ntains
immense quantities of fish,--pike, bass, and perch.

In the first hummock which we reached the colonel shot a buck, and I got
two young turkeys from a flock. As we emerged from this hummock the
guide spied a herd of wild cattle feeding on the prairie about half a
mile off, and by his direction we crept through the scrub as far as it
afforded cover, and then trusted to the high grass for concealment till
we got within a hundred yards of the herd, which consisted of about
twenty cows and calves, with a couple of bulls. The doctor and colonel
fired together and brought down a heifer. A big bull immediately charged
towards the smoke and report of the guns, for he could not see us. On he
came, head down and tail erect, bellowing with rage,--a magnificent
animal of brindled color, with an immensely heavy neck and shoulder,
like a bison, but without the mane. When within fifty yards I fired at
his head: the ball struck him full in the forehead and staggered him,
but he shook his head and kept straight for us. I gave him another shot,
which struck him in the chest and turned him, when Pecetti gave him
sixteen buckshot in the shoulder from his big double-barrel, which
brought him down, dying bravely in defence of his family.

"His carcass is too old and tough to be of any good," said the guide,
"but I'll take off his hide: the heifer will give us meat enough."

While he was butchering, Morris returned to the camp and sent out Tom
with the wagon to bring in the beef and venison. It was not long before
a flock of turkey-buzzards appeared in sight and floated in circles
above our heads, waiting for our departure to begin their feast. It was
formerly the opinion of naturalists that these birds were guided by
scent in the discovery of the dead animals upon which they feed, but
later investigations show that they are led by their acute vision;
and my own experience convinces me that this is the fact. As we
were returning to camp through the hummock, Pecetti killed a large
rattlesnake: it was over five feet long, and as thick as the calf of a
man's leg....

On the morning of March 20, Captain Herbert, Pecetti and I went on a
fishing excursion up the lake in a canoe. A few casts of the net near
the shore procured a supply of small fish of the mullet species for
bait, and we paddled up near to the inlet of the Kissimmee. Here we
found the alligators and gars too numerous, they having collected
probably to prey upon the fish wh