The Chief Scout Talks

Taranaki Daily News, 18 January 1930, Page 9 (Supplement)

The Chief Scout Talks

LEARNING FROM THE RED INDIANS HOW TO BREATHE PROPERLY. (By -Lt.-General Lord Baden Powell.) One of the warriors of the’ renowned Sioux tribe of Red Indians once had a quarrel with a white trapper of the Fur Trading Company, and challenged him to a fight. It was rather hard to suggest a fight Viat would be equally fair for both parties. The Indian did not know how to use his fists, nor tvas he a good shot with a pistol, while the white man, though he could manage these, was no good with the bow and arrow or the lassoo. So at last they decided that they would strip oil all their clothes and go for each other with a big knife till* one or the other was killed. A cheerful way of settling it,. wasn’t it? An onlooker who was present asked the Indian, privately, if he was not afraid of the white man, who was a much bigger and more powerful man than himself. The Indian replied, "No, There is nothing to be afraid of in a man who keeps his mouth open.” And it was then noticed that the trapper kept his lips always parted. This is very true. Scouts will notice that a strong determined man or woman keeps the mouth severely closed when not talking, while a weak,’ silly sort of character always has it half open. Mr. George Gatlin, who wrote

many good books about the Red Indians in America, named one of them “Shut your mouth and save your life.” BREATHING THROUGH THE NOSE. In their wild state the Red Indians are particularly healthy and full of endurance, as compared with the people who live in towns and civilised countries. Catlin endeavoured to find out the cause and after careful inquiry among on© hundred and fifty tribes of Indians came to the conclusion that it was because they breathe through the nose and not, as many civilised people do, through .the mouth. In old days babies were kept very much wrapped up and in warm rooms and the want of air made them breathe through the mouth. This, when onco started, gradually becomes a habit, and the back of the nostrils, through not be-

ing used, gradually closes and as th&jT grow older the children continue td breathe through the mouth. With the Red Indians the babies ar© put to sleep in the open air and the mothers press their lips together while they sleep or even bind up the mouth so that they can only breathe through the nose. Red Indian children rarely died in those days, while, in England, "teat numbers of children died whilo tliey were still infants. Fortunately people are now getting more sensible. By breathing through the nose the air is measured and slightly warmed before it gets to the lungs, an I the moisture in the nostrils catches up dirt and seeds of disease which may try to come in with the air. No animal sleeps with its' mouth open; when a man does so he gets bad rest at night .and he chokes and snores. The natural moisture in the mouth gets dried up and be gets indigestion and sore throat and even his get diseased through being too dry. A PBE’BLE IN THE MOUTH. When I was on an expedition in Ashanti, on the West Coast of Africa, everybody' got ill with fever. We were continually inarching through thick forests with damp, swampy ground underfoot. It was a filthy climate, steamy and unhealthy, and the endless marching among trees day after day, week after week, got on the nerves of the men and they became depressed and slack. The cOnimander of one corps said to me that he was going to make his men sing choruses while on the much, in order to keep* up their spirits. So I replied, “Then your men will get fever by breathing the germs in through their months. It is bad enough to have th© men depressed; but even that is better than having them useless througn sickness.” I was one of the very few who came through that expedition without getting ill; but I believe that one of the causes of my escaping fever was that I always kept my mouth shut and breathed through my nose. A Scout keeps his mouth shut at all times. When he is marching or running he keeps it shut and so does not get it all dry and hot and thirsty inside. If he should forget to keep it shut or find a difficulty in doing so at first the dodge is to carry a round pebble in the mouth. This makes him keej his mouth closed lest the pebble should fall out. He will not then get thirsty like other fellows. But he must take - care not to swallow the stone! When he is working with others f Scout keeps his mouth shut and doc(_ not ask questions as to how he is to do his work but just goes at the job - and does it the best way. he can; he does not answer too many ffilly questions; he does not brag about his work when he has done it—he keeps his mouth shut. It is the same at night when he is asleep. He does not lie with his mouth open, drinking in all the germs of sickness that are floating around in the night air. No, he keeps his mouth shut and breathes through his nose, which means, too, that he breathes silently and does not snore. A Scout who snored at night on service would not be a scout for. long; a listening enemy would find him out and polish him off, and we might put on his gravestone —“Died through snoring.