Ayncrkan Lion, and Dccr-IIiuding. 113 



where the hunt is to begin, they strike fire with a flint and steel, 

 and kindle the resinous wood. The person who carries the fire 

 moves in the direction judged to be the best. The blaze illu- 

 minates the near objects, but the distant parts seem involved in 

 deepest obscurity. The hunter who bears the gun keeps imme- 

 diately in front, and after a while discovers before him two feeble 

 lights, which are produced by tlie reflection of the pine fire from 

 the eyes of an animal of the deer or wolf kind. The animal 

 stands quite still. To one unacquainted with this strange mode 

 of hunting, the glare from its eyes might bring to his imagina- 

 tion some lost hobgoblin that had strayed from its usual haunts. 

 The hunter, however, nowise intimidated, approaches the object, 

 sometimes so near as to discern its form, when, raising the rifle 

 to his shoulder, he fires and kills it on the spot. He then dis- 

 mounts, secures the skin, and such portions of the flesh as he 

 may want, in the manner already described, and continues his 

 search through the greater part of the night, sometimes until the 

 dawn of day, shooting from five to ten deer, should these ani- 

 mals be plentiful. This kind of hunting proves fatal, not to the 

 deer alone, but also sometimes to wolves, and now and then to a 

 horse or a cow which may have straggled far into the woods. 



Now, kind reader, prepare to mount a generous full blood 

 Virginian hunter. See that your gun is in complete order, for, 

 hark to the sound of the bugle and horn, and the mingled cla- 

 mour of a pack of harriers ! Your friends are waiting you un- 

 der the shade of the wood, and we must together go driving the 

 light-footed deer. The distance over which one has to travel 

 is seldom felt, when pleasure is anticipated as the result ; so, 

 galloping we go pell-mell through the woods to some well-known 

 place, where many a fine buck has drooped its antlers under the 

 ball of the hunter's rifle. The servants, who are called the dri- 

 vers, have already begun their search. Their voices are heard 

 exciting the hounds, and unless we put spurs to our steeds, we 

 may be too late at our stand, and thus lose the first opportu- 

 nity of shooting the fleeting game as it passes by. Hark again ! 

 The dogs are in chase, the horn sounds louder and more clearly. 

 Hurry, hurry on, or we shall be sadly behind. 



Here we are at last ! Dismount, fasten your horse to this tree, 

 place yourself by the side of that large yellow poplar, and 



APKIL JUNK 1831. H 



