May 31, 1902.H 
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tory of the world and the religion of hundreds of mil- 
lions of people. Had not that silken web been thrown 
over the opening to the cave, there would have been no 
Mahometan wars of conquest — the East would still have 
been under the banner of the Cross — there would have 
been no Crusades for the recovery of the tomb of Christ, 
and the bloodiest wars, in the history of the human race 
would nevei have been waged. Robert the Bruce, de- 
feated by the English in many battles, his army routed 
and dispersed, and himself a fugitive among the crags 
and mountains, despaired of ever winning the crown of 
Scotland, Lying concealed one day in a shepherd's hut, 
he watched a little spider trying to attach her silken 
thread to seme distant object. She failed, but imme- 
diately tried again, and succeeded no better than before.. 
She repeated her efforts to attach the thread, always 
failing, until she had made the sixth attempt. "It," said 
the Bruce, "you try again and succeed, I will rally my fol- 
lowers once more and drive the English invaders from 
Scottish soil, or perish, sword in hand." The spider 
cast her thread for the seventh time, the wind wafted it 
gently to the spot desired, the attachment was made, and 
Bruce raised the lion banner of Scotland again, and soon 
after won the glorious field of Bannockburn. Had Bruce 
not watched the persevering spider there would have been 
no Royal House of Stuart, no murdered king, or civil 
war in'England. The Waverly novels could never have 
been written, and many of Burns' most beautiful songs 
would have remained unsung forever. 
The Dog. 
The dog has been the friend and companion of man 
since the morning of the world. He was, perhaps, the 
very first wild animal to be domesticated. Hence, his 
education is more complete and his training more perfect 
than any other animal has ever received. He understands 
his master's language and gestures; reads the expression 
of his face, and sees approbation or displeasure in his 
countenance. The education and training that he has 
received from man through countless ages has, no doubt, 
produced its effect upon his offspring — a greater suscep- 
tibility for and capacity to receive instruction from man 
Young pointers and setters, only a few weeks old, will 
stand steadily on first seeing poultry; a St. Bernard 
puppy when taken on snow for the first time will at once 
begin to scrape it away; and the collie will attempt the 
management of sheep without any instruction from man. 
The smuggler dogs along the border of the German 
Empire and the French Republic understand both 
languages. They are sent across the frontier to. the 
house of some confederate with their loads of merchan- 
dise securely fastened on their backs. Here they are 
concealed, caressed and fed until they are ready to return 
with a load to France. They travel only on dark or 
stormy nights — avoid all roads — allow no one to ap- 
proach them, and take great precautions in slipping 
through the frontier guard. They know that their traf- 
fic is illegal, and that they must not be seen with their 
loads upon their backs. They are criminals, trained to 
violate the law, and employ every stratagem to escape 
detection. It was formerly the custom in Scotland to 
mark the sheep by impressing with a hot iron a certain 
letter upon their faces. The shepherds of Tweeddale had 
for a long time been missing a few of the very choicest 
of their flocks, and one day a black-faced ewe returned 
to her lamb from beyond the river with the letter O 
burned over the T which was her owner's brand. A 
farmer living in a wild and secluded glen was known to 
use the letter O as his birn. The farm was searched and 
more than 600 stolen sheep recovered. He confessed his 
crimes and was executed in the city of Edinburgh in 
1773. He said that upon pretense of buying ewes he 
would visit the flocks in the vale of the Tweed, always 
accompanied by his jet black collie Yarrow, and point 
out to him the sheep that he wanted him to drive away, 
Then he would ride off to his own glen, miles away, 
passing through every hamlet and calling at every inn. 
Yarrow, concealed on some hillside among the heather ; 
would wait until night, and then go through the flock 
and select the very sheep that his master had pointed out, 
and drive them rapidly, by unfrequnted paths, over 
mountain and moor, to his own dark glen. There the 
birn was canceled by the letter O in an enclosure in the 
hollow of the hills — Yarrow keeping faithful guard out- 
side — never failing to notify his owner of the approach 
of strangers. Both Sir Walter Scott and the Ettrick 
Shepherd have told the story of this wonderful dog. Dar- 
win informs us that when traveling in South America 
he often saw large flocks of sheep, far from any human 
habitation, guarded only by shepherd dogs. The owner 
of a Newfoundland dog, to prove his great intelligence, 
put a marked shilling under a stone by the roadside, and 
then riding on three miles with his friends sent the dog 
back to get it. The dog set off, but did not return that 
day. He went directly to the place, but being unable to 
turn the stone, sat howling by it. Soon two horsemen 
came by, and one of them dismounted and removing the 
stone, saw the shilling and put it into his pocket. The 
dog followed the men for more than twenty miles, got 
into the room where they slept, seized the trousers in 
which the shilling had been put and carried them to his 
master's house. ''Man," says Burns, "is the God of the 
dog; he knows no other, and see how he worships him!" 
Sir Humphrey Davy vouches for the truth of the follow- 
ing incident: A cook missed a marrow-bone and accused 
a favorite dog of the theft. He hung down his tail and 
for several days was altered in his manner, having be- 
come discontented, sullen and morose. In this mood 
he continued, till, to the amusement of the cook, he 
brought back the bone and laid it at her feet. Did his 
conscience trouble him until he found that he could get 
no relief except by making restitution? His worship of 
his master in many respects compares favorably with the 
adoration of idols by man; he possesses moral virtues, 
returning good for evil, and his fidelity ends only with 
his life. A celebrated dog of the St. Bernard breed 
named Barry won a medal of honor for having saved the 
lives of forty persons; and he perished nobly while en- 
. gaged in his labor of mercy. We have many well authen- 
ticated accounts of dogs who understood the use and 
value of money, and would carry small coins to butchers 
and bakers and exchange them for meat and bread. The 
origin of this noble animal is lost in the darkness/ of the 
past. He occupies a place in the earliest forms of .pagan 
worship; his name has been given to one of the first- 
mentioned stars, and his form is sculptured on the granite 
rocks of the oldest tombs and temples of Egypt. 
Monkeys. 
Monkeys adopt and carefully guard any orphans of the 
tribe, wash the faces of their young and tenderly nurse 
and care for the sick. Two monkeys were playing on 
board a ship, when one fell overboard and the other im- 
mediately threw it a rope. An officer in the English army 
once shot a female monkey with her young one in her 
arms. Dipping her finger in the blood and then holding 
it up she seemed to reproach .him with being the cause 
of her death, and consequently that of her young one, to 
which she frequently pointed. Captain Johnson states 
that he once shot a monkey which instantly ran down to 
the lowest branch of the tree, and coolly put his paw to 
the part wounded, covered it with blood and held it up 
for him to see. "I was so much hurt," says the Cap- 
tain, "that it has left an impression never to be effaced, 
and I have never since fired a gun at any of the tribe." 
Apes and monkeys carry their young ones in their arms, 
and seem to be as fond of them as human mothers. 
Beavers build villages where each family has its hut — 
an admirable construction in which the skill of the car- 
penter is allied to that of the mason; they excavate canals 
hundreds of feet in length, from three to four feet wide, 
three feet deep and furnish them with locks, built on pre- 
cisely the same principle as those of human construction. 
These canals are used for floating their food supplies of 
wood down to their villages. M. Du Chaillu, speaking 
of the ape's nest, says that he could scarcely persuade 
himself that it had not been built by human hands, so 
perfect was the construction. 
Dr. Livingstone thus refers to certain African tribes: 
"They know nothing of a deity; they pray to their 
mothers when in distress; they know nothing of a future 
state, nor have they any religion." The Rev. Dr. Moffatt 
says of the Bushmen: "They have no idea of God, and 
no notion of a hereafter. There was not an idol to be 
found in the whole province." The religious sense, there- 
fore, is innate neither in civilized nor savage peoples. 
Of the Veddas it has been said : They have no idea of a soul, 
of a Supreme Being, nor of a future state, and are conscious 
of no difference between themselves and the wild beasts 
which roam through the forest. The Dyaks of Borneo 
murder men, women and children for the sole purpose 
of securing their heads as trophies; these are so well 
preserved that they will last for ages, are hung on the 
walls of every house, and ane considered valuable pos- 
sessions. No young man may hope to get a wife unless 
he has a few heads to adorn the walls of his hut, and 
these are handed down from father to son as heirlooms. 
Waylaying and murdering people for their heads is in 
fact the national sport of the Dyaks. Thousands of vic- 
tims were sacrificed every year by the king of Dahomey, 
and the principal ornaments of his capital were human 
skulls. The Thugs of India made murder their trade; 
trained their children in the art of strangling, and were 
proud of the number of their victims. The New Hollan- 
ders have no names for numbers beyond two, and whole 
tribes cannot count to ten! An intelligent shepherd dog 
will miss a single sheep from a flock of hundreds, and 
knows the name of every cow in a herd of twenty. See- 
ing the mental and moral superiority of many animals 
over whole races of savage men, Bishop Butler and that 
great naturalists, the Rev. J. G. Wood, were willing to 
acknowledge that they must possess immortal souls. The 
gulf that separates the cultured part of the human race 
from the very highest of the lower animals is quite im- 
passable, and the difference both mentally and morally 
immeasurable; but when we reflect that there are whole 
tribes of savages that cannot count and animals that can 
— when we are told by travelers of unquestioned veracity 
that among some of the most degraded races human flesh 
is sold in their butcher shops, the same as beef and mut- 
ton is with us — when we read of the horrible crimes com- 
mitted by human devils even in the western world, we are 
compelled to admit that many noble dogs and horses 
behave themselves more like rational creatures should 
than thousands of the so-called higher race, even in lands 
where civilization is supposed to have subdued the sav- 
age passions of men and education to have refined and 
ennobled their lives. James M. McCann. 
Game Food and Flavors. 
Standing Rock Indian Agency, N. D., May 20.— 
Editor Forest and Stream: Some weeks or months ago 
an editorial appeared in Forest and Stream touching on 
the well-known fact that the flesh of birds and animals is 
often flavored by the food eaten. I can now add another 
example of this to the many givenJn that article. 
Col. James McLaughlin, of the U. S. Indian Service, for 
many years— 1881 to 1895 — agent for the Standing Rock 
Indians, tells me that in the spring of 1882 the military 
authorities of Fort Yates, N. D., on at least two occasions, 
rejected the beef furnished by the contractor, because it 
was so strongly tainted with the flavor of the wild onions 
upon which the cattle had fed. In the spring Of the year, 
from April to June, the prairie is covered in many places 
with a growth of wild onions which are thicker than the 
grass, and which the cattle eat with the grass. The re- 
sult is, as stated, that the flesh of the beef is often flavored 
by these plants. In the same way, the milk of cows tastes 
of these onions. 
It is not to be doubted that in old times, when there 
were buffalo on the prairies, their flesh was flavored in a 
similar way, and it is possible that inquiry among the 
Indians may develop testimony which will show this. 
G. B. G. 
Springfield's Muskrat Exhibit. 
The Springfield (Mass.) Republican records that the 
Science Museum of that city received a valuable gift from 
Gurdon Bill, which will prove a source of constant in- 
terest and instruction. It is a case containing ten musk- 
rats, placed' in positions to show their habits in life, and 
■ there are two excellent models of the summer and win- 
ter "homes" of these interesting animals. The exhibit is 
of life size, occupying a case about four by six feet in 
-size. At one corner is the large rounded hut or house, 
built of swamp grass, rqo^Sj mud and, any sort of refuse 
that can be easily carried by the muskrat, and which 
is intended for the winter home. At the opposite end is 
the model of the "summer home," which is a section 
of earth and sod tunneled out to show how the animals 
arrange the quarters in which to rear their young. As 
these animals live both in and out of the water, it has 
been necessary to have some representation of the surface 
of the adjacent pond, and this has been admirably accom- 
plished by the use of plate glass. This shows the smooth 
surface of the water through which samples of water 
vegetation protrude, and one large muskrat is represented 
as swimming toward the winter hut with a piece of build- 
ing material in his mouth. A portion of the head and body 
is above the surface of the glass, and the appearance of 
the fur on the animal's back shows in excellent contrast 
with that lower down on the body, which is supposed to be 
under the water. Another large animal is represented as 
below 'the surface of the water swimming for the sub- 
merged entrance to the summer house, while another 
fine specimen is perched on a root beside the pond, its 
glossy fur seeming to glisten in the sun. In the interior 
of the winter hut one animal sits gnawing on a bit of flag 
root, which is held between the forepaws, _ and in the 
summer house opposite is an interesting litter of five 
young ones huddled together for mutual companionship 
and warmth. Two others, representing the parents of the 
brood, peer from the ends of the underground channels. 
— 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
CHICAGO AND THE WEST. 
Intelligence of Mao's Best' Friend. 
Here is a dog story from Bad Axe, Mich., well vouched 
for by friends who know Eastman, the engineer spoken 
of in the story. It all goes to show the great intelligence 
of man's best friend, the dog: 
"One of the most valuable fox hounds in Bad Axe is 
owned by George M. Clark, Huron county clerk. Its 
name is Trotter. A few weeks ago Trotter found a 
chum, a Damon, in fact, that seemed to meet all the 
requirements of close companionship. This dog belonged 
to Mr. Morford, the night watchman at the Pere Mar- 
quette round house. For days and days Trotter and the 
Morford dog made long excursions to the swamps south 
of this place, where they amused themselves in many 
ways. At length Mr. Morford concluded that he would 
break his dog of the habit of running away and chained 
him to a post in the yard. Next morning when Trotter 
put in an appearance his chum was not ready for a run, 
being detained by circumstances over which he had no 
control. From subsequent events it is evident that the 
two dogs sized up the situation pretty thoroughly, with 
the result that early in the forenoon the Morford dog 
loosened the staple at the other end of the chain, and the 
two dogs scampered away to their usual haunts. That 
night Trotter came home as usual, but his friend failed 
to show up. The dog had been gone several days, and 
Mr. Morford was beginning to wonder what had become 
of him, when one day Mr. Eastman, engineer on the 
Saginaw run, saw Trotter going across the track with a 
bone in his mouth. He concluded to follow him, and 
finally traced him to an old stump in the swamp, where 
the chain on his chum had been caught around a root and 
Trotter had been keeping him alive by bringing him 
bones every day." 
Back From Mexico. 
Mr. F. M. Stephenson, of Menominee, Mich., and 
party, with the Colorado guide Joe Goff, _ are this weelc 
back fsom their long hunting trip in Mexico. They had 
fine sport, of which mention will be made later. 
E. Hough. 
Hartford Building, Chicago, 111. 
Large Preserves in Maine. 
Augusta, Me., May 22. — Editor Forest and Stream: 
Noticing what you say as to concentration of ownership 
and control of the forests and waters of Maine, allow me 
to call your attention to the fact that Maine owns all 
the waters (barring ponds of ten acres each), and all the 
fish that are therein; all the game in the forests, _ and 
would it not be difficult for parties to bar the public or 
owners from taking their property? 
Syndicates may lease lands, but to do so expecting 
that they could control the capture of game, or prevent 
the taking of fish in the waters of the State, would likely 
lead to some disappointment on their part. Possibly 
they could attempt to enforce the laws against trespass, 
but do you not think it would be a little discomforting 
to them in the end? 
The State could come pretty near looking out by proper 
legislation for the rights of its citizens should any at- 
tempt be made to bar the public from its fishing and 
hunting grounds. It is rather an inopportune time to at- 
tempt to set up a game trust, and rather a poor field this 
to start such an enterprise. In many ways the leasing 
of large tracts would be a benefit, helping to preserve our 
game, but not so if the intention is to bar the public. 
The ordinary Yankee here will say, "I guess they will 
not try it." E. C. Farrington. 
Wisconsin May Deer Huntets Taken In. 
Milwaukee, May 24.— A great haul by two Wisconsin 
game wardens was made last Sunday morning at the State 
line near Hurley. Wis. The two active wardens, Valen- 
tine Raeth, of Milwaukee, and James Oberholtzer, of 
Eagle River, heard shooting and followed up the hunters. 
About 10 o'clock seven men came out to the railroad track 
with their rifles and four bags of venison, and were 
arrested by the wardens, and their rifles and the venison 
confiscated. The wardens brought the game hogs to 
Hurley and put them, ir> the county jail. Next day Judge. 
