44 



FOftEST AND STREAM. 



[August 18 1881. 



mittimus committing him to jail for the non-payment of the 

 fine, and placed it in the hands of the sheriff, who attempted 

 to make the arrest. The sheriff, being resisted, called on 

 Bevcral gentlemen to assist him, who refused to interfere. 

 He then called in his son to assist him, who responded, and 

 a scuttle ensued, in which the sheriff's sou had I wo of his 

 teeth knocked loose and received a severe blow in the eye. 

 The difficulty cuded by a third neighbor making his appear- 

 ance and paying the fine." Wc are not told what became of 

 the mocking-birds. 



> .« . ~. 



Plaster Oasts of Doob. — Mr. Palmer, the modeler of 

 the United States Natural History Museum, has Bucceeded in 

 making some excellent plaster casts of dogs, and the Museum 

 proposes to have a series of such casts prepared to show the 

 characteristics of the various breeds. Skeletons of typical 

 dogs will be mounted for the Museum and these, with the 

 painted casts, will make the collection a most -valuable one. 

 It is hardly to be presumed that any of our prominent fan- 

 ciers are such devotees to the science of dog-breediug that 

 they will he willing to sacrifice their animals to the cause ; 

 but it will certainly be a most sensible and satisfactory dispo- 

 sition of a dead dog to forward him to Washington, where 

 Ms points may be permanently preserved. For modeling 

 purposes, at least, a dead dog is better than a living lion; 

 and the Smithsonion Institution offers to pay the express 

 charges on such finely-bred dogs as maybe seut to them. 



Adirondack GrtiDHS are much exercised lest the odium of 

 "Parker's" crime should attach to themselves as a class. 

 Visitors to the North Woods will bear us out; in the asscition 

 that the guides there have a record for honorable conduct, 

 which should relieve them from any such unjust imputations. 

 Before the Parker affair transpired, the Adirondack guide 

 was thought to be worthy of the confidence of parties of 

 ladies and gentlemen. To-day he is no whit different. The 

 New York daily paper paragraphers, who dub the Adiron- 

 dack guides as fellows to be severely let alone, probably 

 never saw an Adirondack guide in their lives, aud don't 

 know what they are talking about. 



Sktlauks OS fcoNo Island.— Those who have been inter- 

 ested in the importation of the Euglish skylark into this 

 country will be glad to know that Ihe experiment made some 

 years ago ou Lor g Island has proved a success. A number 

 of birds were put out at. Flatlands, Long Island, near the 

 County Houses, some years ago, before the war wc believe, 

 and these birds and their progeny have been seen almost 

 every year since. Mr. Edmund Orgill has frequently seen 

 them there and heard them sing. One remarkable thing 

 about their annual return is that they have always come back 

 j_o the exact locality where they were at first put out. 



Wa beg. your paudon, Mr. Wtn. Gale, English pedestrian, 

 for failing to n 3te your performance of walking 6,000 qnarter- 

 miles in as many consecnlive ten-minutes in a Bowery lager- 

 beer saloon, this city. To tell Ihe truth, wc think the feat 

 a stupid and useless one. Now we propose that all the long- 

 distance walkiug idiots and all the fasting lunatics join 

 hands and start off after the fellow who set out a year or 

 two ago to walk around the world in six years. And there 

 are the crazy fellows, too, who sail for Europe in dories— we 

 can spare each and all of these deluded seekers after noto- 

 riety and shekels. 



. «— ♦» -• — 



Abb They Monopolies?— Our correspondent "Didymus," 

 in a late issue, called attention to the fact that many of the 

 most favored game localities^of this country are coming into 

 the possession of clubs, and it was suggested that such clubs 

 •were in a sense monopolies. We are. much mistaken if a 

 ereat deal of argument cannot be odduoed on each side of 

 this question. In a letter published elsewhere to-day it ie 

 shown that at least one c'ub has found exclusiveness esseu- 

 tial to the protection of its game. Perhaps Ihere is yet a 

 golden mean not yet attained. We invite expressions of 

 experience aud opinion on the subject. 



^ *©^-4 



The Ebank; Pokebtek Club— At a meeting of the Green- 

 wood Lake Association, Frank Forester Club, held at the 

 Office of Messrs. McDowell & Co., this city last Friday, Mr. J. 

 B. Wortendykc, of Midland Park, N. J., and Hon. John J. 

 Blair, of Blairstown, N. J., who is eighty years old, and says 

 he has twenty years more of fishing in him yet, were elected 

 members. Mr. T. 0, Banks, of Ihe Forest and Stream, 

 was elected an honorary member, this being the first such el- 

 ection on the records of the club. The annual meeting and 

 presidential dinner will be held at the new club house, War- 

 wick Woodlands, on the first Tuesday in September. 



A Fox Hunt was ou the programme of sports at Cottage 

 City, Mass., last week, but the S. F. P. 0. A. told the pro- 

 jectors of the entertainment that the society would chase 

 Item if (hey ran the fox, whereupon a drag hunt was sub- 

 stituted. We are of opinion that the fox chasers had the 

 strong side of the case, and it is to be regretted that they 

 should have yielded to Ihe officers of the Society. 



Grey-Eyed Men, it is often claimed, are the best marks- 

 men. At the Chicago shooting tournament Ihe other day it 

 was. noticed that ainoDg the most expert shots grey eyes pre- 

 dominated. 



LAKE GEORGE MEET. 



'pllE annual meeting of canoeists on Lake aoorge, Aug. n, it) ana 

 1 18, was an event In the history ot the paddle in America of which 

 we may wen te proud. It brought together a larger number ot men 

 devoted to this fascinating sport than had ever before assembled on 

 American waters. The success of the meet pluces the American 

 Canoe Association upon a sound, permanent footing, and henceforth 

 the camp Hies will glow every year on the charming Islelswsorved 

 for tho knights or the double blade and their friends. The meeting 

 gave evidence enough of the rapid strides la popularity the sport Is 

 making, and shows that It has taken root all over the land. Many 

 new clubs sent delegations from the West and from Canada, while 

 the older organizations from the East were on hand In rorce. New 

 York was represented by the parent Institution, the N. Y. C. C, and 

 Its younger sister, the Knickerbocker C. c, while the ranks wore 

 filled with many blurdy scions whose names are borne on the books 

 ll the Ottawa C. C, Toronto c. C, Cincinnati 0. 0., Cleveland C. C, 

 Peterborough c. C„ Whitehall C. O., Lake George C. C, and others 

 with " poor Lo," who may be said to have Invented the first canoe, 

 likewise on hand In birch barks or native make, which they propelled 

 after the aboriginal plan with a single roughly cut blade, ir they 

 and their craft were fair samples of tho genus and the gelnus of the 

 red man, his pale-faco brother has got a long lead on the copper 

 skins, and can discount him In the canoe business badly. The old 

 romance about no one being able to improve upon the Indian canoe 

 was forever dispelled upon actual comparison of the work of both 

 facts. After ihe seventy odd canoes had been beached, tents raised 

 and duflle unpacked, a meeting was called In the evening and the 

 election of officer) taken tn hand. The old hoard, so long the head 

 and front of the sport, declined re-election, and after some canvaslng 

 trie following were chosen to serve as officers of the American Canoe 

 Assaciatlou for the year : Commodore, Judge Nicholas Longwortb, of 

 tho Cincinnati c. c ; Vico-Commodore, J. Edwards, of the Peter- 

 borough C. C.| Ontario: Hear Commodore, Arthur Brentano, Knick- 

 erbocker C. C, and Dr. c. A. Neide, ot the Lake George C. C, for 

 Secretary and Treasurer. Tho various races were well contested, 

 Cincinnati carrying on "the palm through their athletic representa- 

 tive, Dr. Helghway, whose victories were well celebrated upon the 

 club Island " Cincinnati " In a Joyous manner, which left no doubt as 

 to where the honors rested. A banquet on the third day at the 

 Crosleyslde brought the meeting to a CI030, the canoeists being bound 

 on cruises, jingle and in company, many spending their summer va- 

 cation swinging the paddle, returning to their desks and toll with 

 nut-brown tan and freshly Invigorated constitutions. Concerning 

 tho racing; and the details ot the three days' meet, wc prefer to let our 

 special correspondent speak at greater length next week. 



WANTED.-Afileof the " Old Spirit " and of "Porter's 

 Spirit." We shall esteem it a favor if any one knowing of 

 such a file which is procurable will inform the editor of this 

 paper, 



Wh e Sportsman $owi$L 



A STORY OF THE JUNIPER SWAMPS. 



WHILE stopping for a rest at the "Hygea Hotel" at 

 Old Point, on my way from Florida last summer, I 

 met an old gentleman named Nixon, from Perquimans Co., 

 N. C, who informed me that before the war slave owners 

 were always very anxious to hire their hands to the shingle 

 cutters in the juniper and cypress swamps, as they always 

 came home at the end of the year in "good condition," and 

 while at work in the swamps always enjoyed perfect health. 

 An officer of the Navy who was present said that the juniper 

 water was always u?ed by United Statea vessels going out 

 from the Navy Yard at Norfolk on a long foreign cruise, be- 

 cause it kept clear and fresh for years, and the officers and 

 men who used it usually enjoyed good health. Soon after- 

 ward I took a trip out on the Dismal Swamp Canal from 

 Norfolk and visited Lake Drurnmond in the Dismal Swamp. 

 I was surprised to find it a clear, dark lake, margined by a 

 thick forest of beautiful green juniper, and the contrast be- 

 tween the claret-colored water and the evergreen foliage makes 

 a beautiful picture. The lake is deep and full of fish which are 

 peculiar to these waters, and Ihe robiu, perch and chub grow 

 to a very large size and are as sweet as any fish I ever ate. 

 A few days' use of the water satisfied me that it was good 

 for me. I drank freely of it and bathed in it. It seemed to 

 have a tonic effect and was very pleasant and agreeable to 

 drink. I think the time is not far dis ant when the health- 

 giving quality of the water and the pure atmosphere, with 

 an entire freedom from insects of all kinds, and the advan- 

 tages for bathing, sailing and fishing, will make this a very 

 popular place of resort for invalids. 



One would imagine that these swamps were a dismal char- 

 nal house. On the contrary, they are the healthiest places 

 ou the American Continent. There is no decomposed wood 

 —juniper timber never rots. The trees fall to the ground, 

 but they do not decompose but turn to peat and lie, indissolu- 

 ble by air and water, for ages. There is nothing in these 

 awamps to croate miasma— no rising ot the tides and decom- 

 position of rank vegetation, no marshes exposed to the burn- 

 ing rays of the sun ; all is fresh and pure, and the air is laden 

 with sweet odors. I afterward visited the swanips in Dare 

 County and found them like the Dismal Swamps. East 

 Lake, near the mouth of tho Alligator River, about ten miles 

 west of here, and the waters of the Alligator River are iden- 

 tical with Lake Drurnmond in their natural features. 



The country between here and there is a perfect wilderness, 

 excepting a few small clearings on Croatean Sound. I have 

 visited different portions of it, and found many things to in- 

 terest one. The woods are full of game. Bear aud deer go 

 in herds. The bear feeds on the gum and huckleberries in 

 their season, and their paths to their feeding grounds are as 

 well defined as cattle paths through the woods in the North. 

 I saw on one occasion seven bears— a family led by an old 

 she bear, so my guide said. She would occasionally stand 

 against a tree and tear the bark, leaving a blaze similar to Ihe 

 marks made by woodmen to mark roads through the wilder- 

 ness, and my guide declared it was done by the old bear so 

 the young bears could find their way from one feeding 

 ground to another. I had nothing with me but small shot, 

 and did not waste that on such big game. The natives hunt 

 them at night, paddling silently through the bayous and 



creeks and listening for the noise of the bears in the gum 

 trees, as they feed on tender gum nuts; and my guide, a 

 regular Leather Stocking named Bill Basnight, and a man 

 named Grant killed seven in two nights last year, aud also a 

 deer. 



Basnight is the Nimrod of North Carolina, aud his experi- 

 ence would make an interesting volume. lie has had nu- 

 merous hand-to-hand fights with bears, and seems to consider 

 it a very ordinary affair to settle oue of them with his hunt- 

 ing knife. He has a great respect, however, for the swamp 

 panther, or "painter," as he calls them. This seams to be a 

 cross between the wildcat and the American panther, judg- 

 ing from the skin of one I saw at Basnight's. They are very 

 fierce. Basnight has shot several, and seldom " saved one " 

 without damage to his dogs. About two years ago, while 

 hunting for deer near his home on Roper's tract, his dogs at- 

 tacked a painter. One of the dogs had been disembowi led 

 aud another scalped, and Basnight thought it about time to 

 interfere. He fired at the painter, which fell behind an old 

 big cypress. He was in the act of climbing over the log, 

 when he was confronted by the fierce whiskered face of the 

 animal as it climbed up the opposite side of the log, appar- 

 ently none the worse for the shot. He had just time to 

 draw his double-bladed heavy hunting knife, and brought it 

 down on the skull of the animal with all his strength, and 

 was fortunate enough to cleave its head open ; but he still 

 bears the scars of a sharp claw that plowed his shoulder as 

 the panther struck him in its dying struggle. 



I was told that Basnight was the man lo go to for informa- 

 tion about the famous pitcher plant, which is said to be a 

 powerful diuretic and good lo use with the juniper water. I 

 found him in his fi>h camp near East Lake, on the Little Al- 

 ligator River. We left the sloop and look a small skiff aud 

 went up a narrow "gut" about half a mile long and not 

 over eight feet wide at any point, but deep. The gut opened 

 out into a lake of dark juniper water about five acres in ex- 

 tent, at the head of which we found Basnight in his fish 

 camp. The hounds bayed out as we approached the landing 

 and he came out with lightwood torch in hand and invited us 

 into his camp. It was a small, low-pitched building, afoit 

 sixteen feel square, with bunks from floor to coiling on thr.to 

 sides, a big fire-place aud the door occupying the other. We 

 found Basnight to be a sturdy, active-looking man with an 

 honest, wentherbeaten countenance and his blue eye and 

 light hair indicated pure Anglo-Saxon descent. Ho gave us 

 e. hearty welcome, aud now the air was filled with the fra- 

 grant odors of broiling venisoD, frying chub, corn bread and 

 coffee. 



After a hearty supper we reclined on the rushes in one of 

 the bunks and smoked a new corn-cob pipe while we listened 

 lo the hunter's yarns. The other buuks were filled with 

 shock-headed men and boys who belonged to Basnight's fish 

 crew. A two-foot snapping turtle lay on the floor ou his 

 back vainly reaching out his claws for a purchase to turn 

 over. Two hounds lay on the floor quietly watching the tur- 

 tle's struggles. Basnight sat iu his arm-chair, smoking his 

 pipe, with his bare feet to the fire. Ho told me of many 

 hairbreadth escapes from bear, "cat" and moccasin, aud 

 wound up with a rather interesting account about the Bas- 

 night fish pound. 



The Basnight family came into possession, during the last 

 century, by purchase from the Indians, of all the land about 

 this fish pound or lake, and for many generations it had been 

 zealously guarded from interlopers. About forty" years ago, 

 in an evil hour, it came temporarily under the control of a 

 member of tho family known as "Wild Ben," who was a 

 "pisen hirter," a "bluffer" and an "improvident cuss." 

 One spring, when the pound was full of herring, which had 

 come there to spawn, as they had been in the habit of doing 

 for "no man can tell how long," this foolish " Wild Ben," 

 while the pound waa so full of fish that one could stand on 

 shore and shovel them out by the cart-load, stopped up the 

 "gut" and started for home for some of the "niggers" to 

 save the fish. He fell by the wayside into evil company and 

 forgot, in the sweet delights of applejack and straight bluff, 

 enjoyed in the company of some good fellows, the poor little 

 captives imprisoned in the dark waters of the Basnight her- 

 ring pound. After a few days' good time he awoke one morn- 

 ing sober and suddenly remembered bis forgotten business 

 and the crop of ungathered fish. 



But it was too late. When he hastened to the lake with 

 "the boys" it was a stinking, hideous nuisance. 



From that day spring after spring came round aud none of 

 the finny tribe could be found in the dark waters of Basnight 

 herring pound. " Wild Ben" went to the bad. He took more 

 fiercely than ever to applejack and bluff. Negro slave after 

 necro slave went, to the block to keep him out of the jaws of 

 Bankruptcy . but at last the last picaninny had been sold, 

 and the ill-fated " Wild Ben," his birthright squandered, died 

 like Lord Banister— 



He took a plstuel from his belt, 



All loaded with powther and ball. 

 An' he blew a hole right I tiro - Ids head 

 An' on the floor did fall. 



About five years ago the present head of the Basnight 

 family, " Hunter Bill," brought some fish garbage from some 

 point below, where they had been cutting fish, and threw it 

 into the lake, and, baited in this rough way, the lake was re- 

 stocked and once more the house of BaBnight "has come to 

 its own again." 



Basnight told me some remarkable stories of the wild cran- 

 berries that are found all over the ground on thousauds of 

 acres in the Roper tract, and of alligators, big snakes, of im- 

 mense oysters ou the eastern side or the trad, in deep waters 

 about the marshes ; of rafts of black and white brant that 

 "place '' on the shoals on Pamlico— and I mean to examine 

 them all at my leisure. Jons Bbonson. 



A r (*<7.v Head" Hotel, JV. G. 



_-*#^_ 



TEXAS ATTRACTIONS. 



San Antonio, Texas, July, 1881. 



AS a resort for camping, hunting and fishing I feel sure 

 sportsmen, especially those seeking health as well as 

 pleasure, would enjoy our climate, which is so pure, mild and 

 breezy that I hardly know which season most to recommend. 

 Many of our ladies and gentlemen of leisure have either 

 gone lo the mountains, coast, or to board and camp at some 

 of ihe beautiful springs for which Texas is noted. We hard- 

 ly feel the necessity for a change, as with an elevation of 

 over six hundred feet we have the purity of the mountain 

 air, aud tho beautiful San Antonio River, with its continu- 

 ous line of bath-houses, in a measure furnishes a substitute 

 for Burf bathing. And why should we seek other waters 

 when our own springs are marvels to all tourists ? Four miles. 



