CORN BETTER THAN BISCUIT. 209 
string one by one after her. The packers, 
mounted, ride like field officers up and down 
the line of marching mules. When a pack slips, 
the mule is at once caught and the disarrange- 
ment readjusted. Extreme vigilance is needed 
whilst a train is on the march, lest a shifted load, 
or loosened Kynch, causes a gall on the back of 
the mule; a half hour’s negligence in this respect 
may render an animal useless for three or four 
months. 
In provisioning the men employed on the line 
flour was found to be far better than hard 
bread, more portable, less liable to injury, and 
better relished than biscuit. Our men learned to 
bake capital bread, small iron ovens being part 
of each working parties’ equipment. Baking- 
powder was also served out as part of the 
rations. 
Salt pork and ration beef were carried in 100Ib. 
barrels, two barrels being a load for a light mule, 
or four fifty-pound sacks of flour. Two hundred 
and fifty pounds may be taken as a fair average 
load per animal for a train of mules. 
Feeding the mules west of the Cascades was a 
most expensive and difficult affair. From the 
Chilukweyuk depdt to the furthest astronomical 
camp, fourteen days’ journey for packed mules, 
VOL. IL. 2 
