A WIGWAM
For a party of three or four boys the wigwam shown in Fig. 1 will afford ample room, and it is not so large as to be unhandy. Select thirteen straight poles, not more than two inches thick at the bottom, and clear them from knots and projecting twigs. They should be ten feet long and pointed at the bottom so as to stick into the ground for a few inches. Tie three of them together eighteen inches from the top, and form a tripod on a circle five feet and six inches in diameter. Place the other poles against this tripod to form a cone, as shown in Fig. 2, and lash them fast at the top with a piece of clothes-line. From unbleached muslin or sail-cloth (light weight) make a cover as shown in the diagram Fig. 3. Lay out a sixteen-foot circle on a barn floor, or the grass, with chalk, and indicate an eighteen-inch circle at the middle. Around the outer circle or periphery measure off nineteen feet and chalk-mark the space. From these marks to the centre of the circle draw straight lines, and within these limits the area of the wigwam cover will be shown. It should correspond with the plan drawing in Fig. 3. The muslin should be three feet wide and with it this area can be covered in any direction, sewing the strips together to make the large sheet; or the muslin may be cut in strips three feet wide at one end and tapering to a few inches at the other, as shown in Fig. 4, the seams running up and down the canvas instead of across it. The outer edge of the canvas cover should be bound with clothes-line or cotton rope, sewed securely with waxed white string; then thirteen short ropes should be passed over this rope so that the canvas may be lashed fast to the foot of each pole to hold the cover in place. The doorway flaps are formed by stopping the lacings three feet up from the ground. With short ropes and rings sewed to the cover the flaps may be tied back, as shown in Fig. 1.
The real Indian wigwams are decorated with all sorts of emblems, for even the uncivilized red men had their crests and totems, and the boys who make these tepees can easily invent some mark which will distinguish their tent abode from all others. The ornamentation should be done with paint and should be carried out before the canvas covering is stretched over the poles.
A Square Tepee
A square tepee, as shown in the illustration Fig. 5, is another form of rear-yard tent that is easily made. Twelve poles are selected and four of them are lashed fast and spread apart on a square of six feet. Two poles are added to each side and all are lashed together at the head. Four pieces of canvas or heavy unbleached muslin are cut and made on the plan as shown in Fig. 6, the strips being cut from goods a yard wide. These pieces are six feet long, one foot wide at the head, and six feet at the foot. The seam through the middle of one piece is left open for three feet to form the doorway flaps, then the four sides are securely sewed together with waxed white string. This cover is slipped about the pole frame, tied at the front, and held down by means of short ropes that are lashed fast to the foot of each pole. The cover is decorated with paint to give it the Indian appearance, and when the flaps are tied back it is easy to go into and come out of the tepee.
A Ridge-pole Tepee
A ridge-pole tepee is shown in Fig. 7, and is a very easy and simple one to make, for it is of one piece of canvas with two flaps sewed at each side to form the ends.
