256 HUNTING SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



these animals merely for the skin, not caring for even 

 the most valuable portions of the flesh, unless hunger, or 

 a near market, induces them to carry off the hams. 



The- mode of destroying deer by fire-light, or, as it is 

 named in some parts of the country, forest-light, nevei 

 fails to produce a very singular feeling in him who wit- 

 nesses it for the first time. There is something in it 

 which at times appears awfully grand. At other times, a 

 certain degree of fear creeps over the mind, and even 

 affects the physical powers, of him who follows the hun- 

 ter through the thick undergrowth of our woods, having 

 to leap his horse over hundreds of huge fallen trunks, at 

 one time impeded by a straggling grape-vine crossing his 

 path, at another squeezed between two stubborn saplings, 

 whilst their twigs come smack in his face, as his compa- 

 nion has forced his way through them. Again, he every 

 now and then runs the risk of breaking his neck, by be- 

 ing suddenly pitched headlong on the ground, as his 

 horse sinks into a hole covered over with moss. But I 

 must proceed in a more regular manner, and leave my 

 reader to judge whether such a mode of hunting would 

 suit his taste or not. 



The hunter has returned to his camp or his house, has 

 rested and eaten of his game. He waits impatiently for 

 the return of night. He has procured a quantity of pine- 

 knots filled with resinous matter, and has an old frying- 

 pan, that, for aught I know to the country, may have 

 been used by his great-grandmother, in which the pine- 

 knots are to be placed when lighted. The horses stand 

 saddled at the door. The hunter comes forth, his rifle 

 slung on his shoulder, and springs upon one of them, 



