Hunting at High Altitudes 



In the wilder and more unsettled sections they 

 can be found in the savanas until the heat of the 

 day, hiding in the guinea and pajal grasses, where 

 they are less harassed by flies and insects. They 

 are loth to leave such a sheltered retreat, and a 

 horseman, unaccompanied by dogs, may ride to 

 within a few feet of them before they break cover. 



A greater variety of dogs is used in deer hunting 

 in Cuba than in any half dozen other deer coun- 

 tries of which I know. In point of numbers the 

 cur, or native dog, predominates. Novelties to me 

 were the slow tracking Spanish pointer, trained to 

 point quite as if upon birds, and the Biscaya, a 

 heavy, low-set Spanish hound, with remarkably 

 large dew claws, and with about as much speed as 

 an average ice wagon. English beagles, French 

 hounds and griffons were much in evidence, espe- 

 cially in the eastern part of the island. Of late 

 years only, the American foxhound has begun to 

 find favor in the eyes of the local hunters. For- 

 merly he was considered too fast. In every sec- 

 tion of the island, from Havana to> Santiago, I 

 found hounds of my own breeding, and was pleased 

 to note that expert hunters considered them the 

 best. 



Ordinarily, for deer, I prefer a slow, painstak- 

 ing, trailing and driving hound; but in these 



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