FOREST AND STREAM. 



lunch, and leaving our impromptu camp we turn our steps 

 towards the salmon hole. Half a dozen casts and I am well 

 into a large-sized fish, which, after a lively struggle of 

 twenty-seven minutes, Peter lands on the bank. With my 

 next salmon, a large fellow of not less than twenty pounds, 

 I am not so fortunate, as after playing him ten minutes he 

 bolted for the rapids, and with a tremendous leap threw the 

 fly out of his mouth and escaped. As the sun was sinking 

 behind the woods, and long shadows fell athwart the pool, 

 I killed a fish of about ten pounds, and after this, as they 

 did not seem to rise, I put my rod up, and shortly after five 

 o'clock started for camp, which we reached about six 

 o'clock. De Courcy had not been very successful, his bag- 

 consisting of only five duck. In weighing the salmon we 

 found them to run .fifteen, thirteen, and nine and a half 

 pounds respectively, and cleaning the largest, we gave a 

 portion to the Indians and also to * Gamache, and had the 

 remainder cooked for dinner. It proved a most acceptable 

 change in our diet, and with some of Madame Gamache's 

 rolls (which, with all respect for Flanigan, I infinitely pre 

 fer to his "Chupatties"), and a black duck to wind up with, 

 we dined on galore. It was a bitterly cold night, and, as 

 bad luck would have it, the wind blew straight into our 

 camp, half suffocating us with the smoke from the fire in 

 front. However, it had one good effect, that of banishing 

 the mosquitoes which usually persecuted us half the night, 

 and turning in about nine o'clock we were soon oblivious 

 of the dense black- smoke that whisked and whirled with 

 every fresh gust of wind around the interior of our domi- 

 cile. Lieut. W. Hutcheson Poe, R. M. L. I. 

 [To be Continued. j 



V 



I 



SHARK FISHING. 

 REM. NO. 1. 



IT is seldom that this miserable fish is sought for fly the 

 genteel fisherman, though he can yield some good sport. 

 Forty years ago several jolly good friends of Eli Kimberly 

 formerly keeper of Faulkner's island made their annual 

 visit to the genial old man, on a week's cruise during the 

 month of July. At the close of every trip they invariably 

 had a shark frolic. Uncle Eli kept the requisite gear, such 

 as swivel chain, hooks bent on good new warp, harpoons, 

 spades, knives; with moss bunker bait, waifs, &c, and 

 thus equiped, they started for the shark reef, which lies 

 west of Goose island, in about six fathom of water. They 

 generally had three sets of gear, and waifted about one 

 hundred rods apart, on or just before highwater slack, al- 

 ways selecting a calm, quiet time. Hook on the bottom 

 and four old fogies telling yarns, waiting events, over the 

 lunch, and choice old Grenada rum, which in those days 

 was as pure and smo th as oil. It was a scene worthy the 

 brush of a painter, and your humble servant, now the only 

 survivor of that party, can fancy he hears the shout of 

 that good old soul, Uncle Ely, li there goes the waif," 

 Whirrah! Whirrah ! ! " Clear up decks," " Never mind 

 lunch," "There she goes!" "There she watches!" "Man 

 your oars," "Head boat," "So — so — steady — way enough." 

 As the old man grabbed the waif and fetched it up, we gave 

 two good yanks in order to make a sure hook of it, and 

 cried "Take the helm and steer as I tell you" — "turn ship,' 

 Whirrah! as the yawl boat cut through the water for 

 about a half mile, when the shark made for the surface, 

 changed his course and started in shore. But the old man 

 kept a taut line, and finding him a little easy on the bit 

 hauled in for a sight. "Nine foot by Jingo," as the 

 shark lifted his tail and turned again. ' ' Hard a star- 

 board," the old man cried, "and we'll beach him!" But 

 it was no go. The shark was mad; the line soon became 

 slack; the shark sighted right under the boat, the whole 

 crew expecting a tail stroke, but were breathing free 

 again as he shot off a-beam on a nine knot tansion, till 

 the better end of the warp as he turned, was in the skip- 

 per's hands, who placed the li»e in the scull hole and 

 hauled in hand over hand. The fish was coming head to 

 and evidently bent on mischief. " Stand by your lance." 

 " One of you take the harpoon— " I see him — he's coming 

 for the stern, and by jingo, he '11 board us!" but it wa stoo 

 late. Lances and harpoon in the excitement were knocked 

 overboard, and the position we held brought the boat's 

 stern level with the water, and the fish had good way on 

 him and landed fore and aft in the boat, mouth wide open as 

 lie slid between the old man's legs, smashing things, like a 

 mad bull in a china store. Two of us jumped overboard 

 as the fish came in. "Kill him! strike his nose!" "by jin- 

 go, he'll swamp us," cried the old man. The tiller was 

 the only weapon for us, and with a few taps on the nose he 

 was stilled. The result — two broken thwarts, the cealing 

 knocked out in two places, lnnch and old Grenada ground 

 to pummice. Oars, lances, and bait-dish overboard, one 

 broken finger, boat full of water and shark, hat-bailing in 

 order, the two men overboard — and all hands fully satis- 

 fied with tluat closing scene. The shark measured nine feet 

 six inches, and a madder subject never came into any 

 society than he. 



Old Salt. 



— There is a, lobster farm in Maine, where 40,000 lobsters 

 were placed last year. This spring 140,000 male lobsters 

 were taken from the pond and sold. About this period 

 millions of little lobsters must.be ciawling round. 

 ♦ 



— Twenty bags of potatoes will overstock the Honolulu 

 market. 



THE U. S. GEOLOGICAL SURVEY. 



Prof. G. H. Batty, ornithologist of the United States geo- 

 logical survey, sends the following letter to Forest and 

 Stream. It will be perceived that he has made some valu- 

 able scientific discoveries. This letter was received a day 

 too late for publication in our last number, but its contents 

 are new and none the less interesting. [Ed. F, and S.] 



Twin Lakes, Colorado Ter., August 1st, 1873. 

 Dear Sir-. 



Dr. Hayden's geological surveying party has worked 

 the country up thoroughly from Denver to the Buffalo Peaks. 

 The main party is separated into five divisions. The photo- 

 graphers' party travel all over this section of the country 

 where there are good views to be had, but the other divi- 

 sions have each a section of the country to go over and com- 

 plete by the 1st of October, and thus the parties will be 

 separated from each other until they all meet at the depot 

 camp at Denver at the close of the season. The party to 

 which I am attached is in charge of Mr. Gannet from Bath, 

 Maine. We have visited a great many of the highest peaks 

 of the Rocky mountains, on which I have collected a great 

 many rare and interesting birds and animals. Of birds, I 

 have taken about three hundred, representing one hundred 

 and fifteen species. The rarest of birds taken are Lagopus, 

 leucurus, (white tailed Ptarmigan,) and young, Tetrao ob- 

 Murus, (dusky grouse), and young, Picicormis columbianus, 

 (Clark's crow, or nutcracker,) Uydrobaita Mexica/ia, (water 

 ouzel), Oyanocitta WoodMusii, (Woodhouse's jay,) Arginlitis 

 monkmus, mountain plover), tialpincues obsoletus, (rock wren), 

 &c. , &c. , &c. I have also taken the nest, eggs and young of 

 the Requlus calendula, (ruby-crowned wren), which has never 

 been taken before. Of animals I have collected the black- 

 tail deer, (mule ear), lynx, Rocky Mountain hare, tailless 

 rabbit or coney, marmots, porcupine, gophers, prairie dogs, 

 &c., &c. The tailless rabbit is the rarest of the animals 

 taken and is only found in the highest peaks of the Rocky 

 Mountains, far above the timber line, near the perpetual 

 snow banks where there is but little vegetation ; in fact 

 where they are most numerous there is nothing to be seen 

 but immense piles of volcanic rocks, which the coneys are 

 greatly attached to. In these piles of rocks the faint squeak 

 of the' coney may be heard as he suddenly appears from a 

 hole in rocks, and with a sudden jerk of the head gives his 

 note, a single squeak, and immediately returns to Lis retreat 

 in the rocks, only to reappear in an instant and give his feeble 

 squeak as before. The following are the measurements 

 taken of the coneys collected on Mt. Lincoln, Colerado Ter- 

 ritory, July 10, 1873: length frem nose to end of tail, eight 

 inches; length of head, two inches; breadth of do. one and a 

 quarter inches; color, gray, inclined to mouse color en the 

 hind parts. Panthers, elk, mountain sheep, (big horns,) 

 antelope, black, cinnamon and grizzly bears are not uncom- 

 mon in Western Colerado. One of our party, J. T. Gard- 

 ner, met with two old grizzlies and a cub on the summit of 

 a mountain a few days ago, and succeeded in badly wound- 

 ing one of the old bears, and if he had followed the bear 

 down the mountain he would probably have killed it. Mr. 

 Gardner killed one of the largest grizzly bears ever taken 

 in this section of the country last summer. The grizzly 

 bear is the master of all animals in the mountains, and can 

 easily pull down and destroy a mule or horse with but little 

 exertion. During the hot weather, the grizzlies retire to the 

 highest peaks of the mountains, far above the timber line, 

 where one would think so large an animal could not subsist, 

 but there are thousands of grasshoppers, and an abundance 

 of vegetable matter that furnish ample food for the bears. 

 Bears' delight in rolling in the snow banks, and are always 

 found near them in the fore part of the summer, fcat 

 when berries are ripe, they resort to the valleys and streams 

 in search of their favorite food, the wild cherries. It is 

 generally supposed that the grizzly bear will attack a man, 

 but this Is not correct. If a man be wounded he will at- 

 tack his assailant at once, if hard pressed; but nine times 

 out of ten a grizzly will run when shouted at, as they stand 

 in great fear of the human voice. I am positive of this, as 

 it has been tried on several occasions by members of our 

 party. The mountain sheep are only found on the higher 

 mountains during the summer, but when the cold weather 

 conies, they gradually descend to the valleys to feed, and 

 the greater body of them winter in the foothills. I have 

 heard it stated that a mountain sheep would leap down a 

 rugged mountain fifty or sixty feet, and striking on its horns, 

 regain its balance, and would go down a mountain in this 

 manner by a succession of leaps, until it had escaped the 

 hunter. When a big-horn sheep is descending a mountain 

 by jumping from one rock to another, it strikes on its feet 

 and not on its head. When in motion, the sheep carry the 

 head very low, and when jumping alight stiff -legged, and 

 at a distance appear to strike the head against the rocks. 

 A few days ago I drove one off a cliff partly covered with 

 snow so I could have a good opportunity to observe its 

 movements, and was rewarded for my trouble by seeing it 

 run a distance of half a mile over a very rugged * mountain 

 side in a Very short time. By following its trail I saw at 

 once the secret of its long leaps, as it slid from six to ten 

 feet at every leap, with its hoofs spread to their fullest ex- 

 tent to check the force of its headlong retreat. The elk feed 

 on the high grassy mountains, above timber line, in bands, 

 in this country, but in the Yellowstone and Snake river 

 country where they are more numerous than here they are 

 found scattered all over the country in small bands in the 

 summer, and in the fall they collect in large bands of from 

 fifty to two hundred, and when shot at from several points 

 at once become confused and bewildered and run from 

 place to place in a confused manner, and at such times they 

 may be shot down like cattle. 



Mr. Batty adds: "Please excuse the manuscript as I am 

 writing by the light of a camp-fire, and have to jump up 

 and kick the charred logs every five minutes to make them 

 blaze and give me what is at best a poor light. " That is 

 what the patrons of Forest and Stream would call ' 'rough- 

 ing it in the bush." 



SNIPE SHOOTING IN VIRGINNIA. 



Hog Island, Va., August; 23rd, 1873. 



Editor Forest and Stream : 



The precise locality from whence I date my letter, is 

 not I think very well known, I therefore trust such informa- 

 tion as I may give may be of interest to your readers. 

 How to get to Hog Island, is I suppose first in order. From 

 New York I took the Norfolk steamer. On" board I met 

 several fellow sportsmen, bent on the same errand as my- 

 self, to shoot bay snipe and curlew, intending to make 

 Chincoteague and Mockhorn Islands the center of their op- 

 erations. All these islands are situated within a few miesl 

 of one another, lying near Capes Henry and Charles. Ar- 

 rived at Norfolk, I took steamer to Cherry Stone, some 

 sixty-five miles distant. At Cherry Stone I hired a small 

 fishing smack to carry me to Hog Island. I happened to get 

 a good boat and a fair breeze," and a pleasant sail of two 

 hours landed me on the island. On the way I had a chance 

 to try my Snider Allen, on a flock of curlew flying near 

 the boat, and killed eight birds. Hog Island is not a para- 

 dise, though old Jake may be the colored Adam. The 

 island is a sandy waste, with a few sand dunes, and some oc- 

 casional trees, rugged specimens of the red cedar. Jake, the 

 landlord of the locality, has a rough shanty, and makes 

 you welcome, for the reasonable price of one $1.50 per 

 diem, throwing in his valuable services for the money. I had 

 provided myself against all contingencies, by laying in a 

 stock of bread and ham, and after having arranged my 

 baggage for the night, I turned in early, in order to be up 

 the next morning before the dawn. Long before day-break 

 Jake had me out. Though an ardent sportsman, Jake's 

 imitative faculty as far as the manufacture of decoys went 

 was not pre-eminent, therefore our stool-birds were of the 

 most peculiar ornithological character, though Jake said 

 they would do. From his manner I thought he had some 

 surprise in reserve. - After a bite of bread and ham we 

 took to the beach, and about a mile from the shanty we 

 commenced digging our blind. The stools Jake planted 

 quite artistically about' twenty-five yards from our blind; 

 then Jake chuckled as he drew from his pocket no less than 

 three live willets and two marlins, which he declared were 

 well " educated birds." These he had tethered with a bit of 

 leather and a piece of string and they were packed among 

 the wooden shams. Now Jake showed himself a master 

 of his art, and piped the willet's cry with a skill which 

 was inimitable. The tide now was rising rapidly, and the 

 decoys fluttered and whistled away. Soon in the distance 

 loomed a flock of willets. Coming strong with the wind 

 they overshot the decoys, but flew low enough for me to 

 let them have both barrels ; then returned undismayed, ap- 

 parently recalled by the cries of some of the winged birds. 

 "Let 'em have it agin, Massa," said Jake, and so I did. 

 These four shots gave me some thirty birds. The wind then 

 became so fresh, piling in the sea so far on the beach, that 

 we had to pick up the decoys and make another screen 

 further inland. Again came the willets, and by ten o'clock I 

 had bagged eighty-six snipe. The shooting then ceased 

 for the day, ebb-tide putting an end to the sport. Next 

 day I tried the curlew on the other side of the island. This 

 time Jake's stools, if not perfect as to form, were better as 

 to color, having been fresh painted. Jake again gave me 

 the benefit of his acquaintance with the curlew, using a 

 bandana handkerchief tied to a stick which he waved to 

 and fro, attracting the birds. I had seen this particular 

 dodge tried before, but never with the same success. I 

 shot for about three hours, killing some thirty-two birds. 

 They weighed on an everage one and one-half pounds each 

 and the longest bill measured precisely twelve and one-half 

 inches. On the third day I varied my sport .by spearing 

 sea-eels. I must confess that my first experience was an 

 unfortunate one, as I fell overboard from the boat, in my 

 eagerness to kill my prey. But gaining courage and ad- 

 dress, after having speared a bushel basket full of eels I 

 had enough of it. Sincerely yours, C. B. 



P. S. — Having lost my pen I write this with a bill of a 

 curlew. I softened it first with vinegar, then split and nib- 

 bed it nicely, and it makes quite a good stylus. Jake is a 

 master in cooking snipe and curlew, and has a stock of ex- 

 cellent Southern red pepper, but if any of your friends 

 have the least bit of gourmandism about them, tell them 

 not to forget the lemons, the juice of which enchances the 

 flavor of these birds. 



—At the sale of the Perkins collection in London last 

 month, a vellum copy of the Masarin bible fetched £3,400, 

 and the first Shakspeare folio £585. 



—About £225 is the price asked for the privilege of 

 shooting over a Scotch grouse preserve of about 15,000 

 acres. Six persons are allowed to shoot, each to pay the 

 above price. 



—In the United States in 1871, we used the wool from 

 32,000,000 of sheep, or about 128,000,000 of pounds. About 

 17,000,000 more of sheep would make us independent of all 

 other countries as to wool. 



— The Hawaiians are dying out. In 1832, the island had 

 a population of 130,315 souls, in 1860 it was only 62,959. 

 The decrease has been over sixty per cent in forty years. 

 Mr. Nordhoff thinks if the islanders went back to old cus- 

 toms as to dress, that is to no dress at all, their health 

 would improve. He says in fact, that pantaloons, shirt- 

 collars and stockings have been the death of them. 



—The salmon season in Oregon, has yielded an enormous 

 catch this year. It is safe to say that this fish alone, has 

 swelled the imports of Oregon over 1,000,000 more than 

 they would otherwise have been. 



♦ : 



See how readily the Chinese take to the manners and 

 customs of civilization. Two of them fought a duel in 

 Arkansas the other day, and one was killed. 



