May 25, 1895.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
427 
life. It is the written chronicle — the literature — of the 
native American hunter. 
Aa the white man found him, the Indian was in the 
Btone age of development. For the most part, the flesh of 
wild beasts and the wild fruits of the earth supported him; 
skins covered him; wood, stone and bone armed and 
equipped him. He had no knowledge of metals, but fash- 
ioned his edge tools of sharpened bits of flint, his axe and 
war club of larger stones. His house he built of poles 
and bark and grass and skins. His cooking utensils were 
earthenware pots baked in the tire, or tight baskets in 
which food was cooked by placing hot stones in the water 
which they held until it boiled His only domestic ani- 
mal was the dog, which was also his beast of burden. 
Wherever he lived the Indian made the most of the food 
war in the Indian's estimation was the most worthy and 
honorable occupation a man could follow, it is natural 
that a good part of this history should be devoted to war- 
like exploits. The story reads, in part, that once on a 
time Red Crane set out on his war journey, and that soon 
after starting he killed an elk; then went on further and 
met an enemy with whom he fought. Here he is shown 
to have taken three scalps, there a gun, and again a mule. 
Many other war journeys are described, and in one place 
we find that with some companions he was surrounded 
by the enemy in a patch of brush, yet escaped. His 
hunting adventures are not passed over lightly. Here in 
one part of the chronicle we are told how he killed a 
mountain lion, how twice he was charged by bears, how 
on such a day he went eagle catching to secure the 
mm ■ I MaW 
NATIVK HUNTING EECOKDS— AN 
j*rom Photograph by 
that nature furnished for him. The women cultivated 
their corn patches and gathered wild nuts and berries and 
roots. Shellfish contributed largely to the support of the 
tribes which dwelt along the coast. Along the great 
rivers they took the alewife, the shad and the salmon; on 
the lakes, trout and whitefish. Yet, after a) I, the Indian's 
main reliance for food was on the chase. He was, before 
all else, a hunter — the Native American Hunter. 
By exhibiting a few characteristic specimens of his arms 
and implements, the Forest and Stream presented a suc- 
cinct view of the life of the Indian of the West, both in 
his primitive state and in the period of his change; the 
man of the stone age and the same man modified by con- 
tact with civilization. 
The first panel showed the Indian before the coming of 
the whites. Here were seen a series of stone arrow heads 
of different tribes, from the Atlantic coast (Virginia), 
from the plains (Blackfoot), and from the Rocky Mount- 
ains (Snake), stone scrapers or tanning instruments 
(Arapaho and Cheyenne), a stone knife (Arapaho), a mor- 
tar pestle (from Oregon), two stone hammers (Pacific 
coast), an ancient bone knife (Blackfoot), a small hammer 
and its stone for pounding choke cherries (Arapaho), a 
Moqui child's basketwork cradle and doll, loaned by 
Mr. T. G. Peck, of Haverstraw, a pair of firesticks 
(Squamisht), elk-horn fleshers (from an Arapaho battle- 
ground), a buffalo-horn ladle and spoon (Blackfoot), spoons 
and ladles of mountain sheep and mountain goat-horn 
(mountain tribes of Pacific coast), a flesher made from the 
cannon-bone of a buffalo Blackfoot), a woman's maul 
(Snake), two war axes (Sioux), a frame of pipes (Sioux, 
R^e, Mandan, Pawnee, Blackfoot, Flathead, Kootenai, 
Haidah and Southern California), a aheaf of stone-headed 
arrows (Snake), three buffalo-tail fly brushes. Four 
original Catlin sketches, showing primitive hunting scenes 
were kindly loaned this exhibit by Mr. J. W. B >uton, who 
owns the-series — over thirty in number — exhibited in Lon- 
don in 1859. 
The first panel was separated from the second by a two- 
pronged salmon spear, the weapon of the primitive fisher- 
man, brought years ago from the Northwest coast, where 
it was purchased from its owner, who was using it. 
Native Hunting Records. 
The second panel had for its centerpiece and chief a' - 
traction an interesting specimen of Indian manuscript, a 
primitivj book. It is the autobiography of Red Crane, a 
Blackfoot warrior, and sets forth the most remarkable 
adventures and noteworthy events of his life. It is a fine 
example of picture writing. This man, his record tells 
us, was at once a hunter, a warrior and a naturalist. As 
ILLUMINATED BUFFALO .COW SKIN. 
E. Bie*stadt, New York. 
tail feathers. He had various minor adventures, in which 
at different times a beaver, a porcupine, an otter and a 
sqirrel were concerned. He saw and wondered at certain 
strange water animals which are unmistakably drawn. 
transition period. He has met the white man and now 
knows what metal is, and has obtained the horse. His 
implements are ornamented with beads and brass. Here 
were a parfleche, used for packing; a high peaked saddle, 
a drum for dance music or religious ceremony, medicine 
sacks, rattles for doctoring, a war shield, bows and iron- 
pointed arrows and a bow case and quiver of otter fur, 
highly ornamented: tanning implements edged with iron, 
pipes and fire-bags, and ornamented knife sheaths. 
In a show case, under the upright wail on which the 
larger articles were displayed, were the smaller imple- 
ments, chiefly of bone or stone; a Moqui earthenware 
water bottle, a basketwork bottle, gambling sticks from 
the Rocky Mountains and the Pacific coast, moccasins 
bright with beads or quills, a stone mask from Mr. Peck's 
collection, and many other interesting articles. 
And here the story of the primitive hunter ends and 
merges into that of the old-time trapper, the last examples 
of which survived the building of the trans-continental 
railroads only a very few years. 
At the top of the last panel were the weather-worn 
skulls of a bull and cow buffalo, the animal which, on 
the plains and among the mountains, furnished support 
to the early traveler, whether his skin was red or white. 
Here hung the trapper's buckskin clothing, beaded, 
fringed and trimmed with red cloth and fur, according 
to the taste of his dusky spouse. Below these were his 
arms, his powder and bullet pouch and their shoulder 
belt — all ornamented by his woman — and a series of guns 
running from the old Hudson's Bay flintlock fuke of the 
period of 1820 up through the crooked stock, muzzle- 
loading percussion rifle, the double-barrel pill rifle, loaned 
by Mr. Charles Fenton. of the Adirondack^, to the buffalo 
gun used in the early '70s. Each one of these arms — and, 
indeed, each article in this exhibit — has its history. 
B^low is an old-fashioned T.-Gray axe, the earliest trade 
axe carried to the plains, and a Hudson Bay dagger of 
ancient type. The whole display was not only interest- 
ing historically, but highly decorative as well. 
The color scheme of the illuminated cow skin presents 
a difficult task for the camera, and the Forest and Stream 
was extremely fortunate in enlisting the co-operation 
of Mr. Edward Bierstadt, of No. 94 Reade street, this 
city, from whose admirable photograph of the subject 
the engraving was made. 
The Diamond Hitch. 
Forest and Stream occupied a position of importance 
in the Exposition very well described by that ancient gen- 
tleman who said modestly, in regard to certain historic 
happenings, "Pars quorum magna fui," which being in- 
terpreted means, "I was right in it all the time myself." 
The Forest and Stream exhibit was one of the fin de 
siecle, de luxe. Al, G in alt features of the show every 
minute of the day and night. Any one who had ever 
gone shooting or fishing or that sort of thing could only 
approve the Forest and Stream display in every detail, 
and any one who had never gone could learn enough to 
make him want to go. The greatest of all sportsmen's 
papers showed itself, as usual, at the head of the line in 
all the possibilities of its field, and it offered some features 
never thought of by less experienced or slower-witted 
rivals. One of thrse features, and one which was a lead- 
ing attraction for many at the Exposition, was the packing 
of a horse d la Rocky Mountains; as the hunters of the 
West are obliged to do in their travelings over the rough 
and untracked mountain ranges where the game is 
found. 
The mountain packer can give the oldest sailorman 
cards and spades on knots, ties and splices. What he can 
not do with a rope is to be left undone. Years ago the 
Rocky Mountain packer invented a rope lashing which 
remains unparalleled to-day as a lead pipe cinch in fasten- 
ings. If the prisoner of Chillon had been tied out of doors 
with a diamond hitch, they wouldn't have needed any 
dungeon, for he couldn't have got away in a thousand 
years. Where an army mule could not get away from 
his pack under the diamond hitch, the prisoner of Chillon 
would have no show on earth. 
A GENERAL VIEW. 
In fact, we have here set down by a keen observer the 
notes of a long and adventurous life. The manuscript — a 
primitive diary or note-book — was given by its author to 
Joseph Kipp, of Montana, and by him in turn presented 
to its present owner. 
Grouped about this primitive diary as a centerpiece were 
arranged the arms and implements of the Indian of the 
There are few men who can "throw the diamond hitch," 
as this phrases itself in the mountains. Some men can 
never learn to do it. Any man who can do it has passed 
away and up and out of the realms of tenderfootdom, 
and to him the secrets of the mountains and the respect 
of the mountain men are open. 
Forest and Stream can throw the diamond hitch, and 
