FUR ANIMALS. 



467 



wolves, also prey on the defenceless rodent; but it fre- 

 quently eludes them in its Labyrinthine burrows, into which 

 nothing can follow it but the badger. This latter animal 

 being unknown west of the Cascade Range, the showtl 

 lives in comparative security in that division of the Pacific 

 slope ; for its greatest foe there, the red man, does not slay 

 it wantonly. 



The Indians of Washington Territory have a tradition 

 that it was the first animal endowed with life, and the 



DULLU QtJAlUlKI-I.lNU. 



source whence sprung the human race — the red portion, at 

 least — and on this account they pretend to entertain a sort 

 of reverence for it ; but that, like several other sentiments 

 which they profess, extends no farther than mei*e expe- 

 diency, for they kill it whenever they get the opportunity, 

 and devour it with the greatest avidity. This barbaric bit 

 of the Darwinian philosophy I once turned to account to 

 test the extent of an Indian's reasoning power; but I found 



