Racoons sat in the tree-tops; the marten, the black fox, and the wolf prowled in the woods in quest of prey; mountain sheep and goats browsed on the rocky ridges; and badgers peeped from their holes.
Here, too, the wild horse sprang snorting and dishevelled from his mountain retreats--with flourishing mane and tail, spanking step, and questioning gaze--and thundered away over the plains and valleys, while the rocks echoed back his shrill neigh.

The huge, heavy, ungainly elk, or moose-deer, _trotted_ away from the travellers with speed equal to that of the mustang: elks seldom gallop; their best speed is attained at the trot.

Bears, too, black, and brown, and grizzly, roamed about everywhere.
So numerous were all these creatures that on one occasion the hunters of the party brought in six wild horses, three bears, four elks, and thirty red-deer; having shot them all a short distance ahead of the main body, and almost without diverging from the line of march.

And this was a matter of everyday occurrence--as it had need to be, considering the number of mouths that had to be filled.
The feathered tribes were not less numerous.

Chief among these were eagles and vultures of uncommon size, the wild goose, wild duck, and the majestic swan.
In the midst of such profusion the trappers spent a happy time of it, when not molested by the savages, but they frequently lost a horse or two in consequence of the expertness of these thievish fellows.