FaftEST AND STREAM. 



[July 12, 1888. 



pearls. No, but have thought of it, as I saw it stated in 

 a paper some time ago that an idle fellow of San Angelo 

 had taken over 200 pearls, many of them large and valu- 

 able, out of unios in the Couiho Kiver. "Awahsoose" 

 uses the word "examined," by which I suppose he means 

 that the pearl is hidden in the shell and must be carefully 

 hunted for to be detected. What part of the shell is it 

 hidden in? Is it loose in the shell or is it attached to it? 

 Would like to be informed. I inclose a rattlesnake's tail, 

 which, as you will see, has seventeen rattles and a button. 

 The snake was killed by some boys near my shelter, who 

 described him as a little over 4ft. long and as big as a. 

 man's arm a little above the wrist. The rattles, though 

 so many, seem to me to be unusually narrow. I do not 

 recollect ever seeing one with so many rattles before. 

 What is the highest number of rattles actually seen and 

 counted on a rattlesnake's tail?— N. A. T. 



mnt Jjfag nn& %ut\. 



Antelope and Deer of America. By J. D. Caton. 

 Price 82.50. Wing and Glass Ball Shooting vrith the 

 Rifle. By W. C. Bliss. Price 50 cents. Rif e, Rod and 

 Gun in 'California. By T. S. Van Dyke, ' Price $1.50. 

 Shore Birds'. Price 50 cents. Woodcraft. By '-Ness- 

 muk." Price $1. Trajectories of Hunting Rifles. Price 

 5 cents. The Still-Hunter. By T. S. Van Dyke. Price §S, 



MASSACHUSETTS GAME LAW. 



TTTE were in error in a late issue in giving the Massachusetts 

 » v game seasons as they were in 1837. The law was amended 

 at the last session as follows: 



Ohapx£k 392.— Section one of chapter two hundred and seventy- 

 six of the acts of the year eighteen huudreel and eighty-six is 

 hereby amended so that it shall read as follows: Section 1. Who- 

 ever takes or kills a pinnated grouse at any time, or a woodcock 

 between the first day of December and the first day of September, 

 or a ruffed grouse, commonly called partridpc, between the first 

 day of December and the first day of September, or a quail be- 

 tween the first day of January and the fifteenth day of October, 

 or a wood or summer duck, black duck or teal, or any of the so- 

 called duck species, between the fifteenth day of April and first 

 day of September, shall be punished by a fine of twenty dollars 

 for every bird so taken or killed. Approved May 3, 1888. 



THE BUSH BUCK. 



QTANDING about two feet and a half in height, of a 

 kj dark reddish brown color, flecked with white on 

 the haunches, and frequently weighing over 150 pounds, 

 the bush buck (Tragelaphus sylvaticus) is by far the 

 finest of the forest antelopes of Natal, and consequently 

 most eagerly hunted by the colonists. The male is the 

 most dauntless of all the antelopes I ever met, and unless 

 killed dead in his tracks, his assailant can safely reckon 

 on a vicious charge, in which his almost straight and 

 stiletto-like boms, about a foot in length, are used with 

 dire effect. The sexes are so unlike in appearance that 

 one uninitiated would be apt to suppose them of different 

 species, particularly if he is guided by the Zulu names, 

 who call the male n'konka and the female imbabala. 

 Another peculiarity about them is that on being suddenly 

 startled they will bound off a short distance, then turn 

 and face the intruder, giving a short, sharp bark, very 

 dog-like in sound. 



Soon after my arrival in Natal and my bush- wandering 

 propensities became known, my friends warned me to 

 be on my guard, and never to fire at a bush buck without 

 being certain of killing it outright, and to be sure of hav- 

 ing a sheltering tree close at hand, behind which 1 could 

 take refuge. It was some time before I crossed one, and 

 the numerous stories of their vindictiveness, when 

 wounded, served only to stir up the mule in my disposi- 

 tion to such a degree that I determined to fire at the first 

 one I met, no matter what might be the surroundings. 



I had several ambushes close to my house, which I 

 visited regularly for the purpose of shooting blue bucks 

 (Qephalophus pygnimus) and red bucks (C. naialensis), 

 and while sitting in one I noticed a vervet monkey (0. 

 lallandii) in a tree, under which I had seen red bucks 

 pass several times, but refrained from firing for fear of 

 wounding and not killing them dead, as they are noted 

 for an exceedingly tough hide. My immobility bothered 

 the monkey, and he started to climb higher, in order to 

 get a better look. While he was passing behind some in- 

 tervening boughs, the gun was raised and sighted for 

 the first open space, and so soon as lie aimeared he was 

 instantly killed. He had unwittingly solved the problem, 

 and I afterward shot several bucks passing under the 

 same tree. After reloading I picked him up and started 

 for home, intending him as a present for the Kaffirs, who 

 consider monkey a great delicacy. They skin it carefully, 

 reserving thy pelt for finery, pass a long wooden skewer 

 lengthwise through it, two shorter ones transversely at 

 the fore and hindlegs, and cook over a brisk fire, and 

 from personal experience I can recommend broiled 

 monkey to bon vivants as a toothsome dish, but horribly 

 suggestive of grilled baby. 



Passing along the path with my eyes cast down, watch- 

 ing for the spoor of bucks, I had just reached an open 

 space, when there was a rush, and dropping the monkey 

 the gun was thrown up, and glancing along the barrels 

 found they covered the stern of a buck bounding away 

 with a fawn by its side. Just as she reached thick cover 

 she turned to have a look at me, when a slight elevation 

 of the gun planted a charge of buckshot square between 

 her eyes and dropped her in her tracks. Stepping up to 

 bleed her 1 was surprised to find the hair seemingly worn 

 off in a circle around her neck, as if it had been done by 

 a rope. Of course I naturally supposed that some one's 

 pet antelope had been killed, and somewhat crestfallen 

 started for the house for the purpose of sending the 

 Kaffirs for the carcass. I had in my employ an old colon- 

 ist, and so soon as I reached home he wished to know at 

 what I had fired. Pitching the monkey toward him I 

 answered: 



"There's a part of the morning's bag." 



"But there were two shots. Where's the balance?" 



"I think the less said about that the better, as I am 

 afraid some neighbor's pet buck will never reach home." 



I then gave an account of my hasty shot, adding a de ■ 

 scription of the animal, and wound up by expressing the 

 fear that I had gotten into trouble. lie laughed and re- 

 lieved my mind by telling me that the short hair on the 

 neck was one of the distinguishing marks of the species, 

 and I had evidently killed an imbabala, which was cer- 

 tainly a wild one, as he did not know of a pet one any- 



where in the neighborhood. I felt much eased; the Kaf- 

 firs were called and directed where to find the buck, with 

 which they soon returned, and my mentor remarked: 

 "If it had been a male, instead of a female, and not 

 killed dead, you would have had some trouble in dodging 

 his homs. " The w r arning did not pass unheeded, and ever 

 afterward I always endeavored to get a forehead shot 

 when firing at one. 



I had a barnacle acout my establishment in the shape 

 of a Kaffir, wdio went by the name of Tsambane (Antbear ), 

 a sobriquet from his habit of digging pitfalls for catching- 

 game. I hired him as a laborer, but he constantly 

 shirked work and sneaked about setting all kinds of 

 suaros, which I endured, as he frequently led me to am- 

 bushes where I would be certain of getting bucks. My 

 proneness to forget what we were after, particularly if 

 some new object caught my eye, frequently caused him 

 to lecture me soundly on my inattention to his counsels, 

 followed by the prediction that I would never become a 

 successful hunter, as I never gave the slightest thought to 

 the pot, that summum bonum of a Kaffir's life. Beetles 

 were his especial aversion, and he could never understand 

 why I should become oblivious to the chances of getting 

 meat while watching the motions of some insect. On 

 one occasion , while sitting at night skinning a bird, Isarn- 

 bane put in one of his many appearances with the request 

 of a little tobacco. Knowing that something was behind 

 it, he was immediately presented with a piece, when he 

 remarked, "If you will only let the bugs alone and attend 

 to my directions I will show you where a male bush buck 

 can be killed to-morrow morning." Of course I promised 

 obedience, and he started off to make snuff, which the 

 Zulus use in inordinate quantities instead of smoking. 

 They grind the tobacco between two stones, mix some 

 wood ashes with it, and carry the mixture in a large reed, 

 passed through a slit in the lobe of the ear, or ina small 

 gourd fastened around the neck by a string. A small 

 circular bone spoon stuck in their wool serves as an 

 appliance to convey the snuff to the nostrils in sufficient 

 quantities to produce a prolonged fit of strangulated 

 coughing, which is supposed to be the acme of enjoyment. 



The next morning found Isambane and myself seated 

 at the foot of a large tree, and the monotony of waiting 

 began to wear on me, when the inevitable beetle made 

 his appearance. I was intently watching its movements 

 when "ncmsm" (there it is)',in a subdued, but angry whis- 

 per caught my ear. Raising my eyes, they rested on the 

 head of a male bush buck, thrust through a leafy screen, 

 just in front of us, and just as he was in the act of bark- 

 ing, the gun was thrown up. giving hint a forehead shot. 

 Whiiling around behind the tree, the heel plate of the 

 gun came in contact with Isambane's head, as he sought 

 refuge from the opposite direction, and sent him spinning 

 all of a heap, for some distance. I immediately ran to 

 him, and found that he was stunned and suffering from 

 an ugly gash, just above the ear. Giving a shrill whis- 

 tle, to call the Kaffirs, who were in hearing, I tore the 

 sleeve off my flannel shirt and endeavored to staunch the 

 bleeding. Help soon arrived, and I was deafened by the 

 exclamations of a lot of excited Kaffirs, such as, "You 

 must stop this." "You'll get hurt and we'll be blamed." 

 "If you get killed, who's to pay our wages?" etc. Any 

 one, high or low, who has had any experience with 

 Zulus, will know that this is no unusual language, and 

 it cost me many a severe trial before I became accus- 

 tomed to it. Isambane relieved me by staggering to his 

 feet, and shouting, "Shut up! Pick up the buck and be 

 off with you. Don't yon see I was with him? He's not 

 hurt and my head is broken." With a profusion of 

 "wausl" the buck was carried off, while I supported my 

 guide to the house, where a few strips of sticking plas- 

 ter and a drink of rum made him all right. 



At the conclusion of one of my customary prowls, I 

 found myself, late one afternoon, nearly a mile from 

 home, and had started to return, when the hoarse croak 

 of a white-crested touracou {Coryiluvix ulbrocristata) 

 sounded close at hand. Turning in the direction of the 

 sound, I had just reached the edge of an openhig in the 

 bush, and peering across it, trying to discover the bird, 

 which was evidently in a tree on the opposite side, when 

 a movement in the undergrowth attracted my attention. 

 The head of a female bush buck appeared, and as I aimed 

 at her the sharp horns of a male became visible imme- 

 diately in her rear. Keeping the gun at my shoulder I 

 prepared to give him its contents, when I was startled by 

 the phenomenon of another pair cominginto view directly 

 behind. Holding the gun level with my right hand, the 

 left was rubbed across my eyes to banish the seemingmys- 

 teiy. But after brushing away the supposed cobwebs the 

 three animals were still in view, slowly advancing toward 

 me. Then it suddenly flashed through my mind that I 

 was privy to a love-making scene. The female came 

 nearly to the center of the opening and turned sharply 

 to the right, closely followed by both males. Selecting 

 the hindmost one, as he had the finest horns, which could 

 be just seen above the undergrowth, the gun was lowered 

 until I thottght the charge would strike him fair behind 

 the foreshoulder. At the report he whirled and savagely 

 charged toward me, but dropped before ho reached the 

 tree behind which I was secreted. While reloading he 

 staggered on to his feet, which put me on the lookout, 

 but after standing for a few seconds, he floundered 

 off a short distance, and a crash of the undergrowth noti- 

 fied me that he had. again fallen. No Indian ever ad- 

 vanced on an enemy with more wariness than I exercised 

 while progressing toward that buck. The knowledge of 

 his wickedness kept every nerve in my body tingling with 

 excitement, and when he tottered up in front of roe the 

 muzzle of the gun almost touched him, but seeing it was 

 his last effort I did not fire. Throwing up his head with 

 a convulsive gasp, a sharp quiver shook him, and he 

 dropped stone dead. Game to the last! was my mental 

 ejaculation, and I squatted down alongside him, lit my 

 pipe, and quieted my relaxed nerves by violent smoking. 

 By the time I reached the house it was dark, and on 

 ordering the Kaffirs to bring the game home I was met 

 with a flat refusal, and Isambane underwent no end of 

 chaff for not being present at the death. Matters were 

 finally compromised by an agreement on my part to act 

 as an armed guard to the party. Some rough tox*ches 

 were manufactured to keep off prowling leopards, which 

 were what was feared, and by following the broken twigs, 

 twisted by myself on the way out of the bush, we man- 

 aged to find my quarry. A pole was cut and thrust be- 

 tween his legs, which had been previously lashed with 

 "monkey rope" (liana), and we started on our return. On 

 reaching the open roadway the Kaffirs regained their 



courage and broke forth Avith the strains of the "unku- 

 hubu" (Zulu hunting song, invariably sung at the termi- 

 nation of a successful hunt). The monotonous but inspir- 

 ing air, the flashing torches, and naked dusky forms of 

 my attendants, carrying the buck, formed one of those 

 weird hunting scenes peculiar to South Africa. 



I had passed a restless night, on account of the heat, 

 and just before daybreak had fallen into a doze, when a 

 stamping on the cement floor of my veranda half 

 awakened me. The head of my cot was alongside the 

 open window, and slowly turning my half-opened eyes 

 in that direction, I thought "the'evil one, horns, hoofs, 

 tail and all," was paying me a visit. Gradually coming 

 to my senses, I finally made out the head of a bush buck 

 within a few feet of me, staring in the window. My first 

 impulse was to spring up and catch him by the horns 

 but remembering that the loaded gun stood just at the 

 foot of the cot, I endeavored to slowly slide down and 

 grasp it, so as to shoot him. But my movements betrayed 

 niei and he sprang away, and in a few seconds I heard 

 his well-known bark. As more sleep was out of the 

 question, I got up and found day just breaking. Step- 

 ping out in the garden, I wrenched off a pineapple from 

 the plant, and while waiting for more light, munched 

 away at it and enjoyed its refreshing coolness. So soon 

 as I could distinguish my disturber's tracks in the sandy 

 walk, I stepped indoors, picked up the gun, and started 

 on his spoor. He had started on the jump, but gradually 

 came down to a trot, and then to a walk. After turning 

 and twisting about among the banana trees for some 

 distance, he finally passed into a park which led up 

 between my sweet potato and millet patches in the direc- 

 tion of the bush. When about half way up it he had 

 fallen into one of Isambane's pitfalls, dug for catching 

 cane rats (Aulacodus swindernianus?), out of which he 

 had floundered and galloped off for the bush. Before 

 reaching it he again reduced his pace, and on getting in- 

 side, walked along, nipping off the twigs. He kept straight 

 along the path for some distance, or I would have been 

 bothered in following his tracks, until he suddenly turned 

 off, as if seeking shelter, to lie by during the day. I now 

 realized my lack of forethought "in not calling Isambane 

 before starting after the buck, as his notorious tracking 

 accomplishments would have been of infinite service to 

 me. Tmrning off from the path at the same point at 

 which the buck had left it, I slowly pressed through the 

 heavy undergrowth, with a sharp lookout, and had gone 

 but a short distance when there was a rush alnirfst .behind 

 me. The buck had allowed me to pass him and then ran 

 up alongside, as if he intended charging before being 

 wounded. Springing on one side, the gun was pitched 

 up, awaiting the impending bark, and as soon as he 

 stopped to give it a charge of buckshot landed between 

 his eyes and dropped him, while I took to a convenient 

 tree. Hastily reloading and hearing no indications of 

 movement, I stepped out from behind my retreat and 

 found him quite dead. After bleeding him I was admir- 

 ing his compact form and glossy coat, when the bushes 

 parted and Isambane's black form appeared. I prevented 

 all fault-finding exclamations by instantly saying, "I've 

 got him, without a broken head this time, Sambane." 

 "Wau !" he answered, passing a hand over the scar on 

 his skull, and busied himself tying the legs with monkey 

 rope. Just as he had finished the hum of voices sounded 

 close by, and he said, "There come those fools," as the 

 balance of the Kaffirs joined us. He showed himself 

 equal to the occasion, stopping all ejaculations and inter- 

 jections by saying. "You fellows sleep too much. Why 

 don't you get up early and show N'kos how to kill a bush 

 buck— as I have done?" Frank J. Thompson. 



A MOOSE HUNT. 



WITH what a sigh of relief did we throw off our 

 packs and canoes after one of the longest and hard- 

 est of the the many portages we had made in the last ten 

 days. The old trail through the swamp had been made, 

 who can tell where? the blazes on the trees had almost 

 disappeared, and the broken branches had long been re- 

 placed by others; but by dint of close scrutiny and perse- 

 verance we had "made it," and that was enough. Why- 

 is it that the faintest trace of human beings, when seen 

 in the wilds of forest and plain, impresses the mind with 

 a sense of the mysterious? What curious and fantastic 

 thoughts one has when, suddenly, some old relic of a by- 

 gone time — a broken hatchet or decayed cabin — appears 

 across your path? There is a mystery about the wilder- 

 ness that begets mysteries and leads to th ought. But here 

 we are in the very center of the moose country. 



" Bob, did you see them cow and calf tracks made 

 right ahead of us over this foot-blisterin' portage? Why, 

 the moss is etarnally all tore up with the darned critters, 

 and if it hadn't been for this bloomin' canoe, I reckon 

 I could a' seen 'em." 



These remarks were made by Hank, one of the 

 strongest men it has been my fortune to meet, and if he 

 was strong in body he was even more so in " cuss words," 

 which rolled from his square jaw with all the ease and 

 volume of a cataract. As we lighted our pipes and pre- 

 pared for dinner our appetites were sharpened by the 

 still roily tracks of the cow t and calf in the bed of the 

 stream at our feet. It was a pleasant sight, and one that 

 made all our hard work seem but child's play. Our 

 square-jawed friend is about to speak; in fact I had seen 

 that something more than usual had been hovering about 

 him since early morning, and now it had to come. Some 

 one says that if a man has something to say, he can't re- 

 sist saying it; it is true, and was fully exemplified in 

 this case. 



"What am I tliinkin' about?" says Hank. "Why, just 

 this: I've just been bustin' all the momm' to yell. I feel 

 so good at seem' moose sign all over this blasted swamp, 

 and if those etarnal Injuns ain't been around this fall, I 

 guess we'll have some sport and get a skin or two to make 

 moccasins and such stuff. The moose is a curious crit- 

 ter," continued Hank; "I've known 'em to be all around 

 a fellow one day and the next not an animal in a thous- 

 and mile, more or less. What becomes of 'em? where do 

 they go to, and what are they doin' ? It wasn't that they 

 was skeered, for I done nothin' to skeer "em, and to show 

 that they wasn't they'd turn up again in a day or two and 

 stick about for may be a week, and me a huntin' all the 

 time. I've seen 'em so wild you couldn't see a hide or 

 hair, and some other time the blasted critters would be 

 around camp, and me a choppin', a cookin' and smokin' 

 and aefcin' as though I was tryin' to see if I couldn't drive 

 'em into the next county. I've heard men tell just the 



