enjoyment.

To get a horse will perhaps tax your judgment and capability as much as
any thing in all your preparation; and on this point, where you need so
much good advice, I can only give you that of a general nature.

The time for camping out is when horses are in greatest demand for
farming purposes; and you will find it difficult to hire of any one
except livery-stable men, whose charges are so high that you cannot
afford to deal with them. You will have to hunt a long time, and in many
places, before you will find your animal. It is not prudent to take a
valuable horse, and I advise you not to do so unless the owner or a man
_thoroughly_ acquainted with horses is in the party. You may perhaps be
able to hire horse, wagon, and driver; but a hired man is an
objectionable feature, for, besides the expense, such a man is usually
disagreeable company.

My own experience is, that it is cheaper to buy a horse outright, and to
hire a harness and wagon; and, since I am not a judge of horse-flesh, I
get some friend who is, to go with me and advise. I find that I can
almost always buy a horse, even when I cannot hire. Twenty to fifty
dollars will bring as good an animal as I need. He may be old, broken
down, spavined, wind-broken, or lame; but if he is not sickly, or if his
lameness is not from recent injury, it is not hard for him to haul a
fair load ten or fifteen miles a day, when he is helped over the hard
places.

So now, if you pay fifty dollars for a horse, you can expect to sell him
for about twenty or twenty-five dollars, unless you were greatly
cheated, or have abused your brute while on the trip, both of which