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CHAPTEE Y. 



TRAVEL. 



THE ordinary uneducated plainsman travels, like the 

 Indian, by landmarks ; making, however, unlike the 

 Indian, some use of the sun and the stars. The more 

 educated use the compass and maps. All classes are 

 greatly dependent on instinct. A good plainsman 'is 

 born, not made.' He must have within him a something 

 unaccountable even to himself, which, however variable 

 and circuitous the path of his wanderings, tells him con- 

 stantly the direction of his return. A small natural 

 aptitude in this may be greatly improved by cultivation 

 and practice ; but a total lack of the peculiar faculty can 

 never be replaced by practice, study, or science. 



One of the best of the explorers of twenty-five years 

 ago, a man who in his day, and for the length of his 

 service, added as much as any to our knowledge of the 

 4 Great West,' who, if but armed with his compass, sex- 

 tant, and chronometer, plunged fearlessly into any un- 

 known wilderness, would sit on the ground and yell 

 lustily for assistance if by accident he found himself 

 without instruments, out of sight of his tent or party. 

 Under ordinary circumstances a partially skilful plains- 

 man will not care for a compass, except on cloudy days, 

 or when intending to march accurately on some given 

 point. The sun and natural instinct, quickened by prac- 

 tice, are sufficient for all ordinary plain travel. Under 

 some circumstances, however, instinct, practice, sun, 

 compass, and head, all fail. Few persons, with any 



