"How are we to light a fire now?" I said to Tiger, for our wood was wet, and no hollow trees grew between the rocks around us, in which we could look for dry wood. He laughed, however, ran a short distance, returned with an armful of dry twigs which he had hidden there on the previous evening under a rock, and said, "Indian more cautious than white men." Our fire soon burnt up again, and produced a tremendous glow, before which we hung up our buffalo robes and tent to dry. The bearskin of the previous day not being dry yet either, we also hung it up to the fire, and then prepared a breakfast, a meal our cattle were obliged to go without, as the grass was completely flooded. So soon as the wet things were dry, we started for the higher mountains in order to find a spot where our cattle could satisfy their hunger; as the road was very bad we progressed slowly, crossing a great number of morning trails of panthers, leopards, and ocelots, which were deeply trodden into the soft lime soil, and reached about noon a grassy plateau which extended to the dark cedar woods. Here we hobbled the cattle while we lit a fire against a withered mosquito-tree, and enjoyed the delicate bear meat. The air was cool, and the conical mountain peaks covered with cedars were smoking. In the afternoon we rode toward the gloomy forests to try and find a path through them. We certainly found a number of small tracks, but not one old and used enough for us to trust it, so we went southward on the plain till darkness stopped our march. We stopped for the night at a hollow filled with rain water, and on the next morning continued our journey along the woods till, to our great joy, we found a much trampled buffalo track, by which we entered them. It led us down between two high hills, and hence I was afraid lest it might be a path which, made by animals grazing on the hill down to a stream, would terminate there. In half-an-hour we reached some large springs which gushed out of a rock and flowed in a south-eastern direction through a very narrow gorge covered with bushes, dry wood, and overarching cedars. The path, however, ran hence, to our great joy, eastward, and we dismounted, as the cedar branches hung too near over the path.