I've been taking some hikes that are worthy of the cover woodcut of MAN CUT IN WOOD. I have been striking out into the woods near Kamilche Rd (at the Indian Reservation), and trying to come out midway along the shore of Totten Inlet. It is a big tract of second growth. I've been following some old overgrown logging roads, but they tend to get swallowed up. I came upon a good-sized swampy pond which provided a nice open view in the thick woods. Saw a gray heron-like bird slowly getting airborne. Before I leave this place I want to make it through to the inlet and walk along the shore till I can see Squaxin Island. Each day I push in a little further.

This is taking great amounts of time when I'm supposed to be completing scholarly projects. But there's time to study too, and I just can't concentrate my mind on too much studying and writing right now.

I saw an amazing animal close up today, a creature that must belong uniquely to this place. It had the coloring of a fox, but a blunt face. Somehow it looked like a tall, skinny nutria; it moved with a springy long-legged gait. It was a bit bigger than a fox.

I saw the same animal far away on the beach a couple of weeks ago, but I couldn't trust my eyes because of the distance. On the open ground of the beach it was moving extremely fast, the way a road runner moves in the desert. Even at a few hundred yards it looked extremely strange. I'm thinking it might be the bigfoot of the four-legged animal population here on south Puget Sound. It might be some sort of unusual dog breed that was originally kept by the Squaxin Indians, then went feral. It might be some sort of animal familiar of this place, an animal of indefinite species, belonging to the time when there was no clear barrier between species.

Trying out all the possibilities, I realize it may have been a coyote after all. I have never seen a coyote close up before, so maybe that's why it looked so strange to me. But a coyote should have a thin muzzle, and it didn't.

Maybe it is the local variety of qi-lin. Confucius wept when hunters caught a qi-lin and treated it like a beast of prey. The qi-lin was an auspicious beast that was supposed to usher in a peaceful era, and it hadn't been seen in Confucius' lifetime. The hunters killed it trying to keep it captive for the Duke. Confucius ended his annals of the Spring and Autumn period with the sighting of the qi-lin. What I saw looked more trickster-like than auspicious.

May 21st, 2004