40 
THE CABINET OF NATURAL HISTORY, 
A HUNTING EXCURSION. 
In the winter of 1817, (being a resident of Pike coun- 
ty, in the northern part of Pennsylvania,) I shouldered my 
rifle, and made a solitary hunting excursion after deer, 
along the big Buskill, a creek or tributary stream to the 
river Delaware, about one hundred miles north of Philadel- 
phia, and remarkable for the rocky, barren country, through 
which it finds its way. 
At this period, the population was thin and scattered, 
the nearest settlement, or town, being fifteen miles distant, 
save the habitation from which I made my egress, and a 
few other log dwellings in the neighbourhood. The rug- 
ged and barren soil offered no inducements to the toilsome 
hand of the pioneer, or agriculturalist. Wild animals 
were numerous; deer, bears, panthers, and wolves, seemed 
to be the sole inhabitants of this dreary solitude, while the 
horrid yell, and devastating howl of the two latter, only 
broke in upon the dull silence which reigned in this ro- 
mantic wild. 
The day on which I made the forementioned excursion, 
was cold, dreary, and threatening rain. I had travelled, per- 
haps, three miles before I succeeded in killing a deer, 
although I saw several, but out of range of my trusty rifle; 
this was a fine buck, and after divesting him of his offals, I 
as usual, hung him on a snag projecting from the side of a 
barren oak, until I could procure assistance to carry him 
home. Being somewhat fatigued, I sat me down to rest on 
a high, commanding spot, which was a craggy projecture, 
terminating with a considerable precipice. I remained in 
a contemplative mood, perhaps for fifteen minutes, when 
my attention was aroused by a crackling noise on the oppo- 
site side of the creek. I discovered it to proceed from a 
panther, of enormous size, that was approaching the place 
where I was seated, I however, soon lost sight of it, as it 
appeared to go towards the foot of the precipice, immedi- s 
ately under my feet, and as I supposed, with the intention 
of rising the hill. I seized my rifle, and sheltered myself 
behind a large tree, and with breathless anxiety awaited 
the moment, when my antagonist would show his head 
at the top of the precipice; and, being thus prepared to let 
fly the messenger of death, I felt but little alarm, from the 
assurance of my ability to dispatch the monster, so soon as 
the opportunity offered. 
But, I had mistaken the course and object of the animal, 
and the precautionary steps I had taken, proved in the 
sequel, to have been my guarantee of safety, for I had 
scarcely adjusted every thing necessary in these cases, 
when I heard a yell, the most ferocious and terrific that 
the mind can conceive, and in a moment, the panther 
made a spring from the bottom of the precipice into a tree, 
twenty feet from the ground, foaming, yelling, and tearing 
the bark and branches with her claws, and distant from me 
about eighteen or twenty yards. The paroxysms of rage 
exhibited at this time by the creature, exceeded any thing 
I had ever before witnessed. I was then unable to account 
for it, there being no apparent cause to excite such actions, 
and the courage which I had acquired by long experience, 
was almost failing me; but, being convinced that my only 
safety was in the destruction of this terrible creature, I 
levelled my piece, and fired, but at the instant the trigger 
obeyed its impulse, the animal moved, and instead of kill- 
ing, I only added fury to my antagonist. She then sprung 
from the tree to a large limb of an adjoining black oak, 
commenced lashing the smaller limbs with her claws, curl- 
ing her tail, and darting fury from her eyes, sought the 
object of her anger, on whom she might wreak her ven- 
geance. 
I found that my security consisted in keeping perfectly 
quiet, and with much haste and trepidation, I succeeded in 
