METAPHYSICS OF BEAR HUNTING. 855 
bobtail with such unwonted energy, that he, feeling himself 
furiously insulted, commenced a series of caperings even 
more vivacious and complicated than usual, and persevered 
in them with such determination, that, after a hurd struggle, 
the Doctor was fairly somerseted, bear-spear and all, amidst 
a roar of merriment. He got nimbly to his legs again, dealt 
two kicks this time, with a little more vigor than usual, ond 
remounted. 
By night, we could clearly distinguish the different knobs, 
and the shaded valleys between them. We camped in high 
spirits, for no traces had yet been discovered of Indians, and 
we were near enough the hills to reach them in time for sport 
in the morning. 
Bright and early we were under way—our arms all over- 
hauled and in fine order—with a keen relish for the rough 
work before us. As we neared the hills, they presented 
singular features. They rose directly and abruptly from the 
level of the plain we had been traversing. It seemed to be 
a succession of ridges, marched out like an army of Titans 
upon the meadows—the lowest in front—rising higher and 
higher as the eye traced each line back until it grew up into 
the clouds; and, from the level, we could look into the deep, 
cool, green valleys that went winding among their feet. 
“Those in front were by no means precipitous, but rose 
from the valleys with a gentle curve, clothed all the way to 
the top with mighty live oaks, bearded like patriarchs, whose 
trunks stood far apart to give room for their long knotty 
arms, festooned with silvery moss, to spread, over the girth, 
not unfrequently of half an acre. As these trees forked 
very soon, and as there was no underbrush beneath, the 
heavy drapery of the moss hung drooping as from a low- 
‘roofed temple of the Druids; and the thick green sward 
spread under it, mellowed the gray shades deliciously. The 
trees became gradually smaller and more sparse, as the eye 
descended to the valleys, and then in the centre of each was 
