The Madison journal. (Tallulah, Madison Parish, La.) 1888-current, 1913-01-25


go. -
,zMczz1T WAzZYCY. AE AZ1aNnHg EyG
Wz2N70 GIAEESEY 1858 -A51J
differentiation between these
w. two animals is a subject of unusual
interest to the sportsman natural
list. To trace the origin OF the
III ~ popular msconception that the two
WV-0o names are synonymous, a mistake
.EklD il to which even some of our best
k@@I known sportsmen of today must
nv i plead guilty, We, have to dive into
IN. u-..OI the not always limpid depths Of
early medieval history. For the
event which has probably more to
than any other with the PRONUNCIATION OF this
nor was the famous hunt given by Charlemagne
q he ambassadors Of Haroun-alRashid in the
MI Hercyian woods that surrounded his hunt
lodge Heristalum. According to the original
'Lecount by the monk Eginhard Of St. Gall, the
'karochs were Of such terrorinstilling appearance
IL the men from the east that they could not
,Iuen bear the sight Of them, and fed from the
,kmperors side. The latter, attacked by the ferc-
"a Of these monsters, missed the vital spot,
Ivith the result that before brave 1sambart could
Iday II the emperor was slightly wounded in the
<nigh and had his neither garment torn into
Ihreds Rushing to his side, the assembled cour-
/6su offered to divert themselves Of their own
~ but the emperor laughingly rejected their
1fsr, declaring that he intended to show him
N In his sorry plight to the fair Hildegarde,
mo was a great huntress herself Needless to
~, this adventure proved medieval scoop"
the gaudiest kind, but in the course Of un-
numbered retellings the aurochs became a wi
mt as was called the European bison, and since
lat time a perplexing confusion has reigned be-
I1seen 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
Ahout to share the auroch's fate Is now a fact
ynown to all scientific men. To the writer the
{poor old bison's pathetic fate appeals more par
Iucularly, for when shooting in the Rockies in
The seventies of last century he still saw them In
{Auds Of ten thousand. But as the men who can
/ claim to have seen the same marvellous sight
1vll before long follow these lordly inhabitants
/ d the wids to the happy hunting grounds the
/ andy Of the past history of these two species
lbs for some people unusual attractions. And
ut the least interesting phase Of 1t is the col
/hcting of pictures made at a time when both
[bessts we're still roaming over the wastes Of
4 u earth" or had but recently disappeared.
Of the earliest Of all pictures of what was prob
aAH meant to be the bison. an interesting arti-
q which recently appeared in an illustrated week
y, in which the roof pictures in the Altamfra
Cave we're reproduced. ave one a capital idea
Altar q gap of untold centuries we reach the
uSious pictorial records left to US by the CHS
- gravers or brushes of the classic ages
Among those who have made important discov-
aies respecting the distribution Of the aurochs,
Professor Conrad Keller, the well-known Zurich
sooogst, occupies a prominent place. His dis
soveres In the ruins Of the ancient palace Of
King Minos in Crete of no fewer than sixteen
Aon-cores and one skull of what unquestionably
vas the original wild OK Of Europe. or aurochs.
now that II lived there at one period, and that
ne famous legend of the minotaur has sub
9zsfum of truth. From his pages we borrow an
hlustration Of an important fresco in Knossos de-
pcfing an aurochs in the act Of impaling help
blocking victim, while bold bullfghter Is
aetually turning a somersault over the back OF
ne beast a third, possibly female, lookeron at
tsnpting to seize the bulls tail. the scene being
Hobably enacted in an arena. 1t is possible that
- Theseus story came from the slaughter OF
0pdves In such exhibitions. Several other pic
mes have been recently discovered which be-
~ to the Mnos period, 1. e., between 1000 and
M B. c. Professor Keer's highly instructive
VIKINGS contain many other Illustrations Of Bos
rnfenus
! Uoppng tens or centuries, we reach tne Des-
n1a the most ancient of which originated IN
/ - period we touched at the outset when speak
Of Charemagnes aurochs-hunt. These ex-
eeehgly primitive pictorial records do not add
~ TO our information; "the choice hurts one
Germans describe that state Of uncertainty In
ord to what the monastic artists meant TO
feeent by their crude attempts Skipping a
~ more centuries at last reach. In the be-
INNING Of the fifteenth century, fairly intelligent
eeounts of the animals habitat, and are fur
med with drawings presenting features suffi-
ueauy distinct to indicate. even to eyes accus
8ned to Photographic accuracy, the identity OF
ue animal the picture means to represent.
ven curious is the circumstance, to which,
me way. nobody has so far drawn attention
- none Of the French sporting books OF the
~ueenth and fifteenth centuries, such as Roy
Castor Phoebus," "Gace de la Buigne
Fontaines-Guerin," mentions either the