326 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 26, 1881. 



person who has done the country ? We are not tenderfoot— 

 you understand— und have had our fun in Florida, Texas, 

 New .\If:\ico and Colorado. So. though entirely ignorant of 

 the lay of the land in Maine, we will not ho deterred by any 

 r 1 J : :i ! "i ' "-;':- ma wild a. id lonely country. — T. Ami J. 

 le to netes in Moosehcad Lake and Tim Pond. 

 "■''- ' _ rectly to the N. Y. Kineo House and thence 

 to a selected camp, or go to Tim Pond and strike out from 

 '-"ere- Pbra camping ground in the Rangeley country write 

 lo Samuel Fattner, Phillips, Me. The same course is recom- 

 mended to a Boston inquirer. Pentagon writes: "Will 

 some ol your readers who have camped ouL there tell me 

 what the lowest total estimate would he for a party of four 

 who wish to camp at Rangeley for twelve days in the last 

 part of July, exclusive of railroad fares and outfit, and in- 

 cluding tent and boat hire ? Would it he necessary to hire a 

 guide, and What would he the expense?" Bv writing to Mr. 

 Samuel Farmer, proprietor of the Bardin House, Phillips, 

 Me., Pentagon may get the particulars he requires. Moxie 

 PoOd, Six miles from the Forks of the Kiunehee River, has 

 Ken recommended try some of our friends who have been 

 there. The Forks are forlv-tive miles hy stage line from 

 Skohegan, the terminus of the Maine Central Railroad. 

 Doubtless there are oilier equally desirable localities in other 

 ! •:■ . - ' ■' .'mine, of which some of our readers may ho willing 

 to tell us. 



■ IVl < i Burroughs has camped at Moxie. Lake, and records 

 in the current ditantic his delightful experiences there. 



aveler and camper-ou.1 in Maine, unless he penetrates 

 its more northern portions, has less reason to remember it as 

 a pine-tree State than a birch-tree State. The while pine 

 forests have melted away like snow in the spring and gone 

 ■ town stream, leaving only patches here aud there in the more 

 remote and inaccessible parts. The portion of the Stale 1 

 saw, the valley of tb>3 Kennebec aud the woods about Moxie 

 Lake, had been shorn of it3 pine timber more than forty 

 years before, and is now covered with a thick growth of 

 spruce and cedar and various deciduous trees. But the birch 

 abounds. Indeed, when the pine goes Out thfi birch COtnes 

 in; the race of men succeeds the race of gianls. This tree 

 has greet stay -a! -home virtues. Let the sombre, aspiring, 

 mysterious pine go; the birch has humble evory-day uses. 

 In Maine, the paper or canoe birch is turned to more, account 

 than any other tree. Uncle Nathan, our guide, said it was 

 made especially to the oamper-out ; ye?, and for the wood- 

 tuauand ttieramiin generally. It is a magazine, a furnish- 

 ■■-. m|. in the wilderness, whose goods are free to 

 every comer. The whole equipment of the camp lies folded 

 in it, ami conies forth at, the beck of the wood- 

 man's axe; lent, water-proof roof, boat, camp, utensils, 

 buckets, cups, plates, spoons, napkins', table-clolhs, paper 

 for letters or your journal, touches, caudles, kindlinsr-wood 

 aud fuel. 'Che canoe birch yields you its vestments with the 

 iberality. Ask for its coat, and it gives you its 

 waistcoat also. Its bark wins wrapped ttboutit layer upon 

 layer, and comes oft wil' ari -reat ease. We saw many rude 

 structures ami cabins shine d and sided wills it. and hay- 

 stacks capped with it. Near a maple sugar camp I here was 

 a large pile of birch-bark sap-buckets, each bucket made of 

 a piece of hark about a yard square, folded up as the muiui 

 folds up a sheet of tin to make a square vessel, tin; comers 

 bent around ae sides and held by a wooden pin. 



■ ray 



! overtaken by a shower i 



ods, our guide quickly stripped large sheets 



, and we had each a perfect u 1 

 :. When the rain was over, aud we moved 

 in about me like a large leather apron, and 

 ii .-.i .i' J. .1 :,,v . ' -.iri. s irom the wet bushes. When we came 

 to a spring, Uncle Nathan would have a birch-bark cup 

 ready before any of us could get a tin one out of his knap- 

 sack, and 1 think water never tastes so sweel as from one 

 of these in/' cups, tela exactly the thing — it just fits the 

 d it seems to give new virtues to the water. It 

 ; hirsty now when I think of it. In our camp at 



Moxie we made a large bircb-b.-.rk box to keep the butter in; 

 ami the butter in this box, covered with some leafy boughs, 

 1 think improved in flavor day by day. Maine b liter needs 

 something to mollify and Sweden it a little, and I think 

 -I; will do it. In camp Uncle Nathau of! en drank 

 his tea and coffee from a bark cup; the china closet in the 

 birch tree waia always handy, aud our vulgar tinware was 

 generally a good deal mixed, and the kitchen maid not at. ail 

 particular about dish-washing. We all tried the oatmeal 

 with the maple syrup in one of these dishes, aud the stewed 

 mountain cranberries, using a birch-bark spoon, and never 

 i'ound service boiler. Uncle Nathau declared he could boil 

 potatoes in a bark kettle, and I did not doubt him. In- 

 stead of sending our soiled napkins aud table-spreads to 

 the wash, we rolled Ihem up into caudles and torches, and 

 drew daily upon our stores in the forest for new ones. 



PuMi-i: 



peals to tho high': 



eouiplisheb Tiled i 



review of popular aud Industrial 

 »rs ou our table for the first Halo. Its 



'■i-'i-ei ■ •>. .,: euee iK-emcni. ltd sidu- 



thuj archaeology, that science which 

 <tuuU umnbrr ot scientific men, should 

 it 1 , en", 'I- severely precise cloak Mid, 

 modern Btylo, tell us the btory of its 



, I , mi at attractive, and which an- 

 il the hnma.li mind- Pouipeii, if it ne- 

 at to do, will have rendered no small 

 finely illustrated. Augnste 



i. 209, Nap! 



%ittiml W'?t° r U- 



THE SEALS OF NORTH AMERICA.* 



MR. ALLEN'S latest work renews and adds to the obli- 

 gations which the scientific world already owed h'uu. 

 It is a fact which might easily escape the observation of Qhe 

 whose attention was sot specially called to it that up to the 

 publication of this work astonishingly little has been known 

 of this highly-important sub-order of carnivora. It is true 

 that many observations had been made on the group, but 

 these were not at all in shape to be accessible to the general 

 reader, but were scattered through a number of works — in 

 books of hunting, of science, of commerce, of manufactures, 

 and in the records of tho proceedings of legislative bodies is 

 to lie found some fragmentary material bearing on the iiisbny 

 of tho seal family, but these fragments possess, when stand- 

 ing alone, but a slight value. To serve any useful purpose it 

 was. necessary that thoyslould be collated, examined with 

 care, sifted and woven into one harmonious whole. To 

 satisfactorily perform a labor of such magnitude, in which 

 scientific acquirements of the first order had to be added to a 

 Capacity for an enormous amount of labor, ami to tho most 

 scrupulous exactness, there was required a master haud, and 

 happily the work was undertaken hy one who was, perhaps, 

 above all others, best fitted to perform it. Those who arc 

 familiar with Mr. Allen's works, notable among which are 

 his monographs on the buffalo, and on certain families of 

 North American rodentia, will turn eagerly toward his latest 

 volume, and, whatever their tastes, will find in it much to 

 interest them. 



Tho present work, which is published by the Interior He 

 partment, forms No. 13 of the Miscellaneous Publications of 

 The United S-tite-. <;, .,;,, ciou ami Geouraphieal Survey of the 

 Territories, 1\ 1'. llayden, gcologist-in-oliatgos 01 its 800 

 pages, 163 are devoted to the walrus family (Otobaemda , 

 324 to the eared seals , Ofarteto), and 344 to the earless seals 

 (Plma&ce). The last named family is the Only one repre- 

 sented on our Atlantic coast, the common Phuea vitidina 

 being abundant in winter along the New England shore. 



The following extract fremiti review of this volume recently 

 contributed by The writer to a daily contemporary, will serve' 

 to give our readers some idea of this work and its impor- 

 ta nee: 



The pinnipeds, although so different in appearance from 

 the typical flesh-eaters, represented by the dogs, eats, bears, 

 etc., iu-e really neither more nor less than amphibious car- 

 They are little adapted for progression upon the 



laud, where their movem, 

 truly at home in the water, for a life in whii 

 tions which they have undergone most ado: 

 In form they are more or less fish-like, resen 

 spect the more truly marine mammals, such 

 Their limbs have, bec 



hales aud manate 

 i'line Organs, :oid, 



footed. 



Of the three gro 

 eared seals are far ab 



their name 



npli« 



ed, but. 

 i the modifiea- 

 rably fit them, 

 ding in this r - 

 a the porpoises, 

 me true swim- 

 they are liu- 



e treated, tho walruses and the 



earless seals in the zoological srvile, 



tne inner representing much the piosl gen - ; , ,.■ .] type, The 



• and Otarlida stand about on the same plane, and 



are united into one group or sub-order. Hrc^i;ra-b<. while the 



Pko i^reptesenl a second group of the same valna, Mepti- 



enormously developed canines, are widely different in ap- 

 pearance from the active cared seals, but iho dillereuces are 

 superficial rather than structured. 



The walruses are found only in the arctic seas. " | , 

 authors have alleged tho existence of three or more species, 

 but a careful examination of a large amount of material leads 

 Prof. Alleuto conclude that there* are but two, one inhabiting 



the Atlantic and the other the Pa 



fine 



Oceai 



t. For the genus 



the time-honored appellations Ti 



feftfl 



liUi a 



id nirniarw Rre 



discarded, and in their place, I 







„ laws of prior- 



ily which govern scientific noinei 









OdobaWi, for some time tt US 







: .::,, ., 



is adopted. Besides the two livii 







fossil remains of 



walruses have been found, iudu 



ll in 





•xislenoo of two 



additional genera, Alaotherium a 







..'.', As an iii- 



dieation of the exhaustive methoi 



ibs' 



•t we ' 





ployed in the treatment of hiss 



may quote some 



of the subjects into which he div 



ides 



his ai 



tide on ' ' Odofvi. 



\ lift. 



utic wain 



lie 



diffo 

 upon 



K''Og 

 etvn 



age, 



ofe-l 



iunc 



To 



the v 



tho 

 yalru 



"idividu 



references, external characters, sezud 

 variations and variations depending 

 s of skulls, dentition, fossil rerua 1 

 ical distribution, past aud present, nomenclature, 

 y. literature, habits and the chase, products, food, 

 of the tusks, enemies aud domestication, 

 general reader the past and present distribution of 

 s and its habits will no doubt prove the most tub r- 

 osliug subjects in this list. The chase cannot be spoken of 

 apart from i'.s habits, for those habits have been scarcely at 

 all observed except, by those who have penetrated , 3 s arcl ic 

 home for the purpose" of killing it. It is hardly neeessary to 

 state that, like all other large mammals, and especially like all 

 those that furnish some useful commercial pri 

 rus has found its worst enemy in man. Durir, 

 century the walrus was hunted for its tnsl 

 Richard Fischer, speaking of the Island of Ri 

 Sable Island), says: 'On which Isle are so great a'liunda 

 of the huge and mightie Sea Oxen with great teeth 



lenti 

 and 



eths of April, May, and June, that Hit 

 lumdreth killed there by one small barl 



e bene fifteeue 

 year 1591." 



of Bristol!," 



"The fish cometh on banke (to do their kinde) 



, and June by numbers of thousands, rhici '< 



id hath two great teeth; andlheskiuneof (hem 



atther; and they will not away from their 



The young ones are as good meat, as veale. 



[lies o< live of the saide"fishcs they make a 



no, which Traiue is very Sweete, which if it 



the King of Spaine m."y hurne some of his 



..._t Parry 



.■■ ■ in in- had nl nil i lie .111- 



- iiniii [r,,m Biitfsviiie, ana ea- 

 ses number referred to. 



intcenth century the morse, as it 

 works, was slaughtered on thf 

 ormous numbers. The accoti 

 heries," as compiled from the 



•ape 



geu- 



* History of North American Pinnipeds. A monograph of the 

 walruses, bbq lions, sen hears and seals of North America. By Joel 

 Ajjiiph Alien, Washington, Government Printing Oliice, 1880. 



sucli numbers on some, of the Ten Thousand Islands as to fur- 

 nish the material for the following account by Mr. laimont in 

 his ' ' Seasons with the Sea-horses. " He says : "It seems that 

 this island (one of the south-westernmost of the group) had long 

 been a very celebrated place for walruses going ashore, ato'd 

 great numbers had been kill,-, I upon ii, at diU'emi rimes in 

 by gone years. In August, 1852, two small sloops, sailing iu 

 company, approached the island, and soon discovered a herd 

 of walruses, numbering, as they calculated, from 3,000 lo 

 4,000, reposing upon it. Four boats' crews, or 16 men, pro- 

 ceeded to the attack with spears. One great mass of wal- 

 ruses lay in a small sandy bay, with rocks inclosing it on each 

 side, and on a little mossy flat above the bay, but to which 

 the bay formed the only convenient access for such unwieldy 

 animals. A great many hundreds lay on other parts of the 

 island at a. little distance. Tbe boats landed a little way off, 

 so as not to frighten them, and the 16 men, creeping along 

 shore, got between the sea aud the bay full of walruses be- 

 fore mentioned, and immediately commenced stabbing the 

 animals next them. The walrus, although so active and 

 fierce' in the water, is very unwieldy and helpless on 

 shore, and those in front soon succumbed to the lances of 

 their assailants ; the passage lo the shore soon got so blocked 

 up with the dead aud dying that the unfortunate wretches 

 behind could not pass over, and were in a manner barricaded 

 by a wall of carcases. Considering thai every thrust Ol ■■■ 

 lance was worth $80, the scene must haVe been one of terrific 

 excitement to men who had very few or uo dollars at. all ; 

 and my informant's eyes sparkled as he related it. He said 

 the walruses were then at their mercy, and they slew and 

 stabbed aud slaughtered aud butchered and murdered until 

 most of their lances were n ndered useless and themselves 

 were drenched with blood and exhausted with fatigue. 

 They went on board their vessels, ground their lances, and 

 had their dinners, and then returned to their sanguinary 

 work; nor did they cry 'Hold, enough 1' until they had 

 killed nine lumdreil walruses, aud yd so fearless or so lethar- 

 gic were the animals that many hundreds more remained 

 Sluggishly lying on other parts nf the island at no great dis- 

 tance. ■ ' '* "VVhen 1 visited the island eix \ cars afterward, 

 there still remained abundant testimony to corroborate the 

 entire, truth of the story. The smell of the island was per- 

 ceptible at several miles' distance, and on landing wc found 

 the carcasses lying as I have described ihem. 'and ill one 

 place two and three feet deep. The BUin aud flesh of many 

 remained tolerably entire, notwithstanding the ravages of 

 be .'•-. :','-., 5, and gulls. So many walruses have been killed 

 on this island at different times that a ship might easily load 

 with bones there. * * *" 



Of the Pacific walrus less is known, but enough 

 that it is bv no means so active and fierce as its Atlantic con- 

 gener. The accounts given by Mr. Elliott aud bv Cap!, 

 Scammon in his "Murine Mammalia" ve the most, extended 

 and trust won hy. I ml even tbese'are lacking in many imp irtonl 

 points. Affection for its young is a touching characteristic of 

 both species of this genus, and it is the practice atn.0 



halcrs, to harpoon, when this is pos- 



sil ■ B 1 





cries of the little an 



i i! eh' bring its 



moi p 



: resi 



to, but the whole he 



rd, even if in headlong 



flight, wil 



. , 



eut on hearing the s 



■reams of a ' lunger™ 



III, 





iraucra with deiermi 



icd fury. 



The lw 





es, after man, from 



which the walrus has 



most to fe 





1 real white bear r 



mi i In 1,,'en, or killer. 



1 In latl ■ 





a carnivorous cotad 



an, desl roys the young 



also of bo 



, the i 



r seal and theseaJio 





Passing 



now to the family of the Ot 



in*, or earc i seals, 



v.c hud at 



counts r 



f seven species of 



mquestioned validity, 



and of tw 



others 



tbe authenticity of 



,',; ,.,,-■ • .• ', 



fill. This 



family, 



containing a 1, il doc 



, the fur 608,1 '• - ii ,ie 



an econoi 





of view, by 1 '■■" 1 li 



most important divi- 



sion of til 



' group 



under consideration 



The walrus yields 



valuable o 



il aud a 



little (from three to 



four pounds to the in- 



dividual) ivory, while the hair seal produces nothing, of 

 special commercial value except its oil, the skins being but 

 little used except by the natives of the countries which the 

 animals inhabit. This is true also of such of the eared seals 

 as are without fur, but the value of the pelts of OaBorMrua 

 nr.wuux and other species of fur seals probably .. 

 equals or exceeds that of all the other products of the seal 

 tribe. 



The history of the fur Seals from the date of tbu discovery 

 of the value "of their products up to within a short time is 

 only a repetition of the old talc of slaughter which has been 

 narrated again and again in connection with each species of 

 lie ,,i trine mammals. Ca|itwn Fanning, in his "Voyages to 

 the Sohtli Seas," states thai hi a few years there were taken, 

 Eoward i'"' ■ si d! the last century, "a million sealski i oi 

 island : MaCi e.:.,. This littie island is on the coast 

 of Chili, and is. ahead 35 miles in circumference. Capt. 

 Bcammou states th at in 1 SO 1 the sealing lleet which w . ■ " ■ 

 iiig off the coast of Chili, consisted of 1)0 ies- Hem thirty ves- 

 seis. almost all of which bore the American Ike. J I ' ,. 

 taken at Ihe Geor; 

 year 1820 and 1821c 

 1th bill 



i ther 

 On 



I, 



I.O0Q fur 

 re taken 



the South Shetland Islands, with the result that, at the close 

 of the second year, the species w : ,, exterminated. 



From the Antipodes Islands, oil' the; coast of New South 

 Wales, 400,000 skins were obtained in 1814 and ISlo. Fur 

 seals .1- killed at about Ihe same time In the Aleutian 

 Islands at the rate of 200,000 per year; and but for the fact 

 that the market was so glutted with Bklns that they did not 

 sell for enough to |m be cOsI oi tianspoitation, the animals 

 no doubt would have, been exterminated on thi 96 Men:. 

 been elsewhere. 

 Slellier's sea lion is the largest of the 

 grown male measuring from U: to 14 i 

 : ,e/'iire' considerably over 1,000 pounds, t 

 are much smaller, beiug only 8 to feet 1 

 one-third less. Its range extends along th 

 of America from the Faralloue Islands t 

 north, or . about to the southern limit o! 

 i the Arctic shore of the Pacific p 

 Kiir.le Islands, The sea lion or 

 different species, somewhat 



id wcighi 



ruii- 



and 



ales 



the i 

 le.- 



labitants of the Prybilo 

 ,-, than the fur -, 



smaller than Steller's 



To 



Islam i- i e 



carcely 



il. The skins arc u 



,ed for 



'or hunting the sea ott< 



r.- the 





ingthe 



and preserved for use tbi 



The ace. ■• i its of the h.i'i's of St 

 lions, as observed on the we-Urnco 

 islands of the Pacific, which are que 

 Cant. Scammon, are extremely inl 



count of the breeding of the seali 



1 from Mr. Elliott and 

 sting, asis also an ac- 

 in captivity, the only 



