One dozen linen envelopes.

Stamps, wrapped in oil-silk with mucilage side next to the silk.

One stick sealing-wax. In tropical countries mucilage on the flap of
envelopes sticks to everything except the envelope.

One dozen elastic bands of the largest size. In packing they help to
compress articles like clothing into the smallest possible compass
and in many other ways will be found very useful.

One pack of playing-cards.

Books.

One revolver and six cartridges.

The reason for most of these articles is obvious. Some of them may need
a word of recommendation. I place the water-buckets first in the list
for the reason that I have found them one of my most valuable assets.
With one, as soon as you halt, instead of waiting for your turn at the
well or water-hole, you can carry water to your horse, and one of them
once filled and set in the shelter of the tent, later saves you many
steps. It also can be used as a nose-bag, and to carry fodder. I
recommend the brass folding lantern, because those I have tried of tin or
aluminum have invariably broken. A lantern is an absolute necessity.
When before daylight you break camp, or hurry out in a wind storm to
struggle with flying tent-pegs, or when at night you wish to read or play
cards, a lantern with a stout frame and steady light is indispensable.
The original cost of the sick-room candles is more than that of ordinary
candles, but they burn longer, are brighter, and take up much less room.
To protect them and the matches from dampness, or the sun, it is well to
carry them in a rubber sponge-bag. Any one who has forgotten to pack a
towel will not need to be advised to take two. An old sergeant of Troop
G, Third Cavalry, once told me that if he had to throw away everything he
carried in his roll but one article, he would save his towel. And he was
not a particularly fastidious sergeant either, but he preferred a damp
towel in his roll to damp clothes on his back. Every man knows the
dreary halts in camp when the rain pours outside, or the regiment is held
in reserve. For times like these a pack of cards or a book is worth
carrying, even if it weighs as much as the plates from which it was
printed. At present it is easy to obtain all of the modern classics in
volumes small enough to go into the coat-pocket. In Japan, before
starting for China, we divided up among the correspondents Thomas Nelson
& Sons' and Dou