IN THE LOUISIANA CAJXTEBRAKES 379 



in the entire district; it was the work of man, for it had 

 been built in the unknown past by those unknown peo- 

 ple whom we call moundbuilders. On the trip, all told, 

 we killed and brought into camp three bears, six deer, a 

 wildcat, a turkey, a possum, and a dozen squirrels; and 

 we ate everything except the wildcat. 



In the evenings we sat around the blazing campfires, 

 and, as always on such occasions, each hunter told tales 

 of his adventures and of the strange feats and habits of 

 the beasts of the wilderness. There had been beaver all 

 through this delta in the old days, and a very few are still 

 left in out-of-the-way places. One Sunday morning we 

 saw two wolves, I think young of the year, appear for a 

 moment on the opposite side of the bayou, but they van- 

 ished before we could shoot. All of our party had had a 

 good deal of experience with wolves. The Metcalfs had 

 had many sheep killed by them, the method of killing 

 being invariably by a single bite which tore open the 

 throat while the wolf ran beside his victim. The wolves 

 also killed young hogs, but were very cautious about med- 

 dling with an old sow; while one of the big half-wild 

 boars that ranged free through the woods had no fear of 

 any number of wolves. Their endurance and the ex- 

 tremely difficult nature of the country made it difficult to 

 hunt them, and the hunters all bore them a grudge, be- 

 cause if a hound got lost in a region where wolves were 

 at all plentiful they were almost sure to find and kill him 

 before he got home. They were fond of preying on dogs, 

 and at times would boldly kill the hounds right ahead of 

 the hunters. In one instance, while the dogs were fol- 



