FOREST AND STREAM 
9 
NOTES OF A SPORTSMAN ABROAD. 
T O break the monotony o£ a long voyage I left the P. 
and O. steamer at Gibraltar. To this place, on the 
north coast of Africa, it is only a journey of a few hours. 
Quite unexpectedly, I find myself in the midst of consid¬ 
erable sport. The neighborhood affords excellent shoot¬ 
ing, abounding in a great variety of game. It is the fa¬ 
vorite shooting ground of the English officers stationed at 
Gibraltar, who come over here in parties and encamp for 
several days, enjoying most excellent shooting. The game 
consists of wild boar, jackals, hares, geese, ducks, par¬ 
tridges, snipe, several varieties of plover, woodcock, and 
curlew. The migratory birds, in their flight northward, 
in seeking to cross from' one continent to the other, witli 
unerring sagacity choose the narrowest point of the Strait 
of Gibraltar. This is from Tarifa to Tangier, conse¬ 
quently those birds come in hero in great numbers, like a 
flock of sheep through a gate, and then spread out over 
the plains of Morocco. Sometimes these birds are deter¬ 
red from crossing by adverse winds, and at such times tbe 
wild fowl and snipe shooting about Tarifa is said to be 
something extraordinary. The best partridge shooting on 
this side is between this place and Tetuan, about a day’s 
journey to tbe northward. Just now Prince Arthur, or, to 
give him bis proper title,The Duke of Connaught, is here 
pig-sticking. This sport has become suddenly fashionable 
because the Prince of Wales had some of it in India. The 
English Minister at this place, Sir John Hay, is a great pa¬ 
tron of sport, and the Prince is here as his guest. The 
party presented a novel and picturesque appearanco as it 
returned to town. The hunters were mounted on the fa¬ 
mous horses of Barbaiy — a dappled gray seems to be the 
favorite color ot these horses—pack mules with tent equip¬ 
age, camels laden with the slain boars, while a motley 
crew of Moors, Arabs, and negro servants straggling along 
on foot, slioutiDg and flogging their beasts, altogether made 
up a motley shooting party that surpassed anything I ever 
saw. Twelve pigs in all were killed, nine tbe first day and 
three tbe second. Tbe hunt was attended with no casual¬ 
ties, except to the horses, three of which were more or less 
injured by the assaults of the boars. The mode of bunt¬ 
ing these boars with the spear is this: The hunters, well 
mounted on fleet Barbary horses, are armed with a long 
spear — a long bamboo staff with a sharp steel spear bead — 
which they bold in the right band at a point just where it 
will balance itself. They take their stations aloug the edge' 
of coverts in which pigs are supposed to be. A great 
number of beaters with clubs, and guns loaded with blank 
cartridges, together with some hounds, beat the covert, 
shoaling and discharging their guns. As soon as a pig 
breaks covert and takes to the open the hunters ride for 
him, and if they can overtake him, ride alongside and 
stick him—if neatly done under the fore shoulder. If the 
boar be a "tough customer,’' it requires two or three 
thrusts to bring him down, and generally after he has re¬ 
ceived one thrust of the spear he turns upon and charges 
his pursuers. This is the critical moment that calls for all 
the skill of the hunter. He must so guide his horse and 
manage his spear as to receive him on its point and impale 
him there, a squealing, wriggling, harmless boar. If he 
fails to do this, the chances are the brute will catch his 
horse with his savage tusks and mangle him fearfully. One 
hoar—the largest and most ferocious that was killed in this 
hunt—was not brought to bay until ho had received three 
spear thrusts,, and had ripped one horse. The Prince gave 
him the coup degrace, and the captain of hussaTs, who had 
the second thrust at him, and whose horse he injured, car¬ 
ried away with him his broken spear as a trophy of the 
fight. Another, and perhaps the more common mode of 
hunting the wild boar here is to shoot him with ball or 
buckshot cartridge. During my stay a party lias been 
out for this sport, led by the Sharif of Wazan. This man 
is a peisonage of great distinction here, being thePope or 
Spiritual head of the empire, and in many respects supe¬ 
rior to the sultan. He is about thirty years of age and as 
black as the nee of spades. His features are rather coarse, 
and yet do not decidedly bear the stamp of the negro 
blood he owns. One sees many Arabs with as dark a skiu 
as his, hut much more regular features. He claims to be a 
direct descendant of the great prophet Mohammed, and is 
regarded as a very saintly and sacred person. It is popu¬ 
larly believed that he has the power to perform miracles, 
to heal the sick, to regulate the weather, and, what is still 
more wonderful, to change wine into water! He is rather 
partial to Venoc Clicquot as a beverage; but as the drink¬ 
ing of wine is contrary to the law of the Koran, the faith¬ 
ful say it turns to water in his throat/ According to more 
direct and reliable testimony, however, the wine retains 
some of its familiar exhilerating quality, even after it has 
undergone this extraordinary change in passing jnto his 
ailimentary canal, and liis successful predictions regarding 
the weather are attributed by the skeptical to the posses¬ 
sion of an excellent barometer. Like our own great 
prophet and saint, this one is very much married. He has 
several wives in every large town in the empire, so that in 
the words of the nursery rhyme, 
“With rings on his flnters, and hells on his toes, 
Theieis sore to be ffiiii-ic wherever he goes." 
His favorite wife at present is an English lady, very 
young and pretty, to whom he was married by the Protes¬ 
tant form, the ceremony being performed at the English 
Embassy here. But I am digressing, This hospitable 
gentleman is very fond of sport, and has a large collection 
of modern guns, rifles, etc. On this expedition, to which 
I had the honor of an invitation, not much of sport was 
had. There were plenty of pigs, but they could uot bo in- 
duoed to break covert. The covert was so thick that both 
the beaters and tbe hounds were afraid to enter it much, 
lost their legs would ho chewed up in llio operation. Only 
three pigs were killed. Wild pork, of which an ample 
supply cooked in various ways has been furnished at the 
table of the hotel, has a peculiar, and, for pork, an im¬ 
proved flavor. It is pork with a venison flavor to it. Of 
course it is nof so fat as the flesh of the pampered pet of 
an Irish sty. The color of these pigs is a sort of rusty 
black, with long bristles along the ridge ot the back, and 
when pursued, .or in making a charge upon his enemy, it 
is said these bristles are raised up in a way that renders 
him a ferocious-looking beast. 
The keeper qf the best hotel in this town, Mr. Martin, 
is a great sportsman, and is the leader and organizer of 
nearly all the expeditions going out from this place. He 
keeps the bc3t horses, the best dogs, and has all the outfit 
necessary for the pursuit of any kind of game. He, too, 
is a descendant from the Ham branch of our common post- 
deluvian stock, and if not as dark as the familiar ace, at 
least has a complexion that won't tan in a hot climate. 
Mr. Martin is a native of our South, or of the West Indies, 
and is really a very well-informed and accomplished inan. 
He was formerly a steward or body servant to the Duke of 
Edinburgh, has travelled every-where, and has a very wide 
acquaintance. It is said,of the greatest military general of 
modern times that he is silent in seven languages. Martin 
is talkative- in almost as many. I went out partridge 
shooting with him one day, and lie worked the "team” in 
three languages, speaking English, Spanish, and Arabic 
with apparent fluency. He has the easy, reposeful man¬ 
ners of an eastern potentate, is a thorough sportsman, a 
good shot, a most courageous and skillful pig-sticker, and 
sings a good song, and if I add that he is a genuine host, I 
am sure I need say no more to convince you that Martin is 
a rare man to find in this part of the world, lie is so fond 
of sport that he selected this place for his abode on account 
of the abundance and variety of game it affords. He keeps 
a good stable and has in it the best Barbary blood. Prince 
Art,bur rode his favorite bay Barb at the hunt, and was so 
much pleased with it that he purchased the animal at a 
high price. Mr. Mnrtiu has just shipped to our Central 
Park Zoological Garden some specimens of the four-horned 
rams of Barbary, other specimens of which I Baw in his 
stable. They are handsome fellows, with, four large, curl¬ 
ing horns, two bending forward and two backward. 
There are indeed a great many of tbe smaller migratory 
game birds in this vicinity. On riding a short distance into 
the country large flocks of grecn-backed plover, golden 
plover and sickle-bill curlew rise from your path, and, 
wheeling around for a while, settle again. It isdifflcull to 
get within gunshot of any except the green-backed plover. 
There is little or no covert, except the low stunted palmet¬ 
to bnslies. In this the partridges hide, and in hunting 
them beaters are required to drive them out of it. On 
striking a clump of this palmetto sometimes four or five 
birds will jump out and fly in as many different directions. 
I have visited the flail market several times to see what it 
affords.' A small mackerel and the red mullet, which the 
Moors call the "Sultan of fishes,” is about all I sceat this 
season. Mr. Martin tells me that the lobsters taken here 
are very fine, sometimes reaching thirteen and fourteen 
pounds in weight, and from the shell of one I saw 1 can 
easily believe it. 
The American Consul at this place, Col. F. A. Matthews, 
a most hospitable and courteous gentleman, is the man who 
compelled the venerable and stiff-necked Bashaw to apolo¬ 
gize for saying the foreign consuls were “like a parcel of 
monkeys,” an account of which was given in one of our 
newspapers last Fall.. Col. Matthews is very popular here, 
and got a great deal of credit for the energy and spirit lie 
displayed on this occasion. He is a native of Tangier, but 
has served both in our army and navy and lived in Califor¬ 
nia for some years. If he is content to stay here he ongiit 
to be allowed to as long as he wishes to. Col. Matthews 
has the finest collection of Moorish arms in Tangier. 
Tangier, Morocco , December, i875. Dkuid. 
Hotel AVanted. —I must apologize for occupying space 
in your columns regarding hotels; but as Florida is becom¬ 
ing a winter resort for many of the readers of the Forest 
and Stream, I feel that I am not. taking an unwarranted 
liberty. 
Cedar Keys is the southern terminus of the Fernandina 
and Cedar Keys Railroad. Steamers plying between New 
Orleans and Havana call weekly lo land passengers and 
freights. The steamer Valley City for Lumpa, Manatee, 
Punta Rassa, and Key West; steamer Emily for Manatee 
and Tampa; and the steamer Bill Keyserfor Crystal River, 
Old Tampa, Tampa, and Sarasota leave Cedar Keys week¬ 
ly. These various lines of travel cause many persons to 
lay over at the Keys in Winter, as well as Summer. The 
three existing hotels are anything but what the impor¬ 
tance of the place demands; and, in the language of Ihe 
State Journal , a paper published at Cedar Keys, “Our ac¬ 
commodations in that line (hotel) are such tbatno one stops 
here longer thahhe is obliged to. Parlies traveling through 
are often delayed on account of the boats, but never make 
this a resort.” I have personally tested the three hotels in 
the place, and can only say that I wished myself anywhere 
eise. 
Transient travel would materially aid in supporting a 
good hotel, and from my knowledge of the place I feel as¬ 
sured that a large number of permanent boarders could be 
secured from among tbe residents of the town. During tbe 
AVinter months mauy tourists and sportsmen would visit 
the place and remain for days, or weeks, if suitable hotel 
accommodations could be obtained. 
A few days since I pointed out the importance 
of establishing a good hotel at the Keys to Mr. D, 
E. Maxwell, Superintendent of the Fernandina an a Cedar 
Keys Railroad, and be assured me that the Railroad Com 
pany would aid and assist the undertaking in every possible 
way. First, by deeding to tbe person erecting a hotel two 
blocks ofiand in the town, one block on the mound, the 
highest point of land on the coast, and the other extending 
from opposite the first, to tbe bay shore—in all five or six 
acres of land. 
Independent of giving the lund, the Railroad Company 
would agree to transport all building materials and furni¬ 
ture and fixtures free of charge over the.Vine of road. The 
mound affords a fine view of the main land, islands, hay. 
and ocean, and the beach is an excellent one for bathing 
and keeping boats. Fishing is fair, and ducks and bcacli 
birds are plentiful during the. Winter months. By taking 
the morning train the sportsman can reach a point in one 
hour where deer, turkeys, and quail are plentiful, enjoy at 
least six honrs’ sport and return before supper. The cli¬ 
mate is excellent, and the health of the place unexception¬ 
able, and wo feel assured that if a hotel was erected at the 
Keys by one who knows how to run such an institution 
that it would prove remunerative and a safe investment. 
Jacksonville, Fla,, Jan. 24.1875. Al Fresco. 
She 
THE INTERNATIONAL MATCH. 
J UDGING from the dispatches which have been flying 
across the cables during the past week, the question of 
an International Rifle Match is in a charming state of 
muddle, with a very fair prospect of its either being 
"off ” altogether, or else confined to a match between our 
own and a sectional team, instead of Ihe gallant battle we 
have expected with Sir Heury Halford and the Imperial 
Team. In our editorial of last week, we predicted that 
trouble would arise from the notification received by tele¬ 
graph that the Scottish National Rifle Association team 
would visit us next, summer to participate in an Interna¬ 
tional match, but scarcely imagined that our prediction 
would be so soon verified. Should the match with the 
British Team be "off,” it will be owing entirely to the 
action of our own National Rifle Association in sending 
three challenges when but one was either requisite or ex¬ 
pected. It would be supposed that the'experience of our 
riflemen at Wimbledon lust summer, would have taught us 
how this matter should be managed. An invitation was 
given to Sir Henry Halford at that time, and gallantly 
accepted, to visit us during the summer for the purpose of 
shooting a match for the championship of the world, In 
the formation of liis team Sir Henry invited the efnek 
shots of Ireland and Scotland to compete for places, and 
with ihe pick of Great Britain nnd Ireland the strongest 
kind of a team could have been gotten together. And yet 
there is no reason why teams of purely Irish or Scotch 
organization should not come a3 well as Canadian, French, 
Swiss or German teams, and shoot in as many matches as 
can be gotten up j but for the match, the match suggested 
at AVimbledou Immediately after the Elclio Shield compe¬ 
tition, and subsequently accepted by the British National 
Rifle Association, but one team should be eligible to shoot, 
and that the Imperial Team, lo be selected by Sir Henry 
Halford, at the request of the Association just mentioned; 
"and we consider tl.At Sir Henry is quite justified in aband¬ 
oning the matter.’ We have already won the odd trick 
from the Irishmen; it was always expected that Sir 
Henry’s team would have a proportion of Scotchmen upon 
it, (and Irishmen also if they choose to compete for places,) 
and therefore the bringing of three teams to shoot against 
our one, seems supererogatory, as well as making the odds 
against us three to one. And no doubt Sir Henry looks at 
it in tiie same light. It is the American team he wants to 
beat or be beaten by, not the Irish or Scotch. At all 
events he has written the following letter lo the London 
agent of the Associated Press. 
“I am in communication with the Scottish National 
Rifle Club, which has accepted the challenge from America 
to send a sepurate team, and with the Irish Rifle Associa¬ 
tion, who still have the matter under consideration. I am 
endeavoring to obtain their cooperation in sending a British 
team alone. The Counoil of the National Rifle Associa¬ 
tion is so unanimous In its feeling that only a British team 
should be entered that there is no necessity to eall a meet¬ 
ing on the subject. If 1 fail in inducing Scotland and 
Ireland to join iu the British team, I shall place my resig¬ 
nation as Captain in tbe bands of tbe National Rifle Assooi- 
tion. 1 have every reason to believe that England will not 
be represented by any separate team.” 
If, therefore, the Scottish and Irish Rifle Associations 
persist in sending separate teams, the great point of interest 
in this years’ International match will be lost, the prospect 
of a contest with a British team transferred to a very 
indefinite period, and the Centennial deprived (as far as 
riflemen arc concerned) of one of its chief attractions. It 
is too soon, however, to croak; everything may be satisfac¬ 
torily arranged, nnd wo may yet welcome this gentleman 
to whom our own riflemen are indebted for so many 
courtesies at Wimbledon. 
Massachusetts Rifle Association.—A meeting held 
for practce by this association, met at Spy Pond on Sat¬ 
urday, January 20. The highest scores were as follows: 
Higgins, 46; Frost, 4(1; Osgood, 44, and Sawyer, 44. 
The highest possible score was 50. 
