110 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[September 8, 1881. 



her present, cargo in London and go to the Nor h Sea fishing 

 grounds (if Lhe prospects were good), and run a cargo thence 

 to Billingsgate safely in the hottest weather," 



Bow-Bells. 



REMINISCENCES OF FORTY TEARS. 



I. — LOOS LIKE IN 1856. 



rl vour issue of to-day one of your correspondents recom- 

 mends Loon Lake, Franklin county, N. Y., for fishing, 

 etc. lean fully indorse his recommendation, having been 

 one of a party who visited this delightful wild country, made 

 deligu Jul from iis spom i f flood and field, or rather, I muy 

 say, forest and lake. This magnificent sheet of water, if I 

 remember correctly, isaboutone o one and one-half mileB wide 

 and three or four mil. s long. Pickerel to an enormous size 

 are there in any quantity, together with trout of great wei- ht. 

 A party of half-a-dozen from Saratoga in September, 1856, 

 visited this wilderness After steaming up Lake Champlain 

 we hired a team, and I have not forgotten the thumps and 

 bumps experienced hi climb'ng the rocky hills. From noon 

 until about midnight we journeyed, inquiring from persono 

 we met, "How far is it to Smith's Ho. el?" " Oh, about six 

 miles." Alter j urneying an hour or two the nest inquiry. 

 "How far to Smith's place?" "Up this place and down 

 there, then straight on about two miles." We kept on 

 thumping and bumping along for ano her hour, when we 

 exp' ct' d to see the hotel in the short di tance. However 

 we struck a cabin by the roadside, and, ho lomg out to the 

 denizens, asked, "How far to Smith's Hotel?" "Oh, I 

 guess about six or seven milts." We still went on, inquir- 

 ing as we went, and found all our answers varied in distance 

 fiom fifty to one huuured per cent, one with another. At 

 la-t we reached the much-desired spot, were ushered into a 

 nice comfortable tavern or hotel, and mine host Smith 

 seemed (as Le prov. d) a good fellow, fond of his mountain 

 sports and a good hotel man in every respect, providing oil 

 comforts uecessary for man or beast. 



Our first morning, after an early breakfast, we start' d for a 

 deer hunt Ac- ordmg to the custom there the dogs drive 

 the de r in these poads or lakes, and a boat was in readiness 

 to put out after the po r deer, either to knock him in the 

 head while swimming or to i-ho thim. I proles cd, however, 

 against such butchery and would only shoot him on the run. 

 The drivers mid b attuan accordingly agreed to give m« a 

 bounding shot by driving the deerdiiect to mt standing 

 place, wbich is done more easily than I imagined by paddling 

 behind the swimming deer, then to the left or right as nity 

 be to turn him in a bee line to the sp t (they knew where I 

 was stationed). I wailed the first day one, two, three or 

 a out four hours. No sign of dogs or deer, although soon 

 after the .-tart I he-nd the dogs give tongue some two miles 

 across the lake, but the deer took over 'the bills to another 

 pond, where he made good his e-c-pe, and the do js could 

 not be got together that day in time for an aber drive. 



As 1 was standing there, my brains working at nothing, my 

 attention was suddenly attracted up the Jake, some two 

 miles probably, to a flight of birds skimming and bugging 

 the shore in lligh'S and gradually approaching me. In a 

 few moments I discovered them to be duck-, as they came 

 until witbin 200 yards of the mound on which I was sta- 

 tioned, w hen they settled down in a cove which was proba- 

 bly K yards in circumference, edged all round wi.h tall 

 rubes from four to five feet high. 



"Hello, my b ■)•!" says I to myself, "here's a chance," 

 and luckily 1 had carried with me about half-a-dozen charges 

 of No 7 shot from Saratoga, having shot a fifty double 

 pigeon match the week before, killing 95 wild birds out of 

 100, traps 5 feet apart, 21 yard* rise, 100 yards fall. Lots of 

 old residents of Saratoga at the present season greeted me 

 and gave me a hearty shake of the hand, especially the 

 wor hy host of the Adelphi Hotel— at that time Mac kept the 

 American. 



. But to the flights of duck". I accordingly drew out of each 

 barrel the wads, then the twenty buck shot and put in plac-^ 

 one and one-half ounces of No, 7s. I went on hands and 

 knees, some imesflat, crawling around through the tall rushes 

 in order to get wi bin shot at lhe cdye of tb s curve where 

 the d'-cks were. Tins took me probably half an horn-, the 

 dis ance around to avoid sight of my game in quest being 

 sev.ral hunored \ards. At length I made my journey, and, 

 p eiing up, beheld a wonderful sight. A dead log, a tr< e 

 without limbs, was hanging across this ciuve, some twenty 

 yaids in lenglh. on which the ducks were sitting, some jump- 

 ing off, fluttering and sp'ashing the water, the next moment 

 on the tiee shaking their feathers. 



1 never s iw such a shot for a raker, and as I had waited 

 some hours for the deer and got nothing I made up my mind 

 1his once lor a broadside. I accordingly crept in a line wi'h 

 the log. The ducks had no apparent danger for some were 

 fea'h' ring themselves, o hers with their beaks under the 

 wing. I took a level sweep and, being ready in the rushes, 

 the gun in position, I gave a whistle; they all raised their 

 heads for a 1 ok— twenty one duck — the first, a rig It bar- 

 rel, be'ehed forth fire and smoke, and the roar ievii berated 

 all around. 



Two ducks arose ; one of these fell to my left barrel. And 

 this/ lashing and fluttering on each side < f the log I w 11 not 

 easily foig,t ; the water red with blood, all being shot through 

 the head. 



Nineteen sbelldrakes at one shot out of twenty-one, of the 

 other two, shooting off, one fell to the left, barrel, bagging 

 twenty out of twenty-one. I did not then know the shel- 

 drake, never having shot a> y, but from the head knew it was 

 a fish duck. The boat cams now for me and my bag, 

 and the wonder was great at the prodigous sweep, but you 

 could not miss them if you neld right for the first duck, low- 

 ering sufficiently to take in the lot. 



1 be next day I shot my deer, being driven two miles to 

 my stand as before described, but I let her bound (a large 

 doe) and gave her a bound for her life, showing myself and 

 holloing just as she jumped on land. It seemed more like 

 murder in the first degn e, or shooting down a calf, the poor 

 thing being only some twelve or fifteen yai ds from me, but she 

 gave a tremendous frightened leap on hearing and seeing me, 

 that a second or third leap would have carried her from harm 

 of the gun, behind a bluff. Thrrefoie 1 had to do or not to 

 do, a dozen buckshot going through neck and shoulder. Our 

 friend Smith at the h' tel had three ducks or sheldrakes 

 cooked for dinner on ourarrivd from the next day's <Vt hunt, 

 snd us you h-ve lately had much discussion on cooking 'pos- 

 sum 1 will tell you how these ducks were served up, and the 

 process used for taking away any fishy taste. I gave Smith 

 the idea. All seemed young, large birds, legs like a mal- 

 lard's, and fully as heavy as a plump mallard. 



Ju't skin the ducks, as the skin generally contains the oily, 

 fishy taste. Clean them, wrap them in wet clothB ; dig a hole 

 in ground, and bury them over night; take them up in morn- 

 ing aud wash them wed, and soak an hour in sa t and water. 

 We came home hungry enough from our hunt, and with ap- 

 petites sharp. Hut 1 never sat down to a stew with onion-', 

 that surpassed these lender, juicy, sweet, deliciously, setved- 

 up shelldrakes. 



Our worthy host, then of the hotel Loon Lake, has since 

 left that locality. If thiB shou d meet his eye wi 1 le please 

 addreo3 me in care of the Fokest and Stream ? I wdl be 

 fc'ery happy to find his whereabouts, and probably pay him 

 a visit. 



We saw the day we left Loon Lake an immense wolf 

 caught in a trap there. Deer in those days in that mighty 

 wi d wilderness wer« as plenty as sheep on the plains. How 

 they are now 1 do not know, but the l»ke, for the fiuest fish- 

 ing in the world of its kind, I think cannot be surpassed. 



Now, as I have made a commencement with you I will 

 continue giving you only some remaikable and strange sho;s 

 made during forty yeara' handling the double-barr.ls. I 

 will give my experienc- of shots I made myself »t different 

 times und different parts of the United Siates. Wm. King. 



Hornelisville.— There was a slight mistake in the letter 

 bout Loon Luke in your issue of Aug. 23. It should read 

 (15) fifteen miles fr, m lloruellsv-Uc not !)5 as printed. The 

 lake was stocked some years ago with tr u', but none were 

 ever caught, until last week when Seth Green went there, and 

 eaoght a tine lut greatly to ue surprise of the local fishermen. 

 —J. O. F. 



the v\hite panther. 



UY XIL YORKIS. 



THE days passed pleasantly away with boating on the 

 river and angling in the mountain streims for trout. 

 1 he evening-, were spent in the library with Mr. St. Clair, 

 wh> was actively engaged in collecting aud describing the 

 ferns and mosses in which the Al egbauies are so rich. One 

 evening he n marked that Randolph, a young hunter living 

 in the w Id recesses of the mountains, had paid him a visit 

 that day and that he had noticed in his cap a very rare and 

 beautiful fern, but the fronds were so with ied and broken 

 v at he was una le certainly to identify it. The hunter cou d 

 not remember positively where he had gathered it ; he was 

 in the habit of placi g beautiful plants ami flowers in his cap 

 and thinking no mor,- about them. He was under the im- 

 pression, however, that he had found it growing near the 

 Pani her Pond, a small lake s.tuated near a wild gorge among 

 the mountains. 



"Let us hunt the fern to morrow, Vivian," paid Karl, as 

 they retire 1 th»t night. " I was just going to propose it," 

 replied bis friend ; "so let us be up early and away." 



At dawn they look the boa' and rowed across the river. 

 Vivian ca'rii-d a repeating rifle and wore a long hunting- 

 knife in his belt. Karl was armed with a well-Tied gun. 



" To the lover of natu e," said Vivian, " the wild moun- 

 taios have peculiar and unfailing charms. In summer, deep 

 carpeted with moss and gl rious with the bloom of rhododen- 

 dr n aud azalia, there; is about them a mysterious beauty 

 found nowhe e else. In winter ce-Jar and piue are columns 

 of silver and the pillared rocks are turned to marble monu- 

 ments — s auding, perhaps, beside the graves of the red hunt- 

 ers who have perished long ago. Hunting the wild deer all 

 through the autumn evenings — 



'I coull understand why the Swiss isin love with the Alps 

 and the Gael with the Highlands. Returning, after a long 

 day's hunt on the mountains, to his lonely camp by the wa- 

 ters, the hunter may hear the scream of the cougar in the 

 laurel aud lhe mocking laugh of the owl in the pine. Yet, 

 wrapped in his blanket before his blazing camp-fire, his 

 blum ers are none the less swiet, th ugh he knows that the 

 king ' f the mountains is h broad in lhe storm. 



"Your hunter is a naturalist, too, in bis way ; knowing lit- 

 tle of books, he studies living nature in the wild wood — for 

 were he not familiar with the habits of the animals a r ou> d 

 him his laburs would bring him no returns. He knows that 

 during the month of September the bucks will be found quiet 

 aud alone on the highest mountain p aks, drying their ant- 

 lers in the sunbeams and rubbing off the velvet against rock 

 and pine." 



"Yes," replied Karl, " the hunter, though surrounded by 

 danger, learns to forget fear. His mind is filled with the 

 love of the forest and he can find his way anywhere hy the 

 moss on the trees— don't you see that it is mo e abundant on 

 the side loward the north ? Then one feels so different 

 he e from what he does in the crowded cny ; there he is lost 

 in the march of the busy multitude, as a drop of water is 

 when mingled with the ocean ; here he walks the earth like 

 a god— , 



'In tire olden, eolrten glories 

 0! thegoiuen, olUen times.' 



"Those were happy d lys, Vivian, in the morning of the 

 world, when forest and stream, lake and river, vale aud 

 mountain were p»opled wilh strange, wild forms. But the 

 beautiful fairy no longer dances to the sound of elfin music 

 among the golden flowers of summer, wheu the moonbeams 

 are painting ghostly pictures everywhere. The treasure 

 caves of the dwarfs are all cl >sed and the r gold and gem- are 

 hidden away from* the sight of man forever. The fiery eyes 

 of the Basdisk are harmless now and the Hippogriff no lon- 

 ger bears away knteht or paladin on rapid wings to deeds of 

 arms or fields of chivalry." 



" True," replied his companion ; " when the sun of civili- 

 zation shone brighter and cle iter over the earth th- se crea- 

 tures of the world of fairy faded and pa'ed in the light of its 

 splendor. They retired to lonely caves in lonely lands and 

 are now seen only by the dwellers in mist-wrapped moun- 

 tains, far away from the busy i auuts of men and the screech 

 of the engine. In these forests here, it is said, ihere roams a 

 phantom creature, fierce and terrible— a snow-white cougar, 

 but I suppose that, it is only a hunter's dream, though many 

 claim to have seen it. 



" But here is a beautiful spring, clear as crystal and co'd 

 as ice, bubuling up from among the rocks and perfumed by 

 the bioom of the rh dodendron. Let us sit down on this 

 mossy stone and rest. You must he huugry," he continued, 

 drawing from his pockets great lumps of cheese, buttered 

 rolls and r "asted venison and spre iding them out before him 

 on the mo-s. "The rapid walk and mountain air gives one 

 an Bppetite. Yes, the Allegheny s are grand and picturesque, 

 but the mountains of the torrid zone are more beautiful by- 

 far. They are like wonderful gardens, rising terrace above 



terrace, until their snowy summits arc lost among lhe clouds. A 

 Tempera ure, you know, is ihe principal agent, governing the ] 

 geographical distribution of plants, hence we lind in-owing at 

 their base- in a surnun r Eden the palm, the arborescent fern, 

 the aloe, the pineapple and tie banana Higher up th irJ 

 slopes the orange, the olive trie and l he. laurel j above th' se 1 

 at'ain the magnolia, the live oak, the bypresa and the cedar. 

 Ascending yet higher we enter fore-sis of our Unlive trees— 

 the birch, the beech, the elm and the willow. Among the - ] 

 eternal snows on their summits we Hud the plants of fipitaj 

 beiven and Lapland — the m -sses and lichens of the far North \ 

 growing under thr equator I" 



"Botany has always been ray favorite study," replied the 

 other, "and plants are quite as wonderful as animals. In-I 

 d«ed, so closely are ihey blended in their lowest forms, that 

 we are quite unable to distinguish the one from the other. 

 Like animals, they move, eat, ririufc, sleep, breathe, perspire,., 

 have circulation due to a vital cause, and are male and fe- 

 male. They have sensibility, too, similar to animals. , 

 Poison will.f'estroy some as quickly as it would a bird, and 

 opium throws oth. rs into a profoir rl aWn Many are car-^ 

 n vorous, feed ng upon the blood and flesh of aaimals, like j 

 the lynx and the cougar." 



"Yes, and the vegetable, like the animal edifice, is built . 

 up from the cell. Every seed cont- ins an embry nio plant — 

 the trunk, the branches the roots, the leaves, all are ihere, 

 like the bird in the egL', only waiting to be buried in the 

 warm, moist earth, for the snub- ams to ki-=s them into flower 

 and fruit. The roots andthe hronrhes of trees are identically 

 the Eame, and lhe one may be made to become the other ; ihe 

 flowers am only transformed haves. But I think the Pan- 

 t her Pond is there between those mountains. Let us hurry 

 on." 



A rapid walk of half an hour up the slopes brought Ihetn 

 to the summit, where a wide and beautiful pi-.-sp ct was 

 spread out before tbem. Far as eye could reach were pill d 

 up around them the pedis and pinnacles of the Alleghenies 

 clothed everywhere, except 'on the castellated rocks, in the 

 green of rhododendron and pine and lice and there between 

 the peaks they c ujiht a glimpse of the crystal river gleaming 

 in the sunbeam- far away. 



"There's the pond," said Karl ; "don't you see it there 

 shut up in the ho'low of the mountains and surrounded by 

 the daik fir trees?" 



"Yes, and iswatrs look gloomy and dark, as though a 

 sunbeam had never kissed its bosom. Let us hurry on." 



A wild turke\ ran to, them on thing feet, swift as the bird 

 of the desert, but Karl saw only a metallic (dimmer of gold 

 and emerald flashing under the pines. A frightened deer 

 cashed through the laurel and h' und d over the fern wav- 

 ing bis white plume prom ily as ever did Henry of Navarre, 



"Was that aeougar ?" a- iced Kan. "No, only a buck," re- 

 plied Vivian, as the two Tiends hurried on down the mount- 

 ain toward the pond. As they approached the waters Karl 

 drew back pale and trembing. "Look 1" be said in a whis- 

 per, "there is the Pnantom Cougar, while as snow, and i- is 

 eating a fawn." The two crept behind a rock, and, peeping 

 around it, saw the mouDtaiu King at his meal. His head waj 

 turned from them toward the pond', and they could hear h'm 

 crushing the bones Of his. victim, growling all the while like 

 a cat. "This is no phantom," said yonns St. Clair, in a 

 whisper; "gliosis do not eat." "What shall we do ?" said 

 Karl, wilh a white, scared lace. 'You are pale," said his 

 companion; "keep quiet, we must kill lion.'' "I maybe 

 pale," returned Kail, "but I am no coward, as you will s e 

 when the battle opens. But if we only wound him la-, nil] 

 spring upon us." "Be steady," whispered bis companion ; 

 ' aim at his head wilh your gun, and I will send a ball fiom 

 the rifl • through bis heart. If we miss or only wound him, 

 fire again as soon as possible. But I shall not miss him," he 

 said, cocking his rifle as he spoke and resting the barrel 

 agaii st the rock. The cougar heard the sharp click of the 

 springs aud turned bis head toward ih-tn, dropping from his 

 mouth lhe heart of the fawn. "Now!" said Vivian, and a 

 loud report, rang out over the waters aud died away into an 

 echo among the mountains. The cougar bounded mo ihe 

 air, but sank quivering to the ground. "He is killed," cried 

 Karl; "let ui run to him." "Stop!" said the other, 'he 

 may be only stunned ; we will give him another volley. Aim 

 at his head. Now!" and again the reports of their rifle-: re- 

 sounded through the forest, setting ihe squirrels lo chatter- 

 ing in the pines aud the owls to lau hi- g in the br trees. 

 "He is beatimr the ground with his tail," said K rl; 'he will 

 never rise again- — see how he quivers and shudders ! Now 

 he is still— he is d-ad! Here are two Utile bullet holes in. 

 his head, and here is a large one through his ear," be con- 

 tinued; "and see! here i la yours in his shoulder. Look al his 

 cruel eyes— how bloody red ; his claws how long and sharp, 

 and his fangs were mad ■ for murder." 



Just then they heard a rustling in the leaves behind them 

 and, turning quickly, theie stood Randolph, the hunter, lead- 

 ing on his rifle. 



"So, Mr. St. Clair, you and your young friend have killed 

 the King — really I never would have thought it. This is the 

 large t cougar I have ever seen," he cou iuued t uehing it 

 wilh his boo', "ai d the on y albino ever seen in the Alle- 

 ghanies. I saw him five years ago for the first time, and 

 several times since, then, but could nev, r get a shot at him. 

 I have killed several white deer, and they are not uncommon 

 in ihe mountains, but Ibis cougar lb inghSei n by main hunt- 

 ers has always b- en regarded by them with supeist tious awe. 

 They beleved hint to be a phantom, a spirit of ihe mouu'ain 

 storm, fierce and terrible, and when a hunter lost in thenight 

 and frozen in the snow was found it wa-t said that lie hal 

 fallen a victim to this fiend of lhe Alleebanies. 1 was hunt- 

 ing the fern for your father on the other side oft the pond, 

 when I heanl your c innonadinir, and thought I w >uld come 

 around and see what was the trouble. It i< fortunate that 

 you killed him at the first fire; had jou ouly wounded h'mi 

 he woud certainly have torn you to piece- ; but let us skin 

 him, and carry his pelt to tiie vd a as a trophy." 



The work was rap dly and skillfully done, and Randolph, 

 throwing the skin aefos-i his shoulder, went down id the 

 pond to "wash the blood from his hand< and hunting knife. 



"Did you find the fern ?" as-ed young Si. CU'r. 



"No;" replied the hunter, "but we will no* resume the 

 search." 



It was a beautiful pond, deep and dark. Cedar and pine 

 reached down their arms, and played lovingly wilh it waters; 

 lit le island* of reed looked out from its bosom, aud the 

 belted kingfisher dipped his wings in its waves. 



"Here in the sand ar« footprints of dier, and here are the 

 tracks of a wolf," said Karl, 



"No;" said Randolph, "a cougar has been here. Don't 

 you see that his foot is round like a cat's ?" 



Resting a moment by the water they started down the 

 shore of the lake, but had not proceeded far when the hunter 

 stooped to examine a boaudful plant growing among the 



