444 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



\3iM, i, 1883. 



tender. About tie first of September they would fly up the 

 jalaud, "but whether thej lefl the land I don't know, but 



think not, for there was no other html nearer than Kergue- 

 len, aud the prevailing wind was from the uoriii, so ihat 

 while they mighl have come from Ksrgofilen, it would 

 lime been tough work for them to go bach again. 



The sea hens came in September built nests like the bart- 

 ridge, laid two speckled eggs and batched in December, and 

 left the island the first of June. Their flesh tasted very 

 much like that of tame ducks, of which they were the size. 

 We usually boiled them about an hour. They would at 

 tirsL he verv tame, but after a month ashore they came to 

 know our 'ways. We killed some with the shotgun; when 

 one was dead throwing it up, and the rest would hover 

 around il : but we got the most by snaring Ihem. We would 

 take a line thirty fathoms long, and making a -BOO i i ■ 

 end would put into it ou the ground a piece of blubber;; 

 then when I hoy stepped into the noose we would haul away 

 on it, often getting two hens at a. time. When they lirst 

 came 1 hey would be very tamo, but alter a mouth ashore 

 they would come to know our tricks, and would lilt up their 

 feet very earcfullv when going Eor the blubber. 



Oilier birds lhat slop oit this island all the Ume are called 

 the stinkers. They are carrion birds, and, of course, not 

 flood to eat. They are. about the size of a turkey, and would 

 cat blubber until not able to fly. 



The stinkers were with us ail the year around, and many 

 a battel of blubber they scoffed They have a very keen 

 sight ; sometime when, "we would kill an elephant, no stinker 

 was to be seen in any ifuarter; but within five minutes they 

 won hi heave in sight and soon would be Bquatting around 

 waiting to take their turn M thecareasa. 1 remember that 



one time a barrel of hluhber was left unprotected for an 



hour, and when we came back lucre was none there, thy 

 stinkers had made way with it. They were a terrible nuis- 

 ance, and gave us much trouble. The captain saw them 

 breeding at Long Beach. 



The shags had a rookery on the Iceberg, near the water. 

 Every rooming about daylight a crew of them would start 

 off. and make a circular flight about fifteen miles out to sea. 

 They te thus a good guide to the mariner making Kergjie- 

 teu or Heard's. The shags would be gone on this voyage 

 two in- three bonis, when they would come ashore, and 

 another crew would go out. Tbej lay on the bare ice or in 

 the tussock, breeding in January and into February, and 

 leave the island the last of March, from which time to Jan- 

 s' they live on the sea. They were tishv and 

 tough, ami though we tried we COUM not eat them. Two 

 or i hive of (he Portuguese once ate a couple of shags that 

 had been boiled a long time, but they didn't know what it 

 was. 



A few- Mother Carey's chickens blew ashore in the storms, 

 but went right oil again. 



1 saw that the gulls bred in November and December 

 nesting away up in Ihe cliffs, two hundred feet, high. 



The Cape pigeons would boon (be island from October to 

 January, They were very tame, and were easily killed 

 wiih a stick. We would heave them a piece of blubber and 

 then throw the stick al them. 



We didn'i see many fish; those that we caught were like 



would be broken oil' Ihe bergs and fall into the water the 

 ii ■■■!! s. . .,i:|il he hove ashore, dead or so stunned as to be 

 easily caught. We thought the falling ice did it. 



There bad been no seals to speak of Cor fifteen years. We 

 captured nine far seals, of which f got five, They came in 

 Februarj an L, b n i) aught, would leave in May. 



i ... sa leopards paid us visits from time to time. 

 They are like seals, with lona neck and long flippers. The 

 blubber is poor, I ml we made good use of the skins, making 

 them into mittens, stockings and bootlegs. We saw fifty 

 leopards and killed twelve. 



As 1 have before said, we had nothing on ♦Heard's Island 



thing toeat; and.-- the woather during all these months 

 i tl] el eerl ss and gloomy, we all came to be in 

 despair of keeping up our spirits. Heard's Island is as bar- 

 ren and bleak and dreary a bit of laud as Desolation, and 

 deserves Ihe name equally with that. 



But. the tiling that troubled us most of all was that, we 

 did no! know whether we should ever make out to get off 

 from our island prison, nor whether wo should ever see our 

 wives ami children more; and we thought it hard that 

 neither Lawrence & Co.. nor ihe government should send a 

 relief ship to take us off the island. But none came: and 

 so it went on. until we had been cast away fifteen months; 

 and it was a sorry New i' ear's Day we bad when 188S came 

 and found us .still in out cabins or miking our way along 

 I. note, on the lookout for a vessel. What added much 

 loom misery was thai we. had been now eight mouths shut 

 Up On tbjs island without tobacco; and many of Ihe men 

 thought Hull this was the greatest hardship of all. as in truth 

 it was. 



Among the Portuguese was a big black fellow called Bei- 

 ualiue, an artful rogue, wdio was always up to some deviltry. 

 Il, i.iinr "a '.a :, ; , ■.■larm of a ship'iu s.ighl, and for some 

 prank of his, on a certain occasion, i hail forbidden him 

 ever to set foot in my shanty again, lie never dared to 

 show himself there until oho day, the 12th of January, he 

 came running in, greatly excited and grinning all over. 



"Gel out or' the-, you Mack rase-a'," said I, Starting toward 

 him to throw him out. "and never let me catch you iu this 

 shanty again." 



"Vou see shipv" cried Bernaliuc, 



"Ship? Where?'' and I ran out, 



"There!'' and looting to the northwest, where he pointed, 

 sure enough, I .saw a man-o'-war rounding to; tor the t-angs 

 in I lie other shanties had already seen her and had hoisted 

 their signal, at which she had hove to. 



But it wasn't half a minute before I had the flag run up 

 to the peak of my own signal polo, and when the ship saw 

 this She made il out to be the true signal, and rounding the 

 poitd of the island, she came to and anchored a mile to the 

 eastward of my shanty and had' a, mile oil shoo 



by daylight 'next morning all Is,, a' ' lea! a, ,t.,i. r or i,a 



!„ ; ,,. ie i my i 1] ,\t. seven o'clock a boat'.- urew 

 from the ship. Taking up a big sea elephant's 



bono, I hclil ii: high and carried if. along the beach until I 

 Game to a safe place lo land, where I dropped it, and then 

 the boat came ashore. 

 "Man-o'-war?" 



"English?" 

 "Kd, American.'' 

 ••ffave you any tobacco V" 



And when the officer handed it over, it did not take us 

 long to get it into our mouths, cither, as far as it would go 

 among so many. 



The ship, as' we then learned, was, the United Slates ship 

 Marion, which ii| petition of our families had been dis- 

 patched by the government "to go to 5M S., 70 Ii, Heard's 

 Island, in search of the crew of the bark Trinity, supposed 

 to have been cast away there.' 1 And the Marion hatl found 

 us. 



We were, then taken off from our solitary abode; and all 

 hands went aboard the Mariou. Theii indeed all our 

 troubles were at. an end as we steamed away from Heard's 

 Island, with the Stars and Stripes over our liead. and bound 

 for our far-distant homes. All our old tattered rags were 

 hove overboard, and each one of us was dressed in a navy 

 suit of blue. 



We put in at Crinton Bay and took off thegangthcre, and 

 then held our course to island of Desolation; and thence 

 put out for Cape Town. I speak for every man in the 

 Trinity's crew when I say that, we shall always remember 

 wiih gratitude (he officers and men of the Marion who were 

 so kind to us; and we shall always love and regard the 

 Stars and Stripes. 



The crew of the Marion was made up of many different 

 nationalities, ninotn: them being Greeks, Turks, 'Spaniards, 

 French, English. Portuguese, and even Indian, there being 

 180 altogether. Nor should I forget to mention" Lieut. 

 Chambers' pet South American lion," which was kept in a 

 cage at night and chained to the. rail by day. He was very 

 tame and gave us much amusement. I got along very well 

 with him until one day when he ripped my shirt off* then 

 I gave him a thrashing with a netted rope. 



After a passage of thirty-three days we arrived, all hands 

 safe and sound, at Cape Town, and were there put in 

 charge of the Consul, until he could find a way to send us 

 home. Capt. Williams and Mr. Keeney. the first mate, 

 could pay their passage to the United States iu the mail 

 boats via England. I had no money, therefore I could not 

 pay mv passage in a mail boat; but' I thought 1 had been 

 loiig enough away from mv home and family. So 1 went 

 oc board the Unglish mail steamer Trojan, Capt. Coxwell, 

 master, and told him my situation, ife gave me a free 

 passage to Southampton. England, and also gave me a let- 

 ter to give to the captain of the mail steamer Neekar, of the 

 Lloyd German Line; and on the 2d of April at noon 1 landed 

 in jersey City, in good health and home once more. 1 have 

 seen great kindness from each nation, American, English 

 and German, perhaps more than I did deserve, at least 

 more than I could expect. 



Capt. John Williams and Mr. Geo. Keeney, first officer, 

 deserve great credit for having kept good rule among so 

 many and for so long a time. 



The crew were the loyalest men I was ever with. If one 

 party had not something to eat another party would have 

 it, and they always shared with one another. They were 

 always cheerful and kept a still shoulder against the' breeze 

 of trouble, and never looked on the dark side, but always 

 hoped for a brighter day. 



I do believe that the old Trinity buried herself under sand 

 and seas somewhere about the southeast point of the island, 

 and she may on some other day arise in the shape of Serif- 

 ten, or Ihe bm '-Eyed Pilot, and cruise around this island to 

 protect the elephants and penguins and wild cabbage and 

 other passengers who may visit this solitary land. My sun- 

 dial, I suppose, is still there, keeping its record of the hours. 



WINTER IN THE ADIRONDACKS. 



"V\ T E publish the following extracts from a personal let- 

 V T tcr, by permission, from Mr. A. R. Fuller, of 

 Meacham Lake, Franklin county, N. Y., under date of De- 

 cember 12: 



You say you have a big snow storm on hand, and think 

 we must be enjoying the same kind. Yes, ■'Winter Notes'' 

 from the Adirondack's will be in order. We have had a lit- 

 tle snow fall for fifteen consecutive days, till we. have 

 about eighteen inches of snow iu the woods. Outside 

 they can't measure it. My team started at 8 A. M., Decem- 

 ber" 8, for Maloue, an I made the first ten miles in seven 

 hours, and reached Malone at, 7 F. M. The horses were in 

 the snow several times where they had to be shoveled out. 

 About the lake our roads arc first rate. We arc busy getting 

 out some pine logs that have lain on Ihe ground several 

 wars, and as they are growing no better, f thought best to 

 get Ihem out where we could See them. 



" The lake closed the night of December 8, when the ther- 

 mometer marked fifteen below zero. One lone duck was 

 fro.on into the ice about a half miie out, in front of the 

 house. I looked at him several times during the day with 

 the glass. A bout 3 P. M. went to the barn and saw an eagle 

 come sailing down over the clearing; when I reached the 

 house I saw" thiit he. bad found the duck and was feasting on 

 wild duck, not roasted even. I got the glass and watched 

 him till he had finished. He was a very large one, but 

 looked very ragged, quite a number of quills gone from his 

 wings and' tail, his head and neck were white, the white 

 feathers extending further down than we usually see them. 

 Now that the lake is frozen over the foxes use 'it as a play- 

 ground; their tracks show in every direction. I have only 



and he was just too far off to shoot. To see their 



tracks one would think the "woods full of foxes." 



Now "when the summer days are gone" I am almost alone. 

 taking my rest. December 20 the family and all the help 

 will leave me to have (heir Christmas", then I will be a 

 Crusoe indeed. But I enjoy these quiet times, and as I sit 

 before the open fire to-night 1 think I am quite as comforta- 

 ble and contented as most of the "busy ones" confined to 

 office and shop, and this year, more than ever before, 1 find 

 I need the rest. 1 am somewhat better than when you left 

 me, and hope soon to be able to say I am as well as usual. 



My trout, eggs are doing nicely, and I hope to have a nice 

 lot, of young fry to turn into the lake. I have about. 65,000 

 eggs on the trays. 



After ihe dogs were hauled oil; I tried to put out my traps, 

 but. found 1 was not able In stand Ihe Iramps, so have to trap 

 about, the lake. This ought to be a good war for trapping, 

 as there was nothingin Ihe woods in the way of "shack" for 

 ihe small animals. The deer do better; they can get ground 

 hemlock and mosses and lichens, The partridges will be 

 confined to birch buds almost entirely during the snowstorm. 

 They have been in the snow; we have started out several 

 when at work at our logs, and from the looks of the bole 

 you would think they had not been out for a month. The 

 pile of manure looks" larger than the bird. 



The deer arc very busy these days. We see fresh tracks 

 near the house every morning. Two crossed the road this 

 morning near the letter-box. 



The Malone Palladium copied your letter on Meacham 

 Lake in full, also made quite an article ou their own account. 

 One of the editors, F. J. Seaver, is quite a sportsman, takes 

 more interest in such things than anyone I know in the 

 county; he is the best fly-iishcrmnri in Malone. 



How the Forest and Stream improves, Every number 

 seems better than the one before, and from the advertising 

 pages it must be paying somebody something. I am glad of 

 it; I wish you all su id as. 



Since you left "Old Blucfoot" took a race and never came 

 back. His last race before that he drove in the biggest buck 

 of the season, which was killed by a Mr. Weston." 



A. R, Fuller. 



BAYPORT. FLORIDA. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 

 All the old visitors of Homosassa remember the genial, 

 d industrious Frank Knapp (the nephew of Alfred 



P. Jones) who was ever ready to aid all i 

 and assistance. He has rented a winter 

 twenty miles east of Homosassa, and is pi 

 date sportsmen on reasonable terms. Tin 

 is located at the mouth of the Wiooav 

 stream is about ten miles in length, i 

 spring. From the best information we 

 secure, this stream oilers greater advanta 

 than any one north of Charlotte Harbor, 

 this place is the fact that tit 



few yards of the gulf 

 sea breezes; and if disposed, can i 

 bay in front of the house. Al t lie i 

 channel bass and sea trout fisi; 

 upper portion of the river, fish sii 

 Homosassa can be captured in gr 

 offers many natural beauties at 

 Ducks, snipe and curlew are (as \ 

 ful, and wc have been informed, 

 last winter large numbers of I. 

 the neighborhood. In the inter 



ith his information 

 ■esort at Bayport, 



pared foaccommo- 

 villa ae of Bavport 

 dice river. This 

 d rises in a large 

 ave been able to 

 is to the piscator 

 One advantage of 

 ■side within i 



enjoy the invigorating 

 lulge'iii a sail in the large 

 juth of the river, -cavallie, 

 lg is excellent. In the 

 lar to those caught in the 

 eat numbers. The spring 

 rid is well worth a visit. 

 ve understand) verv plenti- 

 that during the course of 

 glish snipe were killed in 

 r, and to the east of Bay- 

 port, good hunting can be secured. 



From our knowledge of Frank and his wife, we feel fis- 

 sured that visitors will receive every attention, and at no 

 distant day the sporting attraction's of the locality will 

 attract numerous visitors. \r, Fbebi o. 



Jacksonville, Dec. 20, 1882. 



LONG JOHN. 



TfiOLKS says I'm just a hunter. 

 ■*- And a kind o' wagabond, 

 But some time they'll come to know me, 



In the huntin' ground beyond, 

 Where they'll And, with aU their talkin', 



That they've lost what I have found. 



When the Teller leaves iu Autumn 

 Goesawaverin' from the trees, 



And the gentians in the swamp lot 

 Cheer the flowers that's got to Creese; 



Then 1 sort er get to tliinkiu' 

 How we all must go like these. 



And I wonder if the town folks. 



Always wraslin' with each other, 

 Think the One above sets store by them, 



Because they stay iu cover, 

 When the church bells ring on Sundays, 



And they've got to ibmlc it over, 



like, 



A sperit voice comes w] 

 That, speaks direct to me, 



When the early sun glides down the 

 And birds fly 'round so free. 



That alters makes me symperthise, 

 And let all business be. 



There ain't no home for comes i 

 Like a squirrel's dead-limb hole: 



And the folks that s>we ihui house 

 Beat the wootleliueks little knoll, 



Never think of going to I he woods 

 For spreadiif out the soul. 



It's so; that when i married, 

 Marthy made it si-em the best 



To git inside a picket fence 

 To build our humbly nest, 



And little John and Mary 

 Bunnin' round it, give me rest. 



But the partridge 



wus a-waitin'. 



In the bresh, dc 



mi by the brook. 



And the trout was 



just a-aehiu' 



Fjrto dash on 



o my hook; 



While the fox rui 



'round atbiukln 



He wa'n't likely 



to be took. 



The beech limbs \ 



7 as a beek'uin', 



And the hemloc 



ks smelt so sweet 



As the breezes w; 



tied through 'em 



Wavin' brakes ; 



round so neat, 



ThatlkimleWn 



cieivd OS ia mind 



And folk-red wi 



;. i,, : . test 



They think I'm but a wagabond, 



AVho only hunts for game; 

 But the freedom of the tartest 



Makes a man that's worth the name, 

 Goin' 'way ahead of them as hunts 



For money and for fame. 



Mark West. 



George Conklin, the lion-tamer, says that his invariable rule is to 

 keep his eyes upon the eyes of the animals. He refuses to perform 

 with a cross-eyed brute, "for he's like a cross-eyed woman; you 

 can't tell whether she's flirting with you or with the man on Ihe 



other side of the street." 



The Virginia City iNev.l Enle.rprini thinks that after the OBtiieli 

 ranchiug experiment in California has proved a failure, some of die 

 birds will be allowed to shift for themselves, and will thus stock the 

 wilds of Arizona, New Mexico, ami other regions in that direction. 

 It is about like the business of breeding oaniel*. Camels do well in 

 Nevada, increasing about as rapidly as auy other kind of stock, but 

 no one appears to know what to do with them, A lot taken to the 

 desert regions for use in packing and prospecting, proved of so little 

 value that they were turned loose to shift for themselves 

 now breeding and running wild up toward the headwaters of the 

 Gila River. 



