How to Camp Out

How to Camp Out

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Title: How to Camp Out
Author: John M. Gould

Release Date: January 22, 2006 [eBook #17575]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII)
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Hints for Camping and Walking.
HOW TO CAMP OUT.
by
JOHN M. GOULD,
Author of History of First-Tenth-Twenty-Ninth Maine Regiment.
First published in 1877

CONTENTS.
CHAPTER.
I. GETTING READY 9
II. SMALL PARTIES TRAVELLING AFOOT AND CAMPING 14
III. LARGE PARTIES AFOOT WITH BAGGAGE-WAGON 25
IV. CLOTHING 35
V. STOVES AND COOKING-UTENSILS 39
VI. COOKING 44
VII. MARCHING 50
VIII. THE CAMP 60
IX. TENTS, TENT POLES AND PINS 72
X. MISCELLANEOUS.--GENERAL ADVICE 90
XI. DIARY 107
XII. "HOW TO DO IT," BY REV. EDWARD EVERETT HALE, &C. 113
XIII. HYGIENIC NOTES, BY DR. ELLIOTT COUES, U.S.A. 117

PREFACE.
In these few pages I have tried to prepare something about camping and walking, such as I should have enjoyed reading when I was a boy; and, with this thought in my mind, I some years ago began to collect the subject-matter for a book of this kind, by jotting down all questions about camping, &c., that my young friends asked me. I have also taken pains, when I have been off on a walk, or have been camping, to notice the parties of campers and trampers that I have chanced to meet, and have made a note of their failures or success. The experiences of the pleasant days when, in my teens, I climbed the mountains of Oxford County, or sailed through Casco Bay, have added largely to the stock of notes; and finally the diaries of "the war," and the recollections of "the field," have contributed generously; so that, with quotations, and some help from other sources, a sizable volume is ready.
Although it is prepared for young men,--for students more especially,--it contains much, I trust, that will prove valuable to campers-out in general.
I am under obligations to Dr. Elliott Coues, of the United States Army, for the valuable advice contained in Chapter XIII.; and I esteem it a piece of good fortune that his excellent work ("Field Ornithology") should have been published before this effort of mine, for I hardly know where else I could have found the information with authority so unquestionable.
Prof. Edward S. Morse has increased the debt of gratitude I already owe him, by taking his precious time to draw my illustrations, and prepare them for the engraver.
Mr. J. Edward Fickett of Portland, a sailmaker, and formerly of the navy, has assisted in the chapter upon tents; and there are numbers of my young friends who will recognize the results of their experience, as they read these pages, and will please to receive my thanks for making them known to me.
PORTLAND, ME., January, 1877.

HOW TO CAMP OUT.
CHAPTER I.
GETTING READY.
The hope of camping out that comes over one in early spring, the laying of plans and arranging of details, is, I sometimes think, even more enjoyable than reality itself. As there is pleasure in this, let me advise you to give a practical turn to your anticipations.
Think over and decide whether you will walk, go horseback, sail, camp out in one place, or what you will do; then learn what you can of the route you propose to go over, or the ground where you intend to camp for the season. If you think of moving through or camping in places unknown to you, it is important to learn whether you can buy provisions and get lodgings along your route. See some one, if you can, who has been where you think of going, and put down in a note-book all he tells you that is important.
Have your clothes made or mended as soon as you decide what you will need: the earlier you begin, the less you will be hurried at the last.
You will find it is a good plan, as fast as you think of a thing that you want to take, to note it on your memorandum; and, in order to avoid delay or haste, to cast your eyes over the list occasionally to see that the work of preparation is going on properly. It is a good plan to collect all of your baggage into one place as fast as it is ready; for if it is scattered you are apt to lose sight of some of it, and start without it.
As fast