The Black-Tail Deer. 173 



not wish to be encumbered by the heavy ranch wagon. 

 Pack ponies are always a nuisance, though of course an 

 inevitable one in making journeys through mountains or 

 forests. But on the plains a buck-board is far more handy. 

 The blankets and provisions can be loaded upon it, and it can 

 then be given a definite course to travel or point to reach ; 

 and meanwhile the hunters, without having their horses 

 tired by carrying heavy packs, can strike off and hunt 

 wherever they wish. There is little or no difficulty in going 

 over the prairie ; but it needs a skilful plainsman, as well 

 as a good teamster, to take a wagon through the Bad 

 Lands. There are but two courses to follow. One is to 

 go along the bottoms of the valleys ; the other is to go 

 along the tops of the divides. The latter is generally the 

 best ; for each valley usually has at its bottom a deep 

 winding ditch with perpendicular banks, which wanders first 

 to one side and then to the other, and has to be crossed 

 again and again, while a little way from it begin the gullies 

 and gulches which come down from the side hills. It is no 

 easy matter to tell which is the main divide, as it curves 

 and twists about, and is all the time splitting up into lesser 

 ones, which merely separate two branches of the same 

 creek. If the teamster does not know the lay of the land 

 he will be likely to find himself in a. cul-de-sac, from which he 

 can only escape by going back a mile or two and striking 

 out afresh. In very difficult country the horsemen must 

 be on hand to help the team pull up the steep places. Many 

 horses that will not pull a pound in harness will haul for 

 all there is in them from the saddle ; Manitou is a case in 

 point. Often obstacles will be encountered across which 



