A Bear-Hunt in the Sierras 



mined temperament, he would be a vaquero of 

 the plains, or boyero {Anglici; "bull-whacker") 

 on the Santa Fe trail or down in old Mexico ; 

 and not the dry nurse of these "woolly idiots," 

 in whose race, for innumerable centuries, man 

 has elaborately cultivated stupidity, and, by 

 systematic process of artificial selection, has 

 faithfully eliminated every sign of insubordi- 

 nation and the last trace of individuality of 

 temperament, and that which in our race is 

 called character. No native-born white man 

 in this country can be induced to follow, for 

 any length of time, the vocation of shepherd. 

 The deadly monotony of the occupation drives 

 him either to imbecility or desperation. It is 

 well known that men who habitually care for 

 any animal come in time to resemble him. 

 Stable boys, bred to the vocation of groom, 

 become horse-faced and equine of disposition, 

 eventually they wheeze and whistle like a 

 curry-comb. Cowboys partake of the scatter- 

 brained recklessness of the Texas steer which 

 they tend. No one can admit dogs to be daily 

 and familiar companions without absorbing 

 into his system somewhat of their sense of hu- 

 mor and of their faithfulness. The lion-tamer, 

 who enters unscathed the den of his charge, 



203 



