[17] What is known by shoemakers as “webbing” is good for this purpose, or you can double together and sew strips of sheeting or drilling.  Cod-lines and small ropes are objectionable, as they are not easily untied when in hard knots.

[18] The poles for army A-tents are seven feet six inches.

[19] This name is given to the piece of wood that tightens the guy-line.  The United States army tent has a fiddle 5-1/4 inches long, 1-3/4 wide, and 1 inch thick; the holes are 3-1/2 inches apart from centre to centre.  If you make a fiddle shorter, or of thinner stock, it does not hold its grip so well.  One hole should be just large enough to admit the rope, and the other a size larger so that the rope may slide through easily.

[20] Seven-ounce duck is made, but it is not much heavier than drilling, and since it is little used it is not easily found for sale.  United States army wall-tents are made from a superior quality of ten-ounce duck, but they are much stouter than is necessary for summer camping.  There are also “sail-ducks,” known as “No. 8,” “No. 9,” &c., which are very much too heavy for tents.

[21] The length of tent-poles, as has been previously stated, depends upon the size of the tent.

[22] What are known as “bolt-ends” can be bought at the hardware stores for this purpose.

CHAPTER X.

MISCELLANEOUS.—­GENERAL ADVICE.

If you travel horseback, singly or in parties, a previous experience in riding and in the care of your animal are necessary for pleasure.  What is said about overloading applies here:  you must go light; let your saddlebags be small, and packed so as not to chafe the horse.  If you have the choice of a saddle, take a “McClellan” or a similar one, so that you can easily strap on your blankets and bags.  If you have time before starting, try to teach your horse, what so few horses in the Northern States know, to be guided by the pressure of reins against the neck instead of a pull at the bit.

BOATING.

I do not propose to say much about boating, as the subject can hardly have justice done to it in a book of this sort.  Parties of young men spend their summer vacation every year in camping and boating.  It is a most delightful way,—­superior in many respects to any other,—­but it requires both experience and caution, neither of which is usually found in young men.  So I hope that, if you will go in a boat, you may be an exception to the general rule, and will, for your parents’ and friends’ sake, take a small boat without ballast rather than a large one ballasted so heavily that it will sink when it fills.