March 17, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



24 7 



did not care to be found by one before I was ready. The 

 sun was lialf hidden in clouds, but the air was soft and 

 warm, and I stopped from time to time to rest and take 

 in fully the strange, new scenes. As I cut across a cor- 

 ner I saw the flash of a white flag at the foot of the hill 

 a hundred yards away and began to slip along with my 

 gun ready. As I neared the place I caught a glimpse of 

 a graceful form in the thick bushes upon the hillside, and 

 seeing what I thought was a movement to run fired 

 through the twigs. There were too many of them and 

 the ball flew wide, while the surprised deer gave a bound 

 or two and stopped. A few steps brought me into plain 

 view at about 50yds. distance, the foolish animal looking 

 at me with much more curiosity than alarm. As I again 

 trained my gun I found that I had a genuine ca?e of 

 buck ague. My knees shook in spite of me and the 

 white bead -wandered all about over that deer. I got 

 steady at last and fired. My game gave a few lunges up 

 the hill and fell. I followed up and, hearing a plunge off 

 in the bushes, began to peep around, after assuring myself 

 that my first one was safe. In a moment I saw a pretty 

 yearling gazing steadily at me an easy shot away. I had 

 to stop a minute to decide whether to shoot or not. I 

 don't like to be a hop. But I knew I had to go home the 

 next day and that the weather was cool enough to keep 

 the meat, so the faithful old Winchester spoke again and 

 snuffed out the little innocent's life, 



Jud had heard, the racket and soon came puffing 

 through the swamp and thorns. He had heard a deer a few 

 moments before, but could not see it in the ticket. We 

 thought it was probably the same one I had shot. There 

 are few people in those regions and we had to carry our 

 own meat. It was four miles or more to shelter and 

 lunch. Nothing would do Jud but that he must carry 

 the larger one, a very fine doe, and we jogged along in 

 easy staggers, reaching the station aboat dark. 



This was a long time the terminus of the Gulf end of 

 the road, and there is a large abandoned freight house, 

 in which we slept. Tall mountains shut in the road be- 

 side a dimpling river of the prettiest water I ever saw, 

 not even excepting the limpid streams of Oregon. A 

 certain little lady who has a good deal to do with my 

 hunting trips and other affairs had told me plainly that 

 she had rather have some birds than venison, (She is from 

 Tennessee, where, as in most of the South, "birds" mean 

 quail.) So my Lefever and a box or two of cartridges 

 went along. Next morning I went down the river with 

 P., Jud still athirst for big blood, having started early 

 after deer. P. was botanizing and I was sight-seeing, 

 satisfied with almost anything, being already full of that 

 content with which one returns from a successful hunt. 

 These high mountains are haunts of the Mexican tiger or 

 j iguar, the largest and handsomest of American cats. I 

 cherish a hankering that is growing month by month to 

 sometimes stretch upon my floor a spotted skin, the 

 trophy of my own rifle. But this fellow cannot be suc- 

 cessfully hunted without preparations of a kind and ex- 

 tent that I have never had time to make. It is a com- 

 paratively easy matter, however, and the hunt has no 

 more of danger than is necessary to make it interesting. 



A mile below the station the river begins to tumble 

 over cascades. There must be more than twenty of them 

 in almost immediate succession, and averaging from 10 

 to 20ft. in height. The total fall in about two kilometers, 

 as we count distance here, is said to be 800ft. The water 

 breaks into sprays of snowy whiteness, tinted delicately 

 by the curtain of mosses with which the soft porous rock 

 is overgrown. It takes plunge after plunge with a roar 

 that fills all the narrow canon 0 . The railway which a 

 little before was running alongside the river is now far 

 above on the mountain side. O ver the stream hang great 

 cypress trees, whose branches are bestrewn with orchids 

 rare and fine, which in their season fill all the sylvan air 

 with dainty perfume. 



We climbed down through trees and over boulders 

 from the track to the river bank, and stood enchanted 

 with the spendthrift loveliness. P. took off his shoes and 

 began to wade after rare water plants, and as the roar of 

 the falls forbade conversation I wandered down stream. 

 Two fine birds nearly as large as turkeys flew cackling 

 into the trees from a berry bush. I had only No. 8 shot, 

 but a quick shot through the head tumbled one into the 

 water. The other waited while I got a stick and hauled 

 him out, and then accommodatingly flew to where he 

 would not fall into the water and let me shoot him. I 

 don't know the bird. The natives call it ajola. It is the 

 size of a hen turkey but slenderer. The color is a lovely 

 dark bronze, Bhading into greenish purple, and on the 

 breast and neck flecked with white. The head is bare 

 and reddish, tail and wing rather long, legs dark red. 



I lugged them up to the track, nearly tearing a finger 

 Off on a villainous thorn, of which the woods are full. 

 Walking out to where the road curves round a promon- 

 tory I got a magnificent view, one that required me to 

 Bit down and look long and earnestly to take it in. On 

 the mountain above me I saw fine prairie glades, and was 

 told afterward that deer were abundant there. Return- 

 ing on the track, I saw again the long array of cascades 

 which stretch in panorama for below, a sight of surpass- 

 ing loveliness which even the passenger on the train will 

 get. Wishing to get a nearer view of one waterfall I 

 climbed down again, encountering in the thicket a pair 

 of curassowe— faimn real they are called here. I snapped 

 a shot at one's head, but as he sprang to fly the load 

 caught him in the back and rolled him down the moun- 

 tain, I doubt if there is a prettier gallinaceous bird than 

 this. It was the female, and the rich brown of the body 

 shaded into the mingled colors of the neck, while above 

 the bright dark eye the sensitive, curling crest rose and 

 fell with fright aiid pain. Speedily putting an end to its 

 sufferings, I scrambled out to the track again. I was well 

 loaded, for the three birds were but little lighter than so 

 many turkeys, and wandered contentedly along toward 

 the station, I met J ud, who had seen a fine buck but had 

 allowed himself to be tricked out of shooting the old 

 fellow. 



Precisely at noon the train picked us up. I cannot 

 begin to tell ail of the strange and interesting things I 

 Ba-W, I have hunted a good many days but I never 

 crowded so many experiences into twenty-four hours be- 

 fore. The insects are rather bad, it is true, and the heat 

 is often severe even in winter. But after all it is a 

 hunter's paradise. Where there is standing water, ducks 

 and other water fowl are abundant. December and Jan- 

 uary are the times to go there, the former preferably. 

 Since the time of my story Jud killed two deer on one 

 trip at the station nearest the coffee plantations. They 



are everywhere. He said he must have seen about 

 twenty on that trip. This is on the line of the Mexican 

 Central Railroad, at whose offices information can be ob- 

 tained as to time-tables, prices, etc. The writer can be 

 communicated with through the office of the Forest and 

 Stream, and will cheerfully supply any information he 

 may possess. Azteg. 



H. P. UFFORD, 



TN the Lake Charles, La., Commercial is printed this tribute to 

 the late H. P. LTfford, the "H. P. U." of the Forest ami* 

 Stream: 



"Mr. Ufford came to us from the North but a short time since, 

 seeking a more healthful home in our sunny South. While only 

 a short term of life was allotted to him here in his new home, his 

 manly and upright character, his genial and social disposition, 

 gave him many true and warm friends. Gentle and loving hands, 

 mingled with Southern woman's tenderness, ministered to him in 

 his last illness, and sorrowing brothers of his order, together with 

 comrades of both causes, laid him down to rest, with the hope of 

 meeting his gentle spirit in a better life to come. 



"Calcasieu Camp Confederate Veterans, in a body, escorted tb« 

 members of the Grand Army of the Republic, where the tears of 

 those who wore the gray mingled with those of the blue moistened 

 the sod that fell upon the coffin, while both flags draped in mourn- 

 ing curtained away the rays of the Southern sun. Sleep, comrade, 

 slfep, soldier of the blue. Southern flowers bloom brightly on your 

 Southern grave. While these lines are inscribed to your memory 

 by a soldier of the gray, with the hope of feeling your kindly 

 grasp again in the spirit on the other shore.— W. H. A." 



CATCHING WILD ANIMALS.-IV. 



YELLOWSTONE NATIONAL PARK. 



[Continued from Page 3HU,] 



WE now began to have quite a collection, and every 

 one passing that way seemed to enjoy seeing the 

 animals. I wanted very much just now to get some 

 blacktail, or mule, deer. So when a Mr. George Gray 

 and his wife came out, they made up a party to go with 

 me. I left Dolph to watch and feed the animals. We 

 made a trip to Specimen Ridge, saw elk, deer and ante- 

 lope, but no young. George and I had quite a time 

 with one antelope trying to find her kids, but she was too 

 smart for us. She would not run away, but would stay 

 within one or two hundred yards. At last we gave up 

 and went home. Next day I planned a trip to Mount 

 Washburn and the valley of Antelope Creek. 



There were with me George, his wife and Laura, a 

 young girl from Mr. Yancey's, George's dog Bloke and 

 Lso. The girls put up a good lunch, as the trip would 

 take all day. We got an early start, but turned aside 

 several times to seek cow elk and antelope. Wliile the 

 others took a view of Tower Falls, I rode on to the Ante- 

 lope Greek basin and hunted for game until the others 

 came up. I had seen only a few elk on the side of Wash- 

 burn above the timber. We followed the new trail until 

 we again had a good view of the basin from an elevated 

 point. With field glasses I discovered a cow elk lying in 

 the willows on the west fork of the creek. She was a 

 distance from timber, and thinking she would not be out 

 there alone unless she had a calf cached, we determined 

 to have it, and so rode down to look it up. She left her 

 bed while we were yet a quarter of a mile away and dis- 

 appeared over the hills. We rode to where she had been 

 and hunted very carefully for the little one. I was so 

 sure that there "was one around there somewhere, that 

 we hunted every bunch of willows and then followed up 

 a low swale. The girls soon got tired of that kind of 

 work, and rode on along the trail, but George and I were 

 off our horses, leading them, while we looked over 

 every inch of the ground in the swale. We called to the 

 girls to wait, but they could not hear us, and we went on 

 with our search. Soon we could see the girls, who were 

 on top of a hill, point at something and beckon to us. 

 As we did not come fast enough, they came back, saying, 

 "Do hurry! There is an immense bear just a little "way 

 ahead, and we saw three elk go into the timber. Hurry 

 up!" We were not long getting to the top of the hill, and 

 there sure enough was a very large grizzly gray bear. 

 They say we don't have grizzlies in this country. Well, 

 I don't know exactly what they look like, but that bear 

 was a grizzly gray. The girls were far charging at once, 

 but I held them back long enough to see what the lay of 

 the land was. 



Just then two cubs came in sight. They looked as if 

 they had come up out of the ground. The mother was 

 walking and nosing about, moving toward a pocket in 

 the side hill that was full of timber. Our first intention 

 — before we had seen the cubs — was t© see how close we 

 could get to the old bear and have a'little fun with her, but 

 now the programme was changed. If we could frighten 

 her away from the cubs I thought we could get them. 

 I cautioned the party to wait a moment and then we 

 would ride slowly up. Presently she got out of sight be- 

 hind a low knoll and we rode up on a trot, so as to save 

 the horses for a charge. We got past the knoll before 

 she saw us. When she did she stood up for a look, then 

 I gave the word to charge and yell and away we went. 

 The dogs were soon up with the cubs. We were all in 

 an old quaking asp grove, with logs lying in all directions 

 and a few standing trees. The old bear never stopped 

 for a moment after we started to charge, but ran over 

 the obstructions as easily as if on smooth ground. Not 

 so the cubs, they would tumble end over end from the 

 logs, but were making very good time. In a moment we 

 were all in a sort of pocket, when up jumped a lot of elk 

 — there must have been about twenty, but I had no time 

 to count. The elk were so astonished at first that they 

 stood still, looking at us. They did not seem to see the 

 bear at all until she was right upon them. She was 

 going straight for a bunch of five or six and was within 

 fifteen or twenty feet of them before they started : when 

 they did so she turned sharp to the right and disappeared 

 in some fir timber. We had driven her away from her 

 cubs, I called out that we must drive tbem over the hill 

 to the left and then catch them. George and his wife 

 were on the fast horses and his wife was in the lead, 

 driving the cubs as fast as they could scramble along 

 through the fallen timber. 



On top of the hill the ground was more open, and here 



the dogs got to the cubs and stopped them. I jumped 

 from my horse with a rope to get one, but the savage 

 little brute was larger than I had supposed and had tusks 

 half an inch long or more. I made a grab to catch him 

 by the back of the neck, but he dodged me and started 

 toward my horse's hindleg. He was just going to climb 

 to a place of safety when Nig objected. Then away the 

 cubs went back down the hill toward the fir grove, where 

 their mother had gone. I had made the dogs let them 

 alone when I jumped off my horse, but now I started 

 them after the cubs again. They concentrated their 

 efforts on one cub, but he fought his way to the timber. 

 Mrs. Gray was going in after them: I called to her to 

 stop; "Don't go m there! Let us go first!" But she paid no 

 attention, but went in. I don't know exactly how it all 

 happened, but she had gone but a few yards, when she 

 was turned back by a lot of logs, then we were all there, 

 together; and into the timber we went, smashing through 

 the brush, over logs, around stumps until we came to" a 

 beautiful little open glade in the center of the grove. 

 We could hear the dogs in a thicket of lodge pole fir and 

 soon one of the cubs appeared, climbing a white x>ine that 

 grew from the center of the grove. The other cub had 

 disappeared. We looked around for the old one, and not 

 finding her, concluded she had left, satisfied with one 

 cub. At least we never saw either again. 



The whole thing had happened in a moment. All was 

 noise and confusion, and at one time there were horses, 

 elk, bear, men, women, dogs and cubs, all mixed up in 

 the pocket among the fallen timber. We had made all 

 the noise possible in order to bluff the old bear, and had 

 succeeded, yet I was very much surprised. I did not think 

 any bear but a black one could be made to leave her 

 young, and never such a large one as we had just driven 

 away. 



The cub went on climbing until he was at the top of 

 the tree. He would rest a bit, look down at us and 

 growl. The tree he was climbing was from 95 to 100 

 feet high; a white pine, green on the outside, but dead 

 and spongy on the inside. It had grown when there 

 was thick timber of its kind all around; now there were 

 but few tall trees standing, the others had been killed by 

 a fire long ago and the fallen trunks were what we had 

 been riding through when we drove the old bear away. 

 There were a few green limbs on the tree toward the 

 top. I did not like the looks of the job, and was plan- 

 ning how I would get him if I did go up. The others 

 were doing most of the talking, the girls were wishing 

 they were men so that they could climb the tree. There 

 were strong hints thrown out that I was afraid: I don't 

 know yet what of. 



The only reason I did not start at once was that I was 

 puzzling over the question of how I was going to get 

 down the cub when I reached him. At last my plans 

 were made. I took a iin. rope 10ft. long, and a stick 

 about 7ft.; tied the rope and stick to my arm. I took off 

 spurs, "chaps'" and coat, stuck a revolver in my belt and 

 started up the tree. I had to go about thirty feet before 

 I got out of the top of the fir grove, but from here on I 

 had good climbing. It was warm work, although the 

 day was cool. We had now and then a passing shower 

 of hail and snow with strong gusts of wind. When I 

 had got up about seventy feet one of these squalls struck 

 the grove and made the tree sway very uncomfortably 

 under my weight. I rested until the blow was over and 

 then climbed a few feet further. The girls suggested 

 that 1 had "better come down. Let the cub go. You 

 have gone high enough." But no, I was not goiDg to 

 have all that work for nothing. I could look down on 

 what was now a very quiet scene, where only a few mo- 

 ments before had been an exciting chase with quickly mov- 

 ing figures and changing groups. As I approached the cub 

 he became quite fierce, tearing at the treetop with his 

 teeth, making the bark and slivers fly. He could not go 

 any higher; he was unable to climb the small stem of the 

 tree above him without limbs. 



Having reached a point where I could touch the bear 

 with the stick, I fastened a slipknot to the end, and began 

 to try to get it over a hindfoot. This was anything but 

 an easy job. He was resting on the only clump of limbs 

 near him . and these interfered with my work, but I could 

 not reach them. I was so high now that there was con- 

 siderable danger of the tops breaking off with us. Then . 

 too, I only had one hand that I could use freely. After 

 fully half an hour's work I got the rope over his left foot 

 above the heel, and tightened it securely. I felt elated 

 over my success, for I had him sure now. Going down 

 to the end of the rope, I began pulling. He began fight- 

 ing, but it was no use, he had to come. Brave as he was, 

 he had to back down this time. When almost at the foot 

 of the tree George gave me another rope. I tied the ends 

 of the two ropes together and then went to the ground 

 and pulled the cub out of the tree. He came fighting, 

 and made a dive for George the first thing. I bent a 

 small tree across the rope and pulled his foot up to it. 

 where we had him secure. We had another long fight 

 to get two ropes around his neck. When this was ac- 

 complished we all went out of the grove. George and I 

 with the bear between us. Here we could get a good 

 look at the ugly little rascal. He was a grizzly gray like 

 his mother, but a bit darker. His whole build and ex- 

 pression was very different from Johnny, the black bear, 

 and his belly was quite light, and his claws long and 

 sharp, and not quite black. 



The girls led our saddle horses and we the bear to An- 

 telope Creek, the cub fighting ail the way. At the creek 

 we gave him a good bath, which he enjoyed. When 

 cooled off we staked him out with the three ropes, so 

 that he could not get hurt or away, and then we all 

 turned to discuss our lunch and the adventure, which the 

 girls had enjoyed hugely. I had to compliment them on 

 the way they conducted themselves during the chase, 

 They were both strangers to fear. I don't think a mouae 

 would frighten them after this. When rested, the girls 

 went on home to send Dolph out with a pack animal, 

 while George and I escorted the bear. He would not 

 give up, but fought all the way until we got past Tower 

 Creek, where Dolph met us with Fisher, with two beer 

 boxes. I put the bear in one and 451bs, of stone in the 

 other, lashed the pack on securely, for Bruiser would not 

 keep quiet. He struggled and squalled most of the way 

 home, and I began to admire him for his sand. If his 

 mother had had half as much as he, we would not have 

 taken him, the chase would have turned the other way. 

 When I got the cub chained up at Yancey's he refused 

 food, but made dogs and men give him room. No one 

 wanted to venture within reach, for he was always ready 



