My First Summer 



hard to bear, though the pain was not acute. 

 We dream of bread, a sure sign we need it. 

 Like the Indians, we ought to know how 

 to get the starch out of fern and saxifrage 

 stalks, lily bulbs, pine bark, etc. Our edu- 

 cation has been sadly neglected for many 

 generations. Wild rice would be good. I 

 noticed a leersia in wet meadow edges, but 

 the seeds are small. Acorns are not ripe, 

 nor pine nuts, nor filberts. The inner bark 

 of pine or spruce might be tried. Drank 

 tea until half intoxicated. Man seems to 

 crave a stimulant when anything extraor- 

 dinary is going on, and this is the only one 

 I use. Billy chews great quantities of to- 

 bacco, which I suppose helps to stupefy and 

 moderate his misery. We look and listen 

 for the Don every hour. How beautiful 

 upon the mountains his big feet would 

 be! 



In the warm, hospitable Sierra, shepherds 

 and mountain men in general, as far as I 

 have seen, are easily satisfied as to food sup- 



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