FOREST AND STREAM.] 



387 



u p lunge into the esclh ice-cold snd spurt f 

 geysere 61 this National Park boiling hot. Yes; and we can 

 also find out "how far the TomUgbee Biver runs up !" 

 Here is a field for investigation as broad as the continent. 

 are hundreds of enterprising students now idle, •who are 



will so 

 douht sanction it too. The only difficulty at present 

 be that we cannot obtain fluorescein enough. 



A Physician in Texas.— A year or more ago a young physi- 

 cian, a Brooklyn gentleman who migrated t . i 

 wrote ua a private letter about, hunting, fishing, sheep-graz- 

 iDg, and the resources of Texas, which we thought of suffi- 

 cient general interest to publish, and took the liberty to do 

 so. Now, please note the result. We quote from a letter 

 jnst at baud ! 



Bbaokbttsvilie, TexaB, Nov. 34, 1873. 



Friend Ha:/looe. : The last letter I wrote you, to my 

 -nrprise, was published in your paper, which 

 innumerable letters of inquiry from all parts 

 all of whicl ■ ■ : i- .answering. Incoursei 



".-■ ■ ■ ■ of Wil- 



mington, Del., which has resulted in my entering into 

 neraliip with the Garrett Bios, and Maj. 8totsenberg, oi 



luington, Dei,, in a sheep ranch in . They came on to 



iloxia, when: » medicine, and Eh 



three horses, wagonfetc, etc., and started out to hunt a ioca- 

 r u;n. for a ranch, and after weeks of travel all through the 

 Btate, we settled here. On that trip we have bunted every- 

 thing almost, ami have bad lots or adventures up to the pres- 

 ent Bale. I think I am probably on my way to make money, 

 and I owe it all to Forest and Strsam, for it was your paper 

 that brought me before the eyes of the capitalists and brought 

 them out here. If you or any of your friends are out in this 

 direction come and make us a call and we will try to make 

 it pleasant for you all. We w\n take our rifles out and kill 

 deer, turkey and all kinds oE game on our own land, while 

 the Pinto River rises on our land, and in it are plenty of 

 trout, bass, perch, catfish, and almost all kinds of fresh 

 water fish. 1 have killed so many turkeys that we are almost 

 sick of them. Well, I will close at present. I was very suc- 

 cessful in my practicing medicine in Mcxis, and have many 

 friends who want me to come back. John G. 



in connection with the foregoing letter we ask permission 

 to say a word for ourselves. We are as sensibly impressed 

 as many of our patrons affirm themselves to be, with the 

 growing value of Fokbst and Stream as an advertising me- 

 dium. There are many journals devoted to special objects, 

 through which it would be supposed the public could be 

 reached more directly, yet we find that when solid business 

 transactions of any kind are looked for, men turn to our 

 columns as natural!}' as the experienced turner does to the 

 gold bearing mountain venues. And they seldom fail to find 

 a placer, or at least pay dirt ! Jlen pin their faith implicitly 

 en the overtures and business chances "which we advertise, 

 pecially upon our editorial representations and endorse- 

 ment? a wheat farm or a sheep ranch as easily 

 as we can sell dog biscuits, guns and fish-hooks. No 

 was ever started in our columns upon any subject whatever 

 -;ly attracted attention in highest places. 

 We have brought about a large number of valuable commercial 

 transactions, for which we neither expected nor received any 

 fee or reward. Tv'ith regard to Texas, we know that there is a 

 rapidly increasing interest and migration toward the State, and 

 what information we can gather of practical, value we shall 

 print from time to time. One of the best informed writers 

 in the State is the gentleman whose letter we publish in this 

 issue. He has promised to show up the resources of the 

 State and the advantages which the State offers to settlers. 

 No doubt there is much money at present in stock grazing 

 and sheep raising; but there are other pursuits just as lucra- 

 tive, and the cotton and grain fieids, the sugar plantations, 

 the mines, the quarries and the timber lands of Texas offer 

 an aggregate of inducements not found in any other section. 



CANADIAN DISCRIMINATING GAME 

 LAWS. 



TN our issue of November 14th we printed a communication 

 -*- from the gentleman whose signature is appended to the 

 letter below, in which he claimed what he now reiterates, that 

 the game laws of New Brunswick were framed expressly to 

 discriminate against Americans. He thinks this a great 

 Vance, and utters his most feeling protest. Protest No. 1 

 (Nov. 14;, elicited a reply or defense from Chief Game Com- 

 missioner Fellows, of the Province of New Brunswick, dis- 

 claiming any intention to " discriminate.'' The Commissioner 

 admits the letter of the law to protect game and the general 

 efforts made to that end, but denies that the laws were framed 

 to exclude American sportsmen, and calls upon us to refute 

 such an imputation. 



Well knowing the value and weight of ex parte statements, 

 we contented ourselves with a simple endorsement of the Pro- 

 vincial gains laws and approval of the present most commend- 

 able efforts of Canada to prevent the total extirpation of the 

 much diminished game. We held that Canada had a right to 

 make discriminating laws against foreigners, justas the States 

 of Iowa, Florida, Kansas, and some others had the right to 

 discriminate against their brotherhood of neighboring States. 

 Such laws might bo impolitic, ill-advised, and obviouBly un- 

 just, aggrieving and alienating friends and working retroactive 

 damage upon themselves ; hut none had the right to arraign 

 them for an act which was eminently a prerogative and an 

 affair of their own only. This position being too conservative 

 for our correspondent, he has again sought the use of our 



columns for the following reply to the New Brunswick Game 

 Commissioner: 



Pobtland, December 2, 1S7S. 

 Editor FoaaaT and Stream : 



One word in rep y to thB somewhat harah communication from ttie 

 Chief Game Commissioner of New Brunswick. 



It. Is truly gratifying to hear from the Cliiit Warden himself that, 



Americans were not intended to be discriminated against, by this new 



law, for the impression had must certainly been given me and my 



friend by the people with whom we talKed white In Sew BruuBWlcK 



last October (and in s^me Instances She Chief Warden wan quoted, 



though, I am now glad to ttnow, through error), that, this $20 tax Wis 



i hindering Americans shooting there. 



All true Amari , I am sure, would he most happy to aid 



g 'he game lawB of any eoumrj, and eager to bring to ae- 



■ Be slaughtering gime by Ibegitlmate means; but why 



Bhoald webecalle.l upon tnpayin support their game laws when they 



do not pay to Bnpport onrs? What would New Brunswick people 



thin] d upon to pay an annual tax of $20 to every 



winch tifiy shot I( to support the game iawS." 



ilia subterfuge? And since the matter has been referred 

 to, I will pay that it does cat^t: a blnih of humiliation to thins tnat af- 

 ter Americans have scut tens of thousands of dollars to help the poor 

 pi .:t. John, that they are not willing to show us the same courtesies 

 a mem, 

 The Chief Warden loses sight of the subject when he lays so much 

 stress on the slaughter of game out of season. If the laws are trana- 

 ■■■■■ . liu vr to punish ; but. data not the fact still re- 

 icrtrninstlug tax of $20, he does to as us 

 it ■ him, As I and ntyfriend have shot in New Brunswick 



jast, and as we ettpoct to shoot there ng (to, we are perhaps as 

 laws as the Warden himself ; and it 

 lot be oat of place to call lii3 attention to the slaughter of snipe 

 near Sackv:il: imbeTiWheSj as 1 hear from the people 



birds ara half grown, and so blue with piu feathera that 

 they are unfit for the table," simply, as I am told, " to klli them before 



those Yankees get there." 



In regard to salmon fishing, I will not enter into a controversy with 

 the Chief Warden. I did not say there was a discriminating law, but 

 if he will mak-5 ^orue inquiries in regard to the way some Boston gen- 

 men, leading salmon rivers, have been treated, I think he will find 

 3 Recriminated against, although he Is unpar- 



mentary enough to characterize it as "false." 

 fOUH very t:nly, SAM'L Hansox. 



Our readers have now heard in full the charge preferred by 

 our indignant correspondent, and we leave it to their common 

 sense to answer whether a great province like that of New 

 Brunswick, having the most intimate commercial relations 

 with its neighbor, the United States, would, from jealousy 

 or any imaginary grievance, or spirit of retaliation, stoop to 

 so petty a reprisal as to tax American sportsmen $20 per head 

 for the express purpose of keeping them out of the country ? 

 The idea is so absurd on the face of it that we at first refused 

 to entertain it ; but, since we are pressed for air opinion, we 

 shall decide against the plaintiff in toto. Our correspondent 

 hss lived so long upon the border and enjoyed such unlimited 

 reciprocity, that he is evidently taken aback by the slightest 

 restrictions upon his will or actions. He should not forget 

 that New Brunswick is just as much a foreign country now 

 as it was during our lute civil war, when firearms were inter- 

 dicted and Skeiladters safe when once fairly over the border. 

 "What right has he to quesliou the license to shoot any more 

 thim England has the tax on her products imported to France? 



The Cm.. . Fellows, has explained that the law 



was framed to prevent pot hunters from destroying the game, 

 the greater part of which was destroyed by citizens of the 

 United States and found its market in that country. The ex- 

 penses of enforcing thr, laws are met by fines, penalties, 

 seizures and licenses at home, and by a license fee exacted 

 from non-resident3. The Game Commissioner ingenuously 

 asks: "Is it unreasonable to ask foreigners as well as our- 

 selves to contribute Inward preserving the game of the coun- 

 try?" Our correspondent thinks it is, and asks "why we 

 should be called upon to pay to support their game laws, 

 when they do not pay to support ours ?" If- any reader thinks 

 , let him answer and defend it. 



From the fact that friend Hanson has specified New Bruns- 

 wick, he does not seem aware that similar laws obtain in the 

 other Provinces, and that in the adjoining Province of Nova 

 Scotia, for instance, there is alike tax of $20 on all non-resi- 

 dent sportsmen ; not merely non-resident Americans, but non- 

 resident New Brunswickers, Englishmen and alL And the 

 same is reciprocally true of the New Brunswick game law. 

 No better evidence can be adduced of the sincerity and un- 

 prejudiced impartiality of the Nova Scotia law than the fact 

 that British officers of the army and navy have repeatedly 

 been prosecuted from court to court to exact the fine which 

 they disclaimed they had an obligation to pay ; for it seems 

 they too are required to pay a license of $5, although they are 

 temporary residents. 



The arguments in favor of the system, as set forth by its 

 promoters, are : That the game is appurtenant to the soil, and 

 belongs to the people of the Province, just as much as in Eng- 

 land it belonga to the bird of the manor. Their forests are 

 their preserves, and they have the right to regulate the way 

 in which they shall be used. The inhabitants have to con- 

 tribute to the general revenue of the Province, in order to 

 carry on the different departments of the public service. Out 

 of these revenues a certain sum has been expended to defray 

 the expenses of preserving the game. Is it fair, then, for out- 

 siders, who pay nothing, to step in and enjoy the benefits re- 

 sulting from this protection, equally with those who have to 

 bear the burden of the expense and the responsibility and 

 trouble of enforcing the laws ? 



when the State of Maine, of which our corres- 

 pondent is a citizen, finds it expedient to enact similar laws 

 and regulations, it will do so. If such laws would accomplish 

 the consummation for which we have ao long devoutly wished 

 and earnestly worked, we would be willing to submit to special 



discriminating laws as applied to every State in the Union, 

 until the result was reached. 



As respects the fishery licenses and regulations to which our 

 correspondent refers, we must defer that part of the subject 

 for want of space here. It is a question which involves 

 different conditions. 



(HiOM OUa SPECIAL TEXAS OOP.KESPONDENT. ) 



TEXAS NORTHERS-HONESTY-ORANG. 

 ES AND LEMONS IN TEXAS. 



Ediiok Foeest and Stream : 



We are having 3uch a furious spell of weather that I can 

 do no mischief outdoors, and am therefore driven to seek 

 eome occupation indoors. For several days we have been en- 

 joying one of those singular north winds of Texas— shot un- 

 doubtedly from caverns in icebergs somewhere— accompanied 

 by a pelting rain. Of all winds that blow this is assuredly 

 the most villainous— a Texas "wet norther." To walk or 

 ride against it is excruciating torture. The drops of rain 

 hit you like bullets, square in the face, and I doubt not you 

 could hear them sing like rifle balls on a skirmish line, as 

 they flit, past your ears, if it were not for the continual 

 whizzing and howling of the wind. When such come there 

 is nothing to do but to " snook " round one's fireside and en- 

 gage in whatever mischief may come to hand. And yet this 

 is the very weather when one who loves his gun and dog can 

 find the most sport if he can stand the pelting and the whizz- 

 ing. The ducks and geese leave the bays and bayous and 

 swarm on the prairies, reinforcing the curlews, grouse, sand- 

 hill cranes and jacksnipes. And blackbirds or grackle come 

 by the literal million, though none but the " small boy " ever 

 shoots them. I take up my shooting irons and look upon 

 them with a melancholy look. Then I look out of the window 

 and see the scudding mists, the cedars tossing their boughs S3 

 if they were frantic, and hear the howling of the tempest. I 

 then lay my irons aside with a sigh. This sort of weather is 

 calculated to make folks crazy unless they have some re- 

 sources for mischief within themselves. Well, my pipe 

 never fails to give me solace under affliction, and I have lots 

 of books and paper and lead pencils. With these accompani- 

 ments I can from my heart say: "Howl, howl, ye breezes 1" 

 But. let none suppose that this norther is really Arctic, 

 though it does come from caverns in icebergs, or from the 

 regions of perpetual snow. This one has been piping about a 

 hundred hours, yet the thermometer on my gallery, exposed 

 to its full fury, poiats ten degrees above the freezing point. 

 Yet this is cold enough when driven into a fellow with 

 a forty- horse power. And how brilliantly the skies will 

 sparkle when the norther is gone ! The air will literally 

 dance with delight. Nothing can exceed the beauty of these 

 Texas days which succeed a norther. It makes a fellow feel ten 

 years younger ; like jumping over fences, riding wild mus- 

 tangs, turning somersaults. All nature, animate and inani- 

 mate, laughs with electricity. Indeed, these Texas northers 

 are most admirable institutions, and nothing could induce me 

 to live in any country where they do not blow. And they 

 blow nowhere on earth save in Texas. 



And let no one suppose they are usually accompanied by 

 rain. Usually they are not. Usually the skies are as clear as 

 a silver bell ; but then, Mr. Editor, they are cold, I tell you 

 for a fact. Then they'll make a fellow jump Jim Crow who 

 gets caught out in one. They'll pinch him blue; they'll 

 buffet him : they'll wallop him, and if he don't go to shelter 

 they'll turn the marrow of his bones to icicles. They are 

 snorters ; they are terrific. There is nothing like them in 

 this world, to him who rides on a vast uninhabited prairie 

 and there never will be anything like them. And yet I would 

 not give one of them for all the perfumed zephyrs of Araby 

 the Blest. 



But I had to engage in some mischief indoors during this 

 embargo on locomotion outside, and I fell to reading Horace, 

 as I often do when the weather is inclement or the nights' 

 long. I hit upon that celebrated ode, " Intiger vit<e celerinoue 

 purus," the 22d of the First Book, and it amused me so 

 much that I make a translation of it, literally where I could 

 and paraphrastically where I couldn't help myself. Here 

 goes: 



The man who leads an honest life, 



Free from crima and nol some strife," 



Don't need the ponderous Moorish spear, 



And nought beneath the Ekles need fear'; 



Even though his wandering footsteps tum 



To where the Syrtes deserts born ; 



Where Albanian mountains lift the snows, 



Or famed Bydospes current flows, 



For late, as carelessly 1 strayed, 



Unarmed, beyond my rural shade— 



My Laluge's sweet name repeating 



To th'amorous breezes rouud me fleeting— 



A wolf— and such ne'er Af ric bore 



Or howled upon the Apuliau shore- 

 Fled from me lu the Sabine wood. 



And Bought the deepest solitude. 



Place me in those dread regions where 

 No tree withstands the ley air- 

 Where endless night and vapors dwell, 

 And storms the scudding clouds Impel ; 

 Place me fn realms where the blazing sun 

 Withers all that he glares upon. 

 In silent deserts waste and wide, 

 To human resldetioe denied. 

 And still, with tltoui/ht serene and free, 



The flying hours beguiling, 

 I'll love and sing my Lalage 



Sweetly speaUng, gweeoy smiling' I 



