CAMPING AT CASH CREEK. 27 



on the opposite side, when they again fired, and I saw the water 

 covered with birds floating with their backs downwards, and 

 their heads sunk in the water, and their legs kicking in the 

 air. When the sport was over we counted more than fifty of 

 these beautiful birds, whose skins were intended for the ladies 

 in Europe. There were plenty of geese and ducks, but no one 

 condescended to give them a shot. A conch was sounded, and 

 after a while the squaws came dragging the canoe, and collect- 

 ing the dead game, which was taken to the river's edge, fastened 

 to the canoe, and before dusk we were again landed at our 

 camping ground. I had heard of sportsmen in England who 

 walked a whole day, and after firing a pound of powder returned 

 in great glee, bringing one partridge ; and I could not help 

 wondering what they would think of the spoil we were bearing 

 from Swan Lake ? 



" The fires were soon lighted, and a soup of pecan nuts and 

 bear fat made and eaten. The hunters stretched themselves with 

 their feet close to the camp-fires, intended to burn all night. 

 The squaws then began to skin the birds, and I retired, very 

 weU satisfied with my Christmas sport. 



" When I awoke in the morning and made my rounds through 

 the camp, I found a squaw had been deKvered of beautiful twins 

 during the night, and I saw the same squaw, at work tanning 

 deer-skins. She had cut two vines at the roots of opposite trees 

 and made a cradle of bark, in which the new-born ones were 

 wafted to and fro with a push of her hand, while from time to 

 time she gave them the breast, and was apparently as uncon- 

 cerned as if the event had not taken place. 



" An Indian camp on a hunting expedition is by no means a 

 place of idleness, and although the men do little more than 

 hunt, they perform their task with an industry which borders 

 on enthusiasm. I was invited by three hunters to a bear-hunt. 

 A tall, robust, well-shaped fellow, assured me that we should 

 have some sport that day, for he ;.had discovered the haunt of 

 one of large size, and he wanted to meet him face to face ; and 

 we four started to see how he would fulfil his boast. About half 

 a mile from the camp he said he perceived his tracks, though I 

 could see nothing ; and we rambled on through the cane brake 

 until we came to an immense decayed log, in which he swore 



