The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



shot. It was the first of the kind I had seen, 

 and differs from its African cousin in that it is 

 smaller and the quills are much shorter. The 

 Indians eat porcupines, cooking them by putting 

 the whole animal without disembowelling it on 

 the fire, which burns off the spines. They can 

 then handle the creature without injuring their 

 hands ; it now looks fearsome and more like a 

 dead puppy than a porcupine, and it is cooked 

 in the ordinary way. I tasted the leg of one I 

 shot in Alaska, finding it very much in flavour 

 like chicken, and the meat very tender. My 

 Indians seemed to enjoy the feast, but I much 

 preferred a piece of venison, for the appearance 

 of the porcupine during the preparation of 

 cooking was warranted to put one off one's 

 feed. 



In the mountains of British Columbia there 

 were many bands of wild horses, which the 

 Indians sometimes " rounded up." These were 

 the descendants of those that had escaped from 

 domesticity from time to time and joined the 

 bands born in freedom. The Indians had a way 

 of securing a picked specimen from a " bunch," 

 which might by the slightest mistake have 

 proved fatal to the victim. The particular 

 animal being chosen, the selector carefully 

 stalked it. The greatest caution was necessary 

 in the approach, for wild horses are as difficult to 



stalk as wild sheep, which is saying a great deal. 



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