

HUNTERS' FACES. 155 



Those who have been accustomed to seeing and 

 conversing with the white trappers and fur traders of 

 the Far West, in the old "Indian" and "Buffalo 

 days," will probably support these observations of Mr. 

 St. John ; as the fact, which has often been noted by 

 ourselves, must be well within the cognizance of many 

 American sportsmen. * 



Again few of those who have seen much of the Red 

 Indian tribes, or of their countertype, the Arabs of the 

 desert, can have failed to notice this watchful, restless 

 expression of eye and countenance, which marks the 

 faces nearly of them all. The same has been observed 

 to characterize those of the Indian hillmen and jungle 

 tribes in Hindustan. Some of these faces quite resemble 

 those of a bird of prey. They are eagle-eyed, as it is 

 sometimes said of one of these restless-eyed individuals. 



It is sometimes quite wonderful at what distances 

 these people will make out remote objects in the land- 

 scape ; and how instantly they observe the marks made 

 by game left upon the ground, or detect its presence, 

 lying or standing motionless among thick bush, and 

 wholly invisible to less practised sight. 



The sight of natives inhabiting wild countries, is very 

 generally so highly trained in this respect, that Europeans 

 have frequently come to the conclusion that the eyes 



* In a well written and interesting account of his travels across 

 the Great Western Prairies in 1839, by Mr. Farnham, we find the 

 following paragraph in reference to this matter : " The American trappers 

 present a different phase of character. Habitual watchfulness destroys 

 every frivolity of mind and action. They seldom smile : the expression 

 of their countenances is watchful, solemn, and determined. They ride 

 and walk like men whose breasts have been so long exposed to the 

 bullet and the arrow, that fear finds within them no resting place. 

 They overcome every danger; and perish, as they say, as white men 

 should, fighting bravely" (Travels in the Great Western Prairies, by 

 Thos. J. Farnham, published 1843, Vol. i., p. 293). 



