When each piece has been neatly and skilfully pre- pared rub the powder upon every part of the sur- face, and let the mixture adhere as much as it will. Then hang up each piece of meat, by a string through a hole in the smaller end, and let it dry in the wind. If the sun is hot, keep the meat in the shade; but in the North the sun helps the process. Never let the meat get wet. If the weather is rainy for a long period, hang your meat-rack where it will get heat from the camp- fire, but no more smoke than is unavoidable, and cover it at night with a piece of canvas. Meat thus prepared is not at its best for eating until it is about a month old; then slice it thin. After that no sportsman, or hunter, or trapper can get enough of it. . . . No; this is not "jerked" meat. It is many times bet- ter. It is always eaten uncooked, and as a concen- trated, stimulating food for men in the wilds it is val- uable. (Hornaday. Camp-fires in the Canadian Rockies, 301- 203.) It is a curious fact that blow-flies work close to the ground_, and will seldom meddle with meat that is hung more than ten feet above the grpund. Game or fish suspended at a height of twenty feet will be immune from "blows." To keep fish that must be carried some distance, in hot weather: clean them as soon as you can after they are caught^ and tcipe them dry. Then rub a little salt along their backbones, but nowhere else. Do not pile them touching each other, but DRESSING GAME. 47 between layers of cheesecloth^ nettles, or basswood leaves. To keep fish in camp: scale, clean, and behead them; then string them by a cord through their tails and hang them, head down, in a shady, dry, breezy place. Never use fish that have been ly- ing in the sun or that have begun to soften. Ptomaine poisoning works in a mysterious but ef- fectual way. To dry fish for future use: split them along the back, remove the backbones and entrails, salt the fish, and hang them up on a frame over a smudge until they are well smoked. Or, make a trough by hewing out a softwood log, place the split fish in this, and cover them with a weak brine for one or two nights. Make a conical bark tepee on a tripod, suspend the fish in it, and dry and smoke them over a small fire for three days and nights✪ Drying Fish. To ship rabbits, squirrels, etc. : do not skin them, but remove the entrails, wipe the insides perfectly dry, wrap in paper, and pack them back down. Never pack birds or fish in straw or grass with- out ice, for in damp or warm weather this will heat or sweat them. Do not let them freeze, as they will quickly spoil after thawing. Food in a bird's crop soon sours; the crop should be re- moved. To preserve birds in warm weather for ship- ment: draw them, wash the inside perfectly clean, dry thoroughly, and then take pieces of charcoal from the fireplace, wrap them in a thin rag✪ Preserving Birds for Shipment, and fill the abdominal cavity with this. Also fill the bill, ears, eyes, and anal opening with powdered charcoal, to keep off flies and prevent putrefac- tion. Reject all pieces of charcoal tliat are only 48 CAMP COOKERY. half-burnt or have the odor of creosote. Birds stuffed in this way will keep sweet for a week in hot weather. If you pack birds or fish in ice, wrap them first in many thicknesses of paper or grass, so that no ice can touch them. CHAPTER V. MEAT.

AI-modernized reading of the original text

When each piece has been neatly and skilfully prepared rub the powder upon every part of the surface, and let the mixture adhere as much as it will. Then hang up each piece of meat, by a string through a hole in the smaller end, and let it dry in the wind. If the sun is hot, keep the meat in the shade; but in the North the sun helps the process. Never let the meat get wet. If the weather is rainy for a long period, hang your meat-rack where it will get heat from the campfire, but no more smoke than is unavoidable, and cover it at night with a piece of canvas. Meat thus prepared is not at its best for eating until it is about a month old; then slice it thin. After that no sportsman, or hunter, or trapper can get enough of it. . . . No; this is not "jerked" meat. It is many times better. It is always eaten uncooked, and as a concentrated, stimulating food for men in the wilds it is valuable. (Hornaday. Camp-fires in the Canadian Rockies, 301- 203.) It is a curious fact that blow-flies work close to the ground, and will seldom meddle with meat that is hung more than ten feet above the grpund. Game or fish suspended at a height of twenty feet will be immune from "blows." To keep fish that must be carried some distance, in hot weather: clean them as soon as you can after they are caught, and wipe them dry. Then rub a little salt along their backbones, but nowhere else. Do not pile them touching each other, but between layers of cheesecloth^ nettles, or basswood leaves. To keep fish in camp: scale, clean, and behead them; then string them by a cord through their tails and hang them, head down, in a shady, dry, breezy place. Never use fish that have been lying in the sun or that have begun to soften. Ptomaine poisoning works in a mysterious but effectual way. To dry fish for future use: split them along the back, remove the backbones and entrails, salt the fish, and hang them up on a frame over a smudge until they are well smoked. Or, make a trough by hewing out a softwood log, place the split fish in this, and cover them with a weak brine for one or two nights. Make a conical bark tepee on a tripod, suspend the fish in it, and dry and smoke them over a small fire for three days and nights. To ship rabbits, squirrels, etc. : do not skin them, but remove the entrails, wipe the insides perfectly dry, wrap in paper, and pack them back down. Never pack birds or fish in straw or grass without ice, for in damp or warm weather this will heat or sweat them. Do not let them freeze, as they will quickly spoil after thawing. Food in a bird's crop soon sours; the crop should be removed. To preserve birds in warm weather for shipment: draw them, wash the inside perfectly clean, dry thoroughly, and then take pieces of charcoal from the fireplace, wrap them in a thin rag, and fill the abdominal cavity with this. Also fill the bill, ears, eyes, and anal opening with powdered charcoal, to keep off flies and prevent putrefaction. Reject all pieces of charcoal tliat are only half-burnt or have the odor of creosote. Birds stuffed in this way will keep sweet for a week in hot weather. If you pack birds or fish in ice, wrap them first in many thicknesses of paper or grass, so that no ice can touch them. CHAPTER V.

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Drying FishPreserving Birds for Shipment

Camp cookery (Kephart)