Solitary Rambles, and Adventures of a Hunter in the Prairies ... With illustrations

Front matter

SOLITARY RAMBLES. (Seepage 276.) CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A GRISLY BEAR TFIE HUNTER IN THE PRAIRIES. ISHMAH. " He had by this time overcome all his prejudices against his white master." LONDON : JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. SOLITARY RAMBLES AND ADVENTURES OF A HUNTER IN THE PRAIRIES. BY JOHN PALLISER, Esq. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1853. LO N DOS : r.RAUBimit AND EVANS, FBISTEBS, W HITEF 1XIARS. TO MY BROTHER SPORTSMEN OE ENGLAND, IRELAND, AND SCOTLAND. Dearly beloved Brethren, I was induced, on my return from America, to collect the very scanty contents of an imperfect journal which recorded, for the perusal of a few intimate friends, my experiences of adventure in the far West. These kind critics afterwards tempted me to enlarge the circle of my readers, by many assurances of the indul gence which a courteous public extends towards deficiencies of style and composition in a writer, more accustomed to the use of the rifle and hunting-knife than to that of the pen.

In this age of literature, when so many works of imagination are appearing every day, I should despair of such a mere matter-of-fact story finding any place in the attention or interests of the reading world, did I not firmly rely on your sympathies. Without further apology, therefore, I will preface my story by an attempt to give you the benefit of what DEDICATION. VI experience I have acquired in outfitting for distant hunting expeditions, in the hope that it may prove of use to such of yon as may contemplate similar excursions; in helping you to provide yourselves with things which are really necessary, and also to avoid burthening your selves with what is cumbersome, and comparatively useless. Of guns, the most valuable and indispensable is the plain, smooth-bore, double-barrelled gun, about fourteen to twelve in the bore.

Let it be made by a first-rate maker, one who himself superintends the manufacture of every portion of his guns ; for, in a country where there are no gunsmiths to run to in case of an accident, the breaking of a trigger or a shear, or the failure of some screw of inferior metal or workmanship, may involve the most serious consequences. I, for my own part, as well as both my brothers, in our numerous hunting expeditions in America, India, and Ceylon, have always used the guns and rifles of Trulock & Son, of Dawson Street, Dublin, wlrich, for accuracy, power, and trustworthiness, I have seldom seen equalled, and never excelled. Nothing gives the sportsman so much con fidence in using the heavy charges required in elephant shooting, as the knowledge that the barrels in his hands have been forged by a good maker.

Chapter I

The start — Gen. Tom Thumb — Halifax — Astor House — American Railways — Philadelphia — Baltimore Beauties — A Clinical Professor — Mark Tapley's Eden — The great Missouri — Drinks — New Orleans — Night Adventure — Creole Ladies — Col. White's Oratorio of "David" 1

Chapter II

Arkansas Forests — Deer shooting — The Major's good shots — Fire-pan-hunting — Fine fat Bucks — Still-hunting — First night in the Woods — Panther shot — Black bait for an Alligator — Assassination of a Bear 38

Chapter III

Mammoth Caves— Stalactite Architecture — Ancient America — Rambles in the Earth — Mummy found — Subterranean Ball— St. Louis Hunting Club — A good Run — A fat Buck killed — Hospitable Hunters — Kentucky talked down — American Fur Company ......... CONTENTS. XII PAGE 82

Chapter IV

Old Mr. Kipp — Preparing for the Start — Mormons — Camping at Night — Duck Shooting — Gigantic Vegetation — Prairie on Fire — Fort Vermillion — Scalp Dance — A Dog Feast — A Woman Bought and Saved — Hint from a Bullet — Fort Pierre

Chapter V

Clear Atmosphere — See Buffalo — Arrival at Fort Union — Buffalo Hunting — Winter sets in — Hunting Party — Escape from a War Party — A Race for Life or Death — Wanton Cruelty of the Sioux — A Heroic old Bull — Domestic Calves and Bison Bull 105 CHAPTER YI. Tossed by a Buffalo — Elk Shooting — Wolves — Spoil a Cannibal Feast — Ishmah — Hard up for Meat — Owen M'Kenzie's Post —The Traders 139

Chapter VII

Glutton Feast — My Indian Companion — Hunting in Snow — Roast Loin of Wolf — Black-tail Deer — Rapacious Beauties — Another Journey — A Long Shot — Indian Voracity — Larpenter's Post — Start for the Minitarees — Awful Night — Peekay and the Bull— Reach Fort Berthold 168

Chapter VIII

Mr. Chardon — Boucharville — Geese put their heads together — Ice breaks up — A Cold Bath — Arrive at the Fort — Preparations — An Afternoon's Hunt — Elk shows Fight — Shot at Sundown— Hard Work CONTENTS. XIII PAGE 244

Chapter IX

Hunt on the Yellow Stone— Grosse Come Hunting — A Beautiful Camp — Beaver — Good Hunting Country — Cat Fishing — Skin Boat Building — Tailoring — Crow Indians — Descend the Yellow Stone — Surprise a Crow Camp — Return to Fort Union 217

Chapter X

Dispose of the meat — Descend the Missouri — A War party — They decline the attack — Obtain two more followers — Kill a young Bear — The grisly Bear — A breakfast of Marrow — — Nearly kill two Eagles with a ball — Chase and capture two Bison calves — Return to Minitaree Village — Scaffoldings for the dead — Indian games — Death of Mr. Chardon .

CHAPTER XL

Another hunting expedition — The Turtle Mountains — Dangerous hunting country — My last Buffalo hunt — Sold by an Antelope — Attacked by and kill a grisly Bear — Her cub shows fight — Depart from Turtle Mountain — Attack a grisly Bear — More grisly Bears — Mr. Denig's adventure — Bear smashing a Buffalo — Murray and his Mackinaw boats — The Pipe of Peace — Shake hands with an old Enemy — An Indian Battle — Cannibalism — Arrival of the ' ' Martha '' — Death of poor Smith 264

Chapter XII

Leave the Indian country — A blasted Cannon — Mr. Mackenzie — Ishmah forages for himself — The Yellow Fever — Doctor Farrell — General Taylor's Address — "Beauty's" History CONTENTS. PAGE ajid Adventures — Marriage Feast — My pretty Hostess — A Musical Smash — Bruin takes care of Number One — "Beauty'* creates a Sensation — Bruin rescues the Antelope — The Balize 289

Chapter XIII

Snipe and Duck shooting — Norwegian Sportsman — A wounded Alligator proves a disagreeable Boating Companion — Negro torn by an Alligator — "The Falcon" — Chagres — Storming the Spanish Fort — Tropical Thunderstorm — Panama — Santa Anna Cathedral — The Pope inexorable — Home by English Mail Steamer LIST OE ILLUSTRATIONS. P«Ke CLOSE QUARTERS WITH A GRISLY BEAR . . Fnntitpim. ISHMAH ........ rignette Title. pOMPLETE SUMMERSAULT 120 PITCHED BATTLE BETWEEN A HEROIC OLD BULL AND A BISON 133 DOMESTIC CALVES AND BISON BULLS PASTURING TOGETHER . . 138 WAPITI THROWN ABACK IN FORCING THROUGH A THICKET . 144 A DANGEROUS SNAP SHOT 212 MY LAST BUFFALO HUNT

Chapter I

The start. — Gen. Tom Thumb. — Halifax. — Astor House. — American Railways. — Philadelphia. — Baltimore Beauties. — A Clinical Professor. — Mark Tapley's Eden. — The great Missouri. — Drinks. — New Orleans. — Night adventure. — Creole Ladies. — Col. White's Oratorio of " David." After all "ce n'est que le premier pas qui coute," thought I, as the long row of busy clocks at Liverpool slowly receded in the distance ; and we bade a last farewell to old England, as the gallant " Cambria " steamed majestically down the broad waters of the Mersey, in the ever-to-be-remembered year of Grace, 1847. With all the eagerness of a college student, who casts aside his dull books and duller tutors for a burst after the partridges, or for the more noble and exciting pursuit of the antlered lords of the forest and mountain, had I looked forward to a visit to the New World ; determined to make acquaintance with B our Trans-Atlantic brethren, and to extend my visit to the regions stiU inhabited by America's abori ginal people, — now, indeed, driven far westward of their rightful territories, and pressed backwards into that ocean of prairies extending to the foot of the great Rocky Mountains.

It was with something like a sense of disappointment that, the excitement of our departure over, the last friend shaken by the hand, and the last hurried farewell exchanged, I felt that what I had so long dwelt on in anticipation was at last about to be realised ; so inconsistent, indeed, is our nature, that our keenest yearnings often lead but to our bitterest disappointments, and the possession most ardently sought, affords, when attained, but too frequently, the least gratification. The bustle incidental to a start, when a large number of passengers are on board, affords, how ever, little time for philosophising. At first the luggage seems inextricable, and the confusion interminable ; but time, patience, and perseverance gradually dispose of all our difficulties, and we shake into our places very soon after the clocks are cleared.

I found on board some very pleasant and enter taining fellow-passengers, and was not a little surprised, on entering the state-cabin, to hear the most unnatural shrill little pipe exclaiming, " Waiter ! bwing me a Welsh wabbit : " after OHAP. I.] GENERAL TOM THUMB. 3 some difficulty I discovered its possessor, who, creeping from under shawls and ladies' work baskets, scrambled into the middle of the saloon, stuck his Lilliputian hands into his little pockets, and looked at us as much as to say, "What do you think of that ? " We found little " General Tom Thumb " a very amusing companion ; and any of my readers who may have experienced the dulness of a sea voyage can imagine that he proved a most acceptable addition to our society : he was the smallest specimen of human nature it has ever been my lot to behold, but a remarkable exception to the generality of dwarfs, being not only intelligent, but active and well proportioned.

There he stood, sprucely attired in a little mid shipman's dress, his tiny patent-leather boots the miracle of a fit. Early, next morning, we passed along the south coast of Ireland, recognising successively Dun more, Tramore's three towers, with its colossal metal man stretching forth his threatening arm to warn the mariner from that inhospitable coast, and, finally, Ardmore's round tower — the last aged memorial of the Old World. But— Hurrah, the bell for breakfast ! Hark to the mingled din Of knife, and fork, and hissing chops That stewards are bringing in. B The fiery skipper's pricking fast His fork into the dish, Despatching quickly his repast Of coffee, eggs, and fish. In burst the guests, and on they rush Around the jolly tar, Who calls on semi-seasick folks To prosecute the war. And a right good breakfast we had, for the fare onboard the " Cambria " was unexceptionable, com bining all the excellencies of American, English, and even French cookery.

Alas, however, even the means of fortification provided by a batterie de cuisine Frangaise was no sufficient protection against the fell sea-serpent monster, who soon numbered many of my fellow-passengers among his victims. A strong head-wind and chopping sea made many a mournful gap among the ranks at our capital table. But the severest misfortune of all was the total loss of our ladies' society ; they, poor tilings, suffering so severely as to be entirely con fined to theh cabins till within a short period of our arrival. The little General, however, remained unscathed, and, despite the too audible miseries of most of his fellow-passengers, held on the even tenor of his way, swallowing his toasted cheese and sipping bottled porter. I was particularly favoured with his notice. A great amusement of his consisted in climbing all over me ; now standing on my shoulder, then CHAP. I.] GENERAL TOM THUMB. 5 balancing himself on my head on one foot, and finally leaping into the pocket of my shooting-jacket until he burst through the lining of it.

He was, on the whole, a very good, tractable little fellow, and listened attentively to my lectures on the evils of play ; but, alas, I fear they had but small effect, for the little wretch was an inveterate gambler, and up to all the mysteries of whist, hewker poker, and bragg. I forget at present his exact height ; but, as far as I can recollect, he measured twenty-four or twenty-five inches ; had light hair, a pretty childish face, was about sixteen or seventeen years of age, and weighed fifteen pounds — the weight of a good-sized leg of mutton. Barnum, the well-known entre preneur, was with him constantly, and behaved with the utmost kindness to his y*oung charge, never urging the child to do anything to which he showed much disinclination, yet, at the same time, exercising a very necessary and wholesome authority over him.

His father and mother also travelled in his suite, and were certainly above the average height: his mother appeared a kind and amiable person ; she informed me that she had two daughters in Canada, where she usually resided, and that she, her husband, and relatives were Canadians, and the little General, consequently, a subject of her Majesty Queen Victoria. Some of my fellow-passengers told me that Barnum had, by the exhibition of Tom Thumb, cleared in a few years the enormous sum of 100,000Z. It is satisfactory to add, that I was informed he had acted most liberally towards the parents, having greatly increased the stipulated amount for the little General's exhibition. About the middle of the passage, a conversation arising relative to the sufferings of the poor in Ireland, an American gentleman suggested a sub scription hi aid of the funds then raising for their relief; and the proposition having been ably seconded by a Canadian merchant, the result exceeded our expectations in a collection of 120L About this period the weather became more severe, and the motion of the vessel, consequently, very toying to those who had not yet got their sea-legs ; but the wind suddenly fell one afternoon, and I shall never forget the magnificent sight afforded by the masses of unbroken waters as they reared themselves aloft ahead, and threatened us for a moment with annihilation ; — then, while bearing us up to heaven, fled away from under our feet to unite themselves with the horizon in our wake.

Descending the steps of the companion to the dining-room was strongly suggestive of the descent from the sublime to the ridiculous. Legs of mutton became animated, sirloins of beef whirled along like boomerangs from one end of the table to the other, spreading devastation on every side, and effecting strange combinations of soup and CHAP. I.] HALIFAX. 7 sausages, pickles and port wine, custard and pudding floating in bottled porter, &c. The first land we made was Halifax, where we found it necessary to put in for a fresh supply of coal. During the very short delay of the Cambria in port, I seized the opportunity for a stroll through the streets of the town, but the night was so intensely dark that I could see little to describe. The ground was covered with snow ; many sledges I passed seemed to be very handsome equipages ; the horses attached to them bearing bells round then* necks, or perhaps fastened to their collars, for the greater security of the foot-passengers, who were thereby warned of their approach in sufficient time to get out of the way.

It was very cold weather ; and we left the harbour again in about three hours after we had arrived, the business of taking in coal being transacted very rapidly. Between Halifax and Boston our voyage was most prosperous ; the weather so beautiful as to entice our ladies once more on deck, and all eyes were turned westward to catch the first glimpse of land. The pilot from Boston boarded us the following day, and we soon rode triumphantly in, greeted by shouts and cannon from the sur rounding vessels in the harbour. After our luggage had been cursorily examined at the Custom House, we stowed it and ourselves, as we best could, into the different vehicles destined to convey us to the several hotels to which they belonged ; and I cannot help remarking the great contrast between the different methods adopted, with respect to strangers and their luggage, in the Custom House searchers of our own and most other European countries, and of that of our Trans- Atlantic brethren; while I may observe that courteous treatment, in that it gratifies the feelings of a stranger, has also the effect of disarming and dissuading him from any attempt at fraud or concealment.

I could expect to find but little that was new hi a place so often described as Boston. I discovered one fact, however, which may interest future travellers, — viz., that smoking is not allowed in the streets at night ; for, having lighted a cigar, I was quietly strolling along the pavement, when I was accosted by a casual passenger, with " Sir, I guess you air a stranger ! " — " Sir, you are an uncommon good guesser," was my reply ; but I soon found by the sequel of our conversation that, however abruptly it had commenced, the motive of my querist was a kind one, and that I was committing a breach of the laws, which might have subjected me to a severe penalty. The American Hotel in Boston is an excellent one ; and the rooms being heated with hot water, CHAP. I.] AMERICAN RAILWAYS. 9 renders them most comfortable, notwithstanding the extreme coldness of the weather.

Between Boston and New York the journey was performed partly by railway and partly by steam boats of the finest class, most luxuriously fitted up. The captain of our boat prudently remained all night at New London, on account of the weather, of which these boats are by no means independent. Next clay we resumed the railway once more to New York. An American railway carriage reminds one a little of Wombwell's waggon for transporting wild beasts, so far as its external appearance is con cerned ; and there is abundance of room inside for the passengers to walk up and down, the seats being so arranged as to allow an uninterrupted passage from one end of each carriage to the other. They contain open stoves, round which you may sit occasionally, and change your place from time to time, which all those who are hi the habit of travelling know to be a great luxury ; besides this, the carriages themselves are so closely chained together in succession, that you can walk from one end of the train to the other.

The seats, or benches rather, in the carriages are ranged in rows down each side of the passage, and at right angles to it ; except in the vicinity of the stoves, where passengers are at liberty to sit in any direction they please, on camp chairs left for that purpose. I may also here mention a very good regulation adopted with regard to the luggage ; brass tickets are chained to each separate trunk or portmanteau, and duplicates of these tickets are given to the passenger, who need have no further trouble with his luggage than giving them to a help (i.e. servant) on arriving at his destination. At New York I stayed at the Astor House, a magnificent " block " (i.e. building), far larger than any hotel I ever beheld in the Old World. Many of my readers will doubtless remember the hotels of L'Empereur Romain, and L'Hotel de Russie in Frankfort ; the Astor House I thought strongly resembled these, though on a still larger scale — indeed I doubt whether it be not larger than both these hotels put together.

The platform anterior to the huge hall door is reached from the street by double rows of large stone staircases. The charges I found moderate. Breakfast, dinner, and supper are performed much in the same way as the table d'hote on the Continent, except with far greater rapidity. At breakfast here, I ate for the first time cakes made from the flour of buckwheat, which I thought excellent, and deserving a place among the many luxuries of even an English country-house ; in shape and size they resemble a muffin — in consistence, a pancake, but they are CHAP. I.] PHILADELPHIA. 11 rougher, and of a dark brown colour. These cakes are eaten either with butter, hke muffins, or with refined molasses, contained in glass jars, shaped something like claret decanters, which are placed at intervals all along the extensive breakfast table.

Neither is the homin}', which consists of rice and Indian-corn meal, mixed and fried in butter, to be despised. The waiters were Irish, Germans, and men of colour. I started about the 25th of March, on a cold but brilliantly beautiful day, at about nine o'clock in the morning, for Philadelphia, and, on my arrival, drove immediately to the Mansion House Hotel. Having no time to lose, I walked out to see the town ; and although I was in some degree prepared to hke Philadelphia, I had no idea what a splendid city it is, its beautiful houses being very regular, and mostly built of brick; and, from their wide pave ments, the excellent repair in which they are kept, and the splendid shops and lofty buildings, the streets struck me as being really magnificent. The extraordinary cleanliness of the city particularly attracts one's admiration : it is occasioned princi pally by the abundant supply of water which is afforded by the water-works of the Schuylkill; handsome cast-iron pumps are among the most prominent features in the streets, and its public buildings are both graceful and classical.

After a hasty dinner attended by four huge, clean, jolly, sable vagabonds, whose language, peculiar pronunciation, and absurd attempts at jokes amused me greatly, I resumed my journey by railway to Baltimore. The view as you leave Philadelphia is very beautiful. For some distance, as you recede from the town, you behold the whole city stretched out before you, forming a splendid panorama. On the right, above the town, are the celebrated water-works by which it is supplied with water from the Schuylkill, and to the left is the broad estuary of the Delaware, covered with vessels of all sizes, from the light pilot-boat to the lordly three-decker. We reached Baltimore the same evening. This rapid journey southward causes, in the course of one single clay, a most sensible change in temperature and climate, such as we might perhaps experience in the Old World, if we were to breakfast at Moscow, and dine at Naples.

Into Baltimore, according to Jonathan's go-ahead principles, we drove the train, right through the streets, to the imminent danger of the lives of its peaceful citizens, though not of thenliberties, there being no barrier to prevent their getting up a little Juggernaut oblation of themselves to their favourite goddœs. In the railway carriage, I sat next a gentleman who, from natural politeness, or from a CHAP. I.] BALTIMORE BEAUTIES. 13 lively dread of Dickens and Trollope, restrained himself from spitting out of the window, which was at my other side ; but when the exigencies of expectoration required, took off his hat and tested its waterproof qualities in a manner not yet usual in this part of the world. I inferred from this that he must have heard of the American in England, who spitting across a fellow-passenger out of the window of a stage-coach, learned how little his apology was appreciated when he observed, " I guess I cleared you."

Baltimore is mostly built of brick, but there are also many handsome stone buildings, and it is altogether a noble citj'. I had little time to see much of it, but was struck with the principal streets, which, both in size and paving, &c, are equal to any I ever saw. The shops are handsomely lightecl up in the evening, and the crowded streets exhibited a numerous and well-dressed population. I had heard of the beauty of the Baltimore women, and was not disappointed in them, for I never saw so many pretty faces before in so short a time. A splendid fire took place that night in Baltimore, which was extinguished, fortunately, without any further effects than giving us a good appetite for our supper ; the attack on which was most furious, and the consumption far more extensive than that of the fire we had assisted to put out. [chap. I. 14 RAMBLES AND ADVENTURES.

At Cumberland, we took the stage-coach across the Alleghany range of mountains to Wheeling, which is not far from the head of the navigation of the river Ohio. An American stage-coach is a very primitive, rough sort of conveyance, something like the diligence on the Continent, but far stronger in construction, both as to wheels and springs, and calculated to meet the very severe shocks to which the nature and state of the roads necessarily subject it. It is built to accommodate, or rather torture, nine persons inside, and as many outside as have the skill or the courage to sit along with the driver. This functionary is truly a wonderful man. He drives four horses, at a very tolerable pace, over a road where the depth of the ruts and the number of stumps of trees baffle description. When the wheel strikes one of the latter, the centrifugal effect is subhme.

The top of my head was so battered against the roof of this notable conveyance, that, after a while, I preferred sharing the driver's fortunes out side, notwithstanding the cold encountered among these hills, from which, however, the continual exertion of clinging on was quite sufficient to prevent my suffering. But how our Jehu contrived to chive, to manage the drag (which he did by means of a screw handle on his right), and to remain on the box, is a mystery that to this day I am unable to solve. This road the coachman declared to me to have been OHAP. I.] ALLEGHANIES. 15 usually a very good one, although it unavoidably fell into a bad state of repair in winter. I never saw a more beautifid range of mountains than the Alleghanies — full of deep dark gorges and ravines, through which the road winds, now under lofty precipices, reminding me of some of the passes in the Tyrol — now along a high crest of mountain, overlooking a vast extent of beautiful country — now through some thick primeval forest, capital lurking places for bears, wolves, and panthers, or painters, as they are there called.

During a great part of the day, we travelled up the Monogahela Eiver, celebrated all over the States for the whiskey made along its banks. Every now and then we made a rapid descent at full gallop down some deep gorge filled with snow, into which, at this season, the beams of the sun never penetrate. Coal of the finest kind is found all through the Alleghanies in great quantities, and in the towns along the road it is to be bought at four-and-sixpence a ton. I reached Wheeling, heartily sick of stage-coach travelling, but consoling myself with the reflection that the rest of my journey to New Orleans was to be by the river. Here I first beheld those justly-celebrated Ame rican river-steamboats, so indicative of the enterprise and commercial prosperity of the country. By means of these vessels, the productions of the most [chap. I. 16 RAMBLES AND ADVENTURES. remote parts of the interior are transferred to suitable markets at a trifling expense to the producer ; so that the furs and skins from the remotest savages, the wheat and Indian corn of the agriculturist, the cotton and the sugar of the planter, are rendered valuable and profitable by the free choice among the many market towns studding the banks of its rivers, from the remote Missouri, Ohio and Arkansas, to New Orleans, where the Mississippi, rolls its vast united flood into the waters of the Atlantic Ocean.

These boats are flat-bottomed, and not built with a view to durability, a fact which, together with the economical manner of their construction, render them often very dangerous to the lives and limbs of the numerous passengers that crowd then* decks. Much has been said of the comparative merits of the high-pressure and low-pressure engines. But I am inclined to believe that the high-pressure engine would be quite sufficiently safe, provided the captains of the boats were chosen a little more judi ciously from men conversant with steam-engines in general, and particularly with the nature and capa bilities of the machinery under their command. It is true there is a practical engineer immediately controlling the said machinery ; but the poor fellow is frequently obliged seriously to overtax the powers of the engine, by the frantic anathemas of the CHAP. I.] GOING AHEAD. 17 captain — " D — n you, go ahead ! fire up there ! fire up, will you?

" when excited either by the speed of a boat astern of liim, or by his eagerness to over haul a "tarnation oppositioner " ahead, who is no doubt bent on securing all the passengers from the next town on the river. On account of the low state of the water in the Ohio, I took my passage as far as Louisville in a small stern-wheel boat. These steamers are driven by one wheel only, which is placed astern ; they draw very little water, and are available in places where others could not answer the purpose so well. My travelling companions were very entertaining. Their inquisitiveness amused more than it annoyed me; for I was prepared for it, by the accounts of English authors, many of whom, I think, have animadverted on it too severely. They certainly, so far as I myself was concerned, quite compensated me for their tendency to ask questions by their great readiness in answering them, and I must say I found a general willingness amongst them to be communicative and obliging to a stranger, and the greatest deference towards any one that spins a yarn for them — a tendency to which I dare say most of my brother sportsmen will confess.