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Fearsome Creatures of the Lumberwoods - William T Cox · Carmilla

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  Speaker 1: Introduction to Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods with a
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  Speaker 1: few desert and amountain Beasts by William T. Cox. This
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  Speaker 1: is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the
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  Speaker 1: public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit
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  Speaker 1: LibriVox dot org. Affectionately dedicated to the concatenated Order of
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: Hoohoo and all who know the Fellowship of the Woods.
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  Speaker 1: Number one nine nine four nine introduction. Every lumber region
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  Speaker 1: has its law thrilling tales of adventure are told in
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  Speaker 1: camp wherever the logger has entered the wilderness. The lumberjack
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  Speaker 1: is an imaginative being, and a story loses none of
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  Speaker 1: its interest as it is carried and repeated from one
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  Speaker 1: camp to another. Stories which I know to have originated
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  Speaker 1: on the Penobscot and the Kennebec are told somewhat strengthened
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  Speaker 1: and improved in the Red World camps of Humboldt Bay.
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  Speaker 1: Yarns originating among the river drivers of the Ottawa, the
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  Speaker 1: san quir and the Upper Mississippi are respond to groups
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  Speaker 1: of listening loggers on Vancouver Island. But every lumber district
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  Speaker 1: has its own peculiar tales. Some have their songs also,
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  Speaker 1: and nearly all have mysterious stories or vague rumors of
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  Speaker 1: dreadful beasts with which to regale newcomers and frighten people
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  Speaker 1: unfamiliar with the woods. Much has been written concerning the
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  Speaker 1: lumberjack and his life. Some of his songs, rough but
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  Speaker 1: full of the sentiment of his exciting vocation, have been commemorated.
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  Speaker 1: But so far as I know, very few of the
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  Speaker 1: strange creatures of his imagination have ever been described by
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  Speaker 1: the naturalists or sketched by the artists. The lumber regions
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  Speaker 1: are contracting. Stretches of forest that once seemed boundless are
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  Speaker 1: all but gone, and many a stream as quiet that
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  Speaker 1: once ran full of logs and echoed to the song
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  Speaker 1: of the river driver. Some say that the old type
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  Speaker 1: of logger himself is becoming extinct. It is my purpose
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  Speaker 1: in this little book to preserve at least a description
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  Speaker 1: and sketch of some of the interesting animals which he
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  Speaker 1: has originated. William T. Cox acknowledgments. Grateful acknowledgment is made
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  Speaker 1: to the artist mister Coet Dubois, who has so faithfully
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  Speaker 1: represented these animals. He never could have drawn them so
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  Speaker 1: true to life. Had he not met them on the
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  Speaker 1: Towt road and trail. To mister George B. Sudworth, Dendrologist
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  Speaker 1: of the Forest Service. Also I am indebted for his
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  Speaker 1: kind assistance in classifying the animals. By thanks adieu in
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  Speaker 1: no small measure to numerous friends among lumbermen and foresters
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  Speaker 1: throughout the country and in Canada for furnishing important scientific
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  Speaker 1: facts concerning these creatures, their ranges and habits. End of introduction,
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  Speaker 1: Part one of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by
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  Speaker 1: William T. Cox. This liveryvox recording is in the public domain.
• 3:21
  Speaker 1: The hoogag rythmopes inarticulatus. The hoogag is a huge animal
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  Speaker 1: of the Lake States. Its range includes western Wisconsin, northern Minnesota,
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  Speaker 1: and a territory extending indefinitely northward in the Canadian wilds
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  Speaker 1: toward Hudson Bay. In size, the hoogag may be compared
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  Speaker 1: to the moose, and inform it somewhat resembles that animal.
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  Speaker 1: Very noticeable, however, are its jointless legs, which compel the
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  Speaker 1: animal to remain on its feet, and its long upper lip,
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  Speaker 1: which prevents it from grazing if it tried that method.
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  Speaker 1: Of feeding, it would simply tramp its upper lip into
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  Speaker 1: the dirt. Its head and neck are leathery and hairless.
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  Speaker 1: Its strangely corrugated ears flop downward. Its four toed feet long,
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  Speaker 1: bushy tail, shaggy coats, and general make up give the
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  Speaker 1: beast an unmistakably prehistoric appearance. The hoogag has a perfect
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  Speaker 1: mania for traveling, and few hunters who have taken up
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  Speaker 1: its trail ever came up with the beast or back
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  Speaker 1: to camp. It is reported to keep going all day long,
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  Speaker 1: browsing on twigs, flopping its lip around trees, and stripping
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  Speaker 1: bark as occasion offers. And at night, since it cannot
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  Speaker 1: lie down, it leans against a tree, bracing its hind
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  Speaker 1: legs and marking time with its front ones. The most
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  Speaker 1: successful hugag hunters have adopted the practice of notching trees
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  Speaker 1: so that they are almost ready to fall, and when
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  Speaker 1: the hoogag leans up against one, both the tree and
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  Speaker 1: animal come down in its helpless condition. It is then
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  Speaker 1: easily dispatched. The last one killed so far as known,
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  Speaker 1: was on Turtle River in northern Minnesota, where a young
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  Speaker 1: one weighing one thousand, eight hundred pounds was found stuck
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  Speaker 1: in the mud. It was knocked in the head by
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  Speaker 1: Mike Flynn of Cass Lake. End of Part one, Part
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  Speaker 1: two of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The gumbaroo
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  Speaker 1: Megalagasta rapicussus. In the foggy region along the Pacific coast
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  Speaker 1: from Gray's Harbor to Humboldt Bay, there ranges a kind
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  Speaker 1: of creature that has caused much annoyance in the lumber Woods.
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  Speaker 1: This is the gumbarou, which luckily is so rare that
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  Speaker 1: only once in a great while is one scene. It
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  Speaker 1: is believed to remain in hiding most of the time
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  Speaker 1: in the base of enormous, burned out cedar trees, from
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  Speaker 1: where its sallies forth occasionally on frightful marauding expeditions. During
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  Speaker 1: these periods of activity, the beast is always hungry and
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  Speaker 1: devours anything it can find that looks like food. A
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  Speaker 1: whole horse may be eaten at one sitting, distending the
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  Speaker 1: gumbaroo out of all proportions, but failing to appease its
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  Speaker 1: hunger or cause it the slightest discomfort. The specimen scene
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  Speaker 1: are reported to have been coal black, but that may
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  Speaker 1: have been due to their being smirched with the charred wood.
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  Speaker 1: In size, the beast corresponds closely to a black bear,
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  Speaker 1: for which it might be mistaken only for the fact
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  Speaker 1: that the gunbaroo is almost hairless. To be sure, it
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  Speaker 1: has prominent eyebrows and some long, bristly hairs on its chin,
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  Speaker 1: but the body is smooth, tough, and shy, and bears
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  Speaker 1: not even a wrinkle. The animal is a tireless traveler
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  Speaker 1: when looking for food, but is not swift in its
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  Speaker 1: movements or annoyed in the slightest degree by the presence
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  Speaker 1: of enemies. The latter characteristic is easily accounted for by
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  Speaker 1: the fact that no other animal within its range has
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  Speaker 1: ever found a successful method of attacking a gumbarou or
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  Speaker 1: a vulnerable spot in one's anatomy. Whatever strikes the beast
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  Speaker 1: bounds off with the same force. Its elastic hide hurls
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  Speaker 1: back with equal ease the charging elk and the wrathy hornet.
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  Speaker 1: A rock or peevy thrown at the creature bounds back
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  Speaker 1: at whoever threw it, and a bullet shot against its
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  Speaker 1: hide is sure to strike the hunter between the eyes.
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  Speaker 1: It is believed that the scarcity of gumberous is due
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  Speaker 1: to their combustible character and the prevalence of forest fires.
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  Speaker 1: The animal burns like celluloid with explosive force, frequently during
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  Speaker 1: and after a forest fire. In the heavy cedar near
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  Speaker 1: Coos Bay, woodmen have insisted that they heard loud reports
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  Speaker 1: quite unlike the sound of falling trees, and detected the
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  Speaker 1: smell of burning rubber in the air. End of Part two,
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  Speaker 1: Part three of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cos.
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  Speaker 1: This liberyvox recording is in the public domain. The Roperites
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  Speaker 1: rink orpus flaggilyformists in the foothills of the Sierras, where
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  Speaker 1: the digger pine grows dwells. One of the most peculiarly
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  Speaker 1: specialized animals to be found anywhere on the American continents.
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  Speaker 1: No one knows its life history even approximately, and many
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  Speaker 1: a discussion has been based on the question as to
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  Speaker 1: whether the beast is born hatched from eggs, or comes
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  Speaker 1: into existence spontaneously from some mounting cavern. The digger Indians
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  Speaker 1: say that roperites are the spirits of early Spanish ranchers
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  Speaker 1: and blood curdling are the tails. They tell of hapless
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  Speaker 1: creatures pursued by the beast, snared with its marvelous, ropelike beak,
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  Speaker 1: and dragged to death through thawny chaparral. No manner animal
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  Speaker 1: can hope to outrun it. It steps up on road
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  Speaker 1: runners or kicks them out of the way, and no
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  Speaker 1: obstacle appears sufficient to stop its progress or even slacken
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  Speaker 1: its speed, as it seemingly half flies half bounds across
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  Speaker 1: the rugged country which it inhabits. Its leathery skin is
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  Speaker 1: impervious to thorn, and its flipper legs uninjured by the
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  Speaker 1: sharpest rocks. According to A. B. Patterson of Hot Springs, California,
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  Speaker 1: who saw the last roperite authentically reported, the animal has
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  Speaker 1: a large set of rattles on its tail, which it
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  Speaker 1: vibrates when in pursuit of game, thus producing a whirring
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  Speaker 1: sound like that of a giant rattler. The effect of
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  Speaker 1: this upon an animal closely pursued may be imagined. Lumbermen
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  Speaker 1: operating in the region between Pitts River and the southern
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  Speaker 1: end of the Sierras are urgently requested to make every
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  Speaker 1: effort to secure a living specimen of the roperites end
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  Speaker 1: of Part three, Part four of Fearsome Creatures of the
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  Speaker 1: lumber Woods by W. T. Cox. This LibriVox recording is
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  Speaker 1: in the public domain. The Snolygosta dorso hastatus kaudi rottula.
• 10:45
  Speaker 1: In the Cypress swamps of the South, and particularly in
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  Speaker 1: the region about Lake Okeechobee, Florida, woodmen tell of a
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  Speaker 1: strange and dangerous animal known as the snolygosta. This creature
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  Speaker 1: is of enormous proportions and is credited with a voracious appetite.
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  Speaker 1: Worst of all, its appetite is only appeased by the
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  Speaker 1: eating of human beings. In form, the snollygoster resembles a
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  Speaker 1: huge crocodile, but is covered with long, glossy fur, and
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  Speaker 1: has no legs or fins except one long spike on
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  Speaker 1: its back. A person naturally wonders how such an animal
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  Speaker 1: can manage to travel through the water and mud of
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  Speaker 1: the swamp region where it lives, But nature has provided
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  Speaker 1: it with a means for driving itself along. On the
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  Speaker 1: end of its tail are three bony plates, much resembling
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  Speaker 1: the propeller on a steamboat. These revolve at a terrific rate,
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  Speaker 1: driving the animal like a torpedo boat through the mud.
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  Speaker 1: They serve other purposes as well. For when a snollygoster
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  Speaker 1: catches an unfortunate piccaninny, or even a full grown negro
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  Speaker 1: upon which it delights to feed, it tosses the victim
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  Speaker 1: up and backward so as to impale him upon the
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  Speaker 1: spike fin, where several may be carried until sufficient for
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  Speaker 1: a meal have been collected. The snolygoster's tail is then
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  Speaker 1: driven into the mud and revolved until a hole is
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  Speaker 1: scooped out, and the victim scraped off the spike and
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  Speaker 1: tossed in, whereupon the snolygoster beats them into a batter
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  Speaker 1: with its rapidly revolving propeller and inhales them. Mister Inman F.
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  Speaker 1: Eldridge of Daphniac Springs, Florida, while hunting for an outlaw
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  Speaker 1: negro in the swamps, had a most unusual experience. He
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  Speaker 1: caught sight of the negro dead and impaled upon what
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  Speaker 1: at first appeared to be a slender cypress knee, but
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  Speaker 1: which presently began to move away. It was then seen
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  Speaker 1: to be the spike on a snolyguster's back. Eldridge's first
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  Speaker 1: impulse was to shoot the strange beast, but upon second
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  Speaker 1: thought he concluded that it was doing good work and
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  Speaker 1: was entitled to live. On The very report of such
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  Speaker 1: a creature inhabiting the swamps would deter evildoers from venturing
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  Speaker 1: into these wild places to avoid their pursuers and escape justice.
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  Speaker 1: End of Part four, Part five of Fearsome Creatures of
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  Speaker 1: the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox. This LibriVox recording
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  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The leprecorn simi diabolos hibernicus
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  Speaker 1: horribilists during the early days of Upper Canada, before it
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  Speaker 1: became the province of Ontario. They were brought into a
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  Speaker 1: logging camp on the Madawasca River several young leprechawns from
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  Speaker 1: the north of Ireland. The animal was even then rare
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  Speaker 1: and has since become extinct in its native land. It
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  Speaker 1: is said that during the last Famine, hungry irishmen killed
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  Speaker 1: and ate the few remaining specimens of this queer beast
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  Speaker 1: on its native bogs. The leprechawn was a harmless creature,
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  Speaker 1: celebrated for its playfulness and laughable antics. It would hop
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  Speaker 1: across the bogs, turn somersaults, and leap over hillocks with
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  Speaker 1: wondrous agility. A favorite trick was to bore into a
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  Speaker 1: pile of drying peat, and then, with a sudden spring,
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  Speaker 1: send the clods of peat high in the air, till
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  Speaker 1: the commotion looked like a young cyclone. These antics were
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  Speaker 1: all right enough in Ireland, but when the animal was
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  Speaker 1: brought to Canada, its disposition changed at once. The pets
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  Speaker 1: on the Madawaska escaped into nearby Tamarack swamps, increasing and
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  Speaker 1: spreading until an occasional one was seen on the Upper
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  Speaker 1: Ottawa and even over in northern Michigan, sneaking through the
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  Speaker 1: tamarac and cedar or leaping across the muskegs after whatever
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  Speaker 1: appealed to it as food. The leprecorn became a creature
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  Speaker 1: to be feared and avoided. Teamsters toting supplies across swamp
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  Speaker 1: roads have been attacked by the animal, which would bound
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  Speaker 1: clear over the load, snapping its teeth at the driver
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  Speaker 1: and reaching for him with its villainous claws. Hasty flight
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  Speaker 1: to thick timber, leaving the team to its fate was
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  Speaker 1: the only choice of the driver, who thanked his stars
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  Speaker 1: that in running through tangled tamarak, even the leprechorn is
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  Speaker 1: no match for a frightened man. End of Part five,
• 15:37
  Speaker 1: Part six of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox.
• 15:42
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Funeral
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  Speaker 1: Mountain terror Shot feuneady Corpus displosissimum. This animal explains the
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  Speaker 1: origin of the name of the Funeral Range, California. The
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  Speaker 1: creature as a casket like body six to eight feet long,
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  Speaker 1: with a shell running the whole length of its back.
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  Speaker 1: Its fore legs are long and wobbly, causing the terror
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  Speaker 1: shot to sway uncertainly from side to side and forward
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  Speaker 1: and backward as it travels along. The strange beast was
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  Speaker 1: first reported by some Mormon emigrants who observed a peculiar
• 16:22
  Speaker 1: procession entering the desert from a certain mountain range afterward
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  Speaker 1: named the Funeral Mountains. They also witnessed the tragic fate
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  Speaker 1: of the creatures. One of the Mormons, aroused by his curiosity,
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  Speaker 1: made an investigation, which resulted in finding out about all
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: that is known of the terror shot. It seems that
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  Speaker 1: the animal lives in the little meadows and parks in
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  Speaker 1: the higher portions of the range, where it gradually increases
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  Speaker 1: in numbers until by a strange impulse, it is seized
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  Speaker 1: by a desire to emigrate. They then form long processions
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  Speaker 1: and march down into the desert with the evident intention
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  Speaker 1: of crossing to other ranges that can be seen in
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  Speaker 1: the distance, but none of them ever gets across. As
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  Speaker 1: they encounter the hot sands, they rapidly distend with the heat,
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  Speaker 1: and one after another they blow up with resounding reports,
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  Speaker 1: leaving deep grave shaped holes in the sand. End of
• 17:25
  Speaker 1: Part six, Part seven of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: Woods by W. T. Cos. This libriyvox recording is in
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  Speaker 1: the public domain. The slide rock bolta Macrostoma saxyperumptus in
• 17:48
  Speaker 1: the mountains of Colorado, where in summer the woods are
• 17:51
  Speaker 1: becoming infested with tourists. Much uneasiness has been caused by
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: the presence of the slide rock boltar. This frightful animal
• 18:00
  Speaker 1: lives only in the steepest mountain country, where the slopes
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: are greater than forty five degrees. It has an immense
• 18:08
  Speaker 1: head with small eyes and a mouth somewhat on the
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  Speaker 1: order of a sculpin running back beyond its ears. The
• 18:15
  Speaker 1: tail consists of a divided flipper with enormous grab hooks,
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  Speaker 1: which it fastens over the crest of the mountain or ridge,
• 18:23
  Speaker 1: often remaining there motionless for days at a time, watching
• 18:27
  Speaker 1: the gulch for turists or any other hapless creature that
• 18:30
  Speaker 1: may enter it. At the right moment. After sighting a tourist,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: it will lift its tail, thus loosening its hold on
• 18:38
  Speaker 1: the mountain, and with its small eyes riveted on the
• 18:41
  Speaker 1: poor unfortunate, and drooling thin skid grease from the corners
• 18:46
  Speaker 1: of its mouth, which greatly accelerates its speed. The bolt
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: comes down like a toboggan, scooping in its victim as
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: it goes its own impetus, carrying it up the next slope,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: where it again slaps its tail over the ridge and
• 19:01
  Speaker 1: weights Whole parties of tourists are reported to have been
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: gulped at one swoop by the slide rock bolta and
• 19:09
  Speaker 1: guides are becoming cautious about taking parties far back into
• 19:12
  Speaker 1: the hills. The animal is a menace not only to tourists,
• 19:17
  Speaker 1: but to the woods as well. Many a draw through
• 19:20
  Speaker 1: spruce covered slopes has been laid low, the trees being
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: knocked out by the roots or mode off as by
• 19:27
  Speaker 1: a scythe where the bolt has crashed down through from
• 19:30
  Speaker 1: the peaks above. A forest ranger, whose district includes the
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: rough country between Offier Peaks and the lizard Head, conceived
• 19:39
  Speaker 1: the bold idea of decoying a slide rock bolta to
• 19:42
  Speaker 1: its own destruction. A dummy tourist was rigged up with
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: plaid Norfolk jacket, knee breeches and a guidebook to Colorado.
• 19:52
  Speaker 1: It was then filled full of giant powder and full
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: minut caps and posted in a conspicuous place, where, sure enough,
• 20:01
  Speaker 1: the next day it attracted the attention of a boulta
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  Speaker 1: which had been hanging for days on the slope of
• 20:06
  Speaker 1: lizard Head. The resulting explosion flattened half the buildings in Rico,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: which were never rebuilt, and the surrounding hills fattened flocks
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: of buzzards the rest of the summer. End of Part seven,
• 20:27
  Speaker 1: Part eight of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox.
• 20:33
  Speaker 1: This Liberyvox recording is in the public domain. The tout
• 20:38
  Speaker 1: Road Shagamaw by Pedestal de Lucissimus from the Rangely Lakes
• 20:44
  Speaker 1: to the Allagash and across in New Brunswick. Loggers tell
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: of an animal which has puzzled many a man, even
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: those who were not strangers in the woods. Frequently, the
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: reporter is circulated that the tracks of a bear have
• 20:58
  Speaker 1: been seen near camp. A little later this is denied
• 21:02
  Speaker 1: and moose tracks are reported instead. Heated arguments among the men,
• 21:07
  Speaker 1: sometimes resulting in fistfights, are likely to follow. It is
• 21:12
  Speaker 1: rightly considered an insult to a woodsman to accuse him
• 21:15
  Speaker 1: of not being able to distinguish the track of either
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: of these animals. So only a few of the old
• 21:21
  Speaker 1: timber cruisers and rivermen is the explanation of these changing tracks. Known.
• 21:27
  Speaker 1: Gos Demo of Old Town, Maine, who has hunted and
• 21:30
  Speaker 1: trapped and logged in the main woods for forty years,
• 21:34
  Speaker 1: once came upon what he recognized as the tracks of
• 21:37
  Speaker 1: a moose. After following it for about eighty rods, it
• 21:41
  Speaker 1: changed abruptly into unmistakable bear tracks. Another eighty rods, and
• 21:47
  Speaker 1: it changed to moose tracks again. It was soon observed
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: by mister Demo that these changes took place precisely every
• 21:55
  Speaker 1: quarter of a mile, and furthermore, that whatever was making
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: the track always followed a tote road or a blazed
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: line through the woods. Coming up within sight of the animal,
• 22:07
  Speaker 1: Gus saw that it had front feet like a bear's
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: and hind feet like those of a moose, and that
• 22:13
  Speaker 1: it was pacing carefully, taking exactly a yard at a step.
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: Suddenly it stopped, looked all about, and swung as on
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  Speaker 1: a pivot, then inverting itself and walking on its front
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  Speaker 1: feet only, it resumed its pacing. Mister Demo was only
• 22:31
  Speaker 1: an instant in recognizing by the witness trees that this
• 22:35
  Speaker 1: place where the animal changed was a section corner. From
• 22:40
  Speaker 1: this fact, he reasoned that the shagamaw must have been
• 22:43
  Speaker 1: originally a very imitative animal, which, from watching surveyors, timber cruisers,
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: and trappers patiently following lines through the woods, contracted the
• 22:52
  Speaker 1: habit itself. He figures that the shagamaw can count only
• 22:57
  Speaker 1: as high as four hundred and forty there it must
• 23:00
  Speaker 1: invert itself every quarter of a mile. End of Part eight,
• 23:12
  Speaker 1: Part nine of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox.
• 23:18
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The Wapa
• 23:23
  Speaker 1: lucy geometry Gradus killio retract us in the damp forests
• 23:29
  Speaker 1: of the Pacific Coast and eastward as far as the
• 23:32
  Speaker 1: Saint Joe River in North Idaho ranges a quaint little
• 23:35
  Speaker 1: beast known among loggers as the Wappa Lucy. It is
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: about the size of a sausage dog, but is not
• 23:42
  Speaker 1: even distantly related to the canine family. The Wapa Lucy,
• 23:47
  Speaker 1: according to lumberjacks, lives upon shelf fungus or conscious exclusively,
• 23:52
  Speaker 1: and he is able to get them with ease, no
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: matter if they are growing on the tip top of
• 23:57
  Speaker 1: a hundred foot dead tree. It is a pleasure for
• 24:00
  Speaker 1: one of these animals to climb, for he has feet
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: and toes like those of a woodpecker, and he humps
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: himself along like a measuring worm. Even his tail is
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: spiked at the tip and aids him as he mounts
• 24:13
  Speaker 1: the lofty furs in quest of food. One of the
• 24:17
  Speaker 1: most peculiar features of the animal was discovered only recently.
• 24:22
  Speaker 1: A lumberjack in one of the camps on the Hump
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: Tulips River, Washington shot a wappolousie, and, upon examining its
• 24:29
  Speaker 1: velvety coat, decided that it would make an attractive and
• 24:33
  Speaker 1: serviceable pair of mittens, which he proceeded to make. The
• 24:37
  Speaker 1: hide was tanned thoroughly, and the mittens made with care
• 24:42
  Speaker 1: first side out, and as the lumberjack went to work,
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: he exhibited them with pride. Imagine his surprise upon taking
• 24:50
  Speaker 1: hold of an axe to find that the mittens immediately
• 24:53
  Speaker 1: worked their way up and off the handle. It was
• 24:57
  Speaker 1: the same with whatever he took hold of, and find
• 25:00
  Speaker 1: that he could not use the mittens. They were left
• 25:02
  Speaker 1: in a skid road and were last seen working their
• 25:06
  Speaker 1: way over logs and litter across the slashing end of
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: Part nine, Part ten of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber
• 25:21
  Speaker 1: Woods by W. T. Cos. This LibriVox recording is in
• 25:25
  Speaker 1: the public domain. The cactus cat Cactifelinus inebrius. How many
• 25:34
  Speaker 1: people have heard of the cactus cat? Thousands of people
• 25:38
  Speaker 1: spend their winters in the Great Southwest, the land of
• 25:41
  Speaker 1: desert and the mountain of fruitful valleys of flat topped
• 25:46
  Speaker 1: mesas of pueblos Navajus, and apatches of sunshine and ruins
• 25:52
  Speaker 1: of ancient cliff dwellers. It is doubtful, however, if one
• 25:56
  Speaker 1: in a hundred of these people ever heard of a
• 25:59
  Speaker 1: cactus cat, to say nothing of seeing one sporting about
• 26:02
  Speaker 1: amongst the choya and Paloverde. Only the old timers know
• 26:07
  Speaker 1: of the beast and its queer habits. The cactus cat,
• 26:11
  Speaker 1: as its name signifies, lives in the Great Cactus districts
• 26:15
  Speaker 1: and is particularly abundant between Prescott and Tucson. It has
• 26:20
  Speaker 1: been reported also from the valley of the Lower Yaqui
• 26:23
  Speaker 1: in Old Mexico and the Choya covered hills of Yucatan.
• 26:28
  Speaker 1: The cactus cat has thorny hair, the thorns being especially
• 26:32
  Speaker 1: long and rigid on its ears. Its tail is branched,
• 26:36
  Speaker 1: and upon the forearms above its front feet are sharp
• 26:40
  Speaker 1: knifelike blades of bone. With these blades it slashes the
• 26:45
  Speaker 1: base of giant cactus trees, causing the sap to exude.
• 26:50
  Speaker 1: This is done systematically, many trees being slashed in the
• 26:54
  Speaker 1: course of several nights, as the cat makes a big circuit.
• 26:58
  Speaker 1: By the time it is back to the place of beginning,
• 27:01
  Speaker 1: the sap of the first cactus has fermented into a
• 27:04
  Speaker 1: kind of mescal, sweet and very intoxicating. This is greedily
• 27:09
  Speaker 1: lapped up by the thirsty beast, which soon becomes fiddling
• 27:13
  Speaker 1: drunk and goes a waltzing off in the moonlight, rasping
• 27:17
  Speaker 1: its bony forearms across each other and screaming with delight.
• 27:24
  Speaker 1: End of Part ten, Party eleven of Fearsome Creatures of
• 27:33
  Speaker 1: the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox. This LibriVox recording
• 27:39
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The hoodag naso battilus historyvoratus.
• 27:48
  Speaker 1: This animal has been variously described by woodsmen from Wisconsin
• 27:53
  Speaker 1: and Minnesota. Opinions differ greatly as to the appearance of
• 27:58
  Speaker 1: the beast, some claiming it to be covered with horns
• 28:01
  Speaker 1: and spines and having a maniacal disposition. The description, which
• 28:06
  Speaker 1: seems most authentic, and from which the sketch of the
• 28:10
  Speaker 1: animal has been made, is as follows. Size about that
• 28:15
  Speaker 1: of a rhinoceros and somewhat resembling that animal in general
• 28:18
  Speaker 1: make up. The creature is slow in motion, deliberate, and,
• 28:23
  Speaker 1: unlike the rhinoceros, very intelligent. Its hairless body is mottled, striped,
• 28:29
  Speaker 1: and checked in a striking manner suggestive of the origin
• 28:32
  Speaker 1: of the patterns upon machinore clothing now used in the
• 28:36
  Speaker 1: lumber woods. On the hodag's nose, instead of a horn,
• 28:41
  Speaker 1: there is a large spade shaped bony growth with peculiar
• 28:45
  Speaker 1: phalanges extending up in front of the eye. So that
• 28:49
  Speaker 1: he can see only straight up. This probably accounts for
• 28:53
  Speaker 1: the deliberate disposition of the animal, which wanders through the
• 28:57
  Speaker 1: spruce woods looking for a suitable food. About the only
• 29:01
  Speaker 1: living creature which the hoodag can catch is the porcupine. Indeed,
• 29:07
  Speaker 1: it would appear that the porcupine is its natural food.
• 29:11
  Speaker 1: Upon sighting one rolled up in the branches of a spruce,
• 29:14
  Speaker 1: the hodag begins to blink his eyes, lick his chops,
• 29:18
  Speaker 1: and spade around the tree, cutting all the roots until
• 29:22
  Speaker 1: the tree begins to totter. He then backs off and
• 29:26
  Speaker 1: with a rush, rams his shovel nose under the roots
• 29:29
  Speaker 1: and over goes the tree, knocking the breath out of
• 29:32
  Speaker 1: the porcupine in its fall. The hodag then straddles the
• 29:36
  Speaker 1: fallen tree, follows it out to the top, where the
• 29:40
  Speaker 1: huge pointed hoofs of its front feet crushed the helpless porcupine,
• 29:44
  Speaker 1: and then deliberately swallows him head first. In the autumn,
• 29:49
  Speaker 1: the hodag strips the bark off a number of spruce
• 29:52
  Speaker 1: or pine trees and covers himself all over with pitch.
• 29:57
  Speaker 1: He then searches out a patch of hard wood timber
• 30:00
  Speaker 1: where dead leaves lie thick on the ground. Here he
• 30:04
  Speaker 1: rolls about until completely encased in a thick, warm mantle
• 30:07
  Speaker 1: of leaves, in which condition he spends the winter. End
• 30:13
  Speaker 1: of Part e eleven, Part twelve of Fearsome Creatures of
• 30:22
  Speaker 1: the lumber Woods by W. T. Cos. This LibriVox recording
• 30:28
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The squonk dacrimacorpus dissolve ends.
• 30:36
  Speaker 1: The range of the squonk is very limited. Few people
• 30:40
  Speaker 1: outside of Pennsylvania have ever heard of the quaint beast,
• 30:43
  Speaker 1: which is said to be fairly common in the hemlock
• 30:46
  Speaker 1: forests of that state. The squonk is of a very
• 30:50
  Speaker 1: retiring disposition, generally traveling about at twilight and dusk. Because
• 30:55
  Speaker 1: of its misfitting skin, which is covered with warts and moles,
• 31:00
  Speaker 1: it is always unhappy. In fact, it is said by
• 31:03
  Speaker 1: people who are best able to judge to be the
• 31:06
  Speaker 1: most morbid of beasts. Hunters who are good at tracking
• 31:10
  Speaker 1: are able to follow a squonk by its tear stained trail,
• 31:14
  Speaker 1: for the animal weeps constantly when cornered and escape seems impossible,
• 31:20
  Speaker 1: or when surprised and frightened. It may even dissolve itself
• 31:24
  Speaker 1: in tears. Squonk hunters are most successful on frosty moonlight nights,
• 31:30
  Speaker 1: when tears are shed slowly and the animal dislikes moving about.
• 31:35
  Speaker 1: It may then be heard weeping under the boughs of
• 31:38
  Speaker 1: dark hemlock trees. Mister J. P. Wenling, formerly of Pennsylvania
• 31:44
  Speaker 1: but now at Saint Antony Park, Minnesota, had a disappointing
• 31:48
  Speaker 1: experience with a squonk near Montalto. He made a clever
• 31:52
  Speaker 1: capture by mimicking the squonk and inducing it to hop
• 31:56
  Speaker 1: into a sack in which he was carrying it home.
• 31:59
  Speaker 1: When suddenly the bird enlightened and the weeping ceased. Whentling
• 32:05
  Speaker 1: had slung the sack and looked in there was nothing
• 32:08
  Speaker 1: but tears and bubbles. End of Part twelve, Parts thirteen
• 32:21
  Speaker 1: of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cos.
• 32:26
  Speaker 1: This Libertyox recording is in the public domain. The whirling
• 32:32
  Speaker 1: wimpus turbine Occisus nebuloides. Occasionally it happens that inexperienced hunters
• 32:40
  Speaker 1: and others wandering in the woods disappear completely. Guides are
• 32:45
  Speaker 1: unable to locate them, and all kinds of theories are
• 32:48
  Speaker 1: offered to explain the disappearances. From the hardwood forests of
• 32:52
  Speaker 1: the Cumberland Mountains, Tennessee, comes the rumor of an animal
• 32:56
  Speaker 1: called the whirling Wimpus, the existence of which throws some
• 33:00
  Speaker 1: light upon the fate of those who failed to come
• 33:03
  Speaker 1: back to camp. According to woodsmen who have been looking
• 33:07
  Speaker 1: timber in eastern Tennessee, the whimpass is a bloodthirsty creature
• 33:11
  Speaker 1: of no mean proportions. It has a gorilla shaped head
• 33:15
  Speaker 1: and body, and enormous front feet. Its unique method of
• 33:20
  Speaker 1: obtaining food is to station itself upon a trail, generally
• 33:24
  Speaker 1: at a bend in the trail, where it stands on
• 33:27
  Speaker 1: its diminutive hind legs and whirls. The speed is increased
• 33:32
  Speaker 1: until the animal is invisible and the motion produces a strange,
• 33:36
  Speaker 1: droning sound seeming to come from the trees overhead. Any
• 33:41
  Speaker 1: creature coming along the trail and not recognizing the sound
• 33:45
  Speaker 1: is almost certain to walk into the danger zone and
• 33:49
  Speaker 1: become instantly deposited in the form of syrup or varnish
• 33:53
  Speaker 1: upon the huge pores of the whimpuss. End of Part thirteen,
• 34:05
  Speaker 1: Part fourteen of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox.
• 34:12
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The agropelta
• 34:19
  Speaker 1: Anthrocephalus craniophractus, leading a vengeful existence resenting the intrusion of
• 34:27
  Speaker 1: the logger. The agropeltera deals misery to the lumberjack from
• 34:31
  Speaker 1: Maine to Oregon, ill fares the man who attempts to
• 34:35
  Speaker 1: pass a hollow tree in which one of these creatures
• 34:38
  Speaker 1: has taken up its temporary abode. The unfortunate is usually
• 34:42
  Speaker 1: found smashed or pinned by a dead branch and reported
• 34:46
  Speaker 1: as having been killed by a falling limb. So unerring
• 34:50
  Speaker 1: is the aim of the agropelta, that, despite diligent search,
• 34:54
  Speaker 1: I have been unable to locate more than one man
• 34:57
  Speaker 1: who has been the target for one of their missile
• 35:00
  Speaker 1: and yet survived. To describe the beast, this is big
• 35:04
  Speaker 1: Old Kittelsen, who, upon a certain occasion, when cruising Timber
• 35:09
  Speaker 1: on the Upper Saint Quare, was knocked down by a
• 35:11
  Speaker 1: partly rotten limb thrown by an agripeltar. This limb was
• 35:16
  Speaker 1: so punky that it shattered on OL's head. Had he
• 35:19
  Speaker 1: had time to observe the rascally beast before its bounded
• 35:23
  Speaker 1: from the tree and whisked itself off through the woods.
• 35:27
  Speaker 1: According to all. The animal has a slender, wiry body,
• 35:31
  Speaker 1: the villainous face of an ape, and arms like muscular
• 35:34
  Speaker 1: whiplashes with which it can snap off dead branches and
• 35:38
  Speaker 1: hurl them through the air like shells from a six
• 35:41
  Speaker 1: inch gun. It is supposed to feed upon hoot owls
• 35:45
  Speaker 1: and woodpeckers, the scarcity of which will always prevent the
• 35:49
  Speaker 1: Agripeltera from becoming numerous in any locality. End of Part fourteen,
• 36:02
  Speaker 1: Part fifteen of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cocks.
• 36:08
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The splinter
• 36:14
  Speaker 1: cat failings are bordificious. A widely distributed and frightfully destructive
• 36:21
  Speaker 1: animal is the splinter cat. It is found from the
• 36:26
  Speaker 1: Great Lakes to the Gulf and eastward to the Atlantic Ocean,
• 36:30
  Speaker 1: but in the Rocky Mountains has been reported from only
• 36:33
  Speaker 1: a few localities. Apparently the splinter cat inhabits that part
• 36:38
  Speaker 1: of the country in which wild bees and raccoons abound.
• 36:42
  Speaker 1: These are its natural food, and the animal puts in
• 36:45
  Speaker 1: every dark and stormy night, shattering trees in search of
• 36:49
  Speaker 1: coons or honey. It doesn't use any judgment in selecting
• 36:54
  Speaker 1: coon trees or bee trees, but just smashes one tree
• 36:57
  Speaker 1: after another until a hollow one containing food is found.
• 37:02
  Speaker 1: The method used by this animal in its destructive work
• 37:06
  Speaker 1: is simple but effective. Its climbs one tree and from
• 37:10
  Speaker 1: the uppermost branches bounds down and across toward the tree
• 37:15
  Speaker 1: it wishes to destroy. Striking squarely with its hard face,
• 37:20
  Speaker 1: the splinter cat passes right on, leaving the tree broken
• 37:24
  Speaker 1: and shattered, as though struck by lightning or snapped off
• 37:28
  Speaker 1: by the wind. Appalling destruction has been wrought by this
• 37:32
  Speaker 1: animal in the Gulf States, where its work in the
• 37:35
  Speaker 1: shape of a wrecked forest is often ascribed to windstorms.
• 37:41
  Speaker 1: End of Part fifteen, Part sixteen of Fearsome Creatures of
• 37:52
  Speaker 1: the lumber Woods by W. T. Cos. This LibriVox recording
• 37:57
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The snow wassets Mastellinopsis subitivorax.
• 38:07
  Speaker 1: On the most northern logging camps of Canada, we hear
• 38:10
  Speaker 1: of the snow wass itt. This is surely an animal
• 38:14
  Speaker 1: of the boreal zone. It is a migratory animal, wintering
• 38:18
  Speaker 1: in the lumbering region between the Great Lakes and Hudson Bay,
• 38:22
  Speaker 1: and spending its summers far north in Labrador and the
• 38:26
  Speaker 1: barren grounds. Unlike most wild creatures of the North, the
• 38:31
  Speaker 1: wsit is said to hibernate during only the warmest weather,
• 38:34
  Speaker 1: when its hair turns green and it curls up a
• 38:37
  Speaker 1: cranberry marsh. During the summer, it has rudimentary legs which
• 38:43
  Speaker 1: enable it to creep slowly around and remain in the shade.
• 38:47
  Speaker 1: After the first howling snowstorm, the wasit sheds its legs
• 38:52
  Speaker 1: and starts south, dipping about in the snow. It soon
• 38:56
  Speaker 1: attains remarkable skill in this method of travel, which enables
• 39:00
  Speaker 1: it to surprise burrowing grouse, crouching rabbits, and skulking varmints
• 39:05
  Speaker 1: of many kinds. Later in the winter, when food becomes
• 39:10
  Speaker 1: scarce and more difficult to obtain, even wolves are seized
• 39:14
  Speaker 1: from below and dragged, howling and kicking, into the snow drifts.
• 39:19
  Speaker 1: According to woodsmen, the tragedies of the far North are
• 39:22
  Speaker 1: more numerous beneath the crusted snow than above it. There
• 39:27
  Speaker 1: is no telling how many creatures are pulled down and
• 39:29
  Speaker 1: eaten by the Wassat, for this animal has a voracious
• 39:33
  Speaker 1: appetite comparable only to that of the wolverine. But since
• 39:38
  Speaker 1: it is four times as big and forty times as
• 39:40
  Speaker 1: active as the wolverine it must eat correspondingly more. The
• 39:45
  Speaker 1: only specimen of this beast ever examined by white men
• 39:49
  Speaker 1: was an imperfect one on James Bay, where a party
• 39:52
  Speaker 1: of surveyors found an Indian in a peculiar canoe, which,
• 39:56
  Speaker 1: upon examination was shown to be made from one wassa,
• 39:59
  Speaker 1: its high greatly stretched, there being no legholes in the
• 40:04
  Speaker 1: white winter pelt. It is peculiarly adapted to the making
• 40:08
  Speaker 1: of shapely one man canoes, which are said to be
• 40:11
  Speaker 1: used also as sleds by the Indians. A whole battery
• 40:15
  Speaker 1: of dead falls I believed to be used in trapping
• 40:18
  Speaker 1: a wasst. Since it is impossible to tell in what
• 40:21
  Speaker 1: direction the animal's body may extend, the trigger is set
• 40:26
  Speaker 1: so that a dozen logs fall in from all sides
• 40:29
  Speaker 1: toward debit, pinning the animal under the snow wherever he
• 40:33
  Speaker 1: may be. End of Part sixteen. Part seventeen have fearsome
• 40:46
  Speaker 1: Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cocks. This
• 40:50
  Speaker 1: libryvox recording is in the public domain. The Central American
• 40:56
  Speaker 1: wind tosser cephal of air tense se barambulatas in the
• 41:02
  Speaker 1: spring of nineteen hundred and six, there appeared suddenly in
• 41:06
  Speaker 1: the coast ranges of California, an uncanny animal from the
• 41:10
  Speaker 1: region of the Isthmus. It is not a large beast,
• 41:14
  Speaker 1: but what it lacks in size it makes up in
• 41:17
  Speaker 1: meanness of disposition. None of the lumberjacks who have met
• 41:21
  Speaker 1: a wind tosser on trail or tout road care to
• 41:24
  Speaker 1: have the experience repeated. The Central American wind tosser is
• 41:29
  Speaker 1: always looking for trouble or making it. In fact, the
• 41:32
  Speaker 1: beast seems to be constructed for the purpose of passing
• 41:35
  Speaker 1: through unusual experiences. Its head is fastened to its body
• 41:40
  Speaker 1: by a swivel neck, so is its short, tapering tail,
• 41:44
  Speaker 1: and both can be spun around at the rate of
• 41:47
  Speaker 1: one hundred revolutions a minute. The body is long and triangular,
• 41:52
  Speaker 1: with three complete sets of legs. This is a great
• 41:56
  Speaker 1: convenience in an earthquake country, since the animal is not
• 42:00
  Speaker 1: disturbed by any convulsions of the earth. If the floor
• 42:04
  Speaker 1: suddenly becomes the ceiling, it does not matter, for the
• 42:08
  Speaker 1: wind tosser is always there with the legs. Its hair
• 42:12
  Speaker 1: is bristly and all slants forward at a sharp angle.
• 42:16
  Speaker 1: It has been found that a cat's nine lives aris
• 42:20
  Speaker 1: nothing to the one possessed by a wind tosser. This
• 42:24
  Speaker 1: animal may be shot, clubbed, or strung on a pike
• 42:27
  Speaker 1: pole without stopping the wriggling, whirling motions or the screams
• 42:32
  Speaker 1: of rage. The only successful way of killing the beast
• 42:36
  Speaker 1: is to poke it into a flume pipe so that
• 42:39
  Speaker 1: all its feet strike the surface when it immediately starts
• 42:43
  Speaker 1: to walk in three different directions at once and tears
• 42:47
  Speaker 1: itself all apart. John Gray of Anadar, Trinity County, California
• 42:53
  Speaker 1: knows where a pair of wind tosses live in some
• 42:56
  Speaker 1: broken up country along mad River. End of Part seventeen,
• 43:08
  Speaker 1: Part eighteen of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cocks.
• 43:14
  Speaker 1: This LibriVox recording is in the public domain. The bildad
• 43:20
  Speaker 1: salty piscat palcoristratus. If you have ever paddled around a
• 43:26
  Speaker 1: boundary pond in northwest Maine at night, you have probably
• 43:30
  Speaker 1: heard from out the black depths of a cove a
• 43:33
  Speaker 1: spat like a paddle striking the water. It may have
• 43:37
  Speaker 1: been a paddle, but the chances are ten to one
• 43:39
  Speaker 1: that it was a bildad fishing. This animal occurs only
• 43:44
  Speaker 1: on this one pond in Hurricane Township. It is about
• 43:48
  Speaker 1: the size of a beaver, but has long kangaroo like
• 43:51
  Speaker 1: hind legs, short front legs, webbed feet, and a heavy
• 43:56
  Speaker 1: hawklike bill. Its mode of fishing is to crouch on
• 44:00
  Speaker 1: a grassy point overlooking the water, and when a trout rises,
• 44:04
  Speaker 1: for a bug to leap with amazing swiftness just past
• 44:08
  Speaker 1: the fish, bringing its heavy flat tail down with a
• 44:11
  Speaker 1: resounding smack over him. This stuns the fish, which is
• 44:16
  Speaker 1: immediately picked up and eaten by the bildad. It has
• 44:20
  Speaker 1: been reported that sixty yards is an average jump for
• 44:23
  Speaker 1: an adult's male. Up to three years ago, the opinion
• 44:27
  Speaker 1: was current among lumberjacks that the bildad was fine eating,
• 44:32
  Speaker 1: but since the beasts are exceedingly shy and hard to catch,
• 44:36
  Speaker 1: no one was able to remember having tasted the meat.
• 44:40
  Speaker 1: That fall, one was killed on Boundary Pond and brought
• 44:43
  Speaker 1: into the Great Northern Paper Company's camp on Hurricane Lake,
• 44:47
  Speaker 1: where the cook made a most savory slumgullion of it.
• 44:52
  Speaker 1: The first and only man to taste it was Bill Murphy,
• 44:56
  Speaker 1: a tote road swamper from ambergigiss. After the first mouthful,
• 45:01
  Speaker 1: his body stiffened, his eyes glazed, and his hands clutched
• 45:06
  Speaker 1: the table edge. With a wild yell, he rushed out
• 45:10
  Speaker 1: of the cookhouse down to the lake and leapt clear
• 45:14
  Speaker 1: out fifty yards, coming down in a sitting posture, exactly
• 45:18
  Speaker 1: like a bildad catching a fish. Of course, he sank
• 45:22
  Speaker 1: like a stone. Since then not a lumberjack in Maine
• 45:27
  Speaker 1: will touch bildad meat, not even with a pike pole.
• 45:32
  Speaker 1: End of Part eighteen, Part nineteen of Fearsome Creatures of
• 45:43
  Speaker 1: the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox. This libriyvox recording
• 45:49
  Speaker 1: is in the public domain. The tripodero collapse of femuris
• 45:55
  Speaker 1: geo catapeltes. The chaparral and foothill for forsts of California
• 46:01
  Speaker 1: contain many queer freaks of one kind and another. One
• 46:06
  Speaker 1: of the strangest and least known is the tripodero, an
• 46:09
  Speaker 1: animal with two contractile or telescopic legs and a tail
• 46:13
  Speaker 1: like a kangaroo's. This peculiarity and structure enables the animal
• 46:19
  Speaker 1: to elevate itself at will, so that it may tower
• 46:22
  Speaker 1: above the chaparral, or, if it chooses to pull in
• 46:26
  Speaker 1: its legs and present a compact form for crowding through
• 46:30
  Speaker 1: the brush. The tripodero's body is not large, but is
• 46:35
  Speaker 1: solidly built, and its head is nearly all snout, the
• 46:39
  Speaker 1: value of which is seen in the method by which
• 46:41
  Speaker 1: food is obtained. As the animal travels through the brush
• 46:45
  Speaker 1: covered country, it elongates its legs from time to time,
• 46:49
  Speaker 1: thus shoving itself up above the brush for purposes of observation.
• 46:54
  Speaker 1: If its sights game within a range of ten rods,
• 46:57
  Speaker 1: it takes aim with its snout and tilts itself until
• 47:01
  Speaker 1: the right elevation is obtained. Then, with astounding force, blows
• 47:06
  Speaker 1: a sun dried quid of clay, knocking its victim senseless.
• 47:11
  Speaker 1: A supply of these quids is always carried in the
• 47:14
  Speaker 1: left jaw. The tripodero then contracts its legs and bores
• 47:19
  Speaker 1: its way through the bush to its victim, where it
• 47:22
  Speaker 1: stays until the last bone is cracked and eaten. End
• 47:28
  Speaker 1: of Part nineteen, Part twenty of Fearsome Creatures of the
• 47:38
  Speaker 1: lumber Woods by W. T. Cox. This LibriVox recording is
• 47:44
  Speaker 1: in the public domain. The highumpom hogbear Arsus unimorsis and
• 47:52
  Speaker 1: Antiporchus ranging from the mouth of the Columbia River southward
• 47:57
  Speaker 1: to the Klamath Woodsman reports the existence of a bear
• 48:01
  Speaker 1: known as the hyumpum hog bear. This is a small,
• 48:05
  Speaker 1: sharp nosed, curly haired variety of the black and brown
• 48:08
  Speaker 1: bear of the coast Ranges, but must not be confused
• 48:12
  Speaker 1: with the peaked teal cinnamon. To appreciate the importance of
• 48:16
  Speaker 1: this animal, one must remember that the hog ranches are
• 48:19
  Speaker 1: common in northwestern California. The country there is peculiarly adapted
• 48:25
  Speaker 1: to hog raising, and the industry would be attractive and
• 48:28
  Speaker 1: highly profitable were it's not for the existence of the
• 48:31
  Speaker 1: hog bear. The mountain slopes are covered with scrubby and
• 48:35
  Speaker 1: creeping oaks, which bear prodigious crops of sweet and very
• 48:39
  Speaker 1: nutritious acorns. These naturally ripen earliest upon the lower slopes,
• 48:45
  Speaker 1: where the young hogs begin to feed. As the acorns
• 48:49
  Speaker 1: higher up the slopes begin to ripen, the hogs ascend
• 48:52
  Speaker 1: the mountain each week, finding them a few hundred feet
• 48:56
  Speaker 1: higher and many pounds fatter. About crisp time, the last
• 49:01
  Speaker 1: of the acorns are reached on the upper slopes, and
• 49:04
  Speaker 1: the hogs have by that time become so fat that
• 49:06
  Speaker 1: their legs scarcely reached the ground, and the slightest jar
• 49:10
  Speaker 1: is all that is required to start them rolling down
• 49:13
  Speaker 1: the mountain, where they may easily be gathered and butchered.
• 49:17
  Speaker 1: It is at this period that the hog bear gets
• 49:20
  Speaker 1: in his destructive work. He mooches along the base of
• 49:25
  Speaker 1: the mountain before the rancher has time to rustle his pork, and,
• 49:29
  Speaker 1: finding hogs so plentiful and so helplessly fat, he takes
• 49:33
  Speaker 1: just one bite out of the back of each, leaving
• 49:36
  Speaker 1: the porker squealing with agony and the ranchers swearing with rage.
• 49:42
  Speaker 1: While examining timber on a tributary of the Klamath River, California,
• 49:47
  Speaker 1: mister Eugene Spruce of the Forest Service captured a cub
• 49:51
  Speaker 1: hog bear, which he presented to the National Zoo in Washington.
• 49:55
  Speaker 1: Its developments will be watched with interest and its dispositions
• 50:00
  Speaker 1: studied by members of the Biological Survey. End of Part
• 50:05
  Speaker 1: twenty end of Fearsome Creatures of the lumber Woods by W. T. Cox,
• 50:12
  Speaker 1: read by Phil Benson in Sydney, Australia,