26 HINTS ox FOREST AND PEAIRIE LIFE. 



day with our venison and turkeys, as the heat of the 

 climate would spoil the meat if kept long. A eamp- 

 keeper w^as left to take charge of our goods and chattels, 

 and to have supper provided for the remaining two 

 when they returned from the forest in the evening. 

 These offices were generally undertaken in rotation, 

 except when we had a visitor — some clerk or tradesman 

 from the town, who wished to see wild life — and when 

 this occurred we generally elected him to the duties of 

 camp-keeper. 



The company being made up, the next thing was 

 to decide upon a proper spot — one that combined all 

 the advantages of wood for fire, water for ourselves and 

 horses, grass for the horses, and plenty of game to 

 kill. This point being settled, we would start from 

 town so as to arrive there earlv in the afternoon, and 

 put things in order for the next day's sporting, and 

 there was more to be done than may perhaps be 

 imagined. A rude shanty of logs and branches, thatched 

 with palmetto, had to be constructed for our shelter, 

 beds were to be prepared, the cattle to be watered 

 and staked out on the grassy plain to graze, and our 

 own supper to be cooked. Frequently we had to kill 

 meat on the first evening, in order that we and the 

 dogs might have food to eat. The haunches of our 

 deer were the only parts saleable, so that we and the 

 dogs came in for the fore-quarters — food, to which I 

 should not at all object at the present time. 



