FOREST AND STREAM. 



355 



merit in knocking them over, for they acted as if the sole 

 object of their life was to he killed. 



As wc drove up to the house our guide made his appear- 

 ance, and in a moment wo were mounted and on our way 

 to the mountain. The "mountain" consisted of a long 

 chain of volcanic formation strikingly resembling the 

 Palisades on the North' River, only of about, twice the 

 height. At a distance of about a mile' from the chain the 

 ground commences to vise abruptly, the hill being composed 

 of Hit; debris, which, iu the course of ages, the elements 

 have brought down from the mountain. These foot hills 

 are intersected by gorges washed out by the rain, upon the 

 Btdes of which then: is a growth of trees, in whose branches 

 the guide informed us the turkeys Were to be found. 



Dismounting at the fool; of I lie hill wc detached owvrialm 

 from the saddle bows and picketed the horses, and after 

 twenty minutes careful and severe climbing, Kaluna, the 

 guide, arrested us by a quick motion of his linger and 

 pointed out a line of dark objects in a tree about sixty rods 

 away. Now directing Walton and myself to take our 

 ground with extremest caution at. a spot he pointed out, 

 and await his signal, he disappeared in the long grass and 

 we crawled up to the place indicated, which brought us 

 wiihin a hundred yards of the birds without attracting iheir 

 attention. In an incredibly short space of time we heard 

 a shout from the other side of the tree and in an instant the 

 whole fiOOk was on the wing and dying in our direction. 

 Wc were just counting on three when t'nev wheeled and 

 went off down the wind at right angles. Walton's rifle and 

 my left ban-el made but a single report and we had the sat- 

 isfaction of seeing two of them drop at the word. I let off 

 my other barrel af I er them. They seemed to hear it, but 

 not one of the four fliers stopped to see what was the 

 matter. Walton's bird was dead, with a hole through his 

 head, but that was a scratch; mine would have died soon 

 but, T didn't give him a chance. By the time we had re- 

 loaded, Kaluna was alongside and we "started again, mark- 

 ing the birds. 



A similar maneuvrc at. the next tree brought us in three 

 victims, and us the guide came up, we noticed a look of 

 more interest on his lace, which was soon accounted for by 

 the appearance of some goats high up on the mountain 

 side. These did not interest me as much as the turkeys, 

 but, Walton said lie thought, he'd go and get one, and in 

 about half an hour I saw him at a dizzy height, above me 

 and at apparently five hundred yards from a fine goat, who 

 stood out beautifully against, the sky on a peak evidently 

 the lookout for the herd out of sight" behind him. Presently 

 w'c heard the crack of Wallon's^iicce and had the sat is- 

 faction of seeing sefior goat fall into an inaccessible ravine 

 between two perpendicular spurs of the chain. While our 

 friend was down the guide and I bagged another turkey, 

 and after his arrival we added four more to the score. 



Here we rested and Kaluna went back after the horses 

 w Idle \\ niton and I rested on our laurels. When the guide 

 returned with the ponies, wc proceeded at a leisurely gait 

 towards the house, securing the birds to our saddles as we 

 picked them up. 



When we arrived at the ranche we found it occuuicd by 

 a large party of Russians from the corvette Haydaniak, but 

 of the. Russian i and the Ittau and the Inula and Billv Emer- 

 son, I shall relate the tale at another time. W. W. P. 



For Forest and Stream. 

 A FORTNIGHT IN THE WILDERNESS, 



Burse) the Journal of a Party that Spent two Pleas- 

 ant Weeks in the Summer of 1873 in Eating, Sleep- 

 inci. Rollicking, and Trout FisniKo in the WIL- 

 DERNESS OF NORTHERN NEW YORK, TO THE GREAT 



Bf.nefit of TnEin Physical Being, and Without 

 Harm to their Souls, on Interference with the 

 Bights or Enjoyments of their Fellow Men. 



[Concluded from January 'Uh.] 



SATURDAY, July 25th.— Shortly before noon the boys 

 came in from Rig Rock Lake. They had no deer, 

 though the)- had floated faithfully two nights for them. 

 Big Rock is esteemed good floating ground ; but for some 

 reason the deer would uot stand to our lights. Perhaps 

 they had heard our music, and were affected by it the same 

 way the wolves were. The boys were charmed with the 

 beauty of the lake, and came in laden with the spoils of 

 the outlet, in which they had found fine fishing. After 

 dinner, Shack Nobby Ned, who had gone out with the 

 gills, came in from Beecraft's with the mail, wdiich once a 

 week reaches the frontier post office of Morehonseville. 

 Our friends had kindly remembered us. All of the party 

 hid letters, end there were full files of newspapers from 

 the day we left home till the day the mail closed. A more 

 studious party than ours that, afternoon is not, often seen, 

 in the wilderness or elsewdiere. Every item of news was 

 greedily devoured, and even the advertisements, usually 

 unnoticed, came in for a good share of attention. Shack 

 Nobby had also brought in a fresh pack of provisions— 

 bread, maple syrup, and a huge segment of new made 

 cheese, from which we had several dainty "Welsh rare- 

 bits, 11 skilfully prepared by the hand of our able fust as- 

 sistant cook. Our gastronomic powers, by no means-defi- 

 cient when we came into the woods, were gaining new 

 energies daily, and this reinforcement of our provision 

 stock was most welcome. The band bad a "promenade 

 concert" to-night,, in honor of the addition of a new mem- 

 ber, Frank French's hound Tige, which had doubtless 

 heard our music of the preceding night, and had come 

 over the mountain for an engagement. ilis howl beiug a 

 fine bass, he wnc. assigned a place without an instrument. 

 This new vocal feature was volcd an improvement, as our 

 insfiunients, especially the "cross cut," were mostly set on 

 the sharp. 



iSiindny, July 2Gth. — There is one home habit — not a good 

 one — that we bring to the woods: that is, of rising late on 

 Sunday mornings. It was peveu ere we had breakfast; but 

 as there was no church or Sunday school to attend, the 

 public was not harmed by our tardiness. After breakfast, 

 we all had a grand bath m the deep, clear, still water a few 

 rods above our camp. Then wc took a second reading of 

 our newspapers. It being Sunday,, and having had our 

 morning meal late, we decided to have but two full meals 

 that day, and in the interval to lunch on wdiat might be 

 eatable without cooking. It was a rash rr/solve, and if it 

 had been been persisted in for a week day or two, would 

 have bankrupted our stock of provisions. Sandy Charley 

 especially developed capacities as a luncher whicb gained 

 him the champion's belt ere he had finished his fifth lunch 



within the first hour. Our chief cook, who had betaken 

 himself to a morning snooze, woke in alarm as he heard 

 the crunching of raw Bermudas and the grinding of crack- 

 ers, and seeing how things were likely to go made haste to 

 get a regular dinner. The ham which had been simmering 

 in the pot since breakfast time was stimulated to a boil by 

 a fresh bandful of chips, the potatoes and succotash were 

 put on to cook, the trout rolled iu meal and salt ready to 

 fry, and all the available space about the huge camp" fire 

 was filled with kettles, saucepans, and other implements of 

 cookery. By this masterly movement was the raid of the 

 lunehe'rs quelled. The huge dinner disposed of, there was 

 no more call for lunches that day, and forewarned by the 

 day's danger the order was issued at evening parade: 

 "three .square meals each day hereafter, and "no more 



Monday, July 27th.— Two of the party today started for 

 Snag Lake, which at times affords lively trout fishing, but 

 is principally celebiated for its bull heads — what the New 

 Englandeis call "bull pouls" — a fish similar to cat fish, not 

 as large, but of better quality. When taken from the 

 clear, cold waters of these northern lakes they are but 

 little inferior in flavor to the speckled trout. The boys 



ik the rifle with them, thinking it might be a handy 



thing to have in case 

 auce. The dog Tige 

 own hook. Others o 



fish. Before noon Fa 

 ploring trip from I be 



lake a hundred or more 



feci or bear should put 

 farted off on a rabbit hunt oil hi 

 be party went out on the stream t 

 ell and Giles came in from their ej 

 leeper wilderness. They reporle 

 it miles distant to the north, of 

 area, flowing into Ind 



was shut, the warden away, and the big boat on which we 

 depended for crossing was anchored half a mile out in the 

 lake. The expert m-h's of Slcamboal Frank, however, speed- 

 ily relieved us of our dilemma. Quicker than we can tell 

 il, he had thrown off his clothes and was striking out 

 boldly for tiie boat. He swam to it, rowed it to the shore, 

 and we were across with all our luggage in less than half an 

 hour. Making a pile, on the south" bank, of our luggage, 

 which wc covered with our ponchos, and left, for Beecraft 

 to como for with bis wagon, wc made straight down the 

 hill for Beecraft's and dinner! The dinner was not long 

 delayed. If there is one thing which Mrs. Beecraft, doe's 

 belter than getting breakfast it is getting dinner, and there 

 'o think that at supper she does best of all; 

 men jugt out of the woods, or just going in, 

 lay's ride, and of course they are no judges. 



but these 

 after a, lo 

 If wc we 

 narv lion 

 had" all the n 

 dinner, and 

 lamb, potalor 

 keeper might 



River (another tributary of the north branch), iu whic 

 (hey found trout in abundance, and of weight averaging 

 half a pound and upwards. The lake, like all others iu 

 this wilderness which abound with speckled trout, is shal- 

 low, and the bottom of dark ooze. The trout are gamcy, 

 but, not equal in flavor to those we get on this stream. 

 Parrel] and Giles had their baskets full of dressed trout, 

 [Kicked in moss, with wdiich, after dinner, they proceeded 

 to the settlement. At four o'clock the boys came in from 

 Snag Lake with a basket full of bull heads, the skinning 

 of wdiich furnished active occupalion to the whole party 

 till supper time, wdien the bull heads disappeared alto- 

 gether, carrying with them a heavy draft of bacon, eggs, 

 bread, Bermudas, and coffee. "The best meal yet." The 

 rifle had not been bl ought into requisition, except upon a 

 loon, and with the usual success. The tail of the loon was 

 seen lo go under water about the time the bullet left the 



Tuesday, July 28th.— There is little worth recording of 

 today's proceedings, except it be the astonishing perform- 

 ances of the boys at the trencher. The 250 pounds of 

 solid provisions we brought into the woods, with the 

 scores of pounds of trout we have caught, are nieltiug 

 away like the morning mist; and as the stock grows lower 

 they are again missed. The rapid reduction of the stock 

 of provisions suggests to the boys the necessity of an ear- 

 lier departure for home than we desired. In the hope, 

 therefore, of conserving the staple supplies of food, a vol- 

 unteer foraging party start for Big Rock, in the hope of 

 having better Tuck at floating than their comrades had last 

 week. Ilunky Jim takes the pack of provender, Shack 

 Nobby Ned the roll of blankets, while Steamboat Frank, 

 who is scarce four feet in height, but all pluck, wades up 

 the stream neck deep, holding the gun over his head to 

 keep the powder dry. It is next to impossible lo travel on 

 the banks of the stream, as there is an alder swamp on 

 one side and a succession of almost impassable wind falls 

 on the other. We give the boys a parting cheer, and ear- 

 nestly wish them luck on our own account as well as 

 theirs. 



Wednesday, J'dy 2S\th.— The party at the home camp fish 

 the Met calf with fair success. Our raids the past week 

 have told somewhat on the resident population of the 

 stream; but the supply is still equal' to the demaud. Iu 

 the afternoon the Big Rock parly return. Failing- to get 

 venison at the lake, they bent their steps down the moun- 

 tain four miles to Beecraft's, and coming theuce. to cauip 

 by the route Hie parry traveled when we came iu they 

 brought a further reinforcement of bread, cheese, batter, 

 and other eatables, by means of which we were enabled to 

 keep the wolf from our door a day or two longer. 



Thursday, July ■60th.— This being our last day in camp, 

 we resolved to spend it diligently iu fishing, so that, we 

 might have a basket apiece of fresh caught trout to take 

 out with us. There was ice at Wilmurt, of which we 

 could get plenty to keep our fish nice till we reached home. 

 The party divided, part going up stream and part down, 

 and some going farther on than others, so as to make avail- 

 able the whole fishing ground. Capt. Jack waded up 

 stream in the morning. He went past the first Stillwater, 

 through a long rapid to the next Stillwater, a short one, 

 and to another" rapid above. At the second Stillwater he 

 discovered a considerable stream coming in from the north, 

 which is believed to be the outlet of a chain of small lakes, 

 which lie proposes to explore on a future trip. His success 

 iu fishing was not equal to what it had been on previous 

 diiys, and so, after coming into camp about noon, he "sus- 

 pended the rule" and took a lunch, after which he went far 

 down the stream among the big rocks, and came in at night 

 tired, but with his day's work accomplished. We had a 

 fair supply of beautiful fresh trout to take out, and as this 

 was the last day in camp the party fell on the provisions 

 without mercy. Such a supper, and such, feeders] Noth- 

 ing like them has beeu seen since the days of the gianls. 

 But this wild life in the pure air had case-hardened our 

 elastic stomachs, aud no nightmare followed our rcplelion. 

 Friday, July 31»f.— There were six eggs apiece left in our 

 hen's nest, and enough Bermudas for a big fry. Bacon 

 and onions, fried eggs, slap jacks with maple molasses, a 

 Welsh rarebit made of the remainder of the cheese, with 

 excellent coffee, and the remains of our bag of crackers to 

 crumble in it — the slowage of these in our capacious stom- 

 achs was the provision we made for the day's march out of 

 the wilderness. Wc. needed no extra packmen to help us. 

 Our load was oppressive from bulk rather than from 

 weight. It, was nearly noon before all the packs were ar- 

 ranged for the start. Our tramp to Wilmurt Lake was up 

 a steep, ascending trail, and though our loads were lighter 

 than when we came in, the marcii was harder. At Snag 

 Lake we stopped to take another shot at the loon. He was 

 a fair mark this time, not over 800 feet distant. Smut 

 Face, who bore the rifle, took good aim and blazed away. 

 The gun kicked strangely, and something like a stick 

 struck the lake far ahead of where the loon went down. 

 The sportsman had shot away his ramrod! and that ended 

 the day's guuuing. When we got to Wilmurt the castle 



Mrs. Beecraft, we would rest our claim to culi- 

 on the dinner she set before us this day. It 

 material that is requisite to make up a good 

 ad more beside. Nice roast mountain 

 ite as the pure snow, bread that any botise- 

 \ raspberries fresh from the wild bushes, 

 wuu cream, naving the flavor of the while clover ou it, 

 coffee as clear as the ruby wine, cakes, pies, and maple 

 syrup, a strawberry abort 'cake of mammoth dimensions 

 and of tea hery lightness, vegetables fresh from the fertile 

 garden; this was the feast lo which we were invited; and 

 we did justice to it. Mrs. Beecraft has seen men eat be- 

 fore whose appetites have been keyed up for two weeks by 

 the mountain air and the lively exercise of the woods, so 

 she was not, astonished at our feats; but if any hotel man 

 in the cities had seen such performances at his table he 

 would have called police, cried tire, made his will, gone 

 into bankruptcy, or done some other desperate act. "The 

 best yet." 



• over at last, inspection duty took place of our 

 ivJiieh were in a sad plight oii account of the nu- 

 entsmade by sticks and stubs in our wood's tramp- 

 Being once more within the pale of civilized life, we 

 • paint and the rough coating of dirt, put 

 Is we have held iu reserve, sew up, after 

 hion, the rents in our trousers, and then 

 i's lie down on the green grass. We are 



Dinn 



dollies, 

 mcrou: 



on tin 



take tin aftefno. 

 Modocs no long* 



Saturday, Aut/ust 1st. — The morning broke lowering. 

 Perhaps ii was the same rain we had encountered going in, 

 and which, baffled in its attempts to hinder us then, had 

 wailed for our coming out to pay its best respects. At 

 anv rate, it was. prepared for us, aud so we prepaied for it. 

 With ii good lining of breakfast, inside, and a covering of 

 ponchos outside, we took our seats in the wagons provided, 

 and bade adieu to the hospitable hotel de Beecraft. Before 

 going three miles, the storm burst on us iu force, with 

 fierce 1 bunders and sharp lightnings. But what are these 

 to a party who for two weeks have been clolhing them- 

 selves » it h robust health as with a waterproof garment, 

 and whose hearts arc light with the anticipation of soon 

 meeting loved ones at home. Before the rain began to 

 fall, the boys had struck up a merry refrain, and when the 

 floods descended their voices grew more joyous, and, with 

 the thunder for chorus, they accomplished some vocal per- 

 formances,, aided by the horn, which would have put even 

 the grand opera to "its trumps. The thunder makes no bad 

 prolongation of the chorus to "Old Aunt Jemima-o-i 

 oh!" and the boys kept it up as long as the thunder did. It 

 kept on rathing, alternately pouring, all the way to Pros r 

 peel, into which place we came rolling at one o'clock, the 

 mud flying from our wagon wheels like sparks from a Ror 

 man candle. We were somewhat wet notwithstanding the 

 protection of our ponchos; but, as usual, hungry. The 

 rain, having no further opportunity to molest us, stopped, 

 as it, usually does uuder such circumstances. 



Prospect is a good place for hungry men to reach about 

 dinner time. Our hotel keeper's name is Meal-us — Bob 

 Meal US, or "Old Bob, Meal-us," as lie is beseechingly called 

 by the hungry sometimes. Why he is called "Bob" no. 

 man knows, unless it is because bis name is Lorenzo; but 

 the reason for his surname is apparent. He does meal us. 

 He meals everybody that stops at his house in such a way 

 that they want to come again, and in the Slimmer weather 

 the hungry of all climes, even from the far off cities of 

 New York and Brooklyn, where the denizens of the great 

 hotels have every day to stare famine out of countenance, 

 attracted by the fame of his generous table flock lo his hos- 

 telry iu such ■numbers that he has every year lo enlarge it. 

 Of course the dinner we got was adequate to the occasion, 

 though it is doubtful whether there is another hotel in Ihe 

 settlements that could have furnished one that would have 

 been. The condition of quality might have been attained, 

 perhaps; hut with us, whose "appetites had been for two 

 weeks whetting in the mountaiu air, and whose animal 

 spirits were correspondingly healthy, quantity alone could 

 satisfy, and it look a good deal of even thai to saisfy 

 us. But Meaius knew this, and was adequate to the occasion. 

 At two o'clock we were cu routu uy rail for home, and 

 at four o'clock had reached that haven of rest_ And here 

 our journey and our journal end. R. U. Sherman. 



Two Marvelous Flowers. — Thft Horticulturist gives an 

 account of two novelties among flowers wdiich it is almost 

 tempted to treat as fables until their verity is established 

 hy personal inspection. The following is the description 

 Of I hem:— 



"One is a black lily in Santa Clara, California, with three 

 large blossoms, each nine inches long, and perfectly black 

 outside of the green petals. The other is to be seen at 

 Conslantinople,'and described by an eye witness as belong- 

 ing to the narcissus genus of bulbs. The flower repre- 

 sents a perfect humming bird. The breast, of a bright, 

 emerald green, is a complete copy of this bird, and l he 

 throat, head, beak, and eves are perfect imitations. The 

 hinder part of the body, and two outslrelched wings, 

 are of a bright rose color, one might almost say flesh col- 

 ored. These wonderful bulbs should have been seat W 

 the Vienna exhibition. They will be in abundance by the 

 time of our ivnicnnial celebration in 1876. And yet they 

 can uftrdlv be greater curiosities than the strange and mys- 

 terious •.-•'.,■,•••.", i ■■, '.'i,'' flower from South America, with 

 its life-long reproscntullion of doves." 



— — .*-.*. 



—The athletic entertainment at Wood's Gymnasium last 

 Saturday evening was quite interesting. Col. Monstery's 

 fencing with the foil was the acme ol gracelul, quiet per- 

 fection, while his opponent;, Mr, Engleliardt, showed also 

 that he had a quick eye aud promptitude lu escaping 

 thrusts. 



