198 FIFTY YEARS A HUNTER AND TRAPPER. 



have not less than six good blankets. If your camp is so situated 

 that you- can drive to it with a team or pack horses, then you 

 should have a straw mattress. But if you are in a locality where 

 you can get cedar or hemlock boughs, you should use only the 

 finer boughs. Begin at the foot of the berth and push the larger 

 or butt end of the bough into the ground and then begin the next 

 row so as to lap or shingle onto the first row, and so on until 

 the head of the berth is reached. 



If you use a tent, I find that it is a good idea to make a skel- 

 eton frame of good heavy poles over the tent and about twelve 

 inches above and around the tent and shingle it well with boughs, 

 so that the snow will not fall directly on the tent. It will be a 

 great help in keeping out the cold. But I think it is best to have 

 at least one good log cabin well chinked, mudded and banked. 

 Always select a spot where it is easy to drain away the surface 

 water on all sides of the camp, and if possible have the main camp 

 close to good pure water which is a great protection against 

 malaria. 



If you are doing a stroke of business so that you will need 

 more than one camp, the others need not be quite so tidy as the 

 main camp, for it is not likely that you will occupy them more 

 than a night or two at a time. Your temporary camps need not 

 be larger than 6x8 and quite low, as this will save both fuel and 

 bedding. Do not forget to get up a good supply of wood at all 

 the camps before the trapping season is open, for you will find 

 plenty to do after the trapping season opens without cutting wood. 



The main camp should be at least 10x12 feet inside. A place 

 should be provided for curing furs outside. Furs should never be 

 cured by a fire or in a warm place, for this will have a tendency 

 to curl the ends of the fur and give it a woolly appearance. There 

 can usually be a place fixed either on the outer gable or under the 

 eaves of the cabin to cure the furs. 



Now, as to the commissary part. You will, of course, to a 

 great extent select the kind and quantity according to the distance 

 and convenience in getting the grub to camp. The camper will find 

 that the most convenient as well as better satisfaction, as a rule, 

 will be found in taking provisions to camp in a crude state, i. e., 



