118 NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY 



glean after the hunters, but we have now abandoned the " wasty 

 ways" which so disgraced us when game was abundant ; the 

 despised leg bone, which was wont to be thrown aside with such 

 contempt, is now polished of every tendon of its covering, and 

 the savory hump is used as a kind of dessert after a meal of 

 coarser meat. 



Speaking of wolves, I have often been surprised at the perse- 

 verance and tenacity with which these animals will sometimes 

 follow the hunter for a whole day, to feed upon the carcass he 

 may leave behind him. When an animal is killed, they seem to 

 mark the operation, and stand still at a most respectful distance, 

 with drooping tail and cars, as though perfectly indifferent to 

 the matter in progress. Thus will they stand until the game is 

 butchered, the meat placed upon the saddle, and the hunter is 

 mounted and on his way ; then, if he glances behind him, he 

 will see the wily forager stealthily crawling and prowling along 

 towards the smoking remains, and pouncing upon it, and tearing 

 it with tooth and nail, immediately as he gets out of reach. 



During the day, the wolves are shy, and rarely permit an 

 approach to within gun-shot; but at night, (where game is abun- 

 dant,) they are so fearless as to come quite within the purlieus 

 of the camp, and there sit, a dozen together, and howl hideously 

 for hours. This kind of serenading, it may be supposed, is not 

 the most agreeable; and many a time, when on guard, have I 

 observed the unquiet tossing of the bundles of blankets near me, 

 and heard issue from them, the low, husky voice of some dis- 

 turbed sleeper, denouncing heavy anathemas on the unseasonable 

 music. 



\2th. — Wc shaped our course, this morning, towards what 

 appeared to us a gap in a high and rugged mountain, about 

 twenty miles ahead. After proceeding eight or ten miles, the 

 character of the country underwent a remarkable and sudden 

 change. Instead of the luxuriant sage bushes, by which tlie 



