— 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
43 
_ partridges on the wing, we watched them down, and taking 
our smoothbores we went after them, put them up and fot 
in a right and left, dropping five birds, four of which fell to 
our first barrels. They were in good condition and the 
plumage, although not gorgeous, like that of the mooual and 
silver pheasants of the region, was prettily marked; the 
skins are rare. too, and little known, so | determined to pre- 
serve them. Here at the eternal snow limit at fifteen thous- 
and feet above the sea level, we paused to tuke in the most 
splendid prospect our eyes had ever feasted on. Behind us 
were the mountain peaks wrapped in their pure white 
tantles of snow, below us was the Ganges looking like a 
Hivulet as it wound throngh the broad expanse above Lacca, 
and visible above for short stretches oyer twenty miles of its 
course; the village of Lacca, and another village four miles 
_below, could be made out with our glasses, but the distance 
Was too great to distinguish life or motion even with their 
aid, but the grandeur of the scene was before us. Far away 
across the Ganges, perhaps fifteen miles in a bee line to the 
nearest point, towered the white peaks of the snowy range 
visible for a stretch of fifty miles, the eastward peaks far 
oyer the borders of Thibet. As we stood, the distantroar of 
an avalanche smote on our ¢ars, but we could not fix its 
locality with our glasses. Solemn grandeur was the pre- 
dominating characteristic of the solitudes, and the occasional 
tumbling: of the avalanche as its roar re-echoed from peak to 
peak, was in as perfect harmony with the scene as the sub- 
dued incessant murmur of the-brawling Ganges. 
Retracing onr steps, we found the men with the bear skin 
awaiting us, and again set out ata good steady course. A 
couple of miles were passed without seeing anything, when 
one of, the mountaineers directed our attention to a burrell, 
or wild goat, standing on the yery edge of a perpendicular 
cliff about two hundred and fifty yards distant. ‘‘Oh, what 
a splendid shot!” cried M., and both he and C. hastened to 
recover their rifles, ‘Take steady aim,” said 1, adjusting 
my field glass. Bang! bang! and then the report went echo- 
ing from cliff fo cliff. I saw one shot strike some feet too 
_ low, and turned to ask what sight they had up, but at that 
moment they emptied their second barrels. The little beast 
looked round and then, before they could reload, he had dis- 
appeared, ‘“What sights did you put up?” Lasked, Both 
had used the 100-yard sight the first shot, but C. had put up 
the 150-yard sight for the second. 
We saw nothing more on the way home, which we reached 
about 4 o’clock, the coolies coming in more than an hour 
later. One of the muttons was reserved for our own table 
and for our three servants, who had given strict injunctions 
to the Zemindar that, whatever was shot should have its 
throat cut while still alive, which I hope was done; the 
other was handed oyer to the Zemindar with the other hind 
quarter of ter, and the sun went down again on general 
preparations for feasting. Seated round the camp-fre at 
night in-calm digestion of the loin of ter which the rhansa- 
man had roasted on a spit before a bright log fire and served 
up with fitting accompaniment, plans were discussed for the 
morrow. Neither of them had ever shot or seen.a musk 
Meer, so if was decided to give the next day to the quest of 
these little animals. A. 
Camp LAk Kan, Upper Ganges, Northwest Provinces, India, 
ABOUT RATTLESNAKES. 
‘li was during the early day, of the autumn of i18— that our 
hunting party, consisting of half a dozen, had pitched 
camp at the foot of North Mountain in Augusta county, Va. 
_ Although a majority of the party hunted upon temperance 
principies, there were several individuals among the number 
who could not ‘look upon the wine when it is red” without 
a hankering 10 swallow some of it. One among these soakers 
was Billy 3., whose spasmodic attempts to set sober had, on 
several and sundry occasions, resulted in his Seeing more un- 
canny things than were dreamed of in Horatio’s philosophy. 
On the present occasion, however, Billy had sobered up 
sufliciently to ride out to his appointed stand, which was 
upon a spur of the mountain, and above those of the other 
members of the huvt. Old Nat G, and Shep M. were 
chosen as drivers for the day, whose business it was to take 
the pack by a circuitous route up near to the summit of the 
mountain, so as to drive the deer down toward the standers. 
Now it so happened that they did not strike a single trail 
before reaching the bench in the spur where Biliy had heen 
directed to take his stand, and consequently they came upon 
him unaware of their approach, Their astonishment may 
be imagined at the tableau that came in sight. There was 
Billy, Jike old Mother Goose’s little man, jumping up ‘“‘with 
all his might and main” as if skipping an imaginary rope 
twitled by invisible hands, Up and down he went, up and 
down, and with a slight rotary motion so that he faced in a 
different direction after each leap. His eyes were intently 
fixed upon the ground, his hat had fallen off, and above his 
flushed face covered with great beads of perspiration, bis 
long hair was tossing at every jump like the thick mane of a 
bucking mustang. 
‘Poor fellow,” said old Nat, as they halted unseen by 
Billy, but so near that they could hear his quick pantings 
from the effects of the terrible exercise. ‘‘Poor fellow, he’s 
got em bad this time, sure.” 
**Yes,” said Shep, ‘and he will certainly kill himself if he 
keeps up thai foolishness much longer.” 
“Who would have thought he could have kept it up even 
so long as we’ve been looking at him?” said Nat. 
“And jump so high,” said Shep, “he must get off terra 
firma about three feet at every pop.” 
“Must a been a bouncer at playing leap-frog,” said Nat. 
At this stage of the performance Billy, in his turnings, be- 
came aware of the presence of his visitors, and when his feet 
. next touched the earth, his mouth open to its widest extent, 
he sung out ‘‘Snake!” at the top of his register. 
The knowledge that he had an audience did not, however, 
change the programme or check the performance. Again 
and again he went up and again and again he came down, 
only it seemed like Antzus, to renew his vitality from the 
touch of mother earth, while, like unto Poe’s raven, his 
vocabulary appeared to be yery limited, as the only sound 
that came out of his mouth was ‘‘snake.” 
_ “Poor fellow,” repeated old Nat, ‘the’s got one in his 
boots this time, certain.” But as he spoke Billy suddenly 
made an end of his rope-skipping and, throwing up his gun 
to his shoulder, he let loose both barrels in quick succession, 
fortunately not in the direction of Nat and Shep. No 
sooner, howeyer, did they witness this new turn in Billy’s 
madness than, standing not upon the order of their going, 
they put spurs to their horses and did not pull up until be- 
_ yond the furthest range of his howitzer. Then, after 
holding a council of war, they determined to flank his posi- 
tion, and returned to camp to advise with the other mem- 
bers of the party as to the best means of capturing poor 
Billy, Reaching camp, their horns soon called in those 
whose stands were nearest, and to them Nat related the facts 
as aboye stated. ‘‘Poor fellow,” said Nat, ‘‘we must all go 
up and surround him, and before he can unlimber his artil- 
lery and Jet loose on us, Texas Jack here must noose him with $ 
that cow rope of his’n.” This was, of course, agreed upon 
as the best plan for preventing Billy domg any harm to the 
others of the party, and for restoring him to his family, 
But the best laid plans of men and mice, etc. Before Jack 
could secure his lariat, Billy, to our great relief and aston- 
ishment, was seen riding slowly toward camp, to all appear- 
ances duly sober and “clothed in his proper mind.” We all 
therefore waited in silence for his nearer approach to un- 
ravel the mystery. 
Riding up he addressed old Nat with, ‘Look here, old 
man, what made you and Shep try to break your necks get- 
ting away when I shot that snake this morning?” 
“Shot that snake; thunder!” said old Nat. ‘“How the devil 
could you shoot a snake when you had him in your boots?” 
A revelation of the cause of the precipitate flight of Nat 
and Shep flashed upon Billy, so with a laugh he went on to 
explain, ‘“‘I called to you,” he said, ‘‘soon as I fired, that 
Thad killed him, but I had just as well have hollered to that 
signal staff up on Elliott’s Knob.” Then turning to the rest 
of us he continued the relation, how after hitching his 
horse he had looked around and chosen a location for taking 
his stand. No sooner, however, had he taken his selected 
position than up from out of the short grass, from some- 
where, but from what direction, how far off, how near, he 
could not tell, there came the deadly, shivering, jar-fly music 
of a rattlesnake’s tail. 
Some of the readers of Forrest AND STREAM have doubt- 
less heard that same awful staccato, and stopped suddenly 
with uplifted foot, uncertain whence came the sound, 
whether from far or near, above or below. Now from here; 
now from there, it seems to come, but ever that same quick, 
icy rattle that comes we know from a quivering tail that is 
vibrating above a dark yellowish diamond-marked coil, from 
whose center rises a broad, flattened arrow-shaped head, 
with pitiless eyes—still, motionless, Impassive as death itself. 
Only those who haye once felt themselves in the power of 
this rightly called Crotalus horridus, can appreciate poor 
Billy’s feelines. Twice have I felt myself in their deadly 
power. Upon one occasion while attempting to steal upon 
a feeding deer, a slight rustling noise drew my eyes to the 
ground. There, coiled in my path, he lay with raised head 
and motionless tail, and with his glassy eyes looking up into 
mine as I stooped above him. Fortunately instead of being 
placed upon, my boot slid under him, and I could feel the 
heavy pressure of his coiled body upon the unprotected in- 
step. Without loss of presence of mind, lowered the muz- 
zle of my rifle in front of his uplifted head for the purpose 
of attracting his attention, and then quickly withdrawing 
my foot, I stepped backward out of danger. Upon another 
occasion, while hunting through a level woodland, I 
mounted upon a great fallen gum tree for the purpose of 
getting a better view of surroundings. Having satisfied 
myself that there was no game within the range of my rifle, 
I started to step down on the opposite side to that on which 
Thad approached it, and only after losing my balance did I look 
down to see the place where my foot would fall. A glance 
showed me that I was about stepping into the coils of two 
enormous rattlesnakes. The situation instantaneously flashed 
upon me. I saw that it was out of my power then to step over 
and beyond them, and that my only chance was to draw in 
my foot, now almost resting upon their heads, and place it 
upon the ground between their coiled hodies and the log 
upon which I had been standing. Fortunately there was 
sufficient space for doing this. My next stride was of ne- 
cessitysover them. I was conscious of my hair going up, 
and of making some involuntary exclamation as I went 
over, for I was certain I would feel the sharp sting of their 
inch-long fangs as I did so, A few steps of course placed 
me out of danger and my fright went as quickly as it had 
come, so offering a sincere prayer to le bon Dew for my es- 
cape from what I had considered certain death, I alligned 
their heads and dispatched them with a single shot. I have 
since had some compunctions in regard to that deed. Had I 
reflected a moment I think I would have called to mind Uncle 
Toby’s address to the fly and have let them go unharmed, 
T have of course had many other close shaves, as every ove 
who lives and bunts in a rattlesnake infested country must 
of necessity have, but these were the only times that I am 
aware of being helplessly in their power. 
But I must let Billy finish his story. ‘I knew that music.” 
he continued, ‘‘soun as I heard it, for ’twasn’t the first time 
Thad ever heard one of them varments winding up his pizen 
mill. But where he was for the life of me 1 couldn’t tell. 
T thought at first that he was right behind me, and I faced 
about pretty quick, I tell you. Then the musie seemed to 
come from the other side, and I "bout faced again, Then it 
sounded like it was right down between my legs, and I be- 
gan to jump right straight up. By that time I had got right 
smart excited, not to call if skeered. I couldn’t stay on the 
ground to save me, and 1 think I must haye jumped about 
five feet high every leap when I first began to practice, But 
when I first saw old Nat and Shep I had been dancing to 
that snake-tail music about half an hour, and I don’t think I 
was then making a rise of more’n about three feet. At last, 
however, I got a glimpse of the opera off in the grass about 
twenty-five feet from me, and I let him have both barrels, 
and hollered to old Nat that I had killed him; but *twas 
devil take the hindmost with him and Shep, and, as I said 
before, I had just as well hollered to that signal post up 
there on Elliot's Knob.” And billy waved bis hand up inthe 
direction of the summit of North Mountain, and joined in 
the general laugh that followed this explanation of his mys- 
terious conduct. TUGKAHOR. 
YAzoo Riypr, Miss, 
Ty Tee Prevention oF Forest Fires, the orth- 
western Lumberman says that ‘‘The greatest difficulty in the 
prosecution of such a work [greater than the collection and 
burning of brush, tops, etc., left by lumbering, or of fallen 
limbs and trees in an unworked forest, both of which it 
thinks should be enforced by law in all cases where the land 
joins woods owned by other parties] would be from wind- 
falls. Jt would seem sometimes as if nature stepped in to 
hasten the coming of the flames. Swarths, of such dimen- 
sions as only the elements can mow, are cut through the 
forests by the wind, and for miles and miles every tree of 
decent sizeis laid flat. These windfalls are prolific of in- 
tense forest fires, and they have been the starting point of 
some of the worst fires on record.” It would seem that the 
loggers should, if possible, give the clearing of such a wind- 
fall precedence over all other work, 
PODGERS CRUISES ALONGSHORE.—II. 
LOCK ISLAND.—My letter terminated as 1 was about 
_ taking the steamer from New London to Block Island. 
Getting on board I found a large party of excursionists from 
Worcester, Norwich, etc., and as usual lots of spoony 
couples, After leaving the wharf I cast about for a quiet 
corner for 2 comfortable smoke, but wherever Lweut I found 
the feminine element in possession; from bow to stern they 
were ensconced in every nook and corner. Men apparently 
had no rights that they respected; and wherever [ essayed 
to smoke some female face was puckered up in disgust, and 
frequent remarks about gentlemen smoking in ladies’ pres- 
ence were made loud enough to be, as intended, audible to 
the smoker, I could find no place that females had not 
taken possession of. 
There was considerable of an old swell on, and some 
young swells succumbed; and couples that were very much 
ou the spoon order at starting seemed sadly indifferent to 
each other, and sought different paris of the ship from which 
to contemplate sadly the waste of waters as they wasted 
their breakfasts. 
We touched at Fisher’s Island to land a ‘‘kit” of mackerel 
and a box of yellow soap. The man that received it on the 
wharf stood in great need of the latter article, and there must 
have been a corner in the soap market prevailing all summer. 
A fine hotel seemed nearly empty; not surprising, when more 
attractive places are experiencing a dearth of visitors. 
Fisher’s Island is noi exactly the place one would choose for 
natural attractions. It might suit those who sought solitude 
and a peaceful neishborhood. 
There were no boats at the wharf, and that was enough to 
condemn the place. Where there are no boats there can be 
nothing to interest. Hauling in our gangway plank, we 
continued on to Block Island, arriving there about noon. 
Here things seer more aliye, and the hotels are more or less 
prosperous; the Ocean View being nearly full, and very 
lively. The location is charming, and the view of the sea 
from any and all of the Block Island hotels is uninterrupted; 
in fact, there is nothing in the way of trees or foliage to ob- 
struct the view in any direction. Why there ave no trees on 
Block Island isa conundrum J wish to ask, unless it arises 
from the indifference and carelessness of the residents. 
The island has been settled for a hundred years or more 
and not a shade tree graces this part and portion of the 
island, and on going up to an eleyation and looking in every 
direction none are seen. If it had trees and shade, no place 
could be more attractive; but, as it is, if is open to the full 
glare of the noonday sun, and when not tempered by the 
breeze it is about as hot a place as one that can’t be mentioned 
in polite society. 
There is one thing to be said for the Block Islanders, their 
hotels and homes all look neat and clean, and having a com- 
mission to look up rooms for a friend and family, I visited 
many places where the stranger is taken, which includes 
nearly every house on the north side of the island, and the 
universal neatness and thrifty New England housekeeping 
was refreshing to see. Without distinction the private 
houses where a few people can be accommodated are just 
what many people seek, real cosy, comfortable country 
homes with good wholesome food, and especially fresh vege- 
tables and nicely cooked. Accidentally I dropped dowu at 
Mitchell’s cottage, and it realized the city man’s longing for 
good country board. The beds are sweet and clean, the 
cooking excellent, nice fresh milk and home-made butter, 
yegetables right fresh from the garden, It was a revelation 
and a treat, and such a relief from the misery of city board, 
its mysteries of unknown dishes, stale vegetables and diluted. 
milk, I don’t owe Mrs. Mitchell any money, perhaps, but I 
do owe her gratitude for a new sensation, a real ‘‘treat” for 
the three square meals and perfect night’s rest at her cottage, 
I commend Mrs. Mitchell and her cottage, charmingly 
located two minutes’ walk from the landing, as a pleasant 
home tor any one seeking such, at very mederate cost. 
After attendine to the inner man, [ strolled down to the 
landing to sce the boats, of which there were a goodly num- 
ber of catboats of very clumsy proportions and build, rough 
and unsightly. Block Island, being destitute of a natural 
harbor, has fallen back on government aid to create one. A 
sea wall of heavy boulders in an irregular pile breaks off the 
sea to the northward and eastward, and a basih a couple of 
hundred feet square inclosed, with an entrance to the north- 
ward, affords a secure harbor for boats and the fishing fleet 
of small schooners, of which there are quite a number en- 
gaged in sword fishing, haying a small iron “‘roost” on the 
éxtreme end of the bowsprit, with a round railing, for the 
security of the man that stands with the harpoon ready to 
‘“‘oive it to them” when a fish comes within reach. Sword 
fishing must be quite profitable, judging from the number of 
vessels at New London and Block Island fitted out for the 
business. Boarding a natty little schooner, I had a yery in- 
teresting talk with the skipper about this kind of fishing, 
and from him learned that Boston was the principal market 
for swordfish, New Yorkers not taking kindly to them. 
The Captain showed four or fiye long blades, or swords, 
thin at the edges and round pointed, like a Spanish rapier 
blade, which he had amputated from the snouts of the fish 
he had caught. The fish have been quite abundant all dur- 
ing July, which is the best month for them, and compara- 
tively few are caught later than the 15th of August. The 
fish average about 250 pounds in weight, and notwithstand- 
ing their warlike name are arrant cowards when they meet 
each other, either fish seeming equally anxious to get away 
from the other as quickiy as possible. They will attack a 
helpless whale and stab him to death, but nothing that shows 
fight in return, They never run together, and when two are 
seen they are generally both busily engaged in putting as 
much space as possible between. 
The catboats and other craft appeared to be doing a land 
office business, taking out parties at fifty cents per head for a 
sail, and the fishing schooners for the nonce had converted 
their crafts into excursion boats, which merely inyolved 
placing a couple of settees on deck for the girls to sif on. 
Speaking of these schooners, | was quite taken with their 
natty appearance, and must say they are the largest small 
eraft I ever saw, 7, ¢., have more room and space, look larger, 
and are stauncher and more seaworthy than any yacht of 
their dimensions that lever saw. Being deep and with 
plenty of freeboard, high-headed, good sheer, they are said 
to be able to make good weather of it, and go to windward 
in almost any gale of wind, and can go when large yachts, 
with their absurdly heavy spars and long topmasts, must, 
seek shelter. And for style and sauciness are not excelled by 
any yachtsIsee, These little schooners, I learn, are built 
at Noank, Conn., and are a type known only to these waters. 
They are very much after the style of the Gloucester fishing 
schooners, but much prettier and more stylish in appearance. 
They are admirably adapted to the requirements of cruising 
