348 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 39, 1884. 



proach bad coine to a rest on his hoc handle, we bid him 

 good evening and asked if he could direct us to one Merrill, 

 who as near as we had been able to learn, lived somewhere 

 in this neighborhood. He could, and pointing across the road : 

 "He leef over dare 'bout mile." This was good news, but 

 when he said we would have to go around three or four 

 miles, as there was no road through the woods in the direc- 

 tion he bad pointed, we felt our grip relax and had a mind 

 to camp right there for the night, but finally decided to go 

 on to Merrill's, or "kill every hoss and driver in the proces- 

 sion." as Ben said. "Follow State road 'bout'mile west," said 

 the Frenchman of Canadian extraction: "Mebbeleetelmore'u 

 mile; come to schoolhouse (they have srhoolhouses in Michi- 

 gan if nothing else), turn to right, follow road mile north, 

 turn to right, go mile east, come to Merrill." 



Here was a section of land with roads on three sides of it, 

 but the one we most needed just at that particular juncture, 

 appeared to have been left for us in the shape of a howlin' 

 wilderness. 



We made a few remarks right there at the edge of that 

 tater patch that would not dress up very well in print, so I 

 will leave them to the imagination of the reader. 



Mounting on the wagons as they came up, we thanked our 

 friend of the hoe for the directions given, and were off for 

 the schoolhouse at a good jog, for this State road is a good 

 one and kept in good repair. 



As we turned north at the section corner, old Ben selected 

 from a large stock of plain and ornamental oaths kept con- 

 stantly on hand, one that seemed to fit into the right plaoe, 

 and swore "that mile back to tne Frenchman's is the longest 

 mile on the face o' this livin' earth; we've come three mile 

 ef we've come a solitary foot." 



By the time we turned into the road going east it was so 

 dark we could feel it, and the horses were left to pick the 

 way for themselves, as any attempt to guide them would 

 have led to a calamity in the shape of a dispute with some 

 invisible stump as to which was entitled to the right of way. 

 We caught an occasional glimpse of a natch of sky up 

 through the wall of trees lining either side of the narrow 

 road, which only seemed to intensify the gloom through 

 which we felt our way. Tbe only sounds which broke the 

 oppressive stillness was the rattle of our wagon, as the 

 patient, intelligent horses picked their weary way carefully 

 through the blackness, a grunt from old Ben or the writer, 

 a whine from Dick, or a string of high-flavored adjectives 

 that a pi-usly afflicted type setter would probably represent 

 thus: , as a wheel would strike an un- 

 usually large root, with which this delightful highway was 

 numerously infested. 



We stopped two or three times to listen for sounds from 

 the other wagons, but nothing broke the sileDCe but the 

 breathing of our tired horses. We knew the spring wagon 

 ahead of us was all right, but the one behind gave us pome 

 concern as it had only the driver and Frank to pilot it 

 through the darkness, and we were fearful lest they had 

 missed the way or got lost in the tangles of another "huckle- 

 berry patch." 



At last we shouted loud and long, and waited for a response 

 from the rear. A clarion blast away ahead in the hair-rais- 

 ing voice of Old Knots was all that came back, and we diove 

 on, leaving them to find the way as they might, or pass the 

 night in the "bresh." an exhibition of brotherly feeling that, 

 after thinking over seriously, I trust will not be an example 

 set up to copy after, but, we were a trifle riled at them for 

 not keeping us in sight at the schoolhouse, and made our- 

 selves believe that under the circumstances we could do no 

 better. 



When we had felt our way through the woods for "not a 

 solitary foot less'n five mile." as Ben averred, we thought 

 we saw the faint glimmer of alight ahead to the left, and 

 the next minute were plunging through a miry swamp 

 that must have taken tbe horses to their knees. A pole or 

 log across it here and tiiere — a miserable make believe that 

 an attempt had once been made to corduroy it — only made it 

 worse, and it was by the most desperate efforts of the brave 

 team that we reached the hard ground lour or five rods 

 ahrad. 



Here an opening in the woods, that looked much lighter 

 than tbe inky gloom from which we had ju.-t emerged, prom- 

 ised a "clearin'," and directly, "Come ahead, boys; here's a 

 house," infused new life into us; and in a few minutes we 

 were off the wagon with the others, at the edge of the clear- 

 ing, trying to shake our loosened joints together again after 

 the severe jolting of tbe last mile. 



Out in the clearing, a hundred yards or so, a couple of 

 dogs were barking furiously, "ten yelps to a breath," as Ben 

 expressed it, and, joining in the racket with a united yell, we 

 soon had the satisfaction of seeing a light slowly approach- 

 ing, preceded by the jelpiug dogs. As it camenearer, "Shet 

 up Turk, don't be so fiesh," quieted the dogs, and as the 

 light flashed on us, "Hello, gentlemen; thismust be the King- 

 fisher party," from a gruff voice, was followed by a brief in- 

 troduction to Mr. Merrill, the long-sought and hard-to-find, 

 the dogs meanwhile sniffing at our heels, undecided whether 

 to make friends or snatch a veal cutlet out of our calves. 

 A sharp rebuke from their master, followed by a vigorous 

 kick at one of them which he dodged with a neatness and 

 celerity that showed long practice in avoiding these gentle 

 reminders, put a sudden stop to their investigations and the 

 ' 'talk" went on without further interruption Merrill claimed 

 he had not received my letter asking plain directions kow to 

 find his house, nor had he expected us until the next day, 

 else he would have met us with the boats at the point where 

 we first struck the lake, and as we were really one day 

 ahead of the time set, he had the best side of the question, 

 which gave us little room to talk back. 



Still no sound from the lagging wagon, and we began to 

 fear they had met with a mishap of some kind. Merrill 

 went with, thelanteru to the edge of the swamp and "hollered" 

 at short intervals in a voice that must have awakened every 

 sleeping varmint within two miles, and finally when we had 

 about given them up as lost, an answering whoop announced 

 they were coming. When they came to the mud hole, we 

 fully expected they would stick, as they had the heaviest of 

 tbe three loads and a pair of light hoises, but as Beu said, 

 "The little fellers was chuck full o' sand and grit," and they 

 brought the wagon through with a regular step that showed 

 how reliable they were in a tight place. Their late coming 

 was clue to not keeping us in sight at the schoolhouse, and 

 they had driven straight on past it a mile or more before dis- 

 covering their mistake. "Huckleberries," growled the 

 Soibe, which was probably nearer tbe mark. 



But now, here we all were, in the suburbs of Merrill's un- 

 fencrd tater patch, tired with the long ride and walk of over 

 thirty miles, hungry as wolves, and best of all, in excellent 

 humor. The horses were unhitched, watered, and given a 

 well earned ration of hay and oats, the frogs carried to a 



little pool near by and a couple of buckets of water dashed 

 over them and left for the night, and then it was mildly 

 hinted to Merrill that if the trouble were not too great, a 

 trifle in the way of satisfying a feeling of emptiness pervad- 

 ing the party would endear him and his good wife to us for 

 the remainder of our sojourn, to quote Ben, "on the face o' 

 this livin' earth." He said we would "have to ask the 'boss' 

 about that," and repairing to the house the good woman was 

 prevailed on to fry some bacon, slice up a huge loaf of old- 

 fashioned home-made bread, and brew a steaming pot of 

 coffee, and this, with butter and eggs procured from our 

 provision box in one of the wagons, made a meal that Ben 

 declared "jest laid over anything in the way o' eatin' he'd 

 seen in a solitary year." 



Frank insisted on teaching the matron of the house how 

 to make good coffee and boil eggs to the proper turn, but 

 his officiousness was nipped in the bud by a timely hint, and 

 he retired to a corner an abashed spectator of the proceed- 

 ings. 



I write this that in case it meets his eye he may take unto 

 himself warning not to tamper with this pernicious berry in 

 future while on his way to camp, and if the hint mayhap 

 touch any of the brethren in a tender spot, I trust no offense 

 will be taken, and that it may bear better fruit than the 

 berry in question. 



We found the accommodations at the "Hotel Merrill" to 

 be exceedingly meagre; the back part of the one room of 

 the cabin being curtained off into sleeping rooms for the 

 heads and smaller members of the somewhat numerous 

 family, while the front and larger part served as kitchen, 

 dining-room and room of all work. Overhead in the loft, 

 Merrill informed us, were more of his boys and four or five 

 sleeping lumbermen, so we were forced to betake ourselves 

 to the 'tater patch or the "bresh." 



Without much trouble we got out of the wagons a couple 

 of boxes packed with blankets, and distributing them 

 around, each one proceeded to stake out his claim by the 

 light of the lantern. 



Old Danny was, however, made as comfortable as possible 

 on the floor in the house, while Frank, with a commendable 

 concern for Dan's welfare, rolled himself in a single blanket 

 and was soon snoring near him, an odorous terror to any 

 foolhardy mosquito that might come prowling around with- 

 in the range of his breath. 



The Deacon made friends with the two dogs, and wrapped 

 in his blanket, passed the remainder of the night with them 

 by the side of the house without any serious trouble arising 

 between the trio. The rest of us scattered ourselves around 

 and under the wagons, Jim takiug much comfort to himself 

 in the possession of an extremely soft pine board which he 

 found lying near the house. 



Old Knots, Ben, Dick and the drivers selected places to 

 their pleasement and made their beds, while the chronicler 

 of this night's comforts and miseries found a soft sj ot in the 

 sand near a w T agon wheel that just fitted his f rame, where he 

 rolled himself in the ample folds of a rubber piano cover and 

 stretched his weary bones for a few hours much needed rest. 

 It must have been midnight when quiet reigned in the tater 

 patch, but not long did this quiet abide with us. The skeet- 

 ers and punkies seemed to have been apprised of our coming 

 and had been coming in from all quarters since our arrival, 

 until they had become, as the Scribe leinarked, "quite mul- 

 titudinous," and were sharpening their bills on tne wagon 

 tires and waiting for us to settle down, to begin their work 

 of making life a burden to us. 



While we were moving around they were not very trouble- 

 some, but when everything was still, and not haviug the pro- 

 tection of bar, net or "smear," they began business in earn- 

 est. Mutters and growls from all sides, and imprecations 

 not loud but of great depth and fnquenc3 r flouted around in 

 the darkness until it was a question which were the more 

 numerous, the skeeters or the fragmentary profanity fired at 

 them, and not a few getting in range of Ben's remarKS must 

 have escaped with singed wings and the temper drawn from 

 their bills. But Jim, of whom much had been expected in 

 this Hue, said not a word; he just went quietly off to sleep 

 with as much unconcern as though his pine board was a 

 couch of down and not a skeeter or punkie in miles. Dick 

 and one of the drivers were, however, the objecis of their 

 especial attention, Dick's locality being plainly indicated by 

 a Stream of whines, disjointed utterances of dire import, and' 

 vigorous slaps that were simply astonishing. 



A few of the pests found their way into my breathing hole 

 throuch the folds ot the rubber, but I was too tired to remain 

 long awake and went to sleep with the sound of Dick's 

 gentle voice ringing in my ears, and knew no more until 

 aroused by him at daybreak with, "Get up you old crank 

 and let's get out of this, for I'm about eat up by them cussed 

 cioppies, or whatever you call 'em." (He meant punkies, 

 but had forgotten the word.) He and the driver had not 

 slept a wink the whole night. When they could bear it no 

 longer, be said they got up and paced up and down the road 

 a few yards till the first streak of dawn, and, according to 

 his estimate they must have wiped out of existence fully a 

 million "croppies" and half as many skeeters, and he further 

 proclaimed in a voice reaching for high C, that he "wouldn't 

 go through another sich a night for all the fish in Michigan, 

 and the d — elightful State throwed in." (Note.) Dick held 

 a consultation with himself sometime afterward and decided 

 he would like to try it all over again, with the first night 

 left out. 



[to be continued.] 



THE REVALLIER OR RAVALLIA. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



In reading up the back numbers of Fobest and Stream, 

 I find in the issue of Jan. 17, 1884, a communication from 

 my friend, "Al Fresco," on the ravallia of the west coast of 

 Florida. He seems to be in doubt as to the identification of 

 this fish, but he will recognize it at once under the name of 

 "snooks," as it is called on the east coast. I referred to it 

 particularly irj both series of my Florida papers in Forest 

 and Stream, under the various names of cobia, crab-eater, 

 sergeant-fish and snooks. The name "snooks" is used as 

 early as the seventeenth century in the account of the voy- 

 ages of Captain William Dampier, who also mentions mul- 

 lets, ten-pounders, tarpoms, cavallies, paricootas, gar-fish, 

 sting-rays, Spunish mackerel, etc. 



In the communication referred to, "Al Fresco" embodies 

 an opinion of David S. Jordan, who supposed (from the 



describes it as resembling the pike-perch, and that it is taken 

 up to thirty pounds in weight— all of which I can indorse, 

 though in shape and habjts it more nearly resembles the true 

 pike, especially in the form of its head and dentation. 



It is probable, however, that there exists some confusion 

 in the use of the name ravallia on the west coast of Florida, 

 as the two fish mentioned are somewhat alike in formation 

 and appearance, and both have a very distinct black lateral 



une - James A. Henstiall. 



CynthIana, Ky., May 17. 



USEFUL HINTS. 



H^HE articles on fly-rods, started by Mr. Wells in Forest 

 JL and Stream, have been very interesting to me. Since 

 my first essay in fly-fishing some years ago, I find that my 

 enthusiasm for the sport increases each season; and the sub- 

 ject has become quite a hobby with me, occupying much of 

 my time and thinking in winter as well as in summer. Being 

 possessed of an expermenting turn of mind and some mechan- 

 ical experience, I find a pleasure in making my own rods 

 and flies. I have now ready to take into the woods the coming 

 season rods of my own make and of four different materials, 

 viz., split bamboo, bethabara, hornbeam, ash and lance- 

 wood. I have made, as an experiment, some joints and tips 

 of two pieces of wood glued together, with the grain running 

 in opposite directions. All of my rods fit into one handle 

 about fourteen inches loug. I do not use dowels or pins. 



For a f errale cement, 1 make a composition of about two 

 parts gutta-percha and one part white rosin. The gutta- 

 percha is nearly white, and comes in thin sheets looking a 

 little like a piece of white birch bark. It makes an excellent 

 wax for wrapping silk, according to the receipt of Norris — 

 one ounce white rosin, one dram guttapercha and one tea- 

 spoonful raw linseed oil. When a rod breaks near a ferrule 

 I do not try to dig it out, or put it in the fire, as I once did, 

 but I lay it in a hot oven or over the chimney of a lighted 

 lamp for'fifteen minutes or so, when the wood will shrink so 

 as to drop out easily, unless the ferrule has been pinned, in 

 which case it will be necessary to leave it until the wood has 

 become charred, which will occur without softening the 

 temper of the ferrule. 



1 do not remember to have seen described what seems to 

 me tbe best way to fasten a silk lashing. I have read about 

 winding over a quill and then drawing the. eud through it, 

 and about threading a needle and running it back under the 

 winding, etc. I take a piece of strong silk (buttonhole twist), 

 double it, ard lay it over the lashing, parallel with the rod, 

 with the loop or bight extending beyond the lashings. Then 

 take three or four turns of the lashing silk over tbe loop, in- 

 sert the eud iu the loop and pull it through under the lash- 

 ings. I make use of the same fastening at the head of flies. 



One more small hint is not to allow rubber of any kind to 

 come in contact with your flies; the sulphur in it will tarnish 

 the tinsel. 



As 1 believe that correspondence iu regard to angling 

 resorts is invited by Fori stand Stream, I wish to say a 

 word about a locality in which I have only a friendly inter- 

 est and a desire to have it better known and appreciated. I 

 refer to the camps of Mr. Kennedy Smith at Tim Pond and 

 the Seven Ponds, Maine. Each season for the past three 

 years 1 have spent about two months with Mr. Smith, and I 

 intend to go again the coming summer. His log camps are 

 models of their kind, every one is well treated, and tbe 

 charges are very moderate. The trout are not of tbe largest, 

 for Maine trout, but they are there in sufficient numbers to 

 satisfy anf^easonable expectations, and the days that they 

 will not rise to a fly are very rare throughout the season; 

 and they are remarkably beautiful and gamy and fine-flavored 

 trout as well. 



There is another reason why I go each year to this region. 

 1 am a sufferer from that strange disiase known as "hay 

 fever," and 1 should live in torment at home from the middle 

 of August until the appearance of fr< st. I escape this seri- 

 ous trouble altogether at Tim Pond, and it is a medicine 

 that is very pleasant to take. In that vicinity there is none 

 of that abominable "rag weed" or Roman wormwood, the 

 pollen of which is believed to be the exciting cause of this 

 distressing malady. 



I am sure that 1 have seen queries in regard to hay fever 

 in the columns of Forest and Stream, and perhaps the 

 above may be of interest to some of its readers. W. G. 



Springfield, Mass., May 10, 1881. 



but Ihe sergeant-fish (Elacate canada). 



In "Fishing with the Fly," Dr. Kenworthy alludes to the 

 ravallia being takt-n with the artificial fly by Dr. Ferber, who 



PHILADELPHIA NOTES. 



WEAKF1SH (blue lights) are being seined in large num- 

 bers down the bay on the Delaware State shore. The 

 "neck" farms in the vicinity of the fishing grounds are de- 

 riving a benefit from them as a fertilizer as there is no market 

 for the fish, they are so numerous. 



Bluefish are reported very scarce on the New Jersey coast 

 this spring, from this the 'bay men argue that fishing with 

 rod and line will be good the coming summer, as the absence 

 of the bluefish will allow the varieties upon which they feed 

 to come into the bays freely. 



It is stated by John Upperman, of Kensington, Phila., 

 who is said to be the oldest shad fisherman of our city, that 

 the largest shad caught in the Delaware River in his experi- 

 ence of fifty years weighed ten pounds, and that the size of 

 the fish has 'steadily decreased until artificial propagation 

 was attempted about fifteen years ago. Since that time there 

 has been a great improvement both in size and numbers, 

 and now a six-pound shad is by no means uncommon. 

 This year a very marked difference" is seen and hundreds of 

 shad tipping the scales at six to seven and a halt pounds 

 can be seen. 



On the roof of the Philadelphia Record building there is a 

 water tank which holds 18,000 gallons, this is supplied by the 

 city main. Last week when the engineer who has charge 

 of the steam pumping machine cleaned out the tank he dis- 

 covered numerous eels from six inches to nine inches in 

 length in his bucket. A further investigation brought to 

 light catfish four inches long. As the water is pumped into 

 the. tank through a three-inch pipe, it is supposed both the 

 eels and catfish fouud their way from the Schuylkill River 

 when they were very small. The Record proof-reader, who 

 is a disciple of Uncle Thad Norris, can now go up-stairs, 

 bait his hook at dinner hour, and save car and steamboat 

 fere to Wissahickon. 



The Cape May, N, J., Porpoise Fishing Company are 

 about erecting extensive buildings on the bay side for the 

 double purpose of extracting the oil from these fish and 

 turning the refuse into phosphates. The venture of this 

 companv last year with its patent nets was successful, but 

 we prophesy continual fishing for them will, in a few years, 

 drive them 'entirely away from the section referred to. 



Homo. 



