PREFACE.

In these few pages I have tried to prepare something about camping and walking, such as I should have enjoyed reading when I was a boy; and, with this thought in my mind, I some years ago began to collect the subject-matter for a book of this kind, by jotting down all questions about camping, &c., that my young friends asked me.  I have also taken pains, when I have been off on a walk, or have been camping, to notice the parties of campers and trampers that I have chanced to meet, and have made a note of their failures or success.  The experiences of the pleasant days when, in my teens, I climbed the mountains of Oxford County, or sailed through Casco Bay, have added largely to the stock of notes; and finally the diaries of “the war,” and the recollections of “the field,” have contributed generously; so that, with quotations, and some help from other sources, a sizable volume is ready.

Although it is prepared for young men,—­for students more especially,—­it contains much, I trust, that will prove valuable to campers-out in general.

I am under obligations to Dr. Elliott Coues, of the United States Army, for the valuable advice contained in Chapter XIII.; and I esteem it a piece of good fortune that his excellent work ("Field Ornithology”) should have been published before this effort of mine, for I hardly know where else I could have found the information with authority so unquestionable.

Prof.  Edward S. Morse has increased the debt of gratitude I already owe him, by taking his precious time to draw my illustrations, and prepare them for the engraver.

Mr. J. Edward Fickett of Portland, a sailmaker, and formerly of the navy, has assisted in the chapter upon tents; and there are numbers of my young friends who will recognize the results of their experience, as they read these pages, and will please to receive my thanks for making them known to me.

Portland, me., January, 1877.

HOW TO CAMP OUT.

CHAPTER I.

Getting ready.

The hope of camping out that comes over one in early spring, the laying of plans and arranging of details, is, I sometimes think, even more enjoyable than reality itself.  As there is pleasure in this, let me advise you to give a practical turn to your anticipations.

Think over and decide whether you will walk, go horseback, sail, camp out in one place, or what you will do; then learn what you can of the route you propose to go over, or the ground where you intend to camp for the season.  If you think of moving through or camping in places unknown to you, it is important to learn whether you can buy provisions and get lodgings along your route.  See some one, if you can, who has been where you think of going, and put down in a note-book all he tells you that is important.