be found that this simple
kitchen range is for several reasons better than any pole on
forked stakes can be, and is incomparably better than a camp-fire
without some device for ensuring the uprightness of pot or pan.

Many campers make their camp-fires by laying the sticks with the
middle on the coals or the blaze. The better way is to put the
ends to the fire. The fire can be managed much more easily in that
way, by withdrawing a few sticks if the heat is too great, or by
pushing a stick or more in between the pins and under the
cooking-vessel if the heat is not enough. Camp-fires are often
made too big for the needs and for the comfort of the campers.

I have seen a camp-fire made on the surface of a broad lake, and
far from the nearest land, yet not in the canoe. If there had been
a couple of shovelfuls of sand or earth, the fire might have been
made in the canoe. As it was, the Indian gathered a few armfuls of
green sedges and grasses and threw them on the water, then made
the fire on the top of the heap, and soon had roast duck for
dinner.

An axe is a clumsy and a dangerous tool in canoe and in camp. It
is awkward in shape, and heavy. It can be used for many purposes,
but the machete can be used for all the purposes for which an axe
is used, except for heavy pounding, and is admirably adapted for
many other uses. Millions of people from Texas to Patagonia have
long found the machete an ever-ready tool.

Machetes are of many shapes and sizes. The laborer who clears
trees and bush from land uses a broad and heavy blade. It is some
eighteen or twenty inches in length, and may be three inches wide
at its widest. The traveller will carry a machete which is like a
heavy sword, and may be straight like a rapier, or curved
somewhat, like a cavalry sword. This blade may be two feet or even
twenty-six inches in length. For camp uses I should choose one
like those the laborers use. A leathern sheath with belt go with
some classes of machetes. With one of these an effective blow can
be struck for cutting brush, trees of moderate size, or the flesh
and bones of game. It will be useful in skinning animals or in
cleaning fish. In short, there is scarcely any cutting about a
camp which cannot be done far better with a machete than with the
best