Scouting for Boys

by Robert Baden-Powell

  Of course a Scout ought to know about snakes, because in almost all wild countries you come across plenty of them and many of them dangerous.

  Snakes sometimes creep into tents and under blankets, or into boots. You will always notice an old hand in snake country look very carefully through his blankets before he turns in at night, and shake out his boots in the morning before putting them on. I even find myself doing it now at home, just from habit.

  Snakes don’t usually like crawling over anything rough. So in India you often construct a kind of path, made of sharp, jagged stone, all round a house to prevent snakes crawling into it from the garden.

  I used to catch snakes when I was at school by using a long stick with a small fork at the end of it. When I saw a snake I stalked him, jammed the fork down on his neck, and then tied him up the stick with strips of old handkerchief, and carried him back to sell to anybody who wanted a pet. But they are not good things to make pets of as a rule, because so many people have a horror of them, and it is not fair, therefore, to have them about in a house where people might get frightened by them.

  Poisonous Snakes

  Poisonous snakes carry their poison in a small bag inside their mouths. They usually have two fangs or long pointed teeth, which are on a kind of hinge. The fangs lie flat along the snake’s gums till he gets angry and wants to kill something, then they stand on end, and he dives his head forward and strikes them into his enemy. As he does so, the poison passes out of the poison bag, or gland, into the two holes in your skin made by the fangs. This poison then gets into the veins of the man who has been bitten and is carried by the blood all over the body in a few seconds, unless steps are at once taken to stop it by binding the veins up and sucking the wound. Snake poison does no harm when swallowed.

  Insects

  Insects are very interesting animals to collect, or to watch, or to photograph.

  Also for a Scout who fishes, or studies birds or reptiles, it is most important that he should know a certain amount about the insects which are their favourite food at different times of the year or different hours of the day.

  About bees alone whole books have been written—for they have wonderful powers in making their honeycomb, in finding their way for miles, sometimes as far as six miles, to find the right kind of flowers for giving them the sugary juice for making honey, and getting back with it to the hive. They are quite a model community, for they respect their queen and kill those who won’t work.

  Then some insects are useful as food. Locusts—a big kind of grasshopper—are eaten in India and South Africa. We were very glad to get a flight or two of them over Mafeking. When they settled on the ground we beat them down, with empty sacks, as they turned to rise. They were then dried in the sun and pounded up and eaten. And make a substitute for salt.

  Ants as Life Savers

  I have known another case of ants being useful—in fact they were not only useful but saved the lives of several men.

  These men were a party of scientific professors who were hiking in the wilds of Australia, searching for rare plants and animals, reptiles and bugs.

  Out in the desert they ran out of water. For hours they struggled on, maddened with thirst and weak with exhaustion. It looked as though, like many explorers before them, they would collapse and die. Luckily, to their great relief, a small native girl appeared. They made a sign to her that they were dying of thirst and wanted her to go and fetch water.

  In reply she pointed to a string of ants which were climbing up a baobab tree. (This tree has a great fat hollow trunk which thus forms a sort of water tank.)

  The little girl picked a long stalk of dried grass and climbed up to a little hole in the trunk which the ants were running into.

  She put one end of the straw down this hole and the other end into her mouth and sucked up water.

  A small native girl came to the aid of the scientific professors who ran out of water when hiking in the wilds of Australia.

  In this way the wild little imp of the desert taught the learned gentlemen a valuable bit of knowledge which with all their school and college education they did not possess.

  I hope that had a Scout been with them he would have been wise to the idea, or at any rate would have used his eyes and wits and would have noticed the ants at their work and guessed why they were using that hole in the tree.

  Watching Insects

  It doesn’t sound very exciting to watch insects, but the great French naturalist, Henri Fabre, the son of peasants, spent days in studying the lives and habits of insects, and found out all kinds of curious things about them. He became world famous for his studies. Some insects are our friends—such as the silkworm and the ladybird or “ladybug”—but others are our enemies: They destroy vegetables and attack flowers. You all know how the mosquito spreads such dangerous diseases as malaria and yellow fever. And I need not remind you of how the house-fly can carry disease germs—that is why, in camp as well as at home, all food should be kept carefully covered, and no dirt or rubbis h be allowed to lie about.

  PATROL PRACTICES IN ANIMAL OBSERVATION

  In the country, send out the Scouts to find out by observation, and to report on such points as these:

  How does a wild rabbit dig its hole? When a lot of rabbits are alarmed, does a rabbit merely run because the others do, or does he look around to see what is the danger before he goes?

  Does a woodpecker break the bark away to get at insects on a tree trunk, or does he pick them out of holes, or how does he gets at them?

  Does a trout when disturbed by people passing along the bank go up or down stream? Does he go away altogether or return to his place?

  If in a large town, take the Scouts to the Zoological Garden or to the Natural History Museum. About half a dozen animals would be quite enough to study for one day.

  Find out all about your Patrol animal. Learn its call. Discover its haunts, its tracks and habits. If it is not a local animal, study it in a museum or zoo.

  Get each Patrol to keep an outdoors log for a month, then compare results. Each Scout should contribute something to the log, such as a note of something seen or a sketch of a bird or animal. Or have a nature scrap book, with cuttings from newspapers and magazines of nature photographs, notes on outdoor life, nature calendars, etc.

  Encourage the taking of photographs. Even the cheapest camera can be used for showing the surroundings in which each kind of bird makes its nest.

  Bird-feeding can be practised both in town and country, particularly in the winter. A window-sill feeding-tray in town can attract many different birds. The provision of water in summer is also important.

  Build up a Patrol library of well-illustrated books for recognizing animals, bird, reptiles fish and insects.

  Try to get a pair of good field glasses for the Patrol so that the Scouts can learn the fun of watching birds and animals. Also introduce the Scouts to the use of the magnifying glass, and, if possible, the microscope. Any instrument attracts a boy, and the new world it opens up will fascinate many of the Scouts.

  In the country you can make a “club” for the birds, with a “dining room”,

  a basin of fresh water, and branches to lounge on.

  CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 16

  PLANTS

  Trees and Their Leaves - Eatable Plants

  Plant Observation

  A backwoodsman who lives far away from human habitations in the deep forests must know about useful trees and other plants.

  A Scout often has to describe the country he has been through. If he reports that it is “well wooded,” it might be of great importance for the reader of his report to know what kind of trees the woods were composed of.

  For instance, if the wood were of fir or larch trees it would mean you could get poles for building bridges. If it were cocoa palm trees, you know you could get nuts for eating and “milk” for drinking. Willow trees mean water close by. Pine or sugar bush or gum trees would mean lots of good fuel.

&n
bsp; A Scout should therefore make a point of learning the names and appearances of trees in his country.

  He should get hold of a leaf of each kind and compare it with the leaf on the tree, and then get to know the general shape and appearance of each kind of tree, so he can recognize it at a distance—not only in summer, but also in winter. Some trees have typical shapes—as the Oak, Elm and Poplar in the sketches. See if you can find others, say of Pine, Birch, Willow, and so on.

  Guardian of the Woods

  As a Scout, you are the guardian of the woods. A Scout never damages a tree by hacking it with his knife or axe. It does not take long to fell a tree, but it takes many years to grow one, so a Scout cuts down a tree for a good reason only—not just for the sake of using his axe. For every tree felled, two should be planted.

  Learn to sketch the leaves and outline of trees, such as this oak.

  Firewood

  It is seldom necessary to chop trees even for firewood, as usually there is plenty of dead wood lying about on the ground. Or a dead branch can be broken off a tree. Dead wood burns far more easily than green wood.

  Generally speaking, soft woods— pine, fir, spruce and larch—make good kindling and give quick fires for short jobs such as boiling water. Hard woods— oak, beech, maples and others—give lasting fires with many embers for longer jobs such as roasting, stewing and baking.

  In America they say, “One tree may make a million matches—one match may destroy a million trees.” A Scout is very careful about fires. When he uses one he sees that it is completely out before he leaves the place, by dousing the last spark with water.

  Other Plants

  You ought to know what plants are useful to you in providing you with food.

  Supposing you were out in a jungle without any food and knew nothing about plants— you might die of starvation or of poisoning, from not knowing which fruits or roots were wholesome and which dangerous to eat.

  Eatable Plants

  European elm has a distinctive form. So has Lombardy poplar.

  There are numbers of berries, nuts, roots, barks, and leaves that make good eating. Find out which of these are found near your camp site, and try to make a camp meal of them.

  Crops of different kinds of corn and seed, vegetable roots, and many grasses are also edible. Certain kinds of moss are used for food. Some types of seaweed can also be eaten.

  You will want to be able to recognize the common flowers of the field and wood. Some of these are related to our garden flowers, and have some of the same beauty. Others are herbs which are useful for flavouring in cooking and for medicine.

  PATROL PRACTICES IN PLANT OBSERVATION

  Take out the Scouts to get specimens of leaves, fruits, or blossoms of various trees and shrubs, and observe the shape and nature of trees both in summer and in winter.

  Collect leaves of different trees. Let Scouts make tracings of them and write the name of the tree on each.

  In the country have Scouts examine crops in all stages of their growth, so that they know pretty well by sight what kind of crop is coming up.

  Find all the local wild plants that may be used for food.

  Make a collection of leaf impressions: Get some carbon copying paper. Lay the leaf vein side downwards on the carbon, place a piece of thin paper on top and rub the whole firmly. Remove the paper and pick up the leaf. Now lay it, again vein side downwards, on the paper you are using for the impressions ; again place a piece of paper on top and rub firmly This should give a very clear impression of the leaf.

  Encourage Scouts to collect specimens of wild flowers and press them between sheets of blotting paper in a heavy book.

  GAMES IN PLANT OBSERVATION

  What Is It?

  Two Scouts start out and make a trail with trail marks. They have decided upon an uncommon sign to signify “What is it? such as a circle with a line drawn through it, and a number next to it.

  The remainder of the Patrol or Troop start out, say, ten minutes after the first two, either as a body or separately, and take notebooks and pencils with them.

  The game consists of entering in their notebooks the “What is it? “s that have been noticed and write down the nature of the article closest to the sign, such as “Oak”, “Dandelion”, etc.

  Marks should be given according to the number of signs observed and for the correct answers to the “What is it?”s.

  Besides being very interesting, this game develops observation, strengthens the memory and is a good botany instruction.

  Plant Race

  The Patrol Leader starts off his Scouts, either cycling or on foot, to go in any direction they like, to get a specimen of any ordered plant. This may be a maple seed pod, an acorn, a thistle, ragweed, a milkweed pod, a choke cherry twig, or something similar that will tax their knowledge of plants, test their memory as to where they noticed one of the kind required, and make them quick in getting there and back.

  CHAPTER VI

  ENDURANCE FOR SCOUTS

  CAMP FIRE YARN NO. 17

  HOW TO GROW STRONG

  Need for Scouts to Be Strong - Exercises

  - Care of Body - Nose - Ears - Eyes – Teeth Nails

  Practices

  HINTS TO INSTRUCTORS

  PRACTICES IN DEVELOPING STRENGTH

  It is of paramount importance to teach the young citizen to assume responsibility for his own development and health.

  Physical drill is all very well as a disciplinary means of development, but it does not give the lad any responsibility in the matter.

  It is therefore deemed preferable to tell each boy, according to his age, what ought to be his weight, height, and various measurements (such as chest, waist, arm, leg, etc.). He is then measured, and learns in which points he fails to come up to the standard. He can then be shown which exercises to practise for himself in order to develop those particular points.

  Encouragement must afterwards be given by periodical measurements, say, every three months or so.

  Teach how to make camp tooth-brushes out of sticks.

  A SCOUT LAY SICK IN HOSPITAL in India with that most fatal disease called cholera. The doctor told the native attending him that the only chance of saving his life was to warm up his feet and keep the blood moving in his body by constantly rubbing him.

  The moment the doctor’s back was turned, the native gave up rubbing and squatted down to have a quiet smoke.

  The poor patient, though he could not speak, understood all that was going on, and he was so enraged at the conduct of the native attendant that he resolved then and there that he would get well if only to give the native a lesson. Having made up his mind to get well he got well.

  A Scout saying is “Never say die till you’re dead”— and if he acts up to this, it will pull him out of many a bad place when everything seems to be going wrong for him. It means a mixture of pluck, patience, and strength, which we call “endurance.”

  A Sample of Endurance

  The great South African hunter and scout, F. C. Selous, gave a good example of scouts’ endurance on a hunting expedition in Barotseland, north of the Zambesi River, some years ago. In the middle of the night his camp was suddenly attacked by a hostile tribe, that fired into it at close range and charged in.

  He and his small party of natives scattered at once into the darkness and hid themselves away in the long grass. Selous himself had snatched up his rifle and a few cartridges and got safely into the grass. But he could not find any of his men, and, seeing that the enemy had taken possession of his camp, and that there were still a few hours of darkness before him in which to make his escape, he started off southward, using the stars of the Southern Cross as his guide.

  He crept past an outpost of the enemy whom he overheard talking, then swam across a river and finally got well away, only dressed in a shirt, shorts, and shoes. For the next few days and nights he kept walking southward, frequently hiding to avoid hostile natives. He shot deer for food.

  But one night,
going into what he thought was a friendly village, he had his rifle stolen from him, and was again a fugitive, without any means of protecting himself or of getting food. However, he was not one to give in while there was a chance of life left, and he pushed on and on till at length he reached a place where he met some of his men who had also escaped. After further tramping they got safely back into friendly country.