224 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



.Oct. 15, 1885 



tree to secure the two young. The nest was 100 feet from 

 the ground and Ibe fall killed both young which were only 

 a few dri3's ola. In the d est were found half a dozen fish 

 over a lout long. The young were carefully made into skins 

 to decoviitc a cabinet at some future day. There are several 

 laree pileated woodpeckers about camp, but they are very 

 wild and will not let a person approach in gunshot. At 

 night the party are again serenaded" by such a chorus as can 

 only be organized in some of the Southern States liy owls. 

 Ill a council of war around camp that night it was concluded 

 to break camp the next morning and start for home, and re- 

 turn sometime in the future when the swamp would bedi'ier 

 so as to make deer huntinu' a success. 



The following day at 9 o'clock the two boats were again 

 moving out to sea with the tide. The Pinh"- ok proved a very 

 treacherous stream to navigate at low tide, full of oyster bars 

 and large rocks near the snrFace, and at other spois there 

 appears to be no bottom. The wmds on the homeward trip 

 were as contrary as they had been coming, so that at sun- 

 down the party had just" reached the mouth of the St. Marks 

 River, which they a.scended to Port Leon, and by carrying 

 the camping outtit quarter of a mile they found a dry place 

 to camp under a large pine tree. The moving required two 

 trips each to the man. The next day, after a pleasant sail 

 up the St. Marks tlie party arrived at Mr. Hall's landing 

 abcut sundown. The Vandal had got out four miles down 

 the river and was looking for specimens, as usual. His gun 

 was heard to crack a number of times, but at the landing he 

 could show only one barred owl. Reuben had now got out 

 of the "power of misery" he had been in for several days, 

 and on passing Newport had even .sung snatches from songs. 

 On nearing the landing he was heard to say to his boat, 

 "Jess look at you now, you kin run all right when you knows 

 you's mos' home." 



Wliile seated around the bright fire that night in 

 Ml-. Hall's comfortable residence it was easy to note the 

 couti-ast to camping on the Ancill, Pinhook or even Port 

 Leon. But best of all was the bed so clean and soft when 

 compared to the ones around the camp-fire. !Next morning 

 two of the party imagined they heard quail in the fields close 

 by, and they soon started several fine coveys without the aid 

 of dogs. Nowhere in the country can the quail be found in 

 greater numbers than about Tallahassee. Later in the day 

 Mr. Hall hitched to his two buggies and started for the city. 

 Just as the night was beginning to fall the Tallahassee hills 

 could be plainly seen, and very reluctantly two of the i^arty 

 went back to the hum-drum of every day life. Vandal. 



HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYAS. 



Lights and Shadows of an Indian Forester's Life. 



vir, 



IAIVI back again at the bungalow after a three weeks' 

 absence up river, and am devoting every alternate day 

 to office work, having been compelled to allow some arrears 

 to accumulate, after I moved my camp a second ten miles 

 further. There has been a fair amount of exciting incident 

 in the Division since my last budget, and to begin with the 

 most interesting topic-— the man-eater — the Ohorrkas suc- 

 ceeded in getting a good shot at him, and have wounded 

 him badly, if not fatally. Their time was nearly up, for they 

 had to report themselves to their commanding oflBcer on the 

 thirtieth day from that on which they got leave, when the 

 corporal or JSTaik took his party to join the other four, and 

 report themselves to me for departure. After a walk of 

 twenty miles they reached a forester's post, and prepared 

 dinner, and while stiU at it, a lot of bamboo cutters came 

 rushing into camp, with a report that one of their number 

 had been carried off by the man-eaters. Sending word to the 

 other party to join them at my camp the next evening they 

 set oS for the scene of the daring marauder's latest outrage', 

 taking tlie bamboo cutters along with them. Ai-rived at the 

 spot these latter were instructed by the corporal to recom- 

 mence operations, while he and his party followed up the 

 blood trail. 



After about a mile's walk, which occupied them nearly an 

 hour, for they paused at every five yards to keep a good 

 lookout behind and on both sides as well as ahead, they came 

 to a ledge of rock some three feet high, from which the 

 ground hollowed away again to their right. Here the crunch- 

 ing of a bone was distinctly heard, and the naik dropping 

 on his hands and knees and peering over, got a full 

 view of the beast, greedily devouring her victim at about 

 eighty yards off. Stealing back he whispered his orders 

 with quiet precision All four advanced on their knees to 

 the commanding point, he and another would reserve their 

 fire while the other two fired and reloaded. Quiet as they 

 were the tiaer heard the whispers, for they had scarcely 

 looked over before they saw him stealing toward them on his 

 belly. The instant eyes met the beast ro«e and charged for- 

 ward a few steps, growling savagely. "Keep steady and let 

 him come closer." said the naik, but the beast was not disposed 

 to charge home and came to a stop at fifty yards. "Fire," said 

 the naik, and ping-ping went the two rifles, the men fallins: 

 back and reloading with true Ghoorka coolness. A cry of 

 rage from the tiger which bounded away. Again came' the 

 order to fire and another shot rung out, but the naik being 

 unable to cover the brute held his fire. As soon as all were 

 reloaded, which was the work of a few seconds, they started 

 in pursuit and were at once gladdened by coming on blood 

 which they tracked into some bush cover, where they found 

 it on the leaves at nearly three feet from the ground, and in- 

 ferred that the beast had been shot in the throat or high up 

 the chest, but crossing a sandy nullah, they observed that 

 the beast limped on one forefoot, sometimes carryiuff it, and 

 as it was a front shot, there was no doubt the ball had lodged 

 between the shoulder and the chest. 



Tn this nullah there was some long grass cover, and as it 

 would have been foolhardy for men afoot to follow a 

 wounded tiger into this they relumed to their camp, and 

 sent a .special messenger to me. The fellow, with a comrade 

 picked up at the last station, got in about seven o'clock, 

 while we were at dinner. The elephant was ordered immed- 

 iately, a few bottles of beer and a supply of eatables were 

 stowed in the howdah, and taking with us a couple of rags 

 Charley and I set off, reaching' the Ghoorka camp at one 

 in the morning. Charley was so anxious to join us that I 

 did not like to refuse. I told him I must of necessity take 

 one of the Ghoorkas with me, and that if he went, he would 

 have to share the back seat of the howdah with him, but for- 

 tunately on arrival at the station we found Gorind Ram there 

 with his elephant, and this squared the difficulty. Giving 

 orders to have a quart of milk boiled at daylight, we stretched 

 ourselves on our cJmrpoys (the Oriental fourposters that the 

 Jews used to take up and walk away with) and got a few 

 h.ours sleep before we were summoned. A bottle of coffee 

 essence with the hot milk made no bad substitute for the 



usual coffee, and this disposed of, we were in the howdahs 

 and away long before sunrise. 



We r( ached the nuUah in which the trail had been lost in 

 about an hour and a half; there was a long strip of high 

 grass (fourteen or fifteen feet), but it was nowhere more than 

 twenty to twenty-five yards wide and easy beating for two 

 elephants. We "beat upward first and got to the end of the 

 grass in half a mile without any sign, and then turned and 

 beat downward ; some of the grass" clumps were heavy but 

 we meant business and took our time over them, tm-ning 

 and going through them again and again, and in two or 

 three cases we set the elephants at work with trunks and 

 tails and leveled (he thickest of it. The whole nuUah was 

 not more than a mile and a half in length, but it took us 

 nearly three hours to beat it, and the end of it was disap- 

 pointment, modified by the fact that it terminated in a dry 

 creek with a narrow strip of long grass on either side and 

 about a hundred yards of bare gravel bed between. We 

 turned up the creek, taking the long grass on the right bank 

 and had not got more than twenty yards when my elephant 

 gave signs which, being interpreted, meant that 

 a tiger was passing us at close quarters. I called 

 to Charley to keep a good lookout, and the next moment 

 Stripes broke cover an my side, making straight across the 

 creek. I had picked up my smallbore, which, being a good 

 ball gun, I preferred to my rifle for sharpshootmg, and when 

 the tiger was about thirty yards off I got in a ball in the 

 saddle which made him wince, but with a growl he turned 

 sharp round and charged straight down on my elephant. 

 Charley was by this time abreast of me, and three or four 

 shots rang out nearly simultsmeously, one of which hit him 

 on the quarters and brought him down on his haunches, but 

 before I could pick up my rifle he had again turned tail and 

 was making across the plain. His pace soon slackened; 

 there was considerable firing, but 1 saw he was coming to a 

 stop and reserved my fire for close quarters. Presently he 

 staggered and fell over on his side, rallied to his haunches 

 again and sat up for a moment, and again fell over. He was 

 done for. Coming up to him I gave the word not to spoil 

 the skin, and finding that the beast's efforts to sit up were 

 ineffectual, I told the Ghoorka to jump down and give him a 

 ball in the ear. This was done, the tiger responded by wag- 

 ging his tail, and in a few minutes the writhings were at an 

 end. 



Was it the man-eater? There was no stagnant blood from 

 yesterday's wound visible as she lay— it was a tigress— nor 

 on turning her over did we find the looked for evidence. 

 Two balls had penetrated her, one in the saddle and one on 

 the top of her quarters, both close to the back bone. There 

 was a slight scar inside her forearm, and another ball had 

 entered just above the hock. These were all fresh and there 

 were no other holes in the skin. It %vas not the beast 

 wounded .yesterday — ergo it was not the man-eater. 



It was now about ten o'clock, and I determined to con- 

 tinue the quest until nooQ, so going back to where we had 

 started the game, we recommenced beating, coming immedi- 

 ately on a half-eaten pig. We beat upward for a couple of 

 miles, and then back down the other side, but beyond a few 

 hog deer we saw nothing. We then gave in for the 

 elephants' sakes, and sat down to breakfast, after which our 

 Ghoorka took off the tiger's skin, and I cut open the stomach 

 to find, as I expected, boar's bristles, but no human hair; the 

 older refuse of the lower gut was also examined, and yielded 

 only deer's hair. The man-eater had beaten us again. If 

 dead he would have been in the nullah to which he was 

 traced yesterday, but he had evidently had strength to get 

 away, and was probably not mortally hurt. We went back 

 to camp, gave the elephants an extra allowance of raw sugar, 

 and the next day Charley and I returned to Boksar, where 1 

 found a letter from the chief telling us to expect him in about 

 a week. 



The Ghoorkas came in in the evening, and 1 gave them a 

 letter to their commanding officer, to the effect that they 

 claimed to have wounded the beast, and that I would con- 

 sult with my chief about the reward, which would certainly 

 be given if there were no repetition of his depredations. 



The next morning Charley returned to his firelines, and I 

 sat down to my office work, and was Ustening patiently to a 

 petition, when I heard excited voices outside, and the next 

 moment a chuprassee and a couple of wood cutt,ers made 

 their appearance, and gave the exciting announcement that 

 the Chota Sahib had been mauled by a tiger. "Where is the 

 Sahib novvV" 1 asked. "He is in the camp with the wood 

 cutters," was the reply. "Can he walk?" said I, again inter- 

 rupting the story. "Yes, Sahib; that is a little." "Send oflC 

 eight men with a charpoy at once, and put the Sahib's bed 

 clothes on it," was my first order. My next was to have my 

 pony saddled, and while this was being done I got out some 

 brandy, a pot of healing ointment (no sportsmen should 

 be without it), cut some bandages from a linen shirt, took 

 my rifle, strapped on a cartridge pouch, and in five minutes 

 I was galloping up the valley, and soon left behind the 

 party with the charpoy, who were running on at a steady 

 jog trot. The distance was about five miles, but I was soon 

 there, and found Charley sitting in the shade of a big tree 

 against which he leaned. 



"Where are you hurt, old man?" I asked as I sprang from 

 the saddle. 



"Here," said he, poinliug to his left shoulder. "It isn't 

 much," added he with a turn of humor; "the beast tried to 

 eat me but didn't appear to like it, and dropped me at the 

 first taste." But it looked bad; his coat and vest were 

 clotted with blood. 



Ram Buksh began a story, but I cut him short at once. 

 "We'll attend to the wound now," I said; "the story will 

 keep," 



Cutting off his coat and vest, and telling Charley as 1 did 

 so that his charpoy would be up directly, I saw blood trick- 

 ling down the breast from the shoulder, and ripping up the 

 shirt sleeve a moment's inspection showed what was the 

 matter. The tiger's fangs had penetrated the shoulder to 

 the bone before and behind, but without any laceration of 

 the flesh or broken bones. Calling for water which was 

 quickly brought, I mixed some brandy in it which Charley 

 drank, and then dipping one of my bandages in water. 

 I washed the blood away from chest and back, cleaned the 

 fang marks, from which a little blood stiU oozed, and then 

 asked Charley if he had no other wounds or scratches. He 

 said he believed not, and wanted to tell his story, but I told 

 him to keep quiet for the present, for I was sure it was a 

 good story that would keep, and that he would be able to 

 tell it with gusto in a day or two. I then got in a plug of 

 the ointment in each of the fang marks, smeared a good coat 

 of it over one of the bandages, and soon had the wound 

 bandaged up. Charley tried to make light of it, but he was 

 a good deal shaken, and looked rather like fainting before 

 he took the brandy and water, but what astonished me most 



was that there was no clawing visible. The blood on his 

 clothes had not come from the shoulder wounds. It was 

 perhaps the tiger's. 



Looking round I got sight of Charley's sun helmet, which 

 accounted for one paw. It was a military helmet with a 

 spike on top and two steel bands inside crossing each other 

 under the spike. The helmet was battered and the steel 

 bands were curved backward and driven outside the helmet. 

 "These were signs that the beast had charged in front, 

 brought down his paw on the helmet with force enough to 

 crush a skufl, but the spiings had broken the force and ren- 

 dered the blow comparatively harmless. 



"That saved me," said Charley, seeing me examine the 

 helmet. "I am afraid I shall have to buy a new one.'' 



The men now came up with the charpoy. Charley took 

 another pull at the brandy and water, which I took care not 

 to make very strong, said he felt much better, and rising 

 with my assistance, 1 was glad to see that he walked cpiite 

 easily to the charpoy, where with a sheet thrown lightly over 

 his shoulders and his head on the pillow, he was quite com- 

 fortable. A party of fresh men picked him up, and the 

 relay running alf ng.side, he set out for camp. 



I then mounted my pony and called Ram Buksh to walk 

 along with me and explain the occurrence, "but first," 1 said, 

 "tell me, where is the tiger now?" "He is gone right dow^n 

 to the lower vallej^ Sahib, and badly wounded. You can see 

 the blood trail at every step through the grass, and he just 

 trotted down slowly; all the men saw him." Ram Buksh 

 tried to ramble off and tell his story, but I cut him short, 

 and told him to give me simple answers to my questions 

 first, and in reply to them I learned that they had seen a 

 tiger come over the hill and enter a small clump of low 

 grass (a fairy ring) in the forest. Charley had at once taken 

 his rifle and handed Ram Buksh his smoothbore, both bar- 

 rels loaded with ball ; that on making the grass the tiger 

 sprang out at Charley: both fired. Ram Buksh ran behind 

 a tree, and looking out, saw Charley down and the tiger on 

 him. His first impulse was to run for assistance, but not 

 caring to expo.se himself to view, he selected the next tree in 

 line; then, turning for another look at the tiger, saw him rise 

 and move off He had tried to cover the tiger from where 

 he stood, but was afraid of shooting the Chota Sahib, as it 

 was about fifty yards off'; and he did not fire at the tiger as 

 he went off because he had but one ban-el loaded and no 

 more ammunition. All this was the result of a great deal of 

 cross-questioning, and satisfied me that Ram Buksh had been 

 unnerved by the charjje and had left Charley to fight the 

 battle single-handed. He was hardly to be blamed that he 

 had not the courage to stand and deliver his second barrel 

 as the tiger bowled Charley over, and I said no word of re- 

 proach; but his conduct did not justify the account he was 

 in the habit of giving of himself. 



Overtaking Charley I jogged along with , the charpoy, 

 speaking little, for I saw that he was suffering from the 

 excitement and shock, and on reachina: home I got him on 

 my bed while his own was being arranged comfortably, and 

 then made him lie still until four o'clock, when I gave him 

 some chicken broth followed by a dose of laudanum. He 

 appeared in good, or at least, mirthful spirits, but I kept 

 him quiet, and between six and seven the opiate took effect, 

 and he slept till long past midnight, when he awoke some- 

 what feverish. This was no more than I had expected. 

 There was no doctor near, the patient had a good sound 

 constitution, not vitiated by excess of any kiud, and I had 

 no anxiety about his pulling tluough easily. The next 

 morning 1 washed and dressed his wounds and then at his 

 request took the elephant to go after the skin, but arrived at 

 the camp i found Ram Buksh had been before me. and 

 found the beast lying at the foot of the bank dead, just 

 immediately below where he had disappeared. 



I finished the story by Charley's account a few days later. 

 The beast charged at him, paused at about five yards for a 

 spring, and as he raised himself Charley fired and hit him 

 full in the chest, which brought him to his belly, the next 

 moment Charley felt rather confused in his head, and then 

 realized that he was on his back, the tiger holding him by 

 the shoulder, but keeping quite still. Lying there power- 

 less he did not know how long (it seemed a long time), he 

 wondered what would be the next act in the drama, and was 

 conscious of a feeling of impatience for a change, when the 

 tiger relaxed his hold and walked quietly away. The shot 

 in the chest was the only mark we found in the skin. Ram 

 Buksh had missed, and although he now pointed to a hole in 

 the forehead as his cov.p de grac^, he was silent when I told 

 him it was waste of a cartridge. Charley is on his legs 

 again, and resolved to pour in the second barrel the next 

 time he drops a tiger at the charge. Shikakee. 



Camp Boksab. 



address all communications to the Forest and Stream Publish- 

 ing Co. 



FLORIDA PINES AND HAMAKS. 



THERE is a theory that we are disposed to entertain with 

 regard to why the greater portion of the State of Flor- 

 ida is colored with pine trees, which are evergreen, instead 

 of deciduous, and other hardwood trees, the growth of 

 which upon land in Florida causes it to be distinguished as 

 "hamak," a distinction, so far as the original character of 

 the soil is concerned, without a difference. 



From various causes, frequently from lightning, often 

 from carelessness and accident, and sometimes purposely by 

 the owners of cattle, the wild lands of Florida are annually 

 burned over. 



The stock men resort to this means of getting nd of the 

 tough, dry grass stems in early spring, and inducing a fresh 

 and tender growth of giass for their half-starvtd cattle that 

 have wintered on climlite and wire grass in the open woods; 

 but it is also true that the same practice was resorted to by 

 the former Indian inhabitants, whose object was to furnish 

 tender picking for the herds of deer, to induce these animals 

 to leave the swamps and resort to the dry country. 



The pine tree is propagated from seeds that fall from the 

 cones late in the autumn. The seeds are provided with thin 

 membranous wings, upon which they are blown by the 

 winds and distributed over the land. The winter rains 

 plant them. Early in the spring the young pine appears as a 

 green spike that shoots up six or eight inches before its leaves 

 begin to spread, after which it grows rapidly for eight or 

 nine months. The green leaves of this young tree are_ prac- 

 tically non-combustible, and the only bud it bears is in the 

 top of the tall stalk and thoroughly enveloped in a green 

 coating. 



