Hunting in Many Lands 



low tourists by their taunts and gibes covered 

 him with confusion as with a garment. But, 

 notwithstanding the sharpest watch and great- 

 est care, new names were constantly being add- 

 ed, 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 disfigure- 

 ment 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 igni- 

 tion ; the only thing to be done is to keep a 

 ceaseless watch, and, so far as practicable, pre- 

 vent the fire from spreading. The extensive 

 areas burned over in days evidently prior to 

 the advent of white men make it very appar- 

 ent that these two agencies of destruction were 



390 



