A FORCIBLE EJECTMENT. 123 
day collecting beetles and other insects in the 
dense, shady pine forests, close to a small stream 
called the Selecé, that flows down the western 
slope of the Cascade mountains: boxes, bottles, 
bags, even my hat, indeed every available locality 
about my person was appropriated to the stowage 
and transport of the proceeds of my hunt. My 
mustang had been tethered close to the water, and 
had thus kept clear of the Breeze-flies during my 
absence ; soon, however, after mounting him to 
return, emerging from the forest, I came on a 
small patch of open prairie land, but no sooner 
was I clear of the timber than the pests were at 
us. My beast commenced practising every 
species of jump and leap that it was possible for 
a horse to execute, and several of them of a nature 
so extraordinary that one would have thought no 
animal that ever went on four legs could a_com- 
plish ; he pranced, shied, kicked, leaped forward, 
backward, sideways—in a word, performed such 
demoniacal pranks, that, although a practised 
horseman, I found it a most difficult matter to 
keep my seat. As a finale, off he went like a 
mad creature, caring nothing for all my efforts 
to stop him: then, as if from sheer madness caused 
by the punctures of the flies, that followed like a 
swarm of enraged bees, he stopped suddenly short, 
