222 WILD SPORTS IN THE FAR WEST. 



to avoid the too intrusive rays of the sun, as he de- 

 clined towards the west. Kean and I sauntered about 

 amongst the various groups, and occasionally visited 

 the ball-room if the interior of a log-house, about 

 sixteen feet by twenty, can be so called. The air 

 within was hot, almost to suffocation, but the sight 

 was at times too pretty, at times too comic to be quick- 

 ly deserted. Indeed, most of the girls, beating time 

 with their little feet in jigs, reels, and hornpipes, were 

 pretty enough to chain to the spot any worshipper of 

 natural beauty. My attention was soon attracted by 

 an American ; tall, very thin, and rather weak in the 

 knee-joints ; he was buttoned up in a dark-blue dress 

 coat, with light-blue seams, and yellow buttons, a 

 long roll of tobacco stuck out from one of his pockets 

 which, in the energy of his jumps, he occasionally 

 kicked with his heels ; to prevent its being damaged, 

 he therefore transferred it to the breast of his coat : the 

 best of the figure was the cravat, which Avas so formed, 

 that his head looked like a cup placed in a very large 

 and deep saucer ; his chin was never in sight, and as 

 he jumped, mouth, nose, and eyes disappeared behind 

 the black bulwark. 



Towards evening I joined in a game of cards. 

 Whiskey bottles passed round, and many of the party 

 were right merry. Having had enough of cards, I 

 returned to the dancing, which had undergone some 

 interruption; but the shrill tones of the violino solo 

 wen; again heard, as T squeezed through the crowd at 

 the door, into one. of the corners right opposite to the 

 musician. This functionary was in a nit her capricious 

 humor passing abruptly from the wildest allegro to 



