BLACK TAILED HARE. 
97 
the chapparal, which 1 did day after day, he agreed to accompany me in 
search of the animals I was anxiously trying to obtain, and in quest of 
which I rode' over miles of prairie with my bridle on the knobbed pum- 
mel of my Texan saddle, the most comfortable saddle I have ever tried, 
(being a sort of half Spanish, half English build,) my horse with his neck 
stretched out and his head about on a level with his shoulders, walking 
between four and five miles an hour, turning to the right or to the left 
agreeably to the slightest movement of my body, so well was he trained, 
leaving both hands and eyes free, so that I could search with the latter 
every twig, tussock or thicket, and part the thick branches of the chap- 
paral of musquit, prickly holly, and other shrubs, which I am inclined to 
think quite equal to any East-Indian jungle in offering obstructions to the 
progress of either horse or man. 
Mr. Calahan having mounted, we set out, and after about an hour’s 
hard work, occupied in crossing one of the thickest covers near the 
town, gained the broad and nearly level prairie beyond, across which to 
the west we could see varied swelling undulations, gradually fading into 
the faint outline of a distant spur, perhaps of the rocky chain of mountains 
that in this latitude lie between the water courses flowing toward the Gulf 
of Mexico, and the streams that empty into the Gulf of California : so far 
away indeed seemed these faint blue peaks that it requiied but a little 
stretch of the imagination to fancy the plains of California but just at 
the other side. I was enchanted with the scene, scarcely knowing whether 
the brilliant fore-ground of cacti and tropical plants, the soft indefinite dis- 
tance, or the clear summer blue sky, was most beautiful. My compan- 
ion obsei". iiig my enthusiasm, warmed into praises of his adopted country : 
he had, he said, fought hard for it, and exclaimed, it is a country worth 
fighting for ; when my reply, of whatever nature it might have been, was 
prevented, and all ideas of blue mountains, vast rolling prairies, &c., were 
cut short by a jackass rabbit bounding from under our horses’ feet ; he 
was instantly followed by my worthy friend the mayor at full speed on his 
white pony, to my great annoyance, for otherwise he would have stopped 
in a hundred yards or so. Away they went, and as my friend’s horse 
was a running nag, he doubtless expected to overtake the Hare, which had 
only gained about fifty yards start during our momentary surprise. The 
Hare, as I quickly observed, did not make much shorter leaps than the 
horse. I could see it at each bound appear like a jack-o’-lantern floating 
with the breeze over a swamp, but in less time than I have taken to write 
this, they had ran a mile, the Hare doubled and was a hundred yards m 
advance, but could not stop and look behind, for he had such a race 
that he knew well no time was to be lost in gaining some bed 
'/oii ir. — 13 
