204 WILD BEASTS AND THEIR WAYS CHAP. 



cook Henry (a German), Texas Bill, who was a splendid young 

 fellow, and Gaylord. 



Although I have travelled for very many years through some of 

 the roughest portions of the world, I have always had a considerable 

 following, and I confess to disliking so small a party. Including 

 my wife, we were only six persons, and it was impossible to con- 

 sume the flesh of the animals killed. I cannot shoot to waste ; 

 therefore upon many occasions I declined to take the shots, and 

 thus lost numerous opportunities of collecting splendid heads ; this 

 destroyed much of the pleasure which I had anticipated. There 

 were no Indians, as they are confined to their reservations ; there- 

 fore it was almost criminal to destroy wantonly a number of splendid 

 beasts, which would rot upon the ground and be absolutely wasted. 

 Several parties of Englishmen had not been so merciful ; therefore 

 the Americans had no scruples, and commenced an onslaught, 

 general and indiscriminate, shooting all animals, without distinction 

 of age or sex, merely for the value of the skins ; the carcases of 

 magnificent fat deer were left to putrefy, or to become the food of 

 the over-satiated bears, which themselves fell victims in their turn. 



This was the slaughter in which Bob Stewart and Big Bill were 

 engaged in partnership. They never shot in company, but each 

 started upon his independent course at 8 or 9 o'clock A.M., after 

 having employed themselves since daylight in pegging out the skins 

 to dry, that had been shot on the previous day. The most valuable 

 of the deer-skins was the black-tail, which realised, at a price per 

 lb., 11s. This hide is used for making a very superior quality of 

 glove, much prized in California. 



I strolled over to the camp of the two partners one morning, as 

 I was on the way to shoot, and I found them engaged in arranging 

 their vast masses of skins, all of which were neatly folded up, per- 

 fectly dry, without any other preparation than exposure to the keen 

 dry air of this high altitude. 



Upon my inquiry of Big Bill respecting his operations on the 

 previous day, he replied that he "guessed he had been occupied in 

 running away from the biggest grizzly bear that ever was cubbed." 



Big Bill was a Swede by parentage, born in the States. By 

 trade he was a carpenter, but he had of late years taken to skin- 

 hunting. He was an enormous fellow, about 6 feet 3 or 4, with 

 huge shoulders and long muscular arms and hands. There was no 

 harm in Bill ; he was a first-rate shot with his '450 Sharp rifle, 

 which appeared to be the weapon in general favour ; but he had 

 met with an adventure /luring the previous year which made him 

 rather suspicious of strangers. 



