64 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 28, 1882 



were as good hunters as Yellowstone Kelly there would now 

 he scarcely an elk or an antelope left in Montana. 



Skin hunting- in Montana was not carried on to any very 

 great extent until about leu years ago. In the article from 

 which we have already quoted we said: In 1.S72 or '73 a firm 

 of Fort Benton traders, who have since achieved an unenvi- 

 able notoriety by selling arms and amunition to the hostile 

 Sioux, conceived the idea of fitting out parties to kill game 

 for the hides, and the result was so successful that the trade 

 in wild hides has been increasing ever since. 



What now can be done to remedy this stale of affaire? 

 Stringent laws should be enacted, and not only enacted but 

 enforced. Game should not he killed except for food, and 

 then only during the autumn. In other words, no more 

 game should be killed than the hunter can use, and indis- 

 criminate hunting at any and all seasons shoidd be prevented. 

 But we know that legislative bodies move slowly, and that 

 knots in red tape arc as difficult to untie as that of Gordius 

 of old. In the meantime much, very much, may be done by 

 the officers of the army who are stationed on the frontier. The 

 skin hunters, who, of course violate the laws of all the territories 

 which have game laws, may be warned off, arrested, or so 

 annoyed that they will in future sedulously avoid the vicini- 

 ty of posts where they have received such treatment." 



We shall have more to soy on this subject at a later day. 

 It is satisfactory to see that the Territory of Wyoming ap- 

 preciates the importance of game protection and lakes such 

 an advanced position on this matter. It shows that her citizens 

 are intelligent, far -above the average of men, and the older 

 States which are still lagging behind, may well be ashamed 

 to see themselves so far outstripped in this honorable race. 



SPITTING ON THE BAIT. 

 HPHE small boy in the country and the lounger on the city 

 -*- docks, both of whom fish with hand lines, regard it as a 

 point of fishing etiquette to moisten the bait, be it clam or 

 worm, with saliva, hefore imparting that rotary motion to 

 the sinker which hurls the line by centrifugal force into the 

 far waters, where the big fish are supposed to lie. The custom 

 seems also to be part of the ethics of other anglers who are 

 not included in the above classes; and the student of ethnology 

 may be interested to know whence the practice comes. We 

 have long felt that it was a subject worthy of c.ireful 

 research, as are all things which relate to the customs of man- 

 kind in different parts of the earth. 



Whether the youthful Egyptian, who has played "hookey" 

 from his district school and gone fishing among the rushes 

 " on the banks of the Nile for the electrical catfish, Malagfarus 

 eketrirn*, spits on his bait; or whether the juvenile Hi ndo- 

 stanee roaming over the marshy land between Bahar and 

 Patna looking for the climbing parch, that curious member 

 of the family of Labyrinthiform Pharyngeal -;. the Anabcn 

 xcairlent, in the tree tops, throws aloft a bait moistened in 

 this manner, we do not know. The manuscripts found in 

 the crypts of the pyramids are silent upon this subject, but 

 Commander Gorringe, whose opinion is certainly entitled to 

 respect, thinks that a figure on the Central Park obelisk, 

 whilom yclept Cleopatra's Needle, might be interpreted as a 

 hoy in the act of expectoration upon something which might 

 be a fishbait. The writings of the great Jampooter are also 

 silent as to the custom in India. In his learned fourteenth 

 treatise on the Saml Whang Hi Muck Muck, Meen Pun, the 

 Chinese philosopher, distinctly alludes to the custom among 

 the fishers of lake Tong-ling Lou, in the Hoo-nan district, but 

 gives no clue to its origin. 



There can be little doubt that the Esquimaux incantation 

 of spitting upon the water hefore beginning to fish, and utter- 

 ing the magic words: "Soaxsoaxoonagahsoax," is practically 

 an offering to the same divinity of fishes; an invitation to the 

 king of the fishes to come aud he caught. The Patagoniau 

 custom of kissing the bait, and the Icelandic usance of blow- 

 ing upon it, are no doubt all related fornn of the same super- 

 stition. 



Schweinwurst, the celebrated admiral of the Swiss navy, 

 while sailing his fleet up the Matterhorn, records the follow- 

 ing facts: Being sceptical in regard to the virtues of expec- 

 toration upon the viands offered to fishes, or at least wishing 

 to test the matter in a true scientific spirit, he ordered his 

 men to cast their lines from each side of the tpuifl, one side 

 to spit upon the bait and the other to cast without spitting, 

 and set accountants to record the result. With evident 



1 i -ine lie chronicles that there was no difference in the 

 results attained, and to him must be SCGiWded the first 

 truly scientific investigations in this line. He surely es- 

 tablished the fact that upon one occasion, at least, the non- 

 spitters were as successful as the spitlers. Of course those 

 who favor spitting upon the bait may quote the well worn 

 adage that "one swallow don't make a summer," hut they 

 lack statistics to prove that spitting on the bait is of real 

 advantage, for they cannot cite a case -where it has been 

 brought to a test and decided in their favor, as in the case 

 of Schweinwurst, whose precedent is followed to-day by 

 every sailor in the navy of Switzerland, none of whom now 

 spits upon Ins bait. 



In all matters of this kind Forest and Stream is en- 

 tirely unprejudiced and will present all sides of a question, 

 no matter whether it agrees with any preconceived views of 

 its own or not; its principle being the only true scientific 

 one, a desire for truth Hence, we give place to the fol- 

 lowing by an early English writer who quotes John Smith, 



the preserver of Pocahontas. He says: "There be certayn 

 persons who when they fish do spit upon their bayte hi 

 hope 1' propitiating the fishes and thereby causing them to 

 byte more freely, not knowing thai the originator of this 

 custom used the word \spytte" in the sense of runnyngc 

 through, as we spit a fowle before the tire. 'Spytte yr,wormo 

 ypon yi'hooke,' wry tea John Smith from Virginia, and this 

 I thynke me means to yinpale him ypon it." 



Snihh's definition of spitting a worm is very good, as tat- 

 as the English language goes, and we might be inclined to 

 accept it if it were not for the facts which our studies have 

 unearthed, as given above, which show that the custom ob- 

 tains where the English language is unknown, aud con- 

 sequently his deductions arc at fault. We have shown that 

 the custom, while slightly differing in widely separated parts 

 of our earth, has its origin in an antiquity so remote that the 

 only hope of tracing it to its source lies in the discovery of 

 manuscripts more ancient than we now possess, or in a more 

 careful reading of the Runic legends. 



r (lit ^ymim\mi ^aumi 



A MEMORY. 

 T) EMEMBBR thou, dear friend, that winter night, 

 $-*■• When down the lake came keenly the erispsparkle- 

 The long- beams of the icy moon that sparkle, 

 Dazzling the sight ? 



Renieiubei-est thou, dear friend, that lonely state, 

 When from the northern woods the gaunt wolves' how tjii , 

 When the swift air bore shuddering their howling. 

 Demoniac with hate ? 



Johm Prestos 'Erue; 



KEEP UP THE FIGHT. 



IT is not to be gainsayed, but it is greatly to be regretted, 

 that the things not wanted will come in and grow and 

 thrive in spite of all "lord of creation" can firing against 

 them, and the forces of nature which sap the life of the 

 useful plant seem to foster the noxious weed. When the 

 clover and herd's-grass are burned to death with drouth, the 

 weeds flourish. Wild wormwood and pigweed flaunt their 

 grim banners when "the ranks of spiky maize " have rolled 

 up theirs, and daisy and succory blossom wdiile the good 

 grass dies. Who ever saw a sick burdock, or a nettle that 

 had been trampled to death ? 



And it is the same with animals as with plants. The crows 

 hold their own against the warfare of all mankind, while the 

 ranks of the wild ducks year by year grow thinner, and the 

 tick only pleasantly scratches the back of the owl, as tough 

 alive as he proverbially is "bilccl," while he kills the 

 grouse. If migratory quail would but increase as the pesti- 

 lent English sparrows have, what, glorious days for the sports- 

 man! If mosquito "wiggleis" would only grow to be fish, 

 what glorious nibbles instead of such cursed bites! If herd's- 

 grass and clover would but hold their own against daisy and 

 St. John'swort, how would the husbaudrnan rejoice! Yet 

 the farmer keeps up the fight, though it often seems a losing 

 one, and out of the warfare wrests tribute from the soil. 

 Shall the sportsman surrender to the forces which oppose 

 him, and lay aside the rod and gnu? Life is possible and 

 even endurable without a bird to shoot, or a fish to catch, 

 but for some of us it would be vastly less enjoyable under 

 such conditions. Stand fast, then, all ye of the goodly fra- 

 ternity. Uphold the laws for fish and game protection, do 

 missionary work among the masses, and, above all things, set 

 a good example to those whose eyes are upon you, who look 

 to you for their lessons, and will justify their misdeeds by 

 yours. 



, Francis Holmes Sei.uen. — We are deeply pained to learn 

 of the death of Frank H. Selden, who died at his home in 

 Moodus, Conn., Feb. 2. Mr. Selden was assistant editor of 

 the Conmeticttt ViiUci/ AihvrtLier, and was a well-known con- 

 tributor to many other journals, among them the Forest 

 and Stream:. He was gifted with literary abilities of a high 

 order, which, united with a kindly nature that won the re- 

 gard and affection of his associates, promised for him a life of 

 growing honor and influence. The community in which 

 such a man dwells is directly benefited by his upright life; 

 and so must we count his death a public loss. 



Transplanting Quail.— We should he much pleased to 

 hear from clubs and individuals who have received live quail 

 from the South or West to be used for stocking purposes. A 

 comparison of experience cannot fail to be of service in re- 

 spect to further efforts in this direction. We have had seve- 

 ral discouraging reports of large lots of email, of which most 

 have perished. It is desirable to know the percentage of suc- 

 cess attending these most laudable efforts to replenish the 

 supply of game birds. 



EASY READING LESSCTNS-III. 



FOR THE LITTLE READERS OF THE FOREST AND STREAM. 



Hark ! What is That? Is it the Roar of the Sea on the Rock- 

 bouhd ("'oast, or the Bumbling of Thunder? No, it is a Sports- 

 man. Is the Sportsman a Lion or a Bull that he Roars and 

 Bellows? The Sportsman is not a Lion nor a Bull. The 

 Sportsman Bellows because He. is Mad. Why is the Sports- 

 man Mad? The Sportsman is Mad because His Dog is Wild. 

 "Why is the Dog ATild? The Dog is Wild because He has had 

 no "Work. Is it the Dog's Fault that He has had no Work? No, 

 It is the Sportsman's Fault. He has kept the poor Dog on 

 Chain for Three Months, and now He expects Him to work 

 Close and Steadily. Is the Dog Deal' that the Sportsman Bel- 

 lows so Loud? No, the Dog is not Deaf, but the Sportsman 

 has Taught Him to Mind only when he is Bellowed at, Will 

 not the Dog Mind if He is spoken to in a low Tone? Yes, the 

 Dog -will mind if He is spoken to in a Low Tone. But the 

 Sportsman Likes to Exercise his Lungs, when He is out Shoot- 

 ing. He Thinks it makes the Birds Lie better. What does the 

 Sportsman suy ; ' The Sportsman sometimes Says Things that 

 Good Children Should not near. When You Are older You 

 will Know what He Says, 



"SKILLETS"— A CAMP SKETCH. 



HE was always a mystery to us— a conundrum that we 

 were perpetually trying to gaess, but were finally 

 forced to "give up." Where he came from, none knew, and 

 bis destination was equally veiled in ObSCUrity. Personal 

 history he had none; to all interrogatories as to where he was 

 born, where be had lived, where lie y, as going, he had the 

 same vaguely placid answer— "Dumio," Manv were the 

 guesses indulged in as to his nationality. Dialect, thai 

 great touchstone of nativity, failed us here, for h used in 

 his talk the idioms of all localities. John insisted he was a 

 Pike from Missouri; [gnotus, that he was plainly a Yankee; 

 the Rhymer leaned to the opinion that he was either a 

 "Nawth Ca'liny" Tar Heel or a Jersey Ssnd-Hiller, while 

 Didaskalos stoutly maintained that the 'West Riding of York, 

 or the fens of Lincolnshire had given him birth. Help e 

 him, on these and similar disputed points, we got none; 

 against his granitic Dunne e'u flood ef questioning brak 

 in vain. 



He came to us in the gray of the dawning, but whether 

 sprung from the sage brush, dropped from the morning star,, 

 or like his great ancestor, Adam, a direct product of the soil/ 

 no one knew. He was there, by the camp-fire, when we 

 turned out one morning, and to John's bluff query, "Hullo 1 



where the did you come from?" responded serenely, 



"Out yander," with a vague sweep of his arm toward the 

 Northern and Eastern horizons. That was all of his history 

 we ever learned— so far as we were concerned he was literally 

 "a man without a past." After breakfast he took so natu- 

 rally, and even kindly, to the washing up of the dishes, that 

 when to John's query, "Well, what are you goingto do With 

 yourself'?" he calmly replied. "Stay with you tins a wdiile, 1 

 reckon" — no one said him nay. Asked what, his name was, 

 he hesitated, "reckoned he didn't have none." and when 

 pressed as to what people called him, only r answered, "Most 

 anything they dura pleased." 



Ignotus Christened him Ihuino, from the character of 

 most of his replies ; John, more practical, dubbed him "the 

 Pot-wrestler," as indicative of the scope of his duties; the 

 Rhymer named him the Gentle Gazelle, from the air of timid 

 meekness which he always wore, while Didaskalos always 

 insisted on addressing him as Three-spot, "because." he said, 

 "he beats the deuce." 



All these appellations, however, proved merely sporadic, 

 and were finally merged into "Skillets." which was tacitly 

 adopted, partly from his daily toil, but chiefly from the plain- 

 tive wail with which we soon became familiar, of— "They 

 haint nobody seen my skillet, haint they?" referring to bis 

 one piece of personal properly, a dilapidated frying-pan, to 

 which he clung with the fond devotion of a Hindoo to his idol, 

 Battered and worn, part of the ham lie gone and the bottom 

 bulged out in a dozen different place.,, Ti held a place in his 

 affections from which the finest niekle-plated "("'barter Oak" 

 or "Kitchen Queen" could not have ousted it. 



There was in. leed a wild legend lo the effect that John, 

 waking one night, and hearing a murmur of voices outside 

 the tent, was led to investigate, and found this .-:, ■■ ; :, 

 piece of culinary apparatus propped up agaius; D >' id] i " " 

 and before it, "Skillets," grovelling on the ground, and mut 

 teringsome unintelligible prayer to his greasy fetish. This 

 report, however, could never be localized, anil probably or- 

 iginated in some jesting remark, which grew by successive 

 accretions, as it passed through the lips of various imagina- 

 tive members of the party. 



Simple and guileless, childlike and bland, he was the onlv 

 at-all-times-attd-under-all-eirciuiistanees thoroughly gooil-ua- 

 lured person I ever m>L Nothing had power" to rufile the 

 calm serenity of his temper, When Huz. our vicious little 

 Spanish mule, lashed out one nighl and shot him, as from a 

 catapult, head-foremost into the tire, while Swipes, our bull- 

 terrier, roused from a dream of tierce conflict with prowling 

 coyotes, seized him by the leg. and Worried him as be would 

 a "rat, his only remark, a- he scrambled to his feet, and 

 brushed the ashes and coals off with one hand, while he 

 caressed his lacerated leg with the other, was, "Drat they 

 beastesses, they hadn'l no call to do that now, had they?'" 

 He was our safety valve, our waste-pipe, antl on him was 

 discharged the vituperative stream of John's sturdy Anglo- 

 Saxon, of Didaskalos's more classic college Objurgations, or of 

 Shanipaw's polyglot, of mingled Navajo. Mexican and trap- 

 peresque Billingsgate. (By the way, commend me to the 

 Mexican for a wealth of imprecatory longnag hat : 



have delighted the heart of the toughest Sergeanl of "our 

 army in Pianders." John says that they can call , I ,n 

 blanked fool in fifty-one different ways, and iheu have a few 

 left as a reserve in case of need.) 



As to Skillet's person -d a] ■ ■■ ■■ , 1 1 ■■■ iM not be truth 



fully said lo be prepossessing, !ii - age mighl have bent an\ - 

 where from twenty to fifty. Tall and gaunt, his spindling 

 body was topped by a bullet head, crowned with a few wisps 

 of tan-colored hair, while a fringe of sandy whiskers encir- 

 cled a freckled, putty-hued fuee. Long arms, reaching nea] '] J 

 to his knees, ended in hands much the size and color of ahaui 

 of bacon. Splay-fooled and knock-kneed, his gait was a cross 

 between the shambling trot of an over-fed cow and the lumpy 

 waddle of a duck. His ugliness was so extreme' that it actually 

 verged on the picturesque. He seemed a compromise between 

 Caliban and Crusoe's man Friday. Like them, he might 



have lived all his life on a desert island, for his iguen-e 



the commonest things was phenomenal. He didn't know the 

 difference between a halter and a hamestring, aud once when', 

 in Ids zeal to be useful, he volunteered to saddle Rob, it was 

 said that much enduring animal appeared at the camp-fire 

 wearing his bridle where "the crupper ought to be. In fact, 

 that was the chief fault we found with him— his insane desire 

 to be helpful iu matters where bis ignorance only complicated 

 the difficulty. He would have offered to help John drive- 

 up the horses, or have volunteered to assist Jove in governing 

 the Universe, with as imperturbable good nature 

 cheerful an alacrity in the one case as in the other. And yet b« 



