FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 1. 1888, 



TfUKTING WIT30 VT A G US— II. 



1ET your guu haug on its own hooks; ;inti go you lo the 

 -* wDo'defl'hill, from behind which you first saw the mm 

 rise, over whose length and breadth you lum bunted (•very 

 fall and winter since you began to carry a gun, You know 

 every ridge and liollow so well that if you were led to any 

 part 'of it blindfolded you could tell where you were afteryou 

 bad looked about a minute. Let yourself drift about in these 

 1 ami liar woods some autumn day in search of nothing, and 

 the chances are Unit, you will find many things you never saw 

 before. 



Von ore not hurried. There is time for your nostrils to 

 drink all the subtle odors of the woods, the mingled perfumes 

 of flowers, fruitage and decay. You hear the voices in 

 voices, the sounds beyond the environment of silence, out- 

 side sOUnds Of civilization and husbandry piercing but not 

 bi'caking the stillness of the woods. From the moss and 

 mold at your feet to the frayed horizon that closely encom- 

 passes yon. there is enough to keep your eyes busy for a day 

 and then leave a world unexplored. 



1 have known fox-hunters, who year after year have 

 ranged all the woods for ten miles about them, and who 

 never yet saw the biggest woodpecker that lives in them, the 

 plicated. They have heard him calling them more than once 

 to come and see what a brave woodchopperheis, how he can 

 make the chips fly and the woods echo to his strokes. But 

 ihc.y had come hunting foxes, not woodpeckers, and had no 

 time lo turn out of their way to visit him. and he was too 

 great a personage, in woodpecker circles to come to them. 

 If they desire his acquaintance, ihey must come to where he 

 is doing business. Then lie will show them his work. What a 

 harkpeeler he is. Wilson says that he has "seen him separate 

 the. greatest part of the. hark from a large dead pine for 

 twenty or thirty feet, in less than a quarter of an hour." 

 With hammer and chisel in one, he can cover the roots of a 

 tree with its iron slivers anil cut a doorway to his home 

 almost large enough for a 'coon's passage. He' will show 

 them his aerial paces as ho hops from tree to tree, exhibit- 

 ing then the White feathers of his wings, and his crest 

 has not, faded a whit since Hiawatha first dyed it. Though 

 seldom seen he does not desert us, with the golden-winged 

 and red-headed, but stays all the year round, and by the few 

 country folks who see him is called woodcock, a. name which 

 fits him better than it does the borer of bogs, who by ancient 

 iisage bears it. 



1 wonder how many times in my hunting with a gun 1 

 had crushed the walking fern with my knees, and torn it up 

 with my nails, as I scaled the ledge before 1 ever saw it. 

 There arc not. a score of people of my acquaintance— hunters 

 and woods haunters of all sorts — who know that it crows 

 Here at all. far less that if is almost common. Having got 

 the secret of its hiding, one finds it on almost every north- 

 ward and west ward-facing ledge from the rocky shores of 

 Champlaiu to the backbone of Vermont, not everywhere, 

 but here and there a patch of it. looping its small fronds 

 along a shelf of the ancient mossy walls. 



1 am ashamed when 1 remember that I waited till I was 

 a big boy for a lady to come all the way from Pennsylvania 

 to show me the arbutus, growing almost as common as 

 wintergrcen and prince's pine on our rocky hills, flow 

 dull my senses were never to have caught the fragrant trail 

 of its blossoms in the May woods, and to have followed it 

 up til] 1 found them blushing among their own rusty leaves 

 ttlld tile last year'.- dead ones of their tall neighbors. Every 

 one who cares for it knows where it grows now, and people 

 eiinie in (loops to rob the woods of it for the decoration of 

 churches at Easter: They might butter leave if in these first 

 temples. In the dumpings, where the thin soil is heivl'i of 

 the shade of the trees. 1 find its leaves withering as if 

 scorched by tire, but like a girdled apple tree, every sprig 

 is full of blossom, it dies with its crown on. 



Till the coming of the fair Pennsylvaniati. it had blos- 

 somed for uie only in books, and grew as far off as the 

 ytctorin fi<i!<i. As f or finding it here. 1. should sooner have 

 thought of hunting for sen Is in the lake, for there had been 

 two or three of them killed in its waters or on its ice, 



Though I hardly expect to rind a seal or a Victori*/ rryia 

 within the limits nf our State, there is no tclliug what 

 fortune there is in , tore fur me. If one stays beneath the 

 star he. was born under, watching and waiting, it may, at 

 last, prove a lucky one. E. E. R. 



(iKFEitAt. Gp.ant Dkclines.— There has been » strong 

 feeling among certain of the directors of the National Rille 

 Association that some strength would be gained for the 

 Organization by the use of Gen. Grant's name as president. 

 The proffer of the position was made him hut promptly 

 declined. The nominating committee are now casting 

 about for another available candidate. 



Swtvhi, Gi'Ns — A correspondent tells us that one mem- 

 ber of the Committee on Game Laws, at Albany, is a professed 

 advocate of the use of the swivel gun lor duck shooting on 

 the Hudson River, This is one very good reason why the 

 Albany game law hills should he closely watched 



Sprinc, Silofmxu.— The advocates of the abolition of 

 spring shooting are increasing iu number and influence. 

 The matter is one well worthy of agitation. Wc should 

 like to hear from those who can add anything to the discus- 

 sion of the subject 



She Mpwtety** 1 S om *^* 



N1MROD IN THE NORTH. 



IT? LIEUT. FBED'B SittWATKA. VJ. S. AllMV. 



III. -The Rifle and the Reindeer-Part One. 



OF all the animals with which my party came in contact 

 on my Arctic expedition, there are none with which 1 

 can claim "such a close personal acquaintance as the Arctic 

 deer. Before we started on our sledge journey in the spring 

 of 1879— that is from the time we had lauded among the 

 Esquimaux, mv own parly and hired hunteis had killed be- 

 tween three a'nd four hundred. On the sledge trip we 

 secured five hundred and twCDty-tWO, and after our return 

 to Hudson's Bar. manv animals were added to this already 

 enormous score. On the sledge trip, probably three-fourths 



of our subsistence (including the month's Supply of civilized 

 food taken along) was derived from the reindeer, whose 

 habits were taken advantage of as much as possible by fol- 

 lowing them to the north in the spring, and keeping' them 



same course during the autumn months and winter. 



Shortly after arrival in North Hudson's Bay, in the early 

 part of August. 1878, Colonel Gilder became 'our pioneer in 

 inland hunting and camping. The lonesomeness of the 

 place after the Esquimaux had left the vicinity of our camp 

 upon their annual autumn reindeer hunts, and a desire to 

 kill some of the many reindeer reported so thick north of 

 our habitation, induced him to return in that direction with 

 two young Inuuit boys that had brought us some reindeer 

 meat" to sell, or rather I ratle, for powder, caps and balls. 

 The little party started about noon on the 25th of August, 

 and Colonel Gilder returned home late at night on Sept, 1, 

 during a heavy storm of snow, very hungry and verv tired. 

 He had been living for the last three or four days on native 



diciouslv shared bis civili/ed provisions loo generously with 

 his native companions, hoping that they, in the true spiril 

 of a Nimrod, would give him an early opportunity to kill 

 his coveted reindeer. "when he could return in triumph to 

 Arctic Rome But, alas lor hopes based on Esquimaux 

 generosity. A few scattered reindeer were seen, but it was 

 a wild foot race, with every man for himself, in which the 

 uupractiocd Caucasian stood a poor chance in the contest 

 over razor-edged rocks hidden beneath wet, spongy moss, 

 and other equally severe impediments. 



The cold snap at the end of October commenced to bring 

 in the scattered native hunters to erect their winter quarters 

 of snow and ice houses, and our little camp so long nearly 

 deserted, began to assume a very lively aspect. A summa- 

 tion of the autumn's hunting showed that between 100 and 

 500 reindeer had been killed bv all the natives that would 

 make their quarters with us that winter, so that wc felt re- 

 lieved of all a nxicl v in regard to a winter's supply of the very 

 best of all Arctic meat, and a plentiful supply of reindeer 

 skins for winter clothing and bedding. And these latter were 

 of the very best quality, for the reindecj skins secured in the 

 month of October are superior to those takenlaterin the year, 

 the hair being less liable to come out, and not so heavy as to 

 render the clothing impHable. After January the reindeer 



skins of this section of the country are worthless, owimr to 

 the readiness with which the hair comes out ; and are thrown 

 awav by the native hunter, they having no use for the skins 

 whatever, except so tar as Ibey bolo a useful amount of fur 

 on them. During this part 'of the winter they art fed to 

 l lie doge, should the latter be hungry enough to want I hem, 

 and probably one in five or ten thousand is tanned of its 

 hair and made into their kas-hiMito of drums for singing 

 and religious ceremonies. This shedding from January 

 on is, 1 think, from the summer coat, as the lots of thai 

 of the winter dues not commence until snring and lasts 

 nearly through the summer. In short. \ think the reindeer 

 sheds twice annually, the lengthsof both periods being much 

 longer than in the temperate regions, and almost overlap- 

 ping each othej. About the middle of August, when all 

 the winter hair has shed, the short summer coat is m ils 

 prime, and from it is made all the native underclothing, or 

 that which is worn with the hair toward the bodj From 

 the middle of September uulil the first or middle of Octo- 

 ber, the skins are valuable for outside clothing (worn hair 

 side out) and for bedding, and after this date they steadily 

 deteriorate, but arc still used to place beneath the bed until 

 January, when the hair readily pulls out and they are no 

 longer saved. Al all times the skins of tin- does are prefer- 

 able to those of the buck, and the late autumn fawn skins 

 are very highly prized, OS they make an exceedingly line, 



soft suit of underclothing, especially for their children, to 



whom this people are loudly attached, and who always re- 

 ceive the best al their disposal. 



When the white man has besoms entire!} "al home" in 



this clothing and accustomed to life in the native /;/'<««, or 

 snowhonses," the matter of temperature alone, however low 

 it may be, becomes of inferior importance. The igloo or 

 Huow-'hut has been (old of so often by previous Arctic travel 

 ers that it would be a superfluous burden on your time lo 

 describe it ben- The utility of the igl rod reindeer cloth- 

 ing can. not be exaggerated. Habituated as my party of 

 four white men were, during our two winters in these Ueso 

 late zones, to a constant bfe in these simple habitations, 

 and the many comforts accruing therefrom. I often marvel 

 how white men could stand the distresses, and oftentimes even 

 dangers of a spring tent life on the many expeditions wherein 

 tents were used. 1 have read so often of their sufferings while 

 living in this manner and dressed iu clothing made from the 

 furs of the temperate zone, under circumstances that to my 

 parly would have absolutely been pleasure and of discom- 

 forts when even boused in slups, ami the perils they risked 

 in short daily journeys from these abodes during such in- 

 tensely low temperatures as —50 , —00 . to — 70 Eahroiiheit . 

 when." under the same circumstances, my party was prose- 

 cuting a sledge journey, with no discomfort, 400 lo 500 

 niiles'from its depot, with no provisions except such garni 

 as was killed from dav lo day. the conviction becomes two- 

 edged that the accessories of .■-//./..* and reindeer clothing are 

 essential to a weH-manaircd Arctic sledge journey. Willi 

 their help the subject of the intensity of cold, strange as it 

 niav sei an, becomes of secondary if no! entirely of minor 

 importance, and if it was not for the long dark night which 

 accompanies the season of these depressions, of temperature, 

 a winter sledge journey couhl be carried forward in am 

 part of the Arctic appropriate for it with no small chance 

 of success. 



And now » word in regard to ibis Esquimau reindeer 

 clothing The native has two suits of it. an outer one with 



the hair turned outward, anil an inner one with the hair 

 urned toward the hotly. This is true of the coat, pants 

 and stockings. With the exception that the inner suit, is 

 generally finer and softer fur. being m»de from fawn skins 

 or doe skins, secured earlier in the season, there is no essen- 

 tial difference iu the two suits ; in fact, by reversing cither, 

 it may be used as a substitute for the other. 



In the latter part of December, I made a short sledge 

 journey due north, about seventy or eighty miles, to see if 1 

 could get through the high hills known to exist between 

 Hudson's Bay and. WagerRiver. 1 took only ToolooaVa 

 family and a Netsehilluk young man, Mitkolifluk, and ex- 

 pected to be. gone a couple' of weeks, leaving December 28, 

 m a severe snowstorm, which lasted four days. We pushed 

 ou, however, on our sledge journey, January 1 being the 

 first fine day we had, and a rare New Year's treat it was, 

 alter SO much dreary, ilismal weather. Hoping that the 

 day was prophetic of the coming year, f pushed on with 

 light heart, but after all only succeeded in making some ten 

 miles, owing to our having seen reindeer, which il is impos- 

 sible to prevent an Esquimau from attempting to kill after 

 they have once laid eyes upon them. Thus an hour or I wo 

 were lost, and when' the day is but a couple of hours in 

 length this becomes of importance. Toolooah secured one 

 reindeer, and we camped that night at one of his former 



igtoOi, built while reindeer hunting, and where he had rarhnl 

 some four or live carcasses of reindeer. The Esquimau eae/ie, 

 or meat cairn, is built of loose, heavy sloncs. before the 

 snow becomes deep or solid by freezing, andof that material 

 afterward, with the addition of plenty of water to form a 

 protecting cover of ice to prevent the depredations of wolves 

 and wolverines, preventing their scratching through, and 

 also killing the scent which allures them to the place 



On the 8th of January, having satisfied myself that 1 

 could find a practicable' route by this way to the Wager 

 River, J started homeward, but feeling somewhat disap- 

 pointed that I had seen no recent sign of musk-oxen, re 

 ported by the natives to lie abundant in this locality. Their 

 lucre caivasscs. compared with that of the reindeer, makes 

 them a more reliable source of dog food for a large canine 

 force than ate the reindeer, and tins was a very important 



1 reached home on the 13th, the coldest weather 1 experi- 

 enced on the trip being on the 18th, when, about two hours 

 before sunrise, the thermometer indicated — 5:j F. That day 

 I made a journev of twenty-five miles, riding most of the 

 way on the sledge and at no time during that dav did 1 feel 

 uncomfortable, the highest the thermometer reached being 

 —50 P. ; ami 1 might here say that I really enjoyed the whole 

 trip. I attribute this almost wholly to the Esquimaux rein- 

 natives, where the. temperature Is never above freezing and 

 generally ten to fifteen degrees below that point, I do no! 

 believe— and my belief is confirmed by the written acouut.s 

 of others— that aUy Arctic voyagers, housed in warm ships, 

 as their base, and clad in the usual Arctic suits of explorers, 

 could stand such a journey without more or less material 

 discomfort. 



Once only did 1 learn the lesson of caution. I took oil' 

 my right mitten in attempting to get a shot at a passing 

 reindeer, the wind blowing stiffly in my face, and the Iher 

 mometcr — :J7 E.. when the persistent refusal of the frozen 

 gunlock lo work perfectly, kept, my hand exposed much 

 " a 1 had intended. When I attempted to use it 

 emed paralyzed, and looking at it. I noticed that 

 'file "as marble. Toolooah, who w-as lie 



r that 



le me, n 



ol iced it 



t the sa 



"■.T'", 1 ,' 1 



between 



r body u 



his war 



icre til 

 re hand 

 As the r 



led ils i 

 I was hoi 



The re 



-indeer C 



unctioi 

 ding on 

 ills that 

 ' the g 

 indeer i 

 lothing 



. and with an Inmiit ex- 

 ile doffing both his mittens, 

 hands, and then hold it against 

 o-k-hiJi, or Esquimau coat. 11 

 and although I felt for some 

 i a hornet's nest. 1 experienced 

 couple of ugly looking blisters 

 bud Come in contact with the 

 aped. 



the warmest in the Arctic, so 

 it makes tin- warmest bedding, two large skins made into a 

 long coffin-like bag or sack, the hair side in, being a smith 

 cieut protection in the coldest weather when in a properly 

 constructed (V/A'c. When the first severe cold came at North 

 Hudson's Bay, 1 was sleeping under a blanket and two fine 

 buffalo robes', which 1 found as the thermometer sank below 



— 80 to — i0 F. to be inadequate to secure eomforl, until 1 

 procured a remdeer sleeping-bag. weighing not half as much, 

 after which cold nights were no longer dreaded. The robe 

 of the American bison seems under the least provocation lo 

 become damp, and then freezes as stiff as a piece of sole- 

 leather. Once spoiled in this manner, it is difficult l,) flr .V 

 il and restore it io its former pliability in the low tempera- 

 ture of an igloo. The furs of the beaver and mu.skrat I found 

 to lie equally unsuitable in our mode of life, and I believe 

 that all the' other furs of the temperate zone would have 

 shared the same opinion if tested in the same practical way, 

 I have said in my former articles that we started on our 

 main sledge journev of the expedition ou the 1st of April, 

 in 1879. As early as the -tth we had the cheering sight of a 

 small herd of reindeer, although none were secured, owing 

 to the barking of the dogs, but next dav 



e out of 

 ril our larder 

 jdeer. 



would 



break 

 • Ihr 



Toolooah killing two and doe Ebierbhi 

 a small band All through the month of Apr 

 was constantly replenished by a fair supply of t 

 which allowed us to save our civilized pro\ IsiollS al 

 1 1 n-ii i a chance to disappear by a slow arithmetical 

 sum as the native diet was assumed, so lhat the lath 

 not lie forced upon us as a repulsive uovellv. 0( 

 a t) insisted mainly of boiled reindeer meat so, 

 or four pounds to each adult, followed by the b 

 which was thus derived, thickened by a few crumbs of hare 

 bread. Our suppers were the same "prefaced, however, by 

 a good, generous supply of frozen reindeer meat, which wi 

 ate while wc were waiting for the kettle to boil. This frozei 

 meat was chopped off with a hatchet into chunks aboui 

 the size of the three fingers and then generally mashed by 

 the back of the hatchet to convert it into brashy shreds be 

 fore being chewed. The first effect upon taking this ink 



the mouth is lo chill one through, often making the teeth 



Chatter, but the reaction is rapid, and followed by a gcuia 

 warmth all over the body, especially if a genei'OUS Supply ol 

 tlie frozen reindeer tallow [food-noo) has been taken with it 

 and w liii-li is always the case if they have it. Freezing may 

 lie said to be one method of cooking, and reindeer meat tbii 

 eaten tastes not unlike compressed corned beef without tin 

 saltish taste of that article No attempt was ever made by 

 us 10 salt it. although we had that necessary condimen" 

 along with us. One" can soon aeCUStom themsel 

 without this when eating frozen meat, re-, 

 cooked in the pot Seal and walrus meat tastes much saltie 



