neither, for they were even without materials to make snares out of.
Their mode of securing the game was as follows.

They had the patience to construct a circular fence, by wattling the
sage plants together, and then leaving one side open, they made a
"surround" upon the plain, beating the bushes as they went, until a
number of rabbits were driven within the inclosure. The remaining part
of the fence was then completed, and the rabbit hunters going inside
chased the game about until they had caught all that were inside.
Although the fence was but about three feet in height, the rabbits never
attempted to leap over, but rushed head foremost against the wattles,
and were either caught or knocked over with sticks.

This piece of ingenuity was not original with the trappers, as Ike and
Redwood admitted. It is the mode of rabbit-hunting practised by some
tribes of western Indians, as the poor Shoshonees and miserable
"diggers," whose whole lives are spent in a constant struggle to procure
food enough to sustain them. These Indians capture the small animals
that inhabit their barren country by ways that more resemble the
instinct of beasts of prey than any reasoning process. In fact there
are bands of these Indians who can hardly be said to have yet reached
the hunter state. Some of them carry as their sole armour a long stick
with a hooked end, the object of which is to drag the _agama_ and the
lizard out of its cave or cleft among the rocks; and this species of
game is transferred from the end of the stick to the stomach of the
captor with the same despatch as a hungry mastiff would devour a mouse.

Impounding the sage hare is one of the master strokes of their
hunter-craft, and forms a source of employment to them for a
considerable portion of the year.

Our four trappers, then, remembering the Indian mode of capturing these
creatures put it in execution to some advantage, and were soon able to
satisfy their hunger. After two or three days spent in this pursuit
they had caught more than twenty hares, but the stock ran out, and no
more could be found in that neighbourhood.

Of course only a few were required for present use, and the rest were
dried over a sage fire until they were in a condition to keep for some
days.

Packing them on their backs, the trappers set out, heading for the Snake
River. Before they could reach Fort Hall their rabbit meat was
exhausted, and they were as badly off as before. The cou