82 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 28, 1884. 



THE WOLF CRY IN MAINE. 



THE Maine Fish and Game Commissioners have hand- 

 somely checkmated the cry of wolves iu that State. 

 Some fifty years ago these animals were numerous and ter- 

 ribly ravenous in the many sparsely settled districts of New 

 England, and the farmers found it impossible to raise sheep, 

 and even calves and pigs were frequently destroyed. In- 

 stances were numerous where strong men were attacked and 

 overpowered by the packs of wolves. A w T ar of extermina- 

 tion was waged against them by the fanners and settlers. 

 The State paid a heavy bounty for their destruction, and the 

 wolves have been among the departed for thirty-five years at 

 least. 



Curiously enough there are old settlers in Maine who retain 

 the theory that wolves follow deer. They claim that Riere 

 were no deer at the time of the wolves — "the Avolves killed 

 them all off" — but: that since the extermination of the wolves 

 the deer have gone on increasing. The poachers and crust 

 hunters have taken up the cry. "Protect the deer and the 

 wolves will follow," they said last winter when farther legis- 

 lation was proposed. Now they have actually started story 

 after story of wolves seen and heard. "They have followed 

 down from the Canadian forests after your 1 protected deer,'' 

 they say. ' Now the poor farmers' sheep will all be killed." 

 This is all very well, to create a sentiment among the farmers 

 iu the back towns against the protection of the deer by law 

 But the cry is the sheerest nonsense iu the world, and has 

 not a particle of foundation in fact. 



The poachers and crust hunters forget that the deer never 

 were so numerous in Maine as some twenty years ago, when 

 their hides used to be brought into Bangor in hayrack loads 

 —an actual fact, a hayrack on a sled, loaded with deer 

 skins, drove into Bangor— all killed by crusting and driving 

 the poor creatures into their yards, where, confined by the 

 deep snow, the deer could not escape. They forget that the 

 wolves did not follow a plenty of deer then. Indeed the 

 State about that time reduced the bounty, or took it off al- 

 together, because there were no wolves to kill. 



But the answer to the wolf cry by the Fish and Game Com- 

 missioners of that State is excellent. They have offered an 

 extra bounty of §5 for every wolf scalp, in addition to that 

 which would be allowed by the town in which the creature 

 was killed. They might safely make it $25, for there are 

 no wolves in Maine. A single howl, louder than that of 

 the poachers themselves, w r ould raise an army of hunters 

 who would scour the woods till the wolf was destroyed. It 

 can clearly be established that there is not a shadow of 

 danger to the farmers' sheep from wolves, and if it could be 

 as clearly shown that a few wolves would follow an increase 

 of deer, there would be fun ahead for the boys in hunting 

 them. 



^ffarhnjdtt ^auri^L 



IN THE LAND OF THE PHARAOHS. 



I AM not about to write an essay upon Egypt, or a descrip- 

 tion of the old cities of the Land of the Pharaohs, for we 

 want to hear about the shooting, about the game on the 

 shores of old Nile, and those of us who want to learn all 

 about Egypt, will find plenty of descriptions, good, bad and 

 indifferent, iu thousands of books, all the way between 

 Mark Twain's and Thackeray's, to the illustrious companions 

 of all travelers, Murray's or Baedeker's handbooks. 



Cairo was behind us, the Pyramids had been passed, and 

 three of us had hired one of the dahabeahs or boats, which 

 cany travelers up to the second cataracts. Fancy a lone:, 

 shallow boat, with two short masts, carrying an enormous 

 triangular sail, with benches in front for the rowers, swarthy 

 fellows, twelve in number, the laziest hard-working men I 

 have ever seen. We were racing against another boat, and 

 the proud Stars and Stripes we were flying at our stern were 

 forging ahead of a Union Jack that was doing its very best 

 to win. Our rowers were working in their peculiar way, 

 which they use when they want to make good time, first 

 crouching forward and bringing well back the blades of 

 their huge oars, then dipping in the water, then a pull, as 

 they rose erect in the boat, and at the end of the stroke they 

 would thump down on their benches, to renew once more 

 that laborious procedure. 



The broad river stretched far away before us, the land- 

 scape bright and clear, the setting sun streamed golden and 

 crimson rays upon the mid-day water, that sparkled into a 

 broad sheet of fire and diamonds, to reach like a road paved 

 with jewels the horizon where the fiery orb was going down. 

 Away on both sides the shores were to be seen, green reeds 

 and water plants near the edge, stately palms and date tre|| 

 on the land which was covered with rice fields. A fellah wW 

 driving an extraordinary team composed of a forty -inch 

 donkey and an ei<*ht-footeainel; a couple of women standing 

 in the water and tilling their water jars were looking at us. 

 Far away some indistinct ruins were boldly standing against 

 the horizon. The stately columns that had seen the Phara- 

 ohs were still rising, challenging proudly the efforts of old 

 Time to lower their heads. Now, indeed, were we in Egypt, 

 now we felt far away from home, as the light was disappear- 

 ing from the heavens, soon to make room for the silver cres- 

 cent of the waning moon, and for the bright stars that 

 glistened from on high. As it w-as getting dark, we neared 

 shore and made fast for the night, and after discussing our 

 pipes and our Bass's ale we went to sleep, and I, for one, 

 began dreaming about Rhamses the Great, and the great 

 river, the Father of Crocodiles and Hippopotami, and about 

 being arrested for shooting a sacred cat, or led to execution 

 for desiring a steak from the holy old ox, Apis. 



I had just finished an extraordinary vision, in which, re- 

 gardless of chronical accuracy, Amenophis the Third, the 

 ever-truthful, was quaffing Bass's ale with King Cheops, the 

 mighty slayer of nations; in which Sethos the First was 

 playing cards with Herodotus, and in which a band of Hyksos 

 were dancing with a bevy of beautiful Almehs, when I awoke, 

 for the Bei's, or Captain, was thumping at my cabin door, 



saying: "Yes, yes, breakfast," and a lot of Arab besides, 

 totally incomprehensible; however, I understood that morn- 

 ing rations were to be served out, and soon I was up and 

 doing justice to grub. 



We had passed Toora, we had stopped one night at Bed- 

 reshayn, from which place we had visited Sakkarah; we 

 had sailed, we had been rowed, we had been towed along 

 from the shore. Shells had been loaded, the guns (dear old 

 companions) had tenderly been nursed and greased; a few 

 pigeons had been killed on shore, the little '73 Winchester 

 had cracked on the river and had succeeded in very thor- 

 oughly frightening sundry ducks and sedate old pelicans, 

 but no real game had been shot, and we were never so green 

 as to think we could find crocodiles to order; in fact, they 

 are hardly ever seen below the first cataract. On the way to 

 Beuisoocf and Miuieh, as we were sitting on deck one day, 

 we saw, far off, a dozen or so of old pelicans flying down 

 the river toward us; a scamper in the cabin for the guns! out 

 again! and they near us. When within about sixty yards of 

 us, my old friend Mr. B. blazes away — a miss, though he 



swears he hit him hard; " hard, I tell you, sir," says he. 



Whang! and my old pin-fire rings and one bird goes down; 

 another shot, but they are too far away. One of the„crew T 

 took the little boat and made for the bird, but pelican is only 

 winged, and by and by we all laugh to see the man try and 

 catch the big bird, while the pelican turns around and vici- 

 ously strikes with his long bill. The rest of the crew join 

 in the general laugh, but by dint of striking at the bird with 

 an oar the man gets him at last and brings him back in tri- 

 umph. Our dragoman informed us that he could show us 

 some good places for sand grouse, and [many times the little 

 boat would take us ashore, and the ring of chilled shot once 

 again would whizz through the air and many a pretty shot 

 and a ludicrous miss w r ould remind us of happy hunting 

 grounds near home. 



Many fine bags of the plump birds did we bring back to 

 the dahabeah, and our cook would serve us delicate dishes 

 and make us think that life was perhaps better worth living 

 up the old Nile than anywhere else. 



Many beautiful birds we shot on our way up — the snow r - 

 white paddy birds, a good many ducks, pigeons, abundance 

 of all kinds; and one of our party had been so astonished by 

 having a fox rise at his feet that he forgot he held his old 

 trusty Sure Death, and let him go unharmed. 



By tms time we reached Golosaneh, where we were visited 

 by a holy Sheykh, who blessed the whole boat and all that 

 therein was — for a very moderate consideration. 



When arrived at Minieh we put in a lot of new provisions, 

 at least the dragoman did, and we went about, and after we 

 had seen all the squalor, and dirt, and misery, and disease 

 that was good for us, we went on board again, and pretty 

 soon we were on our way once more, bound for Siout. 



On the way our Eel's, who had watched with great inter- 

 est whenever the Winchester was fired, and who had ad- 

 mired the way in which the little .44 bullet skipped on the 

 w r ater, hundreds and hundreds of yards away, but who had 

 seemed to despise the waj- in which the ducks I tired at 

 never seemed to mind it much, was made more respectful 

 by a little fancy shooting of a very mild description. Hitting 

 tin cans on the wing (tin cans grow in all countries, dear 

 readers) I, frequently managed to do, and when, after a 

 little more practice,*! managed generally to break beer 

 bottles previously thrown overboard and fifty or sixty yards 

 off, his fancy was visibly tickled, and the writer, proud of 

 having somebod y to admire his prowess, bestowed upon him 

 a present of good tobacco. It is a pity, however, that this 

 story of sport should degenerate into tin-can shooting, so let 

 us on with our journey. 



Our boat was forging ahead, poling and rowing, and sail- 

 ing and being tugged, and shooting was to be had to our 

 hearts's content. One morning a good shot from the rifle 

 would get us a fine cormorant, another day the 10-bore pf the 

 party bagged two big wild geese, one or two heron skins w r e 

 had preserved. The sand grouse were plenty; the fellahs 

 had no objection to our killing their pigeons. One day a 

 fine old sacred hawk was bagged by Mr. B., and many 

 lovely skins were in our collection, beautiful, fast-flying, 

 blue and green bee-eaters, while paddy birds, water wagtails, 

 the black and white kingfisher, the queer looking, gravely 

 strutting hoepoe, ducks, a few snipe and many more that 

 I forget, were brought to bag* never killing just for killing's 

 sake, but enough for the table, and to get pretty skins. 



Beautiful ruins without number are passed on the way; 

 many are our excursions on shore, and a fine lime is always 

 the order of the day. 



We passed under the great cliffs, and by the winding turn 

 in the river, at Gebel Aboofayda, we saw the tombs cut in 

 the stone, the openings into the cliffs, all those works rather 

 of giants than of men, and iu time, after stranding on sand- 

 banks a few times and having our crew hop out in the water 

 and all getting their backs under the side of the dahabeah 

 and shoving us off, we reached Siout, where we stopped to 

 make bread for the sailors. I could tell you lots about the 

 place, and many other places, but I am trying to make a 

 long story short, and as I only traveled as a young sportsman, 

 more interested in ducks than in ruins, and as my descrip- 

 tion would be sunk into insignificance by the side of so many 

 entertainino; and ably-written volumes, I must just go on 

 with the journey and interlard a little shooting where 1 can. 



Well, at Girgeh we stopped a while, and old Mr. B. was 

 struck with a bright idea. "Let's have a pigeon shoot," 

 said he. We hurrahed and went to work, Pigeons were 

 only a few pence apiece, aud with two old segar boxes and 

 two strings we made traps, the sailors were enthusiastic 

 trappers and excellent retrievers, and the writer must say 

 that, although the youngest of the party, he did not pay for 

 the sheep which the loser had to buy for the crew, a way of 

 putting it fully in accordance with his reputation for mod- 

 esty. 



We passed the sugar factories at Farshoot, we saw I he 

 holy old chap, Sheykh Something or-other, who had sat on 

 his'haunches for fifty years, depending upon charity to feed 

 him, as he never, during that time, has raised his hands to 

 his mouth. I would not speak disrespectfully of that saint, 

 for he deserves richly one eminent title, the proud name of 

 "champion dirty man of the world." 



The day after we saw a crocodile, at least Ave thought it 

 w^as an old log, but the Ke'is and dragoman sw^ore it was a 

 crocodile, and of course it was our duty to believe them ; but 

 as the wind was blowing well we could not stop to give him 

 a hunt. Well, at last we got to Denderah. Many fine ruins 

 we saw there, the wonderful temple and hosts of others, and 

 here two tine running shots, in the evening, as we were walk- 

 ing toward the river, put two Winchester bullets through our 

 first jackals. From here we went on to Karnak and Long- 

 sor, and after inspecting the grand ruins there, we proceeded 

 to Esueh, where we baked once more for the sailors. We 



did some shooting here for a short while, and sailed off again" 

 for Assouan, which we reached in due time. 



Now the cataracts— the first— were reached, and Nubia 

 was extending far awav, Egypt lay behind us. Arrange 

 ments were made with the Sheykh of the Cataract, and after 

 sharp bargaining we had it all arranged that for £12 we 

 were to be hauled up next day. Well. 1 suppose everybody 

 has read about going up the cataract ; how the dahabealis 

 are hauled up with ropes, hundreds of men hauling up one 

 rapid into one pool, and from this pool over another rapid, 

 and so on, tugging like mad, shouting and yelling until you 

 are at the top, and you think that they have earned their 

 money. We soon got to Phila?; here we tarried a short 

 while, and we would go for walks along the shore, and at 

 the crack of the breechloaders fine birds would he brought 

 to bag, and great was our amusement when some of the 

 Nubians, seeing us shoot and open the guns to withdraw 

 the shells, would exclaim regretfully that the "Englees" had 

 broken his gun, and wonder ever after at its being mended 

 so easily again. The country beyond Pbilre becomes wilder 

 than ever ; water fowl abound ; here an d there a few buffaloes 

 wallow in the mud; at night the jackal howls and dogs bark. 

 Go a little further, and late in the evening a wonderful 

 silence reigns supreme, inten-upted by the cry of some water 

 bird, or some dog away off, or some one of the unexplained 

 noises heard in all solitudes. 



Next day, as w-ewere going up the river, Mi-. B., who was 

 watching for crocodiles, saw one on the sand, Quickly we 

 got in the small boat, rowed carefully and silently around a 

 sand-point. At last we reached fairly near the monster; a 

 Sharp pinffj "Oh, good shot, Mr. B."; it is a hundred and 

 fifty yards at least. I take the rifle, pump in another cart- 

 ridge, and another bullet hits the brute, struggling to reach 

 the water, and after considerable slashing about of his tail 

 the crocodile dies. AVho says that a rifle ball will glance off 

 a crocodile? I am persuaded it will not. This one. was thir- 

 teen feet long. 



After this we went on our journey, bound for Aboo-Sim- 

 bel. On the way we had another shot at a crocodile, but he 

 was missed, and soon he wriggled into the muddy water in 

 safety. Here we found a good many ducks, hoepoes and 

 other birds, plenty of material for good sport and good eat- 

 ing, and one day, as I killed a sand grouse with one barrel, 

 a fine fox jumped out. from the reeds near a little irrigating 

 stream, and my second barrel of No. 4 shot crippled old rey- 

 nard, whom I captured after a little run. 



.When Aboo-Simbel was reached, we stayed a short while,- 

 for must we not sec the great temple, and the remains of the 

 glorious reign of King Sesostris, but I often would let ruin 

 hunting alone, for were not the shores teeming with quail, 

 beautiful little game birds, half the size of our Bob White, 

 but strong flyers, often in large bevies, and no mean addition 

 to the table, erode experto. I felt sorry I had no dog, for, 

 although I could kill all the game I wanted, how much hap- 

 pier I would have felt in blending the pleasure of shooting 

 with that of watching a steady pointer, or a good welh 

 trained setter, at work. 



When we had enough of Sesostris the Great, we sailed 

 on to Wady Half eh, and soon we saw the cataract. This 

 was our turning point. Many another fine day's sport did 

 we enjoy on our way back to Cairo, and many times, since 

 we returned home once more, have I thought of the snug 

 little cabins on the dahabeah, and the many good shots we 

 fired in the Land of the Pharaohs. G. V. S. 



New York. 



"LIKE THE BEAR THAT TREED JIMMY 

 O'BRIEN." 



Scene— Bear office of grfggps drug store. Time— 10 P. M, Cold 

 irinters night. Present— Briggs, Professor Adonis, Goodwin^ 

 Dr. King, H. P. U., et ol. Briggs has jus/ finished telling one of 

 his hunting adventures. 



H. P. TJ. (loquitur)— "That grouse of yours was like the bear-that 

 treed Jimmy O'Brien." 



Goodwin— "By the way, I've heard you use that expression several 

 times. What does it mean?" 



H. P. TJ.— "Why, it's a by-word among the 'boys' out iu the San 

 Juan." 



Briggs— "Yes, but what's the storyr" 



H. P. TJ.— "Didn't I ever tell it to you ?' 



Owner— "No ! Let's have it !" 



H. P. U.— "All right: here goes." 



ONE day. when we were up at the cabin in ArastrS 

 Gulch, Jimmy O'Brien stopped a few moments with 

 us, on his way over to Elk Park, whither he was going to 

 work out an assessment on a mine belonging to him. He 

 was on foot, driving before him his favorite burro (Mexican 

 jackass) Mike, laden with tents, blankets, "grub," cooking 

 outfit, pick, shovel, and other impedimenta. Jimmy and Mike 

 were well known in that country, for they w T ere inseparable. 

 It would have been hard to tell which thought the most of 

 the other. Mike would follow Jimmy about like a dog, 

 while Jimmy never passed his four-footed friend without 

 stopping to "scratch his rough head, and give him a bit of 

 old biscuit or some such dainty. "The Irish Twins/' "The 

 Two Dromios," "Damon and Pythias," "Romeo and Juliet,' 

 "Beauty and the Beast," "Pyramus and Thisbe," "A Pair 

 of Jacks," "Both Bowers"— these were some of the nick- 

 names the couple had received. But neither biped nor quad- 

 ruped cared— their strange friendship only grew the stronger. 

 The former, singular as it may appear from his name, was 

 an Irishman, 



"Long, lank and brown as the ribbed sea-sand," 

 with a merry twinkle in his eye, and a shrewd, quizziea 1 

 smile that betokened "lashins of fun" in his make-up. In 

 the golden days of '49 he had deserted from an American 

 man-of-war at San Francisco, and had passed the last thirty 

 years of his life in sold digging in California, bear hunting 

 with old "Grizzly" Adams in the Sierras, silver mining in 

 Nevada, and in leading a wild and adventurous life generally 

 from the Columbia to the Gila, and from the Golden Gate to 

 the headwaters of the Mississippi. Not knowing what fear 

 was, he had sense enough to know when "discretion was the 

 better part of valor.'' 'He was now about sixty, tough and 

 weather-beaten, but still strong and active, one of the jolliest 

 companions possible to find, and one who, to use the expres- 

 sive Western phrase, "would do to tie to" in times of trouble 

 or danger. 



He stayed with us that day only long enough to "corral a 

 hunk of grub," and then pushed on over the dividing ridge 

 into Elk Park. 



Next day, after having wasted the better part of the morn- 

 ing in a vain attempt tp find a band of mountain sheep, 

 which "used" on the peaks at the head of the gulch, I 

 found myself, about noon, looking down on Jimmy's tent in 

 the Park below. As it was but little out Of a direct line 



