FOREST A>0 STREAM. 



47 



died im.o a lagoon black with ducks and poulead'eau (marsh 



Whirr! whirr! splash, arid a quauk. They all rose and 

 flew the moment they saw us. We followed them for a 

 sbort distance, and then determined to make a blind. Ac- 

 cordingly we did as we had done before, pull up the pirogue 

 and concealed ourselves. My companion snon followed 

 and ovule his stopping place about an ■eighth. of a. mile below 

 rhe,so we succeeded in knocking many over. What he missed 

 1 generally killed; or rather vtt>6 vena, as he was a much 

 liner wing shot than I. 



A little strip of ground clear and moist jutted out from 

 a point some little distance off, and a curlew (genus ma- 

 , trig himself greatly with picking up little 

 morcels. "Victor," said L to my man, "do you think your 

 gun can carry far enough to kill that bird?" "No sir," 

 said he, "no gun can." "I will try mine and you watch 

 his head." 1 aimed, and heard him utter the word foolish- 

 nets, but 'twas too late. The curlew gave a skip, my gun 

 Bounded, and when the smoke cleared there was the bird 

 dead as a hammer." Victor then extolled my fowling- 

 piece a? the best he ever saw, etc. After remaining until 

 ' ■ ■■Jock we determined to start for home, aud moved 

 in that direction. We collected our game and started. 

 Nothing of interest occurred for some time until we got 

 into the main bayou which we had gone through at four 

 o'clock. On the hanks grew some very fine oaks, and 

 unrier one we halted ami ate lunch. A Louisiana bayou is 

 a very curious looking stream. The water is quite muddy, 

 but the curves aud windings are so frequent that an in- 

 leresi is fell as lo where you will turn up next. As we 

 drew near to the "Chef" I observed palmetto and more 

 trees. The moss hangs with very great beauty, and in 

 mauy cases touches the water. Certainly a trip through 

 one of these swamps is novel, and was to me Very agree- 

 able. 



We came to a piece of prairie that had been burnt, and 

 as English snipe frequent such we suggested to tiy our 

 luck. We had no dog, and only duck shot; but after 

 tramping over the flat for half an hour we bagged twelve 

 fat-snipe. The sun was hot, and consequently the birds 

 were not shy and slow to rise. To make a successful snipe 

 hunt it is absolutely necessary that you have a fine dog, 

 and a dog accustomed to the prairie. Nothing wears out a 

 man aud den; so quickly as hunting on a burnt prairie. A 

 kind of stiff stubble grows, the ground is full of holes, 

 and man aud dog are very apl to succumb before an hour's 

 t ramp. We got back into the pirogue* and started for good. 

 Bcl'oie we had gone tar I iieard a whiz near me, grabbed 

 my gun, and turned to see two beck sie (sanbill ducks) right 

 over my head. I quickly fired, and both fell dead. Wilh- 

 ng myself 1 say that it, was an uncommonly fine 

 shot, as the beck isle fly very swiftly and far apart. 



Slowly we wendeti our way and soon turned into the 

 "Chef," aud made straight for "Banditti Ca^e." By three 

 o'clock we turned, and in a few moments were on the porch 

 of Nick's hotel. We had been gone just twelve hours. 

 Our men cleaned the game and struug them. One by one 

 our brethren sportsmen came iu and announced their suc- 

 cess or failures. One party of five had five pirogues and 

 seven pieces between them. Others did little better. 



is?" said an old hunter to us. Forty-nine pieces 

 in all. "Tien jotie ciuisse," exclaimed the venerable Creole, 

 and turned aside. 



As our train did not leave until nine p. m. we dressed 

 ourselves a little aud cleaned our guns. Conversation was 

 then in order, and served to while away the time. One 

 gentleman brought in nine splendid red fish, two raccoons, 

 and a wild cat as the result of his Sunday's sport. 



At seven o'clock Kick gave us supper, and about eight 

 some one- asked us to look back of Nick's house. We 

 weut out and there beheld in all Us grandeur and terror a 

 prairie on fire, it was about two miles off, and seemed to 

 be burning for several miles in length. The wind blew a 

 liale and served lo add to its splendor. It was terrific. 

 The flames burst out and spread their fiery tongues towards 

 Heaven aud defied man on earth. No one can imagine 

 what a sight it is unless he has seen it. 



Nino o'clock came arouud and we were all ready to start. 

 The train came along, and with a good night to Kick we 

 jumped aboard. We reached New Orleans by ten o'clock 

 and went to our homes, tired but pleased with our day. 

 We hail friends who appreciated a nice pair of ducks, and 

 with pleasure do we remember the Louisiana swamps aDd 

 "Banditti Uave." Wir. Hust, Jr. 



jror Fored and Stream. 

 JOE MAREE. 



OLD Joe is one of the few survivors of the Abenaki 

 tribe, and has his headquarters on the Chaudiere 

 river, fifteen or twenty miles from the outlet of Lake Me- 

 gantic. In the fall you ate likely to meet him anywhere 

 between there and the Chain of Ponds in Maine. In a 

 little eleven loot spruce bark canoe, with a scanty supply 

 of flour and ten, he is "at home" anywhere. The sub- 

 stantial part of his diet consists in muskrat, iu the capture 

 of which he is very skillful. He is now over sixty years of 

 age, but when i saw him last September no one would lake 

 him to be more than forty. I first met Joe some eight or 

 len years 



We (the Patriarch Captain, Bachelor Bill and myself) 

 weie on our usual autur.in fishing trip, and were camped at 

 theoullet. We had been three or lour milts down the 

 Chaudieie, where we had excellent trout fishing, and had 

 just, sighted the lake on our return trip, when old Joe 

 put in an appearance, R bottle of whisky— or rather what 



was left of it — in one hand, bow and arrows in the other, 

 and a very expansive smile on his dusky features. Il was 

 quite evident he had beeu smiling before. Talk of an open 

 '.il: in ire open would have made an island 

 of the top of hia head. Megantie is not now quite the 

 wilderness it was then. The Patriarch exhibited the pale 

 face to an unusual degree upon Joe's sudden appearance, 

 and in a still, small voice, remarked that "an intoxicated 

 Indian 'round camp wasn't exactly the thing, and he was 

 bound to get rid of him." From conscientious scruples 

 he declined the proffered dram, but the restof us thinking 

 an ounce of prevenliou better than a pound of cure, look 

 a/iora apiece instead of a pipe of peace, aud She "hatchet 

 was buried." To all the Patriarchs hints "tbat Joe had a 

 good ways to go to camp," Joe expressed a determination 

 to camp with us— and he did so. We took one side of the 

 fire, and Joe the other. Ilia innate delicacy and good 

 breeding showed . Although his "lodging was on the cold 

 ground," he insisted on taking off his shoes, saying "he 

 wasn't a horse lo go to bed with his shoes on." With his 

 head against a stump Joe slept. Whether he dreamed he 

 was keeping a wake or not, I cannot say, but I know he 

 kept us.aicake. He was bouud lo sing in his sleep, and 

 the only effect an occasionally well-diieeled chip had, was 

 tochaDge the language of his song from English to French, 

 or French to Indian. He told us next morning that too 

 much whisky always made him ting iu his sleep. "Music 

 hath charms;" Ms hadn't. After showing his skill with 

 bow and arrows (arrows titled with a sharp blade like a 

 jack-knife blade), Joe headed for the settlement to replenish 

 his empty boltle, and as we shifted camp that day we saw 

 him no more. In compensation for his board and lodging 

 he gave ua some beaver meat, and a couple of beaver tails, 

 the latter a great delicacy. Joe's fondness for "lire-water'' 

 seems to be inherent iu all Indians. On a subsequent trip, 

 I saw him sell a beaver skin to my friend Buck for fifty 

 cents, and Buck, to make the transaction "more bindiug," 

 gave him a nobbier of rye. Iu leu minutes he had oilered 

 first a quarter, and then the fifty cents, for "jest a leetle 

 more," but it wa9 no go. That would have been "medi 

 cii e" enough to have attracted him to our camp and kept 

 him there, and we didn't want him just then, and slill put 

 Joe in a tight place, and he would keep all right. Some 

 five years ago, Joe and 1 were cut off from camp by a gale 

 that his little canoe wouldn't weather. For two days we 

 watched our chances, and a little at a time worked round 

 Spider Lake — some twelve miles— to make about three on 

 our course. 1 had a flask of rye with me, but Joe wouldif't 

 touch it. He evidently felt the responsibility of the posi- 

 tion, or, perhaps, he couldn't swim. Well, let him have 

 the benefit of the doubt. The course of true love didn't 

 run smooth with Joe. He married a French-Canadian 

 woman, but she soon left him, and I have no doubt "she's 

 gone with a handsomer man." One of his sisters was shot 

 by a skedaddler, called Blithiu, at. the Chain of Ponds, 

 some fourteeu years ago. Blithin was a trapper at Lako 

 Megantic, and having, for some reason, taken a dislike to 

 the squaw, followed aud shot her, and having uhsucccss- 

 fully attempted to burn the body, wrapped it in a blanket 

 and sank it in one of the ponds, where it was afterwards 

 found by a party going through to the Maine settlements. 

 The body had broken loose from its anchorage and floated 

 ashore. The next summer at a portage on the Upper 

 Spider, I found an old vest, which our guide, Foster 

 (formerly Blithin's partner), recognized, aud which had 

 been thrown off by Blithin when he followed the squaw. 

 The matter was represented to the Maine authorities, but 

 I have not heard that the murderer had been secured. 

 Old Joe promised to "shoot him like a dog," if he ever 

 finds him, but the probability is that Blithin has "gone 

 under" 'ere this. Another of Joe's sisters was frozen to 

 death two years ago, in reluming from the settlement 

 where she had been for provisions. Her dog was found 

 near her, also frozen. In an attempt some four years ago to 

 reach Quebec (by following Arnold's route o£ 1776), Foster 

 aud myself ran across "the rock on which we split," and 

 with an axe, gun, and some fishing tackle, all we saved 

 from the wreck, took our bearings from Joe's camp for 

 the settlement near the beach of Lake St. Francis. Joe 

 and his two sisters then occupied a good bark hut, com- 

 fortably lined with deer skius. Old Joe is still hale, hearty 

 and strong as a moose. I hope to run across him some 

 time, this month, on my hunting trip, and to have him as 

 guide on many subsequent trips. My glimpses info futurity 

 will not enable me to say if I shall be permitted to write 

 his obituary, but when ho goes, ihe glory of the Abenaki 

 will have departed, and amongst those who have hastened 

 to the happy hunting grounds, there will be mauy a worse 

 one than "Old Joe." D. Thomas. 



Sherbrooke, 1'. Q., Jaimarg Qffi,, 1877. 



MICHIGAN SPORT. 



DEER, DOE, ELK, AND P1S1I, AND PLENTY OF THEM. 



Bay City, Mich., Jan. 39lh, 1877, 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



I cannot call myself an old time acquaintance with the 

 Forest and Stream, however warmly fond memory brings 

 to the mind, recollections of the long ago, when its editor 

 aud myself were boys together. But a stray number coin- 

 ing unuer my Observation has led me to wonder whether a 

 few words from this laud of the "Forest and Stream," pre- 

 eminent, would not be of interest to its readers. 



If there be iu this goodly laud ot ours, one section which 

 presents to i be spoitsmau greater or more varied at tiac 

 lions than Michigan, I have yel to learn of it. Iu tile days, 

 scarce yet passed away, the I ur- bearing bea, 

 otter, wolf, aud black bear, have laid the foundations for 

 coilossal fortunes to the fur traders, whose agent .- 



traverse portions of the State, picking up the few (com- 

 paiativeh) specimens which still reward the amateur 

 sportsman: auu even yet is lo oe found an occasional huuter 

 who devotes the energies of bin existence to a wild life of 

 solitude among the forests and lakes of the northern part 

 of tin- State, iu searching lor those animals once so plenty, 

 but which since, the building of the several Hues of raiiioad 

 which point for their terminus toward thestiaits of Macki- 

 naw, have yearly grown smaller in number, and beauti- 

 fully less in ihe profit and sport all'orded lo the huntsman. 



And yet these very hues uf railroad have afforded facili- 

 ties for the hundreds of sportsmen who j early flock hither 

 from the s .uthern pans oi tins Stale, as well as from Ohio 

 and Indiana, to reaen those poiuis where deer abound, and 

 lo transport to market ihe vast quantity (aggregating prob- 

 ably 100 tons or more) of venison, which their prowess baa 

 each year enabled them to ship to their homes or to eastern 

 aud southern matkels. In the fab of the year it is no tin 

 common thing lo see the cars running north from this 

 goodly city monopolized by these doughty sportsmen and 

 their dogs, end «u one occasion last fall rny curiosity to 

 know lo what extent the sport c.dled_out the hunter's, led to 

 the counting of the forty-two rifles belonging 1 to as many 

 passengers sealed iu the two cuui-ues whish composed ihe. 



il While the baggage car looked as much like a dog 

 kennel, as thirty dogs and bounds e.mkl make it. I will 

 venture the assertion that in October and November of 

 fast year, there were fully 1,000 rjflcs in the woods within 

 100 miles north of tins City,, the owners of Which were 

 gathered from all over the Northern Stales, "camping out" 

 lu a majority of lnslauci s, gatncring abom the camp fire at 

 night to recount ihe exciiiug and mulling experiences, or 

 rejoicing over the ahunuunl success of the day. 



.Notwithstanding the immense uumber of deer which 

 each fall become the prey of the huntsman, Ihe supply- 

 does not seem to decrease in ihe same ratio that the hunters 

 increase in numbers. 1 am sometimes coil -trained to think 

 that there is a magic in ihe smell ol powde. which Iliads lo 

 the law of suppl> keeping pace wlih Ihe demand. \V hether 

 or not the hunters suaae tneir old clothes out thorouguty 

 as they hreak camp, or some othtr potent spell is thrown 

 aooul the timid does, one ihiug is potent, Ihe Hoes do mul- 

 tiply aud replenish the supply in a wonutrlul manner. Can 

 you account tor rue fact ih»t no elk are found :n the Stale 

 except iu that poriion laying northeast from Ibis city aud 

 embraced within the counties ot (Korrheni) 'luscola, Hu- 

 ron, and Sanilac? Vet such is ihe tact, and they have been as 

 "scarce as hen's teeth" in th.it locality for mauy years; 

 although it is asserted thai since the lortst flies ot 1871, 

 when vast tracts of timber laud uad the surface vcgetal.de 

 mould burned to such an extent that thousands of acres of 

 timber was uprooted and now lies prostrated in almost un- 

 penetrable jungle, the elk have sought ihe protection of 

 these windialls, and have pciciptibiy wereaseu in milliners. 

 A nohle specimen weighing, ii was Satcl, 000 pounds, was 

 brought lo this city a inou.h or moie ago. 



When I commenced this epistle i intended to have spok- 

 en of ihe gamy graydiug wuich is found in some of our 

 northern livers; oi the whiiehsu, with which our greater 

 and some of the internal lakes abi uud; of the Mackinaw 

 trout so widelykuown audso higuiy esteemed; of the pick - 

 eiel aud pike which swim iu all our waters, and OI the multi- 

 tude of other members ot ihe nnuy tribe, the capturing of 

 which in our lakes aud riveis give employ to thousands of 

 men, and fleets of sail boats aud steam tugs. 1 intended 

 10 say a few words about the city on the ice "Pickerel- 

 ville," al the mouth of the Saginaw river, where at this 

 moment it is estimated that a oUO hardy fishermen are tit- 

 liug iu their little shamies of four by six feet, peering, 

 spear in hand, through a hoie in the ice, Watching L0 

 plunge the barbed point iuio the hack of the unsuspeclrag 

 trout or pickerel, which swfms along at a depth of lioi'u 

 ten 10 twenty feet, steering direct to ihe decoy herring, 

 wfiich hangs by a line, to lure him to his fate; hut my pro- 

 lixity has already spun out to too great a length. 



H, W. Ct. 



CURIOUS FISHES OF THE NEW YORK 

 AQUARIUM. 



ADDITIONS, ETC., ETC. 



THE last expedition sent out by the New York Aqua- 

 rium, notwithstanding the extreme cold weather, 

 has succeeded in reaching the city with rare treasures 

 from the far northwest, and in magnificent condition. 

 Among the finny prisoners are some beautiful specimens of 

 the whilefish, and their appearance in the tanks reflects 

 great credit upon Mr. Mather and Mr. Z. Coup, as this is the 

 only successful attempt lo transport the tender creatures, 

 aiive. Some fine specimens of Wall-eyed Pike, Suckers 

 and Ciscoes were also captured, and last aud more inter- 

 esting than all, a fine Lamprey Eel, the first one ever on 

 exhibition in Xew York, it was moved with tender caie 

 by Mr. Zack Coup for over 800 miles, the enlerprisiug ich- 

 thyologist standing by the cans night and day, stirring the 

 freezing fluid with an euergy that would have shamed 'ho ' 

 "Witch of Emlor," and the satisfaction of seeing a I'ieie/j- 

 zoiitid alive and well in the aquarium must well repay him 

 lor bis ruariyrdom. It is particularly noticeable from the 

 peculiar sucturial mouth, that ia well displayed by its posi- 

 tion iu the tank— that of attaching iUelf to the glass by 

 this curious organ. Upon each side, in scientific pat lance, 

 we find seven stigmata, each cutting an ouloug gill s ck, 

 which inknorally commuuieales by a small opeuiug with 

 a niessial tube common to all the sacks of both sides, and 

 lying beneath the oesophagus or commencemeut of the di- 

 gestive caual, but disiant uoui it. This pharyngeal re pi- 

 ratory tube is closed at its distie, aud anteriorly commuui- 

 cates with ihe gullet by a valvular opening. When ihe 

 mouth is not pressed against ihe glass ihe water respira 

 tion enters by ii. tills ihe pharmgeai iUbe and fl i« iug in so 

 till gill-sacks aud i,, gilUliui Ig luelf side i, id 



fiually expelled by ihe seven stigmata oi openings on each 

 side ol the neck. When the Lamprey adheres t. 



or some other object by its suaoiiid mouth, tue water en- 



