270 SWRTINO ADVENTURES IN TEE FAR WEST. 



ing to a few sportsmen or hungry hunters, or enriching 

 "skin-scalpers," whose solo idea of sport is to slaughter 

 even the pregnant hinds for the sake of the pitiful sum 

 they obtain for the hides. It is estimated that over ten 

 thousand elks were slaughtered last year for their skins 

 alone, and of these about four thousand were killed in 

 Montana, principally in the Yellowstone region, where the 

 animal is, or rather was, exceedingly numerous. 



A skin realizes from two dollars and a half to four dol- 

 lars, according to the character of the coating ; and for 

 this pittance many men devote themselves to destroying 

 indiscriminately the most stately animal in the country; 

 yet nothing is done to them, owing to the indifference of 

 the legislators to framing a law that would punish such 

 Vandals. At the present rate of destruction, the wapiti 

 will not be known in Montana, Colorado, and Wyoming in 

 a short time, and persons must hie to the dense forests of 

 portions of Idaho, Oregon,Washington Territory, and other 

 distant regions to enjoy a legitimate hunt after it. 



I have said that the animals were more numerous in the 

 two latter countries than in any other portion of the con- 

 tinent ; and this I believe to be a positive fact, for I have 

 seen them, during the autumnal migrations when they were 

 fleeing from the icy breezes of the mountains to the warmth 

 and shelter of the coast, pass a run-way in herds nearly all 

 day long ; and had I remained I might, perhaps, have seen 

 the same sight for a week. They moved in long columns 

 and in single file, and each column was led by a sturdy stag 

 or a matronly hind, but the rear was always occupied by 

 old males. When startled, they would move at a tremen- 

 dous rate through the thick woods and matted undergrowth, 

 but they seemed to have no special leaders; for in some 

 cases a young stag, and in others an old hind, headed the 

 fugitives, the young being in the centre. The cause of 

 this lack of a regular commander in a stampede would 

 seem to be that the males are often too heavy to lead the 

 van, and that, as with the buffalo, the lighter-footed females 

 are compelled to do it on account of their superior activity. 



