|
 |
| ARDEADORIS EGRETTA |
 |
| PRESIDIO CLARKIA |
 ONE HUNDRED FAMOUS VIEWS OF EDO (TOKYO) NUMBER THIRTY-TWO |
 |
| YANAGISHIMA |
| Two attractions in this far northeast corner of the city await the visitors who will shortly alight from the pleasure boat being sculled up the canal in the lower part of the print.
By far the best known of these was the Myoken Hall, the large temple building that is hidden in the trees against the left margin. The other attraction at Yanagishima was the restaurant Hashimoti, which Hiroshige has placed at center stage in his print here--its windows bright and beckoning. The restaurant survived into modern times, succumbing finally to the great earthquake of 1923. |
 |
 |
| THE CITY OF MAYSVILLE, KENTUCKY, SCENE OF THE GREAT UNION BARBECUE (October 1861) |
 |
| CAMP OF GENERAL ROSSEAU'S BRIGADE, NEAR MULDRAUGH'S HILL, KENTUCKY (October 1861) |
| Troops from Ohio, Indiana, and Kentucky are gathering here. |
| IMPORTANT FROM KENTUCKY.; PROSPECT OF FIGHTING AT MULDRAUGH'S HILL. THE REBELS DISCOVERED IN FORCE--BRIDGES BURNED--UNION FORCES IN PURSUIT--NO COMMUNICATION SOUTH.
Published: September 20, 1861 . .LOUISVILLE, Wednesday, Sept. 18. At 9 o'clock this morning when the Government troops reached Rolling Fork, five miles north of Muldraugh's Hill, they found the bridge over the Fork burned, and the enemy on Muldraugh's Hill. His number was unascertained. Gen. SHERMAN, discovering a ford about breast deep, sent a reconnoitering party, which had not returned at 4 o'clock this, afternoon, at which time Lieut.-Col. JOHNSON was dispatched from Louisville with an additional force of 700, consisting of the remnant of ROUSBEAU's command, and about 400 of the Home Guard. There was great enthusiasm by the bystanders at the depot, on the departure of the troops southward from Louisville. The city is full of rumors, one of which is, that Gen. BUCKNER is commanding the rebel forces at Muldraugh's Hill, which is doubtful; another is, that after the rebels had burned the bridge at Rolling Fork, the Union men burned the bridge at Nolin, fifteen miles south of Elizabethtown, whereby they stopped two of the three trains which the rebels supposed they had obtained by the burning of the Rolling Fork bridge. This is probably true. There have been no trains from the South to-day. Telegraphic communication south has also been obstructed. LOUISVILLE, Ky., Wednesday, Sept. 19. The publication of the Courier was suspended on account of its seizure by the Government. Efforts are making to resume its publication on a different basis. The departure of steamboats down the river is interdicted, unless a Government officer accompanies them. |
 |
| TOM SELLECK (Caricature) |
 |
| MOON OVER LIMESTONE HILLS WEST OF TOWNSEND, MONTANA |
 |
| SUN SETTING BEHIND CLOUDS |
 |
| The Fennec Fox (Vulpes zerda) is a small nocturnal fox found in the Sahara of North Africa.
Its most distinctive feature is unusually large ears. |
 |
| The name "Fennec" comes from the Arabic word for fox, and the species name zerda has a Greek origin that refers to its habitat. The Fennec is the smallest species of canid in the world; coat, ears and kidney functions have adapted to a high-temperature, low-water, desert environment. In addition, its hearing is sensitive enough to hear prey moving underground. |
 |
| The Fennec has a life span of up to 10 years in the wild; its main predators include the Caracal and the African varieties of Eagle Owl. Families of Fennecs dig out dens in sand for habitation and protection, which can be as large as 120 m2 (1,292 sq ft) and adjoin the dens of other families. Precise population figures are not known but are estimated from the frequency of sightings; these indicate that the animal is currently not threatened by extinction. Knowledge of social interactions is limited to information gathered from captive animals. |
 |
| The Fennec Fox weighs about 1.5–3.5 lb (0.68–1.6 kg), with a body length of between 24–40 cm (9–16 in); it is around 20.3 cm (8 in) tall.
It is the smallest species of canid in the world. The tail has a black tip and is around three quarters of the length of the head and body, while the ears can be between 10–15 cm (3.9–5.9 in) long. Its name comes from the Arabic word fanak, which means fox, and the species name zerda comes from the Greek word xeros which means dry, referring to the fox's habitat. |
 |
| The species is usually assigned to the genus Vulpes; however, this is debated due to differences between the Fennec Fox and other fox species. The Fennec's fur is prized by the indigenous peoples of North Africa, and in some parts of the world, the animal is considered an exotic pet. |
 |
| The coat is often a cream color and fluffy, which deflects heat during the day and keeps the fox warm at night. The Fennec's characteristic ears are the largest among all foxes relative to body size, and serve to dissipate heat, as they have many blood vessels close to the skin. The ears of a Fennec are sensitive enough to hear prey that may be underground; the soles of its feet are protected from the hot desert sand by thick fur. |
 |
| AWAITING THE CAPTAIN Michael Haynes http://www.mhaynesart.com |
| "The musquetoes continue to infest us in such manner that we can scarcely exist,...my dog even howls with the torture he experiences from them."
With that journal entry by Meriwether Lewis on July 15, 1806, his dog Seaman, the Corps of Discovery's faithful companion and fellow explorer, disappears from history. He is not mentioned again in the journals, nor does he appear in any known post-expedition correspondence or report. What happened to this famous Newfoundland dog? Did he complete the expedition? Did he live happily in St. Louis upon the Corps' return, taking dips in the Mississippi and curling up in front of a cozy fireplace? Or did he perish somewhere along the Missouri River? Was he perhaps left behind in Lewis's flight following his party's skirmish with a band of Blackfoot braves on July 27, 1806? Various theories have been postulated over the years. Seaman is an enduring subject of fascination for expedition enthusiasts and dog lovers alike. He first appears in the expedition's journals on September 11, 1803, when Lewis notes the breed and qualities of "my dog," including his talent for catching and retrieving swimming squirrels, and vanishes from the record almost three years later, with no hint of what happened to him.2 Although Seaman is mentioned infrequently in the journals, I think it likely that some note would have been made of him perishing during the expedition. The lack of any such entry suggests that he survived it. Assuming he returned, did he accompany Lewis and Clark back to Louisville? Did he faithfully trot beside Lewis when his master visited Charlottesville and Washington? Given Seaman's presence with Lewis on the expedition, it is plausible that he accompanied his master on his travels east in late 1806 and his return to St. Louis in 1808. If so, Seaman would have followed Lewis from coast to coast over the course of some five years; an explorer in his own right, he was one of the most widely traveled dogs in history. If Seaman did survive the expedition and accompany Lewis on his subsequent travels, was he with Lewis on his fateful trip east in 1809? This question has intrigued people for years. If he was with Lewis, what happened to him after his master's death at Grinder's Stand on October 11? I recall reading a fictional account that had Seaman refusing to leave his dead master and pining away on his grave. This, of course, was an imagined end, created for its dramatic effect, with no sources cited to give it a basis in fact. Even so, could this really have been Seaman's fate? Could the devoted canine have refused to leave Lewis, remaining with him even in death? (to be continued. . .) |
| Photographer, conservationist; born in San Francisco. A commercial photographer for 30 years, he made visionary photos of western landscapes that were inspired by a boyhood trip to Yosemite. He won three Guggenheim grants to photograph the national parks (1944--58). Founding the f/64 group with Edward Weston in 1932, he developed zone exposure to get maximum tonal range from black-and-white film. He served on the Sierra Club Board (1934--71). |  |
 |
| YOSEMITE VALLEY CLEARING WINTER STORM |
 |
 |
| A DASH FOR THE TIMBER Frederic Remington |
| Frederic Sackrider Remington (October 4, 1861 – December 26, 1909) was an American painter, illustrator, sculptor, and writer who specialized in depictions of the Old American West, specifically concentrating on the last quarter of the 19th century American West and images of cowboys, American Indians, and the U.S. Cavalry. |  |
| PART TWO |
| Colonel Remington was away at war during most of the first four years of his son’s life. After the war, he moved his family to Bloomington, Illinois for a brief time and was appointed editor of the Bloomington Republican, but the family returned to Canton in 1867.
Remington was the only child of the marriage, and received constant attention and approval. He was an active child, large and strong for his age, who loved to hunt, swim, ride, and go camping. He was a poor student, though, particularly in math, which did not bode well for his father’s ambitions for his son to attend West Point. He began to make drawings and sketches of soldiers and cowboys at an early age. The family moved to Ogdensburg, New York when Remington was eleven and he attended Vermont Episcopal Institute, a church-run military school, where his father hoped discipline would rein in his son’s lack of focus, and perhaps lead to a military career. Remington took his first drawing lessons at the Institute. He then transferred to another military school where his classmates found the young Remington to be a pleasant fellow, a bit careless and lazy, good-humored, and generous of spirit, but definitely not soldier material. He enjoyed making caricatures and silhouettes of his classmates. At sixteen, he wrote to his uncle of his modest ambitions, "I never intend to do any great amount of labor. I have but one short life and do not aspire to wealth or fame in a degree which could only be obtained by an extraordinary effort on my part." He imagined a career for himself as a journalist, with art as a sideline. |
 |
| SAILING THE DESERT (by Inga Nielsen) |
| DISCLAIMER: Material used in Bitts and Bytes is gathered from various sources--mainly the World Wide Web.
Authorship cannot always be credited nor the source defined. Authenticity of material is assumed to be correct, but is not guaranteed. |  |