Tinder-boxes.—­There are three ways of striking a flint, which are best explained by sketches.  Fig. 1, p. 180, shows how tinder that is tough enough to bear handling, is grasped together with the flint.  When no tinder-box is at hand the more friable kinds of tinder, as touch-wood, may be enveloped in a roll of rag and be used either as in fig. 1 or in fig 3.  Fig. 2 shows how tinder may be laid on the ground, and how sparks may be struck upon it.  The household tinder-boxes of thirty years ago, before lucifers were invented, were for use in this way.  Fig. 3 shows how sparks may be struck into a small tinder-box.  It is the method most commonly adopted by travellers:  for instance, it is universally used in South Africa and in North America.  A hollow cylinder of wood or metal, about three inches long, and corked up at one end, is all that is essential.  If it be barrel-shaped the flint lies against its sides, at the most convenient angle for striking sparks into the box, as is shown by the bottom drawing of fig. 3.

[Fig 2 and 3 as described].

Wet Weather.—­In long-continued soaking weather, the best way of keeping a tinder-box dry is to put it into a small pocket hung close under the armpit.

Fuel.—­Firewood.—­There is a knack in finding firewood.  It should be looked for under bushes; the stump of a tree that is rotted nearly to the ground has often a magnificent root, fit to blaze throughout the night.

Dry Cattle-dung.—­The dry dung of cattle and other animals, as found on the ground, is very generally used throughout the world, in default of better fuel, and there is nothing whatever objectionable in employing it.  The Canadians call it by the apt name of “Bois de Vache.”  In North and South Africa it is frequently used; throughout a large part of Armenia and of Thibet the natives rely entirely upon it.  There is a great convenience in this sort of fuel; because, as it is only in camps that fuel is wanted, so it is precisely at old encamping-places that cattle-dung is abundantly found.

Bones.—­Another remarkable substitute for firewood is bones; a fact which Mr. Darwin was, I believe, the first to mention.  The bones of an animal, when freshly killed, make good fuel; and even those of cooked meat, and such as have been exposed to the air for some days, will greatly increase the heat of a scanty fire.  Their smell is not disagreeable:  it is simply that of roast or burnt meat.  In the Falkland Islands, where firewood is scarce, it is not unusual to cook part of the meat of a slaughtered bull with its own bones.  When the fire is once started with a few sticks, it burns well and hotly.  The flame of course depends on the fat within the bones, and therefore the fatter the animal the better the fire.  During the Russian campaign in 1829, the troops suffered so severely from cold at Adrianople, that the cemeteries were ransacked for bones for fuel.  (Moltke, in the Appendix.)