42 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Feb. 9, 1888. 



NEW JERSEY S CHINESE WALL. 

 ^HE New Jersey notion of game and fish protection is 

 to build a Chinese wall around the State and admit 

 strangers equipped with guns and rods only on payment 

 of an admission tax. The practical working of the non- 

 resident game law in one part of New Jersey has been 

 actually to give over the five lower counties into the 

 control of non-residents. The West Jersey Game Pro- 

 tective Society is composed of Pennsylvania sportsmen, 

 and they rule that portion of New Jersey about as they 

 please. 



This principle of exclusion has just now run mad. 

 Senator Roe, of Gloucester county, has introduced a bill 

 at Trenton, requiring non-resident sportsmen to pay a 

 fee of $25, in addition to the game society license. Sena- 

 tor Roe believes in the wall system, and he believes in 

 building the barrier high, with the ancient device of 

 broken glass on the top and modern barb wire strung 

 along the face. 



The Philadelphia contingent of foreigners, who make 

 up the West Jersey Society, are not mclined to view 

 Senator Roe's heroic measure with much favor. They 

 claim that the proposed law would clash with their char- 

 ter privileges; and they have announced that they will 

 fight the bill. 



Senator Roe should not stop at the $25 non-resident 

 license fee. There is a further work to be done. Out in 

 Rockland and Orange counties, in New York, quail and 

 European pheasants have been put out to stock the game 

 covers there. These birds have increased and multiplied 

 and set out to fill the earth. New Jersey included. They 

 have crossed the State line, and quartered themselves 

 upon New Jersey farmers. While Senator Roe is raising 

 his wall he ought to see to it that no loophole is left for 

 the ingress of this foreign game. 



NOTES AND COMMENTS. 

 nHHROUGH the kindness of a correspondent, "Birdo," 

 of Port Royal, Term., Major H. W. Merrill has 

 procured a hunting horn which has an interesting history. 

 It was taken from the head of a Texas beef, killed for the 

 use of the Confederate army at Port Hudson, La., in 

 1862, and was converted into a hunting horn by Private 

 W. J. Grant, Co. I, Capt. R. Y. Johnson, 59th Tennessee 

 Infantry, then stationed there. The horn was carried 

 3,000 miles by Mr. Grant. The cloth strap still attached 

 to the horn, by which it is slung over the shoulder, was 

 made from gray cloth used for uniforms in the Con- 

 federate service. The horn is 22in. in length (originally 

 it was 24in.) and has a mellow tone, which can be heard 

 at a great distance. It is worthy of note that this piece 

 of handiwork from a Confederate camp should have 

 come into the possession of a retired officer of the United 

 States Army. Major Merrill tells us that the horn 

 reminds him of those of the oxen which supported the 

 baptismal font in the Mormon temple at Nauvoo, Illinois, 

 which he saw in the year 1842, when he visited Jo Smith, 

 and with his long leathern hunting coat and broad- 

 brimmed sombrero created a sensation among the Mor- 

 mons. 



Prof. Charles Linden, whose death is announced else- 

 where, was for many years a valued contributor to the 

 several departments of this journal. Among the more 

 extended series of papers from his pen was one relating 

 his angling adventurec in Labrador some years ago. He 

 was a student of bird life, a devoted angler, most enter- 

 taining in conversation, and always found on the right 

 side. He was early interested in the effort to secure pro- 

 tection for the National Park, in the work of the Audubon 

 Society, and all other movements looking to a wise use 

 and conservation of the gifts of a bounteous nature. 

 Perhaps the very last thing Prof. Linden wrote while 

 rational was the paper describing the swarms of butter- 

 flies he found on the Nouvelle; it was published in our 

 issue of Aug. 11. 



What a forcible figure was that used by Prince Bis- 

 marck, when, \n his Reichstag speech last Monday, insist- 

 ing upon the necessity of Germany's maintaining an im- 

 mense armament to withstand the menace of other 

 powers, he declared "it is only because there are pikes in 

 the European carp pond that we cannot become carp our- 

 selves." 



The House Committee on Fisheries have given two days 

 to hearing testimony and argument on the bill to forbid 

 menhaden fishing within the three-mile limit, and they 

 have listened to a number of advocates on either side. 

 Their report has not yet been made, but it is expected 

 that it will be favorable to the bill. 



The National Rifle Association's offer to turn over the 

 Creedmoor range to the State of New York is one which 

 should be accepted. Long-range markmanship has vir- 

 tually died out, and Creedmoor is now used by the 

 National Guard to such an extent that -the State should 

 assume the burden of supporting the range. 



Prof. Bolton's inquiry into the vocabulary of terms 

 used in addressing animals is as novel as it may prove to 

 be interesting. His communication on another page ex- 

 plains the special information he seeks; and readers of ( 

 his note are invited to give him their cooperation. ' 



THE BOCK CLIMBERS. 



VII. — A. PIECE OF MEAT. 



TT was a long day, twenty-four hours at least, and that 

 is a good while to go without food or sleep, when one 

 is working hard. 



The Rock Climbers were a trustful band. So far 

 they had climbed a good deal and had received no ma- 

 terial reward. They believed, however, in the truth of a 

 variety of old saws, such as "Labor omnia vincii" "By 

 industry we thrive," Patient waiting, no loss," "Persever- 

 ance conquers all things," and other sayings of a similar 

 character, with which the reader is perhaps sufficiently 

 familiar. So they kept on climbing. 



One morning, however, something occurred which 

 made them feel both hurt and angry. 



It was just about daylight when an individual, coatless 

 and hatless, with hair standing on end and sleepy eyes, 

 evidently just from his blankets, stepped out of the tent. 

 He yawned, stretched himself, looked over the quiet 

 lake, and listened for a moment to the "talking" of the 

 geese in the cove opposite, and then shivering in the 

 keen air, proceeded to break the ice on the water bucket 

 and to perform his ablutions. While doing this, the light 

 grew stronger, and at length, when he turned to re-enter 

 the tent, the sun was just gilding the eastern hills. As 

 its first rays touched the front of the tent his eye caught 

 sight of some pencil rnarks on the canvas, which certainly 

 had not been there the day before, and looking closely, 

 he was horrified to see scrawled there a grotesque and 

 ribald paraphrase on one of the sweetest poems of the 

 English language. This is what he read: 



Some city nimrod, who with rusty gun, 

 The little foolheus of the glade withstood. 



Some windy would-be hunter here may run, 

 Some guiltless of the billy goat's blood. 



For a moment he could hardly believe his eyes, for it 

 seemed incredible that any one should venture to treat with 

 such irreverence the faithful labors of this little band. But 

 there was no mistake about it. The letters stared him in the 

 face. What was worse, there could be no doubt that the 

 scoffing words had been written by one of their own num- 

 ber, for there was no other white man within thirty miles 

 of the lakes. This must not be repeated. Something 

 must be done. Few and sad were the words they spoke, 

 but that morning by 8 o'clock all the horses were saddled, 

 and soon after, the four men were loping as hard as they 

 could go toward Goat Mountain. 



The distance to the point of rocks running down from 

 Otu Komi is about seven miles, at least half of this being 

 through small aspens. Then the trail passes over an un- 

 dulating prairie just above the lake shore, and afterward 

 through small pines and spruces. No time was wasted 

 on the ride. When it was practicable they loped or 

 trotted, and it was only in the narrowest or marshiest 

 places that the animals walked. Where the trail passes 

 up over the rocks it is so steep and broken with loose 

 boulders and high steps that every one dismounted and 

 led up to the top. Here the trail was left and a course 

 taken leading diagonally up the side of Goat Mountain, 

 which in an hour brought them to the edge of the timber 

 on the northeast shoulder of the mountain, nearly a mile 

 above the frail. 



Tying the horses in a little park surrounded by spruces 

 — for the mountain side was so steep that they dared not 

 picket them and let them graze — the men stepped out to 

 the edge of the grove and looked the hillside over for 

 goats. One at least was discovered immediately, lying 

 in the shade in a crevice of the rock. He seemed but 

 little larger than a pea, he was so far above them, but 

 looking through the powerful glass one could see his 

 horns and the shadow cast by his ears. Further off and 

 lower down were two other white objects which may 

 have been goats, but they were so distant that it was im- 

 possible to determine with certainty what they were. 



Their plans were soon laid. Yo and Appekunny were 

 to keep on straight up the mountain, to go around the 

 animal [and try to approach it from above, while the 

 Rhymer and Jack, taking a lower course, should endeavor 

 to reach it from below. If it became alarmed at the 

 advance of either party, and attempted flight, it might 

 thus expose itself to the other. Then after a pipe had 

 been smoked, the men rose to then feet, took up their 

 rifles, and set their faces to the task before them. 



The climb for those who had the lower course was 

 rough and hard. They moved along the face of the 

 mountain, over smooth shale slopes, or rough slide rock, 

 now plunging into deep ravines and clambering pain- 

 fully up the opposite sides and again facing the vertical 

 ledges, always working a little higher up on the mount- 

 ain and nearer the game. Appekunny and Yo, who 

 kept on up the shoulder of the mountain, found their 

 climbing not difficult, though very steep. With many 

 pauses for breath, they kept at it, and after an hour and 

 a half found themselves on the lower edge of a steep 

 slope, on which were scattered here and there stunted 

 spruces and pines, gnarled and twisted by the winds that 

 sweep unceasingly over these mountainsides. From here 

 they could see the goat still lying in the crevice of the 

 rock and now not more than 500yds. distant. It was 

 cold here, and in the bitter wind the breath froze, so that 

 moustache and beard were ornamented with great icicles. 



But the goat did not find it so, for he had chosen a spot 

 well out of the sun, and there, just below a mass of 

 snow and close by a frozen rivulet, he was lying in the 

 shade trying to keep cool. 



The upper part of the slope, which was now before the 

 hunters, was bare of trees, and in plain sight of the goat, 

 and in order to get abovs him it was neeessary either to 

 cross this, or to go back and around, which would add a 

 mile or more to the distance they had to go. Appekunny 

 was of opinion that it would be perfectly safe to crawl 

 across this open spot in plain sight of the animal, aver- 

 ring that goats are so unsuspicious or heedless that they 

 scarcely ever take the alarm, even when the hunter 

 shows himself in plain sight within a hundred yards. 

 They started, therefore, crawling on hands and knees 

 and keeping as close to the ground as possible. The open 

 spot was about 50yds. across, and they had passed over 

 half of this distance when the goat slowly rose to his feet. 

 Without moving a muscle the two men lay there and 

 watched it. After a moment, it took a step or two for- 

 ward and looked down over the precipice into the great 

 rift in the rocks below. For five minutes it stood there, 

 then slowly turned and walked back to the seemingly 

 vertical wall behind it. paused thei'e a moment, as if 

 thinking deeply, raised itself on its hindlegs, and seeming 

 to put its forefeet into some crevice, raised itself awk- 

 wardly, and then drawing up its hindlegs, gave itself a 

 push with them which sent it up to a little jutting point 

 of rock, where there was room for all four feet. Here it 

 stood for a few minutes, motionless and in the same con- 

 templative attitude which it had assumed before. Pres- 

 ently it again raised itself, and again seemed to pull itself 

 upward by means of its forelegs, not leaping, as might be 

 expected, but apparently turning its elbows out and lift- 

 ing itself between its arms, much as a man would lift 

 himself between a pair of parallel bars. The whole 

 movement was as slow and clumsy as could be imagined, 

 and yet wonderfully strong and effective. The animal 

 did not seem in the least frightened; there was no indica- 

 tion in his movements that he had been alarmed. He 

 went up the cliff with the utmost deliberation, stopping 

 every now and then to take a bite of some tempting bit 

 of vegetation, and often waiting for a moment or two to 

 thing something over. 



At length he disappeared over the top of the cliff, and 

 comments on his extraordinary mode of progression were 

 freely uttered, but as he had gone, and as it was im- 

 possible to cross the deep, dark gorge, which lay between 

 him and the hunters, and so to follow him directly, they 

 started on up the mountain to reach its crest. It was 

 noon before this was done. Here the snow lay deep, but 

 the ascent was moderate and rocky, and progress was 

 easy. Off on the north slope of the ridge, the white 

 mantle, dotted here and there with black pines or broken 

 by projecting rock points, stretched away down into a 

 "hole," in which heads the large stream wmich flows 

 down into the lake between Otu Komi and Goat Moun- 

 tain. A dreary, cold, lifeless region it was, though in 

 summer it is reported to be good ground for sheep and 

 goats. Occasionally in the snow would be seen fresh 

 tracks of goats, some of which had recently come up out 

 of this hole on to the south side of the mountain. 



Having reached a point half a mile above where the 

 goat had last been seen, the men left the crest of the 

 ridge and advanced along the mountainside, walking 

 among the scattered stunted pines over the sharply in- 

 clined slide rock. Up here there seemed to be no game 

 nor any sign of game, and it w r as concluded that the 

 goats must be further down the hill. Appekunny and 

 Yo passed along the mountainside about 50yds. apart for 

 a mile or more, carefully looking for tracks, until they 

 had satisfied themselves that no game had passed up the 

 slope that day, then Yo went down and joined his com- 

 panion, and suggested that they should keep on until 

 they came to the cliffs, which were half a mile before 

 them, and should then turn back, and look for goats 

 lower down, trying at least to find the one they had seen 

 earlier in the day. This they agreed to, and they had 

 started for the cliffs, when suddenly a white spot came 

 into view on one of the nearest cliffs, and on examining 

 it with a glass it was seen to be a goat lying down on a 

 shelf of the cliff just above the slide rock. 



Carefully they stalked it, passing cautiously from tree 

 to tree, until at length a point of recks concealed the ani- 

 mal from view. Then hurrying forward they peered 

 carefully around the last point of rocks, behind which 

 it should have been, but it was nowhere in sight. It 

 seemed impossible that it should have been alarmed and 

 got away, and a few moments' careful scrutiny of the 

 rocks showed that this was not the place where it had 

 been lying. Though the general aspect of the point was 

 the same, a big red crag, by which the goat's position had 

 been marked, was absent. The animal must be beyond 

 one of two points just before them. It was not seen 

 beyond the first of these, but on rounding the second, 

 there lay the goat on his little shelf just as he had been 

 when first^iscovered. 



Yo was anxious to get the animal, it was the first goat 

 at which he had ever had a fair shot and the camp needed 

 meat, but he was not conscious of feeling more excite- 

 ment than if the animal before him had been an antelope 



