78 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



Fiery Sbkpbnth.— A curious and thrilling 

 spectacle was witnessed Hinirliiv evening by 

 persons who were early at. the scene DI the 

 burning of MeDide's ice-house on the bay. 

 It waa caused by the escape of probably hun- 

 dreds of snakes, which Beemed to wiggle and 

 crawl and bound directly out. of the flames, 

 and to then run for the bay, creating a con- 

 tinuous splash, splash, splash, as one after 

 another of the reptiles went headlong into the 

 water. The whole country for a mile around 

 was light as day. The snakes seemed to 

 come from every nook and corner of the 

 building, and, writhing in agony from the in- 

 tense heat, instinctively made d:ieetly.for the 

 bay, and, maimed and banned, as many of 

 them undoubtedly were, they plunged in pro- 

 miscuously, the larger ones— some of them 

 of tremendous size— throwing great volumes 

 of water high into the air. The watchman at 

 one of the other ice-houses says that when he 

 first saw the flames they enveloped n ni- 

 the entire building, lie ran to the door and 

 attempted to enter, but. was driven back by 

 the tire and smoke. Nothing whatever could 

 be done to save the. ice-house. It had no 

 doubt been set on tire by tramps, several of 

 whom were subsequently found lying near 

 the ruins, fast asleep. One of these very 

 graphically describes the rush of snakes from 

 the burning building, -which was a sight as 

 terrible as it was wonderful. Out of the 

 doorway, through the roof, in the midst of 

 dense volumes of smoke they came by scores; 

 large snakes ami small, of almost every 

 species known to this latitude, their eyes ex- 

 tended and their forked tongues darting de- 

 fiance at the blaze, they actually raced 

 through the air for a place of safety. They 

 hissed with madness and pounded the earth 

 with their tails in fury, and seemed to screech 

 in the agony they experienced in coming 

 through the fire The number of them ap- 

 peared to be endless, until the whole structure 

 was so fully consumed that no more could 

 escape from it, if any there were. Great, rat- 

 tlesnakes, blow-snakes, moccasins, garter- 

 snakes, water-snakes of every possible de- 

 scription and age were huddled and hustled 

 together as they"came for.h, apparently borne 

 by the flames. The creeping things were 

 horrible to behold. No one dared attempt 

 to kill them after they had passed success- 

 fully through such a furnace. Wild with 

 rage and tossing venom into the fire, which 

 seemed ouly to increase in volume, they 

 rj upon the ground with arched necks 

 ready to strike the foe that approached them. 

 Some of them even seemed to stand upon the 

 edge of the ice-house, as if bidding defiance 

 to the devouring elements, and to lick up the 

 llatnes with their tongues before giving up 

 ■what had been their home. It is declared 

 upon good authority that some of these rep- 

 tiles were ten feet in length, with bodies of 

 enormous size, which made large swaths on 

 the earth when they crawled ; and as to their 

 number, no one could give a more accurate 

 idea than that there were hundreds. One of 

 the largest, of a bright given and gold color, 

 which was rendered beautifully brilliant by 

 the tire-light, appeared through the side of 

 the house, which was in full blaze, bearing 

 in its mouth two of its young ; and scales tell 

 from its body like hailstones as it hurried 

 away, uttering tones of torture as it pro- 

 ceeded. Some of the snakes took refuge in a 

 large pile of lumber near the ice-house, 

 underneath which several dead carcasses were 

 found when the lumber was removed to a 

 place of safety. The house was built with 

 thin boards, by which a vacant space was 

 made in the si'line, creating au air-chamber; 

 and it is supposed that, the snakes had taken 

 possession of this for a home. The tramps 

 -who endeavored to stay in the ice house Sun- 

 day night, probably discovered some of the 

 makes, and attempted to smoke them out, 

 but the effort resulted in the destruction of 

 the building. 



Arizona's Stone Wells.— A wonderful 

 place is Tinajas, about 30 miles southwest of 

 Mission camp. The mountains have one face 

 of hard, smooth granite. All the water fall- 

 ing upon this basin has to flow through nine 

 tanks, one above the other. The lower tanks 

 are of easy access, aud are of ten drained Oi 

 their contents by men and animals traveling 

 between Yuma aud Sonora. The upper 

 tanks are approached only by circuitous aud 

 difficult climbing over rocks. To one stand- 

 ing below they afford no indication of their 

 existence, nor does climbing the smooih, 

 steep mountain sid ■ seem possible to one nn- 

 acquaioted with the way to it. In tue upper 

 tanks water has never been known to fail. 

 To this water comes game of all kinds in great 

 numbers from the great waterless country 

 around Tinajas. Antelope, mountain sheep 

 and deer of several kinds, come in herds. 

 Rabbits and hares are as plenty as anywhere, 

 and are prey for many coyotes and beautiful 

 little rock foxes. One would think that all 

 this game would be thinned out by the Papa- 

 go Indians who inhabit the country. But 

 these Indians are superstitious and avoid 'I en- 

 aias with abject, hoi ror. Within two miles of 

 tills water are certainly lot) graves, and prob- 

 ably more, each marked by rows of stone laid 

 in the form of a cross,. Semes of men, fam- 

 ished for water, have expended their last 

 strength in reaching Tinajas, only to And the 

 lower tanks dry, and, ignorant of the upper 

 ones have lain down in despair to die. The 

 remains have been buried by later travelers, 

 and the graves marked, Mexican fashion, by 



a cross of stones. During the msl 



gold fields of California, cholera attacked 

 travelers on the road from Mexico, as it did 

 American immigrants along the Platte, pesti- 

 lence combined with thirst to gather corpses 

 at Tinajas. Recollections of bleaching bones 

 and grinning skulls protect the game from 

 Papago arrows and flint-locks. After pass- 



i . ■ ii [h its usual fermentation the water 



becomes clear and pure as any in the world ; 

 it comes from lite clouds only, and, flowing 

 into the tanks over insoluble granite, it car- 

 ries no mineral malter. Every heavy rain 

 pours a whirling torrent through the tanks, 

 thing them out to the very bottom— no 



The 



number 



organic matter slays bell 



and variety of birds here 



of them appearing to bi 



described species. A1 mo 



the din of I heir song, coni 



the mountains, is almas 



around Tinajas is the rem 



of the desert ; near its ta 



curious plants nourished by their moisture. 



The place is one of much interest.— Ariso&a 



Sentinel. 



dcafouing. All 

 rkable vegetation 



■ many and 



Too Much House Flkstl— Professor T. P. 

 Wilson has found out why civilization is a 

 failure. It is because I here' is loomuchhorse 

 flesh. In the course of a jec h ure di 

 Cincinnati one night last week, he remarked 

 that the cities of America have it ■ 

 last milestone of progress. There has not 

 been, he added, a practical improvement in 

 those cities for twenty five years. Not that 

 they are not growing larger, but that there 

 has not been an advance i n the benefits and 

 pleasures of city life. Chicago spends, mil- 

 lions of dollars in mending her streets, and 

 the newest pavement is the worst. ' ' What, " 

 asks the Professor, "are horses or carriages 

 or drays doing in the streets at all? Th^y 

 simply carry persons or goods, and everything 

 must be subservient to the horse. Take all 

 the horses and drays out of the streets, and 

 there, will lie rooni enough for rapid transit. 

 It costs 10 cents to ride in a 'bus on liroad- 

 way : about one in a thousand ride ; the rest 

 go on foot. Think what a revenue 1 cent 

 from every person would give, and yet, we are 

 paying i cents more than we should, in conse- 

 quence of having to support the horse. The 

 way we make our cities now is to take some 

 horses and build houses around them. Our 

 cities are geometrically Tight but esthetically 

 wrong. Why arc our cities built straight ? So 

 that the horse may have place. The use of 

 the horse in all our large cities is a blunder. 

 By a better power we can move people f or 

 three-fifths less than we pay now. and in less 

 than half the time." What the Professor 

 gravely proposes to do is to take away the 

 horses* pave the cities with asphalt or gravel, 

 civer the. streets with gtsen grass, ornament, 

 them with shade tret s and flowers, have cars 

 running on steel rails, do all the work of 

 transportation with a new motive power in 

 one-half the time and for one fifth of the 

 money, consume all the smoke, aud render 

 American cities the, gardens of the world. The 

 Professor is undoubtedly the most sanguine 

 man of his generation. — Tribune. 



Governor. Hamptos's Cat-— Governor 



Hampton has a remarkable Maltese cat— very 

 large, very intelligent, very fond of his 

 master. When the Governor was in his 

 health, Tom ant companion in 



his daily walks about, the yard, and would 

 occasionally accompany him on longer ram- 

 bles through the adjacent woods. It made 

 but little difference 'to Tom that his master 

 was mounted on such occasions. Nothing 

 daunted, he would trudge along at his horse's 

 heels for hours together, perfectly satisfied so 

 long as he could " keep up " or even keep his 

 owner in sight. The Governor's election to 

 office was a severe blow to his queer follower, 

 as it involved a daily separation which was 

 eminently distasteful to him, but, like the 

 sensible animal that he is. he finally recon- 

 ciled his own affections to the claims of pub- 

 lic expediency, and contented himself each 

 morning with escorting his Excellency to the 

 gate, at some distance from the house, when 

 he would bid him a sad, if silent, good.by, 

 and return to the house until eveuing. The 

 Governor always observed as regular hours as 

 possible in the discharge of his duties at the 

 State House, and generally returned to his 

 home about the same time every evening. 

 This regularity Tom seems to have remem- 

 bered for his owu benefit, as he proceeded to 

 avail himself of it, to the. extent of hurrying 

 back each afternoon a little before the appoint- 

 ed time to the gate, where he ever and anx- 

 iously remained to welcome his too-long 

 absent friend on his return. During the 

 Governor's illness Tom has been a constant 

 and evidently sympathizing attendant. 



A Paeeot's Pisty.— Capt. James Etch- 

 berger vouches for the following bird story. 

 About thirty years ago, when in Honduras, in 

 command of* the I 



then acoompanyinf 5 presented -with 



a parrot, a sprightlj uii land i tluent dis- 

 courser in the Spanish lang 



The bird was brought to this city, wheie, 

 domiciled in the household of the 

 Captain's J acquired a knowl- 



ru; English tohgue. The next-door 

 neighbor of the Captain was a garrulous 

 woman— an incessant scold— forever quarrel- 

 ing with some one or something. 



Polly, being allowed full liberty, was 



pleased to take au airing on the yard fenne, 

 and in a, short time had learned tomimicthe 

 it-dibor to perfection, and finally 

 became aggressive. Polly not infrequently 

 rued her impertinence by being knocked oil' 

 the fence with a broomstick. 



This brought forth a torrent of abuse from 

 her injured feelings upon the head of her 

 assailant. Finally the bird's language be- 

 came so abusive that I he Captain was obliged 

 to send it, away, and Polly was transferred to 

 a good Christian family in the country, 

 where in course of time she reformed, and 

 became to some extent a bird of edifying 

 piety. 



Some time ago, while she was sunning her- 

 self in the garden, a large hawk swooped 

 down and bore the. distressful parrot off as a 

 prize. Mir recent religious training came to 

 her assistance, as at the top of her voice she 

 shrieked, "O Lord, save me! O Lord, save 

 me!" 



The hawk became so terrified at the unex- 

 pected cry, that he dropped his intended din- 

 ner and soared away in the distance. 



Polly still survives her attempted abduc- 

 tion. 



Rats.— To discourage rats that burrow 

 under walls, don't tamp the holes with broken 

 glass bottles, which will merely incite them 

 to dig new holes, but put a shovel full of dry 

 sand over each hole. The rats soon come up 

 through this, but in doing so let half the sand 

 into the burrow, which, unlike earth, they 

 cannot, either force or carry up again, and by 

 repeating this at every fresh-opened place 

 their runs become quite filled up, and they 

 makeup your foundations again. 



—If you get frost-bitten, extract the - frost 

 by I he application of ice-water till the frozen 

 part is pliable, [avoiding all artificial heat; 

 then apply a salve made of equal parts of 

 hog's lard and gunpowder, rubbed together 

 until it forms a paste, and very soon the 

 frozen parts will be well. 



Admirers of Artistic 

 Potterv and Glass are 

 invited to inspect some 

 choice examples select- 

 ed bv Messrs. TIFFANY 

 & CO. during the Paris 

 Exposition including : 



New Plaques by Minton, decorated by Mus- 

 sill with novel marine designs. 



Salvia! i's latest reproductions of the Vene 

 tian Glass of the Sixteenth century, 



Fac-similes of the Trojan iridescent bronze 

 glass exhumed by Dr. Schliemann. 



New Plaques by Copeland, decorated with 

 strongly drawn heads by Hewitt. 



Reproductions, by Doulton, of old Flemish 

 stone ware. 



Reproductions of the Scinde Pottery made 

 by the Bombay Art Society. 



Recent examples of Ginori's reproductions 

 of old Italian majolica. 



Specimens of Capo di Monti ware, Austrian 

 iridescent and enameled Glass and Limoges 

 Faience of new colors. 



UNION SQUARE. 



FOR SALE. 



SECOND HAND. 



One W. Greener breech-loader, 19, 30, "i%, 



h. a., b',,0, b-ver. laminated reboamk-r 155,01 



One w. A c. Se< tt a- son 12, so, 7;,, top-lever, 



doable-b.jlt, la line condt'loa. so.oo 



One W. ,v ' , ''. Jjuble- 



iQuder 75.00 



bounder 60.00 



Oue.t.jc V, I v, . , ,. Puroey action, 



ebonnder ta.so 



One Parker ': - ?- most new, In 



perfect uondmon, good .itiuoter 38.00 



Send money tor express charges, both ways, and 

 goiis will be sent lor examination. 



H . C. SQUIRES, 



16D27 H No. 1 CORTLANDT ST., H. Y. 



H$nhVuation§, 



HALLOCKS 

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MOST COMPREHENSIVE AND ACCURATE 

 CYCLOPEDIA OF AMERICAN SPORT, 



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 Jndd Company. 245 itroadway. New York. 



STANDARD PUBLICATIONS. 



CAMP LIFE IN THU WILDERNESS. By CtliarleH 

 A. J. Fanar. An mousing account of a trip mado 

 by a party of Boston gentlemen to the Raneeley 

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1-AKRAE'S RICHARDSON AND RANGELEY 

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FARKAR'S POCKET MAP of the Richardson and 

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FAHRAR'S POCKET MAl'of MOOSE head Lake and 

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AMERICAN CHAMPAGNES. 

 392, BOWERY 392- 



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