THE COUGAR. 209 



and again on the dogs beneath and around him ; one of his fore legs hung 

 loosely by his side, and he lay crouched, with his ears lowered close to his 

 head, as if he thought he might remain undiscovered. Three balls were 

 fired at him, at a given signal, on which he sprang a few feet from the 

 branch, and tumbled headlong to the ground. Attacked on aU sides by 

 the enraged curs, the infuriated Cougar fought with desperate valour ; 

 but the squatter advancing in front of the party, and almost in the midst 

 of the dogs, shot him immediately behind and beneath the left shoulder. 

 The Cougar writhed for a moment in agony, and in another lay dead. 



The sun was now sinking in the west. Two of the hunters separated 

 from the rest, to procure venison, whilst the squatter's sons were ordered 

 to make the best of their way home, to be ready to feed the hogs in the 

 morning. The rest of the party agreed to camp on the spot. The 

 cougar was despoiled of its skin, and its carcass left to the hungry dogs. 

 Whilst engaged in preparing our camp, we heard the report of a gun, 

 and soon after one of our hunters returned with a small deer. A fire 

 was lighted, and each hunter displayed his potie of bread, along with a 

 flask of whisky. The deer was skinned in a trice, and sUces placed on sticks 

 before the fire. These materials afforded us an excellent meal, and as 

 the night grew darker, stories and songs went round, until my com- 

 panions, fatigued, laid themselves down, close under the smoke of the 

 fire, and soon fell asleep. 



I walked for some minutes round the camp, to contemplate the beau- 

 ties of that nature, from which I have certainly derived my greatest 

 pleasures. I thought of the occurrences of the day, and glancing my 

 eye around, remarked the singular effects produced by the phosphores- 

 cent qualities of the large decayed trunks which lay in all directions 

 around me. How easy, I thought, would it be for the confused and agi- 

 tated mind of a person bewildered in a swamp like this, to imagine in 

 each of these luminous masses some wondrous and fearful being, the very 

 sight of which might make the hair stand erect on his head. The thought 

 of being myself placed in such a predicament burst over my mind, and 

 I hastened to join my companions, beside whom I laid me down and slept, 

 assured that no enemy could approach us without first rousing the dogs, 

 which were growling in fierce dispute over the remains of the cougar. 



At daybreak we left our camp, the squatter bearing on his shoulder 

 the skin of the late destroyer of his stock, and retraced our steps until 

 we found our horses, which had not strayed far from the place where we 



