LIFE IN THE WOODS. 91 



how to cook them. But bread ! asks the novice ; what are 

 we to do for bread ? Well, Ave have good, sifted Indian meal, 

 and we will put some into a basin or pail, add a little salt, pour 

 on scalding water, and mix to the consistency of stiff batter. 

 After our venison or fish is cooked, we will put this batter 

 into the hot fat that remains, a spoonful in a place, leveling it 

 down smoothly, and turning it over till it is "done brown." 

 Such a Johnnycake, served up with butter and sugar, would 

 tempt a man to leave the best wheat bread that ever was 

 made. 



JERKED MEAT. 



If you have the fortune to kill a deer or a moose in warm 

 weather, and have an over-supply of meat that is likely to be 

 tainted, you can preserve it by the following process : Cut all 

 the flesh from the bones in thin strips, and place them, for 

 convenience, on the inside of the hide. Add two or three 

 quarts of salt for a moose, and a pint and a lialf for a deer, well 

 worked in. Cover the whole with the sides and corners of 

 the hide to keep out flies, and let it remain in this condition 

 about two hours. Drive four forked stakes into the ground 

 so as to form a square of about eight or ten feet, leaving the 

 forks four feet high. Lay two poles across one way in these 

 forks, and fill the whole space the other way with poles laid 

 on the first two, about two inches apart. The strips of flesh 

 should then be laid across the poles, and a small fire of clean 

 hard wood should be started underneath, and kept up for 

 twenty-four hours. This process will reduce the weight of 

 the flesh more than half, bringing it to a condition like that 

 of dried or smoked beef, in which it will keep any length of 

 time. This is called jerked venison. It is good eating, and 

 always commands a high price in market. An over-supply 

 of fish can be treated in the same manner. They should be 

 split open on the back and the backbone taken out. 



PREPARATIONS AGAINST INSECTS. 



In the warm months, chiefl}'' from the first of June to the 

 first of September, woodsmen are annoyed by myriads of files, 

 gnats, and mosquitoes. These can be driven out of a tent by 



