216 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



A WEEKLY JOURNAL, 



D ^T° t?i> to Field and Aqttatic Sports, Practical Nattjbai, History, 

 7 Sf - ul ™e, the Protection of Game, Preservation oe Forests, 

 .,"? k THE tNcra-oATioN in Men and Women of a healthy interest 

 n* uut-boor Recreation and Study : 



PUBLISHED BY 



fanstf m& gttmni ffnUfgUng §om$at{$ t 



AT 



17 CHATHAM STKEET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK, 



[Post Office Box 2832.] 



♦ 



Terms, Four Dollars a Year, Strictly in Advance. 



♦ 

 Twenty-five per cent, off for Clubs of Three or more. 



^««» 



Advertising Bates. 

 Inside pages, nonpareil type, 20 cents per line: outside page, 30 cents. 

 Special rates for three, six, and twelve months. Notices in editorial 

 olumns, 40 cents per line. 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 9,1876. 



To Correspondents. 



■» 



All communications whatever, whether relating to Duslness or literary 

 Correspondence, must be addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 

 Lishino Company. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 



All communications intended for publication must be accompanied with 

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 Names will not be published 

 Objection be made. No anonymous contributions will be regaraed. 



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



Vfe cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 



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

 notes ot 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 wil 1 

 And our columns a uusirable laedium for advertising announcements. 



The Publishers of Forest astd 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 Natnre. It will pander to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 

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

 tend 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 cannot be responsible for the dereliction of the mail service, if 

 money remitted to us is lost. 



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



PF" Trade supplied by American News Company. 

 CHARLES HALLOCK, 



Editor and Business Manager. 



— It is quite probable that Mr. Fred A. Ober ("Fred Bev- 

 erly," of Florida fame) will spend the winter in a scien- 

 tific investigation of the Tropics, under the especial sanc- 

 tion of Prof. Baird of the Smithsonian Institution, and the 

 directions of Mr. N. H. Bishop, the canoe voyager, who 

 has devoted much time to researches there and in Scuth 

 America. Mr. Ober will employ himself in studying and 

 collecting objects of natural history, and will pursue his 

 investigations two or three years if necessary. The field 

 is a wide one and comparatively new to the Naturalist, and 

 one that Prof. Baird has long had in view. .There is no 

 one we know of more competent to do this field in a gen- 

 eral way than Mr. Ober. Besides being well informed on 

 fauna, he is an intelligent sportsman, a photographer, and 

 a critical observer. Of course Forest and Stream will 

 profit by his labors. He intends to start on his mission as 

 soon as his engagement ends at the Hunter's Camp, Cen- 

 tennial Exhibition grounds. There are few men so modest 

 and unassuming as our friend, and few of more pretensions 

 who possess as much common sense to employ to advan- 

 tage their natural gifts. We are confident that his endeav- 

 ors will eventually bring abundant reward. 

 ■. - ,. .. » . ... . ^t» . i — „ ■— , ,— 



Obituary. — Benj. Smith, Esq , a prominent lawyer of 

 Kentville, Nova Scotia, and known far and wide to the 

 fraternity of sportsmen, not only as a hunter and angler, 

 but a keen dog fancier, especially in the breeds of cocker 

 and clumber spaniels, died recently. He was an esteemed 

 contributor to Forest and Stream, having written sev- 

 eral valuable articles relative to the game and fish of Nova 

 Scotia, especially as to moose and caribou hunting. 



—The St. Augustine (Florida) Press of October 28th says 

 that the hotel of Messrs. Johnson and Botsford, at Moul- 

 trie, is now well under way. Its size is 80x38, and to be 

 three stories, with wing, and will accommodate about fifty 

 persons comfortably. It will be a most attractive resort 

 for yachtsmen and gentlemen who derive pleasure from 

 hunting and fishi ng. 



— The snow is afoot deep in portions of the Adirondaeks 

 and the smaller lakes and pond? are frozen over. 



« ■ » — 



— The Irish oarsmen who lately visited Philadelphia give 

 quite a different report of their reception and treatment 

 from that promulgated through the English papers. It is 

 satisfactory to know that the sweeping and insulting de- 

 nunciations of this country, and everything pertaining to 

 it, by the Meld correspondent^ are being accepted for what 

 they are worth. 



THE NEW ROUTE TO CHINA. 



THE voyage of the Swedish Professor Vordenskiold to 

 China via the Arctic Ocean and the Yenisei river, 

 while in itself a great achievement for a solitary traveler, 

 is utterly unlikely to produce those stupendous results and 

 changes in the currents of commerce which some of the 

 daily papers have predicted. It will be remembered that 

 a few days since intelligence was received that Professor 

 Vordenskiold, in a small steamer followed the line of the 

 Gulf Stream as it penetrates the Arctic regions via Nova 

 Zembla, and reached the mouth of the Yenisei river, in 

 Northern Siberia. Thence he ascended the course of the 

 river, penetrating to the center of the Asiatic continent 

 and almost as far as the frontiers of China. The 

 Yenisei river has its sources in Outer Mongolia and 

 south of the Altai Mountains, which separate the Chinese 

 territories from Russian Siberia. It flows through Lake 

 Baikal or the Holy Sea, in Thibet, and crosses the Siberian 

 region to the Arctic Ocean. Its head waters are distant 

 from the sources of the Amoor river, which empties into 

 the Gulf of Tartary and the Japan Sea, only about 150 

 miles. Indeed, it is much less if we measure the distance 

 from source to source. Practically, therefore, a direct 

 route has been discovered between China and Europe, 

 which is at all times navigable for light draught steamers, 

 and many thousands of miles shorter than any now fol- 

 lowed. 



Following the above was a statement that the advantages 

 to arise from this discovery are so great that we must Iook 

 forward to a complete change in the currents of the China 

 and Japan trades. If any merchant would be bold or foolish 

 enough to ship his goods over the route traveled by the 

 Sweedish Professor, in preference to the direct sea route via 

 the Suez canal, we question whether the experience, particu- 

 larly if he accompained them, would not be sufficient to 

 deter him from reapeating the venture . And as for the Japan 

 trade which is now distant from this country some 25 days, 

 being 'diverted through the inhospitable regions of the 

 Arctic circle, it will happen about the same time as we 

 receive out first consignment of green cheese from the in- 

 habitants of the moon. 



It seems a matter of fate almost that any new discovery 

 with regard to a route to the East, or the "opening up" of 

 any portion of Asia is to be accompanied, not only by 

 the most rose-colored prophecies, but in many instances by 

 costly experiment. How golden were the anticipations 

 regarding the opening of the Yang Tsze Kiang to trade 

 which followed the treaty of Tein Tsin in 1861. How apt 

 is the simile of the sky-rocket and the stick to the result. 

 The rows of deserted "hongs" which mark the bunds at 

 Kiu Kiang and Hankow are monuments of disappointed 

 commercial expectations, and the trade, large to be sure, 

 is as firmly in the hands of the natives as it was when 

 Cathay was a sealed book and the Taepings had no exis- 

 tence. And so with the "great expectations" formed of 

 the results to follow there opening of the Russian (Siberian 

 and Kamschatkan) ports which had been closed to foreign 

 trade since the war. The Amocr was to be the great high- 

 way of trade through northern Asia; it was to pass through 

 a great farming country, and the enthusiastic Perry Mc- 

 Donough Collins wrote a book about it and laid out the 

 line of a telegraph. We visited the river in 1860 and were 

 four days in going from De Castries Bay at the mouth to 

 Nickolaefsk, a little more than a hundred miles above. 

 The difficulties to navigation at the mouth of the Amoor 

 are almost insurmountable, and will always be a bar to 

 commerce, no matter how productive the interior may be- 

 come. But it never will be. No country with eight 

 months of winter can ever be as thickly populated as would 

 be necessary to make either its importations or exporta- 

 tions of consequence; nor could it ever become a great 

 highway for trade. It is claimed that the . tea trade of 

 Europe will be diverted over the newly discovered route 

 via the Yenesei river, or else through the Amoor and the 

 Yenesei. If there is one production which requires care- 

 ful and infrequent handling more than another it is tea. It 

 is true that a certain amount of tea is now transported 

 from China across Mongolia to Mia-ma-tchin, whence it 

 crosses the Siberian frontier at Kiachta and thence via 

 Lake Baikal and Irkoutsk across western Siberia into Rus- 

 sia, and this being the case, why should it follow the 

 whole length of Yenisei river and across the Arctic Ocean, 

 to be transhipped and handled until but little of the original 

 package would be left. The route we have indicated, via 

 Mia-ma-tchin and Kiachta is a broad highwav. It is not 

 uncommon for foreigners returning from China to travel it. 

 The rate Mr. Burlingamo once made the trip, and the 

 Russian system of posting is so perfect, and the railroad 

 being pushed so steadily eastward that it is not now so very 

 much of an undertaking. If it was desirous to transport 

 a much larger quantity of tea by this route than is now 

 done, it would be much more practicable than by the 

 Yenisei, unless, indeed, that river is very different in its 

 conformation from the Amoor. The fact is, however, that 

 the trade of China must and always will find an outlet by 

 the sea. She is a country of too many internal commotions 

 to make a route across her frontiers either practicable or 

 desirable, and the nature of her exports is such as to render 

 it a matter of vital importance that they should reach their 

 destination with but little disturbance. 



With regard to the political aspect of the discovery and 

 the bearing it will have on the power of Russiain Asia, we 

 apprehend that when that reaches a point to threaten 

 British dominion in India, the British Government would 

 not be long, were it necessary in finding a short cut via the 

 headwaters of the Yang Tsze and Thibet. 



CAUSE 



OF STERILITY AND 

 LIVED OFFSPRING. 



SHORT 



HIPPOCRATES divided the human temperaments into 

 sanguine, bilious,iymphatic and melancholic but mod- 

 ern physiologists have dropped the last named for the reason 

 that it is not regarded as a temperament, but a condition. 

 There are divisions and subdivisions of the three first named 

 temperaments considered at the present day. The vital tem- 

 perament is necessarilly recognized in all animal life, and 

 by a correct knowledge of the principle we are enabled to 

 judge correctly the character of mankind. These condi- 

 tions are influenced much by civilization, for the acumula- 

 tion of wealth pr@duces relaxation from cares and anxieties 

 which not only enervates the system and predisposes it 

 rather to indulgence than energy which is so essential in 

 keeping up a healthful circulation and digestion. Savages 

 do not possess the lymphatic temperament; in some in- 

 stances they may acquire obesity, but this peculiar condition 

 of the nervous system is not exhibited. Race, climate 

 and general living may have an influence not only on tem- 

 peraments, but on longevity, as seen in the Esquimaux, who 

 consume large quantities of fat to maintain heat and oom- 

 bustion. A similar condition is found among our own 

 people in this climate. We refer to beer drinking among 

 certain classes of inhabitants. Obesity is obtained, and 

 the tendency to the lymphatic temperament, but at the ex- 

 pense of certain organs which are sure to impair the vital 

 strength of the constitution and to induce premature decay 

 and death. We find fatty degeneration of the muscle 

 heart, and liver, as a consequence of this mode of living. 

 In some instances it is so marked as to be visible to the 

 most unpracticed eye. A case in point is where a certain 

 man used stimulants to excess to prolong life and to es- 

 cape an impending lung disease, who actually died from 

 another — the general inability of the muscular coat of the 

 heart to impel the blood through the system. 



Mental activity, study and responsibility are certainly due 

 to civilization, and so all sedentary habits which have a 

 direct bearing on the development and condition of the 

 brain. The commingling of temperaments as manifested 

 in the development of the sanguine and bilious are observ- 

 ed in all of the learned professions and business relations 

 of life, and such temperaments are changing by habit and 

 education. Temperaments have resulted by civilization 

 and are indispensable to the high advancement and develop- 

 ment of the people in civil society. 



The consideration of temperaments is important in con- 

 nection with married relations, for it has been estimated 

 that five-sevenths of marriages are found to be more or less 

 incompatible and productive of mischievous consequences. 

 Hence the alarming increase of imbecility, and destructive 

 forms of disease which are now plainly perceived even by 

 those not accustomed to observe closely. Then instead of 

 referring the diseases which suffering humanity is heir 

 to, to ancestral inheritancy, we may safely and surely trace 

 them to incompatibility of temperaments in matrimony. 

 The following are physiological axioms: — 



I. Sterility may be expected when the temperaments of 

 husband and wife are precisely alike. Generals Washing- 

 ton, Jackson, and Napoleon Bonaparte afford examples. 

 Josephine was productive by a former marriage, but not 

 by Napoleon. 



II. W hen constitutional temperaments are very nearly alike 

 in married persons. They may have issue but the off- 

 spring will develop constitutional defects or imbecility. 

 Henry Clay affords an example; two of his children became 

 insane, and two died in infancy from scrofula or phthisics. 



III. When both temperaments are entirely dissimilar and 

 both parents inheriting longevity and a sound constitution, 

 from such parents the greatest number of children are born 

 which live to maturity. 



Physicians bear testimony that children from physiologi- 

 cally incompatible parents do not yield to treatments when 

 sick, as others, and die in [spite of the best skill in the 

 medical profession. It is not enough for both parents to 

 be physically stout and healthy, and to inherit longevity, to 

 produce healthy offspring. Their temperaments must be 

 unlike also. These suggestions will appeal to the good 

 sense of every thinking person, and examples will be 

 foundfto be numerous, confirming these suggestions. 



An attentive consideration of these ideas by reflective 

 persons, may assist them in elucidating this important 

 problem of life. 



■<»»» — 



Just the Kjnd of Pigeons for Trap; Shooting.— A 

 writer in the Pacific Life describes the California pigeon as 

 a bird remarkable for its beauty of form, which is oval, 

 with a pointed tail. 



It is thus admirably constructed by nature for flight as 

 well as for rapid changes of position in flight. It passes 

 through a forest almost with the rapidity of the lightning's 

 flash. The flight of our common dove is very slow in 

 comparison. The sportsman or the mountain hunter re- 

 gards this bird as a sort of trophy of his skill, or as a wel- 

 come addition to his larder; for his flesh is, though dark, 

 particularly rich and juicy when it is in good order and 

 fat. The breast and throat of the California male bird 

 varies from a reddish brown to purple. The rest of the 

 body is chiefly blue, or of a bluish shade, with, back and 

 sides of the neck of a splendid variety of brilliant colors 

 — gold, green and crimson — more vivid than the eastern 

 bird. They live on berries and the edible pine nuts, and 

 have a peculiar fondness for the red berries of the nm- 

 dronio, a variety of the strawberry tree, common in some 

 parts of Europe, which abound in these pine and redwood 

 or cedar ferests. They breed in the tallest trees, where 

 sometimes a community of a hundred families may be 

 found. They are migratory and gregarious, but the largest 



