EXAMPLE OF PRACTICE IN DEDUCTION.
A simple deduction from signs noticed in my walk one morning on a stony mountain path in Kashmir.
Sign Observed—Tree-stump, about three feet high, by the path. A stone about the size of a cocoanut lying near it, to which were sticking some bits of bruised walnut rind, dried up. Some walnut rind also lying on the stump. Further along the path, 30 yards to the south of the stump, were lying bits of walnut shell of four walnuts. Close by was a high sloping rock, alongside the path. The only walnut tree in sight was 150 yards north of the stump.
At the foot of the stump was a cake of hardened mud which showed the impression of a grass shoe.
What would you make out from those signs? My solution of it was this:
A man had gone southward on a long journey along the path two days ago, carrying a load; and had rested at the rock while he ate walnuts.
My deductions were these:
It was a man carrying a load, because carriers when they want to rest do not sit down, but rest their load against a sloping rock and lean back. Had he had no load he would probably have sat down on the stump, but he preferred to go 30 yards further to where the rock was. Women do not carry loads there, so it was a man. But he first broke the shells of his walnuts on the tree-stump with the stone, having brought them from the tree 150 yards north. So he was travelling south, and he was on a long journey, as he was wearing shoes, and not going barefooted as he would be if only strolling near his home. Three days ago there was rain, the cake of mud had been picked up while the ground was still wet—but it had not been since rained upon and was now dry. The walnut rind was also dry and confirmed the time that had elapsed.
There is no important story attached to this, but it is just an example of everyday practice which should be carried out by scouts.