242 AVILD SPORTS IN THE FAR AVEST. 



Besides making their own shoes, they understand enough 

 of tanning to prepare the leather; they make their 

 own ploughs, dig wells, &c. ; for all which operations 

 Europeans require so many different workmen. 



As we sat together before the fire, there was no 

 difficulty in getting Slowtrap to relate some of his ad- 

 ventures with the Lidians in his early days. In the 

 evening we brought in some j^umpkins, and as we cut 

 them into thin rings to hang on the poles to dry he 

 began to speak in the following words of the perils he 

 had been exposed to in Kentucky, and his naiTow 

 escapes from the Indians : " Kentucky was at that time 

 a wilderness, Avhen my father, my uncle, and myself 

 arrived near the dwelling of Daniel Boone, to look 

 about for a spot that would suit us ; for Xorth Carolina, 

 where we then lived, began to be too populous, and a 

 man who wanted to shoot a turkey or partridge was 

 tired before he had walked half an hour, from the 

 number of fences he was obliged to climb over. I was 

 then just eighteen, as strong as a four-year-old bear, 

 and was delighted at the thought of meeting the 

 Indians. It was about this time of the year, and the 

 game we saw made our hearts bound : numbers of bears, 

 deer, and buffaloes; while the turkeys would hardly 

 get out of our way. It would tire you to tell you of 

 all the sport we had, for no country in the world could 

 boast of more game than Kentucky thirty years ago ; 

 but now it is no better there than it was then in North 

 Carolina, and five years hence, a man who wants to 

 shoot a bear in Arkansas, will have many a weary mile 

 to tramp. One evening we arrived at the edge of a cane- 

 brake, and as there was good feeding for the horses, we 



