Often there is no water near the top:  therefore, to be on the safe side, it is best to carry a canteen.  After wet weather, and early in the summer, you can often squeeze a little water from the moss that grows on mountain-tops.

It is so apt to be chilly, cloudy, or showery at the summit, that you should take a rubber blanket and some other article of clothing to put on if needed.  Although a man may sometimes ascend a mountain, and stay on the top for hours, in his shirt-sleeves, it is never advisable to go so thinly clad; oftener there is need of an overcoat, while the air in the valley is uncomfortably warm.

Do not wear the extra clothing in ascending, but keep it to put on when you need it.  This rule is general for all extra clothing:  you will find it much better to carry than to wear it.

Remember that mountain-climbing is excessively fatiguing:  hence go slowly, make short rests very often, eat nothing between meals, and drink sparingly.

There are few mountains that it is advisable for ladies to try to climb.  Where there is a road, or the way is open and not too steep, they may attempt it; but to climb over loose rocks and through scrub-spruce for miles, is too difficult for them.

FOOTNOTES: 

[7] Some of the questions which properly belong under this heading are discussed elsewhere, and can be found by referring to the index.

[8] This advice also differs from that generally given to soldiers; the army rule is as follows:  “Drink well in the morning before starting, and nothing till the halt; keep the mouth shut; chew a straw or leaf, or keep the mouth covered with a cloth:  all these prevent suffering from extreme thirst.  Tying a handkerchief well wetted with salt water around the neck, allays thirst for a considerable time.”—­CRAGHILL’S Pocket Companion:  Van Nostrand, N.Y.

CHAPTER VIII.

The camp.

It pays well to take some time to find a good spot for a camp.  If you are only to stop one night, it matters not so much; but even then you should camp on a dry spot near wood and water, and where your horse, if you have one, can be well cared for.  Look out for rotten trees that may fall; see that a sudden rain will not drown you out; and do not put your tent near the road, as it frightens horses.

For a permanent camp a good prospect is very desirable; yet I would not sacrifice all other things to this.

If you have to carry your baggage any distance by hand, you will find it convenient to use two poles (tent-poles will serve) as a hand-barrow upon which to pile and carry your stuff.

A floor to the tent is a luxury in which some indulge when in permanent camp.  It is not a necessity, of course; but, in a tent occupied by ladies or children, it adds much to their comfort to have a few boards, an old door, or something of that sort, to step on when dressing.  Boards or stepping-stones at the door of the tent partly prevent your bringing mud inside.