THE BLACK BEAR. 87 



felt-hats, skin caps, or the small painted baskets made of ce- 

 dar roots or coarse grass, and three or four were decorated 

 with "plug" hats that were shattered so much as to scarce- 

 ly resemble the originals in texture or shape. They were 

 accompanied by as motley a throng of dogs as ever was 

 seen, even in an Indian village, some being large, powerful 

 brutes, which showed indications of being descended from 

 a more civilized stock than their kindred, while others were 

 small, fox-like curs that looked as if they were degenerate 

 coyotes. When everything was ready, we marched about 

 seven or eight miles from camp in a body, and then sepa- 

 rated, each man taking his own course. My companion 

 and myself kept together, and took a position in the centre 

 of the line, in hopes that we should have a chance shot at 

 anything that fled from the flanks. The dogs were set to 

 work the moment we parted, but we listened in vain for 

 their opening chorus, and this induced us to try still-hunt- 

 ing, and to use our eyes instead of our ears. Moving on- 

 ward cautiously through the dense and towering forest of 

 firs, we often found it hard work to force our way through 

 the matted undergrowth that grew in tropical luxuriance, 

 or the masses of tall ferns, that towered above our heads 

 in many places, and were so thick that we could not see 

 five feet ahead of us. While groping through one of these 

 forests of fern, a fine doe started up so close to us that I 

 could almost have touched her with my gun, and before 

 she could get away I planted a load of lead in her head. 

 That was the first report heard during the morning ; and 

 it had scarcely died away before two Indians were beside 

 me, as if they had risen out of the bushes, and making 

 inquiries about what had been killed. On seeing it, they 

 seemed to be satisfied ; and taking out a knife, one of them 

 cut it open, drew the viscera, and hung the carcass on a 

 tree, which was " blazed," so that it could be readily iden- 

 tified. We then resumed our march, and in the course of 

 twenty minutes heard the yelping and howling of the dogs. 

 "Itsoot" — bear — said one of the Indians who remained, 

 with us, and, rushing through the shrubbery at a pace we 



