Essentials in the trapper’s equipment were a bowie knife, ammunition, a hatchet, a revolver, and a rifle. The trapper’s powder horn and bullet pouch, with flint and steel and other “fixins,” were thrown over his left shoulder. These articles were his constant companions, ever ready for action. [Illustration: W. S. Chapman Gun and Powder horn.] Wearing apparel was pretty much standardized—a five-piece suit of buckskin, including smoked skin moccasins which would not shrink from the frequent wettings incident to the trapping season. The pants, shirt, long coat, and hat were made of the same material. Fringes at the seams gave a dash of ornamentation and hastened drying. Clothing was mostly “homemade” during the wintertime. These accouterments were not only durable, but they were comfortable as well, and they were pleasant to the eye. That the latter item was a desideratum there can be no doubt. Indian maidens were fair to behold, and after all the trapper was human. This phase of the trapper’s life was cogently summarized by one observer: From all that I hear I conclude that in the palmy days of the fur trade, the bands of white trappers in the West were little more than bands of white Indians, having their Indian wives, and all the paraphernalia of Indian life, moving from place to place, as the beaver became scarce, and subsisting like the Indians upon the products of the country.[81] Squaw men were both numerous and respected. Lisa, Bridger, Provot, Ogden, Meek, Carson, Rose, McKenzie, and Beckwourth were wise and judicious men. They well knew the utility of the willing, efficient, and respectful Indian women for their own sakes. Then, too, there were political considerations which account for the fact that in some cases several squaws were taken at once, or in rapid succession. Marriage has always been employed as a means of ingratiation by the outsider. It may be said to their credit, with a few exceptions, genuine mountain men were faithful to their Indian wives.[82] The Earl of Dunraven has left an excellent description of a squaw man’s camp which he visited in Yellowstone Park during the summer of 1874: