All the Cave-men liked to go to these trees.
They liked to peel off the silvery white bark that hung from the older trees in strips.
They wanted to get the tough inner bark that was under the smooth outer coat.
They chewed the inner bark the way you chew gum.
Sometimes they bit into the bark with their teeth, and sometimes they cut it with a stone knife.
Then they peeled it off in strips with their fingers.
At first they peeled it carelessly and gave no thought to the width of the strips.
But one day Firekeeper peeled off a wide strip.
There were narrow strips for her to eat, so she kept the wide strip for a while.
One day she began to shape it with her hands and to fold in the edges.