446 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



growls the Indian wanted me to fire again but the 

 chance for the camera was too good to be lost. I 

 handed the Indian my rifle and told him to kill 

 the bear if it jumped at me. Then I carried my 

 camera within ten feet of the fiercely growling 

 creature and took a picture of it which proved 

 more than satisfactory. The date was Septem- 

 ber 7, 1887, and I mention it because I believe 

 that my photographs of this year, excepting a 

 little work of my own to which I have referred, 

 are the first taken of the creatures of the wild in 

 their native haunts. 



Three days later I had another success. I 

 heard the whistling of a bull elk across a ravine 

 near our camp and with camera and rifle went in 

 search of him. It was a terrible climb both down 

 and up the walls of the ravine. Camera and rifle 

 were slung to my shoulders for I needed both 

 hands in the climb. It was the work of hours to 

 reach the farther side and often I nearly gave it 

 up. Resting in a thicket till my heart beats were 

 normal I crawled to within a hundred yards of a 

 band of elk that numbered over fifty. Nearest 



