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The Roosevelt’s Crew Entertained. 
On the evening of Thursday, Oct. 7, the 
Boone and Crockett Club entertained at its 
rooms in West Thirty-ninth street, New York 
city, three members of the crew of Commander 
Peary’s ship, the Roosevelt. Quite apart from 
the question of the actual discovery of the north 
pole the occasion was one of great interest, for 
each big-game hunter or naturalist among the 
club members felt a deep interest in many ques¬ 
tions on which these brown and hardy explorers 
of the Arctic were able to throw some light. 
Of the members of the Roosevelt crew there 
were present: Capt. R. A. Bartlett, commander 
of the ship; Dr. J. W. Goodsell and George A. 
Ward well, engineer. 
Among the members of the club present were: 
Bayard Dominick, Jr., Townsend Lawrence, AI- 
den Sampson, Col. George S. Anderson, Dr. J. 
L. Seward, William C. Sanger, M. G. Secken- 
dorff, Dr. John Rogers, George B. Grinnell, 
Madison Grant, and many of them brought 
guests. 
Captain Bartlett talked entertainingly, yet with 
great modesty, of conditions in the far North, 
and gave interesting explanations of the diffi¬ 
culties of navigating close to the pole and of 
the methods employed. He had much to say 
about the natives and paid a warm tribute to 
Commander Peary’s treatment of these simple 
people. He said that Mr. Peary never forgot 
any favors or kindnesses done him by the 
Eskimos, and that on his way home he had 
stopped for a month at Etah in order to kill 
walrus for the Eskimos so as to supply them 
with abundant provisions before leaving. But 
for this delay of a month at Etah, which was 
made deliberately and solely with the object of 
providing the faithful natives who had accom¬ 
panied him to the far North with provisions for 
the coming winter, Commander Peary would 
have reached New York a month earlier, and in 
this way many of the unpleasant features of the 
present unfortunate controversy would have been 
avoided. 
Dr. J. W. Goodsell, the ship’s surgeon, was 
from the very nature of his duties more or less 
confined to the vessel, nevertheless during the 
period when the Roosevelt was at its most north¬ 
ern point he was able to do 1,800 miles of dog 
sledging and foot travel in short journeys of 
150 to 200 miles away from the ship. Many of 
these trips were performed during the Arctic 
night, efforts being made to start on such jour¬ 
neys with a growing moon, so as to have some 
light to travel by through the whole trip. Be¬ 
sides his duties as surgeon the doctor did con¬ 
siderable microscopic work and collected much 
small marine life and many p’ants. He spoke 
of the enormous abundance of certain forms of 
bird life, and especially of the rookeries of the 
little auk, where vast numbers of these birds 
were breeding. They were often shot for food 
and occurred in such numbers that on one occas¬ 
ion the single discharge of a shotgun killed no 
less than twenty birds. They were excellent eat¬ 
ing and the flesh was compared by the chief 
engineer to that of a squab. 
The doctor was asked how it was that such 
animals as the caribou, here known as Peary’s 
caribou, a species previously described by Com¬ 
mander Peary some three years ago, and the 
musk ox, procure food in winter in these very 
high latitudes, since people who know nothing 
of the subject imagine these Arctic wastes to 
be buried during nine months of the year under 
many feet of snow. The answer to this inquiry 
was that these animals feed on grass, moss and 
twigs of the low Arctic willows, that there is 
very little snow during the winter in these lati¬ 
tudes, perhaps no more than in New York State. 
Four inches of snow would be a heavy fall and 
this snow blows off from hills and from many 
flats so that in such situations the ground and 
its vegetation are exposed. The Arctic willows 
spoken of are not at all in the natute of trees, 
but grow spread out on the ground, much as one 
may find little willows growing on tops of high 
mountains far beyond the limit of timber line. 
It was learned that no seals were observed 
far beyond the land, and it is probable that these 
animals keep reasonably close to the coast, being 
of course most numerous where food is most 
abundant. 
In answering various questions Captain Bart¬ 
lett made the interesting observation that he had 
seen tracks of a polar bear near 86 degrees 
north latitude, certainly the furthest north re¬ 
corded for any animal. Caribou and reindeer 
extend to the northernmost point of land, both 
on the Grantland and Greenland sides of Robe¬ 
son Channel. Narwhal occur as far north as 
Cape Union. Beluga, or white whale, occur as 
far north as Etah, but walrus do not penetrate 
northward in these waters beyond Bache Penin¬ 
sula. 
The meeting lasted well into the night and was 
one of the most successful smokers held by the 
Boone and Crockett Club in its new quarters. 
As soon as the members are better acquainted 
with the interesting features of these entertain¬ 
ments, and with the exceptional opportunity of 
bringing guests to meet the most distinguished 
sportsmen of America, the monthly smokers of 
the club will become events of great interest and 
importance. 
Reflections. 
Minneapolis, Minn., Oct. 5 —Editor Forest and 
Stream: To-day as I wandered off to the brook 
in the woodland—the faintly rippling Minnehaha 
—there came to me a subtle yearning. My in¬ 
stinct told me only too well the reason. Fall is 
here and with it the season of hunting. Fall 
winds are blowing from the southwest, the tang 
of ripened grains and fruit is borne upon the 
breezes. The fruits are ripening. What a sea¬ 
son of delight it is! As I sauntered off after 
the day’s work the first thing that turned my 
thoughts to autumn was a flock of blackbirds 
that flew overhead and lit in a field of ripening 
corn near by. Then as I stood on the rustic 
bridge that spans the creek there came to me 
the assembly call of the quail. Deep and seem¬ 
ingly full of love were the notes as they drifted 
to me in the evening hour when the woods’ 
shadows were stretching forth and plunged 
everything in gloom. It was a dreamy hour. 
To the west the sunset colors were accumulat¬ 
ing, turning the sky to blended purple and crim¬ 
son, with ridges and arches and fantastic shapes 
scattered through all. 
My thoughts were centered upon hunting and 
all that appertains to the sport, and everything 
that I saw that impressed me of autumn only 
served to increase my fever. To-night I routed 
out the old hunting coat, and believe me I got 
so excited that I smoked two pipefuls before I 
cooled down. I searched the pockets of the coat 
and what should I find but a handful of fine 
stripped birch bark in one of them. I sat for 
some moments gazing at this odd discovery, try¬ 
ing to recall the incident. 
I had been hunting rabbits that day. A light 
snow had fallen the night before and hunting 
was excellent. My lunch had been eaten in a 
clump of trees on a sheltered hillside where the 
wind could not get at me. I had peeled bark 
from a large birch on the shore of a pond, and 
with the aid of this I had made a roaring fire. 
Little as the incident was, it nevertheless was 
one that shall always be a pleasant memory to 
me. I find greater satisfaction in the small 
things and pleasures of life than in those that 
are common to all. If, indeed, I am unsuccess¬ 
ful in killing the limit of game during a day’s 
hunt I am still satisfied and repaid by the amount 
of genuine hunting I did. That, I feel, should 
be the motive of every sportsman, and thus my 
hunting coat revealed an incident that was hid¬ 
den away in my memory. 
In another pocket I found five partridge 
feathers that, as T released them, floated slowly 
to the floor. Once last fall they were part and 
parcel of a lively bird that haunted the wood¬ 
land. The trees had then changed a glorious 
crimson and scarlet. Orange red glowed the 
maples in the pasture, and nearby a thicket of 
sumachs beamed forth in ever changing colors. 
It was then in that glorious season that I wan¬ 
dered away with my gun. I have a vision of 
thundering wings. Again I hear the report of 
the gun and behold the bird floating to earth. 
Got him clean. Robert Page Lincoln. 
Hunting in California. 
San Francisco, Cal., Oct. 4.— Editor Forest 
and Stream: The quail, duck and rail season 
opened on Oct. 1 in California, but in the coast 
region a rain storm was also in progress and 
but little hunting was done on the opening day. 
There were but few ducks to be found on the 
bay, but in the interior districts along the 
marshes, where the home birds have bred this 
season, they are quite plentiful. The Suisun 
and Sonoma marshes are now practically con¬ 
trolled by gun clubs so that unattached hunters 
are compelled to go to the San Joaquin or Sac¬ 
ramento valleys to secure good sport, but there 
is plenty of unattached ground there to hunt 
over. Along the river between the bay and 
Stockton there is good hunting among the islands 
and here most of the hunting will be done for 
some time. 
Widgeons are mostly in evidence at the present 
time and these make splendid eating until the 
grass begins to grow, when their flesh is almost 
worthless. From present indications quail hunt¬ 
ing will be better this season than it was last 
in the counties bordering the bay, for many more 
birds are to be seen, and the recent rains have 
made conditions ideal for hunting. Around 
Mount Diablo and in the vicinity of Milpitas 
quail are especially plentiful, and it is here that 
most of the unattached hunters will spend the 
opening days of the season. A. P. B. 
The Forest and Stream may be obtained from 
any newsdealer on order. Ask your dealer to 
supply you regularly. 
