70 
FOREST AND STREAM 
Jan. 17, 1914. 
MAKING CAMP. 
joining of these, Driftwood Island raises its high 
crest, from which there is a view up and down 
the stream. It is a beautiful spot. 
From Gallavant’s Ferry on the Little Pee 
Dee to where it meets the Great Pee Dee, is one 
vast hunting preserve. This area is densely 
wooded and is so difficult for the lumberman that 
it will long remain the home for wild hogs, cats, 
fox, squirrel, deer, bear, and other game. The 
Flats, or Buzzard Reaches, so called, near the 
mouth of the Little Pee Dee River is a most 
bewildering and fascinating piece of canoeing 
water. They are made up of a labyrinth of 
“lakes” which cut across the course of the Little 
Pee Dee for fifteen miles. Here one is virtually 
afloat in a cypress forest. Many of the lakes are 
separated from .one another by single or double 
column of tall cypresses giving the effect of a 
collonade; the trees often mirrored in the waters 
of the lakes they separate. 
A sand island seven acres in extent in the 
centre of this lake region is the only possible 
camping ground. “Big Ratchel,” a huge cypress 
known by that name to rivermen and others all 
over the State of South Carolina, stands at the 
lower end of these reaches, a short distance from 
an old landing in the swamp said to have been 
used by the Tories during the Revolutionary 
War. This tree marked the spot where those 
who knew might land. 
Entering the Great Pee Dee one is borne 
rapidly along the “yellow waters” toward George¬ 
town, twenty-nine miles away. The power of 
this mighty river is instantly felt and appre¬ 
ciated. There is no mistaking the force of its 
eddying swirl. Soon the rice islands-in the delta 
of the river divide the waters, and taking either 
channel one bowls along past plantations on 
these islands, which once upheld the wealth and 
chivalry of the Southland. The islands are now 
the winter home for ducks that fly in from the 
sea at nightfall to rest on sheltered waters and 
to feed on wild rice growing there. With the 
abolition of slavery and the discovery later that 
"ice could be grown successfully on the upland 
of Texas, these vast estates have fallen into dis¬ 
use, and some of them have been abandoned by 
their once proud owners. Only the magnitude of 
the estates and the beauty of the surroundings 
created about their colonial homes remain to 
point the story of the past. 
Railroads and roads crossing the river at 
various points make the journeys of varied 
lengths possible and predominating sunshine gives 
the air a rare, soft quality even during the “six 
weeks of winter.” Bass, jack, blue bream and 
red robin afford sport for anglers. Briefly, here 
“autumn days” may be lived once again by the 
wilderness lover on one of the most beautiful 
waterways in the country and in the least changed 
and oldest section of the Southland. 
Animals Living in Rainless Sonora 
By FRANCIS C- NICHOLAS 
LONG the shore of the Gulf of California 
there is an extensive region where rain 
is so scarce that it may be designated as 
a practically rainless region. The country is in¬ 
habited by two tribes of Indians, the Seris and 
the Papagos. Between the two tribes there is, 
and has been for generations, a blood feud, be¬ 
cause of which a Seri will kill a Papago or a 
Papago will kill a Seri whenever there may be 
an opportunity. Because of this feud a broad 
neutral zone has been left unoccupied between 
the territories held by the two tribes. The Seris 
have Tiburon Island, with the mainland opposite 
and to the southward. The Papagos are located 
some distance to the north and occupy lands into 
Arizona. In the territory on the mainland north 
of Tiburon Island there are no Indians. The 
region is avoided by the hunters of both tribes 
who visit that country only on rare occasions 
and then if they go it is in a large, well-armed 
party, or as guides to some group of venture¬ 
some explorers. The reason for this neutral zone 
is natural—there is game enough near at hand 
for their domestic requirements, so why should 
they venture into regions where enemies are per¬ 
haps waiting. In my experience with the Indians 
I have found that they are brave only when they 
want something, or have become enraged. If 
game should become scarce the Indians would 
fight with the bitterness of fury and hatred to 
control the game in the neutral zone, but so 
long as they remain fairly comfortable they will 
avoid each other, keep out of a neutral zone and 
kill only when a favorable occasion may offer the 
opportunity. Consequently a very extensive re¬ 
gion has been left unoccupied in western Sonora. 
The security afforded has, it would seem, been 
recognized by the wild animals, and in the neu¬ 
tral zone deer, antelope and mountain sheep have 
collected in great numbers. Hunting parties visit¬ 
ing that region secure game to their fullest satis¬ 
faction; the skins and horns of which are good, 
but otherwise the kill is disappointing—the meat 
is strong, dry and tough, not at all satisfying or 
pleasant to eat. Hunters attribute this to the 
scarcity of water, and the long distances which 
an animal must travel in order to drink. It is 
claimed by some that all the animals of that 
region can go for days without water, and that 
their necessities, if not their wants, are supplied 
by attacking cactus and other water-storing plants 
of the deserts and barren hills. It is claimed 
that in adapting itself to the arid conditions the 
animal has gradually reduced the action of the 
kidneys so that very little water is drawn from 
the body. A prominent physician, Dr. Purdy, 
of Nogales, Arizona, visited the neutral zone 
above Tiburnon Island, and, becoming impressed 
with the evident ability of the animals of that 
region to sustain life with a minimum of water, 
made a series of dissections and found that in 
all instances the bladders of the animals were 
abnormally small. This condition he reports was 
most pronounced among the antelopes, and it 
was found in most instances that the bladders 
were so small that they would not have held 
twenty drops of water. This condition was found 
persistent among all the animals, and has been 
reported by nearly all the hunters who have 
visited the region. An incident, or a current re¬ 
port, seems to indicate that the region in ques¬ 
tion may offer a field for investigation where 
something new will be developed in natural his¬ 
tory. Of one thing there can be more than 
ordinary assurance: the region offers an oppor¬ 
tunity to secure trophies of rare excellence and 
unusual abundance. It is best reached through 
the country of the Seri Indians, and all a hunter 
or explorer would have to do would be to go to 
Hermosillo, Sonora, and he would find plenty 
of Americans who have friendly relations with 
the Seri Indians and who would do everything 
required to arrange for a successful exploration. 
That man, I think, has had a liberal educa¬ 
tion who has been so trained in youth that his 
body is the ready servant of his will, and does 
with ease and pleasure all the work that as a 
mechanism it is capable of; whose intellect is a 
clear, cold logic engine, with all its parts of equal 
strength, and in smooth working order; ready, 
like a steam engine, to be turned to any kind of 
work, and spin the gossamers as well as forge the 
anchors of the mind; whose mind is stored with 
a knowledge of the great and fundamental truths 
of nature and the laws of her operations; one 
who, no stunted ascetic, is full of life and fire, 
but whose passions are trained to come to heel by 
a vigorous will, the servant of a tender con¬ 
science ; who has learned to love all beauty, 
whether of nature or of art, to hate all vileness, 
and to respect others as himself. Such an one 
and no other. I conceive, has had a liberal educa¬ 
tion.—Huxley. 
The forest service collected 40,000 pounds of 
tree seed last year for use in reforestation work. 
The total area reforested was about 30,000 acres. 
Advertising transforms empty stores into busy 
marts of trade and makes room for new stores. 
