346 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 22, 1890. 



adjudication. State Game Protector Drew, who is the 

 defendant, appeals for financial aid to carry the case 

 through. Fish protective associations can do no more 

 good than to sustain the protector by contributing such 

 funds as may be necessary. Practical experience has 

 demonstrated that fishing nets and fish conservation 

 cannot go together; and unless nets are to be classed as 

 public nuisances and treated as such, they cannot be regu- 

 lated by any executive machinery as yet devised. Upon 

 the outcome of this suit there will in large measure de- 

 pend the efficient protection of the food fish supply. 

 The principles involved are of general application in all 

 States where laws similar to that of New York are in 

 force. 



In his letter relating to the America's cup race, pub- 

 lished in our yachting columns to day, Lord Dunraven 

 has redeemed his blunder of silence last season, and has 

 stated plainly a number of specific objections to the so- 

 called third deed of gift. These objections are the same 

 in substance as those made by the opponents of the deed 

 in this country; but they are far more important in that, 

 coming from such a source, they cannot be quietly ig- 

 nored, but must be recognized and answered in some 

 way by the New York Yacht Club. When the objec- 

 tions have been disposed of the next task for the spon- 

 sors of the new deed will be to answer to American 

 yachtsmen for their breach of trust, and for the injury 

 done to yachting by the locking up of the premier 

 trophy of the world by means of conditions which are 

 both unfair and impracticable. 



Mr. W. T. Hornaday, superintendent of the National 

 Zoological Park at Washington, has tendered his resig- 

 nation of that office to the Secretary of the Smithsonian 

 Institution, to take effect June 15. Mr. Langley has ac- 

 cepted Mr. Hornaday's resignation in a flattering letter, 

 and the latter will remove next month to Buffalo, N. Y. 

 Since the inception of the Zoological Park Mr. Hornaday 

 has been deeply interested in it and has worked for it 

 with unflagging energy, contributing much to the success 

 of the enterprise. Mr. Hornaday's energy and push made 

 him a valuable man, and his loss will be severely felt in 

 Washington, 



. The new book, "With Fly-Rod and Camera," will be 

 ready next Monday. In our notice already made we have 

 spoken of the scope and character of this work, notable 

 for the profusion and character of its illustrations. It 

 has been an open secret among the friends of the author, 

 Mr. Edward A. Samuels, of Boston, that he has been for 

 Beveral years collecting materials for this book; but we 

 predict for them and for the public a genuine surprise 

 when they realize the success attained in so vividly pic- 

 turing the phases of angling life. 



Another organization has been added to the list of those 

 which propose to care for the Adirondack forests. It is 

 the Adirondack Park Association, with headquarters in 

 this city and these officers: Pres., Dr. Alfred Loomis: 

 Vice-Pres., John Claflin; Sec, Martin Burk; Treas.,' 

 Charles E. Coon. 



The Senate has delayed to pass the bill to protect fish in 

 the Potomac River. The subject is now under consider- 

 ation in the House. In the meantime the destruction of 

 shad and black bass is shameful, even the down-river 

 fishermen are howling for protection of spawning beds. 



A 22-pound Atlantic salmon caught at Gloucester, New 

 Jersey, was presented to Commissioner McDonald yester- 

 day, May 21, by Mr. Thompson; and being a royal 

 representative of its race, the Commissioner has sent it 

 to the President. 



SLIDE ROCK FROM MANY MOUNTAINS. 



VI.— A TALE OF BLOOD. 



TT is not pleasant to witness a tragedy. To have taken 

 X part in one is horrible. This horror is intensified when 

 the victims are mothers and children. And vet oerhans 

 it were better that such a tragedy should be compete: 

 that death should embrace all the members of the family 

 rather than that a part should have fallen before the de- 

 stroyer, while others survived to mourn their lost ones 



J UPPC T tha - e I- e / y c«minal has an excuse for his mis- 

 deeds and can justify them to himself, on one pretext or 

 hnnSh r ' t The ^ ] * r may plead that he was P driv?n£ 

 re , akm f g factual starvation, or that he needed 

 the plunder for the purpose of making some special in 

 XSSrt.V" that ^,7**** house was so badly pro- 

 ^. C \f ha ^^ ne ^ 0U ? W re ^tedthe temptation to 

 c f . crim mal's excuse may be a very flimsy one 

 but it serves his purpose. uue, 



I have been the chief actor in a bloody tragedy and 

 hke other guilty persons, I have an excuse f £ m y , dark 

 deed. A strong pen has already sketched in general 

 terms the outline of a hunt in which four white°goSs 



S v T therS an< ? tW ° ?l ds > were killed b y me i n IS 

 forty-five seconds and has indicated the reason for this 

 wholesale slaughter. It remains for me to fill in this 

 outline with the details which shall make up the picture 

 In some ways the occurrence was rathe/iemSable 



Two or three years ago the directors of a great museum, 

 who know that I am a goat hunter, applied to me for a 

 series of properly prepared skins of this animal, from 

 which to set up a mounted group of white goats. I had 

 been informed that what were especially desired were a 

 monster male, two females and two young ones — in short, 

 a family. I had made vigorous efforts to supply these 

 desiderata , and besides my own hunting, had employed 

 men who live the year round in a goat country and who 

 frequently hunt the animals, to look out for and secure 

 the desired specimens. Through the efforts of one of 

 these men the large male had been procured, but the 

 kids were still wanting. I was becoming discouraged. 



In order that the unities might be preserved, it was 

 essential that all the individuals to be brought together 

 in the group should be killed at the same season of the 

 year. Nothing could be more ridiculous than to have 

 the different members of this family group wear the 

 coats of different seasons. A male in the summer pelage 

 guarding a band in which the females should wear a 

 January cdat, while the kids were of the size and in 

 the dress of early autumn, would excite the mirth of the 

 hunter and would bring discredit on the museum where 

 such an incongruous group was on exhibition. The dif- 

 ficulty of obtaining the specimens was therefore not the 

 only one to be overcome. They must be secured at ap- 

 proximately the same season of the year. 



After my friend, resisting all my persuasions to accom- 

 pany me, had sent me off with Chinook Tom, we set out 

 to approach the game. At that time we had seen only 

 two goats, and these were 600 or 700yds. above us, on the 

 mountain side across the creek. To approach them it was 

 necessary to go up the stream, cross it and then to clam- 

 ber almost as far above them as they were now above 

 us. Then working along the mountain side, until we 

 were directly above, we could creep down to a low 

 shoulder beneath which they were lying. From that 

 point it was thought that we could get a shot. After 

 following up the valley half a mile, we plunged down 

 the steep hillside, crushed our way through the brush in 

 the creek bed and began the ascent on the other side. 

 The slope of the mountain was extremely sharp, and the 

 ground smooth and slippery with long dead grass. Fire 

 bad passed over it and dead burned sticks lay upon the 

 hillside, and added to the difficulty of climbing. Tom's 

 moccasin-shod toes clung to the steep slope with a tena- 

 city that I greatly envied, while my stiffer shoes slipped 

 and sprawled, and noisily hit against the rocks and trees, 

 in a way that must have been quite as annoying to my 

 companion as it was to me. 



At length, after many pauses for breath, the weary 

 climb was over, and we passed out of the timber far above 

 the goats. We could see them, still lying in the same 

 place, on the other side of a wide ravine, thick with dead 

 timber, standing and fallen, which we must cross before 

 we could descend to a point from which we could shoot. 

 At the foot of a high cliff we stopped for a moment to 

 rest. We had hardly seated ourselves when we saw two 

 other goats come running out of the timber below those 

 which were lying down. These two I at once recognized 

 as a female and kid. Climbing steadily up the slope 

 they soon joined the two which were lying down. These 

 rose to their feet, and for a few moments all four stood 

 looking out over the valley below them; then they turned 

 and began to clamber up the hill. At first, when the 

 second pair of goats made their appearance, I had sup- 

 posed that they had come up from water, and would lie 

 down with tne others; but it was now evident that they 

 had been alarmed by something in the valley, and that 

 all four were about to seek the heights for safety. They 

 clambered up the side of the ravine until they had 

 reached the shoulder from which I had hoped to shoot 

 and then, turning to the right, passed out of sight behind 

 it, taking a course which led toward some vertical cliffs, 

 which we had noticed from the other side of the stream. 



As soon as they were out of sight, Tom and I started 

 across the ravine after them. To pass this was tiresome 

 work, for the timber was very thick. And this, with the 

 underbrush and the slippery rocks, made our progress 

 slow and noisy. The footing was uncertain and the labor 

 of constantly stepping over logs severe. Having crossed, 

 we kept down the other side until we reached the shoul- 

 der beyond which the goats disappeared. Here we found 

 their tracks, and followed them along the narrow ledges 

 of the cliffs, under low-growing pines whose roots were 

 thrust deep in the crevices of the rocks, and over steep 

 rock faces where the footing was very precarious. It was 

 only now and then that tracks could be seen, for the trail 

 along which the game was passing was so stony that 

 often their feet left no imprint. Occasionally, however, 

 a foot mark would be seen, or a fragment of rock freshly 

 turned from its bed would indicate the passage of some 

 animal. In the excitement of the moment"! gave no 

 thought to the difficulties of the way, but later, after we 

 returned to the horses, and I looked back at these 

 cliffs, it seemed impossible that any creature except a 

 goat, a mountain sheep or a bird should have passed along 



We had followed the scattered traces for perhaps half 

 a mile, occasionally clambering up or down the cliff to 

 look into some little pocket in .the rocks, which might 

 possibly harbor our game, when on a bit of soft ground 

 we saw the tracks of several goats, and felt sure that our 

 band was still before us. A few moments later Tom 

 who was a little in advance, suddenly threw himself flat 

 on the ground and excitedly whispered, 'You see um' 

 Shoot." I could see through a thick tree that over- 

 hung the trail a dim white shape, which could only be a 

 goat, but I could not tell whether the animal's head or 

 tail was toward me, nor whether it saw us or not Tom 

 was so excited, however, that I felt bound to shoot. He 

 wriggled about on the ground and kept whispering "You 

 shoot. You shoot." So, though I could not myself see 

 any necessity for haste, I took it for granted that the case 

 was urgent. It was manifestly useless to fire through a 

 mass of branches at a shadow, and I noiselessly scrambled 

 up on a mass of rock lying above the trail. From this 

 point I found among the branches of the tree an opening 

 through which I could get a clear view of a patch of 

 white hair about three inches in diameter. At this patch 

 I fired, and as the smoke cleared away I saw that the 

 white shadow had disappeared. 



Springing forward 13 or 20ft., I passed the tree and 

 had a clear view of the trail ahead. On a great rock 

 which was dotted with blood, stood a white goat with its 

 head up and expressing in its attitude more alertness 

 than I had ever before seen in an animal of this species 



At the foot of the rock on the down hill side, standing 

 on the slide rock of a little ravine, was another goat 

 wounded, with its head down. These two, both old ones, 

 were the only goats in sight. Of course, immediately 

 after my shot I had slipped another cartridge into my 

 gun, and the instant that I sprang into the open, the old 

 rifle jumped to the shoulder and a ball tore through the 

 heart of the goat on the rock. It half reared, fell over 

 backward near its wounded companion and went rolling 

 down the hill over the slide rock. At the sound of the 

 shot a kid, hitherto hidden behind the great rock, sprang 

 into view on a lesser pinnacle. Again the fatal crack* rang 

 out, the kid sprang outward and downward, and tumbled 

 over and over down the hill after its mother. 



While all this was going on, Tom had appeared on the 

 scene and was dancing about on a point of rock near me 

 like — to use a vulgar but expressive phrase — a hen on a 

 hot griddle. Little whoops and chuckles of delight 

 sounded from him, and now, as he saw the wounded 

 goat at the foot of the rock, which until this moment had 

 seemingly been too dazed to do anything, begin to hob- 

 ble off, he called out, ''Shoot um again." It seemed un- 

 necessary to do this, for I could see that the first ball had 

 ranged lengthwise through the body; but I neither wished 

 to lose the animal nor to follow it far, so I shot it again, 

 and it joined the procession, which I could tee out of the 

 corner of my eye still tumbling over and over down the 

 hillside. 



But the end was not yet. Just as the last shot echoed 

 among the crags, there dashed down the trail and into 

 view about a point of rocks, another kid, which had appar- 

 ently started at the first alarm to climb the hill, but, 

 finding itself alone, had come back to look for its mother, 

 running to meet its death. It came bounding along 

 from rock to rock, with head erect, and quick, springy 

 motions, resembling in its actions a mountain sheep far 

 more than a sluggish goat. It ran quite close to me, and 

 with a feeling of pity for the poor thing I killed.it. 

 There were no more. 



Although so long in the telling, the time which elapsed 

 between my first shot and my last was probably not 

 more than a minute, perhaps even less, for I had loaded 

 and fired as rapidly as possible, and there was always 

 something in sight to shoot at. 



To convey any adequate motion of Tom's enthusiasm 

 and delight is quite beyond my powers. He danced, and 

 gurgled and crowed like a delighted infant. For a little 

 while articulate speech seemed to fail him. and he could 

 only whoop and chuckle, and sing, and pat mo on the 

 shoulder. At last, however, he burst forth in praise of 

 my shooting and of my gun: 



"Oh you, Huyu, huyu good shoot. Get 'em all. O 

 skookum mushket. Good for goosly bear;" and many 

 other enthusiastic words. 



As a matter of fact, I had done no good shooting. At 

 that distance, and with the opportunities I had had, it 

 would have been disgraceful to fail to kill as many cf this 

 little band as I had wished to. Tom, however, was prob- 

 ably accustomed only to guiding young men whose feel- 

 ings overcame them at the sight of game, and who shiver 

 and tremble when they put their cheeks down against the 

 stocks of their rifles. Such young men require to be 

 braced and supported before they can hit anything. Then 

 they hit their game usually in the foot or in the ear, and 

 sometimes even in the body. This last is rare. Tom's 

 dealings I fancied had been with hunters of this class, 

 aud I was confirmed in this conclusion by a remark which 

 he made that night in camp when he was detailing to the 

 packers and other Indians about the fire the events of the 

 day. He concluded his story by saying: 



"Helo nika nannitch white man ailee same." (I have 

 not seen a white man like him). 



After all the goats had rolled down the hill out of sight, 

 I turned to the beaming Tom and asked him how many 

 there had been. He replied that he thought there had 

 been three; I told him that I imagined that there were 

 four, but the whole thing had taken place so quickly that 

 only a general impression of the number remained on my 

 mind. The readiest way to learn how many there were 

 was clearly to follow down the blood-stained ravine and 

 count them. This we did, finding one old goat about half 

 way down, and near the bottom in one pile three more. 

 When they were counted there was more rejoicing from 

 Tom, who was evidently well pleased with his white 

 man. 



To get the animals down to the creek bed, where .we 

 could take their skins off, did not occupy much time, and 

 it was only 11 o'clock when we sat down to smoke a pipe 

 before beginning this work. As each animal had to be 

 measured with exactness, and the skins removed with 

 peculiar care, this task took us about three hours; so that 

 it was nearly 4 o'clock before we had packed the loads on 

 the horses and started for camp. Yo. 



ANTOINE BISSETTE'S LETTERS. 



in. 



M'sieu Fores'' Strim: 



Wen M'sieu Mumpsin was read in Fores' Strim 'baout 

 all dat man's brag, how it been shot dem leetly bird dey 

 call it evelin groo3bik, Ah '11 beegin for tink 'f' Ah'll can' 

 mekmasef disteenguish for mek some colleck, me. 



Ah '11 rembler Ah'll took a notice w'en Ah chawp de 

 hwood for seekty-five cent a cord (dat was too cheaps, an' 

 Ah do' know what poor mans goin' comin' to), dar was 

 gre' deal of leetly bird, cheekledee an' cardy bird an' 

 hwoodpeckit, come all raoun' me every day. 



He was all of it veree shocibly an' he kan o' was be 

 some company of me w'en Ah was all lone on de hwood, 

 mebby not see somebodee all day, 'cep' dog barkin 5 'way 

 off or prob'ly man hollerin' way off. 



But w'en mans goin' for make some colleck, he ant gat 

 no deeff'ence haow moch bird was be shocible, honly it 

 was more easier for mek colleck an' be some science. 



Nex' morny, w'en A '11 go on de hwood, same tarn Ah 'II 

 took mah haxe, mah pail provishin dat was veree com- 

 fortably whedder you goin' chawp or mek some colleck, 

 Ah '11 took mah gawn (Ah '11 goin' tole you hees name of it 

 w'en you tole me de bes' kan for call it. ' N. B., not a bean, 

 M'sieu Mumpsin say dat letters meant— dat was privately). 



Ah '11 ant mos' more as gat to mah chawpin' 'fore more 

 as feef ty, prob'ly forty chickledee come all raoun' of me, 

 some close of mah head, some on top limb of it, some 

 hangin' on it wid hees back bottom up, an' all of it seeng- 

 in' Chic-le-dee-dee, same he was glad for see me. 



An' dey was four, fave, ten. Ah guess, cardy bird 



