370 The Book of Woodcraft 



It was he who made white men realize how far they had 

 got away from the primitive. It was he who glorified 

 the woodman and his craft. Yet nowhere do we find in 

 Cooper's novels any attempt to take us out and show 

 us this woodcraft. He is content to stand with us afar 

 off and point it out as something to be worshiped — to 

 point it out and let it die. 



Fenimore Cooper has had many imitators, just as Uncas 

 has had many successors. The fine art of trailing is still 

 maintained in the Far West, and it has always seemed 

 strange to me that none has endeavored to give it perma- 

 nent record, other than superlative adjectives of outside 

 praise. 



TRAILING 



What is trailing? The fox-hunter has some idea when 

 he sees a superb pack follow a faint scent through a hundred 

 perplexing places, discerning just wliich way the fox 

 went, and about how long ago. The detective does another 

 kind of trailing when he follows some trifling clue through 

 the world of thought, tracing the secret of an unknown 

 man along an invisible path, running it to earth at last in 

 the very brain that conceived it. In his trailing the 

 Indian uses the senses of the ''animal" to aid the brain 

 of the man. To a great extent his eyes do the work of 

 the hound's nose, but the nose is not idle. When the trail 

 disappears, he must do the human detective work; but 

 under all circumstances his brains must be backed by the 

 finest senses, superb physique, and ripe experience, or 

 he cannot hope to overmatch his prey. 



HARD TO PHOTOGRAPH TRACKS 



When, in 1882, 1 began my dictionary of tracks (see "Life 

 Histories of Northern Animals"), I found that there was 



