STRANGE SPECIMENS OF HUMANITY. 
121 
with high hopes, having been so fortunate as to fall in with some 
one who had directed them to this particular spot. They were 
generally well supplied with provisions, and notwithstanding the 
drenching rain, one hour after their advent would find them 
busily engaged with the pan and pick-axe. 
The store I occupied was made by driving stakes into the 
ground, and inclosing with common unbleached muslin; the 
roof flat, covered with the same material. It had answered a 
good purpose during the summer, but for the rainy season, I am 
not prepared to say it was exactly the thing. I do not know 
that the rain fell faster inside than out, but some of my neigh¬ 
bors insinuated that it did. I could keep tolerably dry by wear¬ 
ing an India rubber cap, poncho , and long boots, with the aid of 
a good umbrella, in short, this was my regular business suit. 
For a bed, I had a scaffold made of poles, on which I had a ham¬ 
mock stuffed with grass and straw, using a pair of blankets as 
covering. In order to keep my bed dry I had a standard at 
the head and foot, on which was a pole running 11 fore and aft,” 
serving as a ridge-pole, over which was thrown an India rubber 
blanket. On going to bed I would throw up one corner of my 
India rubber blanket, holding my umbrella over the opening, 
and after taking off my boots, I would crawl in feet first, throw 
back the rubber to its place, then tying my umbella to the head 
standard I was in bed. My friends, Fairchild, Tracy, Jones, 
and Dean were not so fortunate. They would lay down on the 
ground in their blankets, and in one hour would be drenched 
to the skin; in this condition they were obliged to spend the 
balance of the night. Jones (formerly of the Cornucopia, New 
York) had a severe cough, his lungs being much affected, and 
he thought he was fast declining with the consumption. After 
becoming drenched and chilled his cough would set in, which, 
together with his distressing groans, would render night hideous, 
and cast a gloom over the most buoyant spirit. On rising in 
the morning, the bottle was our first consolation; it would ele¬ 
vate our spirits, and drive the chilly sensation from our limbs. 
A few large sticks had been thrown together and set on fire, 
around which would be seen a dozen strange-looking specimens 
of humanity, one with a red flannel shirt, part of a glazed cap, 
and torn unmentionables; another with a woolen-blanket, that 
