in the dark canebrakes of some of the southern States where the man
a cougar was most likely to encounter was a nearly naked and unarmed
negro. General Hampton tells me that near his Mississippi plantation,
many years ago, a negro who was one of a gang engaged in building a
railroad through low and wet ground was waylaid and killed by a cougar
late one night as he was walking alone through the swamp.

I knew two men in Missoula who were once attacked by cougars in a very
curious manner. It was in January, and they were walking home through
the snow after a hunt, each carrying on his back the saddle, haunches,
and hide of a deer he had slain. Just at dusk, as they were passing
through a narrow ravine, the man in front heard his partner utter a
sudden loud call for help. Turning, he was dumbfounded to see the man
lying on his face in the snow, with a cougar which had evidently just
knocked him down standing over him, grasping the deer meat; while
another cougar was galloping up to assist. Swinging his rifle round he
shot the first one in the brain, and it dropped motionless, whereat the
second halted, wheeled, and bounded into the woods. His companion was
not in the least hurt or even frightened, though greatly amazed. The
cougars were not full grown, but young of the year.

Now in this case I do not believe the beasts had any real intention
of attacking the men. They were young animals, bold, stupid, and very
hungry. The smell of the raw meat excited them beyond control, and they
probably could not make out clearly what the men were, as they walked
bent under their burdens, with the deer skins on their backs. Evidently
the cougars were only trying to get at the venison.

In 1886 a cougar killed an Indian near Flathead Lake. Two Indians were
hunting together on horseback when they came on the cougar. It fell at