THE 



SPORTSMAN 3 



JOURNAL, 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 12, 187S. 



. Ill I'ulion St., N. TTi 



THE LAMENT OF A MENAGERIE 

 KEEPER'S WIFE. 



T am Urea of his passion for hatefnl beasts, 

 ■*- Around Diem he never will cease to roam; 

 And lie gives theni each night most delicious feasts, 

 While he Knows I've nothing to eat at home. 



He has often desertpa me in. my rage, 



My sad supplications regarding not, 

 As he imtrleil away to some horrid cage 



To play with his lurid-eyed ocolot. 



He has told me that never was wind of south 



So sweet to the noBtrlls of maid or man, 

 As the breath of nia brown-speckled Jaguar's mouth, 



Or the plaintive signs of bis pelican. 



And ail this I believed, but I cannot see 



Huw ne can prefer in this mania new, 

 To the kiss of his children, and love for mo, 



The embrace of a crazy kangaroo. 



Yet mid tigers and Uons he ever prowls , 



For the sacred ox he has made a bed. 

 And he fondles the plumes of those awful owls, 



That will hoot on my grave when I am dead. 



And I who adore him am cast aside, 



Aa if unworthy to be care«sed, 

 While he slumbers with gladness and dreams with joy 



On the claver-fed zebra's odious breast. 



Oh 1 Bome night could I only in silence steal, 

 Unsuspected behind him, I then might hear 



All his elegant badinage with the seal, 

 And bis honeyed words to the Lapland deer, 



I wonld then hear him joke with the bats and bears, 

 Ann I know the sagacious things would langh ; 



And I'm certain he'd speak of our household cares 

 To the puma's cabs and that old giraffe. 



What hours he spends with the wombats too, 

 He seems of the yak cage to have a lease, 



And I'm morally sure that the brindled gnu 

 Is his chosen love and last caprice ! 



— Ccpid Jones in Sam York &u 



For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 



an ja^ gngmor. 



This ia the forest primeval. The murmuring pines and the hemlocks, 

 Bearded wiUimosa and in garments green, indistinct in the twilight, 

 Stand like Druids of eld, with voices sad and prophetic— 

 Stand like harpers koar, with beards that rest on their bosoms. 



— Evaii'jtiiine. 



THE shore along the south coast of Lake Superior, like 

 that of Lakes Erie and Huron, is low and uninterest- 

 ing ; hut as we ascend along the north coast the outline of 

 shore becomes much more hold and picturesque, and in the 

 vicinity of Thunder Bay and Nipegon, attains to the sublime. 

 The far-famed picture rocks were disappointing in their ef- 

 fect, but Thunder Cape and the massive cliffs and palisades 

 about the mouth of Nipegon River -were extremely imposing 

 and majestic. 



We reached Red Rock, the post of the Hudson Bay Com- 

 pany, on the Nipegon River, some sis miles above its mouth, 

 on Friday, July 26. The only white persons residing here 

 are the agent of the company, Mr. McLaren and his family, 

 consisting of a son and two daughters. Numerous Indians 

 and half breeds, ragged and dirty, lounged about the wharf 

 BS we came to a landing, while the wigwams, surrounded by 

 e. squalid and dirty set, told us in unmistakable language that 

 -we had at last reached the land of Hiawatha. Wherever we 

 had heretofore lauded and been disappointed in the fishing 

 •we had been encouraged by being told " to wait till we got 

 to Nipegon." So now we were at "Nipegon," the deep, 

 clear waler, as the Indian name signifies, and what was to be 

 the fruition of all our hopes '! Were we to have them realized 

 to the fullest extent V or were we to be again disappointed ? 



No sooner had the steamer reached her landing than wo 

 ■sprang ashore, eager to try the trout that evening, although 

 then nearly five o'clock. In vain, however, was our appeal 

 to every Indian and half breed we encountered as to the 

 quality of the fishing and the feasibility of procuring a boat 

 and guide. None of them understood English, and it was 

 only after seeing the agent and making our wants known to 

 him that we were provided wiih a canoe,and a guide in the 

 person of a sachem, known as Pierre, but called Peter for 

 short. By tins time, a drenching" rain had set in, but consider- 



ing that rather favorable than otherwise, we donned our gum 

 coats and hats and set out under the guidance of Pierre for 

 the rapids, about half a mile above. The rain was pouring 

 down in torrents when we reached the rapids, but the fish 

 seemed to enjoy it, and were jumping in every direction. 

 Steadying our boat in the rapid current by the use of his 

 pole, as only an Indian can do, just at a point, where a smaller 

 stream, setting off from the main river, dashed wildly and 

 swiftly over the rocky bottom, we began our castin :;.'. r Thc 

 fish rose eagerly and took the feathery deception in a Way 

 that showed they meant business, and the Indian lad who 

 occupied the bow of the boat was kept busy landing and un- 

 hooking the fish. They were not of the largest size, but 

 varied from about half a pound to two pounds in weight, 

 and were exceedingly beautiful in their coloring and active 

 and game as they struggled in the rapid current to effect 

 their escape. In abouf an hour and a half we returned to 

 the steamer with between twenty-five and thirty fish that 

 were the admiration of all who saw them, and wonderfully 

 stimulated the piscatorial zeal of all who had come in any 

 manner prepared to fish. 



The next morning was cloudy and lowering when I arose 

 about five o'clock to see what preparations were being made 

 for a camping excursion to the second rapids, some twelve 

 miles up the river, at a point known as Camp Alexander. As 

 all was quiet on the steamer, and likely to continue so for an 

 hour or more, I hastened ashore, and having roused up Pierre, 

 set out for the scene of our previous evening's sport. The 

 fish, though not so abundant as on the previous evening, 

 were still quite plentiful, and in about an hour I returned to 

 breakfast with a half dozen fish, averaging three-quarters of a 

 pound each. 



I shall alwayB recall with pleasure the few hours' fishing at 

 Bed Rock.. While the fi3h are neither so large nor plentiful as 

 they are further up the river, yet they are abundant enough 

 and of a size sufficient to make it royal sport, while at the 

 same time it is free from the annoyances and excessive labor 

 attending the fishing higher up. The fishing ground can be 

 reached in fifteen or twenty minutes from the steamer land 

 ing. The water is beautiful, swift, clear and cool. You are 

 to a great extent free from the attacks of the black-flies and 

 mosquitoes which are so annoying in the woods, and all you 

 have to do is to submit your boat to the guidance of your In- 

 dian and devote yourself to the tranquil enjoyment of your 

 surroundings, all the while taking fish enough, if you under- 

 stand your business and are properly equipped, to satisfy any 

 reasonable desire. 



On arriving at the steamer we found arrangements in prog- 

 ress for the camping excursion, and about nine o'clock some 

 dozen of us, together with as many Indians in charge of Uie 

 .boats, set off for the camp, being accompanied across the 

 portage of a half mile by pretty much the entire excursion 

 party from the steamer, and took our departure amid the 

 waving of handkerchiefs and cheery words of encouragement. 

 Our party were the most of them prepared for fishing of 

 some kind— that is to say, they had rods and lines and hooks, 

 but as they had no previous experience in trout fishing, their 

 equipment was better adapted for ordinary still-fishing for 

 bass or pickerel than for casting a fly for trout. Several of 

 our number, however, went as spectators merely, and to en- 

 joy the novelty of a day and night in the woods. 



It is a long and tedious pull from Red Rock to Camp Alex- 

 ander, the current of the river being at some places so strong 

 as to make it extremely difficult to pull up, and it was late in 

 the evening when we reached our camp. Too late, indeed, to 

 do much that day, and a most wearisome walk of three or 

 four miles was rewarded by the capture of only eight small 

 fish- One Indian, however, took about the same number 

 with his bait, and other members of the party having met 

 With like success, we bad among us the greatest adundance 

 for supper and breakfast. 



The most o£ tts had taken the precaution to purloin from 

 the steamer the blankets in our respective state rooms, and 

 one or two of ua had availed ouiselves of the opportunity to 

 buy in addition a heavy blanket from the agent of the post. 

 It was well we did, as during the night the mercury fell to 

 forty-two, and it was highly amusing* as I lay awake about 

 three o'clock in the morning to hear the maledictions from 

 our neighboring tent on the weather. In a little while one of 

 its occupants crawled out exclaiming: "My God! I'm 

 frozen," and soon another and then another, until all the com- 

 pany, with two or three exceptions, had grouped themselves 

 around the camp fire, where, with the abundance of dead 

 pine timber, they soon had the woods aglow with the roar- 

 ing flames, and were themselves thawed into condition to 

 joke over their grievances. 



The next day was Sunday, and perhaps the least said about 

 the fishing the better. Several of our party, however, started 

 out early and returned about noon highly elated with I heir 

 success, and bringing in with them between forty and fifty 

 fine fish, the largest weighing tour and a half pounds, This 

 was taken with a troll by Mr. Crane, of Detroit. 



The writer's own experience of Sunday fishing" is by no 

 means satisfactory. Having remained in camp' with a few 

 others, whose consciences (hd not altogether approve of .Sun- 

 day fishing, and the hours becoming exceedingly monotonous 

 and heavy, he, in an evil hour, Suggested to a.friend, who was 

 under bonds to his wife not to "fish on Sunday, that they 

 should walk down to the river at a point only a hundred yards 

 distant and relieve the tedium by mating a cast or two, to 

 Which proposition said friend agreed, but as he was under 



bonds not to fish, kindly consented to carry a landing net. 

 But ours, alas, was but a short and inglorious excursion ; for, 

 after a breakneck scramble through fallen pine trees and 

 underbrush, and a continuous warfare with the black flies, 

 hardly had we reached the river when, in an endeavor by a 

 long leap to reach a large rock slanting at an angle of about 

 forty-five degrees, the writer's feet, as he struck the. rock, 

 flew from under him, and in an instant he found himself up 

 to the arm-pits in the river. To grasp hold of the rock and 

 scramble out and return to camp a wiser and a wetter man, 

 and one disgusted with Sunday fishing, was all that remained 

 to be done. 



The experience of the previous night had satisfied most of 

 our party, mid on Sunday evening they all, except four or live, 

 returned to the steamer. Early Monday morning we were 

 stirring, and having bad breakfast by six o'clock, started for 

 the falls about two miles above the camp. After a portage of 

 half a mile we took to the canoe and began the ascent of the 

 rapid current. During the usecut to the second portage, a 

 distance of perhaps a mile, oir boat took a dozen or more fine 

 fish, when we again disembarked, and, after a toilsome tramp 

 of nearly a mile, came to the falls. 



The scene that here burst upon us was terrificnlly grand. 

 The immense volume of water came hissing and roaring down 

 the cascade with perpendicular plunges here and there of tea 

 or fifteen feet, and as it dashed furiously against the rocks 

 below spouted high in the air and fell around in wreaths of 

 spray. At the base of the fall is a long deep pool, through 

 which the current sweeps rapidly till "it reaches the lower 

 end and meets the obstruction of the shallows, when it turns 

 back with an eddy and sweeps up along the left bank on 

 which we stood. I have not often seen a more splendid cas- 

 cade and waterfall than these falls of the Nipegon River. 



Our party were soon actively engaged, and a great many 

 fish of one and two pounds weight were taken. 1 was fishing, 

 as was also my comrade, with an eight-ounce split-bamboo 

 rod made by Leonard, of Bangor, Maine, and the perfection • 

 of lightness and elasticity, and consequently had great advan- 

 tages, especially in casting, over those using heavy tackle. 



Having satisfied myself with fishing the more quiet portion 

 of the pool, and in the hope of striking soaiething heavier than 

 we had yet taken, I approached nearer to the fall, and walk- 

 ing out on a projecting rock just at the foot of the cascade, 

 where the roar was deafening, made a cast into the boiling 

 foam below the fall. A splendid fish rose, and, seizing the 

 fly, sunk again into the foaming waters below. The strain on 

 the rod and line was tremendous until I succeeded in phying 

 him into the quieter water just below the projecting rocks on 

 which I stood, and which I had succeeded in doing by the 

 time my guide reached me with the landing net, and who was 

 at the time toward the lower end of the pool. After giving 

 him time to exhaust himself in the quiet water, he was safely 

 secured.in the net and found to weigh three pounds. A few- 

 moments after my comrade, a lad of sixteen, struck, and after 

 some time succeeded in landing, a fish of like weight. Having 

 no landing net, the young gentleman was loud iu his appeals 

 for help, when a young friend of his own age gallantly dropped 

 bis own rod, and, seizing the first net he could lay hands on, 

 hurried to his relief; sometimes falling overrocks, someiimea 

 splashing knee deep in the water, aud anon stopping a mo- 

 ment to disengage himself from bushes and snags, he at length, 

 came to the rescue aud took out a three-pound fish. 



Many fish were taken of two and two and a half pounds 

 weight, but as we had to return to the steamer that night it 

 became necessary that we should stop our fishing about noon 

 in order to reach the camp and make our preparations for re- 

 turning. On our arrival at the camp we fouud we had nearly 

 a hundred fine trout, and were satisfied. We ate our dinner, 

 packed our traps, and set out on our return down the river to 

 the steamer, which we reached late in the evening, flying our 

 musquito nets and handkerchiefs as banners, and were enthu- 

 siastically received by our friends on board, mostly, no doubt, 

 through good fellowship, but partly because they were ex- 

 tremely tired of waiting for us aud were anxious to leave. 



In conclusion, 1 would say that I have never seen any trout 

 fishing equal to that on Nipegon River. In the Rangeley 

 Lakes'large fish are often taken, but from my own experience 

 on Rangeley I would say you take ten, nay twenty, fish in 

 Nepigon to one there. In Moosehead Lake more fish can be 

 taken than on Rangeley, but the fishing, all considered, does. 

 not, iu my judgment, compare with Nipegon. Even as re 

 gards the size of the fish, I have little doubt that if any record 

 were kept, more fish of live pound and over would be found 

 to be taken on the north shore of Luke Superior than any 

 where else iu the country. Louie, my Indian, stated that 

 about a year ago he speared, just at the head of the Red Rock 

 rapid, a speckled trout that weighed sixteen pounds. I do 

 not undertake to vouch for Louie's veracity, but at the same 

 time sue no great reason to doubt his truth. 



Fish of eight and nine pounds are not uncommon in the 

 lakes of Maine, and I believe there is a pretty well authenti- 

 cated instance of one which weighed thirteen pounds. The 

 jump from thirteen to sixteen is QOl very great, at least I am 

 eiispoBed to give Louie the bandit of the doubt. For fishing 

 in Nipegon nothing more is necessary than the ordinary trout 

 rod, reel aud silk line, with a supply of gut leaders ami Hie?., 

 and an extra tip or two to provide against accidents. It is 

 well, also, to be provided with some preparation of penny- 

 royal as a defense against insect* Heavy tackle would be of 

 e.i - r ,.i.| , ., ;il.'(_* except iu enabling you to laud the fish 

 faster when bUiog, rapidly, and the advantage m this respect 



