28 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 



and immediately go off hunting while the squaws are preparing the 

 camp. 



They hunt in the morning and evening, returning to camp before 

 noon unless they have been unsuccessful in tinding game, when the}^ 

 sometimes tramp about the woods all day. 



On these hunting excursions he wears nothing but a cotton shirt 

 unless it is a very rough country, when he sometimes wears leggings 

 made of soft leather. He rarely wears his turban except in the 

 very hottest weather. 



The Indians are very skilful hunters, although they seldom use 

 dogs, in spite of the fact that they always have a lot of curs about 

 their camps. They hunt deer in the manner known as " still hunt- 

 ing," walking about the woods morning and evening, moving 

 cautiously and silently through the underbrush in a manner peculiar 

 to a ghost or an Indian, constantly peering about in all directions for 

 the deer, which they hope to find feeding. Ver}' few white men are 

 able to kill deer successfully by still hunting, yet the Indian rarely 

 hunts in any other way. Trained in woodcraft from childhood, he 

 moves slowly along, stopping every few yards to look about, raising 

 his head slowly and cautiously above some chunp of bushes. His eye 

 being trained for such work, he is able to see game in places where 

 it would be practically invisible to the eye of the ordinary hunter. 



When trailing a bear or a panther an Indian can often follow 

 the track without difficulty in places where a person not used to 

 the w^oods would be unable to distinguish any mark whatever. 

 One of the difficulties experienced by non-professional hunters 

 is to distinguish between a freshly made track and one two or 

 three days old. In damp sand and in shaded places where the 

 sun's rays do not penetrate this is often very difficult to do. An 

 animal walking on sandy land when it is damp with dew will 

 press small straws and sticks into it, which, when they rise again, 

 carr}' with them numerous particles of damp sand which will 

 still adhere to them when dry. This, of course, is an almost 

 positive indication that the track has been made after the dew 

 had fallen ; but when the track is made in shady places and the 



