Hunting in Many Lands 



to consider that I carried my lucky bear's head 

 belt, and invariably sacrificed to the Sun, as 

 several ragged garments, hung on spikes and 

 branches, may still testify. 



The weather threatened storm. J. B.'s leg 

 would not permit him to hunt. Anastasio 

 was full of meat, eating roasted ribs night and 

 day, beside his regular meals, and we decided 

 to retreat. 



I noticed that the sheep hides had little of 

 the under wool that the Northern sheep have 

 in December, nor were the animals fat, though 

 the flesh was sweet and tender, and the livers 

 had their desired medicinal effect. 



Anastasio said it was customary to hunt in 

 summer, when the sheep were fat, and were 

 compelled to resort to the water holes. Aside 

 from the meanness of taking advantage of the 

 animals* necessities, the summer is a bad sea- 

 son for hunting, both because the flesh is rank 

 and spoils quickly, and the heat and insects 

 are intolerable. 



We packed our mules in a gentle rain, and 

 Anastasio made a great bundle of rejected 

 meat for his own use. To get rope, he slightly 

 roasted the leaves of the Spanish dagger, tore 

 the hot spikes in shreds with his tough fingers 



80 



