Jan. 13, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



483 



and all my attendants properly armed. On my last visit 



to the spot I found the skeleton of the plantigrade (a very 

 powerful one) completely bereft of every particle of flesh, 

 and lying bleached and weii-d among the flowers and 

 sweet grass; but as yet I had seen no second one of the 

 species, though I did not douljt of there being more bidden 



in caves along the base of that wonderful palisade. In 

 some of our excursions, eight or ten miles from camp, we 

 had several times caiight glimpses of huge herds of ante- 

 lope or ibex, but we could not get near enough to them 

 for a shot, and having so many other things at hand to 

 attract our attention, with abundance of game to supply 

 the camp, I deferred any attempt at trapping them. 



Though we had met with no other large beasts but the 

 plantigrade, we had observed in several places what ap- 

 peared to be the foot i)i'ints of some animals of unusual di- 

 mensions, but on this point I was not too ready to form a 

 positive opinion, having noticed that with some leaping 

 creatures, such as sqiiirrels for example, by coming down 

 with their whole body and all four feet together, they 

 left an impression in the snow, or mud, resembling the 

 spoor of a monster. Indeed one queer little creature I 

 met led me to suppose that this might possibly be the 

 case with the mysterious marks I refer to. The little 

 creature I speak of was a one-footed animal. Avhose mode 

 of progTession was entkely by bounds. The two hind 

 legs of this anomaly were welded together, as we some- 

 times see in lusiis natures, joining in one large foot with 

 nine toes, the middle one being very broad and powerful. 

 This was really two feet welded together like the hind 

 feet of a seal. The skeleton exhibited rudimentary fore 

 legs, but they were quite invisible outside the skin, though 

 they may have helped the animal somewhat in rolling 

 over or in adjusting its position when lying down. The 

 natives named it Wof, or "foot." It was a marsupial and 

 very gentle in its nature. One we caught and tamed 

 became a gi-eat pet, displaying much afl:ection for those 

 who treated it kindly. The little thing slept in my tent 

 and would hop up on my bed in the morning and root 

 under my head with its "pointed nose until I noticed it, 

 then it would nestle down, quite content, until I chose to 

 get up. 



One track I observed puzzled me as well as my attend- 

 ants exceedingly, appearing at times like the footprints 

 of thi-ee animals moving side by side, while at other 

 places two of the tracks would be discontinued, but would 

 commence again further on. I at first supposed them to 

 be the ti-acks of some marsupial animal and its young, 

 the sudden discontinuance of the tracks being caused by 

 the parent taking up its progenj^ from time to time and 

 carrying them in its pouch. But more of that anon. 



MV'STEEIOUS SPOOR. 



At present I must refer to another manifestation that 

 caused us much anxiety, keeping us in a continual state 

 of uneasiness, since we could get no clue whatever to the 

 mystery. In several of our wanderings, when skirting 

 the dense jungles of the hookera thorn, we had frequently 

 seen two flaming eyes glaring at us through the bushes. 

 We saw them mostly in the evening toward dusk, but 

 could distinguish no part of the animal to which they 

 belonged; but, judging by the size of the orbs and their 

 width apart — at least eighteen inches — the inference was 

 that the creature must be of gigantic proportions. Sev- 

 eral times I gave it a shot from my Reilly No. 10, but 

 without any effect whatever; neither could any subse- 

 quent search discover the slightest traces of blood or f oot- 



Srints. The nearest approach to any response from my 

 re was once a muffled gxoan or sigh and a slight rustling 

 among the branches. If this should prove to be some 

 huge monster of the gorilla or leopard species, endowed 

 with such cunning and secrecy as to defy all our efforts at 

 detection, and at the same time i^rotected by a hide or 

 armor of such strength as to resist my No. 10, it would be 

 truly a most terrible enemy. That it was not one of the 

 plantigi'ades I felt certain, since the eyes of the latter 

 were set very close together, and then' movements (judg- 

 ing by the one I had killed) both bold and aggressive. 

 The very mystery that shrouded the creature made it the 

 more alarming, and caused me, as well as iny attendants, 

 many a heart tlu-ob, as wending our way homeward 

 through the lovely woods at twilight, the sudden snapping 

 of a branch or bound of a night hare would break the 

 stillness. Weary at last with the nervous tension caused 

 by the discovery of this animal, I determined to concen- 

 trate all the energies of my force, and bring aU the re- 

 sources of my camp to accomplish a solution of the 

 mystery. I had recently sent Poptee and one of the 

 mainland natives in the canoe on a mission to om- entre- 

 pot, of which Dope Yeukta had charge, 100 miles above 



Pluckella, for a fresh supply of ammunition and other 

 necessaries, so that I was well provided with the appli- 

 ances of war, including some large, strong nets of gob- 

 wich, which Dope Yeukta had had made during my 

 absence, and which I found wonderfully useful on the 

 present occasion. 



Poor Dope, my messenger, found him in a terrible 

 state of mind, not knowing what had become of, and 

 fearing that we had all been devoured by some of those 

 terrible monsters he had learned to dread from his in- 

 fancy upw-ard. He fairly shed tears and rolled on the 

 ground with delight on learning that the "Little Goorta" 

 was sound and well, and doing wonders with his blow-up 

 stick.* Among other things ne forwarded to me was a 

 fixed Khi-goorta, or species of catapult, capable of throw- 

 ing a stone of fifty pounds weight, or a gourd charged 

 with combustibles. This also proved of inestimable value 

 in rescuing tis from imminent peril of death in our forth- 

 coming encounters. It may be well to pause here to give 



a short description of this rather curious machine, the 

 better to understand the part it played in our subsequent 

 serious engagements. A reference' to my sketch will aid 

 materially in conveying an accurate idea of its construc- 

 tion. A represents a heavy plank. B B are five long 

 wands, or rods, made from a peculiarly elastic wood that 

 grows abundantly on the island. These are firmly planted in 



the loose board at a distance of abotxt Sin. apart, and vary in 

 length from about Oft. to 35, CO are two ropes of gob- 

 wich with knots at intervals of 12in. apart, D D are two 

 levers working on pivots at E E on the handles, F F, the 

 handles being for the purpose of enabling the bearers to 

 carry the machine. H H H H are four semi-circular legs 

 revolving on pivots in a slot, that can be made, by twist- 



heat generated by the other combustibles. A torch and 

 slow match combined served to ignite the whole affair, 

 and this my men christened "Kerry ben'y Goorta bomb," 

 or the barking eyes of Goorta. 



SECTION OF KERRY BERRY GOORTA BOMB. 



As will be seen by my sketch, the projectile is con- 

 structed of two goiu'd's, the larger bein^- filled with com- 

 bustibles, and the smaller, perforated with holes, seiwing 

 as a protection of the fuse in passing through the an-. 

 Four long palm leaves act in the capacity of a tail in 

 directing the flight of the missile. 



Ad&ress all (Mmmmicatlmis to the Fm-est and Stream. P%cb. Co. 



ing them around, of any length desii-ed, so as to get the 

 machine level on uneven ground, K is an elastic wand to 

 check the recoil of the wands, B B. When placed in 

 position the spoon of the longest wand is loaded with a 

 stone or bomb. Then two men gxasp the levers, D D, 

 and fixing one of the knots of the rope in a crotch at- 

 tached to the lever for that purpose, they press down the 



levers as far as they will go, and then make the ropes 

 fast aromid belaying pins in the handles, F F. Then they 

 repeat the motion until the wands or propellers are drawn 

 down as far as desired. At first this motion is done 

 alternately for the sake of rapidity, but the last two or 

 three pulls, where greater resistance is oft'ered, the 

 motions are made simultaneously. When it is deshed to 

 discharge the piece one of the artillery men pulls a string 

 attached to the spoon, so an-anged as to immediately 

 release it, and the missile is sent flying to its destination 

 with great force. 



In our coming foray on the monster with the glaring 

 eyes, I resolved to use bombs as projectiles to launch from 

 the Khi-goorta, These I constructed from some large 

 gom'ds, filling them with combustibles of a resiuous 

 character and a good-sized cartridge of gunpowder that 

 would explode either by concussion or by the action of the 



*The natives gave my rifles all manner of names. Bit of 

 thunder, long finger, fire stick, blow-up stick, and extra long 

 mouth, or clock hoong hok. The latter because it resembled, 

 while it excell«id, the tube through which they blew their darts. 



WHAT A BIRD SAID. 



FROM our standpoint what poor insignificant things 

 you human beings are, compelled to creep about upon 

 the earth's surface like snails, while we, mounting upon 

 our wings, soar even above the clouds, and, upon the mst 

 sniff of winter's icy blast, hie away to sunny climes, there 

 to rollick and gambol amid perpetual flowers and spring! 

 How often we have hovered over your heads, chirped our 

 farewell notes, and were often on the point of saying 

 "come," but then came the sad thought that if we trudged 

 along at yom- poor pace, winter's storm would catch us 

 both. Yes, you can mount in the air by aid of gas and 

 silk, but when there, you are at the sport of the wind. 

 You know not in what direction you will fly nor where you 

 will light. Why, even our foolish sandhill cranes, who 

 are by no means the smartest of our race, float among the 

 clouds as securely as you walk upon the ground, go where 

 they will, remain in the air as long as they please, and 

 alight upon the spot of their choice. 



Oh, yee, your lightning express, we know about that. 

 You "fly," you say, and we suppose you imagine that you 

 do. Now, we never bet, but if we did, we woxxld wager 

 that the whistle wing duck and barn swallow will start 

 with yom- lightning express at New York city, fly around 

 it in circles one mile in diameter, leave it at Buffalo, and 

 be quietly adjusting then* feathers in Chicago before your 

 lightning express whistles for Toledo. Yes, you can cross 

 the ocean — that is, in fair weather, when the wind is in 

 the right quarter; but we heard one of our sea gulls the 

 other day, in company with a stormy petrel, laughing 

 above your wrecked ship, poised as they were upon safe 

 wing above her, as she stood on beam ends and above the 

 waves that you said were rolling mountain high. Oh 

 how we pity you, poor fooHsh, foolish mortals. You say 

 that you have a soul, but from the way you treat us 

 sometimes, we doubt it. Lovely women, who are indeed 

 the fau-est and best of your race, wear the skins of the 

 most beautiful of our species upon their bonnets without 

 blush or thought of pity. The boy wantonly destroys the 

 nest of the mother bird, while the sportsman, with breech- 

 loader, hurls destruction to half of a happy little family 

 of quail, and thinks that he is more merciful than the 

 pot-hunter, because he flushes them and kills them one at 

 a time, instead of wij)ing them out at one blast from an 

 old muzzleloader, as they sit in a huddle on the ground. 

 Yes, you may have a soul, but will you swear, with all 

 your boasted philosophy, that we haven't one, too? 



EoBiN A. Dare. 



CAPTIVE MOOSE. 



TI7HEN Mr. M. Welch was traveling last August 

 T T through the woods on Big Black Eiver, one of the 

 branches of the St. John, he came upon the dwelling of 

 an Indian, WUliam Nichols. This Indian lived with his 

 family of children in a log hut close to Big Black River, 

 about thu-ty-five miles from its jimction with the St. 

 John. He was farming a little piece of poor, sandy land, 

 in which he had a few potatoes planted, as well as a little 

 buckwheat and oats, and he was cultivating in addition 

 to this a little garden. His whole stock consisted of two 

 yoimg moose about the size of colts six or seven months 

 old. These he fed on the leafy branches of poplar, motm- 

 tain ash and birch, the poplar leaves being preferred. 

 Occasionally the captives were treated to an armful of the 

 Indian's oats, which they relished well. In the daytime 

 they were turned out to feed, and when night came on 

 were taken into the little yard surrounding the house. 

 Nichols had been accustoming them to the restraint of 

 the bridle. One of the children used to lead them about, 

 and Nichols told Mr. Welch that he expected to be able to 

 drive them out to the St. Lawrence this winter. The 

 account which he gave Mr. Welch of their capture was 

 as follows: One night last May he was in his canoe on 

 Depot Stream, a branch of the Big Black River, when he 

 heard a large animal splashing in the water. Cautiously 

 and silently paddling up as near as he could to where the 

 sound was without being discovered, he fixed in its direc- 

 tion, and found that he had desperately wounded an ani- 

 mal which proved to be a cow moose. He dispatched her 

 with his knife. The little ones were with the mother. 

 These he placed in his canoe and carried to his camp, 

 where they had been ever since. Edward Jack, 



Feedbbicion, New Brtinswick. 



