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Feb. 3, 2007 I've written several articles about my disdain for modern landscapes of torturous traffic jams, sprawling shopping centers, and sterile suburbia. I long for the beauty of endless fields and forests, and the mystery of what kind of fauna might inhabit such a wilderness. Therefore, I study and vicariously live in the world chronicled by William Bartram, John Lawson, Audobon, and even Laura Ingalls in her Little House series. I discovered another gem in the book, Wild Sports, written by Friedrich Gerstacker, a German who traveled to the United States in 1837, mostly for the hunting. He spent most of his time in Arkansas which was his favorite state both for the natural beauty and the hospitality of the simple country folk who lived there. His account is a wonderful eyewitness view of a world which no longer exists. The book he wrote has three modern introductions--three too many in my opinion. These writers apologize for the writing and clarify events that don't need clarifying. I found Gerstacker's writing delightful though I could tell the translation from the original German was a little off. He eventually became a popular writer in Germany and wrote some of the first Westerns. The Leatherstocking Tales were his inspiration for coming to the United States. He wished to hunt deer like a pioneer, and he found hunting nirvana in Arkansas which was then so thinly settled that the population of game animals was still high. For weeks he traveled through the forests of America by himself, killing deer and turkey, and sleeping in the elements, beside a fire, while wolves howled and panthers screamed around him. While traversing a swamp in Arkansas with a friend, he was attacked by mosquitoes, leading to later bouts of malaria. Sometimes his hunting trips would become melancholy, and he would tire of enduring cold rainy nights when he couldn't light a fire, and he would get hungry for bread and human companionship. He would find farmhouses and was almost always welcomed. There were no hotels in the countryside then, and travelers were dependent on the hospitality of farmers. The farmhouses in rural Arkansas were little more than square, one-room block houses made out of logs and with no windows, so the door had to be left open during the day to admit light, a chilly prospect in the winter, even with a fire in the fireplace. Some people charged for room and board, and Gerstacker did have to work numerous odd jobs to pay his way across the country. He worked on steamboats and for farms and as a cowboy. In Cincinnati he worked as a silversmith's apprenctice; in New Orleans he operated a hotel, and on his time off he hunted snipe and alligator in the nearby swamp. The people in Arkansas were dependent on game for both food and clothing. They ate venison, turkey, bear, and pork from pigs they let run loose in the woods. They raised corn for bread and raided old bee trees for wild honey. If they had a cow, they had milk. Vegetables were uncommon, but sometimes they had potatoes, sweet potatoes, turnips, and pumpkins. In season wild fruit such as grapes, berries, plums, and paw paws were abundant. Whiskey and coffee were popular beverages. These pioneers were tough from physical exertion and the high protein diet. Gerstacker rarely used a horse. Instead he moved through the forest on foot, covering dozens of miles a day. One time he was so eager to see a friend that he walked twenty-four hours straight, going some seventy miles, and this was between bouts of malaria when he was greatly weakened. He survived knife fights and brawls in taverns. Frequently, he swam icy rivers, and on four occasions he killed bears in what amounted to hand-to-hand combat. He'd wound the bear with his gun and would be forced to finish the bear off with his knife. He actually squeezed through small, pitch black caves in order to murder hibernating bears which oftentimes woke up in a surly mood. After one brutal battle with a bear I think he lost his taste for bear hunting because shortly thereafter he decided to return to Germany. He and a friend shot a bear, and their dogs attacked it. The bear killed five dogs with single paw blows. The dogs were too close to risk firing their rifles, so his friend moved in for the kill with a knife--a fatal mistake. Gerstacker also stabbed the bear and was mauled, suffering a separated shoulder. The bear died, but Gerstacker was stuck at the gruesome scene all night, fending off wolves hungry for all the corpses. Gerstacker witnessed history as well. He hunted with someone who knew Daniel Boone and stayed overnight with a veteran who fought under George Washington. He befriended Indians on the Trail of Tears and commented unfavorably on the practice of slavery. By the time he left Arkansas, game was already being overhunted. The settlers hunted year round with no regulations, and they wiped out deer and turkey and bear. The old hunters complained about it and lamented over how good the hunting used to be in places where they used to live such as Kentucky and North Carolina. Yet, they didn't police themselves and killed fawn and mother deer, cub and mother bear--all without mercy. On an interesting side note, mountain lions seemed to be more aggressive in the past. Gerstacker heard several second hand accounts of panthers killing Indians or attempting to attack encamped hunters while they were sleeping. He killed three panthers (all described as gray like the present day Florida panther) and in each case he made it sound as if the cat was about to attack him. Perhaps the recent increase in panther attacks on humans is no so unusual after all. ------------ About the author Mark Gelbart: My book, Talk Radio, is a black comedy about a radio talk show host who gets kidnapped and psychologically tortured by a loser. www.mark-gelbart.com Email: agelbart@aol.com Comment on this article here! ------------ All articles are EXCLUSIVE to Useless-Knowledge.com and are not allowed to be posted on other websites. ARTICLE THIEVES WILL BE PROSECUTED! |
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