Terms, Five Dollars a Year. ) 

 Ten Cents a Copy, f 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPT. 11, 1873. 



j Volume I, Number 5. 

 \ 103 Fulton Street. 



For the Forest mid Stream. 

 EARLY DAYS. 



TO childish years we love once more to turn 

 Ere life's young light— to its full dawning grew 

 To taste the spring that bubhles from youth's urn, 

 As fresh, as sparkling as the early dew; 

 We love the purity and grace of youth, 

 Its merry laugh from careless heart that flows; 

 The open brow, all innocence and truth, 

 The healthy cheek, as ruddy as the rose, 

 That by the way-side hedges all untended grows. 



Dear then the joy to wander far and near, 



To play the truant, reckless of the rod, 



To tease the kine, or goad the browsing steer, 



Or chase the sheep, or sluggish colt unshod, 



Scour the wide plain, or scale the steepy hill, 



With rusty gun borne with no kind design, 



Regardless whether flesh or fowl it kill; 



Or thresh the brook with clumsy rod and line, 



Its hook a crooked pin, attached to vulgar twine. 



Lo! as we muse, full many a slumbering string 



In memory's harp weird fancy stirs again; 



Round childhood's rustic roof birds gaily sing, 



And the, slant sunbeam peeping thro' the pane, 



Invites us forth to taste the morning air, 



With perfumes laden from the dewy ground. 



Pleas'd then we seem these well-known scenes to share 



To hear once more the fields with voices sound, 



As the old steeple wakes the region round. 



We hear the mower's whistle in the vale, 



The sheep-bell 1 ^tinkle and the low of herds, 



The plow-boy's call, the thresher's sounding flail, 



The hum of insects and the songs of birds; 



The locust's drone, the whip-poor-will's lament, 



The swallows chirp and the humming of the bee, 



The squirrels chatter in his leafy tent, 



The house wife's wheel, the sounds of childhood's glee 



On sunny hills at play, or by the favorite tree. 



Isaac McLelt.A'N'. 



ANTICOSTI. 



THE JOURNAL OF A NAVAL OFFICER. 



[Concluded from our Last Issue. ] 



Finding it hopeless to do anything in the fishing line, I put 

 my rod up in disgust, and De Courcy and self concealing our- 

 selves in the wood bordering on the river, awaited the 

 incoming of the duck. It was nearly high tide, so we 

 were not kept long in suspense. Presently the familiar 

 whistling sound made by ducks as they "swinge " through 

 the air, greets our ears, and the next minute three black duck 

 (anas obseura) swooping over the tree tops light with heavy 

 plash on the water, not fifteen yards from where we lie. 

 They are swimming close together, and with my first bar- 

 rel I succeed in knocking over two, while the third, rising 

 to the report, falls to De Courcy's discharge. The ball is 

 now fairly opened, and for the next hour we keep the firing 

 up with no lack of spirit. Now a flight of widgeon, (etnas 

 Americana) or teal, (anas discors) easily distinguishable by 

 their smaller size, and the close compact bod}^ in which 

 they fly, would sweep past our hiding place, and four barrels 

 would thin their ranks; anon a flight of sheldrake (mergus 

 serraior) circling high above the woods, would seem to seek 

 the most inviting creek, or pool, and finally after much de- 

 liberation would make for our ambuscade; just as they are 

 coming nicely within range De Courcy unintentionally ex- 

 poses himself, and off they swerve, too late, however, to 

 prevent our bagging three of their number. Hardly has 

 the smoke from our guns cleared away when the loud 

 "honk" of a wild goose is heard, and before I have time 

 to load, six geese (anser Canadensis) sailing in line abreast, 

 settle with much fluttering and noisy cackling upon the 

 creek. My friend hastily slips a couple of green cartri- 

 ges into his breech-loader, but it is not a bit too soon, for 

 already the keen ear of the geese have detected some sus- 

 picious sound, and they are meditating flight. De Courcy 

 waits judiciously till they vise,- and then as they stretch 



their pinions, preparatory to taking wing, offering a lovely 

 shot, he let them have the contents of both barrels, and 

 drops one stone dead, while another staggers off badly 

 wounded. By this time I am ready, and blaze away af- 

 ter the retreating birds, but partly owing to my being 

 loaded with duck shot, and partly to my being a good deal 

 flurried, I fail to touch a feather, and the geese are soon 

 lost behind the wood. Towards dark the black duck come in 

 by twos and threes, and we fire with varying success, now 

 picking off a straggler as he spins up the river, now miss- 

 ing altogether, occasionally getting half a dozen shots in 

 quick succession as a large flight soar in from the reefs, 

 and breaking up into little groups settle, some far out in 

 mid-stream, others in the reeds close by, and as the woods 

 re-echo to our shots, the wild fowl rise in all directions, 

 and while some wheel out to sea, others, apparently con- 

 fused by the rapid reports, head straight for our place 

 of concealment, and the sport grows "fast and furious." 

 At length as it is* getting dark, and we have already more 

 birds than we well know what to do with, we " count out 

 the bag," (which Gamache and Flanigan have collected 

 by degrees, and as opportunity offered), and find it to con- 

 sist of one goose, twelve black duck, nine teal, seven wid- 

 geon, and three sheldrake, a total of thirty-two head, which 

 was not so bad, considering all things. 



That evening we feasted sumptuously off goose, and a 

 "tit-bit" of widgeon to wind up with, and lighting a 

 roaring fire, for the nights were growing cold, and throw- 

 ing up a few boards to windward, we smoked and talked 

 till nearly midnight, and after a few hours sleep were astir 

 at daybreak, when the wind and sea had both gone down. 

 We re-embarked our traps, and shortly after five o'clock 

 started for Jupiter river, which we reached about nine 

 o'clock. For some miles to the westward of the river 

 perpendicular cliffs from one hundred to one hundred and 

 •fifty feet in height, bound the coast, which for a distance 

 of a mile either side is free from reefs, deep water being- 

 found close inshore. A well defined valley marks the 

 course of the stream, low swampy land receding from 

 the left bank to gently sloping hills, behind which an 

 elevated ridge may be seen trending almost due east and 

 west. Beyond this valley the coast again rises gradually, 

 and sandy cliffs, varying in height from fifty to one hnn- 

 dered feet, extend to Southwest Point. The cliffs to the 

 westward are composed of a greenish gray argillaceous 

 limestone, which though rapidly becoming hardened on 

 exposure to the air, may, when first cut, be easily carved 

 into any shape or form with a knife. Trappers have oc- 

 casionally made pipes from it, and as many portions of the 

 strata have a close texture, and take a high polish, it has 

 been suggested that lithographic stones might be obtained 

 from some parts of the cliff. A fresh cut block has that 

 peculiar unctuous feeling we find in the soap stone. 



Jupiter, or Observation river, as it is laid down upon the 

 chart, is the largest stream in the island, having six or 

 seven feet in the entrance, and being navigable for canoes 

 for upwards of nine miles. It has a course of some twenty 

 miles from the eastward, and abounds in deep quick pools, 

 in nearly all of which good trout fishing may be had. The 

 first salmon hole is about five miles from the mouth, 

 but there are two or three pools four miles further up the 

 river which afford better sport. Camping at these upper pools 

 in the month of the August, sportsman may enjoy both good 

 fishing and shooting, for when he gets tired of the former, 

 he can strike into the " barrens," which are close at hand, 

 and where he will be tolerably certain of having a shot 

 at deer. As many as fifty barrels of salmon have been 

 taken in Jupiter river with a seine during the season, but 

 latterly it has not been netted at all. Some idea of the trout 

 fishing may be formed from the fact that two hundred is 

 no unusual number for a single rod to kill in a day, and 

 though the majority of these run between twelve ounces 

 and one and one-half pounds, there is a fair sprinkling of 

 still larger ones. Unfortunately we arrived at the river 

 on the 31st of August, the last day of the fishing season, 

 and as our leave was drawing to a close we thought 

 it better to push on to Southwest Point at once, and 



endeavor to secure a passage in one of the schooners 

 we had reason to believe would be cruising over to 

 Gaspe about this time. Accordingly after a bathe in the 

 river, and breakfast I started with the Indians in the canoe, 

 leaving De Courcy to follow with Gamache later on. 



One would have supposed that in an out of the way 

 Island like Anticosti the rivers would not have been elosely 

 watched, and that one might, if one felt so inclined, have 

 fished on the "Sabbath," or infringed the limits of the 

 "close" season with impunity. The following fact .will 

 prove the contrary : When about four miles from Jupiter 

 river, we observed a large boat bearing out of the cove at 

 Southwest Point, and at first thinking it some fisherman 

 changing his ground in pursuit of cod, we took no notice 

 of it. Presently, however, as the boat stood well out 

 from the land the. Indians " smelt a rat," and informed us 

 that it was "de spectre!" "The spectre! !" "of whom'?" 

 perchance of one of the unhappy habitants of Dead 

 Man's Point, who growing tired of his narrow beat had 

 sought a new and larger "base of operations." "De fish- 

 in spectre," again repeated the Indian as the boat bore 

 down upon us; and a faint dawning of his meaning flashed 

 across me. It was the Inspector, or Overseer for the dis- 

 trict, who, I afterwards found out, had from the light- 

 house perceived a strange sail entering Jupiter river this 

 morning, and was now off to ascertain what our little game 

 might be. He was a big burly Frenchman, a disagreea- 

 ble bumptious fellow, and as soon as I saw that he wanted 

 to intercept the canoe, I could not resist the temptation to 

 give some bother, so telling the Indians to paddle hard in- 

 shore, we watched what effect our conduct would 

 have. Sure enough he altered his course, and stood after 

 us, and as we swerved in and out, as if trying to dodge 

 him he followed suit, and at last overhauled us. "D'ou 

 venez-vous?" sang out the "spectre" in a tone of voice 

 that showed he was not over pleased at the chase we had 

 led him, and when after a little consultation, and much 

 shaking of heads, I replied, "no understand," he fairly 

 boiled over, and his deep u sacre" came rolling over the 

 water. "Whose ehaloupe at Jupiter?" "Shallop? oh, 

 that's ours." "Hah! e'est bon; I thought as moch; vat 

 you doing there?" "Doing? nothing I assure you." Pouf! 

 Allez-vous en, I vill see for myself." "As you please my 

 dear sir, but I'll swear they're not fishing. " As I had in- 

 ended, this last reply introducing the fishing question, 

 had the desired effect of confirming his suspicions that 

 " our ways were dark and our tricks were mean" at Jupi- 

 ter, and disdaining further parley, and with an audible 

 chuckle as he thought of the discomfiture that would soon 

 follow, the "spectre" let his sail down, and we were soon 

 far apart, He arrived at the river safely enough, but 

 only to find Gamache on the point of starting, and as he 

 was most unmercifully "quizzed " by the latter on having 

 "caught a tarter," he speedily beat a retreat, and turned 

 his boat's head for home. The wind fell light, and died 

 away altogether towards evening, and the unhappy "spectre" 

 did not fetch back till nearly midnight. Gamache's boat being 

 smaller and pretty light, they were enabled to pull, but 

 even then it was ten o'clock before they arrived at the 

 lighthouse. 



On my arrival at the Southwest Point I learnt that a 

 schooner would inpst probably be crossing to Gaspe in two 

 or three day's time, and that Captain Setter's schooner 

 would be leaving in about a week with her last cargo of 

 cod. The schooner it appeared had been chartered by a 

 Frenchman, by name Geffrard, (of which more anon) who 

 with a gang of men, all French Canadians from Quebec, 

 had been employed during the summer working on the 

 wreck of a large iron clipper ship, lost early in the spring, 

 and now lying in some ten fathoms of water. It had not 

 been a successful venture of Geffrard's; his first trip had 

 paid fairly well, but this second one, what with gales of 

 wind, which put a stop to all diving, and lazy workmen, he 

 was returning considerably out of pocket, with but two 

 iron yards and a chain cable. 



During our two day's stay at Southwest Point, we were 

 most hospitably entertained by Mr. Pope the keeper, wh 



