206 



FOREST AND STREAM, 



LOcrrowre 13. 1881- 



broad waters, fn the way and in oue of the narrow chan- 

 nels we passed two yachts whose owners we knew ; one of 

 the latter shouted out something as we sailed by, which, as 

 they appeared to bfl fishing, we took to be — 



" We have just caught a sea bass of six pounds I " 



As this is very large for a sea bass Scth Green shouted back 

 at the top of his voice.- 



" Hold him up and let us look at him I " 



Our friends got under way immediately, and taking a short 

 cut headed us off, and we were all surprised when we learned 

 that they bad really said "they had a sick man aboard they 

 wished we would take home." Mr. Green's answer must 

 have seemed to them ironical if not heartless. 



It was au intricate channel, but one vessel whose owuer 

 knew the way was our pilot, and we came safely and quickly 

 through* As we emerged into the main bay through the 

 narrow channel in the bulkhead the Commissioner drew Mr. 

 Green's artention to the compass and a large white house 

 loottupg up on the northern shore. " You see," he said, " it 

 bears exactly northeast as I told you, and my charts are 

 perfectly accurate." 



Then our friends informed us they were out of provisions 

 and we invited them to sup aboard, and it was agree:! to 

 unite forces and go down to the easterly end of the bay to- 

 gether to fish and shoot, sending one boat to leave the 

 invalid and get fresh provisions. 



■' We need some bread and ship-biscuit, and we are out of 

 champagne," said the Commissioner. 



" What 1 out of champagne" exclaimed the Superin- 

 tendent, in alarm, "then it is time to send ashore for sup- 

 plies." 



What a supper we had ! Canned goods are a poor substi- 

 tute fur iresti provisions, but we bad fish and some birds 

 which 8eh Green had shot the day before and eggs and 

 home-made butter and ice and, still a couple of bottles of 

 champagne. The Brunswick s .upsarc, by far, Ihe best, and 

 canned tomatoes ste really exc-lleut. Our man served such 

 e Ifec, " hot— hot out of the pot," potatoes likewise, and all 

 with the flavor of the tire in it, not tepid and half-sodden 

 with waiting i o be served, as is often the case in our city 

 kitchens. The cooking was inlelligent, for did we not over- 

 see it aud even without the splendid sauce of appetite? I 

 com- nd thai our nipper was as good as any we should have 

 got anywhere ashore. The highest science of French cookery 

 can add nothing and produce nothing suptrior to a plain 

 broil or roast. 



Oue oi our guests, the Doctor, taking deep interest in the 

 slap jacks wh ch constituted our dessert, for our meal eotn- 

 b ued both dinner and supper, detei ruined to take their time 

 of co ., king >■ Inch he. thought had much to do with their ex- 

 cellence. He placed his watch on Ihe table, " the makings" 

 of a slap-jack was poured into the pan. He waittd, regard- 

 ing the dial I'm ce eagerly a few minutes, the slap-jack was 

 done, and ready to be eaten. 



"Gracious," sail I the Doctor as he accepted the dainty and 

 proceeded to devour it, "my watch is not going; 1 forgot to 

 Wind it up last night." 



Moral. Always wind up your watch when you are off 

 yachting, aud never time a slap-jack unless you know your 

 tinie-piecu is going. 



It took us a long whi'e lo finish that meal, but when it was 

 over, we parted company temporally, one boat disappearing 

 in the hazy darkness to the north, agreeing to rejoin us 

 later on at the niipe ground, and we, following the other on 

 our course eastward, it was a beautiful night and a delight- 

 ful sail. 'Che moon had risen and was pouring a river of 

 silvn' liaht over tin- leaden water. Against its rays the sails 

 of our Friend's yacht looked black j the wind was blowing 

 f rush and we dashed along at headlong speed after those 

 sai's that, like a phantom vessel's, fled as fast as we pursued. 

 H' ur after hour with a free wind and all we wanted of it 

 we followed our leader along the bay. It seemul as though 

 every minute must bring us to the end that was looming 

 dimly before us, but it was not till eleven o'clock that we 

 made out a lone sand-hid on the beach which was our land- 

 mark f r the sniping-ground. Then we gladly furled sail, 

 dropped anchor nud went to sleep. 



Fibbing and shooting do not combine well. There was a 

 net aboar.1 for catching minnows, aud after Seth Green aud 

 the ComniLsioner had arranged their blind and set out their 

 decoy.- they -went to fishing. The birds did not fly miiuer- 

 ouslv, and our sportsmen supposed they could keep on the 

 watch and not lose any a'lots. They were convinced of their 

 error when several flue flocks went by unobserved while they 

 were deeply interested in catching "white-bait" or study- 

 ins the sex or nature of some newly captured killey-fish. 

 " Wheu I was a boy," remarked Setb Green, gravely, after 

 such an occurrence had happened and they had dropped their 

 net and let the minnows e-cape, aud rushed for their guns 

 just, m time to be too late to use them, "When I was a boy 

 and out shooting, and my ammunition ran low, I would often 

 divide my last charge of powder and shot into two, and — I 

 never killed anything wiilt either of them." 



Toe " white-bait" were only "spearing," quite a common, 

 but very pretty fish of our northern waters. It is semi-t rans- 

 paient," and certainly looks " good enough to eat," and the 

 D dor assu edusit was delicious, but the Commissioner had 

 eaten it before, ami his souvenirs were not favorable. How- 

 ever, We had tiifit cooked and the barrcd-killey, and the 

 green-kil'ey, and the many varieties which are known gen- 

 erally as " mummies," from the Indian word mummueh-itj, 

 along the shores Of MattOwaX, the Long Island of the abo- 

 rigines, aud belli Green ate of them all. His plan with a 

 fish is very simple ; first to catch it, then to smell it, for he 

 says every ii»h Has its own peculiar and distinguishing smell, 

 then to cook it, then to eat it. Ko matter what it may be, 

 nor how repulsive it may look. He once tasted jelly-fish, 

 but reported that it was bad; in fact that red pepper w«s a 

 Ealve lor the taste it gave, and that when he had exhausted 

 himself trying to remove the recollection with water he 

 scrubbed liis mouh out with sand. He tests the warm'h of 

 all water in which he fiEhes with his mouth, and can tell to a 

 degree of the iberinotneter what it is, aud he drinks a little 

 to ascertain if it is suit or fresh, and if bnickish exactly how 

 brackish. 



Our whitebait were certainly very sandy ; they were too 

 small and pellucid to need cleaning, but their stomachs were 

 as full of sand as if they lived on nothing else. Seth Green 

 insisted that they were a very sweet tish, what there was of 

 them, a proposition to which the Commissioner gave a dis- 

 gusted assent. 



" A very sweet fish indeed," he said, "all of them which 

 is not bones or >aud, and that, is not much." 



1 may ay incidental y, Chat wade thero is a little real 

 wh teb.iit, the young of ihe herring, so d in New York 

 maikets, what is usu ,lly passed off under the name, is a mix- 

 ture of all sorts of young or await hah, among which the 



spearing holds a prominent place, and that it is about as 

 miserable a substitute for real whitebait as cooked clams are 

 for cooked oysters. Of course this fact was well known to 

 our party, but the beauty of spearing was misleading some 

 of them, as beauty has misled some of us more or less dur- 

 ing our lives. 



Seth Green had always been an admirer of a central-fire 

 snap-action gun, and in vain had the Commissioner wasted 

 his eloquence in explaining aud contending that no improve- 

 ment; had ever been in the action of Ihe original Lefauchenx 

 pin-fire breech-loader. Out of regard for his guest's views 

 he had had an old Parker gun, which he had discarded, re- 

 vamped and refurbished, and delivered it and a lot of old 

 cartridges into Ihe hands of the Superintendent, who has the 

 reputation of a first-class shot, and knows it. In the course 

 of the shooting he hud made a few misses, although indeed 

 very few, and during a lull he opened a number of his car- 

 tridges to find out if they were loaded properly, and gave the 

 result of his investigations to Ihe Commissioner at the dinner 

 hour on the following day without reserve. As the em ire 

 party dined on the Au Revoir for sociability, he had quite an 

 audience as he commenced : 



" When I first came to the seashore I was treated very 

 hospitably, and the Commissioner was so good to me that he 

 gave me a flint-lock to shoot bay auipe with, while he used a 

 breech-loader. I have never forgotten his kindness. This 

 time he has done better yet, he not only tends me an old gun 

 that he has given up entirely — although he has a dozen others 

 in his case — but he gives me all the old cartridges that iiave 

 been loaded since he first tried to learn to shoot. 1 opened 

 them and found some loaded wich number two shot, others 

 nith number tens, some had two drachms of powder in them 

 and other* had five, and the bigger the shot the less the pow 

 der. Why I They were of all sizes from an inch long to 

 three, and as for powder, well, just look at that." 



Hereupon he drew out of his pocket a cartridge cut open- 

 so that trie powder was visible, which was seen to be caked 

 into a solid mass of brown material more like road dust than 

 good powder. 



" There, just look at it aud tell me if anybody can be ex- 

 pected to kill game withtha' ?" 



The Commission' r was taken aback, but while the com- 

 pany were laughing he recovered his composure. 



"Certainly," he replied calmly, "Mr. Green is right. I 

 always make it a point to gratify the wishes of my guests 

 whenever 1 can. Mr. Green shoots with a central-tire snap- 

 action-gun when he is at home. There is a central-Arc 

 snap-action gun. I had it put i n order especially for him. It 

 never would work for me, but I hoped it nvght do better for 

 him. Anyway it is his choice. And as for the cartridges, I 

 know better than to use them, but I don't object to his shoot- 

 ing away a'l the old ones which I was foolish enough in my 

 youthful days to load. Besides," the Commis-iouer added 

 expansively in conclusion, " they furnish a good excuse for 

 missing. Where would any of us be without an excuse for 

 our misses, and as Mr. Green has certaiuly needed an excuse 

 he is lueky to have so good a one. It was really a most deli- 

 cate attention on my part in furnishing him with something 

 upon which to place all blame." 



In spite, however, of this pleasing and gracious way of 

 puling it, the Superintendent was evidently discouraged, 

 and either found the snipe loo scarce, or his ammunition too 

 poor, for after that he devoted himself almost wholly to ex- 

 periments. There were no more fish to capture, and he felt 

 like Alexander out of business. He dug a hole in the sand a 

 few yards from the bay and tasted the water that came up in 

 it, pronouncing it not good, but six degrees colder than the 

 bay water and quite drinkable. "There," he said, bringing 

 some in a cup t" the Commissioner, who was patiently watt- 

 ing in the blind for that "flight " to begin which he had ex- 

 pected for so many years, "taste that: if a man had noth- 

 ing better he could get along on that. Try some more of il," 

 as the Commissioner made grimaces after taking a mouth- 

 ful which he had promptly ejected, "you did not get a good 

 taste. It is easy to spit it out if you don't like it." 



" No, thank you," replied the Commissioner, " I've beeu 

 spitting ever since the first trial. I prefer iced croton." 



Having exhausted the fluvial and pisca'ory resources of the 

 spot, Seh Green explored the neighborhood. He went off 

 amoug the sand-dunes, took a look at the ocean, pulled up 

 flowers and plants, studied the coarse grasses, ami finally re- 

 turned with two large bushes which he planted like trees 

 behind the Commi.-sioner and himself to serve as a shade be- 

 tween them and the rays of old Sol, which at times came 

 down rather fiercely. Finally he se'.iled down and an- 

 nounced his conclusions as follows: 



"In bay snipe-shooting that fellow I met at Point Look- 

 Out was about right. He said, 'You must have the wind 

 southwest, then you mu<t have had a storm, aud next the 

 day must be cloudy, and last you must have luck to kill bay- 

 snipe.' Let's go to fishing again." 



Then the party separated, and the Au Revoir once more 

 made her lonely journey aloug the bay. Fire Island was 

 revisited and Sammis's Hotel, the fashionable resort on the 

 beach in Iront of which the Au Revoir went hopelessly 

 agrouud, and bathing even in the presence of all the guests 

 on the piazza and the travelers by the Babylon steamboat 

 which came by at the time, and who to rk deep interest in 

 the proceeding, was in vain, and she had to stay there till 

 the tide rose. Those on board were beginning to be worn 

 out with their long cruise and unaccustomed labor and went 

 io bed, having first carried an anchor out into deep water. In 

 that part of the bay where they were, the tide runs with 

 great violence and rapidity, and it is an easy thing for a boat 

 to swing round, ttip her anchor, and then ne carried oul to 

 sea. Ihe Commissioner doubtless was dreaming of such 

 possibilities when he waked to find the yacht had a slow 

 heavy roll just like that she would have in the swell of ihe 

 ocean after it had broken on the bar. The horrors of an un- 

 expected trip to sea at midnight, without prepara 1 ion or a 

 kuowkdge of the position of the boat, burs! upon him and 

 he darted from the cabin with the speed of half his half- 

 hundred years. Even as he went, however, the various 

 chanc a and duties of tbe case flashed through his mind. 

 Should he anchor with the spare anchor, would he have time 

 to get the sails up, could he tell where he was so as to keep 

 in the channel and out, of the breakers ? If the yacht struck 

 aud filled it would be a'most certain death, as the tide runs 

 ovei the bats and the surf beats upon ih-m with a violence 

 too grea'. for even ihe most expert swimmer. In the day- 

 time there would be a chance of escape or rescue, but at 

 night there would be no oue to see or to help, and the cast- 

 aways would not know in which direction to seek safely. Il 

 takes but a moment of per il for a man's brain to review a 

 vast list of possibilities, but when the Commissioner reached 

 the deck aud found the yacht still lying at htr anchor and 

 the "silver moon" gazing placidly in the fullness of her 



splendor down upon the tranquil waters, he was more than 

 relieved . The motion of the vessel had been caused by the 

 swell from the breakers that at high tide comes in over the ■ 

 har and reaches some distance up into the channel way. All 

 he had to do was to haul iu part of the cable so that the 

 yacht would swing clear of the shoal at low water, and once 

 more return to his comfortable though limited sleeping ac- 

 commodations, and now the trip waB nearly over. A visit 

 to the easiern bay and au examination of the endless eel-pots 

 which there take the place of gill-nets completed 

 the investigation into the advantages and disad- 

 vantages of the Great South Bay as a breeding-place for sea 

 fish. Nature had done much for it, but man had treated it 

 as he seems to insist on doing with all common properly. 

 Generation after generation had taken all they could get, re- 

 gardless of the fur me or of keeping up the supply. Extrav- 

 agance and waste had produced the results that are sure to 

 follow them in private or public matters. It was clear that, 

 if the waters of Long Island were lo be restocked with fish 

 in satisfactory abundance, the work would be one of time 

 and difficulty, and need a co-operation from the residents 

 which it might not at. present receive. 



It seems that in this land of freedom it is impossible to 

 save or restore any natural source of wealth, unless it can be 

 converted into private property, or until it shall first be so 

 utterly ruined as to be of no value to anyone. Our people 

 have yet to learn that it is much easier to save a fishery from 

 ruin hy timely protection than it is to restore it after it has 

 been exhausted by abuse and neglect. 



On shore, the fresh water fisheries were found to be in not J 

 much better condition. Some ponds, like those of Mr. Loril- 

 lard at lslip and the South Side Olub, had been brought to a 

 high standard of productiveness by artificial assistance, but I 

 most of the ponds and si reams had been poached and fished 

 and neglected till the famous irout of this most favored J 

 Island had almost disappeared or were huddled into small r 

 preserves, whence they are shipped to New York markets to 

 be sold at a dollar a pound. In no part of the world do trout 

 grow so rapidly. Nowhere is there, a more abundant supply 

 of food for them nor do they attain higher delicacy of flavor. 

 The visitor cau scarcely travel a mile without crossing a 

 beautiful pellucid brook fed by springs of the best tempera- 

 lure for these dainty aud exacting fish, and containing un- ■ 

 limited food aud perfect spawning beds. No one who has . 

 not given a careful study to the subject can realize the ' 

 amount of fish-lood these streams and the ponds which hereand 

 there iiave been built on them contain, 'there are, in the first 

 place, the coundess minnows which run into them from the 

 bay,aud will find their way a long distance from brackish water 

 unless prevented by some obstruction. There is no better 

 food for trout, and a hatchery cau be made to raise trout for 

 market, at a good profit where these can be obtained. There 

 is the salt aud fresh water shrimp, and many trout on this 

 Island have tbe habits of the trout of Canada aud migrate to 

 and fro between the fresh and saU water. 



The fresh water shrimp, although smaller than those of the 

 bay and darker colored, are exceedingly abundant in all the 

 ponds. The ephemeral and other flies ate numberless in cer- 

 tain seasons, and fill the air like motes in ihe sun or snow- 

 flikesin a storm, and it is found that fish fed on flies grow 

 faster and attain a higher flavor than any others. Many of 

 these iliei pass the grub state in the water encased In houses 

 which they build of sticks or stones, or in holes, and are de- 

 voured in myriads by the voracious trout. They and thou- 

 sands of other water insects can be obtained abundantly in 

 winter, when most kinds of food are scarce. Often, on dis- 

 turbing an old log that has lain a loiig while in the bottom of 

 a pond, an inky looking current will flow from it. This, on 

 examination, will be found to be composed of so many in- 

 sects that it seems to bo actually black. Of course, the 

 first requisite to raising animals is to have food for them, and 

 fish need feeding, although many persons act as if they 

 doubted this, precisely as much as land animals. Either the 

 abundance of food or something in the natural surroundings 

 or conditions of the fish causes the trout of Long Island to 

 grow easily twice as fast as l hose of the interior of the State. 

 A fish raised at Caledonia, iu the State hatchery, aud well 

 fed and cared for, that in fifteen months after birth, say by 

 June or July of the year following, weighs one-quarter of a 

 pound, has grown fast and done well ; wh-reas a trout in the 

 preserves of Long Island will in the same time have acquired 



weig t of half a pouud aud occasionally of three quarters 



In spite ot all this the trout fishiug of the ponds and streams 

 of the entire island from Greeupoint to Mdatauk, except 

 where they have been artificially stocked, has so far depreci- 

 ated and diminished as to be scarcely worth following for 

 pleasure or profit. The day of its utter extinction is indeed 

 so near at hand that many owners of what were once valua- 

 ble trout preserves, are talking of introducing black bass, or 

 have already done so. To these I wish, however, 10 give a 

 word of warning if it shall be in time to save their trout, and 

 perhaps those of their ueigfibors, for black bass are of a pre- 

 dacious and roving disposition, and will devour ail of ihe 

 nobler fish that cross their path. I wish to say to them that 

 there is a far finer and gamer fish which can be obtained from 

 the State hatchery, a fish which may yet replenish our trout 

 streams without loss at any point, the mountain trout of Cali- 

 fornia. 



These fish are very handsome, so much so as to be named 

 scientifically the " rainbow trout ; " they take a fly as readily 

 aud with more of a rush than their Eastern brethren; they 

 tight harder when hooked, and are better on the table ; they 

 can be hatched and raised more readily, will bear conflne- 

 m»ul with less loss, and will grow twice as fast. To a man 

 who has a good trout brook 1 might not recommend an expe- 

 riment, but the owner of water suitable for trout should not 

 degrade it to black bass when he can obtain that nobler game 

 fish the California mountain trout. 



The examination was over, Seth Green with his usual in- 

 deffltigabh-nesfl of search after improvements had made all 

 manner of original arrangements of fishing gear, had sug- 

 gested new modes of catching clams and oyster-, bail advised 

 a change in the size of the twine for nets, had iried all meth- 

 ods of improving the speed of the Au Revoir, had advised 

 Hie building of new and unheard of styles of boats, and had 

 thrown out Ideas which, if followed, would have occupied the 

 attention of the inhabitants of Long Island for a generation, 

 but to tbe increduliLy of the Commissioner he admitted, as he 

 was about taking his departure, that : 



"After all that the people in every locality have generally 

 found out and practice the best methods of doing what it is 

 necessary for them to do." Robebt B. Roosevelt. 



Fk >m Oaha.04. to Texas— Fall River, Mass., Sept. 30.— 

 We are very much pleased with ihe returns from our adver- 

 tisement of the gun cleaner in your paper, as we are n Ct.vinj; 

 response* from Canada to Texas. — CuuAi ilsa. Co. 



