The next thing to do is to obtain a sheet of cardboard about 12 by 16 inches and cover one side of it with a dull black paint; when the paint is thoroughly dry lay it, black side up, on the smooth side of the board. [Illustration: FIG. 1.—STARBOARD SHOWING CLEATS.] From another sheet of white cardboard cut out seven stars, about the size and shape shown in Fig. 2, and cut out another star nearly twice as large, to represent the North Star. Now place the white stars on the black surface of the cardboard in the positions shown in Fig. 3, using the smaller stars to form the outline of the _Big Dipper_ and the large star for the North Star. [Illustration: FIG. 2.—CARDBOARD STAR.] When all of the stars have been properly arranged, fasten them to the black cardboard with a bit of glue or mucilage. Push a thumb tack, or a pin, through the center of the large star, which is the North Star, and well into the board, so that the chart, or star map, can be turned round on the board with the North Star as its _axis_. When this is done your star finder is complete. =Finding the North Star.=—All being in readiness, take this chart, or star finder, out-of-doors some evening when the _seeing_ is good and all the stars in the northern sky are shining brightly, and face about north, holding the starboard in front of you, as shown in Fig. 4. Usually the direction of north is well known, and yet there are some places where the streets and roads do not run due north and south, and for this reason it is sometimes hard to tell exactly which way is north. In such a place either use a compass to get your bearing, or, if you haven’t a compass, face about as nearly north as you know how. [Illustration: FIG. 3.—THE NORTH STAR AND BIG DIPPER ON STARBOARD. (Position of Big Dipper in Autumn.)] Having looked at your star chart carefully raise your eyes from the board until they are in a line with the northern _horizon_, that is, the line where the earth and the sky seem to meet. Keep on raising your eyes in a straight line until they reach a group of stars, which is about 40 degrees above the horizon. (See Fig. 98.) The line for sighting the North Star is shown in Fig. 5. All the stars of this group are very faint except one and this particular star will stand out bright, distinct and alone, for the other two stars of the same group which can be plainly seen are not very close to it. The star you have found is the _North Star_, or _Pole Star_, or to give it its proper name _Polaris_ (pronounced Po-la´-ris). [Illustration: FIG. 4.—FINDING THE NORTH STAR AND THE BIG DIPPER.] To make sure you have not mistaken some other star for the North Star it will be a good idea to prove your find. Search around in the northern sky a little and you will see a group of seven bright stars fixed in the sky just as the cardboard stars are fixed on the black surface of your chart, and which are shown in Figs. 4 and 5.