Sept. 19, 1903.] 
217 
his welcome voice or an echo froiti liis rifle. It did not 
come. A thought flashed through my dizzy brain. There 
was a small river a half mile up the beach ; would he know 
enough when striking that river to follow it down stream 
to its mouth. Shivering with cold I worked the boat up 
to the mouth of the river and waited. It was now 11 
o'clock. I grew sleepy, but with all my remaining energy 
1 climbed from one end of the boat to the other, and was 
threshing my hands about me when I saw a flash of light 
a long distance up the river. I called long and loud, but 
got no reply. Jumping on my snowshoes I traveled hard 
and as fast as my weakened condition would allow. 
There, beneath the spreading branches of a large spruce 
tree, lay Tom in a delirious condition. In his mad ruih 
to extricate himself from the wilderness and from the 
wolves he had discarded his coat, hat, rifle, cartridges, 
and belt. In climbing over the logs and rocky ledges he 
had torn his finger nails, and lacerated himself. His last 
match that threw out that last little spark of light saved 
him. 
Drawing on fny last match supply I managed to get a 
small fire started. A clumsy, wise looking, prickly little 
porcupine, in making his rounds for food, was attracted 
by the light of the fire, or was sent to us by Providence, 
and served as our food until the storm had passed and 
day again dawned upon us. Calvin H. B.\rkdull. 
The Old Saratoga. 
A SHIP left Philadelphia a few days ago on a three 
months' voyage that I would give a good deal to make 
as one of her crew ,* she was the old wooden frigate 
Saratoga. This is the only vessel of the old na'vy that 
I ever had a chance to examine, but I was shown all over 
her while she was still in commission. I afterwards tried 
to inspect another of them as she lay in the harbor of 
Callao, the Hartford, but a marine on guard would not 
let me board her, even after I had told him 1 had rubber- 
soled 3'^ackt shoes on and would not scratch his deck, then 
held up a shoe for him to inspect. That set my Kanaka 
beat's crew to laughing and hurt the marine's feelings; 
he told me to "get that nigger crew out of that right 
away." 
A large English cruiser also lay at anchor here. I 
tried her next and fared better. The blue jacket was 
on guard; he invited me on board, then sent me to the 
officer of the deck, who sent a side boy with me to show 
me all over the ship. Her big engines and guns were 
what I most wanted to see. 
The Saratoga is out of date now, but was a fine ship 
in her day, and is claimed to be one of the fastest vessels 
under sail flying the flag of this or any other country to- 
day. She has made 14 knots an hour. Our Baltimore 
clippers in their time could not do much better than that, 
and they were the fastest ships afloat. 
She is now, and has been for some time, the school 
ship for the State of Pennsylvania; and has just been 
completely overhauled at the Navy Yard, making hei 
nearly as good as new again. 
She is under the command of Commander G. W. F. 
Holmes, U. S. Navy; his executive officer LieutenanI 
Kunkle, and watch officers Allen and Davis, together 
with Dr. Reeser, the surgeon, completes the ship's roster. 
His crew will be of about seventy boys between fifteen 
and twenty years of age, who go before the mast to learn 
to be sailors. The boys must all be residents of the 
State, and what surprised me most was the fact that until 
a day or two before she sailed the full quota of boys had 
not yet applied to go with her; they have to "pass the 
doctor," and not every boy who applies will be taken. 
When I was a boy, could I have got a chance of this 
kind, I would have traveled on foot the whole length 
of the State if I had to do so to get there, and I would 
probably have had to walk most of the way ; there were 
not many railroads then. I might have driven mules 
on the canal part of the waj' to save walking. 
The Saratoga does not carry her battery now, but there 
has been put oh board an elaborate sounding apparatus, 
to teach the boys how to find the bottom; this affair will 
find it if it has to go a mile after it. The boys will 
not have to sing out, "No bottom, sir," as I have had to 
do. But then if that bottom was a mile below me it 
could stay there ; I did not need it, and this affair when 
it comes up off the bottom can be made to bring some of 
that bottom up with it to show the boys what it is com- 
posed of. 
She' will go first_ to Southampton, and has thirty-two 
days to go there in. After leaving there she goes to 
Cherbourg, France, and from there to the port of 
Madeira, then home. While lying at these ports the boys 
get shore liberty and a chance to see all that there is 
to see. 
These boy crews have been making these voyages for 
years now ; a different crew going nearly every time, and 
I have never seen any complaint of their having tried to 
take the towns; which speaks well for them; but the 
regular moral discipline which they are under may have 
something to do with their not giving the police extra 
work. At least from what I kn6w of the average boy 
when he gets as far from home, as they do, I think that 
is the way to account for their not trying to run things, 
the police included. Cabia Blanco. 
Erie, Pa. ^ 
Fishing:. 
Gladys Young was fond of fi,shing, .■' 
So she fished froiji morn till night; 
But to tell the truth about it, f 
Gladys never had a bite. f ' 
Hat awry and cheeks like roses, '{^ 
Empty basket on her arm, 
Told the giggling lads and lassies 
No wee fishes came to harm. 
"Where's your fish?" they cried in chorus, 
"Lovely day!" and "Stream so still!" 
Gladys blushed; '"I caught but one fish, 
And he's climbing up the hill." 
—New York Herald. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Fcircst and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, uxi not to aar individual eonneeted with the paper. 
— • — 
Man and the Other Animals. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
Your correspondent, I. W. G., fires a lot of questions 
at me that I have fully answered in my communications. 
Take as an example the question : "If the mew of a cat 
is pertinent to this discussion, why is the bawl of a calf 
impertinent?" 
I answered this question fully in the paper from which 
he quotes so freely. Pie had claimed that language is 
inherited and had mentioned the bawl of a frightened 
calf to prove it. I answered that language is acquired, 
that the bawl of a calf is not language, only a cry of 
terror. That most animals, man included, inherit the cry 
of terror. That these inherited functions were not de- 
nied, therefore had no standing in this discussion. As 
the mew of a cat is not a cry of terror, I claimed it to 
be a part of the cat language, and therefore it is per- 
tinent to this discussion. It seems to me that anyone 
whose ideas are not petrified could have found an atiswer 
to his query in my paper if he had looked for it. 
Proof, proof, is the reiterated cry of I. W. G. 'But his 
mind is only open to impossible proof. To show. L W. 
G.'s peculiar ideas of proof I will quote from his paper: 
"Herrnit tells us that a kitten was taught by the cat 
to anticipate the approach of a butcher cart by signs 
made by the cat as she watched by. the window. * * * 
If the cat instructed the kitten in the language of signs, 
how did she do it? If Hermit affirms that the cat told 
the kitten beforehand that her ears pointed forward 
"vvould mean one thing, and when they were pointed back 
it would mean something else, he should be able to 
describe^ definitely the process by which the cat communi- 
cates this information." 
It' is not enough that I, and others, for over three 
months saw the cat communicate with her kitten every 
morning by signs. No, the fact is nothing to I. W. G. 
It must be proved just how, when, and where the cat 
educated her kitten. 
Can he tell us how the human mother educates her 
child before it learns to talk, that the shake of the head 
means no and a nod means yes? Can he tell us when a 
cat arches her back and spits why the dog interprets the 
sign language to mean "beware of the cat?" I don't be- 
lieve I. W. G. has devoted any time to the study-of such 
subjects, therefore his answers would be. only guesswork 
from memory. 
I intended to drop cats from this discussion, but I. W. 
G. and other writers will not allow the cat question to 
down, so I am again tempted to continue. I related the 
cat story because it struck me as being peculiar, for it 
was outside of the education which cats give their kit- 
tens. I did not explain how the cat taught the kitten 
sign language, for I thought that anyone with brains 
enough to write on the subject ought to know how a cat 
teaches her kitten. 
There are cats the world over, and when one Aveans a 
kitten any human observer that can reason from cause to 
effect, can fully understand how the sign language is 
communicated. The hungry kitten follows the cat. The 
cat turns and lays its ears back. The kitten persists and 
gets a severe mauling. This lesson repeated a few times 
teaches the kitten that when its mother depresses her 
ears it means "keep away." A cat does not wean her 
kitten suddenly. The flow of milk will not admit such 
a method. When the udder is distended the cat will 
allow the kitten to approach. If the kitten hesitates the 
mother pricks her ears forward, and the kitten soon 
learns that the ears pointed forward means "come." 
My sister's little girl, a mere child, while her pet kitten 
Ayas being weaned, offered friendly advice : "Come away, 
kitty, she's cross." Then at other times : "Go long, 
kitty, she's clever." This child, without instruction, other 
than what the cat had afforded, had correctly interpreted 
the sign language. 
^ I think I stated before that I had observed Mr. Wil- 
son's cat for years. The kitten mentioned in relation to 
the butcher cart was under my observation every morn- 
ipg from its birth to the day of its death, two years 
Ikter, with the exception of ten days when I visited St. 
Louis. I saw just how the cat taught the- kitten thai, 
pointing the ears forward meant yes, and pointing ti^em 
backward meant no. It -was done largely through the 
kittgri's mistakes. The cat . sat on the showcase and 
Watched the approaching carts, and persisted in pointing 
lhe ears forward when the right cart came in sight, and 
backward for the wron.g cart. The cat made no mistake, 
but . the kitten did. At first it ran to the door at the 
rtumble of every cart and Avas called back by the mother. 
After a while the kitten seemed to understand that its 
ipother was giving' it a lesson in sign language, and. it 
niade few mistakes. At last it understood fully the mean- 
ing of the signs, and did not make a mistake during 
several months. 
I have a way of jotting down my observations, and my 
iiote book on this subject is well filled with items, so that 
i do not depend on my memory; but I. W. G. will not be 
satisfied with such proof. He wants me to prove that the 
c'at took her kitten in hand and with uplifted paw told 
the youngster, in the English language, that pointing the 
ears forward means yes, arid that pointing the ears back- 
Ward means no. His statement, "If Hermit affirms that 
the eat told her kitten beforehand," etc., covers the line 
of proof he demands. Now I do not, and did riot, 
affirm that the cat told her kitten anything beforehand. 
I simply stated facts in relation to the sign language as 
I saw it from day to day. • - 
I ask for a halt in this discussion until the writers who 
claim that all functions are hereditary explain them- 
selves. I don't know where a writer stands when he ad- 
mits that animals have crude ideas and can communicate 
them to other animals ; for biology teaches us that sounds 
and signs that convey ideas are acquired after birth and 
not inherited. My belief in acquired functions has been 
the outcome of a life long observation, and a thorough 
study of the scientific side of the question. It is supposed 
that everyone who writes on language by sounds or signs 
knows that biology gives lessons which cannot be 
assailed by assertion, yet there are many writers who are 
Ignorant of, or wholly ignore, this fact. 
I. W. G. wants information on the bovine language, 
V(?hether it is hereditary or acquired. He has answered 
his own question, for he writes: ''It is admitted on all 
sides that they (the animals) do communicate crude 
ideas to each other, and this could not be without some 
.'•ort of a language." If he will turn to biology he will 
find that all language; no matter how crude, is acquired 
and not inherited, so he gets his answer when he admits 
tliat animals can convey ideas. Now, I have held to ob- 
servation in presenting this question, only calling atten- 
lion to the scientific bearing now and then, for the reason 
that observation reaffirms what science proves. And 
again, it would be out of place in Forest and Stream 
to treat of anatomy and physiology. I. W. G. ought to 
know enough of these studies to answer nearly all the 
questions he asks. His treatise on "prearranged lan- 
guage" has nothing to do with the question before us. 
He should examine the animal organism to ascertain how 
language originated, how signs and sounds came to repre- 
sent ideas, and to learn if the nervous system that makes 
language po?s;b!e is common to man and beast. He 
should learn how the symbols of words, seen or heard, 
are located in the brain, then he might make comparisons 
between human language and brute language. He might 
possibly feel humiliated when he was brought face to face 
with the fact that the human animal is not so far above 
the brute animal after all. He might find that if a kit- 
ten's ear drums were destroyed at birth, that it would 
be just as reasonable to expect that kitten to talk cat 
language as it would be to expect a child born deaf to 
talk the human language. He would find that both ani- 
mals could utter sounds conditioned on the structure of 
their vocal organs. He would learn that both had tracts' 
in the brain vainly awaiting the symbols of sounds. That 
these symbols would never be acquired because a sensorial 
impulse derived from sound can never be sent over the 
eighth nerve — the auditory nerve— when the nerve has 
been destroyed from any cause. If I. W. G. will study 
the nervous system of the higher animals and of man he 
will be surprised, and might be induced to drop his guess- 
work on language for solid facts. 
M. A. Walton ("Hermit") 
New -York Zoological Park. 
The New York Zoological Society's Park is a pleas- 
ant place to visit during the heats of summer. There 
one may get away from the noise of the city streets, 
and the sweltering heat of pa\rements which for a 
month or more have been absorbing and giving out 
the sun's rays until there is as much heat given forth 
from the ground and the walls about us as there is by 
the sun which blazes down from the sky above. In the 
Zoological Park there is quiet, green grass, the shade 
of great forest trees, and often a strong breeze cooled 
in Its passage over the waters of the Sound or of the 
Hudson. 
_ No matter how often one may visit the park, there 
is always something new to be seen there; improve- 
ments are continually going on, new buildings are 
being erected, new animals are received and put on 
exhibition. 
During the year 1903, the Lion house has been com- 
pleted and Its occupants installed; the Antelope house 
has been built and roofed in, while plans are under 
consideration for the Administration building, which is 
likely to be the next one constructed. 
1 he Lion house has already been described in Forest 
AND Stream, yet no description can give a satisfactory 
idea of the beauty and good tn?le of this edificQ, nor of 
« 
p'rzewalsky's horses. 
Courtesy N. Y. Zoological Society. 
the admirable provisions which exist in it for the com- 
fort of its occupants and those who visit it. The house 
is large, its total length being 240 feet and its width, 
including the outside cages, no feet. The cages are 
on the east side of the building, there is a broad space 
in front of them for those passing through the" tjuild- 
ing, while on the east side is a platform six or eight 
feet wide along which seats are ranged for the^^om- 
modation of those wishing to sit there and watch the 
animals. • 
There is, now on exhibition a considerable repre- 
sentation of the great cats. There are three or four 
hons, as many lionesses and two litters of young cubs 
of which four were born in December, 1902, and three 
m March. 1903. The latter, which stand about as hicrh 
as a good sized fox terrier, are as playful as so many 
kittens, and devote much of their time to games with 
each other and with their mother, whom they greatly 
worry, lhe other cubs have been taken from their 
mother and now occupy a cage by themselves They 
arc more or less solemn creatures, very different in 
