246 SPOR TING A D VENTURES 



country were a park, and was as closely preserved as a Scotch 

 deer forest. Elks, deer, and antelopes were scattered over the 

 plain as far as the eye could see, and they were so unused to 

 the presence of man that they seldom fled before us when 

 we approached them from the leeward until we were quite 

 close to them. During the two months that we spent there 

 we captured about sixty elks by running them down with 

 horses, and we could have slain five times the number, I 

 believe, if we cared to do so, or preferred wanton slaughter 

 to sport. We also lassoed some calves, but the greater num- 

 ber were let loose after we picked out the best for the larder. 

 Lassoing them is a very interesting amusement, especially if 

 a person is well mounted, as they run well, and twist and 

 turn rapidly when being overhauled, and a young buck will 

 sometimes, especially if much blown, charge the horse, and try 

 to pierce him with his tiny antlers. Visions of those scenes 

 arouse the most buoyant feelings of one's nature, but with 

 them comes the sad thought that in a few years one of the 

 finest game animals on the Continent will have disappeared 

 before the advance of civilization and the knife and rifle of 

 the skin-hunter. 



