He there-upon ordered his staff to ride from
him, in radiating lines, in all directions, and that such of them as
should find the water to become more shallow, should shout out.
Mirage.--When it is excessive, it is most bewildering: a man will often
mistake a tuft of grass, or a tree, or other most dissimilar object, for
his companion, or his horse, or game. An old traveller is rarely deceived
by mirage. If he doubts, he can in many cases adopt the following hint
given by Dr. Kane: "Refraction will baffle a novice, on the ice; but we
have learned to baffle refraction. By sighting the suspected object with
your rifle at rest, you soon detect motion."
Lost Path.--If you fairly lose your way in the dark, do not go on
blundering hither and thither till you are exhausted; but make as
comfortable bivouac as you can, and start at daybreak fresh on your
search.
The bank of a watercourse, which is the best of clues, affords the worst
of paths, and is quite unfit to be followed at night. The ground is
always more broken in the neighbourhood of a river than far away from it;
and the vegatation is more tangled. Explorers travel most easily by
keeping far away from the banks of streams; because then they have fewer
broad tributaries and deep ravines to cross.
If in the daytime you find that you have quite lost your way, set
systematically to work to find it.
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