VIII THE SKUNK, CALMLY CONSIDERED 213 
“Tt would seem that in the long ago a skunk, 
a coyote, and a rattlesnake each had a farm on top 
of the Whitestone. Those were the days before 
the skunk was as odorous as he is now, but was 
esteemed a good fellow and pleasant companion by 
other animals. As in some other small communi- 
ties, jealousies, dissensions, and intrigues arose in 
this one. The result was that the coyote and 
the rattlesnake took a mean advantage of the 
skunk one night when he was asleep, and threw 
him off the rock, away down into the river. He 
was not drowned, however, but floated on and on, 
far away to the south and west, until he came to 
the mouth of the river, where lived a great medi- 
cine man and magician. To him the skunk 
applied, and was fitted out with an apparatus 
warranted to give immunity from and conquest 
over all his enemies. Back he journeyed along 
the river to his old home, where he arrived, much 
to the surprise of the coyote and rattlesnake, and 
commenced to make it so pleasant for them with 
his pungent perfumery apparatus, the gift of the 
magician, that they soon left him in undisputed 
possession of his rocky home, which he has main- 
tained ever since.” 
It is not surprising to find that this powerful 
secretion has a marked effect upon our eyes and 
air-passages whenever it comes into contact with 
them. When shot into the eye, as has often hap- 
pened, intense pain and acute inflammation (con- 
