76 The Winning of the West 



land of small timber. 13 The rapid streams were 

 bordered by narrow flats of rich soil, and were 

 margined by canebrakes and reed beds. There were 

 fine open pastures, varied by sandy pine barrens, by 

 groves of palmetto and magnolia, and by great 

 swamps and cypress ponds. The game had been 

 largely killed out, the elk and buffalo having been 

 exterminated and even the deer much thinned, and 

 in consequence the hunting parties were obliged to 

 travel far into the uninhabited region to the north- 

 ward in order to kill their winter supply of meat. 

 But panthers, wolves, and bears still lurked in the 

 gloomy fastnesses of the swamps and canebrakes, 

 whence they emerged at night to prey on the hogs 

 and cattle. The bears had been exceedingly abun- 

 dant at one time, so much so as to become one of 

 the main props of the Creek larder, furnishing flesh, 

 fat, and especially oil for cooking and other pur- 

 poses; and so valued were they that the Indians 

 hit upon the novel plan of preserving them, exactly 

 as Europeans preserve deer and pheasants. Each 

 town put aside a great tract of land which was 

 known as "the beloved bear ground," 14 where the 

 persimmons, haws, chestnuts, muscadines, and fox 

 grapes abounded, and let the bears dwell there un- 

 molested, except at certain seasons, when they were 

 killed in large numbers. However, cattle were 



13 "A Sketch of the Creek Country," Benjamin Hawkins. 

 In coll. Ga. Hist. Soc. Written in 1798, but not published 

 till fifty years afterward. 



14 Do., p. 33. 



