There are various woods that answer well for kindling. Dry white pine, cedar shavings, and splints light readily, but dead “fat” pine is better. Pine knots that remain after the log has rotted away, when split, are heavy and yellow with dried pitch and if chopped into splinters, will burn like oil. An old pine log is often in the same condition, and if the camper can find any wood of this kind, he should take some to camp so that he will not need to hunt about for a suitable wood for starting a fire. The loose bark hanging to the white-birch tree trunks contains oil which causes it to take fire readily and burn with a bright flame.

While the woodsman invariably carries an axe with which to cut firewood, there may come a time when he has no axe and is obliged to camp out over night. Then getting together sufficient wood to keep fire over night is a real problem. Sometimes he can find a place where one tree has fallen across another, or if not, perhaps he can throw one over the other, and at the place where they cross he should build his fire. Then when the logs burn through he can move them and either keep shoving the ends into the fire as they burn away, or perhaps cross the pieces again and burn them into shorter and lighter pieces which can be handled readily.

Remember that flame naturally moves upward, so the wood should be lit from beneath. It is hard to get a fire started in any other way. Also remember that the wind drives the fire forward and you should light the wood under the windward side. The finest kindling should be placed first, then finely split dry wood on top, coarser wood on top of this, etc. The heavy wood should never rest too much on the kindling or the latter will be crushed into such a dense mass that it will not burn. Wood must never be placed so that the sticks fit closely together; a criss-cross or tepee style is much better.

Starting a Fire by the Bow Drill Method

To get wood into the proper condition for fire making by the friction method requires the selection of the proper kind of wood, and then a thorough drying indoors for weeks or even months. The wood must be as dry as wood can be, and such wood is never found in the forest. Only certain kinds of woods are really good for the purpose and among these kinds, cedar, balsam, and cottonwood seem to be the best. Spindle and block must be of the same kind of wood and equally dry.

The materials needed for making a fire are the bow, spindle, block, tinder, and a shell, a stone with a small cavity, or other similar object that can be used as a bearing or cap on top of the spindle. A mussel shell is the best natural object for the purpose, as it is light and has a hollow side that is smooth and makes an excellent bearing for the spindle end.

The bow, about two feet long, may be made of hickory or any springy wood, strung with stout, hard laid twine.

The spindle, made of any of the favorite woods, should be about sixteen inches long by three-fourths or one inch in thickness. The top should be rounded and the lower end shaped to a blunt, smooth point. It must be very dry.

The block should be an inch or a little more in thickness and of any width and length found convenient, but it should be large enough to be easily held down firmly with the knees when working the drill in the kneeling position. It really should be of the same kind of wood as the spindle.

The tinder may be any inflammable material—the mountain men called it punk—which can easily be fired from the burning dust, such as the shredded inner bark of a cedar tree, very dry and fine, mixed with shreds of white cotton cloth.

The operator cuts a V-shaped notch about three-quarters of an inch deep in the edge of the block. On the flat side of the block at the apex of the notch he then makes a small hole with the point of a knife as a starting place for the spindle.

Around this notch he places a small quantity of the tinder.

Then, giving the string of the bow a turn around the spindle, he kneels on the block, places the point of the spindle on the mark at the point of the notch, places the shell over the other end, and throwing his weight upon the spindle he works the bow back and forth quickly and steadily.

The spindle, revolving rapidly, bores its way down into the block, the dust that is worn from the block and spindle filtering down through the notch among the dry tinder. An increasing heat develops from the friction of the dry wood and soon an odor of scorching wood will be noticed; then a thin wisp of smoke arises from the dust in the notch and this grows stronger. After awhile the smoldering fire itself is visible in the dust which has accumulated in the notch and about the base of the spindle.

Here the operator stops the drill and blows the fire into flame. All that is necessary then is to place fine, dry twigs over the tinder and then coarser wood, and this wonderful feat of building a fire without matches is accomplished.

Flint and Steel as a Fire Starter

Matches are a comparatively recent invention. When this country was first settled, fires were generally made by means of flint and steel. By striking glancing blows with a steel object along the edge of a piece of flint, showers of sparks were thrown into a little pile of tinder to be blown into a flame by the fire-kindler. It is said that for an expert the trick was not at all difficult, and that fire could be produced very quickly; but it is obvious that very dry materials were necessary.

The Lens Method

But the easiest of all ways to make a fire without matches is by means of a magnifying glass or other lens. A reading glass, if the sun is bright enough, will produce a fire almost as quickly as it can be made with a match, providing, of course, that it is used the right way. In the absence of a reading glass, a watch or compass crystal, an eye glass, the lens from a field glass or camera, or even a clear glass bottle filled with a little water, may be used for concentrating the sun’s rays onto a pile of tinder and thus producing a fire.

BRUNSWICK STEW

Take two large squirrels, one quart of tomatoes, peeled and sliced (if fresh), one pint of lima beans or butter beans, two teaspoonfuls of white sugar, one minced onion, six potatoes, six ears of corn scraped from the cob (or a can of sweet corn), half a pound of butter, half a pound of salt pork, one teaspoonful of salt, three level teaspoonfuls of pepper, and a gallon of water. Cut the squirrels up as a fricassee, add salt and water, and boil five minutes. Then put in the onion, beans, corn, pork, potatoes, and pepper, and when boiling again add the squirrel.

Cover closely and stew two hours, then add the tomato mixed with the sugar and stew an hour longer. Ten minutes before removing from the fire cut the butter into pieces the size of English walnuts, roll in flour, and add to the stew. Boil up again, adding more salt and pepper if required.

HOW TO MAKE THE BURGOO

Anything from an ordinary pail to one or many big caldrons, according to the number expected at the camp, will serve as vessels in which to serve the burgoo. The excellence of the burgoo depends more upon the manner of cooking and seasoning it than it does on the meat used in its composition.

If, for instance, we have a good string of grouse, we will take the legs and wings and necks for the burgoo and save the breasts for a broil, and if we have only a few grouse, we will put in a whole bird or two. We will treat the rabbits the same way, saving the body with the tenderloin for broiling. When cleaned and dressed, the meat of a turtle or two adds a delicious flavor to the burgoo; frog legs are also good with the other meat. Cut all the meat up into pieces that correspond, roughly speaking, to inch cubes; do not throw away the bones; put them in also. Even ill-smelling but palatable dried vegetables, will add immensely to the flavor of your burgoo. Put all the ingredients in the kettle, that is, unless you are using beans and potatoes as vegetables; if so, the meats had better be well cooked first, because the beans and potatoes have a tendency to go to the bottom, and by scorching spoil the broth.