Tensas gazette. [volume] (St. Joseph, La.) 1886-current, 1913-02-14
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ETZlIZO Z6Zz<fSL[4 1907 <OOO/
HE differentiation between these
IT, two animals is a subject of unusual
interest to the sportsman-natural-
list To trace the origin OF the
, popular misconception that the two
0\ names are synonymous, mistake
lkcLlI iii TO which even some OF our pest
known sportsmen Of today must
& IL MA plead guilty, we, have to dive into
TX. U@-J the not always limpid depths OF
- early medieval history. For the
event which has probably more to
!. han any other with the PRONUNCIATION OF this
.,ror was the famous hunt given by Charlemagne
!. me ambassadors of Harounal-Rashid in the
...L Hercyian woods that surrounded his hunt
~ loape. Heristallum. According to the original
.asompt by the monk Eginhard Of st. Gall, the
.vrochs were of such terror-instilling appearance
!, Inc men from the east that they could not
ser hear the sight of them, and fed from the
,mnsror's side. The latter, attacked by the herc-
at Of these monsters, missed the vital spot,
I'm the result that before brave Isambart could
,lav n the emperor was slightly wounded in the
thIrh and had his neither garment torn into
,hreds Rushing to his side. the assembled cour-
ues offered to divert themselves Of their own
hose but the emperor laughingly rejected their
orers declaring that he intended to show him
Who was a great huntress herself Needless to
NV THIS adventure proved a medieval scoop"
Al the gaudiest kind but in the course Of IN
numbered retellings the aurochs became a WI
sut as was called the European bison, and since
hat time perplexing confusion has reigned be-
tween these two animals That the true aurochs
which became extinct three hundred years ago.
vas an entirely different animal from the bison,
whose name alas! is also on the list OF animals
bout to share the auroch's fate. is now fact
hovn to all scientific men. To the writer the
poor old bison's pathetic fate appeals more par
ucalarly for when shooting In the Rockies in
he seventies of last century he still saw them in
herds OF ten thousand But as the men who can
claim to have seen the same marvellous sight
Win before long follow these lordly inhabitants
q the wilds to the happy hunting grounds, the
study Of the past history of these two species
hw for some people unusual attractions. And
not the least interesting phase OF 1t is the col
hcting OF pictures made at a time when both
beasts we're still roaming over the wastes OF
he earth" or had but recently disappeared
OF the earliest Of all pictures Of what was prob
ably meant to be the bison, an interesting arti-
ds which recently appeared in an illustrated week
h, In which the roof pictures in the Altamira
Cave were reproduced ave one a capital idea.
After gap of untold centuries we reach the
mrous pictorial records left to us by the CHS
tS, grayers or brushes Of the classic ages.
Among those who have made important discov-
sies respecting the distribution of the aurochs.
Professor Conrad Keller, the well-known Zurich
biologist occupies a prominent place. His dis
eoveries in the ruins Of the ancient palace Of
khs Minos in Crete of no fewer than sixteen
honcores and one skull of what unquestionably
vas the original wild OK of Europe, or aurochs
nov that II lived there at one period, and that
ne famous legend of the minotaur has a sub
stratum OF truth. From his pages we borrow an
masIauon OF an important fresco in Knossos de-
peung an aurochs in the act of impaling help
hsslooking victim, while a bold bull-ighter is
x'ually turning a somersault over the back Of
ue beast third, possibly female, looker-on at
@npting to seize the bulls tail, the scene being
probably enacted in an arena. II is possible that
NC iheseus story came from the slaughter Of
upuves In such exhibitions. Several other pic
afes have been recently discovered which be-
nas 70 the Minos period 1. e., between 1000 and
nvv B. C. Professor Keller's highly instructive
Anunes contain many other Illustrations Of Bos
Drmfenius
Skipping tens Of centuries, we reach the Bes-
ua1es the most ancient of which originated in
We period we touched at the outset when speak
. OF Charlemagnes aurochs-hunt. These ex-
~eolngly primitive pictorial records do not add
-acn 70 our information; "the choice hurts one"
,..-, uesSIloe lhdl sIdIe vi uncertainty III
eeao 70 what the monastic artists meant to
sp'esent by their crude attempts. Skipping a
~ more centuries. we at last reach, in the be-
suung OF the fifteenth century fairly intelligent
-e0unts OF the animals habitat, and are fur
1snsu with drawings presenting features sufi-
euuy distinct to indicate, even to eyes accus-
~ -eu 70 Photographic accuracy, the identity of
animal the picture means to represent.
Wy curious is the circumstance, to which,
~ ~e way, nobody has so far drawn attention,
~ ~s none OF the French sporting books of the
Wseenth and fifteenth centuries, such as Roy
49, Gaston Phoebus." "Gace de la Buigne
fontaines-Guerin" mentions either the