122 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
{Feb, 17, 1900. 
John Fannin, Naturalist. 
We take pleasure in presenting this week a most ad- 
mirable portrait of Mr. John Fannin the founder and 
curator of the Provincial Museum at Victoria, B. C, 
who is well known to ornithologists and big garne hunt- 
ers through his frequent contributions to the literature of 
these subjects. 
Mr. Fannin was born in the year 1839 in the backwoods 
of Kempville, Ont., where he passed his boyhood. From 
early life he was fond of the woods and wilds, and cared 
more for the lessons to be learned from the book of na- 
ture than for those taught in the country schools. By the 
time he had attained manhood, he was not only well ac- 
quainted with the ways of the birds and beasts of his na- 
tive country, but was also a good practical woodsman. 
In the year 1862 came the news of the discovery of gold 
in the wonderful Caribou region, which drew to north- 
ern British Columbia so great a number of old miners and 
of young men who were wooing fortune. One of these 
was Fannin, who that year joined a party which proposed 
to make on foot the journey across the great plains and 
the Rocky Mountains to the Pacific Coast. They left 
Fort Garry — now Winnipeg — which was then the last 
white settlement, and from there the party made its slow 
way over the vast unexplored Northwest. They crossed 
the Rocky Mountains at the Tete Jaune Pass and pro- 
ceeded down the west slope to a point near Fort George, 
on the Fraser River. The long journey had not been 
without its dangers, it difficulties and its hardships, but 
at last, after four months, it was safely completed, and 
the pioneers felt that now the fortunes that they longed 
for were really within their grasp. 
In, Fannin's judgment the season was then too late to 
start in to the mines, and while some members decided 
to go thither at once, he, with five companions, proceeded 
to Fort Kamloops, on the Thompson River, which they 
reached Oct. 11. The following spring he went to the 
mines, and cast in his lot with the gold seekers of Will- 
iams Creek, the richness of which made fortunes for 
many during the next two years. Mr. Fannin was not 
one of these, but nevertheless for nearly ten years he 
mined and prospected through the Province, coming out 
at the last as poor as he had gone in. 
All these journeyings, however, had given' him a great 
knowledge of the Province, and on more than one occa- 
sion he was sent into the interior by the Government on 
exploring expeditions to acquire information on partic- 
ular subjects. More than twenty years ago he settled 
down on Burrard Inlet, where is now the town of Hast- 
ings. At that time Hastings consisted of a hotel and three 
cabins, while Vancouver was not. Here Fannin hunted 
and fished and collected birds and mammals, and in the 
columns of Forest and Stream he has left many de- 
lightful memorials of the years spent on Burrard Inlet. 
He was a remarkably skillful hunter and a particularly 
good shot, and as this came to be known, little by little, 
he was often asked by sportsmen from a distance to take 
them into the mountains and hunt with them. As a 
hunter he was extremely successful; yet from the point 
of view of the mere hunter not always so. for sometimes 
when looking for game he would become interested in 
some fact in natural history in which a bird, or a frog, or 
a bug, was concerned, and would become so absorbed in 
the doings of the small creatures that he would pay no 
attention to the game which he was supposed to be fol- 
lowing. . ;) ri f ! 
Twelve years ago the Government of British Columbia 
decided to establish a Provincial museum, and for the en- 
terprise secured the services of Mr. Fannin. He started 
at work in a small apartment in the Provincial buildings, 
and the first year made such a showing as necessitated 
an enlargement of the quarters. The third year the col- 
lections were removed to larger premises, and began to 
assume such proportions that in 1897 a large wing of the 
new and magnificent public buildings was fitted up solely 
as a museum, which is now considered one of the finest 
of its size in America. 
Here may be seen the workmanship of Mr. Fannin, 
which is acknowledged to be equal, if not in some re- 
spects superior to others perhaps claiming greater pre- 
tensions. Five years ago the Government, in recogni- 
tion of his services, paid the desen-ed compliment of send- 
ing him to Europe and the United States, to inform him- 
self as to anything new in his art, as well as to the work- 
in.pf of modern museums. 
^Mr. Fannin has been for twelve years a valued asso- 
ciate member of the American Ornithologists' Union. 
He is now in his sixtieth year, hale and hearty. He is 
devoted to the institution of his own creation, of which 
he may be justly proud. 
Personally, Mr. Fannin is one of the very salt of the 
earth, full of interest and enthusiasm in his chosen line 
of work, an admirable story teller, and possessed of a 
keen sense of humor. No more dehghtful companion 
than he can be imagined either for the hunting camp, or 
for the museum laboratory, which it is hoped that he may 
long adorn. ^ 
The Chase of Rats. 
Talolo said rats. 
Now, that may seem in one aspect trite, and in an- 
other it may seem slangy. The slang is easily removed, 
for my gentle companion of foixst and mountain side 
made his remai'k in Samoan, and in that most courteous 
speech there is no such thing as slang, and even if there 
had been, Talolo, ranking as the son of a chief, would 
never have so derogated his natural grace as to use it. 
As to its being trite, that Talolo should say anything, 
that is another matter. Many of my memories of that far 
kingdom in the South Sea, which has just become half 
American, are really based on what Talolo said in the 
shattered English, which was the best I could teach him, 
or in his own more liquid speech. He was always keen 
to accompany the "shoot gun" into the bush, even if it 
did involve my companj', for he had learned that we 
were inseparable, and must be taken together. Yet had 
it not been for Talolo there are few mysteries of the 
vSamoan slopes which I should have encompassed. There- 
fore, it is only fair to give passing credit to the living 
faun in bronze who taught me the haunts of the crayfish 
in the mountain streams, and the pigeon in the topmost 
boughs, and the snake that vocalizes like a hen, and the 
ment as years of prosy diplomacy had not availed to ac- 
complish. Instinct told me. that Talolo was hungry, thatij 
and experience. In fact, so far as I was able to judge,! 
Talolo was always hungry. In some occult way he 
seemed to know when there was likely to be something to 
eat in my cook house at the back of the compound. It 
was against all my rules and regulations for the govern- 
ment of what the diplomatic officers will insist on calling 
Samoan relations, but when there was the wan aspect of 
an empty stomach on Talolo's plump face all rules and 
regulations went overboard and Talolo was ordered to 
go to the cook house and seek such consolation as Tanoa 
might administer. That procedure accounted for the 
general smear of content and tinned beef which Talolo 
wore when he rejoined me on the veranda and borrowed 
(and as usual eventually annexed) a box of those matches 
of which only a half strike on the box. This was for the 
purpose of lighting the banana leaf cigarette, which he - 
had bullied Tanoa into giving him. Tanoa, as good a' 
soul as ever lived, was helpless in such a case, for 
Talolo ranked about one eighth of an inch above him in 
the intricacies of island precedence, and for that reason i 
he had to yield to all of Talolo's demands. ' 
Having incorporated into himself one whole tin of- 
beef and another of mess salmon, plus whatever was 
going in my cook house in the way of baked bread fruit 
and taro, and not having any clear idea where he was - 
likely to acquire another similar light luncheon for an 
hour or so, Talolo was quite willing to squat at my feet 
JOHN FANNIN. 
the si °f"y°^^' the way of the fish in 
canoe .n^ Sf ^^^^SC^ the fisherman in the 
the miracll S'.i "PP^^« ^he quiet lagoon in 
andTe?.t / "^^^^ i^iWsht, and all the other birds 
the enifhS ° i"?^" *° ^^^'^^ Talolo ap.plied 
Tii-c^rT f u ^ °^ yo"' me." That was 
for e^f " tV Zl^- ""^"^^P thinking of something "good 
snr^tf ; -fi J- ^ ^^^"^^ been commen- 
surate with his anticipation of them, my Talolo would 
tin fnS" f^'^V.^''^ '^^^' then he must have 
^nT^ l J^A u''°l^f^^'^^^ °f Samoan men, 
him itu ^""^^^^^ *° ^ chaperon on my trips with 
comr rll '^"T ^'^^'^^ '^^^^ beyond Talolo's 
comprehension, but the result of sport he could well 
appreciate particulariy when baked with a stone in their 
msides No matter where you find him, man is certainly 
tne eating sex. 
nf^rl'h ""u ^^j^"^^ ^^t"^" to Talolo's remark 
ot rats and what led up to it. 
Samoa was sunk in ignoble peace. King Malietoa 
l^aupepa had just drawn his monthly wages of $48.60, 
hl ht^'^ be no vestige of political trouble until 
he had gone broke again. It took him eleven days to 
frntn ti^fil'- 1 "^^t revolution was not due 
until the thirteenth of the month, and even then it might 
J." nr%F.°f .u^ could be wheedled into lending him 
been ffl^?. ^ 1^^' ^^^^ ^^"^ experience had 
been sufficient proof that he would forget it. Even the 
rebels, who were not in receipt of any "kupe" or monev 
Jhaf ?hp3TJ''' !^°'^. Tu'T''^' ^^^t g^^at war feast 
that they had conducted had used up all their oics and 
taro, and they could make no new demonstration until they 
had grown more taro in the ground and more pork on 
top and as to the latter , tern my still small gun was doing 
daily execution on all the Vaiala shoats that crepi 
through the Robmson Crusoe hedge and uprooted my 
cineraria mantima and frangipanni. I never did know 
what xmeraria maritima really looked like, the piss and 
the climate were against it; but I remember the name 
from the seed package as one of the Samoan mysteries 
_ After breakfast Talolo Was discovered sittine in an at 
titude of placid hunger on the fragment of the wrecked 
mast of the Trenton, which lay at the foot of our flagstaff 
as a reminder of how the. weather ten years ago took a 
hand m the Samoan qtiestion and gave it such a settle- 
and continue his education in English, a language which 
at heart he despised because it drew so few distinctions 
between the chief and the common person. 
We had reached the verb, and that is always a perilous 
passage in grammar. I had just taught Talolo to get 
himself straight on the first person, singular, of the verb 
"to be." But Talolo (oh, he had a great mind in some 
ways), had gone an unguided step in advance with the 
assistance of some sailor on the beach, and he surprised 
me with this conjugation, which I had never taught him: 
"I am." "You be dam." "To blazes with him!" 
Really after that variant on Lindley Murray — for that is 
English as spoke on the Apia beach — it was advisable to 
postpone my efforts to .educate the savage. 
Talolo, like other boys the world over, was perfectly 
willing to give up his grammar and turn to natural his- 
tory or some other really interesting topic. For about 
the one-thousandth time he suggested how nice it must 
be to live in my island of Niu loka, and to be alale to go 
out after having breakfasted on two or three tins of 
things and back in the bush to employ the shoot gun in 
bringing down an elephant or a tiger. He knew there 
were such things on the island I came from, for Tonga 
had seen them there, and as Tonga had been in the 
circus, she knew. Now, when any inquirer pulls the 
Barnum & Bailey show on me, I have to yield as grace- 
fully as may be. 
Thus started, it was only a natural transition to the 
shoot gun, which Talolo knew Avas hanging on the wall 
of my own room, with a leather bandolier of cartridges. 
Here is where he was disappointed. Every shell was 
empty, and what was worse, there was not a drachm 
of nitro m the whole kingdom, and there would be none 
unt&. the next mail boat renewed mv personal supply. 
The Consuls held unpleasant opinions about powder- 
one can hardly blame them, when it is recalled that they 
were a feeble trio amid turbulent savages— and it was 
more than difficult to have powder on hand. Of course 
there was a scanty supply of black powder, but after the 
nitro, one does not much care to use the smoky stufT 
At once all of Talolo's plans fell to the ground There 
was no chance of going after pigeons. The sky was 
overcast, and under Samoan clouds the fish will not bite 
It was proclaimed as a great disappointment to the lad' 
for he swore that he knew just where we could count on 
