a bit of wire into a small
spiral spring; or by using a cleft stick stuck in the wall; or a glass
candle shade can be made by cutting the bottom off a bottle and sticking
it upside down in the ground with a candle stuck into the neck.
[Illustration: Camp Candlesticks.]
The bottom of the bottle may be cut off either by putting about an inch
or an inch and a half of water into the bottle and then standing it in
the embers of the fire till it gets hot and cracks at the water-level.
Or it can be done by passing a piece of string round the body of the
bottle, and drawing it rapidly to and fro till it makes a hot line round
the bottle which then breaks neatly off with a blow or on being immersed
in cold water.
Camp forks can also be made out of wire sharpened at the points.
It is something to know how to sit down in a wet camp. You "squat"
instead of sitting. Natives in India squat on their heels, but this is a
tiring way if you have not done it as a child; though it comes easy if
you put a sloping stone or chock of wood under your heels.
[Illustration: Camp Fork.]
Boers and other camp men squat on one heel. It is a little tiring at
first.
Buttons are always being lost in camp, and it adds greatly to your
comfort to know how to make buttons out of bootlaces or string. This
will be shown to you. Scouts should also be able to carve collar studs
out of wood, bone, or horn.
A great secret of sleeping comfortably in camp is to have a canvas bag
about two feet long by one foot wide into which you pack odds and
ends--or carry empty and fill up with grass or underclothing to form
your pillow at night.
CAMP FIRES.--THE RIGHT WAY OF MAKING THEM.
Before lighting your fire remember always to do as every backwoodsman
does, and that is to cut away or burn all bracken, heather, grass, etc.,
round the fire to prevent its setting light to the surrounding grass or
bush. Many bad bush-fires have been caused by young tenderfoots fooling
about with blazes which they imagined to be camp fires. In burning the
grass for this purpose, (or "ring-burning" as it is called) burn only a
little at a time and have branches of trees or old sacks ready with
which you can beat it out again at once when it has gone far enough.
Scouts should always be on the look-out to beat out a bush-fire that has
been accidentally started at any time as a "good turn" to the owner of
the land or to people who may have herds and crops in danger.
It is no use to learn how to light a fire by hearsay, the only way is to
pay attention to the instructions given you, and then practise laying
and lighting a fire yourself.
In the book called "Two Little Savages," instructions for laying a fire
are given in the following rhyme:
First a curl of birch bark as dry as it can be,
Then some twigs of soft wood dead from off a tree,
Last of all some pine knots to make a kettle foam,
And there's a fire to make you think you're sitting right at home.
[Illustration: Star Fire Ready to Light.]
Remember to begin your fire with a small amount of very small chips or
twigs of really dry dead wood lightly heaped together and a little straw
or paper to ignite it; about this should be put little sticks leaning
together in the shape of a pyramid, and above this bigger sticks
similarly standing on end. When the fire is well alight bigger sticks
can be added, and, finally, logs of wood. A great thing for a cooking
fire is to get a good pile of red hot wood ashes, and if you use three
large logs they should be placed lying on the ground, star-shaped, like
the spokes of a wheel, with their ends centred in the fire. A fire made
in this way need never go out, for as the logs burn away you keep
pushing them towards the centre of the fire, always making fresh red hot
ashes there. This makes a good cooking fire, and also one which gives
very little flame or smoke for the enemy to detect from a distance.
To leave your fire alight at night, cover it over with a heap of ashes
and it will smoulder all night ready for early use in the morning, when
you can easily blow it into a glow.
[Illustration: Camp Grate.]
If you want to keep a fire going all night to show or to warm you, put
good-sized logs end to end star shaped--and one long one reaching to
your hand so that you can push it in from time to time to the centre
without trouble of getting up to stoke the fire.
If coals or wood are difficult to get for making fires at home, don't
forget that old boots which you often find lying about on dustheaps,
make very good fuel.
You can do a good turn to any poor old woman in winter time by
collecting old boots and giving them to her for firing.
Another way to make a good cooking fire is one they use in America.
Drive two stout stakes into the ground about four feet apart, both
leaning a bit backwards. Cut down a young tree with a trunk some fifteen
feet high and ten inches thick; chop it into five-foot lengths; lay
three logs, one on top of another, leaning against the upright stakes.
This forms the back of your fireplace. Two short logs are then laid as
fire-dogs, and a log laid across them as front bar of the fire. Inside
this "grate" you build a pyramid-shaped fire, which then gives out great
heat. The "grate" must, of course, be built so that it faces the wind.
Tongs are useful about a camp-fire, and can be made from a rod of beech
or other tough wood, about four feet long and one inch thick. Shave it
away in the middle to about half its proper thickness, and put this part
into the hot embers of the fire for a few moments, and bend the stick
over till the two ends come together. Then flatten away the inside edges
of the ends so that they have a better grip--and there are your tongs.
A besom is also useful for keeping the camp clean, and can easily be
made with a few sprigs of birch bound tightly round a stake.
DRYING CLOTHES.--You will often get wet through on service, and you will
see recruits remaining in their wet clothes until they get dry again; no
old scout would do so, as that is the way to catch fever and get ill.
When you are wet, take the first opportunity of getting your wet clothes
off and drying them, even though you may not have other clothes to put
on, as happened to me many a time. I have sat naked under a waggon while
my one suit of clothes was drying over a fire. The way to dry clothes
over a fire is to make a fire of hot ashes, and then build a small
beehive-shaped cage of sticks over the fire, and then to hang your
clothes all over this cage, and they will very quickly dry. Also, in hot
weather it is dangerous to sit in your clothes when they have got wet
from your perspiration. On the West Coast of Africa I always carried a
spare shirt, hanging down my back, with the sleeves tied round my neck;
so soon as I halted I would take off the wet shirt I was wearing and put
on the dry, which had been hanging out in the sun on my back. By these
means I never got fever when almost everyone else went down with it.
TIDINESS.
The camp ground should at all times be kept clean and tidy, not only (as
I have pointed out) to keep flies away, but also because if you go away
to another place, and leave an untidy ground behind you, it gives so
much important information to enemy's scouts. For this reason scouts are
always tidy, whether in camp or not, as a matter of habit. If you are
not tidy at home you won't be tidy in camp; and if you're not tidy in
camp you will be only a tenderfoot and no scout.
[Illustration: Right Shoe laced in the Scout's Way.]
[_One end of the lace is knotted under the lowest outside hole, and the
lace is brought through and threaded downwards through the opposite
hole; it is then taken up to the top. The dotted part of the lace is the
part which lies underneath the shoe and is not visible._]
A scout is tidy also in his tent or room, because he may yet be suddenly
called upon to go off on an alarm, or something unexpected: and if he
does not know exactly where to lay his hand on his things he will be a
long time in turning out, especially if called up in the middle of the
night. So on going to bed, even when at home, practise the habit of
folding up your clothes and putting them where you can at once find them
in the dark and get into them quietly.
A scout even ties his shoe laces neatly--in fact they are not tied, but
are wove through the eyelet holes from top of the boot downwards, and so
need no tying.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_CAMP ORDERS._
_In going into camp it is essential to have a few "Standing Orders"
published, which can be added to from time to time if necessary. These
should be carefully explained to patrol leaders, who should then be held
fully responsible that their scouts carry them out exactly._
_Such orders might point out that each patrol will camp separately from
the others, and there will be a comparison between the respective
cleanliness and good order of tents and surrounding ground._
_Patrol leaders to report on the good work or otherwise of their scouts,
which will be recorded in the scoutmaster's book of marks._
_Rest time for one hour and a half in middle of day._
_Bathing under strict supervision to prevent non-swimmers getting into
dangerous water._
_"Bathing piquet of two good swimmers will be on duty while bathing is
going on, and ready to help any boy in distress. This piquet will be in
the boat (undressed) with greatcoats on. They may only bathe when the
general bathing is over and the last of the bathers has left the
water."_
_Orders as what is to be done in case of fire alarm._
_Orders as to boundaries of grounds to be worked over, damages to
fences, property, etc._
[Illustration: Latrine, with screens across.]
CAMP LATRINES.--_A simple trench should be dug, one foot wide, two and a
half feet deep, for the user to squat astride. Straw mats or canvas
screens to be put up across the trench every four feet to secure
privacy_ _between the users. (N.B.--This is an important point in
education.) Side screens to hide the latrine from outside view._
_PRACTICES._
TO MAKE A CAMP LOOM.--Plant a row of five stakes, 2ft. 6in., firmly in
the ground; opposite to them, at a distance of 6ft. to 7ft., drive in a
row of from two to five stakes. Fasten a cord or gardener's twine to the
head of each stake in No. 1 row and stretch it to the corresponding
stake in No. 2 and make it fast there, then carry the continuation of it
back over No. 1 row for some 5ft. extra, and fasten it to a loose
crossbar or "beam" at exactly the same distances apart from the next
cord as it stands at the stakes. This beam is then moved up and down at
slow intervals by one scout, while the remainder lay bundles of fern or
straw, etc., in layers alternately under and over the stretched strings,
which are thus bound in by the rising or falling on to them.
[Illustration: Camp Loom, for making Mats and Mattresses.]
If in camp, practise making different kinds of beds.
If indoors, make camp candlesticks, lamps, forks, tongs, buttons,
besoms.
If outdoors, practise laying and lighting fires.
Make scouts lace shoes neatly on the principle given.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 13.
CAMP LIFE.
Cooking, Right Ways and Wrong Ways--Bread-making--Driving
Cattle--Cleanliness--Water.
COOKING.
Every scout must, of course, know how to cook his own meat and
vegetables and to make bread for himself without regular cooking
utensils. For boiling water a scout would usually have his tin "billy,"
and in that he can boil vegetables or stew his meat, and often he will
want it for drinking and will cook his meat in some other way. This
would usually be done by sticking it on sharp sticks and hanging it
close to the fire so that it gets broiled; or the lid of an old biscuit
tin can be used as a kind of frying-pan. Put grease or water in it to
prevent the meat getting burnt before it is cooked.
Meat can also be wrapped in a few sheets of wet paper or in a coating of
clay and put in the red-hot embers of the fire, where it will cook
itself. Birds and fish can also be cooked in this manner, and there is
no need to pluck the bird before doing so if you use clay, as the
feathers will stick to the clay when it hardens in the heat, and when
you break it open the bird will come out cooked, without its feathers,
like the kernel out of a nutshell.
Another way is to clean out the inside of the bird, get a pebble about
the size of its inside, and heat it till nearly red-hot, place it inside
the bird, and put the bird on a gridiron or on a wooden spit over the
fire.
Birds are most easily plucked immediately after being killed.
Don't do as I did once when I was a tenderfoot. It was my turn to cook,
so I thought I would vary the dinner by giving them soup. I had some
pea-flour, and I mixed it with water and boiled it up, and served it as
pea-soup; but I did not put in any stock or meat juice of any kind. I
didn't know that it was necessary or would be noticeable. But they
noticed it directly--called my beautiful soup a "wet peas-pudding," and
told me I might eat it myself--not only told me I _might_, but they
jolly well _made_ me eat it. I never made the mistake again.
[Illustration: Camp Kitchen.]
To boil your "billy" or camp kettle you can either stand it on the logs
(where it often falls over unless care is taken), or, better, stand it
on the ground among the hot embers of the fire, or else rig up a
triangle of three green poles over the fire, tying them together at the
top and hanging the pot by a wire or chain from the poles. But in making
this tripod do not, if there is an old scout in camp, use poplar sticks
for poles, because, although they are easy to cut and trim for the
purpose, old-fashioned scouts have a fancy that they bring bad luck to
the cooking. Any other kind of wood will do better.
This is as good a kind of camp kitchen as any, it is made with two lines
of sods, bricks, stones, or thick logs, flattened at the top, about six
feet long, slightly splayed from each other, being four inches apart at
one end and eight inches at the other--the big end towards the wind.
Another way, when there are several "billies" to cook, is to put them in
two lines a few inches apart, one end of the line facing towards the
wind. Lay your fire of small wood between the two lines, and put a third
row of "billies" standing on top of the first two rows--so that a small
tunnel is made by the "billies." In the windward end of this tunnel
start your fire; the draught will carry its heat along the tunnel, and
this will heat all the pots. The fire should be kept up with small split
chunks of wood.
When boiling a pot of water on the fire, do not jam the lid on too
firmly, as when the steam forms inside the pot it must have some means
of escape or it will burst the pot.
To find out when the water is beginning to boil, you need not take off
the lid and look, but just hold the end of a stick, or knife, etc., to
the pot, and if the water is boiling you will feel it trembling.
_Kabobs._--Cut your meat up into a slice about half or three-quarters of
an inch thick; cut this up into small pieces about one to one and a half
inches across. String a lot of these chunks on to a stick or iron rod,
and plant it in front of the fire, or suspend it over the hot embers for
a few minutes till the meat is roasted.
_Hunter's Stew._--Chop your meat into small chunks about an inch or one
and a half inches square.
Scrape and chop up any vegetables, such as potatoes, carrots, onions,
etc., and put them into your "billy."
Add clean water or soup till it is half full.
Mix some flour, salt, and pepper together, and rub your meat well in it,
and put this in the "billy."
There should be enough water just to cover the food--no more.
Let the "billy" stand in the embers and simmer for about one hour and a
quarter.
The potatoes take longest to cook. When these are soft (which you try
with a fork) enough not to lift out, the whole stew is cooked.
BREAD MAKING.
To make bread, the usual way is for a scout to take off his coat, spread
it on the ground, with the inside uppermost (so that any mess he makes
in it will not show outwardly when he wears his coat afterwards); then
he makes a pile of flour on the coat and scoops out the centre until it
forms a cup for the water which he then pours in hot; he then mixes the
dough with a pinch or two of salt, and of baking-powder or of Eno's
Fruit Salt, and kneads and mixes it well together until it forms a lump
of well-mixed dough. Then with a little fresh flour sprinkled over the
hands to prevent the dough sticking to them, he pats it and makes it
into the shape of a large bun or several buns.
Then he puts it on a gridiron over hot ashes, or sweeps part of the fire
to one side, and on the hot ground left there he puts his dough, and
piles hot ashes round it and lets it bake itself.
Only small loaves like buns can be made in this way.
If real bread is required, a kind of oven has to be made, either by
using an old earthenware pot or tin box, and putting it into the fire
and piling fire all over it, or by making a clay oven, lighting a fire
inside it, and then when it is well heated raking out the fire and
putting the dough inside, and shutting up the entrance tightly till the
bread is baked.
Another way is to cut a stout club, sharpen its thin end, peel it and
heat it in the fire. Make a long strip of dough, about two inches wide
and half an inch thick: wind it spirally down the club; then plant the
club close to the fire and let the dough toast itself, just giving the
club a turn now and then.
_Ration Bags._--Very often on service they serve you out with a double
handful of flour instead of bread or biscuits, a bit of meat, a spoonful
of salt, one of pepper, one of sugar, one of baking-powder, and a
handful of coffee or tea. It is rather fun to watch a tenderfoot get
this ration and see how he carries it away to his bivouac.
How would you do it?
Of course you could put the pepper into one pocket, the salt into
another, the sugar into another, the flour into your hat, and carry that
in one hand, the bit of beef in the other hand, and the coffee in the
other.
Only if you are in your shirt sleeves, as you generally are, you haven't
many pockets, and if, like some people, you have only two hands, it is a
difficult job.
The old campaigner, therefore, always has his three "ration bags,"
little bags which he makes himself out of bits of shirt tails or
pocket-handkerchiefs, or other such luxuries; and into one he puts the
flour and baking-powder, into No. 2 his coffee and sugar, into No. 3 his
salt and pepper.
Very often just after we had got our rations we would have to march at
once. How do you suppose we made our flour into bread in one minute?
We just mixed it with a lot of water in a mug and drank it! It did just
as well in the end.
CATTLE-DRIVING AND SLAUGHTERING.
Before you cook your hare you've got to catch him. So with mutton or
beef--you have to bring the sheep or ox to the place where you want him.
Then you have to kill him and cut him up before you can cook him and eat
him.
Scouts ought to know how to drive sheep and cattle and horses.
Tenderfoots always forget to send someone in front of the herd to draw
them on.
Sheep are apt to crowd up too much together so that those in the middle
of the flock soon get half suffocated in dust and heat, and then they
faint. It is often therefore, advisable for one driver to keep moving in
the centre of the flock to make an occasional opening for air, and it
keeps the whole flock moving better. If you come to an obstacle like a
stile or wall with sheep, lift one or two over it and the rest will soon
follow, but they should not be too hurried.
Scouts should also know how to kill and cut up their cattle.
Cattle are generally poleaxed, or a spike is driven into the forehead
with a mallet, or a shot or blank cartridge is fired into the forehead,
or a big sharp knife is driven into the spine just behind the horns, the
animal's head having first been securely tied down to a cart wheel or
fence.
Sheep are generally killed either by being laid on their side and having
their head drawn back and throat cut with a big sharp knife, or by being
shot in the forehead with a revolver or blank cartridge of a rifle.
The animal should then be gutted by having the belly slit open and the
inside taken out, liver and kidneys being kept.
To skin the beast, lay the carcase on its back and slit the skin down
the centre with a sharp knife, slit up the inside of the legs, and pull
the skin off, helping it with the knife where it sticks to the body,
first one side and then the other down to the back bone.
The carcase is split in half in the case of a big beast; with a sheep it
is cut into two, and the fore quarters and hind quarters are then again
divided into joints.
A scout should know how to milk a cow or a goat, else he may go thirsty
when there is lots of milk available. A goat is not so easy to milk as
you might think. You have to keep hold of its head with one hand, its
hind leg with the other, and milk it with the other if you had a third.
The way a native does it is to catch hold of its hind leg between his
big toe and the next, and thus he has a hand to spare to milk with.
CLEANLINESS.
One thing to remember in camp is that if you get sick you are no use as
a scout, and are only a burden to others, and you generally get ill
through your own fault. Either you don't change into dry clothes when
you get wet, or you let dirt get into your food, or you drink bad water.
So, when cooking your food, always be careful to clean your cooking
pots, plates, forks, etc., very thoroughly.
Flies are most dangerous, because they carry about seeds of disease on
their feet, and if they settle on your food they will often leave the
poison there for you to eat--and then you wonder why you get ill. Flies
generally live best where there is dirt, and scraps of food are left
lying about.
For this reason you should be careful to keep your camp very clean, so
that flies won't come there. All slops and scraps should be thrown away
into a properly-dug hole, where they can be buried, and not scattered
about all over the place. Patrol leaders must be very careful to see
that this is always done.
WATER.
Good drinking water is one of the most important of all things in
campaigning, in order to make sure of your being healthy.
All water has a large number of tiny animals floating about in it, too
small to be seen without the help of a microscope. Some of them are
poisonous, some are not; you can't tell whether the poisonous ones are
there, so the safest way is to kill them all before you drink any water;
and the way to kill them is to boil the water, and let it cool again
before drinking it. In boiling the water don't let it merely come to a
boil and then take it off, but let it boil fully for a quarter of an
hour, as these little beasts, or microbes as they are called, are very
tough customers, and take a lot of boiling before they get killed.
For the same reason it is very dangerous to drink out of streams, and
especially out of ponds, when you feel thirsty, for you may suck down
any amount of poison in doing so. If a pond is your only water-supply,
it is best to dig a small well, three feet deep, about ten feet away
from the pond, and the water will ooze through into it, and will be much
more healthy to drink.
We did this in Mafeking, when the Boers cut off our regular
water-supply, and so had no sickness from bad water.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_Practise in mixing dough and baking; it is useful. If possible, get a
baker to give a lesson. But let each scout mix his own dough with the
amount of water he thinks right. Let him make his mistakes at first to
get experience._
_A visit to a slaughter-house and butcher's shop to see the cutting up
is useful for boys._
_Get scouts to make their own linen ration bags._
_Issue raw rations, and let each scout make his own fire and cook his
own meal._
CAMP GAMES.
Hockey, Rounders, Football, Basket Ball, which is practically football
played only with the hands, with a basket seven feet above ground as
goal. A small bit of ground or a room or court will do for the game.
"Bang the Bear" (from Mr. Seton Thompson's "Birchbark of the Woodcraft
Indians.") One big boy is bear, and has three bases, in which he can
take refuge and be safe. He carries a small air balloon on his back. The
other boys are armed with clubs of straw rope twisted, with which they
try to burst his balloon while he is outside the base. The bear has a
similar club, with which he knocks off the hunters' hats. The hat
represents the hunter's life. A good game for introducing strange or shy
boys to each other.
Songs, recitations, small plays, etc., can be performed round the camp
fire, and every scout should be made to contribute something to the
programme, whether he thinks he is a performer or not. A different
patrol may be told off for each night of the week to provide for the
performance; they can thus prepare it beforehand.
BOOK TO READ.
"Woodcraft." By Nessmuk. 2s. (Pub.: Forest and Stream, New York.)
CHAPTER V.
CAMPAIGNING.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 14.
LIFE IN THE OPEN.
Outdoor Training--Exploration--Boat
Cruising--Watermanship--Mountaineering--Patrolling--Nightwork--Weather
Wisdom.
The native boys of the Zulu and Swazi tribes learn to be scouts before
they are allowed to be considered men, and they do it in this way: when
a boy is about fifteen or sixteen he is taken by the men of his village,
stripped of all clothes and painted white from head to foot, and he is
given a shield and one assegai or small spear, and he is turned out of
the village and told that he will be killed if anyone catches him while
he is still painted white. So the boy has to go off into the jungle and
mountains and hide himself from other men until the white paint wears
off, and this generally takes about a month; so that all this time he
has to look after himself and stalk game with his one assegai and kill
it and cut it up; he has to light his fire by means of rubbing sticks
together in order to cook his meat; he has to make the skin of the
animal into a covering for himself; and he has to know what kind of wild
root, berries, and leaves are good for food as vegetables. If he is not
able to do these things, he dies of starvation, or is killed by wild
animals. If he succeeds in keeping himself alive, and is able to find
his way back to his village, he returns when the white paint has worn
off and is then received with great rejoicings by his friends and
relations, and is allowed to become a soldier of the tribe since he has
shown that he is able to look after himself.
It is a pity that all British boys cannot have the same sort of training
before they are allowed to consider themselves men--and the training
which we are now doing as scouts is intended to fill that want as far as
possible. If every boy works hard at this course and really learns all
that we try to teach him, he will, at the end of it, have some claim to
call himself a scout and a man, and will find if ever he goes on
service, or to a colony, that he will have no difficulty in looking
after himself and in being really useful to his country.
There is an old Canadian scout and trapper, now over eighty years of
age, still living, and, what is more, still working at his trade of
trapping. His name is Bill Hamilton. In a book which he lately wrote,
called "My Sixty Years in the Plains," he describes the dangers of that
adventurous line of life. The chief danger was that of falling into the
hands of the Red Indians. "To be taken prisoner was to experience a
death not at all to be desired. A slow fire is merciful beside other
cruelties practised by the Indians. I have often been asked why we
exposed ourselves to such danger? My answer has always been that there
was a charm in the open-air life of a scout from which one cannot free
himself after he has once come under its spell. Give me the man who has
been raised among the great things of Nature; he cultivates truth,
independence, and self-reliance; he has generous impulses; he is true to
his friends, and true to the flag of his country."
I can fully endorse what this old scout has said, and, what is more, I
find that those men who come from the furthest frontiers of the Empire,
from what we should call a rude and savage life, are among the most
generous and chivalrous of their race, especially towards women and
weaker folk. They become "gentle men" by their contact with nature.
Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States of America, also is
one who believes in outdoor life, and he indulges in it himself on every
possible occasion when his duties allow. He writes:
"I believe in outdoor games, and I do not mind in the least that they
are rough games, or that those who take part in them are occasionally
injured. I have no sympathy with the overwrought sentiment which would
keep a young man in cotton wool. The out-of-doors man must always prove
the better in life's contest. When you play, play hard; and when you
work, work hard. But do not let your play and your sport interfere with
your study."
I knew an old Boer who after the war said that he could not live in the
country with the British, so he went off to take service with the German
troops which were at that time fighting in the neighbouring district of
South West Africa. But after some months he came back and said that
after all he preferred to be with the British.
He said that one of his reasons for disliking the British was that when
they arrived in the country they were so 'stom' as he called it--_i.e._
so utterly stupid when living on the veldt that they did not know how to
look after themselves, to make themselves comfortable in camp, to kill
their food or to cook it, and they were always losing their way on the
veldt; he allowed that after six months or so the English soldiers got
to learn how to manage for themselves fairly well. But when he went to
the Germans he found that they were even more 'stom' than the British,
with the great difference that they went on being 'stom,' no matter how
long they remained in the country. He said they were 'stom' till they
died, and they generally died through blundering about at the business
end of a mule.
The truth is that, being brought up in a civilised country like England,
soldiers and others have no training whatever in looking after
themselves out on the veldt, or in the backwoods, and the consequence is
that when they go out to a colony or on a campaign they are for a long
time perfectly helpless and go through a lot of hardship and trouble
which would not occur had they learnt, while boys, how to look after
themselves both in camp and when on patrol. They are just a lot of
"Tenderfoots."
They have never had to light a fire, or to cook their own food; that has
always been done for them. At home, if they wanted water they merely had
to turn on the tap, and had no idea of how to set about finding water in
a desert place by looking at the grass, or bush, or by scratching at the
sand till they began to find signs of dampness; and if they lost their
way, or did not know the time, they merely had to "ask a policeman."
They had always found houses to shelter them, and beds to lie in. They
had never to manufacture these for themselves, nor to make their own
boots or clothing. That is why a "tenderfoot" talks of "roughing in
camp"; but living in camp for a scout who knows the game is by no means
"roughing it." He knows how to make himself comfortable in a thousand
small ways, and then when he does come back to civilisation, he enjoys
it all the more for having seen a contrast; and even there he can do
very much more for himself than the ordinary mortal who has never really
learned to provide for his own wants. The man who has had to turn his
hand to many things, as the scout does in camp, finds that when he comes
into civilisation he is more easily able to obtain employment, because
he is ready to turn his hand to whatever kind of work may turn up.
EXPLORATION.
A good form of scout work can be got in Great Britain by scouts going
about either as patrols on an exploring expedition, or in pairs like
knight-errants of old on a pilgrimage through the country to find people
wanting help and to help them. This can equally well be done with
bicycles, or, in the winter, by skating along the canals.
Scouts in carrying out such a tramp should never, if possible, sleep
under a roof--that is to say, on fine nights they would sleep in the
open wherever they may be, or, in bad weather, would get leave to occupy
a hay loft or barn.
You should on all occasions take a map with you, and find your way by
it, as far as possible, without having to ask the way of passers-by. You
would, of course, have to do your daily good turn whenever opportunity
presented itself, but besides that, you should do good turns to farmers
and others who may allow you the use of their barns, and so on, as a
return for their kindness.
As a rule, you should have some object in your expedition, that is to
say, if you are a patrol of town boys, you would go off with the idea of
scouting some special spot, say a mountain in Scotland or Wales, or a
lake in Cumberland, or, possibly, some old castle, or battle-field, or a
sea-side beach. Or you may be on your way to join one of the larger
camps.
If, on the other hand, you are a patrol from the country, you can make
your way up to London, or to a big town, with the idea of going to see
its buildings, and its Zoological Gardens, circuses, museums, etc. And
you should notice everything as you go along the roads, and remember, as
far as possible, all your journey, so that you could give directions to
anybody else who wanted to follow that road afterwards. And make a map.
Explorers, of course, keep a log or journal giving a short account of
each day's journey, with sketches or photos of any interesting things
they see.
BOAT CRUISING.
Instead of tramping or cycling, it is also an excellent practice for a
patrol to take a boat and make a trip in that way through the country;
but none should be allowed in the boat who is not a good swimmer,
because accidents are pretty sure to happen, and if all are swimmers, it
does not matter; in fact, it is rather a good experience than otherwise.
I once made such a cruise with two of my brothers. We took a small
folding-up canvas boat, and went as far up the Thames as we could
possibly get till it became so narrow and small a stream that we were
continually having to get out and pull our boat over fallen trees and
stopped up bits of river. Then we took it on the Avon, which rises near
the source of the Thames, but flows to the westward, and here, again, we
began where the river was very small, and gradually worked our way down
until it developed into a big stream, and so through Bath and Bristol on
to the Severn. Then across the Severn, and up the Wye into Wales. We
carried with us our tent, stores, and cooking apparatus, so that we were
able to live out independent of houses the whole time. A more enjoyable
trip could not be imagined, and the expense was very small.
WATERMANSHIP.
It is very necessary for a scout to be able to swim, for he never knows
when he may have to cross a river, to swim for his life, or to plunge in
to save someone from drowning, so those of you that cannot swim should
make it your business to begin at once and learn; it is not very
difficult.
Also, a scout should be able to manage a boat, to bring it properly
alongside the ship or pier, that is, either by rowing it or steering it
in a wide circle so that it comes up alongside with its head pointing
the same way as the bow of the ship or towards the current. You should
be able to row one oar in time with the rest of the boat's crew, or to
scull a pair of oars, or to scull a boat by screwing a single oar over
the stern. In rowing, the object of feathering or turning the blade of
the oar flat when it is out of the water, is to save it from catching
the wind and thereby checking the pace of the boat. You should know how
to throw a coil of rope so as to fling it on to another boat or wharf,
or how to catch and make fast a rope thrown to you. Also you should know
how to make a raft out of any materials that you can get hold of, such
as planks, logs, barrels, sacks of straw, and so on, for often you may
want to cross a river with your food and baggage where no boats are
available, or you may be in a shipwreck where nobody can make a raft for
saving themselves. You should also know how to throw a lifebuoy to a
drowning man. These things can only be learnt by practice.
As a scout you must know how to fish, else you would find yourself very
helpless, and perhaps starving, on a river which is full of food for you
if you were only able to catch it.
MOUNTAINEERING.
A good deal of interesting mountaineering can be done in the British
Isles if you know where to go; and it is grand sport, and brings out
into practice all your scout-craft to enable you to find your way, and
to make yourself comfortable in camp.
You are, of course, continually losing your direction because, moving up
and down in the deep gullies of the mountain side, you lose sight of the
landmarks which usually guide you, so that you have to watch your
direction by the sun, and by your compass, and keep on estimating in
what direction your proper line of travel lies.
Then, again, you are very liable to be caught in fogs and mists, which
are at all times upsetting to the calculations even of men who know
every inch of the country. I had such an experience in Scotland last
year when, in company with a Highlander who knew the ground, we got lost
in the mist. But supposing that he knew the way, I committed myself
entirely to his guidance, and after going some distance I felt bound to
remark to him that I noticed the wind had suddenly changed, for it had
been blowing from our left when we started, and was now blowing hard on
our right cheek. However, he seemed in no way nonplussed, and led on.
Presently I remarked that the wind was blowing behind us, so that either
the wind, or the mountain, or we ourselves were turning round; and
eventually it proved as I suggested, that it was not the wind that had
turned, or the mountain, it was ourselves who had wandered round in a
complete circle, and were almost back at the point we started from
within an hour.
Then scouts working on a mountain ought to practise the art of roping
themselves together, as mountaineers do on icy slopes to save themselves
from falling into holes in the snow and slipping down precipices. When
roped together in this way supposing that one man falls, the weight of
the others will save him from going down into the depths.
When roped together each man has about 14ft. between himself and the
next man. The rope is fastened round his waist by a loop or bowline, the
knot being on his left side. Each man has to keep back off the man in
front of him so as to keep the rope tight all the time; then if one
falls or slips the others lean away from him with all their weight and
hold him up till he regains his footing. A loop takes up about 4ft. 6in.
of rope and should be a "bowline" at the ends of the rope, and an
"overhead knot" or a "middleman's loop" for central men on the rope.
PATROLLING.
Scouts generally go about scouting in pairs, or sometimes singly; if
more go together they are called a patrol. When they are patrolling the
scouts of a patrol hardly ever move close together, they are spread out
so as to see more country and so that if cut off or ambuscaded by an
enemy they will not all get caught, some will get away to give
information. A patrol of six scouts working in open country would
usually move in this sort of formation: in the shape of a kite with the
patrol leader in the centre, if going along a street or road the patrol
would move in a similar way, but in this formation keep close to the
hedges or walls. No. 2 scout is in front, Nos. 3 and 4 to the right and
left, No. 5 to the rear, and No. 6 with the leader (No. 1) in the
centre.
Patrols when going across open country where they are likely to be seen
by enemies or animals should get over it as quickly as possible, _i.e._,
by moving at the scout's pace, walking and running alternately from one
point of cover to another. As soon as they are hidden in cover they can
rest and look round before making the next move. If as leading scout you
get out of sight of your patrol, you should, in passing thick bushes,
reeds, etc., break branches or stems of reed and grass every few yards,
making the heads point _forward_ to show your path, for in this way you
can always find your way back again, or the patrol or anyone coming
after you can easily follow you up and they can judge from the freshness
of the grass pretty well how long ago it was you passed that way. It is
also useful to "blaze" trees--that means take a chip out of the bark
with your axe or knife, or chalk marks upon walls, or make marks in the
sand, or lay stones, or show which way you have gone by the signs which
I have given you.
[Illustration: Patrol in the Open, or on a Road or Street.]
NIGHT WORK.
Scouts must be able to find their way equally well by night as by day.
In fact, military scouts in the Army work mostly by night in order to
keep hidden, and lie up during the day.
But unless they practise it frequently, fellows are very apt to lose
themselves by night, distances seem greater, and landmarks are hard to
see. Also, you are apt to make more noise than by day, in walking along,
by accidently treading on dry sticks, kicking stones, etc.
If you are watching for an enemy at night you have to trust much more to
your ears than to your eyes, and also to your nose, for a scout who is
well-practised at smelling out things and who has not damaged his sense
of smell by smoking, can often smell an enemy a good distance away. I
have done it many times myself and found it of the greatest value.
When patrolling at night, scouts keep closer together than by day, and
in very dark places, such as woods, etc., they should keep touch with
each other by each catching hold of the end of the next scout's staff.
When working singly the scout's staff is most useful for feeling the way
in the dark, and pushing aside dry branches, etc.
Scouts working apart from each other in the dark keep up communication
by occasionally giving the call of their patrol-animal. Any enemy would
thus not be made suspicious.
All scouts have to guide themselves very much by the stars at night.
WEATHER WISDOM.
WEATHER.--Every scout ought to be able to read signs of the weather,
especially when going mountaineering or cruising, and to read a
barometer.
He should remember the following points:
Red at night shepherd's delight (_i.e._, fine day coming).
Red in morning is the shepherd's warning (_i.e._, rain).
Yellow sunset means wind.
Pale yellow sunset means rain.
Dew and fog in early morning means fine weather.
Clear distant view means rain coming or just past.
Red dawn means fine weather--so does low dawn.
High dawn is when sun rises over a bank of clouds;
high above the horizon means wind.
Soft clouds, fine weather.
Hard edged clouds, wind.
Rolled or jagged, strong wind.
"When the wind's before the rain,
Soon you may make sail again;
When the rain's before the wind,
Then your sheets and halyards mind."
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_PRACTICES._
_Practise roping scouts together for mountain climbing. Practise (if
boats available) coming alongside, making fast, sculling, punting,
laying oars, coiling ropes, etc., and other details of boat management.
Read barometer._
_GAMES IN LIFE IN THE OPEN._
NIGHT PATROLLING.
_Practise scouts to hear and see by night by posting some sentries, who
must stand or walk about, armed with rifles and blank cartridges, or
with whistles. Other scouts should be sent out as enemies to stalk and
kill them. If a sentry hears a sound he fires, calls, or whistles.
Scouts must at once halt and lie still. The umpire comes to the sentry
and asks which direction the sound came from, and, if correct, the
sentry wins. If the stalker can creep up within 15 yards of the sentry
without being seen, he deposits some article, such as a handkerchief, on
the ground at that point, and creeps away again. Then he makes a noise
for the sentry to fire at, and when the umpire comes up, he can explain
what he has done._
GAMES.
A WHALE HUNT.
The whale is made of a big log of wood with a roughly shaped head and
tail to represent a whale. Two boats will usually carry out the whale
hunt, each boat manned by one patrol--the patrol leader acting as
captain, the corporal as bowman or harpooner, the remainder of the
patrol as oarsmen. Each boat belongs to a different harbour, the two
harbours being about a mile apart. The umpire takes the whale and lets
it loose about halfway between the two harbours, and on a given signal,
the two boats race out to see who can get to the whale first. The
harpooner who first arrives within range of the whale drives his harpoon
into it, and the boat promptly turns round and tows the whale to its
harbour. The second boat pursues, and when it overtakes the other, also
harpoons the whale, turns round, and endeavours to tow the whale back to
its harbour. In this way the two boats have a tug-of-war, and eventually
the better boat tows the whale, and, possibly, the opposing boat into
its harbour. It will be found that discipline and strict silence and
attention to the captain's orders are very strong points towards winning
the game. It shows, above all things, the value of discipline. The game
is similar to one described in E. Thompson Seton's "Birchbark of the
Woodcraft Indians."
[Illustration: A Whale Hunt.]
MOUNTAIN SCOUTING.
This has been played by tourists' clubs in the Lake District, and is
very similar to the "Spider and Fly" game. Three hares are sent out at
daybreak to hide themselves about in the mountains; after breakfast a
party of hounds go out to find them before a certain hour, say 4 p.m. If
they find them, even with field glasses, it counts, provided that the
finder can say definitely who it was he spotted. Certain limits of
ground must be given, beyond which anyone would be out of bounds, and
therefore disqualified.
BOOKS ON LIFE IN THE OPEN.
"A Woman Tenderfoot," by Mrs. Ernest Thompson Seton. 5s. (Published by
Doubleday.) A book of outdoor adventures and hints for camping for women
and girls.
"Two Little Savages," by Ernest Thompson Seton. 6s. (Published by A.
Constable & Co.)
"Mountaineering." Badminton Library Series.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 15.
PATHFINDING.
Finding the Way--Judging Distances--Finding the North.
Among the Red Indian scouts the man who was good at finding his way in a
strange country was termed a "Pathfinder," which was with them a name of
great honour, because a scout who cannot find his way is of very little
use.
Many a tenderfoot has got lost in the veldt or forest, and has never
been seen again, through not having learned a little scouting, or what
is called "eye for a country," when a boy. I have known many instances
of it myself.
In one case a man got off a coach, which was driving through the bush in
Matabeleland, for a few minutes, while the mules were being changed. He
apparently walked off a few yards into the bush, and when the coach was
ready to start they called for him in every direction, and searched for
him, but were unable to find him; and at last, the coach being unable to
wait any longer, pursued its journey, leaving word for the lost man to
be sought for. Full search was made for him; his tracks were followed as
far as they could be, in the very difficult soil of that country, but he
was not found for weeks afterwards, and then his dead body was
discovered nearly fifteen miles away from where he started, and close to
the road.
It often happens that when you are tramping along alone through the
bush, or even in a town, you become careless in noticing what direction
you are moving in; that is, you frequently change it to get round a
fallen tree, or some rocks, or some other obstacle, and having passed
it, you do not take up exactly the correct direction again, and a man's
inclination somehow is to keep edging to his right, and the consequence
is that when you think you are going straight, you are really not doing
so at all; and unless you watch the sun, or your compass, or your
landmarks, you are very apt to find yourself going round in a big circle
after a short time.
In such a case a tenderfoot, when he suddenly finds himself out of his
bearings, and lost alone in the desert or forest, at once loses his head
and gets excited, and probably begins to run, when the right thing to do
is to force yourself to keep cool and give yourself something useful to
do--that is, to track your own spoor back again; or, if you fail, start
getting firewood for making signal fires to direct those who are looking
for you.
The main point is not to get lost in the first instance.
Every old scout on first turning out in the morning notices which way
the wind is blowing.
When you start out for a walk or on patrol, you should notice which
direction, by the compass, you start in, and also notice which direction
the wind is blowing, as that would be a great help to you in keeping
your direction, especially if you have not got a compass, or if the sun
is not shining.
Then you should notice all landmarks for finding your way, that is, in
the country notice any hills or prominent towers, steeples, curious
trees, rocks, gates, mounds, bridges, and so on; any points, in fact, by
which you could find your way back again, or by which you could instruct
anyone to go the same line which you have gone. If you notice your
landmarks going out you can always find your way back by them, but you
should take care occasionally to look back at them after passing them,
so that you get to know their appearance for your return journey. The
same holds good when you are in a town, or when you arrive in a new town
by train; the moment you step out from the station notice where the sun
is, or which way the smoke is blowing. Also notice your landmarks, which
would be prominent buildings, churches, factory chimneys, names of
streets and shops, etc., so that when you have gone down numerous
streets you can turn round and find your way back again to the station
without any difficulty. It is wonderfully easy when you have practised
it a little, yet many people get lost when they have turned a few
corners in a town which they do not know.
The way to find which way the wind is blowing if there is only very
light air is to throw up little bits of dry grass, or to hold up a
handful of light dust and let it fall, or to suck your thumb and wet it
all round and let the wind blow on it, and the cold side of it will then
tell you which way the wind is blowing. When you are acting as scout to
find the way for a party you should move ahead of them and fix your
whole attention on what you are doing, because you have to go by the
very smallest signs, and if you get talking and thinking of other things
you are very apt to miss them. Old scouts are generally very silent
people, from having got into this habit of fixing their attention on the
work in hand. Very often you see a "tenderfoot" out for the first time,
thinking that the leading scout looks lonely, will go and walk or ride
alongside of him and begin a conversation, until the scout shows him by
his manner or otherwise that he does not particularly want him there. On
Thames steamers you see a notice, "Don't speak to the man at the wheel,"
and the same thing applies with a scout who is guiding a party. When
acting as scout you must keep all your thoughts on the one subject, like
Kim did when Lurgan tried to mesmerise him.
JUDGING HEIGHTS AND DISTANCES.
Every scout must be able to judge distance from an inch up to a mile and
more. You ought, first of all, to know exactly what is the span of your
hand and the breadth of your thumb, and the length from your elbow to
your wrist, and the length from one hand to the other with your arms
stretched out to either side, and also the length of your feet; if you
remember these accurately they are a great help to you in measuring
things. Also it is useful to cut notches on your staff, showing such
measurements as one inch, six inches, one foot, and one yard. These you
can measure off with a tape measure before you use your staff, and they
may come in very useful.
Judging the distance of objects from you is only gained by practice, and
judging the distance of a journey is generally estimated by seeing how
long you have been travelling, and at what rate; that is to say,
supposing you walk at the rate of four miles an hour, if you have been
walking for an hour and a half you know that you have done about six
miles.
Distance can also be judged by sound; that is to say, if you see a gun
fired in the distance, and you count the number of seconds between the
flash and the sound of the explosion reaching you, you will be able to
tell how far off you are from the gun.
Sound travels at the rate of 365 feet in a second; that is, as many feet
as there are days in the year.
A scout must also be able to estimate heights, from a few inches up to
two or three thousand feet or more; that is to say, he ought to be able
to judge the height of a fence, the depth of a ditch, or the height of
an embankment, of a house, tree, of a tower, or hill, or mountain. It is
easy to do when once you have practised it for a few times, but it is
very difficult to teach it by book.
You must also know how to estimate weights, from a letter of an ounce,
or a fish, or a potato of one pound, or a sack of bran, or a cartload of
coals; and also the probable weight of a man from his appearance--these,
again, are only learnt by practice, but as a scout you should take care
to learn them for yourself.
Also you should be able to judge of numbers; that is to say, you should
be able to tell at a glance _about_ how many people are in a group, or
on a 'bus, or in a big crowd, how many sheep in a flock, how many
marbles on a tray, and so on. These you can practise for yourself at all
times in the street or field.
In the German Army instructions for judging distance are given as
follows:
At fifty yards, mouth and eyes of the enemy can be clearly seen.
At 100 yards, eyes appear as dots; 200 yards, buttons and details of
uniform can still be seen. At 300 yards, face can be seen; at 400 yards,
the movement of the legs can be seen; at 500 yards the colour of the
uniform can be seen.
For distances over these, think out for yourself which point is halfway
to the object. Estimate how far this may be from you, and then double it
to obtain the distance. Or another way is to estimate the furthest
distance that the object can be away, and then the very nearest it could
be, and strike a mean between the two.
Objects appear nearer than they really are: First, when the light is
bright and shining on the object; secondly, when looking across water or
snow, or looking uphill or down. Objects appear further off when in the
shade; across a valley; when the background is of the same colour; when
the observer is lying down or kneeling; when there is a heat haze over
the ground.
FINDING THE NORTH.
Every sailor boy knows the points of the compass by heart and so should
a scout. I have talked a good deal about the north, and you will
understand that it is a most important help to a scout in pathfinding to
know the direction of the north.
If you have not a compass the sun will tell you by day where the north
is, and the moon and the stars by night.
At six o'clock in the morning the sun is due east, at nine o'clock he is
south-east, at noon he is south, at three o'clock in the afternoon he is
south-west, and at six o'clock he is due west. In winter he will have
set long before six o'clock, but he will not have reached due west when
he is set.
The Phoenicians who sailed round Africa in ancient times noticed that
when they started the sun rose on their left-hand side--they were going
south. Then they reported that they got to a strange country where the
sun got up in the wrong quarter, namely, on their right-hand. The truth
was that they had gone round the Cape of Good Hope and were steering
north again up the east side of Africa.
[Illustration: Directions.]
To find the south at any time of day by the sun--hold your watch flat,
face upwards, so that the sun shines on it. Turn it round till the hour
hand points at the sun. Then, without moving the watch, lay the edge of
a piece of paper or a pencil across the face of the watch so that it
rests on the centre of the dial and points out halfway between the
Figure XII. and the hour hand. The line given by that pencil will be the
true south and north line.
(_Instructor should make each boy find the south for himself with a
watch_).
THE STARS.--The stars appear to circle over us during the night, which
is really due to our earth turning round under them.
There are various groups which have got names given to them because they
seem to make some kind of pictures or "sky-signs" of men and animals.
The "Plough" is an easy one to find, being shaped something like a
plough. And it is the most useful one for a scout to know, because in
the northern part of the world it shows him exactly where the north is.
The Plough is also called the "Great Bear," and the four stars in the
curve make its tail. It is the only bear I know of that wears a long
tail.
[Illustration: Great Bear.]
The two stars in the Plough called the "Pointers" point out where the
North or Pole Star is. All the stars and constellations move round, as I
have said, during the night, but the Pole Star remains fixed in the
north. There is also the "Little Bear" near the Great Bear, and the last
star in his tail is the North or Pole Star.
The sky may be compared to an umbrella over you. The pole star is where
the stick goes through the centre of it.
A real umbrella has been made with all the stars marked on it in their
proper places. If you stand under it and twist it slowly round you see
exactly how the stars quietly go round, but the Pole Star remains steady
in the middle.
Then another set of stars or "constellation," as it is called,
represents a man wearing a sword and belt, and is named "Orion." It is
easily recognised by the three stars in line, which are the belt, and
three smaller stars in another line, close by which are the sword. Then
two stars to right and left below the sword are his feet, while two more
above the belt are his shoulders, and a group of three small stars
between them make his head.
Now the great point about Orion is that by him you always can tell which
way the north or Pole Star lies, and which way the south, and you can
see him whether you are in the south or the north part of the world. The
Great Bear you only see when you are in the north, and the Southern
Cross when you are in the south.
If you draw a line, by holding up your staff against the sky, from the
centre star of Orion's belt through the centre of his head, and carry
that line on through two big stars till it comes to a third, that third
one is the North or Pole star.
Then if you draw a line the other way, beginning again with the centre
star of the belt, and passing through the centre star of the sword your
line goes through another group of stars shaped like the letter L. And
if you go about as far again past L, you come to the South Pole, which
unfortunately is not marked by any star.
Roughly, Orion's sword--the three small stars--points north and south.
The Zulu scouts call Orion's belt and sword the "Ingolubu," or three
pigs pursued by three dogs. The Masai in East Africa say that the three
stars in Orion's belt are three bachelors being followed by three old
maids. You see scouts all know Orion, though under different names.
[Illustration: Orion and his sword always point North and South.]
On the south side of the world, that is in South Africa, South America,
and Australia, the Plough or Great Bear is not visible, but the Southern
Cross is seen. The Southern Cross is a good guide as to where the exact
south is, which, of course, tells a scout just as much as the Great Bear
in the north pointing to the North Star.
[Illustration: Southern Cross.]
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_PRACTICES IN PATHFINDING._
_Teach the boys to recognise the Great Bear and the Pole Star, and
Orion; to judge time by the sun; find the south by the watch. Practise
map reading and finding the way by the map; and mark off roads by
blazing, broken branches, and signs drawn on the ground. Practise
judging distance, heights and weights, and numbers._
_The way to estimate the distance across a river is to take an object X,
such as a tree or rock on the opposite bank; start off at right angles
to it from A, and pace, say, ninety yards along your bank; on arriving
at sixty yards, plant a stick or stone, B; on arriving at C, thirty
yards beyond that, that is ninety from the start, turn at right angles
and walk inland, counting your paces until you bring the stick and the
distant tree in line; the number of paces that you have taken from the
bank C D will then give you the half distance across A X._
[Illustration: Distance.]
[Illustration: Height.]
_To find the height of an object, such as a tree (A X), or a house, pace
a distance of, say, eight yards away from it, and there at B plant a
stick, say, six feet high; then pace on until you arrive at a point
where the top of the stick comes in line C with the top of the tree;
then the whole distance A C from the foot is to A X, the height of the
tree, the same as the distance B C, from the stick, is to the height of
the stick; that is if the whole distance A C is thirty-three feet, and
the distance B C from the stick is nine (the stick being six feet high),
the tree is twenty-two feet high._
Mr. G. L. Boundy, of Exeter, has been practising his boys in judging
distances in the following manner:
_He has a board put up on which are given the actual distances and
heights and measurements of the various streets and buildings round
about with which they are well acquainted. This gives the boys a
standard to work upon, and they then go out and guess heights and
distances, and other objects given to them by Mr. Boundy, who has
previously ascertained their correct measurements by inquiry or
otherwise. In this way they are able to learn a good deal of the subject
in the immediate neighbourhood in the middle of the town._
_It is often useful for the instructor, if he has a bicycle, to measure
a number of distances beforehand by running over them and counting the
revolutions of his wheel. He can then make the boys guess those
distances, and can check them, knowing the correct distance himself._
GAMES IN PATHFINDING.
Instructor takes a patrol in patrolling formation into a strange town or
into an intricate piece of strange country, with a cycling map. He then
gives instructions as to where he wants to go to, makes each scout in
turn lead the patrol, say for seven minutes if cycling, fifteen minutes
if walking. This scout is to find the way entirely by the map, and marks
are given for ability in reading, that is to say, each scout is given
ten marks on starting, and one is deducted for every mistake that he
makes. If he makes no mistake at all throughout the exercise, his ten
small marks will count as one real scout mark towards a badge "of
merit."
STAR-GAZING.--Take out the scouts on clear nights and post them
separately, and let each find the North Star and Orion, etc., and point
them out to you as you come round.
JUDGING DISTANCE.--Take a patrol and station its members about in
different directions and with different background, according to the
colour of their clothes; then take another patrol to judge distance of
these points. Two competitors are sent in turn to three different
points. At the first point they are merely given the compass bearing of
the next one, which is some three hundred yards distant, and so on in
succession. At each point each pair of scouts notices regarding the
enemy--first, how many visible; second, how far off; third, what is
their compass direction; fourth, how they are clothed. The best answers
win provided they are within the specified time. The time allowed should
be one minute for observation at each station, and half a minute for
each bit of running.
FIND THE NORTH.--Scouts are posted thirty yards apart, and each lays
down his staff on the ground pointing to what he considers the exact
north (or south), without using any instrument. The umpire compares each
stick with the compass; the one who guesses nearest wins. This is a
useful game to play at night or on sunless days as well as sunny days.
OTHER GAMES.--For further games in "Pathfinding," see Appendix, Part VI.
BOOKS TO READ.
"Guide to the Umbrella Star Map," by D. MacEwan, member of the British
Astronomical Association, 1s. "The Umbrella Star Map," made by Reid &
Todd, 215, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. (An ordinary umbrella with all
the stars in their proper places on the inside. This map can be
correctly set for any day in the year and any hour, showing the
approximate positions of the stars.)
"The Science Year Book," by Major Baden-Powell. 5s. King, Sell & Olding,
27, Chancery Lane.
"An Easy Guide to the Constellations," by the Rev. James Gall. 1s. (Gall
& Inglis.) Contains diagrams of the constellations.
"Astronomy for Everybody," by Simon Newcomb. 6s. (Publisher, Isbister.)
Also books on astronomy by Professors Ball, Heath, Maunder, and
Flammarion.
CAMP FIRE YARN.--No. 16.
INFORMATION BY SIGNAL.
Hidden Despatches--Signalling--Whistle and Flag-Signals.
Scouts have to be very clever at passing news secretly from one place to
another, or signalling to each other; and if it should ever happen that
an enemy got into England, the Boy Scouts would be of greatest value if
they have practised this art.
Before the siege of Mafeking commenced, I received a secret message from
some unknown friend in the Transvaal, who sent me news of the Boers'
plans against the place, and the numbers that they were getting together
of men, horses, and guns. This news came to me by means of a very small
letter which was rolled up in a little ball, the size of a pill, and put
inside a tiny hole in a rough walking stick, and plugged in there with
wax. The stick was given to a native, who merely had orders to come into
Mafeking and give me the stick as a present. Naturally, when he brought
me this stick, and said it was from another white man, I guessed there
must be something inside it, and soon found this very important letter.
Also I received another letter from a friend, which was written in
Hindustani language, but in English writing, so that anybody reading
would be quite puzzled as to what language it was written in; but to me
it was all as clear as daylight.
Then when we sent letters out from Mafeking, we used to give them to
natives, who were able to creep out between the Boer outposts, and once
through the line of sentries, the Boers mistook them for their own
natives, and took no further notice of them. They carried their letters
in this way. The letters were all written on thin paper in small
envelopes, and half a dozen letters or more would be crumpled up tightly
into a little ball, and then rolled up into a piece of lead paper, such
as tea is packed in. The native scout would carry a number of these
little balls in his hand, and hanging round his neck loosely by strings.
Then, if he saw he was in danger of being captured by a Boer, he would
drop all his balls on the ground, where they looked exactly like so many
stones, and he would notice landmarks from two or three points round
about him, by which he would be able again to find the exact spot where
the letters were lying; then he would walk boldly on until accosted by
the Boer, who, if he searched him, would have found nothing suspicious
about him. He would then wait about for perhaps a day or two until the
coast was clear, and come back to the spot where the landmarks told him
the letters were lying.
"Landmarks," you may remember, mean any objects, like trees, mounds,
rocks, or other details which do not move away, and act as signposts for
a scout who notices and remembers them.
SIGNALLING.
Captain John Smith was one of the first to make use of signals to
express regular words, three hundred years ago.
He was then fighting on the side of the Austrians against the Turks. He
thought it wicked for Christian men to fight against Christians if it
could possibly be avoided, but he would help any Christian, although a
foreigner, to fight against a heathen; so he joined the Austrians
against the Turks.
He invented a system of showing lights at night with torches, which when
held in certain positions with each other meant certain words.
Several officers in the Austrian forces practised these signals till
they knew them.
On one occasion one of these officers was besieged by the Turks. John
Smith brought a force to help him, and arrived on a hill near the town
in the night. Here he made a number of torch signals, which were read by
the officer inside, and they told him what to do when Smith attacked the
enemy in the rear; and this enabled the garrison to break out
successfully.
In the American Civil War, Captain Clowry, a scout officer, wanted to
give warning to a large force of his own army that the enemy were going
to attack it unexpectedly during the night, but he could not get to his
friends, because there was a flooded river between them which he could
not cross, and a storm of rain was going on.
What would you have done if you had been him?
A good idea struck him. He got hold of an old railway engine that was
standing near him. He lit the fire, and got up steam in her, and then
started to blow the whistle with short and long blasts--what is called
the Morse alphabet. Soon his friends heard and understood, and answered
back with a bugle. And he then spelt out a message of warning to them,
which they read and acted upon. And so their force of 20,000 men was
saved from surprise.
Lieutenant Boyd-Alexander describes in his book "From the Niger to the
Nile," how a certain tribe of natives in Central Africa signal news to
each other by means of beats on a drum. And I have known tribes in the
forests of the West Coast of Africa who do the same.
[Illustration: Morse and Semaphore Codes.]
[Illustration: Morse and Semaphore Codes.]
Every scout ought to learn the "dot and dash" or Morse method of
signalling, because it comes in most useful whenever you want to send
messages some distance by flag signalling, as in the Army and Navy, and
it is also useful in getting you employment as a telegraphist. It is not
difficult to learn if you set about it with a will. I found it most
useful once during the Boer War. My column had been trying to get past a
Boer force who was holding a pass in the mountains. Finding they were
too strong for us, we gave it up late in the evening, and leaving a lot
of fires alight as if we were in camp in front of them, we moved during
the night by a rapid march right round the end of the mountain range,
and by daylight next day we were exactly in rear of them without their
knowing it. We then found a telegraph line evidently leading from them
to their headquarters some fifty miles further off, so we sat down by
the telegraph wire and attached our own little wire to it and read all
the messages they were sending, and they gave us most valuable
information. But we should not have been able to do that had it not been
that some of our scouts could read the Morse code.
Then the semaphore signalling, which is done by waving your arms at
different angles to each other, is most useful and quite easy to learn,
and is known by every soldier and sailor in the service. Here you have
all the different letters, and the different angles at which you have to
put your arms to represent those letters, and though it looks
complicated in the picture, when you come to work it out, you will find
it is very simple.
For all letters from A to G the right arm only is used, making a quarter
of a circle for each letter in succession. Then from H to N (except J),
the right arm stands at A, while the left moves round the circle again
for the other letters. From O to S the right arm stands at B, and the
left arm moves round as before. For T, V, Y, and the "annul" the right
arm stands at C, the left moving to the next point of the circle
successively.
The letters A to K also mean figures 1 to 9, if you first make the sign
=Y= to show that you are going to send numbers.
If you want to write a despatch that will puzzle most people to read,
use the Morse or Semaphore letters in place of the ordinary alphabet. It
will be quite readable to any of your friends who understand signalling.
Also if you want to use a secret language in your patrol you should all
set to work to learn "Esperanto." It is not difficult, and is taught in
a little book costing one penny. This language is being used in all
countries so that you would be able to get on with it abroad now.
WHISTLE AND FLAG SIGNALS.
Each patrol leader should provide himself with a whistle and a lanyard
or cord for keeping it. The following commands and signals should be at
your finger ends, so that you can teach them to your patrol, and know
how to order it properly.
WORDS OF COMMAND.
"Fall in" (in line).
"Alert" (stand up smartly).
"Easy" (stand at ease).
"Stand easy" (sit or lie down without leaving the ranks).
"Dismiss" (break off).
"Right" (or left); (each scout turns accordingly).
"Patrol right" (or left); (each patrol with its scouts in line
wheels to that hand).
"Quick march" (walk smartly, stepping off on the left foot).
"Double" (run at smart pace, arms hanging loose).
"Scouts' Pace" (walk fifty yards and run fifty yards alternately).
SIGNALS AND SIGNS.
When a scoutmaster wants to call his troop together he makes his bugler
sound the "The Scout's Call."
Patrol leaders thereupon call together their patrols by sounding their
whistles, followed by their patrol (animal) war cry. Then they double
their patrol to the scoutmaster.
Whistle Signals are these: One long blast means: "Silence;" "Alert;"
"Look out for my next signal."
1. A succession of long slow blasts means: "Go out;" "Get further
away;" or "Advance;" "Extend;" "Scatter."
2. A succession of short, sharp blasts means: "Rally;" "Close in;"
"Come together;" "Fall in."
3. A succession of short and long blasts alternately means: "Alarm;"
"Look out;" "Be ready;" "Man your alarm posts."
4. Three short blasts followed by one long one, from scoutmaster
calls up the patrol leaders--_i.e._ "Leaders come here!"
Any whistle signal must be instantly obeyed at the double as fast as
ever you can run--no matter what other job you may be doing at the time.
Hand Signals, which can also be made by patrol leaders with their patrol
flags when necessary.
Hand waved several times across the face from side to side, or flag
waved horizontally from side to side opposite the face means: "No; Never
mind; As you were."
Hand or flag held high, and waved very slowly from side to side at full
extent of arm, or whistle a succession of slow blasts means: "Extend; Go
further out; Scatter."
Hand or flag held high and waved quickly from side to side at full
extent of arm, or whistle a succession of short, quick blasts means:
"Close in; Rally; Come here."
Hand or flag pointing in any direction means: "Go in that direction."
Hand or flag jumped rapidly up and down several times, means: "Run."
Hand or flag held straight up over head, means: "Stop;" "Halt."
When a leader is shouting an order or message to a scout who is some way
off, the scout, if he hears what is being said, should hold up his hand
level with his head all the time. If he cannot hear he should stand
still making no sign. The leader will then repeat louder or beckon to
the scout to come in nearer.
The following signals are made by a scout with his staff when he is sent
out to reconnoitre within sight of his patrol, and they have the
following meanings: Staff held up horizontally, that is flat with both
hands above the head, means "a few enemy in sight."
The same, but with staff moved up and down slowly, means "a number of
enemy in sight, a long way off."
The same, staff moved up and down rapidly means "a number of enemy in
sight, and close by."
The staff held straight up over the head means "no enemy in sight."
PRACTICES IN SIGNALLING.
Practice laying, lighting, and use of signal fires of smoke or flame.
Practice whistle and drill signals.
Teach Semaphore and Morse Codes; also Esperanto if feasible.
Encourage competitive ingenuity in concealing despatches on the person.
HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS.
_In all games and competitions, it should be arranged as far as possible
that all the scouts should take part, because we do not want to have
merely one or two brilliant performers, and the others no use at all.
All ought to get practice, and all ought to be pretty good. In
competitions where there are enough entries to make heats, ties should
be run off by losers instead of the usual system of by winners, and the
game should be to find out which are the worst instead of which are the
best. Good men will strive just as hard not to be worst, as they would
to gain a prize, and this form of competition gives the bad man most
practice._
MARKS TOWARDS BADGES OF HONOUR IN CAMPAIGNING.
Making a complete model bridge. Up to four marks.
Lay and light the following fires separately, using only six matches for
the whole: First, cooking fire, and cook a bannock. Second, flame signal
fire and make signals. Third, smoke signal fire and make signals. Marks
up to three.
To measure without instruments, within ten per cent. of correctness,
three different widths of river, or impassable ground, without crossing
it. Heights of three different trees or buildings. Number of sheep in a
flock, stones on a table, etc. Weights of four different things from one
ounce up to one hundred pounds. Four distances between one inch and one
mile. Marks up to five for the whole lot.
DISPATCH RUNNING.