THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL". 



Trcms, Four Dollars n. Ti 

 Ten Cems a Copy. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY. NOVEMBER 28, 1878. 



I Volume U-No. 17. 

 I No. Ill Fulton St., N. T.' 



For Forest and Stream nnd Rod and ffwn, 

 VOICES OF THE FOREST. 



TN my rude canoe on the quiet lake, 

 ■*■ t sit lu the calm moonlight ; 

 Where tall trees throw their shadow.", 



And sweet sounds fall on the night ; 

 Where the air hreathes through the tall old plats, 



With mnny a sigh and moan , 

 A choir of a hundred voices I hear. 



Though 1 sit here and sing alone. 



The stars loos down from I he sty above, 



And np Trom the waters below ; 

 Tho Ore-fly Hashes hl3 tiny lamp 



Wiih its phosphorescent glow. 

 I hear i"c volet of the wblppoorwlll, 



The deep nolra of the frog, 

 Mid the many mysterious voices that greet mn, 



From forest and lake autt bog. 



T hear the hoot or the tolemn owl. 



The sound of the wood-duck'n call ; 

 The trout, a3 it leaps from the laka in p'ay, 



f hear Us splash aud fall. 

 The grating teeth of the deer as he feed", 



And 1 hear tils stamp in the lake ; 

 Toward the shore glides an antlercd buck. 



Leaving his rippling wake. 



1 hear the soand of the insect ah >ir, 



And I feel their piercing sting ; 

 J hear the chattering squirrels near, 



And afar, the looa's cUrion ring; 

 The muffled drumming of partridges 



lu the tangled brush near by ; 

 The hoarse croak of the raven, 



And the tree-frog's piping cry. 



Only a few boat lengths away, 



There's a deep ravine near a beautiful bty ; 



There's a grove of pines, with tueir garments green, 



And their shadows lie dark on I he waters between. 



as I steered for the spot there Issued a found 



That cut died my blood, and made my heart bound. 

 " A panther," 1 whispered j and homeward I went; 



O'er the waters I flew, and hurried to tent. 

 " Why man." laughed the guide; "what's whitened your uhe:k 



'Twas no panther, but only a screech-owl's shriek ; 



No msre in these forests the panther prowls, 

 • Men raised in the woods are not sea ed at owls.' " 



— STEPHEN'. 



For Foreitt and Stream and Hod and Gr.it 



f ports in jfa/f ffiego jga. 



Br T. S. Van Dyke. 



ALAND about as unknown to the sportsman as Alaska, 

 about as unknown to the majority of Californians thenil 

 selves asKamschatka ; pictured by the imagination as a burn- 

 ing-waste; tenanted mainly by Mexicans, Indians, toiantulas 

 snakes, centipedes, scorpions and fleas; despised, ridiculed and 

 abused by the State to which it belongs, — is the county of San 

 Diego. After what I heard about it in the places as above, it 

 ■was not without many misgivings that I ventured into Ihe 

 living tomb it was described to be, and should hardly have 

 done so had not all reluctantly admitted that it had what I 

 was in soarch of — tho bsst climate in the State. I And it so 

 vastly different from all that I had been led to believe that ( 

 must, for the benefit of a certain class of sportsmen, give some 

 description of it, for I believe it is destined to become for them 

 one of the best known and most valuable resorts that our 

 country affords. 



A high mountain chain, cutting the county in two, shuts 

 the western portion entirely out from all influence of the ter- 

 rible Colorado desert, which covers Ihe entire eastern half, 

 and leaves a climate and country totally different from that 

 of Arizona and the neighborhood of Fort Yuma. From this 

 mountain chain the land breaks away toward the far-shining 

 Pacific, forming a country about as large as New Jersey, con- 

 taining all varii liesof climate, scenery and soil. Throughout 

 the whole of this, poor land was so abundant that nature was 

 compelled to stack it, and as time was precious in those days, 

 the job was done in such a hasty and careless manner that it 

 lies slung around loosely in all directions and shapes. Every- 

 where are vast piles, from 1,000 to 3,000 or 5,000 feet 



high, and some 7,000 or 8,000. The intervals are filled 

 with lesser piles, vast ravines or table-lands, which, in 

 turn, are cut up with ravines, valleys and gulches innumer- 

 able, of all widths, depths and lengths. 



The country is not, as would be supposed from its climate 

 a dreary heap of ban?, brown hills, though such in places are 

 numerous enough ; but here and there lies, like a quiet lake 

 in the frowning frame of its surroundings, a lovely and well- 

 watered valley, with thousands of acr.s of the richest land 



nnrl ffOfttAnn 'itltt fi.-lrlo t\¥ novnnm'nl «..„ — — u:i- ,u_ • ■. 



and gardens, and fields of perennial green, while the majority 

 of the hills are robed in vestments of eternal green of every 

 variety of shade from the dark velvet to the most delicate of 

 Ihe light tints. This "chapperal " consists mainly of bushes 

 from five to fifteen feet in height, of a nature that would 

 flourish luxuriantly ou the southern slope of a ficsh-baked 

 brick. As we recede from (he coast, timber appears in the 

 canyons, and a-; tin; land rites higher it grows larger and 

 thicker, and spreads out from the cmyons up the mountain 

 sitlcs, and covers the tops of the high mouniains with dense 

 forests. 



In the lowlands the s'.reams are dry in summer, and half the 

 time even in winter, and the water is generally warm and 

 poor for drinking; but in iho mountains are many living 

 streams and spi ings of delicious cold water. 



The scenery is, of course, not bo grand as (hat of other por- 

 tions of the State, and yet is sufficiently fine to be highly 

 attrsctive. On every hand are mountains thai , if irT the 

 Adirondacks, would bo sung in song and blazoned in story by 

 a thousand quills. Here and there great rugged cliffs of gray, 

 impassive granite have elbowed their resistless way thousands 

 of feet into the blue dome of heaven, and long chains cleaving 

 Ihe sky with serrated backs run in all directions. Smaller 

 mountains and ridges innumerable lie scattered in all direc- 

 tions; and over all has been sown in wild, reckless profusion 

 myriads of granite boulders of every size and shape. Alone* 

 the mountain passes they stand like grim sentinelsof the land" 

 far up along the peaks, and on the points they lie grouped like 

 frowning forlressts, and away out upon the plains they some- 

 times stand like giant mile-stones in a giant country. From 

 almost any mountain top may be seen the silver sheen of the 

 peaceful ocean, with its high rocky islands ; to Ihe south the 

 ragged mountains of Mexico, and to the east and north peaks 

 and chains of all sizes up to 11,500 feet. Long canyons filled 

 with richest verdure of a dozen shades wind their sinuous 

 arms in loving embrace almost around the mountain's neck. 

 On all hands may be seen the long green trail of some stream 

 which, though sleeping for years below its sandy bed, still 

 keeps the adjacent land in every living beatitv, anil far away 

 toward the coast the table-land rolls away "in long billowy 

 swells. All this, in winters when we are blessed with a lew 

 decent showers, is spattered from valley lo mountain crest 

 with a profusion and variety of flowers that benumbs the 

 wonder of even the most enthusiastic rantera about flowers in 

 Upper California and Colorado. The resources of this sec! iou 

 are, like those of Southern California, generally, far short of 

 the extravagant nonsense with which the real estate sharp 

 loads his ever -ready blunderbuss to bag Iho Eastern gull, yet 

 also much greater than one accustomed to the rich prairies 

 and copious rains of the west would at first suppose. But 

 these I shall pass, as I have lo deal only with its resources for 

 the sportsman. 



To the climate, however, justice has never been done, even 

 oy its best friends. It is thought high praise to call it " semi- 

 tropical." It's an insult, and I thank Heaven it is not semi- 

 tropical. It is Sau Diego climate, the finest, not in the world 

 perhaps, but in any civilized part of the world where an 

 American can live and enjoy life. I do not say this because I 

 live here, but on the contrary, I live here for the same reason 

 that I eay this ; because, from a thorough comparison of TJ. 

 S. records with those of other places, from ihe unvarying tes- 

 timony of numerous travelers and climate-seekers in other 

 parts of llic world, and from a three years' residence, I am 

 convinced that, taken the year round, there is no place where 

 one can live so many days out of doors without suffering from 

 heat or cold, rain, mud, winds, and other climatic discomforts. 

 At the caudal end of the Pacific rain belt it gets lcs3 rain than 

 any other habitable portion of our country, while the unfail- 

 ing ssa-breeze, formed by the suction of trie ascending heated 

 air of day, makes the summer temperature of the coast far 

 les3 unpleasant than that of even Massachusetts. Though the 

 winter i3 theoretically a "rainy season," unfortunately for 

 anything like agriculture it practically is not. About three 

 years out of live the winter is much drier than thedriest sum- 

 mer ever seen east of the Rocky Mountains, while the summer 

 Is only an eight months' chain of attenuated dryness long 

 drawn out. The average winter is like tiio loveliest of Octo- 

 ber weather at the East. Day after day and week after week 

 the sua climbs the same old cloudless arch and sinks behind 

 an immaculate curtain of amber and rose. An occasional 

 white frost at night, gone before breakfast, is the nearest ap- 

 proach to iho winter of the North- The aamp, enervating 

 heal of FJ irida is unknown at any lime of year, and while the 

 wmtM days are always warm enough to hunt in shirt -sleeves, 

 they are never s<j hoi that a coat is uncomfortable. The tem- 

 perature ot the coast is cooler in summer thau that of Maine, 

 yet warmer in winter than that of South Carolina. Back in 

 the country it is a few degrees warmer by day and a few 

 cooier at night ; yet the mercury seldom reaches 00, and 

 100 no oftener than in New York. Owing to the great dry- 

 ness of the air, which enables the never-fading breeze to re- 



move the perspiration very fast and allows a rapid radiation 

 the moment the sun is gone, making very cool nights, the 

 summer is, instead of a nuisance, a positive luxury compared 

 with anything to be found Fast. Of course there are excep- 

 tions. On the mountains there is more rain and some snow 

 and ice m winter, and some few canyons and basins shut off 

 from the breeze are extra hot in summer. But the climate- 

 seeker can always take his choice from a great variety of 

 climate. 0r.ee in eight cr ten years thcie will be an extra 

 wet winter (though the wettest ever known gave only seven- 

 teen inches of rain, the average being eight), and once in two 

 or three years the whole State will be swept for a day or two 

 or three by a scorching sirocco. Tho air is extremely dry 

 and either in winter or summer meat maybe dried without 

 salt or smoKe. I have never found a place where anything 

 ike malaria is so utterly unknown, though it could doubtless 

 be produced by excessive irrigation in summer of large tracts, 

 a thing of which, however, there is no danger with the present 

 rainfall. * 



To my great surprise I find it remarkably freo from insect 

 ir reptile pests. Both insects and reptiles are numerous j but. 

 act of the fraternal kind. No festive gnat or black fly hankers 

 for your blood, and the impressive bug, that in the Northern 

 and Eastern hotel so gently o'er the sleeper stealetb, is here 

 unknown. The musquito and midge are found in but few 

 spots ; the affectionate wood-tic huggeth no closer than at the 

 Last ; and no jigger maketh geological explorations in your 

 crust. An ant will occasionally mistake an emaciated shank 

 for a beanpole and ascend to investigate, and a flea will once 

 in a while demand payment, though I lived here two years 

 before one presented me his bill. In three years, mostly spent 

 in hunting, I have seen but ten rattlesnakes, the only poison- 

 ous kind ; five or six tarantulas, one scorpion and one centi- 

 pede. In winter there is nothing of any kind to annoy one 

 The county has a population of 5,000 or 0,000 whites, fully 

 equal in intelligence, culture, hospitality and respectability to 

 that of any rural portion of our country, and far supprior to 

 that of some portions. The Indians and Mexicans number 

 about the same, and are quiet, orderly and nearly nil industri- 

 ous. The county is well governed, and life ancl property are 

 as safo asin any part of California, and far safer than in many 

 parts of our country. 



For Ihe invalid sportsman who is compelled to hunt cli- 

 mate for a living, or who would escape for a time the rigors 

 of a Northern winter, San Diego Co. offers some peculiar"ad- 

 rantages. He will find abundance of game and the easiest 

 county to hunt in that he has probably ever seen. Either' in 

 a wagon or on horseback, as well as on foot, he can go almost 

 anywhere where the game is without the slightest danger of 

 getting lost, without plunging through swamps, mud or water 

 without tearing and swearing his way through sawgrass, canel 

 brake or briars, or invoking bjnisons upon aii endlesssuccession 

 ot fallen logs, tangled vims, roots, etc. There are some thick 

 patches of cactus as well as heavy chapparal, but there is no 

 necessity at all for going into either to find game in abundance 

 Here he will find within a short distance of his boardin^ 

 place vast game preserves, upon which the resident sportsmen 

 can make no visible impression, and which are barred to the 

 market hunter by laws of nature that he cannot break— dis- 

 tance from market, difficulty of preserving for shipment, cost 

 of transportation, price of ammunition, cheapness of other 

 meat, etc. Quail abound he re in quantities of which the East- 

 ern sportsman has no conception, and the shooting lasts from 

 September till March, being the very best when our Eastern 

 fields are closed by both law and snow. 



Hares antl rabbits (an unscientific distinction, but I will 

 make it for convenience!, nevertheless) are very abundant on 

 the low lands and broad valleys. Both are of a variety pecu- 

 liar to this section, are smaller than the jack rabbit of the 

 plains and the cotton-tail of the East, and as much superior in 

 flavor to them cr the white hare of the North as Ihe wood- 

 cock is to the woodpecker. For years I would not notice the 

 detestable little bunny of the East ; but these keep in a kind 

 of brush about waist-high, through which they run and dodge 

 in a way that makes capital shooting, while in Ihe morning 

 and ee ciing I hey will be out along the edges in numbers suffi- 

 cient to soon fill the bag of the lyro who cannot shoot running. 

 In winter every lagoon abounds with ducks, which, owing 

 to the dry banks and smooth surroundings, are very easy lo 

 get at ; aud although the shooting is inferior to many parts of 

 the West and Northern California, yet it is by no means to be 

 desp'si-e'. Good bags can be made by the tyro, and he who 

 wants the glorious wing shooting neeets only a comrade or two 

 tokeep the ducks stirred up. In tho bay of San Diego thero 

 is in winter fine shooting on the black brant, a variely almost 

 unknown East, and the most gamey and fine flavored of all 

 California wat it fowl. 



No royal woodcock hero goes twisting and whistling up- 

 ward through the limber, and no loudly' gr >use bursts "from 

 the brake wiih booming wing ; but the dear little snipe is here 

 in some places ; and along the coast willet, curlew ami plover 

 are very abundant, while doves, meadow larks, highholders, 

 e:c, are plenty for those who want such game. 



In the high mountains is a beautiful variety of qualf, larger 

 a little than deal old Bob White- ; a distinct and beautiful 

 variety of pigeon, and a gray squirrel, apparently ihe same as 

 the much beloved friend Of my boyhood, except that it lives 

 in tho rocks and ground as well as trees, though 1 think the 

 treesquirrel is still another variety. 

 The shooting season here is practically endless, as by the 



