138 THE HIVE OF THE BEE-HUNTER. 



The unfortunate deaf, dumb, and blind girl, in one 

 of our public institutions,* selects her food, her clothing, 

 and her friends, by the touch alone — so delicate has it 

 become, from the mind's being directed to that sense 

 alone. 



The forest hunter is compelled by circumstances to 

 cultivate his sight, to almost the same degree of perfec- 

 tion characterizing the blind girl's touch, and experience, 

 at last renders it so keen, that the slightest touch of a 

 passing object on the leaves, trees, or earth, leaves to 

 him a deep and visible impression, though to the com- 

 mon eye unseen as the path of the bird through the air. 

 This knowledge governs the chase and the war-path ; 

 this knowledge is what, when excelled in, makes the 

 master-spirit among the rude inhabitants of the woods : 

 and that man is the greatest chief, who follows the cold- 

 est trail, and leaves none behind him by his own foot- 

 steps. . 



The hunter in pursuit of the grizzly bear is governed 

 by this instinct of sight — it guides him -with more cer- 

 tainty than the hound is directed by his nose. The im- 

 pressions of the bear's footsteps upon the leaves, its 

 marks on the trees, its resting-places, are all known long 

 before the bear is really seen ; and the hunter, while 

 thus following '' the trail," calculates the very sex, 

 weight, and age with certainty. Thus it is that he will 



* Hartford Asylum for the Deaf and Dumb. 



