406 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
On Not Getting Lost in the Woods. 
We often see articles in the sporting papers giving 
people who are lost in the woods instruction as to how 
to find their way. It is very doubtful whether any of 
those who are so ready to tell others what to do, ever 
traveled much in the woods, and it is certain that, if 
lost there, they could never find their way by any of the 
so-called helps they offer to others. I have never 
known of any one writing an article showing insane 
people how to become sane; but it is just as reasonable 
as telling those who are lost in the woods how to find 
their way out, for when a man is really lost he is prac- 
tically insane and incapable of reasoning as he would 
at other times, and even when he gets to well-known 
roads and clearings he does not recognize them. Men 
will often _ turn nearly, or quite, squarely around and 
either go in a circle or sometimes turn back in the op- 
posite direction, all the time thinking they are keeping 
a straight course. It is as hard to tell why they do 
this as why life insurance officials can do such crooked 
Ihings and still think that they are honest. 
Sebattis Dana, of the Penobscot Indians, once told 
me that when he was moose hunting with two other 
Indians, it came on to snow hard and they started for 
their camp. All thought that they knew the way and 
they had traveled some time when they came upon the 
fresh tracks of three men who were traveling in the 
same direction as themselves. After following for some 
time, they came to a place where someone had pulled 
a piece off a rotten stub in passing. Sebattis recognized 
it as a place where he had slipped and had broken off 
the stub in recovering himself. A closer inspection 
showed that they were following their own tracks. 
They then started again but soon came round to their 
tracks the second time. Sebattis felt sure that he could 
go straight, and took the lead, but shortly they were 
back again to their own tracks. Finally one of them 
climbed a tree and could see the lake, near which they 
camped, close by them; but even then he had to throw 
a branch toward it to get a right start. Soon after 
they reached camp it stopped snowing, and they went 
back to examine their tracks. Sebattis told me that at 
the time when he was in the lead he had gone straight 
toward the lake till within plain sight of it and then all 
three had turned squarely about and gone back in the 
direction whence they had come. 
I have known of a man coming out close to the edge 
of a good road and then turning and going back. He 
did not see the road at all but happened to look up and 
caught sight of a telegraph wire over his head. 
An uncle of mine told me that he had lived at a farm- 
house in northern New York all summer. Occasionally 
he had gone through a piece of woods to visit at an- 
other farmhouse. One bright day in the fall he started 
to go there. The way seemed longer than usual, but he 
had no doubt but that he was going in the right direc- 
tion until he came out of the woods and found that he 
had come out at a place which was strange to him. 
Seeing a house nearby, he went up to it to inquire the 
way. It was not until he was in the act of knocking on 
the door that he realized that he had returned to the 
same house where he had lived all summer. He had 
got turned around and this caused familiar things to 
look strange to him. When a man is in such a state of 
mind that he cannot tell a main road or a clearing when 
he sees it, it is useless to talk of his being able to fol- 
low any of the many ways which some of these Sherlock 
Holpieses have written of. 
Some of these would-be instructors tell us that there 
are more branches on the south side of trees, while 
others tell us that there is more moss on the north side 
of ^rees and rocks. Trees branch most toward the 
open spaces, where there is room to spread their 
branches, whether it is north or south. Firs and spruces 
branch very nearly symmetrically, no matter what the 
..situation. As to moss, sometimes trees moss more on 
one side and sometimes on the other. I have care- 
fully tested the matter with a compass in various lo- 
cations and find that there is no possible way to get any 
help as to direction by looking at either limbs or 
moss, though it is a favorite idea of writers to tell of 
people finding their way by looking at branches and 
moss; I have never known of any woodsman being 
guided in that way. Another tells us that the tips of 
hemlock and cedar point north, while very recently 
one claims that the tips of hemlock point toward the 
east. Now the actual fact is, that no one in the woods 
can see the tops of trees, even in bright days, unless he 
is upon a hill above them or_ in some road or open 
space. In most cases when men are lost it is in dark, 
rainy, snowy or cloudy days, when there would be no 
chance to see the treetops; but if they could see them, 
and it was calm, so that the tops were not bent by the 
wind, they would find that they bend in all directions. 
I have walked along in open places and roads testing this 
by compass, and one might as well rely on which way 
the leaves fall as on being guided by the treetops. 
^ Another tells us that the gum is softer on the south 
side. Now, one may travel miles without seeing any 
gum at all, and to find it upon both sides of a tree, 
except upon a spotted line, would be a very unusual 
thing. -In our woods I hardly think that a man could 
average finding one such tree in a day, and even if he 
did by chance find one, in cold weather the gum on 
both sides would be hai-4. Jn point of fact, the gum 
which has recently exuded is soft no matter which side 
of the tree it is, while the old gum is always hard. Then 
again, the gum on trees is not confined to the north 
and south sides of the trees, but is as likely to be found 
upon the east and west sides if the trees have been 
vvounded on those sides. 
Another tells us that by cutting down a tree the rings 
will be found wider upon the south side. The majority 
of those out hunting do not carry axes, but if one did, 
he would find very few cases where the grain of the 
wood would show any difference. In some cases where 
a tree stands so its side is fully exposed to the sun there 
may be a slight difference; but a man might starve to 
death cutting down trees before he could tell the north 
from the south. I have traveled the Maine woods in 
company with as good men as ever traveled these 
woods, and I never knew any man to be in any way 
helped by any of these things which so many write of, 
and those who write so only show their own ignorance 
of the woods. Some men I have traveled with never 
used a compass: some always carried one, but very 
seldom set it, except in stormy weather; while oc- 
casionally a woodsman relies entirely on a plan and 
compass. Some men seem to be born with a compass 
in their heads, while some can never learn to travel 
even with a compass in their hands. A good woods- 
man finds his way just as an animal does, by a certain 
kind of instinct. He cannot tell you how he does it 
or teach you how. but he can do it himself, and knowing 
that he will hunt all day without troubling his head as 
to where the camp is. Of course, he is guided some 
by sun and wind and lay of the land; but it is perfectly 
surprising what some men can do in finding their way 
in stormy of cloudy days. 
I once separated from an Indian on the top of Bald 
Mountain near Nictor Lake on the Little Tobique in 
New Brunswick, He belonged north of the St. 
Lawrence and was an entire stranger in that part of 
the country. He was going to look for moose, while 
I was to take the canoe back after I was done hunting, 
he coming to the camp at the outlet on foot. The day 
W’as fine, but at night grew cloudy and threatened rain. 
As he failed to come in, I grew anxious and at intervals 
during the evening fired my rifle with heavy charges to 
try to guide him in. In the morning it was raining 
hard. At 9 o’clock in the forenoon I heard some one 
calling, and , on going across the stream, found Peol. 
After he had eaten, he told me that he had followed 
the track of a moose till 5 P. M., then he had started 
for camp. He traveled till 9. Then he had spotted 
three trees in line so as to keep the direction, if the 
wind^ should change, had built a fire and stood by it 
all night until at 5 A. M., when it got light enough for 
him to see to travel; then he walked until 9 and had 
struck the stream only a mile below our camp and 
followed it up. He estimated that he was sixteen miles 
from camp when he started back, as he had traveled 
eight hours to get in. He had no compass, in fact, 
never carried one, although he always carried a watch. 
He had eaten nothing except a piece of hard bread 
since the morning before, and had been out all night 
with no clothing but pants and a red flannel shirt; yet 
he did not speak of having had a hard time. He remarked 
that two OAvls slept at the same house where he did, 
and that he traveled by the wind. I have hunted with 
a number of men who, I think, could have done as 
well. 
I once heard Paul B. Du Chaillu, the noted traveler, 
say: “On the west coast of Africa, if you fall into 
the water the sharks shall get you sure; consequently 
you had better never fall in!” And so I would say to 
those going into the woods, “You had better never get 
lost.” M.A.NLY Hardy. 
Adirondack Conditions. 
Editor Forest aind Stream: 
Your valued paper is fulfilling part of its high calling 
in giving space to State land affairs in the Adirondacks. 
Permit me to add a little testimony as to some other 
conditions: First — As to the deer supply : I know some- 
thing about Plamilton county, for I have hunted there 
for about twenty years, and I know from personal 
observation that in some sections where lumbering has 
been going on for three years or so, the deer are per- 
ceptibly diminished in number. The old deer trails 
remain, but the fresh tracks, formerly to be counted 
by the dozen, are now single or at most two or three. 
And I do not believe it is a case of the lumbermen 
driving out the deer, for there has not been a cor- 
responding increase in other sections. The inference 
is plain. 
Second — Many of the residents of the Adirondacks 
need educating up to a clear and practical recognition 
of the fact that the preservation of the Adirondack 
forests, fish and game, is imperatively necessary to their 
own prosperity. 
This should be apparent without argument. But it 
is not. This is proved by a widespread hostility to the 
elk and moose liberated in the Adirondack woods in 
the effort to restock them with this noble game. Many 
residents argue- against the effort, claim the large ani- 
mals will drive out the deer, and speak complacently of 
the killing of elk or moose by others. 
Again, it is undoubtedly true that the old spirit of 
setting forest fires in order to create work in fighting 
them, still lives and, like a fire smouldering under- 
ground, only awaits the opportunity to break out. The 
past season was so incomparably wet that little op- 
portunity was afforded, but enough was done to show 
the existence of the spirit. Such work is like a man 
high up a tree, cutting off the limb on which he sits. 
Present wages come, but the end is disaster. A ca,m- 
paign of education is needed on both these points. 
Of course, among the residents are many exceptions, 
but the need on both points is too prevalent. 
Mr. Spears notes the proposed dam at Piseco Lake, 
and the danger of flooding adjacent lands. In other 
places also the same danger is at hand. Existing dams 
are raised to facilitate transportation, and the timber 
and shrubbery along miles and miles of shore are liable 
to be killed by the high water. 
What that means to the scenery, the beautiful Marion 
River, made famous by Adirondack Murray, but since 
flooded and bordered on both sides almost its entire 
length with dead cedars piercing the air in their un- 
sightliness, illustrates. Some portions of Raquette 
River and of others, illustrate the same operation of 
cause and effect. A shame on the mercenary spirit 
which, to save the work and expense of a little dredging, 
is willing thus to profane the face of nature! As a 
health and pleasure resort, the Adirondacks have no 
equal this side of Colorado— even if there. With, their 
life-giving tonic of the air, with no venomous reptiles 
nor insects, their unsurpassed opportunities for health- 
ful recreation, their accessibility, and their almost un- 
livalled beauty, they constitute one of the Creator’s 
choicest gifts- — one of the most invaluable possessions 
of the people. The powers of enlightened and ap- 
preciative public sentiment, and of the State should 
be exerted to prevent the alienation of those lands from 
the State and of their utility and beauty from the people, 
Juvenal. 
Stories of Some Sea Dogs. 
IV. — Sbakins acd the Tough Four. 
Perhaps there are persons who have read some of 
my previous stories of sea dogs who may think that I 
never bought a dog but was always picking up homeless 
ones, but they wrong me, for I have bought several 
in my life; but after varied experiences with both 
boughten ones and pick-ups, the latter classes have al- 
most invariably proven to have been the most precious 
ones, and then again I rather think my fad was for 
canine waifs and strays. 
It was in Liverpool that I picked up Shakins. He 
looked friendless and as if searching for some one to 
be good to him, and I called him to me, and patting 
his head and talking to him, said, “Come along, old 
fellow,” and he was nothing loth to accept my invita- 
tion. When we arrived at the dock gate, the policeman 
on duty said to me, “Are you going to take that dog 
aboard your ship. Captain? I hope you are, for he 
deserves a good home. His former master was the 
mate of a ship that left here a few days ago. The poor 
mate died and his dog has been watching for his re- 
turn ever since. He is half starved, but we feed him 
at times.” 
That settled it with me, and again patting the poor 
fellow on the head, I determined that he should have 
as good a home as he had lost.. The dog evidently 
knew that I was to be his new master, and having been 
indorsed by the policeman, a future home was as good 
as assured. He was a collie, and a bright, clean one 
at that; with a clear, loving eye, and as gentle as a 
little girl. _ As soon as we got on deck, the dog was 
wild with joy. He frisked about the decks and barked 
and frolicked around as if to say, “Home at last !”.<., 
When we entered the cabin, he went around peering 
into every stateroom, perhaps in quest of some trace 
of his late master, but quite as likely to familiarize 
himself with his new surroundings; at any rate, he soon 
made himself quite at home. I told the story of the dog 
to the two mates, and they at once took kindly to the 
fellow, and before the day was over he was on excellent 
terms with all hands fore and aft. The second mate 
christened him “Shakings,” why that name I do not 
now remember, but it suited me and the dog, and hence 
that was his name, and one never to be forgotten by 
anyone who sailed in that ship on that memorable 
voyage. 
Some of my crew that came from New York in the 
ship got the gold fever and ran away, and I was obliged 
to ship some new men. Several of these were not to 
my liking, but they were the best to be had under the 
drcumstances. Four of them the mate christened the 
“Tough Four,” before they had been on board as many 
days. However, the marked quartette obeyed all orders 
promptly and gave us no trouble; but they were a 
forbiding looking lot of chaps, to say the least. Shakins 
did not like them at all, and while he was fairly familiar 
with the rest of the crew, he would have nothing to 
do with these fellows. Several times I was on the 
point of telling them to come aft and get their wages 
and go on shore, but I was confronted with the great 
difficulty of getting men to fill their places, and finally 
dismissed the matter from my mind. 
The afternoon before we sailed several boxes of 
specie were delivered alongside the ship, to be put op 
