Feb. 8, 18S3.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



23 



a broader field than tlio mere material, daUar-and-Genl in- 

 terests of the people. 



Tie rtiaract eristics of fl nation are illustrated hy the chfir- 

 i of its individual subjects. Whatever happifies 

 and exalts Hie individual, liappitlea and exalts the nation, 

 ami krcoroation and periodical repose odntrttmte lo the 

 physical enjoymenl and healthful development of the 

 people. Thai nation best perfomsitefiinclwns which makes, 

 moat ompli provision for whal is so ■ - ~. 1 1 1 j r 1 to individual 

 vigor andjvjtality. The Yellowstone Park, if preserved in 

 It* full integrity, iB destined to become pie greal pleasure 

 begortoflho continent, and the present is the time (sooner 

 would have bcou better) to Inaugurate a policy for its pres- 

 ervation from the encroachments of reckless vandalism and 

 ill' grasping avarice of insatiable greed. 



Although large tracts of timber hive been cul in the 

 Adirondack rcgloB during rocenl years, the entire terri 

 ton still retains its wilderness character. The forests 

 have been shnplj culled, nol destroyed, exeepl at a few 

 points where uoslleries haveheen placed for the accom- 

 modation ot tourists. The mountains are still densely 

 Covered with foresl foliage. The lakes retain their primi- 

 tive beauty and the rivers still wind their way through 

 their original channels with their olu-time velocity. The 

 water in both lakes mid rivers mil] remains unpdllutcd'by 

 foreign substances, and is as transparent and of the same 

 gTatelul tcmpcraiure;iodnvas when (he -tar-sang together 

 on the morning of creation. At one or two joints', to be 

 sure, dams have been ejected which, by the hack water they 

 have ore;, sioncl. have marred the beauty ol imnv miles of 

 river border. This is noticeably true erf the Kaipiette from 



Setting Pole Rapids (where the dam was i m ili) upward very 

 nearly to the tails. Before- th is obstruction interfered with 

 the natural How of the water, the river, for most of the dis- 

 tance, was fringed with beautiful hemlocks; spouce and soft, 

 maple, which were killed by the back-flow caused by the 

 dam.. The same cause also spoiled a great many ohi trout 

 haunts by changing or entirely obliterating the current. 

 of the stream. Hut notwithstanding this the Raquette is 

 still a beautiful river throughits entire length, audlhewhole 

 region hits still enough of iks original characteristics to make 

 it worthy of preservation and of the perpetual sruardinnship 



of the State. 



A large number of small tracts of land have been sold lo 

 Those who have learned to appreciate the advantages of the 

 region as a Bumpier resort. These will be enhanced in value 

 by the action of the Si^te. but as most of them will be im- 

 proved and beautified bv their owners, thc\ will do no harm. 

 It i- differ, m with trad- purchased for' timber purposes 

 Itlone. If possible, thev BllOUld Vie recovered bv the State- - 



as they may be at moderate cost— that the process q! de- 

 nudation mat he carried no further. If this shall be done 

 [as is proposed), tht Stateof New York will bean Empire 

 among the State-, because of the extent and magnificence 

 of it- Park, as will a- because of the vastness ot it- com- 

 merceiind the boundlessness of it- wealth. G 1>. 



ffie $parteni<m ^ouri$t 



NIMROD IN THE NORTH. 



nv i.iki t. i ui-.h'k sritw vny\. i: s. ai:m\. 

 111. -The Rifle and the Reindeer— Concluded. 



OX tie rtli of May our parly killed ten reindeer out of a 

 herd of fourteen. The scone was an exeeediuglv short 

 one. The herd being descried about a mile distant lying 

 down on the side of a hill, all the Ininut hunters 'and 

 Col. Glider started in pursuit, the sledgeB and dogs remain- 

 ing <m the spot. For about half way the hunters were 

 Shielded from sigh! bv the hills, hul nearly till the rest of 

 the dfeteuce was consummated bv crawling, Indian file, 

 in full sight of the animal-, until a near hill for a minute 

 or two allowed them to get within about a hundred yards, 

 when a vc-lley of rifle shuts greeted the astonished herd, ami 

 although only one was wounded at the first tire, before the 

 bewildered baud could determine a -ale direction to pur- 

 sue, ten of their number were wounded or dead, all of which 

 were Secured, for it is seldom that a reindeer -wounded at- all 

 severely is h.,-,1 by a good hunter. Two of the remaining 

 four were secured by TocJooah the next morning Whon re- 

 turning to look up tlnir missing comrades, 



We were now in a country' never trod lief ore by white 

 men or by persons armed with their weapons, so it was 

 evidently the I'n-i firearms thai had been heard by the game 

 of the locality, and they acted with a stupidity plainly re- 

 vealing (lies,, facts. Where the reindeer is hunted consider- 

 ably with firearms he becomes shy enough to give one ex- 

 eelli-ni -port in his capture. Like the antelope he will 

 circle around until he catches "tin- wind" before lie is off, 

 and this peculiarity, with a few magazine guns in full blast' 

 thins them rapidlv. Thev also have something of the curi- 

 osity of the antelope, but not at all developed to such an ex- 

 tent. Like all animals that congregate in droves the false 

 secuiil\ resulting from numbers makes them much slower 

 to pick out their line of retreat. In tills manner thev closely 

 resemble the stnplOity of the American elk, and like them 

 when often hunted and in small bands, thev are game 

 worthy of any man's powder. 



The next day. the 8th, w«encountered a fresh musk-ox 

 trail a ud a herd of reindeer, killing seven; we also came 

 upon old aigns or marking stones for salmon catfe* of the 

 native,,.; tin- country, on the 13th, the bad weather being 

 such that we remarneoT over, 1 noticed that the many rcindee'r 

 signs kepi Toolooah nervous, until he had -allied out in the 

 tempestuous elements, and after an absencuof a couple of 

 hours, he returned to gel the dogs and sledge to bring in the 

 parcassesol -Men reindeer thai he had killed out of a herd of 

 eight, with eight shots of his Winchester carbine Return 

 ing with these, two others were secured. 



On the 14th. we passed a herd of about two hundred 

 reindeer, but our sledgef being so loaded with meat we 

 allow, d .hen. to trot by Within easy rifle range, unscathed 

 and astonished beyond measure at this wonderful innovation 

 They w.-iv si„gularlv tan.,- and often running toward US a 

 lew pa, es. would halt like a company of cavalrv coming 

 front into line, and gaze at. us with dilated eyes and dis- 

 tended nostrils until a snort from some suspicions creature 

 would sfend them off Try the Hank with measured trot like 

 well drilled troopers. It seemed liken grateful chance lo 

 exercise our humanity once more bv nol taking advantage 

 of their confidence, and wc willingly deelarrd'an armistice 

 unfil our heavily laden sledges should become somewhat 

 lighter. 



Signs of natives daily mew fresher, and on the 15th of 



May we eame upon a hand of some thirty souls, only two 

 of whom, a couple of old nun. h.ad ever before Seen any 

 whit,- men. We consequently attracted an unusual shore 

 Of their curiosity, and their staring eyes riveted intently 

 upon us, followed every motion that we made, tf the 

 wlrit< men had been curiosities, the action of their guns, as 



we showed them th-ir ii-', wa- truly appalling. U • had CS 

 pect.ed to meet native- upon or in -ar the moul h ol ' l!a, k'- 

 (.ireat Fish River where it empties into the irCtiC Ocean, 

 and hud depended, to a certain extent, upon procuring 

 from them dog feed and oil. hut now we found the tables 

 tinned. In-lead ol bring beggars, we were philanthropist -. 

 and instead of being receivers wc Were obliged lo give, for 

 we found our new lC-,pinii.n\ friends in a state ol seJDJ- 

 starv.iiion. Their food in the summer and early winter is 

 furnished by the numberless -in. a!- of salmon that then 



ascend I he creek- and .-mallei rivers, and are speared as 

 they run the gauntlet of the rapid-. The flesh of the musk 

 ox, which they hunt with dogs and mws and arrows or spears, 

 gives them a'precario n- subsi.sieurr during the remainder 

 of the year. They kill barely enough reindeer in the sum 

 mcr to supply ihcin with clothing, the noiRe of walking or 

 crawling on the cris], snow of the fall and winter times 

 making it impossible to get sullicienllv near to secure the 

 game with bows and arrows. The twang of the bowstring 

 traveling more rapidly than the arrow, the active deer has 

 no difficulty in jumping out of the way ai any distance 

 beyond twenty-five or thirty yards. But In the summer 

 time the wary native sometimes succeeds ill crawling within 

 these limits, or lyingin wait nu certain paths followed bv 

 the game will obtain one. 



Another plan much followed bv th,,s,. natives throughout 

 the Arctic nol provided with firearms is toestablish a line 

 ol BtQne nioiiuiueii's at about fifty to a hundred vards inter- 

 val along the iie.-t ot some prominent ridge, often two and 

 three miles in length, which runs obliquely toward and 

 terminates in th,. water's edge of some large lake or wide 

 river. A -harp lookout is kept from Borne available point, 

 ami if .-. herd of reindeer i- found feeding or walking with- 

 in the acute angle formed bv the shore line and ridgi '.i i-t 

 ling with stone cairns, (lie natives engaged in the chase 

 deploy into a skirmish line sufficiently long to close the 

 mouth of this angle and walk slQwly toward the reindeer, 

 .heir bows and arrows or spear- and their /./"/>■ (light skin 

 canoes) beiug carried along or concealed in some convenient 

 plage near the water's edge. The herd, seeing the slow 

 approach of their enemies, trot leisurely away until thev 

 come within sight of the rock monuments, which have 

 been made to imitate l he human form a- far a- possible, when, 

 believing themselves to be surrounded on tin- land -ide. they 

 take to the water as the only means ,,l escape left them. 

 No sooner is the herd fairly in, than the agile native- are in 

 hot pursuit, with their Mates flying through tin- water, and 



rapidlv overtaking the bewildered animals, they dispatch 

 them will, arrow- and spears, and haul their car, a— e> on 



shore to be butchered. 



Thissportisuol without its dangers., is ol tent im,- a wounded 

 animal or a belligerent buck seeing flight impossible, with 

 swinging horns and plunging hqofs, turns so swiftly on his 

 pursuer "thai he succeeds in tearing the fragile Hot.- to pieces, 

 and the wrecked Esquimaux, unable to .swim, drowns if he 

 i- not prompt Iv rescued by some mar neighbor, or manages 

 lo float on the wreck of his boat until help arrives. Ll is a 

 singular fact that a herd of reindeer, so the native- s : ,v, 

 will repeatedly graze right through this line of cairns with 

 out any further notice' than a few suspicion- giancBS at 

 them as they pa— by, bin the minute moving figures force 

 them againsl these stationary ones i heir suspicion i- iai-,-,1 

 to a pitch high enough to make them prefcrthe water rat her 

 than lo trust them. Yet this is not very hard lo compi" 

 hend if one knows the almost half amphibious nature of the 

 Arctic deer. 1 have seen them when taking up a line of 

 march, .vadeand swim right through a deep lake that infer 

 ppged itself in their direct course rather than to go around 

 it, although this would not hay exacted a marked detour, 

 which fact, I imagined, must have been as patent to the 

 deems it was to invsclf. And th, Ks.piiniaux tell me of 



even bolder deed-. When pursued ami "cornered" on some 

 of the long narrow tongues of land projecting into Hudson's 



Bay, they have known the deer to take lo the sea and swim 

 directly outward, until they were lost to vision, and whether 

 (hey were thereby drowned or nol they could not tell. The 

 Arctic deer -eems to be almost as much more amphibious 

 than bis Southern fellow as is the polar bear than his South 



era brethren, 



We crossed over to King William's Land on June 11. 

 and ihe greatest consolation in our til -I few day- journeys 

 was the great number of reindeer we here encountered, and 

 which reports of the natives, who ought to have known, 

 had led us to believe would not be found. It may be inter- 

 esting to note that on June !20, 1871). the civilized 'provisions 

 of the party were exhausted, previous to which time they 

 had been greatly reduced in the reindeer country, and from 

 that date until March 20. 1§80, we lived solely upon tin- 

 same diet as our native allies, and as we have already said. 

 principally upon reindeer. 



On July i>0, while we were in the southern part of Erebus 

 Bay. wc found ourselves completely out of meat, an occur- 

 rence which had seldom happened, owing to Toolooan's 

 activity and good hunting. I now felt that we surely had 

 a fast ahead of us, for the fog was one of tin- very thickest 1 

 had ever seen in my life, but despite all tin-. Tooloo.-di se- 

 cured three reindeer after being absent about four hour-. 

 The Innuit.s. when hunting reindeer during thick, heavy 

 weather, generally go in pairs, accompanied by a good, 

 brained dog taken from their team, and keep well lb the lee 

 side of the quarter suspected of containing game. 

 The dog's nose soon tells them if their ronjr,- 

 Cures are right, and they follow him. hi- noss 

 high in i he wind on his aerial trail, until his frantic loggings 

 at the harness line by which he is held (for the well-trained 

 Esquimau dog never harks in the presence of game) show 

 them to be near by, when one of the part v holds the dog and 

 the other with hi- weapon.- crawls. Cautiously forward on 

 hi- unseen victims If Ihe fog is very (hick tliey can often 

 get within a few vards by hugging the ground closely while 

 crawling. Dm ing the time the -now is on the ground they 

 may lake several dog-, and after being -mc-liil in the 

 chase, utilize them to drag in Ihe circa -.-<•-. This is only 

 done, however, when the skin- have become n-ebs.-; then 

 the butchered deer is put (ntotllC hide and ii is used as a 

 sledge. The natives claim Dial a dog will seen! a reindeer 

 much Further ill the fog, if it be a drifting one. than Under 

 any other ciniim.-lanee-. It. is not unreasonable to infer that 

 the scent will not he so diffused in ,-urh a dense medium as 



an Arctic fog, and therefore lie more concentrated at greater 

 distances, yet I have heard good hunters in our regions 



claim that fog completely kills a -cent. A well-trained 

 Esquimau dog. with good, 'keen scent, will often detect tic 



presence of game at a couple of mile- distance, The great- 

 est trouble i- lo keep the dog off from every rabbit or rabbit 

 trail which he scents m- encounters, and' which beseems 

 more prone to follow than that- of the game which is de 

 sired, 



"ii AugUSl 9, while encamped ill Terror Hay. and liro-e 

 tniting our search for evidences of Sir John Frauklin's 

 party, I killed a big buck undar cdrcunisl&uces pvobahl^ 

 worth relating. While sitting down, resting from a fatigu- 

 ing continuous "walk of live or six miles over Ihe boggj 

 ground near the .sea-hor,-. 1 no'iced li„ r, indcr grazing 

 rapidlv toward me. being then aboui -i\ hundred yards 

 awav. I simply slipped down to a horizontal extension be- 

 hind" the boulder on which I bad been resting and conv, rh-d 

 an immovable Mioawber. The reindeer came 

 T. and when about two hundred yards away ovi- 

 k a patch of clover, figuratively Speaking; for 

 icxt half hour he never left a little .-pot, where 

 '.ing backward and forward until my p., tuner 

 Sad, Mis skin whs the exact color Of ihe dun 

 s against which ho was thrown, and wailing 

 . "end on," so that his while Hank- outlined hi- 

 ik aim at his head as he wa- grazing, tired, and 



iflf : 



ai- 



d, 



nlv -tl 



du 



•Ingth 



he 



kept g 



Until he V 

 figure, I I 

 hit. him ii 



his 



hams. 



Thi 



; bronchi him down on 



an i If.-.-lual -hoi until 

 u he iir-| perceived me. 

 of revenue-reform tjait, 



n the hind fo 

 . and I though 



1 got w ittiin about thirl 

 and. with one wild sno 



that defied the best aim. he -tailed for the s.-aroa-i. about a 

 mile away, your bumble servanl Lrim'ing up ihe rent' a- f':-i 

 as possible. ' I ran him out on lo a long point of land and 

 though! surely that I had him, On its west side the pack- 

 ice had been carried by the wind and was probably forty or 

 fifty yards wide, being held somewhat open bv the outgoing 

 'id.. :-,- ing himself , in oil' from the land' side, aiid my 

 rapid approach, he struggled and plunged against the c ,!,,'- 

 of pack-ice with his broken foot swinging in the air, until 



■n he took to the water, Ilia 

 pack was painfully slow, and 

 nio the water I was on the land 

 -en I a bullet through hi- liiaui 



ihed its boundary, wl 

 progress over the disjointed 



by the time he had plunged 

 nearest him, and from there 

 that laid him out floating 



Now. I was in a quandary! lie wa- beyond mv n-n:li 

 from the furthest outlying cake of ice. and the tide setting 

 out was not improving matters. .Meal wa- not plentiful in 



Toolooah 

 i trip that 



' e Vrlvel 



short, 1 



'- method 



SI rip 



eamp. and further, a large supply was needed. 



was -oon to I 

 I had ordered hii 

 plUSh as (he ripp 



didn't want to lo 

 of gel I ing at bin: 

 ping myseii to 

 through the lor 

 deemed this me 

 jumping in from th 

 the depth, althou, 



i- tor a two-weeks' 

 besides ihe buck's e 

 .of -alt water broke over it. Ill 

 that deer, ami there was only on. 

 ind 1 started about that at om e 

 y underclothing. I started to wade oul 

 .US "leads' between the ioc-e:d.es. us I 

 id less liable to produce cramps than 

 furthest cake; besides I did not know 

 it only seemed to be about five feel. 



Header, science Will tell you thai ocean water will be about 

 two degrees colder than ' fresh water w hen liolh are holding 

 legrees eoldei -than the ire- water of your 



vale 



iole| 



i.lh. 



two degr 

 steps made me gasp fot 

 middle, mytoeth bad' 



tie. 1 p, i-sevcred. how, 

 ice, should 1 betaken 

 prize and my breast ci 

 (bought thai I had 

 reached one of the de< 

 whole tr 



• water reeepl aide-; i„ ~h,.i t 

 older than freezing. The first few 

 breath and by the lime 1 was up to mv 

 'I I led down to a regular drum- like r;ii 

 er. keeping my hand- upon The nearest 

 villi cramps, and as I wa.- Hearing im- 

 minence,! -inking ill the cold fluid, I 

 wallowed the .North Pole. When 1 

 's horns I was up to my armpits. The 

 done and I had my deer on land in 



loll 



im. 



. til- air 



111 



sill 



die 



Inn 



dr 



g myself 

 elothes, 



his fifty 

 to camp, 

 ting me. 

 •d t hous- 



less time than it has taken Ihe reader lo peruse it. and this 



reached. 1 wrung out my dripping underc" 



feeling a- warm as a southern breeze, and tin 



a good chafing over the skin. I put on l 



Worked like a pirate butchering tbch.cr. 



pound hams over my shoulders, walked two n 



took a quart of hoi reindeer soup thai vv,- 



turned into bed and dreamed that 1 owned a 



and reindeer worth a thousand dollars apiece. 



The reindeer of King William's Land, on their north- 

 ward migrations, cross over Simpson's Straits from the 

 south about June or a mouth btfore the ice breaks up. 

 About the middle of September, the winter's cold coming on 

 drives them south, and thev congregate in its - 

 before the straits have frozen over, and often 

 or ten days for that occasion before thev Cross. 

 that the reindeei will swim anything as a lake 

 comes in his way. and Ihe fact that he here s,- 

 I'm- the -olid ice to form before crossing won: 

 refute it. but this is nol so. When the lirsl cold snap . 

 thai tells them to go south, there always forms on the salt 

 water a kind of "mush ice," "slush ice," ol "brash," as it 



1 ha 



part 

 week 



• said 



• thai 



pp.; 



is variously called, wl 



ich is nol unlike a fool or two of 



loose -now thrown into 



ice water, where it will nol melt. 



and is sufficiently tenaci 



,|.isloevi-ii impede Ihe headway of 



a sailing ship. Thishu 



gs ii„. shores and islands and drifts 



around "in the current 



. winds and tides like a lillipulitin 



ice pack. Should a reii 



deer trust himself to swim through 



it he would be so imped 



wl and harassed that he would fall 



an easy prey to the Esqi 



liinaux who congregate hereabouts 



at this time, and this fa. 



t the reindeer know by some sort 



Tofhis part of the is! 



ml WO also e.uii, in order to lav in 



a supply of meal, olothi 



ig and bedding for our mid-winter 



return 'trip lo Hudson's 



Bay and civilization. Our eamp 



was pitched near a big 



i hill, im whose top a lookout was 



constructed to watch f, 



r the animals. On Ihe '.'-Kb of Hep- 



tempera cold -nap n.- ;i 



rly completed th,- freezing over of 



Simpson's Strait, and tl 



e next day we moved eamp aboul a 



mile mar a large fresh-v 



•ater lake and there built an i.'d"" <>f 



ice, being one nionlh a 



ml live days earlier ihan the com- 



meiiceinent of our ;,,!„., 



lilein north Hudson's liay. The 



hill as a look -out for rei 



ulcer was no longer needed.';,- these 



animals wine becoming 



so numerous, a- the cold weather 



settled down upon u-. 



that any de-irei! number could be 



seen from any station v 



h.itrv, r, ihe valleys almost a- well 



as the top of the hill- 



On the lasi day of the month I 



fell quite sure that ai le 



-i a Lhohsand reindeei p:,--ed with 



in a- many vards of o 



lr little house of i,e. and the iirsi 



and second days of flic 



next month— October— Ihe number 



was ceiminiv in, ICBS. 



On the 3d the ice was jusl thick 



enough to bear ihem on 



the Strait and the first' herd was 



seen lo cros- that dav. 



mil bv IDS Fill thfl v-a-a -warms had 



departed southward, lea 



ing only a very few straggling herds 



io bear u- company, 



The 30th, (lie loial score showed 



twenty-six killed, To'oloo 



lb scoring twelve, anumbeiio which 



he limited himself onlv 



lion, the fad that it wits the maxi 



