84 



FOREST AND STEEAM. 



fjiAROH 4, ISStf. 



Stairs from the way they came pouring up— that wo had 

 hursted a keg of powder. Nothing was left us but to go to 

 another room, i here -\ e Found two beds, but one with a 

 man in it. Sowelaid our four hundred. pounds of hu- 

 manity on the cei il i as gently" as possible, and 

 were entering Hie borders of dreamland, when pop went a 

 slat ! This necessitated a little movement to get out of (lie 

 snagged place, when rattle-bang vent two or three more. 

 We got up and put them in again, but it wag time 



EOT, as soon as we would lie down. 

 would pop again. In the meantime the man in the other 

 bed wad :-!■■ , - mindly as old Hip Van ? 



Catskill Mountains, and doing some as able-bodied snor- 

 ing as one ever listened to. Kmv. W. intimated, next 

 morning, that 1 indulged in some <• appropriate feniarks," 

 and wanted to throw my boots against the door to wake 

 the fellow ; but 1 deny the allegation and denounce the 

 allegator. 



Ttie (loor was so taken up by a stove, our impedimenta. 

 etc.. both under the bed and all around, that we could 

 not find space enough to pul down OUT bed— and as there 

 wa3 no help for it— we had to lie there, doubled up into 

 tho shape of a couple of Qgare 5's, until dawn. I have 

 Slept on the battlefield, surrounded by the dead and the 

 dying ; I have slept in the snow ; I have slept on the 

 BOdden earth, with a winter's rain beating down upon 

 me ; I have Ble] if on the top of a slaked and ridered. fence : 

 1 have Blepl in the saddle ; I have slept in a bug-ififestod 

 bed, in a hut in the pine hills, but nowhere ami with no 

 surroundings have i ever passed a more miserable night. 

 And st.il I the fellow in the other bed snored on I " Mot 

 poppy, nor by sop, nor mandegora, nor all the drowsy 

 syrups in the world, could ever medicine bun into a 

 sounder sleep," than was ma him then. 



At the first peep of day we were up, and. having hauled 

 the. rest Of the party out of bed, we breakfasted by lamp- 

 light, deposited ourselves and baggage in a two-horse so- 

 oilled spring-wagon, and rolled out for the lake. 



The r6ad runs past some splendid farms, and through 

 some magnificently limbered woodlands ; indeed. I never 

 saw finer timber anywhere. Some of the poplars and 

 pin-oaks were simply immense. The face of the country 

 is, at first, gently undulating ; but as you approach the 

 lake it become more broken. Further on, deep valleys 

 and steep ridges take the places of the gentle rises and 

 - fiat -vales. At length, on the summit of one of these hills, 

 live or six mites from the lake, a freshening breeze bore 

 to our ears the sounds of the far-away skirmish ; plainly 

 the gunshots could be heard ; and how instantly and viv- 

 idly it brought back the recollection of those dreadful 

 days, when those rambling discharges foretold the terri 

 ble shock of battle that swept over the bloody fields at 

 tho first 'Manassas, at Hid lob, at PerryviHe, at Murfrees- 

 boro', at Chickatuauga, at Franklin, 



it was precisely like a skirmish ; the continuous and 

 in-egmar popping, with an occasional big gun that 

 sounded like a piece of artillery. -'Hurry up, driver, 

 they are at it below there." Whaling liis animated 

 equine skeletons, he urged them into a trot on the down 

 grade portions of the road. Ascending a long rise, we 

 came suddenly in view of the valley in which the lake 



lies. Although we could not see the water from the siVW- 



mit of the" hill, on account of the intervening timber, we 

 could trace its limits by the dead trunks of trees that 

 stand in it... It is a sceneof surpassing beauty. From tie- 

 point whri' . by a precautious break-olf, the 



lowedwitb the ahas ol flu g iresi gold □ a u 



bloody red. with the dyes of autumn, and glorified with 

 the sunlight of a perfect autumn day.it stretched far 



away .••ana i opi m to the Missouri hills beyond 



the rive.-. ' Iron. That valley came the incessant boom of 

 guns, and far beyond we could mark the smoke culling 

 up from the chimney of i ! ttlfaoal that plowed the 



bosom of trie Father of \\ aters. 



. 'said W, "if 1 don't trill a duck, lam repaid 

 for my" trip. Long we stood there, taking in the. beauties 

 of the scene before us. 



It is the generally received belief, that all the valley 

 Slid down U) it present level at tin- lime the lakt Was 

 formed, This is all sheer bosh. The water covers but. a 

 small portion of the valley, and the timber in I 



totally different from [hat on ti i djac I shores; ffcis 

 almost entire! ■, c | pi ess ii iw ing i U» I the lain I in . . rul 



merged was, Since the tone tl present, forest has grown 

 up, lower than that which to uncovered, as cypress 

 always grows in very low marshy ground. It would 

 have been a matter of utter impossibility for such a slide 



t-have occurred- without allecting the pfirp liculal ol 

 some oi Uietl 



:, ft ... , .- tfifc -"/ever, we 



wiilleave this I "tlie ■ oi n tab 



Descending by a St.: op aud rim ' ■'■" 



'ml ii !".v, and rattling on a mile or more reached our 

 -" Hotel " — the Mecca ol Termessee duck- shooters. " Car- 



16 situated night on tho hank of a small bayou 



that runs parallel v |i I;,:, for some distance. A 



Burt of pontoon bridge, mad* of Heating logs, stretches 

 across the haymi. opposite the house, The house itself is 



B . i,. i .'.i.ii in a sort ol lacustrine bj ■ i if 



atchitei tp above h igfi - water, on ho-,,, pa 



gSQtiohs o] logs, us Wlding capacity seems unlimited, 

 as' there were about thm., ■;. ■■■-■■ a the four rooms, 

 besides the family— cons old man and his 



wife, several sons, and .- pretty girl. Now, 



1 did 1101 'i I mm. I ■ m . b IUJ •■ '-i ■' i m 1 ie 



Colonel i. | .,--■ mi m . .i - : . nn.narned men. be- 



cause their i . tight gel hold of this paj a and I 



don't w. n. them to loose their hair; but they Would 

 Slick to it, that t CK.sso' . ring fellow at Union 



City. Hence fins revelation.; and when their belter halves 

 g;t hold of it, kino UUi ktehry, , 



'ttie i.ire poutswted of- fish, pork and ducks- ■■ d 

 ducks, iim-ii due.,;., baked ducks, roasted dui - 



ared Out Ii id sliOok dlick | nee below thedm- 



mg-rooin H as i estoi UB i ■■■ : ri D m 

 ducks, ill-.'.. ' .' - f the af ore- 

 ami grub, 'Jr.. \; ip in- rather crawled— into a 



djg-otn m - pad Hi 



we met our iriend Tom 0., end dipt. 8., ot Hickman, 

 l£y, who had just come from the bottom of the lake, 

 Whence Lh* had - guns, shells and all. in some 

 twelve feet 'water. By a streak of good luck they had 



i to fish out. their guns. These dug-outs are 



the shakiest concerns, in the way of water craft, that I 

 ever attempted to navigate. They are not much bigger 



part your hair in the middle to keen I hem "level — anil the 

 least bobble, slap over they go, bottom upward. I would 

 as soon attempt to shoot trom tho hack of a kicking 

 mule as from one of them. At a fish-house on the shore, 

 we procured a guide and struck out for a point about 

 three miles Off. Pulling through a narrow ditch we en- 

 tered the lake. The first view is dismal in the extreme. 

 The water is covered with a brownish green scum, the 

 floating seeds of the long moss that grows in the soft 

 ooze in the bottom, stalks of the lotus, or water lily, 

 with then' umbrella-shaped leaves, dead and sere, lift 

 themselves above the brown scum, weird and ghost-like, 

 and rustle and shiver with every passing breeze. On ei- 

 ther hand, far as tho eye can reach, stand the branchless 

 trtinks of gigantic cypresses, bleached and worn by the 

 sunshine and tempests of nearly seventy years. It is a 

 scene of utter desolation and impresses you at once with 

 tho conviction that some sudden and awful convulsion 

 of nature, hollowed out this dreary waste of water. Long 

 ago— as long as the Good Book allots the years of the life 

 of man — these blanched and fire-scarred trunks lifted 

 then- beads, green with their feathery foliage, to the light 

 and air of Heaven. The shock of the earthquake came, 

 the ground was upheaved near tho river and depressed 

 fun her back. The water in Reel Foot Creek, finding no 

 outlet, gradually filled tho vast depression. Tho trees 

 died, and then- "bleached skeletons sland and will stand 

 until Lire next generation shall have passed away_, sdent 

 witnesses of that fearful convulsion. The lake is some 

 eighteen or twenty miles long, and from one to four 

 miles wide. Where we were tho water was at no place 

 over twenty feet deep. Towards the centre of the lake 

 the water ls clear and of a slightly bluish color, tho re- 

 flection of the cloudless skies above. 



* **+* " Oft from. out it loapa 



The tinny darter' with tho Rlitiei-inpf scales, 

 Who dwells and revels in thy glassy deeps, 



While chance some scattered water-lily sails 

 Down where the shallower wave still tells Its babbling- tales." 



The water-lily, or lotus, grows in all the shallows. It 

 has a seed-pod shaped somewhat like an inverted wasp's 

 nest; containing from one to two dozen nuts, very much 

 like a small acorn and as hard as iron. After these nuts 

 the ducks come, according to some ; others swear a duck 

 never eats them. A friend, who has shot them for years, 

 told me he had opened hundreds of ducks of all kinds, 

 and had never found a single yonquapin in one of them. 

 But whether they eat them or not, the ducks come there 

 in myriads. The navigation of this lake in a dug-out is 

 not the easiest thing in the world. Thousands of stumps 

 stand jusl far enough below the surface of the water, in- 

 visible in the moss, to strike your boat. They are as sbek 

 as ice, aud if you are not careful you may run on one, 

 and, slipping off your dug-out, will be capsized. Sub- 

 merged logs and "limber jims " add to the difliculties. 



Pulling through all these in our tottering craft, we 

 reached the point and took our stations. The ducte are 

 kept stirred up by the constant, firing, and fly from one 

 part of the lake to another, usually going over some pro- 

 jecting point of land ; or they fly in and out of the nu- 

 merous arms that project far inland. We had taken our 

 stands in some high cat-tails fifty yards apart. Single 

 ducks and small bunches were Hying by. Presently a 

 magnificent mallard, gorgeous in green and purple, with 

 incurved wings, swooped right down on Gray. Picking 

 up his gun he Cut away at him with both barrels, and 

 Mr. Mallard, without a feather touched, sought other 



' i :. " If I was over there I would feel like taking 



that paddle to von ! '• " I'll be hanged if I can 

 missed him." said lie. "Mark light!" Dow 

 a, lady mallard on me. Carefully I held oi 

 piilird tre-.-r. With a loud quack, quack, she 

 um.va.nl. and I cut away at her with another I. 

 continued h> mount and I stood looking at hi 



" ment. ".Shall I come over with the paddle ? " 

 asked I bray, 'then I he evening flight having commenced, 

 I ., I,, -m. mm. v: thick and fast. Mallards, gadwaUs, 

 widgeons, butter balls, teals, pintails, et omne genus. 

 i m;fiV:i', we shot, ami the day was nearly spent when 

 we got the hang of it, and. began to knock them right 

 and left. I wish some of those" holding-on-lheory '' 

 I lows liad been there. Night, coining on. v 

 for the other shore. Going back, we came near going to 

 the bottom. Contrary to the advice of our guide, we 

 pulled bard for the land, as we were fearfully hungry : 

 while going at a very fast lick we ran square on 

 stump with such force that, the bow of the concern was 



i •,-■, ii : .1. v. ... J. 1 .. „ r — .4. ♦ «, 



hsr and. 



she 



lifted high above wafe 



,,-rm C. had pr( 



In ii I he liullnm ot ii 

 weight forward. It was at 



m [I - came up, we wei 

 above water at, the stem 

 we would go. He tried 

 about to give it up, 

 along, and afte 

 It is need less 

 to land. We v\ 

 house, and our 

 We found that 



icnce of mm I enough to fall 

 m "in and thus shift his 

 dark as Erebus, mi v. hen our 

 I about a quarter of an inch 

 Tho least motion and down 

 l vain to get us oil', and was 

 n Col. W, and f'apt. S. came 

 1 long trial gi m , II" n. 

 add that we went slow from thence 

 ■a terribly tired when we reached the 

 loulders were considerably hammered, 

 he rest of our parly were" ahead in the 

 -, l .[-.-_ _.,-■!. albeit Gray ami 1 considered 

 . i i - ■,' m i :, ' eterans. Some of 



:,[', I thai ii tOOk two men to fairly see a "bot- 

 ne to say "here he comes." and another to say 

 as," -a 'i thai a cannon»baU was nowhere 

 f speed to one of them, 

 w e were up betimes next morning and pulled for a 

 point farther up the lake, It had turned warm during 

 the night, and we did not see many ducks until late in 



moon. 1 hart killed eight fine mallards i 

 Small ducks from a. point, and Cray several more, when 

 we pulled up to the mouth of an arm and had some shoot- 

 ing at long range, iho ducks flying very high. I shot 

 from a log behind a muskrat bed, and CI, from an im- 

 mense hollow stump, but it took a good mam 

 get a duck. After sunset we started to row back, and 

 bad not left, our places a hundred yards when the ducks 

 commenced pouring in to/roost. Now i t we bad remained 

 where we had been all afternoon wo could ha 

 three times the number we did, as our bo&tmai 

 have picked them up as fast as they fell, aud we could 

 have done much better shooting from a solid footing than 



- 1" 



from a tottering dug-out. The fact is, I could shoot, only 

 those that came in square from the front, for whenever 

 I fired over the side I was certain the canoe, was going 

 over. Weil, we made it hot for them until utter dark- 

 ness put a. stop to our shooting. I never saw anything 

 come in faster, except swallows to a chimney on a sum- 

 mer's eve. " The air was dark with pinions, 1 ' and rustle 

 of wings and loud splashing as they dropped into the 

 water was continuous. The yonquapins were very high 

 and as thick as the hairs on a" dog's back, and it was very 

 dark, so we got only a small per cent, of those shot down. 

 It was late at night when we got back and our boys were 

 just on the point of organising a party to go in search of 

 us. But perhaps we were not tired and hungry, and the 

 brown eyes of the. pretty girl opened in astonishment as 

 fish and potatoes, and ducks and pork disappeared be- 

 neath the folds of Gray's capacious canvas, and I was 

 not far behind, if I was handicapped with a hoadache. 

 When we went back to our room we found Walter, For- 

 ney and the Colonel piled in bed, boots, bats and all, and 

 as sound asleep as the fellow at tfnion City, and we were 

 not long in following suit. 



The next day Gray and I went back to the point we 

 had occupied the day before ; the others went down the 

 lake. Col. W. killed a goose — the only one bagged. For 

 easy rowing wo went further from shore, where the 

 water was free from vegetation. It was quite clear, 

 and of an average depth of six feet. I noticed some 

 very singular water tortoise. They were about the size 

 of a common "highland terrapin," iris-hued, with an 

 orange-colored bottom shell. Prodigious numbers of 

 coots kept flapping up before us, but wo did not molest 

 them as we were after larger deer. The day was warm 

 and clear, the ducks flying very lrigh. We did not get 

 many shots until late in the afternoon. "While I was on 

 my log my friend Major Val. Y., of Columbus, Miss., 

 came by with a darkey paddler and a miscellaneous cargo 

 of ducks, coons and minks. Tho ducks did not come in 

 so thickly as on the previous evening to tho roost, and 

 commenced coming in later, so we did not have half tho 

 shooting we anticipated. One old mallard came along 

 by Gray. He cut away at him, dropping him about ten 

 feet, but he climbed up again. Then he gave him the 

 other barrel, letting him down about the same distance 

 as before. Passing me I gave it to him right and left. 

 Tho first shot dropped him about ten feet ; the next put 

 him iu the water. When he hit the water he struck out 

 like a champion rower. Then I slapped in two mora 

 shells and opened fire on him again. The first shot 

 turned htm bottom upwards, but he righted and 3truck 

 Out again; the next shot knocked him clear out oft.be 

 water, but he still kept going, and tho boatman, becoming 

 unmanageable, broke shot, rushed in and knocked him 

 in the head with a paddle. He was just a little the hard- 

 est duck to kill I ever saw. " He bore a charmed life that 

 would not yield' —except to a paddle. We shot until 

 pitch dark, the flashes from our guns leaping like tongues 

 of flame far up into the air. Pulling back throi 

 darkness the black shadows of the trees along shore made 

 the surface of the water appear to slope landwards, and 

 one could scarcely divest himself of the idea that he was 

 going down an inclined plane. 



This was our last day, and oat bag was far from being 

 a good one. But, comrades, whose fault was ft? Km 

 did we not shoot until our shoulders were battered black 

 and blue? But we bad lots of fun, and learned enough 

 of the lake to do better next time. And, friend Forney, 

 if you did not eat enough fish and duck and ketchup 

 whose fault was it 'I Not the landlady's I am sure. 



The sportsmen at Carpenter's were mostly from Nash- 

 ville. Wo found them genial, courteous, whole-souled I 

 gentlemen, and the writer is indebted to Mr. Nicholson 

 for a largo bunch of mallards that helped out his bag 

 amazingly. Capt. Atwell Johnston and the Messrs. 

 Young, from Columbus, Miss., and Mr. Vuss, from i 

 Mobile, were encamped opposite Carpenter's with a i 

 splendid outfit, They killed a great many ducks. 



Homeward bound the horses refused to' pull at the big 

 hill going up from tho valley. We bad to take out every- 

 thing, even the seats, and carry them to the top, and tho 

 teams barely made it with the empty wagon. When we 

 got to the summit we were dry with rage and 

 Coil, breathless and famt, and nothing stronger than 

 lake-water within seventeen miles of us, while W. lay on 

 the ground fresh as a bridegroom, having kindly con- 

 sented to watch the horses while we carried the load up 

 thfrhill. Alter a weary drive we reached Union 

 time for a late dinner. That night, not wishing to have 

 anymore bedsteads mashed, the landlord separated the 

 Colonel and I, and the. last thing I heard from him he v 

 veiling for " Bob "' to bring some water. They put me 

 the bridal chamber, aud all nightlong I was trying vainly 

 to shoot from a tottering dug-out — with a gnu thatwould 

 never fine — the myriads of ducks that cleaved with 

 shadowy and noiseless pinions the boundless air of mys- 

 terious dreamland, 



" Km a liiahard I've waded the marsh, 

 And hiinicd each pool ;n the hike, oh ', 

 Mine is not the luck 

 To obtain thee, O duck, 

 Ur to doom thee, druk-o, ltfeea draco." 

 Coriulli, Miss. QOYOS. 



A Cokeectiok.— In our remarks on Uniform Nomen- 

 clature in our lust issue we were made the victim of an 

 unfortunate printer's error, which we desire to correct 

 without Iosb of time. Referring to the action of the. 

 committee on Nomenclature of thcMichigau Sportsman's 

 Association, we are made to say : " The views expressed 



. amittee are founded on the right idea, that of 

 absolutely local names, and substituting the names which 

 belong to the various species and by which they art; 

 known to biologists," etc. The sentence, as printed, 

 means, so far as it means anything, the very reverse of 

 what we intended to say. We wrote: "The 

 pressed by the Committee are founded On tlie right idea, 

 that of abolishing local names," etc, Our readers will se. 

 the importance of making this correction, 



