264 



RECREATION 



tion no set plans had been made in advance, and 

 it was understood that the selection of a camping 

 place was to be left largely to chances. 



The President was admiral-in-chief of the little 

 flotilla, and with his boat a couple of hundred feet 

 in the lead determined the course the others were 

 to follow. With him were his young son, Archie, 

 and two sons of the Landon family, which resides 

 on an estate near Sagamore Hill. 



Theodore, Jr., had charge of the second boat. 

 With him was his younger brother, Kermit. The 

 third boat was manned by Philip, Jack, and George 

 Roosevelt, sons of Emlen Roosevelt, the President's 

 cousin. In the fourth boat were two sons of J. 

 West Roosevelt. 



The boats were loaded down to their gunwales 

 with tents and other camping utensils. There was 

 a large suply of meat and other edibles to be 

 cooked over the camp fires. 



The President entered with great vim into all 

 the preparations for the quaint adventure. He 

 personally superintended the loading of supplies, 

 and looked to every detail of the fitting out of the 

 little fleet with as much zest and earnestness as if 

 he had been preparing for an important naval ex- 

 pedition. Although the dominating idea of these ex- 

 cursions is merely to give the President's children 

 the healthy outdoor life the President enjoyed for 

 so many years in the West, and to have everybody 

 in the party get an object lesson in "roughing it," 

 the President wants nothing left undone that could 

 be done to provide for the safety of the expedition. 



To-night scores in Oyster Bay are down on the 

 , water front gazing seaward for the gleam of the 

 President's campfire. There is nothing so far to 

 tell where the camp has been established. He has 

 generally camped somewhere in the vicinity of 

 Lloyd's Point on the Sound. 



The first test to confront the party will be the 

 preparation of supper from the stock of provisions 

 taken along. Then over the campfire the Presi- 

 dent spends a couple of hours telling the youngsters 

 reminiscences of his hunting trips, while the younger 

 members of the party undoubtedly will be looking 

 with anxious eyes to the bushes for the bears and 

 other wild beasts conjured up by the story. Then 

 everybody rolls himself in a blanket and goes to 

 sleep while the glowing embers of the fire die. 



The President and his party will eat an al fresco 

 breakfast on the camping ground. At 10 o'clock 

 camp will be broken and the President will return 

 to Sagamore Hill and his official duties. 



REPTILIAN STRATEGY. 



Editor Recreation : 



In accordance with your suggestion, I am 

 sending you a little sketch of a somewhat 

 interesting exhibition of reptilian strategy 

 observed by me in California. 



It was hot, dry, June. Johnny Wilson, a 

 Yosemite Indian guide, and myself, were 

 plodding drippingly up the long slope of the 

 mountains south of the Merced river, going 

 from Yosemite Valley to a ranch near Mari- 

 posa to drive in another bunch of trail horses 

 for the Kenny saddle train. There were 

 Manganita and chinquepin bushes along the 

 sides of the trail above and below us. 



Suddenly Wilson grunted an ejaculation, 

 pointing to the road ahead with a manifes- 

 tation of interest so unusual from a full- 

 blood Digger as to claim my instant atten- 

 tion. 



What he saw was a snake-like monstros- 

 ity with a big, brownish-green doughnut on, 

 its head, gliding swiftly across the trail. 

 Quickly the queer reptile writhed itself un- 

 der the clump of chinquepins. Sliding from 

 my horse, I crept to the spot where Mr. 

 Delirium Tremens had disappeared, pre- 

 pared for battle only with a limp switch I 

 had been carrying as a persuader. Peering 

 into the bushes, I perceived the thing which 

 for the shadow of an instant had put a crimp 

 in the everlasting placidity of Wilson's emo- 

 tional center. It was only a four-foot blue 

 racer {Bascanium constrictor), but the odd 

 lump on its neck was interesting. The head 

 of a nine-inch "keel-backed" lizard (Gcrr- 

 honotus multicarnanatus) was gripped firmly 

 in the serpent's jaws. The saurian had 

 curled his body about the snake's head, seiz- 

 ing hold of his own tail near the body with 

 his own mouth, thus forming a fat bracelet 

 four inches in diameter around the snake's 

 neck. 



On account of the bushes I could not strike 

 a blow, but a flourish of my switch caused 

 the forager to drop his prey and slither 

 away out of sight. I raked the lizard into 

 the road, scratching and clinging to twigs 

 and lumps of dirt. He continued to clutch 

 desperately his own caudal adornment. It 

 was a most instructive example of passive 

 resistance to overwhelming force. There 

 was a wet spot on the back of his head, or 

 neck, where the snake had held him. No 

 amount of tormenting would persuade the 

 lizard to take his mind or teeth off his own 

 body and we finally left him in his egotistic 

 stubbornness literally "wrapped up in him- 

 self." 



Obviously the curled-up lump of lizard 

 would not have been a convenient morsel 

 for even a very much larger snake to swal- 

 low. Was this action upon the part of the 

 four-legged reptile, which so effectually pro- 

 tected him from becoming the repast of his 

 legless relative, attributable to intelligence, 

 instinct or accident? 



Perhaps some of your readers widely ex- 

 perienced of snakes and things will answer, 



Herbert Johnson. 



