THC Bit; BEAR OF ARKANSAS. 79 



as naturally as Jim Doggetts Bowieknife takcb to 



" What season of the yi;ir do your hunts take 

 place?" inquired a gentlemanly foreigner, who, from 

 some peculiarities of his baggage, I suspected to be an 

 Englishman, on some hunting expedition, probably at 

 the foot of the Rocky Mountains. 



" The season for bfar hunting, stranger," said the 

 man of Arkansaw, " is generally all the year r6und, and 

 the hunts take place about as regular. I read in his- 

 tory that varmints have their fat season, and their lean 

 season. Tliat is not the case in Arkansaw, feeding as 

 they do upon the spontenacious productions of the sile, 

 they have one continued fat season the year round ; 

 though in winter things in this way is rather more 

 greasy than in summer, I must admit. For that reason 

 btar witli us run in warm weather, but in winter they 

 only waddle. 



" Fat, fat ! its an enemy to speed ; it tames every 

 thing that has plenty of it. I have seen wild turkeys, 

 from its influence, as gentle as chickens. Run a b^'ar in 

 this fat condition, and the way it improves the critter for 

 eating is amazing ; it sort of mixes the ile up with the 

 meat, until you can't tell t'other from which. I've done 

 this often. 



" I recollect one perty morning in particular, of 

 putting an old he fellow on the stretch, and considering 

 tlie weight he carried, be run well. But the dogs soon 



