INTO THE WILDERNESS 23 



with the tribe enjoys the special privilege of 

 ranching within reservation bounds. Cooley 

 himself has long held a strong influence over 

 the Apaches. At the time of the Geronimo war 

 he induced considerable numbers of them to re- 

 frain from going on the warpath. These neu- 

 trals he drew together on his ranch and kept 

 them there in peace until the war was ended. 



Now and again, as we rode, prowling coyotes 

 were seen, innumerable gray squirrels ran hither 

 and thither, and an occasional startled rabbit 

 dashed away. Though this is an excellent deer 

 countrv in the autumn, the deer had now re- 

 tired to better watered regions, and no fresh 

 signs were observed. 



Our trail led us gradually into higher alti- 

 tudes and through a well-timbered forest of 

 magnificent pine, with now and again wide, 

 grassy open spaces. These grass-covered parks 

 are natural feeding grounds for elk, and for- 

 merly this whole region was well stocked with 

 them. This was one of the ranges of Merriam's 

 elk (Cervus merriami). Merriam's elk had an- 

 tlers straighter at the tips, and a broader, more 

 massive skull, than either the Cervus canadensis, 

 the elk now inhabiting Wyoming, Montana, and 

 Idaho, or the Cervus occidentalis, found in 

 northern California, Oregon, and Washington, 



