244 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



she can be easily driven and will call for short canvas only ? 

 Most certainly, and if we remind " Corinthian" of the fact 

 that his design will need an ugly big thing of a boom some 

 34 feet long and a corresponding mainsail, while a cutter 

 model of the Bame size only, though narrower and longer, 

 would be fitted with a boom and mainsail some 33 per cent, 

 smaller, would he not prefer toying with the lighter spar in a 

 little blow ; and how much less trouble to him, when alone or 

 with his man Friday, to hoist, reef, furl and handle the cut- 

 ter's sail than that of his own unwieldy rig V And what ap- 

 plies to tho mainsail the headsail may equally claim. As to 

 the hull, let "Corinthian" lop off three feet beam, put tho 

 amount in some 6 feet of length, and would not the resulting 

 craft give vastly more satisfaction than his own broad and 

 chubby ship ? In the first place, the longer boat would be very 

 much faster under less canvas, especially in a seaway, would 

 he vastly much easier in every respect, give valuable room in 

 length for private stateroom or for pantry and W. C, would 

 admit of higher freeboard without deteriorating from her 

 beauty, for beam and freeboard are incompatible in this 

 respect, and would keep crew forward and cabin aft more 

 select. Such a craft would walk away from your full-bodied 

 frigate in a style that would make " Corinthian " wonder, and 

 that at a less expense in the time and muscle our beamy friend 

 would have to devote to his little dumpling of a craft, which he 

 would find a terribly uneasy and slow affair in rough water. 

 The only drawback the cutter represents would be a moder- 

 ately greater angle of heel, and for our part we are always 

 willing to put up with this in consideration of her many other 

 excellencies. So far as mere cut of canvas is concerned, it ia 

 by no means essential to the cutter rig, that the cut of the can- 

 vas be as in England. Retain, if you have a mind to, the 

 small gaff of the sloop, though nothing is thereby gained, and 

 make your tophanger fighter. Eventually you will probably 

 come to adopt the cutter style in its entirety, anyhow. The 

 multiplicity of gear, which harasses " Corinthian," consists of 

 one halliards and a light downhaul. The fore-sheet may be 

 worked automatically. We think " Corinthian," when tired 

 out and hungry after a hard day's thrash to windward, would 

 be only too happy to let Jack go below and start the supper 

 Binging on the galley, while he furled sail, and then he would 

 appreciate the difference of handling the big duds of his sloop 

 and the smaller sails of the cutter. Finally, why cut up his craft 

 with an unsightly cock pit, a regular sea catcher and cabin 

 damper, dangerous at all limes, even in the largest of yachts 

 (witness Mohawk) when a flush deck with a wash streak is 

 neater, safer and serves all purposes, besides giving nearly a 

 half more length to the quarters below ? If " Corinthian " ob- 

 jects to housing topmast in a dear! beat, let hitn keep his ham- 

 per aloft ; his neighbor who douses his will show him a clean 

 pair of heels. As for ladies aboard ship, '-Corinthian" is proba- 

 bly aware of the fact that in England ten ladies go to sea in 

 yachts to every one who ventures afloat in America. We 

 have seen in the much maligned cutter whole families— nurses, 

 babies, etc., all included— take to the sea and cruise off sound- 

 ings in small craft with a nonchalance which speaks volumes 

 for the weatherliness and cruising qualities of the easy form and 

 snug rig. However we may differ from "Corinthian," his let- 

 ter contains much information and bears the stamp of consid- 

 erable thought. 



■ — .«. i 



HOW TWO NATIVES RAN FOUL RIFT. 



Easton, Pa., October 9, 1878. 

 Editor Forest and Stream-. 



Having been much interested in your several published commu- 

 nications of the cauoists who ran ihe Great Foul Rift Falls of the 

 Delaware, at Belvidere, N. J. I beg to add to the record the ex- 

 perience of some natives who recently undertook the feat, and 

 who, like the remainder of the natives, are Bkeptic of the mile-a- 

 miuulo run of the East Orangeites. Thoe. Rinek and Daniel W. 

 Snyder are two of the most expert base fishers of EaBton. Their 

 accoutrements are the beet, and not a week passes in season but 

 their boat-rigged team lands them from ten to fifty miles up the 

 stream by daylight to fish the pools to town, and whatever the 

 poverty in luck of other fishers — and there has been a liberal crop 

 of! it this season — their live box always samples fine and numerous 

 specimens. On the occasion in question Tom and Dan had driven 

 to Bnshkill, 86 miles, and reached the Rift with full fifty weight 

 of basB in tow. Now, thoy use an ordinary batteau, and not being 

 ambitious of making brilliant nine, usually carry at treacherous 

 points ; but this time they were beBet at the head of tho falls by 

 one Oourtright, a one-armed pilot of Bolvidero, who averred that 

 " hu knew every rock in the Rift," and for one dollar would laud 

 them at the foot of the falls safe and dry, or no pay. It being 

 a sultry day they were readily persuaded by Ihe pilot's confidence 

 to the indolent exhilarations of a safe sail through the rapids, 

 lather than tho conservative and fatiguing oarry. So our one- 

 armed pilot tackled the first or Little Rift, and in about three 

 minutes— or the time that the East OraDgeiteB had run the entire 

 rift —he struok a rock not down on his ohart ; and, the next posi- 

 tion, full suddenly, wag he on the bottom of the boat, Dan under 

 it, and Tom with the worst of it, in the current, tangled in the 

 rope of the live box in tow, and toe traps afloat on their own hook 

 down the rift. They got to shore by swimming, tumbling and 

 wading, lauding with the boat at the head of the Big Rift. Here 

 the chagrined pilot insisted on taking the boat on through, which 

 he did safely ; but Tom and Dan preferred to walk. Regarding the 

 time of the run they kept no record, but walking at the ordinary 

 gait of men cool from a ducking, they reached the foot of the rift 

 some two or three minutes ahead of their boat and pilot. Thoy 

 pilot their own boat now, find no special difficulty, and make the 

 run in from fifteen to eighteen minutes, and with lighter craft 

 could make Beveral minuteB better time. Thoy would like to see 

 one of tho three-minute runs by the foreigners. The official , 



measurements of tho riftB are : Little Foul Rift, 7CR1Y | ftreat 

 1'onl Rift, 4,620ft. ; distance from head of Little Rift to loft of 

 Great Rift, 1% mile. B, 



IS FOUL RIFT DANGEROUS? 



Cambbtdoe, Mass., Oct. 15, 1R7S. 

 Editor Forest and Strbam: 



I noticed, under the Bignature of " Magua" (an interesting 

 canoe letter), who, aftor portraying tho terrors of Wolls' Falls, re- 

 presses doubt as to the possibility of running aaid falls, without 

 an accident, in a canoe. I am, unfortunately, ignorant of the dis- 

 cussion as to who was the first to descend tho Delaware in a can- 

 vas canoe. Waiving all claims to priority, therefore, I would state 

 that in July, '77, a friend and myself, in two canvas canoes— made, 

 with very slight differences, after the Jtdl) Roy pattern— when we 

 worked our way up from Easton to Fort Jervis, N. J., paddled 

 down the Delaware to within a few miles of Philadelphia. Last 

 summer, too, after spending some time on tho Susquehanna, w 

 launohed again at Honesdale, on Lackawaxen Creek Paddling 

 down that rooky little stream to its mouth, we found ourselves on 

 the Delaware, considerably abovo Port Jervis. From thenco we 

 went down the Delaware for the second time, " Wellsos" and all, 

 to within a mile or two of our previous stopping place. In neither 

 of these trips did we carry anywhere on Ihe river, andiu neither did 

 we meet with any accident beyond shipping some water. At 

 Wells' Falls, to be Bute, owing to tho unavoidable breakers at the 

 bottom of the shoot, both of us came through pretty wet, but I 

 trust I have shown that the undertaking is not ao impossible as 

 "Magua" supposes. I must confess, however, that nothing but 

 necessity could tempt me to shoot tho falls in the open Adirondack 

 boat whose unlucky mishap your correspondent ao well describes. 



J. 



Font, Rift on thb Delaware. — Says a correspondent : 

 "There is no real difficulty in running this rift, and the 

 natives smile a little at the feats of the strangers ; and a little 

 grave ridicule of one of the many parties who get ducked by 

 carelessness will not hurt the canoeists in general." Foul 

 Rilt promises to become historic in the annals of canoeing, 

 and to have shot the rapids wi'l be the Open Sesame to the 

 canoeist's admiration and a passport into the brotherhood of 

 the Knights of the Paddle. 



jf^a and jjfiv&[ 



FISH IN SEASON IN OCTOBER. 



FRKBH WATER. 



Black Bass, Micropenis ttahnoiiien; J J Ike 



Pickerel, Jimx Indus. 



8sa Bas«, Scicetwps ocellatm. 

 Striped Bass, Sceeus tinneatus. 



Wlitte Perch, Muroue americatM. 

 WeaKHsii, Ci/nomnn regatta; 

 Bluettsu, Pmnalumus sattatrix. 



Yellow Perch, Perc.it lUetxcam. 



WATER. 



Spanish Mackerel, Cyliimn macula, 

 turn. 



Cero, CyUum regale. 

 Bonlto, cardu peiainys. 



KJugUsh, ilentivirrun nelmtosu.1. 



Fish in Market— Retail Prices.— Bass, 20 cents ; smelts, 30; 

 blnefieh, 8 ; salmon, 25 ; mackerel, 20 ; weak fish, 10 ; whito 

 perch, 15; Spanish mackerel, 60; green turtle, 15; terrapin, per 

 doz, $15; halibut, 15; haddock, G ; king fish, 18; codfish, 7; 

 black fish, 15 ; flounders, 8 ; sea bass, 18 ; eels, £18 ; lobsters, 

 8; Hheepshead, 18; scallops per gallon, 81; aoft clams, 10 to 75; 

 white Abu, 15; pickerel, 18; salmon trout, 15; hard craba, per 

 100, $2.50. 



Movements of Tint Fisnnra Fleet. — The number of fish- 

 ing arrivals reported at this port the past week has been 69— 

 15 from the Banks, 27 from Georges, 14 from the Bay St. 

 Lawrence and 3 from Shore mackereling trips. The Bank 

 fleet have averaged light fares, vessels bringing 385,000 lbs. 

 codfish, and 9 vessels 170,000 lbs. halibut. Hccc-ipls of 

 Georges codfish, 270,000 lbs. 2,050 bbls. mackerel have been 

 received from the Bay, and 000 bbls. have been landed by the 

 Shore fleet, Mackerel of good quality put in an appearance 

 off Thacher's Island after the storm, and several vessels took 

 good fares on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.— Cape Ann 

 Advertiser, Oct. 18. 



Massachusetts— Columet, Oct. 19.— Fishing for smelts has 

 been splendid in Weir Kiver, Uingham and Boston Buy. 

 Iligh line for one man, 52 doz., at Kimball's; for two men, 

 07doz. I saw here last week a large green turtle, about 75 

 pounds ; did not get him, as I could not kill him with shot, 

 and he would not put his head out of water. 8. K., Jk. 



Verv Like a Whaak.— The fishing schooner Ltona, of 

 Port Hawkesbttry, Cape Breton, which arrived in Portland 

 harbour Saturday morning in tow of the steaming W. 11. 

 Scott, when a few miles off the coast discovered ti whale 

 floating on the water. It was taken in tow and brought to 

 Portland. The Portland Prm says the monster is white with 

 barnacles, is of the megaptera or hump-backed species, and is 

 about eighty feet long. It had a harpoon firmly embedded in 

 its back, and had evidently died from the effects of the wound. 

 It is a right whale, and will probably be towed to one of the 

 islands and the oil extracted. 



New Yoek.-- Shelter Island, Oct. 19.— Buuker fishing good 

 lately, and the factories in full operation. The black-fishing, 

 also, has been good, and the fish are still plenty, but the cold 

 season will soon drive them into the mud. We have bad no 

 difficulty in catching numbers of them, when we could pro- 

 cure fiddler bait, but the fiddlers are getting scarce. 



Isaac. 



— E. H. Howell, of Bath, Steuben Co., N. X., sends some 

 really fine specimens of bass flies which he says are some tied 

 by himself, from instructions received from your valuable 

 book, the " Sportsman's Gazetteer." Tbey are what 1 think 

 an improvement on the " Fowler," and we have had great 

 success with them this season on black bass. A friend of 

 mine, tho editor of the Allegany Co. Reporter, having caught 

 as high as 52 fine fish in one day in Ilemlock Lake. 



—John Klaber and Henry Chandler went fishing in Newark 

 Bay. In the basket they carried a bottle of whiskey. In at- 

 tempting to disentangle his line Chanriier ran a hook into 

 Klaber's thumb, Klaber seized the lines and threw them 

 overboard. Chandler whacked Klaber over the her.d with 

 the hutt end of his fishing rod. Then both clinched and 

 tumbled into the water. Tbey were rescued and reconciled, 



Pens. — McVfi/tmcn, Oct. 7.— Nearly 2,000 black b 

 been caught in the Juniata Kiver at this place thi 

 showing a large increase over the nmnbci 

 Joseph Dull has caught, the largest number — about 250— beat- 

 ing Charles Green, the second champion, in a fishing match a 

 few weeks since. Joe, in the vernacular ot this ueck-o'- woods, 

 is " immense," The fish taken averaged about one pountl 

 each. A strange fish was caught on an outline in the Juniata 

 at this place recently, in the following singular manner : An 

 eel had taken a bait and became fastened on a hook, when, it 

 is supposed, the strange fish attempted to swallow it, during 

 which the eel wriggled through the gill of the larger fish and 

 wrapped itself around it, thus securing both the eel and 

 strange fish. It measured in length 28 inches aud weighed 

 about five pounds. It is supposed to be a salmon, which fish 

 at one time inhabited these waters. E. J. S. 



VnsGnaA.— fflekaumd, Oct. 19.— Black bass are just lie- 

 ginning to take the hook in this part of the James. Judge 

 Cloptou, I. S. Baird, J. W. Bronaugh, Esqrs., and others 

 have caught some very fiue ones. All of our fishing is done 

 with live bait or troll, none of our fishermen being able to 

 use a H.v (except to catch tree tops and coat tails). Some of 

 your experts should come to our State Fair and show us how 

 to do it, we would be pleased to see them and would treat 

 them well. James River. 



Leesburg, Oct. 18. — Until to-day the hand-liners have 

 been taking large strings of large bass. Major Ferguson, 

 with fly, has on several occasions taken in about an hour 

 a half-dozen averaging two pounds. Wm. B. Clagett, at 

 Ault's, took ten, smallest two pounds, largest five pounds 

 eight ounces, the largest taken this season. T. W. 



Tennessee— Colnvibia, Oct. 12. — The drought had nearly 

 spoiled our fall fishing, but a refreshing rain of this week 

 saved it, and a party is off for the trout streams next week. 

 Mr. 0., while fishing in the river at this place a few days ago, 

 caught two striped bass, the first, it is said, that was ever 

 caught, here. The usual quantity of catfish, drum and buffa- 

 lo are being caught by river fishermen. Vai„ 



Florida. — Jacksonville, Oct. 18. —We expect a lively winter. 

 We are promised a direct lineto Jacksonville from New York; 

 The first steamer, the Western Texas, is advertised to sad on 

 the 26th. We are to have a first-class new steamer on the 

 route between Charleston and Jacksonville. She is reported 

 to be very fast, and will leave New York at an early day. 



Al Fresco. 



Belleville, Canada, Oct. 10.— Fishermen report but poor 

 takss in the bay as yet, though the catch of white fish has 

 been above the average. Van. 



Tnic Barbi.kss Fibit nooK.— Many of our readers will re- 

 member how strenuously Mr. Seth Green has advocated lbs 

 use of the barbless hook, and how much chaff he has drawn 

 upon himself from anglers of the old school and unbelievers. 

 It seems that Messrs. Aul & Co., of Bloomsburg, Pa., became 

 inoculated with his views, and contrived, not merely a hook 

 without a barb, but a spring to prevent a fish from getting off 

 after he is ones hooked. Last fall Messrs. Aul sent us speci- 

 mens of these hooks, asking our opinion of theiu, and fro 

 candidlytold them that we took no stock in the invention. Only 

 once or twice since have we heard anything about the hooks 

 until we received, last week, a letter from a Texas friend who 

 speaks in highest praise of them and wishes us to r 

 them. This of course we do not do ; hut if any of our readers 

 wish to lest them it will be easy to procure some samples and 

 experiment therewith. Our correspondent recommends Nos, 

 7 and 8 for black bass and Nos. 4, Sand for white perch. He 

 says : 



"You have a hook now that will hold your bass. Let him 

 jump out of the water as high as he pleases, shake as he 

 wishes, run under logs and rear and scotch and pitch, line 

 taut or slack, all to no purpose — he cannot cast the hook." 



Mmrations of Fisn. — We havo repeatedly spoken of fish 

 being taken along the New England coast of late years which 

 were formerly wdiolly unknown there, and supposed never to 

 move north of Cape Hatteras. The investigations of Ihe T". 

 S. Fishery Commission under Prof- Baird, disclose a great deal 

 of most valuable information respecting the migrate «i 

 and no doubt of tho causes also of such migrations. Cur very 

 observant correspondent Concha sends this week some data of 

 value, altogether corroborative of what has been before stated 

 to be ascertained facts. We quote : — 



Naw Bedfoud, Haas., Oct, II 

 Editor Fobest and Stream : 



Much has been written regarding the annual and occasional migra- 

 tions or il-li, imc little Has as yet been learned regarding tii 

 forty-five years ago I recollect thebiueilih, then an uuknown species, 

 began to appeur, un>l was called " horse mackerel," and was reputed 

 to lie unwholesome, in 1882, when engaged In seining and netting lathe 

 ,v Bedford, I assisted la taking six Spanish mackerel, m 

 that time a tlsh that no inarketnian or fisherman could name; and 

 of which in the succeeding year more were captured, and 01 

 to New York, brought the, to us, unheard-of price of one dollar per 

 le increase oonttnued for some time, until with in three years 

 i: been taken at a time from the pounds ut Wood'B Hole, 

 etc. Little more than two years since, a strange fish with large /scales 

 was caught here, which no one ooald name. On sending description 

 timl scales to I'rof. Baird, he at once called It the "Tarpam' - or "Jew- 

 OBh." This year many have been caught, and It is almost a daily visitor 

 ih some one of our flsh markets. Two were brought In to-day weighing 

 over fifty pounds each. Pompanos are also getting plenty, and perhaps 

 In u few years Jew-fish and pompano will be a regular dl-li at our 

 summer hotels. Mr. C, 8. Kandall caught two striped bass weighing 

 twenly-Bve and eighteen pounds, Monday, and since tire 

 storm of last week quite lirge quantities averaging ten | D 

 have filled our marketa , Cod and uutog ashing Btlll good Here ; BCOD 

 all gone. Uohoha, 



[The scale of the tarpum resembles translucent enamel on 

 all that part over which other scales lap ; but the exposed part 

 seems frosted with pure silver, so that a freshly caught 

 fish resembles an immense mass of silver. We have tarpum 

 scales which are as bright as they were twenty years ago.— 

 Ed. F. .v 



