. Prairie traveler : a hand-book for overland expeditions, with maps, illustrations, and itineraries of the principal routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. ths is soft, exhilarating, anddelightful. Persons may therefore sleep in it andinhale it with perfect imj^unity, and, indeed, manyprefer this to breathing the confined atmosj^here ofa house or tent. During the rainy season only is it necessary toseek shelter. In traveling witli covered Avagonsone always has protection from storms, but withpack trains it becomes necessary to improvise thebest substitutes for tents. A very secure pr
. Prairie traveler : a hand-book for overland expeditions, with maps, illustrations, and itineraries of the principal routes between the Mississippi and the Pacific. ths is soft, exhilarating, anddelightful. Persons may therefore sleep in it andinhale it with perfect imj^unity, and, indeed, manyprefer this to breathing the confined atmosj^here ofa house or tent. During the rainy season only is it necessary toseek shelter. In traveling witli covered Avagonsone always has protection from storms, but withpack trains it becomes necessary to improvise thebest substitutes for tents. A very secure protection against storms may boconstructed by ])lanting firmly in the ground twoupriglit poles, Avitli forks at their tops, and crossingtliem with a light pole laid in the forks. A gntta-perdia olotli, or sheet of canvas, or, in the absenceof either of these two, blankets, may be attached byone side to ilio liorizontal pole, the o])posite edge 134 PRAIRIE TRAVELER. being stretched out to the windward at an angle ofabout forty-five degrees to the ground, and therefastened with wooden puis, or with buckskin strmgstied to the lower border of the cloth and to pegs. , L^ 1 -I HALK-FACED CAMP. driven firmly into the earth. This forms a shelterfor three or four men, and is a good defense agamstwinds and rains. If a fire be then made in front,the smoke will be carried away, so as not to incom-mode the occupants of the bivouac. This is called a half-faced camp. Another method practiced a great deal amongmountain men and Indians consists in placing sev-eral rough poles equidistant around m a half circle,and bringing the small ends together at the top,where they are bound with a thong. This formsthe conical frame-work of the bivouac, which, whencovered with a cloth stretched around it, makes avery good shelter, and is preferable to the half-faced camp, because the sides are covered. BIVOUACS A2^D TENTS. 135
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Keywords: ., bookcentury1800, bookdecade1850, booksubjectwestusd, bookyear1859
