28 HUNTING AND FISHING IN FLORIDA. 
and immediately go off hunting while the squaws are preparing the 
camp. 
They hunt in the morning and evening, returning to camp before 
noon unless they have been unsuccessful in finding game, when they 
sometimes tramp about the woods all day. 
On these hunting excursions he wears nothing but a cotton shirt 
unless it is a very rough country, when he sometimes wears leggings 
made of soft leather. He rarely wears his turban except in the 
very hottest weather. 
The Indians are very skilful hunters, although they seldom use 
dogs, in spite of the fact that they always have a lot of curs about 
their camps. They hunt deer in the manner known as * still hunt- 
ing,” walking about the woods morning and evening, moving 
cautiously and silently through the underbrush in a manner peculiar 
to a ghost or an Indian, constantly peering about in all directions for 
the deer, which they hope to find feeding.. Very few white men are 
able to kill deer successfully by still hunting, yet the Indian rarely 
hunts in any other way. Trained in woodcraft from childhood, he 
moves slowly-along, stopping every few yards to look about, raising 
his head slowly and cautiously above some clump of bushes. His eye 
being trained for such work, he is able to see game in places where 
it would be practically invisible to the eye of the ordinary hunter. 
When trailing a bear or a panther an Indian can often follow 
the track without difficulty in places where a person not used to 
the woods would be unable to distinguish any mark whatever. 
One of the difficulties experienced by non-professional hunters 
is to distinguish between a freshly made track and one two or 
three days old. In damp sand and in shaded places where the 
sun’s rays do not penetrate this is often very difficult to do. An 
animal walking on sandy land when it is damp with dew will 
press small straws and sticks into it, which, when they rise again, 
carry with them numerous particles of damp sand which will 
still adhere to them when dry. This, of course, is an almost 
positive indication that the track has been made after the dew 
had fallen; but when the track is made in shady places and the 
