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.