FOREST AND STREAM. 



57 



India "Pig Stickers."— A correspondent, who happens 

 to be an officer in our Regular Army, recently inquired 

 how the hog spears used in India are made. The informa- 

 tion sought for has been kindly furnished us by Capt. C. 

 E. McMurdo, late of the British Army, who writes :— 



"My recollection of the spears used in India for 'pig sticking' is that 

 they are about seven feet long, of male bamboo, weighted with lead at 

 the butt end; the heads? vary in shape, but the best are two-edged, the 

 blade about four inches long by. one inch broad, with a strong socket five 

 inches long, ana so constructed that it can easily be withdrawn from the 

 pig. Tough Wood that will not splinter is necessary. I have the head 

 of a hog spear, and shall be happy to send it to you if you would like it, 

 but it is not, I think, a very good pattern, as it has three edges." 



Our G-eorgia readers who remember the famous pikes 

 with which Gov. Brown proposed to arm the Confederate 

 troops, will observe a striking resemblance between those 

 curious war implements and the India pig-sticker above de- 

 scribed. The pike staff was of hickory, instead of bam- 

 boo, and the base of the spear had a crescent-shaped 

 blade or shield, designed to give lateral blows and ward off 

 the thrusts of the enemy's sabre. It was eminently a san- 

 guinary blade, better suited, doubtless, for pig-hunting 

 than for military service. As some thousands of them 

 were rusting in the Georgia Armory at last accounts, who 

 knows but some sharp carpet-bagger down there might 

 make an honest penny by shipping them to our Western 

 plains for hunting wolves, or to India. No doubt the Gov- 

 ernment would sell" at a low figure. The venture would 

 promise better than Lord Timothy Dexter's shipment of 



"warming pans to the West Indies. 



. -*•*- 



Too Many Beavers. — In the present day, when furs are 

 scarce, and trappers are obliged to go far beyond the con- 

 fines ot civilization in quest of a livelihood, it seems 

 strange to hear that in Nottoway county, Ya., the beavers 

 have so multiplied as to become a nuisance and a distress 

 to the farmers. So troublesome are they, indeed, that we 

 have been requested by a planter there to invite the trap- 

 ping fraternity to come down with their traps, and board 

 will be furnished free, with the use of traps, if necessary. 

 Here is a good chance for several of our correspondents, 

 who have made inquiries for accessible and remunerative 

 trapping grounds, and if they will only wait a short time 

 until the setting of the fur makes the pelts merchantable, 

 they will derive quick and abundant profits. 



This is no ruse to induce emigration to Virginia. Take 

 cars from City Point, on James River, to any station in 

 Nottaway; fare $1.50. Fare from New York to City 

 Point by steamer, $10. 



. «•**» 



Deer Killing in Close Time — A gentleman of high 

 social and official position, who has not asked us to with- 

 hold his name, sends us the following lines:— 



"The Rev. Dr. Wm. H. Murray, has been at Cranberry 

 Lake, (St. Lawrence county,) hounding deer since the mid- 

 dle of July. He has with him a large party, and it is to 

 be regretted that he is permitted to annually enter this State 

 for the purpose of breaking the laws. It is said, even, 

 that he has never killed a deer in season, and his course 

 certainly deserves reproof at the least." 



This reverend gentleman is an old and unscrupulous of- 

 fender who snaps his fingers at laws and the opinion of 

 men. We have exposed his derelictions and delinquencies 

 before, in common with several of our contemporaries, but 

 he seems to grow great on the censure and happy under 

 the reproach. 



— Fitzgerald Cochran, Esq., the very efBcieut secretary 

 of the Game and Inland Fishery Protection Society of 

 Nova Scotia, has been appointed to the office of Chief 

 Game Commissioner of the Province, provided by act of 

 the Provincial. Legislature last Winter. It is his duty to 

 supervise and instruct the District Commissioners and the 

 Wardens, in the discharge of their duties, to assist as far 

 as practicable in the prosecution of offenders, and generally 

 to see that the provisions of the law for the preservation of 

 useful birds and animals be carried out. This is a most 

 important office, and ere long we shall find that one similar 

 will be created in every State in this Union. Under such 

 a functionary, who will act as a sort of drill-master to our 

 Armies of Game Protection, and chief prosecutor, as it 

 were, to the Government, we shall soon wipe out offenders 

 and put a stop to offences . The example of our Canadian 

 neighbor is worth following; indeed, we have been obliged 

 from the outset to recognize her leadership in these re- 

 strictive measures, so coveted and needed here. In due 

 time we may hope for suitable laws, and capable officials 

 to compel their observance, and one gentleman who will 

 be found foremost in bringing about such a consummation 

 is Fitz Cochran, Esq., who is also one of the Vice-Presi- 

 dents and a member of the Executive Committee of the 

 International Association for the Protection of Game. 



Table of Close Seasons. — We reprint this week our 

 comparative table of close seasons, after carefully correct- 

 ing it by all the recent Legislative acts to which we have had 

 access. If any error should appear it must be attributed to 

 the incorrectness of the data furnished us, as no pains 

 have been spared on our part to make a table which shall 

 be at once valuable and reliable. Secretaries of sports- 

 men's associstions throughout the Union will confer a 

 favor by forwarding us copies of any new laws regarding 

 fish or game which may pass their respective Legislatures. 

 — «+»». — 



—There will be an eclipse of the sun on the 29th Septem- 

 ber instant, visible to a certain degree in all parts, pf the 

 United States east of the Mississippi Yalley, 





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