Jcm SO, 1881.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



427 



ESCAMBIA RIVER, WEST FLORIDA. 



SYou check him in his headlong career, and with wide open 

 mouth, showing till bis formidable array of teeth, he jumps 

 O much has been written of East Florida, its scenery, its Ws fuli ,eu g tu of iWrty inches high "in the air. Now be 

 climate., its sportiuir facilities of -all kinds and its mani- shoves along in regular Hues, beautifully geometric, and 

 fuul attractions, that it seems almost treason to assert that now he spins himM;U in miiallcirces savage and full ol ure, 

 irida is far its superior in all things. Yet such is and game to the last The Black Hawk stands with wide 

 the honest opinion of this writer, after a tolerably fair ex- open mouth, forgetful of his paddle. 



pi oration of East Florida, and a full and entire knowledge of 

 the western half of 'he .-tafe. 



Tweny years ago, Llie. writer, then iu the flush of early 

 manhood, accompanied by a dear friend, of the medical pro- 

 fession, tirst muv ilie Escambia Kiver. A sable gentleman 

 whom we had picked up in Montgomery, Ala., and who had, 

 or pr fessed to have, all the virtues and none of the vices of 

 his race, was our man Friday for the trip. 



Not even Dumas himself, most, fertile of French liaTS. 

 could have held the nocturnal luminary to this accomplished 

 racon.Uur of imaginary adventure liorn fr> e in the West. 

 Indies, he spoke a lauguage compounded of all the languages 

 under the sun, at least all that I know. He would commence 

 a sentence Iu pure French, interlard it with Spanish, and 

 end with bailor English. 



He had been a soldier under the grey-eyed man of destiny, 

 Walker, and had sparged among tlie "immortal six hundred 

 on thai immortal day. Had be known history I doubt not 

 that lie would have fought and drank with Suwarrow, dined 

 with Kapoleon after Austerlitz, and supped with Wellington 



after Waterloo. My companion. Dr. W , named bim 



"Black Hawk," on I be spot, less from his resemblance to 

 that bird of prey than an undefined feeling in his mind that 

 by sonic species of metempsychosis the spirit of that re- 

 nowned warrior now dwelt in the body of the ex-West In- 

 dian. 



He united the most undeviating honesty with a surprising 

 capacity f 01 all spirituous fluids, but, when most drunk, he 

 never forgot his place, or presumed upon the familiarity of 

 gentlemen. To sum up all, he knew how to broil fish, to 

 make Oa.fe a La Francaise, and to make a most exquisite 

 omelette. I never saw a liar that was honest, but I do be- 

 lieve that he was an exception to the rule. Why should 

 there not be ex< eptious ? Every liar is a thief. Granted. 

 Reverse the proposition and we have, "Every thief is a liar." 

 Yet have Iseen men in the garb of gentlemen, lie deliberate- 

 ly. And tell one of ihem that he lies, and he bristles up and 

 talks of bis wounded honor ! Ah ! my masters ! Vive la 

 hmbogue! Five lemec/iaut.' The Escambia River rises in 

 Alabama, aud after pretending that it intends to empty it- 

 self into the Chattahoochee, makes a. bold rush for the Gulf 

 of Mexico, into which it empties after much winding and 

 tribulations. 



In the lower part of its course, every little creek which 

 empties into it makes a lake, somctime's ten or fifteen miles 

 long, and of (en a half-mi 'e wide. These lakes are the chosen 

 home of trout (3F. ^/Divides), bream, red perch, wawmouih, 

 sun perch and croppies. 



They are bold biters and, being generally uneducated fish, 

 the mere-it tyro can take them. 



Well; behold »f us then, on a bright summer morning in 

 August, as we s'and upon the porch of a low, rambling log- 

 house, to be our home, for the next six weeks. The inmates 

 of this house are an old man, a very patriarch in looks, who, 

 however, can beat us both with a rifle; his wife, two stal- 

 wart sons and the two pretty, blushing usual girls to be 

 found anywhere iu West Florida. A long row of houses, 

 very similar to the one in which we stand, stretches off 

 toward the river. This is the negro quarter. Tnere is a 

 standing lend, I am sorry to Say, between those who live 

 nearest the river and those who live most reunite. Dark in- 

 sinuations pass between dark, old patriarchs anent "dem 

 set lines." 



It is openly charged that there are vile darkeys, so lost to 

 all sense of shame tiiat Ihey visb at the midnight gloaming 

 the Hues that are set for the toothsome blue cat by the dwell 

 lers on the hill. Per cviUra, there is a. legend that a bdl 

 negro, visiting a line set by a bank negro, for the purpose of 

 reprisal, ran his thumb into the mouth of a monster cat, be- 

 fore he took him off the hook, and the fish liking the taste 

 thereof, bit, so bard and held so fast that he was fain to cry 

 for helD. And the bank negroes iook a base advantage of him, 

 and did strpe him from his head unto his heels ; all of which 

 we learn at the proper time from one of the family. 



Ghosily talk is whispered around, both among the bank and 

 the hill uweilers, concerning a cat of huge size which is pop- 

 ularly supposed 10 be a witch. However that may be, they 

 tell with b, ted breath how Uncle Daniel, having bated his 

 book one night with a small bird, saw the line swaying to 

 and fro in a most furious manner. Hauling it in, he sawihe 

 old fiend m propria, per*oiia t in the shape of an old cat, the 

 veteran old cat of the Escambia, "Twenty-five foot long, 

 sah!" " Wid sasser eyes!" " Wid double de wideness 

 'tween de eyes ob any oder cat on de yeathl An' he say, 

 'Dan'l, I come aner you:' An' I flew, I did I Flew I Idone 

 rnore'n dat, I flewed I" 



As we sit. around the breakfast table we hear this negro 

 folk-lore and many o'her curious things. As we walk down 

 to the river w e notice that the morninghas suddenly become 

 gray aud my rie'ermination lo fish for bream is changed to a 

 desire, to throw the festive fly for trout and jack. The doctor 

 sticks to 'he bald bream, for he loves the bold rush and the 

 bard fight of the gayly-striped bream ; while I, slave of the 

 Teel, yet think that no angling is worthy the name unless the 

 fish is killed at least thirty yards from the angler. 



Leiving the doctor to bis own devices, I put my rod to- 

 gether and, with the "Black Hawk as my boatman, I turn 

 info an arm of the river, and with a nondescript fly, the like 

 of which would alarm any Northern angler, I commence, 

 casting. I may here remark that the most killing fiy is one 

 made from the" feathers of the red bird, with the shank of the 

 hook wrapped with white flannel and the head made of 

 hlack cloth. 1 never saw a white fly with red wings and a 

 black head, and fully three inches long, but trout aud jack 

 have, or they would not rise at it so freely, and all the time 

 looking with scorn aud ill-concealed contempt upon artisti- 

 cally made flies. 



Round and round we go, and not a single rise to reward 

 our labor. Do you see yon green bush that partly hangs in 

 the water, and und'r which lie many perch of many kinds? 

 The fly is deftly thrown beyond the bnsh, and dr<wn, with 

 skimming bops toward tbejangler. Ha! A monarch Jack ! 

 H<; flashes from under the bush, like a tiger of the waters, 

 and with a headlong leap, not swirl, he gorges the huge fly, 

 and is again under the bush before you can say the tradi- 

 tional "Jack Robinson." Everything is perfectly still, for 

 the monster does not yet know that he is mine. A slight 

 twitch soon tells the tale, and with a mighty rush he leaves 

 his lair, and for a straight fifty yards never stops. 



■bile he tries to pull 

 him into the boat, which, after much objurgation and loud 

 threa's, he succeeds in do<ng. Th- re he lies, savage still, for 

 he has bitten the Black Hawk to the bone, who, to have re- 

 venge, incontinently hits him over the head with his paddle, 

 aud so ends that Jack's capers. 



About a hundred yards from this battle ground, spreading 

 far and wide, is a patch of "bonnets," now spreading their 

 broad leaves to their fullest extent, aud looking with their 

 dark green invitingly cool and attractive. The fly falls 

 lightly as a flake of -snow near a large bonnet, and with a 

 lazy swirl out comes the master of that domicile, and, taking 

 ihe fly as if he had been waiting for it all day, he feels 

 tlie sudden stab of the steel, and with race-horse speed he 

 dashes for the centre of the patch of bonnets. Now you 

 need a boatman ! And this one proves himself equal to the oc- 

 casion. For almost as swift as the fish himself he is in the 

 open space, and while the angler holds the trout taut he. 

 drives him! 



Step by step the sullen foe is driven out into Ihe open 

 water, aud then you have a fair hand-to-hand fight, with a 

 ten-! ound trout. With half the trouble, that the monstrous 

 Jack has given us he yields to fale. and lies in the bottom of 

 the boat, while the "Black Hawk" eyes him with a lurking 

 suspicion in his mind that he, too, can bite ! 



On we go, and by the time that we return to the good 

 Doctor I have caught enough fish for all the family, both 

 white and black. 



Such is the record of one (lay's fishing the lakes of West 

 Florida. Some after this one were perhaps better, others 

 worse. ; but on the whole the angling was all that any one 

 could ask 



I have not left myself room to tell many moving mishaps 

 thai befell the "Black Hawk," unluckiest of niggers. Nor 

 shall I dwell upou the toothsome wild turkeys that fell to my 

 gun, and the two deer that were killed, one with No. 4 shot. 



If any of your readers should wish to vi-it that region they 

 can rind a warm welcome aud a paradise of small game. 



Go to Montgomery, Ala., and take the Pejis&eoIsiK 8 ., 

 and get off at tlie fir-it Btatiou iu Escambia County. They 

 are welcome to use my name as an introduction. L am known 

 to everybody, or I was "befoh de wah." The climate is the 

 same as East Alabama. No flies and no mosquitoes. No 

 ice and no snow. St. Claih. 



THE SAUANAC LAKE REGION. 



THE FABLE OF TUK FK0G8. 



THE season has fairly opened at the Saranac lakes and 

 v>cinity, and sportsmen flock to the forest like dove; 



their windows. Our woods yet abound with game, and 

 our laki s and streams are alive wilh fish. This is the season 

 they are waiting to he caught, and enthusiastic anglers wish 

 naturally to find the best way to reach the Adirondack. 



Many, after one trip to the wilderness, especially if they 

 have good sport and a pleasant time, write articles for the 

 papers and periodicals, describing the route they have taken 

 as the Adiroudacks, not taking into consideration the largo 

 extent of the Adirondack^. There are many ways of enter- 

 ing (his region, but the experience of thirty years in all 

 parts of the Adirondack wild' rness should give me sane 

 knowledge of its ways and byways, and to my mind the 

 Lower Saranac combines more advantages than any other 

 place as a starting point for sportsmen or tourists. And this 

 is getting to be better understood, as many parlies are prov- 

 ing this season by coining this way and being met here by 

 their gu des from St. Regis, Long Lake, Blue Mountain 

 Lake and Saranac Lakes. 



This place is easiest of access to both sportsman and guide. 



Each hotel-keeper thinks he keeps the hotel of the wilder- 

 ness. They make me think of the East and AVest Ponds, 

 each inhabited by frogs and separated from the other by a 

 hill. One tine mornitig one frog from e ch pond 5 t-irled on 

 a voyage of discovery, each to see how his neighbor's pond 

 compared with his own. When they reached the summit 

 they fell into conversation, and each accepted an invitatiou 

 to look into their neighbor's pond. So each one rose on his 

 hind legs and with his foot on the other's shoulder looked 

 for the pond. But as we know a frog's eyes are on the top 

 of his head, each one looked into his own pond when he 

 thought he was looking into his neighbor's. So they were 

 both satisfied and retraced i heir way. When they renehi-d 

 home they were met by their friends and asked how their 

 neighbor's pond compared with their own. They bolh gave 

 the same answer: " I would not give an acre of i bis water 

 for their whole pond." 



Thus the landlords of the Adirondack^ feel each of his 

 own locality. 



In leaving Lake Champlain at Westport, Port Kent or 

 Plattsburg you reach M, B. Miller's at Lower Saranac Lake 

 from one to two hours sooner than you can any of the other 

 Saranac lakes. "I he thorough renovation of Mr. Miller's, the 

 Saranac Lake House, is about complete from cellar to trarret. 

 Guests who have visited this house, aud been satisfied will 

 now he. delighted with the improvements. 



I write this for the benefit and information of uninitiated 

 tourists, not for any pecuniary consider it ion. Mr. Miller is 

 not the man to give a summer's board bill for a literary puff. 



Parties are misled in many ways. Some en route for 

 Saranac lakes have been carried to St Regis by stage-driv- 

 ers, who are supposed to us • tluir influence for the man who 

 pays them best. But Charlie Greene, the new proprietor of 

 the stage route between this place and Ausable Forks, can 

 be depended on to carry travelers to their chosen destina- 

 tion without fear or favor. He has the best set of stage 

 horses that have ever been on the route, and having bought 

 out Mr. Harper, of Keeseville, is prepared to carry passen- 

 gers with speed aud comfort, and flatters himself he will 

 give satisfaction to the public. Sakasao Lake Guide. 



THE UBIQUITOUS SKUNK. 



SPEAKING of woodchucks reminds a Western corres- 

 pondent of some of his observations of skunks. The 

 connection we fail to see, but here is what he says : 



Have been very much interested in reading notes from 

 correspondents, and read some very curious stories; do not 

 think they could all "produce papers" for some of the tales. 

 "Kio," in" the last number (June 2), thinks a woodchuck up a 

 tree a singular sight. I never saw one in such a position in 

 York State, but ten years ago in Kmsas I shot several, per- 

 haps six or eight in all, out of various sized trees. I had the 

 good fortune to see one do the climbing. I think he was 

 ns' d to it. He evidently understood his business. Two 

 years ago I was out after rabbits one morning after a heavy 

 fall of snow, and found a skunk lying dead at the end of a 

 hfr'low log, aud the tra'ks of a foxtha f > had killed him. 

 There could be no mistake as it had snowed until 2 o'clock 

 a. m., and there was no other tracks about, aud not a flake 

 of snow on the skunk; beside?, I could see where the fox had 

 slid on his side in the snow, just as a dog will do after a simi- 

 lar experience. Is that a common occurrence? Once in 

 Kansas I shot a skunk at least ten feet from the ground 

 among some basswood sprouts that grew up from an old 

 stump, but I think he was the only climbing skunk in that 

 couutry so I guess that ended the race of climbers. 



F. U. R. 



(Jirdemlle, 0., June 22— Editor Forest and Stream: I in- 

 close with this note a slip which I have had printed in sev- 

 eral papers, and desire that you will give it to the public 

 through the columns of the Fokest and Stream. I desire 

 to possess all the facts I can obtain upon the subject of 

 skunk bites, with a view of refuting or sustaining a theory 

 which has recently been brought into prominence in the pro- 

 fession, hoping you will oblige me by giving it space. Hav- 

 ing recently had" my attention called to a disease designated 

 rabies mephitica. or hydrophobia, from the bite of the com- 

 mon skunk (mephitis mephilka), I have decided, through the 

 kindness of this paper, to put to the farmers, trappers and 

 oilier interested parties four questions, in the hope that some 

 information of value may be brought out which will throw 

 Ikht upon a subject surrounded at the present time with a 

 paucity of fact. ' Before giving the questions it may be. best 

 to state, in a general but concise wav, the end to which these 

 interrogatories are made. A few years aao forty-one cases 

 were reported in detail of persons bitten by skunks forty of 

 whom died wihin ten days or a year with symptoms re- 

 sembling closely hydroptiobia from the bite of the ra'id dog. 

 The bites were nearly all inflicted at night, upon the hand, 

 nose or ear, while the persons were sleeping upon the ground 

 in c imp. Several cases were also reported of dogs being 

 bilteu, the bite proving fatal in each instance. The gentle- 

 man wh) collated the above-mentioned cases asserts as his 

 belief, and endeavors to prove the same, that the bite of the 

 skunk always produces a peculiar form of rabies, which is 

 invariably fatal if left to run its course; that the disease is 

 produced by theinnoculation of a special hydrophobic virus 

 generated by the skunk, and, finally, that the first cause of 

 The dread nialady (hydrophobia) originates with the skuuk 

 and the allied genera. " If auy one to who c e notice this article 

 comes can answer in the affirmative any of the following 

 questions, that person will do me a favor by writing the 

 facts on a postal card and sending it to my address : 



1. Have you ever known a person to be bitten by a skunk, 

 and if so, what was the result of the bite ? 



2. Have you ever known a dog to be bitten by a skunk, 

 and if so. what was the result of the bite? 



8. D i skunks ordinarily show a disposition to bite ? 



4. Have you ever seen a skunk that had lost the power of 

 seen tin,; or expelling the odious fluid which constitutes its 

 battery '! Howabd Jokes, M. D. 



Our files contain much discussion of this question. An 

 epitome will be given for Dr. Jones next week. 



It has come to be quite the fashion for railroads to pre. 

 pare handsomely printed and profusely illustrated hand- 

 books setting forth the attractions of the country through 

 which they pass. We have from time to time noted such 

 books as they came to our desk. Elsewnere will be found 

 reference to some new ones. 



TREE-CLIMBING WOODCHUCKS. 



Ashfikld, Mass. 

 AS" Rio" doubts the existence of more than one climbing 

 xi woodchuck, I would state that twenty odd years ago, being 

 troubled wilh constant raids on my crops, I bought a good 

 "chuck," dog. He killed and scared away the most of them 

 the first year ; and three of his victims he treed. The first 

 two were in low leaning trees, but the third one was about 

 two-thirds grown, and "Spot " got between him and his hole 

 and made a rush for him. " Chuckee " scrabbled the best he 

 knew ; but " Spot " soon placed a fearfully shori distance be- 

 tween his no=e and the varmint's caudal appendage, when 

 "chuck," evidently fearing a curtailment, made a dash at a 

 small ash tree and clawed his way up, never ceasing t > climb 

 Until he had placed a good twenty feet between himself and 

 "Spot," when he crawled awkwardly into a small crotch. 

 As he appeared painfully ill at ease in his elevated position, 

 I drew my revolver and kindly assisted him to a quiet 

 position ou mother earth. The despoilment of a nice bean 

 tie d near by had rendered me somewhat in earnest on the 

 "chuck" question. 



By the way, your turtle story reminds me of a little yarn 

 spun for the beguilement of a party of hunters (including the 

 writer) by an old mossback out in Southern Indiana. The 

 1w s hadbeen telling a few fish, turtle and snake stories, to 

 which he listened very attentively. When they had all fin- 

 ished, old "mossy" gave a hitch or two and uulimbered. 

 " Wall. boys. I never have doubted any sort o' huntin' story 

 sense my leetle 'turkle' scrape down on the bottoms." The 

 boys all looked inquiringly and he proceeded. "I was a pok- 

 in? round down lhar one day last year, when I come acrost 

 Ihe dtirndest old-lookin' ' turkle ' I ever seen. Why, the moss 

 was an inch thick on his back, and the old cuss couldn't 

 hard'y wiggle his tail. I cut a stick to measure the depth or 

 the moss on his back and accidentally scraped off a hunk on 

 ir, when I seen some letters. So I scraped it all off and thar 

 in big letters wus writ ' B. C follered by the Aggers ' 567.' 

 Wall, I stud up kinder faint-like, and tuk my hand oft on 

 him to sorter rub my old head, when he fetched a flop to git 

 awav and slid down the bank a bit and turned clean over, 

 when, I'll be ' dogoned,' if thar wa'nt printed in the biggest 

 Hind o' capitals on his belly, just anmd his forelegs, 'Adam, 

 aud dowu a little 1 urder, nigh his right hind leg (in the same 



