Another one-man outfit was designed and is (or was—I know not what the war may have done there) manufactured by that veteran camper and outdoor writer, T. H. Holding, of 7 Maddox St., London, W. It includes the following articles:

Tent .....................13 ounces.

Poles (3) ................15

Pegs ....................10 "

Ground sheet .............10

Ground "blanket"........ 8

Down quilt ..............20

Cooking kit .............16

6 pounds.

The "Wigwam," as Mr. Holding calls his tiny tent, is of ordinary "A" shape and is made of Japanese silk, 5 ft. 11 in. long, 4 1/2 ft. wide, and 4 ft. high, giving sufficient headroom to lounge in comfortably. When rolled up it can be carried in an ordinary pocket. It will be noticed that the poles and pegs weigh practically twice as much as the tent itself. This is due partly to the use of shear poles in front, instead of a single vertical pole, giving freer entrance and egress, besides supporting the tent better. A ridge pole, weighing 10 ounces, is supplied extra, and is recommended for the sake of trim setting. The poles are of jointed bamboo, and the pegs of aluminum, flattened at the ends instead of pointed, to give a good grip in the ground.

Of the silk tent Mr. Holding says: "Such is its toughness that I have seen a pair of the strongest fingers try to tear the material, and fail. For its weight and thickness it is the most powerful stuff in the world in the shape of textile goods. I have put several tents I possess to protracted and severe tests, and I have never had one to tear. One has stood some of the heaviest rains, in fact, records for thirty hours at a stretch, without letting in wet, and I say this of an 11-ounce silk one. . . .

"What, however, silk does not stand well is friction. As an instance, open your silk umbrella and look down the folds, half way between each rib. The parts of a tent, therefore, which show the wear are at the pegging and head places, where the fingers touch it in erecting. To this end I recommend they should not be rolled up, as cotton fabrics, but rucked, like a pocket handkerchief".

The "Wigwam" is also furnished ready-made in various other materials, cheaper but heavier than silk, of which the next lightest is lawn, weighing 1 pound 8 ounces.

The ground sheet is of light mackintosh. Over it goes a little "ground blanket" of thin cashmere, with eyelets at the corners, so that it may be pegged down. This is not only for the sake of warmth, but also to save wear on the mackintosh, which has to be very thin.

Mr. Holding's eiderdown quilt is only to cover with, not to roll up in. The Wigwam size is 5 ft. 10 in. by 4 ft., to which is added a foot of cloth valance all around, which is pegged or weighted down so that the sleeper will not kick off his covering. These quilts are thinner than the domestic ones of down, and roll up into remarkably small compass.

The cooking kit is made of thin copper. It includes a pad spirit stove with damper and windshield, a boiler 6 inches across, a porridge pan that fits inside, and a fry-pan that forms a cover foi the boiler; also a separate handle for the various pans. The vessels are seamless.

Of course, this six-pound outfit does not include everything that a hiker requires in camp and on the march. Mr. Holding gives a list of articles recommended for two pedestrians traveling together: lbs. oz.

"A" Tent, 6 ft. by 5 ft. 9 in. by 5 ft. 9 in..... 2 0

Set of 2 tent poles ......................... 1 0

Set of pegs (ordinary skewers) ............ 3

Oil stove—"Baby Primus" ................. 1 3

Aluminum pans—"So Soon" pattern ....... 1 1

Piece of waterproof for tent ................ 2

2 Aluminum cups and saucers (plates) .... 4

2 sets Aluminum knife, fork, spoon ......... 4

Candlestick and candle ..................... 2

Aluminum box of soap ..................... 1

The piece of waterproof is two feet square. It is to roll up the tent in when wet, and serves otherwise as a wash-basin, seat, etc.

Each man carries half of this company kit, making his share 3 pounds 2 ounces. Adding his personal equipment, his burden becomes:.

Lbs. oz.

Share of baggage .......................... 3 2

Mackintosh coat ............................ 1 6

Air pillow .................................- 3

Down pillow (a luxury) .................... 1

Sweater .................................... 1 0

Sleeping- stockings (long ones) ............ 6

Extra walking socks ....................... 4

Down quilt ................................. 1 10

Thin extra vest (undershirt) ................ 5

Scarf ..................................... 2

Tooth brush, etc............................ 3

Hold-all with straps (under) ............... 8

For hiking instead of cycling, a rucksack should be substituted for the hold-all. Adding a towel, the weight, without food, is close to 10 pounds, with part food 12 pounds.

The "Baby" kerosene vapor stove here listed is like a regular Primus except that its valve is in different position, the pump is set in snugly at the side, it has rounded cone feet set inward, and it is of reduced size, weighing only 1 pound 3 ounces instead of 4 pounds. A still smaller stove of the same pattern, called the "Pocket Primus," measures 2 3/4 inches deep by 4 inches across, when packed, and weighs only 1 pound 1 ounce.

Another specialty is the "So-Soon" cooking kit. The lower vessel is a boiler 3 3/4 by 5 1/2 inches, the second is another boiler that fits inside the first, next is a stew or porridge pan which, inverted, makes a covet for the kit; on top is the frying-pan, i inch deep. All of these vessels are of stamped aluminum. A separate handle fits all of them. A "Baby Primus" stove fits inside the nested pans. The main boiler tapers narrower at the bottom, so as to keep the set from rattling when carried about. No part has any excrescence or projection to obstruct the packing. The whole set, omitting stove, weighs t pound 5 ounces.

There is a smaller "So-Soon" set made for the "Pocket Primus," which is 3 1/2 by 5 1/4 inches, and its three vessels weigh only 8 ounces.

Returning to the subject of tents: the English outfitters supply them of many shapes and sizes and in various iightweight materials, besides common tents, of course. It will strike American campers as peculiar that none of the extra thin materials used in tents up to 7 x 7 size are subjected to any waterproofing process whatever. For rain-shedding quality they depend solely, like an umbrella, upon the closeness with which the textile is woven. On examining these clothes one is surprised at their exceeding fineness of texture. Some of the cotton goods are woven almost twice as fine as our so-called "balloon silk" or the 4-ounce special Lowell cloth used for extra-light racing sails on small craft.

The best lawns, etc., are made from Egyptian cotton, which has a stronger and finer fiber than American cotton, and is said to be 15 per cent, stronger. In spite of this, I doubt if any thin, unprocessed tent is really rainproof unless it is stretched very taut and the occupant takes great pains to avoid touching it from the inside. In a shelter only three or four feet high, and wedge-shaped, one can hardly help rubbing against the interior, and then will come the drip-drip that we know too well. Even the rear wall, though vertical, will be rubbed by one's pillow in a very short tent, and then, if rain is driven by the wind, this wall will leak. The only remedy would be to waterproof the cloth or use a fly.

There is another objection to extremely thin tenting material: it requires tighter stretching, and hence more pegs, than stouter material would, or it will belly and sag. Moreover, it stretches excessively, and then the poles will no longer fit. Mr. Holding himself reports that a small tent stretches from three to nine inches, in service. Waterproofing would prevent nearly all of this, for it is the alternate tightening and loosening of the cloth from wetting and drying that makes the fiber of the material loosen up.

A feature of some of the English tents that deserves copying is the angular extension of lower edge of door flaps, so that the doors can be pegged out straight in line with sides of tent, forming windshields and protection against driving rain when one wants the door open. Another is that the ground sheet, instead of being made square or rectangular, has the sides and rear end cut in segments of a circle, so as to fit against the walls when they are drawn outward by sagging of ridge and stretching of sides.

The bedding here described would not suit us at all. The down sleeping-bag would be too stuffy. The Holding quilts are so narrow that they can only be used to cover with, and so the under side of the body is left unprotected by anything but cold mackintosh and a very thin, sheet of cashmere. In England, I suppose, it is taken for granted that the camper will procure, for each night, a bedding of straw or hay; but in our country there are many places, even in "civilization," where the camper would have to chance it on the bare ground. In our climate (or climates) we need more bedding under than over us, if there is nothing to serve a? mattress.

The English featherweight outfits, although not adapted to our needs, are very suggestive, and American pedestrian tourists will do well to study them. (Full details are given in Mr. Holding's Camper s Handbook). Not only lightness but compactness seem to have been brought to an irreducible minimum. For example, there is a complete cycle-Camping outfit for two men, including tent, down quilt, toilet articles, cooking utensils, etc., that stows in a bag only 15 x 7 x 7 inches!