CHAPTER 11 WOODCRAFT Tho Watch for a Compaq* The Watch is often used to give the comp?s peint exa ?C?tly. Thus: Point the hour?mnd to th? sun; then, in the morning, half-way between the hour-baud and noon-i.? due south. If afternoon, one must reckon half-way .backward. Thus: at 8 s: at., point the hour-hand to the sun' a?d reckon forward halbway to n?on; the south is at ?o. If at 4 v. ?.,.point the hour-hand at the sun and reckon back half-way; The sout. h is at two o'clock. The "half-way" is because the sun makes a'course of twenty- I0ur hours a?t 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 x2 o'clock, noon, always south. If you cannot see the sun, get into a clear, open space, hold your knife point upr/ght on your watch dlal, and it will cast a faint shadow, showing where the sun really is, unless the douds 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 carded 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.
- From "Boy Scouts o? America," by Ernest Thompson Seton. Copyright, z9xo, by
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