Page:Handbook for Boys.djvu/78

 CHAPTER 11

WOODCRAFT

Woodlore By Ernest Thompson Seton, Chief Scout

The Watch for a Compass

The watch is often used to give the compass point exactly. Thus: Point the hour hand to the sun; then, in the morning, half-way between the hour-hand and noon; the south. If afternoon, one must reckon half-way backward.

Thus: at 8 ; point the hour-hand to the sun and reckon forward half-way to noon; the south is at 10. If at 4, point the hour-hand at the sun and reckon back half-way; The south is at two o'clock.

The "half-way" is because the sun makes a course of twenty-four hours and the clock of but twelve. It we had a rational timepiece of twenty-four hours, it would fit in much better with all nature, and with the hour-hand pointed to the sun would make 12 o'clock, noon, always south.

If you cannot see the sun, get into a clear, open space, hold your knife point upright on your watch dial, and it will cast a faint shadow, showing where the sun really is, unless the clouds are very heavy.

Finding Your Latitude by the Stars

The use of the stars to the scout is chiefly to guide him by showing the north, but the white man has carried the use a step farther: he makes the Pole-star tell him not only where the north is, but where he himself is. From the Pole-star, he can learn his latitude.

It is reckoned an exploit to take one's latitude from the North Star with a cart-wheel, or with two sticks and a bucket of water. 57