FEBKtUKY IV, 1681.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



45 



lightened two or three hundred we'ght, we bent our backs to 

 Better effect, finally gelling the old fellow ashore >ugl 

 neither high nor dry. ' Next to load him into the boat. 



He was stiffened nOW.htelegs doing service as levers with 

 -which, to work his back around, to the water's edge end to 

 the boat. First I lie bead was lifted in, I lien the hind quar- 

 ters " Carefully ! " warned Ni, as I pot a shoulder to the 

 fore leg in order to roll the whole body in. I heaved on the 

 let", and before We knew what was up the moose was .'. raking 

 about in the middle of the stream and the boat bottom up. He 

 went in one one aide and out Hie other. " Don't tulle so 

 loud," unreal.. d N., Ul anguish, for there's nothing worse for 

 alarming game I ban the human voice, and N. is very careful 

 mi his hunting ground. Another round of engineering ope- 

 rations brought boat and venison again into position, the 

 second attempt proving successful. 



It was two miles to the landing, fori he voyage to which 

 place I perched myself triumphantly upon Ihe venison, pad- 

 dle in band, to find at ihe first sunken log I hat the night's 

 back-breaking work was far from being ended. The leaded 

 boat could not pass, so at every log we splashed over into the 

 water to help the craft over. The stream has its source 

 among the wild mountains of the boundary, also taking wa- 

 ter from the cold earibqu bogs near by, and if any one thinks 

 it fun to drop into an unexpected pool in such a stream let 

 him try it at midnight under a clear sky. On clear nights 

 evaporation from I he bogs cools the air nearly to free/big, no 

 matter how warm the day. By diut of much wading, accom- 

 panied by wet trousers and cold legs, the tortuous dead water 

 was left at last behind, when, just as X swung the bow to 

 the lauding, there came out of "the woods the most diabolical 

 scream that ever readied my ears, 



" Apantbcr!" 1 thought, "and no powder 1" Foraninstant 

 my hair fairly stood up' as I sei/ed the hatcliet. The yell 

 came again— from the top of a trce-and a certain familiar 

 accent on the cud of its long-drawn intonation impelled the 

 holder of the hatchet to send it Hying to shore, an act fob 

 lowed by a laugh all around and shared by bis owlship in the 

 spruce top. An acquaintance of ten years' standing, Bubo 

 I'/,-,,:. ;,■'<,.'», never before bad let oil" in my presence such a 

 fiendish and cat-like howl. 



Then ensued a stnmbliug walk by lantern-light Ovfcr the 

 mile and a half to the lake, for we must go home to Uncle 

 Tom in spite or the grim forest which attempted revenge for 

 the death of one of its children by stretching gnarled roots to 

 cast us headlong; then a null equally long on the more 

 friendly lake toward the guiding beacon in the east window 

 aud a final fumble— into bed— at one o'clock. Before the 

 camp a loon laughed mockingly as I sank to a dream, born 

 of aching bones, in which I was trampled by a colossal moose 

 of grisly aspect and jeered at in screeching tones by wood- 

 demons from the trees about. 



Two gentlemen went up with us in the early morning, so 

 that the" odds being now against the moose he was ignoniini- 

 ously hauled up the bank at the end of a rope. Taking the 

 head off scientifically at the atlas, Norton being "big knife," 

 we fell to skinning and cutting up, adding three hours of 

 bending over to the general hack-breaking account. If the 

 animal had been hung up like a deer the heels would have 

 been eleven and a bait feet high, with the nose touching the 

 ground. The Bkin stuck abominably. Finally, covering the 

 neatly divided quarters from the flies, we struck for dinner, 

 N. sacking the weighty head, while my own chief amuse- 

 ment, by the way, was derived from a trifle of skin and meat, 

 sixty pounds However, it was only a scant mile and a half 

 to the lake. 



After dinner came the grand tug. impressing Harding, 

 Chester's man-of-all-work, the three moved upon the pile of 

 meat. Taking each a quarter, we strung out, over the trail 

 with teeth Set And many a groan. Across the path were, sev- 

 eral logs— some high, some low — aud if ever I thought hunt- 

 er's lite a sell, the moose-killer a fool, it was when crawling 

 turtle-fashion under one of these logs, or balancing a-top to 

 calculate the chances of getting back to earth with a whole 

 neck. The momentum of a "heavy load swinging about 

 among the trees is something crushing. Lose control of your 

 pack and it i uns the direful* career of a cannon loose on a 

 man-of-war in a seaway, the inevitable wreck coming a great- 

 deal quicker. The Old Man of the Sea was never half so ex- 

 acting a burden as a quarter of moose. 



The first to start, I left my belter half at the lakeside, and 

 with steps a yard high from the relieved strain went back to 

 enjoy the misery of the others. A " last straw" look was 

 in'Norton's face, but he stood it well; the sight to be seen 

 was 115 lb. -Harding staggeringover the roots under nearly his 

 own weight. Far through the woods appeared a shapeless 

 something bobbing along" showing when very close a pair of 

 slim legs planting themselves into Hie moss as he stepped. 

 But the cunning old sailor had "triced up," as he said, his 

 meat in some blue-water fashion beyond our ken and was not 

 so badly oft' after all. 



N. started for the settlement to set up the head, Harding 

 disappeared mysteriously aceeording to his wont, while the 

 writer disposed his aching self in the big chair till supper 

 time. 



Though it may seem about time to finish up with that 

 moose, I did not get off so easily. Toward night Thomas 

 and I went over the tiresome carry again, cut the meat from 

 the remaining hind quarter, killed ten thousand midges, and 

 got back after dark too tired, myself, to sleep. 



The final transaction next day was, of all passages in the 

 life of this scribbler, the most mai-odorous. I had agreed with 

 §., since he could not attend to the matter himself, to remove 

 all the refuse which hud been thrown into the stream, for if 

 allowed to remain no moose would water there again during 

 the season. Shouldering a shovel instead of a gun I had started 

 bravely off to play ihe scavenger. Two days of sun develop- 

 ed the flavor of the substantiate in question to a point best ap- 

 preciated by a buzzard, the paunch having swelled to the ap- 

 pearance of the capitol dome as it loomed up around a bend. 

 One way or another I tumbled everything into the boat to the 

 last wisp, paddled two miles with the fragrant breeze coming 

 across the whole mess to my nose, dug a hole and buried the 

 three hundred pounds of dclectables therein. Dropped into 

 bed at eight o'clock to open eyes only when, sixteen hours af- 

 ter, Uncfe Tom's smiling face appeared with, "Dinner's 

 ready." 



Such is my tale. The sportsman does not have the toil- 

 some afterpart of the shooting unless he so choose, and in- 

 deed there is ordinarily enough of the wearisome which cam 

 not be done by guides. For myself, having had unusual 

 privileges, amounting to carte blanche on the summer months 

 of college vacation, it has been a pleasure to do as hunters 

 do, being in the woods. To be called by the name of hunter, 

 so far as entitled, rather perhaps than that of sportsman, is the 

 fancy of Rangifeb, 



A HUNT FOR FISH IN NEVADA. 

 By Cosmopolitan. 



ON August 31, 1872, one of the party belonging to the 

 expedition for cAplmint' west of ihe lOOlh meridian, 

 • •oiimiaurici by Lieut. R. L. Hoxw, U.S.A., was encamped 

 at Souhg'S ranch, Snake Yalley, Nevada. To this party 

 the writer was attached as surgeon and naturalist, and since 

 h-ariic/ Fah'JV d. ■ r old Camp Floyd, celebrated in the aji- 

 tj-la cf the Mrsbion w. r. be had been able to do Utile or 

 nothing in the way or Collecting specimens. At this place, 

 too, there seemed little chance of gaining anything of value, 

 and for two or three days subsequent to arrival the Country 

 had been scoured in all directions in pursuit of mammals, 

 birds, reptiles aud bugs, but much time was wasted with 

 poor results. 

 At this time we had with us an Indian guide rejoicing in 



the gnottieil of Antelope Jake, who seemed never tired of 



watching me unpack aud repack my specimens, and mani- 

 fested the utmost regret When I returned after a hard tramp 

 with little or nothing in my collecting bag. Of course, it 

 was impossible to explain to him for what purpose 

 the speoin.cns were intended, and ho conceived 

 the idea that they were for medicine, although 

 this I bad denied several times when he made a remark to 

 that effect, but he remained unconvinced and several times 

 he had brought me a lizard, toad or small snake which, he 

 said, were good for medicine. He probably expected my 

 favorable influence in his physical welfare by such gifts. 

 for the Indians have great respect for doctors. One even- 

 ing, while sitting iu front of my tent, 1 said that it was 



great pity ther 

 haps, some inter 



Snak. 



. ams near by, for in them, per 

 ng defies might be found. Jake, who was 

 ca grunt and said ; " May be so' r-alchem 

 reek." Where is it? said J, and how 

 far? "Maybe so one, two, three, four miles." Not to 

 weary my readers with Jake's half-broken English, I will say 

 that after a scv.re course of questioning he informed me lhat 

 he knew of a place rait far from camp, near the camp of 

 Black Horse, a sub-chief of the Gosh-L'tes, where the In- 

 dians were in the habit of fishing with good success, although 

 the. fish were all 4if one kind, as he said, aud not very big. 

 For a douceur he offered to guide me lhere the next day. 

 Latei in the evening some of us went, up to Mr. Young's 

 ranch, and 1 mentioned the fact of my proposed trip, against 

 which he warned me, for he said that Black Jake was one of 

 the meanest Indians in those parts and could not be trusted. 

 " But," said 1, " even if he were evil-disposed our camp is so 

 near at hand that he would fear to bring down on his band 

 the soldiers." 



"Well, I call fifteen miles far enough away for him to 

 gobble you aud your mule up and get. away to the moun- 

 tains before your soldiers could know anything about it. 

 Anyhow, if you will go, take some soldiers with you, and 

 Antelope Jake, who is a faithful fellow aud can speak the 

 language." 1 thanked him for the caution, and made up my 

 mind that go I would. Our preparations were made over 

 night, and the commanding officer gave me one good soldier 

 on whom I knew I could depend, for I did not think it neces- 

 sary to ask for more. We. carried with us our provisions 

 aud water for the day, a scoop and drag net, my collecting 

 bag and lots of small bottles. Barllett, the soldier, was 

 armed with his carbine aud revolver, Antelope Jake with re- 

 volver and my double-barrel breech loader, and 1 carried my 

 Henry-Winchester carbine aud a six-shooter; plenty of am- 

 munition was provided bisides. We saddled our mules at 5 

 a. m.. jumped on and away we went, Jake taking the lead. 

 It was a beautiful morning, coo! and pleasant, and as we rap- 

 idly cantered along a fair road my spirits were exhilarated by 

 the fresh air, aud our expedition seemed all the more attrac- 

 tive and fascinating from the possible element of danger in 

 it. Jake seemed in good spirits, too, aud crooned to himself 

 as joyous an Indiau ditty as he could compose aud, not to 

 be behind him in musical ability, Bartletl hummed softly to 

 himself the old popular soldier-song : 



" Then faro you well, my own trtio love, 

 Ten thousand miles away"— 



or words to that effect. Our ride was interrupted by but the 

 one incident of meeting an Indian who had strung upon some 

 pieces of grass twisted together eight or ten Nevada lizards, 

 (Jrotapltytw trixlkmii. I asked Jake it the individual in- 

 tended to make medicine with them. He laughingly replied, 

 "May be so ; eat 'em, heap good." An offer of a silver half 

 dollar and the reptiles were transferred to the collecting ba; 

 These lizards are among the most beautiful of their class, and 

 are extremely numerous in Nevada. They arc ground dwel 

 lers, digginga hole from ten to eighteen inches deep and 

 live in pairs— at least the Indians say so. The Indians, if un- 

 able to capture them while asleep or sunning themselves on 

 the rock, drag them out of their holes wilh a long, slender 

 wand, having fastened to the end, at an angle, apiece of sharp 

 wire or nail filed to a point. Jake informed us that lit 

 would gladly accept them. I had bought them for his own 

 dinner, as they are really considered by his people a "bonne 

 bouohe," superior even to the far-famed gastronomic luxury 

 the Rocky Mount ' 



The sun was no 

 den nearly twelve 

 village, but Jake 

 that characterizes 

 took a good look, 

 column of smoke 

 direction and shortly reat 

 To my surprise not a 



si- 

 ting pretty high, and we must have rid- 

 Icen miles, still no signs of the Indian 

 at a lope, with the unerring instinct 

 merican aborigines. He finally slopped, 

 icd around, aud pointing out a little 

 1 Ugh ! there Injuns." lie rode in its 

 id the wicky-ups of Black Horse, 

 child was to be 8e 



the central screen of bushes, which served as a shelter ft 

 the weather, sat about eighteen or twenty men in a half 

 cle about a smouldering tire. I was about to dismount, walk 

 up and shake hands, when Jake, who appeared quite nervous 

 and anxious, came close to me and said ; "May be so, g( 

 home. Injuns mad- no good." I paid no attention to hit 

 re.iiark, but directed him to inform the chief who I was and 

 what we wanted, which he did, but without eliciting the 

 slightest notice from Ihe scowliug gang. 1 saw we were in 

 for perhaps a little trouble, but determined to put a bold face 

 on the matter and trust to luck. I directed liartlett to watch 

 me Carefully and at the first 3ign of treachery to shoot the 

 chief first and then crack away at the others, and 1 would 

 look out for myself as best I might. Jumping from my mule 

 I gave the bridle to Jake, who could not be induced lo dis- 

 mount, handed him my carbine, although I retained my six- 

 shooter hidden, and deliberately walked up to the Indians, 

 sayiug, "Mike-'tig-a-boo ?"— "How are you, my friends?" No 

 one answered, aud I can assure the reader that the counte- 

 nances of my rod friends were anything but pleasant to look 



upon. I east a backward look at. Barllel I and saw he hadhis 



hint across the pornine-l of Lis saddle all rca'dy for action, 



1, summoning all mv resolution, I quietly sal down along- 

 side the chief, gently pushing away an Indian lo make more 

 lorn. Slid no sign, not a word, and 1 was almost at a loss 

 hat to do next. Jake's countenance was a si mly. Iu it 

 •ere expressed fear, admiration and a sort of curiosity to 

 know how the affair would tEWniimte, A happy thought 

 ick me. Drawing from mypoEket my I rusty and we l- 

 wncd meerschaum 1 leisurely tilled it, with tobacco, picked 

 i, lighted ember from the lire, Imliau fashion, witll 

 bent in the middle, and lighted it. Inhaling a few puffs, I 

 handed it to the chief. Who, after gazing at it for a moment, 

 toojthoidand BlBOkidil tor a moment or two, passing it to 

 the uevl man and so all around ihe circle. It was amusing 

 to see with what celerity Jake leaped from his mule the mu- 

 ,icn t he saw the chief place the pipe in his mouth aud at 

 once he joined the circle and the palaver began. 1 should 

 say lhat after the pipe had passed around we 

 saw quite a number of buclis emerge from different places of 

 concealment, painted and armed as if for a fight, aud I then 

 knew that we bad a narrow escape. I instructed Jake to in- 

 form the chief that Washington (tor so the Indians call the 

 President: had beard Otf I he --real Black Horse and his tribe ; 

 that he had sent me one of bis jroong men to vbsjl them, find 

 out how they were aud a»k permission to catch some fishes 

 in his creek to take back for medicine. Prom (he- length of 

 time Jake took to translate the message, T inferred he had 

 added somewhat to its import. The c let replied and I de- 

 manded what he said. He says : "May he so all right--how 

 much p»y?" Always an eye to the main chance among the 

 red men, I had suppliel myself with a lot of trinkets, look- 

 ing-giassee, toBacco, beads ami matches for distribution, and 

 turned the whole tot out of my hammock at the chief's feet. 

 lie was apparently perfectly satisfied, for he called a dwarfed 

 sample of humanity to his side, and in a few minutes more a 

 horse, was led up lo where we were standing, which he 

 mounted and started off. We followed his, example, for 

 Jake lo'd us that he would guide us to the fishing creek. 

 Away we went, up hill and down dale, at the, slow trot that 

 an Indian prefers to all QthergaitS, and 1 nuiflt own that lie- 

 fore reaching our destination my bones wens Stiff and sore. 

 We. had no let up for nearly eight miles, which added to our 

 ride of fifteen, before we reached the village, made a pretty 

 good day's exercise. Arrived at Snake Creek we found lhat 

 by the chief's direction n number of squaws ami boys were 

 at work gelling ready to fish, and it was fortunate that it 

 was so, tor owing to the nature of the stream and its exca- 

 vated overhanging banks, we could not have used our nets. 

 The squaws withdrew f rain the hushes, which had served to 

 conceal them, some baskets made like the pictures of old- 

 fashioned hencoops, open at one eud which Bared, aud tight- 

 ly w T oven of Cottonwood twigs, leaping into the water, they 

 would seize them by the small end and gradually move up 

 the stream, holding the flaring mound against- the bank, 

 while the boys would jump "and stamp on it to drive the 

 fishes from their places of concealment, 



In this manner, in loss than an hour, several bushels of small 

 fishes were secured, curiously enough, all of the same species, 

 which" has been called by Professor Cope Si&am abrosria <.„■. 

 longieeps. The species, as a food fish, is poor, the flesh being 

 extremely insipid and full of bones. 



It is a fact worthy of note that in Schell Creek, not many 

 miles distant from the stream we fished, i.o fishes of any kind 

 are to be found ; this is the more curious as the conditions of 

 life a e apparently the same. In Utah Lake ihe .*»« or 

 mullet are very numerous, and grow to a much larger size 

 than those we found in Snake Creek. Selecting n numb. si >f 

 good specimens from the large pile placed at our disposal, 

 audaddiuga few that Bartlett had secured wilh hook and 

 line, we again mounted aud retraced our way to the village, 

 at the same old eternal jog-trot. We rested until four 

 o'clock, shook hands with our red brethren and started home- 

 ward. On our way we espied, a short distance in front, 

 crossing the road, a good-sized rattler, which seemed exceed- 

 ingly anxious to get out of our way. I (hew my revolver 

 and was about to shoot it, when Jake stopped me, sayiug, 

 " I catch him." He dismounted and borrowing my short- 

 handled Indian quirt, followed the repiile, who, finding he 

 could not get away, thro* himself into a coil aud rallied 

 most viciously. The Indian advanced close enough to him 

 to snap the lash of the whip and touch his coils, the snake 

 wotdd leap half his length, his?, and again stepping back 

 in time to avoid the blow, then coil again to be again provoked 

 and tantalized. This continued for some time, every once 

 in a while the snake frying to get- away. 1 directed Jake to 

 break his back, which he did with a dextrous blow of the 

 whip and, handing him tome, [delivered ihe eoup degrade by 

 running my knife blade in the back of the head, near where 

 the brain aud spinal cord join. He was consigned to the 

 collecting sack and wo rode on. 



Jake ridiculed the idea of any one being afraid of rattlers 

 and said some of the Indians regarded them as sacred and 

 would on no account destroy them. 



I have been informed by Lieut. Wheeler that during his 

 partial ascent of the canyons of the Colorado, in IS? I, bis 

 Mojam Indians, who were employed lo pull the bo Is up 

 stream, moved barefooted about the rocks, which swarmed 

 with numbers of the rattlers, called " side-winders " in Ari- 

 zona, the. Crotalun evrttxtrx of authors on herpetolo^y. 1 be- 

 lieve that under ordinary circumstances Ihe rattlesnake is a 

 cowardlv and inoffensive animal, bifiug bfily when provoked, 

 but 1 cannot think, wilh old liartram, that lie is a paragon of 

 magnanimity, as related in his " Travels in Carolina," 1701. 



During our ride home Ihe sky to the w st.u ard, over the 

 chain of mountains, became overcast and a violent thunder 

 slorm broke over us, although very little rain fell. As it 

 cleared up, a bcautiiui rmnbow showed, itself, find 1. casually 

 hazarded the question to Jake if he knew what it meant. His 

 reply was about as follows : " Yes, yes; 1 sabe ; heap, heap 

 moons gon- ; Good Man, lie heap mad at Injun, make water 

 come ober, everybody waler-dead (drowned; ; one good In- 

 jun and he people hah big canoe ; he lib. Maybe so little 

 wldle he show lusself (pointing to iiiiubow) ; Good Man say 

 no more water-dead Injun." I must admit 1 was suprisad 

 and pleased at the extent of knowledge displayed by this poor 

 red man aud, questioning him still further, was informed 

 that he also knew that "bad white man had killed God's lily 

 boy." 1 was more surprised than ever anil the reduction of 

 these matters afforded me much gralificalion. We rode on 

 silently side by side— ihe Indian crooning to himself, I pon- 

 dering— when, a soldier rode up at full speed and gave me a 

 message from the chief of the j laity, directing me to return 

 at full speed, as one of the men hail accidentally shot himself 

 while playing with his revolver. Jake said: " Sojer heap 

 big dam fool," which was all the sympathy that could he got 

 out of him j and, plunging the spurs into oitf now tired ani- 



