AND AMERICAN RURAL SPORTS 



191 



of game cannot always be found ; the toils of the chase are 

 frequently unrewarded ; and many who have settled in the 

 west with lively feeling upon this topic, have abandoned this 

 precarious source of profit. 



For several days, I had been employed in crossing vast 

 prairies. The weather continued moderate, the snow, 

 water, and mud were deep, and wading laborious. I fre- 

 quently met with considerable freshets, and the banks of the 

 creeks were overflovvn. Here I saw vast flocks of wild 

 geese flying towards Sandusky Bay. Their hoarse notes, 

 proceeding from the misty air, rendered even more solitary 

 a trackless and almost illimitable plain of high and coarse 

 grass. I was repeatedly lost in these prairies ; and found 

 it necessary to calculate my way by compass and maps. 



Within about twenty miles of the famous Black Swamp, I 

 entered, late in the afternoon, a dark wood in a low and 

 wet situation. The weather being moderate, I continued 

 to travel until very late in the evening. About 12 o'clock 

 at night my dogs contended with a herd of wolves and were 

 both slain. The winter, until within a few days, having been 

 very severe, the wolves, probably, were very hungry and 

 ferocious. It is said, that in this part of the country they 

 are very numerous and bold. From the manner in which 

 the contest commenced, I am inclined to believe, that the 

 wolves having issued from their dens, had come to feast 

 themselves. Previous to the rencounter, all was perfect 

 silence. My dogs were near me, and without the least 

 noise, which I could perceive, the war commenced. It 

 was sudden and furious. 



I had, for hours, been experiencing a most excruciating 

 tooth-ache ; and my sense of hearing was considerably af- 

 fected by it. But when the contest began, I, for a moment, 

 forgot my infirmities, seized my gun, encouraged my dogs, 

 and marched forth in the most lively expectation of achiev- 

 ing some great victory. It being, however, very dark, the 

 bushes thick, and the voice of the battle beginning to 

 die upon my ear, a sense of my sufferings returned, and I 

 sought repose in my tent. But I found no repose there: 

 the whole night was employed in endeavouring to assuage 

 with gun powder and salt, the only applications in my 

 power, an almost insufferable tooth-ache. 



My dogs never returned from the strife. I had lost the 

 faithful, and disinterested partners of my toil. I could not 

 leave so interesting a place. For two nights and one day I 

 remained upon the spot; — butforwhatl do not know. In 

 the listlessness of sorrow I fired my rifle into the air. At 

 length I realized, that my dogs had fallen nobly ; and the 

 sentiments of grief found a solace in the dictates of pride. 



As the fate of my dogs is interesting I may be permitted 

 to spend a moment in their praise. 



They were not, like the hounds of Sparta, dewlaped and 



flew; but they possessed the acuteness of these, with the 

 courage of the mastifi". They were very large, and accus- 

 tomed to the strife of the woods. Tiger was grave and in- 

 trepid. Small game excited in him no interest; but when 

 the breath of the foe greeted him in the breeze, he survey- 

 ed, at a glance, and with a lofty aspect the surrounding 

 wood. Slow, steady, and firm in pursuit, he remained si- 

 lent until the object of his search was found; and then, a 

 cry more terrible than his 



^'Was never hallooed to, 



Nor checked wilh horn in Crete or Thessaly." 



He had lost an eye in the battles of mountains, and was, in 

 every sense of the word, a veteran. 



Pomp was active, generous, affectionate, and in courage 

 and perseverance unrivalled. In the night, it was his cus- 

 tom to pillow his head upon his master's breast; and he 

 ever seemed concerned to guard him from the dangers of 

 an unsheltered repose. 



Perhaps too I may here notice some traits in the charac- 

 ter of the wolf. The countenance of this animal evinces 

 both cunning and ferocity. The length of his body is ge- 

 nerally about four feet, the legs from fifteen to eighteen 

 inches, the circumference of the body from two and a half 

 to three feet, and the tail sixteen inches in length. The 

 colour of the wolf is a mixture of light and brown with 

 streaks of grey. His hair is long, rough, and very coarse; 

 his tail is bushy, something like that of the fox, his body is 

 generally gaunt, his limbs are muscular, and his strength 

 very great; with perfect ease he can carry a sheep in his 

 mouth. 



The cunning and agility of this animal are equal to his 

 strength; and his appetite for animal food is exceedingly 

 voracious; — so much so, that he often dies in pining for it. 

 When his hunger is very imperious, even man becomes 

 the object of his ferocity. His sense of smelling is so acute, 

 that at the distance of three leagues, a carcass will attract 

 his attention. The wolf is a very solitary animal; and ne- 

 ver associates with his species but for the purpose of at- 

 tacking a human being, or some animal of which he is in- 

 dividually afraid; and when the object of the combination 

 is eflfected, each retires sullenly to his den. 



It appears by the early stages of English history, that 

 wolves in England have been so formidable as to attract 

 the particular attention of the king; and even as late as Ed- 

 ward the first, a superintendant was appointed for the ex- 

 tirpation of this dangerous and destructive animal. 



I may add that not long after the loss of my dogs I 

 reached, just before night, a solitary log hut; and in about 

 an hour after a wolf howled at the door. 



Evans' Tour. 



