B02 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[Jan. so, 1887. 



AdOrm all communmti&ns to the Forest and Streatn. Pub. Co. 



HEADWATERS OF THE SISSIBOO. 



"'With happy memories of the past simmier, he joins together 

 the three pieces of his liy-rod at home, when tlie scenes of last 

 season's sport are wrapped in snow and ice, and renews the glad 

 feelings of long summer days." 



SO writes Mr. NoiTis, and as I now put up my carefully 

 oiled rods, and overhaul my fly-book, memories of 

 tlie past steal over me. Here, sadly worn by voracious 

 teeth, is the identical fly that lured' so many of the big 

 trout of the Sissiboo to their death. But I had better tell 

 you the whole story of my wanderings along the head- 

 waters of that stream. 



One bright afternoon in September I find myself on 

 board the train of the Western Counties' Railroad at 

 Digby, jSTovia Scotia, ticketed for North Range, a station 

 eleven miles distant. Near to that place I am to put up 

 at the house of my friend and guide, who, on the morrow, 

 is to conduct me to one of the wildest regions of the 

 province, the lakes that form the Sis'-lboo River. 



To one accustomed to first-class roads, the Western 

 Counties' is a novelty. The ti'ain progresses with a kind 

 of go-as-you-please motion, but always pleases to go 

 slowly, except when nearing a station it puts on such a 

 spiirt as to carry it past that point a hrmdred yards or 

 more. When the train, after many shocks and much 

 groaning, backs up, the conductor, swelling with import- 

 ance and adipose, leaps to the platform amid the admn- 

 ing glances of the assembled few. Happy the man he 

 deigns to greet. 



But everything has an end, and we are at North Range 

 at last. My rod and gun cases are safely stowed on the 

 wood cart of an obliging farmer going in my direction. 

 We soon reach a high point in the road, from which can 

 be seen to the rear St. Mary's Bay flashing in the rays of 

 the setting sun, and in front and to the left, Porter's 

 Lake, two miles long and half as wide, glittei-ing like a 

 jewel in its forest setting of firs. On the west side of this 

 lake my host, Ben Como, has a snug farm, at the gate of 

 which I find him awaiting my coming. 



After a hearty supiaer, which bears witness to the cul- 

 inary skill of his good wife, he takes me to see a trout 

 lake, deep hidden in the woods, its waters clear as crys- 

 tal.. 



The dusk gathers apace as we walk homeward and a 

 huge owl flaps his wings close to om* heads, then seating 

 himself on the lower limb of a dead hemlock, calmly 

 dodges the missiles hiu-led at hun, aU the while peering 

 down at us with great uncanny eyes. 



At home again, all our traps are put in readiness tor 

 an early start on the morrow, and we ai'e soon in obliv- 

 ion. 



Foiu- o'clock the next morning finds us on our way, 

 Como with his ti-usty ax, revolver and part of the grub, I 

 with my gun, rod, blanket and the remainder of our pro- 

 visions packed in my creel, Om- road, a very rough one, 

 lies for six miles tlu-ough burnt timberland and tlie rest, 

 about 9 miles, through groNsing wood; a heavy fog hangs 

 thick and protects us from the heat of the sun. 



On the way 'sve pass os er the Northeast branch of the 

 Sissiboo and some distance further on tlie outlet of Uniacke 

 Lake, then strike into the forest. The road from Uniacke 

 is imj>assable for vehicles, except sleds drawn by oxens. 

 In swamijs that we j^ass we see a number of moose 

 paths, in Av^hicli the piiuts of the great dew-claw 

 and spreading toes are filled with muddy water, showing 

 that a monster bull has recently passed. Now and then 

 a flock of parti-idges are surprised by our coming, and at 

 the report of my gun leave several of their number in our 

 hands. 



At thi'ee o'clock we reach our destination for the night, 

 a good log camp near Fifth Lake. Como taking the gun 

 and I my rod, start for the stream, the lake's outlet, which, 

 some thirty yards in width, for a mile or more tumbles 

 over and among great granite rocks. We scarcely reach 

 the stream before there issues from the underbrush of the 

 further shore the woe-be-gone figure of an Indian boy of 

 thirteen or fourteen years, bawling at the top of his voice, 

 "Mister, I be lost! I be lost!" Cheered by our assurances 

 of protection, he jumps nimbly from rock to rock until he 

 joins us, and we draw from him a most sorrowful tale. 

 He says that he came in with a party of Frenchmen to 

 take care of the oxen while they cut marsh grass at the 

 upper end of the lake: that soon after they left him he 

 lost his way and has had nothing to eat for more than 

 tlrree days' but dry bread. What has become of the 

 Frenchmen he does not know. Further questioning 

 reveals many discrepancies in his story, and my com- 

 panion, whos^e acquaintance with the half-breeds is more 

 extended than my own, at once sets the boy down as a 

 colossal liar. "Tlie Indians," says he, "lie fast enough, 

 but where to the Mic Mac is added a tinctm-e of French 

 blood, the result is an imagination rare and si)icy." A 

 good big '"chaAv" from my plug of smoking tobacco lias 

 such a sootliing eftect on the boy that he says, "I guess 

 me go back now and look to de oxes." So we devote our- 

 selves to the stream. 



One could not easilj'^ imagine a finer place for trout, but 

 my casting is rewarded by only a dozen small fish, and 

 as the sun is getting low, we make our way back to camp, 

 shooting by the way four more partridges. 



How hungry we feel, and what a glorious supper of 

 trout and partridges we have! Then heaping the gTcen 

 bu'ch logs on the fire we talk and smoke until, tired with 

 our long walk, we lie back on om- boughs of fragrant 

 hemlock, turn our homespun covered toes to the fii-e, and 

 fall asleep. 



The next morning w^e follow the trail, back througli 

 the woods, for two miles to where another path leads oft" 

 to Fourth Lake, and, before entering it, throw om-selves 

 upon the soft moss to rest and shift our paclvs. Soon the 

 sound of voices is borne to our ears, and the crunch of 

 oxen through the brush. It proves to be the party of 

 Frenchmen coming out and with them our lost boy. 

 Como, who knows the whole party, soon makes me ac- 

 quainted with them, and then the true story of the boy 

 comes to light. He had been with them but a day when 

 he met us, having come in with a Frenchman on the 

 evening previous to om- arrival, but dming the absence 

 of the men had managed to consume a large quantity of 

 substantial food, together ^vith eight pounds of brown 

 sugar. "Oh! he be a sweet one," said Joe, the Spokes- 



man of the party, "dat serve him right to cut him open, 

 so dat de bears Lick him insides out." But the boy pro- 

 tested with tears that "deoxes" had broken into the camp 

 and eaten the sugar. 



Joe, by the way, is a character — part French and part 

 negro— he has the vivacity of the former and the droUery 

 of the latter. We are much amused by his accoimt of a 

 moose hunt in wliich he had taken an active part two 

 years before. 



"You see," said he, "Mr. Blank to Yarmouth, he like 

 to call de moose, so he get two Injuns to caU, and me and 

 Andy to tote de dmmage. Well, we go away back de 

 Fifth Lake where de moose signs plenty, dere dey leave 

 me. Mr. Blank and Andy and de Injtms go way and 

 leave me to watch the dimnage. Dey aint gone far ; de 

 Injuns call. Andy and Mr. Blank lay low. Pretty soon, 

 bumby, way oft'n de distance, de bull moose lioUer. 

 Mighty Moses! beam a comin' fro de bush, his horns 

 agoin agiii de ti-ees, ker-blim, ker-blam, ker-bUm, ker- 

 blam. T'aint no fire, and oh my chillim how lonesome I 

 git! Den I git skeered. So skeered dassent look up. 

 When I looks up all de bushes seem dey moose homs. 

 'Joe,' says I, 'mooses am gittin too tliick.' I skinned up 

 a tree. Bang, goes a rifle, and de monstrus beast falls 

 nearly agin de tree I in. Oh, how I bless dat tree, I 

 f an-ly hug it. Up comes Andy and Mr. Blank and cut de 

 moose tlifoat. 'Joe,' yeUs dey, 'Joe,' but I sees de critter 

 kick so I lay still. Mr. Blank hear me comin down, and 

 how Andy and he laugh; den dey commence for to cut 

 de ti-ee down. Den I begs off. You don't never get me 

 gom' callin' agin. Moose horns comiti fro' de bush am de 

 most devilishest noise what you ever hear." 



Bidding Joe and his friends good day, we stidke out 

 for Fourth Lake. Om* intention is to follow this lake and 

 its outlet to Third Lake, and proceed in the same way to 

 Second and G-rand: at the latter we know a logging crew 

 to be at work. 



These lakes are from li to 3 miles in length. Between 

 each of them there are rapids half a mile or more in 

 length, where the water swirls over and among great 

 boulders of granite, resting now and then for a moment 

 in a foam-flecked pool, only to issue forth again and dash 

 its amber flood over a fall into the boiling basin beiow. 

 We labor under a great disadvantage in having no canoe 

 with which to cross the lakes. Along Foui-th Lake we 

 find the traveling very difiicult; in fact it is to me the 

 most wearisome day of the whole trip, and though we 

 walk only about seven miles, it takes us tlie greater part 

 of the day to do it, so that when the outlet is reached we 

 conclude to camp for the night. 



Como's ax is sAvuug with good effect, and soon we are 

 hong upon our hemlock beds, under the brash lean-to, a 

 roaring fire of white birch in front of us, and my blanket 

 at our heads to keep off the wind. 



To-morrow I shall ha ve enough fishing to dehght my 

 heart, my companion says. Soon that time comes which 

 those who have experienced it can never forget — ^the time 

 when you lie back and look out on the wall of lilackness 

 beyond the fiLre, the white trunk of tlje dead tree oppo- 

 site to the camp reflecting the liglu gleams out of the 

 darkness, while the leaves of the lieeeh tree overhead 

 rustle crisply undei- the influence of the rising lieat ; 

 from the distance comes the murmiu' of the river rush- 

 ing over the rocks, or the wild vvy of the loon on the 

 neighboring lake. Gradually a haze creeps over your 

 eyes, the lea\'es form weu-d, fantastic shapes, groNv less 

 distinct, disappear, and you are asleep. 



At the first ai>pioach of dawn, oiu- breakfast eaten, we 

 make our way to the river. The rocks afford good sta- 

 tions from winch to cast. My companion seats himself 

 on the bank and watches, meanwhile, my movements 

 with expectant ah'. He has all along predicted that he 

 would show me a ti'out that would break my rod. I sup- 

 pose, by the way he looks, he is praying earnestly for 

 that trout now. " Various kinds of flies are tried, but the 

 fish rise sluggishly or do not heed them. Then I remem- 

 bered the parting advice of an experienced angler of 

 Digby, "anything with blue in it is good." The advice 

 was not wasted, for on the morning of my start I tied 

 some flies according to his directions. I change for these. 

 There must be trout in this pool or nowhere. My flies 

 drop into the foam and the stretcher is sucked in by a 

 good half-pounder. He is hardly landed before a gi-eat 

 red-bellied fellow flops himself out of water for a floating 

 leaf. "Good shot!" cries Como; and I have him fast. In 

 this current he seems to weigh ten pounds. The struggle 

 is short and decisive, but the rod conquers. I lead him 

 carefully in to Como, who stoops down and tries his best 

 to grasp the slippery body noAV gasping hard and weakly 

 moving its fms, but his troutship makes one final effort 

 and slips through his grasp. Ah, why did we bring no 

 landing net! 



But aU trout do not escape from us in this way, for we 

 go down stream, taking them in almost every pool. Then 

 comes the long tramp round Third Lake, tlie outlet of 

 which is at last reached. While my companion makes 

 camp I tiy my luck at the stream and soon discover, by 

 the way the trout rise, that sport awaits me on the mor- 

 .1 row. 



To-night the sky looks threatening and the \vind in 

 fitful g-usts soughs through the pines, givtug every indi- 

 cation Of a coming storm. I greatly dread rain, becatise 

 it would not only spoil the fishing, but would also cause 

 us much discomfort in passing through tlie woods. Morn- 

 ing, however, dawns without rain, tiiough the clouds 

 look heavy and ready to drop at any moment. We are 

 soon at the river again, repeating yesterday's perform- 

 ances. A long line of rocks stretching across the entire 

 width of the stream where it enters Second Lake, affords 

 good footing and enables one to cast far out upon tlie 

 lake. 



Some lai-ge fish reAvard our efforts here, and after limcli 

 is eaten, we fill the creel ^nth cleaned fish and string the 

 rest on well twisted withes and continue om- tramp. 



And now the rain that has held off for so long' comes 

 down in a lively shower and we wade through the long 

 brakes that drip with moistm-e; every bush performs the 

 office of a shower bath and wets us to the skin. My blan- 

 ket, strapped to the top of my creel, becomes saturated 

 and sfeems to weigh a ton; but we plod on and about noon 

 arrive at the outlet. The stream between Second and 

 Grand lakes is much shorter and deeper than we found it 

 before. 



The rain has now ceased, and while Coino cuts some 

 small trees to make a bridge for our crossing, I put to- 

 gether my rod and add two dozen fish more to our strings. 

 The passage is made in safety, and from the other shore 



we see in the dim distance, far down the lake, a limiber 

 brow about which men and patient oxen are tolling. We 

 work our way toward it, crossing the outlet on a decay- 

 ing dam, once used to diive the logs down the Sissiboo to 

 Weymouth Mflls. 



We find the loggers kind and hospitable, as all the 

 people in this region are. They soon put us on the road 

 to their camp, where we stop for some time to rest and 

 dry om* clothes. Tlien, after having imbibed some hot 

 tea, we once more shoulder our packs and struggle man- 

 fully onward. 



Forty pounds of trout in addition to om' other burdens 

 make no fight load, but after a long tramp the white 

 houses of the French settlement appear in the distance, 

 and we pluck up coinage and press on. At 9 o'clock, 

 tired and footsore, but feeling well repaid for our exer- 

 tions, we arrive at Como's. 



The next day, rested in body, my creel close packed 

 with trotit Ayeighing from fibs, to Iflbs. each. I take the 

 train again at North Range, eager to show and distribute 

 my spoils among expectant friends in Digby. 



If our time had not been so limited we should have 

 made the trip in a different manner. The right Avay 

 would be to go in Avith an ox team and sled, upon Avliich 

 the canoes and traps could be stowed. The log house at 

 Fifth Lake could l3e used as headquarters from which 

 short excmsions could be made by canoe or on foot to 

 the smTounding lakes. 



I never before saw so many partridges, nor such large 

 ones, full groAvn and fat, their crops almost bm-stingwith 

 small acorns and beech nuts. 1 shot all Ave could use in 

 the woods and carry home without going out of my way 

 for them. 



With a good dog one could do wonders, not to speak of 

 the possibilities of bears and moose in season, signs of 

 which we saw in abundance. P. B. V. 



TRAVELS IN BOON GAH ARRAHBIGGEE. 



PEOM THE DIARY OF JOSEPH GOATEE. 

 EDrrED BY p. H. TEjrPLE BELLEAy. 



[Continued from Page 483.] 



EARLY on the day of our proposed attack I caused my 

 attendants to plant a number of strong stakes, in 

 the form of a letter V, opposite the end of a certain pen- 

 insida of shrubbery, where we had several times noticed 

 the blazing eyes 'of the enigmatical monster. These 

 stakes I had doubly braced, and, where possible, addi- 

 tionally strengthened by means of guys attached to trees. 

 From post to post I extended my gobAvich nets, crossing 

 and recrossing them Avith stout ropes of that same won- 

 derfully tenacious material. 



Arrived at the spot, I stationed my men with the Khi- 

 goorta on one side of the neck of the peninsula, Avith in- 

 structions to discharge a bomb at a given signal from 

 myself, near the apex of the letter V. The two Avarriors 

 I posted on the other side of the neck, armed yyith their 

 Imee Khi-goortas, several small bombs and some hand 

 torches. Enjoining them all not to make the slightest 

 sound. I took up my own post under cover of a large tree, 

 rifle in hand, with Poptee at my elboAA^ bearing two more. 

 The night was very still, and as I stood there, with all my 

 nerves stramed to their utmost tension, every sound 

 seemed magnified a hundredfold. Though why I should 

 fall into the habit of using the word seemed in this con- 

 nection I hardly can tell, since I well knoAv that sounds 

 are greater Avhen the .atmosphere is still than when it is 

 in commotion. Though I should rather say that a given 

 cause Avill produce a greater sound Avhen the air is undis- 

 turbed by coimteracting waves produced by other causes 

 than when these counteracting waves exist. Sound being 

 merely the action of AvaA-es of air on the drum of the ear, 

 Ave Avill assume A to be a given cause, the blow of a ham- 

 mer, let us say, and I Avill illustrate it by this diagram; 



A represents the bloAV of a hammer, B B the waves of 

 air produced by this blow, C is the drum of the ear 

 upon which these waves fall. Now, we will suppose A, 

 in the second diagram, to be still the blow of the hammer, 

 B B the waA-es, and C the ear; but here is D, the drone of 

 an bisect, and E, the cracking of a branch. Each of these 

 causes produce their OAvn set of waves, which, meeting 

 the waves from A, check or divert them, thereby lessen- 

 ing tlieir impetus and consequently the force AN-ith which 

 they strike the dram of the ear; and as sound is merely 

 the'force of the air waves acting on the nerves of the ear, 

 the soimd not only seems, but actually is less. 



I was indulging in just tliis reverie on the cause and 

 effect of sound when I AA-as suddenly brought back to my- 

 self, and the machinery stopped inside my ribs Avith a 

 thud, by the sight of two huge eyes glaring at me out of 

 the thorny underbrush not seventy-five feet off. I had 

 taken up "my position so that Avhen the creature should 

 make its charge it would find itself headed off by the nets 

 (if it did not burst through them) and skirtmg along for 

 an outlet of escape give me a good shoulder shot. I did 

 not dare risking a forehead shot, not knowing how the 

 animal might be defended in that dkection. The ques- 

 tion now Avas whether the posts and netting Avould resist 

 the charge Ayere it to take it into his head to make one. I 

 confess it Avas an anxious moment, but firmly grasping 

 my Reilly No. 10. and motioning to Poptee to be ready 

 with the other gnns. I gave the prearranged signal, Avhich 

 to avoid exposing my position by any sound, was done by 

 the very simple method of pullrng a string of about lOOyds. 

 in length that communicated with the big toe of one of 

 the Khi-goorta men. A second later and I heard the 

 rattle of the springs of the catapult and caught a glimpse 

 of the flaring torch of the bomb as it passed between the 

 limbs of the trees, but no explosion followed ; the car- 

 tiidge had evidently failed me as far as explosion by con- 

 cussion was concerned. I kncAv it Avould take a minute 

 or more to discharge another shell, but I could hear them 

 already hard at work bracing down the Khi-goorta. In 

 the alean time, to my terrible vexation, the flaring eye.*. 



