The Ohio Democrat. (Logan, O. [Ohio]) 1886-1906, 1891-06-13
WHERE woLEsklNs COME FROM.

Some People Would Not Buy Them II
They Knew How They Are Obtained.
"Where do you suppose these wolf
skins come from that make such pretty |
gray rugs, which only cost about SO
apiece, although the fur is so hand |
some?" said Prof. Otis T. Mason the |
other day. $50 many people would not |
buy them If they knew, fancy. They
are obtained from the animals by the
northern Indians, particularly In the
Hudson Bay region, and by the Esqui-
maux. These savages possess fend-
ish ingenuity in their methods of cap
turing game, and their way Of applying
it for killing wolves is sufficiently hor-
rible to discourage me with this partic-
ular sort of peltry.
at is beautifully simple. They take
fiat piece of flint foot or so long and
chipped to extreme sharpness at the
edges. This they fasten to wooden
stake, which they drive into the ground
firmly, so as TO leave the blade of flint
projecting above the surface. Then
they cover the blade all over with
good sized hunk of fat from seal or
other such animal, which quickly
freezes Now the wolf-catching appara-
tus is complete, so that the person who
sets the trap has only to come back in
day or two and gather in his prey with
out trouble.
1.-THE wolf has n mastering appetite
for blood, and it is of this weakness
that the hunter takes advantage. A
little while after the trap described has
been set along comes the wolf. He is
hungry, and he licks the hunk of frozen
fat. All, it is good! So he liclks it some
more, and as it is thawed by the warmth
of his tongue is tastes better and better.
Presently his tongue comes into con-
tact with the sharp edge of the flint and
is cut. He tastes the blood, not know.
! ing that it is his own, and the flavor
sets him wild. Eagerly he licks it and
licks it, lacerating his mouth and be.
coming more frenzied in his desire for
his own life fluid.
meanwhile other wolves have come
up and have begun to lick at the fat,
cutting their own tongues and becoming
in their turn wild at the taste. SO pres
emily the bait is surrounded by pack
of ravenous and crazy creatures, who
soon turn upon one another and fall to
devouring each other, until the merci-
less flint is the center of a struggling
mass of ferocious combatants. 1t is
like the struggle that followed the
planting of the dragons teeth of old,
only that none of those who participate
lives long after the fight is over, the
last survivor bleeding to death. At his
leisure the hunter appears upon the
scene and skins the dead beasts for mar
ket. The pelts cost him nothing, save
the trouble of removing them and the
value of the hunk of fat; the stake with
the flint blade is ready to be set again
for victims That is the reason why
gray wolf rugs only cost three dollars
each, with three skins to a rug.
"But that is only one of the diabolical
devices employed for such purposes by
these natives. The hunter takes long
strip of whalcbone from the head of a
whale he has killed, just such as is used
to stiffen corsets. He doubles it up into
the shape of the letter NJ, and fastens
it compactly in that form with bindings
of fine sinew. This he encloses neatly
in wad of fat, and leaves it on the ice
to freeze. Pretty soon along comes a
great white bear, shifts at the delicate
morsel so happily thrown in his way
and bolts it without further considera
tion. The fatquicllly melts in his warn
stomach, and the sinew bindings are
consumed by the action of the digestive
fluids, so that before long the strip o.
whalebone is released from its ben
shape and springs out at full length
across Mr.. Bears stomach, and he die.
within few hours of lockjaw in fright
full agonies. Next day the noble po
hunter comes along and possesses him
self of a big white robe, large enough
to cover a small room and worth severa
dollars at first hand, or two or thre,
gallons of bad whisky.
S Nothing better illustrates the su
periority of man as an animal over hi
: competitors in the struggle for exist
i, ence than the ease with which he i
: able to destroy by device the bigges
= and the most formidable of the crea
lures he encounters. There are no say
: ages so low in the human scale as no
e to find ready means for capturing an
n killing the largest and most dangerou
= beasts. The time is not recorded in tn
S annals of the world when the native
r of the lands inhabited by the elephan
s and the crocodile did not take the fol
r mer with loop set for him to put hi
e foot into and the latter with bate
= stick sharpened at both ends Unhes
G tatingly does the Polynesian attack tn
c man-eating shark in it's own element
# diving beneath it and stabbing it in tn
t. belly with knife. There is nothin
+; which man is afraid of or will not tr
t, to catch In the primitive traditions
3 most races you will find accounts
S the tricks employed by their ancestor
l. for snaring the sun, the moon, and tn
IS stars. IN. Y. Sun.
l. - ..