hat he will allow himself to be taken
in the hand, and if placed on it directly after capture, he will not
attempt to get away. It is very easy to catch him in the first place,
for his movements over the loose sand of his haunts are scarcely faster
than those of a land tortoise.

The trappers and other scattered inhabitants of this region describe a
fish with hands as frequenting the brooks and pools. Though there are,
no doubt, some curious fish, it is questionable how far these creatures
possess the members ascribed to them.

FUR-TRAPPERS OF THE FAR WEST.

The fur-trapper of America is the chief pioneer of the Far West. His
life spent in the remote wilderness, with no other companion than Nature
herself, his character assumes a mixture of simplicity and ferocity. He
knows no wants beyond the means of procuring sufficient food and
clothing. All the instincts of primitive man are constantly kept alive.
Exposed to dangers of all sorts, he becomes callous to them, and is as
ready to destroy human as well as animal life as he is to expose his
own. He cares nothing for laws, human or divine. Strong, active,
hardy, and daring, he depends on his instinct for the support of life.

The independent trapper possesses traps and animals of his own, ranges
wherever he lists through the country, and disposes of his peltries to
the highest bidder. There are others employed by the fur companies, who
supply them with traps and animals, and pay a certain price for the furs
they bring.

The independent trapper equips himself with a horse and two or three
mules--the one for the saddle, the others for his packs--and a certain
number of traps, which he carries in a leather bag, with ammunition, a
few pounds of tobacco, and dressed deerskins for his mocassins and
repairing his garments. His costume is a hunting-shirt of dressed
buckskin, ornamented with long fringes; pantaloons of the same material,
decorated with porcupine quills and long fringes down the outside of the
leg. He has mocassins on his feet, and a flexible felt hat on his head.
Over his left shoulder and under his right arm hang his powder-horn and
bullet-pouch, with flint, steel, and other articles, in a bag. A belt
round the waist secures a large knife in a sheath of buffalo hide to a
steel chain, as also a case of buckskin, containing a whetstone. In his
belt is also stuck a tomahawk, a pipe-holder hangs round his neck, and a
long heavy rifle is slung over hi