FOREST AND STREAM., 
411 
ponies, and not a bit of iron in the whole outfit I Not 
even a nail. The wheels had wooden tires held by 
wooden pins, and if one gave out there was the forest to 
furnish material. Some of the carts had a ham rind 
Under the axle, but that was a foolish concession to the 
god 01 silence. The others shrieked and wailed like lost 
Spirits, and miles before we met them we were wondering 
what could make such unearthly sounds. We halted and 
talked with the priest who was in charge of the expedi- 
tion and seemed to be the only man in the party who 
Boiild speak English. The other men were French, 
Indians and half-breeds, and they spoke such a patois of 
ihixed Djibwa and Canadian French that Crosby couldn't 
janderstand a word, and he spoke Boston French fluently. 
The priest was a jolly old fellow, a well-read man who, 
it seemed to me, was wasting his life among a very dirty 
lot; but if he was contented we should be. I listened to 
him talk of his mission work and of his hope that there 
Wotild be a weekly mail up from St, Paul into bis frozen 
regioh before many years. His people had sold their 
fuirs; the Hudson's Bay Company had a monopoly of the 
trade in British America, and they brought nothing to 
sell. They were going to St. Paul to buy coffee, sugar, 
clothing, garden seeds and other things; but why they 
didn't buy of the company I don't know. His great 
good nature and hopefulness made him very interesting, 
for he was a good and lovable old man. Ah me! If the 
camera and dry plates had been invented in those days 
and I had owned an outfit, what treasures I would have 
to-day I 
Tom Davies went to St, Paul for the rest of the pro- 
visions early in October and was gone ten days. Henry 
froze both his feet by riding on the hind end of the 
wagon with his feet banging out after he had met Tom at 
Crow Wing, fdr we were still in a country where the 
wagon could be used. It was night and Henry had told 
Tom that Crosby was lost in the woods, and he hurried on 
at once because there were but three men on the line. 
They reached camp while we were breakfasting, but 
Henry could not stand. He had foolishly worn leather 
boots, while the rest had shoe-packs of elk-skin, soft and 
warm in dry weather. This reminds me to say that the 
Indians about us wore moccasins of buffalo which cost |l 
a pair at Crow Wing, but did not wear well. After the 
men were gone on the line I took Henry's boots off and 
put his feet into snow and by chafing them got the blood 
started. He joked about my cutting his feet off and his 
missing the dancing that winter, as they swelled so that 
there seemed to be danger, but in a week he was able to 
walk and by cutting one boot for a favorite toe he was 
soon ready for duty. 
I kept up half -hourly rifle shots and cow-bell ringing 
for Crosby and he came into camp, having been out one 
night without matches or blankets. He had kept from 
freezing by walking and had got turned around and fol- 
lowed the blazed lines the wrong way. Hunger had 
made him colder and he had thrown a stick at a bird, 
probably a Canada jay, hoping to kill it and eat it raw. 
He had an appetite of great length, breadth and thick- 
ness, one worthy of the man whose name heads this 
article. 
Gibbs was very fond of staying in camp with me when 
Henry went on the liae and he could do it. An excuse to 
mend his trousers or other clothing served. He was the 
youngest of the party and fresh from school. He knew 
all about Indians, for he had read about them, but was 
curious to study them in the woods. He was a gold mine 
to old Mouthful or any other Indian. When he offered a 
pipeful of tobacco he handed over a whole plug of Navy 
or such part of one as he had, and when the Indian cut a 
pipeful and kept the rest Gibbs thought that he didn't 
mean to do it, but couldn't ask for its return. He con- 
tinually gave me advice on the subject of getting on with 
them, and I enjoyed it. Once as we sat down to a mid- 
day bite Gibbs passed the pan of hot biscuit to old Mouth- 
ful, who dumped the lot in bis dirty blanket. I had fre- 
quently told him that an Indian always understood that 
what you handed to him was his, but there the biscuit 
were. 
"Explain it to him," said Gibbs, "I can't speak his 
lingo, but we've got to have some bread for our dinner, 
and I don't really fancy getting ib back after he has 
handled it and had it in that blanket." 
"Gibbs," I replied, "there is no need, to explain it. 
You gave them to him; of course you didn't intend to give 
him the whole output of the bakery, but you did. Now 
the only thing to do is to go and take what you want 
without any more ceremony, replevin them; use force if 
necessary, but get back our biscuit. We need not eat the 
outside of them, there's a lot of good bread inside which 
his dirty hands haven't touched." 
He looked at the bread and then said: "I don't like to 
be impolite to him. Why can't you tell him that it's all a 
mistake; what's the word for mistake in his patter? ' 
"Oh, just say to him: 'Nidgee, pungee iskoodah wabo,' 
and it will be all right."* 
The red man had not paid much attention to our talk, 
which he could not understand, but my last words must 
have had a familiar sound, for he turned his head and 
looked at me. 
Gibbs arose and repeated the words in his purest Chip- 
pewa. Old Mouthful also arose, as befitted such an im- 
portant occasion, grunted, shook hands and replied in 
fairly good Ojibwa that he "didn't care if he did." 
"What's that he says?" asked Gibbs, 
"He says that he begs your pardon and hopes that he 
has not offended; and he begs that you will take the 
bread and give him such a portion as will not rob vour- 
self." ^ 
Gibbs struck an attitude and exclaimed: "Now, by my 
halidomel Our guest is a gentleman of right courtly 
manners. I tell you, Fred, you don't know these people 
if you have been around a few of them long enough to 
pick up some of their talk. I've read up on 'em, Scool- 
craft, Cooper and these authors; have studied, 'em and the 
noble red man has all the high-bred instincts of the most 
chivalrous knight, but these men who come among them 
to trade are not sufficiently educated to see and appreciate 
it." He then took up the bread, broke off a third of it and 
gave it to our guest. 
Old Mouthful looked surprised. Evidently he didn't 
mind the bread as long as there was whisky in prospect. 
After a pause he looked at Gibbs in a way that the 
* These words mean: "Friend, will you have a little whisky." 
"Iskoodah" is a word meaning a fire, comet, lightning: etc., and 
"wabo" or "wabah" is water. b, auu 
Governor of North Carolina might have dotie at that his- 
toric meeting with the Governor of South Carolina, and 
merely remarked: "Pungee 'scutah wabo?" 
"What's that he says?" asked Gibbs. 
"He asked you for some whisky, and he thinks you 
promised him some in exchange for the bread. I begin 
to think so myself, since I compare your pronounciation 
of Ojibwa with his and mine. There are some very nice 
shades of inflection in Ojibwa which make a word mean 
several things. You have told me how revengeful an 
Indian is, and you have mortally offended this man, and 
unless you give him what you have promised it may go 
hard with you— and in fact with all our party, for we are 
only six." 
"What will I do? I haven't any whisky, and there's 
none in camp," 
"He won't believe that. He has seen a lOgal. keg of 
molasses, but you don't suppose for a moment he believes 
it to be molasses? The kegs he has seen with white men 
have always contained whisky. I don't know how you 
can square it with him. You've got yourself into this 
scrape, but I'll help you out if I can." 
I told our guest that Gibbs had not understood, "gowin 
kendun," but that instead of whisky he meant to offer 
tobacco. That was satisfactory — it had to be — and Gibbs 
gave up a whole plug of Navy, and there was peace in 
the land, Gibbs felt that I had successfully arbitrated 
the cafie and averted a calamity. What our guest thought 
was impossible to tell, but Henry and I enjoyed the thing 
by ourselves, and afterward Henry guyed Gibbs about it 
at every chance. 
We had left civilization early in a presidential cam- 
paign. The Democratic party had nominated James 
Buchanan, and the newly-formed Republican party had 
named John C. Fremont as its candidate. Our little 
party of six was divided in its choice and in the evenings 
the argument waxed warm, but always in respectful 
shape. The date for the election had passed, but we 
knew nothing of the result. But what himdreds of 
bushels of oysters were bet! It would have required sev- 
eral smacks to have carried all these oysters if the stews, 
fries and raws had all been eaten. The fact is that no 
records of bets were kept, and each night the old score 
was forgotten and new bets were made. When we got 
back in the vicinity of Crow Wing — about Dec. 20— we 
first heard the result, and the Buchanan men were jubi- 
lant. It served us well as a topic of interest, for it was 
not a joUy^ crowd, and what it would have done for amuse- 
ment without the election is a question. 
Unless Henry or Gibbs was in camp I did not dare leave 
it. These Indians might be honest enough, but in our 
case it was well not to take any risks on our provisions. 
One day, while out with my rifle, I came to a lake of 
which I had a glimpse through the trees. Standing 
awhile, there came a faint whining sound which I at 
once diagnosed as the talk of a bear. Here was a chance 
to get a shot at bruin, and perhaps some fresh meat. 
Carefully looking at the cap on the rifle, I cautiously 
worked down into the marshy ground and underbrush in 
the direction of the sound. The marsh was frozen or the 
passage would have been impossible. The sound came 
from one direction, but did not seem to increase as I ad- 
vanced ; but it was a bear, sure. Getting near the edge 
of the lake, as could be seen off to the right, the game 
must be close, and that creepy, trembling feeling came 
on. I halted and listened ; it was but a few feet away. 
Through the brush a dark object could be seen on a log, 
and the whining kept up. If it was a bear I wanted to 
see how it stcod in order to plant the bullet right; but in 
stepping one side I made a slight noise, and an Indian 
boy about six years old turned around. He dropped, 
crawled behind the log, and then jumped into the brush 
and out of sight. Probably it was the first white man he 
had ever seen. Then I knew that what I mistook for the 
whining of a bear was the boy's low singing. Ttie story 
he told his mother would be interesting, if we knew it. 
Getting back to the higher land again, I sat awhile on a 
log enjoying the clear, cold air and the glimpse of the 
frozen lake. After awhile there was another sound of 
life, and I saw a sight which I never have seen recorded 
by any writer of the woods. Below, in an open spot in the 
underbrush, perhaps of 20ft, diameter, and not over 20ft. 
away, came a troop of about tbirty ruffed grouse or par- 
tridges of the Eastern States, and they were clucking and 
chattering at a great rate. The males were strutting 
with tails spread out like turkey cocks, or more like tame 
pigeons. 1 was in plain sight, and tried not to breathe 
for fear of disturbing them, for it was the treat of a life- 
time. Among these birds was a male, I had no doubt the 
same species, which was black. Of course I can't at this 
late day, and in view of my very slight knowledge of such 
things at that time, be certain that this was a case of 
melanism in Bonasa, but I believe it. 
Later I saw several ptarmigan, which I then thought 
to be white ruffed grouse, but did not kill any. Sime- 
thing alarmed the partridges and they flew into the trees, 
and I picked off three. The shots brought an Indian, a 
stranger, who begged for a bird, and I gave him one. 
These men were persistent beggars; they thought every 
white man was wealthy. They seemed to roam the 
woods without either gun or bows, and I afterward 
learned that they lived mainly on fish, which they dried 
for winter. No doubt they knew how scarce game was, 
and that it was useless to hunt for it. I was greatly dis- 
appointed; I had left the East two years before because of 
tbe scarcity of game, and here I was in a primeval forest 
where there was no game, hardly a rabbit. Disappointed 
hardly expresses it. Why, we could go out from Albany 
in that day, in most any direction during the winter, and 
bag a few ruffed grouse, some rabbits and a squirrel or 
two; I began to think the far West a fraud; Minnesota 
was then "far West." The biggest lot of game I saw in 
northern Minnesota that winter was four young coons 
that Tom Davies killed with an axe as they huddled near 
a tree on an extra cold morning, I parboiled and baked 
them, and — oh, my! 
Our friend, who possibly might bite off more than he 
could chew, but never more than he could swallow, had 
ceased to be interesting. He found our camp at every 
move, and seemed to regard himself as part of it, or at 
least one of the volunteer staff. Neaville and I paid little 
attention to him, but his eye brightened when he found 
Gibbs in camp. Gibbs was curious about him, wanted to 
learn his language, and would touch objects and ask their 
names by looking up and saying, "Ojibwa?" Then, of 
course, he could do no less than "divy" on pork and to- 
bacco — a very good arrangement for his friend. Speak- 
ing of tobacco, we once found old Mouthful with the 
native article, the "killi-ki-nic," or inner bark of the red 
willow. Henry and I tried it once. It was most pun- 
gent, and I can only compare it to smoking rattan and 
elm root, which we schoolboys used before we aspired to 
tobacco, and it almost burned our tongues off. I think 
some of the old boys, and perhaps some of the younger 
ones, will recall their brave attempts to smoke things, no 
matter how pungent, which did not upset and invert 
their youthful stomachs. Fifty years ago most boys in 
America thought it smart to chew tobacco, and they ac- 
quired the disgusting habit, but the younger ones would 
get licorice ball, and spit in imitation of a tobacco chewer, 
and then some unbeliever would challenge him with, 
"That ain't tobacco you're a-chewin', it's on'y lickorishi" 
Yes, T was a boy once. 
These Northern Indians must smoke, but tobacco was 
an exotic which positively declined to grow so far North, 
and, like the boys, they found a substitute. After they 
found the Southern weed it was too costly to use alone, 
and they mixed it with killi-ki-nic merely for economy; 
but preferred pure tobacco when they could get it. 
"This reminds me." In my young days, when I was 
particularly fond of negro minstrelsy and burlesquing 
things, and shortly after the time of which I write, Long-. 
fellow published "Hiawatha," a poem which I never tire 
of reading, but one whose meter urgently invites bur- 
que; and with hundreds of others I essayed it. Else- 
where 1 have said that some people seemed shocked at 
seeing a thing which they love burlesqued. That means 
that their sense of humor is only partially developed. 
Then and to-day I regard "Hiawatha" as the great Ameri- 
can epic, but I wrote: 
"Should you ask me whence I got them, 
Got these yarns of old James River; 
With their flavor of tobacco, 
Of the stlnkweed, the mundungus. 
And the pipe of Old Virginny, 
And the twangle of the banjo; 
Of the banjo, the goatskinnit, 
And the fiddle, the catgutta, 
And the noisy marrow-bonum, 
I should answer, I should tell you: 
By one John-smith they were written. 
John-smith, soldier, sailor and explorer, 
Editor of his own adventures 
In the land of Po-ca-hon-tas, 
In the realm of Pow-ha-tan, 
Where old John-smith had a big time. 
Filled the red man full of whisky, 
Stole his daughter and sailed eastward 
To the far-off land of John-bull," etc. 
There were yards and yards of this stuff, but we will 
content ourselves with that. It's easy to write, any boy 
can do it, and the grandest of themes are the easiest to 
burlesque. That is a fact that human owls fail to under- 
stand. What is easier to travesty than "Chronicles"? 
And it is often done without intending irreverence; the 
humor of the thing is the only thought of the writer; but 
"a jest's prosperity," etc. 
Here you see the evil effect of tobacco, how it will lead 
a man off the track to talk about Pocahontas and other 
irrelevant things. It's fortunate for some one that my 
pen did not go off after Sir Walter Raleigh and the story 
of his weighing the smoke which came from Queen Eliza- 
beth's pipe, but every schoolboy knows all about that. 
We found another thing that the Indians used; it was 
the "man-o-min," or wild rice. This is mighty good feed 
for wild ducks or Indians, but, as they ate it, there was a 
grit in it vphich detracted from its value to men who 
don't like to eat the hulls of grain. Hardly a night but 
half a dozen Indians slept by our fire and cooked their 
wild rice over it, but if they could get our Southern rice 
they were glad. It's many a day since I ate the man-o- 
min. but the impression now is that if it had been pro- 
perly hulled it would have been good. 
Along the streams we saw where the wild rice had 
been tied up in bunches to keep it from bending over and 
being eaten by the wild ducks while it was in the milky 
state or after. Then, later in the year the women pad- 
dled up the stream, bent the heads of rice over and with 
a light stick threshed them into a canoe, 
Gibbs was always curious to taste tbeir food; he had 
the true instincts of an investigator and got more infor- 
mation in that line than we, who were more cautious of 
getting too intimate with the aborigines, for fear of our 
stock of provisions. 
We came out all right on the rations and had all we 
wished to use, but the story of the winter is too long for 
one telling, Fred Mathee. 
New Jersey Trout Planting. 
Chief Fish and Game Protector Charles A, Shriner 
reports to the New Jersey Commission for October: The 
principal features of the work of the past month con- 
sisted in delivering trout and in the large number of 
prosecutions for violations of the fish and game laws. 
The trout were obtained from Plymouth, Mass., under 
an agreement by which the Plymouth Rock Trout Co. 
agreed to deliver to your Commission 50,000 trout in New 
York city. Wardens were placed in charge of the trout 
at this point, and the flsh were distributed to persons 
having applied for the stocking of suitable streams. The 
work has been nearly completed and has been very suc- 
cessful, the trout in all but one instance arriving safely at 
their destination. One can, sent to Englewood, contained 
a large number of dead fish; all the others were delivered 
without the loss of a single flsh or of only a very few. 
The trout were between 2 and Sin. in length and were 
shipped in cans each holding 500, 
Lake George Pickerel. 
New York, Nov. 12.— Editor Forest and Stream: Mr. 
D. C. Dean, of the American News Company, spent 
much of his time fishing while at Lake George this sum- 
mer. He caught a number of bass and some very fine 
pickerel. One of his pickerel weighed 121bs, and another 
9lbs., while several weighed 71bs., and a number of 5 and 
6lbs. were taken. 
Mr. Dean thinks the pickerel deserves a high rating as 
a game fish and that it should have better protection 
than it now enjoys. He says_ that as things are at pres- 
ent hundreds of fish are slaughtered in the early spring 
at the expense of the summer fishing, and that the inter- 
ests of the numerous summer visitors are sacrificed to 
those of a few early fishermen, B. 
