er, &c. This country abounds in buffaloes and wild game of all kinds;
as also in all kinds of wild fowls, there being in the bottoms a great
many small grassy ponds, or lakes, which are full of swans, geese, and
ducks of different kinds."

How many of the buffaloes fell to his gun Washington does not record,
but it is safe to assume that he had at least some shots at them. And
beyond question he helped to devour the delicious buffalo humps, these
being, with the flesh of the bighorn sheep, the _ne plus ultra_ of
American big game delicacies.

The region in which these events took place was also notable for its big
trees. Near the mouth of the Kanawha they "met with a sycamore about
sixty yards from the river of a most extraordinary size, it measuring,
three feet from the ground, forty-five feet round [almost fifteen feet
through], lacking two inches; and not fifty yards from it was another,
thirty-one feet round."

When at home, Washington now and then took a gun and went out after
ducks, "hairs," wild turkeys and other game, and occasionally he records
fair bags of mallards, teal, bald faces and "blew wings," one of the
best being that of February 18, 1768, when he "went a ducking between
breakfast and dinner & killed 2 mallards & 5 bald faces." It is doubtful
whether he was at all an expert shot. In fact, he much preferred chasing
the fox with dogs to hunting with a gun.

Fox hunting in the Virginia of that day was a widely followed sport. It
was brought over from England and perhaps its greatest devotee was old
Lord Fairfax, with whom Washington hunted when still in his teens.
Fairfax, whose seat was at Greenway Court in the Shenandoah Valley, was
so passionately fond of it that if foxes were scarce near his home he
would go to a locality where they were plentiful, would establish
himself at an inn and would keep open house and welcome every person of
good character and respectable appearance who cared to join him.

The following are some typical entries from Washington's _Where & how my
time is Spent_: "Jany. 1st. (1768) Fox huntg. in my own Neck with Mr.
Robt. Alexander and Mr. Colville--catchd nothing--Captn. Posey with us."
There were many similar failures and no successes in the next six weeks,
but on February twelfth he records joyfully, "Catchd two foxes," and on
the thirteenth "catch 2 more foxes." March 2, 1768, "Hunting again, &
catchd a fox with a bobd Tail & cut Ears, after 7 hours chase in wch.
most