Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers — John Stuart Mill — John Shaqi
Life of Frederick Courtenay Selous, D.S.O., Capt. 25th Royal Fusiliers
John Stuart Mill · en
heads in Vancouver, and hope to get them some time next month,
and you must come and see them as soon as they are set up."
In the autumn of 1905 he went on his third trip to Newfoundland, in
order to see something more of the interior of the island and to shoot a
few caribou. The country he now selected was that in the neighbourhood
of King George IV Lake, a district that had only previously been visited
by two white men, Cormack, its discoverer, in 1822, and Howley in 1875.
This is not a difficult country to reach, as canoes can be taken the
whole way, and there are no bad "runs" or long portages. The autumn of
1905 was, however, perhaps the wettest on record, and it poured with
rain every day, whilst, as to the caribou stags, they carried the
poorest horns in any season, owing to the severity of the previous
winter. In this trip, in which he was accompanied by two excellent
Newfoundlanders, Joseph Geange and Samuel Smart, Selous saw large
numbers of caribou, but did not obtain a single good head, and though he
enjoyed the journey, the trophies killed were somewhat disappointing,
and especially so as he had broken into quite new country.[57]
Selous' own account, in a letter to me, November 22nd, is as follows:--
"By the time you get this letter I shall be at home again, or at
any rate in London. I have to commence my lecturing on December
4th, but if I can get a spare day before then I will come over
and see you. My experience in Newfoundland was much the same as
yours. I saw a lot of caribou, but no very large heads. I had,
too, terribly bad weather, almost continuous rain and sleet
storms on the high ground near George IV Lake. By-the-bye, Mr.
Howley tells me that to the best of his belief I am the third
white man who has visited that lake. The first was Cormack, who
named it a long time ago, and the second Mr. Howley, who was
there in 1875. The caribou in the country between King George's
Lake and the head of the Victoria river live there. I saw
non-travelling deer there, all the herds were stationary,
feeding or lying down in one spot all day long. Lots of trees
too along the river, where the stags had cleaned their horns.
Packing in from Lloyd's river to the north-west, I struck some
splendid caribou-ground. Here the deer were all on migration
southwards. As a matter of fact, I did very little systematic
hunting, but a lot of tramping, always carrying a 40 lb. pack
myself. I have got one very pretty head of 36 points, very
regular and symmetrical, but not large. In a storm of driving
sleet it looked magnificent on the living stag. I have another
head I like, and some others of lesser merit, one of them for
the Natural History Museum. I have preserved a complete animal
for them."
[Illustration: OSBORN'S CARIBOU.]
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