Seattle daily post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, W.T. [Wash.]) 1881-1888, 1884-08-31
ASECDeTEs OF the sKrSK.
London Letter.

Sf haNc never tbOu&nt IL ne9rs
s+rv to speak OF sunsiroke. i.guars. ol
the sss4ssin's knife, bat have never
omitted to warn them OF the skunk
mInnteiv describing its habits and per.
sonal appearance.
1 knew an Englishman Who. on TAX.
ing his first Ra.lop across the Pampas
saw on-, and, quickly dlsmouutinR
hurled himself oodIiy on to IT to effs c,
us capture. Poor man! be did mol
know that the little animal is never IN.
willing TO be caught. Men have been
blinded forever by discharge of the
nory liquid foil In their faces. On a
pucoous membrane IL burns like sui
phuric acid, say the unfortunates who
nave had the experience. How does
nature protect the skunk itself from the
injurious effects of its potens haii
have not unfrequenily found individuals
stone bliud. sometimes moving so brisk
ly about that tue blindness must nave
been of long sts uding-very possibly In
some cases an accidental drop dis
charged by the animal itself has caused
the loss of sight. When coming to
close quarters with a skunk, ny cover
ing up the face your clothes ouly are
rulned. Bat this 10 not all one has to
fear from an encounter the worst Is
that effi1vium. after which crushed gar
lie IL lavender, which tortures the olfac-
tory nerves, and appears to pervade the
whole system like a pestilent ether,
nauseatlng You till sea sickness seems
almost q pleasant sensation in cospari-
son.
In that veracious book, "The N ttural
History Of Chilli" Molina tells Us how
they deal with the animal in the trans
Andine regions: "wnen one appears"
he says, some of the company begin
by caressing u, until an Opportunity Of
fers for one of them to seize il by the
ttii. In this position the muscles be-
come contracted, the animal is unable
to eject its fiaid, and is quickly di..
patched" Oae might as we'll talk of
caressing a cobra de o. 2ellO; yet this
lauQhable fiction finds believers all over
Sbuth and Nsrth America. Professor
Bard Rravely introduces il int his
great work ON the mammalia. I Was
ones talking about the animals in a
rancho, when a person present Tan Ar
gentine ofh,er) told that, while visiting
An Indian enoampment. he asked them
how they contrived to kill skunks with
out making even a life in the desert in
toierable. A grave old Cacique inferm-
ed him that the secret WAS TO go boldly
up TO the animal, take it by the tail and
dispatch it for, he sud, when you fear
u not at all, then it respects your cour.
age and dies like a lamb-sweetly. The
officer, continuing his story. said that
on quitting the InuiaH camp he started
a skunk, and glad of an opportunity to
test the truth of what he had heard,
dismounted and proceeded TO put the
Indian plan in practice. Here the story
abruptly ended. and when eagerly de-
manded to hear the sequel, the amateur
hunter Of furs lit cigarette and va
cantly watched the ascending smoke.
The Indians are grave jokers, they sci
doIn siLile and this old traditional
sknnk joke, which has run the length
OF a continent, finding its way into many
wise books, is their revenge Oh sHpe
rior race.
All the true eagles have ever shot.
and occasionally a oaraneho (Loiyborus
fhdrus). have smelt strongly of skunk,
which shows tuat these birds, pressed
10y hunger, often commit the fearful
mistake of attacking the animal. NV
friend Mr.. Ernest Gibson, of buenos
Ayres, in a communication TO the IBIS
describes an encounter which he actu-
ally witnessed between a oarancho and
a skunk. Riding homo one afternoon,
be spled a skunk "shuffling along in the
erratic manner usual to that odoriferous
quadruped," and fOllo~iug 1t at a
Very short dist 4nce, an eagle vuiture,
evidently bent on mischief. Every
time the bird came near the bushy tail
ruse menacingly then the carancho
would fall behind, and, after few mo
ments' hesitation, follow on again. At
length, growing bolder, it sprang for
ward, seizing the threatening tail with
its claw, bat immediately after " hega n
1T ,ggeriDg about with disheveled plu-
mage, fearful eyes, and 4 profoundly
woe begoue expression on its vulture
face" The skunk, after turning and
regarding its victim with an l. told. you
50 look for few moments, trotted un-
concern. div OF.
l was told in Patagonia by a man
named Molinos, who is frequently en-
ployed by the Government as guide to
expeditions in the desert, that every
where throughout that country the
skunk is abundant. Some years ago he
WAS sent With two other men TO hud
and rsat with an Indian chief. whose
whereabouts we're not known. Far ip
the interior Molinos was overtaken by a
severe winter, his horses died Of thirst
and fatigue, and during the three bit
terest months Of the year, be kept him.
self and followers alive by eating the
flesh of skunks, the only wild animal that
never failed them. Nadoubi, on the vast
sterile plains where the skunk abounds,
aud goes about by day and by night
careless of enemies, the rrible nature
Of its defensive weapon Is the first lesson
experience teaches to every young
eagle. fox. wild cat and pumea.
Dogs kill skunks when told but IL ID
not sport they delight in. One moon
liaht night. af home, l went out to
whore the dogs we're sleepin2-twelve of
them. while stood there shank ap-
peared and deliberately came toward
me, passing through the dogs wkere
they lay, and one by one, as he passed
them they rose up, and, with their tails
between their legs, skulked of. Wh-n
msde 20 kill .kuuks often, they become
seasoned; but always perfsrm the losth-
some task expedi iously, then rash away
With frothing mouths TO rub theiS
faces in the vet clay and rad them
selves of the fiery sensation. At one
time I possessed only ons dog that
could be made to face skunk, and AZ
the little robbers were very plentiful
and continu slly coming about the hou-s
in their usual bold way, it was rsthei
hard for the poor brute. This dog de.
tested them quite a. strongly as the 9th.
ers, only he Was more obedisnt. faithful
| and brave. Whenever | bade him ~
tack one Of them be would come clos
up to me and look up into my face viii
niteous, pleading eyes, aad then, finding
that he vas not 20 be lst OF fr, m ths
repnlsiye task, be would charge upor
the doomed animal with q blind fur
/ wonderful 10 see. Seizing it betsees
his teeth, he would shake it maaly
| crushinx ia bones. then hurl 10 severa
fers from him, only 20 rush AGAIN and
again upSn 10 TO repeat the operation
doubles With CAligals- like wish il
his frantic hresst that all the skunk
on the globe had bat one vertebra.
4 4 was once on visit to a sheep-farm
inc brother, far away on tue sousherl
frontier Of Buens Ayres. and amougs
the dogs found there vas one most ir
terestsng creature. de was RresI
tumbering. stupid. good -teusperrd eruts
30 greedy thai when you offered hfn
piece of meat be woaid swallow hal
yonr arm, md 30 obedisnt thaf at
word he vould dash himsrlf against "a
horns Of q buiI aud face death and dat
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