Stránka:roll 1910.djvu/129

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA 113 THE MOON. The Moon is 1-5 the diameter of the Earth, about 1-50 of the bulk, and is about a quarter-milHon miles away. Its course, while very irregular, is nearly the same as the apparent course of the Sun. But " in winter the full Moon is at an alti- tude in the sky near the limit attained by the Sun in summer, . . . and even, at certain times, five degrees higher. It is the con- trary in summer, a season when the Moon remains very low " (P.). The Moon goes around the Earth in 2yj4 days. It loses nearly % oi an hour each night ; that is, it rises that much later. FINDING YOUR LATITUDE BY THE STARS The use of the stars to the Scout is chiefly to guide him by showing the north, but the white man has carried the use a step farther: he makes the Pole-star tell him not only where the north is, but where he himself is. From the Pole-star, he can learn his latitude. In the Honor List it is reckoned an exploit to take one's lati- tude from the North Star with a cart-wheel, or with two sticks and a bucket of water. If the calculation is made within two de- grees of error, it counts a simple honor; if within one degree, it counts a high honor. The first attempt I made was with two sticks and a bucket of water. I arranged the bucket in the daytime, so that it could be filled from rim to rim, that is, it was level, and that gave me the horizon line; next, I fastened my two sticks to- gether at an adjustable angle. Then, laying one stick across the bucket as a base, I raised the other till the two right notches on its upper edge were in straight line for the Pole-star. The sticks were now fastened at this angle and put away till the morn- ing. On a smooth board now — the board is allow- able because it can be found either far on the plains when you have your wagon, or on the ship at sea — I mapped out, first a right angle, by the old plan of measuring off a triangle, whose sides were six, eight, and ten inches, and applied the star