470 



AUDUBON 



undergrowth of our woods, having to leap his horse over 

 hundreds of huge fallen trunks, at one time impeded by 

 a straggling grape-vine crossing his path, at another 

 squeezed between two stubborn saplings, whilst their twigs 

 come smack in his face, as his companion has forced his 

 way through them. Again, he now and then runs the risk 

 of breaking his neck, by being suddenly pitched headlong 

 on the ground, as his horse sinks into a hole covered over 

 with moss. But I must proceed in a more regular manner, 

 and leave you, kind reader, to judge whether such a mode 

 of hunting would suit your taste or not. 



The hunter has returned to his camp or his house, has 

 rested and eaten of his game. He waits impatiently for 

 the return of night. He has procured a quantity of pine 

 knots filled with resinous matter, and has an old frying- 

 pan, that, for aught I know to the contrary, may have 

 been used by his great-grandmother, in which the pine- 

 knots are to be placed when lighted. The horses stand 

 saddled at the door. The hunter comes forth, his rifle 

 slung on his shoulder, and springs upon one of them, 

 while his son, or a servant, mounts the other with the fry- 

 ing-pan and the pine-knots. Thus accoutred, they proceed 

 towards the interior of the forest. When they have arrived 

 at the spot where the hunt is to begin, they strike fire with 

 a flint and steel, and kindle the resinous wood. The person 

 who carries the firj moves in the direction judged to be 

 the best. The bii^e illuminates the near objects, but the 

 distant parts scjio :.ivv'lved in deepest obscurity. The 

 hunter who bears \ i^e gun keeps immediately in front, and 

 after a while discovers before him two feeble lights, which 

 are produced by the reflection of the pine-fire from the 

 eyes of an animal of the Deer or Wolf kind. The animal 

 stands quite still. To one unacquainted with this strange 

 mode of hunting, the glare from its eyes might bring to 

 his imagination some lost hobgoblin that had strayed from 

 its usual haunts. The hunter, however, nowise intimidated, 



