I will give here a description of our first night's



CHAP. IV.] CAMPING AT NIGfHT. 85

camp, which will suffice for all, as each night's
work was little more than a repetition of the same
operations. A little before sunset, we unsaddled
and unpacked our horses, placing the packs and
saddle of each rider in a separate pile at equal
distances so as to form a circular enclosure, about
ten paces in diameter, and after watering and
"hobhng" the horses, i.e. attaching the fore and
hiud legs on one side together by means of an iron
chain, with a leathern strap round the fetlock, to
prevent their straying, we turned them loose to graze ;
not till then considering ourselves at hberty to attend
to our own comforts. Our first business was, then,
to cut and gather wood and to light a fire in the
centre of the circle, fetching some water in the kettles,
and putting the meat on to cook, and making our
beds of saddle-cloths, blankets and buffalo robes:
this done, we roasted our coffee berries, and having
wrapt them in a piece of deer or buffalo skin and
pounded them on the stump of a tree with the back
of a hatchet, put them in our coffee-pot and boiled
them ; and the meat being cooked by the time this
process was over, and the coffee made, we fell to
with great appetite. After supper we lighted our
pipes, and then each turned in when he felt
incliaed, and, with his feet to the fire, slept as only
travellers in the prairie can sleep. Before day,
we were up again, unhobled and watered our horses.
EAMBLES AND ADVENTURES. [ohap. it.
