72 



FOREST AND STREAM, 





A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



Devoted to Field and Aquatic Spokts, Practical Naturae History, 

 Fish Culture, the Protection op Game, Presrvation op Forests, 

 and the Inculcation in Men and Women op a healthy interest 

 in Out-door Kecreation and Study: 



PUBLISHED BY 



Sorest and ^trmttf §iibUshin$ §omyztn%, 



AT 



103 FULTON STREET, NEW YORK. 



4 



Terms, Five Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 



A discount of twenty per cent, for five copies and upwards. Auy person 

 sending us two subscriptions and Ten Dollars will receive a copy of 

 Hallock's "Fishing Tourist," postage free. 



+ , 



Advertising Kates. 



In regular advertising columns, nonpareil type, 121ines to the inch, 25 

 cents per line. Advertisements on outside page, 40 cents per line. Reading 

 notices, 50 cents per line. Advertisements in double column 25 per cent, 

 extra. Where advertisements are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 

 10 per cent, will be made ; over three months, 20 per cent ; over six 

 months, 30 per cent. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPT. 11, 1878. 



To Correspondents. 



♦ 



All communications whatever, whether relating to business or literary 

 correspondence, must be. addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 lishing Company. Personal letters only, to the Manager. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

 real name, as a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 

 objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regarded. 



Articles relating to any topic within the scope of this paper are solicited. 



We cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



Ladies are especially invited to use our columns, which will be pre- 

 pared with careful reference to their perusal and instruction. 



Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor us with brief 

 notes of their movements and transactions, as it is the aim of this paper 

 to become a medium of useful and reliable information between gentle- 

 men sportsmen from one end of the country to the other ; and they will 

 find our columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest and Stream aim to merit and secure the 

 patronage and countenance of that portion of the community whose re- 

 fined intelligence enables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 

 is beautiful in Nature. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

 the legitimate sports of land and water to those base uses which always 

 -end to make them unpopular with the virtuous and good. No advertise- 

 ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 

 terms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of the paper that 

 may not be read with propriety in the home circle. 



We canaot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



This paper sent gratuitously to all contributors. 



Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each week, if possible. 



CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Managing Editor. 



Calendar of Events for the Current Week. 



Frlday Sept. 12— Plainville Park Association, Conn.— Westchester 

 Comity Association, White Plains, N,.Y.— Wellsboro Driving Park, Perm. 

 — Saratoga Rowing Association, Saratoga Lake, N- Y. 



Saturday, Sept. 13th.— Boat clubs foot of 133rd St. East River.— Athletic 

 Rowing club race.— Oneida Regatta, Jersey City.— Plainville Park Associ- 

 ation, Conn.— Society of Horticulture and Agriculture, White Plains, N. 

 Y.— Prospect Park meeting, Brooklyn, N. Y.— Wellsboro Driving Park, 

 Penn.— Hamilton, Regatta D. of Canada. 



Tuesday, Sept. 16th.— Central Pennsylvania Association, Altoona, 

 Penn.— Kansas city Association, Mo.— Union Driving Park, Peoria, 111.— 

 Fleetwood Association. 



Wednesday, Sept. 17th.— Atlantic Boat Club regatta, Hoboken.— 

 Kansas City Fair, Mo.- Central Pennsylvania Society Altoona, Penn.— 

 Union Driving Park, Peoria, 111.— Regatta St. John, New Brunswick. 



Thursday, Sept. 18th.— Fleetwood Association, Morrisania, N. Y.— 

 Kansas City Fair, Mo.— Union Driving Park, Peoria, 111.— Centra. Penn- 

 sylvania Association, Altoona, Penn. 



THE GREATEST PARK IN THE WORLD. 



THANKS to Mr. Hayden, we are now commencing to 

 appreciate the grandeur of the Government reservation 

 on the Yellowstone river. In time to come, when our great- 

 great-grand-children people the Pacific slope, and popula- 

 tion teems there, the memory of that particular Congress 

 who made this great natural wonder public property, will 

 be gratefully remembered. To the grandest scenes of na- 

 ture, overhanging cliffs, deep gorges, towering mountain 

 heights, are added the glorious falls of the Yellowstone. 

 At the head of the grand canon, the fall is f»und to be 897 

 feet in height, and the depth of the canon at its foot is 

 675 feet, increasing rapidly to 1,000 feet. Here the river 

 narrows, and takes a deep sea-green color. A half mile 

 from the upper fall there is another fall of 140 feet. These 

 may be natural beauties, but in this park the supernatural 

 is added. Think of the geysers, with a temperature of 

 104 Q to 108 Q , at an elevation of 6,779 feet above the sea! 

 clear boiling fountains of water, bubbling all the day, form- 

 ing beautiful incrustations on their margins. Never ceas- 

 ing are they. To-day a spring may be here, to-morrow it 

 may be gone, but then a new one has taken its place, 

 bursting out at a short distance from its old locality. The 

 very mud these hot r spring cast forth loses the character of 

 simple mud, but is changed in hue, and is now red, now 

 black, now cream-colored. 



We cannot but express our delight over the fact that this 

 reservation belongs to the great American people for all 

 time to come, and we consider it the first grand national 

 step in the direction of the preservation of our forests. 



THE SCOTCH GAMES. 



F the Forest and Stream may find some fault for that 



lack of interest our own native Americans take-in athle- 

 tic sports, ^such complaints can hardly be addressed to those 

 of foreign birth, who divide with us the" possessorship 

 of this good country of ours. If we cannot yet look to our 

 own people for the ijetter furthering of that manly spirit 

 which delights in out-of-door sports, we certainly can, 

 with no small pride, point to the Scottish games, now so 

 firmly established in our midst, and may hope that in them 

 will be found that leaven which must, in time, work through 

 all our more sluggish native element. 



Outside of Scotland, beyond the Duke of Athol's Glen 

 Tilt, we think it no exaggeration to state, that nowhere 

 else in the world, not even in London, could there be found 

 congregated such a large assemblage of people as wit- 

 nessed the Scottish games at Jones' Woods on the 4th of 

 September instant. 



Among the oldest of human traditions, is that of no- 

 madic tribes assembling together at stated periods to wit- 

 ness the strife of their athletic heroes, and there is some- 

 thing impressive when one sees our adopted citizens in this 

 fresher country of ours, reproducing the games which have 

 been played in old Scotland so many centuries ago. 



These Scottish games, intensely national in character, 

 consist principally of tossing the caber, putting the stane 

 (stone), and throwing the hammer, and vaulting. A caber 

 may be a trunk of a tree, twenty-five feet long, if you 

 please, and must be turned over completely in the air be- 

 fore it falls to the ground, by a combination of sheer 

 strength and dexterity. There is no limit to the size of the 

 caber. If one is beyond a man's strength, he takes a 

 smaller-sized one. It is something like the struggle be- 

 tween Milo and the oak. 



Putting the stone, is to take a cannon ball, weighing 

 from twenty to fifty-six pounds, and to heave it. The ball 

 is usually held in the right hand, and the athlete, resting 

 himself on the right foot for an instant, with the weight 

 well behind him, suddenly lurches forward, and as soon as 

 the left foot touches the ground, away goes the heavy ball. 

 Mr. Dinnie, the famous Scotch athlete, has been known to, 

 have thrown the twenty five pound ball forty-seven feet ten 

 inches. 



Throwing the hammer, perhaps, exhibits the highest 

 degree of skill. The hammer is usually a ball of iron, 

 weighing some sixteen pounds, into which an ash handle is 

 inserted. Planting his two feet in the ground, sometimes 

 with his back to the point clemire, he swings the missile two 

 or three times round his head, when, wheeling suddenly 

 around, away hurtles the hammer like a sky-rocket. The 

 greatest of the hammer throwers has been able to launch it 

 a distance of 140 feet. 



See all these gallant feats accomplished by men clad in 

 the handsomest of costumes, while the pibroch chaunts, 

 and it is the true conception of what athletic sports should 

 be — a strife of demigods. 



This year's sports were remarkable in every respect, not 

 only for the excellence of the contests, but for the admira- 

 ble arrangements made for the 20,000 sight-seers ; and 

 we cannot but congratulate our Scotch citizens on the 

 conclusion of the finest athletic festival we have seen for 

 some years. 



WOORARI, OR CURARE. 



THIS deadly poison, quite as fatal to living creatures as 

 crotiline, known under the name of woorari, or 

 curare, was first brought to England by Sir Walter Ea- 

 leigh. Its effects upon animals have been thoroughly studied 

 by the distinguished physiologist, Claude Bernard. How 

 it is made, or from whence derived has, however, never 

 been absolutely determined. From Le Tour du Monde, we 

 translate the following, taken from Doctor Saffray's tra- 

 els in New Granada. "The favorite arm of the Choco 

 Indian at San Juan is the hodoqitera. What they use in 

 this blow-gun are arrows poisoned with a substance simi- 

 lar to curare which, they obtain from the venonf of a frog. 

 The batrachians which furnishes the poison, is only found in 

 certain districts, The proper name for it, is Phyllobates 

 mekmorrhinus. It is a frog three inches long, of a yellow 

 color, with red spots on the back. Its eyes are prominent 

 and it has a black nose. When these frogs are scarce, 

 another variety with a black belly answers the purpose 

 They keep them for use in small wicker baskets. When 

 poison is wanted for their weapons, they take the unfor- 

 tunate creature, and tie it to a green branch and expose it 

 to a slow fire. Almost immediately from all over the body 

 of the frog there exudes a whitish substance, and after 

 that a viscous yellow oil. This the Indians scrape off care- 

 fully, as it is the true poison. A frog may have this cruel 

 process repeated several times, and on each occasion will 

 furnish a certain quantity of poison. Like curare, this 

 frog venom seems to effect all the organs of locomotion, and 

 animals absorbing this poison into their tissues, die of as- 

 phyxia. 



Desirious of satisfying myself on every point in regard 

 to the action of this poison, I induced an Indian to use it 

 in my presence. Equipped with his bodoquera or blow gun 

 and a machette, we took to the woods. I should have 

 liked him to try his arrow on a jaguar, but none appeared. 

 Presently, however, a small specimen of deer came within 

 shot. The Indian carefully raised his cane tube to his 

 mouth, his chest became expanded, as with quite an effort 

 of his cheeks he discharged his arrow. The deer was 

 struck with I he minute arrow, and at a single bound was 



in the forest, the Indian following. Ten minutes after- 

 wards the animal lay at my feet, breathing it is true but 

 perfectly unable to move. When a small animal the size of 

 the deer is struck in any part/of the body, wh ere the ob- 

 lation is rapid, its powers of running are limited to no I mure 

 than three minutes. The limbs stiffen, the animal stops 

 trembles, and falls. All the voluntary inuseles cease their 

 action, absolute paralysis sets in, and the heart ceases to 

 beat," 



HOME AGAIN! 



TWENTY-FIVE hundred trunks consigned to one Ex- 

 press Company in a single day ! 



This is the number of pieces that, we are told, were 

 brought to New York by the returning sojourners in moun- 

 tain, seaside and fashionable watering place, the moment 

 the first chilly zephyr from the northwest ushered in the 

 autumn. And if so many trunks to one Company, how- 

 many to all the rest together? 



"Homeward the swallows fly," says the German poet. 

 Even so do our fair ladies hie to their long deserted 

 homes, and all in a body, too, just like the little birds. 

 What a flutter and fluster they make as they swoop down 

 and settle among us! But why is this thus? Why do 

 they all take wing at the same time? Why does one 

 thought and one mind seem to animate the whole? Oh! 

 it is "the^ fashion," we suppose! Is it the fashion then 

 with the little birds? Quien Sabe? 



But the blessed little birds never * bring any trunks. 

 Much as we delight to compare our returning dear ones 

 with the swifter winged travelers, this mountain of trunks 

 completely destroys the metaphor. The poetical allusion, 

 or illusion, vanishes. 



Poor Dodd! careworn Dodd! x^re you married? If so, 

 do you, O Dodd, restrict the ladies of your family to a 

 definite arbitrary minimum of trunks when they travel? 

 Just suppose for an instant, that the gentler sex should be- 

 come imbued with the Grange spirit and endeavor to dic- 

 tate to the railroad and express companies regulations 

 governing the transportation ^of their baggage! Com- 

 bined with the farmers, what corporation j30uld withstand 

 their united pressure? 



Yet, welcome the returning trunks ! They bring good 

 cheer. Now gleams the light of the roseate smiles around 

 the domestic hearth and festal board. Welcome the 

 trunks! The croquet lawns will be gay with parti-colored 

 costumes, the bridle paths of the Parks be .enlivened by the 

 fair equestrians; the theatres sparkle with vivacity, and all 

 the familiar salons and fashionable resorts, long empty, 

 once more be thronged by the devotees of pleasure. Wel- 

 come the trunks ! Their coming means that the enervating 

 heats of summer are ended; that the cooler autumn in- 

 vites our lady readers to the fields and groves, where we 

 trust the Forest and Stream will be able to teach many 

 a pleasant lesson to those who enjoy our out door recrea- 

 tion. 



-**♦» 



THE GRAPHIC BALLOON. 



WHILE our paper is on the press, the great balloon is 

 advertised to be en route for Europe. For several 

 days at the Capitoline grounds in Brooklyn it attracted 

 thousands of curious spectators. As it lay on the ground, 

 half inflated, and swaying at its moorings, it rose high in 

 air above the enclosure, seeming like a living monster, ris- 

 ing and falling on the atmospheric wave with pulsations so 

 regular that twelve beats of the watch marked the intervals. 

 It requires 400,000 cubic feet of gas to fill the balloon, and 

 the inflation, through an eight inch pipe, occupies three 

 hours. A canvas tent held all the appliances of the expedi- 

 tion — the lifeboat Chicago; the miniature canoe, the paper 

 boat Donaldson; the carrier pigeons, the balloon car proper, 

 the astronomical and meteorological instruments, the life- 

 preservers, the water kegs that will serve as ballast, the an- 

 chors, sails, ropes, hatchets, saws, buckets, and the details 

 of the aerial household. 



Underneath the balloon will hang a rope car, distended 

 by three rings. From the upper ring will hang cords hold- 

 ing the car; the ropes suspending the paper boat, and ropes 

 suspending the lifeboat. The car, which is a lattice of 

 ropes, has a floor about twelve feet below the balloon, on 

 which are chairs, a table, the mercurial and aneroid, barom- 

 eters, sextants, and thermometers. In the paper boat, 

 modeled after the Staten Island canoe club-boats, are a com- 

 pass, sails, and a paddle. The lifeboat is one of Ingersoll's 

 best, with sleeping room below the deck for three, water- 

 tight compartments, binnacle, compass, cooking furnace, 

 oars, anchors, &c. 



Every evening during the week fire balloons were sent up 

 as tests of the upper currents, and so far, at an estimated 

 height of two miles, they have sailed off to the eastward. 

 Upon the continuance of this eastern current the success, of 

 the expedition, and perhaps the lives of the aeronauts, de- 

 pends. It becomes a serious matter now, this sailing away 

 in space at the mercy of the winds that blow, with no 

 secondary'controlling or counteracting force whatever. It 

 is much like launching an ingeniously contrived craft above 

 the Falls of Niagara and trusting to fortuitous improba- 

 bilities for successful preservation after the fearful leap is 

 made; and yet the feat might be done. At best these ex- 

 periments are a trifling with God-given life, and we feel 

 that it would be better to start the big thing off on its mis- 

 sion alone than to sacrifice these intrepid but foolish aero- 

 nauts to misapplied science by sending them off with it. It 

 may be Wise to go, but we think he is wisest who stays at 

 home. Yet if it must;be, we can only join in wishing the 

 attempt the fullest success. 



