232 FISHING IN AMERICAN WATERS. 



tea, etc., etc. As we had not tasted potatoes in a week, we 

 began to long for them. Our table was set, and breakfast 

 about ready, when the general and the banker made their 

 appearance with their ladies, and, after mutual salutations, 

 we all seated ourselves for breakfast. Our plates and dishes 

 were composed of cast-iron outside and porcelain inside ; and, 

 though nearly as beautiful as sets and dishes of figured china, 

 they were as durable as iron, and just the kind that should 

 be adopted for kitchen use in the metropolis. By each plate 

 a stone about the size of a goose-egg was placed, to use in 

 cracking our sea-biscuit. Good sea-biscuit is much better 

 than common bread in the wilderness, and when cracked up 

 and crumbled into a bowl of tea, or, by being first dipped into 

 cold water to soften it, is afterward fried in the fat of the 

 pan after pork and eggs, is excellent, especially in the absence 

 of potatoes. 



I was almost shocked on perceiving that the right eye of 

 the banker's lady was closed, and a large lump on her left 

 temple, almost spoiling her beauty ; but I did not allude to 

 it until she mentioned that the flies had somewhat disfig- 

 ured me, when I asked her how she had rested. She replied, 

 " Very well ; but this morning, while bathing my face, I found 

 that I had a large lump on the left side of it, and my right 

 eye felt fatty. I called to my husband, and asked him what 

 it was. He replied by asking me to shut my left eye and 

 look at him with my right one, and when I obeyed he said 

 he was surprised, for my right eye appeared to be entirely 

 closed. Neither my eye nor my face pain me at all, but the 

 general's lady has applied ammonia to the bites, and I expect 

 nothing more serious from them. Hereafter I shall wear my 

 head-net night and day, and my Esquimaux boots." I com- 

 plimented her philosophy, and imitated her example by wear- 

 ing boots every night for a month, though fishing in shoes 

 and wet trowsers, and, on returning to the tent twice a day, 

 doffing my wet clothes, and rubbing down with a crash tow- 

 el, and substituting dry clothes and boots until ready to start 



