384: 
FOREST AND STREAM 
couples of snipe, a brace of -woodcocks, and O'Gaggen’s 
crow. 
“Now,” said John, "as the day advances 1 feel more 
limber, and if you can let me have a few of your cat-ridges, 
President, I will try my hand at the shigiu homeward, but 
let us take those rice fields in on our right, we may trouble 
other game by the side of that small pond. I have picked 
blue-winged teal out of it at times, and it may be possible 
that, we shall find some there’this afternoon.” 
Then swinging off to the rice field on the right we again 
spread out, when John, to the astonishment of all at the 
very first shot, brought down three snipe oat of a wisp of 
six, ami shortly aftei ward Gus distinguished Wmself by 
a long shot at a’ pheasant which was flushed from the rice.* 
As°he suu was setting we reached the boat, and placing 
the dogs and servants on board, started them home while 
the four of us were ferried across the river to the Tea House, 
and there, after a change of clothes, &c., and a lew cups of 
pure Japanese ic/ia we jumped into the President’s wagon¬ 
ette and drove rapidly homeward in the cool of the evening, 
tired but satisfied with the day’s shooting. 
When fairly within the gates' of Yokohama, and while 
driving over the yo-shi-do-bashi, Gus turning to John said, 
“Of course you will dine with us to night at rokuban, 
and as for chutige of clothes and a bath we also supply 
these, which will not necessitate your going home?” 
"1 have had feed enough to-day, but 1 don’t mind look¬ 
ing at you three gormandizers at work, and about the bath, 
if you will haul up at the club, President, I will -wash 
myself inside first, and afterwards think of hide scraping 
at your establishment,” replied our worthy colleague. 
Hamourai. 
*Thls is rather nnnsnal, bnl. an actual fact. We were at least six 
mill a from the nearest hills where these birds could possibly find their 
regular food. It sometimes happens that in straying away from the 
hili i districts they become bewilaored and secret tbemselveB in the rice 
fields. 
- « i> 
NOTES OF THE WHEELER EXPEDI¬ 
TION. 
A BAT IN THE CHAPARRAL. 
‘‘In the wild and purple mountains he longed, be longed to be.” 
I N the coast ranges we wander. In the morning we ride 
along the line of surf and seaweed, and are met with 
tne breakers and the mist. At noon we are two thousand 
feet above, upon the cliffs which are the abrupt junction of 
land and sea Around us is the sunlight, then, below us, 
over the water, a great volume of cloud settles in convo¬ 
luted banks which muffle the roar of the ocean. As the 
day advances the mass becomes more orderly and stratified 
until, at evening, half cumulus and half stratus, it spreads 
broad and billowy like a second ocean over the first, Its 
horizon is as even and level as the horizon of the water 
itself. Above its white and fluffy substance the black 
heads of the islands peer, like the crests of serpents above 
the sea-foam. Underneath this envelope sail the ships, 
whose passengers are cold and damp and uncomfortable, 
aud murmur at Heaveu’s unkindness in thus hiding her face 
from them, when it is not Heaven’s doings at all, but only 
a film of earth’B obscurity, which we, from our heights, 
look down upon and enjoy. 
Before us is the trail which the deer and the Indians 
pioneered for us centuries ago. By this path the wild doe 
goes down to drink when the moon is high. On either side 
bristles the dense abaltis of chaparral , through which no 
xnau is lank enough to thread his way, no animal is strong 
enough to breast a passage. Its boughs are not lissome 
like the hazel and birch, but dry and sapless, are like iron 
in their inflexibility. It is a tangled and matted thicket of 
grease-wood and evergreen, wild rose aud sage, with flowers 
of all colors and kinds interwoven. Here and there the 
white and flaky raceme of the regal bayonet-plant over¬ 
towers all. Nature recognizes the fact that beauty needs 
defence, and: hence the thorns of the rose and the bayonet- 
flower’s spmes, which, sharp as needles, radiate from the 
root of the plant and are a guard to its beauty. In like 
manner a queen is surrounded by the bayonets of her 
trusty soldiers. The spears of the bayonet-plant are as 
keen as the spears of the Spartans, and a field qf this 
growth is as pathless as a cactus-bed. Along the trail some 
kind pilgrim w bo baa gone before us has clipped the thorns 
away. Probably he rode a mustang; the mustangs are in¬ 
telligent creatures and early learn by sore experience to 
avoid this species of shrubbery, and, ungenerous that they 
are, they do not hesitate to fly the track and harry their 
riders through a grease-wood copse in order to save their 
own tender skins from contact with a tiny bayonet-plant. 
Be he never so brave, there are two things from which the 
mustang will shy—they are Lhe bayonet-plant and the rat¬ 
tlesnake. 
In these coverts the rattlesnake is at home, and, on ac¬ 
count ol his deadly presence, he who elambers up these 
mountains, clutching with his lingers close to the ground, 
literally carries his life in his hands. In piecautiou it is 
well to wear gauntlet gloves and boots wiLh high leggins to 
shield the vulnerable parts of the person. Yet it was but 
the other day that we saw a Mexican who was shod with 
only a sole of buck skin, which was tied sandal-wise upon 
his fool, and with this excuse for a shoe he walked fear¬ 
lessly into the lairs where they were thickest. Surely there 
is some fraternity between wild animal aud wild man, and 
some reciprocity of harmlessness to which they have 
agreed. 
A lariat of braided horse-hair is a prickly harrier over 
which, according to popular belief, tbey cannot pnil their 
tender skins, and in a dry and rocky country the practiced 
mountaineer is seen to spread his bed of blankets within 
this mugio circle. Ropes ot horse-hair are plenty and can 
he procured in any store, for the making of them is a com¬ 
mon accomplishment known to the ranchman, who with 
this art whiles away the rainy day, and to the shepherd, 
who does not fool his time away in piping on an oaten 
reed like some sentimental Colin Clout, but improves it by 
weaviug lariats the while his sheep are lying down. Horse¬ 
hair is a lavorile material with the Mexican saddlers also, 
aud deftly they braid it into bridles, bailers and girths. 
/VVith other commodities it has its market value, and to 
procure it horses are cropped as sheep are shorn. Often 
have we seen great herds ol horses with tails closely docked 
in order that me brushes of hair might be woven into rope- 
work tor the fanciful adornment aud equipment of other 
horses. 
As for remedies against the snake-bite, if a finger should 
be struck, cut it off and throw it away. If an arm is bit¬ 
ten and there are a batchet and band-saw convenient, a 
hurried amputation may save one’s life. But if wounded 
in a more vital pait, then God help you, you are in extremis; 
drink whiskey then immoderately, intemperately, and like 
a toper. Similta siinilibun mmniur —the one poison may 
neutralize the other. Not only as a cure, but as a precau¬ 
tion, is the use of whiskey recommended, and Smitjh, the 
packer, is never without a small flask of it. As he holds 
it up between his eye aud the sud, and dwells upon it in 
anticipation, he remarks that it is well to have a drop 
along in case of snakes, and again, as he draws a long 
breath after a long imbibition, he says that it is well to 
keep a little in the system “so as to be fortified like." 
_ Of all the dangerouB creatures that infest the chaparral 
none are more to be shunned than theBe homeopathic dis¬ 
pensers of death. The minutest drop of poison from their 
fangs will curdle a man’s blood in his veins in a very few 
hours and he dies most horribly. It is safe to say that the 
old enmity between the seed of woman and the serpent 
will never end, aud the now settler hunts the rattlesnake 
with a hatred which is as intense as his love for his child¬ 
ren. But still, in spite of its deadly powers, this is con¬ 
sidered but small game, like the sneak-thief, the bumblebee, 
and the mosquito, in whose nursuit no g'ory can tie gained. 
To fight the bandit and the bear, and to die in their grasp 
is heroic sport, but to be killed by the rattlesnake or taran¬ 
tula is au unqualified misfortune. That is a very peculiar 
and unpleasant cold tremor which shakes a man’s heart 
when he finds himself, all unannounced, hand to fang with 
one of these symbols of Satan, with malice glittering in its 
eye and venom shining from every writhe of its coil. No 
man, however brave, can feel the fawning of one of these 
murderous reptiles about his ankles without a sudden de¬ 
parture from dignity. He invariably howls in a suppressed 
voice, leaps whichever way his muscles will first lift him, 
and then laughs nervously; and, if he be at all profane, he 
swears it little, addressing opprobrious epithets to the black 
and yellow creature in question. Sometimes, if he is at 
all nervous and very close, the laugh is swallowed up in 
the howl. Having recovered from discomfiture he Hakes 
his revenge, building a rock monument upon the doomed 
reptile, ana with every bowlder consigning it to that lower 
sphere which is the home of its prototype. As I say, he 
stones it to death, for it is vain, and a waste of opporlunily 
and ammunition to shoot at a snake when its slim body 
lies at full length, especially when a person is agitated and 
not in tone for a beautiful precision of aim. A pistol is a 
very nice toy for amusement or practice, but for killing a 
snake give me a fragment of granite, or a “nigger-head” 
from the bed of the stream, aud let it be a handfull in size 
and about three pounds in weight. Finally, when his 
victim lias ceased to wriggle, the hunter carefully detaches 
its cluster of rattles, a node for every year of its life, which 
he will carry with him in his vest-pocket and exhibit when 
trophies are counted. 
Now, having finished this batch of snake, let us con¬ 
tinue our ride through the chaparral. There is a health 
and vigor about this kind of life which is regeneration 
itself. A thrill of excitement comes over him who nears 
the crest of the mountain, for he has anticipations of the 
new views, new prospects, now country to be seen on the 
other side. Every ledge is a field for discovery, every 
canon is a lurking-place for adventure. T'lio rasping of 
every footstep on the brittle earth of the hillside may re¬ 
veal a fossil which is a reminder of extinct life, a potsherd 
which was baked by an ancient people, or a quartz which 
is the blossom and outcrop of rich mines underneath. 
The explorer is an amateur prospector. The prospector’s 
zeal is a mercenary one; the explorer finds mines as an as¬ 
tronomer finds planets, or as a philosopher finds truths, 
just for love. 
There is a peaceful pleasure iu sitting and smoking at the 
front door of your tent, which opens on a new picture 
every evening. Aud in the beautiful morning, when the 
sleeper awakes with his beard all silken atid soft with the 
dew, he feels the strength of a giant in his frame. There 
is much hidden meaning in the old fable of Autieus, for 
Earth is our mother, as she was his, and never did one of 
her children sleep on her warm bosom in summer without 
feeling the principle of life grow strong within him. All 
night long the breath of the wild rose is heavy in the at¬ 
mosphere, and in the morning, at breakfast, a cluster of 
them drooping over the edge of their humble vase, an 
empty yeast-powder can, lend a pleasant air to the cloth 
upon which the bacon and bread are piled. Allis wild and 
unknown here, and restraint aud conventionality are things 
hut dimly remembered. At night we camp under the 
trees, and by day we ride over the bills, and neither by 
night nor day are our minds troubled with thoughts of 
barber, tailor, or housewife, for we are all these, and even 
more. In a little world of our own, with rations aud 
equipments, for many weeks, there is no need of word of 
intercourse with human being in that time. We see no 
daily papers, aud read no Centennial reports and poetry. 
The fluctuations of the money market do not interest us, 
for we have no money, neither any need of it. Though 
deprived of many comforts, yet we are spared many in¬ 
flictions, and, taken all in all, the balance is about even. 
Thus following the sinuous outline of the coast we find 
ourselves upoD a promontory which separates two jealous 
and very belligcrenl places. They are the bays of Wil¬ 
mington and Santa Monica, each of which is a harbor with 
its advantages aud disadvantages, and each of which as¬ 
pires to lie the future seaport of Souihem California 
Which of these is the better one let us not say until we 
have fully concluded in which one’s real estate and docks 
to invest our extra capital. So we view the situation im- 
partially, and we see, what we have seen before, that there 
is no other rivalry so bitter, and no oilier jealousy so 
green as that between two neighboring towns which are 
now neck by neck in the race for prosperity, but which 
contest must end by one becoming a suburb of the other. 
For years it seems as if the very next word of quarrel 
would lead to blows and civil war between the parties to 
the contention, but from them we learn that the way of 
words is long that leads to blood-shed, especially when the 
disputants are a brace of newspaper men. How valiant 
these head lights of civilization do become, and what, 
watch dogs are they over the interests of their patrons, and 
how learned in the use of the slang dictionary I Anil yet 
all the editors that I have known were peaeetu! men, and 
if the time-honored western challenge “Drink or fight!" 
were offered them they would always be sure to weaken on 
the first half of the alternative. 
At present Santa Monica and Wilmington are both sub¬ 
urbs and sea-ports of Lob Angeles, where their patrons 
live and where the heat of the struggle is. Long editorials, 
bulletins and maps are printed iu defence Of (lie harbors in 
question, and the public mind is much concerned upon 
this topic of the positiou of that great haven which must 
lie between San Francisco and San Diego, and be the outlet 
of thi s fertile and isolated region, which is bounded on the 
north by mountains which are well nigh proof against 
railways. Here, also, roads from the east must terminate 
in lime, and their passengers and freight take vessel for 
tlio north. So this position for the harbor of Los Angeles 
rises above the pettiness of private interest and becomes of 
wider consequence. If the question is to be settled, it 
were well that it were done quickly, for the Government is 
building a breakwater at Wilmington, and private enter¬ 
prise is pushing a pier out into the Bay of Santa Monica 
aud laying out the streets of the city thatis to be, and one of 
these projects is lost work. Let the break-water be done and 
the jiier be finished, however, and then time and the sea- 
captains will soon tell which is the best, and that will 
prosper. Mortal men and engineers may he mistaken in 
their plans, but there is no such tiling as fooling Time and 
the sea-captains. Frank Carpenter. 
The Wheeler Exploring Expedition, California, 1875. 
NW Forest and Stream. 
HUNTING DEER AND FINDING SNAKES. 
I N Yol. 1Y, No. 10, of your delightful journal, the valor¬ 
ous deeds of six mighty hunters of Harrisburg, staud 
recorded, a Bad illustration of the vast difference between 
theory aud practice. For some time after this disastrous 
expedition, the subject of deer hunting, like other pain- 
tul subjects, was studiously avoided until hope began to 
revive m the breasts of the illustrious Six. During the 
winter and following summer the pleasures of anticipation 
gave place to chagrin, aud plans for another war ot' exter¬ 
mination were completed. But when the long looked-for 
1st of September had arrived, eircnmstancos compelled 
Messrs. Wells, Hackett, and the writer, to remain at home; 
but Allen, McKee, Leonard, (the blacksmith,) and Mr. 
liudisill, (who, from hearing numerous glowiug accounts 
of the pleasures of the chase, had determined to distingu¬ 
ish himsell) were speeding toward the beautiful valley of 
Licking Creek. They reached the famous valley, and after 
repairing tiie cabin, they turned their attention to the dis¬ 
cussion of plans for the next day's “slaughter,” and with 
the full determination to redeem lost reputation, a pro¬ 
gramme was arranged. 
Next morning they were up before the dawn, and after 
a good breakfast, they started from the cabin. Everything 
seemed to justify their expectations of success. The 
weather was delightful, and over the dreamy woods, al¬ 
most perfect silence seemed to prevail; lhe leaves were 
moist from a recent- rain, and not a breath of air stirred to 
carry the warning scent to the ever-watchful deer. But 
they had not proceeded lar before they made a discovery 
sufficient to dampen the ardor of the most sanguine hunter. 
For weeks previous to this time, the mountains, for many 
miles around, had been on fire, and Licking Creek valley 
had become a very “City of Refuge” for legions of rattle 
smikes that had, as was supposed by many, boon driven 
there by the fires. Scarcely a hundred yards could he 
traversed without hearing the warning rattle of this deadly 
reptile. To wutch lor snakes and hunt deer properly at 
the same time, was hardly possible. The day passed with¬ 
out getting the sight of a deer; but more than one huge 
specimen of Cvotulus tlvrissue fell a victim to the aim of 
the hunters. When they met that evening the situation 
was discussed, and admitted to be grave, but they de¬ 
termined to stand their grouDd, and hold their position at 
all hazards; and the ne^t morning found them again on 
the war-path. Several deer were seen, and also uumis-t 
takable evidences of the presence of bruin; and once dur-' 
ing llie day Alien and the blacksmith came so close to a 
bear as to distinctly hear his hasty retreat. After a short 
consultation it was decided that the blacksmith Bhould fol¬ 
low in the direction of bruin’s flight; while Alleu was to 
make a detour of a mile or more in order, if possible, to 
"head htrn off." They accordingly separated, and were 
soon out of sight aud hearing of each other; the black¬ 
smith cautiously descending the end of the mountain, and 
Allen making fast lime iu another direction. Allen reached 
the desired point, and taking a commanding positiou, 
awaited events. An hour passed, and just as his patience 
was bogiuing to give out, he heard something cautiously 
approaching the spot where he stood, but to his great dis¬ 
appointment it proved to be the blacksmith Instead of 
bruin. The bear had evidently given them the slip, and 
for this time was sale. As the day was well nigh spent, 
they concluded to hunt buck toward the cabin, for which 
point the blacksuiuh "struck a bee line.” But Allen, not 
satisfied with the day’s wotk, stubbornly determined to 
hunt as long as there was light enough to draw a head; 
and while cautiously stealing along, listening aud watch¬ 
ing, he heard a slight noise in auvauce of him. Standing 
perfectly still, he soon beheld the cause of the disturbance. 
Running toward him, at a distance of not more than twenty 
yards, was an annual whose kind he had never before seen 
id daylight, in the woods, and, coupled with its audacity, 
a strange, peculiar growl, which, as he was afterwards 
ashamed to confess, for a moment somewhat unnerved 
him. It quickly retreated a few paces, when up jumped 
four others, all arranging themselves boldly and heaulilully 
upon a flat rock, aud all uniting with their companion iu 
the diBmal-like growl. Then came five riogiDg shots in 
quick succession, and five representatives of the old-time 
VV hig party (veritable ring-tailed’coons), has passed with 
their constituents, into history. 
As it was now getting dusk, Allen quickly gathered up 
his game, which was load enough for one man to carry, 
and made the best possible time for the camp, which ho 
reached before dark. AfLer a hearty supper, of which 
stewed ’coon was the principal dish, it was decided that 
the want of success that day was mainly attributable to the 
failure of some of the parly to carry out their part of the 
programme as arranged by Allen the night previous, nnd 
they determined to hunt the next day in'such a manner, 
that nothing but au ignominious nocturnal flight of all the 
deer in the vicinity would save them. A plan was accord¬ 
ingly arranged, and the hunters once more laid down to 
sleep. 
The next morning found them again on. the trail. The 
blacksmith and liudisill took positions on a well-known 
“crossing” near the end of the mountain, while Allen and 
McKee were to take opposite sides of the mountain, and 
