276 The Wilderness Hunter 



but too often they have been very worthless, even 

 when the writers possessed the necessary first hand 

 knowledge, and the rare capacity of seeing the truth. 

 Few of the old-time hunters ever tried to write of 

 what they had seen and done ; and of those who made 

 the effort fewer still succeeded. Innate refinement 

 and the literary faculty that is, the faculty of writ- 

 ing a thoroughly interesting book, full of valuable 

 information may exist in uneducated people; but 

 if they do not, no amount of experience in the field 

 can supply their lack. However, we have had some 

 good works on the chase and habits of big game, 

 such as Caton's "Deer and Antelope of America," 

 Van Dyke's "Still-Hunter/'' Elliott's "Carolina 

 Sports," and Dodge's "Hunting Grounds of the 

 Great West," besides the Century Company's 

 "Sport with Rod and Gun." Then there is Catlin's 

 book, and the journals of the explorers from Lewis 

 and Clark down; and occasional volumes on out- 

 door life, such as Theodore Winthrop's "Canoe 

 and Saddle," and Clarence King's "Mountaineering 

 in the Sierra Nevada." 



Two or three of the great writers of American 

 literature, notably Parkman in his "Oregon Trail," 

 and, with less interest, Irving in his "Trip on the 

 Prairies," have written with power and charm of life 

 in the American wilderness; but no one has arisen 

 to do for the far Western plainsman and Rocky 



