Nov. io, 1906.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
733 
lakes with a short bit of the Clear Water river 
to Clear Water lake. They could not say how 
big a lake Clear Water was, but one could not 
see across it. There are both speckled trout 
and lake trout in its waters. 
A journey of about a day and a half with 
portages brought the party to Seal lake (another 
lake of great size), probably forty miles long. 
Between Seal lake and another little lake, out of 
which a river flows northeast toward Ungava 
bay, is the height of land. They went down' the 
Still river and another river with an Indian 
name sounding something like Kenokamistic. 
For four days they traveled on this river, and 
three days’ travel on the Koksoak river brought 
them to Fort Chimo. The latter river is a mile 
wide and very deep in parts. Salmon and trout 
are found in the waters, but little or no^ timber 
can be seen on the barren rocks. The scenery 
is bold and very beautiful in spite of the want 
of heavy timber. It looks like the pictures of 
some of the Scotch lochs. 
About thirty miles from the mouth of the 
Koksoak, where we reach Fort Chimo, are 
bands of Indians-—one tribe of which is the 
Eskimo. There are Missionaries there and 
about thirty buildings. Both the Hudson Bay 
Company and Revillion Brothers have agencies 
at this point. The Eskimo tribe belong to the 
Church of England, and the other Indians gen¬ 
erally to the Roman Catholic faith. The Eskimo 
are very quiet, honest people. 
The Koksoak river is navigable up to Chimo 
for large vessels. Here Mr. Tasker’s party 
took the steamer for Cartright, near Rigolet on 
the east Labrador coast. Rigolet should be well 
known to all the readers of Hubbard’s story. 
There is a Hudson Bay post at Cartright. Here 
the party found the Newfoundland mail steamer 
Virginia, which took them to St. Johns, N. F. 
From St. Johns the Newfoundland Railway was 
enjoyed, after a long absence from rail com¬ 
munication as far as Port an Basque. 
The ferry steamer, Bruce took the party from 
Port au Basque to Sydney, Cape Breton, where 
the Intercolonial Railroad carried them to Mon¬ 
treal. At Montreal Mr. and Mrs. Tasker took 
the train for Bisco, whether for another moose 
hunt expedition, or for private business, the de¬ 
ponent saith not: but whatever the business may 
be, we are sure that Mr. and Mrs. Tasker will 
have a very interesting story to tell their 
friends about their big canoe trip. The country 
is already interesting to us; the new narrative 
ought to make us quite familiar and friendly. 
L. O. Armstrong. 
THE TOP RAIL. 
To the consideration of the Simplified Spell¬ 
ing Board I submit the word “mascalonge,” for 
the reason that no two persons spell it alike, 
and because a backwoods correspondent, in de¬ 
scribing the fishing, referred to the fish in ques¬ 
tion as “muskelunj,” which proves that there is 
sympathy in the woods, if not in the great 
centers of learning, for the reformers. 
Here is a word that is variously spelled mus- 
calonge, muscallonge, mascalonge, mascallonge, 
maskelunge, maskellunge, muskelunge, mus- 
kellunge, muskalonge, muskallonge, muskalunge, 
muskallunge, maskinongy, maskinonge, mas- 
quinongy, mask-kinonge, mas Kenosha and 
otherwise, the eighteen variations serving to 
show that the simplified spellers will have their 
work cut out for them when they roll up their 
sleeves and tackle this name. And the indigna¬ 
tion of those who object to spelling old familiar 
names phonetically is but a zephyr compared to 
the cyclone of wrath that can be looked for 
when attempts are made to replace the sacred 
masquinonge or maskinonge with another. 
Jordan and Evermann, referring to the lack of 
uniformity in spelling the name, say, “Generally 
spelled muskellunge,” and let it go at that. 
Sportsmen searching for new sensations 
should emulate the Pittsfield men who recently 
announced their intention to go a-hunting in a 
balloon. Evidently they had not carefully 
weighed all the contingencies that might arise 
on such a voyage. For example, suppose they 
should sail into a flock of ducks and an excitable 
member of the party should happen to shoot a 
hole in the gas-bag—although it is admitted 
that there might be enough hot air emanating 
from the basket to keep it afloat. As hot meals 
en route would be acceptable, a vapor or alco¬ 
hol stove would be needed, in which case it 
would not be unlikely that the gas might be 
ignited, with equally disastrous consequences. 
And as balloons are somewhat erratic in their 
movements, and non-resident license laws are 
in force in nearly all States, it would be em¬ 
barrassing for New York men, for example, to 
be dumped into Maine or some other State, 
with a basket full of firearms and no licenses 
in their possession, for while license laws are 
operative, as a rule, in cases where non-residents 
cross the borders on trains or by boat, the mere 
fact of a man dropping out of a balloon would 
not save him, in the eyes of a local justice of the 
peace, from punishment for technically break¬ 
ing the laws. And in New Jersey, for example, 
if one happens to have a gun in his possession, 
he can count on a stiff dose of Jersey justice, 
whether he comes out of a balloon or walks. 
* 
The other day a fat and furry gray squirrel 
skipped down a hill in Central Park with a 
small yellow dog about two laps in the rear 
and going fast. The dog’s ears stood up, sharp 
with expectancy, and he evidently thought the 
squirrel was his meat. But the gray knew better, 
and making for a large maple tree, he ran close 
by the trunk, dodged behind it, ran up a few 
feet, circled the trunk, and with head down 
watched his pursuer. Away went the dog in 
a straight line down the hill, and it was not 
until he reached its foot that he missed the gray. 
Blither and thither he ran, bounding into the 
air now and then to get a better view. It was 
plain to him that the squirrel had simply 
vanished. His cocky ears drooped, his tail 
wilted, and with an air of “Now, what do you 
think of that?” he turned back, passing under 
the maple tree where the fat gray, unseen, was 
laughing at him, squirrel fashion. 
* 
Whatever may be thought of cats elsewhere, 
they are not held in very high esteem in the 
parks of New York city. There is a man em¬ 
ployed by the Department of Parks whom the 
park employes call a “sharpshooter,” whose 
duty it is to kill all stray cats and dogs found 
roaming about in the parks of the city. He 
does good work, too, and as the park rules 
forbid any person to bring pets into the parks 
unless they a*te in tow, he makes no mistake in 
shooting dogs or cats that are wandering about 
the shrubbery. So tame are many of the gray 
squirrels and the waterfowl that a foxy old 
cat could catch them easily. Still there are cats 
that frequent the parks regularly, and but for 
them the English sparrows would overrun 
Central and Prospect parks. 
When the reporters write up a tragedy they 
always tell how some one, when arrested, still 
holds “a smoking revolver” in his hand, al¬ 
though a half-hour may have elapsed since a 
shot had been fired. No matter; the weapon has 
got to smoke, and apparently it keeps on smok¬ 
ing just so long as ladies are not present. I11 
one case that I recall a man “ran around the 
corner” after leaving the house where the 
tragedy had occurred, but the revolver was 
smoking away just the same when he was cap¬ 
tured. Generally the “smoking revolver” is con¬ 
sidered in the light of mute evidence that some¬ 
thing has happened; and while smokeless powder 
cartridges have largely replaced those that burn 
“soft coal,” still, stories have got to be told in 
the old way, and the dime-novel style takes no 
cognizance of facts. 
vt 
Last week the newspapers published a state¬ 
ment in which it was said that “Forest, Fish 
and Game Commissioner Whipple had made 
arrangements with the management of the Yel¬ 
lowstone Park whereby he had obtained a herd 
of seventy-five moose for distribution in the 
Adirondacks. The moose will be shipped early 
this winter and will be placed in charge of the 
Brown’s Tract guides. A few of the animals will 
be allotted to each county in the Adirondack 
region. The moose cost the State nothing ex¬ 
cept for the cost of bringing them east and dis¬ 
tributing them.” 
1 his statement seemed so improbable that I 
asked Mr. Whipple as to its truth. H'is reply 
follows: “The dispatch about the moose is 
all fiction. We have arranged to get twenty- 
five beaver from Yellowstone Park, and the 
newspapers now have it seventy-five moose. It 
has grown very much since the original in¬ 
formation was given.” 
Ihe Commissioner added that he was sorry 
the State was not going to have the moose. 
s» 
A friend in Manchester, N. FI., sends me a 
story of how a ruffed grouse broke into society 
in that town not long ago and seemed to be loth 
to go back to the woods afterward. A lady 
heard glass breaking in her parlor, and on in¬ 
vestigating, found a neat round hole in one of 
the window panes. Naturally, she thought some 
boy had thrown a stone through the window, 
arid on searching for the stone found instead 
a ruffed grouse in a corner behind her piano. 
* 
Some one tells a ver}' pretty story of a lively 
tussle between a bird dog and a ruffed grouse 
that had been winged a day or two previously 
by some sportsman, whose dog had failed to find 
it. Of course the dog had the best of the scrap, 
but his work was cut out for him. Which re¬ 
minds me of a fight between a wounded owl and 
a half-grown fox terrier. I was hunting squir¬ 
rels when the owl was seen, and when I fired the 
dog came up from the farmhouse where he be¬ 
longed and arrived just as the great bird fell 
to the ground. The owl was full of fight, for the 
bullet had gone a bit too high, and literally re¬ 
ceived the dog with open arms. For ten minutes 
that vicinity was full of noise and feathers, and 
it was hard to tell what the live ball resembled 
most, as there were momentary glimpses of legs, 
claws, teeth and wings. In all my life I have 
never seen a livelier fight or a pluckier dog. It 
was like diving head first into a tangle of barbed- 
wire, and even after the dog closed his teeth 
on the jugular of the great bird it scratched him 
viciously, and I had to pry its claws out of his 
chest, which was slashed and bleeding. 
Grizzly King. 
