NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DEC. 24, 1874. 



e 3, Slumber 30. 

 »Sl. (C'ityllnll *)<jr.) 



For Forest a 

 LUCAGO'S ISLE. 



■Mils 



e they, 



.J. \_ Tlie ialanda of the Southern s 

 With silver covea und titaajr a hay, 



Delightful are thy scene* to me. 

 Then chant ye Irade wind breezes, chant, 



Along Bahama's sunny shore, 

 Let Neptune, if he pleases, grant 



Smooth seas to thee for evermore. 



Thy fragrant trees and shimmering Hands, 

 Gave joy to me in youth's bright days-, 



The ocean sighed along thy strands, 

 And sadly sung her mournful lays. 



Then chant ye Made wind breezes, chant, 

 Along Lticago's sunny shore; 



Let Neptune, if he pleases, grant 

 Smuoln seas to thee for e 



I love those Islands of the sea, 



Where gently falls the pattering rain; 

 'Tia sweet to sing, dear land, of thee— 



1 long to view thy banks again. 

 Then chant ye pleasant breezes, chant, 



Along Bahama's coral shore, 

 Let Nepluue, ir he pleasea, grant, 



Smooth seas to thee for evermore. 

 St. John, X. S. J. Nhwt! 



f#* ^islfwij in the graphs. 



BY PEK8SK. 



1 1 "\ X THAT do you think of pompano?" asked a friend 

 V V -with whom the -writer dined some time ago at a 

 hotel in the neighborhood of Boston, famous for the ex- 

 cellence of Its fish, and game. "Some persons say it's deli- 

 cious." . 



"1 know the fish," I answered, "though not under that 

 name. I have been not a little amazed at observing in the 

 sudden popularity of this novelty how the mere rarity of a 

 dish, outside of any peculiar merit, takes people. This 

 pompano, as you call it, is well known in tropical waters, 

 where it attains a pretty good size, up to twenty or twenty- 

 five pounds weight. It is not held in much account for the 

 table, though to a new- comer, the taste, until from its rich- 

 ness it becomes tiresome, is not unpleasant. Its best merit 

 is its strength and the resistance it makes when hooked, 

 though in this respect, as well as in point of flavor, it is 

 immeasurably inferior to the king fish, which, not unlike 

 the salmon in appearance, still more resembles that most 

 game of all fish iu flavor, and the brilliant, well-sustained 

 efforts it makes for escape, rushing about with great speed, 

 pulling hard, and sometimes leaping fully four or five feet 

 clear out of the water. In size it seldom exceeds, at least 

 in the parts I am acquainted with, twelve or fifteen pounds, 

 but is so full of strength and play, that unless the fisher has 

 his hand protected by a good glove, he runs the pretty cer- 

 tain risk of having his Augers cut into the bone. The king 

 fish, its congener, the Spanish mackerel, and the cavalli 

 the West Indian name for your pompano, arc principally 

 caught by hand lines, trolling in a boat or dug-out moving 

 at full speed— the bait being generally a long strip of glis' 

 teniug flesh from certain fish, the balahou being considered 

 the best for this purpose. 



Talking of cavalli, reminds me of my first experience of 

 Land-line trolling in the tropics, and an incident, which 

 though trivial enough, remains in my memory as an in- 

 stance how large and fierce fish are not unfrcquently taken 

 by means, which, in comparison with their strength, would 

 be as weak as a thread in a man's hands. I have often put 

 out, as night-lines for shark, a stout rope with a large strong 

 hook and a float in the. shape of a small keg or some such 

 thing, and in the morning have found the rope snapped like 

 a thread, and hook and barrel gone. While on the other 

 hand, I remember having drawn in with the seine a saw lish, 

 thirteen feet long, counting the saw, and in girth over four 

 feet, which allowed itself to be hauled ashore without a 

 motion, a courtesy that we in utmost alarm for our slender 



net, were extremely obliged for. It was not until safely 

 placed on terra flrmu, and it had received a. thrust or two 

 from a machete, that the bulky brute condescended to move 

 its formidable weapon. But such is the exception. 



The barracoutais par excellence , the most ungcntlemanly 

 of all fish to have the misfortune to find in the seine. He 

 dashes wildly about in all directions, tearing everything 

 before him in blind fury, until, at last setting himself at 

 liberty, lie leaves the melancholy marks and tokens of his 

 unwished-for presence in the tattered fragments of the net, 

 damaged to an extent requiring a couple of days' hard work 

 for repairs. The only plan with this high-way robber of 

 the deep, when you have the mishap to catch the Tartar, is 

 with all hands in the boats to hurry up the seine and fold it 

 round and round, and thus hamper his lightning-like move- 

 ments. This is, however, much more easily said than done, 

 even with a small net, of, say from forty to fifty yards long. 

 The difficulty of hauling the heavily weighted net from 

 the boats, in addition to the hurry, scurry, rush and con 

 fusion of the occasion is seldom attended with success, the 

 result being that iu most cases, every effort to the contrary 

 notwithstanding, Siguor Barracouta effects his own escape, 

 and the destruction of the seine. 



The grouper, too, constitutes a most disturbing element, 

 if by chance a stray one gets in, though as these 

 frequent the deep water round rocky headlands, where 

 netting is impracticable, such seldom occurs. A medium- 

 sized, moderately well behaved sea citizen of this class is, 

 however, a very welcome item in the haul. The grouper, 

 by the way, holds by universal consent first rank among 

 West Indian fish for the table, and— stewed in claret— is, I 

 may tell you, a thing to remember. But, save us from an 

 ungovernable scoundrel of from forty to sixty pounds 

 weight in a seine. He is worse than a bull in a china shop, 

 or a pig at a dance. He must have everything his own 

 way. w hat a commotion, to be sure, he does cause, and 

 how confundedly glad we used to be to get rid of the un- 

 manageable, unmannerly brute, and be left even a few 

 meshes to patch together. But I am getting away from my 

 cavalli. 



Last time I was down the West Indies I spent some time 

 in Triuidad. Shortly after my arrival I received an invita- 

 tion from my good frieuds at Sweetbrier, that gem of a 

 trophical country house. They were off to the Fire Islands 

 for a month or so, and would be glad, they said, if, when 

 business permitted, I could spend a few days there with 

 them. 



These Fire Islands, a favorite bathing resort of the people 

 of Port of Spain, are a picturesque cluster of rocky islets, 

 distant about six miles from the town in the direction of 

 the Northern Bocas, or mouths of the Gulf of Paria, and 

 lying three miles out from the shore where the land bends 

 inward into a broad bay, the mountains with their glorious 

 luxuriance of tropical foliage reaching down almost to the 

 water's edge, and to the long sandy beach lined with prickly 

 roseaux aud lofty coco palms. Behind the further arm of 

 the bay which, with the elevated Island of Carreras at its 

 extremity, backs the Fire Islands, lies the deep and exquis- 

 itely beautiful harbor of Chaguaramus. Here it was where 

 the Spaniards sank their fleet at Abercrombie's approach. 

 And from these ancient, sunken war vessels Yankee enter- 

 prise was able not many years since to extract sufficient 

 treasures and stores to pay all expenses and give suffi- 

 cient profit. Beyond Carreras and Chaguaramus, the back- 

 ground of wooded mountains with numerous spurs ridging 

 to the sea, circle round to meet the first Boca and the 

 Islands of Moros, Haeros and Chaquachacare, that stretch 

 like broken links of a connecting chain across to the 

 Spanish Main. 



The phrase in Trinidad is not, as with us, to "take a 

 bathing lodge," but the more sounding term, to "take an 

 island." On each of these rocks, for in reality thsy are 

 not much more, is perched a house, or rather a collection 

 of small one-storied buildings. Every nook and cranny on 

 the isle is, moreover, utilized in the shape of terraces and 

 verandas, the whole making each spot quite a picture of 

 snug prettiness, standing out independently in the sunlit 



sea. When three or four families, congenial and pleasant, 

 a conjunction by no means difficult or unfrequent in Trini- 

 dad, are at the Islands together, then may jolly times be 

 expected— perfect abandon, mirth, flirtation, delightful 

 bathing in the almost tepid waters, break-of-day excursions 

 to seine the quiet coves all around, swarming with infinite 

 varieties of fish, or shooting in a canoe at top-most speed 

 along the open waters, trolling for those that love the 

 deep. 



I was not long in seizing an opportunity to join the G.'s 

 at Mercer's, as their temporary habitat was called. C. 

 was also coming, and in his gig, rowed by four sturdy 

 negroes, we put otf one Saturday afternoon for the Islands. 

 The breeze blowing bright and strong against us, the incon- 

 venient awning was willingly dispensed with, the baits put 

 on, and the lines let out. No fish, however, came to our 

 allurements. Schools of porpoises were tumbling about 

 here and there, but that could not have been the cause, for 

 now and then a silvery cloud of skipjacks would flash over 

 the dancing waves, or a man-of-war bird swoop down with 

 Unerring aim — showing that fish were there in plenty. At 

 length the tide, sweeping strongly in shore, compelled our 

 boatmen to keep farther out, and in this change of course 

 the luck was better. Beyond the occasional necessary jerk 

 to the line, my arm had been for some time doing its duty 

 in a listless and perfunctory manner, when, whew ! I 'got a 

 pull that nearly twisted me right round, and I was engaged 

 with a stunner. "Cavalli," said Lico, our bow oar. No 

 fish was to be seen, but the style of play told the sort. The 

 line was out far, the only business now was to haul iu, 

 Down went the fish, pulling like a demon. But no go for 

 him against a strong line and a ten-foot leader of best cop- 

 per wire. In a few minutes an eighteen pound cavalli was 

 flapping his green and gold streaked sides at the bottom of 

 the boat. Some more cavall! — with a couple of Spanish 

 mackerel — when C.'s capture of a dashing king fish made 

 me eager for a trial with one myself, especially as the 

 Islands were not far, aud the morrow being Sunday and an 

 idle day. My wisli was gratified. I hooked a splendid fel- 

 low. The work was every whit as exciting as tacking with 

 a rattler of a salmon fresh from the sea. This was a totally 

 differeut mode of proceeding from the unceremonious 

 treatment of the plebeian cavalli. No, sir. Bear too hard 

 on the king fish, and his majesty comes to the surface, 

 swift as a bolt from a crossbow, and dashes straight up, 

 quivering, several feet out of the water. By George ! 'tis 

 a sight to see him then, just like the instantaneous flash of 

 a silver spear-head in the sunshine. But this is the most 

 dangerous time, too. It is no use pulling hard, if you 

 want your fish. You must regularly play him, the boat 

 giving way, when required, as in lake salmon fishing. H 

 you try rough work with the king fish, you lose him,- in his 

 quick rushing resistance he will actually tear himself off 

 the hook. He must be taken in exhausted after careful, 

 patient play— no easy thing, either, with such a thorough 

 game fish, when you have no rod and do the work witli the 

 hands only. I got this one, and I must say that I would 

 have been terribly disappointed if 1 had lost him. 



We reached Mercer's just as the sun was sinking into the 

 sea. In a moment after, and for a few moments only, the 

 whole Western sky was resplendent in the multitude of 

 magnificent tints of the gorgeous tropic sunset. It was a 

 pretty sight— the picturesque rocky islet, with its quaint 

 caves aud verandas amid the broad-leaved wild almond 

 trees, in bold relief against, the burnished waters and the 

 departing splendor of the day — aud no less pleasant, too, 

 was the throng of friends watchiug our coming at the little 

 jetty on the leeward side, and formost, A. It. G., himself, 

 ready with that heartiest of ail greetings, a West India 

 planter's hospitable welcome to his home. 



They take you in awfully, do Trinidadians, when they 

 ask you down to the Islands. You have to rough it, you 

 know. I easily got used to it; so would you, if you were 

 one of the twenty or more, men, womeu aud children, that, 

 immediately after our arrival, sat down to dinner— turtle 

 soup, delicious fresh- caught, red fish, roast mutton and 

 guava jelly, hams, capons, plantains, cush-cush, cassaro. 



