way of hunting, which surpasses the exploits of this
renowned bear-hunter. But there is a certain degree of sameness in
these narratives of skill and endurance which would weary the reader.

In the fall of 1825, Crockett built two large flat-boats, to load with
staves for the making of casks, which he intended to take down the
river to market. He employed a number of hands in building the boat and
splitting out the staves, and engaged himself in these labors "till the
bears got fat." He then plunged into the woods, and in two weeks killed
fifteen. The whole winter was spent in hunting with his son and his
dogs. His workmen continued busy getting the staves, and when the
rivers rose with the spring floods, he had thirty thousand ready for
the market.

With this load he embarked for New Orleans. His boats without
difficulty floated down the Obion into the majestic Mississippi. It was
the first time he had seen the rush of these mighty waters. There was
before him a boat voyage of nearly fifteen hundred miles, through
regions to him entirely unknown. In his own account of this adventure
he writes:

"When I got into the Mississippi I found all my hands were bad scared.
In fact, I believe I was scared a little the worst of any; for I had
never been down the river, and I soon discovered that my pilot was as
ignorant of the business as myself. I hadn't gone far before I
determined to lash the two boats together. We did so; but it made them
so heavy and obstinate that it was next akin to impossible to do any
thing at all with them, or to guide them right in the river.

"That evening we fell in company with some Ohio boats, and about night
we tried to land, but we could not. The Ohio men hollered to us to go
on and run all night. We took their advice, though we had a good deal
rather not. But we couldn't do any other way. In a short distance we
got into what is called the Devil's Elbow. And if any place in the wide
creation has its own proper name I thought it was this. Here we had
about the hardest work that I was ever engaged in in my life, to keep
out of danger. And even then we were in it all the while. We twice
attempted to land at Wood Yards, which we could see, but couldn't reach.

"The people would run out with lights, and try to instruct us how to
get to shore; but all in vain. Our boats were so heavy that we could
not take them much any way except the way they wanted to go, and just
the way the current would carr