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Show 30 NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. In this table we have given more weight of hams than bacon, because we found that small hams kept perfectly good for the entire journey, and· was almost always preferred to fat bacon. Many omit to take butter, but such as do, invariably consider it a luxury when they, can get it, before they have been a month out. Have it in a tight wooden firkin, in the middle and bottom of your wagon, and there is no difficulty. In this estimate for one hundred days, we have left twenty pounds to be made up of pickles, dried fruits, tea, salt, vinegar and whisky, etc., but we don't advise you to take w!lisky, though we would certainly take t\vo quarts, and only two, to each man, of the best f brandy we could get ; if for no other reason than this, there are a few, though only a few, venomous reptiles and rattlesnakes on the way; and for the bite of which, brandy is known to be the best available remedy upon the plains. Whisky might answer nearly as well, and on one account may be better; for we are not at all su:e, b~t to use a little every day as a preventive, it might kill the snake that did the ·biting. For vi~egar, a small quantity of acetic acid, to be reduced to the strength of ordinary vinegar when required, is an excellent substitute for the common article. Your provisions should be all packed in sacks, and :filled to an equal bight, that when arranged in the wagon, will present a tolerably even surface, on which to spread blankets for sleeping. It would be well to take along the following tools, indeed they are ahnost NATIONAL WAGON ROAD GUIDE. 31 indispensable; an ax-not a heavy one-handsaw, hvo augurs, two chisels, hammer, two gimlets, and a shaving-knife, a few wrought nails, all sizes, a few boxes of matches, a small coil of wire, three or four yards of light strap or hoop-iron, and the neceSary cooking utensils ; it is useless to specify these, as it will depend entirely upon fancy, or the mode of cooking propqsed t~ be adopted ; but the frying pan, camp kettle and coffee pot, are indispensable. You may as well dispense with every article of glass ware from the start, for if not, you certainly will, before the journey is half accomplished, unless y~u entertain a strong attachment for broken ware. ~ You will want two good buckets or pails, to each wagon, a tin wash-basin, a few pounds of soap and three or four good towels. You will find it of great service along the ay, to have a large tin can, holding ten or fifteen gallons, in which to carry water over long stretches where there is none. Of fire-arms, we believe the best, considering their weight and effectiveness, for all manner of game, to be, good sized, double-barreled shotguns. Many will take rifles, because they have them, and are accustomed to use them. It is well enough to have a revolver; but you will seldom, if ever, have occasion for its use. Take a few trout hooks and lines, a few extra bt>rse-shoes and nails ; and if possible, be careful that at the least, one of a company of sixteen or twenty men, is a blacksmith, or horse-shoer, and has his tools with him. |