The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 
shot. It was the first of the kind I had seen, 
and differs from its African cousin in that it is 
smaller and the quills are much shorter. The 
Indians eat porcupines, cooking them by putting 
the whole animal without disembowelling it on 
the fire, which burns off the spmes. They can 
then handle the creature without injuring their 
hands; it now looks fearsome and more like a 
dead puppy than a porcupine, and it is cooked 
in the ordinary way. I tasted the leg of one I 
shot in Alaska, finding it very much in flavour 
like chicken, and the meat very tender. My 
Indians seemed to enjoy the feast, but I much 
preferred a piece of venison, for the appearance 
of the porcupine during the preparation of 
cooking was warranted to put one off one’s 
feed. 
In the mountains of British Columbia there 
were many bands of wild horses, which the 
Indians sometimes ‘‘ rounded up.” These were 
the descendants of those that had escaped from 
domesticity from time to time and joined the 
bands born in freedom. The Indians had a way 
of securing a picked specimen from a “ bunch,” 
which might by the slightest mistake have 
proved fatal to the victim. The particular 
animal being chosen, the selector carefully 
stalked it. The greatest caution was necessary 
in the approach, for wild horses are as difficult to 
stalk as wild sheep, which is saying a great deal. 
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