RECREA TION. 



223 



mous newspaper writers over the sad fate of 

 Colgate, who brought his own misfortune upon 

 himself, and infinite trouble on others, one can- 

 not avoid being disgusted with human nature 

 " on this frontier." 



I have heretofore carefully avoided entering 

 into this controversy, but now I have committed 

 myself, and wish all who take any interest in the 

 matter to know that I consider the action of 

 William E. Carlin in the whole matter as manly, 

 brave and praiseworthy. William P. Carlin. 



Extract from a Letter from Lieutenant 

 Clough Overton. 



Fort Walla Walla, Wash. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I never saw the Carlin party, and did not tra- 

 verse the canyon route, by which it made exit. 

 When the party was found by Lieutenant Elliott, 

 I was on the Lo Lo trail, about forty-five or fifty 

 miles from the Warm Springs. It would not 

 have been possible for the Carlin party to have 

 brought a sick man, on travois. over the Lo Lo 

 trail, as we found it, or even to have made their 

 escape, leaving their sick cook. The snow was 

 so deep and soft that we abandoned our tobog- 

 gans. Thirty or forty pounds was a pack load 

 for web snow shoes, and ski shoes were found 

 impracticable. In ascending, their hobbles 

 would not hold in the soft snow. We left every- 

 thing we had taken into the mountains except 

 our arms and three packs, aggregating about 

 seventy-five pounds. 



GAME NOTES. 



Editor Recreation : Lander, Wyo. 



I returned yesterday from the Gios Ventre. 

 The snow was very deep on the summit, but only 

 for a short distance, and we made it over in a 

 few hours without accident, but our horses were 

 almost exhausted. We came over the Lincoln 

 Pass. We saw one band of elk which I estimated 

 at 2000. Two other members of our party ap- 

 proximated them at 3000. They were all 

 cows. It was very tempting to a hunter, but we 

 came away without firing at them. We also saw 

 two other bands of about 100 each. 



Egin, Fremont Co., Idaho. 

 Editor Recreation : 



I have just returned from a hunt in the Teton 

 mountains. I saw ten large bull elk ; was within 

 50 yards of them, but was hunting for meat, for 

 winter and did not want bulls. Two of us killed 

 four deer and three cow elk. I saw a number of 

 deer, but they have been hunted so much that 

 they are wild. Saw a number of mountain lions 

 tracks and two or three bear tracks ; also a few 

 moose tracks. Mountain grouse were abundant, 

 and there were foxes. W. L. Winegar. 



Editor Recreation : Greeley, Iowa. 



I have just returned (December 15, 1894), from 

 a six months' trip through the west. In South 

 Dakota I found plenty of small game, such as 

 ducks, geese, and prairie chickens. In Wyom- 

 ing there are herds of deer and antelope, and 

 there are still a number of elk and bear in the Big 

 Horn mountains. Montana furnishes as fine 

 trout fishing as a man can ask for. Flat Head 

 river and lake abound in trout, and there is also 



plenty of large game in the valley. While there 

 I was informed that at least 1,000 deer were killed 

 within three miles of Columbia Falls, last winter. 

 Quite a number of elk and bear were also killed 

 in the mountains. I found good hunting and 

 fishing in Idaho and Washington. 



G. A. Fishel. 



FISH AND FISHING. 



Editor Recreation : Marietta, Ga. 



In " Fish Notes," in the December number of 

 your magazine, there is a discussion as to the 

 proper spelling of the English name of megalops 

 thrissoides, whether tarpum or tarpon. If prior- 

 ity of nomenclature is the proper rule, it should 

 be neither. The earliest English authority on 

 the fishes of east Florida is, I think, Captain 

 Bernard Romans, who in his "Concise Natural 

 History of Florida," New York, 1775, prints the 

 name of this fish Tarpon. Captain Romans was 

 a British engineer officer, employed during the 

 English occupation of Florida, 1765-80, by his 

 government, in surveying the coast. 



Florida fishermen as far as I know, call the 

 fish tarpum, and New York anglers and writers 

 call it a tarpon. As to the Jewfish, which the 

 writer in fish notes tells us should be June fish — 

 Promocrops guasa — Captain Romans call it Jeiv- 

 fish. On the east Florida coast it is a resident 

 specie, but lives in deep holes in winter, when it 

 is seldom taken. In summer it has the habit 

 of floating on the surface, apparently asleep, 

 when it is shot or harpooned. The Jewfish is 

 perhaps the largest edible fish known, reaching 

 a weight of 600 pounds, but the strength of 

 these monsters is so great, that no ordinary line 

 can hold them. Captain Romans' book is rare, 

 and it may be worth while to copy his list 

 of the east Florida fishes: Kingfish, barra couda, 

 tarpon, bonito, cavallos, pompanos, silverfish, 

 Jewfish, rockfish, groupers, porgys, red, gray, 

 and black snappers, mangrove snappers, hogfish, 

 grunts, angelfish, margatefish, dog snappers, 

 yellow tails, muttonfish, mullets, moray, or 

 congers, red and black drum, parrotfish, bone- 

 fish, sharks, sting rays, and an immense variety 

 of others, all excellent in their kinds. 



Most, perhaps, all of these, still frequent those 

 shores, and where else can the angler find such 

 a list ? S. C. C. 



TROUT GYMNASTICS. 



Did you ever see a brook trout going through 

 his gymnastic exercises ? One bright, still day, 

 not long ago, I was whipping a trout stream, and 

 came to a pool where I knew there were lots of 

 beauties. Carefully concealing myself behind a 

 big pine stump, I cast my flies out on the water, 

 but all to no purpose ; I could not get a rise. 

 The water, clear and placid, with just enough 

 current to give it a crinkly appearance, flowed 

 over a gravel bed, and as my eyes became 

 accustomed to it I began to see the big fellows. 

 It was a pretty sight ; there must have been 

 fifty of them of various sizes. Rod and net 

 were laid aside and forgotten. I stretched my- 

 self on the bank with only my eyes peering over 

 and watched Mr. Trout taking his daily sun 

 bath and his calisthenic exercises. He did not 

 vault, or hit the bag, or put the shot ; but he 



