. The hunter and the trapper in North America; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest . k, with bristlinghair, and tail between his legs, and howling hoarsely toattract my attention. I looked before me, aiid could notrepress a cry of horror. About forty paces distant a wild cat and a rattlesnakewere defying each other to the combat; theii- eyes shotforth flame and fire; one hissed, the other mewed. Theserpent moved in folds, marked by grace and suppleness ;the cat raised his back, and appeared to wait for anopportunity of pouncing upon his enemy. Suddenly theserpent made a spring, but the
. The hunter and the trapper in North America; or, Romantic adventures in field and forest . k, with bristlinghair, and tail between his legs, and howling hoarsely toattract my attention. I looked before me, aiid could notrepress a cry of horror. About forty paces distant a wild cat and a rattlesnakewere defying each other to the combat; theii- eyes shotforth flame and fire; one hissed, the other mewed. Theserpent moved in folds, marked by grace and suppleness ;the cat raised his back, and appeared to wait for anopportunity of pouncing upon his enemy. Suddenly theserpent made a spring, but the cat anticipated it, andleaped aside; but as he returned to the attack, the sei--pent bit him in the lip, and though grasped immedi-ately in the wild cats claws, succeeded in infolding hisbody and violently compressing it. I put an end to theagony of both; my two barrels stretched them on theground, dead, and incapable henceforth of doing anyinjury. According to the Indians, the rattlesnake lives on thepestiferous air of the marshes, and on all coriiipted matter, 150 FATTENING WILD TUEIll EVtS SHOT FOKTU FLAME AND FIKE. while the wild cat is nourished Ijy the result of the quarrelsof headstiong and deceitful persons; so, when the Red-skins would refer to the internal dissensions of a familyof their tribe, they say, in their semi-oriental language : * In the wigwam of X wild cats are fattened. In hunting the ** tom-cats of the American swamps, UNSUCCESSFUL SHOOTING. 151 the huntei-s generally iiuike use of pistols. It is not thatthe majority are unskilled in the management of thisweapon; but, by means of theu- revolvers, it is possiblefor them to wound the cat, when he begins to leap fromtree to tree, and renders the fun of the sportsmen uiox-ecomplete. In a word, the animal is a living tai-get,against which each person displays his skill. Such amode of hunting is not in agreement, cei-tainly, with thelaw Grammont; but as the French legislator is un-known the seas
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