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+The Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting in Many Lands, by Various
+
+This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with
+almost no restrictions whatsoever.  You may copy it, give it away or
+re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included
+with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org
+
+
+Title: Hunting in Many Lands
+       The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club
+
+Author: Various
+
+Editor: Theodore Roosevelt
+        George Bird Grinnell
+
+Release Date: August 18, 2011 [EBook #37122]
+
+Language: English
+
+Character set encoding: ASCII
+
+*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK HUNTING IN MANY LANDS ***
+
+
+
+
+Produced by David Edwards, Linda Hamilton and the Online
+Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This
+file was produced from images generously made available
+by The Internet Archive)
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+
+_Hunting in Many Lands_
+
+_The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club_
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: THE CROWN OF CHIEF MOUNTAIN FROM THE SOUTHEAST.]
+
+
+
+
+  Hunting In Many Lands
+
+  =The Book of the Boone and Crockett Club=
+
+  EDITORS
+
+  THEODORE ROOSEVELT
+  GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL
+
+  [Illustration]
+
+  NEW-YORK
+  FOREST AND STREAM PUBLISHING COMPANY
+  1895
+
+
+
+
+  Copyright, 1895, by
+  Forest and Stream Publishing Company
+
+  Forest and Stream Press,
+  New York, N. Y., U. S. A.
+
+
+
+
+Contents
+
+
+                                              Page
+
+  Hunting in East Africa                        13
+    W. A. Chanler.
+
+  To the Gulf of Cortez                         55
+    George H. Gould.
+
+  A Canadian Moose Hunt                         84
+    Madison Grant.
+
+  A Hunting Trip in India                      107
+    Elliott Roosevelt.
+
+  Dog Sledging in the North                    123
+    D. M. Barringer.
+
+  Wolf-Hunting in Russia                       151
+    Henry T. Allen.
+
+  A Bear-Hunt in the Sierras                   187
+    Alden Sampson.
+
+  The Ascent of Chief Mountain                 220
+    Henry L. Stimson.
+
+  The Cougar                                   238
+    Casper W. Whitney.
+
+  Big Game of Mongolia and Tibet               255
+    W. W. Rockhill.
+
+  Hunting in the Cattle Country                278
+    Theodore Roosevelt.
+
+  Wolf-Coursing                                318
+    Roger D. Williams.
+
+  Game Laws                                    358
+    Charles E. Whitehead.
+
+  Protection of the Yellowstone National Park  377
+    George S. Anderson.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+  The Yellowstone National Park Protection
+    Act                                        403
+
+  Head-Measurements of the Trophies at
+    the Madison Square Garden Sportsmen's
+    Exposition                                 424
+
+  National Park Protective Act                 433
+
+  Constitution of the Boone and Crockett
+    Club                                       439
+
+  Officers of the Boone and Crockett Club      442
+
+  List of Members                              443
+
+
+
+
+List of Illustrations
+
+
+  Crown of Chief Mountain             Frontispiece
+    From the southeast. One-half mile
+    distant. Photographed by Dr. Walter
+    B. James.
+
+                                       Facing page
+  A Mountain Sheep                              55
+    Photographed from Life. From Forest and
+    Stream.
+
+  Rocky Mountain and Polo's Sheep               75
+    The figures are drawn to the same scale
+    and show the difference in the spread
+    of horns. From Forest and Stream.
+
+  A Moose of the Upper Ottawa                   85
+    Killed by Madison Grant, October 10,
+    1893.
+
+  How our Outfit was Carried                   123
+    Photographed by D. M. Barringer.
+
+  Outeshai, Russian Barzoi                     151
+    Winner of the hare-coursing prize at
+    Colombiagi (near St. Petersburg) two
+    years in succession. In type, however,
+    he is faulty.
+
+  Fox-hounds of the Imperial Kennels           177
+    The men and dogs formed part of the
+    hunt described.
+
+  The Chief's Crown from the East              229
+    Photographed by Dr. Walter B. James.
+    Distance, two miles.
+
+  Yaks Grazing                                 255
+    Photographed by Hon. W. W. Rockhill.
+
+  Ailuropus Melanoleucus                       263
+    From Forest and Stream.
+
+  Elaphurus Davidianus                         271
+
+  The Wolf Throwing Zlooem, the Barzoi         319
+    From Leslie's Weekly.
+
+  Yellowstone Park Elk                         377
+    From Forest and Stream.
+
+  A Hunting Day                                395
+    From Forest and Stream.
+
+  In Yellowstone Park Snows                    413
+    From Forest and Stream.
+
+  On the Shore of Yellowstone Lake             419
+    From Forest and Stream.
+
+     NOTE.--The mountain sheep's head on the cover is from a photograph
+     of the head of the big ram killed by Mr. Gould in Lower California,
+     as described in the article "To the Gulf of Cortez."
+
+
+
+
+Preface
+
+
+The first volume published by the Boone and Crockett Club, under the
+title "American Big Game Hunting," confined itself, as its title
+implied, to sport on this continent. In presenting the second volume, a
+number of sketches are included written by members who have hunted big
+game in other lands. The contributions of those whose names are so well
+known in connection with explorations in China and Tibet, and in Africa,
+have an exceptional interest for men whose use of the rifle has been
+confined entirely to the North American continent.
+
+During the two years that have elapsed since the appearance of its last
+volume, the Boone and Crockett Club has not been idle. The activity of
+its members was largely instrumental in securing at last the passage by
+Congress of an act to protect the Yellowstone National Park, and to
+punish crimes and offenses within its borders, though it may be
+questioned whether even their efforts would have had any result had not
+the public interest been aroused, and the Congressional conscience
+pricked, by the wholesale slaughter of buffalo which took place in the
+Park in March, 1894, as elsewhere detailed by Capt. Anderson and the
+editors. Besides this, the Club has secured the passage, by the New York
+Legislature, of an act incorporating the New York Zoological Society,
+and a considerable representation of the Club is found in the list of
+its officers and managers. Other efforts, made by Boone and Crockett
+members in behalf of game and forest protection, have been less
+successful, and there is still a wide field for the Club's activities.
+
+Public sentiment should be aroused on the general question of forest
+preservation, and especially in the matter of securing legislation which
+will adequately protect the game and the forests of the various forest
+reservations already established. Special attention was called to this
+point in the earlier volume published by the Club, from which we quote:
+
+     If it was worth while to establish these reservations, it is worth
+     while to protect them. A general law, providing for the adequate
+     guarding of all such national possessions, should be enacted by
+     Congress, and wherever it may be necessary such Federal laws should
+     be supplemented by laws of the States in which the reservations
+     lie. The timber and the game ought to be made the absolute property
+     of the Government, and it should be constituted a punishable
+     offense to appropriate such property within the limits of the
+     reservation. The game and timber on a reservation should be
+     regarded as Government property, just as are the mules and the
+     cordwood at an army post. If it is a crime to take the latter, it
+     should be a crime to plunder a forest reservation.
+
+     In these reservations is to be found to-day every species of large
+     game known to the United States, and the proper protection of the
+     reservations means the perpetuating in full supply of all the
+     indigenous mammals. If this care is provided, no species of
+     American large game need ever become absolutely extinct; and
+     intelligent effort for game protection may well be directed toward
+     securing through national legislation the policing of forest
+     preserves by timber and game wardens.
+
+A really remarkable phenomenon in American animal life, described in the
+paper on the Yellowstone Park Protection Act, is the attitude now
+assumed toward mankind by the bears, both grizzly and black, in the
+Yellowstone National Park. The preservation of the game in the Park has
+unexpectedly resulted in turning a great many of the bears into
+scavengers for the hotels within the Park limits. Their tameness and
+familiarity are astonishing; they act much more like hogs than beasts of
+prey. Naturalists now have a chance of studying their character from an
+entirely new standpoint, and under entirely new conditions. It would be
+well worth the while of any student of nature to devote an entire
+season in the Park simply to study of bear life; never before has such
+an opportunity been afforded.
+
+The incident mentioned on page 421 was witnessed by Mr. W. Hallett
+Phillipps and Col. John Hay. Since this incident occurred, one bear has
+made a practice of going into the kitchen of the Geyser Hotel, where he
+is fed on pies. If given a chance, the bears will eat the pigs that are
+kept in pens near the hotels; but they have not shown any tendency to
+molest the horses, or to interfere in any way with the human beings
+around the hotels.
+
+These incidents, and the confidence which the elk, deer and other
+animals in the Park have come to feel in man, are interesting, for they
+show how readily wild creatures may be taught to look upon human beings
+as friends.
+
+  THEODORE ROOSEVELT,
+  GEORGE BIRD GRINNELL.
+
+  NEW YORK, August 1, 1895.
+
+
+
+
+Hunting in Many Lands
+
+
+
+
+Hunting in East Africa
+
+
+In the month of July, 1889, I was encamped in the Taveta forest, 250
+miles from the east coast, and at the eastern foot of Mt. Kilimanjaro. I
+was accompanied by my servant, George Galvin, an American lad seventeen
+years old, and had a following of 130 Zanzibaris. My battery consisted
+of the following weapons: one 8-bore smooth, using a cartridge loaded
+with 10 drams of powder and a 2-ounce spherical ball; one .577 and one
+.450 Express rifle, and one 12-bore Paradox. All these were made by
+Messrs. Holland & Holland. My servant carried an old 12-bore rifle made
+by Lang (intended to shoot 4-1/2 drams of powder, but whose cartridges
+he recklessly loaded with more than 7) and a .45-90 Winchester of the
+model of 1886.
+
+Taveta forest has been often described by pens far abler than mine, so I
+will not attempt to do this. It is inhabited by a most friendly tribe of
+savages, who at the time of my visit to them possessed sufficient food
+to be able to supply the wants of my caravan. I therefore made it a base
+at which I could leave the major part of my following, and from which I
+could with comfort and safety venture forth on shooting trips,
+accompanied by only a few men.
+
+The first of these excursions was made to the shores of Lake Jipe, six
+hours' march from Taveta, for the purpose of shooting hippos. I took
+with me my whole battery and thirteen men. This unlucky number perhaps
+influenced my fortunes, for I returned to Taveta empty handed and fever
+stricken, after a stay on the shores of the lake lasting some days.
+However, my experiences were interesting, if only because they were in
+great measure the result of ignorance. Up to this time my sporting
+experience had dealt only with snipe and turkey shooting in Florida, for
+on my road from the coast, the little game seen was too wary to give me
+a chance of putting a rifle to my shoulder.
+
+The shores of Lake Jipe, where I pitched my tent, were quite flat and
+separated from the open water of the lake by a wide belt of swamp
+growth. I had brought with me, for the purpose of constructing a raft,
+several bundles of the stems of a large palm growing in Taveta. These
+were dry and as light as cork. In a few hours' time my men constructed a
+raft, fifteen feet in length and five feet in width. On trial, it was
+found capable of supporting two men, but even with this light load it
+sank some inches below the surface of the water. I fastened a deal box
+on the forward end as seat, and instructed one of the men, who said he
+understood boatman's work, to stand in the stern and punt the craft
+along with a pole. During the night my slumbers were constantly
+disturbed by the deep, ominous grunting of hippopotami, which, as if to
+show their contempt for my prowess, chose a path to their feeding
+grounds which led them within a few yards of my camp. The night, though
+starlit, was too dark for a shot, so I curbed my impatience till the
+morning.
+
+As most people are aware, the day begins in the tropics as nearly as
+possible at 6 o'clock and lasts twelve hours. Two hours before dawn I
+was up and fortifying myself against the damp morning air with a good
+breakfast of roast chicken, rice and coffee. My men, wrapped in their
+thin cotton shirts, lay about the fires on the damp ground, seemingly
+unmindful of rheumatism and fever, and only desirous to sleep as long
+as possible. I awoke my crew at a little after 5, and he, unassisted,
+launched the raft. The swamp grass buoyed it up manfully, so that it
+looked as if it disdained to touch the yellow waters of the lake. When
+it had been pushed along till the water was found to be two feet deep, I
+had myself carried to the raft and seated myself on the box. I was clad
+only in a flannel shirt, and carried my .577 with ten rounds of
+ammunition. As we slowly started on our way, my men woke up one by one,
+and shouted cheering words to us, such as, "Look out for the
+crocodiles!" "If master dies, who'll pay us!" These cries, added to the
+dismal chill of the air and my boatman's only too apparent dislike of
+his job, almost caused me to turn back; but, of course, that was out of
+the question.
+
+Half an hour from the shore found me on the edge of the open water, and,
+as if to endorse my undertaking, day began to break. That sunrise!
+Opposite me the rough outlines of the Ugucno Mountains, rising several
+thousand feet, lost their shadows one by one, and far to the right
+towered Mt. Kilimanjaro, nearly four miles high, its snowy rounded top
+roseate with the soft light of dawn. But in Africa at least one's
+higher sensibilities are dulled by the animal side of his nature, and I
+fear I welcomed the sun more for the warmth of its rays than for the
+beautiful and fleeting vision it produced. Then the hippos! While the
+sun was rising my raft was not at rest, but was being propelled by slow
+strong strokes toward the center of the lake, and as the darkness
+lessened I saw the surface of the lake dotted here and there by spots,
+which soon resolved themselves into the black, box-like heads of my
+game. They were to all appearance motionless and appeared quite
+unconscious or indifferent to the presence, in their particular domain,
+of our strange craft and its burden.
+
+I approached them steadily, going more slowly as the water grew deeper,
+and more time was needed for the pulling out and dipping in of the pole.
+When, however, I had reached a position some 150 yards from the nearest
+group, five in number, they all with a loud snort faced me. I kept on,
+despite the ardent prayer of the boatman, and when within 100 yards, and
+upon seeing three of the hippos disappear beneath the surface, I took
+careful aim and fired at the nearest of the remaining two. I could see
+the splash of my bullet as it skipped harmlessly along the surface of
+the lake, and knew I had missed. At once all heads in sight disappeared.
+There must have been fifty in view when the sun rose. Presently, one by
+one, they reappeared, and this time, as if impelled by curiosity, came
+much closer than before. I took aim at one not fifty yards away, and
+could hear the thud of the bullet as it struck. I thought, as the hippo
+at once disappeared, that it was done for. I had not yet learned that
+the brain of these animals is very small, and that the only fatal shot
+is under the ear.
+
+After this shot, as after my first, all heads vanished, but this time I
+had to wait much longer ere they ventured to show themselves. When they
+did reappear, however, it was too close for comfort. One great head,
+blinking its small eyes and holding its little horselike ears at
+attention, was not twenty feet away, and another was still closer on my
+other side. While hesitating at which to shoot I lost my opportunity,
+for they both ducked simultaneously.
+
+I was riveted to my uncomfortable seat, and I could hear my boatman
+murmuring "Allah!" with fright, when slowly, but steadily, I felt the
+raft rise under my feet. Instinctively I remembered I had but one .577
+rifle, and hastened, my hands trembling, to fasten it with a loose
+rope's end to the raft. My boatman yelled with terror, and at that
+fearful cry the raft splashed back in the water and all was again still.
+One of the hippos, either with his back or head, must have come in
+contact with the bottom of the raft as he rose to the surface. How far
+he would have gone had not the negro screamed I do not know, but as it
+was it seemed as if we were being held in mid air for many minutes. I
+fancy the poor brute was almost as frightened as we were, for he did not
+reappear near the raft.
+
+I now thought discretion the better part of valor, and satisfied myself
+with shooting at the animal from a somewhat greater distance. I hit two
+more in the head and two--who showed a good foot of their fat bodies
+above the water--in the sides. None floated on the surface, legs up, as
+I had been led to expect they would do; but the men assured me that they
+never come to the surface till sundown, no matter what time of day they
+may have been shot. This, needless to state, I afterward found, is not
+true. My ammunition being exhausted, and the sun blazing hot, I
+returned to camp. I awoke the next day feeling anything but energetic;
+nevertheless, I set out to see what game the land held ready for the
+hunter, dissatisfied with his experiences on water. The country on the
+eastern side of Lake Jipe is almost flat, but is dotted here and there
+with low steep gneiss hills, stretching in an indefinite line parallel
+to the lake and some three miles distant from it. I made my way toward
+these hills. On the way I put up some very small antelope, which ran in
+such an irregular manner that they presented no mark to my unskilled
+arm.
+
+We reached the hills, and I climbed one and scanned the horizon with my
+glasses. Far to the northwest I spied two black spots in a grassy plain.
+I gave the glasses to my gun-bearer and he at once said, "Rhinoceros!" I
+had never seen these beasts except in a menagerie, and the mention of
+the name brought me to my feet eager to come to a closer acquaintance
+with them. The wind blew toward me and the game was too far for the need
+of caution, so I walked rapidly in their direction. When I got to within
+250 yards, I could quite easily distinguish the appearance of my quarry.
+They were lying down and apparently oblivious to my approach--perhaps
+asleep. My gun-bearer (a Swahili) now began to show an anxiety to turn
+back. This desire is, in many cases, the distinguishing trait of this
+race. On we went, but now cautiously and silently. The grass was about
+two feet high, so that by crawling on hands and knees, one could conceal
+most of his body. But this position is not a pleasant one with a blazing
+sun on the back, rough soil under the knees and a thirteen-pound rifle
+in the hand.
+
+We got to within fifty yards. I looked back for the negro with my .577.
+He was lying flat on his stomach fifty yards to the rear. I stood up to
+beckon him, but he did not move. The rhinos did, and my attention was
+recalled to them by hearing loud snorts, and, turning my head, I saw the
+two beasts on their feet facing me. I had never shot an 8-bore in my
+life before, so it is not to be wondered at that the shock of the recoil
+placed me on my back. The animals were off before I could recover my
+feet, and my second barrel was not discharged. I ran after them, but the
+pace of a rhino is much faster than it looks, and I soon found pursuit
+useless. I returned to the place where they had lain, and on looking
+about found traces of fresh blood. My gun-bearer, as an explanation for
+his behavior, said that rhinos were devils, and were not to be
+approached closely. He said I must be possessed of miraculous power, or
+they would have charged and slain me. The next day, fever laid me low,
+and, though the attack was slight, some days elapsed before I could
+muster strength to take me back to Taveta.
+
+After a few days' rest in camp--strengthened by good food and spurred to
+fresh exertion by the barren result of my first effort--I set out again,
+accompanied by more men and in a different direction.
+
+My faith in myself received a pleasant encouragement the day before my
+departure. My head man came to me and said trade was at a standstill,
+and that the natives could not be induced to bring food to sell. On
+asking him why, I learned that the Taveta people had found three dead
+hippos in Lake Jipe and one rhino near its shores. Meat--a rare treat to
+them, even when not quite fresh--filled their minds and bodies, and they
+were proof even against the most tempting beads and the brightest
+cloths. I cannot say that I shared my head man's anxiety. The fact that
+I had not labored altogether in vain, even though others reaped the
+benefit of my efforts, filled me with a certain satisfaction.
+
+A day's march from Taveta brought me to the banks of an almost stagnant
+brook, where I made camp. The country round about was a plain studded
+with low hills, here thinly thatched with short grass, and there
+shrouded with thick bush, above which every now and then rose a giant
+acacia. The morning after my arrival, I set out from camp with my 8-bore
+in my hands and hope in my heart. Not 200 yards from my tent, I was
+startled by a snort and then by the sight of two rhinos dashing across
+my path some fifty yards away. This time I did not succumb to my gun's
+recoil, but had the doubtful satisfaction of seeing, from a standing
+position, the animals disappear in the bush. I made after them and
+found, to my delight, a clear trail of fresh blood. Eagerly pressing on,
+I was somewhat suddenly checked in my career by almost stumbling over a
+rhino apparently asleep on its side, with its head toward me. Bang! went
+the 8-bore and down I went. I was the only creature disturbed by the
+shot, as the rhino had been dead some minutes--slain by my first shot;
+and my satisfaction was complete when I found the hole made by my
+bullet. My men shouted and sang over this, the first fruits of my
+expedition, and even at this late day I forgive myself for the feeling
+of pride I then experienced. I have a table at home made of a piece of
+this animal's hide, and supported in part by one of its horns.
+
+The next day I made an early start and worked till 4 o'clock P. M., with
+no result. Then, being some eight miles from camp, I turned my face
+toward home. I had not gone far, and had reached the outskirts of an
+almost treeless savanna, when my gun-bearer brought me to a halt by the
+word _mbogo_. This I knew meant buffalo. I adjusted my glass and
+followed the direction of my man's finger. There, 500 yards away, I saw
+a solitary buffalo feeding slowly along toward two low bushes, but on
+the further side of them. I did not think what rifle I held (it was a
+.450), but dashed forward at once. My gun-bearer was more thoughtful and
+brought with him my .577. We actually ran. When within eighty or ninety
+yards of the two bushes behind which the beast was now hidden. I
+slackened pace and approached more cautiously. My heart was beating and
+my hands trembling with the exertion of running when I reached the
+nearest bush, and my nerves were not exactly steadied by meeting the
+vicious gaze of a large buffalo, who stood not thirty feet on the other
+side. My gun-bearer in an instant forced the .577 into my hands, and I
+took aim at the shoulder of the brute and fired, without knowing exactly
+what I was doing. The smoke cleared, and there, almost in his tracks,
+lay my first buffalo. His ignorance of my noisy and careless approach
+was apparently accounted for by his great age. His hide was almost
+hairless and his horns worn blunt with many encounters. He must have
+been quite deaf and almost blind, or his behavior cannot be accounted
+for. The noise made by our approach, even with the favorable wind, was
+sufficient to frighten any animal, or at least put it on its guard.
+
+My men, who were dreadfully afraid of big game of all sorts, when they
+saw the buffalo lying dead, danced with joy and exultation. They kicked
+the dead body and shouted curses at it. Camp was distant a good two
+hours' march, and the day was drawing to a close. The hungry howl of the
+hyenas warned me that my prize would soon be taken from me were it left
+unguarded. So piles of firewood were made and the carcass surrounded by
+a low wall of flames. I left three men in charge and set out for camp.
+There was but little light and my way lay through bits of forest and
+much bush. Our progress was slow, and my watch read 10:30 P. M. before I
+reached my tent and bed.
+
+The following day I set out for a shooting ground distant two days'
+march from where I had been camped. Several rivers lay in my path and
+two tribes of natives. These natives inhabit thick forest and are in
+terror of strangers, as they are continually harassed by their
+neighbors. When they saw the smallness of my force, however, they
+endeavored to turn me aside, but without success. Quiet and
+determination generally win with these people. The rivers gave me more
+trouble, as they were deep and swift of current, and my friends, the
+natives, had removed all bridges. But none of the streams exceeded
+thirty feet in width, and an hour's hard work with our axes always
+provided us with a bridge.
+
+The second day from my former camp brought me to the outskirts of the
+forest and the beginning of open country. I had hardly made camp before
+three Swahili traders came to me, and after the usual greetings began to
+weep in chorus. Their story was a common one. They had set out from
+Mombasa with twelve others to trade for slaves and ivory with the
+natives who inhabit the slopes of Kilimanjaro. Fortune had favored them,
+and after four months they were on their way homeward with eighteen
+slaves and five good sized tusks. The first day's journey was just over
+when they were attacked by natives, three of their number slain and all
+their property stolen. In the darkness they could not distinguish what
+natives attacked them; but their suspicions rested on the very tribe
+among whom they had spent the four months, and from whom they had
+purchased the ivory and slaves. I gave them a little cloth and some
+food, and a note to my people at Taveta to help them on their way. Of
+course, they were slave traders, and as such ought possibly to have been
+beaten from my camp. But it is undoubtedly a fact that Mahomedans look
+on slave trading as a perfectly legitimate occupation; and if people are
+not breaking their own laws, I cannot see that a stranger should treat
+them as brigands and refuse them the least aid when in distress. I know
+that my point of view in this matter has few supporters in civilization.
+
+The next day, after a short march, I pitched my tent on the banks of a
+small stream, and then set out to prospect for game. I found nothing,
+but that night my slumbers were disturbed by the splashing and grunting
+of a herd of buffalo drinking.
+
+These sounds kept me awake, so that I was enabled to make a very early
+start--setting out with four men at 4:45. The natives had assured me
+that the buffalo came to drink about midnight, and then fed slowly back
+to their favorite sleeping-places in the thick bush, reaching there just
+about sunrise. By making such an early start I hoped to come up with my
+quarry in the open places on the edge of the thick bush just before
+dawn, when the light is sufficiently bright to enable one to see the
+foresight of a rifle. Dew falls like rain in this part of the world, and
+we had not gone fifty paces in the long grass before we were soaking
+wet, and dismally cold to boot. My guide, cheered by the prospect of a
+good present, led us confidently along the most intricate paths and
+through the thickest bush. The moon overhead, which was in its
+fifteenth day, gave excellent light. Every now and then some creature
+would dash across our path, or stand snorting fearfully till we had
+passed. These were probably waterbuck and bushbuck. Toward half past
+five the light of the moon paled before the first glow of dawn, and we
+found ourselves on the outskirts of a treeless prairie, dotted here and
+there with bushes and covered with short dry grass. Across this plain
+lay the bush where my guide assured me the buffalo slept during the day,
+and according to him at that moment somewhere between me and this bush
+wandered at least 100 buffalo. There was little wind, and what there was
+came in gentle puffs against our right cheeks. I made a sharp detour to
+the left, walking quickly for some twenty minutes. Then, believing
+ourselves to be below the line of the buffalo, and therefore free to
+advance in their direction, we did so.
+
+Just as the sun rose we had traversed the plain and stood at the edge of
+what my men called the _nyumba ya mbogo_ (the buffalo's home). We were
+too late. Fresh signs everywhere showed that my guide had spoken the
+truth. Now I questioned him as to the bush; how thick it was, etc. At
+that my men fidgeted uneasily and murmured "Mr. Dawnay." This young
+Englishman had been killed by buffalo in the bush but four months
+before. However, two of my men volunteered to follow me, so I set out on
+the track of the herd.
+
+This bush in which the buffalo live is not more than ten feet high, is
+composed of a network of branches and is covered with shiny green
+leaves; it has no thorns. Here and there one will meet with a stunted
+acacia, which, as if to show its spite against its more attractive
+neighbors, is clothed with nothing but the sharpest thorns. The buffalo,
+from constant wandering among the bush, have formed a perfect maze of
+paths. These trails are wide enough under foot, but meet just over one's
+shoulders, so that it is impossible to maintain an upright position. The
+paths run in all directions, and therefore one cannot see far ahead.
+Were it not for the fact that here and there--often 200 feet apart,
+however--are small open patches, it would be almost useless to enter
+such a fastness. These open places lure one on, as from their edges it
+is often possible to get a good shot. Once started, we took up the path
+which showed the most and freshest spoor, and, stooping low, pressed on
+as swiftly and noiselessly as possible. We had not gone far before we
+came upon a small opening, from the center of which rose an acacia not
+more than eight inches in thickness of trunk and perhaps eighteen feet
+high. It was forked at the height of a man's shoulder. I carried the
+8-bore, and was glad of an opportunity to rest it in the convenient fork
+before me. I had just done so, when crash! snort! bellow! came several
+animals (presumably buffalo) in our direction. One gun-bearer literally
+flew up the tree against which I rested my rifle; the other, regardless
+of consequences, hurled his naked skin against another but smaller tree,
+also thorny; both dropped their rifles. I stood sheltered behind eight
+inches of acacia wood, with my rifle pointed in front of me and still
+resting in the fork of the tree. The noise of the herd approached nearer
+and nearer, and my nerves did not assume that steelly quality I had
+imagined always resulted from a sudden danger. Fly I could not, and the
+only tree climbable was already occupied; so I stood still.
+
+Just as I looked for the appearance of the beasts in the little opening
+in which I stood, the crashing noise separated in two portions--each
+passing under cover on either side of the opening. I could see nothing,
+but my ears were filled with the noise. The uproar ceased, and I asked
+the negro in the tree what had happened. He said, when he first climbed
+the tree he could see the bushes in our front move like the waves of the
+sea, and then, _Ham del illah_--praise be to God--the buffalo turned on
+either side and left our little opening safe. Had they not turned, but
+charged straight at us, I fancy I should have had a disagreeable moment.
+As it was, I began to understand why buffalo shooting in the bush has
+been always considered unsafe, and began to regret that the road back to
+the open plain was not a shorter one. We reached it in safety, however,
+and, after a short rest, set out up wind.
+
+I got a hartbeest and an mpallah before noon, and then, satisfied with
+my day, returned to camp. By 4 P. M. my men had brought in all the meat,
+and soon the little camp was filled with strips of fresh meat hanging on
+ropes of twisted bark. The next day we exchanged the meat for flour,
+beans, pumpkins and Indian corn. I remained in this camp three more days
+and then returned to Taveta. Each one of these days I attempted to get a
+shot at buffalo, but never managed it. On one occasion I caught a
+glimpse of two of these animals in the open, but they were too wary to
+allow me to approach them.
+
+When I reached Taveta, I found a capital camp had been built during my
+absence, and that a food supply had been laid in sufficient for several
+weeks. Shortly after my arrival I was startled by the reports of many
+rifles, and soon was delighted to grasp the hands of two
+compatriots--Dr. Abbott and Mr. Stevens. They had just returned from a
+shooting journey in Masai land, and reported game plenty and natives not
+troublesome. My intention was then formed to circumnavigate Mt.
+Kilimanjaro, pass over the yet untried shooting grounds and then to
+return to the coast.
+
+I left five men in camp at Taveta in charge of most of my goods, and,
+taking 118 men with me, set out into Masai land. Even at this late date
+(1895) the Masai are reckoned dangerous customers. Up to 1889 but five
+European caravans had entered their territory, and all but the
+last--that of Dr. Abbott--had reported difficulties with the natives. My
+head man, a capital fellow, had had no experience with these people, and
+did not look forward with pleasure to making their acquaintance; but he
+received orders to prepare for a start with apparent cheerfulness. We
+carried with us one ton of beans and dried bananas as food supply. This
+was sufficient for a few weeks, but laid me under the necessity of doing
+some successful shooting, should I carry out my plan of campaign. Just
+on the borders of Masai land live the Useri people, who inhabit the
+northeast slopes of Kilimanjaro. We stopped a day or two with them to
+increase our food supply, and while the trading was going on I descended
+to the plain in search of sport.
+
+I left camp at dawn and it was not till noon that I saw game. Then I
+discovered three rhinos; two together lying down, and one solitary,
+nearly 500 yards away from the others. The two lying down were nearest
+me, but were apparently unapproachable, owing to absolute lack of cover.
+The little plain they had chosen for their nap was as flat as a billiard
+table and quite bare of grass. The wind blew steadily from them and
+whispered me to try my luck, so I crawled cautiously toward them. When I
+got to within 150 yards, one of the beasts rose and sniffed anxiously
+about and then lay down again. The rhinoceros is nearly blind when in
+the bright sun--at night it can see like an owl. I kept on, and when
+within 100 yards rose to my knees and fired one barrel of my .577. The
+rhinos leapt to their feet and charged straight at me. "Shall I load the
+other barrel or trust to only one?" This thought ran through my mind,
+but the speed of the animals' approach gave me no time to reply to it.
+My gun-bearer was making excellent time across the plain toward a group
+of trees, so I could make no use of the 8-bore. The beasts came on side
+by side, increasing their speed and snorting like steam engines as they
+ran. They were disagreeably close when I fired my second barrel and rose
+to my feet to bolt to one side. As I rose they swerved to the left and
+passed not twenty feet from me, apparently blind to my whereabouts. I
+must have hit one with my second shot, for they were too close to permit
+a miss. Perhaps that shot turned them. Be that as it may, I felt that I
+had had a narrow escape.
+
+When these rhinos had quite disappeared, my faithful gun-bearer
+returned, and smilingly congratulated me on what he considered my good
+fortune. He then called my attention to the fact that rhinoceros number
+three was still in sight, and apparently undisturbed by what had
+happened to his friends. Between the beast and me, stretched an open
+plain for some 350 yards, then came three or four small trees, and then
+from these trees rose a semi-circular hill or rather ridge, on the crest
+of which stood the rhino. I made for the trees, and, distrusting my
+gun-bearer, took from him the .577 and placed it near one of them. Then,
+telling him to retire to a comfortable spot, I advanced with my 8-bore
+up the hill toward my game. The soil was soft as powder, so my footsteps
+made no noise. Cover, with the exception of a small skeleton bush, but
+fifty yards below the rhino, there was none. I reached the bush and
+knelt down behind it. The rhino was standing broadside on, motionless
+and apparently asleep. I rose and fired, and saw that I had aimed true,
+when the animal wheeled round and round in his track. I fired again, and
+he then stood still, facing me. I had one cartridge in my pocket and
+slipped it in the gun. As I raised the weapon to my shoulder, down the
+hill came my enemy. His pace was slow and I could see that he limped.
+The impetus given him by the descent kept him going, and his speed
+seemed to increase. I fired straight at him and then dropped behind the
+bush. He still came on and in my direction; so I leapt to my feet, and,
+losing my head, ran straight away in front of him. I should have run to
+one side and then up the hill. What was my horror, when pounding away at
+a good gait, not more than fifty feet in front of the snorting rhino, to
+find myself hurled to the ground, having twisted my ankle. I thought all
+was over, when I had the instinct to roll to one side and then scramble
+to my feet. The beast passed on. When he reached the bottom of the hill
+his pace slackened to a walk, and I returned to where I had left my .577
+and killed him at my leisure. I found the 8-bore bullet had shattered
+his off hind leg, and that my second shot had penetrated his lungs. I
+had left the few men I had brought with me on a neighboring hill when I
+had first caught sight of the rhinos, and now sent for them. Not liking
+to waste the meat, I sent to camp for twenty porters to carry it back. I
+reached camp that night at 12:30 A. M., feeling quite worn out.
+
+After a day's rest we marched to Tok-i-Tok, the frontier of Masai land.
+This place is at certain seasons of the year the pasture ground of one
+of the worst bands of Masai. I found it nearly deserted. The Masai I met
+said their brethren were all gone on a war raid, and that this was the
+only reason why I was permitted to enter the country. I told them that I
+had come for the purpose of sport, and hoped to kill much game in their
+country. This, however, did not appear to interest them, as the Masai
+never eat the flesh of game. Nor do they hunt any, with the exception of
+buffalo, whose hide they use for shields. I told them I was their friend
+and hoped for peace; but, on the other hand, was prepared for war should
+they attack me.
+
+From Tok-i-Tok we marched in a leisurely manner to a place whose name
+means in English "guinea fowl camp." In this case it was a misnomer, for
+we were not so fortunate as to see one of these birds during our stay of
+several days. At this place we were visited by some fifty Masai
+warriors, who on the receipt of a small present danced and went away.
+The water at guinea fowl camp consisted of a spring which rises from the
+sandy soil and flows a few hundred yards, and then disappears into the
+earth. This is the only drinking-place for several miles, so it is
+frequented by large numbers and many varieties of game. At one time I
+have seen hartbeest, wildbeest, grantii, mpallah, Thomson's oryx,
+giraffes and rhinoceros. We supported the caravan on meat. I used only
+the .450 Express; but my servant, George Galvin, who used the
+Winchester, did better execution with his weapon than I with mine.
+
+Here, for the first and last time in my African experiences, we had a
+drive. Our camp was pitched on a low escarpment, at the bottom of which,
+and some 300 feet away, lay the water. The escarpment ran east and west,
+and extended beyond the camp some 500 yards, where it ended abruptly in
+a cliff forty or fifty feet high. Some of my men, who were at the end of
+the escarpment gathering wood, came running into camp and said that
+great numbers of game were coming toward the water. I took my servant
+and we ran to the end of the escarpment, where a sight thrilling indeed
+to the sportsman met our eyes. First came two or three hundred wildbeest
+in a solid mass; then four or five smaller herds, numbering perhaps
+forty each, of hartbeest; then two herds, one of mpallah and one of
+grantii. There must have been 500 head in the lot. They were approaching
+in a slow, hesitating manner, as these antelope always do approach
+water, especially when going down wind.
+
+Our cover was perfect and the wind blowing steadily in our direction. I
+decided, knowing that they were making for the water, and to reach it
+must pass close under where we lay concealed, to allow a certain number
+of them to pass before we opened fire. This plan worked perfectly. The
+animals in front slackened pace when they came to within fifty yards of
+us, and those behind pressed on and mingled with those in front. The
+effect to the eye was charming. The bright tan-colored skins of the
+hartbeest shone out in pleasing contrast to the dark gray wildbeest. Had
+I not been so young, and filled with youth's thirst for blood, I should
+have been a harmless spectator of this beautiful procession. But this
+was not to be. On catching sight of the water, the animals quickened
+their pace, and in a moment nearly half of the mass had passed our
+hiding-place. A silent signal, and the .450 and the Winchester, fired in
+quick succession, changed this peaceful scene into one of consternation
+and slaughter. Startled out of their senses, the beasts at first halted
+in their tracks, and then wheeling, as if at word of command, they
+dashed rapidly up wind--those in the rear receiving a second volley as
+they galloped by. When the dust cleared away, we saw lying on the
+ground below us four animals--two hartbeest and two wildbeest. I am
+afraid that many of those who escaped carried away with them proofs of
+their temerity and our bad marksmanship.
+
+Ngiri, our next camp, is a large swamp, surrounded first by masses of
+tall cane and then by a beautiful though narrow strip of forest composed
+of tall acacias. It was at this place, in the thick bush which stretches
+from the swamp almost to the base of Kilimanjaro, that the Hon. Guy
+Dawnay, an English sportsman, had met his death by the horns of a
+buffalo but four months before. My tent was pitched within twenty paces
+of his grave and just under a large acacia, which serves as his
+monument, upon whose bark is cut in deep characters the name of the
+victim and the date of his mishap.
+
+Here we made a strong zariba of thorns, as we had heard we should meet a
+large force of Masai in this neighborhood. I stopped ten days at Ngiri,
+and, with the exception of one adventure hardly worth relating, had no
+difficulty with the Masai. Undoubtedly I was very fortunate in finding
+the large majority of the Masai warriors, inhabiting the country
+through which I passed, absent from their homes. But at the same time I
+venture to think that the ferocity of these people has been much
+overrated, especially in regard to Europeans; for the force at my
+disposal was not numerous enough to overawe them had they been evilly
+disposed.
+
+One morning, after I had been some days at Ngiri, I set out with twenty
+men to procure meat for the camp. The sun had not yet risen, and I was
+pursuing my way close to the belt of reeds which surrounds the swamp,
+when I saw in the dim light a black object standing close to the reeds.
+My men said it was a hippo, but as I drew nearer I could distinguish the
+outlines of a gigantic buffalo, broadside on and facing from the swamp.
+When I got to within what I afterwards found by pacing it off to be 103
+paces, I raised my .577 to my shoulder, and, taking careful aim at the
+brute's shoulder, fired. When the smoke cleared away there was nothing
+in sight. Knowing the danger of approaching these animals when wounded,
+I waited until the sun rose, and then cautiously approached the spot.
+The early rays of the sun witnessed the last breathings of one of the
+biggest buffaloes ever shot in Africa. Its head is now in the
+Smithsonian Institute at Washington, and, according to the measurement
+made by Mr. Rowland Ward, Piccadilly, London, it ranks among the first
+five heads ever set up by him.
+
+After sending the head, skin and meat back to camp, I continued my way
+along the shore of the swamp. The day had begun well and I hardly hoped
+for any further sport, but I was pleasantly disappointed.
+
+Toward 11 o'clock I entered a tall acacia forest, and had not proceeded
+far in it before my steps were arrested by the sight of three elephants,
+lying down not 100 yards from me. They got our wind at once, and were up
+and off before I could get a shot. I left all my men but one gun-bearer
+on the outskirts of the forest and followed upon the trail of the
+elephant. I had not gone fifteen minutes before I had traversed the
+forest, and entered the thick and almost impenetrable bush beyond it.
+And hardly had I forced my way a few paces into this bush, when a sight
+met my eyes which made me stop and think. Sixty yards away, his head
+towering above the surrounding bush, stood a monstrous tusker. His trunk
+was curled over his back in the act of sprinkling dust over his
+shoulders. His tusks gleamed white and beautiful. He lowered his head,
+and I could but just see the outline of his skull and the tips of his
+ears. This time my gun-bearer did not run. The sight of the ivory
+stirred in him a feeling, which, in a Swahili, often conquers
+fear--cupidity. I raised some dust in my hand and threw it in the air,
+to see which way the wind blew. It was favorable. Then beckoning my
+gun-bearer, I moved forward at a slight angle, so as to come opposite
+the brute's shoulder. I had gone but a few steps when the bush opened
+and I got a good sight of his head and shoulder. He was apparently
+unconscious of our presence and was lazily flapping his ears against his
+sides. Each time he did this, a cloud of dust arose, and a sound like
+the tap of a bass drum broke the stillness. I fired my .577 at the outer
+edge of his ear while it was lying for an instant against his side. A
+crash of bush, then silence, and no elephant in sight. I began to think
+that I had been successful, but the sharper senses of the negro enabled
+him to know the contrary. His teeth chattered, and for a moment he was
+motionless with terror. Then he pointed silently to his left. I stooped
+and looked under the bush. Not twenty feet away was a sight which made
+me share the feelings of my gun-bearer. The elephant was the picture of
+rage; his forelegs stretched out in front of him, his trunk curled high
+in the air, and his ears lying back along his neck. I seized my 8-bore
+and took aim at his foreward knee, but before I could fire, he was at
+us. I jumped to one side and gave him a two-ounce ball in the shoulder,
+which apparently decided him on retreat. The bush was so thick that in a
+moment he was out of sight. I followed him for some time, but saw no
+more of him. His trail mingled with that of a large herd, which, after
+remaining together for some time, apparently separated in several
+directions. The day was blazing hot, and I was in the midst of a
+pathless bush, far away from my twenty men.
+
+By 2 P. M., I had come up with them again and turned my face toward
+camp. On the way thither, I killed two zebras, a waterbuck and a
+Thomsonii. By the time the meat was cut up and packed on my men's heads
+the sun had set. The moon was magnificently bright and served to light
+our road. For one mile our way led across a perfectly level plain. This
+plain was covered with a kind of salt as white as snow, and with the
+bright moon every object was as easily distinguished as by day. The
+fresh meat proved an awkward load for my men, and we frequently were
+forced to stop while one or the other re-arranged the mass he carried.
+They were very cheery about it, however, and kept shouting to one
+another how much they would enjoy the morrow's feast. Their shouts were
+answered by the mocking wails of many hyenas, who hovered on our flanks
+and rear like a pursuing enemy. I shot two of these beasts, which kept
+their friends busy for a while, and enabled us to pursue our way in
+peace.
+
+This white plain reaches nearly to the shores of Ngiri Swamp on the
+north, and to the east it is bounded by a wall of densely thick bush. We
+had approached to within 400 yards of the point where the line of bush
+joins the swamp, when I noticed a small herd of wildbeest walking slowly
+toward us, coming from the edge of the swamp. A few moments later, a cry
+escaped from my gun-bearer, who grasped my arm and whispered eagerly,
+_simba_. This means lion. He pointed to the wall of bush, and near it,
+crawling on its belly toward the wildbeest, was the form of a lion. I
+knelt down and raised the night sight of my .450, and fired at the
+moving form. The white soil and the bright moon actually enabled me to
+distinguish the yellow color of its skin. A loud growl answered the
+report of my rifle, and I could see the white salt of the plain fly as
+the lion ran round and round in a circle, like a kitten after its tail.
+I fired my second barrel and the lion disappeared. The wildbeest had
+made off at the first shot. I tried, in the eagerness of youth, to
+follow the lion in the bush; but soon common sense came to my rescue,
+and warned me that in this dark growth the chances were decidedly in
+favor of the lion's getting me, and so gave up the chase. Now, if I had
+only waited till the great cat had got one of the wildbeest, I feel
+pretty sure I should have been able to dispose of it at my leisure. When
+I returned to camp, I ungratefully lost sight of the good luck I had
+had, and gnashed my teeth at the thought that I had missed bringing home
+a lion and an elephant. I was not destined to see a lion again on this
+journey, but my annoyance at my ill fortune was often whetted by hearing
+them roar.
+
+However, by good luck and by George's help, I succeeded in securing one
+elephant. The story of how this happened shall be the last hunting
+adventure recorded in this article. We had left Ngiri and were camped at
+the next water, some ten miles to the west. I had been out after
+giraffes and had not been unsuccessful, and therefore had reached camp
+in high good humor, when George came to me and said things were going
+badly in camp--that the men had decided to desert me should I try to
+push further on into the country; and that both head men seemed to think
+further progress was useless with the men in such temper. I was puzzled
+what to do, but wasted no time about making up my mind to do something.
+I went into the tent and called the two head men to me. After a little
+delay, they came, greeted me solemnly and at a motion from me crouched
+on their hams. There is but little use in allowing a negro to state a
+grievance, particularly if you know it is an imaginary one. The mere act
+of putting their fancied wrongs into words magnifies them in their own
+minds, and renders them less likely to listen to reason. My knowledge of
+Swahili at this time did not permit me to address them in their own
+language, so I spoke to them in English, knowing that they understood at
+least a few words of that tongue. I told them that I was determined to
+push on; that I knew that porters were like sheep and were perfectly
+under the control of the head men; consequently, should anything happen,
+I would know on whom to fix the blame. I repeated this several times,
+and emphasized it with dreadful threats, then motioned for them to leave
+the tent. I cannot say that I passed a comfortable night. Instead of
+songs and laughter, an ominous stillness reigned in the camp, and,
+though my words had been brave, I knew that I was entirely at the mercy
+of the men.
+
+Before dawn we were under way, keeping a strict watch for any signs of
+mutiny. But, though the men were sullen, they showed no signs of turning
+back. Our road lay over a wide plain, everywhere covered thickly with
+lava, the aspect of which was arid in the extreme.
+
+No more green buffalo bush, no more acacias, tall and beautiful, but in
+their place rose columns of dust, whirled hither and thither by the
+vagrant wind. Two of my men had been over this part of the road before,
+but they professed to be ignorant of the whereabouts of the next water
+place. Any hesitation on my part would have been the signal for a
+general retreat, so there was nothing for it but to assume a look of the
+utmost indifference, and to assure them calmly that we should find
+water. At noon the appearance of the country had not changed. My men,
+who had incautiously neglected to fill their water bottles in the
+morning, were beginning to show signs of distress.
+
+Suddenly my gun-bearer, pointing to the left, showed me two herds of
+elephants approaching us. The larger herd, composed principally of
+bulls, was nearer to us, and probably got our wind; for they at once
+turned sharply to their right and increased their pace. The other herd
+moved on undisturbed. I halted the caravan, told the men to sit down and
+went forward to meet the elephants, with my servant and two gun-bearers.
+I carried a .577, my servant carried the old 12-bore by Lang, his
+cartridges crammed to the muzzle with powder. We were careful to avoid
+giving the elephants our wind, so we advanced parallel to them, but in a
+direction opposite to that in which they were going. As they passed us
+we crouched, and they seemed unconscious of our presence. They went
+about 400 yards past us, and then halted at right angles to the route
+they had been pursuing. There were five elephants in this herd--four
+large, and one small one, bringing up the rear. Some 60 yards on their
+right flank was a small skeleton bush, and, making a slight detour, we
+directed our course toward that. The leading animal was the largest, so
+I decided to devote our attention to that one. I told George to fire at
+the leg and I would try for the heart. We fired simultaneously, George
+missing and my shot taking effect altogether too high.
+
+Two things resulted from the discharge of our rifles: the gun-bearers
+bolted with their weapons and the elephants charged toward us in line of
+battle. As far as I can calculate, an elephant at full speed moves 100
+yards in about ten seconds, so my readers can judge how much time
+elapsed before the elephants were upon us. We fired again. My shot did
+no execution, but George, who had remained in a kneeling position, broke
+the off foreleg of the leading animal at the knee. It fell, and the
+others at once stopped. We then made off, and watched from a little
+distance a most interesting sight.
+
+The condition of the wounded elephant seemed to be known to the others,
+for they crowded about her and apparently offered her assistance. She
+placed her trunk on the back of one standing in front of her and raised
+herself to her feet, assisted by those standing around. They actually
+moved her for some distance, but soon got tired of their kindly efforts.
+We fired several shots at them, which only had the effect of making two
+of the band charge in our direction and then return to their stricken
+comrade. Cover there was none, and with our bad marksmanship it would
+have been (to say the least) brutal to blaze away at the gallant little
+herd. Besides, cries of "water!" "water!" were heard coming from my
+thirsty caravan. So there was nothing for it but to leave the elephant,
+take the people to water, if we could find it, and then return and put
+the wounded animal out of its misery.
+
+An hour and a half later we reached water, beautiful and clear, welling
+up from the side of a small hill. This is called Masimani. On reaching
+the water, all signs of discontent among my people vanished, and those
+among them who were not Mahomedans, and therefore had no scruples about
+eating elephant meat, raised a cheerful cry of _tembo tamu_--elephant
+is sweet. I did not need a second hint, but returned, and, finding the
+poor elephant deserted by its companions, put it out of its misery. It
+was a cow with a fine pair of tusks. The sun was setting, and my men,
+knowing that activity was the only means of saving their beloved
+elephant meat from hyenas, attacked the body with fury--some with axes,
+others with knives and one or two with sword bayonets. It was a terrible
+sight, and I was glad to leave them at it and return to camp, well
+satisfied with my day's work.
+
+From Masimani, for the next four days, the road had never been trodden
+by even an Arab caravan. I had no idea of the whereabouts of water, nor
+had my men; but, having made a success of the first day's march, the men
+followed me cheerfully, believing me possessed of magic power and
+certain to lead them over a well-watered path. A kind providence did
+actually bring us to water each night. The country was so dry that it
+was absolutely deserted by the inhabitants, the Masai, and great was the
+surprise of the Kibonoto people when we reached there on the fourth day.
+They thought that we had dropped from the clouds, and said there could
+not have been any water over the road we had just come. These Kibonoto
+people had never been visited by an European, but received us kindly.
+The people of Kibonoto are the westernmost inhabitants on the slopes of
+Kilimanjaro.
+
+From there to Taveta our road was an easy one, lying through friendly
+peoples. After a brief rest at Taveta, I returned to the coast, reaching
+Zanzibar a little over six months after I had set out from it.
+
+Perhaps a word about the climate of the part of the country through
+which I passed will not be amiss. Both my servant and myself suffered
+from fever, but not to any serious extent. If a sedentary life is
+avoided--and this is an easy matter while on a journey--if one avoids
+morning dews and evening damps, and protects his head and the back of
+his neck from the sun, I do not think the climate of East Africa would
+be hurtful to any ordinarily healthy person. For my part, I do not think
+either my servant or myself have suffered any permanent ill effects from
+our venture; and yet the ages of twenty-one and seventeen are not those
+best suited for travels in the tropics.
+
+_W. A. Chanler._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: A MOUNTAIN SHEEP.]
+
+To the Gulf of Cortez
+
+
+About a year ago, my brother, who is a very sagacious physician, advised
+me to take the fresh liver of a mountain sheep for certain nervous
+symptoms which were troublesome. None of the local druggists could fill
+the prescription, and so it was decided that I should seek the materials
+in person. With me went my friend J. B., the pearl of companions, and we
+began the campaign by outfitting at San Diego, with a view to exploring
+the resources of the sister republic in the peninsula of Lower
+California. Lower California is very different from Southern California.
+The latter is--well, a paradise, or something of that kind, if you
+believe the inhabitants, of whom I am an humble fraction. The former is
+what you may please to think.
+
+At San Diego we got a man, a wagon, four mules and the needed provisions
+and kitchen--all hired at reasonable rates, except the provisions and
+kitchen, which we bought. Then we tried to get a decent map, but were
+foiled. The Mexican explorer will find the maps of that country a source
+of curious interest. Many of them are large and elaborately mounted on
+cloth, spreading to a great distance when unfolded. The political
+divisions are marked with a tropical profusion of bright colors, which
+is very fit. A similar sense of fitness and beauty leads the designer to
+insert mountain ranges, rivers and towns where they best please the eye,
+and I have had occasion to consult a map which showed purely ideal
+rivers flowing across a region where nature had put the divide of the
+highest range in the State.
+
+My furniture contained a hundred cartridges, a belt I always carry,
+given by a friend, with a bear's head on the buckle (a belt which has
+held, before I got it, more fatal bullets than any other west of the
+Rockies), and my usual rifle. J. B. prepared himself in a similar way,
+except the belt.
+
+Starting south from San Diego, we crossed the line at Tia Juana, and
+spent an unhappy day waiting on the custom house officials. They,
+however, did their duty in a courteous manner, and we, with a bundle of
+stamped papers, went on. The only duties we paid were those levied on
+our provisions. The team and wagon were entered free under a
+prospector's license for thirty days, and an obliging stableman signed
+the necessary bond.
+
+The main difficulty in traveling in Lower California lies in the fact
+that you can get no feed for your animals. From Tia Juana east to
+Tecate, where you find half a dozen hovels, there is hardly a house and
+not a spear of grass for thirty miles. At Tecate there is a little
+nibbling. Thence south for twenty-five miles we went to the Agua
+Hechicera, or witching water; thence east twenty-five miles more to
+Juarez, always without grass; thence south to the ranch house of the
+Hansen ranch, at El Rayo, twenty-five miles more. There, at last, was a
+little grass, but after passing that point we camped at Agua Blanca, and
+were again without grass for thirty miles to the Trinidad Valley, which
+once had a little grass, now eaten clean. Fortunately we were able to
+buy hay at Tia Juana, and took some grain. Fortunately, also, we found
+some corn for sale at Juarez. So, with constant graining, a little hay
+and a supply of grass, either absent or contemptible, we managed to
+pull the stock through.
+
+Besides our four hired mules there was another, belonging to our man,
+Oscar, which we towed behind to pack later. The animal was small in
+size, but pulled back from 200 pounds to a ton at every step. Its sex
+was female, but its name was Lazarus, for the overwhelming necessity of
+naming animals of the ass tribe either Lazarus or Balaam tramples on all
+distinctions of mere sex. We started, prepared for a possible, though
+improbable, season of rain; but we did not count on extreme cold, yet
+the first night out the water in our bucket froze, and almost every
+night it froze from a mere skin to several inches thick. To give an idea
+of the country, I will transcribe from a brief diary a few descriptions.
+Starting from Tia Juana, we drove or packed for nearly 200 miles in a
+southeasterly direction, until we finally sighted the Gulf and the
+mountains of Sonora in the distance. At first our road lay through low
+mountains, in valleys abounding in cholla cactus. From Tecate southward,
+the country was rolling and clotted with brushwood, until you reach
+Juarez. Juarez is an abandoned, or almost abandoned, placer camp. Here,
+amid the countless pits of the miners, the pinons begin, and then, after
+a short distance, the pine barrens stretch for forty miles. Beyond again
+you pass into hills of low brush, and plains covered with sage and
+buckweed, until finally you cross a divide into the broad basin of the
+Trinidad Valley. This is a depression some twenty miles long and perhaps
+five miles wide on the average, with a hot spring and a house at the
+southwestern end, walled on the southeast by the grim frowning rampart
+of the San Pedro Martir range, and on the other sides by mountains of
+lesser height, but equal desolation.
+
+We had intended at first to strike for the Cocopah range, near the mouth
+of the Colorado River, and there do our hunting. Several reasons induced
+us to change our plan and make for the Hansen ranch, where deer were
+said to be plenty and sheep not distant; so we turned from Tecate
+southward, made one dry camp and one camp near Juarez, and on the fifth
+day of our journeying reached a long meadow, called the Bajio Largo, on
+the Hansen ranch. We turned from the road and followed the narrow
+park-like opening for four miles, camping in high pines, with water
+near, and enough remnants of grass to amuse the animals. This region of
+pine barrens occurs at quite an elevation, and the nights were cold. The
+granite core of the country crops out all along in low broken hills, the
+intervening mesas consisting of granite sand and gravel, and bearing
+beside the pines a good deal of brush. Thickets of manzanita twisted
+their blood-colored trunks over the ground, and the tawny stems of the
+red-shank covered the country for miles. The red-shank is a lovely
+shrub, growing about six or eight feet high, with broom-like foliage of
+a yellowish green, possessing great fragrance. If you simply smell the
+uncrushed shoots, they give a faint perfume, somewhat suggestive of
+violets; and if you crush the leaves you get a more pungent odor, sweet
+and a little smoky. Also, the gnarled roots of the red-shank make an
+excellent cooking fire, if you can wait a few hours to have them burn to
+coals. All things considered, the pine barren country is very
+attractive, and if there were grass, water and game, it would be a fine
+place for a hunter.
+
+From our camp at Bajio Largo, J. B. and I went hunting for deer, which
+were said to be plentiful. We hunted from early morning till noon,
+seeing only one little fellow, about the size of a jack rabbit, scuttle
+off in the brush. Then we decided to go home. This, however, turned out
+to be a large business. The lofty trees prevented our getting any
+extended view, and the stony gulches resembled each other to an annoying
+degree. At last even the water seemed to flow the wrong way. So we gave
+up the attempt to identify landmarks, and, following our sense of
+direction and taking our course from the sun, we finally came again to
+the long meadow, and, traveling down that, we came to camp. Here we
+violated all rules by shooting at a mark--our excuse was that we had
+decided to leave the vicinity without further hunting; and, at all
+events, we spoiled a sardine box, to Oscar's great admiration.
+
+In order to get a fair day's journey out of a fair day, we had to rise
+at 4 or 5 o'clock. Oscar once or twice borrowed my watch to wake by, but
+the result was only that I had to borrow J. B.'s watch to wake Oscar by;
+so I afterwards retained the timepiece, and got up early enough to start
+Oscar well on his duties.
+
+The question of fresh meat had now become important. We left Bajio Largo
+and drove to Hansen's Laguna, a shallow pond over a mile long, much
+haunted by ducks. Here we made a bad mistake, driving six or eight miles
+into the mountains, only to reach nowhere and be forced to retrace our
+steps. Night, however, found us at El Rayo, the Hansen ranch house, and,
+as it turned out, the real base of our hunting campaign. The Hansen
+ranch is an extensive tract, named after an old Swede, who brought a few
+cattle into the country years ago. The cattle multiplied exceedingly, to
+the number, indeed, of several thousand, and can be seen at long range
+by the passer-by. They are very wild and gaunt at present, and will
+prance off among the rocks at a surprising rate before a man can get
+within 200 yards of them. Ex-Governor Ryerson now owns these cattle, and
+his major-domo, Don Manuel Murillo, a fine gray-haired veteran, learning
+that I had known the Governor, gave me much friendly advice, and sent
+his son to guide us well on the road to the Trinidad Valley and the
+sheep land. He also provided us with potatoes and fresh meat, so that we
+lived fatly thenceforth.
+
+Our track lay past an abandoned saw-mill, built by the International
+Company. Thence we were to go to Agua Blanca, the last water to be had
+on the road; for the next thirty miles are dry. The saw-mill was built
+to supply timber to the mining town of Alamo, some twenty-five miles
+south. The camp is now in an expiring state and needs no timber, but is
+said to shelter some rough and violent men. The road from the mill was
+deep in sand, and our pace was slow. The darkness was coming cold and
+fast when we finally drove on to the water and halted to camp.
+
+Two men were there before us, with a saddle-horse each, and no other
+apparent equipment. When we arrived, the men were watering their
+animals, and at once turned their backs, so as not to be recognized.
+Then they retired to the brush. We supped and staked out the mules, and
+then sent Oscar to look up our neighbors. Oscar went and shouted, but
+got no answer, and could find no men. We thought that our mules were in
+some danger, and J. B., who is a yachtsman, proposed to keep anchor
+watch. So Oscar remained awake till midnight, when he awoke me and
+retired freezing, saying that he had seen the enemy prowling around. I
+took my gun and visited the mules in rotation till 2:30. Then J. B.
+awoke, chattering with cold, but determined, and kept faithful guard
+until 5, when we began our day with a water-bucket frozen solid.
+
+All our property remained safe, and a distant fire twinkling in the
+brush showed that our neighbors were still there. After breakfast Oscar
+again sought the hostile camp, and finally found a scared and innocent
+Frenchman, who cried out, on recognizing his visitor:
+
+"Holy Mary! I took you for American robbers from the line, and I have
+lain awake all night, watching my horses."
+
+From Agua Blanca we drove across the Santa Catarina ranch, for the most
+part plain and mesa, covered with greasewood and buckbrush. This latter
+shrub looks much like sage, except that its leaves are of a yellow-green
+instead of a blue-green. It is said to furnish the chief nutrition for
+stock on several great ranches. Certainly there was no visible grass,
+but buckbrush can hardly be fattening. Toward night, we crossed the pass
+into the Trinidad Valley and drove down a grade not steep only, but
+sidelong, where the wagons both went tobogganing down and slid rapidly
+toward the gulch. The mules held well, however, and before dark we were
+camped near the hot spring at the house of Alvarez.
+
+Our friend, Don Manuel Murillo, had recommended us both to Alvarez and
+to his sister, Senora Paula, but both of these were absent. Don Manuel
+had also urged us to get the Indian Anastasio for a guide.
+
+"For heaven's sake," he said, "don't venture without a guide. You may
+perish from thirst, as others have done before you."
+
+We tried at first to hire burros and let our mules rest, but the Indian
+who owned the burros stated that his terms were "one burro, one day, one
+dollar"--an impudent attempt at robbery, which we resented.
+
+We interviewed Anastasio, however, who said he would start at any
+moment; and, leaving Oscar to guard the wagon, we packed two mules,
+saddled two more for J. B. and myself, and, giving Anastasio the
+tow-rope of a pack-mule, we started after him. Anastasio was the most
+interesting figure of the trip, and I must be pardoned if I go into some
+detail about him. He spoke some Spanish and understood a good deal. When
+he did not understand, he never stated that fact, but either assumed a
+stony look or answered at cross-purposes; so that we did not get to know
+a great deal about each other for some time.
+
+He had, too, a lingering remnant of the distrust of horses and mules
+that his ancestors must have felt in Spanish times, and when his
+pack-mule got a stone in her hoof, he observed it with anxiety from a
+distance, but could not summon resolution to meddle with so serious a
+matter.
+
+Moreover his measure of distance was primitive. I would ask, for
+instance, how many miles it was to our next stop. He might say three
+miles for an all-day journey of six times that length, or he might tell
+you that we were nine miles from a spot which we reached in half an
+hour.
+
+I then substituted leagues for miles, thinking that the Mexican usage
+would be more familiar to him; but at last Anastasio said, rather
+impatiently, that all this business of leagues and miles was rather
+confusing and outside of his experience. We would reach the next water
+shortly before sunset, and that was all the calculation he was
+accustomed to, and quite close enough.
+
+Aside from his knowledge of Spanish, Anastasio was indeed a fine
+representative of the best of the stone age, and as we journeyed on, one
+got an excellent idea of the life of the savage here in early times.
+About 3 o'clock in the afternoon, we reached the only water spot on the
+trail. Anastasio parted some withered reeds, and, looking earnestly,
+said, "Dry." A short distance further up, he repeated the word, and yet
+again, till, at his fourth attempt, he said, "Very little," and we
+camped. By scraping away the mud and grass, we got a small gravelly
+hole, and dipped out the slowly seeping water, a cup at a time. We thus
+managed to give each of the mules a little in a pan, and to get a
+canteen full for cooking.
+
+Then I noticed Anastasio gathering wood, which I thought at first was
+for general use, but I found it was a private pile, to be used, so to
+speak, for bedding. Anastasio did not take the ax to secure his wood,
+but smashed off mesquite branches with a rock or pulled out some old
+root. He quite despised pinon and juniper logs, saying they gave no
+heat--meaning, probably, that they burned out too soon.
+
+We turned in soon after supper, and the night was cold. Anastasio said
+he feared snow. The reason for his fear was soon evident. My bed was
+about twenty feet from Anastasio's, and during the night I would turn
+and watch him. He carried but one small blanket of about the texture of
+a gunny sack. He lighted a long smouldering fire, stripped himself
+naked, except a breech-clout, and, with his back to the coals and his
+front protected by his gauzy blanket, he slept until the cold roused
+him, when he put on more wood and slept again. I offered him four pairs
+of warm horse blankets to sleep in, but that was not the thing. He said
+that he needed to have the fire strike him in the small of the back, and
+that he slept in that way always. So throughout the night, in my wakeful
+moments, I saw the light reflected from his mahogany person. Evidently
+snow or cold rain would be disastrous to people who need a fire all
+night; for, with no covering against the cold and with fires
+extinguished by storm, they might easily freeze to death.
+
+We were packed and marching at 7:30 next morning, and to those who know
+the inwardness of packing in winter, that statement means a good deal.
+It means, for instance, that J. B. got up, at my summons, long before
+dawn and cooked a splendid breakfast, and that the mules were caught and
+grained and saddled, and the packs made and lashed, by the earliest
+sun.
+
+J. B. was a wonder. He seemed to enjoy giving his fellow mortals the
+best breakfasts and suppers--for we never had any midday meals--that our
+supplies could furnish. Always rising at the first call, in the dark,
+sometimes with an accompaniment of snow or rain, he managed the
+commissariat to perfection.
+
+I in my humble way packed and saddled and did other necessary work, and
+Anastasio regarded us with benevolent curiosity, though always ready to
+get wood or water or mules when we asked him to do so.
+
+We were now approaching the true desert. This term is not restricted to
+the broad level sand wastes along the Gulf, but includes the arid and
+waterless mountains adjacent, and this must be borne in mind when the
+Mexicans tell you that sheep are to be found in the desert.
+
+We passed the last of the brushy hills, and, crossing a small divide,
+came over slopes of volcanic cinders to a little water spot with dwarf
+willows and grass. This was our hunting camp. The country through which
+our route had lain heretofore was altogether granitic, though one could
+see hills apparently of stratified material in the distance. Toward the
+desert, we met beds of conglomerate and trachyte, and mountains covered
+with slide-rock, ringing flint-like clinkers from some great volcanic
+furnace. But doubtless some accurate and industrious German has
+described all this, in a work on the geology of the peninsula, and to
+that valuable treatise I will refer you for further facts.
+
+The vegetation had somewhat changed. There were more cactuses,
+particularly the fleshy kind called venaga, though I noticed with
+surprise the absence of the great fruit-bearing cactuses, the saguarro
+and pitaya, all along our route. The Spanish daggers were very numerous,
+as were also mescal plants, both of these forming veritable thickets in
+places.
+
+The venaga cactus is similar to the bisnaga, found in other parts of
+Mexico, except in the disposition and curvature of the thorns. They are
+stumpy plants, growing from a foot to three feet or so in height, and a
+foot or more in diameter, like a thickset post. Those of us who
+delighted in Mayne Reid's "Boy Hunters" will remember how the
+adventurous young men saved themselves from dying of thirst by laying
+open these succulent cactuses with their long hunting knives and
+drinking the abundant juices. I have often and faithfully tried to
+perform the same feat, out of reverence for my heroes, but failed to
+find anything juicier than, say, a raw turnip--by no means satisfying as
+a drink. The venagas are found on the mountains where sheep haunt, with
+their hard prickly rinds broken and the interior hollowed out, and
+Anastasio said that the sheep do this by knocking holes in the cactus
+with their horns and then eating the inside.
+
+This cactus country makes the third variety of wilderness encountered in
+the peninsula. There are four: first, and best, the pine barrens;
+second, the brushy hills and plains, covered with sage, greasewood and
+buckweed; third, this spike-bearing volcanic region; and fourth, the
+appalling desolation of the acknowledged desert.
+
+The moment we had unloaded and watered our animals, Anastasio and I set
+out to look for deer. Anastasio wore the spotted and tattered remnant of
+a frock-coat, once green, given him by an Englishman, of whom I shall
+say more later. He had guarachis, or sandals, on his feet, bare legs, a
+breech-clout, and on his head a reddish bandanna handkerchief in the
+last stages of decay; and as he peered over some rock, glaring long and
+earnestly in search of game, he reminded one of those lean and wolfish
+Apaches that Remington draws in a way so dramatic and so full of grim
+significance.
+
+Anastasio was fifty-one years old and had no upper incisors, but the way
+he flung his gaunt leathern shanks over those mountains of volcanic
+clinkers, armed with the poisoned bayonets of myriads of mescal, cactus
+and Spanish dagger, was astonishing.
+
+I told him that I was not racing and that he would scare the game. In
+fact, he did start one little fellow, but he said he always saw the game
+first, and for this day I was quite powerless to hold him in; so I
+decided to return to camp before dark. This disgusted Anastasio greatly.
+"In this way we shall never kill," said he. "We are going to suffer from
+hunger." I assured him that we had plentiful supplies, but he had come
+for meat. Unbounded meat had been the chief incentive for his trip, and
+hungry he was determined to be.
+
+The next day J. B. set out early with the red man. I arranged camp, and
+two or three hours later took what I supposed was a different direction,
+but soon encountered the pair returning. J. B. had a painful knee, and
+Anastasio had started his racing tactics and kept them up until J. B.
+was quite lame.
+
+The Indian reported that he had seen sheep. J. B. had used the glass
+without finding them, and then Anastasio had captured it and looked
+through the wrong end, nodding and saying he could count five, very big.
+This, I am sorry to say, was false and affected on Anastasio's part, and
+J. B. was skeptical about the sheep altogether; but I knew how hard it
+was to find distant game, when you don't know exactly how it should
+appear. To reach the supposed sheep, the mountain must be climbed and
+the crest turned, for the wind permitted no other course. J. B. did not
+feel up to the task, and I directed him to camp. Anastasio and I climbed
+for about four hours, and reached a position whence his sheep would be
+visible. He was now discontented because J. B. had not lent him his gun.
+No request had been made for the gun, to be sure, but I confess that a
+request would have met with my earnest opposition in any event.
+Evidently Anastasio's expectations of fresh meat were now so dim as to
+cast serious shadows on my skill as a hunter; but, resigning himself to
+the inevitable, he crawled to the summit of the ridge for a view. He
+stared long and said he could make out one ewe lying down under a
+juniper. I tried the glass. He was right. His unaided sight seemed about
+equal in definition to my field-glass. On this occasion he declined to
+use the glass, even with some appearance of disgust. We could get no
+nearer unseen, and, though the distance was very great, I decided to
+risk a shot.
+
+I fired, in fact, two or three shots at the ewe, alarming her greatly,
+when from beneath a cliff which lay below us a band streamed out. Two
+big rams started off to the right. Anastasio and I ran down a bit, and I
+tried a long shot at the leading ram. The distance was great, and the
+run had pumped me a little. I missed. The second ram was still larger.
+He stopped a moment at 150 yards and I dropped him. Anastasio grunted
+satisfaction. I swung to the left, where the rest of the band was
+journeying, sighted at the shoulder of a young ram and fired. The ball
+passed through my intended victim, dropping him, and entered the eye
+of a yearling ram who stood behind, thus killing two rams at one shot--a
+most unusual accident.
+
+[Illustration: ROCKY MOUNTAIN AND POLO'S SHEEP, DRAWN TO SAME SCALE.]
+
+The rest of the band were now quite distant, and, though I fired several
+shots, at Anastasio's desire--he said he wanted a fat ewe--none took
+effect.
+
+I cleaned the sheep and skinned out the big head. Anastasio took one
+small ram entire on his back, supporting it by a rope passed over the
+top of his head, and started down with it, while I followed after with
+the big horns. It was 1 o'clock. The head might have weighed thirty-five
+pounds fresh. It grew to weigh 1,500 pounds before dark. Stumbling down
+through the slide-rock, with legs full of venomous prickers, I passed
+below camp without noticing it, and was well on the other side, when I
+thought I had gone about far enough, and shouted. J. B.'s voice answered
+across a small hill, and I discovered that he had never reached camp at
+all, but had found a water spot, and wisely decided not to leave it
+without good reason.
+
+I scouted a bit to the west, but found unfamiliar country, and, as the
+sun had set, we were seemingly about to stay by that water all night,
+when I turned around and saw a pale column of smoke rising above the
+crest of the ridge against the evening sky.
+
+At once we marched around the ridge, and, as we rose over the divide, we
+saw the whole hillside flaming with signal fires. Our dear old Anastasio
+had become alarmed and set fire to fifteen or twenty dead mescals in
+different places to guide us home. God bless a good Indian!
+
+With vast content we prepared and ate a luxurious supper. Anastasio,
+however, fearing that he might be hungry in the night, impaled all the
+ribs of one side of the ram on a pole and planted it in a slanting
+position over the fire. Thus he was enabled to put in his time during
+his wakeful moments, and face the prospect of a remote breakfast without
+discouragement.
+
+The next day, I spent the morning in washing, resting, and cutting
+spikes out of my legs. Anastasio packed in the second small ram, and ate
+ribs and slept. Then, in the afternoon, we got the rest of the big
+fellow down. Anastasio, to make his load lighter, smashed off the shanks
+with a stone, although he carried a knife in his belt--a striking trick
+of heredity.
+
+And then we talked. "The Trinidad Valley is not my country," said
+Anastasio; "this is my country. Yonder, under that red rock on the
+mountain side, about five miles away, there is a spring in the gulch on
+the edge of the desert. I was born there, and lived there twenty years
+with my father's family. Here where your camp is"--about twenty feet
+square of slide-rock level enough to stand on--"we sowed crops. We
+scraped a hole between the stones with our hands, put in squash seeds,
+watered them by carrying water from the spring in our hands and raised
+several hills."
+
+So he went on, not in so connected a way, but showing, bit by bit, his
+manner of life. His tribe, which he called the Kil-ee-ou, must have been
+very restricted in numbers at best. His territory was a few leagues of
+desert, or almost desert, mountains, every yard of which he knew by
+heart, while just over the ridge dwelt the Cocopahs, his mortal enemies.
+Sometimes a score of men armed with bows would start a tribal hunt for
+deer, though the sheep were beyond their means of attack. Sometimes they
+journeyed a few leagues to the Gulf to eat mussels. We could see the
+great blue sheet and the leagues of salt incrustations glimmering white
+on the hither side, and at one spot on the horizon the blue peak of some
+Sonora mountain rose out of the seeming ocean.
+
+But a few deer and mussels and a half dozen hills of squashes could not
+fill the abyss of the Indian appetite. The stand-by was roasted mescal.
+These plants grow in great numbers in the country adjoining the desert,
+and at every season there are some just right for roasting. The Indians
+selected these and cooked them for two or three days in a hole in the
+ground, by a process called tatema, similar in principle to a clam-bake.
+This roasting converts the starchy leaves and heart into a sugary mass,
+so that the resulting food is something like a sweet fibrous beet. The
+Indian's life really lay in gathering and roasting mescal. And when a
+storm prevented the necessary fires, the tribe passed days, often many
+days, without food.
+
+So much for Anastasio's early life. A year ago, he told us, he went
+hunting with two Americans. One of them came from under the earth, where
+there were six months of night, and had passed two seas and been a
+month on the train. We supposed, from this, that Anastasio had served as
+guide to an Englishman, whose home he described at the Antipodes. The
+six months of night were, perhaps, represented by the London fogs, and,
+if he passed a month on the train, he must have come by the Southern
+Pacific. The Englishman had presented Anastasio with the very
+undesirable gaberdine I have before described. Anastasio said that the
+Englishman shot quail in the head every time with his rifle, but on
+meeting a band of eleven sheep he fired nine shots without hitting.
+Anastasio said he trembled, but I incline to think that the Indian had
+run him out of breath. Finally the Englishman secured two ewes and a
+lamb, after three weeks of hunting.
+
+Look at my fortune! A single day on the mountain, and three rams to show
+for it; one with horns that are an abiding splendor--sixteen inches
+around the base and forty-two inches on the outer sweep.
+
+I thought at first that the horns made more than one complete spiral,
+but, on leveling them carefully, I saw that the entire curve would not
+be complete without the points, which were smashed off. In this
+connection it is only fair to consider that I carried my lucky bear's
+head belt, and invariably sacrificed to the Sun, as several ragged
+garments, hung on spikes and branches, may still testify.
+
+The weather threatened storm. J. B.'s leg would not permit him to hunt.
+Anastasio was full of meat, eating roasted ribs night and day, beside
+his regular meals, and we decided to retreat.
+
+I noticed that the sheep hides had little of the under wool that the
+Northern sheep have in December, nor were the animals fat, though the
+flesh was sweet and tender, and the livers had their desired medicinal
+effect.
+
+Anastasio said it was customary to hunt in summer, when the sheep were
+fat, and were compelled to resort to the water holes. Aside from the
+meanness of taking advantage of the animals' necessities, the summer is
+a bad season for hunting, both because the flesh is rank and spoils
+quickly, and the heat and insects are intolerable.
+
+We packed our mules in a gentle rain, and Anastasio made a great bundle
+of rejected meat for his own use. To get rope, he slightly roasted the
+leaves of the Spanish dagger, tore the hot spikes in shreds with his
+tough fingers and knotted the fragments into a strong, pliable cord.
+
+In two days we were again in the Trinidad Valley, and in two days
+more--one of them passed in facing a cold, driving storm, of great
+violence--we had reached our old friend, Don Manuel Murillo, at El Rayo.
+Here we lay over a day to rest the animals, and Don Manuel again played
+the part of a good angel in letting us have some hay.
+
+I tried a shot at a duck on a little pond. The shot was a costly
+success. The duck died, but I had to wade for his remains through many
+yards of frozen mud and dirty water. The duck, though lean, was tender.
+My last hunt was for deer at El Rayo, with a boy of Don Manuel's for
+guide. Toward noon I saw two deer and shot them. I do not at present
+know just how to class them. The tail is that of the ordinary mule-deer,
+or blacktail, of Colorado and Montana, but there is no white patch on
+the rump.
+
+The most of the deer in Lower, as well as in Southern, California have
+little white on their rumps, as in these specimens, but the upper
+surface of the tail is generally dark. The majority of the animals also
+are smaller than the typical mule-deer of our Northern States, but
+whether the differences between the two are great enough and constant
+enough to form a defined variety, some more competent naturalist must
+decide. Pending authoritative decision, I will submit, as a working
+theory of a purely amateur kind, this suggestion: that the Mexicans are
+right in saying that the northern zone of their country contains two
+varieties of deer--one a large animal, called "buro," identical with our
+Northern mule-deer; the other called "venado," a mule-deer too, but only
+a cousin of the "buro," much smaller, and with the white parts of the
+mask, throat, rump and tail either absent or much diminished in extent.
+
+Our journey home was accomplished in the worst weather. Snow, cold rain,
+gales of surprising fury, made life a struggle; but we jumped at every
+chance for progress, and finally crossed the line twenty-five days after
+we had left it--tired, ragged, dirty, but with our mules alive and our
+hearts contented.
+
+Our experience of the peninsula indicated that there were few
+inhabitants of any kind, brute or human. We saw hardly a dozen rabbits
+on the trip. There were some quail and many ducks, but the latter were
+visitors only. Deer were very scarce, and there were but a few half-wild
+cattle visible.
+
+As for human beings, there was not an inhabited house on our road from
+Alvarez Place, in the Trinidad Valley, to El Rayo, a distance of
+fifty-five miles; nor from El Rayo to Juarez, twenty-five miles more.
+Indeed, except for the few hovels at Tecate, the houses for the rest of
+the way were hardly more numerous. And yet we had a strong impression
+that the country had nearly all the population it could support. Given a
+moderately dry year, and the part of Lower California which we visited
+can be thought fit only for bogus land companies and goose-egg mines;
+or, yes, it might be an ideal spot for a health resort or a penal
+colony.
+
+_George H. Gould._
+
+
+
+
+A Canadian Moose Hunt
+
+
+In October, 1893, I made an extended trip with my brother into the
+country around the head waters of the Ottawa. Our original plan, to push
+northward toward the "Height of Land" after caribou, was frustrated by
+high winds, which made travel on the large lakes slow and dangerous. The
+crossing of a ten-mile lake, which could be accomplished in a morning if
+calm, would consume several days with a high wind blowing, necessitating
+a tedious coasting on the windward shore. After much delay from this
+cause and from heavy rains, which made hunting difficult in the extreme,
+we at length abandoned the hope of caribou on this trip, and turned
+southward from Birch Lake into Lake Kwingwishe--the Indian name for meat
+bird. This was about the northern limit of moose, although a few are
+found beyond it.
+
+Our repeated failures to see this great deer would not form interesting
+reading, although, if recorded, they would, no doubt, bring to the
+mind of many a moose hunter memories of times when the hunt was hard and
+the result--a blank. It is my purpose in this article to merely sketch
+one or two instances of this sort, which, in contrast to days of
+unrewarded watching, were red-lettered with excitement. I only give the
+episodes because too often we relate our victories alone, and missed
+shots and barren tramps are consigned to ill-merited oblivion, however
+real they were.
+
+[Illustration: A MOOSE OF THE UPPER OTTAWA.]
+
+After hunting the country around Lake Kwingwishe, we at length camped on
+a small pond near the east shore. Here we watched and called every night
+and morning; then we visited neighboring swamps and ponds, carrying a
+canoe through the forest by compass. It was always the same--wet and
+hungry, tired out with tramping through tamarack swamps, we would call
+half the night, sometimes startled with false alarms from hoot owl or
+loon, and then lie down in a rain-soaked tent without a fire, for smoke
+always scares a moose. The first streaks of dawn came, and again we were
+up and anxiously watching the shore for the appearance of the monster we
+were after. There were his tracks a few hours old but we could never
+catch him making them. It was too early in the season to trail them
+down, as the bulls were traveling continuously in impenetrable swamps,
+and our best chance was to run across them on the waterways.
+
+One morning, on a pond we had named "Little Trout Pond," because it
+looked as though it should have trout in it, but did not; we awoke,
+after some specially exhausting and disappointing "back pond"
+expeditions, and found Chabot, one of our two Indian guides, gone. Late
+in the afternoon he returned. He had been seeing the country, and had
+found a swamp about three miles off full of fresh tracks, "so big
+moose," and he described tracks such as must have belonged to the Irish
+elk. Soon after sunrise on the following day we were there. Cold lunch,
+no dinner and lots of beautiful fresh tracks, one the largest I ever
+saw.
+
+We watched motionless all day, saw the sun cross the zenith and sink out
+of sight, saw the twilight fade away and the moon come up. About
+midnight we went back to camp, through the woods. Night travel in a
+forest that you can scarcely get through in the daytime is beyond
+description.
+
+"So good swamp," said Chabot sadly that night as he crawled into his
+tent.
+
+The next day we pitched a rough camp on a hogback between two barren
+plains, about five miles from our main camp. It rained hard as soon as
+we got the tent up, and we watched a runway at the foot of the hill
+until dark and then turned in.
+
+The next morning it rained so heavily that we lay in our tent, four of
+us, until about 11 A. M., when it slacked up a little. My diary says,
+"No fire and little breakfast." Before this "little breakfast" was
+finished we heard a moose call close by. Seizing our rifles, we started
+with Chabot to stalk him. The brevity of a diary is sometimes eloquent.
+Mine says, "Walked from 12 M. to 4.30 P. M. through the bush. Didn't
+hear that moose again."
+
+The latter hour found us back in camp to get breakfast, when our other
+guide, Jocko, who had gone to the main camp for food, came back in great
+excitement, having found some fresh signs close at hand. Breakfast was
+dropped and again we started. We got back just after dark from that trip
+and ate--for the first time that day--some cold partridge and pork.
+
+This was a fair sample of our hunting day, but did not equal the
+following one. It rained all that night, and the tent, not having been
+properly stretched, leaked. We were awakened by the crackling of a fire
+the guides had made. It was direct disobedience of orders, and contrary
+to the most elementary rules of moose hunting; but, cold and faint for
+want of food, we yielded to the innate perversity of the Indian. We made
+a wild-eyed, starved group, warming our fingers around the little blaze
+as it snapped up through the still, wet morning air. The teapot was just
+beginning to boil, the pork was just sizzling, when we sprang to our
+feet. A crash of antlers, as though two bulls were fighting, sounded not
+a hundred yards away. The noise was perfectly clear, having a metallic
+ring to it, and was caused by moose horns striking a hard substance.
+
+Again. Without a word, we seized our rifles, and left our breakfast and
+fire, and I never saw that spot afterward. Again came the sound, still
+distinct, but further off, this time like a birch canoe dragged through
+alders. The animal had been on the runway which crossed at the foot of
+the hill we were camped on when he scented the fresh-lit fire. Well, to
+make a long story short, we followed that trail three weary hours of
+running and creeping through frightful swamps and thickets, hearing
+every few minutes the sound just ahead of us, but with never a sight of
+the game. His huge tracks, which we crossed now and again, showed he was
+not even trotting. Nearly exhausted, we kept following the sound
+directly, and so cutting across and gaining on him. Once he seemed just
+ahead, and we expected to see him each second; but we had to pay for the
+luxury of that fire, as for other good things in life, so we never saw a
+hair of him. When, at last, completely used up, we burst out on a lake
+and saw the muddy tracks and the water still "riled up" where he had
+crossed, Jocko swore he heard him crash up the opposite bank; but we
+were at the end of our strength and could go no further. A man must eat
+sometimes, even on a moose hunt.
+
+Now comes the really tragical part of this episode; our canoe was not
+twenty feet from where this perverse animal had entered the water, and
+we were on the little pond where our permanent camp stood. Still we felt
+encouraged, for, as Chabot said that night, "Hear him now, see him
+pretty soon." But not for many days.
+
+One more sample to encourage would-be moose hunters, and then we will
+kill a moose just to show how easy it is. Two nights after the above
+adventure we changed our camp and the weather at the same time. It was
+clear now, but it grew very cold, and made night work in the canoe a
+horror.
+
+It was my brother's turn to call, and I was just dropping off to sleep
+in my tent, within a few feet of the lake shore, when from the other
+side of the water, about a quarter of a mile distant, a bull moose
+called. On the cold, still air it rang out like a trumpet--a long call,
+very different from the call made by Indian hunters. Jocko, who was with
+me in camp, was frantic with excitement, especially as my brother, who
+must have heard it, did not answer. Again the call sounded. The bull
+must be on the shore. I thought he might swim over. Then came the
+answering call, close at hand, of a cow. Jocko laughed and whispered,
+"Chabot call him." Then there was silence for a few minutes, followed by
+a final bellow, evidently further off. The mock cow bawled and screamed
+and bleated frantically, but no sound came back. My brother and his man
+kept it up until late that night, and then came to the camp almost
+frozen. That incident ruined my faith in calling, for every condition of
+wind and weather was perfect, and Chabot's calling apparently most
+enticing.
+
+After this and similar episodes, we left the Kwingwishe country, after
+hunting it carefully as far north as Sassanega Lake. We passed Sair's
+Lake and the Bois Franc, and finally reached the Little Beauchene. Near
+the last lake my brother killed a young bull moose, whose meat was the
+first fresh food, except partridge, we had had for over three weeks. It
+was delicious, and we felt the change of diet at once in increased
+strength and energy. For continuous use moose meat is much superior to
+other venison, as it is of a rich flavor which does not readily pall on
+the taste. The myth about moose muffle being such a hunters' delicacy
+has never allured me to actually eat it, but I suppose a starving man
+might, after consuming his boots, manage to swallow it.
+
+There were many fresh signs in the neighborhood of the Little Beauchene
+Lake, but some lumbermen had arrived a few days before us and had
+scared the game away. This starting the quarry is the real difficulty in
+moose hunting; for, when once disturbed, the bull leaves with all his
+kith and kin, so the only chance in these regions is to find him
+immediately on arrival in a new district and before he comes across your
+tracks.
+
+Still working slowly southward, we hunted more back ponds, until at last
+my turn came on the twenty-seventh hunting day. Let no man say that
+moose hunting is a picnic.
+
+We had camped on a little strip of land, between a pond and a long
+narrow swamp, about 4 o'clock on a beautiful afternoon. Leaving my
+brother and Jocko to eat dinner in comfort, I started to the head of the
+swamp. The water was so low that we could barely force the light canoe
+through the lily-pads. Old moose signs were plenty. A family of moose
+had evidently been there all summer, but until we reached the upper end
+we saw no fresh tracks. The sluggish stream we were on drained a shallow
+lake, and, after a few hard plunges, our canoe floated clear of the mud
+into the silent waters of a circular pond. It was a basin about a half
+mile across, surrounded by low hardwood hills, and so shallow that a
+moose, I think, could have waded across the deepest part. The shores
+were marked up with some very large tracks, but fresh signs had long
+since ceased to excite in me anything more than a passing interest. We
+made the tour of the lake slowly and quietly. Nothing was in sight
+except four wood ducks. This was "last chance" pond, and if I got no
+moose here, we must return to Mattawa for another outfit, which I had
+about made up my mind to do. The night settled still and cold--oh, so
+cold!--and the stars came out with wonderful distinctness.
+
+What was that?
+
+Chabot had started up, listened, and a second later was driving the
+birch across the lake noiselessly. As we neared the shore, it was inky
+black--a mammoth would not have been visible ten yards away. Twigs
+breaking at long intervals told that something was on shore just in
+cover of the bushes. We waited some time and at last I whispered to
+Chabot, "Muckwa?" (bear).
+
+"Not muckwa--cow," answered the guide.
+
+As he spoke, the short call of a bull floated out on the cold air from
+the side of the pond that we had just left. I think Chabot was right
+about the cow being in the bushes, but he may have been mistaken--one's
+hearing becomes unnaturally sensitive after a few weeks' continuous
+straining to catch and distinguish the most distant sounds. But there
+was no mistake about that bull's call. He was well back from the shore
+on the hillside. The wind was wrong, and, although he grunted at
+intervals for an hour, he paid no attention to Chabot's most seductive
+pleadings. We imitated with paddles the splashings of a cow walking in
+the shallow water, but this and other devices had no effect. When at
+last even my Indian could no longer bear the bitter cold of the wind
+which had sprung up, we started for camp. Long past midnight we crawled
+into our blankets, and I dropped asleep cursing the day I had first gone
+after moose.
+
+We were on that pond again before daylight. Not a sound to be heard, not
+a living thing to be seen, when the sun rose. We took our stand on a
+small point opposite the outlet and watched. I sat on a fallen tree
+motionless, hour after hour. Chabot dozed beside me. Those four ducks
+played and fed within thirty feet, and a muskrat worked at
+house-building a few yards away. The silence was intense. There was not
+a breath of wind. I knew my brother was doing the same thing on a
+neighboring pond, and I fell to thinking whether there was some special
+Nemesis about this hunt, or it was the fault of the guides. I glanced at
+the outlet in front of me, about a half mile distant.
+
+There was a moose, stalking with the utmost deliberation along the edge
+of the woods and then into the shallow water.
+
+Chabot was roused by a hasty shake, and a second later the canoe was
+flying across the lake. As we crossed, I inspected the moose closely. He
+was walking slowly, nibbling the long reed-like grass that stuck up from
+the water. His neck seemed very stiff, and he swung his legs from his
+hips and shoulders. The hump was extremely conspicuous, perhaps because
+his head was carried low to get at the grass. He was a young bull,
+nearly full grown, and with small antlers. He looked occasionally at the
+canoe, now fast nearing him; but we had the advantage of the wind, and
+the sun was going down behind us. It was just 5 o'clock. He walked, now
+out toward us, now back to shore, as though about to bolt for the bush,
+but working slowly toward the north, where we afterwards found a
+much-used runway, leading to the marsh my brother was watching, two
+miles away. I opened fire about fifty yards off, when the moose was
+standing in about a foot of water, looking suspiciously at us. The shot
+was too high, but struck him in the shoulder. He started in a lumbering
+gallop along the shore. I fired again. This turned him into the woods at
+an old lumber road. We heard the twigs snap sharply for a minute, and
+then a heavy crash and silence. I thought we had lost him, but Chabot
+declared that he was down. I sprang ashore the moment the canoe
+grounded, and dashed in on his trail, which was perfectly clear on the
+soft moss. Looking ahead through the open woods for the animal, which I
+thought had turned, I almost fell over his prostrate body.
+
+His head rested against a small windfall, which he had tried to
+clear--an effort which appeared to have cost him his life. Moss hung
+from some small spruce trees close by, which had been kicked up in the
+death struggle. The shoulder shot had been the fatal one, but he had
+been hard hit in the side too.
+
+He was not full grown, and measured only 5 feet 6-1/2 inches in height,
+and 8 feet 3-1/4 inches in length, from the nose to root of tail. His
+girth at the shoulder was 5 feet 11-1/4 inches. His nose showed none of
+the Jewish characteristics which taxidermists are fond of giving their
+mounted moose heads. The forehead and shoulders were brownish instead of
+black, like the rest of the body. The hindlegs were wholly white, as
+were the forelegs below the knee. I am inclined to think he was a ranger
+moose, but could not tell with certainty, as his horns were too
+undeveloped. The velvet was still hanging in places, but very dry. This
+was unusual, as it was the 10th of October.
+
+Ordering Chabot to dress the moose, I went back to the canoe, having
+decided to watch until dark, although there seemed no possibility of
+seeing another moose after the firing. My lazy guide, instead of obeying
+my order, merely cut the skin, with the result that all the meat
+spoiled--probably just what he wanted, fearing he would have to portage
+it out of the bush. We returned to our point and dozed again. At a
+quarter of 7 it was getting dark fast, and in the north a black,
+ugly-looking cloud was gathering. We might as well go back to camp if it
+was going to blow and rain, so I told Chabot to shove off and to give
+one last toot of his horn, just for luck.
+
+The air was still as death with the dread of the impending storm. Chabot
+took up the coiled birch, and the echoes rang out with a short grunting
+call, which so much resembles a man chopping wood. Before they died
+away, there came from behind us, just to our right, the unmistakable
+answering grunt of a bull moose. He was probably on his way to the lake,
+and our call merely hastened him and brought him out into the open
+before it was too dark to shoot. He was very near and came steadily
+forward, stopping now and then to listen. We could hear him plainly as
+his horns broke the twigs at every step--once or twice he lashed the
+bushes with them. He repeated his grunts, ungh! ungh! every few steps.
+He was so evidently reckless that, to take no chance, I allowed Chabot
+to answer only once--with the short call. I say short call, in
+distinction to the long modulated call which is used to good purpose in
+Maine and New Brunswick, but which I have never known to succeed in this
+part of Canada. The moose paused for a moment in the alders that formed
+a close thicket at the water's edge, and I feared he had seen or scented
+us; then suddenly and noiselessly he stepped out from a cove a short
+hundred yards away. He had taken less than ten minutes from the first
+call to his appearance.
+
+At the first alarm we had pushed off and were floating quietly just by
+the shore. The water was so shallow that the birch made, to my ears at
+least, a frightful scraping as it pushed over the dead sticks that lay
+in the water, and the wind was unfavorable. I never shall forget the
+appearance that bull made as he stepped fiercely and proudly out, with
+his head up, swinging a splendid set of antlers as lightly as straws. He
+did not see us, but strode about ten yards into the shallow lake, where
+the water scarcely covered his hoofs, and, first glancing away for a
+second, turned like a flash and faced us full, looking down on us in
+surprised disgust. He was greatly excited and the mane on his hump was
+erect, increasing his natural height, and there was nothing timid or
+deer-like in his appearance. I have seen in the arena a bull step out
+from the darkened stall into the glare of sunlight, and gaze for a
+moment at the picadors with a sort of indignant surprise; so this great
+bull moose looked.
+
+We gazed motionless at each other, I knowing that it was one of the
+grandest and rarest sights on the American continent, and he thinking,
+no doubt, what a disgraceful imitation of a cow the motionless canoe
+made. Chabot's breath was coming hard behind me, and I felt the birch
+bark quiver.
+
+As I raised my rifle, I realized that it had suddenly grown very dark
+under this western bank, and the bull precisely resembled in color the
+background, and, large as he was, made a very poor mark. The tall grass,
+which I had looked over in watching him, now sticking up in front of the
+sights, bothered me. I fired at the root of his neck, and the rifle gave
+a suppressed roar in the heavy air and the smoke hung like a pall. The
+bull ran straight forward, hesitated as though about to charge, then
+turned and made wonderful speed along the lake shore. The moment I could
+see him I fired again. In the dim twilight he was almost out of sight.
+When the smoke cleared he was gone.
+
+Neither of us moved. It was too frightful to miss such an immense
+creature at that range. We heard him crash up the hillside and then stop
+a short distance back in the wood. Then I knew he either was down or had
+turned, unless he had found an open lumber road, where his horns would
+make no sound; for a moose can go in the most mysterious manner when he
+chooses to be quiet--but there was nothing quiet about this bull.
+
+Chabot declared that he had heard him cough, but I did not believe it. I
+pointed to the spot where he had entered the bush, and a moment later
+the canoe grated on the beach. There were the huge tracks with the hoofs
+wide spread, and the trail entering an old lumber road.
+
+All this took less time to happen than to read, and yet it was now dark,
+so quickly had night fallen. By straining my eyes I saw it was 7
+o'clock--just two hours after the first bull was killed. Chabot wanted
+to go back to camp, which was the proper thing to do, especially as I
+had now just one cartridge left. I had only taken a handful with me that
+morning.
+
+We entered the forest foot by foot, Chabot following the trail where I
+could scarcely see to step. A few yards in and the track turned from the
+old road into the thick bush, and we knew the moose was near. A little
+further, and we scarcely moved--stepping like cats from tree to tree,
+expecting every second to hear an angry grunt and have the bull emerge
+from the impenetrable veil of night that hung around us.
+
+At last we came to a windfall, and we were for some time at a loss to
+find whether he had gone across or around it. In lighting a match with
+extreme caution, the light fell on a tall moose wood stem about as large
+as one's finger. Four feet from the ground it was dripping with bright
+red blood. The coughing Chabot had heard was now, we thought, explained,
+and the game hard hit. We decided to go back to camp; for, as my guide
+put it very clearly, the wounded bull would either fight or run. I
+wasn't anxious for the first alternative in the dark and tangled wood,
+with one cartridge; and the second meant a long chase on the morrow. If
+we left him until the morning, he would be either dead or too stiff from
+his wound to go far.
+
+So back we went to camp, amply repaid by the events of two hours for
+weeks of hardship and exposure. Just at daylight the next morning, as we
+were leaving camp, prepared to take and keep the trail of that bull if
+it led to Hudson Bay, my brother appeared with Jocko. He had had no
+breakfast, and had come a long distance through a frightful bush in
+order to be in at the death, as he had heard the firing, and shrewdly
+suspected that in the dusk a wounded moose was the result.
+
+"From the tracks at my lake," said he, as he strode up to the fire,
+"there are two bull moose around here--a large and a small one; which
+did you get?"
+
+"Both," replied Chabot.
+
+We took the trail at the water's edge, and found it smeared with blood.
+The bull could not have gone far. A short walk brought us to the
+windfall where we had turned back the night before, and which had seemed
+so deep in the woods.
+
+A hundred yards beyond it lay the bull on his right side. The second
+shot had struck him in the center of the left ham and ranged through
+him. The meat was spoiled, as was the hide--that is, the hair came out
+so badly that it was not worth while to prepare it; but the neck and
+scalp were perfect, except a bad scar on the forehead, received in
+fighting.
+
+He was a grand sight as he lay dead in that silent autumn forest--for I
+never can get over the impression that somehow or other the moose is a
+survival of a long past order of nature, a fit comrade for the mammoth
+and the cave bear. He was short and thickset, with immense chest
+power--probably a swamp moose. The neck was short and stout, and he had
+a Jewish cast of nose. No bell--merely the common dewlap. He measured at
+the shoulder 6 feet 6 inches; 9 feet 8-1/2 inches from nose to tip of
+tail; girth at shoulders, 6 feet 2-1/2 inches. We skinned and
+decapitated the moose, one after the other. The meat of both was
+completely spoiled, and it seemed wicked to leave those two huge
+carcasses to the bears and wolves; but there was no help for it, so we
+started for Mattawa. I doubt if we could have carried out any of the
+meat if we had tried, for we had to throw away everything not absolutely
+necessary on the long portages that followed. At last we reached
+Rosiceau's, on Snake Lake, and, with the welcome the old man gave us,
+felt quite at home once more. Then passing by the scenes of a former
+hunt, we reached Fort Eddy, an old Hudson Bay post, and then the Ottawa
+River. We ran the Cave rapids, and at sundown on a beautiful day the
+town of Mattawa swung in sight, and the hunt was over.
+
+The country we had traversed contained little except bears and moose. We
+saw a few caribou tracks, and brought home with us a curious caribou
+antler, which we found in the woods.
+
+The fur animals have, within the last five years, been exterminated, and
+the very few beaver that survive have abandoned their old habits, and
+live in holes in the banks of the larger streams. We found traces of one
+of these bank beaver, but he was probably traveling and we could not
+catch him. A few mink were shot, but the country is completely stripped
+of everything else of value. If the present law, prohibiting the
+trapping of otter and beaver, can be enforced, perhaps the land may be
+restocked, but it will take years. It is fit for nothing except fur and
+timber, and, with efficient game wardens, could be made to produce a
+large return from these sources. Partridges and loons abounded, but
+ducks were seldom seen.
+
+The lakes form a complete system of communication by means of easy
+portages, but there are no streams that contain trout and no springs to
+supply drinking water. This lack of fresh water caused us considerable
+suffering, as the lake water is supposed to be dangerous, and a pail of
+spring water, which we got at the start, was carried for days over
+portages as our most precious baggage. We did not see a sign of a brook
+trout during the entire trip, and I do not believe that there were any
+in the waters we traversed. There may have been lake trout, but our
+trolling produced only pike and pickerel.
+
+This absence of small game and fish makes the country very
+uninteresting, and the long monotony between most exciting events is the
+greatest drawback to hunting on the Upper Ottawa.
+
+_Madison Grant._
+
+
+
+
+A Hunting Trip in India
+
+
+Early in 1881 I landed at Bombay, intending to get as many varieties of
+big game shooting as possible during the course of the year. I was well
+armed with introductions, including many from the Department of State,
+and during my stay in India was treated by the English military
+officers, civil officials, planters and merchants with a hearty
+hospitality which I cordially appreciated. Thanks to this hospitality,
+and to the readiness with which all to whom I was introduced fell into
+my plans, I was able to get a rather unusually varied quantity of sport.
+
+My first trip was in March, after tigers. On the 1st of March I started
+from Hyderabad with Colonels Fraser and Watson, and traveled by
+palanquin that day and night, and most of the next day, striking the
+foot of the G[=a]t at a place called Rungapore, and then going on over a
+great plain, beyond which we camped. The scenery was magnificent, and
+we heard much news of the devastation of tigers among the large herds of
+miserable-looking cattle belonging to the poor villagers roundabout. The
+thermometer went up to 96 degrees in the shade during the day, but the
+nights were lovely and cool. Thanks to Colonel Fraser, we were fitted
+out as comfortably as we could be, and the luxury of the camp life
+offered the strongest possible contrast to my experiences in roughing it
+on the buffalo range in northwestern Texas.
+
+For the first two days we accomplished nothing, though several of the
+cattle we had put out for baits were killed, and though we started and
+beat the jungles with our elephants whenever we received khubber, or
+news. Our camp equipage included twenty elephants, forty camels and
+bullocks, thirty horses for the troopers, and fifty baggage horses. We
+had seventeen private servants, twenty-six police, fifty-two bearers,
+and an indefinite number of attendants for the elephants and camels, and
+of camp followers. An Indian of high position, Sir Salar Jung, was along
+also; so our total retinue comprised 350 men, in addition to which we
+employed each day of beaters 150 or 200 more.
+
+On March 5th, one of the shikaris brought word that he had seen and
+heard a tigress and two cubs at a nullah about six miles away.
+Immediately we started up the valley, Col. Fraser, Col. Watson and
+myself, each on his own elephant. The jungle was on fire and the first
+beat was not successful, for we had to fight the fire, and in the
+excitement the brute got off. However, some of the watchers saw her, and
+marked her down in another small ravine. Through this we again beat, the
+excitement being at fever heat. I was, of course, new to the work, and
+the strangeness of the scene, the cries of the beaters and watchers, the
+occasional explosion of native fireworks, together with the quantity of
+other game that we saw, impressed me much. In this ravine I was favored
+by good luck. The tigress broke right in front of me, and I hit her with
+a ball from a No. 12 smooth-bore. She sickened at once and crawled back
+into the jungle. In we went on the elephants, tracking her up. She made
+no attempt to charge, and I finished her off with another barrel of the
+smooth-bore and two express bullets. The crowd of natives ran up,
+abusing the tigress and praising me, while the two colonels drank my
+health. We then padded the tigress and rode back to camp, having been
+gone from half past 9 in the morning till 7 in the evening. This tigress
+weighed, when we brought her in, 280 pounds; her living weight must have
+been much more.
+
+Next day we again got news of a tigress, with one cub, but we failed to
+find her. The following day, for a change, I tried still-hunting through
+the woods. There was not much game, but what we did see was far from
+shy, and the shooting was easy. The camp was on a terrace, and from it
+we went up a range of hills to the stalking ground. It was a stony
+country and the trees were scrubby. I shot two cheetul, or spotted deer,
+and also two of the little jungle cocks. The next day again was a blank,
+but on the 9th we got another tiger. Thanks to the courtesy of my
+friends, I was given the first shot, again hitting it with one barrel of
+the smooth-bore. The heat was very great on this day. It was not
+possible to touch the gun barrels without a glove, and the thirst was
+awful. In the evening the cool bath was a luxury indeed. By moonlight
+the camp was very fine. The next morning I was off at daybreak, snipe
+shooting around a big tank, seven miles away. On my return I found that
+my companions had gone out for a beat, and so, after a hurried
+breakfast, I jumped on my horse and rode after them. That afternoon we
+beat two ravines and got a tiger. This was the last tiger that we
+killed. The weather was getting very warm, and, though we stayed a week
+longer out, we failed to get on terms with Mr. Stripes again. However, I
+shot three sambur stags. Two of them were weighed in camp, their weight
+being, respectively, 450 and 438 pounds.
+
+It was now getting hot, and I determined to start northward for my
+summer's hunting in the Himalayas and Cashmere, although it was rather
+early to try to get through the mountains. I left Lahore on April 6th
+for the Pir Pinjal. My transportation consisted of eight pack ponies and
+three native single-horse carts. I was shown every courtesy by Mr.
+McKay, a member of the Forest Department, at Gujarat. I intended to make
+a hunt for gorals and bears in the mountains around the Pir Pinjal
+before striking through to Cashmere. The goral is a little mountain
+antelope, much like the chamois, only with straight horns. The bear in
+the region in which I was hunting was the black bear, which is very
+much like our own black bear. Further on in the Himalayas is found the
+red or snow bear, which is a good deal like the great brown bear of
+Europe, or a small and inoffensive grizzly. After leaving Gujarat, I
+traveled for several days before coming to my hunting ground proper,
+although on the way I killed some peacocks, partridges, and finally some
+very handsome pheasants of different kinds. The country offered the
+greatest possible contrast to that in which I had been hunting tigers.
+Everything was green and lovely, and the scenery was magnificent beyond
+description--the huge steep mountains rising ahead of me, while the
+streams were crystal-clear, noisy torrents. The roads were very rough,
+and the wild flowers formed great carpets everywhere.
+
+On the 16th of April I began my shooting, having by this time left my
+heavy baggage behind, and having with me only what the coolies could
+carry. I had two shikaris, four servants and twelve coolies, besides
+myself. On April 16th I killed my first goral. I had hunted in vain all
+day, but about 5 o'clock one of the shikaris advised my starting out
+again and climbing around the neighboring cliffs. I did this for two
+and one-half hours, and then got a close shot and killed the little
+beast. This was my first trial of grass-shoes, and my first experience
+in climbing over the stupendous mountain masses; for stupendous they
+were, though they were only the foothills of the Himalayas proper.
+Without grass-shoes it is impossible to climb on these smooth, grassy
+slopes; but I found that they hurt my feet a great deal. The next day I
+again went off with my two shikaris over the mountains. Each of them
+carried a gun. I had all I could do to take care of myself without one,
+for a mis-step would have meant a fall of a thousand or two feet. In the
+morning we saw five gorals and I got one. At 10 I stopped and a coolie
+came up with a lunch, and I lay reading, sleeping and idly watching the
+grand mountains until the afternoon, when we began again to examine the
+nullahs for game, being all the time much amused by the monkeys. At 4 we
+started again, and in a jagged mass of precipices I got another goral.
+The next day I repeated my experience, and had one of the characteristic
+bits of bad luck, offset by good luck, that come to every
+hunter--missing a beautiful shot at fifty yards, and then, by a fluke,
+killing a goral at 300 yards. The animal, however, fell over 1,000 feet
+and was ruined. I myself had a slip this day and went down about fifty
+feet. The following day I again went off to climb, and the first ascent
+was so steep that at the top I was completely blown, and missed a
+beautiful shot at a goral at fifty yards. I then arranged a beat, but
+nothing came from it, and the morning was a blank. In the afternoon I
+gave up beating and tried still-hunting again. It was hard work, but I
+was very successful, and killed two gorals and a bear.
+
+At this time I was passed by two English officers, also going in to
+shoot--one of them, Captain S. D. Turnbull, a very jolly fellow and a
+good sportsman, with whom I got on excellent terms; the other, a Captain
+C., was a very bad walker and a poor shot, and was also a disagreeable
+companion, as he would persist in trying to hang around my hunting
+grounds, thus forcing me continually to shift.
+
+On April 21st I tried driving for gorals, and got four, and on the next
+two days I got three gorals and two bears. So far I had had great luck
+and great sport. The work was putting me in fine trim, except my feet,
+which were getting very sore. It was very hard work going after the
+gorals. The bears offered easier stalking, and, like our American black
+bear but unlike our grizzly, they didn't show fight. The climbing was
+awful work. The stones and grass-shoes combined bruised and skinned the
+soles of my feet, so that I could not get relief without putting them in
+clarified butter and then keeping them up in the air. Accordingly I
+tried resting for a day, and meant to rest the following day too; but
+could not forbear taking a four hours' stroll along the banks of the
+brawling, snow-fed river, and was rewarded by shooting a surow--a queer,
+squatty, black antelope, about the size of a Rocky Mountain white goat
+and with similar horns. The next day I rested again, hoping my feet
+would get better. Instead they got worse, and I made up my mind that, as
+they were so bad, I might as well get some hunting anyhow, so off I
+tramped on the 27th for another all-day jog. It would be difficult to
+describe the pain that my feet gave me all day long. However, it was a
+real sporting day. I suffered the tortures of the damned, but I got two
+gorals and one tahr--a big species of goat with rather small horns--and
+then hobbled back to camp. Next day I stayed quietly in camp, and then
+started back to the camp where I had left my heavy baggage. On the way I
+picked up another black bear. My feet were in a frightful condition, but
+I had had a fortnight's excellent sport.
+
+I then went on to Cashmere, and on May 6th reached Siringur. The scenery
+was beautiful beyond description, and the whole life of the natives very
+attractive to look at. However, something did not agree with me, for I
+was very sick and had to go to bed for several days. There were one or
+two American friends there, and these and the Englishmen, to whom I had
+letters of introduction, treated me with extreme courtesy. As soon as I
+got well, I started off for the real mountains, hoping especially to get
+ibex and markhoor. The ibex is almost exactly the same as the European
+animal of that name. The markhoor is a magnificent goat, with long
+whitish hair and great spiral horns. They also have in these Cashmere
+valleys a big stag called the barramigh, which is a good deal like our
+wapiti, only not half so large. On May 21st I started off, first by
+boat, but I was bothered from the beginning by chills and fever. I was
+weak, and glad I didn't have to march. At first, all I did in shooting
+was to have my coolies beat some brush patches near camp. Out of one of
+them they started a little musk-deer, which I shot. Soon I began to get
+very much better and we took up our march. I was going toward Astor, but
+encountered much snow, as it was still early in the season for these
+high mountains. I saw some grand barramigh, but their horns were, of
+course, only just growing, and I didn't molest them.
+
+Very soon I got into a country where the red bears literally swarmed.
+From May 26th to June 5th, during which time I was traveling and hunting
+all the time, I shot no less than sixteen, together with two musk-deer,
+but saw nothing else. The marching was very hard, and some of the passes
+dangerous. I met a British officer, Lieutenant Carey, on the 30th, who
+treated me very well indeed. The scenery was very beautiful, although
+rather bleak. I did not pick up strength as much as I had hoped. On June
+3d I christened my camp Camp Good Luck, because of the phenomenal
+success I had with the bears. That morning we left by 4 to cross the
+river before the snow had melted. The thermometer would go down to 30
+degrees, even in the valleys, at night, so that everything would freeze,
+and then would go up to 110 in the day, and when the snow melted the
+streams would come down in a perfect torrent. Not two miles beyond the
+river I saw three bears on the side of a hill, a she and two
+two-year-old cubs. My shikari made a splendid stalk and brought me
+within forty yards, and I got all three with a shot apiece. The delight
+of my camp followers was amusing. I then left the tents, and, taking
+only my blankets and a lunch basket with me, started off again. At
+midday I slept, and at 2 o'clock started up the nullah, seeing a number
+of bears. One of them I got within fifty yards, and two others, right
+and left, at 100 yards. The skinning took a long time, and the stream
+which I had to cross was up with the evening flood, so that I didn't get
+back to camp until 10 o'clock. I had shot unusually well, I had been
+happy and was all tired out, and it is needless to say how I slept.
+
+Soon after this I began to suffer from fever, and I had to work very
+hard indeed, as I was now on the ibex ground. For several days, though I
+saw ibex, I was unable to get near them. Finally, on June 9th, I got my
+first one, a young buck with small horns. I had to hunt way up the
+mountain, even beyond bush vegetation, and the hot sun at midday was
+awful. Nevertheless, by very hard climbing, I managed on this day to get
+within shot first of a herd of nine females, which I did not touch, and
+then of the young buck, which I killed. On June 13th, by another
+heart-breaking climb, very high up, I got a second small buck. I did not
+get back to camp that night till half past 9--tired out, feet badly cut
+with the stones and bruised all over; but in spite of the fever I
+enjoyed every day--the scenery was so grand and the life so
+exhilarating. Four days afterwards came a red-letter day. I started
+early in the morning, clambering up among the high mountains. Until noon
+I saw nothing; then several flocks of ibex came in sight, one of them of
+eleven big bucks. I had to wait four hours to get into a position to
+stalk; then by quick work and awful climbing I came within close range
+and killed three. It was half past 10 in the evening before I got back
+to camp, very nearly done up, but exultant over my good luck.
+
+The traveling now became very severe and I had a great deal of
+difficulty even with the coolies, and though I hunted hard I got little
+game until July 8th. I had been shifting, trying to get on markhoor
+ground, and on this day I killed my first markhoor. The shikaris and I
+left the coolies to go around the path while we went over the mountain,
+a five hours' climb, keeping a sharp lookout for game. Just at the
+beginning of the ascent we saw three fine-looking markhoor grazing in a
+nullah, and after a stalk of about a mile, during which time it began to
+rain, the beasts went into a jungle on the steep side of the mountain.
+Through this we still-hunted and I got a shot through the bushes at 100
+yards. By good luck I hit and great was the rejoicing. Five days later I
+got two ibex, which at a distance we had mistaken for markhoor. Then I
+was attacked by a terrible dysentery and was within an ace of dying. For
+a fortnight I was unable to leave camp, excepting when I was carried
+slowly along by the coolies in the effort to get me out of the
+mountains. On August 1st I shot a second markhoor. We were journeying at
+the time. In the very rough places I had to walk, though awfully weak;
+elsewhere the coolies carried me. The markhoor was just below us, round
+a turn in the Indus Valley. I was in advance with one of the shikaris
+and got a quiet shot, and more by good luck than anything else--for I
+was very weak--I killed. I now began gradually to pick up strength, and
+when near Astor I got a urial, a kind of wild sheep.
+
+I had no other experience of note till I got back to Siringur, where I
+stayed to recuperate, and at the end of August went off once more into
+the foothills, this time after barramigh. In a week's work I killed
+three, but again became sick, and had to give up and come in.
+
+I forthwith returned to India, the hot weather being by this time pretty
+well over. As I was very anxious to kill an elephant, I went down to
+Ceylon, reaching that island the end of October and going out to Kandy.
+I met a number of Englishmen, who were very kind to me, as were some
+Eurasian gentlemen. On November 16th I left Minerva for a regular hunt.
+It was very interesting shooting through the tropical jungle and I had
+good luck. There were plenty of elephants, but at first I didn't get
+any, though I shot five spotted deer and a boar. Finally, however, I got
+two of the big brutes I was mainly after. One of them, which I killed on
+the 20th of the month, was said to be a rogue that had killed two
+villagers and done at intervals a good deal of damage to the crops. An
+old native tracker had guaranteed to show me this elephant. He kept his
+word. For three or four miles we had a very exciting track, and then
+came on him standing in the jungle, occasionally flapping his ears, and
+crept up to within thirty yards. I think he was asleep and I got a
+perfectly good shot, but, extraordinary to say, I missed. However, when
+he ran I went after him, and, getting very close, I shot him in the hip,
+so injuring his leg that he could not get away. He could still get round
+after us, and we passed a most lively half-hour, he trumpeting and
+charging incessantly, until, after expending a great quantity of
+cartridges, I finally put a bullet behind his eye, and down he went.
+
+Soon after this I went back to Kandy, and early in December left India
+for good.
+
+_Elliott Roosevelt._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: HOW OUR OUTFIT WAS CARRIED.]
+
+Dog Sledging in the North
+
+
+A good many years ago, my friends, Boies Penrose, Granville Keller, and
+I concluded that it would be a fitting termination to a very successful
+summer and fall hunting trip in the Rocky Mountains to endeavor to kill
+some moose and caribou in the Lake Winnipeg country, Manitoba. Thus we
+should combine very different kinds of sport amid surroundings more
+dissimilar than we imagined at the time. The whole of this rather
+memorable trip occupied nearly six months.
+
+Our adventures during the latter part of the hunt, that is, during our
+sojourn in the far north--while a part of the every-day experience of
+those familiar with the winter life in the woods of that country--were
+of a character totally unknown to the majority of sportsmen in the
+United States, and for this reason it has been thought worth while to
+give a short account of them.
+
+If my recollection serves me correctly, we arrived at Selkirk, at the
+lower end of Lake Winnipeg, in the latter part of October, to find
+navigation already closed. We had hoped to reach the upper part of the
+lake by means of a steamer, but found this impossible, and were
+therefore obliged to go on sleds to our first hunting ground--a moose
+country to the south of the head waters of the Fisher River, between
+Lake Winnipeg and Lake Winnipegosis.
+
+At Selkirk we were joined by a Mr. Phillips, and we had there employed
+an Indian boy to look after the dogs. This Indian was a magnificent
+specimen physically, and certainly the best walker that I have ever
+known. With the exception of a pardonable fondness for our whisky, he
+behaved very well at first, but afterward became so insufferably lazy
+that he was scarcely fit for the simple work of driving one of the dog
+teams--a change which was to be attributed entirely to our kind
+treatment of him. He was, however, a good trailer, but the worst shot
+that I remember to have met. He seemed to have no difficulty in finding
+moose, but could not hit them, which was the exact reverse of our
+experience.
+
+Portions of the country between Lakes Winnipeg and Winnipegosis,
+visited by our party, are as flat as the flattest portions of New
+Jersey, and for great distances nothing could be more level except
+possibly a billiard table. It is traversed by very few rivers or even
+creeks, there being immense stretches of territory where the only guide
+back to camp is the sun when it shines, or when it does not your
+compass, or the dog-sled trail through the snow leading to the camp. The
+different portions of this region are so much alike that it is almost
+impossible to tell one from another.
+
+Owing to the fact that it is very dangerous to be caught out over night,
+with the thermometer ranging anywhere from zero to 50 degrees below, we
+took the precaution to mount a big red flag in the top of the highest
+spruce we could find near our camp, so that, by climbing a high tree
+anywhere within a radius of a mile or so, one could easily see this
+flag. To still further reduce the chance of getting lost, we blazed the
+trees in a straight line for four miles due south of the camp, and, as
+the dog-sled trail came into our camp (which was in the heavy timber)
+from the north, it was not difficult to find one's way home in the
+evening. These precautions--needless elsewhere, but wise in this
+country--were taken principally because each of us had always been in
+the habit for years of hunting alone--a practice which I would recommend
+to anyone who desires to be really successful in killing big game.
+
+This vast expanse of flat country is quite heavily wooded over large
+areas, the timber being spruce, tamarack, poplar, birch, etc., with a
+great abundance of red and gray willow. The underbrush is sometimes very
+thick. There are, however, innumerable open places, which bear the local
+name of muskegs. These are, of course, marshes in summer, and covered
+with a heavy growth of grass; in winter they are frozen hard, and
+traveling over them is comparatively easy.
+
+The moose seem to be fond of remaining close to the edges of these
+muskegs, which are usually fringed with a heavy growth of willows. It
+would appear, however, that they venture out into these open places
+either during the night, early in the morning, or late in the afternoon;
+and, as these were the times when we were very glad either to be in camp
+or to be returning to it, we had more success in finding the moose in
+the timber, or on the little so-called ridges, which sometimes attain
+the remarkable height of four or five feet.
+
+Up to the time of leaving this camp we had very little opportunity to
+use snowshoes, as the snow was not yet--about the last of November--deep
+enough to make these necessary. We hunted all of the time in moccasins,
+boots of any description being simply out of the question, as they would
+soon freeze as hard as iron. After the cold weather set in, one day's
+experience with boots was quite sufficient for me, and I came to the
+conclusion, as I had often before in other regions, that it is very
+difficult to improve, in the matter of clothing, upon the customs of the
+country. The sudden change to moccasins was very tiring at first, but
+after one gets used to walking in them he will find that he can walk
+further and hunt better in them than any other style of foot-gear. We
+used, as I remember, first one or two pairs of heavy woolen socks, then
+a very heavy so-called "German" sock, coming up to the knee, over which
+we wore the high laced moccasin of the country.
+
+Before we had very long been engaged in moose hunting we all learned
+that we were not so expert in the art of killing big game as we
+previously imagined ourselves. In all my experience I have never met
+with any animal which is so difficult to get a shot at, even when quite
+numerous, as the moose in this region. It must always be borne in mind
+that to kill a moose--especially in a country where they have been
+hunted for generations by the Indians--by the thoroughly sportsmanlike
+method of following the trail of one until you finally get a shot at it
+and kill it, is a totally different thing from killing the same moose
+either by calling him at night in the autumn or by paddling on him in a
+canoe in the summer. In fact, of all the difficult things I have ever
+undertaken in the way of sport, I regard this as the most difficult; and
+before I got my first shot I began to think that there was a great deal
+of truth in the Indian's sneering remark, "White man no kill moose."
+Finally one day my luck turned, but that it did so was due more to the
+realization of my own inferiority, and lack of the proper kind of
+knowledge, than to anything else.
+
+It happened in this way: having thoroughly convinced myself that the
+moose either smelt me or in some other way found out that I was in their
+neighborhood before I could be made aware of the same fact, I concluded
+that there was something radically wrong in my manner of hunting them,
+although I employed every method known to me--methods which had been
+acquired in an experience during which I had killed considerably over
+one hundred head of big game, throughout the Rockies and the
+Alleghanies. In short, I was exceedingly painstaking and careful.
+Notwithstanding all my precautions, however, I remember that I had the
+satisfaction one night of knowing that I had started during the day
+eight different moose, each separately, without hearing or seeing a
+single one of them. This sort of thing lasted for twenty-two consecutive
+days, or until I finally concluded that, as our Indian seemed to have no
+trouble in seeing moose, I would follow his tactics. Waiting, therefore,
+one morning until I was sure that the Indian had left camp, I changed my
+course so as to intersect his trail, followed this for some distance,
+and watched carefully his foot-prints, so as to read the record of his
+hunt.
+
+Pretty soon it became apparent that he had come across a moose trail. He
+tried it first with the toe of his moccasin, then with the butt of his
+gun, and satisfied himself that it was too old to follow. He went on
+until he came across another trail, and evidently had spent considerable
+time in making up his mind whether it was worth while to follow this
+trail or not. He then followed it for a few yards, and, to my surprise,
+suddenly left it, and went off almost at right angles to the leeward. I
+supposed that he had given up the moose trail, but nevertheless I
+followed further on his track. Again to my surprise, I presently found
+him gradually coming around in a circuitous fashion to the trail again,
+until he finally reached it. He then immediately retraced his steps,
+making another semi-circle, bearing generally, however, in the direction
+the moose had gone, and again came to the trail. This occurred four or
+five times, until finally the explanation of his conduct flashed upon
+me, for there lay his cartridge. I saw--as he afterward described it to
+me--where he had shot at the moose, which had just arisen out of its bed
+a short distance away, but, as usual, he had missed it. Now I had
+noticed, in my three weeks' experience, that I had come upon the moose
+either lying down or standing in some thicket, but that they had been
+able to wind me considerably before my arrival at the spot marked by
+their beds in the snow. Not until then had occurred to me what is well
+known to many who still-hunt moose, namely, that before lying down they
+generally make a long loop to the leeward, returning close to their
+trail, so that they can readily get the wind of anyone following upon it
+long before he reaches them, when, of course, they quietly get up and
+sneak away. In fact, they do not seem to have an atom of curiosity in
+their composition, and in this are different from most other wild
+animals that I have known. By making these long loops to the leeward the
+hunter reduces to a minimum the likelihood of being smelt or heard by
+the moose; and in these animals the senses of smell and hearing are very
+acute, although their eyesight seems to be bad.
+
+Having quite satisfied myself as to what it was necessary to do, I
+waited until the next day to put it into execution, because by the time
+I had made my discovery it was about half past 2 o'clock, and the sun
+was near the horizon.
+
+The following day I went out bright and early, and, after varying
+success in finding a good trail, I ran across a trail made by five bull
+moose, a photograph of one of which is shown. After satisfying myself
+that the trail had been made during the previous night, I began making
+the long loops to the leeward which I had found to be so necessary. I
+finally came to the place where the moose had lain down--a bed showing
+one of them to have unusually large horns--but they had gone on again,
+in a manner, however, that showed that they were merely feeding, and not
+alarmed. I redoubled my precautions, stepping as if on eggs, so as not
+to break the twigs underneath my feet. In a short time I heard the
+significant chattering of one of the little red pine squirrels so
+abundant in that region. I at once knew that the squirrel had seen
+something, but had not seen me. It did not take me long to make up my
+mind that the only other living things in that vicinity which would be
+likely to cause him to chatter were these moose, and that they were
+probably startled, although I had not been conscious of making any
+noise. At any rate, I ran quite rapidly toward the end of a small narrow
+muskeg on my left, but some distance away, to which chance conclusion
+and prompt action I owe probably one of the most fortunate and exciting
+pieces of shooting that has occurred in my experience. I was shooting at
+that time a little double rifle (.450-120-375 solid bullet), which had
+been made for me by Holland & Holland, and which was fitted with one of
+my conical sights.
+
+Before I was within fifty yards of the end of the muskeg, I saw one of
+the moose dash across it, about 150 yards away. I fired quickly, and in
+much the same way that I would shoot at a jacksnipe which had been
+flushed in some thicket; but had the satisfaction of seeing the animal
+lurch heavily forward as he went out of sight into the timber. Almost
+immediately, and before I had time to reload, the second moose followed.
+I gave him the other barrel, but I did not know until afterward that he
+was hit. In fact, it was hard to get a bullet through the timber. I
+reloaded quickly, and ran forward to get to the opening; but before I
+reached it, the third moose passed in immediately behind the others. I
+again shot quickly, and felt that I had probably hit him. By running on
+rapidly I reached the edge of the opening in time to intercept the
+fourth moose. As he came into the opening I got a good shot at him, not
+over eighty yards distant, and felt very sure of this one at least. I
+then reloaded, when, to my amazement, the fifth, in a very deliberate
+manner, walked, not trotted, into the muskeg, which at the point where
+the moose crossed it was not over sixty or seventy feet wide. He first
+looked up and down, as if undetermined what to do, and then, probably
+seeing one of the other moose on the ground, commenced walking up toward
+me. As luck would have it, I got a cartridge jammed in my rifle, and
+could not pull it out or knock it in, although I nearly ruined my
+fingers in my attempt to do so. Of course, this was the biggest bull of
+all, and I had the supreme satisfaction of seeing him deliberately walk
+out of my sight into the woods, and he was lost to me forever. His horns
+were much larger than those which I got. Up to that time I had no idea
+that I had killed any except the last moose that I shot at, but thought
+that perhaps I had wounded one or two of the others, feeling that I
+would be very lucky if I should ever come up with them.
+
+Going down to the place where the moose had disappeared, after I had got
+my rifle fixed--that is, had extracted the cartridge and put in
+another--I found one of the moose dead; another, a big one, on his
+knees, and the third a short distance away, looking very dejected and
+uncomfortable. I did not know then that the largest bull of all had
+stopped on the other side of a little thicket; and when I commenced to
+give the finishing touches to the wounded moose in sight, he,
+accompanied by another wounded one, got away. As I shot the big one on
+his knees, I was surprised by a noise, and upon turning around found the
+dejected looking small bull coming full drive toward me. I had only time
+to turn around and shoot him in the breast before he was on me. I do not
+think that he intended to charge; his coming toward me was probably
+entirely accidental. Still it had the effect of sending my heart in my
+mouth. I then started out after the wounded one, but when I saw that he
+was not bleeding much concluded that, as it was growing late, and I was
+seven or eight miles from camp, I would not have more than time to cover
+up the three moose with snow so that I could skin them the next morning.
+Before doing so, however, I sat down on top of my biggest moose, and, as
+these were the first moose that I had ever seen, I surveyed them with a
+great deal of satisfaction.
+
+About this time Phillips, who had been attracted by the shooting,
+appeared in the distance, and I hailed him by a shot, when he came to
+me. We then carefully covered up the moose with snow and pulled out for
+camp. When we arrived there and told our story, a more disconsolate
+looking Indian you could not have found in the whole region, and he
+doubtless came to the conclusion that his sweeping assertion as to the
+inability of a white man to kill a moose in that country was perhaps a
+little too broad.
+
+Our luck seemed to turn from this time and we got several very good
+moose, but unfortunately no other large heads. After telling this story
+I do not wish to go upon record as a game slaughterer, for those who
+know anything of my hunting know that I am strongly opposed to anything
+of the kind. We usually have killed only enough game for meat in camp,
+but at this time we had to feed beside ourselves ten dogs. Moreover, I
+have never thought that the killing of bulls made very much difference
+in the amount of the game, although in shooting them we have usually
+made it a rule to kill only such heads as we wished to take home. I
+should add, moreover, that all the meat that we did not use of the
+moose that we killed in this country was distributed among some Indians
+whom we met on our return, and who, hearing of our luck, followed our
+dog trail to the hunting grounds after our departure.
+
+Having had enough moose hunting, and anxious to kill caribou, we
+concluded to cross Lake Winnipeg, which by this time--early in
+December--was frozen hard with nearly six feet of ice, the cracking of
+which, especially at night, produces a very curious and
+never-to-be-forgotten sound, which can be heard for miles. We soon
+reached the lake, but were detained a day or two waiting for a favorable
+day to cross--that is to say, one when the wind did not blow, as when it
+does the exposure in crossing on the ice is terrific. After finally
+venturing upon the ice, we made some forty or fifty miles the first day,
+and reached the edge of an island, in the middle of which there were a
+few houses occupied principally by Icelandic immigrants. These earn a
+precarious livelihood by fishing for whitefish and jackfish principally
+in the summer. They keep up this fishing all through the winter,
+however, to supply their own needs, by setting their nets underneath
+the ice, employing a very simple method, which, if De Long and his party
+had known and provided for, they would never have perished so miserably
+in the Lena delta. Here we were witnesses to the fact which entitles us
+to claim that the common domestic cow is not, strictly speaking,
+properly to be classed among the _herbivora_. We distinctly saw a very
+ordinary looking cow devour with evident relish, while she was being
+milked, a large jackfish, which had been taken from a frozen pile
+stacked up outside of the house and thawed for her evening meal.
+
+These Icelanders live as a rule in a primitive but very comfortable way.
+They are much more neat and cleanly than many of the immigrants who come
+to the United States, and it is a pity that we do not have them in this
+country, for they seem to be very industrious and would make good
+citizens. However, it is probable that they were in search of cold
+weather, and would not be happy unless they had it. If this is the case,
+they most certainly have chosen the best spot on this continent which is
+at all accessible; for the region around Lake Winnipeg is, I am told,
+one of the coldest places where any reliable record of the temperature
+is kept. During our trip, and especially while we were on the east side
+of the lake, the temperatures recorded were very low, often 45 degrees
+below zero. In fact, during our absence there was a record of 50 degrees
+below zero at Selkirk and Winnipeg; and, as we were over a hundred miles
+to the north, it is not unreasonable to suppose that the temperature was
+quite as low, if not lower, with us. It must not be forgotten, however,
+that, except for the cracking of the frozen trees, it is deathly still
+and quiet in these regions when the temperature drops to 10 degrees
+below zero. Indeed, when the temperature is below that point, it is
+usually much more comfortable for one who is out in such weather than a
+temperature of zero, or even 20 degrees above, with a heavy wind. Under
+these conditions, however, an ordinary man when out hunting cannot
+occasionally sit down on a log and smoke his pipe, for any length of
+time, with a great amount of pleasure. Like the persecuted boy in the
+play, although there are no policemen about, he is compelled, and indeed
+is usually perfectly willing, to keep "movin' on."
+
+After leaving Big Island, as I remember the name, we made our way
+across to the mouth of the Bad Throat River, where there was an old
+lumber camp, which a great many years ago was the scene of an important
+conflict between the Hudson Bay Company's men and the men of the
+Northwest Fur Company, in which quite a number were killed. Here we got
+another team of dogs, and picked up another member for our party in the
+person of an Englishman, who by choice had drifted into this country and
+lived there, marrying an Indian squaw shortly after our return.
+Unfortunately, the good old-fashioned plan of performing the marriage
+ceremony by running together under a blanket had been abolished, so he
+had to wait until the yearly visit of the priest. This marrying of
+squaws is of course common among the white men of this region.
+
+As we had only a few things to get before starting out for the famous
+caribou country between the head waters of the Hole, the Askandoga and
+the Blood Vein rivers, we were not delayed long at this place. The snow
+was now quite heavy, at least enough so for comfortable snowshoe
+traveling, and we made rapid time after leaving the Bad Throat River. In
+this connection it is to be remarked that comparatively little snow
+falls in this region. This seems singular, and I do not know the
+meteorological explanation of the fact. There is certainly very much
+less, for instance, than in Minnesota, hundreds of miles to the south.
+The snow, however, is usually a dry powder all through winter, and very
+rarely becomes crusted.
+
+In traveling over broken timbered country with dog-sleds, very much the
+same routes are followed that one takes with a canoe in summer--that is
+to say, you avoid the rough country by traveling on the rivers, which
+are usually covered with thick ice, or over the same portages that are
+used in summer. It was necessary for either Penrose, Keller or myself to
+lead the way with our snowshoes, while the others took care of the
+dog-sleds behind. The dogs followed accurately in the trail beaten out
+by our snowshoes for them.
+
+The country on this side of the lake, unlike that of the west, is very
+rough, rocky and rugged, and especially so near the lake shore. It is
+quite thickly timbered. As one advances into the interior, however, this
+aspect changes, so that the country near the height of land is more
+open, and there are long stretches of nearly level country traversed by
+rocky, moss-covered and roughly parallel ridges. There is more or less
+timber on these ridges, and in the so-called muskegs between them. This
+is the country which the caribou seem to prefer.
+
+After about two weeks' hard traveling, we reached the country which had
+been recommended to us and came upon great abundance of caribou sign. In
+fact, there were millions of tracks, but, curiously enough, no caribou
+were to be seen. We afterward found that they had been driven out by a
+lot of wolves, which probably had followed them down from the north.
+While this explanation was interesting, it was not productive of any
+great amount of satisfaction to the party, for we had been counting
+definitely upon fresh meat, and so had our dogs. At least, after doing
+the terrific work necessary to make this journey, it is fair to presume
+that they had counted upon being fed, and not being left to starve
+miserably while tied to a tree.
+
+To add to our hardships, our Indian tepee, made of canvas, began to
+smoke so excessively as to cause us the greatest discomfort, and we all
+thought we had pneumonia; but afterward concluded it was nothing but
+irritation of the lungs, due to breathing pine smoke a good many hours
+each day. In fact, it was almost unbearable. An Indian tepee of this
+kind, properly made by a squaw, is beyond doubt the most comfortable of
+all hunting tents in any respectable climate; but in a climate of 40
+degrees below zero it is an abomination. We used frequently to crawl
+into our sheep-skin sleeping bags, wrap several blankets around the bags
+and put the fire out, merely to get relief from the annoyance of the
+smoke. In the morning the steam which arose from our bodies, and from
+the meal which we might be cooking, got mixed up with the smoke, so that
+it was impossible to distinguish each other when four feet apart. In
+fact, we were sometimes inclined to think that the dogs on the outside
+were better off than ourselves, though the appearance they presented in
+the morning was not such as to cause us to wish to change places with
+them. They were each tied by a short chain to the pine trees about the
+camp, and after a night of low temperature there were to be seen in the
+morning only twelve white mounds of snow; not that any snow had fallen
+during the night, or that the dogs had crawled underneath that already
+on the ground. Their white appearance was simply due to the dense
+coating of frost which had been produced from the condensation caused by
+the heat of their bodies. It must not be forgotten, however, that they
+are as hardy and as well able to withstand this rigorous climate as the
+wolves, from which many of them are directly descended. All of the
+so-called "huskies" are of this type.
+
+Altogether things were not very pleasant about this time. Our Christmas
+Day rations consisted of one small roll each with a little coffee for
+breakfast, and in the evening each man was given a small piece of
+rabbit.
+
+The rabbits in this country were unfortunately not as abundant as they
+were on the opposite side of the lake, where the Indian boy one day went
+out with one of our rifles to visit his rabbit snares and to shoot
+rabbits for the dogs. Before long we heard him shoot four times. He came
+back to camp with eight rabbits, which had certainly been killed with
+the rifle, none of them having been snared.
+
+Those of us who were able to hunt at all hunted with the greatest
+perseverance, but with little success, until finally some one brought in
+the report that caribou had been seen, and in a very few days the
+country again contained numbers of them.
+
+One morning, shortly after the first caribou had been seen, Keller, who
+had been quite sick, was unable longer to tolerate the smoke of the
+tepee, and took a little walk with his rifle close around our camp. He
+soon came upon the fresh trail of a bunch of caribou. He had followed it
+only a few hundred yards when he saw one of the caribou lying down. He
+is a dead shot, the best I have ever known in my life. He carefully
+steadied himself, raised his .45-90 Winchester, aimed at the caribou
+lying down and fired. When he went up to look at it, to his amazement,
+he came across another dead caribou, between the spot where he had fired
+and the one at which he had aimed. It had been shot straight through the
+temples. On going further, he found the other caribou shot exactly where
+he had aimed at it, some twenty yards distant from the first one. The
+only possible way in which he could explain this remarkable occurrence
+is that the caribou which had been shot through the head, and which he
+had not seen, had risen out of its bed just as he was in the act of
+firing and interposed his head directly in the line of fire. The fact
+of having fresh meat in camp, of course, brought great joy to us all,
+and especially to the semi-starved dogs. As in the case of killing the
+first moose, it seemed to have the effect of changing our luck, for we
+afterward killed a number of caribou, although we were not successful in
+getting good heads.
+
+These caribou are totally different from the moose in the kind of food
+they live upon and in their general habits. They prefer a different sort
+of a country, the two rarely being found together. They spend much of
+their time in the muskegs, which seem to be characteristic of all of
+that region of the country; but these muskegs are not open, like those
+on the west side of the lake, being more or less covered with a growth
+of stubby jack pine, from which usually hangs an abundance of long gray
+moss. The caribou feed upon this moss, while the moose, on the other
+hand, are fond of the tender sprouts of the red and gray willow. The
+caribou, however, are often found on the rocky ridges, where they find
+good feed on the moss growing upon the rocks. Indeed, they seem to have
+no settled place of abode, like moose, being probably one of the most
+restless animals on the face of the earth. They seem to be always on
+the move. Unlike the moose, they are very inquisitive, in this respect
+being more like the antelope than any other animal. They are found
+singly, or in twos or threes, or in small bunches of ten to twenty, but
+often in great herds of a hundred or perhaps a thousand. They spend a
+great deal of their time on the lakes in the winter, where they play
+with each other like kittens. They are wonderfully quick in their
+actions. They are also very sure of their footing, and we saw a number
+of places in the snow where they had slid down quite steep rocks for
+some distance, probably by putting their four feet close together. Great
+herds often come down from the region on the western shore of Hudson Bay
+and return the following summer.
+
+Very few people have any idea of the immense numbers of caribou which
+are found in the great tract of country to the west of Hudson Bay. By
+many who are familiar with this country they are believed to be as
+numerous as the buffaloes ever were in the early days. When more or less
+scarce, as they were during the greater portion of our hunt, they afford
+excellent hunting; but I should imagine that when they are very
+numerous there would be little sport in killing them, for as a rule they
+are not at all shy or difficult to approach. In general it may be said
+that the caribou of this region, known as the woodland caribou, live in
+the wooded districts during the summer and autumn, but in the winter
+time go to the higher land. Wind and cold seem to have no terror for
+them, and I doubt very much whether there is an animal in the world,
+with the exception perhaps of the musk-ox or the polar bear, that is so
+well fitted by nature to withstand the intense cold of the region in
+which they live. When one sees a caribou's track for the first time, he
+is amazed at its size, and its difference from the long, narrow,
+sharp-toed track of the moose, and naturally comes to the conclusion
+that the animal must be much larger than it really is. As a matter of
+fact, they are not much larger than the black-tailed deer, and
+considerably smaller than the elk of the Rocky Mountains. Until he has
+seen them, one is likely to imagine that the caribou is an ungainly,
+misshapen animal. This is a great mistake. Not only are they as a rule
+well proportioned, but they are extremely graceful. Their curious horns
+give them, of course, rather an odd appearance. The meat we found to be
+delicious, and rather better than moose meat.
+
+After having remained as long as we desired in this country, and as long
+as we could stand the infernal smoke of the tepee, and after having
+secured a good supply of meat for our return journey, we loaded our
+toboggans and retraced our steps without especial incident to the mouth
+of the Bad Throat River. From there we took a sleigh to Selkirk, driving
+over the lake on the ice, and arriving at Selkirk the latter part of
+January or the 1st of February.
+
+To those who may contemplate taking a similar trip to the Canadian woods
+in winter, I would say that it will prove a very interesting and
+never-to-be-forgotten experience, and that the hardships of such a trip
+are not necessarily severe if one will be guided entirely by the advice
+of the inhabitants of the region, especially as to his clothing and
+general outfit. I feel certain that, if one goes to the right locality,
+not only will he get good sport, but he will get it under very pleasant
+and novel conditions, and return home more benefited in every way than
+if he had taken a trip of the same duration to some warm climate. Under
+no circumstances, however, let him imagine that he knows more than the
+people of the country as to what he should do and wear.
+
+_D. M. Barringer._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: OUTESHAI, RUSSIAN BARZOI.]
+
+Wolf-Hunting in Russia
+
+
+The enormous extent and diversified conditions of the various localities
+of this empire would naturally suggest a variety of sport in hunting and
+shooting, including perhaps something characteristic. In the use of dogs
+of the chase especially is this suggestion borne out by the facts, and
+it has been said that in no other country has the systematic working
+together of fox-hounds and greyhounds been successfully carried out.
+
+Unfortunately, this sort of hunting is not now so general as prior to
+the emancipation of the serfs in 1861. A modest kennel for such sport
+consists of six to ten fox-hounds and four to six pairs of barzois,[1]
+and naturally demands considerable attention. Moreover, to use it
+requires the presence of at least one man with the fox-hounds and one
+man for each pair or each three greyhounds. To have a sufficient number
+of good huntsmen at his service was formerly a much less expensive
+luxury to a proprietor than now, and to this fact is due the decline of
+the combined kennel in Russia.
+
+  [1] Barzoi--long-haired greyhound, wolf-hound, Russian greyhound.
+
+This hunt is more or less practised throughout the entire extent of the
+Russian Empire. In the south, where the soil is not boggy, it is far
+better sport than in Northern Russia, where there are such enormous
+stretches of marshy woods and tundra. Curiously enough, nearly all the
+game of these northern latitudes, including moose, wolves, hares, and
+nearly all kinds of grouse and other birds, seem to be found in the
+marshiest places--those almost impracticable to mounted hunters.
+
+Though the distances covered in hunting, and also in making neighborly
+visits in Russia, are vast, often recalling our own broad Western life,
+yet in few other respects are any similarities to be traced. This is
+especially true of Russia north of the Moscow parallel; for in the south
+the steppes have much in common with the prairies, though more
+extensive, and the semi-nomadic Cossacks, in their mounted
+peregrinations and in their pastoral life, have many traits in common
+with real Americans. Nor is it true of the Caucasus, where it would seem
+that the Creator, dissatisfied with the excess of the great plain,[2]
+extending from the Finnish Gulf to the Black Sea, resolved to establish
+a counterpoise, and so heaved up the gigantic Caucasus. There too are to
+be found fine hunting and shooting, which merit description and which
+offer good sport to mountain amateurs.
+
+  [2] The Waldeir hills, extending east and west half-way between St.
+  Petersburg and Moscow, are the only exception.
+
+The annual hunt in the fall of 1893 in the governments of Tver and
+Yaroslav, with the Gatchino kennels, will give a good idea of the
+special sport of which I have spoken. It is imperative that these hounds
+go to the hunt once a year for about a month, although for the most part
+without their owner. The master of the hunt and his assistant, with
+three or four guests, and oftentimes the proprietors of the lands where
+the hounds happen to hunt, usually constitute the party. The hunt
+changes locality nearly every year, but rarely does it go further from
+home than on this occasion, about 450 versts from Gatchino. As a rule it
+is not difficult to obtain from proprietors permission to hunt upon
+their estates, and this is somewhat surprising to one who has seen the
+freedom with which the fences are torn down and left unrepaired. It is
+true that they are not of the strongest and best type, and that peasant
+labor is still very cheap; yet such concessions to sport would rarely be
+made in America.
+
+It was at Gatchino, on the 10th day of September, that the hunting train
+was loaded with men, horses, dogs, provisions and wagons. The hunt
+called for twenty-two cars in all, including one second-class passenger
+car, in one end of which four of us made ourselves comfortable, while in
+the other end servants found places. The weather was cold and rainy,
+and, as our train traveled as a freight, we had two nights before us. It
+was truly a picturesque and rare sight to see a train of twenty-two cars
+loaded with the _personnel_, material and live stock of a huge kennel.
+The fox-hounds, seventy in number, were driven down in perfect, close
+order by the beaters to the cracks of the Russian hunting whip and
+installed in their car, which barely offered them sufficient
+accommodation. The greyhounds, three sorts, sixty-seven in number, were
+brought down on leashes by threes, fours or fives, and loaded in two
+cars. Sixty saddle and draft horses, with saddles, wagons and hunting
+paraphernalia, were also loaded. Finally the forty-four gray and green
+uniformed huntsmen, beaters, drivers and ourselves were ready, and the
+motley train moved away amid the uttered and unuttered benedictions of
+the families and relatives of the parting hunt.
+
+Our first destination was Peschalkino, in the government of Tver, near
+the River Leet, a tributary of the Volga, not far from the site of the
+first considerable check of the Mongolian advance about 1230. I mention
+this fact in passing to give some idea of the _terrain_, because I think
+that it is evident to anyone who has visited this region that the
+difficulty of provisioning and of transportation in these marshes must
+have offered a greater obstacle to an invading army than did the then
+defenders of their country.
+
+We passed our time most agreeably in playing vint[3] and talking of
+hunting incidents along the route. Many interesting things were told
+about the habits of wolves and other game, and, as they were vouched for
+by two thorough gentlemen and superb sportsmen, and were verified as far
+as a month's experience in the field would permit, I feel authorized to
+cite them as facts.
+
+  [3] Vint--game of cards resembling whist, boaston and _preference_.
+
+The bear has been called in folk-lore the moujik's brother, and it must
+be conceded that there are outward points of resemblance, especially
+when each is clad in winter attire; moreover the moujik, when all is
+snow and ice, fast approximates the hibernating qualities of the bear.
+One strong point of difference is the accentuated segregative character
+of the former, who always live in long cabin villages.[4]
+
+  [4] The bear is caricatured in Russian publications as a humorous,
+  light-hearted, joking creature, conversing and making common sport
+  with the golden-hearted moujik, his so-called brother.
+
+But it is rather of the wolf's habits and domestic economy that I wish
+to speak--of him who has always been the dreaded and accursed enemy of
+the Russian peasant. In the question of government the wolf follows very
+closely the system of the country, which is pre-eminently
+patriarchal--the fundamental principle of the _mir_. A family of wolves
+may vary in number from six to twenty, and contain two to four
+generations, usually two or three, yet there is always one chief and one
+wife--in other words, never more than one female with young ones. When
+larger packs have been seen together it was probably the temporary
+marshaling of their forces for some desperate raid or the preliminaries
+of an anarchistic strike. The choruses of wolves and the special
+training of the young for them are interesting characteristics. Upon
+these choruses depends the decision of the hunter whether or not to make
+his final attack upon the stronghold of the wolves; by them he can tell
+with great precision the number in the family and the ages of the
+different members. They are to wolf-hunters what tracks are to moose- and
+bear-hunters--they serve to locate the game. When the family is at home
+they occur with great regularity at twilight, midnight and dawn.
+
+In camp near Billings, Montana, in the fall of 1882, we heard nightly
+about 12 o'clock the howling of a small pack of coyotes; but we supposed
+that it was simply a "howling protest" against the railway train,
+passing our camp at midnight, that had just reached that part of the
+world. Possibly our coyotes have also howling choruses at regular
+intervals, like the Russian wolves.
+
+There was such a fascination in listening to the wolves that we went out
+several times solely for that purpose. The weirdness of the sound and
+the desolateness of the surroundings produced peculiar sensations upon
+the listener. To an enthusiastic lover of sport and nature these
+pleasurable sensations might be well compared with the effect of the
+Niebelungen songs upon an ardent Wagnerite. The old professional
+huntsmen could tell just what members of the family and how many were
+howling; they scarcely disagreed upon these points.
+
+These old hunters pretended to interpret the noisy assemblies of the
+wolves as regards content or discontent, satisfaction or
+dissatisfaction.
+
+Owing to the difficulty of securing wolves under most favorable
+circumstances, especially old ones, it would be considered folly to make
+a drive if the matinal howl had not been heard. But to make a successful
+drive in a large marshy forest many beaters must be employed, and, as
+they are gathered from far and near, considerable time is necessary to
+collect them; therefore it is almost essential to know that the wolves
+were "at home" at midnight as well as dawn.
+
+While in the vicinity of a certain wolf family whose habitat was an
+enormous marshy wood, entirely impossible to mounted men, we were
+compelled to await for forty-eight hours the return of the old ones,
+father and mother. At times during this wait only the young ones, at
+other times the young and the intermediate ones, would sing. Not hearing
+the old ones, we inferred they were absent, and so they were--off on a
+raid, during which they killed two peasant horses ten miles from their
+stronghold. It was supposed that the wolves of intermediate age also
+made excursions during this time, as indicated by the howlings, but not
+to such great distances as the old ones. It was perfectly apparent, as
+we listened one evening, that the old ones had placed the young ones
+about a verst away and were making them answer independently. This
+seemed too human for wolves.
+
+After one day and two nights of travel we arrived at the little station
+of Peschalkino, on the Bologoe-Rybinsk Railway, not far from the
+frontier between the two governments, Tver and Yaroslav, where we were
+met by two officers of the guard, a Yellow Cuirassier and a
+Preobiajensky, on leave of absence on their estates (Koy), sixteen
+versts from the rail. They were brothers-in-law and keen sportsmen, who
+became members of our party and who indicated the best localities for
+game on their property, as well as on the adjoining estates.
+
+Peschalkino boasts a painted country tavern of two stories, the upper of
+which, with side entrance, we occupied, using our own beds and bed
+linen, table and table linen, cooking and kitchen utensils; in fact, it
+was a hotel where we engaged the walled-in space and the brick cooking
+stove. As to the huntsmen and the dogs, they were quartered in the
+adjacent unpainted log-house peasant village--just such villages as are
+seen all over Russia, in which a mud road, with plenty of mud, comprises
+all there is of streets and avenues. After having arranged our temporary
+domicile, and having carefully examined horses and dogs to see how they
+had endured the journey, we made ready to accept a dinner invitation at
+the country place of our new members. Horses were put to the brake,
+called by the Russians _Amerikanka_ (American), and we set out for a
+drive of sixteen versts over a mud road to enjoy the well-known Slav
+hospitality so deeply engrafted in the Ponamaroff family.
+
+I said road, but in reality it scarcely merits the name, as it is
+neither fenced nor limited in width other than by the sweet will of the
+traveler. Special mention is made of this road because its counterparts
+exist all over the empire. It is the usual road, and not the exception,
+which is worse, as many persons have ample reasons for knowing. This
+condition is easily explained by the scarcity of stone, the inherent
+disregard of comfort, the poverty of the peasants, the absence of a
+yeoman class, and the great expense that would be entailed upon the
+landed proprietors, who live at enormous distances from each other. The
+country in these and many other governments has been civilized many
+generations, but so unfinished and primitive does it all seem that it
+recalls many localities of our West, where civilization appeared but
+yesterday, and where to-morrow it will be well in advance of these
+provinces. The hand-flail, the wooden plow-share, the log cabin with
+stable under the same roof, could have been seen here in the twelfth
+century as they are at present. Thanks to the Moscow factories, the gala
+attire of the peasant of to-day may possibly surpass in brilliancy of
+color that of his remote ancestry, which was clad entirely from the home
+loom. With the exception of the white brick churches, whose tall green
+and white spires in the distance appear at intervals of eight to ten
+versts, and of occasional painted window casings, there is nothing to
+indicate that the colorings of time and nature are not preferable to
+those of art. The predominating features of the landscape are the
+windmills and the evenness of the grain-producing country, dotted here
+and there by clumps of woods, called islands. The churches, too, are
+conspicuous by their number, size, and beauty of architecture;
+school-houses, by their absence. Prior to 1861 there must have been a
+veritable mania here for church-building. The large and beautiful church
+at Koy, as well as two other pretentious brick ones, were constructed on
+his estates by the grandfather of our host.
+
+Arrived at Koy, we found a splendid country place, with brick buildings,
+beautiful gardens, several hot-houses and other luxuries, all of which
+appeared the more impressive by contrast. The reception and hospitality
+accorded us at Koy--where we were highly entertained with singing,
+dancing and cards until midnight--was as bounteous as the darkness and
+rainfall which awaited us on the sixteen versts' drive over roadless
+roads back to our quarter bivouac at Peschalkino.
+
+The following morning marked the beginning of our hunting. About 10
+o'clock all was in readiness. Every hunter[5] had been provided with a
+leash, a knife and a whip; and, naturally, every huntsman with the two
+latter. In order to increase the number of posts, some of the huntsmen
+were also charged with leashes of greyhounds. I shall in the future use
+the word greyhound to describe all the sight hounds, in
+contradistinction to fox-hound; it includes barzois (Russian
+greyhounds), greyhounds (English) and crosses between the two. The
+barzois numbered about 75 per cent. of all the greyhounds, and were for
+the most part somewhat less speedy than the real greyhounds, but better
+adapted for wolf-hunting. They also have greater skill in taking hold,
+and this, even in hare coursing, sometimes gives them advantage over
+faster dogs. One of the most interesting features of the coursing was
+the matching of Russian and English greyhounds. The leash system used in
+the field offers practically the same fairness as is shown by dogs at
+regular coursing matches. The leash is a black narrow leather thong
+about fifteen feet long, with a loop at one end that passes over the
+right shoulder and under the left arm. The long thong with a slit at the
+end, forming the hand loop, is, when not in use, folded up like a lariat
+or a driving rein, and is stuck under the knife belt. To use it, the end
+is put through the loop-ring collars, which the greyhounds continually
+wear, and is then held fast in the left hand until ready to slip the
+hounds. Where the country is at all brushy, three dogs are the practical
+limit of one leash, still for the most part only two are employed. It is
+surprising to see how quickly the dogs learn the leash with mounted
+huntsmen; two or three days are sufficient to teach them to remain at
+the side of the horse and at a safe distance from his feet. Upon seeing
+this use of the leash with two dogs each, I was curious to know why it
+should be so; why it would not be more exciting to see half a dozen or
+more hounds in hot pursuit racing against each other and having a common
+goal, just as it is more exciting to see a horse race with a numerous
+entry than merely with two competitors. This could have been remedied,
+so I thought, by having horsemen go in pairs, or having several dogs
+when possible on one leash. Practice showed the wisdom of the methods
+actually employed. In the first place, it is fairer for the game; in the
+second, it saves the dogs; and finally, it allows a greater territory to
+be hunted over with the same number of dogs.
+
+  [5] Hunter-gentleman, huntsman, man of the hunt--conventional terms.
+
+There are two ways of hunting foxes and hares, and, with certain
+variations, wolves also. These are, by beating and driving with
+fox-hounds, and by open driving with greyhounds alone. In the first case
+a particular wood (island) is selected, and the fox-hounds with their
+mounted huntsmen are sent to drive it in a certain direction. The
+various leashes of greyhounds (barzois alone if wolves be expected) are
+posted on the opposite side, at the edge of the wood or in the field,
+and are loosed the second the game has shown its intention of clearing
+the open space expressly selected for the leash. The mounted beaters
+with the fox-hounds approach the thick woods of evergreens, cottonwood,
+birch and undergrowth, and wait on its outskirts until a bugle signal
+informs them that all the greyhound posts are ready. The fox-hounds
+recognize the signal, and would start immediately were they not
+terrorized by the black _nagaika_--a product of a country that has from
+remotest times preferred the knout[6] to the gallows, and so is skilled
+in its manufacture and use. At the word _go_ from the chief beater the
+seventy fox-hounds, which have been huddled up as closely as the
+encircling beaters could make them, rush into the woods. In a few
+minutes, sometimes seconds, the music begins--and what music! I really
+think there are too many musicians, for the voices not being classified,
+there is no individuality, but simply a prolonged howl. For my part, I
+prefer fewer hounds, where the individual voices may be distinguished.
+It seemed to be a needless use of so many good dogs, for half the number
+would drive as well; but they were out for exercise and training, and
+they must have it. Subsequently the pack was divided into two, but this
+was not necessitated by fatigue of the hounds, for we hunted on
+alternate days with greyhounds alone.
+
+  [6] Though not pertinent to the subject, I cannot refrain from
+  relating a curious comparison made to me by a very intelligent
+  Russian, aide-de-camp general of the late Emperor: "Just as the
+  scarcity of women in early American times caused them to be highly
+  appreciated and tenderly cared for, so the relative scarcity of men in
+  early Russia caused the Government to appreciate them and to preserve
+  them at all hazards. Logically follows the exalted position of woman
+  to-day in the United States and the absence of capital punishment in
+  Russia."
+
+One could well believe that foxes might remain a long time in the woods,
+even when pursued by such noise; but it seemed to me that the hares[7]
+would have passed the line of posts more quickly than they did. At the
+suitable moment, when the game was seen, the nearest leash was slipped,
+and when they seemed to be on the point of losing another and sometimes
+a third was slipped. The poor fox-hounds were not allowed to leave the
+woods; the moment the game appeared in the open space they were driven
+back by the stiff riders with their cruel whips. The true fox-hound
+blood showed itself, and to succeed in beating some of them off the
+trail, especially the young ones, required most rigorous action on the
+part of all. This seemed to me a prostitution of the good qualities of a
+race carefully bred for centuries, and, while realizing the necessity of
+the practice for that variety of hunt, I could never look upon it with
+complaisance.
+
+  [7] There are two varieties: the so-called white hare and the
+  so-called red hare. The former becomes white in winter, and weighs,
+  when full grown, ten pounds; the latter has a reddish gray coat which
+  does not change, and weighs about one and a half pounds less than the
+  other variety. The red hare frequents the fields less than does the
+  white. The foxes are the ordinary red ones.
+
+It is just this sort of hunt[8] for which the barzoi has been specially
+bred, and which has developed in him a tremendous spring; at the same
+time it has given him less endurance than the English greyhound. It was
+highly interesting to follow the hounds with the beaters; but, owing to
+the thickness of the woods and the absence of trails, it was far from
+being an easy task either for horse or rider. To remain at a post with a
+leash of hounds was hardly active or exciting enough for me--except when
+driving wolves--especially when the hounds could be followed, or when
+the open hunt could be enjoyed. In the second case the hunters and
+huntsmen with leashes form a line with intervals of 100 to 150 yards and
+march for versts straight across the country, cracking the terrible
+_nagaika_ and uttering peculiar exciting yells that would start game on
+a parade ground. After a few days I flattered myself that I could
+manage my leash fairly and slip them passably well. To two or three of
+the party leashes were not intrusted, either because they did not desire
+them or for their want of experience in general with dogs and horses. To
+handle a leash well requires experience and considerable care. To
+prevent tangling in the horse's legs, especially at the moment the game
+is sighted, requires that the hounds be held well in hand, and that they
+be not slipped until both have sighted the game. I much prefer the open
+hunt to the post system. There is more action, and in fact more sport,
+whether it happens that one or several leashes be slipped for the same
+animal. When it is not possible to know whose dogs have taken the game,
+it belongs to him who arrived first, providing that he has slipped his
+leash.
+
+  [8] In Northern Russia, owing to the extensive forest, brush and marsh
+  lands, every effort was made to utilize the small open spaces or
+  clearings for the greyhounds, and this was the usual way of hunting;
+  while in Southern Russia, where steppes predominate, the open
+  hunt--_chasse a courre_--prevailed. This explains why the Crimean
+  barzoi also has more endurance than the now recognized type from the
+  north.
+
+So much for the foxes and hares, but the more interesting hunting of
+wolves remains. Few people except wolf-hunters--and they are reluctant
+to admit it--know how rarely old wolves are caught with hounds. All
+admit the danger of taking an old one either by a dagger thrust or alive
+from under[9] barzois, however good they be. There is always a
+possibility that the dogs may loosen their hold or be thrown off just at
+the critical moment. But the greatest difficulty consists in the
+inability of the hounds to hold the wolf even when they have overtaken
+him. When it is remembered that a full-grown wolf is nearly twice as
+heavy as the average barzoi, and that pound for pound he is stronger, it
+is clear that to overtake and hold him requires great speed and grit on
+the part of a pair of hounds.
+
+  [9] This is the Russian phrasing, and correctly describes the idea.
+
+A famous kennel,[10] which two years since caught forty-six wolves by
+the combined system of hunting, took in that number but one old
+wolf--that is, three years or more old. The same kennel last year caught
+twenty-six without having a single old one in the number. We likewise
+failed to include in our captures a single old wolf. I mention these
+facts to correct the false impression that exists with us concerning the
+barzois, as evidenced by the great disappointment when two years since a
+pair, in one of the Western States, failed to kill outright a full-grown
+timber wolf. At the field trials on wolves, which take place twice a
+year at Colomiaghi, near Petersburg, immediately after the regular
+field trials on hares, I have seen as many as five leashes slipped
+before an old wolf could be taken, and then it was done only with the
+greatest difficulty. In fact, as much skill depends upon the _borzatnik_
+(huntsman) as the dogs. Almost the very second the dogs take hold he
+simply falls from his horse upon the wolf and endeavors to thrust the
+unbreakable handle of his _nagaika_ between the jaws of the animal; he
+then wraps the lash around the wolf's nose and head. If the hounds are
+able to hold even a few seconds, the skilled _borzatnik_ has had
+sufficient time, but there is danger even to the best. I saw an
+experienced man get a thumb terribly lacerated while muzzling a wolf,
+yet he succeeded, and in an incredibly short time. On another occasion,
+even before the brace of hounds had taken firm neck or ear holds, I saw
+a bold devil of a huntsman swing from his horse and in a twinkling lie
+prone upon an old wolf's head. How this man, whose pluck I shall always
+admire, was able to muzzle the brute without injury to himself, and with
+inefficient support from his hounds, it is not easy to understand,
+though I was within a few yards of the struggle. Such skill comes from
+long experience, indifference to pain and, of course, pride in his
+profession.
+
+  [10] That of the Grand Duke Nicolas Nicolaievitch.
+
+Having hunted foxes and hares, and having been shooting as often as the
+environs of Peschalkino and our time allowed, we changed our base to a
+village twenty-two versts distant over the border in the government of
+Yaroslav. It was a village like all others of this grain and flax
+district, where the live stock and poultry shared the same roof with
+their owners. A family of eleven wolves had been located about three
+versts from it by a pair of huntsmen sent some days in advance; this
+explained our arrival. In making this change, I do not now recall that
+we saw a single house other than those of the peasant villages and the
+churches. I fancy that in the course of time these peasants may have
+more enlightenment, a greater ownership in the land, and may possibly
+form a yeoman class. At the present the change, slow as it is, seems to
+point in that direction. With their limited possessions, they are happy
+and devoted subjects. The total of the interior decorations of every
+house consists of icons, of cheap colored pictures of the imperial
+family and of samovars. In our lodgings, the house of the village
+_starost_, the three icons consumed a great part of the wall surface,
+and were burdened with decorations of various colored papers. No one has
+ever touched upon peasant life in Russia without mentioning the enormous
+brick stove (_lezanka_[11]); and having on various hunts profited by
+them, I mean to say a word in behalf of their advantages. Even as early
+as the middle of September the cold continuous rains cause the gentle
+warmth of the _lezanka_ to be cordially appreciated. On it and in its
+vicinity all temperatures may be found. Its top offers a fine place for
+keeping guns, ammunition and various articles free from moisture, and
+for drying boots;[12] while the horizontal abutments constitute benches
+well adapted to thawing out a chilled marrow, or a sleeping place for
+those that like that sort of thing. A generous space is also allowed for
+cooking purposes. In point of architecture there is nothing that can be
+claimed for it but stability; excepting the interior upper surface of
+the oven, there is not a single curve to break its right lines. It
+harmonizes with the surroundings, and in a word answers all the
+requirements of the owner as well as of the hunter, who always
+preserves a warm remembrance of it.
+
+  [11] _Lezanka_ means something used for lying on.
+
+  [12] Hot oats poured into the boots were also used for drying them.
+
+The wolves were located in a large marshy wood and, from information of
+the scouts based on the midnight and dawn choruses, they were reported
+"at home." Accordingly we prepared for our visit with the greatest
+precautions. When within a verst of the proposed curved line upon which
+we were to take our stands with barzois, all dismounted and proceeded
+through the marsh on foot, making as little noise as possible. The
+silence was occasionally broken by the efforts of the barzois to slip
+themselves after a cur belonging to one of the peasant beaters, that
+insisted upon seeing the sport at the most aggravating distance for a
+sight hound. It was finally decided to slip one good barzoi that, it was
+supposed, could send the vexatious animal to another hunting ground; but
+the cur, fortunately for himself, suddenly disappeared and did not show
+himself again.
+
+After wading a mile in the marshy bog, we were at the beginning of the
+line of combat--if there was to be any. The posts along this line had
+been indicated by the chief huntsman by blazing the small pine trees or
+by hanging a heap of moss on them. The nine posts were established in
+silence along the arc of a circle at distances from each other of about
+150 yards. My post was number four from the beginning. In rear of it and
+of the adjoining numbers a strong high cord fence was put up, because it
+was supposed that near this part of the line the old wolves would pass,
+and that the barzois might not be able to stop them. The existence of
+such fencing material as part of the outfit of a wolf-hunter is strong
+evidence of his estimate of a wolf's strength--it speaks pages. The
+fence was concealed as much as possible, so that the wolf with barzois
+at his heels might not see it. The huntsmen stationed there to welcome
+him on his arrival were provided with fork-ended poles, intended to hold
+him by the neck to the ground until he was gagged and muzzled, or until
+he had received a fatal dagger thrust.
+
+While we were forming the ambuscade--defensive line--the regular
+beaters, with 200 peasant men and women, and the fox-hounds, were
+forming the attack.
+
+Everything seemed favorable except the incessant cold rain and wind. In
+our zeal to guard the usual crossings of the wolves, we ignored the
+direction of the wind, which the wolves, however, cleverly profited by.
+It could not have been very long after the hounds were let go before
+they fell upon the entire family of wolves, which they at once
+separated. The shouts and screams of the peasants, mingled with the
+noises of the several packs of hounds, held us in excited attention. Now
+and then this or that part of the pack would approach the line, and,
+returning, pass out of hearing in the extensive woods. The game had
+approached within scenting distance, and, in spite of the howling in the
+rear, had returned to depart by the right or left flank of the beaters.
+As the barking of the hounds came near the line, the holders of the
+barzois, momentarily hoping to see a wolf or wolves, waited in almost
+breathless expectancy. Each one was prepared with a knife to rush upon
+an old wolf to support his pair; but unfortunately only two wolves came
+to our line, and they were not two years old. They were taken at the
+extreme left flank, so far away that I could not even see the killing. I
+was disappointed, and felt that a great mistake had been made in not
+paying sufficient attention to the direction of the wind. Where is the
+hunter who has not had his full share of disappointments when all
+prospects seemed favorable? As often happens, it was the persons
+occupying the least favorable places who had bagged the game. They said
+that in one case the barzois had held the wolf splendidly until the
+fatal thrust; but that in the other case it had been necessary to slip a
+second pair before it could be taken. These young wolves were
+considerably larger than old coyotes.
+
+[Illustration: FOXHOUNDS OF THE IMPERIAL KENNELS.]
+
+So great was the forest hunted that for nearly two hours we had occupied
+our posts listening to the spasmodic trailing of the hounds and the
+yelling of the peasants. Finally all the beaters and peasants reached
+our line, and the drive was over, with only two wolves taken from the
+family of eleven. Shivering with cold and thoroughly drenched, we
+returned in haste to shelter and dry clothes.
+
+The following morning we set out on our return to Peschalkino, mounted,
+with the barzois, while the fox-hounds were driven along the road. We
+marched straight across the country in a very thin skirmish line,
+regardless of fences, which were broken down and left to the owners to
+be repaired. By the time we had reached our destination, we had enjoyed
+some good sport and had taken several hares. The following morning the
+master of the imperial hunt, who had been kept at his estates near
+Moscow by illness in his family, arrived, fetching with him his horses
+and a number of his own hounds. We continued our hunting a number of
+days longer in that vicinity, both with and without fox-hounds, with
+varying success. Every day or two we also indulged in shooting for
+ptarmigan, black cocks, partridges, woodcocks and two kinds of
+snipe--all of which prefer the most fatiguing marshes.
+
+One day our scouts arrived from Philipovo, twenty-six versts off, to
+report that another family of wolves, numbering about sixteen, had been
+located. The _Amerikanka_ was sent in advance to Orodinatovo, whither we
+went by rail at a very early hour. This same rainy and cold autumnal
+landscape would be intolerable were it not brightened here and there by
+the red shirts and brilliant headkerchiefs of the peasants, the noise of
+the flail on the dirt-floor sheds and the ever-alluring attractions of
+the hunt.
+
+During this short railway journey, and on the ride to Philipovo, I could
+not restrain certain reflections upon the life of the people and of the
+proprietors of this country. It seemed on this morning that three
+conditions were necessary to render a permanent habitation here
+endurable: neighbors, roads and a change of latitude; of the first two
+there are almost none, of latitude there is far too much. To be born in
+a country excuses its defects, and that alone is sufficient to account
+for the continuance of people under even worse conditions than those of
+these governments. It is true that the soil here does not produce fruit
+and vegetables like the Crimean coast, and that it does not, like the
+black belt, "laugh with a harvest when tickled with a hoe"; yet it
+produces, under the present system of cultivation, rye and flax
+sufficient to feed, clothe and pay taxes. What more could a peasant
+desire? With these provided his happiness is secured; how can he be
+called poor? Without questioning this defense, which has been made many
+times in his behalf, I would simply say that he is not poor as long as a
+famine or plague of some sort does not arrive--and then proceed with our
+journey.
+
+From Orodinatovo to Philipovo is only ten versts, but over roads still
+less worthy of the name than the others already traveled. The
+_Amerikanka_ was drawn by four horses abreast. The road in places
+follows the River Leet, on which Philipovo is situated. We had expected
+to proceed immediately to hunt the wolves, and nearly 300 peasant men
+and women had been engaged to aid the fox-hounds as beaters. They had
+been assembled from far and near, and were congregated in the only
+street of Philipovo, in front of our future quarters, to await our
+arrival. What a motley assembly, what brilliancy of coloring! All were
+armed with sticks, and carried bags or cloths containing their rations
+of rye bread swung from the shoulders, or around the neck and over the
+back. How many pairs of boots were hung over the shoulders? Was it
+really the custom to wear boots on the shoulders? In any case it was _de
+rigueur_ that each one show that he or she possessed such a luxury as a
+good pair of high top boots; but it was not a luxury to be abused or
+recklessly worn out. Their system of foot-gear has its advantages in
+that the same pair may be used by several members of a family, male and
+female alike.
+
+It was not a pleasure for us to hear that the wolves had been at home at
+twilight and midnight, but were not there at dawn; much less comforting
+was this news to those peasants living at great distances who had no
+place near to pass the night. The same information was imparted the
+following day and the day following, until it began to appear doubtful
+whether we could longer delay in order to try for this very migratory
+pack.
+
+Our chances of killing old wolves depended largely upon this drive, for
+it was doubtful whether we would make an attack upon the third family,
+two days distant from our quarters. Every possible precaution was taken
+to make it a success. I was, however, impressed with the fact that the
+most experienced members of the hunting party were the least sanguine
+about the old wolves.
+
+Some one remarked that my hunting knife, with a six-inch blade, was
+rather short, and asked if I meant to try and take an old wolf. My reply
+was in the affirmative, for my intentions at that stage were to try
+anything in the form of a wolf. At this moment one of the land
+proprietors, who had joined our party, offered to exchange knives with
+me, saying that he had not the slightest intention of attacking a wolf
+older than two years, and that my knife was sufficient for that. I
+accepted his offer.
+
+At a very early hour on this cold rainy autumnal morning we set out on
+our way to the marshy haunts of the game. Our party had just been
+reinforced by the arrival of the commander of the Empress's Chevalier
+Guard regiment, an ardent sportsman, with his dogs. All the available
+fox-hounds, sixty in number, were brought out, and the 300 peasants
+counted off. The latter were keen, not only because a certain part of
+them had sportsmanlike inclinations, but also because each one received
+thirty copecks for participation in the drive. Besides this, they were
+interested in the extermination of beasts that were living upon their
+live stock.
+
+The picture at the start was more than worthy of the results of the day,
+and it remains fresh in my mind. The greater portion of the peasants
+were taken in charge by the chief beater, with the hounds, while the
+others followed along with us and the barzois. Silence was enforced upon
+all. The line of posts was established as before, except that more care
+was exercised. Each principal post, where three barzois were held on
+leash, was strengthened by a man with a gun loaded with buckshot. The
+latter had instructions not to fire upon a wolf younger than two years,
+and not even upon an older one, until it was manifest that the barzois
+and their holder were unequal to the task.
+
+My post was a good one, and my three dogs were apparently keen for
+anything. At the slightest noise they were ready to drag me off my feet
+through the marsh. Thanks to the _nagaika_, I was able to keep them in
+hand. One of the trio was well known for his grit in attacking wolves,
+the second was considered fair, while the third, a most promising
+two-year-old, was on his first wolf-hunt. Supported by these three dogs,
+the long knife of the gentleman looking for young wolves and the yellow
+cuirassier officer with his shotgun, I longed for some beast that would
+give a struggle. The peasants accompanying us were posted out on each
+flank of our line, extending it until the extremities must have been
+separated by nearly two miles.
+
+The signal was given, and hunters, peasants and hounds rushed into the
+woods. Almost instantly we heard the screams and yells of the nearest
+peasants, and in a short time the faint barking of the fox-hounds. As
+the sounds became more audible, it was evident that the hounds had split
+into three packs--conclusive that there were at least three wolves. My
+chances were improving, and I was arranging my dogs most carefully, that
+they might be slipped evenly. My knife, too, was within convenient
+grasp, and the fox-hounds were pointing directly to me. Beastly luck! I
+saw my neighbor, the hunter of young wolves, slip his barzois, and like
+a flash they shot through the small pine trees, splashing as they went.
+From my point of view they had fallen upon an animal that strongly
+resembled one of themselves. In reality it was a yearling wolf, but he
+was making it interesting for the barzois as well as for all who
+witnessed the sight. The struggle did not last long, for soon two of the
+barzois had fastened their long teeth in him--one at the base of the
+ear, the other in the throat. Their holder hastened to the struggle,
+about 100 yards from his post, and with my knife gave the wolf the _coup
+de grace_. His dogs had first sighted the game, and therefore had the
+priority of right to the chase. So long as the game was in no danger of
+escaping no neighboring dogs should be slipped. His third barzoi, on
+trial for qualifications as a wolf-hound, did not render the least aid.
+
+Part of the fox-hounds were still running, and there was yet chance that
+my excited dogs might have their turn. We waited impatiently until all
+sounds had died away and until the beaters had reached our line, when
+further indulgence of hope was useless. Besides the above, the
+fox-hounds had caught and killed a yearling in the woods; and Colonel
+Dietz had taken with his celebrated Malodiets, aided by another dog, a
+two-year-old. What had become of the other wolves and where were most of
+the hounds? Without waiting to solve these problems, we collected what
+we could of our outfit and returned to Philipovo, leaving the task of
+finding the dogs to the whippers-in. The whys and wherefores of the hunt
+were thoroughly discussed at dinner, and it was agreed that most of the
+wolves had passed to the rear between the beaters. It was found out that
+the peasants, when a short distance in the woods, had through fear
+formed into squads instead of going singly or in pairs. This did not,
+however, diminish the disappointment at not taking at least one of the
+old ones.
+
+The result of this drive logically brought up the question of the best
+way to drive game. In certain districts of Poland deer are driven from
+the line of posts, and the same can be said of successful moose-hunts of
+Northern Russia. Perhaps that way may also be better for wolves.
+
+After careful consideration of the hunting situation, we were unanimous
+in preferring hare and fox coursing with both fox-hounds and barzois, or
+with the latter alone, at discretion, to the uncertainty of
+wolf-hunting; so we decided to change our locality. Accordingly the
+following day we proceeded in the _Amerikanka_ to the town of Koy,
+twenty-five versts distant. We arrived about noon, and were quartered in
+a vacant house in the large yard of Madam Ponamaroff. Our retinue of
+huntsmen, dogs, horses, ambulance and wagons arrived an hour later.
+
+There was no more wolf-hunting.
+
+_Henry T. Allen._
+
+
+
+
+A Bear-Hunt in the Sierras
+
+
+A few years ago, a friend and I were cruising for our amusement in
+California, with outfit of our own, consisting of three pack horses, two
+saddle animals, tent and camp furnishings. We had started from Los
+Angeles; had explored various out-of-the-way passes and valleys in the
+San Bernardino and San Rafael Mountains, taking care the while to keep
+our camp supplied with game; had killed deer and exceptionally fine
+antelope in the hills adjoining the Mojave Desert; had crossed the San
+Joaquin Valley and visited the Yosemite, where the good fortune of
+finding the Half Dome, with the Anderson rope, carried away by ice, gave
+us the opportunity for one delicious climb in replacing it.
+
+Returning to Fresno, we had sold our ponies and ended our five months'
+jaunt. My friend had gone East, and I had accepted the invitation of a
+member of the Union Club in San Francisco, to whom I bore a letter of
+introduction, to accompany him upon a bear-hunt in the Sierras. He
+explained to me that the limited extent of his ranch in the San Joaquin
+Valley--a meager and restricted demesne of only 7,000 acres, consisting
+of splendid pasturage and arable land--made it necessary for the sheep
+to look elsewhere than at home for sustenance during the summer months.
+
+Many of the great ranches in the valley possessed prescriptive rights to
+pasturage over vast tracts in the high Sierras. These, although not
+recognized by the law, were at least ignored, and were sanctioned by
+custom. The land belonged to nobody--that is, it belonged to Uncle Sam,
+which, so far as a Texas or California stockman was concerned, amounted
+to exactly the same thing. The owner of such a right to pasturage
+zealously maintained his claim; and if, for any reason, he could not use
+it himself during a particular season, he formally gave his consent to
+some one else to enjoy the privilege in his stead. It was considered a
+gross violation of etiquette for a stockman to trespass upon that
+portion of the forest habitually used by other sheep. Such intrusions
+did occur, particularly upon the part of Mexicans with small
+flocks--"tramp sheep" they were called; but when the intruder was shot,
+small sympathy accompanied him to the grave, and the deep damnation of
+his taking off, in more senses than one, served as a salutary reminder
+to other gentlemen with discourteous tendencies to maraud. The
+consequence of all this was that a big ranchman spoke of his summer
+range with the same sense of proprietorship and security of possession
+as of his alfalfa field or pits of ensilage.
+
+We arrived at my friend's ranch in the evening, and the next morning but
+one were in the saddle and on our way--it having been arranged that the
+younger brother of my host was to take his place upon the hunt. As we
+were to arrive at the sheep-herders' camps on the fourth day from the
+ranch, no elaborate preparations were necessary; we took but a single
+animal for the pack, besides the horses we rode. A Mexican herder,
+Leonard, was the third member of the party--cook, packer, guide, general
+storehouse of information and jest. The first night we camped in the
+foot hills, in a grove of big-cone pines, curiously enough in the exact
+place where, a fortnight before, my friend Proctor and I had pitched our
+tent on the way from the Yosemite to Fresno, and which we had left
+without the slightest expectation, on the part of either, of ever seeing
+again.
+
+Little of the journey to the mountains remains in my memory. We passed a
+great timber chute of astonishing length--twenty or forty miles, or
+something of the sort--down which timber is floated from the great pine
+and spruce forests to the railroad, with little trouble and at slight
+expense; the water being of commercial value for purposes of irrigation
+during the summer, and bringing a good price after it has fulfilled its
+special function as carrier. The drinking water for my friend's ranch
+was taken from this, a supply being drawn in the cool of the morning
+sufficient to last throughout the day, and most grateful we found it
+during sultry August days in a part of the country where ice is not to
+be procured.
+
+Each of the four days of our journey we were climbing higher among the
+mountains, into a thinner and more invigorating atmosphere. The days
+were hot so long as one remained exposed to the sun, but the shadows
+were cool and the nights most refreshing. Upon the last morning of our
+journey, crossing a mountain creek, my attention was called to a rude
+bridge, where had occurred a battle of the ranchmen upon the occasion of
+an attempted entry by a "tramp" owner with his flock into somebody's
+"summer range." The intruder was killed, and I believe in this
+particular instance the possessor of the unwritten right of exclusive
+pasturage upon Government land found the laws of California awkward to
+deal with; not so deadly, it may be, as a six-shooter, but expensive and
+discouraging to quiet pastoral methods.
+
+Another point of interest was Rattlesnake Rock, which we rounded upon
+the trail. This was a spot peculiarly sheltered and favored by the
+winds, the warmest corner that snakes wot of, and here they assemble for
+their winter's sleep. In the mild days of early spring, when the rest of
+the world is still frozen and forbidden, this one little nook, catching
+all the sun, is thawed and genial. From beneath the ledge crawl forth
+into the warmth great store of rattlers, big and little. Coming out from
+the Yosemite Valley, I had killed one quite four feet in length and of
+exactly the same girth as my wrist, which I was assured was not at all
+an extraordinary size for them "in these parts." Near this rock, in an
+unfeeling manner, I shot the head off another big one, and he will no
+longer attend the yearly meeting of his kind at Rattlesnake Rock.
+
+Upon this stage of our journey we met no one, yet the noble forest of
+spruce through which we were traveling bore only too plainly the signs
+of man's presence in the past, and of his injurious disregard of the
+future. Everywhere were the traces of fire. The trees of the Sierras, at
+the elevation at which we were, an altitude of 8,000 or 10,000 feet,
+grow more sparsely than in any forest to which we are accustomed in the
+East. Their dry and unimpeded spaces seem like heaven to the hunter
+familiar only with the tangled and perplexing undergrowth of the "North
+Woods," where the midday shadow, the thick underbrush, the uneven and
+wet, mossy surface, except upon some remote hardwood ridge, are the
+unvarying characteristics. In the Rocky Mountains, and that part of the
+Sierras with which I am familiar, it is quite different. In California
+the trees do not crowd and jostle one another, but have regard for the
+sacredness of the person so far as the mutual relation of one and all
+are concerned. Broad patches of sunshine beneath the trees encourage the
+growth of rich grasses, none so sweet as those which are found at a
+great altitude; and, although the prevailing tint under foot is that of
+the reddish earth, tufts of succulent feed abound sufficient to repay
+the sheep for cruising everywhere, while occasional glades furnish the
+most delicious and abundant pasturage. As in every forest, the processes
+of nature are slow--it takes a long time for the dead past to bury its
+dead. On every side lie fallen trees; and a generation of rain and snow,
+sunshine and wind and tempest, must elapse before these are rotted away,
+and by the enrichment of the soil can furnish nourishment and life to
+their progeny and successors. Naturally these trees are a hindrance and
+annoyance to the sheep herder; they separate his flock and greatly
+increase his labors. The land is not even his master's, whose one idea
+is temporary gain, hence there is no restraining influence whatever for
+their preservation. "So long as it lasts my lifetime, what matter?" is
+the prevailing sentiment.
+
+As there is no rain during the summer months, the fallen trees become
+perfectly dry; a handful of lighted twigs is all that is required to set
+fire to them, when they blaze or smoulder until consumed. Owing to the
+absence of underbrush, forest fires are far less common than would be
+expected; but, of course, the soil is impoverished by the deprivation of
+its natural enrichment, the decaying wood, and the centuries to come
+will there, as well nigh everywhere in our country, point the finger of
+scorn at our spendthrift forestry.
+
+Although this is the chief economic injury, the beauty of the woods is
+sadly marred; all large game is frightened away, except the bear, which
+is half human and half hog in his methods, and minds it not at all--in
+fact, finds the presence of man perfectly intelligible, and his fat
+flocks a substantial addition to his own bill of fare. Leonard pointed
+out to us a certain mountain shrub, a rank poison to sheep. Every
+cluster of it in his range is known to the herder, who keeps the sheep
+in his charge at a safe distance. This is one of his important duties;
+for, if a sheep eats of this plant, he is a "goner."
+
+In one particular the pasturage of the high Sierras has greatly
+suffered. The ranchmen naturally wish to get their sheep off the home
+range as early in the spring as possible--in fact, the last month there
+is one of starvation. The new crops have not yet grown, nothing remains
+standing of the old but a few dead stalks of weeds, the supply of
+alfalfa cut the year before has long since been exhausted, and,
+metaphorically speaking, the sheep and cattle have to dine, as the
+hungry Indian is said to do, by tightening his belt half a dozen holes
+and thinking of what he had to eat week before last. Only the weaklings
+die, however; the others become lean and restless, and as eager as their
+masters to start for the mountains. The journey supplies them with scant
+pickings, just enough to keep body and soul together, but morally it is
+a relief from the monotony of starvation at home, and they work their
+way stubbornly and expectantly up the mountains and into the forest as
+soon as the sun permits and anything has grown for them to eat. The
+consequence of this close grazing is that certain species of the grasses
+upon which they feed are never allowed to come to flower and mature
+their seed; hence those with a delicate root, the more strictly annual
+varieties, which rely upon seed for perpetuation of the plant, have a
+hard time of it. Where the sheep range, the wild timothy, for example--a
+dwarf variety and an excellent, sweet grass--has almost disappeared,
+although formerly it grew in abundance.
+
+The forest glades through which we passed had the appearance of a
+closely-cropped pasture, as different as possible from the profusion of
+tall grasses and beautiful flowering plants which grow in similar
+openings untroubled by sheep. So far as the grasses are concerned--or
+"grass," by which, I take it, is ordinarily designated the foliage of
+the plant--I doubt if it is molested to any great extent by deer. Their
+diet is mainly the tender leaves of plants--"weeds" to the unscientific
+person. The heads of wild oats and of a few of the grasses might prove
+sufficiently sweet and tempting to arrest their fancy; but as for
+grazing, as sheep or cattle do, it is not their habit. When deer shall
+have come to trudge up hill in the plodding gait of the domestic beasts,
+and shall have abandoned their present method of ascending by a series
+of splendid springing leaps and bounds, the very embodiment of vigor and
+of wild activity, time enough then for them to take to munching grass,
+the sustenance of the harmless, necessary cow. At present they are most
+fastidious in their food, and select only the choicest, tenderest tips
+and sweetest tufts of herbage, picking them here and there, wandering
+and meditating as they eat. I will not say that they never touch grass,
+for I have seen deer feeding among cattle in the open, but it is not by
+any means the chief article of their diet, and when they partake of it
+under such circumstances, it is more as a gratification of their social
+instincts, I think, than from any particular love of the food itself.
+
+A little before noon upon the fourth day, we arrived at one of the sheep
+camps, to which we had been directed by a stray herd, and where we were
+to find the foreman of the sheep gang. At that hour of the day there
+were naturally in camp but a few men. The cook was there, of course. His
+functions were simple enough--to make bread, tea, and boil mutton, or
+bake it in a Mexican oven beneath the coals. With him was the chief
+herder and a half-witted Portuguese, who, upon the day following, in the
+plenitude of his zeal and mental deficiency, insisted upon offering
+himself as live bait for a grizzly, as will be narrated.
+
+During the afternoon I strolled further up the mountain with my rifle,
+in the hope of a shot at a stray deer, and to have a look at the lay of
+the land. Bear tracks I saw and a little deer sign also, but it was too
+early in the day regularly to hunt. All nature nodded in the dozy glare
+of the August afternoon, and after the hot journey in the saddle I found
+a siesta under the clean spruce trees refreshing. Toward sunset I awoke
+to find a pine martin in a tree across the gulch reconnoitering, and
+evidently turning over in his mind the probabilities whether the big
+creature curled up on the hillside "forninst" him were of the cast of
+hunter or hunted. I soon brought him out of that, and upon my return to
+camp the hide was graciously accepted by the chief herder, who converted
+the head of it into a tobacco pouch with neatness and dispatch. At the
+evening meal there were good-natured references to _chile con
+oso_--bear's meat cooked with red peppers--regret expressed that the
+camp's larder could at present afford none, and expressions of
+confidence that this delicacy would soon be set before us--all most
+politely and comfortably insinuated. They had the gratification of their
+desire; it was on the next day but one.
+
+That night there was a great jabbering of bad Spanish around the
+camp-fire. Had this been the rendezvous of Sicilian brigands, it
+doubtless would have had a slightly more picturesque appearance, but the
+difference would have been only of degree, not at all of kind. The
+absence of rain made tents unnecessary. Piles of bedding, of cooking and
+riding equipment, defined the encampment. Around the fire a dozen
+Mexicans clustered, of whom, except the chief herder and Leonard, not
+one spoke English. They wore the broad hats of their race, and were
+arrayed for protection against the cool night winds of the Sierras in
+old and shabby cloaks, some of which had been originally bright in
+color, but now were subdued by age and dirt into comfortable harmony
+with the quiet tones of the mountain and the forest. Old quilts and
+sheepskins carpeted a small space where we had been invited to seat
+ourselves upon our arrival. Then, as throughout our stay, every possible
+mark of hospitality was shown us--a delicious, faint survival of
+Castilian courtesy.
+
+Long after I had turned in, somewhere in the dead vast and middle of the
+night, I was aroused by the sound of scurry and scampering among the
+bunch of sheep which was rounded up near the camp. Experience has
+taught these creatures to efface themselves at night, and they are only
+too glad to sleep quietly, as near as possible to humans, with no
+disposition to wander after dark. They realize their danger from bears,
+yet the protection which a Mexican affords is a purely imaginary thing,
+as unsubstantial as the baseless fabric of a vision, of as little real
+substance for the protection of the flock as the dream of mutton stew
+and fat bear, by no means a baseless fabric, which engrosses the
+sleeping shepherd, body and mind. The disturbance upon this occasion
+soon subsided. One and another of the shepherds sleepily moved in his
+blankets--perhaps swore to himself a hurried prayer or two--but not one
+of them spoke aloud or indicated the slightest intention of
+investigating the cause of the commotion. Only too well they and the
+sheep knew what it signified. Quiet reigned again, and, attaching no
+importance to the incident, I was promptly asleep.
+
+In the morning I learned that the disturbing cause had been the charge
+of a grizzly into the flock within a stone's throw of us, a sound too
+familiar to occasion comment at the time. There were the tracks, to
+leeward of the sheep, of a she grizzly and two cubs. Their approach had
+been without a sound; not the snap of a twig, or the faintest footfall,
+had given any signal of their presence. The mother had critically
+overhauled the flock in her mind from a slight rise of ground, on a
+level with their backs or slightly higher, and made deliberate choice of
+a fat wether, having a discriminating eye, and being too good a judge of
+sheep flesh to take any but such as are in prime condition. A single
+quick rush and she has secured her victim, in an instant, before the
+rest are fairly upon their feet, and is off, carrying the sheep in her
+mouth as easily as a cat would her kitten, her delighted cubs trotting
+behind. Every two or three nights this occurrence was repeated, with no
+interference upon the part of the Mexicans. "What recks it them?" "The
+hungry sheep look up and are not fed." On the contrary, the bears are.
+As for the Mexicans, they have "lost no bear!" To have seen the intruder
+would have been only a gratuitous anxiety, since nothing in the world
+would have tempted them to fire at it. Should they risk life and limb
+for a sheep? and that the _patron's_, who had so many! It was not their
+quarrel! The charge of the grizzly was a thing as much to be accepted as
+an incident of the Sierras as the thunderbolt--equally dangerous to him
+who should interfere as the lightning stroke to one daring to interpose
+his rifle between the angry heavens and the fore-doomed tree.
+
+We may feel sure that the lesson is not lost upon the cubs. They are
+taught energy, sagacity, craft in maturing their plans, courage and
+promptness in their execution. They are taught reverence for the ursine
+genius, unbounded admiration for their mother's leadership and
+steadiness of nerve, at the same time that they are taught contempt for
+the stupidity of sheep and the pusillanimity of humans. It may be that
+an apologist for the latter might find a word to mitigate their too
+severe sentence. A she grizzly of the Sierras, at night, with hungry
+cubs to feed, is not an altogether pleasant thing to face when
+infuriated by wounds, none of which may be bad enough to cripple her,
+yet combined are amply sufficient to make her pretty cross and
+dangerous. The Mexican is a poor shot, but what can you expect? His
+vocation is a humble one. Were he of more positive and determined
+temperament, he would be a _vaquero_ of the plains, or _boyero_
+(_Anglice_ "bull-whacker") on the Santa Fe trail or down in old Mexico;
+and not the dry nurse of these "woolly idiots," in whose race, for
+innumerable centuries, man has elaborately cultivated stupidity, and, by
+systematic process of artificial selection, has faithfully eliminated
+every sign of insubordination and the last trace of individuality of
+temperament, and that which in our race is called character. No
+native-born white man in this country can be induced to follow, for any
+length of time, the vocation of shepherd. The deadly monotony of the
+occupation drives him either to imbecility or desperation. It is well
+known that men who habitually care for any animal come in time to
+resemble him. Stable boys, bred to the vocation of groom, become
+horse-faced and equine of disposition, eventually they wheeze and
+whistle like a curry-comb. Cowboys partake of the scatter-brained
+recklessness of the Texas steer which they tend. No one can admit dogs
+to be daily and familiar companions without absorbing into his system
+somewhat of their sense of humor and of their faithfulness. The
+lion-tamer, who enters unscathed the den of his charge, must share the
+robustious courage and determination of the beast with which he
+associates. The rat-catcher, whether he be ferret or man, partakes of
+the fierce slyness of the game he follows; and I remember that, years
+ago, before I ever heard mention of this peculiarity of resemblance, I
+could detect, plainly writ in the face of the attendant of "Mr.
+Crowley," when he was kept in the old arsenal building in Central Park,
+the reflected temperament and animalism of the poor, indolent, captive
+chimpanzee, whose fellow and all too sympathetic friend he had made
+himself. Naturalists are well aware of this phenomenon.
+
+If this be so, and stupidity catching, what more potent influence of
+fatty degeneration of the intellect could there be than the
+uninterrupted society of sheep, with nothing in the world to think of
+except their care--without even the stimulating influence of gain to
+redeem the paralyzing service. The sheep are not their own, and if the
+bears eat them up the keepers do not feel the stimulating ache in their
+money-pocket that might tempt them, however feebly, to resist
+aggression. Moreover, as a rule, they are wretchedly armed. Each of
+these men carried an old six-shooter of an outlandish and forgotten
+pattern, good enough to try a chance shot at another Mexican with, but
+only a source of more or less pleasurable titillation to a bear, were
+one ever to be discharged at him, and about as effective as pelting an
+alligator with strawberries. If the last stage of misery for a horse be
+to drag, along its rigid road of stone and iron, the city horse-car with
+its thankless freight of fares, the corresponding degradation of the
+"gun" is to rest upon the hip of a degenerate sheep-herder, half
+Spaniard, half Indian and half coyote. Any self-respecting weapon
+reduced to such straits would be conscious of its low estate; its
+magazine would revolve in a creaky, half-hearted, reluctant fashion; it
+would doubtless fire an apologetic bullet; its report would be something
+between "scat" and "beg your pardon," to which a bear would pay but
+slight heed. Others of the Mexicans were armed with old muskets,
+somewhat rusty and ramshackly, but with a furry longitudinal perforation
+throughout their length, along which--it could not creditably be called
+a bore--a ball could after a fashion, if you gave it time enough, be
+propelled. Leonard was exceptionally fortunate in this respect; he
+carried an old rim-fire .44-40 Winchester, the action of which
+occasionally worked and occasionally did not. Comparatively speaking, he
+was rather a swell in the matter of firearms; but if one should put his
+trust in him in case of emergency as a sheet anchor to windward, there
+was always the remote possibility, were the strain too intense, that he
+might not be a dependence of absolute security.
+
+The afternoon of this day, much against my real inclination, but in
+accordance with the prevailing desire, we started out, the whole rabble
+of us, to follow the she grizzly's trail. It could not be called a
+"still-hunt," for the reason that six men hunting in a pack are never
+still; however, it did not matter. We found in a neighboring gulch bits
+of the fleece, bones and hides of three sheep, and the sufficiently
+plain evidence, upon the trampled and bloody ground, of recent feasts.
+Yet this was the banqueting hall and not the children's nursery. A bear
+thinks nothing of a little stroll of ten miles or so before or after
+eating. It aids digestion, and in case of a female, as this was, wards
+off an attack of the nerves. Particularly a bear with cubs would put at
+least that distance between herself and hunters. Moreover they are so
+clever that I doubt not this one knew already by scent and subtle
+process of ratiocination how many of us there were in camp, where we
+were from, the color of our hair, what sort of rifles we carried, their
+caliber, how heavy a bullet and how many grains of powder they fired.
+This is said in the light of after events and of further experience.
+
+That afternoon, in our unjustifiably sanguine forecast, we had hopes of
+finding this particular bear. The half-witted "Portugee," of whom I have
+spoken, showed especial zeal in the presence of the _patron_, and
+insisted, in spite of mild and repeated caution, in going ahead and
+scrupulously investigating every possible ambuscade where there was the
+remotest chance of finding the bear, or, what was much more likely, of
+the bear finding him. In consideration of the fact that this was a she
+one which we were after, that she was proud and well fed, and on the
+lookout for pursuit, had the "Portugee" found her, she would in all
+probability have received his visit with cordial warmth. Not speaking
+his tongue fluently, I was unable to express my solicitude except by
+signs and admonitory gestures. The rest of the party apparently seemed
+to think that, while the bear was interested and occupied with him, a
+good opportunity would be offered for getting in a shot; and as
+Portuguese were a drug in the market in that part of California, and
+grizzly bears, dead, a great rarity, he was suffered to contribute his
+mite to the success of _la chasse_, and all went merrily. Not a thicket
+or a den did he leave unprobed.
+
+An hour or two were spent in beating up the gulch to its head. Then a
+barren mountain side presented itself, three or four miles of it, with
+no shelter. Leonard ran the trail here like a dog, literally ran it, and
+the pack of hunters tailed behind him for a half or three-quarters of a
+mile. A bit before sundown we were at the edge of the chaparral--a
+tangle of bushes and quaking asp--rather a baddish place in which to
+stumble upon her serene highness. However, my companions did me the
+honor to promote me to the "Portugee's" place and function. With rifle
+across the crook of arm, we stole as silently as might be--the United
+States army would have made more noise--into the jungle. Sunset overtook
+us up on the far edge, with a stretch of open forest in sight, and, I
+doubt not, with Madam Bruin and her cubs miles ahead in some
+inaccessible snarl of bushes, where the crackling underbrush would warn
+her of approach as fully as could the most complete system of burglar
+alarms.
+
+That night, leaving word that whoever might be the first to stir in the
+morning should call me, I unrolled my blankets under a spruce somewhat
+apart from the crowd, and was soon asleep. Before daylight I was astir,
+had a cup of coffee and a bite, and was off. Upon the previous afternoon
+I had picked the direction I would take, which was to skirt certain
+openings in the forest below. Fresh sign I saw that assured me of the
+excellence of the range for bear, but I encountered nothing alive worth
+powder and ball, and returned to camp about 9 o'clock. I was greeted by
+Leonard with the joyful news that during my absence he had seen from
+camp a big bear cross the side of the mountain only a mile or so away,
+and disappear over the ridge. This happened about 7 o'clock. The chief
+herder and my companion received the information somewhat in a spirit of
+respectful incredulity, but Leonard assured me that it was so, and we
+made preparations to follow the trail toward night. Meanwhile I
+breakfasted and slept.
+
+We left camp about 3 o'clock in the afternoon, and without the slightest
+difficulty found the beast's trail exactly where the Mexican had said we
+should. Before this time I had killed an odd bear or so in Colorado, and
+had had some little experience in unraveling the trail of game. It may
+be rather priding myself upon the accomplishment, but let me here
+acknowledge the superiority of professional talent. Leonard, to all
+intents and purposes, had been born and raised on a sheep range. His
+earliest recollections had been of the sheep camps of the Sierras, of
+the reputation of the arch-enemy of the flock and of the havoc which he
+works. From infancy he, like all the herders, had been constantly upon
+the lookout for bear sign; it was his one keenest intellectual
+accomplishment and diversion. The result of this special training was
+such an acuteness of vision and nice discrimination of eye that he could
+clearly distinguish a bear's footprints upon the naked sand and gravel
+where at a quick glance I was unable to see any indication whatever. A
+single grain of sand displaced was sufficient to arrest his eye; he
+detected it instantly. To him the minutest particle had its
+weather-beaten side as well as a boulder. A bear could not put his foot
+upon the ground without leaving an impress which he could detect. His
+talent was so quick and unerring that we soon organized a division of
+labor. He was to concentrate his energies and attention upon the trail,
+while I, by his side or a step in advance, when the trail read itself
+and permitted such a course, was to watch ahead and around for both of
+us. Fortunately this arrangement was satisfactory to him. The hardest of
+the trail to decipher was where it was written in condensed shorthand
+across a mountain slide or _coulisse_ of naked granite boulders. Here
+not one trace was to be found in a dozen yards. Fortunately we could
+trust in the genius of the bear; he was aware, as well as La Place, that
+a straight line is the shortest distance between two points. He
+undoubtedly knew exactly where he was heading. We had his general
+direction, and by beating about for a tuft of grass here with a blade
+displaced, a stray gooseberry bush there with a leaf awry, and yonder a
+patch of thicker vegetation, betraying interference, we soon succeeded,
+owing mainly to Leonard's genius as a pathfinder, in getting through a
+couple of acres of this most vague and illegible pedography. At last we
+had the trail upon the mountain side once more, where, after such
+difficulties surmounted, following it was a comparative luxury.
+
+After having proceeded in this manner for perhaps two hours, we entered
+timber, and were obliged to advance with greater caution to avoid the
+slightest sound which might betray our presence and give the alarm. With
+two men the risk of doing this is increased in geometrical ratio. One
+person alone, traveling through the woods, may, and almost certainly
+will, break an occasional twig under foot. If game is within hearing,
+the sound will inevitably be detected; the deer, if it be a deer, will
+lift his head and listen; but if the hunter stops and waits for a time,
+the chances are that the animal will, after due interval of silence,
+resume his feeding if so engaged, or his rumination, be it physical or
+moral, and the alarm may not prove fatal. Not so when companions are
+hunting together. It would seem as if the second man, with dreadful
+promptness, never failed to snap his twig also, which sounds as loud as
+a pistol coming upon the strained attention of the listening beast, who
+is off like a streak, leaving the disappointed hunter, as he hears him
+crashing away, to moralize that company in the chase halves the pleasure
+and doubles the sorrow. The only safety where union is necessary is to
+proceed with exaggerated and fantastic caution.
+
+Leonard was a treasure in this. He had dreamt of grizzlies all his life,
+yet had never been in at the death. His heart was in the hunt--he fairly
+sighed for gore. We crept into the woods as silent as panthers and as
+"purry" in the ardor of the chase. After a mile or so our bear had come
+to an immense fallen spruce, lying across the trail, with the big butt,
+five or six feet in diameter, to our right, the top pointing up the
+hill. Over the middle of this, at right angles, lay another large tree,
+with the point toward us. I felt that behind the first of these, if I
+had been the original and unmolested settler in these parts, as the bear
+was, with all the world before me where to choose, I should have made
+the bed for my morning nap. It was long after daylight when he had
+reached this covert. He had doubtless been stirring soon after sunset
+the evening before; he had, it is not unlikely, been traveling all
+night; had feasted heartily upon a sheep during that interval, and by
+the time he reached this place, which may have been in his mind from the
+start, was feeling comfortably lazy and inclined to the refreshment of
+sleep. Behind that tree, so admirably suited for the purpose, I trusted
+that he might still remain. The big end would protect a cool space from
+the heat of the morning sun, and we might yet be so lucky as to find him
+in his lair beneath its shelter. A signal to Leonard was enough, and we
+proceeded to circle the fallen timber, which fortunately the wind
+permitted, with all the caution of which we were capable. Had the
+gentleman we were after been our dearest friend at the crisis of a
+fever, we could not have tiptoed about his bed with more solicitude lest
+we disturb sweet slumber. The big tree lay in front of us; by this we
+crept at a respectful distance, and then approached the further end of
+the tree lying across it. With great care I sneaked up until I could
+look over its trunk at the desired point. Alas! no bear had made his
+nest there.
+
+Sorrowfully, but without a sound, I crawled upon the intervening log and
+slowly stood erect. There, directly beneath me, where I could have
+jumped into it most comfortably, was the deserted form of the bear,
+which he had dug in the morning within an hour after Leonard had seen
+him, and in which the greater part of the day had been spent, until he
+had stirred abroad for water, with which to wash down the recollection
+of his muttons. Although ardently hoping that he was behind the tree, I
+had not in the least expected to find his bed in this particular place.
+Had he stayed quietly there until our arrival, he would have given one
+of us a delicious surprise, and the mutual agitation of the moment might
+have induced a shot with unpremeditated haste, and possibly have caused
+me to get off that fallen spruce tree in somewhat quicker time than I
+had climbed it. One naturally would not feel any keen desire to display
+his acrobatic skill in walking a log for the entertainment of an
+infuriated grizzly. A few hairs proclaimed him a cinnamon, who is either
+a variety of the grizzly or his first cousin--authorities differ; at all
+events, he closely resembles him except in color, which, although of a
+uniform light, fady brown, might be an extreme type of the "sorrel top"
+of the Rockies. In size the cinnamon fully holds his own with the
+grizzly; I should say that his head was rather longer. The generous
+excavation which this one had made showed that he was no mean
+representative of his species.
+
+Not twenty yards away, and near the end of the big tree where I had
+expected to find him, was a little spring. To this, still without a
+word, we proceeded, saw where he had stood to drink more than once,
+doubtless long and deep. To our left, in the soft earth, lay his
+retreating footsteps--a continuation of the general direction of his
+previous course. A moment's pause for closer scrutiny, a smile and a
+whispered word exchanged--just to show that we were not bored; then,
+respectful of the silence of the darkening woods, we were again upon the
+trail. It was now easy to see why he had left his lair; it faced the
+west, and the heat of the afternoon sun had annoyed him, warmly clad and
+irritable with high living.
+
+We had proceeded only about a stone's throw further when I caught a
+glimpse of our bear. Within twenty paces, under the shadow of a tree at
+the edge of a cool, umbrageous thicket, between him and the setting sun,
+lay the beast we were after; or, as I for a moment thought, judging
+from the great inchoate mass of brown fur, a pair, perhaps male and
+female, or one, it might be, a yearling cub. With finger lifted I
+signaled Leonard to stop. A great head was slowly raised and turned my
+way. A bullet between the eyes and down it went again, and I threw
+another cartridge into the chamber, expecting to see the second bear
+spring to his feet, ready to do whatever, in his judgment, the occasion
+required, either to fight or to run. Whichever he might elect to do, it
+was well to be prepared. "Give him another shot," said the prudent
+Leonard, and I fired a second time, sending this ball quartering and,
+like the first, through the brain; then I realized that there was but
+one, and he of creditable size. We soon had him out in the open, for
+nothing is easier to roll about than a bear just killed. He is like a
+great jelly-fish, and I have seen a little terrier no larger than a
+rabbit worry and shake a great carcass four times as large as the most
+commodious kennel he could desire, provided he were a sensible pup and
+had the comfortable instinct of wild things for snugness rather than
+ostentatious display. Enough of daylight remained for us to get his pelt
+off, with head and claws unskinned and attached, and to hurry over the
+mountain by moonlight with our trophy, a junk of rank meat for such as
+might desire it not forgotten.
+
+We were cordially welcomed back to camp, and, after the usual pow-wow,
+the cook, with due formality, with Mexican _chile_ and Spanish
+politeness, proceeded to concoct the boasted _chile con oso_--a much
+overrated dish when made of a tough old cinnamon he bear. After I had
+turned in I heard much laughter, and subsequently learned that it was at
+an incident of the day. As we were starting out in the afternoon, and
+before we had struck the bear's trail, in order to avoid any possibility
+of a premature shot I had casually inquired of Leonard if he wished to
+earn five dollars.
+
+"Certainly, Senor, I am always glad to get the chance."
+
+"Well, don't shoot then until I give the word, and you shall have it."
+
+This circumstance Leonard had innocently narrated to the group around
+the camp-fire in the fuller elaboration of the hunt, and the story had
+an immediate success, the idea seeming to prevail that nothing in the
+world could have tempted him to fire before he was compelled to--which,
+as a matter of fact, I think was only prudent on his part, considering
+the arms he bore.
+
+The next morning, to the infinite chagrin of some of us, the younger
+_patron_ discovered that his presence was required at home, where, if he
+was mildly chid by my friend, his elder brother, who in generosity to
+his junior had yielded his own place and the leadership of this
+expedition, I should not greatly grieve.
+
+Upon the third day thereafter we regained the ranch.
+
+_Alden Sampson._
+
+
+
+
+The Ascent of Chief Mountain
+
+
+In the most northern corner of the Piegans' country, in northwestern
+Montana, almost grazing the Canadian border with its abrupt side, stands
+a turret-shaped mountain. Behind it the great range of the Rockies,
+which for hundreds of miles has been trending steadily northwood, bends
+sharply away toward the west, leaving the corner on which the mountain
+stands a huge protruding pedestal for its weird shape. Ninety years ago
+Lewis and Clarke saw it from far to southward as they passed along the
+dwindling Missouri and called it Tower Mountain; but to the Indians it
+has always been The Chief Mountain. Even those prosaic German
+geographers to whom we owe so much for information about our own and
+other lands have either seen it and fallen under the spell of its
+strange power, or have taken their nomenclature directly from the
+Piegans, for they have crowned it Kaiser Peak.
+
+For more than a year we had been numbered with the Chief's subjects.
+During the previous summer we had been seeking the acquaintance of the
+mountain goat; not the shorn degenerate which throngs the slopes of the
+Cascades and straggles among the southern peaks of Montana, but the true
+snowy buffalo of the northern Rockies; and from the ledges of the St.
+Mary Mountains, where we had sought him, could be seen still further to
+the northward the Piegans' Chief. Of the range, yet not in it, like a
+captain well to the front of his battle-line, he pressed out into the
+broad prairie, as if leading a charge of Titans toward the far distant
+lakes. And through the long months of an Eastern winter, and the still
+longer months of an Eastern summer, above all the memories of that
+wondrous land where every butte and mountain peak teems with legend, and
+where every bison skull on the prairie tells its story, had towered the
+clear-cut image of that Northern mountain, a worthy sovereign of any
+man's allegiance. Now, as inevitably as an antelope returns to its lure,
+we had returned for a closer look at our mountain. Down deep in our
+hearts, battling with the awe which we felt for him, was the almost
+unspoken hope that perhaps in some way we might struggle up his sheer
+sides and make him, in a way he was to no one else, our king.
+
+We were a party of three, the Doctor and I, and our faithful packer,
+Fox. A cold storm was blowing spitefully across the open foothills and
+out on to the prairie as we broke camp under the high banks of Kennedy
+Creek on the morning of the last stage of our journey. The clouds,
+driving over the range from the northwest, swung so low that they hid
+the peaks, and the great pedestal of the Chief met them all uncrowned,
+indistinguishable from the others about him. It was one of those
+doubtful mornings with which the mountains love to warn off strangers,
+or to greet their friends--one which might presage a week of storm or
+usher in a fortnight of surpassing beauty.
+
+We had camped for the night at the last of those ranches which stretch
+along the bottom lands of the St. Mary River, and just as we started,
+its owner, Indian Billy, decided to go with us.
+
+Even he had never been to the foot of his tribe's famous peak, and the
+dark-skinned idlers of the ranch who gathered about us as we flung the
+lash ropes over our horses could tell us little more than legends of
+it. Several Bloods from across the Canadian border declared that the
+boundary line ran, not where the white men had marked it on the prairie
+with their insignificant piles of stones, but through the deep cleft in
+the Chief's wall, where the Great Spirit himself had placed it; thus
+giving to the Bloods, who knew it best, their proper share of the
+mountain. And, getting warmer in their enthusiasm, they reminded Billy
+of their standing challenge to his tribe, the Piegans--fifty horses to
+anyone who should run around that wall, small as it seemed, in half a
+day.
+
+For our part it was hard to realize even on that cold September morning
+that the long dreaming was over and the reality before us. It took all
+the straining of the pack ponies on the wet lead-ropes to remind us that
+we were at last climbing the foothills of the great peak. Our presence
+there, far from breaking the long enchantment, surrendered us bodily to
+it, and Billy, riding over the successive slopes before us, swaying in
+the saddle with the hawk-like motion of the prairie Indian, seemed a fit
+ambassador to lead us to his king. As the day passed, the clouds
+gradually lightened; and finally, just as we surmounted one of the
+higher foothills, at the summit of the long, sloping, forest-clad
+pedestal before us broke through the crown of the Chief. Toward us, on
+the east, it showed a black rectangular wall 2,000 feet in length, 1,500
+in height, and from its sharp corners the broken mists streamed away
+southward like tattered garments.
+
+A few hasty pictures, taken while Fox mended a broken pack cinch, and we
+pressed on toward the foot of the mountain. Some benign influence was
+with us even thus early, and we were guided into the easiest way.
+Streaks of burned forest, bristling with windfalls, were slowly but
+successfully threaded, long rock slides luckily avoided, while we
+mounted steadily slope after slope; until finally, late in the
+afternoon, we pulled our panting horses out, just above timber line,
+upon the comparatively level summit of the pedestal. The foot of the
+great crown wall was still a mile away and 1,000 feet above us, but we
+were near enough and high enough for our purpose; and in a deep basin,
+sheltered from the wind and carpeted with softest mountain grass, and
+with the only water in the neighborhood sparkling up from a spring in
+the bottom, we found a perfect camp. As soon as the tents were pitched,
+Fox set about preparing dinner, while the seven horses, freed from their
+loads, buried their noses in the grass in perfect contentment.
+
+As he sat in the door of the tent, the Doctor's eyes seemed glued to his
+field glass, while the object lenses ever pointed in the one direction,
+westward; under the brim of the Indian's broad hat, as he lay apparently
+dozing before the fire, I could see his black eyes fixed on the same
+point; and even Fox, constantly shifting his position about the fire,
+rarely took one which placed his back toward that black wall behind
+which the sun was now gradually sinking. For myself, all the longing of
+the past year had concentrated itself into a desire to rush over this
+last remaining distance; to get to that magic crown, to feel it with
+hand and foot, and to see whether, as the Piegans aver, it denied even a
+single foothold for a mortal man.
+
+After dinner the Doctor and I did go to it. We clambered out of our
+little basin on to the higher portion of the domelike pedestal, and from
+this platform, on which rests the great crown, looked past its two edges
+at the vast mountain range behind it, stretching north and south. Then
+we picked our way toward it, through the loose boulders and broken rock;
+saw the summit hang further and further over us as we advanced into the
+gloom at its foot, and after finally reaching it and pressing ourselves
+against it where it rose sheer from its pedestal, we hurried back to
+camp through the twilight, thoroughly awed by the solemnity of the
+place.
+
+The storm of the morning had cleared into a most perfect night; and, as
+we lay about the fire, Billy told us all that the old men had told him
+of the Chief. A full-blooded Piegan, in his new life as a ranchman he
+had not lost touch with the traditions of his tribe. Only one Piegan, he
+said, had ever attempted to climb the mountain. Years ago a hunting
+party of their young men had been encamped on the opposite side, where
+the cliffs do not overhang so much, and ledges run temptingly up for a
+distance; and one of them, the youngest and most ambitious of the band,
+declared that he would go to the summit. He started, and his companions
+watched him from below until he passed along one of the very highest
+ledges, out of sight. Then the spirit of the mountain must have met
+him; for, though they waited many days, and searched for him all around
+the base, he never came back. And the Piegans, being a prairie tribe and
+not over fond of the mountains at best, thereafter avoided any close
+acquaintance with their king.
+
+A story had come to them, however, from the Flatheads across the
+range--a tribe whose prowess they always respected in war, as they
+believed in their truthfulness in peace--and as the story related to
+their mountain, they had treasured it among their own legends. Still
+earlier, many years before even the oldest Piegan was a boy, there had
+lived a great Flathead warrior, a man watched over by a spirit so mighty
+that no peril of battle or of the hunt could overcome him. When at last
+in his old age he came to die, he told the young men his long-kept
+secret. Many years before, as the time approached for him to go off into
+the forest and sleep his warrior sleep, in which he hoped to see the
+vision which should be his guide and protection through life, he had
+decided to seek a spot and a spirit which had never before been tried.
+So, carrying the usual sacred bison skull for his pillow, he had
+crossed the mountains eastward into the far-off Piegan country. Then,
+with none to aid him save the steady power of his own courage, he had
+ventured upon the ledges of the Chief of the Mountains, and, choking
+down each gasp of panic when at overhanging corners the black walls
+seemed striving to thrust him off and down, he had finally forced his
+way to the very summit. For four days and nights he had fasted there,
+sleeping in the great cleft which one can see from far out on the
+prairie. On each of the first three nights, with ever increasing
+violence, the spirit of the mountain had come to him and threatened to
+hurl him off the face of the cliff if he did not go down on the
+following day. Each time he had refused to go, and had spent the day
+pacing the summit, chanting his warrior song and waving his peace pipe
+in the air as an offering, until finally, on the fourth night, the
+spirit had yielded, had smoked the pipe, and had given him the token of
+his life. None of the young Flatheads, however, said Billy, had dared to
+follow their great warrior's example; so that to this day he was the
+only man who had braved the spirit of the Chief and made it his friend.
+
+[Illustration: THE CHIEF'S CROWN, FROM THE EAST.]
+
+After we were rolled in our blankets, and the late moon, rising from
+the prairie ocean behind us, had turned the dark, threatening wall to
+cheering silver, we thought again of the old warrior's steadfastness and
+longed to make his example ours.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+The Doctor's thermometer marked 20 degrees Fahrenheit when Fox called
+us, and the morning bucket which he dashed over us was flavored with
+more of the spirit of duty than usual. But otherwise the weather had
+been made for us. Yesterday's storm had beaten down the smoke from
+Washington forest fires, which had clouded everything for the past
+month, and the Sweet Grass Hills twinkled across one hundred miles of
+prairie as if at our feet; and yet there was hardly a breath of wind.
+Under the lee of the wall itself absolute stillness brooded over ledges
+which even a moderate breeze could have made dangerous. We did not make
+an early start. The thing could be done quickly if it could be done at
+all, for there was only 1,500 feet of cliff.
+
+Our men did not give the attempt to reach the summit from this, the
+eastern side, even the scant compliment of a doubt; in their minds its
+failure was certain, but they were willing to see how far we could get
+up. The Doctor, too, had at first suggested, and with perfect
+correctness, that to try a difficult side of a mountain before
+reconnoitering the other was bad mountaineering, to say the least. But,
+on the other hand, this east side was the famous side of the Chief--the
+side which every passer-by on the prairie saw and wondered at. With our
+glasses we had mapped a course which seemed not impossible; was it not
+better to meet our king face to face than to steal on him from behind?
+Besides, this wonderful weather might not last long enough for us to
+reach the other side. And so our final conclusion was to try the east
+face.
+
+Half way up the sheer face of the cliff was divided horizontally by a
+broad, steep shelf which ran nearly the length of the mountain. That
+shelf could clearly be crossed at any place; the difficulty would lie
+with the walls below and above it. The lower one was bad enough at best,
+but it was easy to recognize as least bad a place where a slope of shale
+abutted against it, shortening it some 300 feet. The upper wall in
+general seemed even worse, but it was furrowed by two deep chimneys,
+side by side, one of which led into the mountain's well-known cleft.
+The other chimney seemed to lead directly to the summit, but its lower
+mouth was inaccessible--cut off by overhanging cliff. Our plan,
+therefore, if we could ever reach the halfway shelf, was to use the
+first chimney in the beginning, then try to find a way around the
+dividing shoulder into the second, then follow that to the top. And at 9
+o'clock we began on the lower wall.
+
+Of course, the work which followed was not so difficult as it had
+promised from below--rock work rarely is--but it thoroughly taxed our
+slender experience, and, for a single man without a rope, must have been
+far worse. The Doctor and I took turns in leading, carrying up or having
+thrown to us from below a rope, on which the others then ascended. Most
+of the difficulty was thus confined to one man, and he could often be
+assisted from beneath. We were not skilled enough in the use of the rope
+to risk tying ourselves together.
+
+Two hundred feet up came our first trouble, perhaps the worst of the
+day. We were sidling along a narrow shelf, with arms outstretched
+against the wall above, when we reached a spot where the shelf was
+broken by a round protruding shoulder. Beyond it the ledge commenced
+again and seemed to offer our only way upward. I was leading at the
+time, and, after examining it, turned back to a wider portion of the
+shelf for consultation. It was not a place one would care to try if
+there was an alternative.
+
+We braced the Indian against the wall, and his skillful hand sent the
+lariat whirling up at a sharp rock above our heads. Time after time the
+noose settled fairly around it, but found no neck to hold it, and came
+sliding down. Then, almost before we knew it, the Doctor had run out
+along the ledge to the shoulder and had started around. For a moment he
+hung, griping the rounded surface with arms and knees; then a dangerous
+wriggle and he was on the other side.
+
+Under his coaching the Indian and I followed; but Fox, when half way,
+lost his head, and barely succeeded in getting back to the starting
+point. He would not try again. The poor fellow's moccasins had lost some
+of their nails and he had slipped once or twice that morning, thus
+destroying the nerve of one who had at other times shown himself a good
+climber. But of the Indian's companionship for the rest of the day we
+were now sure.
+
+Again, when near the top of that first wall, and when the halfway ledge
+seemed almost within our grasp, the shallow cleft--up which we were
+scrambling--ended in a deep pocket in the cliff's face, with no outlet
+above. The Doctor tried it at one corner, but the treacherous crumbling
+rock warned him back. I tried it at another, but was stopped by an
+overhang in the cliff. No help for it but to go back and try to find a
+way around.
+
+Fifty feet below we landed on a small shelf running horizontally along
+the mountain's face, and, after following it northward a few moments, we
+found another channel leading up. The Doctor started to investigate it,
+while Billy and I continued on slowly looking for a better. Almost
+immediately, however, we heard the Doctor shout "All right," and,
+following him, came out at last upon the great halfway shelf of the
+mountain.
+
+This was a steep slope of shale, which seemed in places quite ready to
+slide in an avalanche of loose rock over the edge of the cliff below;
+but the relief of being out upon it, and able once more to stand upright
+without the sensation of a wall against your face, apparently trying to
+shove you outward from your slender foothold, was simply indescribable.
+
+After crossing the shelf and eating our lunch in the mouth of the first
+or left-hand chimney, we attacked the upper wall. Following up the
+chimney a short distance, we found at last a narrow ledge leading to the
+right, and, creeping around on it, I looked into the right-hand chimney
+above its forbidding mouth. It led as a broad, almost easy, staircase
+clear to the top of the wall above, and for the first time we felt as if
+our king were really ours.
+
+Six or seven hundred feet more of steady work, and we could feel the
+summit breeze beginning to blow down the narrow mouth of the chimney.
+Billy was then sent to the front, and at half past one the first Piegan
+stepped out on the summit of the Chief Mountain.
+
+It is a long ridge of disintegrated rock, flanked at either end by lower
+rounded turrets, and at its highest part is no wider than a New England
+stone wall. On the opposite western side the cliffs fell away as on our
+own, but they seemed shorter, were composed of looser rock, and far down
+below we could see steep slopes of shale meeting them part way. After
+we had picked out our various landmarks in the wonderful outlook about
+us, and I had made my record from compass and barometer, we pushed our
+way carefully along to the highest point of the narrow ridge, in order
+to mark it with a cairn of rocks. Just as we reached it, the Indian, who
+was still in the lead, suddenly stopped and pointed to the ground.
+There, on the very summit of Chief Mountain, safely anchored by rocks
+from the effect of wind or tempest, lay a small, weather-beaten bison
+skull. It was certainly one of the very oldest I have ever seen. Even in
+the pure air of that mountain top it had rotted away until there was
+little else than the frontal bone and the stubs on which had been the
+horns. Billy picked it up and handed it to us quietly, saying with
+perfect conviction, "The old Flathead's pillow!"
+
+We left the skull where it had been found. Much as we should have
+treasured it as a token of that day, the devotion of the old warrior who
+had brought it was an influence quite sufficient to protect this
+memorial of his visit. We shared his reverence far too much to allow us
+to remove its offering. And then, too, as Billy suggested, we were still
+on top of the Chief, and the Chief had certainly been very forbearing
+to us. Those long walls, now darkened by the afternoon shade, those
+narrow ledges whence the downward climber could no longer avoid seeing
+the stone he dislodged bound, after two or three lengthening jumps,
+clear to the pedestal below, loomed very suggestively before his mind.
+But the Chief still remained gracious, and Billy worked even more
+steadily and sure-footedly going down than in the morning. We had all
+gained confidence, and besides we were certain of our course. By 5
+o'clock we had reached the last bad place--where Fox had left us--and,
+after avoiding that by swinging down hand over hand on the rope from a
+ledge above, it was only a few moments to the bottom.
+
+That night, after we were all safe in camp, and the great cliff beamed
+down on us more kindly than ever in the moonlight, the Doctor and I
+decided that we had been more favored than the old Flathead warrior, for
+the spirit of our mountain had been with us even before we reached its
+top.
+
+And for our success an explanation beyond our physical powers seemed
+necessary to others also; for, when a few days later we returned to the
+ranch in the St. Mary's Valley, Billy, who had preceded us, met us with
+the mien of the prophet who is denied by his own, and told us that his
+cousins, the Bloods from across the border, had suggested that, when
+next he returned from a trip to the range, he should bring them a
+likelier story than that he had climbed the east face of the Chief
+Mountain.
+
+_Henry L. Stimson._
+
+
+
+
+The Cougar
+
+
+It was upwards of twelve years ago that I had been down to one of the
+Rio Grande River towns herding up Mexicans, whom I expected to aid me in
+discovering gold where none existed. On my way down I had run across a
+mountain lion making off with a lamb, and shot and secured him after a
+little strategic maneuvering. On the return journey, after I had hired
+as many of the greasers as I desired, I camped at night about twenty
+miles from home, in a log cabin that had lost the door, the roof and all
+the chinking from between the logs.
+
+There was no reason to fear wild beasts--and the cabin would have been
+no protection for me even if there had been; nor was the structure any
+protection from the numerous cut-throat, horse-stealing Mexicans who
+flourished in that section of the country as thickly as cactus. However,
+I lariated my horse and threw down my blankets in this tumble-down
+shack, and turned in. I have quite a habit of sleeping on my back, and I
+was awakened some time in the night by a feeling of oppression on my
+chest. Having been accustomed to life in a country where the Indians
+were rampant, and where the wise man on awakening looked about him
+before stirring, I opened my eyes without moving, and there, standing
+directly on my breast, looking me squarely in the face, was a skunk,
+with its nose not, I swear, six inches from my own.
+
+It was a bright moonlight night, and I could see that the little devil
+was of the kind whose bite is said to convey hydrophobia. But that did
+not worry me; it was not the bite I feared. I realized perfectly that if
+I moved I might get myself into trouble. I knew that the only thing for
+me to do was to let the skunk gambol over me until he wearied of the
+pastime and went out of the cabin.
+
+I have a lurking suspicion that that skunk knew I was awake and in
+mental agony; for, after looking me in the face, he ran down my body on
+one leg and then up again, actually smelling of one of my ears; and then
+he trotted off me on to the floor of the cabin, where he nosed about
+awhile, then up again on my body; and, after sprinting a few seconds
+over my person, he went down and out of the cabin.
+
+So soon as he had disappeared out of the door I jumped to my feet and,
+drawing my gun, rushed out after him. He was plainly visible just to the
+right of the cabin, and I blazed away. Immediately after I had shot him
+I regretted it, for I had to move camp.
+
+The next day, on my way back to camp, I journeyed over a divide that was
+more or less noted as a den for mountain lions; though to designate any
+particular locality as a "den" for cougars is incorrect, for it is not
+an animal that remains in any one place for any great length of time. He
+is a wandering pirate, who makes no one district his home for any long
+period.
+
+However, this especial divide was said to harbor more of them than any
+other; or, at least, there were more signs of them, and more were
+reported to be started from there by hunters than elsewhere in the
+territory. Be that as it may, on the particular day of which I write I
+accidentally ran across the only cougar I ever have killed which gave me
+a fight and stampeded my horse, so that I was obliged to foot it into
+camp.
+
+I do not think the bronco is as fearful of the cougar as of the bear, at
+least my experience has not been such. I have had a mustang jump pretty
+nearly from under me on winding a bear, and I have wasted minutes upon
+minutes in getting him near the carcass of a dead one, that I might pack
+home a bit of bruin's highly-scented flesh, and I never had any similar
+experience where the cougar was concerned. I have had my pony evince
+reluctance to approach the slain lion, but not show the absolute terror
+which seizes them in the neighborhood of bear.
+
+My experience at this particular time, as I say, was novel in two
+respects--first, the fright with which my bronco was stricken; and
+second, the fight shown by the cougar. I had reached the top of the
+divide, and was picking my way across the fallen timber, which so often
+blocks the trail over the tops of divides in New Mexico. I remember
+distinctly having gained a clear spot that was pretty well filled with
+wild violets, which grew in great profusion thereabouts, and was guiding
+my pony that I should not trample upon them; for in that God-forsaken
+district, 10,000 feet above the level of the sea, it seemed too bad to
+crush the life out of the dainty little flowers that hold up their heads
+to the New Mexico sunshine.
+
+Without warning, my bronco, which was traveling along at a fox-trot,
+stopped suddenly, and looking up I saw, not more than fifty yards away,
+about as large a mountain lion as I had ever encountered, standing
+motionless and looking at us with utmost complacency. To throw myself
+out of the saddle and draw my Sharps-forty from the saddle holster was
+the work of a very few seconds. Throwing the bridle rein over my arm, I
+slipped in a cartridge, and was just pulling down on him when the cougar
+started off at a swinging trot to one side at right angles to where he
+had stood, and through some small quaking aspens. Without thinking of
+the bridle being over my arm, I knelt quickly in order to get a better
+sight of the animal, and almost simultaneously pressed the trigger.
+
+As I did so my bronco threw up his head, which spoiled my aim, and,
+instead of sending the ball through the cougar's heart, as I had hoped
+to do, it went through the top of his shoulders, making a superficial
+wound--not sufficiently severe to interfere with his locomotion, as I
+immediately discovered; for, with a combined screech and growl, that
+lion wheeled in my direction, and made for me with big jumps that were
+not exactly of lightning rapidity, but were ground-covering enough to
+create discomfort in the object of his wrath.
+
+My bronco, meanwhile, was jumping all over the ground, and I realized I
+could not hold him and make sure of my aim. To swing myself into the
+saddle and make away would have been simple, but I knew enough of the
+cougar to know that if I retreated, he, in his fury, would be sure to
+follow; and on that mountain side, with its fallen timber and rough
+going, I should have little chance in a race with him. I had no revolver
+to meet him in the saddle at short range, and a knife was not to my
+liking for any purpose, so far as an infuriated cougar was concerned,
+except for skinning him, once I had put sufficient lead into his carcass
+to quiet his nerves. There was nothing for me to do but fight it out on
+foot; therefore I dropped the bridle rein and turned the bronco loose
+(thinking he would run his fright off in a short distance), and gave
+myself up to the business of the moment, which, with the beast getting
+nearer every instant, was becoming rather serious. I do not know how
+others have felt under like conditions; but there is something about the
+look of a cougar on business bent, with its greenish, staring eyes, that
+produces a most uncomfortable sensation. I have been sent up a tree
+post-haste by a bear, and I have had an old bull moose give me an
+unpleasant quarter of an hour, but I am sure I never experienced a more
+disagreeable sensation than when I looked through my rifle sights at
+that loping lion. He did not seem to be in any feverish anxiety to reach
+me, but there was an earnest air about his progression that was ominous.
+
+Under any circumstances, it is not altogether pleasing to have a
+mountain lion, on his busy day, making for you, and with only about
+fifteen to twenty yards between him and his quarry. I presume the
+delicacy of the situation must have impressed itself upon me; for my
+next shot, although I aimed for one of those hideous eyes, missed far
+enough to clip off a piece of skin from the top of his skull and to whet
+his appetite for my gore. My bullet seemed to give him an added
+impetus; for, with almost a single bound and a blood-chilling screech,
+by the time I had put another cartridge into my single-shot rifle, he
+was practically on top of me. Fortunately, his spring had landed him
+short, and in another instant I had very nearly blown his entire head
+off. He was a monster. I skinned him and hung his pelt on a tree; and,
+on foot, made my way into camp, after a fruitless search for my bronco.
+
+I have killed five cougars, and this is the only one that ever gave me a
+fight. I record it with much pleasure, for there is an uncertainty about
+the cougar's temperament and an alacrity of movement that are altogether
+unsettling. You never know in what mood you find the mountain lion, and
+he does not seem by any chance to be in the same one more than once, for
+those I have shot have evinced different dispositions; generally,
+however, bordering on the cowardly. At times their actions are
+sufficient to characterize them as the veriest cowards in the world, and
+yet again, on very slight provocation, they are most aggressive and
+cruelly ferocious. There are many well-authenticated stories, to be had
+for the asking of any old mountaineer, of the unwonted craftiness and
+ferocity of the cougar, and I suppose I could fill a couple of chapters
+of this volume by recounting yarns that have been told me during my
+Western life.
+
+Between ourselves, I do not think hunting the cougar is very much sport.
+It is an instructive experience, and one, I think, every hunter of big
+game should have; but, at the same time, in my opinion it does not
+afford the sport of still-hunting deer, antelope, elk, moose or bears.
+In the first place, there is really no time you can still-hunt the
+cougar except in winter, when there is a light snow on the ground, and
+at all times it is most difficult, because you are dealing with an
+animal that embodies the very quintessence of wariness, and is ever on
+the lookout for prey and enemies. You have to deal with an animal that
+knows every crevice and hole of the mountain side, that moves by night
+in preference to day, and rarely travels in the open; whose great
+velvety paws enable it to sneak about absolutely unheard, and that will
+crouch in its lair while you pass, perhaps within a dozen feet.
+
+Yet there are only two ways of really hunting the mountain lion--by
+still-hunting and by baiting. I have tried baiting a number of times,
+but have never found it successful. Others, I understand, have found it
+so; but in a score of cases, where I have provided tempting morsels, and
+lain out all night in hopes of getting a shot at the marauder, in none
+have I been rewarded, and in only one or two have I got a glimpse of a
+pair of shining eyes, that disappeared in the gloom almost on the
+instant of my discovering them.
+
+Probably the most successful method of getting a shot at this wary beast
+is by hunting it with dogs (though I never had the experience), for the
+mountain lion has small lungs and makes a short, fast race. With dogs on
+his trail he is likely to take to a tree after a not very long run,
+which rarely occurs when he is still-hunted on foot. Yet, if the hunter
+values the lives of his dogs, he must be sure of his first shot, for the
+cougar is a tough customer to tackle when in his death throes; and I
+have been told, by those who have hunted in this way, that many a young
+and promising dog has had the life crushed out of him by the dying lion.
+Their forelegs are short and very powerful; but, curiously enough,
+unlike the bear, they do not use them in cutting and slashing so much
+as in drawing the victim to them to crush out its life with their strong
+jaws.
+
+I have said, one never knows how to take the cougar. Almost every mining
+camp in the West will produce somebody who has met and scared him to
+flight by a mere wave of the hand or a shout, and that identical camp
+will as like as not produce men that have had the most trying
+experiences with the same animal. It is this knowledge that makes you,
+to say the least, a little uncomfortable when you meet one of these
+creatures. I have had many trying experiences of one kind and another,
+and hunted many different kinds of game, but none ever harassed my soul
+as the cougar has. On one occasion I had been about five miles from
+camp, prospecting for gold, which I had discovered in such alluring
+quantities as to keep me panning until darkness put an end to my work
+and started me homeward. It was a pretty dark night, and my trail lay
+along the side of a mountain that was rather thickly wooded and a pretty
+fair sort of hunting country. I had left my cabin early in the morning,
+intent on finding one of the numerous fortunes that was confidently
+believed to be hidden away in those New Mexico gulches, and was armed
+only with pick, shovel and pan. I was sauntering along, beset by dreams
+of prospective prosperity, based on the excellent finds I had made, when
+suddenly in front of me--I am sure not more than twenty-five feet--two
+great balls of fire rudely awakened me and brought my progress to an
+abrupt halt. I dare say it took a second or two to bring me down to
+earth, but when the earthward flight was accomplished I immediately
+concluded that those balls of fire must belong to a mountain lion.
+
+At that time my experience with the cougar had been sufficient to put me
+in an uncertain frame of mind as to just what to expect of the creature.
+I had not an idea whether he was going to spring at me or whether I
+could scare him away. However, on chance, I broke the stillness of the
+night by one of those cowboy yells, in the calliope variations of which
+I was pretty well versed in those days, and, to my immense relief, the
+two glaring balls of fire disappeared.
+
+Trudging on my way, I had once more lost myself in the roseate future
+incidental to placers averaging three dollars in gold to the cubic
+yard, when, as suddenly as before, and as directly in front of me, those
+two glaring balls shone out like a hideous nightmare. This time, I
+confess, I was a little bit annoyed. I knew that, as a rule, mountain
+lions do not follow you unless they are ravenous with hunger or smell
+blood. I had not been hunting, and, consequently, my clothes and hands
+were free from gore, and I was therefore forced to the sickening
+conclusion that this particular beast had selected me as a toothsome
+morsel for its evening repast. I cannot honestly say I was flattered by
+the implied compliment, and, summoning all my nerve, I reached for a
+rock and hurled it at those eyes, to hear it crash into the dry brush,
+and, greatly to my peace of mind, to see the diabolical lights go out,
+for it was too dark to distinguish the animal itself.
+
+Congratulating myself on the disappearance of the hideous
+will-o'-the-wisp, I set out at a five-mile-an-hour gait for camp. My
+castles in the air had by this time quite dissolved, and I was attending
+strictly to the business of the trail, wishing camp was at hand instead
+of a mile off, when once more those greenish lanterns of despair loomed
+up ahead of me--not more than a dozen feet away, it seemed. I presume
+the beast had been trailing me all the time, though, after its second
+visitation, I kept a sharp lookout without discovering it, but evidently
+it had kept track of my movements.
+
+I had no proof of its being the same animal, of course, but I was pretty
+well persuaded of its identity, and I became thoroughly convinced that
+this particular cougar had grown weary of waiting for its supper, and
+was about to begin its meal without even the courtesy of "by your
+leave." The uncanny feature of the experience was that not a sound
+revealed its approach on any occasion, and I had no intimation of its
+call until it dropped directly in my path. I leaned against a friendly
+tree and thought pretty hard, watching the animal most intently to see
+that it did not advance. It stood there as still as death, so far as I
+could distinguish, not moving even its head, and the steady glare of its
+eyes turned full upon me.
+
+I made up my mind that, if the animal was going to feast on me that
+evening, I would disarrange its digestion, if possible. My short-handled
+prospecting pick was the nearest approach I had to a weapon, and,
+summoning all my ancient baseball skill, and feeling very carefully all
+around me to see that there were no intervening branches to arrest its
+flight, I hurled that pick at those two shining eyes, with a fervid wish
+that it might land between them. My aim was true and it landed--just
+where I cannot say, but I do know that it struck home; for, with a
+screech calculated to freeze one's blood, and a subsequent growl, the
+lion made off. For the rest of the mile to camp I had eyes on all sides
+of the path at once, but I was not molested.
+
+I have since often wondered whether hunger or pure malice possessed that
+brute. Owen Wister, to whom I told the story not very long ago,
+suggested curiosity, and I am half inclined to believe his
+interpretation; for, if hunger had been the incentive, it seems as if a
+tap on the nose with a prospecting pick would not have appeased it,
+though the cougar's propensity for following people, out of
+unadulterated wantonness to frighten them, is well known. At any rate,
+he showed his cowardly side that trip.
+
+The cougar is a curious beast, capricious as a woman. One day he follows
+his prey stealthily until the proper opportunity for springing upon it
+comes; again he will race after a deer in the open; at one time he will
+flee at a shout, at another he will fight desperately. They are
+powerful animals, particularly in the fore quarters. I have seen one
+lope down a mountain side, through about six inches of snow, carrying a
+fawn by the nape of the neck in its jaws, and swinging the body clear.
+
+In the West generally, I think, the lion is considered cowardly--a
+belief I share, though agreeing with Theodore Roosevelt, who in "The
+Wilderness Hunter" says cougars, and, in fact, all animals vary in moods
+just as much as mankind. Because of their feline strategy and
+craftiness, they are most difficult animals to hunt; I know none more
+so. Neither do I know of any beast so likely to still the tenderfoot's
+heart. Their cry is as terror-striking as it is varied. I have heard
+them wail so you would swear an infant had been left out in the cold by
+its mamma; I have heard them screech like a woman in distress; and,
+again, growl after the conventional manner attributed to the monarch of
+the forest. The average camp dog runs to cover when a cougar is
+awakening the echoes of the mountain. I should call it lucky, for those
+who hunt with dogs, that the lion does not pierce the atmosphere by his
+screeches when being hunted; for, if he did, I fear it would be a
+difficult matter to keep dogs on his trail. There seems to be something
+about his screeching that particularly terrorizes dogs.
+
+_Casper W. Whitney._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: YAKS GRAZING.]
+
+Big Game of Mongolia and Tibet
+
+
+From remote antiquity hunting has been a favorite pastime of the
+emperors of China, but at no time has it been conducted with such
+magnificence as under the Mongol dynasty in the thirteenth century and
+during the reigning Manchu one.
+
+Marco Polo's account of a hunt of Kublai Khan reads like a fairy tale.
+The Emperor left his capital every year in March for a hunting
+expedition in Mongolia, accompanied by all his barons, thousands of
+followers and innumerable beaters. "He took with him," says Polo, "fully
+10,000 falconers and some 500 gerfalcons, besides peregrines, sakers and
+other hawks in great numbers, including goshawks, to fly at the
+waterfowl. He had also numbers of hunting leopards (_cheetah_) and
+lynxes, lions, leopards, wolves and eagles, trained to catch boars and
+wild cattle, bears, wild asses, stags, wolves, foxes, deer and wild
+goats, and other great and fierce beasts.
+
+"The Emperor himself is carried upon four elephants in a fine chamber,
+made of timber, lined inside with plates of beaten gold and outside with
+lions' skins. And sometimes, as they may be going along, and the Emperor
+from his chamber is holding discourse with the barons, one of the latter
+shall exclaim: 'Sire, look out for cranes!' Then the Emperor instantly
+has the top of his chamber thrown open, and, having marked the cranes,
+he casts one of his gerfalcons, whichever he pleases; and often the
+quarry is struck within his view, so that he has the most exquisite
+sport and diversion there, as he sits in his chamber or lies on his bed;
+and all the barons with him get the enjoyment of it likewise. So it is
+not without reason I tell you that I do not believe there ever existed
+in the world, or ever will exist, a man with such sport and enjoyment as
+he has, or with such rare opportunities."
+
+In the latter part of the seventeenth century, during the reign of the
+Emperor K'ang-hsi, Father Gerbillon followed the Emperor several times
+on his hunting expeditions into Mongolia, and has told us in his
+accounts of these journeys of the enthusiasm and skill displayed by the
+Emperor in the pursuit of game, which he usually shot with arrows,
+though he also had hawks and greyhounds with him.
+
+I find no mention of the use of firearms in these imperial hunts, nor do
+I believe that it has ever been considered, by the Tartars and Mongols,
+sportsmanlike to use them.
+
+Coursing and hawking were probably introduced into China and Mongolia
+after the Mongol conquest of Western Asia, where those royal sports had
+then been in vogue for a long time. At present the Manchus keep great
+numbers of hawks, caught for the most part in the northern portion of
+the province of Shan-hsi, and with them they take hares and cranes.
+Greyhounds are no longer numerous in Mongolia and China, though they are
+much prized, and I have seen some among the Ordos Mongols and in Manchu
+garrisons. They were short-haired, of a clear tan color with black
+points, and showed good blood in their small tails and depth of chest.
+
+Besides the great annual hunts on the steppes--which, leaving aside the
+sport and incidental invigorating influence on the courtiers, helped, by
+the vast numbers of troops which took part in them, to keep quiet the
+then turbulent Mongol tribes--the emperors of China have had, at
+different times, great hunting parks, inclosed by high walls, at
+convenient distances from their capital, or even in close proximity to
+it, where they could indulge their fondness for the chase. Several of
+these parks (called _wei chang_) are still preserved for imperial hunts,
+and one I visited in 1886, to the north of Jehol and about six days'
+travel from Peking, is some ninety miles long from north to south, and
+over thirty miles from east to west. It is well stocked with pheasants,
+roebucks, stags, and, it is said, there are also tigers and leopards in
+it. The park is guarded by troops, and any person caught poaching in it,
+besides receiving corporal punishment, is exiled for a period of a year
+and a half to two years to a distant town of the empire. During my visit
+to this park, I and my three companions camped just outside one of the
+gates, and, by paying the keepers a small sum, we were able to get daily
+a few hours' shooting in a little valley inside the wall and near our
+camp. Though we had no dogs, and lost all the winged birds and wounded
+hares, we bagged in nine or ten days over 500 pheasants, 150 hares, 100
+partridges and a few ducks.
+
+A mile or so south of Peking is another famous hunting park, called the
+_Nan-hai-tzu_, in which is found that remarkable deer, not known to
+exist in a wild state in any other spot, called _Cervus davidi_. Of late
+years a number of these deer have been raised in the imperial park of
+Uwino at Tokio, and also in the Zoological Garden of Berlin, where a
+pair were sent by the German Minister to China, Mr. Von Brandt. This
+deer is known to the Chinese as the _ssu-pu-hsiang-tzu_, "the four
+dissimilarities," because, while its body shows points of resemblance to
+those of the deer, horse, cow and ass, it belongs to neither of those
+four species--so say the Chinese.
+
+The Chinese proper show but rarely any great love for sport. They are
+fond of fishing, and I have seen some very good shots among them,
+especially at snipe shooting, when, with their match-locks fired from
+the hip, they will frequently do snap shooting of which any of our crack
+shots might be proud. But the Chinese are essentially pot hunters, and
+have no sportsmanlike instincts as have the Manchus and Mongols, with
+whom sport is one of the pleasures of life, though it is also a source
+of profit to many Mongol tribes. In winter they supply with game--deer,
+boars, antelope, hares, pheasants and partridges--the Peking market,
+bringing them there frozen from remote corners of their country.
+
+Among the big game in the northern part of the Chinese Empire the first
+place properly belongs to tigers and leopards. In Korea tigers are quite
+common, and a special corps of tiger hunters was kept up until recently
+by the Government. The usual method of killing tigers is to make a
+pitfall in a narrow path along which one has been found to travel, and
+on either side of it a strong fence is erected. When the tiger has
+fallen into the pit, he is shot to death or speared. The skin belongs to
+the king, and the hunters are rewarded by him for each beast killed. The
+skins are used to cover the seats of high dignitaries, to whom they are
+given by the king, as are also the skins of leopards; and tigers'
+whiskers go to ornament the hats of certain petty officials.
+
+Leopards are so numerous in Korea that I have known of two being killed
+within a few weeks inside of the walls of Seoul.
+
+Tigers are also found in Manchuria, and, as before mentioned, in parts
+of northern and southeastern China. I have seen the skin of a small one
+hanging as an _ex voto_ offering in a lama temple near the Koko-Nor, and
+was told that it had been killed not far from that spot. Colonel
+Prjevalsky, however, says that the tiger is not found in northwestern
+China; so the question remains an open one.
+
+Leopards, at all events, are common in northeastern and northwestern
+China, in the hunting parks north of Peking, in the mountains of
+northwest Kan-su and to the south of Koko-Nor. Bears are common from
+northern Korea to the Pamirs. The Chinese distinguish two varieties,
+which they call "dog bear" or "hog bear," and "man bear." The first is a
+brown bear, and the latter, which is found on the high barren plateaus
+to the north of Tibet, where it makes its food principally of the little
+lagomys or marmots, which live there in great numbers, has for this
+reason been called by Colonel Prjevalsky _Ursus lagomyarius_. I killed
+one weighing over 600 pounds, whose claws were larger and thicker than
+those of any grizzly I have seen. Its color is a rusty black, with a
+patch of white on the breast.
+
+Besides these two varieties of bears, there is another animal, which,
+though it is not properly a bear, resembles one so closely that it is
+classed by the Chinese and Tibetans in that family. It is known to the
+Chinese as _hua hsiung_, or "mottled bear," and Milne Edwards, who
+studied and described it, has called it _Ailuropus melanoleucus_. This
+animal was, I believe, discovered by that enterprising missionary and
+naturalist, Father Armand David (who called it "white bear"), in the
+little eastern Tibetan principality of Dringpa or Mupin, in western
+Ssu-ch'uan.[13] Five specimens have so far been secured of this very
+rare animal: three are in the Jardin des Plantes of Paris, the other two
+in the Museum at the Jesuits' establishment, at Zikawei, near Shanghai.
+
+  [13] See _Nouvelles Archives du Museum de Paris_, X., pp. 18 and 20.
+
+The stag or red deer ("horse deer" in Chinese) is found in Manchuria and
+northern Korea, and the Tibetan variety, called _shawo_, must be very
+abundant in portions of eastern Tibet, to judge from the innumerable
+loads of horns which I have passed while traveling through eastern Tibet
+on the way to China, in which latter country they are used in the
+preparation of toilet powder. There is also a small deer in the
+mountains of Alashan, in western Kan-su and Ssu-ch'uan, and in the
+Ts'aidam; but I know nothing concerning it save its Mongol name,
+_bura_, and its Chinese, _yang lu_, or "sheep deer." Prjevalsky,
+however, gives some interesting details concerning it. Some Chinese
+mention a third variety, called _mei lu_, or "beautiful deer," said to
+live in the Koko-Nor country.
+
+[Illustration: AILUROPUS MELANOLEUCUS.]
+
+The musk deer is found in most parts of the Himalayas and Tibet, and as
+far northeast as Lan-chou, on the Yellow River, in the Chinese province
+of Kan-su. It is hunted wherever found, and nearly all the musk
+ultimately finds its way to Europe or America, as it is not used to any
+great extent by either Tibetans, Chinese or any of the other peoples in
+whose countries it is procured; the Chinese only use a small quantity in
+the preparation of some of their medicines. They distinguish two
+varieties of musk deer: one, having tusks much larger than the other, is
+called "yellow musk deer."
+
+Next in importance among the game of this region we find the _Antilope
+gutturosa_ and the _Ovis burhil_, or "mountain goat," which range from
+eastern Mongolia to western Tibet. But more important than these from a
+sportsman's point of view is the _argali_, of which Col. Prjevalsky
+distinguishes two varieties: the _Ovis argali_, ranging along the
+northern bend of the Yellow River, between Kuei-hua Ch'eng and Alashan;
+and the white-breasted _argali_, or _Ovis poli_, ranging from the
+Ts'aidam and western Ssu-ch'uan to the Pamirs.
+
+The name _argali_ is, I think, an unfortunate one to give to this
+species, as it is a Mongol word solely used to designate the female
+animal, the male of which is called _kuldza_.
+
+The _Antilope hodgsoni_, called _orongo_ in Mongol, has about the same
+range as the _Ovis poli_. It is by far the most beautiful antelope of
+this region--the long, graceful, lyre-shaped horns, which it carries
+very erect when running, being frequently over two feet in length.
+
+Although, to my mind, what are commonly regarded as cattle should no
+more be considered game when wild than when tame, still, as I am perhaps
+alone of this opinion, I must note, among the game animals of this part
+of Asia, yaks and asses, which are found in western Mongolia, Turkestan
+and in many parts of Tibet, especially the wild northern country, or
+Chang-t'ang.
+
+The wild yak is invariably black, with short, rather slender horns
+(smaller than our buffalo's), bending gracefully forward. The head is
+large, but well proportioned, and the eyes quite large, but with a very
+wild look in them. The legs are short and very heavy, the hoofs straight
+and invariably black. The hair, which hangs down over the body and legs,
+the face alone excepted, is wavy, and on the sides, belly and legs is so
+long that it reaches within a few inches of the ground. The tail is very
+bushy and reaches to the hocks, all the hair being of such uniform
+length that it looks as if it were trimmed. When running, the yak
+carries its tail high up or even over its back, and when frightened or
+angered holds it straight out behind.
+
+The calves have a grunt resembling that of the hog, hence the name _Bos
+grunniens_, but in the grown animal it is rarely heard; it is at best
+only a dull, low sound, unworthy of such a big, savage-looking beast.
+The bones of the yak are so heavy that it is nearly impossible to kill
+one except by shooting it through the heart or wounding it in some
+equally vital spot. Although I have shot a great many of these animals
+in northern Tibet, I have never bagged any except when shot as above
+mentioned, nor have I ever broken the limb of one. It is true that I
+have done all my shooting with a .44 caliber Winchester carbine, which
+was entirely too light for the purpose.
+
+The yak is not a dangerous animal except in the case of a solitary bull,
+which will sometimes charge a few yards at a time, till he falls dead at
+the hunter's feet, riddled with bullets. When in large bands yaks run at
+the first shot, rushing down ravines, through snow banks and across
+rivers, without a moment's hesitation, in a wild stampede.
+
+Mongol and Tibetan hunters say that one must never shoot at a solitary
+yak whose horns have a backward curve, as he will certainly prove
+dangerous when wounded; but the same beast may be shot at with impunity
+if in a band. In fact, the natives never shoot at yaks except when in a
+good-sized bunch. Natives usually hunt them by twos and threes, and,
+after stalking to within a hundred yards or even less, they all blaze
+away at the same time.
+
+The number of yaks on the plateaus north of Tibet is very considerable,
+but there are no such herds as were seen of buffaloes on our plains
+until within a few years. I have never seen over 300 in a herd, but Col.
+Prjevalsky says that when he first visited the country around the
+sources of the Yellow River, in 1870, he saw herds there of a thousand
+head and more. Yaks are enormous feeders, and, in a country as thinly
+covered with grass as that in which they roam, they must travel great
+distances to secure enough food. As it is, it is the rarest thing in the
+world to find even in July or August fine grazing in any part of this
+country; the yaks keep the grass as closely cut as would a machine.
+
+In some of the wildest districts of western China a wild ox (_budorcas_)
+is still found. Father Armand David thus describes it (_Nouvelles
+Archives du Museum de Paris_, X., 17): "It is a kind of _ovibos_, with
+very short tail, black and sharp horns, with broad bases touching on the
+forehead; its ears are small, and, as it were, cropped obliquely. The
+iris is of a dirty yellow gold color, the pupil oblong and horizontal.
+The fur is quite long and of a dirty white color, with a dash of brown
+on the hind quarters."
+
+The wild ass is no longer found, I believe, to the east of the Koko-Nor,
+but from that meridian as far west as Persia is met with in large
+numbers, and in the wilds to the north of Tibet in vast herds, quite as
+large and numerous as those of yaks.
+
+The wild ass (called _kulan_ or _hulan_ in Mongol) stands about twelve
+hands high, and is invariably of a tan color, with a dark line running
+down the back, and white on the belly, neck and feet. The tail is rather
+short, and thinly covered with hair; the head is broad, heavy, and too
+large for the body of the animal. It carries its head very high when in
+motion, and when trotting its tail is nearly erect. Its usual gait is a
+trot or a run. A herd always moves in single file, a stallion leading.
+As a rule, a stallion has a small band of ten or twelve mares, which he
+herds and guards with jealous care day and night. Frequently these bands
+run together and form herds of 500 or even of 1,000.
+
+One often meets solitary jackasses wandering about; they have been
+deprived of their band of mares in a fight with some stronger male.
+These have frequently proved most troublesome to me; they would round up
+and drive off my ponies--all of which were mares--to add to the little
+nucleus of a band they had hidden away in some lonely nook in the hills.
+I have frequently had to lose days at a time hunting for my horses, and
+I finally made it a point to shoot all such animals that came near my
+camp; though I had a strong dislike to killing them--they looked so like
+tame asses--and I never could see any sport in it, though the meat was
+good enough--much better than yak flesh.
+
+The _hulan_ is very fleet and has wonderfully acute hearing, but it
+possesses too great curiosity for its own safety; it will generally
+circle around the hunter if not shot at, and come quite near to have a
+look at the strange, unknown animal.
+
+It is said that wild camels and horses are found in some of the remoter
+corners of southwestern Turkestan and south of Lob-Nor, and specimens of
+them have been secured by Prjevalsky, Grijimailo and Littledale. The
+question is now whether these animals are domesticated ones run wild, or
+really wild varieties. Naturalists will probably disagree on this point.
+For the time being these animals are too little known for me to express
+an opinion on the subject, and, not having seen any, I can add nothing
+to what has been written on the subject.
+
+My own shooting in Mongolia and Tibet has always been under
+difficulties. Traveling without European companions, and my Asiatic one
+not knowing how to handle our firearms, I have been able to give but
+little time to sport. When pressed for food, however, I have killed
+yaks, asses, _argali_, mountain sheep and antelope; I have also bagged a
+few bears and leopards; but, as my only rifle was rather for purposes of
+defense than for shooting game, I never went much out of my way to look
+up these animals, though I felt great confidence in my good little
+Winchester, having killed the largest yak I ever shot at, and a fine
+bear, each with one shot from it.
+
+The game I mostly shot while in Tibet was yak; but, as I never killed
+any save for meat--not believing in the theory of destroying animal life
+for the sake of trophies to hang upon the wall--I made no phenomenal
+bags, though big game was so plentiful in many sections of the country
+that even with a native match-lock it would have been possible to have
+killed many more animals than I did.
+
+The yak I approached at first with considerable trepidation, as I had
+read in various books of their savageness and of the danger that the
+hunter was exposed to from one of these big animals when wounded; but
+now I am wiser, and I can reassure those who would kill these big
+beasts; they look more dangerous than they really are, and will hardly
+ever push their charge home, even when badly wounded. The first time I
+saw them we were traveling up a rather open valley beside a frozen
+rivulet, where, upon reaching the top of a little swell, some six or
+eight hundred yards off, were a couple of hundred yaks coming down
+toward the stream to try and find a water hole. I made signs to the men
+behind me to stop, and, jumping from my horse, I crawled along to within
+about 200 yards of them, when I blazed away at the biggest I could pick
+out, standing a little nearer to me than the rest of the herd. They paid
+hardly any attention to the slight report of my rifle; only the one at
+which I shot advanced a short distance in the direction of the smoke and
+then stopped, waving his great bushy tail over his back and holding his
+head erect. I fired again, when he and the rest of the herd turned and
+ran on to the ice, where I opened fire on them once more. They seemed
+puzzled by the noise, but my bullets did not seem to harm them. Finally
+one charged and then another, and at last the whole herd came dashing
+up in my direction; but "I lay very low," especially as at this
+seemingly critical moment I found that I had no more cartridges in my
+gun. After awhile they turned and trotted back to the river, and I made
+for my horse, much disappointed at my apparent failure to do any of them
+any injury.
+
+[Illustration: ELAPHURUS DAVIDIANUS.]
+
+In the meantime my men had pushed on about half a mile, and we stopped
+in a little nook to take a cup of tea. Having here supplied myself with
+cartridges, I thought I would try to get another shot at the yaks, some
+of which I could still see on the mountain side beyond the stream. My
+delight was great when, coming up to the place where I had last seen
+them, a big bull was lying dead, shot through the heart.
+
+The only time I ever encountered a solitary bull he bluffed us so
+completely that I do not know but my reputation as a sportsman will
+suffer materially by mentioning the incident. One day, as we were
+rounding the corner of a hill, we saw an immense fellow, not 200 yards
+off; and my two big mastiffs, which by this time were getting hardly any
+food--as our stock of provisions was running very short, and who passed
+most of their time while we were on the march vainly chasing hares,
+marmots and any other animals they could see--made a dash for the yak
+and commenced snapping at him. He trotted slowly off, but soon, becoming
+angry, turned on the dogs, who came back to the caravan. He followed
+them until within twenty yards of us. All my recollections of the
+dangers encountered by Prjevalsky with yaks, all his remarks of the
+extraordinary thickness and impenetrability of their skulls, of the
+difficulty of killing these monstrous animals, and of their
+ferociousness when wounded, came vividly to my mind in an instant. I saw
+my mules and horses gored and bleeding on the ground, my expedition
+brought to an untimely end, and a wounded yak waving his tail
+triumphantly over us, for I was certain that with my light Winchester I
+could never drop him dead in his tracks. We did not even dare so much as
+look at him, but kept on our way, and the yak walked beside us,
+evidently rejoicing in his victory. The dogs, now thoroughly cowed, took
+refuge on the side of the caravan furthest from the infuriated animal,
+and so we marched on for about half a mile, when, in utter disgust, he
+turned and trotted off to the hillside where he stood watching us, his
+bushy tail stretched out as stiff as iron behind him, pawing the ground,
+and thus we left him.
+
+Shooting wild asses was much tamer business. We saw them sometimes in
+herds of five or six hundred. They would mix with our mules even when
+grazing around the camp, and often took them off five or six miles, when
+we had great difficulty in getting them back. We frequently, however,
+killed one for meat, which we found to be very savory; though most of my
+men, who were Mahomedans, would only eat it when very hard pushed by
+hunger, as their religion forbade them to eat the flesh of any animal
+without cloven hoofs. I always felt, however, in shooting these animals,
+as if I were destroying a domestic mule, and could never bring myself to
+look upon them as fit game for a sportsman. This was strongly impressed
+upon me one day when, desiring to get a fine specimen, whose skin and
+bones I could bring back for the National Museum, I shot a very large
+jack which was grazing some distance from our line of march, and broke
+its hind legs, and was then obliged to go up to the poor beast and put a
+ball into its head. After accomplishing this disagreeable duty in the
+interest of science--though to no purpose, as it turned out, for I was
+obliged to throw away the skin and bones a few days after, because I had
+no means of transporting them--I made a solemn promise to myself that I
+would never shoot a _kyang_ again; and, I am pleased to say, I broke my
+promise but twice, and then I did so only to give us food, of which we
+stood in great need.
+
+Shooting antelope in Tibet is not more exciting--or interesting, for
+that matter--than shooting them elsewhere, and I do not know that
+anything special can be said about this sport beyond the fact that the
+number of Hodgson antelope which we met in parts of northern Tibet was
+sometimes extraordinarily great. These animals suffer greatly, however,
+from some plague, which frequently sweeps off enormous numbers of them.
+I have passed over places where the bones of a hundred or more of them
+might be seen, one near the other; and districts which I had visited in
+1889, and where I had found great numbers of them, were absolutely
+without a sign of one when I was there again in 1892.
+
+Of bear-hunting I can say but little. On different occasions, in various
+parts of northern Tibet, I killed six or eight pretty good sized brown
+bears; but a man would have to be blind not to be able to hit one at
+twenty-five or thirty yards, and it is always possible to get as near
+them as that, even in the open country which they frequent. They have
+apparently no dens, but live in the holes in the ground which they dig
+to get the little marmots on which they feed. These bears are, however,
+very fleet, as I once or twice found out when trying to ride them down
+on horseback, and when they nearly proved a match for the best ponies I
+had. The natives stand in great dread of them, and will never attack
+them except when there are three or four men together, when they
+approach them from different directions and open fire all at the same
+time. They say these bears are man-eaters, and even when the men with me
+saw them lying dead they showed great repugnance to touch the body, or
+even to come near them; though they might have made eight or ten dollars
+by splitting them open and removing the gall--a highly-prized medicine
+among the Chinese, who also find a place for bears' paws in their
+pharmacopoeia.
+
+On the whole, though Korea, Mongolia and Tibet have plenty of big game,
+they are not countries for a sportsman, and unless he has some other
+hobby to take him there, he had better seek his fun elsewhere in more
+accessible quarters of the globe.
+
+_W. W. Rockhill._
+
+
+
+
+Hunting in the Cattle Country
+
+
+The little hunting I did in 1893 and 1894 was while I was at my ranch
+house, or while out on the range among the cattle; and I shot merely the
+game needed for the table by myself and those who were with me. It is
+still possible in the cattle country to kill an occasional bighorn, bear
+or elk; but nowadays the only big game upon which the ranchman of the
+great plains can safely count are deer and antelope. While at the ranch
+house itself, I rely for venison upon shooting either blacktail in the
+broken country away from the river, or else whitetail in the river
+bottoms. When out on the great plains, where the cattle range freely in
+the summer, or when visiting the line camps, or any ranch on the heads
+of the longer creeks, the prongbuck furnishes our fresh meat.
+
+In both 1893 and 1894 I made trips to a vast tract of rolling prairie
+land, some fifty miles from my ranch, where I have for many years
+enjoyed the keen pleasure of hunting the prongbuck. In 1893 the
+pronghorned bands were as plentiful in this district as I have ever seen
+them anywhere. A friend, a fellow Boone and Crockett man, Alexander
+Lambert, was with me; and in a week's trip, including the journey out
+and back, we easily shot all the antelope we felt we had any right to
+kill; for we only shot to get meat, or an unusually fine head.
+
+In antelope shooting more cartridges are expended in proportion to the
+amount of game killed than with any other game, because the shots are
+generally taken at long range; and yet, being taken in the open, there
+is usually a chance to use four or five cartridges before the animal
+gets out of sight. These shots do not generally kill, but every now and
+then they do; and so the hunter is encouraged to try them, especially as
+after the first shot the game has been scared anyway, and no harm
+results from firing the others.
+
+In 1893, Lambert, who was on his first hunt with the rifle, did most of
+the shooting, and I myself fired at only two antelope, both of which had
+already been missed. In each case a hard run and much firing at long
+ranges, together with in one case some skillful maneuvering, got me my
+game; yet one buck cost nine cartridges and the other eight. In 1894 I
+had exactly the reverse experience. I killed five antelope for
+thirty-six shots, but each one that I killed was killed with the first
+bullet, and in not one case where I missed the first time did I hit with
+any subsequent one. These five antelope were shot at an average distance
+of about 150 yards. Those that I missed were, of course, much further
+off on an average, and I usually emptied my magazine at each. The number
+of cartridges spent would seem extraordinary to a tyro; and a very
+unusually skillful shot, or else a very timid shot who fears to take
+risks, will of course make a better showing per head killed; but I doubt
+if men with much experience in antelope hunting, who keep an accurate
+account of the cartridges they expend, will see anything out of the way
+in the performance. During the thirteen years I have hunted in the West
+I have always, where possible, kept a record of the number of cartridges
+expended for every head of game killed, and of the distances at which it
+was shot. I have found that with bison, bears, moose, elk, caribou,
+big-horn and white goats, where the animals shot at were mostly of
+large size and usually stationary, and where the mountainous or wooded
+country gave chance for a close approach, the average distance at which
+I have killed the game has been eighty yards, and the average number of
+cartridges expended per head slain three: one of these representing the
+death shot and the others standing either for misses outright, of which
+there were not very many, or else for wounding game which escaped, or
+which I afterward overtook, or for stopping cripples or charging beasts.
+I have killed but one cougar and two peccaries, using but one cartridge
+for each; all three were close up. At wolves and coyotes I have
+generally had to take running shots at very long range, and I have
+killed but two for fifty cartridges. Blacktail deer I have generally
+shot at about ninety yards, at an expenditure of about four cartridges
+apiece. Whitetail I have killed at shorter range; but the shots were
+generally running, often taken under difficult circumstances, so that my
+expenditure of cartridges was rather larger. Antelope, on the other
+hand, I have on the average shot at a little short of 150 yards, and
+they have cost me about nine cartridges apiece. This, of course, as I
+have explained above, does not mean that I have missed eight out of nine
+antelope, for often the entire nine cartridges would be spent at an
+antelope which I eventually got. It merely means that, counting all the
+shots of every description fired at antelope, I had one head to show for
+each nine cartridges expended. Thus, the first antelope I shot in 1893
+cost me ten cartridges, of which three hit him, while the seven that
+missed were fired at over 400 yards' distance while he was running. We
+saw him while we were with the wagon. As we had many miles to go before
+sunset, we cared nothing about frightening other game, and, as we had no
+fresh meat, it was worth while to take some chances to procure it. When
+I first fired, the prongbuck had already been shot at and was in full
+flight. He was beyond all reasonable range, but some of our bullets went
+over him and he began to turn. By running to one side I got a shot at
+him at a little over 400 paces, as he slowed to a walk, bewildered by
+the firing, and the bullet broke his hip. I missed him two or three
+times as he plunged off, and then by hard running down a water course
+got a shot at 180 paces and broke his shoulder, and broke his neck with
+another bullet when I came up. This one was shot while going out to the
+hunting ground. While there, Lambert killed four or five; most of the
+meat we gave away. I did not fire again until on our return, when I
+killed another buck one day while we were riding with the wagon.
+
+The day was gray and overcast. There were slight flurries of snow, and
+the cold wind chilled us as it blew across the endless reaches of
+sad-colored prairie. Behind us loomed Sentinel Butte, and all around the
+rolling surface was broken by chains of hills, by patches of bad lands,
+or by isolated, saddle-shaped mounds. The ranch wagon jolted over the
+uneven sward, and plunged in and out of the dry beds of the occasional
+water courses; for we were following no road, but merely striking
+northward across the prairie toward the P. K. ranch. We went at a good
+pace, for the afternoon was bleak, the wagon was lightly loaded, and the
+Sheriff, who was serving for the nonce as our teamster and cook, kept
+the two gaunt, wild-looking horses trotting steadily. Lambert and I rode
+to one side on our unkempt cow ponies, our rifles slung across the
+saddle bows.
+
+Our stock of fresh meat was getting low and we were anxious to shoot
+something; but in the early hours of the afternoon we saw no game. Small
+parties of horned larks ran along the ground ahead of the wagon,
+twittering plaintively as they rose, and occasional flocks of longspurs
+flew hither and thither; but of larger life we saw nothing, save
+occasional bands of range horses. The drought had been very severe and
+we were far from the river, so that we saw no horned stock. Horses can
+travel much further to water than cattle, and, when the springs dry up,
+they stay much further out on the prairie.
+
+At last we did see a band of four antelope, lying in the middle of a
+wide plain, but they saw us before we saw them, and the ground was so
+barren of cover that it was impossible to get near them. Moreover, they
+were very shy and ran almost as soon as we got our eyes on them. For an
+hour or two after this we jogged along without seeing anything, while
+the gray clouds piled up in the west and the afternoon began to darken;
+then, just after passing Saddle Butte, we struck a rough prairie road,
+which we knew led to the P. K. ranch--a road very faint in places, while
+in others the wheels had sunk deep in the ground and made long,
+parallel ruts.
+
+Almost immediately after striking this road, on topping a small rise, we
+discovered a young prongbuck standing off a couple of hundred yards to
+one side, gazing at the wagon with that absorbed curiosity which in this
+game so often conquers its extreme wariness and timidity, to a certain
+extent offsetting the advantage conferred upon it by its marvelous
+vision. The little antelope stood broadside, too, gazing at us out of
+its great bulging eyes, the sharply contrasted browns and whites of its
+coat showing plainly. Lambert and I leaped off our horses immediately,
+and I knelt and pulled the trigger; but the cartridge snapped, and the
+little buck, wheeling around, cantered off, the white hairs on its rump
+all erect, as is always the case with the pronghorn when under the
+influence of fear or excitement. My companion took a hasty, running
+shot, with no more effect than changing the canter into a breakneck
+gallop; and, though we opened on it as it ran, it went unharmed over the
+crest of rising ground in front. We ran after it as hard as we could
+pelt up the hill, into a slight valley, and then up another rise, and
+again got a glimpse of it standing, but this time further off than
+before; and again our shots went wild.
+
+However, the antelope changed its racing gallop to a canter while still
+in sight, going slower and slower, and, what was rather curious, it did
+not seem much frightened. We were naturally a good deal chagrined at our
+shooting and wished to retrieve ourselves, if possible; so we ran back
+to the wagon, got our horses and rode after the buck. He had continued
+his flight in a straight line, gradually slackening his pace, and a
+mile's brisk gallop enabled us to catch a glimpse of him, far ahead and
+merely walking. The wind was bad, and we decided to sweep off and try to
+circle round ahead of him. Accordingly, we dropped back, turned into a
+slight hollow to the right, and galloped hard until we came to the foot
+of a series of low buttes, when we turned more to the left; and, when we
+judged that we were about across the antelope's line of march, leaped
+from our horses, threw the reins over their heads, and left them
+standing, while we stole up the nearest rise; and, when close to the
+top, took off our caps and pushed ourselves forward, flat on our faces,
+to peep over. We had judged the distance well, for we saw the antelope
+at once, now stopping to graze. Drawing back, we ran along some little
+distance nearer, then drew up over the same rise. He was only about 125
+yards off, and this time there was no excuse for my failing to get him;
+but fail I did, and away the buck raced again, with both of us shooting.
+My first two shots were misses, but I kept correcting my aim and holding
+further in front of the flying beast. My last shot was taken just as the
+antelope reached the edge of the broken country, in which he would have
+been safe; and almost as I pulled the trigger I had the satisfaction of
+seeing him pitch forward and, after turning a complete somersault, lie
+motionless. I had broken his neck. He had cost us a good many
+cartridges, and, though my last shot was well aimed, there was doubtless
+considerable chance in my hitting him, while there was no excuse at all
+for at least one of my previous misses. Nevertheless, all old hunters
+know that there is no other kind of shooting in which so many cartridges
+are expended for every head of game bagged.
+
+As we knelt down to butcher the antelope, the clouds broke and the rain
+fell. Hastily we took off the saddle and hams, and, packing them behind
+us on our horses, loped to the wagon in the teeth of the cold storm.
+When we overtook it, after some sharp riding, we threw in the meat, and
+not very much later, when the day was growing dusky, caught sight of the
+group of low ranch buildings toward which we had been headed. We were
+received with warm hospitality, as one always is in a ranch country. We
+dried our steaming clothes inside the warm ranch house and had a good
+supper, and that night we rolled up in our blankets and tarpaulins, and
+slept soundly in the lee of a big haystack. The ranch house stood in the
+winding bottom of a creek; the flanking hills were covered with stunted
+cedar, while dwarf cottonwood and box elder grew by the pools in the
+half-dried creek bed.
+
+Next morning we had risen by dawn. The storm was over, and it was clear
+and cold. Before sunrise we had started. We were only some thirty miles
+from my ranch, and I directed the Sheriff how to go there, by striking
+east until he came to the main divide, and then following that down till
+he got past a certain big plateau, when a turn to the right down any of
+the coulees would bring him into the river bottom near the ranch house.
+We wished ourselves to ride off to one side and try to pick up another
+antelope. However, the Sheriff took the wrong turn after getting to the
+divide, and struck the river bottom some fifteen miles out of his way,
+so that we reached the ranch a good many hours before he did.
+
+When we left the wagon we galloped straight across country, looking out
+from the divide across the great rolling landscape, every feature
+standing clear through the frosty air. Hour after hour we galloped on
+and on over the grassy seas in the glorious morning. Once we stopped,
+and I held the horses while Lambert stalked and shot a fine prongbuck;
+then we tied his head and hams to our saddles and again pressed forward
+along the divide. We had hoped to get lunch at a spring that I knew of
+some twelve miles from my ranch, but when we reached it we found it dry
+and went on without halting. Early in the afternoon we came out on the
+broad, tree-clad bottom on which the ranch house stands, and, threading
+our way along the cattle trails, soon drew up in front of the gray,
+empty buildings.
+
+Just as we were leaving the hunting grounds on this trip, after having
+killed all the game we felt we had a right to kill, we encountered
+bands of Sioux Indians from the Standing Rock and Cheyenne River
+reservations coming in to hunt, and I at once felt that the chances for
+much future sport in that particular district were small. Indians are
+not good shots, but they hunt in great numbers, killing everything,
+does, fawns and bucks alike, and they follow the wounded animals with
+the utmost perseverance, so that they cause great destruction to game.
+
+Accordingly, in 1894, when I started for these same grounds, it was with
+some misgivings; but I had time only to make a few days' hunt, and I
+knew of no other accessible grounds where prongbuck were plentiful. My
+foreman was with me, and we took the ranch wagon also, driven by a
+cowboy who had just come up over the trail with cattle from Colorado. On
+reaching our happy hunting grounds of the previous season, I found my
+fears sadly verified; and one unforeseen circumstance also told against
+me. Not only had the Indians made a great killing of antelope the season
+before, but in the spring one or two sheep men had moved into the
+country. We found that the big flocks had been moving from one spring
+pool to another, eating the pasturage bare, while the shepherds whom we
+met--wild-looking men on rough horses, each accompanied by a pair of
+furtive sheep dogs--had taken every opportunity to get a shot at
+antelope, so as to provide themselves with fresh meat. Two days of
+fruitless hunting in this sheep-ridden region was sufficient to show
+that the antelope were too scarce and shy to give us hope for sport, and
+we shifted quarters, a long day's journey, to the head of another creek;
+and we had to go to yet another before we found much game. As so often
+happens on such a trip, when we started to have bad luck we had plenty.
+One night two of the three saddle horses stampeded and went back
+straight as the crow flies to their home range, so that we did not get
+them until on our return from the trip. On another occasion the team
+succeeded in breaking the wagon pole; and, as there was an entire
+absence of wood where we were at the time, we had to make a splice for
+it with the two tent poles and the picket ropes. Nevertheless it was
+very enjoyable out on the great grassy plains. Although we had a tent
+with us, I always slept in the open in my buffalo bag, with the
+tarpaulin to pull over me if it rained. On each night before going to
+sleep, I lay for many minutes gazing at the extraordinary multitude of
+stars above, or watching the rising of the red moon, which was just at
+or past the full.
+
+We had plenty of fresh meat--prairie fowl and young sage fowl for the
+first twenty-four hours, and antelope venison afterward. We camped by
+little pools, generally getting fair water; and from the camps where
+there was plenty of wood we took enough to build the fires at those
+where there was none. The nights were frosty, and the days cool and
+pleasant, and from sunrise to sunset we were off riding or walking among
+the low hills and over the uplands, so that we slept well and ate well,
+and felt the beat of hardy life in our veins.
+
+Much of the time we were on a high divide between two creek systems,
+from which we could see the great landmarks of all the regions
+roundabout--Sentinel Butte, Square Butte and Middle Butte, far to the
+north and east of us. Nothing could be more lonely and nothing more
+beautiful than the view at nightfall across the prairies to these huge
+hill masses, when the lengthening shadows had at last merged into one
+and the faint glow of the red sun filled the west. The rolling prairie,
+sweeping in endless waves to the feet of the great hills, grew purple as
+the evening darkened, and the buttes loomed into vague, mysterious
+beauty as their sharp outlines softened in the twilight.
+
+Even when we got out of reach of the sheep men we never found antelope
+very plentiful, and they were shy, and the country was flat, so that the
+stalking was extremely difficult; yet I had pretty good sport. The first
+animal I killed was a doe, shot for meat, because I had twice failed to
+get bucks at which I emptied my magazine at long range, and we were all
+feeling hungry for venison. After that I killed nothing but bucks. Of
+the five antelope killed, one I got by a headlong gallop to cut off his
+line of flight. As sometimes happens with this queer, erratic animal,
+when the buck saw that I was trying to cut off his flight he simply
+raced ahead just as hard as he knew how, and, as my pony was not fast,
+he got to the little pass for which he was headed 200 yards ahead of me.
+I then jumped off, and his curiosity made him commit the fatal mistake
+of halting for a moment to look round at me. He was standing end on, and
+offered a very small mark at 200 yards; but I made a good line shot,
+and, though I held a trifle too high, I hit him in the head, and down he
+came. Another buck I shot from under the wagon early one morning as he
+was passing just beyond the picketed horses. The other three I got after
+much maneuvering and long, tedious stalks.
+
+In some of the stalks, after infinite labor, and perhaps after crawling
+on all fours for an hour, or pulling myself flat on my face among some
+small sagebrush for ten or fifteen minutes, the game took alarm and went
+off. Too often, also, when I finally did get a shot, it was under such
+circumstances that I missed. Sometimes the game was too far; sometimes
+it had taken alarm and was already in motion. Once in the afternoon I
+had to spend so much time waiting for the antelope to get into a
+favorable place that, when I got up close, I found the light already so
+bad that my front sight glimmered indistinctly, and the bullet went
+wild. Another time I met with one of those misadventures which are
+especially irritating. It was at midday, and I made out at a long
+distance a band of antelope lying for their noon rest in a slight
+hollow. A careful stalk brought me up within fifty yards of them. I was
+crawling flat on my face, for the crest of the hillock sloped so gently
+that this was the only way to get near them. At last, peering through
+the grass, I saw the head of a doe. In a moment she saw me and jumped to
+her feet, and up stood the whole band, including the buck. I immediately
+tried to draw a bead on the latter, and to my horror found that, lying
+flat as I was, and leaning on my elbows. I could not bring the rifle
+above the tall, shaking grass, and was utterly unable to get a sight. In
+another second away tore all the antelope. I jumped to my feet, took a
+snap shot at the buck as he raced round a low-cut bank and missed, and
+then walked drearily home, chewing the cud of my ill luck. Yet again in
+more than one instance, after making a good stalk upon a band seen at
+some distance, I found it contained only does and fawns, and would not
+shoot at them.
+
+Three times, however, the stalk was successful. Twice I was out alone;
+the other time my foreman was with me, and kept my horse while I
+maneuvered hither and thither, and finally succeeded in getting into
+range. In both the first instances I got a standing shot, but on this
+last occasion, when my foreman was with me, two of the watchful does
+which were in the band saw me before I could get a shot at the old buck.
+I was creeping up a low washout, and, by ducking hastily down again and
+running back and up a side coulee, I managed to get within long range of
+the band as they cantered off, not yet thoroughly alarmed. The buck was
+behind, and I held just ahead of him. He plunged to the shot, but went
+off over the hill crest. When I had panted up to the ridge, I found him
+dead just beyond.
+
+One of the antelope I killed while I was out on foot at nightfall, a
+couple of miles from the wagon; I left the shoulders and neck, carrying
+in the rest of the carcass on my back. On the other occasion I had my
+horse with me and took in the whole antelope, packing it behind the
+saddle, after it was dressed and the legs cut off below the knees. In
+packing an antelope or deer behind the saddle, I always cut slashes
+through the sinews of the legs just above the joints; then I put the
+buck behind the saddle, run the picket rope from the horn of the saddle,
+under the belly of the horse, through the slashes in the legs on the
+other side, bring the end back, swaying well down on it, and fasten it
+to the horn; then I repeat the same feat for the other side. Packed in
+this way, the carcass always rides perfectly steady, and can not, by any
+possibility, shake loose. Of course, a horse has to have some little
+training before it will submit to being packed.
+
+The above experiences are just about those which befall the average
+ranchman when he is hunting antelope. To illustrate how much less apt he
+is to spend as many shots while after other game, I may mention the last
+mountain sheep and last deer I killed, each of which cost me but a
+single cartridge.
+
+The bighorn was killed in the fall of 1894, while I was camped on the
+Little Missouri, some ten miles below my ranch. The bottoms were broad
+and grassy, and were walled in by rows of high, steep bluffs, with back
+of them a mass of broken country, in many places almost impassable for
+horses. The wagon was drawn up on the edge of the fringe of tall
+cottonwoods which stretched along the brink of the shrunken river. The
+weather had grown cold, and at night the frost gathered thickly on our
+sleeping bags. Great flocks of sandhill cranes passed overhead from time
+to time, the air resounding with their strange, musical, guttural
+clangor.
+
+For several days we had hunted perseveringly, but without success,
+through the broken country. We had come across tracks of mountain sheep,
+but not the animals themselves, and the few blacktail which we had seen
+had seen us first and escaped before we could get within shot. The only
+thing killed had been a whitetail fawn, which Lambert had knocked over
+by a very pretty shot as we were riding through a long, heavily-timbered
+bottom. Four men in stalwart health and taking much outdoor exercise
+have large appetites, and the flesh of the whitetail was almost gone.
+
+One evening Lambert and I hunted nearly to the head of one of the creeks
+which opened close to our camp, and, in turning to descend what we
+thought was one of the side coulees leading into it, we contrived to get
+over the divide into the coulees of an entirely different creek system,
+and did not discover our error until it was too late to remedy it. We
+struck the river about nightfall, and were not quite sure where, and had
+six miles' tramp in the dark along the sandy river bed and through the
+dense timber bottoms, wading the streams a dozen times before we finally
+struck camp, tired and hungry, and able to appreciate to the full the
+stew of hot venison and potatoes, and afterward the comfort of our
+buffalo and caribou hide sleeping bags. The next morning the Sheriff's
+remark of "Look alive, you fellows, if you want any breakfast," awoke
+the other members of the party shortly after dawn. It was bitterly cold
+as we scrambled out of our bedding, and, after a hasty wash, huddled
+around the fire, where the venison was sizzling and the coffee-pot
+boiling, while the bread was kept warm in the Dutch oven. About a third
+of a mile away to the west the bluffs, which rose abruptly from the
+river bottom, were crowned by a high plateau, where the grass was so
+good that over night the horses had been led up and picketed on it, and
+the man who had led them up had stated the previous evening that he had
+seen what he took to be fresh footprints of a mountain sheep crossing
+the surface of a bluff fronting our camp. The footprints apparently
+showed that the animal had been there since the camp had been pitched.
+The face of the cliff on this side was very sheer, the path by which the
+horses scrambled to the top being around a shoulder and out of sight of
+camp.
+
+While sitting close up around the fire finishing breakfast, and just as
+the first level sunbeams struck the top of the plateau, we saw on this
+cliff crest something moving, and at first supposed it to be one of the
+horses which had broken loose from its picket pin. Soon the thing,
+whatever it was, raised its head, and we were all on our feet in a
+moment, exclaiming that it was a deer or a sheep. It was feeding in
+plain sight of us only about a third of a mile distant, and the horses,
+as I afterward found, were but a few rods beyond it on the plateau. The
+instant I realized that it was game of some kind I seized my rifle,
+buckled on my cartridge belt, and slunk off toward the river bed. As
+soon as I was under the protection of the line of cottonwoods, I trotted
+briskly toward the cliff, and when I got to where it impinged on the
+river I ran a little to the left, and, selecting what I deemed to be a
+favorable place, began to make the ascent. The animal was on the grassy
+bench, some eight or ten feet below the crest, when I last saw it; but
+it was evidently moving hither and thither, sometimes on this bench and
+sometimes on the crest itself, cropping the short grass and browsing on
+the young shrubs. The cliff was divided by several shoulders or ridges,
+there being hollows like vertical gullies between them, and up one of
+these I scrambled, using the utmost caution not to dislodge earth or
+stones. Finally I reached the bench just below the sky line, and then,
+turning to the left, wriggled cautiously along it, hat in hand. The
+cliff was so steep and bulged so in the middle, and, moreover, the
+shoulders or projecting ridges in the surface spoken of above were so
+pronounced, that I knew it was out of the question for the animal to
+have seen me, but I was afraid it might have heard me. The air was
+absolutely still, and so I had no fear of its sharp nose. Twice in
+succession I peered with the utmost caution over shoulders of the cliff,
+merely to see nothing beyond save another shoulder some forty or fifty
+yards distant. Then I crept up to the edge and looked over the level
+plateau. Nothing was in sight excepting the horses, and these were close
+up to me, and, of course, they all raised their heads to look. I
+nervously turned half round, sure that if the animal, whatever it was,
+was in sight, it would promptly take the alarm. However, by good luck,
+it appeared that at this time it was below the crest on the terrace or
+bench already mentioned, and, on creeping to the next shoulder, I at
+last saw it--a yearling mountain sheep--walking slowly away from me, and
+evidently utterly unsuspicious of any danger. I straightened up,
+bringing my rifle to my shoulder, and as it wheeled I fired, and the
+sheep made two or three blind jumps in my direction. So close was I to
+the camp, and so still was the cold morning, that I distinctly heard one
+of the three men, who had remained clustered about the fire eagerly
+watching my movements, call, "By George, he's missed; I saw the bullet
+strike the cliff." I had fired behind the shoulders, and the bullet, of
+course going through, had buried itself in the bluff beyond. The wound
+was almost instantaneously fatal, and the sheep, after striving in vain
+to keep its balance, fell heels over head down a crevice, where it
+jammed. I descended, released the carcass and pitched it on ahead of me,
+only to have it jam again near the foot of the cliff. Before I got it
+loose I was joined by my three companions, who had been running headlong
+toward me through the brush ever since the time they had seen the animal
+fall.
+
+I never obtained another sheep under circumstances which seemed to me
+quite so remarkable as these; for sheep are, on the whole, the wariest
+of game. Nevertheless, with all game there is an immense amount of
+chance in the chase, and it is perhaps not wholly uncharacteristic of a
+hunter's luck that, after having hunted faithfully in vain and with much
+hard labor for several days through a good sheep country, we should at
+last have obtained one within sight and earshot of camp. Incidentally I
+may mention that I have never tasted better mutton, or meat of any kind,
+than that furnished by this tender yearling.
+
+In 1894, on the last day I spent at the ranch, and with the last bullet
+I fired from my rifle, I killed a fine whitetail buck. I left the ranch
+house early in the afternoon on my favorite pony, Muley, my foreman
+riding with me. After going a couple of miles, by sheer good luck we
+stumbled on three whitetail--a buck, a doe and a fawn--in a long winding
+coulee, with a belt of timber running down its bottom. When we saw the
+deer, they were trying to sneak off, and immediately my foreman galloped
+toward one end of the coulee and started to ride down through it, while
+I ran Muley to the other end to intercept the deer. They were, of
+course, quite likely to break off to one side, but this happened to be
+one of the occasions when everything went right. When I reached the spot
+from which I covered the exits from the timber, I leaped off, and
+immediately afterward heard a shout from my foreman that told me the
+deer were on foot. Muley is a pet horse, and he enjoys immensely the
+gallop after game; but his nerves invariably fail him at the shot. He
+stood snorting beside me, and finally, as the deer came in sight, away
+he tore--only to go about 200 yards, however, and stand and watch us
+with his ears pricked forward until, when I needed him, I went for him.
+At the moment, however, I paid no heed to Muley, for a cracking in the
+brush told me the game was close, and in another moment I caught the
+shadowy outlines of the doe and the fawn as they scudded through the
+timber. By good luck, the buck, evidently flurried, came right on the
+edge of the woods next to me, and, as he passed, running like a quarter
+horse, I held well ahead of him and pulled the trigger. The bullet broke
+his neck and down he went--a fine fellow with a handsome ten-point head,
+and fat as a prize sheep; for it was just before the rut. Then we rode
+home, and I sat in a rocking-chair on the ranch house veranda, looking
+across the river at the strangely shaped buttes and the groves of
+shimmering cottonwoods until the sun went down and the frosty air bade
+me go in.
+
+       *       *       *       *       *
+
+I wish that members of the Boone and Crockett Club, and big game hunters
+generally, would make a point of putting down all their experiences with
+game, and with any other markworthy beasts or birds, in the regions
+where they hunt, which would be of interest to students of natural
+history; noting any changes of habits in the animals and any causes that
+tend to make them decrease in numbers, giving an idea of the times at
+which the different larger beasts became extinct, and the like. Around
+my ranch on the Little Missouri there have been several curious changes
+in the fauna. Thus, magpies have greatly decreased in number, owing, I
+believe, mainly to the wolf-hunters. Magpies often come around carcasses
+and eat poisoned baits. I have seen as many as seven lying dead around a
+bait. They are much less plentiful than they formerly were. In this last
+year, 1894, I saw one large party; otherwise only two or three
+stragglers. This same year I was rather surprised at meeting a
+porcupine, usually a beast of the timber, at least twenty miles from
+trees. He was grubbing after sagebrush roots on the edge of a cut bank
+by a half-dried creek. I was stalking an antelope at the time, and
+stopped to watch him for about five minutes. He paid no heed to me,
+though I was within three or four paces of him. Both the luciver, or
+northern lynx, and the wolverine have been found on the Little Missouri,
+near the Kildeer Mountains, but I do not know of a specimen of either
+that has been killed there for some years past. The blackfooted ferret
+was always rare, and is rare now. But few beaver are left; they were
+very abundant in 1880, but were speedily trapped out when the Indians
+vanished and the Northern Pacific Railroad was built. While this
+railroad was building, the bears frequently caused much trouble by
+industriously damming the culverts.
+
+With us the first animal to disappear was the buffalo. In the old days,
+say from 1870 to 1880, the buffalo were probably the most abundant of
+all animals along the Little Missouri in the region that I know,
+ranging, say, from Pretty Buttes to the Killdeer Mountains. They were
+migratory, and at times almost all of them might leave; but, on the
+whole, they were the most abundant of the game animals. In 1881 they
+were still almost as numerous as ever. In 1883 all were killed but a few
+stragglers, and the last of these stragglers that I heard of as seen in
+our immediate neighborhood was in 1885. The second game animal in point
+of abundance was the blacktail. It did not go out on the prairies, but
+in the broken country adjoining the river it was far more plentiful than
+any other kind of game. It is greatly reduced in numbers now. Blacktail
+were not much slaughtered until the buffalo began to give out, say in
+1882; but they are probably now not a twentieth as plentiful as they
+were in that year. Elk were plentiful in 1880, though never anything
+like as abundant as the buffalo and the blacktail. Only straggling
+parties or individuals have been seen since 1883. The last I shot near
+my ranch was in 1886; but two or three have been shot since, and a cow
+and calf were seen, chased and almost roped by the riders on the
+round-up in the fall of 1893. Doubtless one or two still linger even yet
+in inaccessible places. Whitetail were never as numerous as the other
+game, but they have held their own well. Though they have decreased in
+numbers, the decrease is by no means as great as of the blacktail, and a
+good many can be shot yet. A dozen years ago probably twenty blacktail
+were killed for every one whitetail; now the numbers are about equal.
+Antelope were plentiful in the old days, though not nearly so much so as
+buffalo and blacktail. The hunters did not molest them while the buffalo
+and elk lasted, and they then turned their attention to the blacktails.
+For some years after 1880 I think the pronghorn in our neighborhood
+positively increased in numbers. In 1886 I thought them more plentiful
+than I had ever known them before. Since then they have decreased, and
+in the last two years the decrease has been quite rapid. Mountain sheep
+were never very plentiful, and during the last dozen years they have
+decreased proportionately less than any other game. Bears have decreased
+in numbers, and have become very shy and difficult to get at; they were
+never plentiful. Cougars were always very scarce.
+
+There were two stages of hunting in our country, as in almost all other
+countries similarly situated. In 1880 the Northern Pacific Railroad was
+built nearly to the edge of the Bad Lands, and the danger of Indian war
+was totally eliminated. A great inrush of hunters followed. In 1881,
+1882 and 1883 buffalo, elk and blacktail were slaughtered in enormous
+numbers, and a good many whitetail and prongbuck were killed too. By
+1884 the game had been so thinned out that hide hunting and meat hunting
+had ceased to pay. A few professional hunters remained, but most of them
+moved elsewhere, or were obliged to go into other business. From that
+time the hunting has chiefly been done by the ranchers and occasional
+small grangers. In consequence, for six or eight years the game about
+held its own--the antelope, as I have said above, at one time
+increasing; but the gradual increase in the number of actual settlers is
+now beginning to tell, and the game is becoming slowly scarcer.
+
+The only wild animals that have increased with us are the wolves. These
+are more plentiful now than they were ten years ago. I have never known
+them so numerous or so daring in their assaults on stock as in 1894.
+They not only kill colts and calves, but full-grown steers and horses.
+Quite a number have been poisoned, but they are very wary about taking
+baits. Quite a number also have been roped by the men on the round-up
+who have happened to run across them when gorged from feeding at a
+carcass. Nevertheless, for the last few years they have tended to
+increase in numbers, though they are so wary, and nowadays so strictly
+nocturnal in their habits, that they are not often seen. This great
+increase, following a great diminution, in the number of wolves along
+the Little Missouri is very curious. Twenty years ago, or thereabouts,
+wolves were common, and they were then frequently seen by every traveler
+and hunter. With the advent of the wolfers, who poisoned them for their
+skins, they disappeared, the disappearance being only partly explicable,
+however, by the poisoning. For a number of years they continued scarce;
+but during the last four or five they have again grown numerous, why I
+cannot say. I wish that there were sufficient data at hand to tell
+whether they have decreased during these four or five years in
+neighboring regions, say in central and eastern Montana. Another curious
+feature of the case is that the white wolves, which in the middle of
+the century were so common in this region, are now very rare. I have
+heard of but one, which was seen on the upper Cannon Ball in 1892. One
+nearly black wolf was killed in 1893.
+
+I suppose all hunters are continually asked what rifles they use. Any
+good modern rifle is good enough, and, after a certain degree of
+excellence in the weapon is attained, the difference between it and a
+somewhat better rifle counts for comparatively little compared to the
+difference in the skill, nerve and judgment of the men using them.
+Moreover, there is room for a great deal of individual variation of
+opinion among experts as to rifles. I personally prefer the Winchester.
+I used a .45-75 until I broke it in a fall while goat-hunting, and since
+then I have used a .45-90. For my own use I consider either gun much
+preferable to the .500 and .577 caliber double-barreled Express for use
+with bears, buffalo, moose and elk; yet my brother, for instance, always
+preferred the double-barreled Express; Mr. Theodore Van Dyke prefers the
+large bore, and Mr. H. L. Stimson has had built a special .577
+Winchester, which he tells me he finds excellent for grizzly bears.
+There is the same difference of opinion among men who hunt game on
+other continents than ours. Thus, Mr. Royal Carroll, in shooting
+rhinoceros, buffalo and the like in South Africa, preferred big, heavy
+English double-barrels; while Mr. William Chanler, after trying these
+same double-barrels, finally threw them aside in favor of the .45-90
+Winchester for use even against such large and thick-hided beasts as
+rhinoceros. There was an amusing incident connected with Mr. Chanler's
+experiences. In a letter to the London _Field_ he happened to mention
+that he preferred, for rhinoceros and other large game, the .45-90
+Winchester to the double-barrel .577, so frequently produced by the
+English gun makers. His letter was followed by a perfect chorus of
+protests in the shape of other letters by men who preferred the
+double-barrel. These men had a perfect right to their opinions, but the
+comic feature of their letters was that, as a rule, they almost seemed
+to think that Mr. Chanler's preference of the .45-90 repeater showed
+some kind of moral delinquency on his part; while the gun maker, whose
+double-barrel Mr. Chanler had discarded in favor of the Winchester,
+solemnly produced tests to show that the bullets from his gun had more
+penetration than those from the Winchester--which had no more to do with
+the question than the production by the Winchester people of targets to
+show that this weapon possessed superior accuracy would have had. Of
+course, the element of penetration is only one of twenty entering into
+the question; accuracy, handiness, rapidity of fire, penetration,
+shock--all have to be considered. Penetration is useless after a certain
+point has been reached. Shock is useless if it is gained at too great
+expense of penetration or accuracy. Flatness of trajectory, though
+admirable, is not as important as accuracy, and when gained at a great
+expense of accuracy is simply a disadvantage. All of these points are
+admirably discussed in Mr. A. C. Gould's "Modern American Rifles." In
+the right place, a fair-sized bullet is as good as a very big one; in
+the wrong place, the big one is best; but the medium one will do more
+good in the right place than the big one away from its right place; and
+if it is more accurate it is therefore preferable.
+
+Entirely apart from the merit of guns, there is a considerable element
+of mere fashion in them. For the last twenty years there has been much
+controversy between the advocates of two styles of rifles--that is, the
+weapon with a comparatively small bore and long, solid bullet and a
+moderate charge of powder, and the weapon of comparatively large bore
+with a very heavy charge of powder and a short bullet, often with a
+hollow end. The first is the type of rifle that has always been used by
+ninety-nine out of a hundred American hunters, and indeed it is the only
+kind of rifle that has ever been used to any extent in North America;
+the second is the favorite weapon of English sportsmen in those grandest
+of the world's hunting grounds, India and South Africa. When a
+single-shot rifle is not used, the American usually takes a repeater,
+the Englishman a double-barrel. Each type has some good qualities that
+the other lacks, and each has some defects. The personal equation must
+always be taken into account in dealing with either; excellent sportsmen
+of equal experience give conflicting accounts of the performances of the
+two types. Personally, I think that the American type is nearer right.
+In reading the last book of the great South African hunter, Mr. Selous,
+I noticed with much interest that in hunting elephants he and many of
+the Dutch elephant hunters had abandoned the huge four and eight bores
+championed by that doughty hunter, Sir Samuel Baker, and had adopted
+precisely the type of rifle which was in almost universal use among the
+American buffalo hunters from 1870 to 1883--that is, a rifle of .45
+caliber, shooting 75 grains of powder and a bullet of 550 grains. The
+favorite weapon of the American buffalo hunter was a Sharps rifle of .45
+caliber, shooting about 550 grains of lead and using ordinarily 90 to
+110 grains of powder--which, however, was probably not as strong as the
+powder used by Mr. Selous; in other words, the types of gun were
+identically the same. I have elsewhere stated that by actual experience
+the big double-barreled English eight and ten bores were found inferior
+to Sharps rifle for bison-hunting on the Western plains. I know nothing
+about elephant or rhinoceros shooting; but my own experience with bison,
+bear, moose and elk has long convinced me that for them and for all
+similar animals (including, I have no doubt, the lion and tiger) the
+.45-90 type of repeater is, on the whole, the best of the existing
+sporting rifles for my own use. I have of late years loaded my
+cartridges not with the ordinary rifle powder, but with 85 grains of
+Orange lightning, and have used a bullet with 350 grains of lead, and
+then have bored a small hole, taking out 15 or 20 grains, in the point;
+but for heavy game I think the solid bullet better. Judging from what I
+have been told by some of my friends, however, it seems not unlikely
+that the best sporting rifle will ultimately prove to be the very small
+caliber repeating rifle now found in various forms in the military
+service of all countries--a caliber of say .256 or .310, with 40 grains
+of powder and a 200-grain bullet. These rifles possess marvelous
+accuracy and a very flat trajectory. The speed of the bullet causes it
+to mushroom if made of lead, and gives it great penetration if hardened.
+Certain of my friends have used rifles of this type on bears, caribou
+and deer; they were said to be far superior to the ordinary sporting
+rifle. A repeating rifle of this type is really merely a much more
+perfect form of the repeating rifles that have for so long been
+favorites with American hunters.
+
+But these are merely my personal opinions; and, as I said before, among
+the many kinds of excellent sporting rifles turned out by the best
+modern makers each has its special good points and its special defects;
+and equally good sportsmen, of equally wide experience, will be found to
+vary widely in their judgment of the relative worth of the different
+weapons. Some people can do better with one rifle and some with another,
+and in the long run it is "the man behind the gun" that counts most.
+
+_Theodore Roosevelt._
+
+
+
+
+Wolf-Coursing
+
+
+While wolf-coursing is one of the most thrilling and exciting sports to
+be enjoyed in this country, it is less indulged in than any other sport;
+this, too, in the face of the fact that no country offers such excellent
+opportunities for its practice. This is, no doubt, due to the fact that
+it is a sport requiring special preparation, a thorough knowledge of
+both the game and country, and is very trying on horse, rider and hound.
+Russia seems to be the only country in which it has a foothold and a
+permanent place in the hearts of its sportsmen. In fact, with the
+Russians it might be called a national pastime. However, did it require
+in this country the same outlay of money, time and preparation that it
+does in Russia, I doubt very much its advancement as a sport.
+
+There are really but two species of wolf in this country--the timber
+wolf, generally called the gray, and the prairie wolf or coyote. In
+different sections one hears of other varieties; but these, I believe,
+are merely variations in color and size, and are not specific
+differences. While the habits of the coyote or prairie wolf are well
+known to a majority of sportsmen, it is not so with the timber or gray
+wolf, and a few words in regard to the latter will not be amiss.
+
+[Illustration: THE WOLF THROWING ZLOOEM.]
+
+My experience is that the wolves of Montana and Wyoming are larger,
+stronger and fiercer than those further south, though it is a fact that
+the largest single wolf that I ever saw killed was in Arizona. However,
+he was an exception to the general run of them there. If we may judge of
+the Russian or European wolf from specimens to be seen in menageries and
+zoological gardens, the American wolf, while not so tall or leggy, is
+more compact, with heavier head, coarser muzzle, smaller ears, and
+perhaps a little heavier in weight--the American wolf standing from 29
+to 36 inches at shoulder, and weighing from 85 to 125 pounds. I am also
+inclined to think that the American wolf is, when run down to a
+death-finish, a much more formidable foe for dogs than his European
+relative. I reached this conclusion only after hunting them with
+high-priced hounds, that had won medals in Russia for wolf-killing, but
+which demonstrated their utter inability even to hold American wolves.
+
+Alive, the wolf is the enemy of man and beast, and when dead he is
+almost useless. His skin has but little commercial value, and even dogs
+refuse to eat his flesh. I have never known dogs to tear and mutilate a
+wolf's carcass, and verily believe they would starve to death before
+eating its flesh. And yet I have read accounts of hunters feeding their
+dogs upon wolf meat. I recall an effort I made to cultivate in my dogs a
+taste for wolf meat. I cut up a quantity of bear meat into small strips
+and tossed them to the dogs, which would gulp them down before they
+could fall upon the ground. Substituting a piece of wolf meat was of no
+avail; they detected it instantly, and those which were fooled into
+swallowing it immediately lost interest in the proceedings and walked
+away.
+
+The wolf is by nature cowardly, being deficient in courage comparative
+to his strength and great size, but he often becomes courageous from
+necessity. When reduced to extremity by hunger, he braves danger, and
+has been known in numbers to attack man, though no such incident ever
+came under my personal observation. I have had them dog my footsteps
+throughout a long day's hunt, always managing to remain just beyond
+gunshot distance; and upon one occasion, when I had shot a pheasant, one
+actually carried it off in full view before I could reach it, and,
+notwithstanding I fired several shots that must have come uncomfortably
+close, he made off with his dangerously earned meal.
+
+As a general thing, however, the wolf manifests a desire to run, rather
+than fight, for life, and when alone will frequently tuck his tail
+between his legs, and run like a stricken cur from a dog that he could
+easily crush out of existence. They are great believers in the maxim,
+"In union there is strength." The female, while apparently more timid
+than the male, seems to lose all sense of danger when hemmed in and
+forced to a fight, and attacks with intrepidity. I once shot a female at
+long range, the bullet from my Winchester passing through her hind
+quarters and breaking both legs. When I got up to her, she was
+surrounded by the ranch dogs--an odd assortment of "mongrel puppy, whelp
+and hound, and cur of low degree"--furiously attacking first one, then
+another of them as they circled around her; and, though she was
+partially paralyzed, dragging her hind quarters, she successfully stood
+off the entire pack until another bullet ended the struggle. When in
+whelp they fight with great obstinacy, and defend themselves with
+intrepidity, being seemingly insensible to punishment. When captured
+young they are susceptible of taming and domestication, though they are
+never free from treachery. Though I have heard it denied, I know it to
+be a fact that the dog has been successfully crossed upon the wolf. I
+saw any number of the produce around the old Spotted Tail agency. They
+closely resembled wolves, and were hardly distinguishable from them in
+appearance, though generally lacking the good qualities of faithfulness
+and attachment possessed by the dog.
+
+The amount of damage a wolf can do in a horse or cattle country is
+almost beyond belief. He slaughters indiscriminately, carrying waste and
+destruction to any section he honors with his presence. When a pack of
+these nocturnal marauders come across an unprotected flock of sheep, a
+sanguinary massacre occurs, and not until they have killed, torn or
+mangled the entire flock will they return to the mountains. Thus the
+wolves become a scourge, and their depredations upon herds of sheep and
+cattle cause no inconsiderable loss to the rancher. They frequently
+plunder for days and nights together. I am not prepared to state whether
+it is owing to daintiness of appetite or pure love of killing, but as it
+is a fact that a single wolf has been known to kill a hundred sheep in a
+night, it would seem that this indiscriminate slaughter was more to
+satisfy his malignity than his hunger. It is a prevalent idea that the
+wolf will eat putrid meat. This I have not found to be true. He seldom
+if ever devours carcasses after they begin to putrify, choosing to hunt
+for fresh spoils rather than to return to that which he had half
+devoured, before leaving it to the tender mercies of the coyotes, who
+have an appetite less nice.
+
+The coyote is a good scavenger, following in the footsteps of the wolf,
+and will pick bones until they glisten like ivory. His fondness for
+domestic fowl and his thieving propensity often embolden him to enter
+farmyards and even residences during the daytime; yet he often seems
+contented to dine upon corrupt flesh, bones, hair, old boots and
+saddles, and many remarkable gastronomic performances are credited to
+him. I had occasion to "sleep out" one night in the Powder River
+country, and, after picketing my horse, I threw my saddle upon the
+ground near the picket pin, and, placing my cartridge belt beneath the
+saddle--which I used as a pillow--I was soon sound asleep. Imagine my
+surprise at daybreak--knowing there was not a human being within fifty
+miles of me--to find that my cartridge belt was missing. After a short
+search I found the cartridges some few hundred yards away, and a few
+remnants of the belt. The coyotes had actually stolen this from under my
+head without disturbing me, devoured it and licked all the grease from
+the cartridges. I felt thankful that they had not devoured my rawhide
+riata.
+
+Of all animals that I have hunted, I consider the wolf the hardest to
+capture or kill. There is only one way in which he can be successfully
+coped with, and that is with a pack of dogs trained to the purpose and
+thoroughly understanding their business. Dogs, as a rule, have
+sufficient combativeness to assail any animal, and, as a general thing,
+two or three of them can easily kill another animal of same size and
+weight; but the wolf, with his wonderful vitality and tenacity of life,
+combined with his thickness of skin, matted hair and resistant muscles,
+is anything but an easy victim for even six or eight times his number.
+
+I spent the winter of 1874-75 in a portion of the Rocky Mountains
+uninhabited except by our own party. Wolves were very plentiful, and we
+determined to secure as many pelts as possible. Owing to the rough
+nature of the country and our inability to keep up with the dogs on
+horseback, we tried poisoning, but with only moderate success. While
+others claim it is an easy matter to poison wolves, we did not find it
+so. In a country where game is plentiful, it is almost impossible to
+poison them. We tried trapping them, with like results. Always
+mistrustful and intensely suspicious, they imagine everything unusual
+they see is a trap laid to betray or capture them, and with extreme
+sagacity avoid everything strange and new. When caught, they frequently
+gnaw off a foot or leg rather than be taken. Our cabin was surrounded by
+a stockade wall, over which we could throw such portions of deer
+carcasses as we did not use, and at nightfall the wolves, attracted by
+the smell of the meat, would assemble on the outside, and we shot them
+from the portholes. It required a death shot; for, if only wounded, no
+matter how badly, they would manage to get far enough away from the
+stockade to be torn into shreds by the survivors before we could drive
+them off. I have always found the wolf a most difficult animal to shoot.
+Endowed with wonderful powers of scent and extremely cunning, it is
+almost impossible to stalk them. Frequently, after a long stalk after
+one, have I raised my head to find him gone, his nose having warned him
+of my approach.
+
+The successful chase of the wolf requires a species of knowledge that
+can be acquired only by experience. It also requires men, horses and
+dogs trained and disciplined for the purpose; and woe to the man, horse
+or dog that undertakes it without such preparation. The true sportsman
+is not a blood-thirsty animal. The actual killing of an animal, its mere
+death, is not sport. Therefore, upon several occasions, I have declined
+to join a general wolf round-up, where men form a cordon, and, by
+beating the country, drive them to a common center and kill them
+indiscriminately. I have always preferred hunting them with hounds to
+any other method of extermination. The enjoyment of sport increases in
+proportion to the amount of danger to man and beast engaged in it, and
+for this reason coursing wolves has always held a peculiar fascination
+for me. A number of years spent in the far West afforded me ample
+opportunity to indulge my tastes in this line of sport, so my knowledge
+of wolf-hunting and the habits of the wolf has been derived from
+personal experience and from association with famous hunters.
+
+The principal drawback to the pleasure of wolf-coursing is the danger to
+a good horse from bad footing, and the possible mutilation and death of
+a favorite dog--death and destruction of hounds being often attendant
+upon the capture and death of a full-grown wolf. I do not know that I
+can give a better idea of the sport than by describing a day's
+wolf-hunting I enjoyed in the early seventies near Raw Hide Butte, in
+Wyoming.
+
+We had notified the cook, an odd character who went by the name of
+Steamboat, to call us by daybreak. As we sat up late talking about the
+anticipated pleasures of the morrow, it seemed to me that I had hardly
+closed my eyes when Steamboat's heavy cavalry boots were heard beating a
+tattoo on the shack door. I rolled out of my bunk, to find Maje and
+Zach, my companions in the hunt, dressed and pulling on their shaps.
+Hastily dressing, I followed them out to the corral just as the gray
+tints of earliest morning were gathering in the sky. The horses had been
+corralled the night before, and, with Steamboat standing in the door,
+using anything but choice language at our delay in coming to breakfast,
+we saddled up. Having ridden my own horse, a sturdy half-breed from Salt
+Lake, very hard the day before in running down a wounded antelope, I
+decided on a fresh mount; and, as luck would have it, I selected one of
+the best lookers in the band, only to find out later, to my sorrow, that
+I had fallen upon the only bucking horse in the lot. While we
+breakfasted upon antelope steak, flapjacks and strong coffee, Steamboat
+was harnessing a couple of wiry cayuses to a buckboard, and, as we came
+out, we found him with the strike dogs chained to the seat behind him,
+impatient to be off. The party consisted of Maje, a long-legged,
+slab-sided, six-foot Kentuckian, mounted on a "States" horse; Zach, an
+out-and-out typical cowboy, who had come up from Texas on the trail,
+mounted on a pinto that did not look as though he had been fed since his
+arrival in the territory, but, as Zach knowingly remarked, "No route was
+too long or pace too hot for him"; Steamboat in the buckboard, holding
+with a pair of slips Dan, an English greyhound, and Scotty, a Scotch
+deerhound; while the other dogs, consisting of a pair of young
+greyhounds, a pair of cross-bred grey and deerhounds, and Lead, an
+old-time Southern foxhound, were making the horses miserable by jumping
+first at their heads, then at their heels, in their eagerness to
+facilitate the start; and myself on the bucking broncho.
+
+While crossing the creek a few hundred yards above the ranch, I heard
+old Lead give mouth, a short distance ahead, in a chaparral rendered
+impenetrable by tangled undergrowth, and which formed secure covert for
+countless varmints. Knowing that he never threw his tongue without
+cause, I dug my spurs into my horse, with the intention of joining him.
+But I reckoned without my host, and for the next few minutes all my
+energies were devoted to sticking to my horse, who then and there in the
+creek bed proceeded to give an illustration of bucking that would have
+put the wild West buckers to shame. Lead had jumped a coyote that put
+off with all the speed that deadly terror could impart--all the dogs
+after him full tilt. It required quite a display of energy upon the part
+of Zach and his pinto to whip the dogs off; and, had it not been for the
+fact that Dan and Scotty--who had jerked Steamboat literally out of the
+buckboard and raced off together with the slips dangling about their
+heels--ran into a bush, and the slips catching held them fast, we would
+have been called upon to participate in a coyote and not a
+wolf-hunt--as, when once slipped, no human power could have stopped
+these dogs until they had tested the metal of Brer Coyote. By the time
+Zach and the dogs returned, I had convinced my broncho that I was not a
+tenderfoot, having "been there before," and he was contented to keep at
+least two feet upon the ground at the same time.
+
+We rode probably five or six miles, carefully scanning the trackless
+plains, without sighting a wolf, when Maje, who had ridden off a mile
+to our right, was seen upon a butte wildly waving his hat. We
+instinctively knew that game was afoot, and, as he disappeared, we
+commenced a wild stampede for the butte. Steamboat, with slips and reins
+in one hand and blacksnake whip in the other, came thundering after us,
+lashing his team into a wild, mad run--and how he managed to hold
+himself and dogs on the bounding buckboard was a mystery to me. Reaching
+the butte, we espied Maje a mile away, riding for dear life. It did not
+take long to decide, from the general direction taken, that the wolf
+would shortly return to us. Keeping well back out of sight, we
+impatiently awaited his return, and, had it not been for the pure
+malignity of my broncho, the wolf would have doubled back within a few
+hundred yards of us, and a close race have resulted.
+
+I had taken the dogs from Steamboat, and, with the release cord of the
+slips around my wrist, sat in the saddle ready to sight and slip the
+dogs. Becoming impatient under the restraint, the dogs ran behind my
+horse, and, as the strap of the slips got under his tail, he again
+commenced bucking, and before I could control him we were in full view
+of the wolf, which, upon sighting us, veered off to the left. Although
+not over a half mile away, the dogs failed to sight him. With a cheer to
+the loose dogs, we pushed forward at top speed, the cracking of the
+quirts upon our horses' flanks being echoed in the rear by the incessant
+popping of Steamboat's whip as he lashed the panting cayuses to the top
+of their speed in a vain effort to keep up with us.
+
+We joined Maje at the point where we had last seen the wolf, which by
+this time had disappeared. Going over a rise, we dropped down into an
+arroyo, where the foxhound again gave tongue, and started back on the
+trail almost in the same direction in which we had come. Thinking that
+for once he was at fault, and back-tracking, I took the two dogs in
+slips up the arroyo, while Maje, Zach and the pack of dogs followed the
+foxhound, and were soon out of sight and hearing. Circling around for
+some distance and seeing no sign of the wolf, I rode upon a high point,
+and, searching the country carefully through my glasses, I could see the
+party probably a mile and a half away; and, from the manner in which
+they were getting over the ground, I knew they had again sighted. A
+hard ride of two miles, in which the dogs almost dragged me from my
+horse in their eagerness, brought me within sighting distance of the
+dogs--the voice of the foxhound, which was in the rear, floating back to
+me in strong and melodious tones across the plains. Slipping Dan and
+Scotty, they went from the slips like a pair of bullets and soon left me
+far behind. Upon rounding a point of rocks, I saw one of the young dogs
+lying upon the ground. A hasty glance showed me, from the violent manner
+in which he strained to catch his breath, that he had tackled the wolf
+and his windpipe was injured. It afterward developed that he had become
+separated from the pack, and, in cutting across country, had imprudently
+taken hold of the wolf, which, with one snap of his powerful jaws, had
+utterly disabled him, and then continued his flight. Like most wolves,
+he seemed to be able to keep up the pace he had set over all kinds of
+ground. It seemed to him a matter of indifference whether the way was up
+or down hill, and he evidently sought the roughest and stoniest ground,
+following ravines and coulees--this giving him a great advantage over
+horses and hounds. My horse beginning to show signs of distress, I
+realized that, if the chase was to be a straightaway, I would see but
+little of it and probably not be in at the death anyway; so I again
+sought a high point that gave a commanding view over a large area of
+country, and determined to await developments. Every once in a while,
+with the aid of my glasses, I could see the pack, fairly well bunched,
+straining every muscle, running as though for life. I could catch
+occasional glimpses of the wolf far in advance, as he scurried through
+the sagebrush, showing little power of strategy, but a determined
+obstinacy to outfoot his relentless foes.
+
+Fortune again favored me. By degrees the superior speed and stamina of
+the hounds began to tell, though both seemed to be running with
+undiminished speed. The wolf, finding that, with all his speed and
+cunning, they were slowly but surely overtaking him, circled in my
+direction, and I was soon again an important factor in the hunt, urging
+the dogs with shouts of encouragement. I was now near enough to note
+that one of the young greyhounds, which had evidently been running
+cunning by lying back and cutting across, was far in advance of the
+pack--not over 100 yards behind the wolf, and gaining rapidly. Striking
+a rise in the ground, he overtook the wolf and seized him by the
+shoulder. The wolf seemed to drag him several yards before he reached
+around, and with his powerful, punishing jaws gave him a slash that laid
+his skull bare and rolled him over on the prairie.
+
+Slight as this interruption was, it encouraged Dan to greater effort,
+and the next minute he had distanced the pack, nailed the wolf by the
+jowl, and over they went, wolf on top. Scotty was but a few paces
+behind, and, taking a hind hold, tried to stretch him. With a mighty
+effort the wolf tore himself loose from both and started to run again.
+He had not gone thirty paces before Scotty bowled him over again.
+Rising, he sullenly faced his foes, who, with wholesome respect for his
+glistening ivories, seemed to hesitate while recovering their wind, as
+they were sadly blown after their long run, the day being an intensely
+hot one. At this point I rode up. The wolf lay closely hugging the
+ground, his swollen tongue protruding from foam-flecked chops, and with
+keen and wary eye he watched the maddened pack circling about looking
+for a vulnerable point. Varied experience in the art of self-defense
+had taught him skill and quickness, and as each dog essayed to assail
+him he found a threatening array of teeth. Throwing myself from the
+saddle, I cheered them on. Dan and Scotty hesitated no longer, but
+rushed savagely at him, one on either side, and the whole pack,
+including the one recently scalped, regardless of his gaping wound,
+followed them.
+
+For a few minutes the pile resembled a struggling mass of dogs, and the
+air seemed filled with flying hair, fur and foam, and the snapping of
+teeth was like castanets. At first the wolf seemed only intent upon
+shaking off his foes and escaping, but the punishment he was receiving
+could not long be borne; and from then on to the last gasp, with eyes
+flaming with rage, every power seemingly put forth, he fought like a
+demon possessed. As he tossed the dogs about, seemingly breaking their
+hold at will, I was singularly impressed with his enormous size and
+strength, his shaggy appearance and his generally savage look, and
+suggested to Maje and Zach, who had come up in the meantime, that we
+take a hand in the fray, as I doubted the ability of the dogs to finish
+him without serious loss. However, we decided to give them the
+opportunity, and ere long they had him _hors de combat_, stretched upon
+the ground, his body crimson with his own life's blood, in the last
+throes of death. He was one of the largest specimens I had ever seen,
+weighing not less than 120 pounds, the green pelt weighing twenty-four.
+His carcass, when stood up alongside of Scotty, seemed several inches
+taller, and I afterward measured the latter and found him to be
+thirty-one inches.
+
+All of the dogs received more or less punishment; none escaped
+scathless, but really much less damage was done than I expected. This
+was owing to the fact that Dan and Scotty, two of the staunchest seizers
+I ever saw, engaged him constantly in front, while the other dogs
+literally disemboweled him. Scotty had a bad cut on the side of the
+neck, requiring several stitches to close, and the muscles of his
+shoulder were laid bare; while Dan's most serious hurt was a cut from
+dome of skull to corner of eye, from which he never entirely recovered,
+as he ever afterward had a weeping eye. One of the cross-breeds, whose
+pads were not well indurated, suffered from lacerated feet, and one of
+his stoppers was torn almost off, necessitating removal. A wolf's bite
+is both cruel and dangerous, and wounds on dogs are obstinate and very
+hard to heal--more so than those of any other animal. While skinning the
+wolf, our horses were standing with lowered heads, heaving flanks,
+shaking and trembling limbs; my horse, much to my satisfaction,
+evidently without a good buck left in him.
+
+After a full hour's rest for man and beast, we started back to the
+ranch. Taking Steamboat with the buckboard, I went back to the point of
+rocks with the intention of taking up the injured dog. Upon arrival
+there no trace of him could be found; he had mysteriously disappeared.
+Thinking that he had recovered sufficiently to make his way back to the
+ranch, we increased our speed and soon joined the others, who had been
+heading directly for home. The ride home was devoid of incident, the
+monotony being occasionally broken by our frantic efforts to restrain
+the dogs from chasing innumerable jack rabbits that bounded away on
+three legs, in their most tantalizing way, inviting us to a chase. We
+also got within rifle shot of a band of antelope, seeming quite at ease,
+feeding and gamboling sportively with each other, until a pistol shot
+at long range sent them skimming gracefully over the plains, finally
+vanishing like a flying shadow in the distance. While crossing the creek
+below, and within sight of the ranch, we again heard Lead give tongue in
+the chaparral above the ranch, and in a few minutes he had a coyote
+busy, doubtless the same one we had disturbed in taking a constitutional
+in the morning. The dogs, now a sorry looking set, had been jogging
+lazily along behind us, but in a moment were all life and action. Their
+spirits were contagious, and, though we had positively agreed under no
+circumstances to run a coyote, we very soon found ourselves flying after
+the vanishing pack in full pursuit. A pretty race ensued. When first
+dislodged the coyote appeared lame to such an extent that I thought his
+leg broken; but after warming up this affection entirely disappeared,
+and the pace was a hot one for the first mile. The dogs ran well
+together, and were gradually lessening the gap between them and their
+wily foe, who, realizing this, displayed tact in selecting the very
+worst possible ground for footing, and soon regained his lost vantage.
+It began to look as though the coyote would again give us the slip,
+when one of the young dogs, that Zach in his excitement had ridden over
+several minutes before and presumably killed, was seen to dash out from
+a draw and bowl over the coyote. His hold was not a good one, but he
+succeeded in turning the coyote, who then made a straight line for a
+bunch of cattle grazing near, becoming temporarily unsighted among the
+cattle. The dogs again fell behind, and when again sighted the coyote
+was making a bee line for the ranch. By the time the creek was reached,
+he was in evident distress and sorely pressed. With a final effort he
+dashed through the creek up the opposite bank, and, as he dodged into
+the open corral gate, one of the greyhounds flicked the hair from his
+hind quarters. It was his last effort. By the time we reached the
+corral, he was being literally pulled to pieces. We could not see that
+he made additional wounds upon any of the dogs. In the excitement of the
+finish of the chase I had lost Maje, and it was only after the death in
+the corral that I missed him. Going to the adobe wall, I peered over and
+saw him some distance away standing beside his horse. Upon going back to
+him, we found that his horse had stepped into a prairie dog hole,
+throwing him violently, and, turning a somersault, had landed upon him.
+The only damage to Maje was, he had been converted for the time being
+into a cactus pincushion; but his "States" horse had broken his fore leg
+at the pastern joint and had to be shot.
+
+After the long run of the morning, this race afforded us ample scope for
+testing both the speed and staying qualities of the dogs as well as of
+our horses.
+
+We were disappointed in not finding the injured dog at the ranch. In
+fact, he was never afterward heard of, and doubtless crawled away among
+the rocks and died alone. After sewing up Scotty's wounds, dressing the
+minor cuts of the other dogs and removing the cactus and prickly pear
+points from their feet (the latter not a small job by any means), we
+were soon doing full justice to Steamboat's satisfying if not appetizing
+meal.
+
+In contrast to our simple preparations and equipment for this, an
+average wolf-hunt in that country, wolf-hunts in Russia, as described to
+me by my friend, St. Allen, of St. Petersburg, are certainly grand
+affairs; but when the two methods of hunting are compared, I cannot but
+believe that the balance of sport is in our favor.
+
+I have frequently been asked what breed of dogs I consider best for
+wolf-hunting. Having tried nearly all kinds, experience and observation
+justify me in asserting that the greyhound is undoubtedly the best. In
+the first place, there is no question of their ability to catch wolves,
+and, when properly bred and reared, their courage is undoubted. It is a
+general supposition that the greyhound is devoid of the power of scent.
+This is a mistake, as can be attested by anyone who has ever hunted them
+generally in the West upon large game, especially wolves, which give a
+stronger scent than any other animal. Of course, this power is not as
+well developed in the greyhound as in other breeds, because the uses to
+which he is put do not require scent, and, under the law of evolution,
+it has deteriorated as a natural consequence. Unrivaled in speed and
+endurance, these qualities have been developed and bred for, while the
+olfactory organs have been necessarily neglected by restricting the work
+of the dogs to sight hunting. Experience has taught me that they are the
+only breed of dogs that, without special training or preparation, will
+take hold and stay in the fight with the first wolf they encounter until
+they have killed him. I have heard it said that this was because they
+did not have sense enough to avoid a wolf. At all events, it is a fact
+that they will unhesitatingly take hold of a wolf when dogs older,
+stronger and better adapted to fighting will refuse to do so. I have
+found that, while all dogs will hunt or run a fox spontaneously, with
+seeming pleasure, they have a natural repugnance and great aversion to
+the proverbially offensive odor peculiar to the wolf. I once hunted a
+pack of high-bred foxhounds, noted for their courage. They had not only
+caught and killed scores of red foxes, but had also been used in running
+down and killing sheep-killing dogs. Though they had never seen a wolf,
+I did not doubt for an instant that they would kill one. While they
+trailed and ran him true, pulling him down in a few miles, they utterly
+refused to break him up when caught. The following extract, from an
+article I wrote some years ago on the "Greyhound," for the "American
+Book of the Dog," expresses my views of the courage and adaptability of
+the greyhound for wolf-hunting:
+
+"A general impression prevails that the greyhound is a timid animal,
+lacking heart and courage. This may be true of some few strains of the
+breed, but, could the reader have ridden several courses with me at
+meetings of the American Coursing Club which I have judged, and have
+seen greyhounds, as I have seen them, run until their hind legs refused
+to propel them further, and then crawl on their breasts after a
+thoroughly used up jack rabbit but a few feet in advance, the singing
+and whistling in their throats plainly heard at fifty yards, literally
+in the last gasp of death, trying to catch their prey, he or she would
+agree with me in crediting them with both the qualities mentioned."
+
+In hunting the antelope, it is not an uncommon thing to see a greyhound,
+especially in hot weather, continue the chase until he dies before his
+master reaches him. An uninjured antelope is capable of giving any
+greyhound all the work he can stand, and unless the latter is in prime
+condition his chances are poor indeed to throttle. A peculiar feature of
+the greyhound is that he always attacks large game in the throat, head
+or fore part of the body. I have even seen them leave the line of the
+jack rabbit to get at his throat. Old "California Joe," at one time
+chief of scouts with Gen. Custer, in 1875 owned a grand specimen of the
+greyhound called Kentuck, presented to him by Gen. Custer. I saw this
+dog, in the Big Horn country, seize and throw a yearling bull buffalo,
+which then dragged the dog on his back over rough stones, trampled and
+pawed him until his ears were split, two ribs broken, and neck and fore
+shoulders frightfully cut and lacerated, yet he never released his hold
+until a Sharps rifle bullet through the heart of the buffalo ended the
+unequal struggle. Talk about a lack of courage! I have seen many a
+greyhound single-handed and alone overhaul and tackle a coyote, and in a
+pack have seen them close in and take hold of a big gray timber wolf or
+a mountain lion and stay throughout the fight, coming out bleeding and
+quivering, with hardly a whole skin among them. In point of speed,
+courage, fortitude, endurance and fine, almost human judgment, no
+grander animal lives than the greyhound. He knows no fear; he turns from
+no game animal on which he is sighted, no matter how large or how
+ferocious. He pursues with the speed of the wind, seizes the instant he
+comes up with the game, and stays in the fight until either he or the
+quarry is dead. Of all dogs these are the highest in ambition and
+courage, and, when sufficiently understood, they are capable of great
+attachment.
+
+In selecting dogs for wolf-killing, the most essential qualities to be
+desired are courage, strength and stamina to sustain continued exertion,
+with plenty of force and dash. Training is a matter requiring unlimited
+patience, coupled with firmness and judgment, and a large amount of love
+for a dog. It also requires constant watchfulness of a dog's every
+movement and mood to make a successful wolf-courser of him. Many a good
+dog has been ruined at the outset by not being fully understood.
+
+They should receive their first practical work when about one year old,
+provided they are sufficiently developed to stand the hard work
+necessary. They generally have mind enough at this age to know what is
+expected of them. It is, of course, better to hunt a young dog first
+with older and experienced dogs, which will take hold of any kind of
+game. The larger and stronger the dog, the better; for it requires
+immense powers of endurance, hardihood and strength to hold, much less
+kill, a wolf. The latter are particularly strong in the fore quarters
+and muscles of the neck and jaw. As an evidence of their great strength,
+I saw a wolf, while running at full speed, seize the Siberian wolfhound
+Zlooem by the shoulder and throw him bodily into the air, landing him on
+his back several feet away, and yet this wolf did not weigh as much as
+the dog.
+
+Particular care should be taken to see that a young dog gets started
+right in his practical training. Encourage him with your presence; do
+all you can to see that he is sighted promptly; spare no expense or
+pains in getting a good mount, and keep as close as possible during the
+fighting; enliven him with your voice, and encourage him to renewed
+effort; for his ardor increases in proportion to the encouragement and
+praise received. Ride hard, to be in early at the death. His confidence
+once gained, he will place implicit reliance in your assistance; but,
+let him be beaten off once or twice through lack of encouragement, and
+he will soon lose his relish for the sport and show a disposition to
+hang back; while he may seem to be doing his best, a practiced eye will
+soon detect a want of ardor and dash. A pack of hounds, with a good
+strike dog and confidence in their owner, will carry everything before
+them; by keeping them in good heart they always expect success to crown
+their efforts.
+
+If from any cause in the final struggle the dogs are getting the worst
+of it, or the other dogs refuse to assist the seizers, one must not
+hesitate an instant about assisting them; this requires perfect
+coolness, self-control and presence of mind, so as not to injure the
+dog. To attempt the use of the pistol or gun is too dangerous. A
+well-directed blow with a good strong hunting knife, delivered between
+the shoulders, will generally break the spine, leaving the wolf entirely
+at the mercy of the hounds.
+
+I would advise no one to attempt the Russian method of taping the jaws
+while the wolf is held by the seizers. I had an experience of this kind
+once. After a long chase, the wolf, in his efforts to escape, leaped a
+wall, and, in alighting upon the farther side, thrust his head and neck
+through a natural loop formed by a grapevine growing around a tree.
+Reaching him as soon as the hounds, I fought them off; but, although he
+was virtually as fast as if in a vise, it required the united efforts of
+five of us to bind his legs and tape his jaws, and this was only
+accomplished after a severe struggle of some minutes. I am sure I would
+not have trusted any dog or dogs I ever hunted to have held him during
+this operation.
+
+One should always be provided with a spool of surgeon's silk and a
+needle, for these will assuredly be called into use. Old Major, a
+greyhound owned by Dr. Van Hummel and myself, full of years and honors,
+is still alive. He was a typical seizer and afraid of nothing that wore
+hair. His entire body is seamed with innumerable scars, and has been
+sewed up so often that he resembles a veritable piece of needlework. As
+an evidence of his speed, strength and early training, I recollect that,
+shortly after I had hunted him in the West, I had him at my home in
+Kentucky. The Doctor was on a visit to me, and we had taken Major to the
+country with us while inspecting stock farms. At Wyndom Place, where we
+were admiring a handsome two-year-old Longfellow colt, running loose in
+the field, the owner, before we were aware of his intention, set Major
+after the colt "to show his speed and style." We both instantly saw his
+error, but it was too late--we could not call the dog off. He soon
+overhauled the colt, and, springing at his throat, down they went in a
+heap--the colt, worth a thousand dollars, ruined for life.
+
+One of the most glaring instances of improper training and handling of
+wolfhounds that ever came under my observation was the Colorado
+wolf-hunt that attracted so much attention in the sporting press of this
+country, England and Russia. Mr. Paul Hacke, an enthusiastic fancier, of
+Pittsburg, Pa., while in Russia attended a wolf-killing contest in which
+the barzois contested with captive wolves. He became so much enamored of
+the sport that he purchased a number of trained barzois and brought them
+to this country. They were a handsome lot and attracted much attention
+while being exhibited at the bench shows. I was one of the official
+judges at the Chicago Bench Show in 1892, and wolfhound classes were
+assigned me. While I admired them very much for their handsome, showy
+appearance, I expressed grave doubts as to their ability to catch and
+kill timber wolves, notwithstanding I had read graphic accounts of
+their killing coyotes in thirty-five seconds. This doubt was shared and
+expressed by others present who had had practical experience in
+wolf-hunting. This coming to the ears of Mr. Hacke, who is always
+willing to back his opinion with his money, he issued a sweeping
+challenge offering to match a pair of barzois against any pair of dogs
+in the United States for a wolf-killing contest, for $500 a side. His
+challenge was promptly accepted by Mr. Geo. McDougall, of Butte City,
+Montana.
+
+I was selected to judge the match, and in the spring of 1892 we made up
+a congenial carload and journeyed to Hardin, in the wilds of Colorado,
+where our sleeper was sidetracked. Arrangements were made at an
+adjoining horse ranch, and every morning a band of horses was promptly
+on hand at daylight. On the night of our arrival at Hardin, a fine
+saddle horse had been hamstrung in his owner's stable by wolves. It was
+a pitiful sight, and added zest to our determination to exterminate as
+many as possible.
+
+We were awakened from our sound sleep the first morning by the familiar
+sounds of saddling, accompanied by the pawing and bucking of horses,
+swearing of men, and snarling and growling of dogs. After a hasty
+breakfast, eaten by lamplight, we were soon mounted and in motion for
+the rendezvous. We had hardly crossed the Platte River, near which our
+camp was located, before the advance guard announced a wolf in full
+flight. A glance through my field-glasses convinced me that it was an
+impudent coyote, and we continued our search. We had probably ridden an
+hour through sand and cactus before one of the hunters had a wolf up and
+going.
+
+McDougall had selected Black Sam, a cross between a deerhound and a
+greyhound, as his first representative, and he was accordingly in the
+slips with a magnificent-looking barzoi representing Mr. Hacke. Porter,
+from Salt Lake, the slipper and an old-time hunter, had all he could do
+to hold them until the word to slip was given. They went away from the
+slips in great style, the barzoi getting a few feet the best of it; but
+in the lead up to the wolf the cross-breed made a go-by, and, overtaking
+the flying wolf, unhesitatingly seized and turned it. Before it could
+straighten out for another run, the barzoi was upon it, and
+unfortunately took a hind hold, which it easily broke. The cross-breed,
+without having received a cut or even a pinch, lost all interest in the
+proceedings, and stood around looking on as unconcerned as though there
+was not a wolf within a hundred miles; and, though the wolf assumed a
+combative attitude, at bay, ready to do battle, and made no effort to
+avoid her canine foes, neither dog could be induced to tackle her again.
+The barzoi acted as though he was willing if any assistance was afforded
+by the half-breed. Neither of these dogs showed any evidence of
+cowardice, in my opinion, though credited with it by representatives of
+the press present. The evidences of this feeling are unmistakable, and I
+have seen fear and terror too often expressed by dogs, when attacked or
+run by wolves, not to recognize it when present. They did not turn a
+hair, and walked about within twenty feet of the wolf with their tails
+carried as gayly as though they were on exhibition at a bench show. Very
+different was the action of a rancher's dog, evidently a cross between a
+St. Bernard and a mastiff, that came up at this stage of the game. As
+soon as he caught sight of the wolf, every hair on his back reversed,
+his tail drooped between his legs, and the efforts of three strong men
+could hardly have held him. This I call fear and cowardice; the actions
+of the others, a lack of proper training and knowledge of how to fight.
+As the wolf was a female and apparently heavy with whelp, I at the time
+thought this was the cause of their queer actions; but later, when
+skinning the wolf for the pelt, I found no evidence of whelp, but a
+stomach full of calf's flesh. In the second course, Allan Breck, a big,
+powerful Scotch deerhound, and Nipsic, a lighter female of the same
+breed, were put in the slips and a male wolf put up. They readily
+overhauled him. Allan, leading several lengths in the run up, promptly
+took a shoulder hold and bowled over the wolf; then, as though he
+considered his whole duty performed, quietly looked on, while Nipsic
+kept up a running fight with the wolf, attacking him a score of times,
+but was unable alone to disable or kill him. It was only after the wolf
+and Nipsic were lassoed and dragged apart by horsemen that she desisted
+in her crude efforts to kill the wolf. She displayed no lack of courage,
+but a total lack of training and knowledge of how to fight. In the final
+course two grand specimens of the barzoi were placed in the slips; one
+of them, Zlooem, a magnificent animal, all power and life, who had won
+the Czar's gold medal in St. Petersburg in a wolf contest, impressed me
+forcibly with the idea that, if he once obtained a throat hold, it would
+be all over with the wolf. On this occasion I had a most excellent
+mount, a thoroughbred Kentucky race mare, and, as one of the conditions
+of the match was that I alone was to be allowed to follow the hounds, I
+determined to stay with them throughout the run at all hazards, and to
+be in at the death. The wolf was put up in the bottom land of the Platte
+River. The footing was excellent, and, as he had but a few hundred
+yards' start, I was enabled to be within fifty yards of them throughout
+the run and fighting. The wolf at first started off as though he had
+decided to depend upon speed to save his pelt, disdaining to employ his
+usual stratagem, and the hounds gained but little upon him. Finding that
+but one horseman and two strange-looking animals were following him, he
+slackened his pace, and in an incredibly short time Zlooem was upon even
+terms with him, and, seizing by the throat, over and over they went in a
+cloud of sand, from which the wolf emerged first, again on the retreat,
+with both hounds after him full tilt. Within a hundred yards they again
+downed him, only to be shaken off. This was repeated probably a half
+dozen times, and, though both the barzois had throat and flank holds,
+they were unable to "stretch him." After five minutes of fast and
+furious fighting, they dashed into a bunch of frightened cattle and
+became separated. Though I immediately cut the wolf out of the bunch of
+cattle and he limped off in full view, the dogs were too exhausted to
+follow, and their condition was truly pitiable. Zlooem staggered about
+and fell headlong upon his side, unable to rise. Both were so thoroughly
+exhausted from their tremendous efforts that they could not stand upon
+their feet; their tongues were swollen and protruding full length, their
+breath came in short and labored gasps, the whistle and rattle in their
+throats was audible at some distance, while their legs trembled and were
+really unable to sustain the weight of their bodies. At the expiration
+of ten minutes, I signaled the slippers to come and take the dogs up;
+and thus ended the bid of the Russian wolfhound for popularity in this
+country.
+
+Upon our return to Denver we were waited upon by a ranchman who had
+heard of the failure of a pair of these dogs to catch and kill wolves.
+He stated that he had a leash of greyhounds that could catch and kill
+gray timber wolves, and deposited $500 to bind a match to that effect.
+He was very much in earnest, and I regretted that we could not raise a
+purse of $500, as I should like to have seen the feat performed--my
+experience being that it required from four to six to accomplish this,
+and that even then they have to understand their business thoroughly.
+
+_Roger D. Williams._
+
+
+
+
+Game Laws
+
+
+Laws for the preservation of wild animals are a product of civilization.
+The more civilized a nation, the broader and more humane will be these
+laws.
+
+Our ancestors of the flint age were lawless. After the fall "thorns also
+and thistles" came forth, and man ceased from eating herb-bearing seed
+and fruit, and turned his hand to killing and eating flesh--"even as
+Nimrod, the mighty hunter before the Lord." Many great and dangerous
+animals then existed, and it was a necessity to kill off the cave bear,
+the cave tiger and the mastodon. The earliest of Chaldean poems
+indicates the equally great fishing of those days: "Canst thou draw out
+leviathan with an hook, or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest
+down?" All savage nations are still ruthless and wasteful in their
+destruction of animal life. An example is found on the plains, where a
+thousand buffalo were driven over the walls of a canyon that a tribe
+might have a feast, although the tribe might, and often did, starve
+during the coming winter.
+
+With the slow progress of civilization, at first customs grew up, and
+then laws were enacted consonant with the degree of education of the
+lawmakers. In ancient Oriental nations only a few animals were protected
+for the use of the rulers. Thus the elephant, the cheetah and the falcon
+in the East came under royal protection. The Normans, when they were not
+at war, followed the chase with ardor, and passed laws for the
+protection of deer, wolves and the wild boar. The Saxons, like the
+Romans, guarded their forest preserves, but left the open country free
+for chase to all the people. After the Conquest the new Norman rulers
+applied their own stern and selfish laws over all England. Not only was
+the chase forbidden, but the bearing of arms used in the chase as well,
+and the conquerors thus preserved the game for their own use, and also
+kept in subjection the disarmed people. Their punishments were
+barbarous, and comprised maiming and death, and the killing of a deer or
+a wild boar was punished with putting out the eyes or death. No greater
+penalty was inflicted for the killing of a man.
+
+The underlying principle maintained was that all wild game was the
+property of no one, and that to which no one had title belonged to the
+sovereign. So the king held all lands not apportioned, and granted
+permission to his chiefs to hunt therein. He also created the right of
+_free chase_, _warren_ and _free fishery_, thus authorizing a designated
+person to protect game and to follow the chase on the land of others, or
+protect and take fish from rivers and streams that flowed over the
+properties of other men. These claims of right became numerous and so
+burdensome that they were subsequently restricted by Magna Charta. The
+fascination of the chase, indulged in for years, became so inwrought in
+the English mind that it formed the principal recreation of the people,
+shared in alike by nobles, priests and peasants, evoking a world of
+romance and legend in Robin Hood tales, and a sturdy, semi-warlike
+pride. The exercise formed a school of stalwart out-of-door men, whose
+descendants of like taste have invaded the remotest isles of the sea,
+and girdled the earth with the colonies of England. The taste made its
+fair mark on English verse from the early date of Chevy Chase, when,
+
+    To chase the deer with hawk and hound
+    Earl Percy took his way,
+
+down to this present year of grace, when Conan Doyle's archer sings:
+
+    So we'll drink all together
+    To the grey goose feather,
+    And the land where the grey goose flew.
+
+The pomp and dignity of the chase, its pursuit by the highest clergy and
+the sad result of want of skill by an archbishop are quaintly disclosed
+in the trial of the Archbishop of Canterbury for accidentally killing a
+game-keeper instead of a deer in the forest of Bramshill in the year
+1621, as reported at length in Vol. II. of Cobbett's State Trials.
+
+The right in the crown to all wild game, thus claimed and established in
+England, became part of the common law, and was inherited by the
+American colonies; and thus wild game in our Republic became the
+property of the people, and the duty of its care and protection fell
+upon the different States of the Republic, and in the territories upon
+Congress.
+
+It is unnecessary to enumerate the different game laws and the various
+cruel judgments entered therein in the English courts, or to refer to
+the many essays and orations written and delivered against the game laws
+of the various European States. They met the condemnation alike of
+philanthropists, statesmen and poets. Charles Kingsley wrote in 1848, on
+behalf of the people, the bold and pathetic song:
+
+    The merry brown hares came leaping
+    Over the crest of the hill.
+
+It defended the poacher lad, but lost for the writer his lawn sleeves.
+
+The great distinction to be ever borne in mind between the game laws of
+Europe and those of America is, that the former were passed for the
+protection of game for a class, while the laws of a republic are passed
+for the preservation of game for the use of all the people. The former
+encountered the hostility of all the people save the aristocracy; the
+latter should obtain the approbation of all the people, rich and poor,
+for they are passed and maintained for the good of the people at large.
+
+The value of the fish and game to the people of the State of Maine is
+greater and brings into the State more money than its hay crop or its
+potato crop. The value of a mountain stream is nothing except as it may
+water people or kine. Stock and protect that river by suitable laws, and
+the fishing privileges may be rented for an annual rental that will pay
+all the taxes of every county through which it runs. Yet often it is
+that the inhabitant of that county complains of the injustice of
+preventing him from taking fish therein at his pleasure at any season of
+the year.
+
+The earliest recorded game law is found in the twenty-second chapter of
+Deuteronomy, where it is forbidden to take a bird from her nest. The
+earliest law upon this subject in America that we find was the act of
+the Assembly of Virginia of 1699, II. William III., wherein the killing
+of deer between January and July was prohibited under a penalty of 500
+pounds of tobacco. In Maryland an act was passed on the same subject in
+1730, which recites the evils of constant shooting--"Which evil
+practice, if not put a stop to, may in a few years entirely destroy the
+species of deer, to the great damage of the good people of this
+province; be it enacted by the Right Honorable the Lord proprietary, by
+and with the consent of his Lordship's Governor and the upper and lower
+Houses of Assembly, that it should not be lawful that any person
+(Indians in amity with us excepted), between January first and July
+last, to kill any deer under the penalty of 400 pounds of tobacco."
+South Carolina followed in 1769 with an act prohibiting the killing of
+deer during the same period, "under a penalty of forty shillings
+proclamation money." Both of these acts prohibited night hunting with
+fire-light, as did also the Statutes of the Mississippi Territory.
+
+The earliest laws upon this subject in Kentucky were passed in 1775 by
+the Legislature, appropriately holding its sessions under the greenwood
+trees, and their author was Daniel Boone.
+
+The earliest law in the State of New York was passed in 1791 (2 Session
+Laws of 1791, p. 188), and it prohibited the killing of "heath hen,
+partridge, quail or woodcock" on Long Island, or "in the city and county
+of New York," under penalty of twenty shillings.
+
+Laws upon this subject thereafter multiplied in New York, varying in
+their scope and character with every Legislature. Sometimes the
+prosecution was left to the county prosecutor; sometimes it was
+permitted to the informer, who shared the penalty; sometimes the power
+of enacting laws was reserved to the State; sometimes it was delegated
+to the supervisors. In 1879, by the influence of the Society for the
+Preservation of Game, a complete act was passed, entitled "An Act for
+the Preservation of Moose and Wild Deer, Birds, Fish and other Game,"
+which for many years was vigorously enforced by that Society, and became
+the model for like laws in many other States. This law made the
+possession of game during the close season the offense, and not _prima
+facie_ evidence of killing, and also it removed from the various local
+supervisors the power of making laws upon this subject.
+
+These two essential features of law cannot be too strongly insisted upon
+with all lawmakers. Under this statute hundreds of prosecutions were
+made and convictions had in the markets of the great cities. The bidding
+for game by wealthy cities is the incentive to unlawful killing, and the
+closing of the markets stops the poacher's business more thoroughly than
+the conviction of an occasional poacher. When the law permitted game
+killed in other States during the open season to be sold in the State
+of New York in the close season, there was no lack of evidence to show
+that every head of game was killed elsewhere and in the open season, and
+the petit jury always found in favor of the oppressed market man. When
+the law was changed so that all game, wherever killed, was decreed
+illegal, the defense was plead that such a law restricted commerce and
+was unconstitutional; and it was not until the Society carried the case
+of Royal Phelps, President of the Society for the Preservation of Game,
+against Racey, through to the court of last resort, as reported in 60th
+New York Reports, that this defense was decreed insufficient. That case
+was followed in Illinois (97 Ill., 320), and Missouri (1st Mo. App.,
+15), and in other States, until it became the established law of the
+land. The Supreme Court of the United States held (125 U. S., 465), that
+a State cannot prohibit the importation of merchandise from another
+State, but can the sale. That court also sustained the right of States
+to protect fisheries and destroy illegal nets (Lawton _vs._ Steel, 152
+U. S.), and it affirmed the right of States to compel the maintenance of
+fishways in dams erected in rivers (Holyoke Co. _vs._ Lyman, 82 U. S.).
+The United States courts also maintained purchaser's title to marsh
+lands and enjoined trespassers from shooting thereon in Chisholm _vs._
+Caines (U. S. Circuit Court of the 4th District). Thus, step by step,
+the game laws of the land were sustained, held to be constitutional and
+enforced.
+
+The forms of defense which offenders deem it righteous to make to game
+prosecutions are without number, and as fraudulent as their trade is
+wasteful. One instance will illustrate. The writer, as counsel for the
+Society for the Protection of Game, prosecuted one Clark, a prominent
+poulterer in State street in Albany, for having and offering for sale
+several barrels of quail. The case was tried at Albany, Hon. Amasa J.
+Parker appearing for the defense. After the plaintiff's witnesses had
+proved the possession of the birds, the offering for sale as quail, and
+the handling of several of them by the witnesses, the defendant
+testified that these birds were not quail at all, but were English
+snipe, and that their bills were pared down and the birds were thus sold
+as quail, as they brought a better price, and that he frequently did so
+in his trade. Probably no person in the court-room believed this
+evidence, but the jury found for the defendant.
+
+The defense has been frequently interposed, that the birds in question
+were not the prohibited birds, but were some other or foreign variety,
+until it was found that it was necessary always to purchase and to
+produce in court, fresh or dried, some of the game in regard to which
+the suit was being tried.
+
+Before leaving the litigation of the courts of the State of New York,
+and in order to show how early and ardently the gentlemen of the old
+school followed the diversions of the chase, it is well to cite the case
+of Post against Pierson, tried in 1805 before the venerable Judges
+Tompkins and Livingston, and reported in 3d Cain's New York Reports. It
+there appears that Mr. Post, a worthy citizen of that most traditional
+hunting ground, Long Island, organized a fox-hunt. The chase went
+merrily--
+
+    An hundred hounds bayed deep and strong,
+    Clattered an hundred [more or less] steeds along,
+
+and they started a fox and had him in view, when one Pierson, of
+Hempstead, the defendant in the case, well knowing of the chase, yet
+with wicked and felonious mind intercepted, shot, killed and carried
+away the fox. Post brought suit for the value of the animal, and the
+injury to the outraged feelings of the members of the hunt. Counsel
+learned in the law declaimed, and the wise opinion of the court, citing
+all the authorities from Puffendorf down, covers five printed pages, and
+finally decided that, "However uncourteous or unkind the conduct of
+Pierson in this instance may have been, yet this act was productive of
+no injury or damage for which a legal remedy can be applied."
+
+Probably to correct this ruling, the Statute of 1844 was passed, which
+provides that anyone who starts and pursues deer in the Counties of
+Suffolk and Queens shall be deemed in possession of the same.
+
+A great responsibility is thrown upon the Government of the United
+States to protect the large game in the different national parks. In a
+few years they will contain the only remnants of the buffalo, elk,
+antelope and mountain sheep. Poachers, like wolves, surround these
+parks, killing only to sell the heads for trophies. Captain George S.
+Anderson and Scout F. Burgess have done a good work in the Yellowstone
+Park in capturing poachers, which efforts were recognized by the Boone
+and Crockett Club. If authority should be given to the army to try and
+punish these poachers by martial law, it would save many a herd
+elsewhere, and also relieve the Government from great expense for the
+transporting and trial of offenders.
+
+When we reflect how many and valuable races of animals in North America
+have become extinct or nearly so, as the buffalo and the manatee; how
+many varieties of birds that afforded us food, or brightened the autumn
+sky with their migrations, have been annihilated, as have been the
+prairie fowl in the Eastern States and the passenger pigeon in all our
+States, the necessity of these laws appears urgent. A few suggestions
+that experience has taught us in regard to these matters are worthy of
+record.
+
+We must remember that in a republic no law is effective without public
+opinion to back it. Therefore, contemporaneously with making our laws,
+we should by writing and speaking educate the public mind to appreciate
+and sustain them. Experience has taught that in these prosecutions the
+public prosecutor is a laggard. He prefers noted criminal cases and
+neglects these, which he regards as trivial offenses. Therefore the law
+should authorize private prosecutors, on giving security for costs and
+damages, to make search and conduct prosecutions in their own names.
+
+Next, it is to be remembered that a single private person will make
+himself odious in the community by bringing such prosecutions, and is
+often deterred by the fear of revenge. Therefore, societies should be
+formed, composed of many good citizens; they should employ their own
+counsel, and prosecute in the name of the society or its president.
+
+Next, the law should definitely fix a penalty for having in possession,
+transporting or exposing for sale. This is more important than
+prohibiting the killing, as it is the marketing of dead game that
+incites the killing. It is the market hunter that has destroyed all
+feathered life on our prairies, and the cold storage process has enabled
+him to transport to other States or countries, and make his gains there.
+Close the market and the killing ceases.
+
+Another step to success is the procuring of the conformity of the laws
+in neighboring States. The laws of New York may prohibit the sale of
+quail, ruffed grouse and prairie fowl, and the societies may enforce
+them in New York city, and day by day see the monstrous wrong of
+carloads of prairie fowl and other valuable game brought into Jersey
+City, and sold to the population of that town and to the ocean vessels
+sailing from its docks. Our Western prairies are denuded of their birds,
+that are frozen in the close season and are afterward shipped to Europe,
+and sold in the markets there at a price often less than they would
+bring in New York city.
+
+Again, laws on these subjects should be as simple as possible, including
+in the one open and close season as many kinds of game as possible, and
+creating a general public understanding that the shooting season opens
+at a fixed date, say October 1st, and that no shooting or possession of
+game is to be allowed prior to that date, and that the close season for
+all game should commence on another certain date, say February 1st.
+
+Lastly, a defective law, that is permanent and uniform throughout the
+State, is more effective than a better and more detailed law varying in
+different counties and towns, and frequently altered. In illustration
+of the vagaries of lawmakers in this respect, it is to be remembered
+that the law of 1879, passed by the Legislature of the State of New
+York, was a complete and well-studied statute, made after much
+consultation, and meeting the approval of all the societies of the
+State, as well as the market men, and operated in the main
+satisfactorily to all. Since that date members of the Legislature from
+the different localities introduced bills making some exception or
+addition to the act, to benefit their little town or locality, to
+prohibit fishing in certain waters, to protect certain other animals, to
+provide certain restrictions as to weapons of chase or means of fishing,
+or times and seasons; or giving powers to county supervisors to
+legislate in addition to the general legislation of the State. Two
+hundred and fourteen such acts and ordinances have been passed since
+1879, until the general law has been obscured and brought into contempt.
+These acts and ordinances include, among other curiosities, the
+protection of muskrats and mink, the preservation of skunks and other
+vermin, the prohibition of residents of one county from fishing in
+another county, and protecting parts of certain lakes or rivers in a
+different manner or season from other parts. In some of the acts words
+are misspelled; in one it is enacted that "_wild birds_ shall not be
+killed at any time." Another act was passed defining the word "angling,"
+as used in the general statute, thus--"taking fish with hook and line
+and by rod held in hands," leaving the troller or the happy schoolboy,
+that drops his hand-line from the bridge, exposed to the dire penalties
+of the law. While writing in this year of grace, eighteen hundred and
+ninety-five, the Legislature has passed a law permitting the sale of
+game at any time in the year, providing it is shown to have been killed
+300 miles from the State.
+
+This most unreasonable law was procured largely through the influence of
+the Chicago market men. The States lying west of Chicago have been
+endeavoring to protect their game. Salutary laws have been passed
+prohibiting the killing and freezing of game, and the transportation of
+it outside of those territories. The markets of Chicago and the other
+great cities of the West being closed to the public sale of game, the
+dealers sought to open the markets of New York, and they have thus done
+so by this law. The Governor was fully advised of the purpose and effect
+of the law, but the powerful societies of the market men were promoting
+it and the bill was approved. In a few years the conspicuous prairie
+fowl will exist only in the naturalists' books.
+
+In olden times laws upon these subjects protected only animals which
+lent pleasure to the chase, and also certain royal fish which were
+deemed to belong to the king. These old laws were selfish and severe,
+and were enforced with the cruelty of the age. A gentler spirit has
+since dawned upon the world, and now most game laws shelter as well the
+song bird as the wild boar and the stag. The true hunter derives more
+pleasure in watching the natural life around him than in killing the
+game that he meets. His heart feels the poetry of nature in the "wren
+light rustling among the leaves and twigs," and in the train of ducks
+as,
+
+    Darkly seen against the crimson sky,
+    Their figure floats along.
+
+He stops to enjoy the guttural syllables where "Robert of Lincoln is
+telling his name" in the summer meadow. At early dawn and eventide he
+listens to the bugle call of the great migration in the skies and
+exclaims:
+
+    Thou hast no sorrow in thy song,
+    No winter in thy year.
+
+He feels the love that is begotten by contact with nature, and he it is
+in these later days who has extended the laws to protect all birds of
+meadow and woods, while in return he is rewarded by a choir of songsters
+giving thanks in musical numbers,
+
+    Better than all measures
+      Of delightful sound,
+    Better than all treasures,
+      That in books are found.
+
+_Chas. E. Whitehead._
+
+
+
+
+[Illustration: YELLOWSTONE PARK ELK.]
+
+Protection of the Yellowstone National Park
+
+
+The first regular expedition to enter the region now embraced within the
+limits of the National Park was the Washburn party of 1870.
+
+In the summer of 1871 two parties--one under Captain J. W. Barlow, U. S.
+Engineers, and the other under Dr. F. V. Hayden, U. S. Geological
+Survey--made pretty thorough scientific explorations of the whole area.
+
+As a result of the reports made by these two parties, and largely
+through the influence of Dr. Hayden, the organic act of March 1, 1872,
+was passed, setting aside a certain designated "tract of land as a
+public park or pleasure ground for the benefit and enjoyment of the
+people." It further provided that this Park should be "under the
+exclusive control of the Secretary of the Interior, whose duty it shall
+be, as soon as practicable, to make and publish such rules and
+regulations as he may deem necessary or proper for the care and
+management of the same. Such regulations shall provide for the
+preservation from injury or spoliation of all timber, mineral deposits,
+natural curiosities or wonders within the Park.
+
+"He shall provide against the wanton destruction of the fish and game
+found within said Park, and against their capture or destruction for the
+purpose of merchandise or profit.
+
+"And generally shall be authorized to take all such measures as shall be
+necessary or proper to fully carry out the objects or purposes of this
+act."
+
+It will be seen that "timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities and
+wonders" were, by the terms of the _law_, protected from "injury or
+spoliation." The Secretary of the Interior must, by _regulation_,
+"provide against the wanton destruction of fish and game," and against
+their "capture for the purpose of merchandise or profit." The Park
+proper includes nearly 3,600 square miles, but under the act of 1891 a
+timber reserve was set aside, adding about twenty-five miles on the east
+and about eight on the south, making the total area nearly 5,600 square
+miles. By an order of the Secretary of the Interior, dated April 14,
+1891, this addition was placed under the control of the Acting
+Superintendent of the Park, "with the same rules and regulations" as in
+the Park; it thus in every respect became a part of the Park itself.
+
+Dr. Hayden drew the Park bill from his personal observations, made in
+the summer of 1871. At that time the territorial lines were not run, and
+their exact location was not known. He consequently chose for his
+initial points the natural features of the ground, and made his lines
+meridians and parallels of latitude. His selections seem almost a work
+of inspiration. The north line takes in the low slopes on the north of
+Mt. Everts and the valley of the East Fork of the Yellowstone, where the
+elk, deer, antelope and mountain sheep winter by thousands; it leaves
+outside every foot of land adapted to agriculture; also--and this is
+more important than all--it passes over the rugged and inaccessible
+summits of the snowy range, where the hardiest vandal dare not put his
+shack.
+
+The east line might have been placed where the timber reserve line now
+runs without much damage to material interests; but in that case the
+owners of prospect holes about Cooke City would have long since secured
+segregation. As the line runs, it is secured by the impassable
+Absarokas--the summer home of large herds of mountain sheep--and it
+includes not a foot of land of a dime's value to mortal man. Both south
+and west lines are protected by mountain heights, and they exclude every
+foot of land of any value for agriculture, or even for the grazing of
+domestic cattle.
+
+The experiment was once made of wintering a herd of cattle in the lowest
+part of the Park--the Falls River meadows, in the extreme southwest
+corner--and, I believe, not a hoof survived. Their bones by the hundreds
+now whiten the fair valley.
+
+Following the act of dedication, Mr. N. P. Langford was on May 10, 1872,
+appointed superintendent, without salary. He was directed to "apply any
+money which may be received from leases to carrying out the object of
+the act." He never lived in the Park, never drew a salary, and never,
+except by reports and recommendations, did anything for its protection.
+In his first report he suggests that "wild game of all kinds be
+protected by law," that trapping be prohibited, and that the timber be
+protected from the axman and from fires. Unfortunately I am unable to
+possess myself of any of his subsequent reports; but I know that he
+toiled earnestly and without pay--and to no results.
+
+On April 18, 1877, Mr. P. W. Norris was appointed to succeed him. He
+also served for love until July 5, 1878, when appropriations began, and
+something was done for "Park protection." In his report for 1879 he
+speaks of having stopped the killing of bison, and says that other game,
+although "grown shy by the usually harmless fusillade of tourists," was
+in "abundance for our largest parties." He also protected the wonders by
+breaking them off with ax and crowbar, and shipping them by the carload
+to Washington and elsewhere. His men did their best to protect the
+forests from fires, and with only fair success. By this report (1879) it
+seems that "no white men have ever spent an entire winter at the Mammoth
+Hot Springs"; he strongly recommended game protection, but not the
+prohibition of hunting. There was then but a single game superintendent,
+and he without authority to act. As at present, the main trouble was
+with the "Clark's Fork" people. The regulations permitted hunting for
+"recreation" or "for food," which would always be made to cover the
+object of any captured poacher.
+
+Major Norris was doubtless a valuable man for the place and the time;
+but, as he expressed it in a manifesto dated July 1, 1881, and headed
+"Mountain Comrades," "The construction of roads and bridle paths will be
+our main object," to which he added the work of "explorations and
+research." His entire force lived upon game, which was hunted only in
+season, and preserved, or jerked, for a supply for the remainder of the
+year. He was succeeded by Mr. P. H. Conger on February 2, 1882, but Mr.
+Conger did not arrive until May 22 following, when he seems to have
+fallen full upon the trials and the tribulations that have beset his
+successors. He reported the necessity for protecting the wonders and the
+game, but seems to have accomplished nothing in either direction. His
+reports are largely made up of lists of the distinguished visitors by
+whose hand-shake he was anointed. He was relieved in August, 1884, by
+Mr. R. E. Carpenter, who was removed in May, 1885, without
+accomplishing anything. Mr. David W. Wear was next in succession, and
+remained until legislated out of office in August, 1886. Nothing of
+value seems to have been done in these two administrations. In the
+sundry civil appropriation bill for 1886-87 the item for the protection
+and improvement of the Park was omitted. By the act of March 3, 1883,
+the Secretary of War was authorized, on request from the Secretary of
+the Interior, to detail part of the army for duty in the Park, the
+commander of the troops to be the acting superintendent. As there was no
+money appropriated to pay the old officers, they, of course, had
+business elsewhere. Captain Moses Harris, First Cavalry, was the first
+detailed under the new regime. He arrived there on August 17, 1886, and
+assumed control on the 20th. From this time on things assumed a
+different aspect. He had the assistance of a disciplined troop of
+cavalry, and he used it with energy and discretion. It very soon became
+unsafe to trespass in the Park, winter or summer, and load upon load of
+confiscated property testified to the number of his captures. His
+reports show the heroic efforts made to prevent and extinguish fires, to
+prevent the defacement of the geysers and other formations, and to
+protect the game. In his report for 1887 he pays his respects to our
+enemies from "the northern and eastern borders"--the same hand that has
+continued to depredate until this day. He speaks of the "immense herds
+of elk that have passed the winter along the traveled road from Gardiner
+to Cooke City," and he goes on to say that "but little efficient
+protection can be afforded to this species of game except upon the
+Yellowstone and its tributaries." He remained in charge until June 1,
+1889, when he transferred his duties to Captain F. A. Boutelle, and in
+the three years of his rule he inaugurated and put in motion most of the
+protective measures now in use.
+
+Captain Boutelle, in succession to Captain Harris, continued his
+methods, and protection prospered. Meantime, in 1889, an additional
+troop of cavalry was detailed for duty in the Park in the summer, and
+had station at the Lower Geyser Basin. The principal use of this troop
+was in protecting the formations and the forests, but the work was well
+done and the foundation was laid for future efficiency.
+
+I came to the Park in February, 1891, in succession to Captain Boutelle.
+On his departure there was only one man left here familiar with the
+Park and its needs, and that was Ed. Wilson, the scout. He had been a
+trapper himself, and was thoroughly familiar with every species of game
+and its haunts and habits. He was brave as Caesar, but feared the
+mysterious and unseen. He preferred to operate alone by night and in
+storms; he knew every foot of the Park, and knew it better than any
+other man has yet known it; he knew its enemies and the practical
+direction of their enmity. He came to me one morning and reported that a
+man named Van Dyck was trapping beaver near Soda Butte; that he spent
+his days on the highest points in the neighborhood, and with a glass
+scanned every approach; and that the only way to get him was to go
+alone, by night, and approach the position from the rear, over Specimen
+Mountain. To this I readily assented, and at 9 that night, in as bad a
+storm as I ever saw, Wilson started out for the forty-mile trip. He
+reached a high point near the one occupied by Van Dyck, saw him visit
+his traps in the twilight and return to his camp, where at daybreak the
+next morning Wilson came upon him while sleeping, photographed him with
+his own kodak, and then awakened him and brought him to the post. But,
+unfortunately for the cause of Park protection, Wilson disappeared in
+July of that year, and his remains were found a mile from headquarters
+in the June following. That left me unsupported by anyone who knew the
+place and its foes; I was fortunate, however, in having as his successor
+Felix Burgess, who for more than three years has ably, bravely and
+intelligently performed the perilous and thankless duties of the
+position.
+
+But before going on with a description of my own work in the Park, I
+will say a few words of my predecessors. In looking over the list, I
+think I can, without disparagement of the rest, single out three for
+especial mention.
+
+Langford was an explorer and pioneer; by his writings he made the Park
+known to this country and to the whole world. He was an enthusiast and
+his enthusiasm was contagious. Protection was not yet needed, but a
+knowledge of the place was, and to this he largely contributed. He was
+the proper man and he came at the proper time.
+
+Next came Major Norris. To him protection was a minor or unconsidered
+subject. His "usually harmless fusillade of tourists" reminds one of
+Paddy's remark to his master: "Did I hit the deer, Pat?" "No, my lord,
+but you made him l'ave the place." For his time he was exactly suited;
+he penetrated every remote nook and corner; built roads, blazed trails,
+and in general made accessible all the wonders written of and described
+by Mr. Langford. Protection was not yet due, but it was on the road and
+close at hand.
+
+For this part of the work Major Harris was an ideal selection, and he
+came none too soon. Austere, correct, unyielding, he was a terror to
+evil doers. And, after all, is there anything more disagreeable than a
+man who is always right? I believe Major Harris was always _sure_ he was
+right before he acted, and then no fear of consequences deterred him. He
+once arrested a man for defacing the formations at the Upper Basin. The
+man confessed that he had done it, but that it was a small offense, and
+that if put out of the Park for it he would publish the Major in all the
+Montana papers. He was put out, and the Major was vilified in a manner
+with which I am personally very familiar. The next year this same man
+was sent to the penitentiary for one year for "holding up" one of the
+Park coaches in the Gardiner Canyon. In 1891 I derived great assistance
+in the protection of the wonders and the forests from Captain Edwards,
+who, with his troop, had served in the Park before. Unfortunately he had
+to leave in the autumn, and I was again left alone with my ignorance and
+my good intentions.
+
+In May, 1892, Troop D of the Sixth Cavalry was sent to my assistance.
+Captain Scott was in command, and he has remained until the present
+time. Hard as iron, tireless and fearless, he has been an invaluable
+assistant in all that pertains to Park protection.
+
+In protecting the beauties and wonders of the Park from vandalism, the
+main things to be contended against were the propensities of women to
+gather "specimens," and of men to advertise their folly by writing their
+names on everything beautiful within their reach. Small squads of
+soldiers were put on guard at each of the geyser basins, and at other
+points where protection was needful, with orders to arrest and threaten
+with expulsion anyone found breaking off or gathering specimens. Only a
+few examples were needed to materially diminish this evil. Of course,
+it still continued in small degree, but those who indulged in it had to
+be at great pains to conceal their operations, and this of itself
+greatly reduced the destruction. I personally engaged in a long
+controversy with a reverend despoiler, whom I detected in the act of
+breaking off a specimen. A large part of his defense was that, as I had
+on no uniform, he did not know it was necessary to be watchful and
+careful in my presence.
+
+The names of the vain glared at one from every bit of formation, and
+from every place where the ingenuity of vanity could place them.
+Primarily I ordered that every man found writing his name on the
+formations should be sent back and made to erase it. I once sent a man
+from the Mammoth Springs and once a man from the Canyon to the Upper
+Basin to scrub his autograph from the rocks; and one morning a callow
+youth from the West was aroused at 6:30 A. M. at the Fountain Hotel and
+taken, with brush and soap, to the Fountain Geyser, there to obliterate
+the supposed imperishable monument of his folly. His parents, who were
+present, were delighted with the judgment awarded him, and his fellow
+tourists by their taunts and gibes covered him with confusion as with a
+garment. But, notwithstanding the sharpest watch and greatest care, new
+names were constantly being added, and they could not easily be detected
+from the old ones on account of the number of names already there. So,
+in the early part of the season of 1892, with hammer and chisel, where
+necessary, the old names were erased and we started even with the world,
+and the geyser basins are practically free from this disfigurement
+to-day. The remedy was heroic and successful, as such remedies usually
+are.
+
+The protection of the forests--perhaps of more material importance than
+any other form of Park protection--became a subject of study, care and
+attention. As a rule, fires originated in one of three ways: by
+carelessly left camp fires, by lightning, or by the rubbing together of
+two trees swayed by the wind. There is no way of preventing the last two
+forms of ignition; the only thing to be done is to keep a ceaseless
+watch, and, so far as practicable, prevent the fire from spreading. The
+extensive areas burned over in days evidently prior to the advent of
+white men make it very apparent that these two agencies of destruction
+were then at work, as it is certain they have been since. Camping
+parties are many of them from cities, and they know little, and care
+less, about the devastation a forest fire may create. They leave a small
+and apparently harmless bunch of coals where their camp fire was; after
+they have passed on, a wind springs up, fans the embers into flame, the
+dry pine needles are kindled, and at once the forest is ablaze, and no
+power on earth can put it out. When once the flame reaches the tree
+tops, if the wind be strong, a man on horseback can scarce escape before
+it. As the wind ceases the fire quiets down, only to spring up again
+next day on the appearance of the afternoon breeze. The only time to
+fight the fire is when the wind has gone down and the flames have
+ceased. Then water poured on smouldering logs, earth thrown on
+unextinguished stumps, and the clearing of a path before the line of
+fire in the carpet of pine needles are the effective means of
+extinguishment. After a fire is once got under control it is no unusual
+thing for it to reappear 500 yards from any of its previous lines,
+carried there as a spark through the air, and dropped in the resinous
+tinder ever ready to receive and spread it.
+
+In the four seasons during which I have been in the Park but one fire of
+any magnitude has occurred. That broke out along the main road, about a
+mile north of Norris, in July, 1893. As it did not break out near a
+camping place, its origin could not be traced to camp fires; nor could
+it be charged to lightning or rubbing of trees. It was evidently started
+by a match or other fire carelessly dropped by a member of the road
+crew, then working near there, or possibly by a cigar stump thrown from
+a stage by a tourist. It was at once reported to me by telegraph. The
+troop was at drill, and in less than twenty minutes a dozen men, under
+charge of a sergeant, were on their way, with shovels, axes and buckets,
+to the scene of the trouble. An hour later the report was that it was
+beyond control. I then sent out the balance of the troop, under
+Lieutenant Vance, and ordered Captain Scott down from the Lower Basin
+with all available men of his troop. Thus the whole of the two troops
+were at the scene, and they remained there toiling and fighting night
+and day for twenty days, when a providential rain put an end to their
+labors. The area burned over included some exceptionally fine timber,
+was in extreme length nearly six miles, and in breadth from a few feet
+in some places to near a mile in others.
+
+A fire in pine woods may be successfully fought so long as it is kept
+confined to the ground, but once it gets a start in the tree tops no
+power on earth can cope with it; no effort is of the slightest avail.
+Campers who leave their fires unextinguished often make the excuse that
+they did not believe any damage could result, as the coals were nearly
+dead. Although such might be the case at the hour of their leaving, in
+the still air of morning, the afternoon wind is quite capable of blowing
+them into dangerous and destructive life. My rule has been to insist on
+the rigorous enforcement of the regulation requiring expulsion from the
+Park in such cases. One or two expulsions each year serve as healthy
+warnings, and these, backed by a system of numerous and vigilant
+patrols, have brought about the particularly good results of which we
+can boast. In 1892 a fire on Moose Creek was sighted from a point near
+the Lake, and reported to me that night by wire from the Lake Hotel.
+Before the next evening, Captain Scott was on the spot with his troop,
+and the fire was soon under control. In a few hours it would have been
+in the heavy timber on the shore of Shoshone Lake, and there is no limit
+to the damage it might have wrought.
+
+As a last heading of my subject I shall touch on the protection of the
+game. This was never seriously attempted until Major Harris came to the
+Park, in 1886; but he attacked it with an earnestness and a fearlessness
+that has left a lasting impress. It is not probable that the Park is the
+natural home of bison, elk or deer, yet the last remnant of the first
+and great numbers of the last two are found here. The high altitude,
+great cold and extreme depth of snow make it a forbidding habitat for
+the ruminants. They remain here simply because they are protected.
+Protection was given by a system of scouting extended over the best game
+ranges, and throughout the season of probable game destruction. A good
+many captures were made; the poachers were turned loose and their
+property confiscated; this was all the law allowed. The depredating
+element of the community soon came to care very little for this menace
+to their business, for they entered the Park with an equipment that
+was hardly worth packing in to the post, and, if taken from them,
+occasioned but small loss.
+
+[Illustration: A HUNTING DAY.]
+
+The accumulation of this sort of property had become great, and, as I
+had no proper storage room for it, I began my work by making a bonfire
+of it. A first requisite to successful work was to become acquainted
+with the names, the haunts and the habits of those whom it was necessary
+to watch or to capture. Ed. Wilson was thoroughly familiar with all
+this, and many is the lesson I patiently took from him. He described to
+me the leaders among the poachers from the several regions--Cooke,
+Henry's Lake, Jackson's Lake and Gardiner. To begin with the Cooke City
+parties, he named to me three as particularly active and dangerous:
+these were Van Dyck, Pendleton and Howell. Van Dyck, he told me, was at
+that time trapping beaver near Soda Butte, but he had not been able to
+definitely locate him. He made two trips there through cold and storm,
+but to no purpose. Finally, on his third expedition, he caught him, as
+already stated, sleeping in his bed. His property was destroyed, and he
+was held in the guard house awaiting the instructions of the Secretary
+of the Interior, which for some reason were very slow in coming. At last
+he was released, and ordered never again to cross the Park boundary
+without permission.
+
+The next year Pendleton made a trip in the Park in early May, and got
+out with two young bison calves, which he was carrying on pack animals
+in beer boxes. Of course, they died before he got them to a place where
+he could raise them in safety, and he soon started back to renew his
+evil work. He was arrested and confined, and his case took exactly the
+same course as Van Dyck's had taken.
+
+The last of the trio was Ed. Howell. Knowing of him and his habits, I
+kept him as well under watch as possible. During a trip I made to the
+east side of the Park in October, 1893, I saw many old signs of bison in
+several localities. Howell having disappeared from public view for a
+month or two, I sent Burgess out in January, 1894, with orders to
+carefully scout this country. I indicated to him exactly where I
+expected him to find signs of the marauder. He encountered very severe
+weather, and was not able to make a full tour of the places indicated;
+but he did report having found, in the exact locality I had designated
+to him, tracks of a man on _skis_ drawing a toboggan. These tracks were
+old and could not be followed, but they formed a valuable clue. I next
+sent to the Soda Butte station and had a thorough search made near that
+place. It was found that the same tracks had passed over the hill behind
+the station, going toward Cooke. Careful inquiry developed the fact that
+Howell had come in for provisions with his equipment, but that he had
+not brought any trophies with him. Calculating the time when he should
+be due again in the bison country, I gave Burgess an order to repeat his
+trip there, and stay until he brought back results. He left the Lake
+Hotel in a severe storm on March 11th, and camped the night of the 12th
+where he had seen the tracks on his previous visit. Next morning, when
+scarcely out of camp, he found a _cache_ of six bison scalps suspended
+in a tree. The _ski_ tracks near by were old, and he was not able to
+follow them. He possessed himself of the spoils and started down
+Astringent Creek toward Pelican. When near the latter stream, he found a
+lodge, evidently occupied at the time, and the tracks near it, fresh and
+distinct, pointing to the southward. Soon he heard shots, and far off
+in the distance he espied the culprit in the act of killing more of the
+game. The problem then arose as to how he was to make the capture. With
+him was only a single soldier, and the two had for arms only a .38
+caliber revolver. It was certain that this was Howell, and it was known
+that he was a desperate character.
+
+In giving Burgess his orders, I had told him that I did not send him to
+his death--that I did not want him to take risks or serious chances; I
+impressed upon him the fact that, as far as Howell was concerned, even
+if times were hard, the wages of sin had not been reduced. All this he
+knew well, but there was a desperate criminal armed with a rifle; as for
+himself, he might as well have been unarmed. However, fortune favored
+him, and soon Howell became so occupied in removing the scalp from one
+of his bison that Burgess, by a swift and silent run, approached within
+four or five yards of him undiscovered. It would have been easy enough
+to kill him then, but it was too much like cold-blooded murder to do so
+at that range; at 200 or 300 yards it would have seemed entirely
+different. Howell's rifle was leaning against a buffalo's carcass a few
+yards from him. He made a step toward it, when Burgess told him to stop
+or he would shoot. Howell then turned back and said, "All right, but you
+would never have got me if I had seen you sooner." He was found
+surrounded by the bodies of seven bison freshly killed, and, to
+illustrate more fully the wanton nature of the man, of the eight scalps
+brought in to the post, six were cows and one of the others was a
+yearling calf.
+
+His case went through the same course as the others, and finally toward
+the last of April he was turned loose, with orders to quit the Park and
+never return. He, however, is cast in a different mold from some of the
+previous captures, and some time in July he reappeared with the most
+brazen and shameless effrontery. He was reincarcerated, tried, and
+sentenced for disobedience of the order of expulsion. His sentence was
+thirty days in jail and fifty dollars fine, and this he now has under
+appeal. Insufficient as is Howell's punishment, his crime has been of
+more service to the Park than any other event in its history; it created
+the greatest interest throughout the country, and led to the passage of
+the Park Protection Act, which was signed by the President on May 7th.
+A strange coincidence in the cases of Van Dyck and Howell is that both
+were accompanied by their faithful watchdogs, and neither dog gave a
+sign of the approach of the enemy, and both men swore vengeance on their
+faithless protectors.
+
+The preservation of elk, deer, antelope and the carnivora is assured.
+Their numbers elsewhere, their wide distribution within the Park, their
+relatively small commercial value, added to the danger attendant on
+killing them within the Park, is a sufficient protection. Moose and
+mountain sheep will probably increase for similar reasons, although they
+are less generally distributed and are of greater value to head hunters.
+With the bison it is different. They have entirely disappeared from all
+other parts of the country, and they are of sufficient money value to
+tempt the cupidity of the hunters and trappers who surround the Park on
+all sides. It is told that a fine bison head has been sold, delivered in
+London, for L200--nearly $1,000 in our money. A taxidermist would
+probably be willing to pay $200 to $500 for such a scalp. Many a hardy
+frontiersman, who has no sentiment for their preservation and no
+respect for the law, will take his chances of capture for such a sum.
+
+Another animal that is difficult of preservation is the beaver; the
+trouble in this case is entirely due to the ease with which traps may be
+set in places where it is impossible to find them, and the ease with
+which the pelts may be packed and carried out. Within the last four
+years beaver have increased enormously, so I feel justified in saying
+that their preservation is so far successful.
+
+For the general protection of the Park there are stationed within its
+lines two troops of cavalry. They are both kept at the Mammoth Hot
+Springs for eight months of the year, and one of them is sent to the
+Lower Geyser Basin during the four months of the tourist season. Small
+outposts are kept at Riverside on the west, Snake River on the south,
+Soda Butte on the northeast, and Norris near the center. Besides these a
+winter station has been placed in the Hayden Valley, and summer stations
+are kept at the Upper Basin, Thumb, Lake and Canyon. Between these a
+constant stream of patrols is kept up, so that no depredator can do very
+much damage without detection. There is allowed but one civilian scout,
+who is overworked and underpaid. With all this enormous territory to
+guard, with all that is beautiful and valuable to protect, with the last
+of the bison to preserve, it would seem that this rich Government should
+be able to expend more than a paltry $900 per year for scouts, and more
+than $500 (which it receives for rentals) for the other needs of the
+Park.
+
+There are very few who appreciate the amount of work done here by the
+soldiers in summer and in winter, in cold and in storms, on foot, on
+horseback and on snowshoes--and all without murmur or word of complaint.
+Never before was it so well placed before the public as it was by Mr.
+Hough in his _Forest and Stream_ articles summer before last. Should
+Congress be stirred to make a more liberal appropriation for the purpose
+of carrying out the provisions of the act of May 7th, to him, more than
+to any other man, will the credit be due.
+
+_Geo. S. Anderson._
+
+
+
+
+The Yellowstone National Park Protection Act
+
+
+On May 7, 1894, President Cleveland approved an Act "to protect the
+birds and animals in Yellowstone National Park, and to punish crimes in
+said Park, and for other purposes."
+
+This law, as finally enacted, owed much to the efforts and labor of
+members of the Boone and Crockett Club, who for many years had
+persistently struggled to induce Congress to pass such necessary
+legislation. The final triumph is a matter of congratulation to every
+sportsman interested in the protection of game, and fulfills one of the
+great objects sought to be attained by the foundation of the Club. While
+the statute, in many of its details, could readily be improved, it is
+still, in its general features, sufficient to serve the purposes of its
+enactment. To those not conversant with the subject, the statement may
+seem astonishing, that from the establishment of the Park in 1872 to the
+passage of the Act in 1894 no law protecting either the Park, the
+animals or the visitors was operative within the Yellowstone Park--a
+region containing about 3,500 square miles, and larger than the States
+of Delaware and Rhode Island. This condition of affairs was frequently
+brought to the notice of the National Legislature, and in 1887 their
+attention was called to it by a startling episode. A member of Congress,
+Mr. Lacey, of Iowa, was a passenger in a stage which was "held up" in
+the Park and robbed. The highwaymen were afterward apprehended, but
+escaped the punishment suited to their crime because of the great doubt
+existing as to whether any law was applicable. As to game offenses,
+regulations were powerless for prevention in the absence of any
+penalties by law to enforce them.
+
+The explanation of this anomalous situation is to be sought in the
+circumstances under which the Park had been set apart. The eminent
+scientists, who interested themselves in this important object, were
+surrounded with difficulties. The vastness of the tract proposed to be
+included, the question of expense, the selfish interests opposing the
+measure, were obstacles not easy to overcome. Congress was told, "Give
+us the Park; nothing more is needed than to reserve the land from public
+sale or settlement." Doubtless the remoteness and isolation of the
+region might have been thought, at the time, sufficient to insure
+protection. But it was the wonderful scenery and extraordinary objects
+of interest in the Park which were then thought of; the forests and the
+game did not enter much into the consideration of the founders. And so
+Congress passed the Act of 1872, merely defining the limits of the Park
+and committing it to the keeping of the Department of the Interior,
+which was empowered to make rules and regulations for its control.
+
+A great work was accomplished when Congress was persuaded to forever
+dedicate this marvelous region as a National Park, for the benefit of
+the entire country; and it was hoped and expected that Congress would,
+in time, supplement the organizing Act by the needful additional
+legislation. But this was not to be had for many years to come. For
+some time after the year 1872, the reservation was occasionally visited
+by a few adventurous spirits or Government parties on exploring
+expeditions. During that period it became the refuge of the large game
+which had gradually receded from the lower country before the advance of
+settlement and railroads. The abundance of game astonished all who
+beheld it. Bears, deer, elk, sheep, moose, antelope, buffalo, wolverines
+and many other kinds of wild beasts were collected within an area which
+afforded peculiar advantages to each and all. Nowhere else could such a
+gathering of game be found in one locality. It should be remembered that
+those who visited the Park in the early days we have mentioned confined
+their investigations to a limited portion of it. The great winter ranges
+and breeding grounds were almost unknown. During this period, game
+killing was so slight and the supply so great that restrictions, by
+those exercising a very uncertain authority in the reservation, were
+hardly pretended to be enforced.
+
+But from about the year 1878 the depredations on the game of the Park
+attained alarming proportions. The number of visitors had largely
+increased. The skin hunter and the record hunter--twin brothers in
+iniquity--appeared on the scene, and their number grew from year to
+year. It was then that regulations and prohibitions were promulgated
+from the Department of the Interior, but they were known to contain only
+vain threats, which could be defied with impunity. And so the slaughter
+continued, and likewise other depredations. Learned associations,
+sportsmen's associations, visitors of all lands, showered petitions upon
+Congress to pass some protective law. All that Congress did, however,
+was in 1883 to confer authority for the use of troops in the Park. This
+was something, and the effect of their presence was very beneficial, and
+insured the only protection the Park had until the present time.
+Congress seemed affected with an apathy which no appeals could change.
+The result was non-action.
+
+Some Congressmen thought they were justified in declining to take any
+interest in the matter, because few, if any, of their constituents had
+ever visited the Park. Others thought that it should be a Wyoming or
+Montana affair, and should be turned over to one or the other of those
+then territories. A few seemed to labor under the impression that the
+Park was nothing but a private pleasure ground, resorted to by the
+wealthy class, and that it was no part of the Constitutional functions
+of a Republican Government to afford security to wild animals, or to
+incur any expense therefor. These narrow views were not shared by most
+of the principal men in Congress; among these we had many staunch
+friends, including especially several who held seats in the Senate.
+Chief among them was Senator Vest, of Missouri, who at all times was
+found ready to do everything in his power to promote the welfare of the
+Park. Senator Manderson, of Nebraska, and many others were quite as
+willing. It was largely due to the gentlemen we have named that the
+Senate, as a body, was imbued with their views, and on all occasions
+recognized the important national objects to be attained by the Park,
+not only as a great game preserve, but also as a great forest
+reservation of the highest economic importance.
+
+With the assistance of some of the present members of the Boone and
+Crockett Club, a bill was framed which afforded in its provisions ample
+protection to the Park, while it added largely to its area on the south
+and on the east, embracing the great breeding grounds of the elk. This
+bill was introduced by Senator Vest. But new difficulties now arose,
+more serious than any hitherto encountered. By the completion of the
+Northern Pacific Railroad a large influx of travel set in toward the
+Park. It was now thought money was to be made there. Railroads through
+it were talked about. Mines, situated near its northern border, were
+said to contain untold wealth, needing only a railroad for their
+development. A mining camp, called Cooke City, was started, and it was
+urged that a railroad could reach it only by going through the Park.
+Corporate influences made themselves felt. The bill introduced by
+Senator Vest again and again, in session after session, passed the
+Senate. The promoters of a railroad through the Park thought they saw
+their opportunity. Afraid to launch their scheme of spoliation before
+Congress as an independent measure, they sought to attach it as a rider
+to the Park bill. They reasoned that those who desired the passage of
+that bill regarded it as so important that they would be willing to
+consent to its carrying a railroad rather than see all legislation on
+the subject dropped or defeated. The plan was well conceived, but failed
+of execution. The friends of the bill recognized that it was wiser to
+leave the Park unprotected than to consent to what would be its
+destruction. They recognized that, once railroads were allowed within
+the Park, it would be a reservation only in name, and that before long
+the forests and the game would both disappear. They therefore refused
+the bait held out to them by the railroad promoters, who thereafter
+always blocked the passage of the Park bill. In return they were always
+defeated in their own scheme. The House Committee having the protection
+bill in charge never failed to burden it with the railroad right of way
+whenever it came to them, blandly ignoring the evident fact that a
+railroad was not an appropriate nor a relevant feature to a law for the
+protection of the Park. And so it happened that the bill which had been
+the child of affection became an object of dread, and was denounced as
+bitterly as it had before been advocated by its original friends. It was
+thought better to have it die on the calendar than to take the risk of
+its adoption by the House of Representatives with the obnoxious
+amendment incorporated by the committee.
+
+Apart from that amendment, it was feared the bill would not only
+encounter an opposition instigated by pecuniary interests, but might
+itself fail to call to its support any counteracting influence. Those
+who opposed the railroad, and notably the members of the Boone and
+Crockett Club, who invariably appeared before the Public Lands Committee
+to argue against it, were at the very least stigmatized as
+"sentimentalists," who impeded material progress--as busybodies, who,
+needing nothing themselves, interfered to prevent other people from
+obtaining what was necessary and beneficial to commerce. With practical
+legislators such animadversions are frequently not lacking in force, for
+nothing more incurs their contempt than a measure which has not what
+they call a _practical object_, by which they mean a _moneyed object_.
+While throughout the country there was considerable general interest
+taken in the preservation of the Park, such influence was not
+sufficiently concentrated to make itself felt by Congress. The Park was
+everybody's affair, and in the House of Representatives no one could be
+found to take any special interest in it. And so the fight went on from
+year to year. In Congress after Congress the bill was passed in the
+Senate, and emerged from the House Committee on Public Lands weighted
+down by the burden of the railroad. Secretary after Secretary of the
+Interior protested against this feature of the bill, and so did every
+officer of the Government who had any part in the administration or
+exploration of the Park. But their protests were without effect on the
+committee, which in those days seemed to regard the railroad as the most
+important feature of the bill.
+
+It was clearly shown that the railroad would not only be most harmful to
+the Park, but could serve no useful purpose; for it was quite possible
+for a railroad to reach the mines without touching the Park, whereas the
+projected route cut through the Park for a distance of some fifty miles.
+The public press throughout the country was almost unanimous in
+denouncing the threatened invasion of the reservation. But the railroad
+in interest had a strong lobby at work, and many of the inhabitants in
+the territories and States nearest the Park showed the most selfish
+indifference to its preservation, and a greedy desire to plunder it. The
+railroad lobbyists were very active. They saw the necessity of trying to
+avoid openly outraging public opinion. Accordingly they changed the
+bill, so that, instead of conferring a right of way through the Park, it
+segregated and threw out of the reservation that portion through which
+the railroad was to go. This was supposed to be a concession to public
+sentiment; but it must have been thought that the public were very
+easily deceived, for there was really no concession at all, save to the
+railroad interests. Instead of a _right of way_ through a portion of the
+Park, they now asked, and were offered by the committee, the land
+itself. The Committee of the House proposed that this land should be
+thrown out of the Park, and any and all railroads be allowed to scramble
+for it. The area thus doomed is situated north of the Yellowstone River,
+and constitutes one of the most attractive portions of the Park. It
+includes the only great winter range of the elk. In the winter there can
+be seen there some 5,000 animals, and no one who has traveled over this
+region in summer has failed to observe the enormous number of shed
+horns, showing how extensively the range is resorted to by this noble
+animal. Here too can be found a large band of antelope at all times,
+numbering about 500, and a smaller, but considerable, band of mountain
+sheep.
+
+The friends of the Park succeeded in stopping the proposed railroad
+legislation, but they could accomplish nothing else in Congress. They
+had more success with another branch of the Government. There was a
+statute authorizing the President to set apart any part of the public
+domain as a forest reservation. Taking advantage of this, certain
+members of the Boone and Crockett Club saw an opportunity of
+substantially obtaining the enlargement of the Park which they had been
+vainly endeavoring to obtain from Congress. They laid the matter before
+General Noble, then Secretary of the Interior. He recommended to
+President Harrison that the tract in question should be constituted a
+forest reserve. This was done. In 1891 the President issued a
+proclamation, establishing the Yellowstone Park Forest Reserve. It
+embraced some 1,800 square miles, abutting on the east and south
+boundaries of the Park. The Secretary afterward had the same regulations
+extended to the Reserve as had been put in operation in the Park. This
+important action was followed by further proclamations, instituting
+other forest reservations in different sections of the country. The
+Executive and its representative, the Department of the Interior, have
+at all times been most sympathetic and helpful in the movement for
+forest and game preservation. They have sternly resisted all assaults
+upon the Park.
+
+The organization of the Boone and Crockett Club had been a great step
+toward Park protection. Its membership included those who had shown most
+interest in obtaining legislation. One of the main objects of the
+society was the preservation of the game and the forests. It brought
+together a body of men whose motives were entirely disinterested, and
+who were able to make their influence felt. To their efforts must be
+largely attributed the success which was ultimately attained. But that
+success might have been indefinitely deferred had not Congress been
+awakened to its duty by an event as shocking as it was unlooked for.
+
+For years one of the cherished objects of the Park had been the
+preservation of perhaps the only surviving band of buffalo. It had
+sought refuge in the mountains. It was known to be on the increase and
+it was supposed that it would remain unmolested. Its number had been
+estimated as high as 500. Its habitat was a wild and rugged country,
+affording a seemingly secure asylum. For a long time these buffalo
+remained comparatively safe. In the summer it would have been of no use
+to slaughter them for their heads and hides. In the winter the snow was
+so deep and their haunts so remote as to render it well nigh impossible
+to pack heads or hides out to a market. But a desperate man was found to
+take desperate chances. The trouble came to the Park from the mining
+camp of Cooke. A notorious poacher named Howell made it his
+headquarters. Its proximity to the northeast boundary of the Park made
+it a convenient point from which to conduct his raids and to which he
+might convey his booty. If he killed even a single buffalo, and safely
+packed out of the Park its head or hide, he was sure of realizing a
+large sum. If he was captured while making the attempt, he knew he was
+safe from punishment, and that there was no penalty, even if there was
+an offense. A less lawless man might have indulged a flexible conscience
+with the idea that, as there was no punishment, there was no crime. A
+similar view of ethics had been indulged in by a prominent member of the
+gospel, who had killed game in the Park, and sought extenuation on the
+ground that he had not violated any law. But Howell was not a man who
+sought to justify his actions; it was sufficient for him that he
+incurred no risk. The time he selected for his deed of destruction he
+thought the most propitious for covering up his tracks. His operations
+were conducted in the most tempestuous weather in that most tempestuous
+month, March, in the year 1894. The snow then was deepest, and Howell
+felt there would be little chance of interference by scouting or other
+parties. Eluding the guard stationed in the northern portion of the
+Park, on stormy nights, he stole into the Park and built a lodge in the
+locality where the buffalo wintered. In it he stored his supplies, which
+he had conveyed on a toboggan. He traveled on _skis_, the Norwegian
+snowshoes, ten feet long, which are generally used in the Northwestern
+country. This enabled him to traverse the roughest mountain range with
+ease and great rapidity, even in the deepest snow. Once established, the
+killing was an easy matter. He had only to find the buffalo where the
+snow was deep. The ponderous, unwieldy animals had small chance of
+escape from his pursuit. His quarry was soon located, and he needed no
+assistance to make a surround; for, while the frightened, confused
+beasts were plunging in the snow, in a vain attempt to extricate
+themselves, the butcher glided swiftly around them on his snowshoes,
+approaching as close as he chose. With his rapid-firing gun he
+slaughtered them as easily as if they had been cattle in a corral. How
+many he killed will never be known. The remains of many of his victims
+will never be found.
+
+[Illustration: IN YELLOWSTONE PARK SNOWS.]
+
+But while the ruffian was busiest in his bloody work, a man was speeding
+over the snow toward him from the south. He too was on _skis_. He too
+was a mountain man, who thought as little of the obstacles before him as
+Howell did. But the object of his trip was not the buffalo, but Howell.
+It was human game he was pursuing. Howell had not covered up his tracks
+as well as he thought. The trailer had struck a trail which he never
+left till it brought him to the object of his pursuit. This man was
+Burgess, the Yellowstone Park scout. He had learned of Howell's presence
+in the Park, and was sent out, with the intention of apprehending him,
+by the energetic superintendent, Captain Anderson. He proceeded on his
+course as swiftly as a howling wind would permit, when he was surprised
+by seeing suspended from some trees six buffalo scalps. He now felt that
+he was in close vicinity to the man he was hunting, and that his
+business had become a serious one. He knew the man who had done that
+deed was prepared to resist and commit a greater crime. But this did not
+deter him and he again took the trail. He had proceeded only a short
+distance when he heard six shots. Hastening up a hill, he saw Howell
+engaged in butchering five buffalo, the victims of the six shots.
+Howell's gun was resting on the body of one of the slain animals, a few
+feet away from where he was engaged in removing a scalp from another of
+the bison. So occupied was he in his work that he did not perceive the
+scout, who had emerged in plain view, and who silently glided to the
+weapon, and, securing it, had Howell at his mercy. The demand to throw
+up his hands was the first intimation Howell had that he was not alone
+in the buffalo country. It must have been difficult for the scout at
+that moment not to forget that ours is a Government of law, and to
+refrain from making as summary an end of Howell as Howell had made of
+the buffalo.
+
+The poacher accepted his capture with equanimity, casually remarking
+that if he had seen Burgess first he never would have been captured. He
+was conveyed to the post headquarters. As soon as the Secretary of the
+Interior heard of his arrest, he ordered his discharge, as there was no
+law by which he could be detained or otherwise punished. Howell was
+proud of his achievement and of the notoriety it gave him, boasting
+that he had killed altogether eighty of the bison. This statement may
+only have been made for the purpose of magnifying his crime and so
+enhancing his importance. It may, however, be true. Besides those
+actually known to have been slaughtered by him, the remains of thirteen
+other bison, it is said, have been found in the Park. It is probable
+they were all killed by him.
+
+When the intelligence of what had happened reached the country, much
+indignation was manifested. The public, which after all did have a vague
+sense of pride in the Park, and a rather loose wish to see it cared for,
+was shocked and surprised to discover that no law existed by which the
+offense could be reached. They were aroused to the knowledge that the
+Park was the only portion of our domain uncontrolled by law. The Boone
+and Crockett Club took prompt advantage of this awakened feeling, and
+redoubled its efforts to secure action by the National Legislature.
+Congress had long been deaf to the appeals of the few individuals who,
+year after year, endeavored to obtain a law; but now, at last, they
+realized that some action was really needed if they desired to save
+anything in the Park. Mr. Lacey, of Iowa, the gentleman whom we have
+mentioned as having had a practical experience of the condition of
+affairs in the Park, was naturally the first to take hold of the
+opportunity which public opinion afforded. He willingly adopted the
+chief jurisdictional and police features contained in the Park bill to
+which we have so frequently referred as repeatedly passing the Senate.
+He readily acquiesced in all the amendments which were proposed by
+members of the Boone and Crockett Club. The Club pushed the matter
+vigorously. The aid of many prominent members of the House of
+Representatives was enlisted. Before the hostile railroad party knew of
+the movement, the bill was presented to the House, unanimous consent for
+its consideration obtained, and it was passed. In the Senate the bill
+was among its friends, and Senator Vest was again instrumental in
+securing its passage. The promoters of the railroad scheme thought it
+more prudent not to meddle with the bill in the Senate, as they would
+have been certain to have encountered defeat.
+
+The Act provides penalties and the means of enforcing them, and thus
+secures adequate protection. It makes the violation of any rule or
+regulation of the Secretary of the Interior a misdemeanor. It prohibits
+the killing or capture of game, or the taking of fish in an unlawful
+manner. It forbids transportation of game, and for the violation of the
+Act or regulations it imposes a fine not to exceed $1,000, or
+imprisonment not to exceed two years, or both. It also confiscates the
+traps, guns and means of transport of persons engaged in killing or
+capturing game. Finally a local magistrate is appointed, with
+jurisdiction to try all offenders violating the law governing the Park,
+and it specifies the jurisdiction over felonies committed in the Park.
+By a happy coincidence the new system was inaugurated by the trial and
+conviction of the first offender put on trial, and it was Howell who was
+the first prisoner in the dock. He had returned to the Park after the
+passage of the law, and was tried and convicted of violating the order
+of the Secretary of the Interior, by which he was expelled after he had
+slaughtered the buffalo. This was retributive justice indeed. The Club
+had desired that the law should be extended by Congress over the
+Yellowstone Park Forest Reserve, but legal difficulties were
+encountered, so that this protection had to be deferred. It is to be
+hoped that in the near future this important adjunct to the Park may
+have the same law applied to it.
+
+The Park is now on a solid foundation, and all that is necessary for its
+future welfare is the prevention of adverse legislation cutting down its
+limits or authorizing railroads within it. In the winter of 1894-95 the
+railroad scheme, now disguised under the form of a bill to regulate the
+boundaries of the Park, came up again. This was the old segregation
+plan. It aimed not only to cut off from the Park that valuable portion
+already described, and embracing 367 square miles north of the
+Yellowstone, but also to make extensive cuts in the Forest Reserve for
+railroad and other purposes, amounting to 640 square miles. This
+spoliation was not permitted. Congress seemed at last to be determined
+to support the Park intact, and the Committee of the Fifty-fourth
+Congress in the House having the Park legislation in charge manifested
+this disposition by adverse reports on all the bills to authorize
+railroads and on the segregation bill as well.
+
+The present boundaries only need marking on the ground--a mere matter of
+departmental action. There is no need of legislation on the subject. The
+boundaries, especially on the north, afford such natural features as
+constitute the best possible barrier to prevent depredation from
+without, and to insure the retention of the game within, the Park.
+Notwithstanding the inadequacy of the protection in former years, the
+game has increased largely, especially since the military occupation.
+Competent authority has estimated the number of elk as high as 20,000,
+though this is probably too large a figure. Moose are frequently
+encountered. Mountain sheep and antelope are found in goodly numbers. It
+is doubtful now whether there are over 200 buffalo left. Bears of the
+different varieties are very plentiful and deer are also quite abundant.
+The animals thoroughly appreciate their security. They have largely lost
+their fear of man. Antelope and sheep can be seen in the vicinity of the
+stage roads, and are not disturbed by constant travel. Wild geese, ducks
+and other birds refuse to rise from the water near which men pass.
+
+But bears show the most indifference for human presence. Attracted by
+the food obtained, they frequent the neighborhood of the hotels in the
+Park. The writer of these notes, together with some companions, had a
+good opportunity, in the latter part of August, 1894, to observe how
+bold and careless these generally wary animals may become if not hunted.
+
+When we reached the Lake Hotel, the clerk asked us if we wished to see a
+bear, as he could show us one after we had finished dinner. We went with
+him to a spot some 200 feet back of the hotel, where refuse was
+deposited. It was then a little after sunset. We waited some moments,
+when the clerk, taking his watch out of his pocket said, "It is strange
+he has not come down; he is now a little overdue." Before he had
+replaced his watch, he exclaimed, "Here he comes now," and we saw
+descending slowly from a hill close by a very large black bear. The bear
+approached us, when I said to the clerk, "Had not we better get behind
+the timber? He will be frightened off should he see us." He answered,
+"No, he will not be frightened in the least," and continued to converse
+with us in a loud voice. We were then standing in the open close by a
+swill heap and the bear was coming toward us, there being no timber
+intervening. We did not move, but continued talking. The bear came up to
+us without hesitation, diverging slightly from his direct route to the
+swill heap so as to approach nearer to where we were. He surveyed us
+leisurely, with his nose in the air, got our scent, and, seeming content
+that we were only harmless human beings, turned slowly away and went to
+the refuse, where he proceeded to make a meal. We watched him for quite
+a while, when a large wagon passing along the road nigh to where we
+stood, the bear stopped feeding and turned toward the hotel in the
+direction in which the wagon was traveling. Our guide exclaimed, "He has
+gone to visit the pig sty," and in a little while we were satisfied this
+was so by hearing a loud outcry of "b'ar, b'ar," which we afterward
+found proceeded from a Chinaman, one of whose special duties it was to
+keep bears out of the pig sty.
+
+[Illustration: ON THE SHORE OF YELLOWSTONE LAKE.]
+
+After the departure of the black bear we retraced our steps, but before
+getting to the hotel I suggested to one of my companions, Del. Hay, that
+if we returned to the refuse pile we might see another bear. We
+accordingly went back on the trail to within a few yards of where we
+stood before. When we stopped we heard, in the timber near by, a great
+noise, as if dead pine branches were being smashed, and there emerged
+into the open a large grizzly. Although he was not quite so familiar as
+the black bear, he showed no hesitation, but walked straight toward us
+and the object of his visit--the swill. Before reaching his
+destination, however, he stopped and squatted on his haunches, calmly
+surveying the scene before him. The reason why he stopped became at once
+apparent. From the same hill down which the black bear had come we saw
+another grizzly, larger than the first, moving toward us at a rapid
+gait, in fact, on a lope, while the first grizzly regarded him with a
+look not altogether friendly or cordial. The second bear did not stop an
+instant until he reached the swill heap, where he proceeded to devour
+everything in sight, without any regard to us or to his fellow squatted
+near by. The latter apparently had had some experience on a former
+occasion which he was not desirous of repeating.
+
+Three men coming through the timber toward us made a considerable
+racket, and the two bears moved off at no rapid gait in opposite
+directions; but they went only a short way. Until we left the spot we
+could see them on the edge of the timber, looking toward us, and, no
+doubt, waiting for more quiet before partaking of the delights before
+them. It was not easy to realize the scene before us was actual. The dim
+twilight, the huge forms of the bears pacing to and fro through the
+whitened dead timber, made it appear the creation of a disordered fancy.
+It did not seem natural to be in close proximity with animals esteemed
+so ferocious, at liberty in their native wilds, with no desire to attack
+them and with no disposition on their part to attack us. When the three
+men joined us and were talking about the bears, one of them shouted,
+"Here come two more," and before we could realize it we saw two
+good-sized cinnamons at the feast. They paid no attention whatever to
+us, but were entirely absorbed in finishing up what the other bears had
+left. By this time it was fast becoming dark and we returned to the
+hotel. I should have said that we measured the distance from the nearest
+point from the black bear to where we stood, and found it to be exactly
+twenty-one feet. The other bears were but a few yards further.
+
+When we returned to the house we entertained our friends with an account
+of what we had seen, and had there not been many eye-witnesses we
+probably would have been entirely disbelieved.[14] As we were narrating
+our story a man came into the room and said, "If you want some fun, come
+outside; we have a bear up a tree." We went outside of the hotel, and
+not over forty feet from it found a black bear in a pine tree. It seems
+that the wagon, already mentioned, had been stopped at the pine tree and
+the horses had been taken out. The owner, returning to his wagon, found
+the bear in it, and this was the explanation why the bear had so
+suddenly taken to the tree.
+
+  [14] Colonel John Hay, of Washington, was one of the spectators of
+  this curious scene. Captain Albrecht Heese, of the German Embassy,
+  tells us that in July, 1895, while stopping at the Lake Hotel, he saw
+  a very large bear eating out of a trough in the daytime while a number
+  of tourists were present; and that the bear was finally chased away
+  from the trough by a cow. At the Upper Geyser Basin a bear was
+  domiciled in the hotel; it took food from the hands of the hotel
+  keeper, following him around like a dog.
+
+The animal was considerably smaller than the one we had seen earlier; in
+fact, it was not more than half as large, but still full grown. Quite a
+number of packers and teamsters stood about, amusing themselves by
+making the bear climb higher, till at last one of them asked our driver,
+Jim McMasters, why he did not climb the tree and shake the bear out. It
+was quite dark, and McMasters replied that he would not mind doing so if
+there were enough daylight for him to see. His companions continuing to
+banter him, he finally said, "I believe I'll go up anyhow," and up he
+went, climbing, however--instead of the tree the bear had ascended--a
+companion tree which grew alongside of the other, the trunks of the two
+not being more than a foot or so apart and the branches interlaced. We
+soon lost sight of McMasters and of the bear also; for, as Jim climbed
+the bear would climb too, until at last they both had reached the top of
+their respective perches, when we heard Jim cry out, "Boys, he's got to
+come down; I can reach him." With that he proceeded to break off a small
+branch of his tree, and we could hear him whack the bear with it, and
+also could hear the bear remonstrating with a very unpleasant voice, at
+times approaching a roar. But at last the bear seemed to have made up
+his mind that it was better to come down than stay up and be whacked
+with a pine branch, so down he came, but not with any great rapidity,
+stopping at every resting place, until Jim came down too and gave him a
+little persuading.
+
+We could now see the action, but its dangerous features were lost sight
+of in its amusing ones. Jim had climbed into the tree down which the
+bear was descending, and when he was not persuading the bear he was
+pleading with us somewhat as follows: "Now, boys, don't throw up here,
+and don't none of you hit him until he gets down. If he should make up
+his mind to come up again he'd clean me out, sure." After each speech of
+this sort he would move down to where the bear was and apply his branch,
+whereupon both the man and the animal would descend a few pegs lower.
+At last the bear was almost near the ground. We all formed a circle
+around the tree, prepared to give both man and beast a reception when
+they should alight. The beast came first, and every fellow who had
+anything in the way of wood in his hand gave the bear a blow or two as a
+warning not to return to the wagon again. Bruin made off into the timber
+with great precipitancy. Jim, when he got down, did not seem to think
+that he had done anything more than if the bear had been a "possum,"
+which he had shaken out of the tree.
+
+
+
+
+Head-Measurements of the Trophies at the Madison Square Garden
+Sportsmen's Exhibition
+
+
+During the week beginning May 14, 1895, there was held in Madison Square
+Garden, New York, a Sportsmen's Exhibition. There was a fair exhibit of
+heads, horns and skins, for which the credit largely belongs to
+Frederick S. Webster, the taxidermist.
+
+At the request of the managers of the Exhibition, three of the members
+of the Boone and Crockett Club--Messrs. Theodore Roosevelt, George Bird
+Grinnell and Archibald Rogers--were appointed a Committee on
+Measurements. There were heads and skins of every kind of North American
+big game. Many of them were exhibited by amateur sportsmen, including
+various members of the Boone and Crockett Club, while many others were
+exhibited by furriers and taxidermists.
+
+Some of the measurements are worth recording. For convenience we
+tabulate, in the case of each animal, the measurements of the specimens
+exhibited by amateur sportsmen who themselves shot the animals. For
+purposes of comparison we add the measurements of a few big heads
+exhibited by taxidermists or furriers; also for purposes of comparison
+we quote the figures given in two works published with special
+reference to the question of horn measurements. One is the "Catalogue
+and Notes of the American Hunting Trophies Exhibition" at London in
+1887. The moving spirit in this exhibition was Mr. E. M. Buxton, who was
+assisted by all the most noted English sportsmen who had shot in
+America. The result was a noteworthy collection of trophies, almost all
+of which belonged to animals shot by the exhibitors themselves. Very few
+Americans took part in the exhibition, though several did so, one of the
+two finest moose heads being exhibited by an American sportsman.
+
+The other big game book quoted is Rowland Ward's "Measurements,"
+published in London in 1892. This is a very valuable compilation of
+authentic records of horn measurements gathered from many different
+sources. In many cases it quotes from Mr. Buxton's catalogue. The
+largest elk head, for instance, given by Ward is the one mentioned in
+the Buxton catalogue. But in most instances the top measurements given
+by Ward stand above the top measurements given in the catalogue, because
+the latter, as already said, contains only a record of the trophies of
+amateur sportsmen, whereas many of Ward's best measurements are from
+museum specimens, or from picked heads obtained from furriers or
+taxidermists, who chose the best out of those presented by many hundreds
+of professional hunters.
+
+At the Madison Square exhibition there were numerous bear skins, polar,
+grizzly and black, submitted by men who had shot them. There were a few
+wolf and cougar skins and one peccary head; but there was no
+satisfactory way of making measurements of any of these. The peccary's
+head, which was submitted by Mr. Roosevelt, of course, had the tusks in
+the skull, so that it was not possible to measure them; for the same
+reason it was not possible to measure the skulls which were in the heads
+of the bear, wolf and cougar skins exhibited by Mr. Roosevelt.
+
+There were few Oregon blacktail deer heads exhibited, and these were not
+large. The one exhibited by Mr. Roosevelt, for instance, had horns 21
+inches in length, 4 inches in girth and 17 inches in spread.
+
+In measuring most horns it is comparatively easy to get some relative
+idea of the size of the heads by giving simply the girth and length. The
+spread is often given also; but this is not a good measurement, as a
+rule, because, in mounting the head, it is very easy to increase the
+spread; and, moreover, even where the spread is natural, it may be
+excessive and out of proportion to the length of the horns, in which
+case it amounts to a deformity. The length is in every case measured
+from the butt to the tip along the outside curve of the horn. The girth
+is given at the butt in the case of buffalo, sheep, goat and antelope;
+but in the case of deer it is given at the narrowest part of the horn,
+above the first tine; in elk this narrowest part comes between the bay
+and tray points; in blacktail and whitetail deer it comes above the
+"dog-killer" points, and below the main fork in the horn. Even in the
+case of elk, deer, sheep and buffalo the measurements of length and
+girth do not always indicate how fine a head is, although they generally
+give at least an approximate idea. The symmetry of the head cannot be
+indicated by these measurements. In elk and deer heads, extra points,
+though sometimes mere deformities, yet when large and symmetrical add
+greatly to the appearance and value of the head, making it heavier and
+grander in every way, and being a proof of great strength and vitality
+of the animal and of the horn itself. In consequence, although the
+measurements of length and girth generally afford a good test of the
+relative worth of buffalo, elk, sheep and deer heads, it is not by any
+means an infallible test.
+
+With moose and caribou heads the test of mere length and girth is of far
+less value; for many of them have such extraordinary antlers that the
+measurements of length and girth mean but little, and give hardly any
+idea of the weight and beauty of the antlers. With moose a better idea
+of these qualities can be obtained by measuring the extreme breadth of
+the palmation, and the extreme length from the tip of the brow point
+backward in each horn. Caribou horns are often of such fantastic shape
+that the actual measurements, taken in any ordinary way, give but a very
+imperfect idea of the value of the trophies. Very long horns are sure to
+be fine specimens, and yet they may not be nearly as fine as those which
+are much shorter, but more branched, and with the branches longer,
+broader and heavier, and at the same time more beautiful. Thus, at the
+Madison Square Garden, C. G. Gunther's Sons, the furriers, exhibited one
+caribou with antlers 50 inches long, of the barren ground type, with 43
+points. These horns were very slender, and would not have weighed more
+than a third as much as an enormous pair belonging to a woodland
+caribou, which were some 10 inches shorter in extreme length, and with
+rather fewer points, but were more massive in every way, the beam being
+far larger, and all of the tines being palmated to a really
+extraordinary extent.
+
+
+
+
+_TABULATED SERIES_
+
+With name of owner, and locality and date of capture.
+
+
+BISON BULL.
+
+                                                       Girth.   Length.
+     1. P. Liebinger, Western Montana, '93             12-1/2   19
+     2. Theodore Roosevelt, Medora, N. D., Sept., '83  12-3/4   14
+     3. Theodore Roosevelt, S. W. Montana, Sept., '89  12-1/2   17-1/2
+
+     No. 2 was an old stub-horn bull, the animal being bigger in body
+     than No. 3, which, like No. 1, was a bull in the prime of life.
+
+F. Sauter, the taxidermist, exhibited a head killed in Montana in 1894,
+which measured 14 inches in girth and 18 inches in length.
+
+In Ward's book the horns of the biggest bison given measure 15 inches in
+girth and 20-7/8 inches in length.
+
+
+BIG-HORN SHEEP.
+
+                                                Girth.  Length.  Spread.
+     4. Geo. H. Gould, Lower Cal., Dec., '94    16-1/4  42-1/2   25-3/4
+     5. G. O. Shields, Ashnola River, B. C.     16-1/4  37-3/4   22-1/2
+     6. Arch. Rogers, N. W. Wyoming             16      34       17
+     7. Arch. Rogers, N. W. Wyoming             15-1/2  33-1/2   23
+     8. T. Roosevelt, Little Mo. River, N. D.   16      29-1/2   18-1/2
+
+     No. 4 had the tip of one horn broken; it is on the whole the finest
+     head of which we have any record.
+
+     No. 5 was a very heavy head, the horns huge and with blunted tips.
+
+A head was exhibited by C. G. Gunther's Sons which measured 17-3/4
+inches in girth, although it was but 33-1/2 inches in length.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the three biggest rams exhibited by English
+sportsmen had horns which measured respectively, in girth and length,
+15-3/4 and 39 inches, 16-3/8 and 38-1/4 inches, and 16-1/2 and 31
+inches.
+
+In Ward's catalogue the biggest specimen given had horns which were
+17-1/4 inches in girth and 41 inches in length.
+
+
+WHITE GOAT.
+
+                                                        Girth.  Length.
+     9. Walter James, Swift Current River, Mont., '92   5-3/4   10-1/2
+     10. T. Roosevelt, Big Hole Basin, Mont., Aug., '89 5-1/16   9-1/16
+     11. Theodore Roosevelt, Heron, Mont., Sept., '86   5        9-3/4
+
+     No. 11 was a female; as the horns of the female white goat always
+     are, these horns were a little longer and slenderer than those of
+     No. 10, which was a big-bodied buck.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the biggest horns given were 5 inches in girth and
+8-1/4 inches in length. The two biggest specimens given in Ward's were 5
+inches in girth by 10-1/8 inches, and 5-1/2 by 9-1/2 inches.
+
+
+MUSK OX.
+
+There was no musk ox head exhibited by an amateur sportsman. One, which
+was exhibited by W. W. Hart & Co., had horns each of which was 29-3/4
+inches by 20-1/2 inches; the height of the boss was 13 inches. One of
+the members of the Boone and Crockett Club, Mr. Caspar W. Whitney, has
+this year, 1895, killed a number of musk ox; but he did not return from
+his winter trip to the Barren Grounds until June.
+
+
+PRONGBUCK.
+
+                                                        Girth.   Length.
+     12. Theodore Roosevelt, Medora, N. D., Sept., '84  6-1/2    16
+     13. A. Rogers                                      6        12-1/2
+     14. A. Rogers                                      6-1/4    10-7/8
+
+     No. 13 measured from tip to tip 6-1/8 inches. The greatest width
+     inside the horns was 8-5/8 inches; the corresponding figures for
+     No. 14 were 7-3/4 and 10-1/4 inches.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the largest measurements given were for a specimen
+which girthed 5-1/8 inches, and was in length 15-3/4 inches.
+
+In Ward's catalogue the two biggest specimens given measured
+respectively 15-3/4 inches in length by 6-1/4 inches in girth, and
+12-7/8 inches in length by 6-1/2 inches in girth.
+
+
+WAPITI OR ROUND-HORN ELK.
+
+                                          Girth. Length. Spread. Points.
+     15. A. Rogers, Northwestern Wyoming    8     64-1/4  48     7+7
+     16. G. O. Shields, Clark's Fork, Wyo.  8-1/4 51-3/8  50     6+7
+     17. T. Roosevelt, Two Ocean Pass, '91  6-7/8 56-1/2  46-3/8 6+6
+     18. T. Roosevelt, Two Ocean Pass, '91  7-3/4 50-3/4  47     6+6
+     19. P. Liebinger, Indian Creek, Mont.  6-1/8 50-1/2  54     8+8
+
+     No. 15, as far as we know, is the record head for amateur sportsmen
+     in point of length.
+
+     No. 16 has very heavy massive antlers; though these are not so long
+     as the antlers of No. 17, yet No. 16 is really the finer head.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the three finest heads measure respectively 8
+inches in girth by 62-1/2 inches in length by 48-1/2 inches spread, with
+7+9 points; and 7-7/8 inches in girth by 60-3/4 inches in length by 52
+inches spread, with 6+6 points; and 8-1/2 inches in girth by 55 inches
+in length by 41-1/4 spread, with 6+6 points.
+
+These are also the biggest heads given in Ward's catalogue.
+
+
+MULE OR BLACKTAIL DEER.
+
+                                                Girth.  Length.  Spread.
+     20. T. Roosevelt, Medora, N. D., Oct. '83  5       26-7/8   28-1/2
+     21. P. Liebinger, Madison R., Mont., '89   4-3/4   25-1/2   25-1/2
+
+     No. 20 is an extremely massive and symmetrical head with 28 points.
+
+     No. 21 has 35 points.
+
+A still heavier head than either of the above, with 34 points, was
+exhibited by the furriers, C. G. Gunther's Sons; it was in girth 5-1/4
+inches, length 26 inches and spread 28-1/4 inches.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the length of the biggest mule deer horn exhibited
+was 28-1/2 inches.
+
+In Ward's catalogue the biggest heads measured respectively: girth 4-1/2
+inches by 28-5/8 inches length, and girth 5-1/4 inches by 27 inches
+length; they had 10 and 11 points respectively.
+
+
+WHITETAIL OR VIRGINIA DEER.
+
+                                                Girth.  Length.  Spread.
+     22. G. B. Grinnell, Dismal River, Neb., '77 4-5/8  24       19-1/2
+     23. T. Roosevelt, Medora, N. D., '94        4      22-1/2   15-3/4
+
+     No. 22 is a very fine head with 18 points; very symmetrical. No. 23
+     has 12 points.
+
+In Ward's measurements the biggest whitetail horns are in girth 5-3/8
+inches, and in length 27-5/8 inches.
+
+
+MOOSE.
+
+                                                Girth.  Length.  Points.
+     24. Col. Haselton, Chesuncook, Me., '87    8-1/2   41       27
+     25. A. Rogers                              7       31-3/4   14
+     26. T. Roosevelt, Bitter Root Mt.,
+         Mont., '89                             5-1/2   30       22
+
+     No. 24, a pair of horns only, is, with the possible exception of a
+     head of Mr. Bierstadt's, the finest we have ever seen in the
+     possession of an amateur sportsman. The measurements of the palm of
+     one antler were 41-1/2 by 21-3/4 inches.
+
+     No. 26 has a spread of 40-1/2 inches, and the palm measured 29 by
+     13 inches.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the biggest moose given had horns which in girth
+were 8-1/2 inches and in length 35-1/2 inches; the palm was 41 by 24
+inches; the spread was 65 inches. These measurements indicate a head
+about as fine as Col. Haselton's, taking everything into consideration.
+
+The largest head given by Ward was 6-1/2 inches in girth by 39-7/8
+inches in length and 51-3/8 inches spread. It had 25 points, and the
+breadth of the palm was 15-3/4 inches.
+
+For the reason given above, it is difficult in the case of moose, and
+far more difficult in the case of caribou, to judge the respective
+merits of heads by the mere record of measurements.
+
+
+CARIBOU.
+
+                                                 Girth.  Length.  Points.
+    27. A. Rogers                                  4-3/4   41-1/4   16
+    28. T. Roosevelt, Kootenai, B. C., Sept.,
+        '88                                        5-1/2   32       14
+
+Neither of these is a big head. C. G. Gunther's Sons exhibited one
+caribou with 43 points. Its horns were 5-7/8 inches in girth by 50
+inches in length. They also exhibited a much heavier head, which was but
+37 inches long, but was 6-1/2 inches in girth, with all of the tines
+highly palmated; one of the brow points had a palm 17-1/2 inches high.
+
+In Buxton's catalogue the biggest caribou antler given girthed 5-1/2
+inches and was in length 37-1/2 inches. The biggest measurements given
+by Ward are 5-5/8 inches in girth by 60 inches in length for a specimen
+with 37 points.
+
+
+
+
+National Park Protective Act
+
+
+     An Act to protect the birds and animals in Yellowstone National
+     Park, and to punish crimes in said Park, and for other purposes.
+
+_Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United
+States of America in Congress assembled_, That the Yellowstone National
+Park, as its boundaries now are defined, or as they may be hereafter
+defined or extended, shall be under the sole and exclusive jurisdiction
+of the United States; and that all the laws applicable to places under
+the sole and exclusive jurisdiction of the United States shall have
+force and effect in said Park: _Provided, however_, That nothing in this
+Act shall be construed to forbid the service in the Park of any civil or
+criminal process of any court having jurisdiction in the States of
+Idaho, Montana and Wyoming. All fugitives from justice taking refuge in
+said Park shall be subject to the same laws as refugees from justice
+found in the State of Wyoming.
+
+SEC. 2. That said Park, for all the purposes of this Act, shall
+constitute a part of the United States judicial district of Wyoming, and
+the district and circuit courts of the United States in and for said
+district shall have jurisdiction of all offenses committed within said
+Park.
+
+SEC. 3. That if any offense shall be committed in said Yellowstone
+National Park, which offense is not prohibited or the punishment is not
+specially provided for by any law of the United States or by any
+regulation of the Secretary of the Interior, the offender shall be
+subject to the same punishment as the laws of the State of Wyoming in
+force at the time of the commission of the offense may provide for a
+like offense in the said State; and no subsequent repeal of any such law
+of the State of Wyoming shall affect any prosecution for said offense
+committed within said Park.
+
+SEC. 4. That all hunting, or the killing, wounding, or capturing at any
+time of any bird or wild animal, except dangerous animals, when it is
+necessary to prevent them from destroying human life or inflicting an
+injury, is prohibited within the limits of said Park; nor shall any fish
+be taken out of the waters of the Park by means of seines, nets, traps,
+or by the use of drugs or any explosive substances or compounds, or in
+any other way than by hook and line, and then only at such seasons and
+in such times and manner as may be directed by the Secretary of the
+Interior. That the Secretary of the Interior shall make and publish such
+rules and regulations as he may deem necessary and proper for the
+management and care of the Park, and for the protection of the property
+therein, especially for the preservation from injury or spoliation of
+all timber, mineral deposits, natural curiosities, or wonderful objects
+within said Park; and for the protection of the animals and birds in the
+Park from capture or destruction, or to prevent their being frightened
+or driven from the Park; and he shall make rules and regulations
+governing the taking of fish from the streams or lakes in the Park.
+Possession within the said Park of the dead bodies, or any part thereof,
+of any wild bird or animal shall be _prima facie_ evidence that the
+person or persons having the same are guilty of violating this Act. Any
+person or persons, or stage or express company or railway company,
+receiving for transportation any of the said animals, birds or fish so
+killed, taken or caught shall be deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and
+shall be fined for every such offense not exceeding three hundred
+dollars. Any person found guilty of violating any of the provisions of
+this Act, or any rule or regulation that may be promulgated by the
+Secretary of the Interior with reference to the management and care of
+the Park, or for the protection of the property therein, for the
+preservation from injury or spoliation of timber, mineral deposits,
+natural curiosities or wonderful objects within said Park, or for the
+protection of the animals, birds and fish in the said Park, shall be
+deemed guilty of a misdemeanor, and shall be subjected to a fine of not
+more than one thousand dollars, or imprisonment not exceeding two years,
+or both, and be adjudged to pay all costs of the proceedings.
+
+That all guns, traps, teams, horses, or means of transportation of every
+nature or description used by any person or persons within said Park
+limits, when engaged in killing, trapping, ensnaring or capturing such
+wild beasts, birds, or wild animals, shall be forfeited to the United
+States, and may be seized by the officers in said Park and held pending
+the prosecution of any person or persons arrested under charge of
+violating the provisions of this Act, and upon conviction under this Act
+of such person or persons using said guns, traps, teams, horses, or
+other means of transportation, such forfeiture shall be adjudicated as a
+penalty in addition to the other punishment provided in this Act. Such
+forfeited property shall be disposed of and accounted for by and under
+the authority of the Secretary of the Interior.
+
+SEC. 5. That the United States circuit court in said district shall
+appoint a commissioner, who shall reside in the Park, who shall have
+jurisdiction to hear and act upon all complaints made, of any and all
+violations of the law, or of the rules and regulations made by the
+Secretary of the Interior for the government of the Park, and for the
+protection of the animals, birds and fish, and objects of interest
+therein, and for other purposes authorized by this Act. Such
+commissioner shall have power, upon sworn information, to issue process
+in the name of the United States for the arrest of any person charged
+with the commission of any misdemeanor, or charged with the violation of
+the rules and regulations, or with the violation of any provision of
+this Act prescribed for the government of said Park, and for the
+protection of the animals, birds and fish in the said Park, and to try
+the person so charged; and, if found guilty, to impose the punishment
+and adjudge the forfeiture prescribed. In all cases of conviction an
+appeal shall lie from the judgment of said commissioner to the United
+States district court for the district of Wyoming, said appeal to be
+governed by the laws of the State of Wyoming providing for appeals in
+cases of misdemeanor from justices of the peace to the district court of
+said State; but the United States circuit court in said district may
+prescribe rules of procedure and practice for said commissioner in the
+trial of cases and for appeal to said United States district court. Said
+commissioner shall also have power to issue process as hereinbefore
+provided for the arrest of any person charged with the commission of any
+felony within the Park, and to summarily hear the evidence introduced,
+and, if he shall determine that probable cause is shown for holding the
+person so charged for trial, shall cause such person to be safely
+conveyed to a secure place for confinement, within the jurisdiction of
+the United States district court in said State of Wyoming, and shall
+certify a transcript of the record of his proceedings and the testimony
+in the case to the said court, which court shall have jurisdiction of
+the case: _Provided_, That the said commissioner shall grant bail in all
+cases bailable under the laws of the United States or of said State. All
+process issued by the commissioner shall be directed to the marshal of
+the United States for the district of Wyoming; but nothing herein
+contained shall be construed as preventing the arrest by any officer of
+the Government or employee of the United States in the Park without
+process of any person taken in the act of violating the law or any
+regulation of the Secretary of the Interior: _Provided_, That the said
+commissioner shall only exercise such authority and powers as are
+conferred by this Act.
+
+SEC. 6. That the marshal of the United States for the district of
+Wyoming may appoint one or more deputy marshals for said Park, who shall
+reside in said Park, and the said United States district and circuit
+courts shall hold one session of said courts annually at the town of
+Sheridan, in the State of Wyoming, and may also hold other sessions at
+any other place in said State of Wyoming or in said National Park at
+such dates as the said courts may order.
+
+SEC. 7. That the commissioner provided for in this Act shall, in
+addition to the fees allowed by law to commissioners of the circuit
+courts of the United States, be paid an annual salary of one thousand
+dollars, payable quarterly, and the marshal of the United States and his
+deputies, and the attorney of the United States and his assistants in
+said district, shall be paid the same compensation and fees as are now
+provided by law for like services in said district.
+
+SEC. 8. That all costs and expenses arising in cases under this Act, and
+properly chargeable to the United States, shall be certified, approved
+and paid as like costs and expenses in the courts of the United States
+are certified, approved and paid under the laws of the United States.
+
+SEC. 9. That the Secretary of the Interior shall cause to be erected in
+the Park a suitable building to be used as a jail, and also having in
+said building an office for the use of the commissioner; the cost of
+such building not to exceed five thousand dollars, to be paid out of any
+moneys in the Treasury not otherwise appropriated upon the certificate
+of the Secretary as a voucher therefor.
+
+SEC. 10. That this Act shall not be construed to repeal existing laws
+conferring upon the Secretary of the Interior and the Secretary of War
+certain powers with reference to the protection, improvement and control
+of the said Yellowstone National Park.
+
+Approved May 7, 1894.
+
+
+
+
+Constitution of the Boone and Crockett Club
+
+FOUNDED DECEMBER, 1887.
+
+
+Article I.
+
+This Club shall be known as the Boone and Crockett Club.
+
+
+Article II.
+
+The objects of the Club shall be--
+
+1. To promote manly sport with the rifle.
+
+2. To promote travel and exploration in the wild and unknown, or but
+partially known, portions of the country.
+
+3. To work for the preservation of the large game of this country, and,
+so far as possible, to further legislation for that purpose, and to
+assist in enforcing the existing laws.
+
+4. To promote inquiry into, and to record observations on the habits and
+natural history of, the various wild animals.
+
+5. To bring about among the members the interchange of opinions and
+ideas on hunting, travel and exploration; on the various kinds of
+hunting-rifles; on the haunts of game animals, etc.
+
+
+Article III.
+
+No one shall be eligible for membership who shall not have killed with
+the rifle in fair chase, by still-hunting or otherwise, at least one
+individual of one of the various kinds of American large game.
+
+
+Article IV.
+
+Under the head of American large game are included the following
+animals: Bear, buffalo (bison), mountain sheep, caribou, cougar,
+musk-ox, white goat, elk (wapiti), wolf (not coyote), pronghorn
+antelope, moose and deer.
+
+
+Article V.
+
+The term "fair chase" shall not be held to include killing bear, wolf or
+cougar in traps, nor "fire-hunting," nor "crusting" moose, elk or deer
+in deep snow, nor killing game from a boat while it is swimming in the
+water.
+
+
+Article VI.
+
+This Club shall consist of not more than one hundred regular members,
+and of such associate and honorary members as may be elected.
+
+
+Article VII.
+
+The Committee on Admissions shall consist of the President and Secretary
+and the Chairman of the Executive Committee. In voting for regular
+members, six blackballs shall exclude. In voting for associate and
+honorary members, ten blackballs shall exclude. Candidates for regular
+membership who are at the same time associate members shall be voted
+upon before any other.
+
+
+Article VIII.
+
+The Club shall hold one fixed meeting a year, to be held the second
+Wednesday in January, and to be called the annual meeting.
+
+
+Article IX.
+
+This Constitution shall not be changed, save by a four-fifths vote of
+the members present.
+
+
+
+
+Officers of the Boone and Crockett Club 1895
+
+
+_President._
+
+  Theodore Roosevelt,           New York.
+
+
+_Secretary and Treasurer._
+
+  George Bird Grinnell,         New York.
+
+
+_Executive Committee._
+
+  W. A. Wadsworth,              Geneseo, N. Y.
+  Archibald Rogers,             Hyde Park, N. Y.
+  Winthrop Chanler,             New York.
+  Owen Wister,                  Philadelphia, Pa.
+  Charles Deering,              Chicago, Ill.
+
+
+_Editorial Committee._
+
+  Theodore Roosevelt,           New York.
+  George Bird Grinnell,         New York.
+
+
+
+
+List of Members of the Boone and Crockett Club
+
+
+* Deceased.
+
+  Lieut. Henry T. Allen,        Washington, D. C.
+  Capt. Geo. S. Anderson,       Yellowstone Park, Wyo.
+  F. H. Barber,                 Southampton, L. I.
+  D. M. Barringer,              Philadelphia, Pa.
+  Hon. T. Beal,                 Washington, D. C.
+  Albert Bierstadt,             New York.
+  W. J. Boardman,               Cleveland, Ohio.
+  Wm. B. Bogert,                Chicago, Ill.
+  Hon. Benj. H. Bristow,        New York.
+  Wm. B. Bristow,               New York.
+  A. E. Brown,                  Philadelphia, Pa.
+  Major Campbell Brown,         Spring Hill, Tenn.
+  Col. John Mason Brown,*       Louisville, Ky.
+  W. A. Buchanan,               Chicago, Ill.
+  H. D. Burnham,                Chicago, Ill.
+  Edw. North Buxton,            London, Eng.
+  H. A. Carey,*                 Newport, R. I.
+  Royal Carroll,                New York.
+  Judge John Dean Caton,*       Ottawa, Ill.
+  J. A. Chanler,                New York.
+  W. A. Chanler,                New York.
+  Winthrop Chanler,             New York.
+  Frank C. Crocker,             Portland, Me.
+  A. P. Gordon-Cumming,         Washington. D. C.
+  Chas. P. Curtiss,             Boston, Mass.
+  Paul J. Dashiell,             Annapolis, Md.
+  E. W. Davis,                  Providence, R. I.
+  Chas. Deering,                Chicago, Ill.
+  H. C. de Rham,                New York.
+  W. B. Devereux,               Glenwood Springs, Colo.
+  Col. Richard Irving Dodge,    Washington, D. C.
+  Dr. Wm. K. Draper,            New York.
+  J. Coleman Drayton,           New York.
+  Capt. Frank Edwards,          Washington, D. C.
+  Dr. D. G. Elliott,            Chicago, Ill.
+  Maxwell Evarts,               New York.
+  Robert Munro Ferguson,        New York.
+  J. G. Follansbee,             San Francisco, Cal.
+  Frank Furness,                Philadelphia, Pa.
+  W. R. Furness, Jr.,           Jekyll Island, Brunswick, Ga.
+  Jas. T. Gardiner,             Albany, N. Y.
+  John Sterett Gittings,        Baltimore, Md.
+  George H. Gould,              Santa Barbara, Cal.
+  De Forest Grant,              New York.
+  Madison Grant,                New York.
+  Gen. A. W. Greely,            Washington, D. C.
+  Geo. Bird Grinnell,           New York.
+  Wm. Milne Grinnell,           New York.
+  Arnold Hague,                 Washington, D. C.
+  Hon. Wade Hampton,            Columbia, S. C.
+  Howard Melville Hanna,        Cleveland, Ohio.
+  Major Moses Harris,           Washington, D. C.
+  Maj. Gen. W. H. Jackson,      Nashville, Tenn.
+  Dr. Walter B. James,          New York.
+  Col. Jas. H. Jones,           New York.
+  Clarence King,                New York.
+  C. Grant La Farge,            New York.
+  Alex. Lambert,                New York.
+  Dundas Lippincott,*           Philadelphia, Pa.
+  Hon. Henry Cabot Lodge,       Washington, D. C.
+  Francis C. Lowndes,           New York.
+  Frank Lyman,                  Brooklyn, N. Y.
+  Geo. H. Lyman,                Boston, Mass.
+  Chas. B. Macdonald,           Chicago, Ill.
+  Prof. John Bache MacMasters,  Philadelphia, Pa.
+  Henry May,                    Washington, D. C.
+  Col. H. C. McDowell,          Lexington, Ky.
+  Dr. C. Hart Merriam,          Washington, D. C.
+  Dr. J. C. Merrill,            Washington, D. C.
+  Dr. A. Rutherfurd Morris,     New York.
+  J. Chester Morris, Jr.,       Chestnut Hill, Pa.
+  H. N. Munn,                   New York.
+  Lyman Nichols,                Boston, Mass.
+  Jas. S. Norton,               Chicago, Ill.
+  Francis Parkman,*             Boston, Mass.
+  Thos. Paton,                  New York.
+  Hon. Boies Penrose,           Philadelphia, Pa.
+  C. B. Penrose,                Philadelphia, Pa.
+  R. A. F. Penrose,             Philadelphia, Pa.
+  W. Hallett Phillips,          Washington, D. C.
+  Col. W. T. Pickett,           Meeteetse, Wyo.
+  H. C. Pierce,                 St. Louis, Mo.
+  John J. Pierrepont,           Brooklyn, N. Y.
+  Capt. John Pitcher,           Washington, D. C.
+  A. P. Proctor,                New York.
+  Hon. Redfield Proctor,        Washington, D. C.
+  Prof. Ralph Pumpelly,         Newport, R. I.
+  Percy Pyne, Jr.,              New York.
+  Hon. Thos. B. Reed,           Portland, Me.
+  Douglas Robinson, Jr.,        New York.
+  Hon. W. Woodville Rockhill,   Washington, D. C.
+  Archibald Rogers,             Hyde Park, N. Y.
+  E. P. Rogers,*                Hyde Park, N. Y.
+  Elliott Roosevelt,*           Abingdon, Va.
+  John Ellis Roosevelt,         New York.
+  J. West Roosevelt,            New York.
+  Hon. Theo. Roosevelt,         New York.
+  Elihu Root,                   New York.
+  Bronson Rumsey,               Buffalo, N. Y.
+  Lawrence Rumsey,              Buffalo, N. Y.
+  Dean Sage,                    Albany, N. Y.
+  Alden Sampson,                Boston, Mass.
+  Hon. Carl Schurz,             New York.
+  Philip Schuyler,              Irvington, N. Y.
+  M. G. Seckendorf,             Washington, D. C.
+  Dr. J. L. Seward,             Orange, N. J.
+  Gen. Phil. Sheridan,*         Washington, D. C.
+  Gen. W. T. Sherman,*          New York.
+  Chas. F. Sprague,             Boston, Mass.
+  Henry L. Stimson,             New York.
+  Hon. Bellamy Storer,          Washington, D. C.
+  Rutherfurd Stuyvesant,        New York.
+  Frank Thompson,               Philadelphia, Pa.
+  B. C. Tilghman,               Philadelphia, Pa.
+  T. S. Van Dyke,               San Diego, Cal.
+  Hon. G. G. Vest,              Washington, D. C.
+  W. A. Wadsworth,              Geneseo, N. Y.
+  Samuel D. Warren,             Boston, Mass.
+  Jas. Sibley Watson,           Rochester, N. Y.
+  Maj. Gen. W. D. Whipple,      Norristown, Pa.
+  Chas. E. Whitehead,           New York.
+  Caspar W. Whitney,            New York.
+  E. P. Wilbur, Jr.,            South Bethlehem, Pa.
+  Col. Roger D. Williams,       Lexington, Ky.
+  R. D. Winthrop,               New York.
+  Owen Wister,                  Philadelphia, Pa.
+  J. Walter Wood, Jr.,          New York.
+
+
+
+
+Transcriber's Note
+
+
+Illustrations have been moved near the relevant section of the text.
+
+I have used "=" in the text to denote use of an ornamental font.
+
+[=a] (used in the word, "G[=a]t") represents an "a" with an macron
+above it.
+
+Inconsistencies have been retained in hyphenation and grammar, except
+where indicated in the list below. I have left "Colomiaghi" and
+"Colombiagi" as-is although they may refer to the same location.
+
+Here is a list of the minor typographical corrections made:
+
+  - "Zloeem" changed to "Zlooem" on Page 8
+  - Period added before "577" on Page 24
+  - "First" changed to "first" on Page 71
+  - "necesssary" changed to "necessary" on Page 188
+  - Removed period after "hillside" on Page 273
+  - "ZLOEEM" changed to "ZLOOEM" in the caption for the illustration
+    following Page 318
+  - Period changed to a comma after "However" on Page 336
+  - "cotemporaneously" changed to "contemporaneously" on Page 370
+  - Quotation mark added after "tributaries." on Page 384
+  - Comma added after "Penrose" on Page 446
+
+
+
+
+
+End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Hunting in Many Lands, by Various
+
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