TAME RACOO>^S. 223 



side, both barrels loaded with buck-shot, and picking it 

 up, I pulled the trigger of my right-hand barrel, and 

 brought both racoons dead to the ground. 



When taken very young and brought up, the racoon 

 makes both an amusing and attached companion. One 

 of these animals made many voyages on a coasting-ship 

 which plied between Galveston and ^'ew York, and 

 even when blind with age, he could find his way 

 amongst the rigging as well as the sailors themselves, 

 and he never failed to make his appearance at the 

 meals both of the captain aft and the sailors forward. 

 Besides being hunted and slain, many hundreds are 

 caught in traps. In the South but few of the skins are 

 exported, most of them being used for caps, ammuni- 

 tion-bags, &c. The rugs made of the skins of this 

 animal with the tails attached, which we see so fre- 

 quently in carriages, are mostly obtained from the 

 North, where the fur is thicker and heavier than in the 

 South. 



