86 THE TRAPPER'S ART. 



five pounds. His provisions should consist of articles that will 

 be desirable as accompaniments to the produce of his gun and 

 fishing-tackle, namely, sugar, tea and coffee (rather than 

 whiskey), salt, pepper, butter, lard, sifted Indian meal, white 

 beans, crackers, &c. The butter and lard should be put up 

 in air-tight cans, and on arrival at the trapping grounds should 

 be sunk in a spring. The best kind of knapsack for carrying 

 such an outfit is made of rubber-cloth, with shoulder-straps : 

 but you can easily convert your sleeping bag or your blanket 

 into a knapsack that will serve very well.* If you trap with 

 one companion or more (which is a good plan and according to 

 the general practice), many of the articles named in the above 

 list will answer for the party, and so the load for individuals 

 will be lightened. Thus equipped, you can turn your back 

 on the haunts of men, march into the wilderness, and, with a 

 little hunting and fishing in the intervals of trap-duty, live 

 pleasantly for months, and return with your load of furs, a 

 stouter and healthier man than when you started. 



OUTFIT FOR AN EXCURSION BY WAGttN OR BOAT. 



If your trapping district can be reached by road or by 

 water, some changes should be made in the foregoing inven- 

 tory. For the interest of your larder it will be best to take 

 more ammunition, and a greater variety of fishing-tackle. A 

 lamp and lantern, with a supply of oil, a camp-hatchet of 

 twelve ounces in weight with a fourteen-inch handle, a stone 

 for sharpening knives, axes, and hooks, a magazine of needles, 

 thread, scissors, &c., and many other like conveniences, may 



* One of the most satisfactory arrangements we have ever seen for carrying lug- 

 gage on the back is the Indian shoulder-basket. They are made nearly square, or 

 about ten inches by twelve, at the bottom, and twelve or fourteen inches high. One 

 side is flat, the others are rounded and drawn in toward the top, making the moutb 

 of the basket only about half the size of the bottom. Over the mouth, and extend- 

 ing some distance down the sides, a cover of rubber or enamel-cloth should be fitted. 

 On the flat side of the basket shoulder-straps are fastened, crossing each other in the 

 form of an X. These straps should be made of two thicknesses of strong cotton 

 cloth, sewed together and stuffed with cotton. The great advantages of this basket 

 are, that it is light, easily managed, fits the back well, bringing the load just where 

 it is wanted, does not get out of place, and does not heat the back like a close-fitting 

 knapsack. Combined with the basket the trapper needs a small enamel-cloth hav- 

 ersack such as is worn by soldiers. EDITORS. 



