306 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Mat 90, 1880, 



ablj escape, High ami Kins, from their canoe on theop- 



Ml . „;,,,,, ,,„. ,,,,.,-, ; ,||, , n ialely applauded ami chafled 

 US, while the U,dians sounds the whwp-Ia,OUtS)£^ for 

 attention and encouragement. Bonfield would succeed 

 ia working his fish toward the boat, when oil lie would 

 go again like a Shot, and mine would seem to take the 

 Eitmal nv;l Dsrry Out the line with the familiar Slpnc dear 

 to the angler's ear. The finest nmsie in the world is the 

 click of the revolving reel, as a strong, game fish carries 

 out the line with passionate energy. The tttOSl i 

 curve is that Of a well-made trout rod, held with all the 

 pressure it will safely bear. For the true enjoyment ot 

 b-tl- w-: need a light canoe and a rapid, r lhng river. 



But our fish seemed impressed with the importance of 

 the occasion, thofoSi possibly not touched with the 

 , r ;(!,,"> qua it; >l the sport, and whenever we at- 



; . h r near t lie surface or the canoe, at 



t ue fin looi i ">" would turn and dart away as though 

 discerning an evil omen in out anxious eyes. Finally. 

 Bonfield swung his lm« toward the bow oi the canoi and 

 brought up his fish, which William skillfully netted, at 

 the same time disclosing the dangerous fact that the. 

 movement had crossed my line : but luckily a short mo- 

 tion of my rod brought my fish near the surface, and 

 William instantly ran his net under it anil brought both 

 Struggling into the canoe. They were the two hand- 

 somest iish of the trip thus far, and the SCi 

 Speedily applied. Bonfield had four and a half pounds, 

 and I had three and live eighths. 



From that time until sunset one or the other was al- 

 most constantly employed with a trout of two pounds or 

 upward. Twice Bonfield drew in his fly, saying that he 

 was satisfied; but the sight of my bent rod each time 

 proved too great a temptation, and in a lew casts a three 

 pounder would rise boldly for him, and be punished ac- 

 cordingly. At sunset we willingly turned for camp, and 

 in passing I- dropped a fly just off the end of a fallen 

 pine, extending far out into' the current, and quick as a 

 Mash the line spun out toward the shore, but stopped at 

 the tree top, and I no longer felt the action of the fish. 

 I knew that lie was a fine one. and that if he got the line 

 fast in the tree top he would, break the leader like a sin- 

 gle hair. T told the fiidians to run the canoe toward the 

 shore along the tree top, and then drop it slowly down. 

 Meanwhile I gently endeavored to free the line. Then, 

 as we came within a rod of the fish, he rushed off with 

 the current. The line was free : the fish was 1 still fast ; 

 my fingers burned with the friction of the line as 1 en- 

 deavored to Check Ids wild career. Half, two-thirds, 

 three-quarters of the lino vanished from the reel. A 

 g imminent. I gave the rod every ounce of 

 strain 1 dared, till it formed far more than a semi-circle. 

 The iish went to the bottom, and appeared to be resting 

 for another plunge. It was a dangerous spot for another 

 such effort, as there were two more projecting tree tops 

 below, To run out into the stream was even more dan- 

 gerous, as the current was too strong for the paddles and 

 too deep for the -cuing poles, Bonfield Galled f or the 

 Lime of the contest; it was 7.05. To allow the Iish to 

 stav on the bottom would delay our comrades, who had 



refined and cultivated i 



politics of the South : ,- 

 i is ei i ■ gi ■ -i them 

 will be found ever read 

 their Northern brethri 



tip. 



ind 



Whenever 1 started him his runs 

 twice again after 1 had reeled him 

 early all'" the line. Twice he struck 

 lulled like a sailor bov, while Bonfield 

 appropriate song. Darkness was falling 

 i. , c water had exchanged its purple for a more 

 impenetrable hue. The moon just showed above the bill 

 top, and by its light we landed in v treasure. Bonfield 

 called time ; it was 7.57. He applied the scales; they 

 showed two ounces over four pounds, and seldom have 

 louder shouts gone from a single canoe than from ours as 



returned to I 

 were despcrat. 

 up he carried 

 for the shore, 

 . | up the 

 upon us, Th< 



we rounded into the camp 



which weighed over three pounds eae 

 had not lost a single fish which he 1 

 lost one. On the grass heroo 'I,. 

 rows of spotted sides, and on . ■■■ v 

 prompt and free in their express .,ns 

 miration. High says that it was an a 

 Bonfield and 1 first stood before 1 

 cheered and embraced, and cheere 

 broke the single bottle of claret reset 

 occasion. Bonfield proposed the toas 

 sometimes vainglorious; Bissell, let 

 selves." Bonfield wanted to have twi 



..field had five fish 

 ; 1 bad four. He 

 id hooked: I had 

 t we laid our two 

 i companions were 

 f pleasure and ad- 

 "eeting sight when 

 ie array— that we 

 again, and then 

 ed for some state 



: "Conquer irs arc 

 us drink to our- 

 ip fires lighted, 



SeiVeS. D'JIUIOU WaUWU t^ -LltlVC UYVU V-LIA±JJJ ,i.C-.7 U^li.^u, 



one on each side of our Iish, and sit up all night looking 

 at them. 



Thus might have ended a glorious day ; but Nature 

 DOW claims our attention. Our camp faced the north, 

 as befitted the direction of our wanderings, and suddenly 

 a bright aurora was displayed before US. The whole 

 northern heavens were lighted brilliantly, and belts and 



- : i .•■■.•ne :■-■ ■• . leeirie light shaped and unfolded 



lufnro our 3l lighti il eyes, and faded slowly 

 ■ to new forms of fleeting glory. Soon 

 uncertain phantoms began to b ii 

 ore regular outline and distinguishable 



lopeias Chair on the right, ranging 



ceri. and then down far beyond the last 



moved in bright ' array across 



hundred spokes of a grand celestial 



■uing toward the west, new shafts of 



up in the east as the first sank t 



Lhesi 



themselves into d 

 substance, and fi 

 from below I as 

 nearly to mid-he: 



star in Ursa Ma jo 

 n - sky, like the 



wheel, slowly, tu 

 light ever springi 



wiatern horizon. The poetical longing of the heart has 

 always been said to be toward the east, but with us trav- 

 eling northward all the deities of water, tore; i 

 seem to allure and inspire us still toward the north. 



JusiAii Li. Bissell. 

 in t'amp on Nepigtm River. Aug. 'iitli, 1878. 

 (To be conl luned.) 



A SPORTING REMINISCENCE OF 

 THE ^WAR. ** 



,„3 tO fa] ltd oolTeSpoiid- 

 of nature, and the manly and 

 honorable sports winch it. encourages, to give tji 

 " experience," I will give mine m a section oi our great 

 countrvof which 1 have as yet, seen no mention in its 

 columns; previous to which, allow me to express my 



l,ieh appreciation of yonr paper. It is ever a welcome 

 Id, as well to the wife and little 

 ones as to others ; and. in my judgment, no , 

 lished in our land is doing more to cement good fellow- 

 ship between the North ' »■„ at the South, 

 the sporting class is, as a general rule, found among the 



AS FOBSST AND Stkeam 

 eras wh< 



'iitlemen, who were formerly the 

 i I ontrolled the sentiment and 



id [HJYi -moo |hc fortune of war 

 bey have l.uried the hatchet, and 

 to smoke the pipe of peace with 



, and will go b " 



toward maintaining the honor and glory of An 

 An apt illustration may be found in' the pleasant 

 intercourse and relations which exist between your 

 corres] indent, who was one of " Lee's miserables," and a 

 neighbor, who was a gallant Union soldier, settled here 

 « ar. Both of us are keen sportsmen, fond of 

 dogs and guns, and during the hunting season we are to- 

 gether in the fields and forests after partridge, pheasants 

 and wild turkeys, and when night comes we have a pleas- 

 ant chat over t he last number of Forest and STREAM. 



The region to which I call the attention of vour read- 

 ers is the southeastern part of South Carolina, between 

 the Combahee and Savannah rivers, in November, 1861. 

 the battery in which your correspondent was a commis- 

 sioned officer was sent from Richmond and reported to 

 (ienei-alf.ee at Consawhatcln'e, and was assigned to duty 

 in the difltrict above mentioned, to guard ft Charleston 

 and Savannah Railroad from any raid from the direction of 

 Port Royal. There we remained during the winter and 

 spring of 1863, stationed for the greater part of the time 

 on one of the inlets of the sea separating the mainland 

 from the far-famed " Sea Islands/' Our military opera- 

 tions during this period were of no importance, and we 

 had nothing in the way of fighting beyond an occasional 

 masking of a battery against one of the " Lincum gun- 

 boatS, 7 ' in which we frequently came out second best. 

 In our first rencontre with these monsters we lost all 

 our tents, and being unable to procure others, we had to 

 the whole of the winter under the spacious canopy 

 Of the gigantic live oaks of that country, or in brush 

 huts. The climate, however, was so mild, resembling 

 that of Eastern Florida, that we experienced ho incon- 

 venience from our loss until the approach of summer. 



There being no enemy to fight/we had no difficulty 

 | two of us who were sportsmen) in obtaining leave to hunt 

 or fish, every day or so, In this delightful way -we passed 

 the'time. We ha71 carried with us from Virginia a rifle 

 and a double-barrel shot gun ; and although what is 

 known by sportsmen as " shot " were not: to be obtained 

 for love or money, we never failed to procure abundance 

 of powder and lead from unexploded shrapnel, the lead 

 from which we manufactured into bullets for the rifle, 

 and slugs for the shot gun. It was by mere chance that 

 we discovered what a sportsman's paradise we were in. 

 The Confei ■ _-n ■_ .ally lean, I 



proposed one day to go out with one of the men, -who was 

 an excellent huntsman, to see if I could not find game. 

 So off we went into an extensive forest, bordering on 

 one of those dismal swamps which constitute a distin- 

 guishing feature of the South, which here, as elsewhere, 

 is made intricate and difficult of access by reason of the 

 countless parasitica) vines, many evergreen . i-l 

 cover nearly every tree, and which with the peculiar 

 gray moss hang in "festoons from branch to branch, lend- 

 ing that weird and sombre cast to tho scene which is so 

 impressive. 



Observing that there were one or more nests in nearly 

 every tree covered with vines, I requested my companion 

 to pull one of the vines which ran up to the most prom- 

 ising looking nest near me, He did so, and out ran a 

 squirrel, which 1 shot. We continued "this operation, 

 nest shaking, for some time, until we had secured as 



three raccoons. On our return toward the camp we dis- 

 covered a large covey of partridge lOrty.r virginianu.?) 

 on the ground, and having no dog, and being hungry for 

 such delicious game, I thought myself justified in firing 

 at them on the ground, which I did, killing about half of 

 lie- covey. Having some excellent cooks, upon our re- 

 turn to camp we were in a few hours enjoying broiled 

 partridge, roasted opossum and squirrel stew, with ap- 

 petites only possessed by men who had been confined to 

 hard tack and salt pork, and living in the open air. It 

 should have been stated that the squirrels we killed, and 

 which abound th this region in immense numbers, were 

 the fox-squirrel, and principally the Carolina grav squir- 

 rel {S. t.-i'i-nlinaiiiis). which is rather smaller" than the 

 gray squirrel of our Northern States, and its flesh is much 

 more highly esteemed. 



Thus tei'nunated our first day's hunting, which af- 

 forded us, though the game was small, as much exqui- 

 site enjoyment as the" Rocky Mountain hunter experi- 

 ences from the killing of a fierce grizzly, or the lordly 

 bison. Subsequent excursions in the forests and on the 

 streams disclosed nobler game in great abundance, of 

 which 1 will hereafter give you a detailed account, 



The next few days were employed by us in reconnoi- 

 teriug the country on the mainland between Bee's t 'reck 

 and the Combahee River. The greater part was in swamps 

 and original forest, interspersed by magnificent rice and 

 cotton plantations, owned mostly by wealthy planters, 

 u hose residences were generally on the rivers and inlets, 



with liandsomo lawns running down, to the water', edge. 

 All were supplied with pretty and well-built row and sail 

 boats, moored in safe [daces, But we seldom saw a house 

 which was occupied by the owner or his family. They 

 had nearly all left their houses deserted, and gone to the 

 interior to what is known as the "pine barrens," or to 

 one of the neighboring cities; 



The cotton grown in this section is known as the " Sea 

 Island " or long staple, commanding a higher price than 

 any other, and the rice is said to be of better quality 

 than that raised elsewhere. Many of the rice plantar 

 all on the streams, were in a high state 

 of improvement, although the modes of culture seemed 

 to be very primitive, and some had been in operation 

 since colonial times. Many of the owners bear names 

 known to fortune and to fame, identified with the his- 

 tory of their Slate; and the owner of one beautiful 

 plantation 1 visited on the Combahee River bears a name 

 rendered illustrious by an ancestor who signed the Dec- 

 laration of Independence. 1 entered many of these de- 

 serted homes, and was struck very forcibly by a fact 

 which sheds a world of light on the political opinions 



i ce if these people. On the walls of nearly 

 ii iuso was luujg a portrait ot engraving of John C- 



ce in Virginia houses the 



picture ot George Washington. 



The vegetation of the district bears a strong reseintlance 

 Nortl eastern Florida, to which your readers' at- 



tention has been so frequently drawn, th 

 being the magnificent magnolias, palmetto, live-oaks, 

 bay, yellow jasmine, etc. "Of Ihe fauna 1 will write 

 more particularly hereafter. Manacon. 



North &"<fe, To. 



NORTHERN MICHIGAN. 



BLACK RIVER rises among a few small lakes in the 

 northern part of Michigan, winding for many miles 

 through a wild, unbroken country. It empties into, or 

 more properly runs through Black Lake for a short dis- 

 tance, along 'the nort Invest, portion of the lake, leaving it 

 as its outlet, running for a. distance of about twenty miles 

 emptying into Cheboygan River a few miles above Che- 

 ! ygan City. The water is a clear, twffisparent black, 

 and is one of those narrow, rapid streams pieculiar to 

 northern Michigan. It is passable for steam tugs for 

 about five or six miles from its mouth to the foot; of the 

 rapids ; these extend about five miles, and run, not as a 

 turbulent, boiling stream, but as though the water was 

 thoroughly oiled, There are many rocks and boulders 

 in the stream, but few- of which stir up anything like a 

 warm reception. These rapids can be run with a light 

 boat with much enjoyment, but with these, as with all 

 others, it is best to have some one experienced to manage 

 affairs. For about three miles above the rapids to Black 

 Lake the waters are smooth , with not a very swift cur- 

 rent. Atrip to Black Lake has to he made by conveji 

 anee, carrying boat and outfit from Cheboygan to the 

 head of the rapids, where the road terminates. Here 

 everything is dumped from the wagon ; boat launched, 

 stocked with tents, guns, provisions, and all the ne- 

 cessary fixings for a few days' enjoyment away from 

 everybody but your own company. From this lauding 

 place you will have a pull of three miles up as beautifula 

 stream as Northern Michigan is proud of. What is pecu- 

 liar about the shores of this stream is the hardwood 

 underbrush and the lack of pine and cedar with which 

 most Of the streams are lined, and also (he absence ot the 

 sand and marl. On the route from Cheboygan to the 

 head of the rapids you will pass a few farms that have 

 been neatly laid out, wit han excellent soil — in a couple, of 

 instances heavy black soil — growing wheat far excelling 

 in quantity and quality that;" raised in Ohio, f learned 

 that fifty bushels of wheat to the acre was no mi nl) 

 occurrence, and heard il. stated by parties, who said they 

 actually knew, that, Mr. So-and-Sohad raised and threshed 

 sixty bushels to the acre. 1 made up my mind then and 

 there that I owed to Northern Miehigan'an apology, as I 

 had considered it heretofore an excellent, country for 

 fishing and hunting (such game as there is there;, pleura 

 of sand, excellent pine and cedar timber, and good for 

 nothing else. This was undoubtedly owing to my igno- 

 rance in not posting mvsi If. 1 hope they will 



apology, as 1 am well satisfied it is a much more excel- 

 lent country than it has credit for being, and the time is 

 not far distant when Ibis territory will be opened up by 

 railroads and will be thickly settled. 



From Ihe landing of our boat above the rapids we had i 

 an excellent sail, Yes, I Say we had ail excellent sail Up) 

 that crooked and beautiful 'river. Our old friend, I lave 

 Smith, made the discovery that the wind, which was 

 blowing quite steadily, was directly up our course, and. 

 he rigged up as handsome a sail as one would wish to 

 look at, Cutting three poles, one about ten feet long for 

 a mainmast, and" two shorter, one for a cross pole at the 

 top, and ihe other extending diagonally across the sail 

 for support, and with abed quilt for a sail, we were as 

 elegantly fixed as a squaw in a rod shawl, no hat and' 

 barefooted. 



At Black Lake deer and bear are quite plentiful, and. 

 fishing excellent. 



A slight snow had fallen the night before the first day's 

 hunt, and all were up bright and early, each anxious lor 

 the first shot at a deer or bear. We had no hounds or, 

 dogs i J any species (which manner of hunting for deer I 



desire to be recorded as being decidedly opposed he, 



Taking separate directions in the woods for a still bunt 

 for anything that might accidentally or otherwise stumble 

 over lis, but a short .time elapsed before the sharp crack 

 of a ri lie signaled something in danger. In about ten 

 minutes another in the same direction, and then another, 

 followed by a fusilade of a number of shots in rapid suc- 

 cession. All hands made for the direction of the firing 

 as rapidly as possible, fearing that one of the party must 



certainly have by that time a "hot box." C ing in 



Bight of the gentleman with the Winchester, he was dis- 

 covered with knees bent, arms at elbowsiighlly extended, 

 butt of gun on ground, and when within short hailing 



i on e a "Hallo ! what's the matter';" came I 

 of the party, No answer. Again, •' Hallo !" no answer. 

 Upon coming up to him, found a very white face on a 

 very shaky individual ; an empty gun, and a dead doe a 

 few' yards from him, indicating one good shot. Upon 

 beo i"i" ; sufficiently composed to talk, found he had 

 knocked over the doe, killing it the first shot, and had 

 walked up nearly to it when a slight rustling ahead at- 

 tracted his attention, and there stood a buck, with head 

 and tail up. He fired at and slightly wounded him, the 

 red spots on the snow proving "this. Scarcely had tho 

 smoke cleared away when up came another buck from 

 the opposite direction. A shot produced no change in 

 the deer's course but a halt ; another shot, and then the 

 balance of the shells from his chamber and three, or four 

 snaps with an empty gun. and the deer still holding his 



t| -distance about fifty yards. After the exhaustion 



of the ainunition the deer came directly toward him un- 

 til within about fifteen ),•; inga good square 

 look at the cause of so much noise, left for parts unknown. 

 Our friend thought the deer was going to eat him up. 



Blank Lake is thoroughly stocked with fish, mostly 

 pickerel, though iii some places there is excellent basa 

 fishing. I can think of do more beautiful place for an 

 excellent time at hunting and fishing than here on the 

 banks of this beautiful lake. 



Wonderful changes are. being made inaccommodations 

 in this country. If is reaUy growing up like a mush- 

 room, and still" there is plenty of game and Iish to supply 

 the many who u ill "take in" this locality, At Be- 

 lli terminus of the old r : ipidB and 

 Indiana Railroad, "the fishing line," the hotel ; 

 dations will this year be far better than they were last, 



6 Occidental new rooms have been ad 

 one of the best caterers in Michigan, Mr. Andress, has ■ 



