April 6. iKSlj 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



188 



of the wanton destruction and reeled m my line. Uncle 

 Pctrc pulled ihc boat under the shade of an overhanging 

 moss-draped oak, and we drew upon the ample resources of 



the lunch-basket, after which came tho soothing- pipe. A. 

 delightful breeze, just enough to fan one's face, srenlly 

 rustled the leaves, and the long moss swayed gracefully to 

 and fro. The sensation of listless repose wits delicious, and 

 oi crowded Broadway, the transition from the 



■ ■ ai i roar of a big city to this scene of tropical indolence, 

 peedily accomplished, seemed a dream and difficult to 

 realize. BUI there lay half a hundred noble fish in the bot- 

 tom of the boot, there was Uncle Peter dozing and nodding, 

 and there was— Jerusalem 1 what a big skecter getting in his 

 work iust on the very tip end of my jolly red nose. "Dead 

 for a duo&t ".\ 'H the ver:h: I, ;:r. has rTv'n;;s "With a pec set 

 magnifying glass 1 examined him anatomically. He had no 

 brickbat under his wing, and therefore was not a migrator 

 from Jersey. 



I drew- Uncle Peter into a discourse on the incidents of his 

 life. He had lived just there on the. Homosassa nearly the 

 whole- of it— fifty-One years. The plantation was before the 

 war and daring it the property of Senator flee, and was 

 then highly cultivated, producing splendid crops of sugar 

 cane and tropica] fruits; but during the war, while the 

 Senator was lending all his energies in aid of the rebellion, 

 his cracker neighbors made a raid on his well-filled ware- 

 hoosos ano stores Led En in anti.-ipation of the war robbed 

 and sacked his splendid house, and burned it and the ware- 

 houses, first talcing all they could cany off. The family 

 was absent, but Uncle Peter was there, and described his 

 sensations when he saw their approach. Hastily gathering 

 the women and children together they escaped into the 

 hammock, where after depositing them the men mustered up 

 courage to return to try and drive the banditti off, but they 

 W n received with a volley of bullets and a retreat was 

 sounded and accomplished with great precipitation. About 

 rive years subsequently the place was purchased by Captain 

 Jones and the present improvements added. 



As a winter resort for the sportsman it is unequaled by 

 any other on either coast. The climate is simply delicious, 

 having the advantage of the Gulf breeze it is "seldom un- 

 comfortably warm. Game and fish are abundant. The 

 large grove of sweet orange and lemon trees furnish the 

 most delicious oranges raised' in Florida, and the lemons are 

 of large size and excellent in quality. Vegetables of all 



in are easily raised, the squashes and watermelons 

 growing to enormous dimensions. The plantation embraces 

 aboui 4500 acres, a great proportion being suscep- 

 tible of cultivation, and sugar cane of fine quality is easily 

 raised and is a profitable crop. The oranges are a source of 

 no inconsiderable revenue. 



Nomore popular scheme could be seemingly devised than 

 for a party of Northern sportsmen to combine and purchase 

 this delightful location for a winter sporting club. The 

 expenses of keeping it up could easily be realized from the 

 crops. The accommodations for gentlemen with then- 

 families are first-class. The servants now on the place 

 WOrdd be glad to remain, and they are all good ones. As a 

 cook, I will put Aunt Sophie against any in the land. 

 What she cannot do in the culinary line is not worth men- 

 tioning. There is a splendid outfit of boats for river use, 

 and a fine sloop yacht for outside cruising and trips to 

 Cedar Keys, Everything about the place is in apple pie 

 order. A party of congenial friends could find here all that 

 heart could desire, and I presume that satisfactory terms 

 bbuld lie made with Captain Jones for the purchase of the 

 place as it stands. The growing popularity of Florida as a 

 winter resort and general appreciation of desirable locations 

 would insure a constant increasing value to the property. 

 The idea is worth the consideration of gentlemen of means 

 fond eif the splendid sport the location affords. Its waters 

 are teeming with every variety of fish, game abounds in the 

 hammocks and forest along the river banks. Deer, turkeys, 

 water-fowl, quail, etc., are plentiful. "What more could the 

 sportsman desire? In all Florida there is no other place 

 that offers so many inducements for gentlemen fond of 

 Sports and a delightful home far away from the snows and 

 disagreeable features of a Northern winter climate. 



The brief visit made by your humble servant Will long be 

 a green spot: in bis memory, and should another winter find 

 him on the surface of this sublunary sphere, he hopes to 

 repeat it and experience the pleasure and delightful satisfac- 

 tion of many more such days on the river with Uncle Peter, 

 for whose continuance his constituent will ever pray. 



PODGEBS. 



ARIZONA AS A HUNTING GROUND. 



HPHIS section has been entirely overlooked by hunters 

 i thus far; but I beg to assure you that there is no spot 

 iu the United States that offers a better field during the. 

 winter mouths. 



The Santa Rita, the Patagonia and the Santa Catalina 

 mountains, all easy of access to this place, are full of deer 

 and bear, and the latter also contains wild turkeys of almost 

 gigantic growth. There are three kinds of boar— the brown, 

 black arid cinnamon. The Santa Catalina mountains, which 

 are only ten miles north of Tucson, contain mountain 

 sheep, and, as 1 have been informed, the ibex; but I cannot 

 vouch for the truth of the latter statement. It also 

 abounds with musk hog, or the Mexican pecarry, Cali- 

 fornia lion and wildcat. The deer in the mountains 

 are the whitetail, such as are. common in the East- 

 ern States, though much smaller. The large blacktail 

 and "burro deer" frequent the tablelands, and never go into 

 the high mountains, which as you aru no doubt aware, is ex- 

 actly the reverse of their cousins in Colorado. There the 

 blacktails go in the mountains and keep at the Very edge of 

 the snow the year around, while the whitetails se!dom"ven- 

 turetothe mountains unless driven there. There aietwo kinds 

 of blacktails, one which in size and looks corresponds with the 

 common blacktails of the Rocky Mountains; the other, the 

 burro deer, as it is called here, is rnuch larger and weighs from 

 two to three hundred pounds, There are also plenty of an- 

 - in, i ii the table lands. There is at times very good duck 



along the Santa Cruz River. There are four 



: quail, the "Bob White," the fool quail — so called 

 from its stupid habits of sitting until stumbled over— and 

 the Cat if ornia quail, both the mountain and valley species. 

 The latter are in great abundance. 



The winter climate of this portion of Arizona is delightful. 

 Tucson may be reached via the Southern Pacific Railroad 

 from Fast. Those who desire plenty of game for winter 

 hunting cannot find a more inviting iicld. Plenty of grass 

 and water for animals, and no danger of Buffering from 

 stormy weather. H, 



Arizona, 



LONGFELLOW. 



T"\EAR Longfellow, deep sorrow nils my heart 

 - 1 - / That thou, my life-long friend, hast pass'd away ; 

 That in this mortal lite thou hast no part; 

 All dtrthb the poat's song -and lyrist's lay ! 



And, lingering still, I conjure up each scene 

 When we were young, and all of life was new, 



When in (he shade ot Brunswick woodlands green 

 Or college-walks I wandcr'd long with yon. 



'Twas in those haunts that first the flaming;dart 



Of poesy divine sank deep into thy heart; 

 Then first, was swept thy sweet, immortal lyre, 



And the young minstrel's hand first struck the wire. 

 That summer day serene I call to mind, 



When we our tributes to the dead Past pa Id , 

 Numbering those gone, those who remain'd behind, 



While at our feet, thy happy children play M. 

 Poet of natural who so lov'd to paint 



Earth's fairest scenes— the wind-swept hill, the plain, 

 Heroic virtue and angelic saint, 



Arcadian haunts and Indian's wild domain, 

 The flowing river, tho majestic woods, 



The purpling skies, the lake's cerulean space, 

 The tossing seas, the pouring forest floods.— 



Ah! who may seek thy absence to replace? 



With reverential step we place thy dust 

 In Nature's fairest scene, where trees may weave 



Their garlands o'er thee, and sweet songs may burst 

 From choiring birds at day-dawn and at eve. 



Far, Wide, for thee, there shaU be sad lament 



In humble hut and in palatial dome— 

 Thro' Old world and thro' New there shall be sent 



A sorrowful wail from every earthly home ! 

 Greenport, L. I. Isaac McLelulv. 



MEMORIES OF A FAVORED DOMAIN. 



LESS than twenty years ago, there lived about nine miles 

 southwest of the town from which I am writing, a gentle^ 

 man named Harrington, who was extremely fond of held 

 sports, and having ample means devoted a wood deal of time 

 to thek pleasures. He had a good pack of dogs, and could 

 indulge his love for the chase without lea-sing his own 

 domain, being the owner in fee of more than fifteen thou- 

 sand acres of land. This large estate bordered for about 

 three miles upon the Pee Dee River, and extended back, in 

 some places, for more than double that distance. The bulk 

 of it was in original forest, of pine, oak, hickory and black- 

 jack, and the dense thickets of the back lands and the close 

 cover which the hill sides near the river afforded, were the 

 favorite breeding places of deer. Indeed Col. H, the pro- 

 prietor, was often heard to say, that there were raised on his 

 lands, annually, fully two hunched of them. Regarding his 

 land as his own, under the law, he vindicated most fully his 

 rights to its sole use and control, by excluding all hunting 

 upon the premises, unless his permission was given. Poach- 

 ing was occasionally done without the knowledge of the pro- 

 prietor; but in many cases his keen gamekeeper caught the 

 trespassers in flagrante delicto, and they paid the penalty "by 

 the law in such cases made and provided." notwithstand- 

 ing his determination to preserve his game, no gentleman 

 was ever refused permission to hunt, if he asked "authority 

 to do so; and when the health of Col. H. permitted, he ac- 

 companied the party to the woods and engaged iu the sport. 

 Indeed, he often invited his friends to meet at his home at 

 breakfast, on a given day, and be his guests during the con- 

 tinuance of the hunt; or if the numbers were likely to be 

 larger than his bachelor quarters would accommodate, thev 

 were allowed all the privileges of ample camping ground, 

 near one of the running clear springs which abounded on his 

 estate. The writer has often enjoyed his hospitality, iu both 

 ways, and had the pleasure of 'seeing many a tine deer 

 brought in, some of which wero the trophies of his own 

 skill. 



For his own convenience m hunting Col. II. bad cut 

 numerous straight roads in the back lands, dividing a con- 

 siderable territory into convenient "drives" of fromnfly to 

 two hundred acres. These and the woodland which was in- 

 closed in the outside plantation fence, constituted the hunting 

 grounds, where host and guests often "heard the cry that 

 thickened as the chase drew nigh," and the deep boom of the 

 gun which betokened that some one of the party had been 

 properly located for a shot at the fleeing deer. Unless the 

 game was brought down after a short chase, it took to the 

 river, and thus escaped further pursuit. It was not at all 

 uncommon for the deer, especially if far ahead of the dogs, 

 to swim out into the stream and then down the current for 

 several hundred yards, coming out on the same side it had left. 

 But whether it took one course or the other, there was no 

 further pursuit — the traces of the flight were lost. Years 

 ago the deerwere so plentiful in that locality, that good doge 

 never were known to fail to "start" in many of the drives ; but as 

 the woods were thick and ( he chances on ly snap-shot chances, it, 

 was not always that game was obtained, Resides all this, the 

 deer often exercised their independence of the. convention- 

 alities of politeness by refusing to lie seen bythe anxious 

 "stander," and taking some other direction' to make his 

 escape from the dogs. 



I recollect one occasion, when a considerable party of us 

 met by appointment at a camping ground on the estate, as 

 well prepared as men could lie. with muzzle-loading shot- 

 guns, for success in the purpose which had brought us to- 

 gether. "We had good guns, generally of twelve and fourteen 

 calibre, and dogs which could not be surpassed. Most of us 

 were good shots at deer, and we knew the country. We 

 had hunted one day, and succeeded in getting three deer. 

 It was agreed, at a council held at the camp that night, that 

 the next morning by sunrise we should be properly posted 

 around the "Skipper drive," for at that hour the dogs would 

 be turned into it. And a little after daybreak we were all 

 up, on oui horses, and off for the chosen ground, which lay 

 about a mile from the camp. The "standeis" were placed 

 about a hundred yards apart, so as to guard that portion of 

 ..here it" was thought the deer might run out. When 

 startedand chased by the dogs. It was the fortune of the writer 

 to be placed on a narrow cart road, where the undergrowth 

 was so dense in the direction of the drive that a deer could 

 not be seen at the distance of twenty yards, and the only 

 opportunity of getting a shot at all was as he ran across the 

 little opening, making a miss a very probable event. In se- 

 lecting my position I happened to hud a spot where a hog 

 path or cow path led from the road and wont nearly straight 



for about fifty yards. I hoped that I could see the deer as if 

 crossed this, and by that means be better prepared to shoot 

 when the road was reached. The chances of success were 

 SO bad that I really wished no deer to come, and consoled 

 myself with the reflection that my desires would be gratified, 

 for it was almost clear to my mind that none ever used (hat 

 as a • 'runway. " So I sat down, with my back against: a 

 small pine, and commenced thinking over' and mentally re- 

 peating the opening lines of the "Lady of the hake," when 

 my attention was arrested by a distant sound of the dogs. 

 which seemed to indicate only that they were on the trail. 

 I looked down the cow path, and very soon heard a noise 

 resembling that made by the hoofs of a fleer upon hard 

 ground. Almost instantly I saw a doe come bounding up 

 the path and stop just twenty yards from me, with her head 

 directly toward me. A small bush hid me, and, cocking 

 both barrels, I fired the right at her breast. She sprang to 

 the right, and I shot the left barrel at the glimpse as she ran 

 through 1 he thicket. After loading my gun. I went to the 

 spot where she stood to see if I had hit. ' There was a little 

 hair on the ground. I then followed the course which she 

 took, and soon found blood. Proceeding afoul eighty yards, 

 1 discovered that she had stopped for a short while, for there 

 was a considerable puddle of it. Rut she was gone. Alter 

 I had gotten back to my stand the dogs came up, and being 

 bewildered by her sudden chauge of course, took the back 

 track and pursued that until They discovered their error, 

 when they returned and followed her to the river. I learned 

 afterward that a fisherman caught her in the water, and ap- 

 propriated her to his own use- 

 Just after the dogs had gone I heard a noise similar to that 

 made by the doe, and looking down the path again I saw a 

 peg-horned buck come dashing toward me. Tile saw me 

 when he had gotten within almost thirty yards and stopped. 

 As he did so I fired one barrel,' but he was* out of siirht before 

 I could get the other ready. Pretty soon I heard another 

 gun almost two hundred yards to my "left. That shot brought 

 down the peghorn, and "it appeared that I had grazed him 

 with only one shot. My second failure to get meat filled me 

 with intense disgust, aud so after loading! sat down at the 

 base of the pine aud waited with grearanxicly to hear the 

 sound of the horn telling us that the hunt was "up." Then 

 I blew a blast or so to bring to me a neighbor. He wouldn't 

 come. In a short while I heard a solitary hound running 

 nearly a half mile o!f and beyond the limits of tho drive! 

 Almost immediately the stroke of hoofs struck my car. I 

 looked in front, to the right and then to the left, and as I 

 turned to the rear I saw a fine deer coming from the field 

 which was about ten yards back, and coursing almost di- 

 rectly toward me. He jumped the fence not over thirty feet 

 off, and passed within fifteen of the muzzle of my gun. I 

 fired, but the whole load went too high, and as begot off about 

 twenty yards I brought him down with the second barrel. 

 Quite a number of shots had been made and most of them 

 were more successful in getting game than mine. Sons a 

 result, when we went to the camp at 8 o'clock for our break- 

 fast, we had six deer as our trophies. This was the best 

 rewarded morning hunt I ever knew. 'During the three days 

 we got twelve deer. 



After the death of Col. H. his vast landed estate was 

 divided amongst his heirs, and in a few years the owners had 

 converted one large plantation into a number of smaller ones. 

 Instead of one hundred bales of cotton, more than six hun- 

 dred w T ere grown on the land. The country once occupied 

 by deer became cultivated fields, and now the once famous 

 hunting ground has its glories to live only iu memory and 

 tradition. Doubtless it is best as it is; but one must be par- 

 doned for regretting that the inexorable demands of human 

 necessity have stricken from existence this baronial domain ■ 

 with its extensive grounds so well stocked with the noblest 

 of all game. But the march of agriculture and civilization 

 is fast destroying the ranges of the larger wild animals, and 

 but few years will elapse before the buffalo, the elk and the 

 deer will become purely historical, and the lovers of field 

 sports will he restricted to the feathered tribe, some of which 

 have their breeding grounds so far removed from the haunts 

 of men, that despite the usual destruction, the propagation 

 will continue to be sufficient for moderate demands. 



Wells. 



WALTON FALLS AND BLUFF MOUNTAIN. 



I HA VE read the interesting article in your issue of Feb. 

 16, by Rev. H. L. Ziegenf uss, on ' 'Piseco and T Lake 

 Palls," and his assertion that the latter place is more ECO 

 ible from Morebouscvillc than from Piseco, is correct. 



In the southern part of Hamilton county and west 

 Pleasant, Oxbow, Round and Piseco lakes, there is a rej 

 which, lying in a range of seven to twelve miles, is, in c im- 

 parison to the country about the lakes, a howling Wilderness. 



To reach this there are several routes; from Little F"i!-. on 

 the N. T. C. R. R. or better, from Prospect on the Black 

 River R. R., or from Newport on a narrow gau^e road. whi< li 

 has been built from Herkimer, sixteen miles up the vail' 

 the West Canada; at any of these places yon can get a con- 

 veyance to Morehouseville, and with headquarters at that 

 point, can go without much trouble to Piseco, V! 

 Sheriff, and Alder Brook lakes along the old Piseco 

 the east branch of the West Canada creek to Pine and G 

 lakes and T Lake Falls, or northward to Wilmurt, Snag; 

 Big Rock. Little Rock, Little Bear and Twin Lock tal 

 crossing the upper Stillwater on the Metcalf Liver, and 

 Twin Rock are within twenty minutes' walk of Indian River, 

 the outlet of Spruce Lake. 



Last summer C. aud I left Newport one morning before, 

 daylight, our destination was the hone.; of Theodore 

 Remonda, the guide, where we were to meet Horace. 



We had been three days making the necessary preparations 

 for the trip, and started out with our "duds" snugly packed 

 in the box of a Courtland wagon, and ourselves sitting 

 the comfortable seats behind two as line roadsters as one 

 could ask. 



We drove to Poland, four miles, the road skirting the 

 banks of the creek, turning to the right; two miles 1'arl boron 

 is Cold Brook. Everybody was asleep in the little village as 

 we hurried through. A mile above, the road turns sharp to 

 the left and we begin to ascend the "big sand hill," well 

 remembered by everyone who has been over this COi 

 This "sandhill" is a" deep gorge, over a mile iu Length, 

 through which the road winds, and evidently bjaa 

 washed out deeper and deeper each year by spring fre-bct ; 

 and heavy rains, It is a hard pull to the top. but once there, 

 siopaswe didfor a "breather," anil see if you are not repaid 

 for your labors. 



We are on an immense hill, looking into the valley below, 

 the sun is peeping over the tops of the woods far fcooui | '■ |jj 

 from where we stand the laud slopes grudually down to tint 



