Indian Scout Talks: A Guide for Boy Scouts and Camp Fire Girls

by Charles A. Eastman

Fig. 5.

Suppose an Indian brave starts out alone, or with one companion, to lay in a supply of meat or to trap for furs. All the outfit he really needs is his knife and hatchet, bow and arrows, with perhaps a canoe, according to the country he has to traverse. He proceeds on foot to a good camping-place, and there builds his shelter of whatever material is most abundant. If in the woods, he would probably make it a “lean-to,” which is constructed thus:

In a dry and protected spot, find two trees the right distance apart and connect them by poles laid upon the forks of each at a height of about eight feet. This forms the support of your lean-to. Against this horizontal bar place small poles close together, driving their ends in the ground, and forming an angle with about the slant of an ordinary roof. You can close in both sides, or not, as you choose. If you leave one open, build your fire opposite the entrance, thus making a cheerful and airy “open-face camp.” Thatch from the ground up with overlapping rows of flat and thick evergreen boughs, and spread several layers of the same for a springy and fragrant bed. You can make a similar shelter of grass or rushes, but in this case you must have the poles closer together.

The dome-shaped wigwam or “wicki-up” is made in a few minutes almost anywhere by sticking into the ground in a circle a sufficient number of limber poles, such as willow wands, to make it the size you need. Each pair of opposites is bent forward until they meet, and the ends interlocked and tied firmly. Use any convenient material for the covering; an extra blanket will do.

You can make any of these tent shelters with no tool save your hatchet or strong knife. The object is to protect yourself and your possessions from cold, wind, rain, and the encroachment of animals. As to the last, however, they are not likely to trouble you unless very hungry, and a fire is the best protection. He is the natural and true man who utilizes everything that comes in his way; a cave, a great hollow tree, even an overhanging rock serves for his temporary home, or he cheerfully spreads his bed under the starry night sky.

X—FIRE WITHOUT MATCHES AND COOKING WITHOUT POTS

It is often of interest to boys to make a fire in the primitive way: by friction; perhaps to produce the “new fire” for some ceremonial occasion, or it may be to win honors as a scout. If a boy is fond of wilderness camping, it is possible that such knowledge may prove of vital importance to him some day, for even the experienced woodsman may be caught out without matches, or may get his matches wet.

This is the way the Indians made fire before they obtained matches or flint and steel from the white man, and the way I have many times done it myself as a boy. For tools you need a block, a drill, a bow, a socket, and some tinder, dry punk, or cat-tail down, all of which you can make or find in the woods.