I Entered According- to Act of Congress, in the year 187», by the Forest and Stream Publishing- Company, in the OiDce of the librarian of Congress, at Washington 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1880. 



CONTENTS. 



Archery :— 



Decoration Day Scores; Oritani Club; New York ClUD : 



Those Challenges Ag-am ; lirownell's Score Cards £359 



Cricket:— 



Beportsof Matches and News Notes 380 



EDITORIAL :— 



The New York State Convention; Firearm frauds; The 

 Team Off-, Decoration Day Sports; The Coaching Club: 



Spring in Alaska ; Our Western Letter 354 



Fish Culture:— 



The Boston Fishery Exposition; Black Bass for Inland 

 Waters. . .... - 319 



Gawk Bao axd Gun:— 



A Strut- uf Field Scores; Notes; Shooting- Matches ; Scores 



jit tin: State Convention 355 



Thk Kennki, :— 



The BeMirla-.Tudarlnsr ; The Cocker-Judging- at the Show; 

 The Tlleston Memorial Fund 851 



Fly-Fishing: on the Neplg-on 317 



Natural History:— 



A Bone or Contention; A Kind Poster-Mother; Habits of 



Quail; Nestioa- of Zrt.'ne: N,,«, ,-„,- i n a Spruce Tree ; Spring 



Note* for April; About Sharks ; Meu-orol.^.n-al : Was It a 



Bo.ulSnakcV To" W.; " l),.„,s the Gray S,,ulrrel Lay up a 



Winter Store? One Way to Capture Badgers 348 



Puiii.isHEiis' Department 3-18 



New Publications :— 

 Camps and Tramps in the Adirondacks; The NuttallBul- 



'e«» 353 



The Rifi.tj:- 

 Ranse and Gallery; How a " Rille " Company Did Business; 



1'liu Status of Professionals, ... 358 



Sua and I 

 Ply-FIshl 

 Yachting and Canoeing;— 

 yachting News ; Atlantic Yacht Club ; Seawanhaka Yacht 



A 



Sh $i*hin g an t he Jf^/tffl/r, 



CHIOAGtO LAWYERS IN THE BRITISH WILDERNESS. 



(Concluded.) 



THE chief product of this region, is rock— not soft 

 sandstone or thin layers of limestone, but original 

 primeval trap. It is trap dykes which form the 

 hold headlands overlooking the north shore of Lake Su- 

 perior ; trap which forms the bed of the Nepigon from its 

 head to its mouth ; trap which constitutes the high cliffs 

 and palisades extending half its length ; trap which 

 towers so abruptly over its bed that not even the pine 

 can lind a foothold in its crevices ; huge trap boulders, 

 hard and smooth, which show then- sides along our 

 course; trap columns which stand erect like pillars in 

 the Giant's Causeway; trap battlements which frown 

 upon us from gigantic trap castles ; and trap bulwarks 

 which, like the high poop of a seventy -four gun ship, 

 overhang the river, and then, doubly impressive, are re- 

 peated from the deep, clear water beneath. 



Granite and sienite we find occasionally as stray 

 boulders, and quartz and sandstone pebbles on the beach 

 on Lake Nepigon. But granite and quartz are never 

 common near red rock. 



The forests are not the magnificent growth of Michi- 

 gan and Wisconsin, but stunted, like the soil on whioh 

 they grow, Of the valuable hard woods, such as oak, 

 beech, maple, hickory and ash, I have not seen a single 

 tree. The pine, though plenty, is of a size and quality 

 whicha lumberman would scorn to touch. Cedar, hem- 

 lock, spruce, tamarack and poplar are abundant, and in 

 the foliage the mountain ash shows its brilliant berries, 

 to relieve the continuity of green. And as though the 

 land wore destined forever for the Indian, from every 

 hillside is displayed the bright silver bark of the birch, 

 ever ready to build the frail canoe, the same in shape, 

 size and construction to-day as when Columbus or Vespu- 

 cins first turned their vessels toward the West. 



Game is more plenty and varied than we had been led 

 to expect. Black bear arc by no means scarce, and cari- 

 bou are often found, though great perseverance and skill 

 are required to hunt them successfully. At Red Bock we 

 Saw the head and antlers of one recently lulled, the 

 antlers being two feet three inches across, and from their 

 tip to the point of the nose measuring four feet eight 

 inches. No deer are found along this shore, there being 

 no opportunity for southern migration at the approach of 

 winter. Pigeons and partridges can be found almost 



every day. Mink, beaver, lynx, martin, otter, fox and 

 fisher are trapped by the Indians in winter, and their furs 

 sold to the agents of the Hudson Bay Company, the con- 

 trolling spirit of this region. Last evening one of our 

 Indians shot a couple of muskrats, and though their 

 skins are worthless at this season, their bodies were 

 Rpeedily consigned to the same kettle which a few hours 

 before had sung the requiem of six rabbits, which fur- 

 nished a famous stew. It was a notable procession, these 

 six Indians, two carrying a pole on which was strung 

 the cauldron of mysterious contents, the others follow- 

 ing in solemn file from the fire to a convenient nook be- 

 hind the. birches. We could just make out through the 

 bushes six heads brought into a contracted circle. The' 

 kettle returned empty, the Indians happy. 



The snare set for these rabbits is a very ingenious con- 

 trivance. Over a run-way the Indian places a twig in a 

 semi-circle, and then bends down a small sapling, fasten- 

 ing the end by a cord with a half hitch to the middle of 

 the semi-circle, just within which he extends the noose, 

 which drops from the end of the sapling. The noose is 

 held in its place by bits of twigs, with which all passage 

 outside the run-way is closed. Then a slight barrier is 

 formed in the run-way on each side of the snare, so that 

 tho rabbit will land in the noose with a spring, and the 

 snare is complete. The rabbit is peacefully and quietly 

 visiting his accustomed haunts, when he finds himself 

 carried into mid-air, and there suspended, until in the 

 morning his captor makes the tour of his snares, finding 

 probably two or three rabbits for everv ten snares which 

 he has set. The fur of these rabbits is now gray, but in 

 the winter they are snow-white. 



We have not seen many birds, except an occasional 

 crow, hawk, snipe, loon or osprey, and two eagles — one 

 perched on a high tree, the other soaring in true republi- 

 can style. There is an eagle's nest on the" palisades below 

 Split .Rock, and our Indians endeavored to get an answer 

 from the young eagle in it, but without success. Ducks 

 and geese are said to be plenty in season, but we have 

 seen scarcely a dozen. Of songsters I have heard none, 

 save a fine chick-a-dee, which sang as merrily as though 

 there were upon him the responsibility of filling this 

 solitude with melody. 



In fish Bonfield is the variety man of the party, having 

 captured a whitelish, a perch and a sucker. Pratt se- 

 cured a fair sized lake trout, which, contrary to the ac- 

 cepted notion as to its habits, jumped clean out of the 

 water for his fly. 



The woods furnish a great variety and abundance of 

 berries : whortleberries — here called blue-berries — red 

 raspberries, currants, both red and black, gooseberries, 

 cherries, small and red, and consisting almost exclu- 

 sively of pit and skin, black haws, and wdiat the Indians 

 call elderberries, which are in reality a small species of 

 cranberry. I have seen some elegant mushrooms, but 

 as the Indians do not use them, we did not care to eat 

 them upon our own judgment. There are a few straw- 

 berry plants, apparently producing in season berries 

 about the size of a small currant. 



Of nuts I have seen no indications, except some hazel- 

 bushes at one of the portages, and two little squirrels 

 looked as if uncertain of proper support. 



The rose bushes on some of the hillsides show that at 

 another season much of their present barrenness must 

 have been concealed; 



We met a detachment from a surveying party, pros- 

 pecting for the Canadian Pacific Railway, by the aid of 

 which the Canadians hope to free their territory from 

 paying tribute to " The States;" but, if the other sections 

 are given up as exclusively as this to the production of 

 rock unfit for the quarry, and timber, little of which is 

 lit even for firewood, whence will their resources be de- 

 rived ? 



So thin and gravelly is the soil that although we have 

 not yet had a frost, the woods along the side hills are al- 

 ready clothed in their fall colors of yellow and red, ready 

 to shed their exhausted leaves. 



We have found no gnats or black flies, and a judicious 

 selection of camping grounds has removed us from 

 the few lingering mosquitos, and placed us each night 

 within hearing of the music of a. rapid or waterfall. Pre- 

 vious experience has rendered us forgetful of the incon- 

 veniences of camp life, and thoughtful of its amenities. 

 No drawing-room ever saw an act of more graceful and 

 considerate politeness than when, in making a long por- 

 tage, Pierre, one of our guides, leading the way, carried 

 a stick in his hand with which he shook the dew from 

 the grass on botti sides of the trail. 



Though the fishing has been good at each of the well- 

 known pools, we have always found better wherever the 

 low stage of water had exposed a riffle where ordinarily 

 the water would be smooth. In the swift water above 

 a rapid or fall, we have usually done better than in the 

 more regularly fished pool below ; and, whenever follow- 

 ing our own judgment, and casting according to the in- 

 dications of the water, we have invariably had far better 

 success than in fishing the places pointed out by the 

 guides. The trout here are not as some have argued, 

 a salmon trout, or anything different from the regular 

 speckled brook trout, growing, under favorable circum- 

 stances, to a large size. 



One circumstance seems strange, that at each point 

 where one day we find especially choice fishing, we can 

 hardly get a bite the next. High and Pratt, standing on 

 a single log, caught ten elegant trout in water so shallow 

 that they could see every movement of every fish, which 

 did not seem to be in the least disturbed by the gyrations 

 of their companions, as one after another was drawn out ; 

 but each fish seemed to be waiting his turn, and rose to 

 the fly accordingly. Naturally they tried that log again, 

 but not a trout would respond to their most skillful 

 casts. 



Generally, when we can see the most trout, the fewest 

 will rise to" the fly, Often, when one is hooked, several 

 others will follow it about, even to within a few feet of 

 the boat, and if the captive is a small one, the attentions 

 of the large ones assume a character by no means en- 

 couraging. When a half pound trout, expecting to regale 

 himself upon a dainty fly, suddenly finds himself dragged 

 one way by a remorseless line, and attacked from behind 

 by an equally remorseless monster, who is no respecter of 

 his own species, it is a busy day for the little fellow. 

 One of these pursuers was nearly captured in the landing 

 net. 



Tho water of the lake and river, though naturally not so 

 cold as some of the streams which flow into them, is beau- 

 tifully clear, and one can easily see the trout swimming 

 about among the rocks, eight, ten, or even twelve feet 

 below the surface, and on taking a sounding in the lake, • 

 I found that I could see a white pebble, one inch in di- 

 ameter, on the bottom at a depth of 23| feet. 



HOMEWARD BOUND. 



Friday morning we turned our faces homeward. Our 

 enthusiasm had never forsaken us, nor our spirits flagged, 

 but the feeling seemed to pervade the party that our de- 

 scent of the river should be as easy as that of Avernus, 

 The point soemed to have been reached at which we 

 could return with dignity and satisfaction. 



The tents were struck,' and as the supplies were placed 

 in the canoes, no one could fail to notice how rapidly 

 they had diminished under our sharpened appetites. The 

 last: ceremony was to free the trout in the camp corral, 

 where they seemed to have become quite happy and con- 

 tented. Of course every one gathered at the edge of the 

 water, and as a few stones were removed on the outer 

 side, the trout clustered nearer the land. They seemed 

 to move toward us, rather than toward the freedom now 

 offered them. So far, the scene was a failure. Then we 

 tore out a dozen more stones, but the prisoners of our 

 watery Chillon were still unwilling to depart. So Pratt 

 commenced driving them forward with a landing net ; 

 it was some time before he succeded in getting a single 

 one into the open liver. Several times he got one of 

 them half way through the now broken barrier, when it 

 turned and forced its way back. And each one, when 

 finally driven out into the river, only moved a few feet ; 

 and there we left them close together in the river, not 

 ten feet from their three days' prison, accepting liberty 

 as reluctantly as did Kingl'ako's gazelle is its native 

 Arabian desert, 



What animal it was that prowled around our camp 

 that night, is purely a matter of conjecture, It would 

 sound well to set it down as a bear, but that would not 

 be the truth. But as the cook was getting supper, he saw 

 a bear swim the river from the point below. 



In the morning Michel brought in three partridges, 

 which he had stowed on the hill back of the camp. Bon- 

 field had cached his ammunition train with Pratt's keg of 

 pickles, and the reserve of pork, flour and bacon, at a 

 portage half way down the river, so he confessed no 

 jealousy of the Indian's prowess. 



At Flat Portage we met an Indian family on their 

 travels. The man wore two feathers in his hat ; in which 

 respect only was his dress suggestive of the Indian. The 

 squaw had a large, flat face, and what the Scotch would 

 call an " open countenance." The pappoose sat quietly 

 by the rough contrivance which serves as a cradle at 

 night, and on a journey is strapped to the mother's back, 

 pappoose and all. A wooden bow, fastened at right 

 angles to the board, makes the whole resemble a minia- 

 ture Russian winter traveling sled. The maiden, Minne- 

 haha, lacked somewhat of the beauty and grace at- 

 tributed to her in poetry and legend. Her traveling out- 

 fit was emphatically light, and wo have seen handsomer 

 blankets. There were only live dogs visible at anyone 

 time. How many more belonged in the family is un- 

 certain. Those five could only muster one complete tail ; 

 a percentage which seems to be about the average along 

 thenorth shore, Through the interpretation of our guides, 

 we learnt that since our departure two steamers had been 

 in at Red Rock, though what were the present prospects 

 of the presidential candidates, and what progress Sir Gar- 

 net Wolseley was making with the Zulus, and what base- 

 hall club is now ahead Tor the championship, we failed to 

 learn; and as thoy offered us no late papers, we could 

 not pursue the investigation on our own account, On 

 the whole, we aro quite as well satisfied, for there is a de- 

 lightful sensation in being lost to the world for two or 

 three weeks, and knowing nothing, absolutely nothing, 

 of what has taken place beyond the Nepigon River. If a 

 canoe had been upset anywhere in the river we should 



