These 

 of the p\ 

 Salmo saa 

 Surope. ': 



herged into ._ 



ania and New* 



fill be more iibef, . 

 of ore, In view of i' 



-ems to be crowned 



Balmox ix 1852 ix the S 

 ■beam — I found a newspt 

 352. June.— A salmon 

 <r is caught in the Sul 

 ft. ee." I think that 



• 



THE AMERICAN SPORTSMAN'S JOURNAL 



ruts, Four Dollar* a Tear. I 

 Ten Cents a Cop;. f 



NEW YORK, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 6, 1877- 



/ Volume 9.— No. 18. 

 INo. Ill Fnlton St., N. Y. 



For Forest nnd Stream and_BM and Gun. 

 JACK. 



COME, Jack, let's have a show, 

 Act like a little man; 

 As clog you're something more, you know, 

 Than black-and-tan. 



That's it, now sit straight up, 



You bark, and I'll translate ; 

 We'll prove there's one knowing pup, 



As Bare as late. 

 Shake hands. Ah, that's the style ! 



It pays to be pol.te; 

 You'll find it always worth your while, 



To black or white. 



How tell how old you are ? 



Two barks— 1 hat means two years — 

 And for your age you're quite a star, 

 As now appears. 



Bow does the beggar go— 



The undeserving imp 

 That stol* your meat and bread, you know?- 



That's just the limp, 



From man to man he'll beg, 



And lie to every one, 

 L'ntll you bite his wooden leg, 



That makes him run. 



How do the ladies go ? 



Well, Jack, that's just the way ; 

 They w riggle and twist to catch a beau, 



ALd love a day. 



• 

 What says the candidate? 



A long-drawn bark and growl ; 

 That means they talk about the Sta'e, 



And make " Rome howl." 



How does the coward act 



When he begins a fray ? 

 Ijke that, he tnrus with wondrous tact, 



And sneaks away. 



What does the man of grit, 



When serious times begin ? 

 You're right, he never backs a bit, 



But goes right In. 



How, Jack, we're through to-day, 



Just tell me if you like me? — 

 A lively leap and bark, and they 



Mean yes, slr-ee ! 



You may well say he's smart ; 



His life's an honest deal ; 

 Alt: ough a dog, his little heart 



Is true as steel. 



Ah, Jack, If we could trust 



The world as I trust you, 

 No man to man would be unjust, 



No love untrue. 



J. C. Burnett. 





For Forest and Stream and Rod and Gun. 



fallings from the J§ast jggaast 



4 Siotifo* 



BY TH01IAS SEDGWICK STEELE. 



NEW SMYRNA, on Mosquito 3agoon,«ea3t inland coast 

 of Florida, contains about five or six Louses. The 

 town was settled in 1767 by fifteen hundred Minorcans un- 

 der one Dr. Turnbull, but through his brutality, and the col- 

 onists not being dealt with according to contract, they aban- 

 doned the settlement, and located in and near St. Augustine, 

 ■where their descendants now reside. The town was named 

 New Smyrna, in compliment to Turnbull's wife, she being a 

 native of Smyrna, Asia. The Minorcans cultivated annually 

 immense quantities of indigo. Sauntering out through the 

 palm groves, I discovered two old tombs, supposed to cover 

 the remains of Spanish noblemen. For mile3 around the 

 country is drained by deep and well formed canals, the only 

 permanent monument to Turnbull's activity. They are al- 

 most as perfect as when first constructed, and. drain large 

 Swamp3 in the vic'n'ty r'n'.o the lagoon, or H.llBboro River, as 

 it is sonutinie? c Aled— the upper part of the lagoon being 

 Halifax River. 



About two-thirds of all the visitors to Florida return down 

 tbe St. Johns River after reaching Enterprise, but further up 

 the river, or inland, are greater delights, and only through 

 the means of " camp life " does one really enjoy this beau- 

 tiful country. 



The unfortunate state of the road (thirty miles in length) 

 lying between Enterprise and New Smyrna, debars many 

 from leaving the highway of travel, but once over the difflcul- 

 lies, one is well repaid for the undertaking. 



By the means of a team of mules and a rough box wagon, 

 containing our guns, rods and camp equipage, we started 

 from Enterprise for New Smyrna early one morning, and of 

 all the roads we traveled while in Florida, this would have 

 taken the first prize for wretchedness. It had recently rained, 

 and it would be safe to say that more than one-half of the 

 road was under water. Frequently, as far as we could see 

 backward and forward, the water covered the road, reaching 

 to the hubs of the wheels, and sometimes to the floor of the 

 vehicle, while about us were the gloomy pines of the southern 

 forests. At short intervals the path was sandy, and then we 

 jumped out and rested our limbs by walking, for the wagon 

 was only just able to accommodate our trunk, which we used 

 also for a seat, banging our feet over the sides. Our dog oc- 

 casionally came to a "point" on quail, but the thick under- 

 growth of palmetto and Spanish bayonet plants forbade us to 

 follow; besides, it soon commenced to rain and we^hastened 

 on our journey. 



Just before entering New Smyrna the road passes through 

 a large grove of palm trees, their long, graceful leaves en- 

 twining above, and overhanging the path. Pleased with this 

 display of tropical foliage we moved onward, and soon drew 

 up at Lowd's Hotel, and were welcomed by about a dozen 

 lovers of the rod and rifle, who, clad in hunting suits of var- 

 ious colors, were grouped around a blazing fire on the hearth, 

 the mercury still standing at 50 degrees. This hotel and its 

 accommodations, we can safely say, is the most homelike of 

 any it was our good fortune to meet while in Florida (Jack- 

 sonville excepted), and for the friends of out- door sports, of- 

 fers facilities not to be found elsewhere. The hotel is a large 

 two-story house, the garden in front reaching down to the 

 lagoon. The table is well kept, "hog and hominy" not being 

 the principal dishes, and everything from beefsteak down is 

 not fried, which cannot be said of all the hotels on the St. 

 Johns River. 



Fine oysters in every style of cooking, venison, turtle 

 steak and soup, quail, a great variety of fish, to make no men- 

 tion of that rare article, goad bread and butter. The board is 

 only fifteen dollars a week. Mr. Kirby Lowd, the proprietor, 

 always accommodating, and there is not that desire to reach 

 one's "bottom dollar" evinced by hotel keepers and steamboat 

 men in the interior portions of the State. At Enterprise 

 oranges cost the tourist fifty cents a dozen, but the same fruit 

 was brought over to this place by some "underground rail- 

 road," and sold for thirty cents a dozen, very few being raised 

 on the place. A number of the sportsmen's wives were stop- 

 ping at the house, and the whole place had an air of true com- 

 fort. But communication by means of sail boats with St. Au- 

 gustine (or civilization) is more frequently resorted to than 

 by the above mentioned route. 



New Smyrna was shelled and burnt repeatedly by our gun- 

 boats during the late war, ana the rebel earthworks still re- 

 main, while on the wharf, dismounted, lies a small cannon, 

 stamped "Chicopee, Mass.," which was used in the siege. Mr. 

 Lowd, the proprietor of the hotel, after having his house 

 burnt over his head, retired with his family some three miles 

 to the country, and on lighting his first fire was shelled out of 

 his. temporary encampment. Pie afterward served as colonel 

 in the confederate army. 



Excellent fishing can be had at this place. Sea bass, tur- 

 bot, drum fish, to say nothing of the excitement of shark fish- 

 ing, and one of our party caught in two hours twenty-five of 

 that savory fish called sheepshead, one a day being considered 

 great luck on our northern coasts. Boats and guides are to 

 be had without trouble, while any article wanting in one's ac- 

 coutrements is readily supplied by the ever-generous sports- 

 man. Deer are to be had on many of the islands in this vicin- 

 ity, and are "jumped" by hounds, the deer being "flushed" in 

 the same manner as birds. We enjoyed one day of raccoon 

 hunting ; the last animal captured having a lively fight with 

 our dogs. 



Of all the undergrowth over which a sportsman is obliged 

 to travel, Florida will take the foremost rank. What with 

 cactus, Spanish bayonet plants, ta say nothing of shrub pal- 

 mettoes, our clothing after the hunt appeared as if it had been 

 cut with the sharpest of knives. 



We shall remember for a long time our quail hunt in the 

 saddle, for in this way a greater part of the shooting is ac- 

 complished. Our heavy Mexican saddle was surmounted by 

 a big pommel, and drove a close competition to the size of the 

 horse, leaving but little of him in sight. The bridle was com- 

 posed of stray bits of various colored leather, tied together 

 with string, and the reins were of rope, while with our feet, 

 almost touching the ground, we set off on our hunt. Did the 

 reader ever attempt to carry a gun in the saddle for jthe first 

 time, with the horse on a lively gallop? We thought it 

 would be easy, but somehow the barrels and stock grew long- 

 er and heavier at every jump of the animal. We carried it 

 over our shoulder, then under our right arm, until we were 

 able to take oath to the exact number of bones and muscles 

 each contained. Across the pommel was of course the place 

 to rest it, but the extent of that article left room for little else. 

 We met on our way to the hunting grounds a horse and cirt 

 fully occupied, by a " Cracker" and his family. On the back 

 of the horse was a child, while on the palm leaves Which cov- 

 ered the bottom of the vehicle reposed his lordship, wife, and 

 three other children. Over the shrub palmettoes which 

 reached to the horse's breast we galloped, and placing some two 

 miles between us and the village, we brought up at an old sugar 

 mill, built by Turnbull over a hundred years ago. Its composi- 

 tion was Ooquina rock, and in ruins, but what still remained 

 of its ancient walls overgrown with lovely ivies, yellow jessa- 

 mines and running vines, gave it a picturesque effect not soon 

 to be forgotten. Tall palm trees reared their lofty trunks 

 from its interior, and my companion remarked that " he had 

 been led astray many times while abroad to visit celebrated 

 ruins, not half so artistic." From this we turned into one of 

 those swamps or savannahs as they are called in ^the South, 

 and our dog soon pointed on the edge of a thicket our first 

 bevy of quail. Dropping from our horses, and throwing our 

 reins on the ground, which was sufficient to detain the ani- 

 mals, we flushed the birds one after another, and secured 

 eleven for our bag, one of them being shot on the wing after 

 remounting to our saddles, the horses standing as still as if 

 -petrified,- Jletrieving birds witnout a dog is impossible in 

 Florida on account of the " hewy~Hedefbmst j nV g ? » irith Hi? 

 best of his species we lost two that day. 



The next day was the Sabbath, and engaging a missionary 

 who happened to be in the vicinity, we had service at the ho- 

 tel, our top boots and hunting suits not detracting from our 

 full enjoyment of the exercises. A small wooden building 

 costing fifteen hundred dollars has been obstructed, and is 

 used as a church and school-house, tha funis being largely 

 contributed by sportsmen who frequent the place annually. 



After a few days of rest at New Smyrna we made prepara- 

 tions to sail for our Eldorado of Florida— Indian River. Hir- 

 ing a small schooner-rigged sail-boat, we loaded it with pro- 

 visions of the best that could be had at New Smyrna, but the 

 variety was limited. Hard tack, salt pork, rice, coffee, sugar 

 and condensed milk was thefjextent, relying on our guns to 

 help out the larder. My guide was a six-footer, who (as was 

 fortunate) had lived four years on this mysterious Indian 

 River, knew every island and point, and alone with him 1 set 

 sail. From Mosquito Lagoon we beat, tacking in and out 

 through its many channels, shooting a few ducks on the way, 

 and reaching the "cut-off" about noon. This cut-off connects 

 Mosquito Lagoon with Indian River, and is a half a mile in 

 length. It was built by the United States Government dur- 

 ing the Seminole war of 1835, and through it passed the sup- 

 plies to the forts of the Indian country. At the present time 

 the water is very shalbw, thej walls having crumbled in, and 

 it does not allow boats drawing over seven inches of water to 

 pass. The channel is cut through solid walls of shell concrete, 

 which arise on either side some twelve feet, and it is only 

 eight feet in width, but with my guide in the water pushing, 

 and the help of my own hands on the rocky sides, we effect- 

 ed a passage. A boat of larger build had only just preceded 

 us, working for three days a channel with pick and ax, and 

 the sides of the vessel, which we afterward observed, were in 

 a sadly damaged condition. From the cut-off we entered a 

 large bay twenty miles in width, and which is really the head 



