226 SALT-LICKS. 



Deer frequent the salt-licks, those spots where 

 the earth is impregnated with saline particles, or 

 where the salt water oozes through the soil, and 

 thither the hunter frequently repairs in quest of 

 them. Secreting himself in some bush, or among 

 the branches of a tree, he patiently awaits the 

 coming of the deer, who arrive in company with 

 other grazing animals, and pass unsuspectingly 

 within reach of his rifle. This practice is pursued 

 only in the summer, or early in the autumn; in 

 cloudless nights, when the moon shines brilliantly, 

 and w r hen the open country is nearly as light as day. 

 Indian hunters relate that when the pastures are 

 green, wild deer rise from their lairs precisely at the 

 moment of the moon's appearing on the horizon, 

 whether in the night or day. This hour is, there- 

 fore, kept in view by the hunter as he journeys 

 through the forest towards the salt-lick, which he is 

 anxious to reach before the rising of the moon. 

 The lick is generally an isolated spot, covered with 

 short herbage, and bare of timber, yet belted round 

 with a dark forest. On this favoured spot the 

 moon shines bright, and firm and well strung 

 must be the nerves of the hunter who does not find 

 a strange feeling of awe and loneliness steal over 

 him as he looks from out his leafy covert on that 

 bright spot, and sees the massy trunks of aged trees 

 gathered around it like guardians of the place, while 

 darkness, deep and still as that of midnight, is be- 

 yond them. But the silence is soon broken by the 

 sound of footsteps coming through the forest, and a 

 crowd of grazing animals are seen emerging from 

 the gloom into the moonshine. The most fearless 



