652 WOODCRAFT. 



solid, square crackers, "hard tack," if need be, soda crackers, 

 if obtainable at the last little village through which he passes, and 

 in his coat pocket, securely wrapped, -an ounce of salt and a half 

 ounce of ground pepper. Properly packed, the crackers need take 

 but little room, and the man is to be pitied, no matter how fashion- 

 able his stomach, who cannot, after a good day's ride, make a 

 satisfactory, and certainly digestible, supper off the crackers 

 crumbed in the good sweet milk he is sure to find at any settler's 

 cabin, especially when duly seasoned with the salt and pepper he 

 carries with him. Persons of limited or no experience in the West 

 may smile at the suggestion that salt and pepper be carried along ; 

 but the writer has found many families, rich in acres and herds, 

 who were "just out of salt," and to whom pepper had been so 

 long absent that it was a cool friend. And many a palatable sup- 

 per and breakfast has he made off crackers and milk with pepper 

 in it, duly salted, when, had want of foresight confined him to the 

 "corn dodger," made all too "short" with lard, and the bacon 

 swimming in its native grease, which served the more rugged 

 stomach of his host, he would but weakly have bestridden his 

 mustang for the next day's ride. 



Guard against the " mountain fever," which is a severe cold 

 peculiar to the Rocky Mountains, caused by exposure and over 

 exertion. Its symptoms are flushes, fever, cold in the head, head- 

 aches and general debility. It reduces a cast-iron mountain man 

 to a weak and helpless infant in a few days. It in no respect 

 resembles the fever and ague, or the fever prevalent to the 

 Southern States. 



To prevent snow-blindness, smear the nose and the parts of the 

 face around the eyes with damp gunpowder. Those who travel to 

 the mountains by railroad should get a canteen at Omaha and fill 

 it with milk, and suspend it on the outside of the car window by 

 means of a stick (laid crosswise; and a string. It will keep sweet 

 until you wish to replenish. By this means you avoid the alkali 

 water which is injurious, especially to children. Hang your lunch 

 basket in the same way, and you can keep roast turkey, chicken, 

 game, meat, etc., the entire distance. You want two or more 

 coffee cups with handles, as you do not always feel like eating 

 breakfast at the stations, and ten cents worth of coffee procured at 

 the counter will suffice in aiding the lunch basket. 



