70 
THE SPORTSMANS AND TOURIST’S GUIDE. 
sonton, Culpepper county, Va., who. will 
tell you all you want to know, and who 
will make any party who stays with him 
comfortable and happy. Tourists who 
wish to “do” the Dismal Swamp and 
fish in Lake Drummond, write to Bob 
Rogers, Suffolk, Va. Every lover of the 
strange, the weird, and the beautiful in 
Nature, should not fail to make the trip. 
There is splendid hunting also in the 
vicinity of the Great Dismal Swamp. 
The last of September or the Ist of 
October is the best time. 
MOUNTAIN REGION OF THE TWO VIRGINIAS 
The best brook trout fishing to be had 
in Virginia or in West Virginia is all 
that territory which lies between the 
Baltimore & Ohio Railroad, and the 
Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad, bounded 
on the east by the Shenandoah Valley, 
and the west by the Cheat Mountains. 
In this quadrilateral are the headwaters 
of the South Fork of the Potomac, of the 
North Fork of the James, and of the 
Kanawha; and as you get deeper into 
the Alleghanies, to the very fountain- | 
heads of these streams, there you find 
the fish most abundant and of the finest 
size. 
the best as Augusta, Bath, and High- 
lands, in Virginia ; Pocahontas, Pendle- 
ton, Braxton, and Randolph, in West 
Virginia. The most desirable route to 
any one of these counties is through 
Staunton, on the Chespeake & Ohio 
Railroad, and about the most pleasant 
trip a man could take in the Summer. 
Hire a one or two-horse wagon, which 
can be got for $2.50 per day, one or two 
servants, who can be had cheap, and 
make the tour through these counties on 
foot, camping every day on a fresh trout 
stream, and resting at night in the purest 
atmosphere on the globe; or, if one 
By counties, we would designate | 
would not desire to make such a long 
trip, there are two streams within twenty- 
five miles of Staunton, that have plenty 
of fish in them, from four to thirteen in- 
ches, with houses at which small parties 
can be accommodated, but in a very 
plain way. They are rough mountain- 
eers, but hospitable, and charge very 
moderately. About four miles from the 
best of these streams, is a watering- 
place known as “ Stribling Springs,” that 
has a very remarkable combination of 
mineral waters upon it—alum, sulphur, 
and chalybeate. Here, a person desiring 
to be more at ease, and to fish only when 
the spirit moved him, could find com- 
fortable quarters, good board, pleasant 
company, without any fuss or fashion to 
annoy him, at a very moderate price 
($30 per month), and as pretty scenery 
as can be found anywhere. Combining 
the quail with the ruffed grouse shooting 
in this section, it is hard to find a region 
that will afford more satisfactory sport. 
Where most of the ruffed grouse are 
found, there also deer are plenty. Ork- 
ney Springs, Shenandoah county, at the 
base of North Mountain, is twenty-three 
hundred feet above tide water. The 
surrounding country is filled with game 
of every description. Far up the moun- 
tain-side, where he is seldom disturbed 
by the intrusions of man, dwells the 
black bear, living upon berries, acorns, 
and such other food as he can find ; but 
sometimes he boldly descends from his 
mountain fastness to raid a neighboring 
corn-field or turnip patch, or, perchance, 
the farmers’ pig-sty may receive a call 
from bruin, who, never averse to a dainty 
meal, helps himself to the first little 
porker he meets, One of the character- 
istics of the black bear is his delight ina 
cold water bath, and if a pool does not 
happen to be convenient, a mud hole will 
