344 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



p!P" 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 

 DayoTED tc Field and Aquatic Sports, Pi'Aa-noAi.NA.'rtniAi.nisTonY, 



JftUB CULTURE, THF. PROTECTION (if i< A .ME .PRESERVATION OF FoillffTS, 

 AND TIIi» INCULCATION IN Men ANII WllMBNOFA UEALTRY INTEREST 

 CJ ClOT DOOR liECKBATION AND STUDY : 



PUBLISHED £T 



Rarest and Jtfraw// §ublishmg §pm$at{$, 



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 oenls per line. Advertisement on outside p'^'e, iocenisperliuc. Tii-udinp 

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NEW Y0BK, THCRSDAY, JANUARY 7, 1875. 



To Correspondents. 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing CoatPAmr. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 eal name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 



Articles relating to any topic within the scope of tliis paper arc solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medinm of nsefnl and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



Tbe Publishers of Forest and Stf.eam aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage aud countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful lu Nature. It -will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 tend to make them unpopnlar With the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or bnsiness notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will ho admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not he read with propriety in the home circle. 



We cannot be responsible for the dereliction of tho mall service, If 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, If possible. 

 CHARLES HALLOCK, ManaglDg Editor. 



WILLIAM C. HARRIS, Business Manager. 



THE "BIG HUNT." 



GOL. WM. C. M'CARTY, of Texas, has been in this 

 city for several days completing his arrangements 

 for the Great Western Iluntiug Expedition that has been 

 announced for the coming season. lie is at the Fifth 

 Avenue ITotel. We have several communications upon 

 this subject which we shall print, as soon as we obtain 

 from the Colonel a detailed statement of his plans and pro- 

 gramme, and wo shall be please 1 to give him a fair field 

 an 1 full opportunity to combat the strictures of our corres- 

 pondents who have written down the enterprise. We are 

 somewhat surprised to learn how complete his preliminary 

 arrangements are, and how much he has accomplished, 

 lie has written contracts with all steam lines, railroads, 

 hotels, wagoners, escort, &c., from Glasgow, Scotland, to 

 California, and endorsements of his scheme from high and 

 intelligent authority, 



<i > 



Fine Stock.— Mr, M. M. Barker, our Western represen- 

 tative, in acknowledging the courtesies extended him by 

 the big-hearted sportsmen of the regibn he has visited, re- 

 firs to a pleasant visit to the "Highland Slock Farm" Of 

 Mr. L. \V. Towne, at Clarence, Shelby Co., Missouri. Mr. 

 Towne has a herd of about forty head of short horns, many 

 of them of the celebrated "Princess" stock. He has sev- 

 eral imported bulls, and his cows are deep milkers, whose 

 pedigrees are recorded in the American Herd Books. He 

 has thirty Berkshire sows, which hois breeding to imported 

 boars. Such enterprise in improving the stock of the 

 country is most creditable. In due time he will, we pre- 

 sume, announce a sale, when parlies wishing any of his 

 callle or hogs Can ohtain them. 



■ — <■» ' ■ '"" ' - 1 - 



New Akctio Expedition.— The steamer Bloodhound, a 

 Newfoundland sealing steamer has beta purchased by the 

 British Government for the new Arptic expedition to be 

 sent out next May. via Baffin's Boy, under". Captain Mark- 

 hara and Sir L. McCitiitock. The Bloodhound is one of 

 Vna boat of the stoara sealing fleet. She was built tvvb years 

 since, and i3 admirably fitted for encountering ice. Tllo 

 plan is to station one steamer within Ikr&Vs Bay a* a re- 

 serve, and push ou with the other as far north as possible; 

 then by sle Ige parties to endeavor lo reach the North Pole. 

 It is said the Bloodhound is to have the post of honor, aud 

 will curry the adventurers to the extreme northern point. 



OUR RIFLE CLUBS. 



THE city of New York and its suburbs have now four 

 well organized rifle clubs. The largest and oldest of 

 these is the National Rifle Association, which has a mem- 

 bership of about 1,400. This is the parent club, and under 

 its fostering care the others have been nurtured into active 

 life. 



The second is the Amateur Club, one thoroughly known 

 throughout this Continent as well as Europe, for to it we 

 are indebted for the victory which crowned the American 

 riflemen in the last international contest. This is devoted 

 specially to long range shooting, and the development of 

 rifles having both lightness, power, and a low trajectory. 

 This is in contradistinction to the former, which aims to 

 secure accuracy with military rilles, and to teach our 

 National Guard to become good marksmen. Both are 

 doing excellent work, for one improves our weapons, and 

 the other advocates instruction in their use. 



The third is the Irish-American Rifle Club, which is com- 

 posed principally of journalists and officers of the National 

 Guard, but it includes also one of the greatest musicians as 

 well as the most popular dramatist in the country. It will 

 enter upon the contests next year with a small but good 

 array of riflemen, and will, no doubt, make a good record. 



The Scottish-American Club is composed of much the 

 same material as the former, and in members both are 

 about equal, for the reason that it is material and not num- 

 bers that are required. The Scots have several good shots 

 among them, but they expect to have better ere the next 

 season closes. 



The last is the American 'Rifle Club of Mount Vernon, 

 which was recently organized and gave iLs first exhibition 

 last Christmas Day. This embraces several officers and 

 members of the National Guard, and it therefore promises 

 to do much good. 



These clubs ought to be able to infuse a large amouut of 

 enthusiasm into our young men and induce them to pay 

 more attention to rifle exercises. The great obstruction to 

 their work is the want of energy displayed by the National 

 Guard— those who should be first to foster such a manly ac- 

 complishment— and the lack of anj thing like practical in- 

 terest in it by men who have both the time and mcaus to 

 become good marksmen. While the National Association is 

 open to all who pay |3 per annum, the other clubs arc 

 somewhat exclusive, and only a certain class of people are 

 adopted as members; but all who are enrolled among the 

 latter must also be members of the former to entitle them 

 to the use of the range at Creedmoor. By this means the 

 efficiency of the former has been increased, yet the receipts 

 do not by any means keep pace with the expenses. The 

 State and City authorities knowing its financial condition 

 and the good work it is accomplishing, should support it 

 rather liberally, inasmuch as all its efforts are directed ' 

 toward a patriotic purpose. The means at command 

 should always be sufficient to keep the Creedmoor range in 

 proper repair and make any needed improvements. 



This range is now devoted entirely to the use of the 

 Amateur Club, as those who are to engage in the contest 

 with our Hibernian friends practice quite frequently, and 

 intend to continue the practice all Winter, so that they may 

 be prepared to meet any emergencies that may arise in the 

 Green Isle. The active members of the team are to be 

 raised to twenty, and from this number arc to be selected 

 those who are to take part in the next international contest. 

 This match is to be for a cup or badge instead of money, 

 and this will take away" from it any menial accessories, and 

 prove that it is one to test skill and to obtain honor, rather 

 than one to garner the "root of all evil." 



Our riflemen are buoyant in their confidence, yet they do 

 not assume to assert that they are sure to be the victors, 

 but they do express the determination to leave no effort un- 

 tried to fit themselves for the contest. If the clubs now 

 in existence carry out their programmes with the enthu- 

 siasm with which they have inaugurated them, they will 

 be able to send a team across the Atlantic whose chances of 

 returning victorious will be very large. 



TRAITS OF NEWFOUNDLAND FISHER- 

 MEN, 

 v! 



THE speech of the Newfoundland fisherman is full of 

 phrases derived from his every day employments. 

 To make an engagement for a term of service is to "ship" 

 with Mr. So-and-so. Even servant girls are said to "ship 

 for six months," when they engage with a mistress. A 

 young man' "ships" himself to a sweetheart when they are 

 affianced; and a church is said to have "shipped" anew 

 parsou; or perhaps he is called the "skipper" of thechurch. 

 The master of the house, whatever his occupation, is in- 

 variably "the skipper," and the mistress is "the woman." 

 "How's the woman?" is the usual way in which a man is 

 asked regarding the health of his wife. Gaining an ad- 

 vantage over a man is called "getting to windward of him." 

 "Mr. Blank is a terrible knowiu' man; there's no gettin' to 

 wittdyvard-of him." Is a man prosperous?— he is said to be 

 "making headway;" if the reverse, he is "going to lee- 

 ward." To initiate any undertaking is described as "get- 

 ting it under. way;" and to live meanly and parsimoniously 

 is "to go very near the Wind." Thero is a world of mean 

 itig in ihe'NeNvfbuudland proverb: "The big fish eat the 

 little ones." Thus pithily and with a sort of mournful 

 cynicism, do they at times describe their own forlorn con- 

 dition at the end of a fishing season, when in payment of 

 their debts the whole proceeds of their toil go to the store 

 of the wealthy merchant, while they are hall" starving 



during Winter. Of profitless talk, it Is said In reproof, 

 "words fill no nets." A dull, plodding man, who succeeds 

 in spite of deficiency, by honest Industry, is said to "get on 

 by dint of stupidity and hard work," a most expressive 

 description. 



Another peculiarity of the Newfoundland fishermen, 

 derived from their sea-faring habits, is an inordinate fond- 

 ness for flags. Every merchant has his flag flying on his 

 storehouse or wharf, as though a state of active warfare ex- 

 isted; while at the principal harbors, the approach of each 

 vessel is signalled by a flag, be it schooner, brig, brigantine 

 j or ship. On Signal Hill, overlooking St. John's Harbor, 



I three masts are erected, and at times, when a number of 

 vessels are approaching the port, these, witli their yards, 

 ! look like a draper's shop, with the various flags streaming 

 j in the wind. Flags, however, are utilized in other ways. 

 ; When any important personage has "crossed the bourne 

 j whence no traveller returns," the flags are hoisted half 

 j mast; but when a wedding takes place all the bunting in 

 i the place floats in the breeze. Big "sealing guns," (used in 

 shooting seals on the ice,) whose report is like that of a 

 small cannon, are brought out and fired continuously, and 

 evidently afford the greatest delight on these joyous occa- 

 sions. In the "outports," as all places but St. John's are 

 named, it is usual to catch the happy couple in a net, as 

 they emerge from the church— a symbolic act, perhaps- 

 indicating that both are netted for life. In these "out- 

 ports," too, church bells are few and far between, and tho 

 time for each service is indicated by hoisting on a pole a 

 flag, on which is emblazoned the mitre or the cross. Each 

 school house, too, has its flagstaff ; and when the flag is 

 hoisted the urchins are seen coming along the paths — 

 "creeping like snails unwillingly to school." 



Near the shores Newfoundland is rocky, the ground 

 being everywhere covered with stones of all sizes. The 

 word stones, however, is rarely used, the smallest pebble 

 and the largest boulder being alike called a "rock." Boys 

 invariably speak of "firing rocks," but never of throwing 

 stones. A servant was asked how she had been spending 

 her time lately. Her reply was-. "Why, I has been 

 heavin' rocks out of them raisins for the best part of an 

 hour." Thus "stoning fruit" is "heavin' rocks" in New- 

 foundland. So abundant are the rocks in some places, 

 and so scanty the soil, that suitable ground for the burial 

 of the -dead cannot be found, and amid huge boulders the 

 craves are made by soil brought' from a distance; or where 

 This is not possible, the coffin is laid upon the rock, above 

 ground, and then walled in and covered. It is not very un- 

 common for a grave to be dug loss in depth than the coffin. 

 Of coutse this is true only of certain localities. 



Among the primitive population of the "outports," there 

 tg among the Protestant portion, a wonderful passion for 

 choosing names taken from the Old Testament, and these, 

 at times, the oddest and most uncommon they can select. 

 Israels, Reubens, Daniels, Azariahs, and Isaiahs are plenti- 

 ful as "rocks;" but it is rather startling to be introduced 

 to Miss Lo-Ruhamah Tucker or Miss Lo-Ammi Squires, and 

 to be to'd that the little flaxen-headed girl you are trying to 

 make friends with rejoices in the name borne by one of the 

 daughters of the patriarch Job, Keren, Happucli, or that 

 the baby's name is Jerusha. To those not quite familiar 

 with scripture names, it may be well to say that the first 

 two are to be found in Hosea I. Ch., 6 v. and 9 v. It is on 

 record that one child was baptized Bcersheba, entered in 

 the marriage register in due time as Bathsheba, but always 

 called Bertha by her neighbors. A clergyman of the 

 Church of England relates that once, in beginuing a ser- 

 vice, in a private house, in an "outport," a woman near 

 him,' intending no offensive familiarity, lifted up a corner 

 of his surplice, aud after examining it with finger and 

 thumb, pronounced it aloud, "a beautiful piece of stuff." 

 Under similar circumstances he was startled, on another 

 occasion, in the middle of his sermon, by an old woman in 

 the chimney corner calling out to some young ones: "My 

 gracious, girls, I've forgot the loaf ! Julia go out to the 

 next house, and hang on the bake pot." It must be under- 

 stood that these incidents occurred iu some of the primi- 

 tive outlying settlements, far from the centres of civiliza- 

 tion, where the people seldom see a clergyman, and are 

 quite unaccustomed to the solemnities of religious as- 

 semblies. They welcome eagerly the rare visits of clergy- 

 men in these scattered hamlets, and whole batches of chil- 

 dren, of various ages, are baptised by him at the same 

 time.' So cold is the weather In Winter, in the more 

 northerly part of the Island, and so wretched their houses, 

 that in order to keep the loaf from freezing at nights,. 

 it is the practice to wrap it in the blanket aud take it to bed 

 when retiring- 



The population is a mixed one, nearly half being des- 

 cendants of Irish settlers, the rest English, most of them 

 sprung from progenitors who came originally from Devon- 

 shire, Dorset shire and Hampshire. The descendants of the 

 latter retain ma-.y of the peculiarities of speech which still 

 distinguish the peasants of Devonshire. They say, "I's 

 took no notice to she," that is no notice of her. "Did 'ee 

 want anything wi' I?" They speak of their "handses" and 

 "postses;" of their cows being "alossed" and their bread 

 "amade," They'will say, "Mubbe I's goun home." The 

 parson is "pareson," and they ask him to "bide a spurt" 

 with them. A "spell" is either a short continuance at 

 labor or a time of vest. Short distances are, in common 

 speech, measured as "spells." Thus "two shoulder spells" 

 is the distance a man would ordinarily carry a burden on his 

 shoulders, resting unce in the midst. The word "obe- 

 dience" i's sometimes used for "obeisance." Thus chil- 

 dren are directed to "umke.their obedience," that is, to bow, 



