many cases, been
obliged to pay the most exorbitant prices in making up the deficiency.

It is true that if persons choose to pass through Salt Lake City, and
the Mormons _happen_ to be in an amiable mood, supplies may sometimes
be procured from them; but those who have visited them well know how
little reliance is to be placed upon their hospitality or spirit of
accommodation.

I once traveled with a party of New Yorkers _en route_ for California.
They were perfectly ignorant of every thing relating to this kind of
campaigning, and had overloaded their wagons with almost every thing
except the very articles most important and necessary; the consequence
was, that they exhausted their teams, and were obliged to throw away
the greater part of their loading. They soon learned that Champagne,
East India sweetmeats, olives, etc., etc., were not the most useful
articles for a prairie tour.

CLOTHING.

A suitable dress for prairie traveling is of great import to health and
comfort. Cotton or linen fabrics do not sufficiently protect the body
against the direct rays of the sun at midday, nor against rains or
sudden changes of temperature. Wool, being a non-conductor, is the best
material for this mode of locomotion, and should always be adopted for
the plains. The coat should be short and stout, the shirt of red or
blue flannel, such as can be found in almost all the shops on the
frontier: this, in warm weather, answers for an outside garment. The
pants should be of thick and soft woolen material, and it is well to
have them re-enforced on the inside, where they come in contact with
the saddle, with soft buckskin, which makes them more durable and
comfortable.

Woolen socks and stout boots, coming up well at the knees, and made
large, so as to admit the pants, will be found the best for horsemen,
and they guard against rattlesnake bites.

In traveling through deep snow during very cold weather in winter,
moccasins are preferable to boots or shoes, as being more pliable, and
allowing a freer circulation of the blood. In crossing the Rocky
Mountains in the winter, the weather being intensely cold, I wore two
pairs of woolen socks, and a square piece of thick blanket sufficient
to cover the feet and ankles, over which were drawn a pair of thick
buckskin moccasins, and the whole enveloped in a pair of buffalo-skin
boots with the hair inside, made open in the front and tied with
buckskin strings. At the same time I wore a