1S6 A POOR DAY'S SPORT. 



to be coming ray way, and something passed, by my right, 

 though the bushes were too thick for me to see what it was, 

 and a few seconds later my two nearest neighbours, shouting 

 that it was a bear, left their posts, and followed the dogs, on 

 which I did the same. This kind of riding I soon found 

 required a long apprenticeship, for though the ground is as a 

 rule free from brush, yet long vines hang from the trees, and 

 oblige a man to lie flat, and be very quick about it, as he 

 passes under them, or he will be swept off his horse. 



The Texans are fine horsemen, almost all of them being able 

 to pick up a hat off the ground when passing it at a gallop ; 

 and I have more than once seen a man, when going at a walk, 

 stoop and pick up his hat which a branch had knocked off 

 without stopping his horse. 



I soon found that I could not keep up, and arrived about five 

 minutes after the bear had been shot, and had fallen from the 

 tree in which he had taken refuge. Sometimes they get into 

 a cane brake, in which case you must dismount, tie up your 

 horse, and cut your way through the dense canes to the bear, 

 which is very hard work, and necessitates the carrying of a 

 large knife made for the purpose. Two bears were killed on 

 this occasion, and were of the small black variety, and neither 



F nor I got a shot at either ; the only game of any kind 



which came our way was one deer. We returned to camp the 

 next morning, not caring for any more bear-hunting of that 

 kind. The favourite way of killing deer among the Texans 

 was by driving them with dogs, and taking stands as in bear- 

 hunting, the deer being generally found near the edges of the 

 wood, while the bears are much further in. The Brazos 

 bottom was a grand hunting-ground, consisting as it did of six 



