Aug. 11, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



43 



the river are, of 7ilbs. About noon we selected a place 

 on the shore for lunch, and there Fleet came to the front 

 as cook and fried some of our catch and served them pip- 

 ing hot. Senator Kenna leveled his camera, and later we 

 will be printed as before and after lunch, or "expectancy" 

 and "satisfaction." 



My boat carried the photographic outfit, and after lunch 

 I was a little late in starting, Mr. Cleveland and Mr. Wat- 

 son having gone ahead. I overtook Mr. Watson alone, 

 standing waist deep in the water and casting right and 

 left, and I halted unnoticed to watch how gracefully he 

 east. I supposed he was practicing a position or pose for 

 the next photograph, but he was simply trying to deter- 

 mine where he "had thrown his minnow and a good part 

 of his line. I came to Mr. Cleveland who was also wad- 

 ing, and I got out of the boat and joined him. I had lit- 

 tle more than done so when Mr. C. left the perpendicular 

 and assumed the horizontal in the water. The bottoiu 

 was treacherous and the water swift, aim the odds were 

 ten to one that I would be the next man to go in all over, 

 but I was not. 1 had passed quite a rapid in the boat and 

 looked back to see Senator Kenna come through: he was 

 standing at the stern and Fleet at the bow, each with an 

 oar to use as a setting pole or fender. The Senator turned 

 his head to spear a defunct lager bottle that was floating 

 past with head up and toes in, when the boat hit a rock 

 and he took a header; before his broad hat, with, his head 

 in it, had fairly disappeared beneath the water, Fleet had 

 plunged after him. All that I could see of the Senator Or 

 his belongings above water was his hip pocket, and I 

 asked him why he made such an effort to save that par- 

 ticular pocket,' and he said that was where he carried his 

 matches. If there is anything I do admire in an emer- 

 gency it is presence of mind; there were plenty of watches 

 in the party and but few matches. 



We reached Lowell in time for the 7 o'clock train, hav- 

 ing caught 103 black bass. Our boats were brought back 

 to '"the starting place by train, and we returned to White 

 Sulphur in time for a late supper. Before our supper was 

 finished, we decided to repeat the trip two days later. 



White Sulphur Springs, Vv. Va. A. N. CHENEY. 



HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYAS. 



Lights and Shadows of an Indian Forester's Life. 



331. 



THE tiger has his lair, and a man famdiar with the 

 jungles has no difficulty in recognizing his signs, 

 which guide him in the selection of it. In the cold 

 weather, too, after the grass has been burnt over, the 

 cover is narrowed down to a few Lclated clumps and 

 strips in low ground, the moisture of which kept the 

 grass geeen and rendered it impervious to the general con- 

 flagration. The great difficulty in finding the tiger is that 

 he is not always at home — roaming around all night in 

 search of his prey, if he is successful in making a kill he 

 has a good feed off the haunches until daylight, drags the 

 remains into the nearest piece of cover, goes off for a 

 drink and then sleeps out the day in the coolest, wettest, 

 boggiest piece of cover he can find; but excepting after a 

 feed, or at any rate when stirred by hunger, he wanders 

 round all day* with the consequence that the sportsman 

 of tener comes across him in unexpected places than in his 

 regular haunts. 



My guests of course had come for tiger, and I had sent 

 them the previous day through the most likely piece of 

 tiger country in the neighborhood. They had gone up 

 through a valley about a quarter of a mile wide where its 

 little stream emptied itself into the Ramgunga, and grad- 

 ually narrowing down to a hundred yards at four miles 

 up, where it branched into two forks, the one of which 

 ran up into the hills, forming an easy pass to another 

 similar valley, drained by a stream which reached the 

 plains some seven or eight miles from the Ramgunga. 

 The nearest valleys had excellent strips of cover, but in 

 some parts the bog was so heavy that the elephants were 

 unable to struggle through it, and these were just the 

 places for a tiger's lair. That tigers frequented the valley 

 was evident enough, for along the sandy bed of the stream 

 and even in the dust of the path, the sportsmen reported 

 that they had seen fresh tracks everywhere. They saw 

 no other sign of tiger until they had crossed the dividing 

 range and were going through a narrow defile passing to 

 the second valley when the leading mahount saw a tiger 

 right in his path looking at them at a distance of 100yds. 

 or nearly. There was a general fusilade, and then it was 

 seen that there were three tigers, two of which dashed 

 up the hill on their left, crossing right above them, and 

 getting volley after volley as long as they were in sight, 

 whde the third was seen to dash back to what appeared 

 to be a cleft in the hill on the right. Advancing on this 

 they found a little cleft about 6ft. wide with the remains 

 of a gerao stag, and the hills being inaccessible to the 

 elephants on that side they rounded the spur on their 

 left, and getting into the valley on the other side of the 

 hill, behind which the two tigers had disappeared, they 

 kept beating up the cover until it was time to return. 



I had a supply of rockets in camp which would be use- 

 ful in the boggy ground above referred to; but I thought 

 it better to take another course the next morning, and as 

 the matter was left entirely to me, I chose the valley of 

 the Raingunga, in which there were always tigers,although 

 there was so much cover sprinkled over so large an area 

 that coming on them was very uncertain. 



So the next morning we went straight away up the road 

 to the sawyers' camp, where I had bagged my tiger the 

 previous day, and dropping Charley there, we went down 

 to the lower valley, and after coming to an understand- 

 ing that there was to be no shooting at anything but tiger, 

 on our way up stream we commenced beating, with the 

 result that we saw no tiger, but put up dozens of hog deer, 

 which did then.' very wickedest to tempt us to shoot them. 



We had got four miles up stream above the camp by 11 

 o'clock without firing a shot, and had got into some low 

 grass about 4ft. high, when I saw a ripple ahead of me, 

 and halting my elephant I signaled the others to close in, 

 the beast, whatever it was, was going quietly away from 

 me, and with" rifle ready, I moved on again after him 

 until the others had drawn up close. I signaled a halt 

 again and was pointing out the spot, when a bear stood up 

 to reconnoitre. The Colonel and S. both fired, and as the 

 beast struggled away kept up a sharp fusilade, but 

 although several balls struck him he struggled on for 

 about 100yds. , when he dropped and kept tumbling about, 

 taking another half dozen shots at close quarters before 

 he gave up the ghost. Preparations were being made for 

 hoisting him in position, when my chuprassee touched 



Hie on the shoulder, and pointed to an object in some low 

 grass about 30yds. off, which I immediately set about in- 

 vestigating. It was a dead cheetul stag, and so little 

 eaten, and the blood spots so fresh that there was no 

 doubt we had disturbed the beast at his breakfast. 



Reconnoitering the country, I saw there were two strips 

 of good cover, about a quarter of a mile long each, and 

 forking away right and left from us; in one of these there 

 was little doubt our game had sought shelter. The intel- 

 ligence was promptly communicated , the bear was allowed 

 to lie where he fell, and after a short consultation it was 

 decided that as the strips of cover were neither of them 

 very wide and one quite narrow, we would divide forces. 

 The Colonel took the narrower strip on the right, and 

 posting Si on my right, he and I beat up the broader 

 striji. We had not gone far before I saw that the Colonel 

 was on the track, and signaled to S. to push ahead to be 

 prepared for a chance, if the beast broke across to us. 

 The Colonel's attitude evidenced that he saw the grass 

 waving before him and was prepared to shoot, but it was 

 not until he reached the extremity of his patch that the 

 beast broke cover on our side about two hundred yards 

 off. The Colonel fired both barrels, and the ' next 

 moment I saw a fine panther coming straight at us, 

 and had but just time to wheel round into line with S. 

 before he was within twenty yards. At that instant he 

 sighted us. There was a moment's pause, and crash 

 went our barrels. He was down on his haunches 

 now, swearing furiously, and the elephants were too 

 much excited to give us a chauce for a second shot. I 

 tired and guess I came somewhere within six feet of him, 

 and picking up my smoothbore, fired another couple of 

 shots with similar results. S. was firing away too as if 

 cartridges cost nothing, and the Colonel was pushing on 

 toward us at top speed, when I called to him to stop, and 

 inviting S. to join me, we retreated some seventy yards, 

 pacified the elephants, and poured in another broadside, 

 which tumbled him over. "Spare the skin," I said, in 

 time to stop any more shooting. The first shot had broken 

 his backbone, and rendered him powerless, and now that 

 he had got Ms quietus we could let him die quietly, or 

 some one might dismount and give him a settler in the 

 ear. "I'll settle him," said the Colonel, and making his 

 elephant kneel he jumped off, and after some dodging 

 round the panther, which appeared to resent the well- 

 meant intention to put him out of his pain, the Colonel 

 got in a shot, which crashed through, stilling him effectu- 

 ally, but making a mess of the head. Lashing him belnnd 

 the howdah, we went on and picked up the bear, and then 

 started for camp, well supplied with venison for the present. 



It was near 3 o'clock again when we reached camp, 

 and this brought luncheon and dinner so close together 

 that we determined to go without luncheon and to hurry 

 on the dinner for to-day, and to take something for a 

 midday meal along with us in future. There is but one 

 bath-room in the little bungalow, and by the time we had 

 all taken a refresher, dinner was ready. 



There was still an hour of daylight when we rose, and 

 the Colonel and S. took their rods and went down stream, 

 returning at dusk with a 10-pounder which S. had taken 

 — the Colonel had not sticceeded in getting a rise to his 

 fly — fish are so fickle. Shikaree. 



A NEW JERSEY SURFMAN. 



[A forthcoming book from Mr. Charles Lanmon wall be entitled 

 "Lettera from a Motley Company." It will describe a great 

 variety of phases of American life, and the following chapter, "A 

 Letter from a New Jersey Surfman," may interest those of our 

 readers who are now summering on the shores of New Jersey.] 



1" CANNOT, in this brief letter, record the particulars of 

 A my life, but will try and comply with your request, 

 and give you a few incidents and facts connected with 

 my experiences as a surfman on the coast of New Jersey. 

 I was born on Long Island, had a limited education, went 

 to sea as a sailor while yet a mere boy, had command of 

 a brig for several years, running between New York and 

 New Orleans, and after many troubles found a home on 

 the flat lands near the ocean in New Jersey. As I was 

 fond of hunting I hugged the shores of Barnegat, and for 

 a while did very well by keeping a tavern where the 

 sportsmen of New York and Philadelphia might be cared 

 for when they wanted to shoot geese, ducks and other 

 game peculiar to the country. I made some money, with 

 the help of my good wife, and became the owner of a 

 nice little house and a patch of land. When I was off 

 gunning with my visitors my wife carried on our affairs, 

 devoting much of her time to keeping poultry, and to 

 show you that she was smart in that business, I may tell 

 you that she raised chickens, turkeys and ducks, and 

 sometimes had a brood of 300 of the latter fowls. She 

 had nobody to help her, but was generally attended by 

 some half dozen nice dogs for which she had a special 

 fondness. They served as protectors and companions in 

 her hours of loneliness, and kept off the weasels and other 

 vermin. 



As time progressed I had a longing for a particular 

 spot directly on the sea shore; and while ready to pull up 

 stakes at any time, I was induced to change my business 

 and location by this particular incident. A lot of three 

 wild fellows, but greenhorn sportsmen, had come down 

 from York to hunt for ducks, and one morning, as luck 

 would have it, they killed about twenty wild geese. This 

 success greatly excited them, and they spent the next en- 

 tire night drinking, playing cards and dancing, and as I 

 was disgusted, I resolved to quit tavern keeping, and so 

 went over to the east shore and divided my time between 

 some shooting and fishing and looking after shipwrecks, 

 which were often happening on the New Jersey shore. 

 The methods employed for saving vessels and men in 

 the old times, were very different from what they are 

 now. Formerly the surfmen banded together as friends, 

 oftentimes acted independently, and for everything like 

 compensation we depended upon the liberality of the men 

 or companies whom it was our good luck to serve. 



Generally speaking, we surfmen were liberally treated, 

 but perhaps the meanest man who ever sailed upon the 

 sea was the captain of a schooner which once came 

 ashore, when we not only saved the entire crew but also 

 a large part of the property on board the vessel. Not only 

 that, but we lodged and fed those men at our houses for 

 about ten days, and after the captain had secured his 

 property and arranged for carting it off, he presented two 

 straw beds to the party who had saved his life and prop- 

 erty but not one dollar in money. At that time the laws 

 of salvage were of no account on the Jersey shores and 

 we had no redress. But the majority of men with whom 

 we came in contact had souls, and one of them I recall 



with real pleasure. He was the captain and owner of a 

 brigantine that came ashore in a snow storm, and after 

 we had saved the crew and a rich cargo of cotton, the 

 owner presented to each one of the men who had helped 

 hiru the sum of $500. The mean man just alluded to was 

 a sanctimonious creature of the whining type, while the 

 latter was a jolly old chap whose laugh coidd be heard 

 half a mile away. As to the salvage question, I may 

 say that according to the American system it is only 

 given to men who have voluntarily saved property from 

 ships in disaster, and not to men under legal obligations 

 to save property, as is the case with the surfmen. 



From the foreign sailors driven on this shore 1 have 

 heard some very queer things about the laws of England 

 on the subject of shipwrecks. For example, I have been 

 told that formerly everything that was washed ashore on 

 the British coasts, including vessels and cargo, was 

 claimed by the Government as its own property and was 

 often granted as a gift to the owner of the adjacent prop- 

 erty. When a man escaped with his life, the disaster of 

 coning ashore was not called a wreck, and the same was 

 said to be true even when a cat or dog got ashore alive; 

 all of which, to my mind, looks like heathenism. But 

 these strange laws have been somewhat modified in recent 

 times, the coast officials keeping the property for a cer- 

 tain time, and then, when not claimed by the owners, it is 

 turned over to the crown. In this country when wrecked 

 goods come ashore, if not called for, they are, efter a 

 certain time sold for the benefit of charitable institutions. 



But we also have some outrageous customs on this side 

 of the Atlantic, and some of the worst of them grow out 

 of the incompetency of the superintendents at our life- 

 saving stations. These officials are generally active poli- 

 ticians, and receive their places as a reward for political 

 services. In nine cases out of ten they are entirely unfit 

 for the important business intrusted to them. They re- 

 ceive good salaries, and while they who now work under 

 their directions are poorly paid and do not obtain as good 

 a living as we did under the old order of things. I know 

 one of these superintendents whose home is not within 

 sight of the ocean, but whose business it is to instruct his 

 men, or see to it that all goes on correctly, and yet who 

 only visits the various stations once in three months. 

 And when he does come down to the shore to manage 

 what we call a drill — with boats in the surf — he knows no 

 more about the necessary operations than a man in the 

 moon, and would no more risk his own life in rough 

 water than he would treat a political opponent with 

 decency. And some of these fellows come to us with 

 arms full of books, out of which they teach us how to act 

 in certain emergencies and how to bring drowned men to 

 life, all of which, where common sense is important, is 

 the merest f oolishness. 



After all the Life Saving Service as at present organ- 

 ized, with its 201 stations in all the Union has been a 

 blessing to the country. The system was commenced in 

 1871, and down to the year 1885 the disasters numbered 

 2,547; value of vessels wrecked $31,605,(300 ; value of car- 

 goes $15,463,714 ; property saved $40,000,000 ; property 

 lost $14,230,968 ; persons saved 28,000 ; and persons lost 

 446. The stations along the coast of New Jersey number 

 not less than forty-one, while the whole Atlantic coast 

 counts up one hundred and fifty-six, with thirty-seven on 

 the Great Lakes, and seven on the coast of the Pacific. 

 The time for hardest labor on the New J ersey shore ranges 

 from September to May ; the stations are generally man- 

 aged by one keeper and six surfmen, and supplied with 

 houses of refuge and all the implements that can be used 

 in saving life and property, such as surf boats, wreck 

 guns, beach apparatus, life lines, rockets and restoratives 

 for all emergencies. After every storm the keeper and 

 his men are obliged to go upon inspecting tramps along 

 the coast to discover any evidences of disaster ; and the 

 crews patrol the beach about four miles on each side of 

 the station, between every sunset and sunrise and also on 

 foggy days. 



Returning now to my own personal experiences, I may 

 tell you that I have now been leading the life of a surf- 

 man for about thirty years, and have participated with 

 others in saving the lives of not less than twenty-seven 

 hundred shipwrecked men. I have performed about as 

 much hard work as any other man on this New Jersey 

 coast, and my adventures would make a good-sized book. 

 For one of my bits of service I received a gold medal from 

 the Government, and the leading particulars were as fol- 

 lows: It was after a terrible gale at midwinter, and in 

 the midst of a snow storm, that a big brig came ashore— 

 outside of a tremendous surf. Our crew, in a body, made 

 an effort to reach the vessel but failed, and would not 

 make a second trial. With this conduct I was disgusted 

 and I resolved to make a trial on my own hook. I 

 launched our smallest lifeboat, got it over the foaming 

 ridge of surf and made for the vessel. She lay with only 

 her forward deck out of water, with all her sails torn 

 away, and when I reached her side I saw no signs of life; 

 I shouted to the top of my voice, but no answer came. 

 After a terrible struggle I 'reached the deck, found five 

 men alive, shut up in the forward cabin, one man dead 

 in the gangway and another frozen to death and hang- 

 ing by his legs from the rigging, to which he had climbed 

 to avoid being washed overboard. The five men were 

 rescued and it was for this service that I received the 

 medal. 



Of course the memories of this catastrophe and of 

 many others of like character are very mournful, but 

 they are in perfect keeping with the every-day life of 

 the surfmen who have the common susceptibilities of 

 humanity. The sunshine is indeed a great blessing, but 

 as we watch the great luminary continually rising out of 

 the sea and setting on the waters of Barnegat Bay, we 

 realize more fully than any other people how rapidly our 

 years are passing away. And then come forth from their 

 hidden chambers the perpetual storms of wind and rain, 

 of snow and hail, oftimes bringing in then wake death 

 and destruction to those who have trusted themselves to 

 the remorseless sea. To perform the part of guardsman 

 over the elements, in the midst of which we five, is a 

 difficult duty, and yet I may mention with pride that f or 

 a period of twenty-four months, in making my midnight 

 patrol of four miles, to exchange checks with watchmen 

 from another station, I never once failed to start upon my 

 tramp at the appointed hour. At certain times when I 

 was not well I had the companionship of one of my dogs, 

 and I often fancied that he enjoyed the midnight calms, 

 the brilliant moonlight and the starry heavens, and was as 

 greatly depressed as myself, by the singing sands, thu 

 scseaming of the winds and the moaning of the sea. 



