smallness cannot be turned to account as coverings,
and the lower part of his bed is complete.

If a night of unusual cold be expected, the best use to make of spare
wearing-apparel, is to put it on over that which is already on the
person. With two or three shirts, stockings, and trousers, though
severally of thin materials, a man may get through a night of very trying
weather.

Preparing the Ground for a Bed.--Travellers should always root up the
stones and sticks that might interfere with the smoothness of the place
where they intend to sleep. This is a matter worth taking a great deal of
pains about; the oldest campaigners are the most particular in making
themselves comfortable at night. They should also scrape a hollow in the
ground, of the shape shown in fig. 2 (next page), before spreading their
sleeping-rugs. It is disagreeable enough to lie on a perfectly level
surface, like that of a floor, but the acme of discomfort is to lie upon
a convexity. Persons who have omitted to make a shapely lair for
themselves, should at least scrape a hollow in the ground, just where the
hip-bone would otherwise press.

[Sketch of person sleeping and bed; Fig. 1 and 2].

The annexed sketch (fig. 1) represents a man sleeping in a natural
attitude. It will be observed that he fits into a concavity of about 6
inches in greatest depth. (The scale on which he is drawn is 6 feet long
and 1 foot high.)

Hammocks.--See section on "furniture."

Coverlets.--General Remarks.--For an upper cover, it is of importance to
an otherwise unsheltered person, that its texture should be such as to
prevent the wind blowing through. If it does so, no thickness is of any
avail in keeping out the cold; hence the advantage of skin carosses,
buffalo robes, leather sheets, and macintosh rugs. All clothes lose much
of their closeness of texture in a hot, dry climate; the fibres shrink
extremely, and the wind blows through the tissue as through network. It
is in order to make their coverings wind-proof, that shepherd-lads on the
hills in Scotland, when the nights are cold, dip their plaids in water,
before sitting or lying down in them. The wet swells up the fibres of the
plaid, and makes the texture of it perfectly dense and close. It is also
of importance that the outer covering should have a certain weight, so as
not to be too easily displaced, either by the person fidgeting in his
sleep or by the blowing of the wind. In dry weather there is nothin