The enterprise. [volume] (Harlem, Mont.) 1899-1926, 1913-01-30

do than any other with the PRONUNCIATION of this
error was the famous hunt given by Charlemagne
to the ambassadors Of HarOun-alRashld IN the
dank Hercyian woods that surrounded his hunt
Ing lodge, Heristallum. According to the original
account by the monk Eginhard of st. Gall, the
aurochs were of such terrornstilling appearance
to the from the east that they could not
even bear the sight of them, and fled from the
empercr's side. The latter, attacked by the tierc
est of these monsters, missed the vital spot,
with the result that before brave 1sambart could
STAY it the emperor slightly wounded in the
thigh and had his neither garment torn into
shreds. Rushing to his side, the assembled cour
tiers offered to divert themselves of their own
hose, but the emperor laughngly rejected their
offers, declaring that he intended to show him.
self in his sorry plight to the fair Hildegarde,
who was great huntress herself. Needless to
say this adventure proved medieval scoop"
of the gaudiest kind, but in the of un
numbered retellings the aurochs became a wi
sent ar called the European bison, and since
that time perplexing confusion has reigned be-
tween these two animals That the true aurochs
which became extinct three hundred years ago.
was an entirely different animal from the bison,
whose name, alas! is also the list of animals
about to share the aurochs fate. Is fact
known to all scientific men. To the writer the
poor old bison's pathetic fate appeals par
ticularly, for when shooting in the Rockies in
the seventies of last century he still saw them in
herds of ten thousand. But as the men who can
claim to have the marvellous sight
will before long follow these lordy inhabitants
of the wds to the happy hunting grounds, the
study Of the past history of these two species
has for people unusual attractions. And
not the least interesting phase of 1t Is the col
lecting Of pictures made at time when both
beasts were still roaming over the wastes of
the EARTH" or had but recently disappeared.
OF the earliest of all pictures of what was prob
ably meant to be the bison, interesting arti-
ly, in which the roof pictures in the Atamira
Cave reproduced, gave capital idea
After gap of untold centuries reach the
various pictorial records left to by the CHS
els, gravers brushes of the classic ages.
Among those who have made important discov-
cries respecting the distribution of the aurochs,
Professor Conrad Keller the wellknown Zurich
zoologist, occupies prominent place. His dis
coveries in the ruins of the ancient palace of
King Minos in Crete of no fewer than sixteen
horn-cores and skull Of what unquestionably
the original wild Of Europe aurochs,
show that 1t lived there at period, and that
the famous legend of the minotaur has sub
stratum of truth. From his pages we borrow an
illustration of an important fresco in Knossos de-
plotting aurochs in the act of impaling help
Restocking victim, while bold bullfghter is
actually turning a somersaut the back of
the beast, third, possibly female looker-on at
tempting to seize the bulls tail, the being
probably enacted in arena. 1t is possible that
the Theseus story from the slaughter of
captives in such exhibitions. Several other pic
lures have been recently discovered which be-
long to the Minos period, t. e., between 1000 and
1900 B. G. Professor Kellers highly instructive
writings contain many other illustrations of Bos
primifenius.
Skipping tens of centuries reach the Bes
tiares, the most ancient of which originated in
the period we touched at the outset when speak
ing of Charlemagnes aurochs-hunt. These ex
ceedingly primitive pictorial records do not add
much to our nformation "the choices hurts one,"
as Germans describe that state of uncertainty In
regard to what the monastc artists meant to
represent by their crude attempts Skipping
few more centuries, at last reach, in the be-
ginning of the fifteenth century fairly intelligent
accounts of the animals habitat, and are fur
nished with drawings presenting features sut1-
GENTLY distinct to indicate, even to eyes accus
toned to Photographic accuracy, the identity of
the animal the picture means to represent
Very curious is the circumstance, to which,
by the way, nobody has so far drawn attention,
that none of the French sporting books of the
fourteenth and fifteenth centuries such as ROY
Modus," 'Uaston Phoebus" "Gace de Ia Buigne"
and "FvntalnesGuerin." mentiou1 sithaS the