him up to a small rizo chino, or curly willow. Suddenly he slid his horse on his haunches to the side, and as the grizzly came on threw the riata. As it fastened onto the hind leg of the animal he ran his horse around the tree, hauling the grizzly close to it with a heavy drag, and while it fell on its side rolling over and biting at the rope, Don José ran his horse around the tree several times and had the animal, which had no idea of unwinding itself, completely in the toils with one hind foot tight to the tree. Don José now fastened the end of his riata to a limb, and as the bear was trying to reach him all the time he made a riata of his mecáte, or hair rope, tossed the noose over the bear's head, and with a few turns over the fuste hauled taut, and so arranged the rope that the horse could not turn tail to the bear and get wound up.

During this time of excitement and quick action Don José had made the fight from the saddle, but he now proposed to leave it. So he reached down and pulled his latigos (cinch strap) as tight as the horse would stand, so the saddle would not slip. He then left the welltrained horse holding back hard, as in the case of branding a steer, and preventing the bear from moving. The grizzly had backed up against the tree, the horse holding him in one direction, the tree in the other. Don José now took off his silk faja, or sash, which all the old

dons wore in California at the time, and passing behind the tree, succeeded in tying the bear's hind legs together and had Señor Oso at his mercy. He had made the capture single-handed, with the aid of his horse.

The bear was taken out of the willows and carried to the ranch in the following ingenious fashion. A stiff hide of a steer was brought to the place and laid flat on the ground, and holes cut in the end of the legs. The lariat was now thrown over one of the front legs of the grizzly and the end run through the hole of the leg of the hide. This was then pulled taut by the horse, and the result was that the paw of the bear was hauled down to the foot of the hide. Then another riata was thrown about the other front foot of the bear, and the same operation performed. The hind legs, which were fastened to the tree, were now cut loose and each caught and fastened as above, and we see the bear lying, belly-down, flat on the hide, its four powerful paws stretched out, looking for all the world, as Mr. Johnston said, like a pinned bug on the card of some collector.

In this position the bear was ugly, comfortable, and harmless. Three or four riatas were now fastened to the hide, front and side, and with ends wound about the pommel of the saddles the Californians moved away dragging the hide and the bear.

Such a hunt took place on the present site of Pasadena not so many years ago when a grizzly and three cubs were all roped by a party of Spanish gentlemen, and the late Mr. Hancock Johnston. There was first the baiting of the game, the discovery and attack at night, when remarkably clever use of the lasso was seen. The bear was laid on a skin, as described, and dragged by the cavalcade to Los Angeles, ten or twelve miles, where it was pitted against a wild bull. The cubs were taken on horseback. In dragging the grizzlies in, they stampeded everything they met. Burros took to the bush, giving the extraordinary cavalcade right of way. In this manner, one of the most dangerous of all big animals was taken from the back of a horse with artistic throws of the riata, the performance showing remarkable skill, bravery, and nerve on the part of man and horse. This I submit was real rough riding.

CHAPTER XXIV

HEAD WATERS OF FAMOUS TROUT STREAMS

IN

N 1613 one John Dennys wrote a clever little book entitled The Secrets of Angling. The author was inclined to drop into poetry and some of his lines have a decided charm.

You nymphs that in the springs and waters sweet
You dwelling have, of every Hill and Dale
And oft amidst the meadows greene doe meet

was a part of his invocation, and his advice on angling, and how to angle, can be read with profit even on Tahoe, a mile above the sea, where a great tourmaline seems to rest in a huge crater, a gem of the High Sierras.

Tahoe, it is said, is one of the highest and deepest lakes in the world, and one cannot escape from the belief that this lake, thirteen miles wide, twenty-three miles long, and half a mile deep, is a vast crater that ages ago spread devastation around the surrounding country. To-day, Tahoe is one of the most beautiful regions in the Sierra

Nevada, and is not only a mecca for the trout lover but is surrounded by streams and rivers that flow into it.

The Truckee, which drains the lake, is a radiant, often tempestuous stream down which the angler can often walk casting with success and profit. The lake is the centre of a great trout region on the summit of the Sierra Nevada; one of numerous lakes that stretch along the great range that is the vertebra of California and really ends on Cape Horn. The lake is surrounded with snow-capped mountains, and in the vicinity, not so far away, are some stupendous peaks, the sentinels of a wonderland of gigantic rifts, high mountains, deep abysmal chasms, rivers, streams, and lakes of all kinds.

The lake has been stocked with various kinds of trout, and several hatcheries are kept up, so that the fishing should be good at all times for the Tahoe trout, that reaches thirty or more pounds, silver trout, or even Mackinaw, and in the streams rainbows and Eastern trout,

Climbing one of the mountains that constitute the rim of the lake one has a comprehensive view of the Tahoe country, and his eyes rest upon many lakes, as Cascades, 6720 feet above the sea, Castle Lake, 7425, Fallen Leaf, Five Lakes, Floating Island Lake where a large island drifts above. Then there are Half Moon, 7760 feet, Marlette, and many more, while almost