Aphu, 17, 1884.] 



FOREST ANt) STREAM. 



223 



could nil a Webster's dictionary -si ml book with in enumer- 

 ating Che mistakes of travelers founded on it. The shores of 

 Lake Kink-fas' -si are of the same general nature, as those of 

 e Marsh, in being nearly filled to the water's level with 

 mud. Looking at a map (to which I have already referred) 

 the first lake above old Fort Selkirk, a Hudson Bay trading 

 post, burnt by the Chilkats in 1851, has been named Labarge, 

 ftnd I should have been inclined to retain it instead of Kluk- 

 tas'-si, had not so many other cross errors of geography made 

 it uu tenable, and really impossible to identify It beyond the 

 one fact mentioned. Along the whole length of Kluk-tas'-si 

 not a single Tahk-heesli Indian was to be seen. When we 

 had started it was with a good spanking breeze that, coupled 

 with the current (which was quite evident in certain locali- 

 ties during "dead calms''' on the water), sent us along quite 

 merrily, considering our rough craft, and we were induced 

 to put 'out a trolling spoon, but caught nothing. Trolling 

 on a raft under sail would make a tine picture for the pro- 

 fessional anglers at home we all thought, but if must also be 

 remembered that we were not altogether free from "pot- 

 hunting" proclivities to vary our stale fare of Government 

 field rations. 



The right bank of Lake Kluk-tas'-si is overtopped by high 

 rolling hills of gray limestone, the gullies between beingpic- 

 turesquely wooded with dark green conifers that formed a 

 singularly pretty network and bright coutrast to the bills 

 themselves as viewed from the lake. The hills I called the 

 Hancock Hills, after General Hancock of the army. They 

 sloped back from the lake at an angle of about 45% although 

 in some places much steeper in escarpement, aud were from 

 8,000 to 2,500 feet high. Ou the western bank the hills were 

 not so high, but the banks were more abrupt and broken, 

 and often of a conspicuous red color, until about fifteen miles 

 from its head this formation culminates in a very picturesque 

 pile of red rocks that looked to us from the lake as if they 

 were on an island, but our Indians swore by every logiutbe 

 raft that it was a part of the mainland, and that a consider- 

 able sized river came in just beyond which we were unable 

 to make out from any position Ave viewed it, but no doubt it 

 exists, as our inspection could not be critical. My Indians 

 also said that the whole length of this river iu "the same 

 pretty effects of broken red rock were to be seen, in fact, the 

 Indian name of this stream was the Red River, from the 

 abundance of this red rock. Not desiring to add another 

 Red River to the geography of the world, and not having 

 seen any river at all, I simply named the rocks, which I con- 

 sidered "of sufficient prorniueaee, certainly so if this route 

 should ever be traveled, after an eminent German geographer, 

 Von Richthofen. "When we went into camp the evening of 

 the 17th, there was not a breath of wind blowing, and the 

 lake looked like a mirror cutting two perfectly symmetrical 

 and picturesque landscapes into twain at the water line. The 

 clouds hung lazily in the air, not a sign of aquatic life was 

 on the lake or in the air, and one might have thought him- 

 self in the lonely land of the dead if it had not been for the 

 busy hum of the omnipresent mosquito. Trout lines were 

 gotten out and one good-sized fellow was hauled iu in time 

 for supper, and another one weighing over eight pounds, the 

 limit of the Doctor's fish scales, was had for breakfast. 

 Many fish were noticed feeding and jumping in the lake 

 near by camp, but beyond the salmon trout mentioned as 

 caught on the trout lines, nothing was captured, although 

 the most tempting flies and baits were offered. 



Not a breath of wind blowing iu the morning, we were 

 delayed until past noon, aud made the time useful in deter- 

 mining the place astronomically. Thousands of small gray- 

 lings about an inch long were seen in the clear, shallow 

 water on the beaches of fine gravel, in schools of fifty to a 

 hundred each, and, using a mosquito bar as a net, we cap- 

 tured enough to use as bait for our salmon fishing, with in- 

 ci easing prospects of success. At 1:30 P. M. a favorable 

 breeze sprang up, and by 2 was raging as a gale, blowing 

 over the tent, filling the coffee and eatables with flying 

 gravel and sand — for it caught us at our midday meal— and 

 we rapidly packed up. But w T hile we were getting away the 

 wind died down to an almost dead calm. After vainly 

 waiting for a renewal of its vigorous midday energy, we 

 went into camp at the base of the Hancock Hills, at a place 

 so steep and rocky that a tent could not be pitched, and, of 

 course, during the night it had to rain just hard enough to 

 scare every one half out of their wits for fear it would rain 

 harder. This constant drizzling through the night, with 

 one's face exposed, does less harm iu the way of wetting 

 than it does in the loss of sleep. 



The next morning we got a very early start, for in bivouac 

 as soon as tbe rain ceased the mosquitoes made sleep more 

 than impossible, and between the two on one side of the scale 

 and a good fresh wind on the other, we turned out quite 

 early. We were so near the end of the lake, about thirty- 

 five or forty miles long, that the fates seemed to give it up, 

 and the wind, instead of dying out, as usual, surprised us by 

 steadily freshening until we entered the river at 10:30 A. M., 

 and I think as the old tent went down forever from its 

 clumsy mast, no besiegers ever saw the flag of a fortress go 

 down with such heartfelt thanks. We had seen enough of 

 Tafting on a river to know that, as far as physical work was 

 concerned, it was much harder than on the lakes; but the 

 uncertainty of navigation at all on tbe latter, and constant 

 worry and anxiety as we went crawling along even under 

 favorable winds, when before us stretched some 2,000 miles 

 that must be made by early fall or a lonesome wintering in 

 this dreary country was the alternative, makes me safe in 

 stating tbat my happiest day on the trip was the 9th of July, 

 when we left behind us nearly one hundred and fifty miles of 

 lake water never to be repeated in whole or in part. Our 

 trip ahead might be hard work, but it was assured at the 

 least. There was still one rapid to be met in three or four 

 days, so our Indians said, but as it was in nowise to be com- 

 pared with those of Miies's Canon, we feared it very little. 

 A raft in a rapid was an explorer's delight compared with 

 one on a lake, the very maximum of helplessness. The old 

 tent was carefully rolled up, and we worked with more relish 

 at the pries when the bulky thing ground on the gravel bars. 



The high clay banks that had extended along the river 

 from Lake Marsh, and especially conspicuous below Miies's 

 Canon, aud had terminated with its junction with the Tahk 

 River, again commenced after we left Kluk-tas'-si, and were 

 higher and more conspicuous than ever. Far back on the 

 hills the forest fires had made great wiurows through the 

 timber and as this had fallen and decayed, a peculiar plant 

 of the country had sprung up in these burnt and open 

 districts, which, from its denseness aud cappjugs of red 

 flowers, gave a reddish tinge to the whole area, even though 

 many miles distant. For a number of days we thought it to 

 be due to a distinct color of the soil, but at last a nearer in- 

 spection revealed its true character. One butte, in fact, 

 was so conspicuous in its red covering that I named it Red 



Butte. All through these burnt districts could be seen 

 stumps and fallen timber in all grades of dissolution, from 

 the recently bumf trunk "as black as the ace of Bpad.es" to 

 the almost 'whitened ones bleached by the beating rains of 

 many years. Dull brown ones falling in great piles of rotten 

 punk were freely distributed everywhere, and bad. there been 

 a black or brown bear in these "burns" all he would have 

 had to do to save his carcass was to keep quiet and the 

 keenest eyes would never have detected him. About half 

 past five on the afternoon of the 9th. while drifting down 

 through one of these burnt districts, the resemblance of one 

 of these brown rotten stumps to a grizzly bear was remarked 

 by one of the party, referring to an object on the crest of a 

 series of clay Bluffs, and his opinion was readily assented to 

 by the others who took enough interest to notice it. 

 As the raft floated down about 500 to GOO yards of the ob- 

 ject, if came waddling down the crest of the bluff directly 

 toward us, and we all scrambled around after our rifles in a 

 way more amusing than effective. I do not know why it is 

 that if a man puts his trust in fate for a quiet time, and his 

 rifle in its case for preservation from the wet, all thegiiz- 

 zlies and shootable game in the country pick that time for 

 putting in an appem'ance; but so it really seems, and the 

 present was, in a brilliant manner, no exception to the rule. 

 Mr. Grizzly stood so "end on" that he was hardly a fair shot 

 at such a distance, and just as the rifles were out he caught 

 one good sight of the raft, and quicker than one could think 

 that a thousand pounds of bear meat could do so, he whirled 

 around and tumbled into the wooded ravine between two 

 clay bluffs, aud then scampered off faster than it takes to 

 chronicle it, only one more flashing sight being caught of 

 his grizzly sides as he took up a gait that had a good deal of 

 the appearance of a week's hard run in it. We sadly rolled 

 up our gun cases and put them away, leaving our rifles so 

 convenient that we could massacre a whole herd of grizzlies 

 in a few seconds; and all wondered why we hadn't fired 

 at the beast anyway, but no one told the story of the man 

 that invested a portion of his wealth in a padlock after the 

 departure of a favorite charger. The well-known bad 

 quality and even offensive nature of the meat of the grizzly 

 and the perfect worthlessness of their robes, and the general 

 "cussedness" of the creature in general as a topic of conver- 

 sation, helped us to bring our feelings down to that point 

 that when we pried the raft off of the next bar it washed 

 them away almost entirely. 



About 6 in the evening, having been on the raft over 

 twelve hours, and feeling satisfied with the day's work, I 

 determined on going into camp at the first favorable spot, 

 and we commenced surveying the shores with that idea in 

 view, but so uniformly wide "was the swift river, with no 

 eddy to deaden our headway or spot clear from willows, 

 that it was not until after 8 that we found a place where we 

 managed to get ashore, and then it was not very prepossess- 

 ing. What was our great surprise, shortly after camping, to 

 see three of the most forlorn human beings on the face of 

 the earth put in an appearance. They were miners and 

 belonged to an equal party still beyond, and these three were 

 returning with barely enough "grub" to pack them back to 

 Chilkat in order to leave the remainder enough provisions to 

 continue prospecting throughout the country.- They had ex- 

 pected to find an abundance of game in their prospecting tour 

 for gold, and had they done so their ' 'grub" would have been 

 sufficient to have lasted them all for the summer, but the mos- 

 quitoes had driven the game from the creek and river bottoms, 

 where then- labors were confined, according to their stories, 

 and their return was the result. They had fouud plenty of 

 tracks everywhere, and as this was the only part of the animal 

 that could hold its own with the mosquitoes, however innu- 

 tritious,they had to coutent themselves with it. They hadjbeen 

 living on nothing but flour for some time, with such meat and 

 fish as they could procure from the country , and of course were 

 about half starved. I stuffed them full of the bulky bean of 

 Boston and the crisp corn beef of Chicago, until they must 

 have been grateful beyond measure, for when I returned to 

 civilization I found they had made quite a hero of me by 

 proclaiming that I alone had shot all the rapids on the raft, 

 and even my Indian allies had walked around. Had 1 filled 

 them with ice cream and mince pie 1 suppose they would 

 have found me sleeping under a robe of Indian scalps that I 

 had personally collected, while for another plug of tobacco 

 I could have slain a grizzly with a bowie knife — iu the news- 

 papers. 



MR. O'BRIEN PROTESTS. 



To the Foresht and Strayme: 



Misther Eddytor — tiorr: Me attintion has bin called to 

 a late uoomber of your payriodical, iu which that omadhoun 

 of a "11. P. U." has preshoorned to relate, for the divartise- 

 ment of your rayders, a certain nocthurnal adventure which 

 occurred to mesilf. 



In that article, sorr, he has endivored to hould up to ridi- 

 cule, an Oirish giutleman, who boasts his proud descint 

 from Brian Boru, and I can lick any bloody Sassenach that 

 dares to thread on the tail ay me coat. 



Ye have lassyrated me faylings, sorr, and have violated 

 the sacred confidince which shood subsist betuue man and 

 man. That the corcumstanshiality av the incidince are cor- 

 rect, sorr, I do not deny, but no rifirince is. had to the mo- 

 tives which impilled me upon that occaysion. Are ye not 

 aware, sorr, that me burro, Mickey, reposhed in me that 

 confidince and thrust which wan gintilman fayls in another, 

 and that ine proud boast is, that that confidince was nivir 

 abused, and that thrust nivir bethrayed. Consequintly, av 

 he desired to deludher me by playin"' bear, was it for me to 

 Lassyrate his tinder faylins by descinding from me three, 

 and thereby fitting him know that I saw through his disguise- 

 ment? That dilicacy of sintiment, which is the pervayliu 

 characteristic of au Oirish gintilman, wad not allow me, 

 sorr, to revayle to him the fact that I had penethrated his in- 

 cognitow. The chakes av me wad have burnt wid shame 

 for the rest av me life, had I committed the ougintayle pro- 

 ceedin' av saying to um, "Shure, 'tis not a bear ye are, at 

 all, at all, but only a burro, Mickey alanna!" Such, sorr, 

 were me motives, and be thim shood me procaydins be 

 joodged. 



But, sorr, I have another and a shtronger rayson for con- 

 sbiderin my faylins hinted, and mesilf iusoolted be that same 

 artickle. I could forgive the rnishconsthruiug av ine motives, 

 but the houlding av me up to ridicule as a man possessed av 

 no eddication, aud puttin' such worruds into me mouth as 

 there is in that same pace av nonsense — 'tis that, sorr, that 

 touches me sinsibilities most dapely. Av I cudut talk nor 

 shpell betther nor that, sorr, I would look upon mesilf 

 wid the most abject scorn, sorr. I will lave it to yourself, 

 sorr, as au honest man, and a gintleman, if this letther, 

 which I am writin' to ye wid me own hand (barrin' that it's 

 Misther Howard that's thrimmin up the ideays, and Tim 



Dooley is writin' um down) isn't after proovin that me ideays 

 are. as illigant, me siufiments as choice, me language as il'li- 

 gant, and me shpellin as correct as "H.P.1T. s," or any other 

 divil's buckle that makes foon av a dacint man. Avyou 

 would do me the kinduess to print the same, verbattini et 

 littyrattim, as the poet says, your rayders will sec the im- 

 poshibility av me usin' that on'raysonable kind av talk which 

 he puts into me mouth. 



And foinally, an in conclusion, sorr, I wudsay — av I have, 

 in annv way, hurt your faylins, or those of "H. P. U.," be 

 anny thing I may have said, onbeknownst to mesilf, or av 

 the warrumth av an Oirish heart has timptid me into anny 

 extravagance of expreshion, or anny sintimint onbeeoming a 

 gintilmin, then, sorr, in that case I freely forgive you both, 

 aud have the honor to be, sorr, 



Wid sintimiuts av the highist regayrd, and faylins av the 

 most dishtinguished consideration, 

 Your most obayjient 



An respictful 



Well wisher, 



Patrick O'Brien. 



Uivtl's Flat, Collyracldo, March the 6th, 1884. 



[It affords us much pleasure to give place to Mr. O'Brien's 

 explanations of the occurrences recounted in "H. P. U.'s" 

 account of bis adventure with the bear. We cannot, how- 

 ever, believe that the narrator of the chronicle 'understood 

 the circumstances as we do now, for had he realized the 

 motives which actuated the owner of Mickey, we feel con- 

 fident that he would have set the matter forth in its true 

 light. We need scarcely say that we reciprocate in the 

 heartiest manner the kindly expressions of our Colorado 

 friend, and should we ever be obliged to pass a night among 

 the rough, cold mountains of the San Juan, we hope that 

 it may be our good fortune to stumble on his camp.] 



* 



STEARNS'S NATURAL HISTORY OF 

 LABRADOR. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



In your last issue, April 3, I notice with pleasure a some- 

 what lengthy criticism of my Lists of Katural History of 

 Labrador, as contained in the Proceedings of the U. S. Na- 

 tional Museum, soon to appear. I notice it, I say, with 

 pleasure, as I believe that there is no true naturalist or author 

 but who, while deploring his own errors, will not only in- 

 vite criticism, but will thank his critic. 



Mr. Merriam has often visited the north shores of the St. 

 Lawrence, and his name was quite familiar with Mr. Napo- 

 leon Comeau, of Godbout River; Mr. Scott, of the Hud- 

 son's Bay Company's post at Mingan, and also Mr. Cante, of 

 Whale Head. Let me ask Mr. Merriam, however, did he 

 follow down the shores of the river and gulf and extend his 

 researches in Labrador, since all this region west of Blanc 

 Sablon belongs to the Province of Quebec? I doubt if he 

 has. Let me say, therefore, that I defy him, or any other 

 person, to collect of the flora of Labrador, eighty species of 

 plants, including every specimen of both phenerogams and 

 ferns that he can procure, in three weeks' time anywhere on 

 the coast of Labrador proper, which is bleak and barren 

 land compared to the vicinity of Mingan and its surrounding 

 Province of Quebec. 



My lists are intended as aid to future investigation, and are 

 presumably imperfect to start with. That they contain 

 errors is apparent to anybody. I am glad that Mr. Merriam 

 points out some of them. It is well to say, however, that I 

 visited the region both times more for my health than other- 

 wise, and gave more attention to the sports of fishing and 

 shooting (aud their accompanying pleasures of feasting) than 

 to collecting. My last voyage was given to collecting inver- 

 tebrates, and its results sent to Profs. Verrill and Band. 

 These results appear in the same volume. 



Further. I do not wish to hold anybody responsible for 

 my errors but myself, yet the lists Mr. Merriam criticises so 

 sharply were all prepared under Mi 1 . Robert Ridgway's per- 

 sonal supervision, who had authority to change any Dames 

 that he wished or suppress any information contained therein 

 at his own option. 



Be facts and errors what they may, I consider that an in- 

 accuracy in transcribing the title and place of any scientific 

 paper is greater than all the errors of the paper combined, 

 aud when Mr. Merriam starts his article by saying that the 

 before mentioned lists are contained in the fifth volume of the 

 Proc. U. S. Nat. Mus., I feel bound to say, for the benefit of 

 any who may desire to refer to them, that it is the sixth vol- 

 ume of said Proceedings, and that they have not yet appeared 

 in book form, but that a few can be supplied to those desiring 

 them as extras without charge. 



Now for the errors in question. The estimate of young 

 seals or "whitecoats" should read, and was so intended by 

 the author, as the catch of Labrador vessels, and as such I 

 believe the statement is correct. 



The silver aud black fox are "accorded [a] varietal distinc- 

 tion," I believe justly. Of the ringed seal I have two speci- 

 mens at Bonne Eteperance "salted down" with others, and 

 when these are secured, as I expect they will be this sum- 

 mer, both Mr. Alleu and Mr. Merriam shall have the pleasure 

 of examining them. I now believe that they will be found 

 eventually more common than is generally believed upon the 

 coast, 



I still doubt the Halichwnis grypus is found, rarely at any 

 rate, on the coast of Labrador proper. My remarks upon 

 the elk and moose, given provisionally, are true as far as the 

 statement goes. While there, specimens of deer were brought 

 in.fresh killed from large herds, which differed so much in 

 size, color and shape, that one would easily believe them 

 distinct species without the statement of the natives that 

 then" habits "were not the same. " The white whale doubt- 

 less occurs as Mr. Merriam states. As to the gray squirrel, 

 I saw two skins, said to be taken on the coast, but I sup- 

 pressed further mention of them for want of more positive 

 evidence. The brown bat is still somewhere in my collec- 

 tions and shall be "hunted up" at once. 



With the birds, the records of wood thrush was a mistake, 

 the bird being, doubtless, as Mr. Ridgway remarks, H. 

 aliciw. The record of king eider breeding off Mingan was 

 doubtless misleading. It should have read, "The first 

 record south of Hudson's Straits." None of Mr. Merriam 's 

 other remarks need commenting upon, as they amount to 

 little more than a review of the author's own words by quot- 

 ing the same without any material remarks. The "glaring 

 inconsistency," if such it iu reality be, is contained in the 

 "extraordinary announcement" respecting Somateriav-nigra. 



