FOREST AND STREAM. 



491 



■ who shall show the most open hand, 

 is a margin of profit to these energetic 

 promoters: and more than all, there is good order among 

 the hundreds of thousands, and absolute court. 

 the crush. Hurrah for Coney Island ! 



A.RLHEKV StlQSES at The National Meeting.— The 

 National Archery Association having appointed the 18th, 

 13th. and 14th days oi 'ugui I (79, for the first " Grand 

 Annual Meeting" erf the archera of (he United States. 

 great interest r- -, lanifosted among archers as to 



tlie relative skill <>( She different competitors for the tine 

 prizes offered by the Association. In Rn'gT^nd, Where 

 the "Grand National Meetings'"Tiave been regularly held 

 since 1844, archers arc well .'inure of the average scoring 

 of almost all shooters : but archery being new to this 

 country, and oui archers genera Li having had only one 

 season of targel practice* and thisonljj at short distances, 

 and the scUr&s of very Eew having l """ published, and 

 these generally having been the exceptionally fine scores, 

 made as much by good fortune as by skill, all are in the 

 dark as to Ebe ability of the jffobable competitors. For 

 this reason the very Opportune cominiuiication from Mr. 

 Thompson, which we publish in our Aehery Department, 

 null be read with eager interest— which see. 



The Boston' Marksmen.— The report in oiu- rifle col- 

 umns of the close of the Winchester match on the Walnut 

 Hill range shows that the members of the Massachusetts 

 Rifle Association are as proficient at short range as they 

 have proven themselves at long range. At Croedmoor it 

 was formerly the practice to separate the marksmen into 

 long and short range men, but Walnut Hill set aside this 

 rule from tin: start < 'apt. Jackson's score of C'13 in the 

 possible 25J5 at 300 yards, is a fine one at any circum- 

 stance, but especially so as coming from tfaesouice, for 

 Cant.. Jackson's off-hand shooting is strictly according to 

 military rule, without hip rest or any bunching of the 

 shoulders about the. rifle heel. Again must we pro- 

 test against the high scores from the ■•Hub", as surely 

 and steadily they are ruining our chances of ever again 

 seeing a match for the Palma, for even the most thick- 

 witted English marksman would hardly be willing to try 

 scores with one who is continually beating the record. 



A Word a bolt that Pistol Shooting!. — Mr. Frank N. 

 Lord, whose skill with (he pistol was described in these 

 columns a short time since, sailed for Europe, last week, 

 just in time to escape a — ri i d ballanges from numerous 

 rivals and hosts of letters from incredulous readers of 

 Foeest and Stream. We published a communication 

 from one of these doubters the other day, refraining from 

 comments upon it because we thought then, as we 

 think now. that the writer had been tricked by the ac- 

 count in question into an unbecoming jesting mood. 

 But it now appears that there are some of our readers 

 who do seriously entertain doubts about Mr. Lord's per- 

 formance, of the feats narrated by us. To all such incedul- 

 ous people, we may m akc t WO replies. First : The FOREST 

 AND STREAM does not publish on its own authority 

 accounts of pistol shooting, nor any other shooting, which 

 it does not know to be authentic. Second : Mr. Lord is 

 not a gentleman who cares to accept challenges from Tom, 

 Dick and Harry ; nor, when his skill has been so demon- 

 strated in public, does he care to contradict corres- 

 pondents who took pains to send him their opinions that 

 he is claiming move expertness than he possesses. He 

 takes great pleasure, however, in exhibiting his skill to 

 gentlemen, and has devoted many an evening to voluntary 

 entertainments of this character. Gentlemen who are de- 

 sirous of seeing Mr. Lord shoot will have no trouble in 

 doing so, upon his return, if they care to invite him to 

 gi ve such exhibitions. Probably by correspondence with 

 Mr, J. S. Conlin. a scries of these entertainments could be 

 arranged at. his gallery. 



Columbia Veterinary- College.— The course of lec- 

 tures delivered by Dr. E. S. Bates on Veterinary, merits 

 the attention not only of physicians but of all interested 

 in animal pathology. The treatment and cure of animals 

 is too little understood. While (here is a full list of 

 practicing physicians for human ailments, the number 

 who understand the care and cure of dogs, horses, and 

 the like is altogether too few. No doubt there is a lucra- 

 tive tielrl litre tor well qualified practitioners, and many 

 men who are hesitating as to a choice of profession 

 would do well to select that of Veterinary, and at once 

 fit themselves therefor. Dr. Bates' next course of lec- 

 tures will begin on October 1. See advertisement. 



Sable Island. — Should any of our readers be interested 

 to learn more of that mysterious and dreaded island, lying 

 off the coast of Nova Scotia, which the recent wreck of 

 ihe steamship, State of Viiyiim, has brought prominently 

 to noi ice, they may be gratified by refering to an illustrated 



sketch written for Harpers Magazine' by Mr. Hallock. the 

 editor of this paper, in December, 1868, It comprises lti 

 pages and 10 engravings, A more weird tale is seldom 

 old. 



SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



fourth paper. 



Four negroes were hung in different parts of the 

 South las.t week. Isn't this drawing the color line rather 

 closely ? 



if River Godbout, Lower St. Lawrence, ) 



June, 1879. f 

 Editor Forest and Stream:— 



Hunting the boar, the slag, and the bear, has always 

 been Royal sport, and the Chase the prerogative of Kings 

 from time immemorial. Whether angling, either as an 

 ait or an avocation, has ever been classed by divine war- 

 rant in the same category. I trow not : there may be no 

 precedents of recognition in the musty past. Doubtless 

 the royal retinue of the olden time, in full panoply of 

 gorgeous trappings, bristling arms, blatant bugles, and 

 bell-mouthed hounds, swept haughtily past the solitary 

 angler by the quiet river side, and scarcely deigned him a 

 thought, or even a sneer. Certainly enough, all the pre- 

 cepts of Bishop Sanderson, and the philosophy of Walton 

 and Wotton, could not. command a decent respect from old 

 Sam Johnson, or persuade Venator that hunting and 

 angling had any right to be mentioned in the same 

 breath. However that may have been in the ancient 

 past, the present utters no doubtful sound — at least, so far 

 as salmon fishing is concerned. Salmon fishing has been 

 ennobled, as a. sport, by Her Royal. Highness, the daughter 

 of the Queen of England and Empress of India, and con- 

 jointly by her loyal spouse, the Marquis of Lome, Gov- 

 ernor-General of Canada. With her own regal hands the 

 Princess Louise has captured a twenty-five pound salmon 

 on the River Restigouche, not lang syne, and sent it home 

 to her Queen mother with the Jock Scott fly which 

 caught it fixed in its jaws, as a trophy of her prowess, 

 and affidavit that the feat was all her own ! 



No lukewarm sportsman is His Excellency, the mar- 

 quis. It was my good fortune to be privately presented 

 to him, on the eve of his excursion down river. The oc- 

 casion was this : Our yacht, the Cruiser, laid at Quebec, 

 with steam up for below. A messenger from the Naval 

 Office found me then waiting at the St. Louis Hotel. He 

 presented an official envelope superscribed : "On her 

 Majesty's service." Under the seal it ran : 



'■Dear H.: The Marquis will be at my office in a few minutes. If 

 you wish to see him, come down at once. Yours truly, 



"J. TJ. Gregory." 



I jumped into a cab and hastened to the lower town, 

 rattling down the almost, precipitous streets, which even 

 then were all ablaze with bunting and embowered with 

 triumphal arches of evergreen inscribed with words of 

 loyalty and welcome to "Lome and Louise," who were 

 that day to inaugurate the new Dufferin Terrace. I found 

 the royal party on board the steamer Druid, inspecting 

 cabin quarters which they were to occupy en route to the 

 Restigouche, where they were going to fish. The Druid is 

 a Government vessel, commanded by Captain Marmion, 

 with whom it had been my pleasure to make several 

 voyages around the Gulf of St. Lawrence as many as 

 fifteen years before. While I was pleasantly engaged in 

 a friendly chat with the veteran salt, my friend Gregory 

 came up the companion-way in company with Mayor 

 DeWinton, His Excellency's aid-de-camp, and having pre- 

 sented me, announced that the marquis would be pleased 

 to see me presently. I held one of Abbey & Lmbrie's 

 oreide reels in my hand, and, like an old helmsman, 

 " stood by the wheel," determined to shirk no duty. With 

 a natural good tact and gracious consideration, Mr. 

 Gregory had taken occasion to impress upon the marquis 

 that, although the editor of a journal, I was neither a 

 penny-a-liner, nor an interviewer ; and so, when I came 

 to a front face and present, I was introduced simply as a 

 fellow-sportsman. His Excellency graciously took me 

 by the hand, and we occupied common ground at once. 

 We talked fish and fishing tackle, the natural history 

 of the country, and kindred topics ; and when we finally 

 parted I was quite at my ease, and felt more than ever 

 the truth of the old adage, that "one touch of nature 

 makes the whole kin." Had we never fished, we had 

 never met. 



Earl Dufferin, his predecessor, was a most proficient 

 angler ; and so was the countess. Both were at one time 

 guests on the Godbout. They fished the river in 1873, 

 staid two days, and are credited with a score of seven fish 

 aggregating 71 lbs. in weight. The other evening mine 

 host was recounting some of the incidents of that visit. 

 Dufferin had on one occasion fought a fish manfully in 

 "the Shea," one of the most difficult pools on the river, 

 where the old Scotchman delights to test the mettle of 

 his visitors, In an attempt to bring the fish to gaff, after 

 a long struggle, he slipped on the rocks and plunged into 

 the drink. He got a thorough wetting, but saved his fish 

 and won a reputation. The laugh, however, does not 

 come in here ; but when his lordship appears an hour 

 after in a dry suit of Mr. Gilmonr's habiliments, loaned 

 'xtremis. Which were as much of a fit as one could ex- 

 pect where cure man was only of fair average size, while 

 the other stood six feet two in his socks, and weighed at 

 least sixteen stone ! 



It was very pleasant on those cool evenings in June to 

 sit on the cottage verandah and listen to the chronicles of 

 the Godbout, as they fell from the lips of the laird of the 

 realm. There were no flies whatever, but a fire was 

 lighted on the sandy beach in front, just for its genial 



blaze and warmth. Sportsmen know what jolly good 



company a h'ghtwood lire is, and how pleasant it is to 

 watch the forking flames and the rising sparks and the 

 deep glow of its ruddy heart, and to poke together the 

 shortening embers so that they will kindle afresh. Up 

 into the darkening canopy of night the smoke rises with 

 many a mysterious column and fold ; and while the ev- 

 anescent volume melts and accumulates, a sense of good- 

 fellowship, peace, and repose gathers around the heart, 

 exciting very much the same moods which possess the 

 smoker when he abstractedly watches the incense floating 

 away from the bowl of his ash-cinctured pipe. For 



Throug-h the thin weft of Mint vapory blue. 



Which so srraoofully curls and then fftdes from rayricw, 



Brig-lit visions of life seem to come ami to go, 



Like wavelets which break in the tides' ebb and How. 

 While we talk of past exploits and discuss the problems 

 of the. future, the murmuring lapse of the darkly flowing 

 river almost at our feet, the rush of the rapids some forty 

 rods above, and the frequent plash of the salmon close 

 beside us, stimulate our ardor and play upon each nerve 

 with an electric thrill. We are none of us novices, either 

 in age or experience. The youngest is forty-five. Yet, you 

 know, the old war-horse will prance at the sound of the 

 bugle, and tremble when be snuffs the battle from afar. 

 At these nightly siestas the plans of the morrow were al- 

 ways laid, and the several pools assigned. There are fifteen 

 pools in all, beginning with the ' ' Upper Pool. " Then follow 

 in their order, down river, the "Eagle," the "Kemiup," 

 the "Indian." the "Doctor's Stone," the " Haworth," the 

 "Shea," the " Chartres," the "Glassy," the "Belle," and 

 the " Kate," all above highest tide-water — and what glori- 

 ous pools they are 1 wild with rooks ; cool with ever- 

 glancing spray ; spangled with vivid evergreens ; sombre 

 in shadow, and sparkling in sunshine ; entrancing in soli- 

 tude : rippled only by the winds and the swirl of the 

 leaping salmon ! Just below the double rapid, which is 

 formed by the outflow of the " Belle" and the "Kate," 

 where a pretty island divides the twin pools, we reach the 

 "Camp" pool, an excellent cast, even at a medium stage 

 of water ; then follows the long reach which flows past 

 the cottages for a. stretch of three hundred yards or so, 

 with the " Kaley Stone " at its foot ; then "Kelt Point," 

 the "Heights," the "Bear," and the "Cross" pools, suc- 

 cessively. All of these latter are more or less affected by 

 the tides. If the run of fish is early and the river is full, 

 they afford good sport, and the "Bear" and the " Kaley 

 Stone " are favorite casts. At high-tide (when the water 

 becomes salt), or at low water, they are useless, and the 

 scope of the river is contracted in proportion. Often the 

 river falls before the run of fish begins. All of these 

 lower pools are fished from the Castle-Connell punts, to 

 which I have referred, the angler standing in the bow, 

 and the gaffer keeping the craft in favorable position 

 with his setting pole and drag. I have mentioned that 

 these boats were very stiff, and that it was as easy to 

 cast from them, standing, as from the land. The rapids 

 here are not rough ; the bottom is clear ; there is ampli- 

 tude of elbow room, for the river is wide ; and none but 

 the veriest "muff" would think of losing a well-hooked 

 fish, except through defective tackle. He can kill him 

 on a short line, or let him run the reel out and follow in- 

 definitely with the boat, However, when a fish is hung, 

 it is customary to push for the shore at once, and handle 

 and gaff him from the land. The character of this por- 

 tion of the river is very much like what I have been ac- 

 customed to previously, elsewhere. "The "old man" 

 said the fishing- was very pretty for ladies, but veterans 

 of the angle sought something more worthy of their 

 mettle. 



There was a variety of rods on the river, both of British 

 and American make. Most of the gentlemen had Kelso 

 rods, and very pretty tools the}^ are, indeed. Mr, Gilmour 

 and I had each a Leonard rod also ; and besides, I had my 

 Mitchell rod, which was made expressly for this trip, and 

 very handsomely it acquitted itself, I must admit. It is due 

 to the Scotchmen, with all their nurtured prejudices, to 

 say that they admitted that my American rods were equal 

 to their imported Forrest rods in all respects save length. 

 They demand a rod from 18 to 18| feet long, and I have 

 been thoroughly taught to coincide with their opinion. 

 Our American salmon rods are inverrably made too short. 

 The advantages of a rod longer than 17 feet were repeat- 

 edly demonstrated. Our American reels are decidedly 

 superior to the foreign, both in workmanship and action. 

 In lines we stand equal, but in flies are absolutely nowhere 

 in comparison. I have never seen flies so beautifully 

 dressed as those made by Forrest. Besides, they are all 

 dressed on two hooks, which stand at an angle of 45 de- 

 grees. Flics so made not only behave better in the 

 water than a single hook, but they fasten a fish more se- 

 curely. When I first saw these double hooks, I thought 

 they were an imposition upon the fish — that the fish were 

 >t given a fair chance ! but now I am ready to sing 

 praises to any one who will land a salmon in the broken 

 water of the Upper Godbout with any number of hooks ! 

 So do we gather wisdom by experience. The favorite pat- 

 terns are the Jack Scott, sdver doctor, dun wing, and 

 black doe, though a few others are occasionally substituted. 

 As to length of line, 100 yards is enough, unless a fish gets 

 away in the rapids, and (hen 300 yards would not suffice. 

 In such cases, the chances are always in favor of a dead 



