20 DEER-STALKING. 



than cure, if any one fears blisters at the commence- 

 ment of the season they may usually be avoided by 

 scraping a little soap off a tablet and applying it outside 

 the stocking to the ball of the great toe or the heel, or 

 wherever the tenderness be dreaded. 



Knickerbockers are the pleasantest to walk in, but 

 not made too large or baggy at the knee, or they hold 

 such a lot of water after a wet crawl that it runs down 

 and fills the boots, and they also take longer to dry 

 than those cut less voluminously. Do not wear knicker- 

 breeches, which are the fashion at present, for in going 

 up-hill they pull on the knee, and, however slightly, it 

 will tell at the end of a long day or in a long run. 



The pockets of the coat should all be made to button 

 this little precaution will save the loss of many a 

 cigar-case, pipe, or flask. During a rapid slither down- 

 hill and the coat-tails flying round your ears, all that 

 is in the pockets may be lost. An old cover coat or a 

 light-coloured mackintosh made in the same shape is 

 the best wrap to take out. If any heavier sort of coat 

 is carried, and only the stalker is with you, it makes a 

 severe burden for him. Of course if your attendants 

 consist of a pony and man, a gillie and a stalker, 

 short of a hot bath you can carry pretty well what you 

 please. These are luxuries that do not fall to every one, 

 though they are often the accompaniments of most big 

 forests. And now if my reader be a poor Sassenach, let 

 me exhort him not to put on a kilt to stalk in; the 

 dress can hardly be a comfortable one for pony-back, 

 and knees that are bared but for a few weeks each 

 year are apt to look blue and cold ; granite rocks are 



