Stránka:book 1922.djvu/525

Some Indian Ways 495 THE INDIAN OR WILLOW BED The only bed I know of which is light, portable, scout- like, made of wildwood stuff that can be got anywhere, and costing nothing but a little labor, is the willow or prairie bed used by all the Plains Indians. This is how it is made: On your first short hike to the country go to some stream bank or swamp, and cut about seventy straight rods of red willow (kinnikinik), gray willow, arrow-wood, or any straight shoots, each about as thick as a pencil, when peeled, except one or two that are larger, up to half an inch thick ; and all thirty inches long. Tie them up in a tight bundle with several cords until you get time to work them. Peel them, cut a slight notch in the butt of each rod, three quarters of an inch from the end, and you are ready to make the bed. And here I may say that some fellows, who could not get to the country to cut willow rods, have used the ordinary bamboo fishing-poles. These are sawed up in 30-inch lengths and split to the necessary thinness; the butt end yields four or even five of the splints, the top, but one. This answers well, and three poles furnish material enough for the bed. This is allowable because, though the stuff is not of our own woods, it is American; it grows in the Southern States. One or two fellows in town have made the bed of dowels from a furniture factory. Now get a ball of cord, that will stand a 25-Ib. pull, a ball of fine linen thread ,» and a piece of shoemakers' wax, to complete your materials. If outdoors, you can stretch your cords, between two small trees about seven feet apart, but it is much easier if you make a rough frame of strips or poles seven feet by three inside to work on. Cut four pieces of the cord, each about twenty feet long.