232 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



The rest might be left to chance, and no one felt 

 much anxiety about the day's dinner. In those 

 countries, the rifle provides its master with as 

 much of both food and clothing as he can possibly 

 require. 



Our party had cei"tainly a very picturesque appear- 

 ance. We were all dressed in furs cut according to 

 each man's fancy, for these American soldiers fol- 

 lowed their own taste in matters of costume rather 

 than any regulation uniform. The style was a 

 mixture of Indian, Mexican, and American fashions, 

 and there were no two guns from the same manu- 

 factory. The oldest hands carried long single- 

 barrelled rifles, pistols, and knives of the old style ; 

 whilst those who, like myself, had only just come 

 from the States, carried small arsenals of novel 

 invention, six-shooter revolvers, double-barrelled 

 guns, and other arms of the same kind, handsome 

 enough, no doubt, but calculated to embarrass very 

 considerably the sportsman on the march. Some 

 of our horses were mustangs (wild horses), and 

 others were of the American breed, all good-looking 

 animals, with the exception of the little man's 

 pony, which did not belong to an}' known category 

 of horses. 



Our party of soldier-trappers, after leaving the 

 streets of the wretched little town of San Antonio, 

 sallied forth upon the plain which stretched before 

 us like a sea. It was a glorious spectacle to see the 



