THE PECCARY. 393 



The first night out I was lucky enough to kill a large 

 Mule Deer, but it proved to be x^oor. The next day we 

 only traveled about twenty-seven miles, and camped at a 

 small sj)ring, well up in the mountains. We saw numbers 

 of doves, and after we got our horses staked out I shot the 

 heads off several of them, and we had a Spanish stew, 

 wliich was very fine. Near the spring, we noticed well- 

 beaten trails made by the Peccaries coming there for water. 

 My guide insisted on going up the mountain to capture one 

 of them, but I would not listen to it, knowing the danger 

 there is in attacking a drove of them on their way to water. 



Early the next morning, we packed, and started just as 

 the sun was showing over the mountains. We had trav- 

 eled about five miles, when my guide pointed to the oppo- 

 site side of the canon we were traveling in, and about 

 three hundred yards distant I saw a large herd of Peccaries 

 feeding. We stopped, and my guide being anxious to have 

 a shot, took the Long Tom, and after raising the sights to 

 the proper distance, took deliberate aim, resting his gun on 

 a rock, and fired directly into the center of the bunch. At 

 the report of the gun they threw up their heads, and seemed 

 to wonder where the noise came from. The ball struck too 

 high. The next shot was better, striking near the center 

 of the herd; but they only gathered closer together and 

 snuffed the air. The third shot struck a rock, and the ball 

 whizzing through the air seemed to frighten them, for they 

 started down the canon and were soon out of sight. We 

 then remounted and resumed our journey. 



There was water where we stopped at noon, so we stayed 

 late; and after filling our canteens and giving our animals 

 another drink, we traveled until ten o'clock at night, and 

 then made a dry camp. Next morning we were off before 

 daylight, so we could reach water before our animals got 

 too thirsty. We reached the Yaqui River, which flows 

 south and empties into the Gulf of California. Here we 

 camped near a settlement of the Yaqui Indians where we 

 got some fi-esh goat's milk and some fine cactus- fruit, of 

 which there are several kinds growing on this river. 



