The daily dispatch. [volume] (Richmond [Va.]) 1850-1884, 1874-05-18
California Lions

MONDAY ...........''.''''.''''''1S
AZ ARIZONA rRAvELIsR's Accosss - '
- corSrra WITH ssrsS wtL Id shA .'eEs'. -
correspondent Of the Arizons M.ne,
,,re. the following curious accountoi az S~
s,an,urc 10 the wilds of that tetrltossc: tha
INV way from Pressott stoPpsau, 'v ,,orn.
ny ,he nth instant started early IN ofSt
=. ~ advantage OF the little fross oM nssnc
~ 1 which made it better tla' Avn
sou, w, Glow fats that are found n sas Sn,ec
49,. ys.. .no Z :.hed fbc summit OF lGI 60 go
- cists aarIy. the wind was hoMa"1
Ia ond s.. air was full of snow, ana
nursS BLANKS, about my face anu uiSsd ga
s,,y hot,e forward NJ fast as couta. na ~
mot travelled one mile from the sfAi,ll.s W.
the Pass s when my n SD not ty yards from
8iorTasu a w. -Jtgars COMMUNICATIVE und
t .nr u I3. One Of Their s.ofape nossihle.
,U' show to the e one got down close to
s, o"n,sa, and acted M though he intended
~, .rr;n. al nv horse. lost no time m get
ting out my pistol, and, as soon as nty horse
was ouiet enough, fired at the creeping
monster. ] undershot my mark. Ihe BAH
struck n rock about one foot in aeTance OF
the creeping lion and glanced OF with
.ehorn wiis!!ing noise. At this moment
observed tive other monsters Of the; same
species rise up from the dry grass close by
the roadside. Now. all seven hoppcd OH
about twenty PAGES to the rightof the ROAD
and stopped on open ground wl'h,n Sky
wards OF me. Now, this was the first hoH
Of the season, ard here was I, an uninHt'i III
guest: but hastily took items. an6 orann,
customary to describe dress aud items as {
at fashionable hops, will recog ,rcrn Scrs:
took them. Three Of the Il sneces. and
large. in fact. monsters Of md: tho citizens
would weigh at least soea Judge the smallest
were smaller. but sbnn,nds II he;no natd
to weigh at least 1G Gli The rage. Tie three
nIn.e,' lHi -, Fellows worca dark gray
h''ses. ~ va brown coat, being little
5,>' ,ue.'ps 4Gcir sides; in front and unocr
.iai. les Yes was white. and appeared like
-. -, q q or down. The fourth was Iitue
s,nntsr, and his dress was iii'ie ua' ~ h''
Tue three smaller ones were oiets'>.
lark chestnut coat; on the SIDES Il oo,"e
On yellow with the same t'ec VI " nav
trimming. Tire dresses Shs:eheo ~ tJ
1urncd and rcscmllcd clangc:tblc SIX Their
moyen',pts were i" ith much grace ana ease. |
Tbcv nh wore tails at least four feet long, {
md mn three feet more than q lion bad any !,
,,se for. brt presume long tails are fashion,
Jonahic in these parts-if not, each hon or
I;onc,s had 10 carry his or her own tall, ana ,
It was not for me to say how long tall a ]
lion should carry. One OF the larger ones. =
which / took to be mother OF part OF t
the group, sat down like cat; sue rsiseo
her great paw and licked 1t, ana tben reo-
binS her ear and side of her head As cat r
wonl1 The movements were awkward but q
pssy. If she was washing her lace sne il
should have done so before coming 10 tue 81
hop. The second large one sat very quiet
and looked on. The third large one, which &
I took 10 be male, kept littIs In the rear
and appeared TO he uneasy, as though he
expected disbursements from another dlrec- ta
ton. and I earnestly hoped no others would q
onpear. as there were already enough Tor o.
the occasion.
"The fourth, lively fellow, put bis big .,
DAVIS on a large pine root that protruded te
above the ground and raked 1t down as g
though he was springing little blum. The -
bark flew in every direction. AS scratch =
list tLis fellow was 4 decided success. At the
same time the three small ones lay down
close to the ground and riyeted their eyes on
me or my horse, and commenced crawling :
ND as though they would like a more init 4
mate acquaintance. l had heard that if one .
looked lion in the face it would turn away; IL
but how could look three lions in the eye 4
at the same time? Impossible. Now, 3
would like to baye compromised this .;
whole matter by giving horse, but my al
horse was trembling with fear, which plainly SC
told me that he would not stand to any bar {
gain Of this kind. I looked for q sapling, G.
but they do not grow in this part of Arizo- Il
Ma; none but large pines were in sight, and fl
all the lions in Arizona could not brighten n
me up tree four feet in diameter. To dis v
mount would make dead-Shot, but then al
there would be six lions left, and afoot. IL
This would not do. IreSolycd to try another "
shot, so I got my horse to face the game
the foremost crawler jumped about six
feet in the air and struck on his feet,
and bit his side as though he bad been stung
by bee. At this the large ones moved on
towards brushy thicket, and the smaller :
ones followed. AS turned my horse to go |
on | saw approaching me three -horsemen. 7
They came in time-none too soon, l assure :,
you. They had seen the large tracks in the I
road and heard my shots and buried up. l
told them Of what had happened, and, as I
they were wel-heeled and appeared to bel
men that had seen something of frontier
life, / suggested that if it was game that S
they wanted they could find it in that thick e
ct. But they all most emphatically denied 5
having lost any lions. They hardly waited il
to hear all of my story, but passed on. As ,
/ started on my way my horse wanted TO c
run, and appeared very fresh. Previous to G
this be seemed a little played and tired, !
but he would now and then look back and t.
then git For the last twelve days my ;,
horse can see a lion whenever he wants TO.
The fact is, he has got what is called lion on f
The brain. Ii he does not recover soon l 5
will sell him or trade him off for mule" f
with bis hair parted in the centre)Hit