364 ANGLING. 



covered with scales. From all these I took exact sketches, 

 which I have given to iny friend Mr Francis Francis. 

 There are two sorts of perch, the black and the white, the 

 former of which, though not so good for the table, rises 

 readily at a fly. For bass, perch, and crappe, the bait 

 generally used is a small chub, spun as we spin the 

 minnow for the same sort of fishing ; for large chub, the 

 grasshopper, or worm, is a very good bait. There is 

 also another fish called the " yar," a thin-shouldered 

 fish, with long mouth, and not very good eating. In 

 the back streams and tributaries to the Mississippi, in 

 the spring and fall of the year, excellent sport may be 

 had with these fish and I have no doubt but that good 

 bright artificial minnows, or decoys of any kind, would 

 be very killing ; but then, from the innumerable 

 " snags," so many sets of hooks would be lost that it 

 would be an expensive proceeding. 



On this voyage I again met a countryman of mine, 

 Mr Shaw of Kentucky county, who seemed not to be 

 able to show me enough attention. Among other kind 

 nesses I received at his hands was a bottle of first-rate 

 American whiskey, in the sale of which he was profes 

 sionally interested. On board the steamer were some 

 " Pikespeakers" returning "from, the gold-fields, and in 

 their possession were the antlers of two wapeties, who 

 they, with the customary misnomenclature of their coun 

 trymen in such matters, termed elks' horns. The finest 

 of the two heads, with the aid of my friend Shaw, I pur 

 chased for fifteen dollars. Having made this purchase, I 

 carried the horns into the saloon and put them with my 

 luggage, and they became a matter of much interest to 

 the cabin passengers. Here, again, American inquisi- 

 tiveness, and, as regards an English gentleman, mistaken 



