74 



RAMBLES AFTER SPORT. 



bright new dollar from me^ and very little Vve had in 

 return from them. No, I killed my first elk (Wapiti 

 deer, Gervus canadensis), and many a one after that, in 

 company with the best fellow in the world — viz., myself; 

 and here let me observe that, unless you know your 

 chums, you are best alone. 



In the year 18(3 — there was some little excitement in 

 ■Trisco over some new placer claims near Humboldt 

 county. The whole affair turned out a " selP' for the 

 time ; but subsequently, I believe, some large pay dirt 

 was taken out on the quiet. However, I went up, to be 

 among the first if anything was to be got for the picking 

 up. Was there ever anything invented so delicious as 

 a good paying lolacer claim ? None of your quartz 

 mining, with a staff of workpeople to keep in order, &c. 

 There's your claim, and there's your ^^ rocker,-" and in 

 the evening you clean up, and there's your 201. worth of 

 bright gold dust safe in your breeches' pocket; aye, and 

 sometimes your 100/. worth. But those good old days 

 seem gone by for ever. Well, if I got no gold from 

 Humboldt, I got an amazing deal of sport there. I 

 suspect I was one of the first there, as any evening I 

 could kill a deer, just as fifteen years ago was the case in 

 Vancouver's Island. It was pretty sport, too, as the 

 twilight came on, to sit by the drinking places and 

 watch the deer come tripping down unsuspectingly, 

 skipping like young sheep. They are not at all unlike 

 large goats, and are capital eating after being hung a 

 day or two. Besides deer, there were black bears, some 

 few " heard of " grizzlies, and hundreds of smaller game 

 in the shape of birds. But what I wanted was an elk — 

 the monarch of the glen. Of course, everyone had seen 

 lots all about, but no cue could establish his claim to 



