232 Fisuinc iw American WaAtTERs. 
tea, etc., ete. As we had not tasted potatoes in a week, we 
began to long for them. Our table was set, and breakfast 
about ready, when the general and the banker made their 
appearance with their ladies, and, after mutual salutations, 
we all seated ourselves for breakfast. Our plates and dishes 
were composed of cast-iron outside and porcelain inside; and, 
though nearly as beautiful as sets and dishes of figured china, 
they were as durable as iron, and just the kind that should 
be adopted for kitchen use in the metropolis. By each plate 
a stone about the size of a goose-egg was placed, to use in 
cracking our sea-biscuit. Good sea-biscuit is much better 
than common bread in the wilderness, and when cracked up 
and crumbled into a bow! of tea, or, by being first dipped into 
cold water to soften it, is afterward fried in the fat of the 
pan after pork and eggs, is excellent, especially in the absence 
of potatoes, 
TI was almost shocked on perceiving that the right eye of 
the banker’s lady was closed, and a large lump on her left 
temple, almost spoiling her beauty; but I did not allude to 
it until she mentioned that the flies had somewhat disfig- 
ured me, when I asked her how she had rested. She replied, 
“Very well; but this morning, while bathing my face, I found 
that I had a large lump on the left side of it, and my right 
eye felt fatty. I called to my husband, and asked him what 
it was. He replied by asking me to shut my left eye and 
look at him with my right one, and when I obeyed he said 
he was surprised, for my right eye appeared to be entirely 
closed. Neither my eye nor my face pain me at all, but the 
general’s lady has applied ammonia to the bites, and I expect 
nothing more serious from them. Hereafter I shall wear my 
head-net night and day, and my Esquimaux boots.” I com- 
plimented her philosophy, and imitated her example by wear- 
ing boots every night for a month, though fishing in shoes 
and wet trowsers, and, on returning to the tent twice a day, 
doffing my wet clothes, and rubbing down with a crash tow- 
el, and substituting dry clothes and boots until ready to start 
