THE ELK, OR WAPITI. 291 



The abundance of the elk in some of the unpopulated 

 regions beyond the Rocky Mountains is almost incredible. 

 I have seen in a valley in Colorado, near the Ute reserva- 

 tion, at least four thousand in one herd, and I have fre- 

 quently seen them in throngs numbering from fifty to five 

 hundred in various sections extending from Oregon to 

 British America. I once formed one of a party in Colo- 

 rado who were exploring a region that contained few set- 

 tlers, and they were often far apart; hence game was as 

 plentiful as if the entire country were a park, and was as 

 closely preserved as a Scotch deer forest. Elks, deer, and 

 antelopes were scattered over the plain as far as the eye 

 could see, and they were so unused to the presence of man 

 that they seldom fled before us when we approached them 

 from the leeward until we were quite close to them. Dur- 

 ing the two months that we spent there, we captured about 

 sixty elks by running them down with horses; and we 

 could have slain five times the number, I believe, if we 

 cared to do so, or preferred wanton slaughter to sport. 

 We also lassoed some calves, but the greater number were 

 let loose after we picked out the best for the larder. Las- 

 soing them is a very interesting amusement, especially if 

 a person is well mounted, as they run well, and twist and 

 turn rapidly when being overhauled; and a young buck 

 will sometimes, especially if much blown, charge the horse, 

 and try to pierce him with his tiny antlers. Visions of 

 those scenes arouse the most buoyant feelings of one's nat- 

 ure, but with them comes the sad thought that in a few 

 years one of the finest game animals on the continent will 

 have disappeared before the advance of civilization, and 

 the knife and rifle of the skin-hunter. 



