262 THE WILDERNESS HUNTER. 



Then there is Catlin's book, and the journals 

 of the explorers from Lewis and Clarke down ; 

 and occasional volumes on outdoor 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 Ameri- 

 can 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 west- 

 ern plainsman and Rocky Mountain trappers 

 quite what Hermann Melville did for the South 

 Sea whaling folk in Omoo and Moby Dick. 

 The best description of these old-time dwell- 

 ers among the mountains and on the plains 

 is to be found in a couple of good volumes by 

 the Englishman Ruxton. However, the back- 

 woodsmen proper, both in their forest homes 

 and when they first began to venture out on 

 the prairie, have been portrayed by a master 

 hand. In a succession of wonderfully drawn 

 characters, ranging from " Aaron Thousand- 

 acres " to " Ishmael Bush," Fenimore Cooper 

 has preserved for always the likenesses of these 

 stark pioneer settlers and backwoods hunters ; 

 uncouth, narrow, hard, suspicious, but with all 

 the virile virtues of a young and masterful 

 race, a race of mighty breeders, mighty 

 fighters, mighty commonwealth builders. As 

 for Leatherstocking, he is one of the undying 

 men of story ; grand, simple, kindly, pure- 



