208 GLOSSARY 



Chain 



"An instrument consisting of links, used by surveyors 

 in measuring land." Webster. The chain commonly 

 used is Coulter's chain, which has one hundred links 

 each 7 9 % o inches in length, making the total length 

 four rods or sixty-six feet. Hence, a measure of that 

 length. 



Contour 



The line in which a horizontal plane intersects a por- 

 tion of ground, or the corresponding line in a map or 

 chart. 



Cowpuncher 



The same thing as a cowboy, which the dictionary says 

 is * ' one of an adventurous class of herders and drovers 

 on the plains of the Western United States." Only 

 for some reason no puncher will answer to the epithet 

 " cowboy," while if you called him a herder or drover 

 he would undoubtedly grow vexed and perhaps "bow 

 up." Cowpuncher is much the most respectable word 

 of the lot. And "punching" cattle, it may be added, 

 is a very reputable and businesslike business nowadays, 

 whatever it may once have been. Also the adventure 

 element in the sense of romance is found chiefly 

 between the covers of works of fiction. 



Cruiser 



When used to describe a man who estimates the number 

 of board feet in standing timber on a given area, it 

 means the members of our reconnaissance party 

 excepting the packers and the base line crew. In the 

 dictionary a colloquial meaning is given "to cruise is 

 to wander hither and thither on land." That suggests 

 our work by antithesis, because we did exactly the 

 opposite, travelling always in a straight line by the 

 compass and only wandering, when we had the time 

 to wander at all, mildly and in our minds. 



