We ascended the hills on the east for about half an hour, till Tiger went round a lofty rock and showed us a small round opening about six feet above the spot where we were standing. Tiger crept into the hole with a lasso to noose the bear's throat. He soon came out again, and we all three tried, but in vain, to drag it out with the rope. We harnessed Jack in front and Tiger crept in again to the bear to push: now matters went better, and the black monster soon appeared in the opening, and rolled down the little slope to us. Jack and Lizzy, startled at the sudden apparition, leapt on one side, but were soon pacified, and we began skinning and breaking up the animal. I was anxious to have a look at the interior of its abode, and crawled into the entrance, which was at first very narrow, but then widened, and at length became two walls leaning together at the top, but about eight feet apart at the bottom. The floor of the cave was covered with cedar branches, on which the bear reposed. I lighted a wax-taper, and was thus enabled to examine the cave narrowly. Tiger had crept up to the bear with a lighted wisp of grass in his hand, shot it in the left eye, and killed it on the spot. We packed the best of the meat and fat, as well as the skin, on our mules, and returned to camp, where we arrived at about ten o'clock. We packed up, and were under way again by two P.M., following Tiger, who led us through the mountain passes, which here became much steeper. We rode nearly the whole day up hill, and only at intervals came to small table-lands, on which our cattle rested for a while. Trees grew rarer; here and there a small clump of cedars rose from a gorge, or an isolated group of prickly yuccas decorated the rocks, and at times a mimosa hung over our path from a crevice. A plant, whose three feet long narrow leaves grew out of the rock in tufts, and are used by the Indians for plaiting baskets and mats, was very common here: in the spring it has a whitish yellow flower, which grows on a stalk nearly six feet high, and through its graceful form is a real ornament to the landscape.