FOREST AND STREAM. 



339 



es that pass current among trappers in the north would 

 lone till a volume, and they are quite a match for those 

 ti t Olaus Magnus set down in his book centuries ago. 

 How much wiser are we in our generation? Is there any 

 thin* new under the sun? But we need not go beyond the 

 Licit fact to be impressed with the extraordinary wit of 

 the beast, whom all concur in conceding to be "as cunning 

 as the very devil." 



With so much for the tricks and the manners of the beast 

 behind our backs, roaming at will in his vast solitudes, 

 what of hi? actions in the presence of man? It is said 

 that if one only stands still, even in full view of an ap- 

 proaching carcajou, he will come within 50 or 60 yards, 

 provided'he be to windward, before he takes the alarm. 

 Even then, if he be not warned by sense of smell, he seems 

 in doubt, and will gaze earnestly several times before he 

 finally concludes to take himself off. On these and simi- 

 lar occasions he has a sir gular habit— one not shared so far 

 as I am aware, by any other beast whatever. He sits on 

 his haunches, and shades his eyes with one of his f orepaws, 

 iust as a human being would do in scrutinizing a dim or 

 distant object. The carcajou then, in addition to his other 

 and varied accomplishments, is a perfect skeptic— to use 

 this word in its original signification. A skeptic, with the 

 Greeks, was simply one who would shade his eyes to see 

 more clearly. To this day, in sign langauge among some 

 of the North American Indians, placing the hand to the 

 forehead signifies "white man" — either in allusion to his 

 habit, or to the shade given the eyes by the straight, vizor 

 of the military cap which the Indians see oftener than they 

 desire. Mr. Lockwood .writes that he has twice been eye 

 witness of this curious habit of the wolverene. Once, as 

 he was drifting down stream in a small canoe, he came 

 within a short distance of one of the animals on the bank; 

 it stopped on perceiving him, squatted on its haunches, and 

 peered earnestly at the advancing boat, holding one fore- 

 paw over its eyes in the manner described. Not seeming 

 to take alarm, it proceeded on a few paces, and then stop- 

 ped to repeat the performance, when Mr. Lockwood, now 

 sufficiently near, fired and killed the beast. On another 

 occasion when the same gentleman was crossing the Rocky 

 Mountains, a wolverene, which had become alarmed- and 

 was making off, stopped frequently and put up his paw in 

 the same manner, in order to see more clearly the nature of 

 that which had disturbed him. 



On other occasions the wolverene displays more boldness 

 than this in the presence of man. It has been known to 

 seize upon the carcase of a deer, and suffer itself to be shot, 

 rather than relinquish possession, though the hunter had 

 approached within 20 yards of his game. When pressed 

 by the pangs of hunger, still bolder exploits are sometimes 

 performed, as in the instance narrated by Capt. J. C. Ross. 

 In the dead of an Arctic winter, his' ship's company were 

 surprised by a visit from a wolverene, which clambered 

 over the snow wall surrounding the vessel and came boldly 

 on deck among the men. Forgetful of its safety in the ex- 

 tremity of its need for food, the animal seized a canister of 

 meat, and suffered himself to be noosed while eating. 



CAMPING ON THE 



For Forest and Stream. 

 KANKAKEE. 



U 



OW boys, shove her off," was the order that came 

 from one of a group, the leader of a party of 

 three, who had just launched their boat after a cruise of 

 twenty miles on the bosom of the Kankakee river. "I 

 wonder if the fish will bite as well as they used to," con- 

 tinued the same speaker. "They took very freely when 

 I was here about eight years ago." 



The boat in which the three young hunters were about 

 to start was one of those flat-bottomed constructions called 

 a scow, capable of holding four very comfortably, with 

 all their camping out "fixings." These consisted of the 

 usual appurtenances that a party requires on either a shoot- 

 ing or fishing excursion, namely, a good canvas tent and 

 a cooking stove after the newest patent— that is, one fitted 

 up with all necessary articles, which can easily be packed 

 again in the same space. Now to enumerate the members 

 of the party as they take their seats in the boat : Harry 

 Babcock, the leader and orginator of the expedition, who 

 took his place in the centre of the boat, was a young man 

 about thirty years of age, 5 feet 8 inches in height, with a 

 well-knit frame, dark hair and blue eyes, a good oarsman 

 and a dead shot. Next to him comes Tom Brown, 

 two inches taller than Babcock, but not by any means as 

 strong, of fair complexion and light hair and eyes. He 

 was pcfr excellence the fisherman of the party, though his 

 rather exciteable nature and want of patience prevented 

 him from securing some of the fish which he had the 

 good fortune to hook, while Griffith, the youngest of the 

 b'iad, was more like his leader than his other companion, 

 though shorter than him by three inches. He was a good 

 oarsman and a sure shot, and like Harry, very much tan- 

 ked by exposure to the sun; his place was at the bow. 

 there was another member of the party whom I must not 

 forget —Harry's dog Dash. He was a black setter of the 

 Irish breed, and very fond of his master, whose side he 

 never left. This was his first trip out west, Babcock hav- 

 1D g brought him along to break him on English snipe, 

 ^'hich he knew were to be found in plenty on the marshes 

 bordering the stream. 

 This river, which runs through parts of the States of 

 ihnoisand Indiana, is very picturesque in some parts, and 

 ^ others quite the reverse, owing to the flatness of the 

 surrounding country, which is one vast marsh for 

 wiles on either side, then, all of a sudden, its banks are 



darkened by the heavy forests of Indiana, which fringe 

 the stream for a considerable distance, while now and then 

 an opening glade gives a glimpse of the blue sky above. 

 The river itself is winding and rapid, being deep in many 

 places and in others quite shallow, so much so, indeed, 

 that boats cannot pass over, and have to be carried by 

 their occupants. In other places the wild rice grows all 

 across the shallows, this generally occurring when the sur- 

 rounding land lies low, uninteresting to the e^ e, but forming 

 the home of myriads of wild fowl of all sorts. There are 

 also plenty of fish in the stream, chiefly pickerel and black 

 and speckled bass. 



The boat, having been successfully launched, Will, sta- 

 tioned in the bow, kept a sharp look out for ducks, while 

 Harry pulled slowly in order to enable Tom, who was 

 seated in the stern, to put out a troll, so that between them 

 they might furnish enough for a satisfactory dinner and 

 supper. They had not proceeded past half a dozen benus 

 of the stream, when the report of Will's gun caused Har- 

 ry to stop and turn round to see what he had fired at, 

 and on looking ahead he saw a duck of the mallard spe- 

 cies lying on the water. "By jove! that's a mallard," he 

 cried; "lean tell him even from here 'by the briglitness of 

 his plumage," an assertion which proved correct. "I tell 

 you what, Will, if we were to anchor under this bank in 

 the afternoon we would get any amount of shots, for I 

 judge by the quantity of wild rice here that the evening 

 flight of ducks must be quite large." "Very true," re- 

 plied his friend, "so I propose— provided we don't find 

 anything better — to camp here on the night of, our return. 

 Its but a short distance from here to where Jack is to meet 

 ua with the wagon, and we can easily do it in a morning's 

 pull. See! there goes a flock over yonder clump of wil- 

 lows, and they are all mallards too. I bet they will light 

 not far from here." 



Our party pulled on in silence till Tom suddenly cried 

 out, "I've got him this time," and commenced to haul in 

 hi3 line, which proved on a nearer view to be weighted 

 with a three-pound pickerel, and in a few seconds he flung 

 his victim flopping to the bottom of the boat, much to the 

 disgust of Dash, who, not liking the sundry flops he re- 

 ceived, got up and retired to the other side of his mas- 

 ter. "What a beauty he is," exclaimed Harry, admiringly, 

 "I'll bet he is over three pounds. "If you will puH nearer 

 the shore and keep about an oar's length from those lilies 

 yonder I'll get another bite," said Tom. "I wish the river 

 bad not so many turns in it, for I could do much better if 

 I had a longer line out. How do you like those new 

 spoons I have? Do you think they are as good a* the old 

 pattern?" No, I do not," replied Harry, "I like the old 

 sort best, and I've killed more fish with them. Now while 

 you are getting your hook out of that fish, I'll row up and 

 get that duck Will has shot. What a beauty he is!" and a 

 few strokes of his paddle brought him alongside ot the 

 quarry. "I say, Griffith, you've hit him hard, for both his 

 wings are broken," he remarked. "I'm sorry, for I would 

 have tried to stuff him to-night in camp and take him back 

 east with me, as a memento to a friend of mine who wants 

 one. "A lady friend, I presume," said Will. "Is that the 

 young party whose photograph you showed me the other- 

 day ? "Which do you mean?" inquired Harry, "for I have 

 a good many ladies' photographs?" "I mean the one with 

 the overtowering hat on; you're a sly fellow, wanting to 

 pretend you don't know which I mean." "Frankly, Harry, 

 were vou ever in love?" "Oh! don't talk nonsense, Will, 

 you know I am too fond of my liberty and hunting to tie 

 myself down to any woman, though 1 don't deny that I 

 have been in love once in my life. 1 made a fool of my- 

 self, for the girl never cared two straws for me, though 

 she'led me to believe she did. Some time at night, over 

 our camp fire I'll tell you about it; but now, if I don't mis- 

 take, we are coming near that low land I spoke of this 

 morning, which will afford us some good snipe shooting. 

 There it is over yonder; now who is going to stay with the 

 boat? Tom, you don't care to shoot snipe, so you had 

 better remain; Will and myself will try it for a couple of 

 bours. Hie over, Dash, and hunt close, old boy. Ah! 

 that's a good lookout for birds," he exclaimed, as each 

 shot down a snipe right and left; "We are in luck, Will." 

 Our two hunters returned after a couple of hours, "What 

 do you think of this, Tom?" asked Will. "Harry has 58 

 and your humble servant 30 birds. Harry would have had 

 more only his shot gave out, and I did not bring enough 

 for my gun." "Well, I've not been idle in your absence, 

 as you may see, Will," said Tom, and our hunters on look- 

 ing into the boat saw the proof of his assertion, for there 

 lay ten fine speckled bass. "You've done well, Tom," said 

 Will. "I wish that we could camp here to-night," remarked 

 Babcock, "I'd like to try this marsh again to-morrow, and 

 would were it not that we run a great risk of catching the 

 chills and fever. Heigho! I suppose we must start; t'will 

 take us some time to reach that clump of trees. Will, it's 

 your turn now to take the oars. I'll take your place at 

 the bow and keep a sharp lookout for ducks." So on they 

 went, and by the time they reached thetimber spoken of 

 Harry had shot some twenty ducks, and Tom had brought 

 on board half-a-dozen fine pickerel. "Let us land here," 

 said Will, "and pitch our camp; we can erect our tent un- 

 der those big trees. They will serve to keep off the rain, 

 which, if I mistake not from the looks of the horizon, we 

 shall presently Lave." Accordingly our party having land- 

 ed, proceeded at once to pitch their tent. After doing so 

 the next thing was to attend to the fire; so they commenced 

 to look around for a good sized piece of wood to form 

 what is called a back log, which serves to keep the fire in 

 all night. This having been procured after some trouble 

 and put in its proper place in front of the tent, sufficiently 



far away to prevent an excess of heat, very soon they had 

 a good fire crackling away. It being now nearly sunset, 

 and just the time for the evening flight of ducks, Harry 

 and Will started off for the nearest bend in the river, leav- 

 ing Tom to attend to the preparations for supper, and 

 promising to be back by dark- They had quite a long 

 stretch of woods to pass through before they came to the 

 bend, and night had settled down before they returned, 

 but they had some splendid sport. They found Tom and 

 a good supper of fried fish and broiled ducks, which he 

 had cooked, and they were not slow to attack the viands. 

 After supper was finished and the party then retired for 

 the night, one staying up for an appointed time, at the ex- 

 piration of which he would call one of the others, who 

 would take his turn, and again be relieved by the third. In 

 the morning the friends reluctantty turned their faces 

 homewards, and arrived safely at the point from which 

 they started. Here they found Jack and the wagon wait- 

 ing. Then came the counting of all they had shot, which 

 amounted to 164 ducks and 117 snipe, as well as three doz- 

 en pickerel and a dozen bass, all of which were safely 

 stowed away in the wagon and the horses' heads turned 

 for hom«. 



Now, my readers, if you wish to enjoy similar sport you 

 must go out west for it. The writer has tried all points of 

 the compass, and has never been able to find better sport 

 than the Western States afford. Should any of you con- 

 template a like expedition you must be prepared to rough 

 it in more ways than one, but if you love sport you will b# 

 amply repaid for all fatigue and hardship. 



Charles Matthews. 



"Hold the Four."— Why talk of hard limes and lack 

 of work when the following advertisement appears in the 

 Clipper: "I want a man of courage, who is willing to take 

 chances, to take charge of and hold a disputed dilver claim 

 in Mexico. Free transportation there, and good compensa- 

 tion will be allowed. No labor— nerve the only qualifica- 

 tion requisite." 



A 



A RAID INTO BUTLER. 



Editor Forest and Stream: — 



Agreeably to promise, I send you some notes concerning 

 a recent hunting incursion into the Slipperyrock region, in 

 the neighboring county of Butler. 



Leaving this place at 7 a. m. on the Atlantic and Great 

 Western Road, we reach Shenango Junction in a few min- 

 utes, which point is the northern terminus of the Shenango 

 and Allegheny road, connecting the oil and coal fields of 

 Butler with the longer routes on the north and west. At 

 Shenango we are joined by our companion, John Homer, 

 who succeeded in missing the train at Greenville, but "got 

 his work in" nobly over the tides, just in time to be on 

 hand to hear the conductor's significant "All Aboard." 

 Our party thenceforward consisted of our two selves, and 

 two dogs— one a pup, belonging to the subscriber, who, 

 before our hunt was through with, showed himself to be 

 worthy of his training. The distance from Shenango to our 

 objective point, (Centerville Station,) was about 35 mile?, 

 which, through the agreeable treatment of conductor and 

 breakman, and the excellent accomodations generally, was 

 as pleasant a ride as we remember having taken for some 

 time. 



At Centerville we took to the woods, having some three 

 miles to make "over land," in order to reach the mecca of 

 every true sportsman who journe}^ down that way. The 

 hospitable home of Mr. John Keuster, an honest Pennsylva- 

 nia Dutchman. But we did'nt wa'.k these three miles for 

 nothing— we got several rabbits along the route, besides get- 

 ting deuced hungry. But all was more than lovely upon reach- 

 ing Keuster's mill. The worthy host met us at the door and 

 shook us heartily, strangers as we were, though my com- 

 panion had felt that hearty shake repeatedly before. An 

 old'fashioned country dinner was now steaming before us 

 altogether to our satisfaction. Whether it was owing to 

 that dinner or to the inclemency of the weather, wo can't 

 say, but certain it is we didn't take to the woods worth a 

 cent that afternoon, but rather preferred to hang around 

 the comfortable quarters of the jolly miller. And to- 

 further encourage this neglect of duty, some neighbors 

 dropped in conveniently during the evening, and then it 

 was "euchre cards" until the "weesma' morns ayant the 

 twae." 



But next morning we got downjto business. We rowed 

 across the Slipperyrock in a skiff, to the thickets on the op- 

 posite side, where pheasants and rabbits most do congre- 

 gate, and returned toward evening with well- filled bao-s. Id. 

 our tramp we came across an abandoned camp on the bank 

 of the stream, which a few weeks before had been occupied 

 by a party of hunters and fishermen from Greenville, 

 among them your piscatorial correspondent, "Amateur 

 Angler ." The headquarters of the party consisted in two 

 old log shanties, joined like the Siamese twins, with a 

 covered passage way, and selected quite out of humanity's 

 reach. In fact, it seemed like a very "lunyum" place, and 

 after taking in the situation, we thought we could realize 

 their woeful tales of strange noises in the night— how that 

 they would lie on the pallets of straw listening to the 

 screams of the catamounts at the shanty's door, expecting 

 that every moment would be their next. Their only relief 

 was to pile on the wood and make the blaze shoot out of 

 the chimney— for the establishment was supplied with a 

 huge old fashioned fire-place. 



These waters are famed for their abundance of pike* 

 Being until recently quite inaccessible by rail, they have 



