Terms, S4 a Year. 10 Cts. a Copy. f 
Six Mo's, £2 , Three Mo’s, SI. \ 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 25, 1879. | No. Ill FulVon Ne^v Tork. 
Original. 
BUNKER FISHING. 
~ N ocean waters, sound, and bay, 
The twinkling Maytimc sunbeams play. 
And white with foam the billows shine 
Where the moss-bunkers lash the brine. 
Above them, flocks of seagulls swing; 
Beneath, the hungry blueflsh spring, 
And deadlier still, the surf-men strain 
The oar. and run the meshing seine. 
Where sweeps the broad and breezy bay 
Engirt by shores with woodlands gay 
In shoals, innumerable as sands 
That sparkle In the wrinkled strands, 
The bunkers gather on. the flood, 
Roaming the ocean-paths for food, 
And here the fisher-boats invade, 
Deep with the shining burden weighed . 
Off by the low New Jersey shore, 
Oil’ where Long Island surges roar; 
Off where the NhrragansCt Bay 
Its tribute to .the sea doth pay, 
Off Massachusetts Bay profound. 
Off Maine shores with their pine woods crown’d, 
Off where thd billows chafe and fret 
O’er rocks along New Brunswick set. 
The fish innumerable pass 
O’er tumbling seas, or seas of glass. 
The watchman's eye from sandy mound. 
Or eyrie in some tall tree found. 
Surveys the broad extended main. 
Views of the llshy shoal to gain ; 
And when the welcome prize draws near 
In acres, all the waters clear, 
He hoists his signal to the breeze, 
That all may hasten to the seas. 
Then rush the crews from shop and Held, 
Leave plow in glebe the oar to wield; 
The surf-boat down the beach is drawn, 
The oar is seized with arm of hrawn, 
The boat is launch'd where breakers pour, 
While guides the helmsmen with the oar. 
Then hard and emulous the toil. 
Rivals aU anxious for the spoil; 
The ablest boat, the manliest crew 
Tug hard with muscle and with thew, 
And victor In the race, surround 
The leaping fish with snaring bounds, 
Then laden is the boat, till more 
May not be added to the store. 
They pull for sbore T .and soon the soil, 
Is opulent with scaly spoil; 
In glittering heaps the shiny hoard 
O'er all the yeUow sand is poured; 
And not the wealth of Indian mines, 
Dug deep where never sunbeam shines, 
So fair, so gorgeous to behold 
As this rich spoil of blue and gold. 
ISAAC MoLellan. 
3 in 
FIRST PAPER—AVANT PROPOS. 
D URING the fall of 1878 I had, among other chronic 
patients, several young men who were improving 
hut slowly, owing to the fickle climate and the too gen¬ 
erous and imprudent mode of life common to central 
Kentucky. Knowing that a plain diet, pure air, bright 
sunshine, and varied exercise would work wonders to¬ 
ward their restoration to health, I advised them to ac¬ 
company me on my trip to Florida during the ensuing 
winter. To this they readily agreed, as I assured them 
that by hunting, fislrmg, and livmg in the open air, they 
would not only enjoy themselves to the top of then- bent, 
but that in no other way could they secure so fully and 
agreeably the henefits of Nature’s great restoratives, ah', 
sunshine, exercise, and sound sleep. I was certain that 
in no other climate could an open air life be indulged in 
with such perfect impunity as in East Florida, whose 
balmy atmosphere and genial climate cannot be sur¬ 
passed, if, indeed, it can be equalled, even by the vine- 
clad hills of Southern France, or the sunny slopes of 
Italy ; and, certainly, better opportunities for enjoying 
the sports of flood and field exist nowhere else. 
As I had never been further south or east in Florida 
than Paiatka, X recalled to my mind all that had been re¬ 
lated to mo by friends who had visited East Florida, and 
read up everything I could procure in relation to Indian 
River and the east coast; and, X might say in this con¬ 
nection, that I obtained more information from Hallock’s 
•‘Camp Life in Florida,” than from all other sources 
combined. 
Having been accustomed to “ camping out ” and sail¬ 
ing since my boyhood, my plans were soon formed. I 
decided to proceed at once by rail and steamboat to Ti¬ 
tusville, at the head of Indian River, there to obtain a 
suitable boat and sail down the east coast to Bay Bis- 
cayne, and on returning to sail down the St. John’s 
River to Jacksonville if time would permit. 
About the beginning of December I began my prepa¬ 
rations for the journey. As our boat would be used only 
as a means of transportation, and most of our time would 
be spent ashore, I procured two A or wedge tents made of 
the best 10 oz. duck. Each tent- being 91 feet square on 
the ground, would comfortably accommodate three per¬ 
sons—there being six of us in the party. As my com¬ 
panions had not had my experience in “roughing it,” 
I advised each of them to take, hi addition to shot gun, 
or rifle, and hunting-knife, two old suits of woolen cloth¬ 
ing, two flannel shirts, a change of underclothing, three 
pairs of woolen socks, two old felt hats, a pair of boots, a 
pah- of brogans, two pairs of woolen blankets, a rubber 
blanket, a rubber poncho, and a huswife containing 
needles, thread, pins, buttons, wax, etc. My own im¬ 
mediate outfit was similar to the others, with the addi¬ 
tion of a box of choice fishing tackle, a bundle of rods, 
my 12-gauge “ Parker,” and a hammock, with the fur¬ 
ther addition of 10-gallon can of alcohol sent me by Prof. 
D. S. Jordan for preserving specimens of Florida fish 
fauna. My armamentarium, medicament uni consisted of 
a few leading remedies, a pocket surgical case, some ad¬ 
hesive and isinglass plasters, a couple of pairs of tooth- 
forceps, together with a disseeting-case, and several 
pounds of arsenic for taxidermic purposes. 
Our party, comprising two dyspeptics, one incipient 
consumptive, one bad liver, one nasal catarrh, myself 
and my Royal Duke-Queen setter pup, Gipsy Queen, left 
Cynthiana, Ky., on the morning of Dec. 16tli, amidst a 
flurry of snow, and arrived at CincinnJkti at noon, where 
we embarked on the mail boat for Louisville in 
the afternoon. "We left Louisville on the morn¬ 
ing of Dec. 17th, and arrived in Jacksonville, Fla., on the 
bright, warm and balmy morning of the 19th. 
I at once called on Dr. C. J. Kenworthy, better known 
to readers of Forest and Stream as “Al Fresco.” I 
found him in his garden superintending the planting of 
some sub-tropical fruit trees. Repairing to his library, 
we became better acquainted over a bottle of Florida 
orange wine, which, by the way, equalled old Madeira in 
body, boquet and flavor. I found the doctor genial and 
companionable, a clear thinker, an earnest worker, and a 
tine sportsman in the highest sense of the term. 
To my regret he informed me that he had never been 
in the Indian River country, though he had visited nearly 
every other portion of Florida. He endeavored to dis¬ 
suade me from my contemplated trip to that region—said 
we would be devoured by fleas, sand-flies and mosqui¬ 
toes ; that the Indians had killed off all the game, and 
that the fishing was not so good as on the southwest 
coast. He advised me, by all means, to go to Cedar 
Keys, and cruise down the coast to Charlotte Harbor, 
Doctor’s Pass, etc., to Cape Sable. 
But I was dead-set for Indian River and beyond ; my 
tiller was lashed, and, like Barney O’Reirdon, the Irish 
navigator, I would be turned from my “ son-aist coorse ” 
by no man. I simply argued that for obvious reasons I 
invariably found game and fish more abundant whero 
black-flies, sand-flies or mosquitoes were thickest. Be¬ 
sides, it would do my patients no harm to relieve them of 
a little of then- bad blood—thus could I vicariously prac¬ 
tice phlebotomy, which of late years has grown to be as 
unpopular as it is unuecessary. Then, again, the mos¬ 
quito might be a blessing in disguise to those who fre¬ 
quent malarious districts, for, according to tbe late 
theory of some savant, the poison that he injects with bis 
delicate hypodermic syringe is analagous to quinine, and 
acts as an efficient prophylactic to malarial fevers I 
The Doctor, seeing that I was rash and determined, 
started down to the river with me to look at the sail-boats. 
I found quite a number of yacht-built boats of light 
draught, centre-boards, sloop and cat-rigged, and of the 
flat-iron model. I found one that suited me, which the 
Doctor was to ship to Titusville, provided I could find 
none at the latter place. While on our torn' of inspection 
the Doctor showed me his little yacht, the Doni, only 10 
feet long, in which he made his famous cruise from Key 
West to Cedar Keys, an account of which he gave to the 
readers of Forest and Stream under the heading of 
Marooning.” She was hauled out and being “ fixed 
up ” for another cruise. He showed me where a shark 
Btruck her while anchored in Shark River, starting one of 
the butts of her planking, and startling the Doctor out of 
his nap. She is as trim and taut a little craft as one 
would desire to see. 
Observing a crowd on one of the docks we went over 
and saw a huge alligator lashed to a plank being taken 
from one of the steamers. They said he was fifteen feet 
long and was from Indian River—this was encouraging. 
I merely glanced at the Doctor and said nothing, thinking 
that the saurian had mouth enough to speak for himself, 
and was certainly of age. Turning the corner on to Bay 
street I noticed that all of the fruit stores displayed con¬ 
spicuous signs bearing the legend, “ Indian River 
Oranges”—here was more encouragement, and food for 
thought and stomach too. The Doctor merely smacked 
his Lips and said nothing. After introducing me to some 
“Old Salts,” steamboat captains, and merchants with 
whom I would have some subsequent business transac¬ 
tions, he left me, cordially wishing me bon voyage, hop¬ 
ing I would change my mind as to my destination. But 
I knew it was useless to hope against fate and bade him 
“good-by.” I watched his tall and graceful formas lie 
stalked away, little thinking that it would be the last I 
should see of the charming “ Al Fresco,” but so it proved, 
for on my return in May he was away from home. 
I now busied myself laying in our supplies of groceries, 
provisions, ammunition, fishing tackle, lantern, axe, 
spade, hatohet, etc., which were ordered to be well boxed 
and shipped to Titusville via Salt Lake. Saturday, Dee. 
21st, was the day set for our departure from Jacksonville 
on the good steamer Volusia, Isaac Hall, Master. I pro¬ 
ceeded to look up my companions, and found Ben m a 
canemaker’s shop, intently watching the man carving 
alligators on the tops of orangewoocl canes—Ben has a 
>enchant for canes—he then had in his hand a young 
flekory with a huge knotted head, which he had cut be¬ 
fore leaving “ Old Kentuck.” He would have had this 
knot carved into some grotesque figure, but I dragged 
him away. From my knowledge of their proclivities I 
found Frank and Ed. where I expeoted—at the gun store. 
Frank was looking lovingly upon the guns and rifles 
ranged along the wall, while Ed, was gazing abstractedly 
at a fine display of salt-water fishing tackle. Frank Can 
never see a gun but he must handle it, try the locks, bring 
it up to his shoulder, and bore some imaginary object 
through and through. I’ve no doubt but he had haudled 
every gun in the store. Ed. seemed particularly taken 
with a shark hook with its chain and swivel. He is a 
monument of patience — will sit all day long under a 
shady, tree in fond anticipation of tbe “ bite" he may 
never get. I discovered Marion, who has an eye for 
mechanics, watching a machine hulling rice, while his 
brother Henry was trying to devour the contents of a 
fruit store near by. Henry of course was one of my dys¬ 
peptics. I told them to get then- baggage down to the 
boat at once. An hour later and I was waiting for them 
aboard the steamer. They came at last, one at a time— 
they are never ill a hurry. I observed that Ben came up 
smiling and swinging his cane, the top of which he had 
had carved into some sort of a head, either of a pointer 
or a clown, I could not tell which. Ed. had the shark 
hook sticking out of his pocket, while Marion was exam¬ 
ining his latest purchase, a hollow handle containing all 
manner of awl blades, chisels, gimblets, &c.; lie was 
vainly trying to get them all back into the handlo agam. 
The last to arrive was Henry, in great haste too, his pock¬ 
ets full of oranges and bananas and his mouth moving 
faster than his legs. 
The little Volusia steamed out shortly afterwards and 
went puffing up the St. John’s against a strong head wind. 
As this river has been so often described in Forest and 
Stream I will not attempt it. We finally left the river 
on Tuesday mor ning and entered Snake Greek, whose tor¬ 
tuous windings we followed for a few hours, and arrived 
at Salt Lake about 11 o’clock. This is the head of navi¬ 
gation, and is 275 miles above Jacksonville. Wo were 
transferred to the shore in a lighter, or I should say to a 
car, which stood some hundred yards from the shore in 
the shallow water which but barely covered the track. 
There is a wooden tramway seven miles in length, ex¬ 
tending from Salt Lake to Titusville. The car is drawn 
by two mules who travel outside of the track, one on 
each side, and entirely independent of each other — each 
having a. pair of lines to himself, like a Mississippi steam¬ 
boat with two engines, which can be forged ahead with 
one wheel while being backed by the other. Wo arrived 
at Titusville in time for dinner. ’ J. A. Henshall. 
HUNTING THE SHARPTA1LS AT 
HALLOCK. 
II a hock, Minnesota, Sept. lilt, lata. 
The sharptallod grouse (Pedhxeles PluunmMlusI is the original 
representative of this family in the northwest. It has never been 
found, l beReve, south of latitude J3, hut goes as far north as G rent 
Stain Lnke,and from northern Wisconsin to the Pacific, inhabiting 
prairies and oak-openings. 
A peculiarity of this bird is that it disappears gradually in pro¬ 
portion as the country becomes settled and cultivated, and is 
then suppiunted by the commou prairie ohickentCup/ifonia Ouptdo). 
As a game bird it is, in my estimation, superior to the last-named 
variety, being much handsomer in plumage, swifter on the wing 
and its flesh of more delicate flavor. 
On the second instant at a o'clock p. m., Mr. C. W. Glidden of 
Boston and myself left St. Paul by the St. Paul, Minneapolis and 
Manitoba Railroad for Hullock, for the purpose of enjoying a few 
days' hunting of these tine birds. The following day, rather late 
in the afternoon, we arrived at the place, but as the sun was yet an 
