114 Life and Sport on the Pacific Slope 



them. One day, I asked him the why and the 

 wherefore of it. "I will tell you," said he, very 

 gravely. "I have lived, as you know, in ze capi- 

 tals of ze vorld. And I came to ze conclusion zat 

 society was a big monkey-house, and zat all ze 

 monkeys were trying to pull each ozer's tails. But 

 I will tell you — entre nous — ze monkeys in ze 

 backwoods of California are worse, far worse, zan 

 ze monkeys in society ! " 



Some of the men, however (they are generically 

 known as "Pikers," because many of them came 

 originally from Pike County, Missouri), if found 

 lacking in the "small, sweet courtesies of life," 

 have, none the less, some interesting attributes. I 

 knew one capital fellow who in happier circum- 

 stances would have become a naturalist of note. 

 He was what is called " a market hunter ; " and 

 none was more familiar than he with the habits 

 and habitat of game. He seemed to know by 

 instinct where the big trout might be found, and 

 could catch them with his hands; he was the 

 finest stalker I have ever met; he used to come 

 striding into town with dozens of quail, when 

 other market hunters would tell you that there 

 were no birds in the country ; he could always 

 predict the coming of the snipe and wild duck, 

 of which he shot thousands annually; and he 

 was, in his youth, as strong and as handsome as 

 Hercules. Another man was an ornithologist, a 

 daring fowler and scaler of cliffs. He performed 

 the almost impossible feat of robbing a condor's 

 eyrie. These birds are larger than the South 

 American condor, with a spread of wing exceeding 



