NOYBMBBB 17, 1881. 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



305 



ENGLISH RACKS AND AMERICAN 'I'lill'M I'liS. 



p &TOIOE for triumphs on the turf, 

 * ^ For victories o'er \ lie ocean suit 



Far as the w 

 ourthafteiry) 

 nave dared riw 



The peltings ol 

 To anchor bv 



are to; 



iSttn y& I iio sail, 

 3 ol the Kale, 

 iWS and hall 



our Sappho, Dauntless, and the brave, 

 Swift Fleet wing, on the stormy wave, 

 By Albion's cliffs and headlands hold, 

 Jlavo shown their matchless speed, while far 

 .Mori , upon the topmast spar, 

 Streaui'd our, the starry fold ! 



Along those shores, one summer day, 

 How bright the white-wing'd fleet's display, 

 When England's yachtsmen dar'dthe world 

 To meet them with the s.ills uufurl'd 



In national sea race. 

 All) then, America, how grand 

 Thy triumph In that foreign land I 



Taking the victor's place. 



Now, a more brilliant crown we claim, 



won In histoiie fields of fame; 



Won on the English tut I renowned ; 



Won where FrwJCU Steeds by king.-, won: non n\l : 



A i icpsom and Newmarket won 



From the best steeds that ever run ; 



Won wbere the Queen's cup wa3 the prize ; 



Bine Klbbon, dear to English eyes ; 



Dear o'er all English ground 1 



For years untold the British steed. 

 Of choicest blood, of rarest breed, 



Nuriur'd by ptlnce and peer, 

 At Ascot, Derby's famous Held, 

 Had eaus'd all foreign rivals yield— 



Yield in the race-career. 



And now from realms beyond the sea ; 

 From i hy vast plains, America ! 

 From prairies broad, from pastures green, 

 The steeds of Lorlllard and Keene 



Meet on the British Held. 

 'The English nobles as they lead 

 Forth from the si all the prancing steed, 



Fear never prize to yield. 

 Ah ! little dream they that at last 

 Their miracles, so matchless fast, 

 Shall yield the palm when Iroquois 

 Shall lead the van In racing war, 

 And glorious Fosall and Parole 

 Shall foremost t each the victor's goa I, 

 And win the prize and wear the crown 

 Of grand, Illustrious renown. 



Look to your laurels ! ye that sweep 

 Willi stately yacht the ocean deep 

 Lest a new Madge shall bear away 

 The Conqueror's cup we bold to-day. 

 tirr,cnpnrt, SiW, l- Isaac MoIiEtLAN. 



IN A CHINESE HOUSE BOAT. 



Wditor Feral and Strewn : 



An inquiry in your issue of the 3d inst., asking for 

 further information about the pheasant of China and 

 Japan, brought vividly to ruymiLd one of the p'easantest 

 fihootlng trips I ever took in my life after the same birds 

 spoken of. 



I do not believe (hat I can now furnish you with the kind 

 of information you would like to have about the birds, but 

 1 will tell you about my trip after them if you care about 



1 was attached to the II. 8. Ship "Kearsargo" lying 4 off 

 Shanghai, China, in the month of January, 1876; anda9tlie 

 chances were that the Admiral would let us remain there for 

 %wkile, I persuaded three of my messmates to join me in 

 an application to the Admiral for ten days' leave to go on 

 our trip. 



Our application was granted and early the next morning 

 ■we had what is called in China a house boat alongside the 

 ship, and began fitting her out. A house boat is very much 

 like a slo-p yacht. Our boat had four bunks, and a galley 

 in a cock-pit abaft the house. Our crew consisted of two 

 lervants. and six Coolies to work the boat. 

 ' Going after game hi a house boat is the most luxurious 

 Sporting I know of. All of that part of China back of 

 Bhanghai is completely cut up win. canals. Soif you happen 

 to have a fair wind, you sail ; if not, the Coolies do the duties 

 of mules, and tow you along. 



Our trip was about one hundred and twenty-five miles up 

 the country. Toward evening, having suppbed ourselves 

 with everything we thought we would need, we shoved off, 

 [followed by the best wishes of our messmates left behind, 

 tt»d proce-ded up country. 



In two days we wire getting into the heart of the game 

 [country, and as this was our first experience after pheas- 

 ant in China we were all on the guivite. 



Our expectations were gr tt'fled by seeing one pheasant on 

 the canal bank. Immediately four guns were in line on the 

 forecastle rtady to give it to the next one. The first bird we 

 had seen was a beautiful cock pheasant, and when he spread 

 his wings and displayed his handsome plumage in the bright 

 sunlight ynu can easily imagine that our sportsman's ardor 

 was at its height. 



I I will say just h"re that the pheasants about, Shanghai 

 and up the Yang se River are, I believe, the same as those 

 commonly raised in England. The m>*le bird has a gor- 

 geous, variegated plumage, with long, handsome tail feathers, 

 and the female bird is of a dull ash color. The copper pheas- 

 ant I have only t-een in Japan. There is a'so in Japan what 

 ■ifl called there a golden pheasant, but they are not common, 

 and difficult to get. The Chefoo partridge I have sh>t. and I 

 am under ihe. Impression thai they are the same as the Fn neb. 

 partridge One of our Officers bagged a woodcock at Chefoo 

 that tipped the Males at fourteen ounces. 

 I We finally reached the ground which we wished to shoot 

 [over, and made fast alongside the canal bank and started out. 

 We shot overagenerully level country with occasional ridges 

 and hummocks covered with thick bamboo. Between the 

 Iridgesttnd the thick, tall grass, and along the edg-s of the 

 haoii.iiii is where the pheasant and hog-deer are found. 

 JBoih the pheasant and hog-deer were in great abundance, 



The Chinese never disturb them, so the birds are not at all 

 wild. Jn fact, 1 have shot them in a Chinaman's back yard, 

 and just outaioe the walls of a large city. Once I saw a 

 pheas tut flying over the houses in the city of Nankin. The 

 hog-deer are about the size of a goat, and usually lie in the 

 tall grass. We brought them to bag with No. 4 shot, the 

 sane as we u-ed for pheasant. 



Our daily bag was a goodly number of birds and deer, and 

 all sportsmen can easily imagine one's emotions in knocking 

 over a handsome cock pheasant. We saw a few hare, but 

 quite a number of very small quail. I never met them in 

 coveys, but only by single birds, and when they got up they 

 looked very much like a chestnut burr. They flew straight 

 away, and were easy to kill, and sweet and delicious to eat. 



When we returned to our boat at night the coolies would 

 track the boat a few miles further on. So when we started 

 out in Ihe morning we had entirely new ground to shcotover. 



Of course we had many amusing incidents, aud the usual 

 jokes, which wete always taken in good part by the amiable 

 gentlemen of the party. 



Thompson shot a deer one day and mortally wounded it 

 The deer fell into the canal and could not possibly get out of 

 his own strength. Thompson was quietly surveying him, 

 wondering how he could get him out without getting wet, 

 when Sulbvan, who happened to be near and heard the shot, 

 came rushing up much excited. When he beheld the deer 

 he commenced firing, and would probably have kept on 

 firing to this day if Thompson hadn't brought him to his 

 senses by calling out, " For Heaven's sake, stop firing, Sulli- 

 van, or you will fill him so full of shot that he will sink I" 

 Sullivan suddenly realized that he was banging away at a 

 dead deer and ceased firing. The joke was too good, and 

 1 ngersoll, who had a happy faculty of working up a good 

 story, and telling it well too, rehearsed it with great glee to 

 our messmates upon returning to the ship. 



We found the natives very civil, as would every one who 

 would be half-way decent to them. We had but one scare, 

 which was brought about by one of the Chinese servants 

 com'.ng into the cabin just at dusk and telling m that a 

 Chinaman had rapped three times on a colfla which was 

 placed on the bank of the canal, and he thought that was a 

 signal which meant that we would be attacked during the 

 night. As the Irishman said, we thought we would guard 

 against all precautions, and loaded up our arsenal, which 

 consio'.ed of eight shot-guns, four Remington rifles, four navy 

 revolvtrs and besides four hunting knives, and turned in pre- 

 pared for earnest work. When morning came, our arsenal 

 had not been disturbed and we were all alive. 



At the end of t> n days we returned to our ship, and the 

 flattering accounts we gave about our trip so excited our 

 messmates that another party was at once organized and 

 started off. 



If one had the time and means I cannot imagine a more 

 pleasurable trip than to go shooting up country from Shanghai 

 in a house boat. During the season parties frequently return 

 with the outside of the boat completely festooned with game 

 — principally deer and pheasant — often numbering several 

 hundred head of game. F. W. Diokins. 



Danbvry, Conn, 



ANIMAL MYTHS OF THE IROQUOIS. 



BY ERAIINNIE A. SM1TII. 



4 ' \TE whose hearts are fresh and simple 

 X Wno have ralth in God and Nature, 

 Who believe, that in all ages 

 Every human heart is human, 

 That in even savage bosoms 

 There are longings, yearnings, strivings 



no ; 

 That the teebie hands and helpless 

 Groping b ludly m the darkness 

 Toil h God's right hand in ihat darkness. 

 And are dtted up and strengthened," 

 —Listen to these simple stories : 



The hieroglyphics and mummy pits of ancient Egypt, the 

 animal mounds of our own country, the myths of all 

 countries and particularly those of the aborigines of this 

 continent, all point to the fact that between the human race 

 in its infancy and all animals there existed an undefined 

 closer communion than in this age of civilization when man 

 looks down with contempt on what he chooses, in his " right 

 of might," to term the "lower animals or brute creation." To 

 the untutored Indian mind, nature was the picture book 

 from which he read such of her secrets as served his simple 

 needs ; and only the rnyst* rious — that which he could not 

 comprehend — overawed him j hence Thunder, Echo and the 

 Wind were his divinities. The idea of a " Great Spirit" 

 only came later with teachings. 



From this close intimacy with wild animals, stories of 

 transformations of men into beasts and beast* into men are 

 numerous and interesting. In nearly all of these wherever 

 the bear is introduced he figures as a pattern of benevolence, 

 while many other animals, such its the porcupine, are always 

 presented as noxious. One of these bear stories, as told me 

 on the Cattaraugus Reservation, by a grandson of a corn- 

 planter, runs as follows: 



A party of hunters, encamped a long distance from home, 

 discovered as they were preparing to return that a young boy 

 of their company was missing. After searching vainly for 

 several days they concluded he had been killed, and sadly 

 departed without him. They wore, however, no sooner 

 gone than the lost child, in an almost famishing condition, 

 was discovered by a very kind hearted Bear, who reanoned 

 thus: ''If I attempt to relieve the child in my present 

 form, he will surely be frightened to death. I will,, there- 

 fore, transform myself into a woman and take the bov 

 home with me to become a playmate for my little cubs." 

 The boy was accordingly rescued from starvation, and, living 

 in the same hollow tree wi'h the Bear family, fed with them 

 upon nuts, corn and berrh s. But wh-n fall came, and with 

 it tte return of the hunters, the good B"ar explained her de- 

 vice to her protege, saying : " My cubs must now take 

 care of themselves, and you can rej >in your friends; 

 but always feel kindly toward the Bear tribe," upon which 

 she resumed her proper shape and disappeared in the woods. 

 The boy never, even when grown was known to kill a bear, 

 until after his marriage, whea hia mother-in-'aw, who was 

 very fond of tender cub meat, to of tin grumbled and scolded 

 bim that at last, ungratefully forgetting his benefactress, he 

 killed a cub ; but as he was carrying it home on his back he 

 fell over a sharp stick and died immediately. 



In many of ihese myths speaking animals play a large 

 part and remind nne of the German household stories. The 

 origin of the Bear Clan was of this claBS. 



On one Decision a boy was lost in the forest, when some 

 compassionate animals came to his assistance. Among them 

 were a Wolf, a Deer, a Porcupine and a Bear, The Wolf 



offered to take the lad to his den and give him plenty of rab- 

 bits' flesh and other delicacies; but "No," said the Hear, 

 "you are too greedy. If at any time you should he hungry 

 you will eat up the boy. VVe cannot trust bun with you." 

 Then the Porcupine offered to share with the bov h«r cave ; 

 but the Bear replied ; "Your quills would bun the child and 

 the roots you eat are too bitter and uuwholesome." Than 

 the Deer said, 'Twill take bim on my bck and carry him 

 wh^e he will find plenty of berries." "No," returned the 

 Bear, ' that will not do, you ruu too swiftly; the boy will be 

 hit by the branches of the trees and will be killed. 1 w 11 

 take him myself. I have a comfortable place for him. and 

 he shall have plenty of fruits and honey." So as the Bear 

 was the strongest, and, in his own opinion, the most sensible, 

 the lad went with him. He lived with him until he had 

 grown to be a large and strong youth. One day s me hunt- 

 ers came, who set upon the Bear, and, in spite of the youth's 

 attempt to defend him, slew the poor animal. The young 

 man then left the forest ami returned to live among men. 

 He became a noted warrior, and in memory of his early pro- 

 tector took the name of Bear, which he bequeathed to his 

 descendants, who have ever since composed tue Bear Clan. 



The Turtle Clan originated in a simple, straightforward 

 fashion. There wete in early times many tort ises, of the 

 kind familiarly known as mud-turtles, inhabi ing a small 

 lake or pool. During a very hot summer this pool became 

 dry. The turtles thereupon set otr on their travels over the 

 country to look for a new habitation. One of them, who was 

 uncommonly pussy, sufio red a great, deal from this unicus- 

 tomed exercise. After a time his shoulders bee >tne blistered 

 under bis shell from the effect of his exertions in walking, 

 and he finally, by an extraordinary effort, threw off his shell 

 altogether. The process of transformation and development 

 thus commenced went on with a rapidity which would have 

 delighted Mr. Darwin, for in a short time this fat ami 1 zy 

 turtle became a man, who was the progenitor of the Turtle 

 Clan. 



Curious myths a'so exist regarding the transformations of 

 favored animals at.d birds into the stars. A pa' ty of hunters 

 were once in pursuit of a bear, when Ihev wer attacked by a 

 monstrous stone gian>,and all but three destroyed. The three, 

 together with the bear, were carried by invisible spirits up 

 into the sky, where the bear can still be seen pursued hy the 

 first hunter with his bow, the sec nd with the kettle, anil the 

 third, who, farther behitid, is gathering sticks. Only in the 

 fall do the arrows of the hunter p'erce the bear when his 

 dripping blond tinges the autumn foliage. Then for a lime 

 he is invisible hut afterward reappears. 



Tn place of the time honored man, 'lanthorn and bush, cele- 

 brated by Shakespeare and Mother Goose, the Indian can dis- 

 cover in the moon an old woman weaving a forehead si i ap. 

 Once a month she stirs the boiling kettle of homiuy before 

 her, during which time the cat, ever by her side, unravels 

 her work, and so it will continue until the end of time. 



The Iroquois fables are also numerous, and if found lack- 

 ing in the "moral " element of ihose of j-Esop, they often 

 excel the latter in pi' h and ingenuity. The following \\-.\i 

 recounted lo me on ihe "Six Nations' Reserve," in Canada, 

 by Ka-an-eu-wah, one of the four suviving grand -co. Idron 

 of Brant the Mohawk, and might be termed a mode n Indian 

 story. It accounts for the tailless condition of the Bear after 

 this fashion : A cunning Fox saw a wag >n load of fish an. I 

 resorted to the following ruse to obtain some o< the c iveted 

 delicacy. Feigning to be dead, he hid himself in the road 

 by which the fisherman must pass, who, thinking lint skin of 

 the Fox worth preserv'n.g, toss- d him over into It's wag m 

 and drove on. After t browing out several fish, the Fox slyly- 

 crawled out himself, and securing his fish, sown met a Wolf, 

 who was soon informed of his good luck, and advised to try 

 the same experiment. The fisnerinan had, in the meantime, 

 discovered ihe tr ck, and the Wolf received a good thrashing 

 instead of a fish dinner. The Fox next met a Bear, who was 

 also anxious to procure some fish. " Well," rep ied the Fox, 

 "down at. the river you will Dud an air hole in ihe ice; just 

 put your tail down into it as 1 d d, and you can draw out the 

 fish as fast as you wish." The Bear followed the directions 

 carefully, but the weather being so cold, instead of securing 

 the fish, his tail was frozen off." Poor bruin was very an^ry 

 and proposed to figot a duel with the Fox, who chose as his 

 seconds a Dog and Cat. The Bear chose a Hog and was 

 awaiting the Fox at the appointed hour. As Ihe latter was 

 late in appearing, the Bear clambered into a ir e to prospect, 

 and reported ihat the Fox was approaching with two men 

 armed with guns. Tuereupm the dog. greatly frightened, 

 begged to be covered up witu leaves. Having accouiobshed 

 this, the Bear returned to his post in the tree. The Fox soon 

 made his appearance, but instead of men, his companions 

 proved to be a Dog and a lame Cat. 



While awaiiins in their turn, the Oat perceiving th- Blight 

 motion of one of the uncovered ears of fie Hog, sprang upon 

 it, whereupon the squeals of the invisible Pig put the whole 

 company to flight and the Bear never had the satisfaction of 

 avenging the loss of his caudal appendage, 



A Grben Mahay.— Last week a large specimen of tho 

 green maray, Uymnot7i»rax — sp., came to New York alive 

 iu a tank from Bermuda, but died the next day. Tb so 

 ferocious fishes are eel-like in geueril shape, but with a 

 larger mouth and formidable teeth. The specimen which 

 we saw was about five feet long and had a diameter of ab rot 

 six inches at the thickest portion of its body There are a 

 great number of species of Mimrndw in different parts of 

 ihe world, and Prof. Goode. in Bulletin of the National Mu- 

 seum No. 5, Catalogue of the Fishes of the Bermudas, thus 

 mentions the speckled maray. GymnoUvmix moringp 

 (Cuvier). Goode : "Occasional. The specie* oocnra through- 

 out the West Indies, at Balita and Saint Helena My speci- 

 men measures three feet, and has the vertical bus edged 

 with white. These fishes are sa d to ataiu a length of ft 'e 

 or s'x feet, and are considered excellent food bv the lower 

 classes. I am told, however, that s°rioti3 ca*'S of po soning 

 have been occasioned by their use. The speekl d maray is 

 not rare, but by no means as coram n as the green maray. 

 Isaw a single specimen o r the lafer, but as I could not oh- 

 tain it for *tudy I was unable to determine its specific rela- 

 tions. It resemb'es closely t.h u ' tuuray ' of Catesov (Nat. 

 Hist. Carolina, Flonda anil Bahamas, 20, pi xx—Miirmnn. 

 maculati, nigra and ct'ndW) which I have reason to believe 

 is not identical with his ' black tuuray,' as is generally •■up- 

 posed." The great specimen attracted much attention by its 

 formidable appearance. 



Specimen eopm of the Foreot, and Stream will bt «c",i fret 

 to any addrea upon application, _ . 



