Remember, when reading your map that the meridian marked thereon is the true north. Your compass, as just explained, points to the magnetic north. Therefore, you will have to apply a correction to your compass reading, the amount necessary varying as you go east or west of a line which passes, approximately, from Mackinac Island, in Lake Michigan, to Savannah, Georgia. The further east you are of this line the more the north end of your needle will point west of north; the further west you are of this line the more your needle will point east of north, the amount of the deviation amounting to one minute west for each mile east of this line (or 1° for each 60 miles) and one minute east for each mile west of this line. WHAT TO DO WHEN LOST The catastrophe of getting lost besets almost every lone woods traveler sooner or later and frequently results in a panic as deadly as that which drowns good swimmers. Even trained woodsmen sometimes get “turned around” but they usually find their bearings soon because of the general knowledge of the country and the main landmarks, shapes and heights of mountains, the trend of the ridges, the prevailing winds, the general direction and ultimate outlet of the streams, etc. The danger of getting lost is further offset by a proper knowledge of taking one’s bearings, by range finding, by the knack of traveling by direction and by correct compass reading. Perhaps the greatest cause of one’s being lost after separation from party is that during ensemble travel the leader is the only one who sees the landmarks. Upon leaving the camp place or headquarter’s point one should note the landscape and know absolutely the direction he is taking, otherwise his compass will be of little value even though he can see the sun and knows that if, he points the hour hand of his watch to it, half way between that point and twelve o’clock he is directed south. A lost man has a tendency to travel in a circle which is explained by some as being due to the fact that most men step farther with one foot than with the other. It can be avoided by selecting some distant object, walking straight to it, picking out another in the same line of travel and continuing to do this until one has arrived somewhere. One has the satisfaction of knowing that he will not find himself at the place he started from a short time previously. The compass then is invaluable and its directions must under no circumstances be questioned.