120 HOUSE PORTBAITUBE. 



to place a curb on mv desire, or I will certainly do myself 

 injury by eating too many. 



PUPIL. You need not fear any injurious effects if you 

 should gorge yourself with them, unless the mode of 

 cooking give qualities not possessed when made edible 

 by the simple plan I have followed in the woods. Veni- 

 son and brook trout I have known men eat to repletion 

 without the least inconvenience, save that of the skin being 

 too tight to hold the supplies comfortably. The prepara- 

 tion was very simple : they were broiled on the coals under 

 the drippings of a small piece of salt pork. Whenever I 

 started for a trip in the woods, I engaged a man to hunt, 

 fish, and superintend the preparation of the camp. One 

 thus employed was an old hunter by the name of Kepler. 

 He owned a farm and saw-mill on the bank of the West 

 Branch of he Susquehanna river, yet seemed delighted 

 to embrace the opportunity of joining our expedition. 



He was a very successful hunter, and the first night of 

 our stay in the woods he brought in a deer that would 

 dress from sixty to eighty pounds. Nine men completely 

 demolished it before we left the camping grounds the next 

 morning. Some were roasting tit-bits nearly all night. 

 1 had eaten heartily, and was lying on the bed of hemlock 

 boughs, enjoying the quiet solace of the pipe. Kepler 

 was telling hunting stories, and had an attentive audienc*. 

 in the members of the corps. To most of them forest 

 life was a novelty, and the tales were listened to with as 

 much avidity as they had devoured the venison. One of 

 the stories appeared to me highly dramatic, especially 

 as the scene was located near our present camp, and in 

 the earnest manner it was related by the old hnnter, the 

 truth was guaranteed. With your permission, I will re- 

 peat it, without expecting it will strike you as forcibly as 

 it did me. 



PEECEPTOE. I shall be delighted to hear it. Hunting 



