e desirability of purchasing the best you can
buy. And let it be a heavy one, of gray or a neutral brown.

[Sidenote: Buckskin Shirts]

But to my mind the best extra garment is a good ample buckskin shirt. It
is less bulky than the sweater, of less weight, and much warmer,
especially in a wind, while for getting through brush noiselessly it
cannot be improved upon. I do not know where you can buy one; but in any
case get it ample in length and breadth, and without the fringe. The
latter used to possess some significance beside ornamentation, for in
case of need the wilderness hunter could cut from it thongs and strings
as he needed them. Nowadays a man in a fringed buckskin shirt is
generally a fake built to deceive tourists. On the other hand a plain
woodsmanlike garment, worn loose and belted at the waist, looks always
at once comfortable and appropriate. Be sure that the skins of which it
is made are smoke tanned. The smoke tanned article will dry soft, while
the ordinary skin is hardening to almost the consistency of rawhide.
Good buckskins are difficult to get hold of--and it will take five to
make you a good shirt--but for this use they last practically forever.

[Sidenote: Overshirts]

Of course such a garment is distinctly an extra or outside garment. You
would find it too warm for ordinary wear. The outer shirt of your daily
habit is best made of rather a light weight of gray flannel. Most new
campers indulge in a very thick navy blue shirt, mainly, I believe,
because it contrasts picturesquely with a bandana around the neck. Such
a shirt almost always crocks, is sure to fade, shows dirt, and is
altogether too hot. A lighter weight furnishes all the protection you
need to your underclothes and turns sun quite as well. Gray is a neutral
color, and seems less often than any other to shame you to the wash
soap. A great many wear an ordinary cotton work shirt, relying for
warmth on the underclothes. There is no great objection to this, except
that flannel is better should you get rained on.

[Sidenote: Underclothes]

The true point of comfort is, however, your underwear. It should be of
wool. I know that a great deal has been printed against it, and a great
many hygienic principles are invoked to prove that linen, cotton, or
silk are better. But experience with all of them merely leads back to
the starting point. If one were certain never to sweat freely, and never
to get wet, the theories might hold. But onc