FOREST AND STREAM. 



33 



or Old Fly Market, it waB a treat for some old negroes, who 

 were not long in culling out the. choice pieces, if the shark 

 was small, for their own particular use." In 1701 the New 

 York Gazette and Weekly Post Boy tells of three men who 

 were upset in a canoe, when a large shark came up- The man 

 "was undoubtedly devoured by the ravenous monster," says 

 the old chronicler, " as he never was seen again." 



In the case which occurred last week it is wonderful that 

 no attempts were made to capture the man-eater. This would 

 not have been a difficult task, as a strong hook and a one-half 

 inch line would have soon done the business. That peculiar 

 portion of the East River would have been gotten rid of a 

 mouster, and what kind of shark it was would have been dis- 

 covered. We are iuclined to think that the sharks which have 

 shown their voracious instincts are the young of the white 

 sharks, which abound in the tropics, and which find their way 

 very rarely into our norlhern waters. The geographical limit 

 of fish is always difficult to determine. We are pretty sure 

 that It is now the ordinary blue shark, or Squalus obscuriis, 

 which is comparatively harmless. The white shark, the dread 

 of the tropical seas, will grow to be 30 to 35 feet long. The 

 largest shark is the basking shark, found in his biggest form 

 off Iceland. But though armed with dreadful teeth, his gul- 

 let is too small to allow of his swallowing anything of size, 

 and he is supposed, then, to be a good shark, if there can be 

 good sharks in a social sense. These sharks have their great 

 use in nature's economy, for all of them are the scavengers of 

 the ocean. 



There has been a gTeat deal of discussion as to whether a 

 shark is a ground or a surface feeder. It has been asserted of 

 the while shark, that such is his frightful rapacity, that every- 

 thing which comes within his reach possessing life is snatched 

 up and devoured. For man this peculiar shark is supposed to 

 have a deadly enmity, and when once human flesh has been 

 tasted, like the man-eating tiger, he always expects a recur- 

 rence of a similar prey. It is providential that he is so con- 

 structed that there are mechanical difficulties in his way of 

 biting, and that he must turn over in order to use his fearful 

 mouth, all bristling with fangs. Those who have noticed 

 white sharks state that fish swimming in their vicinity are 

 safe ; but that let one of the swimmers be caught, and strug- 

 gle on the hook, then instantly the shark pounces on it. When 

 a man is swimming or floundering in the water the condition 

 of the man and fish are alike, for they, attracting notice, ap- 

 parently excite the rapacity and appetite of the shark. 



HEAVY WEATHER YACHTS. 



WE are in receipt of many requests, both from the coast 

 line and the lakes, to furnish in our columns designs 

 for deep yachts of a suitable kind that can take the open sea 

 without danger, and that can turn to windward effectively in 

 rough water. The present crowded condition of our pages 

 renders it impossible for us to satisfy the demand, and our 

 inquirers are referred to our columns in the future. The sea- 

 son is already pretty well advanced, and it would be impos- 

 sible to launch anything new this year, but we propose mak- 

 ing it a point to supply the requisitejplans during the fall and 

 early winter months. It is with great pleasure that we notice 

 the increasing tendency of the yachting] public toward sea- 

 going craft. The limits of the Sound and Boston Harbor are 

 evidently becoming too confined, and the more venturesome 

 amateurs are extending their cruising grounds along the 

 coast, and some of them would put boldly out to sea had 

 they but craft under them they felt confidence in. Only re- 

 cently a party of gentlemen proposed a trip around Long 

 Island, and chartered a yacht some 45ft. long. The question 

 with them was— and a natural one, too— can the boat stand a 

 sea in the event of a blow from the S.? Our reply was de- 

 cidedly " No." What a pitiable spectacle this yacht would 

 have cut in a gale and a heavy swell, with Long Beach for a 

 lee shore! To go to sea and risk a blow in the yacht was 

 sheer recklessness, for it meant nothing short of probable 

 destruction. Fortunately, the run is not a long one, and by 

 taking one's chances on the weather remaining fine for a day 

 or two, it has often enough been successfully accomplished. 

 Yet that is no proof of the sea-going ability of the centre- 

 board sloop. Think of an unseaworthy yacht in Great Britain 

 45ft. long I Such a thing does net exist. A cutter of that 

 length is fit to sail the world over, is safe, can stow crew and 

 provisions, is handy and fast at sea. Such boats can honestly 

 become a sailor's pride j for mere river yachts he is apt to 

 have little love or respect. We note the gradual change in 

 favor of the seaworthy model, then, with pleasure. 



TURNFATHER JAHN. 



ONE hundred years ago last Sunday, in the little village of 

 Land, Prussia, was horn Friedrich Ludwig Jahn, the 

 father of the Turnkunst, or German systematic course of 

 physical culture, That event was appropriately celebrated 

 Sunday and Monday last throughout "The Old Fatherland," 

 and not less enthusiastically by the 18,000 Turners, men, 

 women and children, and their friends in " The New Father- 

 land." In Boston, New York, Baltimore, St. Louis, and a 

 9Cf>re of other cities, the two days were given up to proces- 

 sions and parades, calisthenic drills, athletic sports in gaily- 

 decked park and hall ; running, jumping, wrestling, climbing, 

 feats on the horizontal and perpendicular bars, Indian clubs 

 and broadsword exercises, and all the other muscular amuse- 

 ments in the programme of the Turn- Vereins. There were, 



besides, (he unveiling of portraits, statues and buste of Jahn, 

 commemorative orations, declamations and poems; the singing 

 of songs, in which the air of " JDii Waeht am Rhine" blended 

 with strains of " The Star Spangled Banner," and the drink- 

 ing of innumerable toasts in innumerable schooners of beer. 

 The lager, indeed, flowed continuously, toasts or no toasts. 



Ludwig Jahn, the hero of all this gymnastic, intellectual 

 and gastronomic outburst, was graduated with distinction at 

 the University, and was destined by his father, a Lutheran 

 clergyman, for the ministry ; but young Jahn, having served, 

 his time with credit in the army, and, seeing there his coun- 

 try's need of more stalwart sons for the national defence, set 

 about developing the Teutonic muscle. At his suggestion 

 classes of physical culture were established in schools and in 

 the army, of which he was appointed the general inspector. 

 Then came the establishment of the first Turner Society, and 

 these gymnasia rapidly multiplied throughout the various 

 parts of Germany. Political trouble come, and wilh it a term 

 of imprisonment, and the suppression of the schools oh a 

 charge of liberal tendencies. But our hero finally found his 

 way out of his embarrassments and his prison, and the value 

 of his life-work to the nation was publicly recognized by a 

 permanent pension. Jahn died full of years and honors in 

 1853. A monument in Berlin commemorates his life and 

 Berviees. His best monument is his admirable system of 

 physical training, whose principles and practices he taught, 

 and the stalwart Teuton frame, which has been no mean factor 

 in the recent history of the German people. 



"OLD ABE" VINDICATED. 



NOT a feather of his plumage would we ruffle, 

 and we hasten to refute the slanders concerning 

 the veteran old war eagle of the Dunn County, Wis., 

 soldiers. Here in America we refuse to have any national 

 heroes among the men who, in war and peace, have served 

 their country, and the brutes who have won for themselves a 

 transient place in the crumbling niche of fame, must bo con- 

 tent to fare no better. The Steed of Odin may be sung in 

 the Sagas of the Norsemen, but of the hero of ' ' Sheridan's 

 Ride " the General himself has remarked that had the poet 

 seen the poor wreck of a horse which figures so valiantly in 

 rhyme he would never have written the poem. The vigilant 

 GeeBe of the Capital may be accorded immortality by grateful 

 Romans, but an American bird, be he gooso or eagle, may not 

 hope for untarnished fame. In the ill-natured breast of some 

 unscrupulous iconoclast has arisen the widely current charge 

 that the eagle of the Centennial was not only not the only 

 true and original " Old Abe," but that he was no eagle at all, 

 but a gull. 



Wisconsin veterans read the papers, particularly the Fokbst 

 and Stream, and their watchful eyes have been quick to de- 

 tect the newspaper stories reflecting upon the fair name of 

 their old war friend. In no uncertain tones do they demand 

 an investigation of his record, and a recognition of his and 

 their own integrity. Moreover, the whole State of Wisconsin 

 is behind them, prepared to substantiate and enforce the 

 claim that "Old Abe " shall not be relegated to the category of 

 wooly horses and stone giants. The piercing eyes we saw at 

 the Centennial had scanned the field of battle. The photo- 

 graphs we bought were those of the real hero, now full of 

 grey feathers and glory. 



Last year " Old Abe" attended the reunion of the veterans 

 of Dunn County, Wis., as he will do again next month, and 

 was then among members of his own company, all of whom 

 recognized him by certain peculiarities and wounds. Among 

 others, Mr. David McLean, who was for a long time one of 

 his bearers in the war, saw him, recognized him, and was 

 himself recognized in turn by the eagle. 



Peace to his declining years. Our readers shall hear from 

 him again. 



[FROM OUR OWN CORRESPONDENT.] 



THE MOUNTAINOUS REGION OF 

 VIRGINIA. 



Orkney Springs, Shenandoah Co., Ya., 

 Editor Forest and Stream : 



August 3, 1878. 



M 



Driven from Washington by the oppressive heat I sought 

 the cool and invigorating atmosphere of Orkney, at the base 

 of North Mountain, 2,300 feet above tide water, where I have 

 been rusticating during the past month. Man requires relaxa- 

 tion from the cares of a busy life, and to my mind there is no 

 more rational way of adding to the vigor of his mental, as 

 well as his physical, condition than by enjoying the sports of 

 rod and gun, which must lead him to commune with 'nature, 

 study all her revelations, "and look through nature up to 

 nature's God." Would that it were possible for me by any 

 florid word-painting to describe to the ardent and enthusiastic 

 admirer the scenery of this charming country ; the pleasure 

 experienced ere the morning suu appears above the neighbor- 

 ing mountain-top, as I throw open my chamber window to 

 hear Ihe feathered songsters usher in the matin hour. Here 

 they are unmolested by the rude hand which so often drives 

 them from the neighborhood of thickly-settled communities. 

 Here the mountain-sides echo the songs and chirpings of the 

 thrushes, fly-catcners, viroos, finches, buntings, grosbeaks, 

 and chats flitting from tree to tree, scattering the dew-drops 

 in tiny showers. Here the little chipping sparrow, spizella 

 sociuliis, hops upon your window-sill, in joyful expectancy of 

 his morning meal. The grateful odor of the woods, the balmy 

 and bracing atmosphere as the morning sun illuminates the 



oazy mountain-top are pleasures which form a lasting impres- 

 sion upon the tablet of our memory. 



The surrounding country is filled with game of every 

 description. Far up the mountain-side, wheie he is reldem 

 disturbed by the intrusions of man, dwells the blsck bear 

 prau amerieonw, living upon berries, acorns and such other 

 food as he cau find ; but sometimes he boldly descends from 

 his mountain fastness to raid a neighboring corn-field or turnip 

 patch, or perchance the farmer's pig-sty may receive a call 

 from Lruin, who, never averse to a dainty meal, helps himself 

 to the first little porker lie meets. One of the characteristics 

 or the black bear is his delight in n cold water bath, and if a 

 pool does not happen to be convenient, a mud-hole will 

 answer his purpose. The principal spring at Orkney, the 

 mineral ingredients of which ore sulphates of magnesia and 

 iron, )S known by the euplionius name of " Bear Wallow," be- 

 cause H was herein that they rolled and weltered ere the en- 

 croachments of man drove them lrom the valleys far up the 

 surrounding mountain-sides. Here, too, deer, Vermis virqi- 

 niama, range over the forest-covcrid mountains and enjoy 

 their noonday siestas in undisturbed tranquillity ; but as my 

 experience in the pursuit of this game is somewhat limited I 

 will not attempt any description of a deer-chase here • rather 

 would I interest your readers in the smaller game, so' abund- 

 ant in this section. The wild turkey, MeleagrU gallapaw 

 finds here plenty of cover wherein to roam unmolested That 

 game and delicious bird, the autocratic ruffed grouse, Bmiusa 

 wmbeUito, the wildest but most desirable of all our game birds 

 struts over his rough haunts beneath cover, almost impend 

 trable to man, but frequently leaves his secluded abode for 

 some grain-field in the vicinity, wherein he is often flushed 

 and killed. In this seetton they are hunted to a great extent 

 on horseback, and when flushed in the woods light upon some 

 neighboring tree, from which they are easily dropped. This 

 manner of killing them may be considered unsportsmanlike by 

 some, but I am not of that opinion. When we remember 

 that the grouse will not lie to a dog; that oftentimes 

 the only knowledge we have of his presence is the sudden 

 whirr when he gets up, sans ceremonU, and darts through the 

 thick woods. To my mind it is l.gitimate to drop him on 

 sight, no matter whether we find him strutting over his 

 ground, pluming himself on a log, or dodging through the 

 branches of trees. All over the mountains the barking of the 

 timid gray squirrel may be heard, and these dreamy August 

 days, lrom the valleys below, comes the piping of Bob White 

 Ortyx ■cirginiamis, the gourmand now reveling in the stubble 

 fields, from which the golden grain bus just been garnered 

 All down the rich Shenandoah Valley, over hundreds of 

 stubble fields, the partridge disports, unmolested by man 

 fully protected by the new game law of the Mate, which for- 

 bids a warfare upon his species untrl the first of November 

 But soon " the autumn, all in yellow clad," will be here, and 

 the thoughtful sportsman will not forget this epistle. The 

 close season for ruffed grouse expired on Thursday, August 1. 

 The young birds are now well grown and exceedingly juicy! 

 The close season for deer expires on the 15th of October! 

 There have been no heavy storms this summer to drown 

 young partridges, and, brethren, we may look forward to 

 good shooting when the leaves shall have withered and the 

 groves "shine with silver frost." 



Among the sports much enjoyed by several of the guests at 

 Orkney, is that of catching frogs in Stony Greek, a small 

 stream near the springs, iu which large ones suitable for the 

 table are often captured. I may be called a frog-eating 

 Frenchman by those who are prejudiced against frogs, but i 

 do not object to the appellation, as my grandfather was a 

 mercurial Gaul ; but I could never understand why this preju- 

 dice should exist. It will not be denied that the food or a 

 frog consists of insects and various water roots and grasses 

 He is much more fastidious in his tastes than a duck or even • 

 a chicken, and his flavor is more palatable than that of either 

 However, it is not my purpose to enter into a disquisition as 

 to the delicacy of frogs. Most sportsmen will agree with me 

 that a properly cooked frog makes a most savory dish. Our 

 frogging expeditions are generally manatrcd by Air. Chas P 

 Gautier, of Washington, who is an expert in grabbing irons' 

 which must be done skillfully, or he gives a sudden squeak 

 and disappears. The • only implements necessary for a 

 fcc-ggmg expedition are an ordinary lantern with a reflector 

 behind the light, a stick five or six feet long with eighteen 

 inches of stout wire attached to Ihe end, and at a right angle 

 with the stick, To this wire a cluster of three or four hooks 

 is fastened, wilh which the frog can be taken when beyond 

 arm's length. A stout canvass bag, in which to carry the 

 captured frogs, with a cord fixed in the opening so as to close 

 it quickly, completes the outfit. As to dress, any old gar- 

 ments will do, with a heavy pair of wading boots. Tl e frogs 

 during warm nights, sit upon the banks of the stream, and 

 about pools. To capture them it is necessary that the hunt- 

 ers make as httle noise as possible. Of course they must 

 wade the creek, one with the lautern Jeading, and another to 

 grab the frog following in his steps. The light is thrown 

 upon either bank of the stream, which blinds the fro^ and he 

 is easily discovered by the white beneat.lt his lower jaw 

 which shows conspicuously. If within reach he is suddenly- 

 grabbed and slipped into the bag j or if his position be such 

 that he cannot be readily taken up with the hand, the stick 

 and hooks above described, if properly manipulated, take him 

 from his element. The next sport is in removing the frogs 

 from the bag to skin them, and a good deal of skill is re- 

 quired to prevent the whole number from hopping out at one 

 time. The skinning process is performed by cutting around 

 the neck and holding the frog by the head with the left hand 

 slrrpprug the skin from him with the right ; then hand him 

 over to the cook. r. j>_ g # 



[from our own correspondent.] 

 GLORIOUS OLD GLOUCESTER, VIR- 

 GINIA. 



Ware Rectory, Gloucester Co., Va., 

 Ediotr Fobkst and Stream : 



August. 2, 1878. 



■J 



Your correspondent finds himself in the very pick of all the 

 counties of tide-water Virginia. Talk about the Garden of 

 the Gods in Colorado ! why, here is the true Garden of the 

 Gods. Those mundane and real gods I mean, who know how 

 to enjoy the best gifts of the Creator and to appreciate the 

 happiness of this sublunary life. Indeed, Gloucester and 

 Matthews Counties are favored spots of earth For ail who love 

 what the water, the air and the fertile soil bring forth. 



Get a good big map of Virginia and hunt for Mob-jaok Bay, 

 called in Capt. John Smith's time Mock Jack Bay, because it 

 did so puzzle the seaman with its manifold tributaries, You 



