TRAILING. 409 



their daily food on small game are those which become 

 most expert ; and of these the Comanches are far superior, 

 except, possibly, the small remnant of the Delawares. 



The Indian is taught from childhood to read every 

 mark on the ground, to tell what made it, its age, and 

 all about it of interest or importance to himself. To these 

 are added a thorough knowledge of the habits of game 

 or animals of any kind, and a pair of eyes exquisitely 

 sharpened by constant practice. These enable the Indian 

 confidently to take and keep a trail, where a white man, 

 even with sharp eyes and some practice, would, if he saw 

 anything at all, only see an occasional unmeaning mark. 

 The perfection arrived at is little short of miraculous. 



A knowledge of the country and of the Indian mode 

 of travel very greatly facilitate the pursuit of a savage. 

 When anticipating pursuit he will resort to all ruses, keep 

 as much as possible on rocky ground, mount a high hill, 

 only to go down again on the same side. Getting into the 

 bed of a brook he will keep along its channel for miles, 

 going out and getting in again, doubling on his track, 

 doing any and everything which may delay or baffle the 

 pursuit. 



As will more fully appear hereafter, Indians travel by 

 4 landmarks,' A good trailer, especially in broken country, 

 will tell from the general appearance of the country what 

 special prominent landmarks the Indian is travelling by. 

 When, therefore, the pursued resorts to ruses and doub- 

 lings, the pursuer wastes no time in painfully tracking 

 him through all his windings, but goes at once to where 

 his knowledge of his habits tells him that the Indian will 

 pass a certain ridge or go out of a certain valley. There 

 he looks for the trail, and, finding it, pushes on more con- 

 fidently than before. 



The pursued may spend several hours in making a 

 devious trail which the astute pursuer will jump over in as 

 many minutes. The hard ground of the high prairie, 

 marked as it is with more or less of buffalo ' sign,' is 



