64 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[August 25, 1881. 



tii pus of tin; N. II. A is Up keep hi advance of all tlicse move- 

 ments, and Lo appoint committees of experts to determine 



Ilit in is a Warning against some pitfalls in 



the story of the N. K. A. of Great Britain, ami in this con« 

 nection it is propetto quote what the London Times found it 

 necessary to s:iy in a recent issue at the close of the July 

 meeting at Wimbledon: 



It may 00 Impossible to banish the element of lucre from 

 Wimbledon : but. the committee of the National Rifle Asso- 

 ciation might probably do something to prevent Ihe abuse of 

 a system. Well-known prize-winners might be handicapped ; 

 it is fully clear 1 1 at no more competitions of the ordinary sort 

 are wanted- A large prize list is little more than a distribution 

 of presold b among a few crack shots, already gorged with 

 this kind Of booty. Perhaps the best system of the reform 

 is to be discovered in the character of the prizes most n e'ent- 

 ly instituted, and exciting a large share of public interest, 

 i. ***** * g ucll competitions must exclude 

 the money-making element, while they advance the ellleicn- 

 cy of the volunteer force in a direction not hitherto attempt- 

 pad. In fact, what the public would wish the National Rifle 

 Association to aim at is the improvement of the general 

 shooting among the rank and tile of the volunteeis, as dis- 

 tinguished from the few hundreds of first-class inaiksiuen. 

 In spite Of the reputation which Wimbledon, more than aught 

 else, has secured for the shooting of volunteers, there is 

 reason to suspect .that a large mid worthless residum of had 

 shots remains behind the cii lice specimens who come to the 

 Borfaoe at SVimbledon, The National Rifle Association, 

 ; it, disclaim any educational mission of Lire sort 

 suggested. Bat they have alreatly fulfilled what we may 

 suppose ■ ii their primary object — that of discover - 



6 rewarding the best shots. Tnat is one method of 

 improving tin i ing of the volunteer force, but it 



■ in 'l exclude resort to the method-.! which may be more 

 practically useful and not open to the objection that, like the 

 teaching ol souie Of our public schools, they neglect the mass 

 While they single out and rcwaid the handful of the most 

 , i., ii ,, 



Oto Men as Si'ikviists.- Recently Professor Huxley 

 said that ninety. nine men out of every hundred became sim- 

 ply obstructive after sixty years old and were not flexible 

 enough to yield to the advance of now ideas. The world, he 

 thought, would be benefited by any man who had taken 

 part in science being strangled after reaching the ago of sixty 

 Will the Professor please remember that, and act accordingly 

 in a few years whtn be r. aches that age? 



hi : ,. ami'ment Uotei. at the Warwick Woodlands has 

 been entered at the International Cotton Exposition at At- 

 lanta, Gil., as a cotton hotel, and will Be open for guests un- 

 der the care of L. T. Jenness from October 5 to January 1, 

 after which it will be removed to an orange grove in Florida 

 for the nst of the seison. 



Mr. Charles II. Gii.hif.irr, the ichthyologist and co- 

 laborer with Prof. Jordan, has been severely injured in the 

 Alps. A telegram from London, on the 18th, says : 



A correspondent writes from Zermatt, in the canton of 

 Valaia, Switzerland, as follows: "Five American tourists 

 ascended Ihe Matlcrhoin on Saturday last. On their return 

 a rock was accidentally dislodged, and it struck the head of 

 Mr. Gilbert, a tutor of the Indiana University, a', Blooming- 

 ton, Ind., rendering him partially insensible. He was just 

 able to move mechanically along. Nearly four hours was 

 spent in bringing him to the hist hut, which was reached at 

 about 5 o'clock in the afternoon. Some of the party pro- 

 ceeded and brought doctors. Mr. Gilbert arrived at Zermatt 

 at 5 o'clock Sunday evening. He suffers principally from 

 the loss of blood, and will be able to leave there soon. The 

 guides were apprehensive that if he collapsed before he ar- 

 rived at the hut the party would be frozen to death before 

 succor could be obtained." 



soon it in the woods at night, when Nox and Erebus, and 

 Eurus and Notus hold the world between tie m. This night, 

 how our lire did roar and laugh I HOW it Clapped its hands 

 and threw up its arms ! How it stood a tiptoe upon it pedes- 

 tal of spruce logs, a. winged Mercury Bight 

 and soar into the unknown regions of darkn ss above ! How 

 the shadows skulk away, and retreat, pcd-mell. into the 

 forest behind! As we lie watching it, the Rhymer >i 

 softly, 



The sound of his voice arouses Ignotus, who declares it is 

 time to turn in. John, the Ambidextrous, had, ere this, i 

 four logs, about eight inches in diameter, and as m iuj feet 

 in length. These were placed in a square upon the ground, 

 our rubber blankt ts spread between, then the robes and other 

 blankets, and over all the wagon sheet, a huge square of 

 waterproof canvas, which, drawn over, and tuck din, amply 

 proteclcd us from the wet. We seldom went to the trouble 

 of pitchiug our tent, unless our stay was to be u protracted 

 one. 



It was a veritab'e Walpurgis Nicht. AUthespiri ■ the 

 storm were abroad. The hail lattled on the wagon sheet like 

 musketry, or smote the logs between which we lay crouched, 

 like whiffs of grape-shot. From every point of the compass, 

 the winds met above us, and wrestled with each fithi r 

 which should have us for their prey. They swou| ! 

 ipon us like snarling wolves, caught the wagon l hei t in their 



Field Spouts amp Lifb. ~I never saw the man who loved 

 the woods arid Ihe chase but who was brave in war and 

 manly in his civic life ; and many is the time in forensic lilts 

 that a knowledge of woodcraft is essential ; and as I see the 

 Englishman and American, growing day by day more expeit 

 in the manly sport on laud and water, I feel that he is grow- 

 ing wiser in head, stronger in body, braver in battle and 

 gentler at home. — G. 



oto 



;ed a mo- 

 plunge Of 

 ir, crash- 

 be valley 



Tub Masked ebengb in the number of entries in 



yacht races in the Fust and in Now York waters has proba- 

 bly not escaped any i me. Half a dozen coming to the line, 

 ■ tally among the smaller boats, is to be considered quite 

 a respectable turn out in metropolitan walers, yet whtn com- 

 pared to the doings among our Eastern friends, New York 

 i' ly, and can take little credit to herself if we 

 remember that our "near by" population is several times 

 greater than that of Boston and vicinity. There they also 

 sail a half dozen matches lo our one, but in spite of the ra- 

 pidity With whieh regatta announcemeLts follow each other, 

 i ies are elwaj 8 well filled, and spirited rivalry, lively 

 racing, and wclHstablished recoidsare the mle. One cause, 

 and the principal one, of ihe greater prosperity of the sport 

 among small craft in the Fast is to be found in their rule pro- 

 hibiting shitting ballast. InJMew York, on the contrary, this 

 pernicious custom is sill in full swing, and as a direct con- 

 sequence, small yachts have been driven out of existence ; the 

 iiuite craft have been displaced by sailing machines, 

 which are si costly to build, to own and especially to race, 

 that even with these very craft, ostensibly built for racing 

 1 mi,! lodged totally until for anything else, we are un- 

 able to fill a single match to the extent of arousing public in- 

 terest. Wo virtually rule out of existence the cheap, handy 

 little boat with fixed ballast within the reach of thousands, 

 and Ihen fail to accomplish anything but occasional duck- 

 ings and drownings with the expensive, dangerous and un- 

 satisfactory sand-bag caricatures which cost a small mint to 

 run, and give next lo nothing in return. So we will con- 

 tinue io play second fiddle t I Boston, until some junior club 

 shows itseli possessed of intelligence and enterprise enough 

 to take the honest little boat under its wings, and give her 

 through numbers the power and standing her virtues en- 

 title her to churn in the yachtiug community here just as 

 well as in the East. The club that takes our hint will be- 

 come the most prosperous among those devoted to the cause 

 pjl "open boats," as t hoy are termed, and will find it- 

 self on the high road to popularity and public esteem much 



sooner thnu may now seem likely. In place of the score of 



shabby, somnolent, local family nifairs called yacht clubs by 

 courtesy, we should have an organization which, except i 



point of tonnage, might he made the peer of any in the 



THE First GoniAMi in America.— The first fish of this 

 species, which it is proposed to introduce as a food fish into 

 Southern walers. arrived in Now York last week. It is a 

 rnale of threB inches in length and was sent by Mr. Carbon- 

 nier, tif Paiis, lo Mr. E. G. Blackford, of the Now YorKFisb 

 The female which accompanied it died just 

 Qui ' i i ii; Hook-. The fish is live'y and is beautiful in 

 its dross of green and black. It is now in Mr. Blackford's 

 Office in Fulton Market. For a description of this fish and 

 its wo would refer our readers to the article, 

 with illustrations, by Col. Nicolas Pike, in our issue of June 

 10, of this year. 



An Estek.med Germa.m Contemporary sandwiches the 

 card of an undertaker til between the advertisnfenls of a 



wholesale liquor dealer and a powder mill. A most " fortu- 

 itous combination." 



CROSSING THE RANGE. 



T TILLED by I he "magic of the lime," we had lingered 

 _LJ in our cabin on the Larriweep, until, one day, Ignotus, 

 casting his weather-eye np to the heavens, sagely pis gnos 

 catid lhat, "first thing we knew, we'd get snowed in, if we 

 didn't hurry up, and light out." The Indian-summer day no 

 which this announcement was made, seemed to laugh at any 

 such absurd prediction; but we knew from past experience 

 that Ignotus was on confidential terms with the Bureau of 

 Storms and the Department of the Weather, and that his ut- 

 terances on any such point were i o be viewed in a semi-official 

 light. 



John and the 1 thy mcr had joined us before this, and wo 

 had concluded to speud the winter in the lower country, 

 rather than endure the monotony of a six months' imprison- 

 ment by snow in Argeuluni. Two routes were open to us — 

 the one, straight down the Larriweep, to its junction with 

 the Grand; the other, over l ho range, between hi Conquis- 

 tador and Waluta, down the Rio Dolores to the Big Bend, 

 and then southerly. The first had the disadvantages Of un- 

 familiar country and of Poconaro-Ouinnep's band of rene- 

 gade Pi-Utes, so we chose the latter. 



Though there seemed no particular hurry, it was deemed 

 advisable to start early next morning, that wo might fairly 

 pass the summit of the range before nightfall, but we merely 

 succeeded in adding another block to that proverbial pave- 

 ment as it was after noon before we fairly started. Quick 

 as our departure was, however, the change which Ignotus 

 had predicted, was quicker. 



When we rose in i he morning, the sky was overcast, and 

 by ihe middle of the forenoon, a line rain was falling, whieh 

 we knew would be an icy si col at the summit of the pass. 

 As long as our way led up the valley, our progress was only 

 moderately uncomfortable, but when We turned aside, and 

 began to ascend the mountain, trouble opened before u?. 



The trail up the pass was one ot the steepest in the coun- 

 try, and was now, of course, rendered tenfold more flifficull 

 bv the falling sleet which had covered it. with a glaze of ice. 

 Riding was out of the question— walking, nearly as impossi- 

 ble. A great part of the way, we were forced to employ 

 primitive means. Tying a rope to the halter of the leading 

 horse, three of us, scrambling upward as far as we could, 

 would haul him up after as by main strength, while the 

 fourth, with "quirt" or "black-snake." reinforced energy 

 below. Slipping, sliding, stumbling, falling — on its feet, on 

 its knees, on its side, ihe poor animal would at last gain a 

 resting place, and, panting with fatigue, and shivering with 

 cold, wait while the. prooi .-:• <i with its compan- 



ions in misery. The many fulls, and the violent struggle 

 necessary to rise again, so disorganized the packs, that Con- 

 stant halts were necessary to rearrange them. Owing to 

 these delays, night overtook us, before we gained the sum- 

 mit. To attempt to cross after nightfall would have been 

 madness, and so, just before we came to timber-line, we 

 went into camp. The horses were turned out to find what 

 nourishment they could in spruce twigs, some dry wood col- 

 lected, a fire made, coffee prepared, and supper eaten, 

 Everything was coated with ice— our clothes wore stiff, and 

 arms and legs felt as though inclosed in joints of stove-pipe. 

 For awhile, the fire seemed to be in league with the spirits of 

 the storm, and refused to do more than to burn feebly, with 

 a dull yellow flame, and a sullen discouraged air. Finally, 

 however, finding that we were too old campaigners to lose 

 temper at its miscondue', it shook off its sullenness, and 

 blazed up rOyally. The crowding imps of darkness and cold 

 were driven further and further back-— out stiffened gar- 

 ments began to soften and then to steam — our chilled blood 

 to circulate— our numbed extremities to regain fooling, until 

 under the combined influence of the fire, hot coffee and 

 pipes, we began to feel more comfortable, and to pity those 

 poor fellows who had never experienced the pleasure of a 

 good thorough storm of bail and sleet upon the summit of 

 the Rockies. One docs not know what lire is, until he has 



fangs, and tugged and rived to pull it off. "The f caught u, 

 huge brands from the fire, and sent them whirling off 

 the woods, lighting up for a moment the bl 

 a train of glowing sparks. When the bl 

 ment to take breath, we could hear the 

 rocks, loosed from the peak of El Go 

 ing through the spruces till they came t< 

 three thousand feet below. As I snuggled down by lac slite 

 of Ignotus, I felt disposed to be thankful that 1 wasn'l a 

 country physician, or an ardent lover, or of any jiUr profes- 

 sion that might force me to face the elements when in such a 

 snarl as thej r seemed to be that night. 



Befote morning, ihe wind died dow: 

 snow, and when we awoke, and endea 

 blankets, the superincumbent weight 

 John declared he felt as if Ihe Da 

 come, and he w. re the first to appear a 

 snow came down — not in flakes nor 



slot 



tiirow off our 

 l .i ,-ri'i, thai 



Hi | Mil i. . 



ground. The 

 n sheets — but by the 



square acre, by the quarter sec ion. At ten feet, away, ob- 

 jects were dim — at as many yards, invisible The whole at- 

 mosphere seemed to be crystallizing and settling dawn on us 

 in layers. Our fire, of course, had gone out — buried under a 

 foot of snow. Ignotus, with a woodman's foresight, had 

 lucked away some dry spruce splinters under the bl eoki 

 the head of his bed, the night before, making them serve as 

 a pillow, and with those, and a due modicum of patience, we 

 finally Succeeded in starting a fire. 



In the dolce far niente of the preceding evening, the 

 Rhymer, who was also our chef de, amine, had neglected to 

 bake any broad for breakfast, and to do so now, in such a 

 deluge of falling snow, was no easy task. Heap Ihe lid of 

 the Dutch oven as he would with burning coals, in three 

 minutes they were quenched, and the lid was while with 

 snow. However, Ihe bread was served at last; as John re- 

 marked, " Very well baked on an average— burnt on the 

 turn, and raw on the top." The fried" bacon was a success, 

 though Ignotus complained that Dame Nature had botched 

 the job, by putting too much water in Ihe gravy. 



When John suggested that the coffee seemed weaker than 

 usual, lb- Rhymer accounted for it by calling to our minds, 

 the well known physical law that the boiling point of llcpi i 

 varies in inveise ratio to Ihe height above tl c sea level, and 

 as, in our case, this was about 15,000 ft, a slight mathemat- 

 ical calculation would prove that coffee made, hero wou'd 

 only be about one-half as strong as die normal infusion ; and, 

 if we would taste carefully, we would find that the pri 

 brow had almost exactly" that ratio of strength. Ignotus 

 mildly observed that he accounted for it, by the- fact that he 

 had noticed that the Rhymer h:ul forgotten to put. in 

 fresh coffee when he filled the pot with water, and we had 

 been drinking a weak infusion of last night's grounds. The 

 Rhymer contented himself by remarking confidentially to 

 the bottom of his cup, as he inverted it to let the last drop 

 run down his throat, that there was no use in trying to ex- 

 plain natural phenomena lo a man who wt uld indulge in a 

 priori reasoning. 



Breakfast over, we met in Committee of the Whole to dis- 

 cuss future movements. It was manifestly 'extra hazard- 

 continue i ur journey till the storm should abate, 

 and yet, if it continued, the trail would soon be impassable. 

 Either horn of the dilemma had its own particularly sharp 

 point, upon which we were liable lo bo impaled. If wo 

 started, the odds were great that we should lose our way, and 

 be precipitated over some precipice, or becoming involved in 

 the labyrinth of gulches, wander around till hopelessly lost ; 

 it we remained, twelve hours more of such a snow would so 

 blockade the trail, that movement would be impossible. The 

 snow was already knee-deep— by night, at the lute at which 

 it was falling, it, would be six feet, and that meant a repeti- 

 tion, on a smaller scale, of the terrible Conner disaster. 



Our indecision was brought to an end by our horses, who 

 came up to the fire, and seemed to ask in their patient way, 

 if we proposed to remain there till they wire Btarved in- 

 frozen to death. As Rob's head loomed up out of the falling 

 biiow, Ignotus rose silently, took down his bridle from the 

 branch on which it hung, ami, after warming the bit a mo- 

 ment at the fire, slipped it into his mouth. Without a word, 

 we rose and followed his example. Saddling and packing 

 finished, the horses were lined — the head of one tied lo the 

 tail of another — so that, if one lost footing on the treacher- 

 ous trail, he might be supported bj- the others. Ignotus, un- 

 coiling a thirty foot lariat, fastened one end securely around 

 liis waist, and "passed the other end to John, who did the 

 same. Bo started the silent procession; Ignotus first, care- 

 fully feeling for the hidden trail with his long alpenstock, 

 linked io and followed by John, leading the train with sure- 

 footed and sagacious Rob at the head, and, at the rear, the 

 Rhymer and myself, riding. All trace of trail or path was 

 obliterated. 



We wore climbing diagonally up a white mountain side, 

 trying to follow, under two feet of snow, a narrow crooked 

 trail, whichdiad to be fell for, step by step, and which some- 

 times seemed to be lost entirely, while Ignotus prodded pain- 

 fully for it with his staff. The snow fell so heavily that the 



