« 
220 Hints for the Formation of 
tent or cannonicre, a bear’s fkin to fleep upon, and woollen 
blankets. J 
17. A folid light walking-pole: mine for the high Alps 
is a young fir-plant, extremely dry, feven feet in length and 
18 lines in diameter at the lower end, which is fhod with 
iron taperiig to a {trong point. Thefe dimenfions may appear 
large, but nothing can be too ftrong for the fteep rocks, gla- 
ciers, and fnow, when you are obliged to take your point of 
fupport at a diftance from you, and to ret the whole weight 
of your body on your pole, by holding it in a fituation very 
niuch inclined, and even horizontal, as may be feen in the 
Vignette to the Firft Volume of my Travels through the Alps. 
—For mountains which are not fo fteep, the traveller may 
be fatisfied with poles of lefs ftreneth and fize; but it will 
ftill be neceffary that they fhould be four or five feet in height, 
and fufficiently ftrong that a perfon might be able to fupport . 
himfelf with his two hands by holding them in a horizontal 
fituation, according to ‘the attitude of the fmall figure which 
is on the Jeft fide at top of the before-mentioned vignette; for, 
in traverfing or defcending a rapid declivity, or in walking 
on the margin or edge of a precipice, the traveller mutt al- 
ways fupport himfelf by bis two hands, holding the pole to- 
~ wards the mountain, and not towards the precipice, as thofe do 
who have not learned the art of travelling through mountains. 
18. To prevent flipping on the hard fnow-ice, and -grafs- 
plats, which are ftill more dangerous, I would recommend iron 
cramps, fuch as thofe which I have caufed to be engraved in 
the. third plate of the firft volume, and which I have long 
ufed-with fuccefs. - In my laft excurfions, however, I pre- 
ferred fhoes, the thick foles of which were armed with flrong 
tacks, at the diftance of eight or nine lines from each other, 
The heads of thefe tacks are of fteel, and fhaped like a fquare 
pyramid: I have fome fmall ones, the points of which are 
only two lines and a half in height, and of about the fame 
breadth, for the fnow-rocks and grafs-plats; and others, of 
double thefe dimenfions, for the hard fnow. 
1g. In the laft place, with regard to provifions, when the 
traveller muft refide for a confiderable time in the defarts, at 
a diffance from habitations, and even huts, he may carry 
with 
