244 



PORE ST AND STREAM. 



[April 21, 188s 



tion with previous ones, how the interest in certain strains 

 of dogs has grown since the Kennel Club gave its first show 

 in 1877. The, catalogue of that year shows that seventeen 

 St. Bernards were exhibited ; this year there were fifty-two 

 entries in this class. In 1877 there were four Irish water 

 spaniels, in 1882 seventeen. At the first show there were 

 twenty-live fox-terriers, at the last sixty, while in 1877 only 

 eight collies were exhibited as against sixty I his year. 



In the well established sporting classes no similar increase 

 in number has taken place, although of course more dogs 

 are exhibited now than formerly ; but in these classes the 

 principal change to be noted is the constant improvement in 

 the quality of the animals entered for competition. Most 

 people have learned that it is worse than useless to send a 

 commonplace animal to the show, and hence, as a rule, the 

 dogs entered are above the average, so far as form and beauty 

 are indications of excellence. And if there are still some 

 obstinate peoplewho persist: in believing that their dogs must 

 ■win on the hench, notwithstanding the testimony of good 

 authorities to the contrary, let us be thankful that their 

 number is each year growing smaller. 



An exhibition of this kind has other uses than the mere 

 education of the masses. It serves, too, as a sort of conven- 

 tion of breeders and owners, and affords opportunities for 

 the. exchange of views and experiences which must have a 

 good effect on the different strains of dogs. 



The pressure on our kennel columns this week lias obliged 

 us to leave over much interesting and valuable matter. 



BIG GAME IN WYOMING. 

 TT is very gratifying to announce the passage of a law by 

 •*- the Territory of Wyoming, which is intended to prevent 

 the wanton destruction of large, game by the skin-hunters 

 and others. The open season prescribed for the killing of 

 deer, elk, moose, mountain sheep, mountain goat, antelope 

 and buffalo is from August 1 to November 15. 



The law strikes directly at the traffic in hides, by making 

 it unlawful for any person to purchase or obtain by barter 

 any green or untanned hide of the animals mentioned, and 

 for transportation companies to have the same in possession 

 for transportation. 



The general provisions of the new law are excellent. Its 

 passage by the Wyoming Council and House of Represent- 

 atives is an encouraging indication of the changing public 

 sentiment regarding the game slaughter. The framing and 

 passage of the law have been in the hands of intelligent, de- 

 termined and influential gentlemen ; and the same vigor dis- 

 played in securing its enactment will, we believe, provide for 

 its enforcement. A Wyoming game league is now being 

 formed, in which will be found the leading business and 

 professional gentlemen of the Territory, as well as the federal 

 and territorial officers. In the good work for which it will 

 labor, this Wyoming game league will have the support of 

 all friends of game protection; and it is to lie hoped the 

 "visiting sportsmen" will be among the strongest allies of 

 the league. 



Decapitate the Dogs. — Pittsburg, Pennsylvania, is nota- 

 ble as one of the few cities in this country capable of sus- 

 taining a creditable bench show of clogs. It is generally 

 considered to be a strong dog centre. All fie more startling, 

 then, because coming from Pittsburg, is the proposition that 

 we should dispense with the use of field dogs. Game is de- 

 pleted, writes a Pittsburg man, because setters and pointers 

 show the shooter just where the birds are, and then it is a 

 comparatively easy matter to kill the game. Do away with 

 the dogs, and, left to his own cunning, the gunner cannot 

 get so many birds. The gratifying result will be that game 

 will speedily increase and multiply upon the face of the 

 earth. The reasoning is sound; the conclusion is impregna- 

 ble; the plan proposed a most excellent onC. We can think 

 of only one suggestion to add; that is, that having sent all 

 his dogs to the pound, our Pittsburg friend should sell his 

 gun for old metal 



A Spring Plague.— With the May days come the song 

 birds to nest in the orchard and by the roadside; and with 

 them come the fellows who rob nests and destroy the song- 

 sters for the milliners' shops. Every spring brings this 

 abominable nuisance. The bird robber's business is a regular 

 trade, carried on by loafers and vagabonds, who are too lazy 

 to earu an honest living. Many of the chaps who shoot the 

 song birds and rob the nests to sell the booty, will just as 

 readily steal chickens, and anything else they can lay their 

 thievish hands on. The only way to save the birds is for 

 every man and woman to constitute a self-appointed com- 

 mittee of one to combat the robber nuisance. The laws in 

 most of the States provide proper punishment for these of- 

 fenses. With a little pluckthe laws can be enforced, and the 

 vandalism suppressed. There ought to be a strong public 

 sentiment on the subject in every village. 



Mr. Ober's Lectures.— The Boston papers speak in high 

 praise of Mr. F. A. Ober's illustrated lectures on Mexico. 

 Those who read his letters from that country, published in 

 the Forest AMD Stream, will recall Mr. Ober's graphic de- 

 scriptions of the country, the people, and the natural his- 

 tory of the Southern lands which he visited, and they will 

 readily understand the pleasing way he has of entertaining 

 an audience; 



THE ICHTHYOPIIAGI. 



A SMALL meeting, limited to the executive, committee 

 -*-*- will precede the regular annual dinner of the Ichthyo- 

 phagus Club. It will Take place on a small island in the 

 Great South Bay of Long Island as soon as the sign in the 

 moon is right for eating strange fishes. The ostensible object 

 of this most mysterious meeting is said to be to discuss the 

 causes of the recent alarming mortality' among the Loplwlati- 

 lit.i ehniiifdi'/in/ifcps and to inquire into the reason for the 

 deterioration of the Ostrea virginiana in the Great South 

 Bay. It is darkly hinted that the executive committee 

 intend to try and use oyster shells for food, and that the 

 president, Mr. John Foord, of the New York Times, has a 

 process of extracting the lime from them and of converting 

 the remainder into a jelly which will take a flavor equal to 

 the finest "calves foot. " We know nothing of the truth of 

 this rumor, which may have originated in the fact that the 

 gentleman in question was seen to examine the shells of his 

 "Shrewsbury^" and to compare them with those from some 

 "Blue Points." 



However this may be, we are glad to know that the mys- 

 tery of the dead fishes found so plentiful at sea, and which 

 covered miles of ocean, will now be penetrated. The veil 

 will be lifted from Oslna virginiana (some folks calls 'em 

 isters) and the astonished world will wonder why things 

 now brought to light were not known before. Nothing is 

 said of investigating the qualities of Johannisbergcr or other 

 wines, with the more solid refreshments, so we suppose that 

 nothing will be done in that line, but a significant hint of 

 returning the next morning is given, so we presume that 

 the hard-working investigators intend to return. But sup- 

 pose that they should not! Suppose that the monsters of the 

 deep, whose, just anger these experimenters have aroused, by 

 eating such of their relatives as might be so unfortunate as 

 to fall into their hands, should rise and devour them! They 

 could never be replaced — the Ichthy fellows we mean; and 

 then there would be none to risk their lives in eating of the' 

 strange and hideous creatures which dwell in the water. 

 None who would impair their digestions and suffer the 

 pangs Of dyspepsia for the sake of teaching their fellow 

 mortals how to destroy their stomachs with different prepar- 

 ations of octopus, shark, sea worms, and the thousand leggy r , 

 slimy horribles which swim, crawl and burrow below the 

 waters 



Truly Congress ought to pension these noble men who so 

 sacrifice themselves for the public good. The soldier has the 

 applause, of his comrades and the inspiring fife to encourage 

 him in his career of slaughter for thirteen dollars per month, 

 his food, clothing, medical attendance, aud the privilege of 

 being buried in his boots. But the Ichthyophagi have 

 merely the approval of their own consciences and the night- 

 mare to cheer them. Therefore let them have pensions 

 sufficient to purchase weekly supplies of water snakes, hell- 

 benders, octopods, lob worms, and such delicacies as will 

 tickle the ichthyophagan palate. 



We are not sure but a better plan would be to erect a home 

 for such members of this noble club as may have destroyed 

 their digestive apparatus by carrying experiment beyond the 

 bounds allowed by their department of the interior, where 

 the}' could be regaled on soups of razor clam, horsefoot 

 crab, etc. , and look upon a collection of such stuffed monsters 

 as they ate iu former times before their stomachs were laid 

 up in ordinary. We speak feelingly on this subject, for we 

 have dined with the club. We well remember the bisque of 

 razor clams which started a vinegar factory to work on 

 full time in our stomach in hah' an hour after eating. The 

 indigestible devil fish then stimulated our gas factory 

 (which is in the same place and works when the vinegar 

 mill stops) to operation at its full capacity, while the 

 shark steaks laid the foundation for a vigorous nightmare 

 which was as frisky as a colt. We saw a shark with green 

 goggles try to swallow John Foord, the president of the 

 club, and was only prevented by a gigantic hellbender in 

 knee breeches, which held on to his boots, while an octopus 

 with a sewing machine tried to sew on a salt codfish to our 

 left ear. Yes! They are nice fellows, and very enthusiastic 

 in their good work, but somehow, ordinary fishes and meats 

 are about suitable to our appetite; shad, Spanish mackerel, 

 and trout, for instance. 



FOREST AND STREAM FABLES. 



I.— THE WISE AXD FOOLISH PIKE. 



ONCE upon a time there were two Pike, who established 

 themselves in two streams which were as like in size and 

 character as two streams well can be. These Pike were both 

 lusty fellows, and the terror of all the little fish that swam 

 those waters. 



"Sfet one of ihem, when the little fish were going up stream 

 to spawn at the seasons when Nature Commanded each kind 

 to do so, was very forbearing toward them, and quite as care- 

 ful of them as if they had been his own children, perhaps 

 more so. He would go hungry rather than gobble up a Dace 

 or Shiner swimming past his reedy lair, heavy with egga He 

 woidd comfort his interior with a Prog or two and the prom- 

 ise of many good things by and by, and turn his tail on temp- 

 tation. 



Not so his fellow of the other stream. Woe to the little fish, 

 no matter how heavy laden with spawn, that attempted to 

 . the blockade of his port. He would devour them by the 

 dozen ami score, and even follow them relentlessly to the 

 upper stream, where the water clattered over the pebbles, 

 too shallow for him to pursue them further. He would not 

 give over gorging himself upon them till his jaws would not 



hide the tail of the last one taken, and for a while he. had 

 great sport, as he called it, and very jolly times indeed, get- 

 ting much fatter than his neighbor of the other stream, whom 

 he called a very silly fellow for not making the most of his 

 present opportunities. But after a time it did not fare so well 

 with him. The little fish grew shy of his stream, and ehose 

 rather to go up the other than to risk their lives and precious 

 freight in the dangerous waters of this. So it Offiraetcrpass 

 that in the Fall, however sharply he watched, it was seldom 

 that he saw the gleam of a down stream Caring minnow's 

 scales, and for very hunger he would have been thankful for 

 a tithe, of the fry that, out of pure gluttony, he had swallowed 

 when he did not need. 



Meanwhile his neighbor was in no such strait. Dace, Chubs 

 and Shiners were sculling past his door in throngs, from those 

 as big as ever they could grow down to little chaps making- 

 theh first (and last) voyage; and the Pike had as many as he 

 liked, of whatsoever size or kind he chose. It is true he was 

 a little out of practice, and at first did not snap a minnow 

 at every rash in his accustomed dashing style; but with so 

 many chances he did not mind the misses, and all his old trick 

 of skill soon came back to him. Knowing how poorly off his 

 neighbor was, he thought of inviting him over to share his 

 sport with him a few days, but on second thought concluded 

 it was better to let him suffer the whole consequences of his 

 greed. At the beginning of Winter the self-denying and fore- 

 casting Pike was as full of fat and contentment as Ids scales 

 could hold, while his greedy and improvident neighbor was 

 so starved and thin that he more than once mistook his ow n 

 shadow for a slender minnow. 



MORAL. 



Eat not the dough to-day if thou wouldst have cake to- 

 morrow. 



the ^artmt(mt l^mtritf. 



HULKWA-WEWA. 



A W r EEK ON A FLORIDA RIVER. 



IT was midnight, and we were halfway up the stream, 

 the Hulkwa-wewa— the "Bad Water" — of the Seminoles. 

 and the Oeklawaha of degenerate "Crackers." 



There was rivalry between the two river steamer ; thd 

 Okahumpkee passed the Panasofskee in the only "reach" 

 wide enough for such a feat, and there was rejoicing and 

 jeering on the one and lamentation and cursing on the other. 

 The bursts of speed were tremendous, at times even reaching 

 the unprecedented rate of four miles an hour. Old steam- 

 boat navigators of Florida waters watched this unparalleled 

 attainment with breathless interest, and, whether friend or 

 foe, retired after it was over to drink to an event fchiit 

 "marked the opening of a new era of travel in Florida." 



This was at Buffalo Bluff. Victory crowned our efforts, 

 and. amid showers of sparks and lurid gleams of light, we 

 passed the Panasofskee. On the top of our wheelhouse was 

 a blazing fire of pine knots, which shot its flashes far into 

 the black depths of the swamp. The effect was sublime; 

 tall cypress trees loomed up like ghosts and wait/., d 

 .into the darkness; every lichen on every tree stood out dis- 

 tinct, eveiy tendril of tillandsia, and every seed pod of the 

 maple. A squirrel, surprised on a limb of a. lid I tree. 

 dropped his paws in wonderment and stared at us open- 

 mouthed. The last quarter of the old moon shone through 

 the moss-draped limbs of the forest trees; great bunches of 

 mistletoe and clumps of tallandsia, clinging to the blanched 

 tree trunks, looked like shaggy bears, in the white, moon- 

 light. 



Astern could be seen the red glare of the vanquished Pana- 

 sofskee, now gleaming through the trees, now sending a 

 broad lane of light across the stretch of glassy water. 



At daylight 1 climbed to the pilot-house and found a negro 

 at the helm. What a wonderful descendant of Ham was 

 that negro! How skillfully he guided usl-now shaving a 

 whole broadside of shrubbery, now grazing a protruding 

 stump, and now just slipping over a sunken log. Placid, 

 lake-like reaches, seldom more than a thousand feet in 

 length, gave a bit of variety to the tortuous channel; but 

 nakedness and misery were predominant. Bayou:-, opened 

 out at every turn, dotted with lilies and lettuce, reaching 

 their blue and green into the gray of the cypress. Monarch 

 of the swamp is the cypress, holding high its head and 

 thrusting its spreading feet into the water, about which grow 

 palmettoes and interlacing vines. This makes a landing for 

 a little vegetable matter, then a bit of earth, about which 

 gather bignonias and water-lettuce, and land is formed. 



The high rate of speed at which we were running required 

 constant feeding of furnace, and at the first woodyard our 

 steamer stopped, panting and wheezing, and sending valor- 

 ous puffs through the forest 



Ill-starred Okakumkee! Most fortunate Panasofskee! This 

 was tin; opportunity for our rival. She had wood and water ; 

 she passed us with triumphant snorts. And she kept ahead. 

 Our superior speed availed us nothing, for attempting to 

 pass her in that narrow channel would be like two trains 

 passing on a single track— it has been tiled, and failed. So 

 we sailed up into Silver Spring, with the Panasofskee kick- 

 ing up her heels at us defiantly, ludicrously, a great, cascade 

 breaking and foaming over her stern wheel. 



Was this the spring De Leon heard of, this the Fountain of 

 Youth that started him off on his chimerical search? By 

 rare good fortune I have trodden in the footsteps of this gal- 

 lant old Spaniard in Florida, in Guadeloupe and iu Porto 

 Rico; and everywhere have found that he preferred honor 

 and glory to gold, a peaceful life and its pleasure 

 alarms and fatigues of war. He was an exception to the 

 advenfurcis of those days, this galliard old hero, this Don 

 Quixote of the New World! It gives an added interest to 

 this beautiful spring to think that the fame of it, as conveyed 

 by the wild: Ycmassess of the Everglades, should have reached 

 the ears of De Leon, and have thus wrought with the early 

 history of this country one of its most romantic episodes. De- 

 scription of it at this late day would be a thankless task, as 

 tourists and poets have rhapsodised over it by moonlight and 

 daylight, and poured out their effusions by the ream— by 

 the yard. There are two springs, the larger of -which be! 

 forth a volume of water forming a navigable river at the 

 outset, From a, ragged cavern sixty feet deep is poured out 

 a flood of clear, sparkling, sulphurous water, so deep that 

 the steamer goes to the very fountain-head and hangs poised, 

 as it were, "betweeu upper and nether sky; so transparent 



