Feb. S, 1885.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



George, started on a quest of her own. When she returned 

 she was bearing a bass which weighed just five pounds, her 

 only catch, but which she alone had played and lauded. 

 Stopping only long euougb to display her trophy, she started 

 off to the shoal at' Garden Island, a half a mile away. In a 

 few minutes we heard shout after shout across the water 

 from the boat, and we knew that unusual sport was being 

 had. Truthful James returned with a tine catch, but the 

 boat at the island kepi, its place. It took repeated signals 

 from the camp to bring it in, and when at last it came to the 

 landing, there was a call for us to "come aud weigh." There 

 were fourteen small-mouths in the boat, and of these, 

 two weighed three pounds and fourteen ounces apiece. This 

 little episode put a quietus on the belligerent members who 

 were striving for the lead, and as no one came up to the 

 Madame's score during the camp, she was yielded the front 

 seat. 



By this time the achievements of the camp had gone 

 abroad; tbey had crossed the border, skirted the North 

 Woods and' beeu wafted down the valleys of the Mohawk 

 and the Hudson and through the "southern tier." In one 

 of tbe couuties of the latter taey had seta lawyer and an 

 editor agog, and the one, leaviug "his quillets, his cases, his 

 tenures and his tricks," and the other his "ads" aud ems, 

 started in search of the clysium where grew tbe golden fruit, 

 determined to climb the tree and shake it. Two months of 

 the campaign had converted the editor into a vessel of wrath, 

 and he believed that the election of his candidate would 

 usher in an era in which every week would have ten days, 

 tbe pint measure hold a quart, "the threc-hoop'd pot would 

 have ten hoops, and it would be felony to drink small beer." 

 He came to us charged with several conundrums concerning 

 the tariff, revenue, wages and duty on the raw material. 

 Illustrative of the latter, he brought some samples of the 

 same in bottles— free of duty. The proper restoratives were 

 applied, he was made to swear allegiance to the Queen and 

 to limit his politics to discussions of the raw material afore- 

 said. 



Thus all issues were happily pooled, and we heard no 

 more of protection, prohibition, or the Tallapoosa, uutil the 

 day when we set foot in the land which was suffering the 

 infliction of listening to the pros and cons of the ins and outs 

 —of plumed and plumeless kuights, blatherskites and mug- 

 wumps. Wawayanda. 



RAMBLES THROUGH NEWFOUNDLAND. 



VII. 



FROM out a blinding snowstorm that had overtaken us 

 in our passage of a tract of "barrens" and marshes, 

 wc had come into the shelter of a "var" (fir) forest where 

 stood a cozy "tilt." Sheltered though we were by the 

 densely branched fir trees of the "droke," yet the storm sung 

 about us, and sometimes flung a large quantity of drift 

 down by our camp. Every cove, every settlement in New- 

 foundland has its record of persons "lost in the drift." 

 Around hundreds of miles of the inhabited coast there is no 

 road, and in winter time no means of communication save 

 by a foot path, which takes the traveler across dreary 

 stretches of barrens upon which there is not a tree. Some- 

 times after he has set out the storm breaks upou him, but he 

 believes that he will be able to keep the path, guided by 

 poles stuck at intervals of three or four hundred yards along 

 his way. But with a terrific wind and a blinding, smother- 

 ing drift perhaps in your face, and in which you cannot see 

 objects sometimes ten paces away, it will be seen that one of 

 these poles becomes a difficult object to find; the poor trav- 

 eler misses the path and loses the poles, wanders away in 

 the overwhelming storm, till his strength fails him, and he 

 falls down and perishes. I know personally of seven or 

 eight such cases as these. 



We removed the snow that had gathered about the squat 

 little building, and presently the axes of the guide and the 

 trader made a muffled ringing upon the whitings. For my- 

 self I was curious to see the inside of the domicile for sports- 

 men wayfarers, and creeping in obeerved, on striking a 

 taper, two couches upon the floor, and one like a bunk mid- 

 way along the further side of the camp. It must have been 

 long since the camp had been used, for the fir branches 

 forming the couches were gamboge instead of green, but 

 would serve the excellent purpose of producing a quick fire. 



While the rest were chopping down and "junking up" 

 some of the gleaming whitings, I kindled a fire, but was 

 nonplussed about w r ater. We were very hungry, and it 

 would take long for the snow to melt. The trader learnt 

 the difficulty, and told me that "just there forninst the tilt, 

 half a gunshot down, there's a first-rate little gully, a pure 

 spring." Taking the kettle I went in search of the stream. 

 I stumbled about among the trees for a minute or two with- 

 out success, and then thought what a fool I was, as 1 cer- 

 tainly was, not to have put snow in the kettle and made an 

 end of the matter. But "there's a destiny," etc.; that which 

 I sought I found not, that which I did not seek I found, or 

 rather I saw: to wit, upon a rampike with gnarled limbs a 

 large flock of willow grouse sitting tamely as chickens, 

 with their ruffled feathers, not five paces distant from me. 



I forgot of course about the immediate demand for a meal, 

 returned hastily to the camp, threw down the kettle, telling 

 the trader to attend to it. and look my gun clown toward the 

 richly-laden rampike. I found the flock as I had left them, 

 sitting with ruffled feathers, in mopish fashion, looking' 

 stupid as owls. The etiquette of sportsmanship which in- 

 sists upon flushing the game, and that brands the shooting 

 of a perched bird as murder was not strong enough to over 

 come my desire to "make a great show" of game before my 

 companions, to whom the rules of sportsmanship seemed 

 absurd wherever they departed from the utilitarian, the 

 utility of all sport being to them to get meat. Therefore I 

 began to do the murders. I knocked two down with my 

 right barrel from their perch on the lowest limb. Then 1 

 knocked off another with the other barrel. My occupation 

 now seemed to me to be about as honorable and as manly as 

 to attack a human antagonist while he is sleeping. But 1 

 swallowed my remorse and recharged my piece, the birds 

 sitting utterly regardless of my preparations, and supremely 

 oblivious to the noise or the smell of the powder. I shall 

 not, however, dwell on the discreditable scene. I shot them 

 all; and the only gleam of respectability lent to my proceed- 

 ings was the fact that a hawk came upon the scenes. He 

 swooped and circled through the wood with vicious, glaring 

 eye, wheeling round and round where I had committed the 

 crimes. At last as he darted off, I suppose bidding the place 

 good by, I shot him. 



Just then, astounded by the sound of firing that I had per- 

 petrated, the trader and the guide arrived breathless with their 

 guns. The former, with his piece at full cock, in an excited 

 manner asked: "Where are they?" I pointed to the pile of 



grouse, and to my proud, prone hawk, which every now and 

 ag:ain would kick, flap one wing, and vomit his heart's blood 

 upon the snow. 



The number of dead, not the merit of the shooting, count- 

 ing with these coast dwellers, they looked at me for a little 

 wlule in mute admiration, and then the guide muttered to my 

 cozy friend in the pea-jacket: "He's de best shot dai's ever 

 come to dese parts." 



Now we had some good cheese and deliriously smoked 

 bacon, but I had too much the huntsman's instinct in me to 

 be satisfied with the flesh of swine, palatable though it was, 

 after many months in the chimney *ide soaking in the pun- 

 gent, slightly acrid smoke of the fir and spruce; so two or 

 three of the birds were prepared and set cooking for supper. 

 Tbat no discrepancy may seem in this fairly accurate record 

 of my ramblings, I may state that the four grouse which we 

 had brought campward from the rampike slaughter spot of 

 the day before had tired the carrier, as he was otherwise 

 heavily laden, and he buried them in the snow, certain, as he 

 afterward told me, that we would find "all the meat we 

 wanted" nearer the camp. 



I Was tired with my long tramp through the heavy snow, 

 and hungry though I was, I drowned before the spluttering, 

 bright, breezy fire, while the meal was preparing. The mode 

 of cooking was this : The trader took the iron ramrod from 

 his musket and impaled the birds upou it. As the birds be- 

 came brown and dry, particles of butter were dropped upou 

 them, a tin plate being set underneath to receive the drip- 

 pings. Salt and pepper were also applied, and in about three- 

 quarters of an hour we had served up grilled grouse, which 

 made as delicious a repast as ever gladdened a palate. I 

 have always imagined in eating the willow grouse that I got 

 the flavor of tbe hills and plains, and undoubtedly the flesh 

 of this bird borrows a delicious tang from some of the browse 

 buds and berries that it feeds upon. 



Our camp was extremely comfortable. At the side where 

 were our sleeping berths it was water-tight, but around 

 where the rude chimney pierced the roof the melting snow 

 upon the rafters dripped through. The chimney drew cap- 

 itally, and we played "forty-fives," the ouly game of repute 

 among the fishermen, for a couple of hours, the while we 

 indulged mildly in the trader's excelleut schnapps. While I 

 think a little "stimulant in the camp after a severe day's 

 tramping makes retrospection aud the whole situation de- 

 lightful, I affirm that over-indulgence will demoralize, blur 

 and make disappointing any expedition whatsoever. It is a 

 great mistake, unless compelled by fatigue, or at the mid- 

 day meal, to touch stimulants during the day while tramping. 

 A glass of brandy in the morning while tramping will put 

 me, so long as the effect lasts, into a state of abnormal 

 ecstacy over everything I see about me; but when that ficti- 

 tious lift fails, everything that so brief a time before trans- 

 ported, palls upon me, and I fall into the deeps of gloom. 

 No; the stimulant is pernicious at such time, nor is such an 

 agent needed to excite one's imagination, and increase his 

 love for nature in the wilderness. Any man whose health 

 is good and who has had a refreshing sleep in camp, finds 

 on putting out upon his tramp in the morning no need for 

 artificial stimulants. There is to him a joy in every hush and 

 tree, a loveliness and an exhilaration in all things about him, 

 and he enjoys the silent welcome that every hill and grove 

 and stream seem to give him in a higher and more enduring 

 degree than when wrought to exaggerated admiration and 

 rhapsody by wine. The most delicious intoxication that I 

 have ever felt is when a soft wind in the free wilderness 

 blew upon me, filling my lungB and my veins with its im- 

 pulse and bringing me tongueless messages from every inani- 

 mate thing. 



After the forty-fives were played— 1 had overcome my 

 sleepiness — I took "Masterman Ready" out of my bag, and 

 straightway my companions, two of whom had never heard 

 "a story out of a book afore," pressed me to read. I did so, 

 omitting the portions that lacked movement, for I lost my 

 hold upon my auditors the moment that 1 became prosy. 

 But Idid not read long; we were all tired, the book w r hich 

 they supposed would have something more astounding than 

 Jack the Giant Killer did not prove interesting at all; so 

 we were soon all snoring upon our couches of freshly- broken 

 fir boughs, whose wholesome, balsamic perfume made a sort 

 of incense not less delightful for the brain as one drifted off 

 into the soft, smooth land of dreams than it did to the keen 

 nostril. 



In the night was heard the howl of a wolf near our camp 

 as if looking for its companions. In the fresh snow a short 

 distance from the tilt we found the tracks of a single wolf, 

 which we judged to be that of the sorrowful strayling. Our 

 tramp lay through deep snow, through groves of dismal 

 larch (jiniper, as the rest called it), districts of spruce and 

 fir, and sometimes through a "droke" of naked birches. We 

 had snowshoes, or rackets, as my companions called them. 

 Here and there upon the snow we found squat a flock of 

 willow grouse, hut I had to curb my passion lor firing, as I 

 was informed that we might at any time now come upon a 

 flock of deer, and that they were so "yarry" that the sound 

 woidd scare them off. But I was not to be suppressed in 

 this way. I shot several pairs which 1 buried in the snow, 

 though I had scant belief that I should ever fetch them 

 away. 



Our route lay across a land dip which formed a small 

 river basin. Through this ran a black, deep stream, which 

 seemed to get its first installment from under a bill that lay 

 at its northern end. From a point where the stream banks 

 were precipitous, we saw down in the dark water and below 

 a projecting boulder, two animals which seemed like two 

 old-fashioned dinner pots bottom up. 1 did not know what 

 the animals were, but I was informed that they were otter. 

 From behind a clump of firs which stood in nice range 1 

 fixed at one as it was about landing. It crawled back imme- 

 diately into the water, but I could see from its motives that 

 it was wounded. My dog sprang down the precipice and 

 plunged into the stream, Then I saw the water beaten 

 about into foam from a struggle, and I was no little discom- 

 fited to see that my Caesar was not getting the best of it. 

 The poor brute was howling piteously, and as his head dis- 

 appeared a second time under the water, I descended the 

 bank to his rescue, but when I reached the bottom he had 

 effected his liberation, and I found him bleeding upon the 

 snow with a piece as large as a Mexican dollar bitten out of 

 his neck. He had, I convinced myself, entered the fray 

 with too little regard for the prowessof his barbarous adver- 

 sary, and had set about "landing him" as he would a duck, 

 and paid for his contempt and carelessness. I leveled at the 

 wounded otter, which had in the meanwhile been endeav- 

 oring as rapidly as his wounds would permit to get out of 

 sight, but while my finger was on the trigger, the trader 

 asked me to fire carefully or I would "riddle her skin," and 

 to "give it to him in the bead." This 1 did, and the whilom 



pugilist floated past sodden and bleeding. We hooked 

 the animal ashore with a stout fir pole, for Ciesar could not 

 be induced again to grapple with an enemy of whom he had 

 such painful recollections. The others complimented tbe 

 trader on being a "first rate skinner," and in acknowledg- 

 ment he took out his penknife, and very speedily divested 

 the otter of his covering. I may as well add that I had the 

 skin subsequently made into a cap and a pair of gloves, lu 

 the back of the right one I have often showed a hole, it was 

 made by one of Cajsar's teeth, 



We now set out for tbe main "deer lead" lying along 

 the isthmus, connecting Avalon with the more bulky portion 

 of the island. The native Newfoundland deer is the caribou 

 or reindeer, a specimen superior to those of Lapland or 

 Norway, and sometimes weighing as much as six hundred 

 pounds. These deer inhabit the interior of the island not 

 in hundreds but in thousands; some who have seen their 

 armies in tbe marching season think in hundreds of thou- 

 sands. The interior being a wilderness, they And no inter 

 ruption save now and again— once in fifty years — when an 

 explorer pushes his way across the region which through 

 the summer they make their home. The marching time of 

 the herds is as regular as the seasons. When snow covers 

 the ground in the northwestern portion of the island, they 

 turn their faces toward the south, and by steady marches 

 along the leads, reach the southeastern or less severe part of 

 the island, where through the winter months they can get 

 browse and lichens. Some of those who have been camped 

 near the main lead in the marching time have left on record 

 that the deer do not move in very large bodies, for that 

 would prevent them from being able to giaze freely, but 

 that tbey march in herds of from twenty to a couple of 

 hundred, that one such body is connected with another by 

 means of a sort of picket, and that each detachment is led 

 by a tall stag, What a glorious sight for the huntsman from 

 his eminence, to see body after body of these biight-eycd, 

 nimble-f'oted animals, bending their course in true, parallel 

 lines, either toward the north or the south, with the regular- 

 ity and the order of masses of soldiers! Such a sight has 

 often been seen. For days and for weeks this innumerable 

 multitude has been seen passing along over sweeps of barren 

 and sodden marsh, winding around the base of steep hills, 

 and pausing for a few moments here and there to crop a 

 mouthful of browse or mosses. In the summer" they bring 

 forth and rear their young along the shoulders of the airy 

 uplands of the northern part of the island. They do not 

 resort, at this season to the best feeding grounds, probably 

 to escape the mosquitoes, which are so numerous in ths low- 

 lying districts. 



Although the interior of the island contains such numer 

 ous herds of deer, comparatively few are shot by the inhabit- 

 ants who do not live near the passage ground. The herds 

 do not come nearer than thirty miles of the coast, for they 

 have learnt that there lives their enemy. This is a fact, 

 strange enough, of which but few of the Newfoundland gun- 

 ners seem to be aware. Hence winter after winter from 

 nearly every settlement a party goes into the country for a 

 deer-hunting expedition; but they seldom go more than 

 twelve miles inland, hardly ever twenty. Sometimes a party 

 of three or four get three or four deer, sometimes a half 

 dozen ; but in these later years they frequently do not even 

 see a deer. The impression, therefore, is that "deer are get- 

 ting scarcer," but they are really not. They are simply re- 

 ceding tron: the intruders with then- old-fashioned, but deadly 

 balls." There is, however, good reason why the gunners do 

 not go far "into the country" for deer; all the game lulled 

 they must carry on their backs, and venison shouldered for 

 thirty miles through heavy snow would be more than earned, 

 It seems to me that it will some day, as it should have done 

 long ago, occur to these coast dwellers that the reindeer may- 

 be trained to harness, as he is by the Norwegian and tne 

 Lap, and made to draw sledges to the resort ground of the 

 herds. In Lapland the deer will draw 200-pounds weight, 

 and his trotting speed is ten miles an hour, a rate which he 

 can maintain for seven or eight hours. Harness two or three 

 of these deer to as many sleds, and the hunter can drive with 

 much fleetness to any point he may desire, and returning, 

 bring a carcass upon his sled. 



The herds that we were expecting to find were those which 

 had passed from the north, in the fall, to the Peninsula of 

 Avalon, and which would now commence their northward 

 march. I do not think, though other writers whose opinions 

 I much tespect hold the opposite opinion, that any consider- 

 able proportion of the caribou in the island pass to the 

 Avalon Peninsula in the fall, although I am satisfied that 

 many thousands of them go there. The isthmus between 

 the bottom of Placentia Bay and the opposite bay is not, I 

 think, more than three miles wide, and parties of deer 

 stalkers have frequently posted themselves by all the leads 

 during the marching season. Their testimony as_ to the 

 number passing up and down ought to be conclusive, and 

 they having seen nothing like the numbers that others have 

 observed on the march further north, where only a few of 

 the parallel leads could be kept in view. 



It was the expectation of the trader that after the storm 

 was over, fine weather would follow, and as we went along 

 upon our snowshoes the snow -laden branches of the trees 

 dripped merrily. "This sort of weather will turn their heads 

 to the norrid," he observed as he looked out on the soft, 

 cobalt-colored sky. "Sometimes, howsomevcr, tbey get out 

 o' their reckoning. I have often seen flocks turn back 

 toward the sou'west when the weather was hard" and the 

 suow deep. One fine day in these parts doesn't make a 

 spring. But the soft weather has set in this time, and 

 there'll be rain yet afore midnight." He seemed to have 

 gathered the latter belief from the fact that troops of jays 

 appeared along the edge of the "tucks" by which our route 

 lay, and were so tame that I struck one with the muzzle of 

 my gun. 



Having left the ridges we made through a low-lying tract 

 in the direction of our tilt, being wearied with the day's 

 tramping, and not in the best of spirits at having failed to 

 see any deer. "Here's a hare's footin's," said one of the 

 party pointing to fresh tracks leading around a clump of 

 crooked scrub fir about an acre in area. I was anxious to 

 shoot an Arctic hare, so I made ready. "A starn chase is a 

 long chase," the trader remarked as he saw me go off. I 

 inquired what he meant, but he simply said, "Wait till we 

 see if he begins to double on you." There was just the 

 eiugle track in the snow when I set out around the clump. 

 I made rapid speed, but could see no sign of the game, 

 although the others, who were now abroad over the marshes 

 after grouse, had assured me that it was not in the bush. 

 Presently I discovered two tracks, and when I had made 

 another circuit of thp bush I saw a third. Then I turned 

 around and said, "I shall meet you my lad," but never a 

 glimpse did I catch, I found a fourth track now but it was 



