Forest and Stream. 
, A Weekly Journal of the Rod and Gun. 
Copyright, 1904, by Forest and Stream Publishing Co. 
t.kms.iiaykar^iocts.acopy.j NEW YORK, SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 12, 1904. \ No . s^S^a?; n?w yo«. 
MONOLOGUES OF KIAH. 
It was near the hour of midnight when the loquacious 
Hezekiah — or. Kiah in affectionate diminutive — after 
sundry restless tossings about in his cot, began his 
habitual nightly monologue just at the moment when his 
companions were passing into sleep. For the while his 
fancies dwelt on dogs. He loudly began thus : Did you 
see that lean but well-bred foxhound that prowled around 
our camp all day? No! Well, you needen't be so snappy 
about it, anyway ! I wish you boys had seen him. He 
reminded me of the hounds of my pack which I had dur- 
ing the two years that I lived in Virginia; and that's a 
fine country to live in, by the way. In Old Virginny 
I passed some of my life's happiest days. Folks there, it 
seems to me, are more amiably responsive, more sociable, 
gentle, considerate, kind-hearted. Who cares, did you 
say? The sweet communion of thought, the heart-to- 
heart talks among friends which are so much of all that 
makes true sportsmanship, seem to be denied me in this 
camp. Never mind ! I began to tell you about the pack 
of hounds I once owned. My friends and I had many 
and many a grand chase with that pack of black-and- 
tans; but there was one grand chase, a chase of chases, 
that for brave dash, fierce pursuit, masterful strategy, and 
plucky endurance, looms up in memory and overshadows 
all the others. The chase lasted three days and nights, 
during which the dogs must have run at least 300 miles. 
In that pack were some of the wisest hounds that ever 
circumvented the wiles of the most cunning fox. I might 
justly term them a pack of canine Hawkshaws; that is, 
all excepting one which we called Hot Air. Bugle was 
the leader of the pack, and he, like the others, was a 
sloppy looking hound when idling about the yard ; yet he, 
like the others, was a perfect demon in fierce energy and 
cunning when on the trail of a fox. Bugle was the 
leader by virtue of excellence. Whenever he gave sono- 
rous tongue on a trail, be it ever so old or so cold, every 
hound rallied to him as they always do to a true leader; 
all but one — Hot Air — an extraordinary hound. Hot 
Air was the biggest sham of a hunter that ever ran with 
a pack of good dogs. Strange to say, nearly every man, 
after once accompanying me on a fox chase, proclaimed 
Hot Air as the leader of the pack, and the best foxhound 
that ever struck a trail. Of course you all know that in 
every pack there are hounds which will babble on a cold, 
blind trail or a false scent, but Hot Air would also babble 
on a mere idea, and yet proudly and brassily assume all 
the airs and graces of leadership. In external appearance 
Hot Air was quite the antithesis of his fellows. He was 
a large, symmetrical hound, which, in weather good or 
bad, had a rich-looking coat, glossy as a mirror. So well 
did he keep himself groomed, that I never saw a hair out 
of place much less two hairs crossed. Hot Air was con- 
scious of his dainty loveliness, for hounds have a lot of 
overflowing vanity. Even when alone, he had certain grace- 
ful flourishes of movement. I firmly believe that dogs are 
reasoning creatures. In some of his doggish ways Hot Air 
seemed almost to be human. He carried his head high, 
even in his idle moments; chest swelled bravely, and he 
stood at magnificent attention or airily strutted along with 
disdainful touch of toe, his carriage being of mild 
hauteur or imperious haste, accordingly as he was idling 
or acting. At first sight, Hot Air was the favorite. He 
would look beamingly alike on friend or stranger, gently 
pirouette to show his charms of coat and figure, with 
some purrings, fawnings and waggings appended, till the 
recipient was convinced that Hot Air recognized true 
merit, and was the most intelligently obsequious hound 
that ever worshipped a man; that is to say, till he saw 
Hot Air kowtowing and wagging as industriously to the 
very next person who patted his head or glanced kindly 
at him. Hot Air, by virtue of sundry struttings, sweet 
posings, and heroic ululations at a time when all his fel- 
lows were sensibly quiet, established a belief in his leader- 
ship of the kennel; and also by virtue of interminable 
babblings, spectacular riotings, and much unobserved 
running cunning when on the trail, he convinced every 
newcomer that he was the leader of the pack, and the 
shining source of its chief merit. In many of his choice 
poses he was a vision of elegant beauty; as a worker, 
his reputation, through star acting in the center of the 
stage, was built upon the work of the hounds which ran 
true. To them he seemed to be a beautiful and harmless 
clown. They heeded not his babblings nor his pretenses 
of leadership; for they early in his career perceived that 
his full cry was merely an invocation of the lime light, 
and that all his fantastic cavortings, ostensibly devoted 
to the chase, were, in fact, mere devices to parade his 
beauties of person. Still, 'much of it was an excellent 
imitation of the mannerisms of a real worker; and he 
gave tongue merrily on a mere fool idea with all the 
unction of a hound on a true trail; and he was never 
mute; from all this was derived his name, Hot Air. 
Some of my hunter friends, who were at first most in- 
sistent that Hot Air was true gilt on the peak of the 
superlative, affected amazement later that I tolerated 
such a queer babbler in the pack; yet to have disposed 
of him would have entailed no hardship, for he seemed 
to provide for much of his rapacious appetite by prowling 
around through the adjacent country and adding to his 
provender by securing gifts and pilferings. Occasionally, 
when some one of his one-time admirers cornered him in 
a sequestered nook, the ex-admirer without fail would 
give him a swinging kick amidships, rolling him over and 
over in twists endwise and sidewise; yet such was the 
buoyant vanity of Hot Air that, after limping a few 
moments and thawing out his smirk, he would mark 
time in sprightly manner, and pose again as .a leader 
when the rest of the pack was absent or working. I 
had to describe Hot Air thus minutely so that you would 
understand all about the grand chase which I am about to 
describe. Hot Air, in one of his grandstand plays, met 
the fox alone. The fox charged on him — so I was told 
afterward by a farmer who saw the sad tragedy of the 
w oods — and drove him out of the country. We never 
saw him afterward. But I am ahead of my story. It was 
a beautiful morning, and we made an early start. Hot 
Air, as we mounted our horses, was rehearsing with 
much vivacity. He strode about, gave immense bounds, 
suddenly ran alone far out in a straight line and back 
again, and he was the cynosure of all eyes. I had with 
me two dear friends from the North who had never seen 
a fox hunt according to the methods which obtained in 
Virginia. What? "How many miles did I say the chase 
lasted?" About 300. "How many days did it last?" 
Three days. "How far have I advanced on the chase?" 
Why, I've only just begun. "You're going home in the 
morning !" Well, I will not tell you another word of that 
fox chase, not if you stopped breathing. Good-night. 
NEW FIELDS. 
One by one the secret places of the earth are being 
exposed to view, and made more accessible. Time was 
when one only had to cross the Missouri River, and 
get away from the single railroad, to effectually bury 
himself for as long a time as he chose. Now the trans- 
Missouri west is, if not as thickly populated as the 
Mississippi Valley, at least quite as commonplace. It 
is but a few years since we used to hear of "darkest 
Africa," and there are even still living venerable men 
who can remember when the fate of Dr. Livingston, 
the African missionary, was a matter of burning in- 
terest to a large proportion of the civilized world. Now, 
however, the people travel in Africa by sleeping cars. 
It is true that Cecil Rhoades' hope for a railroad from 
Cairo to the Cape is not yet a fact, but one can go 
from Mombasa to the famous Lake Victoria Nyanza 
by rail, passing through the great game country made 
famous by many early writers on African hunting, with- 
in sight of the tremendous peak of Kilimanjaro, nearly 
20,000 feet in height, through the land of the once 
dreaded Masai to the inland sea, on which there are 
two large steam yachts which will take him to all the 
points of interest. 
This is travel made easy. The tourist who wishes 
to get into the heart of Africa has now only to take a 
comfortable mail steamer on one of three or four 
lines and go to Mombasa, where his real railway 
journey begins. 
The game begins to be seen in abundance about 300 
miles from the sea. Here, we are told, "herds of 
zebra gallop alongside the train, and the plains are 
dotted with ostrich, hartebeeste, gnu and many species 
of graceful antelope, who hardly raise their heads as 
the train steams by; lion, giraffe and rhinoceros are 
also frequently seen from the railway carriages." It 
was, we believe, during the construction of this line 
that the lions, when other food supply failed, used to 
visit the work trains and, entering the cars, carry off 
the casual laborer or engineer to satisfy his hunger; 
but we conceive that few passengers have been treated 
in this inhospitable way by these noble denizens of the 
forest. 
It is reported that the game here is enormously 
abundant and that such restrictions have been put on 
the killing, that it is rather increasing .than diminishing 
in number. However numerous the sportsmen who 
have already visited this attractive region, it is con- 
ceivable that many men of leisure will want to make 
such a trip, which, if desired, can be continued down 
the Nile to Gondokoro, Khartum and Cairo. 
DEER AND DAMAGES. 
The vexed question of farmers' damages for crop 
depredations by deer has been treated in a sensible way 
in Vermont, as is told in the report of Fish and Game 
Commissioner H. G. Thomas. There being no provision 
of public moneys for the purpose, a citizen of Rutland, 
Mr. M. E. Wheeler, generously placed in the hands of 
Col. W. Y. W. Ripley, of the same city, $1,000, to be de- 
voted to liquidating any just claims for damage by deer, 
the claims to be settled by the commissioner. While the 
claims have been numerous, few have been proved to 
be of a character meriting payment. Every claim has 
been subjected to careful investigation; and affidavit 
blanks have been submitted to the claimant to be filled 
out and attested before damages could be collected. 
While the customary claim is for $100, of the affidavits 
sent to such round-sum claimants, only one was ever re- 
turned. This was for the destruction of $100 worth of 
beans; investigation showed that the claimant had not 
had a dollar's worth of beans in his garden. Indeed, the 
actual results of the system go to show that the deer 
depredations in Vermont are so slight as to be negligible. 
Of all the claims made to the date of the report, only 
three had been allowed, for $5, $12.50 and $5 respectively. 
Mr. Wheeler has consented to the use of the money for 
the general purposes of fish and game protection. 
A correspondent writes of a deplorable state of affairs 
existing in the neighborhood of La Salle, N. Y., where the 
dynamiting of fish is done openly, and the ducks are killed 
on their feeding grounds by means of motor launches. 
There is no good reason under heaven why such a state 
of affairs should be tolerated in La Salle or in any other 
township in New York. There is a game protective force 
amply sufficient, if set to the work, to put a stop to the 
dynamiting, the chasing of ducks in launches, and all the 
other illicit practices which have made a barren wilder- 
ness of land and water. We advise our correspondent 
to call on the authorities of Albany for an immediate 
righting of the situation. In such a demand should be 
found the remedy asked for. At this period, when the 
practicable ways of game protection have been demon- 
strated and are well understood, and when a large force 
of protectors has been provided whose special and par- 
ticular duty it is to protect the game, it is intolerable that 
any locality should be abandoned to the devastation of the 
criminally inclined fishermen and shooters. There was a 
time, not so many years ago, when the whole scheme of 
protection and the methods of insuring it were tentative, 
and more or less of necessity ineffective. But that time 
has gone by. Experience has shown how the laws may 
be enforced. If they are not, somebody is to blame. 
The admirable record of work done the first year of its 
existence by the Audubon Society of North Carolina, as 
set forth elsewhere, is due almost wholly to the energy 
and industry of Mr. T. Gilbert Pearson, the secretary, 
who signs the report. Not only has this work been done, 
but so much energy has been put into the raising of 
money that the society is in a most satisfactory financial 
condition, having resources of over $2,200. These gratify- 
ing results offer flat contradiction to the statements so 
frequently made that the Southern States care nothing 
for game protection. As a matter of fact, people in the 
South are very much like people everywhere else. And if- 
they can be made to understand the importance of pro- 
tecting the natural resources of our country they will take 
hold of it with abundant energy, and in fact are likely to 
feel more enthusiasm for the good work than people in 
the North and West. Mr. Pearson has shown what a 
single man can do. It were to be wished that more men 
like him were scattered about through the country. 
