bluffs above to guide the hunter and cow-men, and which had _directed me_ many a time. The little trees, whose _very limbs_ I now recognized, looked as of old, and the little stream, as it rippled along, seemed to laugh at the strange conduct of its _old friend_. I was three miles below where I stayed _all night_; and I had been rounding my own camp four or five times, and did not recognize _it_ nor the _boys_. They said they _saw_ me going around and did not know what I meant. The next morning the fog had _cleared away_ and the trip was made without difficulty. I only mention these facts to more _fully picture_ in the imagination of the reader the country with its attending circumstances and peculiarities as it _really is_, and to warn those who read these lines that should they ever become bewildered and lost in this desert land to be calm, keep possession of their mind, and sit down until the country turns _around again_. After explaining the nature of the country, the reader can now perhaps better understand the _sports_ and _occupations_ as they are hereinafter explained. There are often car-loads of _mustang ponies_ shipped to the states; and people wonder how they are captured--some supposing that they are caught with the _lasso_. I can say that there are _few_ wild horses caught with the _lariat_, and _they_ are only captured by the hunter hiding himself at the water and catching them as they come down to drink, or by taking advantage of the ground and making an angling run upon the herd and cutting them off. _Blooded horses_ have been brought to this country for this sport, and it has been found that the _fleetest horse_ can seldom succeed in bringing his rider to the side of a fully grown mustang. These animals are found in several of the western states and territories, along the waters of the wild lands. There are usually between _twenty_ and _fifty_ in a herd, but I have known _one hundred_ to be in a single herd. Each herd has a distinct range, usually about ten miles across, and which they can seldom be forced to leave. There are some very fine-looking animals in these wild gangs, and as they dash over the range their manes waive back over their rumps, and their tails spread gracefully after them. I saw a _Mexican_ capture a fine iron-gray stallion that (perhaps in scratching his head) had caught his hind foot in his long entangled mane.