302 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 17. 1883. 



still with dark pines. Scarcely a sound disturbed the quiet, of 

 the night. The lone drawn howl of the coyote was silent, 

 but in the oeei/uio, the water murmured softly its little 

 song. All this our hero observed and enjoyed: but 

 as the sweet smell of the stacks reached his nostrils he 

 remembered that life was not made for dreaming, and walk- 

 up to the corral, he leaned against it, and with scarcely an 

 effort, threw down half a dozen lengths of fence. Then he 

 entered ami began to eat Mr. Black's hay. 



Willie all this was going on. a grizzly of remarkable size 

 and ferocity was pursuing his way down a canon toward 

 tin corral. He did not stop to contemplate the calm 

 loveliness of the night, but went hurriedly along, for he was 

 hungry and lie remembered a particularly large and fat calf 

 that he had twice unsuccessfully tried to catch. This time 

 he vowed lie would secure it. The corral reached, he found 

 1 1 Fence down, and entering, looked about him. There, 

 beyond ttie slacks, in the moonlight, reposed most of the 

 cattle, but nearer, and in the shadow, he saw the round but- 

 tocks of what he supposed to be the coveted fat calf. 

 Quietly he slipped up behind it, and rose on his hind feet to 

 seize it, when suddenly a pair of heels flew up from the 

 ground. One of these hit Bruin directly under the chin, 

 breaking his jaw and teeth, and causing him to see 1,500,000 

 more stars than were at that moment visible in the heavens; 

 the other broke his right foreleg. The patient burro then 

 laid back bis ears, and proceeded to further maltreat the 

 unfortunate and astonished bear, and with so much energy 

 did lie carry on the assault; that in a short time the wretched 

 beast was chewed and kicked into those ursine happy hunt- 

 ing grounds, where, it is to be presumed, the jackass brays 

 not and his long ears are never seen. The bear being dead, 

 the burro went back to the stacks, and, as he munched Mr. 

 Black's hay, meditated on the mutability of affairs upon 

 this mundane sphere, aud especially on the uncertainly of 



life. 



The sun rose bright and clear over Bull Creek next morn- 

 ing, and shone upon two individuals who left their respec- 

 tive dwellings at about the same hour. They wereMr. Black, 

 who wished to inspect his cattle, aud Mr. Opic, who was 

 anxious to find his jack. In due course they met at Mr. 

 Black's corral. There lay the King of the Mountains 

 dead ; there stood the somewhat scratched aud torn butto, 

 revolving many things in his mind, and still eating the hay. 

 There could be no question as to what had taken place. The 

 modest and shrinking ass had, single-handed, slain the 

 terror of the district. As was most natural, Mr. Opie forth- 

 with made a demand upon Mr. Black for the $50 reward, 

 which the hitter declined to pay until the owner of the jack 

 should produce a power of attorney or assignment to him of 

 the donkey's claim, and more than this, Mr. Black then and 

 there handed to Mr. Opie a bill for $25 damages to corral 

 and value of hay eaten. When the owner of the jack re- 

 ceived this document, you might have knocked him down 

 with a feather, he was so overwhelmed at the brazen audac- 

 ity of the claim. He vowed that there was neither faith, 

 truth, nor gratitude in v- Black, aud hurrying to town, 

 proceeded to bring suit against him for the full amount of 

 the rewind. His complaint set forth the facts of the offer- 

 ing of the reward, the killing of the bear, and the further fact 

 that the jackass is his lawful property, and therefore he prays 

 judgment in his favor for $50 and costs of suit. Mr. Black, 

 in his answer admits the allegations of the complaint, but 

 avers that the reward was offered to any person killing the 

 bear; that the jack is not a person within the meaning of 

 the statute, and that if he were Mr. Opie i3 not his legal 

 guardian, and in default of a power of attorney or any 

 assignment is not entitled to sue for the recovety of his 

 claim. He further alleges that Mr. Opie, owning the burro, 

 is responsible for the damage done to his corral, Wherefore 

 lie prays judgment in his favor for $25 and his costs in the 

 action. 



We are bound to confess that, while our sympathies are 

 wholly with Mr. Opie, we think it extremely doubtful 

 if he can recover the reward for which he sues. Even 

 the lay mind may espy one fatal defect in his com- 

 plaint, which will, we fear, render his suit hopeless, unless 

 he obtains leave to amend. The complaint should have 

 averred that the jack was a trained animal, and had been 

 taught to kill bears, and that on the particular evening of 

 the slaughter, his owner had said to him "Jack, there will 

 very likely be a bear at Black's corral to-night, just go up 

 and kill him for me;" that pursuant to these directions, the 

 jack had gone to the corral; that the fence had been lorn 

 down by the bear, and not by the burro, and that for 

 the value of the hay eaten, he was willing to pay. We 

 opine that had the complaint been framed so as to include 

 these allegations, Mr. Opie would have had a fair chance of 

 success. The court would no doubt hold that should a man 

 send out his hound to catch a fox. and the capture 

 be made, the dog's owner would be the slayer of 

 the animal, aud, if a reward had been offered 

 for its capture by any person, no assignment or 

 power of attorney would be required from the hound, any 

 more than one would lie asked for from the gun had the 

 animal been shot. So, if a sheep stealer were to send his 

 collie to cut outa hundred animals from a bunch belonging 

 to another, even though the dog's owner did not appear on 

 the scene at all, he would be the thief. Clearly if Mr. Opie 

 had put his jack on the trail of the bear, had followed him 

 with cheers aud shouts of encouragement, and been in at the 



death, the killing would have been his act and deed. But 

 it is not stated in the complaint that anything of this kind 

 took place. So far as appears, the jack killed the bear of his 

 own motion, and for his own pleasure and satisfaction, just 

 as a greyhound might start out and kill a hare for its 

 amusement, or a setter dog catch a woodcock or a quail. 

 Hence we consider Mr. Opie's case weak. 



Another point, hardly less interesting, arises. To whom 

 does the slain bear belong? Evidently the game has been 

 reduced to possession, and by the burro; yet it cannot be his, 

 because the law of the land does not recognize the right of 

 a dumb animal to hold personal — or, for the matter of that, 

 real — property. It does not belong to Mr. Black — although 

 captured on his land — for he had nothing to do with the 

 killing; nor to Mr. Opie — though his burro killed it — for it 

 does not appear that the latter was ordered to catch it, nor 

 was Opie in pursuit at the time. There is a vast oppor- 

 tunity for argument opened up by the present case, and it 

 is a question that we must really turn over to our legal and 

 judicial readers to work out. It is certainly to be hoped 

 that the points at issue may be carried up to the highest 

 courts for settlement, in order that the rights of men who 

 own jackasses accustomed to kill grizzly bears may in 

 future be properly protected. 



TUAP-SnuOTIXQ 1'TUEO NX. 



I3UBLIC attention in this 

 -*- been directed more th;i 



try and abroad has of late 

 a- before to the subject of 

 the trap-shooting of pigeons. The practice has been brought 

 to popular notice by the large tournaments, particularly 

 such as have been held in the vicinity of cities where the 

 public press has commented upon them, and by certain bills 

 to prohibit trap-shooting, introduced into the legislative 

 assemblies. In several States these bills have become law. 



We arc not among the alarmists who frantically declaim 

 that these various anti-trap-shooting movements are porten- 

 tous of nothing less than the downfall of the American 

 republic and the total eclipse in darkest gloom of all our 

 modern civilization. We have faith to believe that our free 

 institutions would survive the shock. Nor do we see in the 

 proposals to abolish pigeon shooting a menace to field sports- 

 manship ; to so construe them is to find an interpretation wholly 

 untenable. Shooting a bird sprung from the trap aud shooting 

 a bird flushed in the field are two distinct things, the difference 

 between which is recognized by the public and by sportsmen. 

 Among the latter there is a very wide divergence of opinion 

 respecting the merits of the trap-shooting of pigeons; many 

 who are most enthusiastic in praise aud practice of field 

 shooting do not approve of pigeon trap-shooting as it is 

 generally conducted. 



This simple fact that the opponents of pigeon shooting are 

 found largely among the rank and file of the great army of 

 field sportsmen, is sufficient to prove how absurd is the silly 

 cry of alarm that efforts to suppress pigeon shooting are 

 covert movements directed against all shooting. If those 

 who follow the practice of pigeon shooting wish to hold their 

 ground against the repeated attacks of a growing public 

 sentiment, it is nothing less than sheer folly to misjudge aud 

 misrepresent the true nature of that sentiment. Instead of 

 mistaking it for something which it is not, the wiser course 

 would be to determine exactly what this feeling is and the 

 grounds upon which it is based. These cannot be removed 

 by boisterous buncombe of defiance; but the opposition may 

 fie allayed by freeing trap-shooting from the cruel practices 

 which often attend it. These are by no means so common 

 nor so numerous as they have been in the past; there has 

 been a change for the better. The barbarous maiming of the 

 birds.which was the chief disgrace of pigeon shooting, is now, 

 so far as we know, approved by no respectable club, whereas 

 formerly much of it passed as reputable and proper. This 

 particular form of cruelty, such as there is left of it, is most 

 often the act of the handler, done without the intention or 

 know ledge of the shooter. In fact, as at present conducted 

 the trap-shooting of pigeons is attended with far less actual 

 physical suffering of wounded birds than is ordinary field- 

 shooting. How then is the opposition to it to be explained ? 



Poison- in Canned Goods.— Considerable space in the 

 daily press has been devoted recently to the question as to 

 whether canned goods are, or are not, wholesome. Those 

 who believe that they are not assert that the acids in the 

 organic matter contained in the cans acls upon the tin, de- 

 composing it and forming a violent, irritant poison. On 

 the other hand, attention is called to the vast amount of 

 canned goods annually consumed, and the fact that few or 

 no deaths can be traced to this cause. One side shows 

 analyses of canned goods which are evidently poisonous, 

 and the other denies the correctness of such analyses. So 

 the battle rages, now backward, now forward. We shall 

 watch with interest the outcome of the dispute. Canned 

 goods form so important a part of most camping and yacht- 

 ing stores, that it is in the highest degree essential that we 

 should know all about them. 



\ht Sportsttfun H£onri$L 



THE LOVE OF NATURE. 



piTIEFEST amid earth's manifold delights, 

 Hid though it be from the unwary eye, 

 Ever ennobling as its joy incites, 

 Sweet peace bestowing from the earth and sky ; 

 The love of Nature hath an influence holy— 

 Never denied e'en unto the lowly- 

 Usurping not, save barer passion's seat, 

 Teaching all hearts with kindlier life to beat. 



Heaven sends a calm into the troubled heart — 

 Into its deep^ a Messed peace descends, 

 Like dew upon the bud that meekly bends- 

 Like midnight silence in the midday mart. 



Retire unto the woodland or the shore — 

 _ Each wave a symbol of our earthly life I 

 Seek friend in bird or bee, communion more 

 Exalting than our wonted strife: 

 Repose upon the hillside, 'neath the pine; 

 Voices shall soothe thee— aye, a voice divine, 

 O earth-aweary soul, shall whisper ""Peace" 

 Into thy heart., dispelling every care — 

 Rest Nature gives, for Clod is there. 



NIMROD IN THE NORTH. 



BV LIETJT. FRED'K SCHWATKA. TJ. S. AKMY. 



VI.— Dogs and Dog-Sledging-Part Two. 



A TEAM of dogs means anything from a couple up to as 

 £\- many as can" be hitched" to a"" sledge, seal, walrus or 

 carcass of a musk ox, polar bear or reindeer, according to 

 what is to be dragged, for on the hard, marble-like snows of 

 the Arctic winter, any animal with Its hair on makes a good 

 enough sled of its own when dragged head foremost, to dis- 

 pense with that vehicle except for long distances. The 

 manner of bitching these teams varies considerably with the 

 country. In Siberia, the Hudson Bay country and Alaska, 

 they are placed one after the other m double or single tiles as 

 shown in Figs. 1 and 2. In North Hudson's Bay and the 



FIG. I. 



Ip> <gag ,< g^ g 



il > C-> iSsX> 



Arctic Ocean around King William's Land where my travels 

 were cast, I found the dogs hitched with traces of unequal 

 length so as to make a V, the point forward, as shown in 

 Fig. 3, the angle of the V being filled with dogs also. In 



Greenland I understand that the harness traces are of equal 

 length and the dogs therefore spread out fan-shape as in 

 Fig. 4. The dog at the point of the V is called the leader 



Our Readers will confer a favor by sending us the names 

 of audi of their friends as are not now among ilw subscribers 

 of the Forest mp STREAM, but wl(o would presuemdAy he 

 interested in the. paper. 



aud is generally the most intelligent of the gang, although 

 not necessarily the strongest and the best. It is only neces- 

 sary that he or she should understand the tones of the voice 

 of the driver as to when he wants to go to the right or to the 

 left, when he wants to halt, go ahead, fast or slow, as all the 

 dog's are regulated by the movements of the leader, and he 

 or she is solely regulated by the driver's voice, sometimes 

 assisted by gently striking "the snow near its right or left 

 side to emphasize certain commands. 



These vocal commands of the Hudson Bay dog-drivers 

 are the most fearful gibberish and tongue-twisting articula- 

 tions I have ever heard, and although some Arctic writers 

 have essayed to imitate it in English orthography, I will not 

 attempt it, for I would just as soon try to give my readers 

 the sound of thunder, a hen's cackling, or a wagon on a cor- 

 duroy road by notes of music as to attempt this. I have 

 never scon a white man that could imitate them well enough 

 BO far that the dogs would understand it, and therefore 

 hardly think it right to essay it so that my readers could. 

 One or two of them are simple enough, however, as our 

 whoa-a-a! long drawn out, means, steady! as you are! or a 

 sort of sign of vocal encouragements and sounds funny 

 enough at first when you hear it, to see the dogs go right on 

 as if nothing had been said at all. In ordinary tradings a 

 leader is considered to be worth two common dogs, and if he 

 or she be of unusual intelligence, three. 



1 have already spoken of the feed used in the Arctic for 

 their dogs, in describing walrus hide (kow) aud kelp fish that 

 are caught in the natural fish traps by the rise and fall of 

 the tide. Should the carcass of a flensed whale— or one 

 that has had its blubber stripped from it by the whalers— be 

 cast ashore near their village, the dogs will belucky. indeed, 

 for if it be only of fair size there will always be enough dog 

 food for seyeral months at command. The natives say that 

 when pressed with hunger in the summer months the dogs 

 will devour large quantities of mud from the shores of the 

 fresh water lakes, and thus manage to prevent starvation 

 until something eatable turns up. Early in the spring — 

 that is early for their climate, say June— when the 

 young reindeer fawns are not strong enough for a 

 long run, it is not an uncommon occurrence for a hunt- 

 ing dog to disappear from camp in a thickly supplied 

 reindeer country and to be gone for several days, subsisting 

 off of the young fawns. Parseneuk, a splendid, swift hunting 

 dog of ours, disappeared at one time from us just before we 

 moved to King William's Land, and coming back on th 



