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16o   Art of Travel.

spreads out to a flat sheet of the form of fig. 2, well adapted for an awning, or else it can be simply unrolled and used with the bedding. It is necessary that a tent should be roomy enough to admit of a man undressing himself, when wet through, without treading upon his bed and drenching it with mud and water ; and therefore a tent of the above description

Fig. 2.

is found to be unserviceable, if less than about 7 feet long, or ending in a triangle of less than 52 feet in the side. Peat, the saddler in Bond Street, once made them ; Lthey cost 21. 10s., and weighed 9 lbs. when dry. They are liable to bag in the side when the wind is high : a cross-pole or two sticks, following the seams of the canvas in the above sketch, would make them tauter.

Alpine Tent.-Mr. Whymper contrived a tent for his alpine explorations, which he found eminently successful. It has a waterproof floor, continuous with the sides : it is supported by poles, that slip into hems of the cloth - two poles at either end. These tents have been used on various occasions by Mr. Whymper's brother in Alaska, and by Mr. Freshfield in the Caucasus, and were highly approved of, but I do not know whether these tents would be altogether suitable for more comfortable travel. I myself had a tent made on this principle some years ago, but disliked it, for I found the continuity of the floor with the sides to act unsatisfactorily ; the tent retained the damp, and the weight of the body, acting on the floor of the tent, was apt to disturb its walls. Mr. Whymper's tent is procurable at Carter's, Alpine Outfitter, 295, Oxford Street, London.

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