FOREST AND STREAM. 



41 



journal in a recent article on this subject, approaches but 

 partly the many difficulties which a discussion of this subject 

 presents. He states " that a hardened ball in striking a 

 bone, when properly made, should flatten against the'bone 

 (of the animal) without boring through it, whilst at the 

 same time it must retain enough of its round form to obvi- 

 ate any chance of the increasing distance offered to the 

 larger surface stopping its way, and therefore preventing 

 its penetrating far enough." Here then are two difficulties 

 which apparently militate against one another, the ball 

 must crash the bone, and still have power sufficient to seek 

 a vital 'point further on. We think this most intelligent 

 writer overlooks somewhat the important subjects of range 

 and velocity, which we think are vital to the subject, If it 

 be the smashing of the bones which is required, we should 

 suppose that a hardened ball, shot at close range, with its 

 liigh velocity, would least accomplish the purpose desired, 

 for it is at a close range only that elephants, lions and tigers 

 are shot. The advantage to be derived from a hard ball in 

 breaking bones, or stunning the animals which it strikes, 

 would then we suppose be best effected at a slow A^elocity. 



A curious question entering here, is that if the vitality of 

 animals, or the lasting powers they possess to resist when 

 seriously wounded. TheCervi readily succumb, while 

 the difficulty of killing a member of the feline race, 

 has passed into a proverb. This destinction of the 

 staying power may even be found in man, for it is a 

 well known fact that an Anglo Saxon is twice as hard 

 to kill as a Chinese. Hard balls are useful in the two ex- 

 treme cases, where the bony portion of the animal is in large 

 proportion to the fleshy case of the animal, as in the moose and 

 eastern buffalo, and of course, where the bones are covered 

 with a huge mass of flesh, as in the elephant. For lions and 

 tigers, hardened bullets are not as useful as the ordinary 

 ball. 



Certainly the great object in using any projectile is to 

 have the animal struck by it, to die as quickly as possible. 

 Perhaps the most unsatisfactory thing we know of, is to 

 shoot a moose, and certain that he is wounded mortally, to 

 be forced to follow him a whole day, before finding him 

 dead. In shooting lions and tigers, of course the* preserva- 

 tion of the hunter's own life is to be thought of. 



The question of hard balls, is likely to be silenced shortly 

 and for ever by the use of explosive shells, an instrument 

 first introduced by colonel Jacob of the East India service 

 thirty years ago. To-day, sportsmen in the East are using 

 thorn agaist the large game, and with notable success Of the 

 experiences of a gentleman attached to the "Forest and 

 Stream, 1 ' who used explosive shells in shooting moose in 

 ISTova Scotia with great success last December, we trust 

 to be able later, to give some interesting data. We should 

 think our friends in California might use explosive shells 

 most advantageously in their combats with the grizzly bear. 



THE NEW CAMILLA. 



Pro pudor! What! could a young lady ever dare to do 

 such a terrible thing as to run a foot race? Impossible! 

 Female physique precludes even the idea, Yet it strikes 

 us that when Strauss plays the " Blue Danube, 11 we can see 

 a score of the feebler sex going round and round for an in- 

 definite period of time. 



Fixed, determined in our stern purpose, unmoved b} r the 

 poetry of the dance, fearfully matter of fact in regard to 

 the rythmic step, though tourbillons of gauze floated past as 

 gracefully as the spiral wreathings of smoke clouds, with 

 our watch in hand, Ave studied the deux t^nvpsmid the Ger- 

 man. Shades of Coulon, Vestris, and Cellarius be not en- 

 raged! What we were after, with some experience in physi- 

 cal mechanics, was to find out about what amount of vital 

 endurance was necessary when a young lady danced for a 

 half hour. The conclusion arrived at was startling. Though 

 comparative measurements of such things are difficult, we 

 calculated that the waste of muscle was about on an equiv- 

 alent with that which a good runner would consume in 

 taking a very sharp breather of about four and a quarter 

 miles. How much more additional work the fair danseuse 

 was put to, in consequence of her having been forced to 

 breathe *nd expand her lungs in a vitiated atmosphere could 

 not enter into the computation. Of course our civilization 

 docs not allow of our women having the endurance of 

 squaws, but that the most natural exercises of walking and 

 running are entirely ignored in the education of our girls, is 

 very certain. American mothers would be surprised at the 

 physical powers English girls possess. Of course, our 

 climate, with its extremes of hot and cold, will not allow 

 our girls to take the same amount of out-door exercise 

 -which their sisters in England enjoy, but such opportuni- 

 ties as are offered to us are sadly neglected. 



English women on the continent often put American men 

 to shame. Once when we were younger, there was an Al- 

 pine height to climb, and in the party there was a fair Eng- 

 lish girl of seventeen. At the end of the first twenty min- 

 utes of ascent we must needs sit on a, rocky ledge to rest, 

 Our lady companion was still going light and easy. At the 

 end of -an hour, heavy and weary, we sank to the ground. 

 Skipping along on a high crag away above us, all as nimble 

 as a chamois, was poised the English girl. The road got 

 worse and worse, as si ill we went clumsily plodding 

 tra— staggering on with used up legs. As fresh as a lark on 

 sped this active girl, until she had scaled the highest pin- 

 nacle, and from away above us her merry*bursts of laughter 

 rang through the air She had distanced every man in the 

 party, save the guides. 



Can women run 9 Of course they can, and with a very 



little practice can attain exceeding speed. If all girls can- 

 not be Camillas, at least the Toronto people are bringing 

 up a set of athletic girls in their midst, for in a late Toronto 

 Mail we notice a foot-race to be run by girls of not over fif- 

 teen, a distance of 100 yards. 



What a happy thing it would be if literary women could 

 only be taught to run; what a beneficial effect it would 

 have on the too morbid female production. Think of the 

 inspiriting effects in an authoress a good hundred yards 

 brush would make. Then instead of the -medlar mes, or "the 

 sad gushings," we would have good, honest, sturdy stuff. 

 The great George Elliot and our own Grace Greenwood 

 have both been, if not fair runners, at least, good walkers. 



f THE STRIPED BASS. 



THE striped bass is the king of salt water game fish. With 

 a good two-jointed bamboo rod, a proper reel and a line 

 that renders freely, the angler may enjoy sport with the 

 bass which no other sea fish affords. It is worth a shilling a 

 minute, this pastime is, from the time he leads off in wild 

 career with the hook in his jaws until the gaff lays him along- 

 side the boat, or high and dry on the shining beach. The 

 sensation is indescribable. With a fifty-six pounder fast to 

 a five hundred feet line going at a fifty-knot rate, and the 

 wheel whizzing like mad, and emptying itself with alarming 

 rapidity, the situation becomes exciting. The fish leads oil 

 with a gait as though he would never stop. But he does 

 stop, and suddenly. Then comes the reeling in. " Click, 

 click, click! 11 Faster, faster! Keep in your slack, and stand 

 ready for his first attempt to trip you. Carefully now, for 

 the trial is coming. You scarcely breathe. Bills payable, 

 and all mankind is forgotten — your wife, your children, 

 and your enemies — all, all are absorbed in the game before 

 you; your pulse is up, ''the world is an oyster; 11 the sea is 

 hushed. Up comes the thumb, the turn is made, the bass 

 is on the rampage, and again you breathe free. Then you 

 rest and sweat. Hope is big within jomt breast. The baas 

 leads astern; everything is clear; the gear is good, and the 

 fish is sure. (This act to be repeated with the next cast.) 



But isn't it glorious to watch an ambidextrous veteran 

 like Genio 0. Scott, or the quartette of the "Squidnoket " 

 Club cast' for bass? With a dexterity which practice can 

 alone assume, they carefully sway the rod until the squid 

 describes its slowly moving circle around the head, and 

 then by a quick, inexplicable movement they cause it to 

 dart like an a rrow straight out far over the sea, and the reel 

 whizzes and whirls until it seems to flash fire, and you wait 

 long and patiently for the cessation of the hum which indi- 

 cates that the squid has dropped. What a wonderful dis- 

 tance; full one hundred feet, perhaps one hundred and 

 fifty! 



But our text is bass and not bass-fishing. Perhaps a waif 

 from West Island, Cuttyhunk, or Pasque Island, launched 

 from the pen of some veteran enthusiast of the clubs, may 

 float this way to entertain the readers of Forest and 

 Stream, and better describe the delights of this ocean pas- 

 time. 



Well, the bass is found along the whole length of our 

 coast from Florida to Cape Cod, at the various inlets, sounds 

 and rivers in both salt and fresh water. If in fresh, they 

 must have access to the ocean, for the bass is ananadramous 

 fish. They vary in weight from the small, newly spawned 

 fish to 150 pounds. No man knoweth their age, They 

 never destroy their kind as the bluefish does. The medium 

 size, say from three pounds to ten pounds, are caught in- 

 side, while the larger are found in the surf outside. Great 

 sport may be had with the latter during June to Octdber, 

 at Montauk Point, Block Island, Cuttyhunk, and Fire 

 Island, by backing up a small boat, with a good oarsman to 

 keep her clear, while the angler throws the squid in the 

 surf. It wants good sea legs and courage to fish in this 

 style. The small fry, heeding the old adage "small boats 

 should keep near the shore, 1 ' may be found in the bay-, in- 

 lets, and small creeks. In July tins is true of this class in 

 Long Island Sound. They spawn in May, and are caught 

 freely with the hook in company with the bluefish fry. By 

 the 1st of August the newly spawned weigh about a quarter 

 of a pound. Large quantities of various sizes, from two to 

 thirty pounds, are seined from deep holes in rivers connected 

 with the sounds. During the winter, unlike the bluehsh, 

 they do not all migrate south. When winter comes they 

 are a beautifully shaped fish, and are a companion of the 

 weakfish, alias " chequitt," alias " yellowfin, 11 . alias " salt- 

 water trout,' 1 alias "suckermaug," alias " squeteaguc." The 

 large striped bass are frequently taken from the surf by 

 hand; throwing either the squid or bait. They are a strong 

 and quick fish, but when hooked are steady on the lead, 

 while the bluefish will jerk, fight, and bite to the bitter end. 



SHOOTING JOURNALISTS. 



Be not alarmed, gentle reader! Xoue of this fraternity 

 have been shot. None of us have broken the peace. We 

 have merely in mind the prize which Orange Judd, Esq., 

 has offered for the competion of members of the press at 

 Orcedmoor. The first announcement of such an offer struck 

 us strangely. What necessity existed in these "pipeing 

 hues of peace, 11 we asked ourselves, to teach the editorial 

 idea how to shoot pistols, guns and rifles? In the flush 

 times of Southern chivalry and the earlier days of frontier 

 civilization, we remember it was customary for each news- 

 paper to employ a fighting editor to maintain the dignity of 

 its position. Editors, in those days were men of mark, or 

 at all events were obliged to be good marksmen. Pistol 



practice was requisite to meet the exigencies of the then 

 conditions of society.. Is it possible we asked, that a return 

 of those good old times is anticipated? Is it possible that 

 editorial amenities will be universally exacted by the muzzle 

 of six-shooter, and libels be known no more? Or is it that the 

 prevailing enthusiasm for out-door recreation has reached the 

 editorial sanctum and imbued our journalists with an earnest 

 purpose to make good sportsmen of themselves? Upon these 

 questions we have pondered seriously for ten days past, and 

 now after due deliberation, we come forward boldly to en- 

 dorse the movement, whatever its significance may be, and to 

 thank Mr. Judd for his liberal offer to the press and the en- 

 couragement it gives to editors to patronize the gun-smiths. 

 Too long have we sat supinely as targets for sarcastic and 

 malicious shafts. Hence-forward, nobler be our views. 

 Let proficiency in arms be our creed, and our rifle-range 

 one Creed-more. Throw down the pen and shears, take the 

 gun and rifle, cry havoc, and let, slip the dogs of war! We 

 will form whole regiments from the ranks of Bohemians 

 who skulked behind their exemption papers ten year ago. 

 We will present a bristling front to mobs that assail the 

 freedom of the press. "We'll hunt the antelope over the 

 plain. 11 Nay, we will man the Overland stage coaches, 

 and " all full inside, 11 prove to the fraternity of journalists 

 and the admiring world that no fourteen "good men and 

 true " shall supinely yield to four rascally road agents who 

 quietly plunder the coach while we sit by the wayside with. 

 folded hands waiting for a pastport to Sacramento. 

 Mr. Judd will consider us as entered for the prize, 



„ TEMPERATURE AND FISH. 



TELE intention I he weather bureau has announced, of 

 giving the results of its observations in regard to the 

 mean temperature of the rivers, lakes and of the ocean on 

 our shores, will undoubtedly be of great benefit to fisher- 

 men. The connection between the changes of tempera- 

 ture, as suggested by the Tribune, in an excellent article 

 on this subject, and the advent and disappearance of fish, 

 is quite an evident one, and one which must find its per- 

 fect elucidation some day. How account otherwise, for 

 the apparently capricious movements of the fish on our 

 shores? The herring, mackerel, cod, and some of the 

 game fish, change their locality, not simply because of 

 their food, but their movements are apparently dependent 

 on the temperature of the water. \\ is therefore not im 

 possible to imagine that our fishermen, when such meteorolo- 

 ical phenomena are understood by them will solve the ques 

 tion for themselves, whether fish may be expected at cer- 

 tain points, the science of the trained observer, and the 

 practical rough tact of the fisherman, going hand in hand. 

 It is worthy to remark here, how many advantages are 

 derived from the solution of any scientific fact, and how- 

 practical benefits extend in directions which were at first 

 unth ought of. 



-*•♦> ■ 



HOW THE ENGLISH MINER USED TO 

 AMUSE HIMSELF. 



i * HT HREE years ago' 1 says a correspondent of a Lon- 

 JL don paper, "I happened to be at By erly Hill, and 

 an invited guest at a rural fete, called a BUrbks, given en- 

 tirely by the miners. 



"Women as well as 'lads' attended, and although on a 

 moderate estimate, each one of them must have con- 

 sumed at least four shillings' worth of intoxicating liquor, 

 the value of the gowns that each wore was not half the 

 money. Among the amusements was a dog-fight in a dis- 

 tant corner of the field, where women were Vis free as their 

 husbands to back a favorite pup for a shillings; a man fight: 

 and — a sight thank Heaven, 1 never witnessed before or 

 since — a woman light; a regular strip-to-the-waist, stand- 

 up-set-to, the backer on the one side being the husband, 

 and on the other side a noble-minded swain, the accepted 

 suitor of the puligistie maid who was the married woman's 

 antagonist. If I remember rightly, at the eleventh round 

 the maiden Amazon, by a shoulder hit full at the other's 

 breast, caused such a sudden and prolonged fainting-fit that 

 she was unable to come up to the scratch when time was 

 called, and despite her husband's strenuous endeavor to 

 ' bring to ' the wife of his bosom by bending her thumbs 

 and applying a pinch of strong snuff to her inanimate nos- 

 trils, the spunge was thrown up. To be sure the stakes 

 were only a quart of rum, and it was some consolation to 

 observe that a quarter of an hour afterward the parties 

 concerned were all partaking of it as amicably as possible, 

 but it was an ugly sight and one to be remembered." 



Matters seem, however, to-day, according to the same 

 authority, to have much improved. From the extreme bar 

 barity of three years ago, they have lapsed to-day into quite 

 a fair amount of civilization, the men wearing glazed 

 leather boots, without any stockings on, but behaving 

 t hemselves in an orderly way, fighting being entirely ex- 

 cluded from the pastime. Speaking of the appearance of 

 the men, the same writer says: 



' k Over and over again a score of times a raised hand 

 discovered a thumb or finger, sometimes two, gone; while 

 men with only one eye were as comon as among us are 

 men who wear spectacles. Xor was this all. Of their 

 whole number, one in ten at least bore on hisfa.ee blue scars 

 of powder blasting, and some were disfigured with jagged 

 and deep sears extending from brow to chin. And nearly 

 all are stunted, and have round shoulders, and wan faces, 

 and that shy blinking gaze that invariably distinguishes 

 men who labor in semi-darkness. " 



At a late meeting of the Berlin Geographical feociety 

 it was announced that the Khedive had given the Society 

 £4,000 to further the plans for an e^edition into the Sybkn 

 desert. 



