The Cambria freeman. [volume] (Ebensburg, Pa.) 1867-1938, 1890-01-03
NUMBER Al.

feet was SO loud that l doubt If they
could have heard me.
''On they came like a whirlwind,
and. turning again, l made for the
canyon. / reached the edge about a
thousand yards ahead, and, dismount-
ing, l started my horse back to take
his chance, and dung myself over the
side There wasn't much time to
think. but L thought the best place
would be at the edge. So / crept as
close to it as possible, and at the
steepest place, and waited
What were my sensations? Well.
l can hardly tell. / was pretty GER
tain that my day had come. and l re-
member trying TO brace up, and i
thought of my old mother; but didn't
have much time. On they came, and
then / was buried with earth, and the
next second 1 saw bufTaloes go shoot
ing over the edge They went as If
they had been shot out Of gun, clear
ing the edge and striking many feet
below. Hundreds Of them, it seemed.
and, for all l know, thousands, went
over before they stopped You zee,
the tremendous pressure behind
pushed those in front on, SO that they
could not help them selves, and it was
some time before the front ranks
could stop the rush, and not before
! many had gone over. had been
saved by the hardness OF the soil
above me- A part OF 1t had given way
and covered me up, but shelf of clay
held, and to it / owe my life.
dragged myself up the slope. more
dead than alive, and about the first
thing l saw was my companion riding
up, while the bunaloes were cloud of
dust in the south. 1t seems that he
had, thinking TO get the start of me.
gone around and begun to fire into the
herd from behind, and had thus Gre
ated the stampede. lie didn't know
any better. so l couldn't say much.
The bottom of the canyon was
about full of dead and wounded buffa-
loes- / never saw such a sight before
and never want to again. Perhaps"
concluded the old hunter. you have
been under the fall at Niagara Well,
| just imagine the water living buffaloes
and you can imagine my situation.
| Ny horse 1 never saw again. Whether
he went into the canyon or not 1 don't
| know"
Many animals are subject to stam-
| pede, but especially those that are &C
! customed 10 herd When they are
] large and powerful the most frightful
results may follow. 1t sometimes oc-
| ours among elephants, wnen entire
! plantations are wrecked ana fences
! and houses are ruined
In the sea-Ilon rookeries OF the
| Alaska coast some curious stampedes
4 and exciting incidents are often seen.
/ At certain seasons of the year the
| Aleuts have drive of ''seevitcL!e,"
as the lions are called 1t a. gener-
ally begun in September or October.
The largest and strongest Aleuts are
/ selected for the purpose, who, with
/ provisions, repair to the vicinity Of
/ the rookery. At night, when the sea-
/ lions are lying in the sand above high
water mark, they make their first at
/ tempt Armed with sticks, guns and
! clapping bones, they creep down to
! the waters edge, and finally, with
much skill and maneuvering, place
! themselves between the sea-lions and
| the water, and, at q given signal rush
| with yells and screams at their vic
! TINS The sea-lions awake. and hear
| ing the terrible noise, dash away in a
/ stampede, each one rushing in the di-
! rection in which he happened to be
sleeping. In this way half may go
! inland, while the rest head for the
| men. In the latter case there is some
danger, but, as rule, the Aleuts es-
| cape injury. The sea-lions come hop
| :. 81
velous speed for such huge ere atures
and care nothing for the men in their
| bind rush.
The stampede of the sea-lions ends
| disasterously to the most of them.
| They founder inland, and are then
followed and driven to the houses of
the men by shouts and cries. There
stakes are placed in the ground about
them, forming a rude corral. To the
| posts streamer5 of cloth are attached,
and their Tutoring in the wind pre-
vents the foolish sea-lions from escap-
| ing. Other catches are added until
finally two or three hundred sea[ions
are corralled, when the final march is
taken up. The sea-lions are liberated
and headed in the direction of the
|
away, and driven there. the journey
taking from one to two weeks.
Among wild horses the stampede is
an exciting spectacle, the animals lit
orally running away in body. 1t is
the custom among Indians to create a
stamped among horses and cattle
when they wish to appropriate some
OF them, and, in the confusion that re-
suits, not few are driven off and Sc
cured.
1t was once my good fortune to
witness a stampede of eels. a certain
pond on the Maine coast was fed by a
brook, but at high water the ocean
flowed in, so that it might be said to
be salt at high tide. and fresh or
brackish at low tide. The conditions
seemed to be particularly favorable
for the propagation of eels, and the
muddy bottom was fairly alive with
them, many of them of large size. As
the tide ebbed. many eels went into
salt water.
One evening had occasion to cross
the creek with a friend just at night
fall. 1he little brook had dwludleC
down to a mere stream, a foot or 5,
wide, and as we stepped over t. wa
seen to be black with eels. Ny con
panion inadvertently stepped in anon.
them, and at the instant the iiv.n:
river broke and remarkable s.aIa
pede occurred. Hundreds of forms
ranging from two to three CIR NOR
feet in length, broke eway and dashe'
over the dry but slippery beach. Gov
ering it in every direction with
wriggling mass of eel life. The terri
fed animals dashed up towards tn
shnre and in eYery direction thnunl