274 SPORTING ADVENTURES 



On reaching- the teams, we started for home at our hest 

 pace, and arrived there in good time, much to the delight of 

 the housewife. While discussing the events of the morning 

 and our narrow escape, my host said that the fire was un- 

 doubtedly caused by a thunderbolt striking an old tree, and 

 that this soon communicated the flames to the grass and 

 shrubbery, so that a large section of country was in a blaze 

 in a short time. As the Indian camp was evidently one of the 

 first places to catch fire, it was an easy matter to guess at 

 the horrible fate of the two poor wretches who were left 

 there, and this led the host to indulge in the most vigorous 

 denunciation of the humanity of the red race. The fire raged 

 for a week or more before its fierceness began to wane, and 

 when I left that section of country a large portion of the 

 forest was still enveloped in clinging- clouds of smoke. 



The mule deer, which is known as the Inrro or jackass deer 

 among the Spaniards and Mexicans of California, was for- 

 merly so abundant in Montana that out of 1500 deer killed 

 by three men in the Judith Basin, in less than six weeks, the 

 larger number was supposed to belong- to this species. These 

 were destroyed for their hides alone, and as each hide did not 

 probably realize more than a dollar, one can understand how 

 many valuable animals were slaughtered for a paltry sum. This 

 ruthless destruction is producing the most disastrous results, 

 for where mule deer were so plentiful in LSG8 that they could 

 be seen by the hundred in a march of twenty- four hours, 

 scarcely a dozen could be seen in the same region in 1877. 



The reckless skin-hunters are mainly responsible for this 

 waste of life, for the Indians, much as they live by the fruits 

 of the chase, are careful to utilize the meat, whereas the 

 others allow it to rot in the sun or be devoured by predatory 

 animals. Where these men have not commenced their ne- 

 farious work the mule deer is still plentiful, and of these 

 regions I do not know any that are better than portions of 

 Montana and Idaho, the eastern divisions of Oregon and 

 Washington Territory, especially in the wooded mountainous 

 parts, and the Coast Mountains in California. To these might 

 be added some of the more sparsely settled sections of Colorado, 

 and the hilly sections of Manitoba. 



