July 25, 1887.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



9 



long, la,nky youth on the shoulder and pulled him aside. 

 "Say, Jim, what's the matter?" 



"Why. didn't you hear. Marc? The Warden, he laid 

 foroldMose and Fagan this arternoon, an' while they 

 was fishin' down near the Stone he put arter them in a 

 boat an' run 'em so close they dropped a hull string of 

 fish.". 



"Say, Jim," said Marc excitedly, "did— did they have 

 any big ones on the string?" 



"Any big ones? Waal, no; leastways none wuth talkin' 

 about. There was one weighted mebbe two pound. I 

 seen the Warden a-bringin' them up." 



Marc heaved a sigh of relief and breathed easier. They 

 moved up and sat down on the end of the porch. Old 

 Abe Martin, the quoted authority of the village, had the 

 chair, or rather the sugar barrel, and was discoursing to 

 an attentive audience. "I tell you what," he was say- 

 ing, "this 'ere's a goin' too fur. Two of our rep'table 

 citizens a-ketchin' fish ter satisfy their himger bein' set 

 on and raced like a pair of thieves an' made to drop their 

 fish. Ef that had been me, I'd a gone down thar an'—" 

 Just then, as if to emphasize his words, the speaker went 

 down, down into the barrel, in his rapid transit crushing 

 flat against the sides five or six outstanding nails and 

 landing plump on top of one at the bottom. He was 

 dragged out by the heels amid a roar of laughter. He 

 had lost the thread of his discourse, and at once began a 

 tirade against weak and insecure barrels. 



The night tram thundered past, the light from its 

 belching furnaces gleaming like a stray volcano in the 

 black darkness, as Marc turned out the long street that 

 led to his home. A couple of faint lights shone behind 

 him, but in front the darkness was intense, and only by 

 his knowledge of the path could he proceed at all. A 

 fight step in front fell on his ear, and instinctively he 

 turned aside and crouched down by the fence. Two men 

 were coming slowly along, and Marc recognized their 

 voices, It was Fagan and Mose Peters. Said Fagan, as 

 they drew near, "Bill Jones, down at the hotel, wants 

 a, lot of bass day arter to-morrow. We'll get 'em to-mor- 

 row night. We'll ran down to the Stone just afore dark. 

 Thar's some big ones round there." 



Marc rose as they passed out of sight, and shook his 

 fist at their vanished forms. "You'll fish down at the 

 Stone, will vou? Not if I can help it, you won't." 



W. Murk ay Graydon. 



HUNTING IN THE HIMALAYAS. 



Lights and shadows of an Indian Forester's Life. 

 X. 



THE death of the man-eating tiger described in the last 

 stray leaves from my diary* relieved my mind from 

 a great strain. Shooting generally, whether with rifle or 

 shotgun, constitutes the principal recreation of a forester 

 and can be indulged in to any desired extent without in- 

 terfering with official duty. If the camp were moving 

 daily game coidd be found on the way; if the camp was 

 pitched for a few weeks there was work in progress 

 within three or four miles which might be inspected 

 daily, and this afforded sufficient excuse for getting out 

 the elephant; but the man-eater was always in the east 

 when one wanted to go west, and the pursuit of him had 

 been too engrossing to admit of proper attention to other 

 matters. My work had been, to a certain extent, neglected 

 and was now taken up with renewed energy. 



On my way back from the Ganges to the Ramgunga, '. 

 went south of the line to the settled districts, and co mi ng 

 unexpectedly on the timber yards of the merchants who 

 had contracts in the forests, got ample evidence to show 

 that the Government was being defrauded of four or five 

 thousand dollars annually, which was divided rateably 

 among the native officials. I worked the case up care- 

 fully, took the confessions of the merchants one by one 

 and made them sign them, and got up so clear a case 

 against my sheristidar and the superintendent that they 

 attempted no denial; but after all, what was the good of 

 making scapegoats of my men while the system was uni- 

 versal in every department of the Empire? My chief was 

 rather annoyed to find the evidences so conclusive, and 

 the outcome of it all was the sheristidar got six months 

 leave of absence to enable him to get an appointment in 

 another department. 



At length after about a week's march we reached the 

 bungalow on the Ramgunga, where matters looked a 

 little like business. There was my unopened English 

 correspondence, the accunralation of a week, and a still 

 heavier budget of vernacular correspondence; and in an- 

 ticipation of my arrival there was such a crowd of work- 

 men around the bungalow that I concluded a general 

 strike was in progress. Sawyers, bamboo cutters, river 

 clearers were all there to the number of several hundred 

 men, wanting my decision on many points. It was no 

 fault of Chaiiey v s that they would not do just what he 

 instructed them. The natives of India always go to the 

 final court of appeal. 



We gave audience to the Khansaman first, and break- 

 fast disposed of, the contractors were admitted, and after 

 a free discussion, which lasted until four in the after- 

 noon, they all went away satisfied. 



This business settled, Charley and I took our rods and 

 strolled some three miles down river. The channel had 

 been cleared to within a mile of the outlet from the hills, 

 but the road passing a hundred yards or so above the 

 stream, I had been unable in the morning to see what 

 sort of a job had been made of it. It showed better than 

 I expected. There were so many large holes requiring 

 no clearance, and in many of the intervening necks the 

 removal of a score or so of big boulders and a few hun- 

 dred smaller ones created such a good passage that I saw 

 there would be no difficulty in getting out our timber. 

 Charley reported that he had been down stream to the 

 workmen only a few days before, and that there was no 

 impediment in the channel anywhere. So, before the 

 sun had fairly disappeared we got out our rods, and while 

 Charley cast a fly I went ahead with a gold spoon bent 

 on. Charley soon had a big fish on, as I judged from the 

 way his line ran out and the curve of his rod, and I was 

 about to lift my spoon when I struck a fish of 5 or 61bs., 

 which came to* grass in as many minutes. 



I then started leisurely for Charley, whose fish was tak- 

 ing him down stream, but I very soon had my own busi- 

 ness to attend to. I struck a fish which went away for 

 about fifty yards, when he paused, and taking a leap in 

 the air, let me see that I should have enough to do to land 



*See Forest and Stream Oct, 7, 1886.— En. 



him before dusk. This time he came at me, and kept me 

 actively winding, until he was aboirt ten yards of me when 

 away he went down stream again, out of the hole and 

 down the rapids. As soon as he slackened I put on the 

 strain, he got away again after a little, but I had strong 

 tackle and let him strain all it would bear, walking down 

 stream after him. As he glided into the next hole, he 

 ;ave up tugging, and winding in as I walked toward him, 

 _ soon had him in hand, and might easily have hauled 

 him up a gentle slope, but the bank was a foot above 

 water, and I had to summon my chuprassee with his land- 

 ing hook. He made a miss, and away the fish went again, 

 showing more fight than I thought he had left in him, but 

 the next time he was verv tractable, and taking the land- 

 ing hook, I inserted it deftly in his gills, and drew him 

 out, a good twenty-pounder. 



It was now getting dark, and there was still no sign of 

 Charley, who had disappeared round abend in the. stream 

 just as'l struck my last fish. I cooied, and to my dismay 

 the reply came from nearly half a mile down stream. 

 Our only attendant was witli me, and putting up my rod 

 and taking the rifle from him, I bade him take the fish 

 and follow. In about a quarter of a mile I got a glimpse 

 of Charley coming toward us, but with no fish. "It was 

 the biggest fish I ever saw in the river," said Charley as 

 he came near, ' 'fifty pounds if he was an ounce. I had the 

 landing-net under him, but he was too big to get into it. 

 At last I got it over his head, got hold of the handle with 

 both hands, and was just lifting him when you cooied, 

 and the same instant away went the fish, smashing the 

 rod first and then snapping the line." I showed him ray 

 big fish, which he said would have made good bait for 

 the one he had on. 



We climbed up to the road. There was a good star- 

 light sky, and in little odds of half an hour we had 

 reached the bungalow without adventure. 



The next morning I had a letter from an old friend, 

 Colonel W, telling me that he could get ten days leave 

 and the loan of a couple of elephants, and asking when 

 it would best suit me for him to bring a friend, a Capt. 

 S., along with him, and what they should bring. I re- 

 sponded promptly that I wanted four clear days to work 

 up arrears of office and monthly reports and accounts, 

 that 1 had good bread and beer and venison, and the 

 flesh of the "unclean," but as to mutton and turnips and 

 such like delicacies of civilized life, I had none, and that 

 if he and the Captain could not put up with jungle fare 

 they would have to import then own luxuries. 



Shikaree. 



fences around their gardens lest the winds of heaven 

 should waft a breath of sweet perfume to the nostrils of 

 a passer-by. 



Let me tell your readers why a Worcester county 

 farmer has posted bis brook this summer. The Btory may 

 seem incredible, but we have it from the farmer himself, 

 and will give it in his own words: "Two men came out 

 here from Worcester to fish. They put up then team in 

 my barn, fed my hay and grain, and when they came up 

 to the house to go home, called for some mik and a pie. 

 We happened to have a pie on hand, and carried it out 

 to them. After returning the empty dishes, they got 

 into then: buggy and drove off without even a 'thank 

 you.' If that is a specimen of your city sportsmen, I 

 will be hanged if they shall fish any more on my place." 

 One of these parties is a thorough gentleman, and could 

 not be hired to do such a thing, and his mortification 

 can be more easily imagined than expressed, when he 

 subsequently by mere accident learned that the two- 

 dollar bill that he put on the empty pie plate for his com- 

 panion to carry into the house found its way into that 

 individual's pocket instead of into that of their host. 



Fred. 



Worcester, Mass., July 22. 



Bass in Bay of Quinte. — Bellville, Ont., July 23. — 

 There are plenty of big black bass in the Bay of ' Quinte 

 this year, and they are just beginning to bite freely. A 

 week ago Mr. M. D. Ward caught one that weighed if lbs., 

 and yesterday Mr. Wm. Ormond took, among others, 

 four which weighed 8|, 4. 4i and 5£lbs. respectively. 

 There is no guess-work about these weights, as the fish 

 were weighed on a coiTect scale in the presence of wit- 

 nesses. — R. S. B. 



Aadresss all communications to the Forest and Stream Pub. Co. 



WORM AND FLY. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



When I get home from my office this afternoon I ex- 

 pect to find the Forest and Stream for this week await- 

 ing me, and, unless the warm weather has affected the 

 recent cord, pinhook and bait boom, another article upon 

 the inefficiency of fly-fishing and the delights of "yank- 

 ing 'em out." Of course there will be one or more about 

 the best sort of cannon to use in hunting, and on that 

 subject, or rather as to the use of a rifle in hunting, I have 

 a half finished letter somewhere about my table now, 

 which I will send you when I look it up and complete it. 

 What I write for now is to say that I wish to be put down 

 fairly and squarely as an advocate of the fly and a dis- 

 believer in the boy with a pole and cord. I have been 

 fishing for trout for over thirty years, first with bait, used 

 always on snooded hooks, but sometimes with a cut pole, 

 oftener with a rod; afterward, from 1857 on, for ten years 

 or so, with fly or bait, as I happened to fancy, since that, 

 with fly only, and the result of my observations may be 

 put thus: Where the traditional or actual native and I 

 fish together with bait I can beat him all to pieces, because 

 I have better tackle and know twice as much about the 

 business as he does. When he uses bait and I flies — I 

 mean, of course, when it is possible to fish with a fly, not 

 when the water is too high or the brook so small and 

 buried in laurel or other underbrush so as to prevent the 

 use of a rod — I can always catch as many, and in a 

 majority of cases many more than he. I consider the 

 boy with a pole and cord, who can catch fabulous num- 

 bers of trout while the poor fly-fisher gets none, an un- 

 mitigated humbug. There is no such boy. If there is he 

 must dwell in the mysterious region where lies that 

 "other creek," where the fishing is always "a great deal 

 better than it is here;" but who ever gets to that stream? 



Cecil Clay. 



Washington, D, C. 



FARMER BROWN'S TROUT. 



Editor Forest and Stream- 

 It is not my intention at this time to express an opinion 

 as to the most likely place to find bristles, whether on 

 the back of farmer Brown or the sportsmen who cap- 

 tured his fish, but to call the attention of your readers 

 to the doings of a member of the Worcester Sportsman's 

 Club that savors strongly of pork. There are several 

 good fishing ponds within an hour's ride of our city that 

 would afford ample opportunity for enjoyment to the 

 lovers of the rod, whose business will not admit of then- 

 going far from home, were it not for the much-to-be- 

 regretted. fact that a gentleman whose name appears on 

 the memberhsip roll of the Worcester Sportsman's Club 

 has for a few dollars or by some other means obtained 

 permission to post nearly all of these ponds, or at least 

 those most easy of access where the fishing is good for 

 anything. 



A club whose aim and object is to create a love for a 

 pastime that is innocent and health -giving, whereby men 

 are led to steal a few horns occasionally from the vortex 

 of life's never ceasing round of toil and worry ought to 

 be the last to countenance such selfishness. 



Farmers as a rule are neither parsimonious nor dis- 

 courteous. I have respect for the man who posts his 

 land in self-protection against the wanton carelessness 

 of the thoughtless hunter who, if he sees a rabbit go into 

 a wall, will pull it down, or who will leave the bars 

 down, when the cattle enter and destroy the cabbage, but 

 none whatever for the city gentleman who is so devoid 

 of those principles that go to make up a true sportsman, 

 that in order to gratify his own selfish nature he will 

 debar others the privileges he would have accorded to 

 him, and then take a morbid satisfaction in telling the 

 "boys" how many pounds of pickerel he has taken of a 

 morning before breakfast, 



Every man has his pleasures, To some it is in tossing 

 i a penny to a beggar; to others it is in erecting high 



THE NEW YORK OYSTER COMMISSION. 



WE have the second report of Eugene G. Blackford, Com- 

 missioner of Fisheries, in charge of the oyster investi- 

 gation and of surveys of oyster territory for the years 1885 

 and 1886, dated Jan. 20, 1887. It is full of interesting material, 

 and is fully illustrated with artotype plates of oysters in 

 different stages of growth, and of their food, together with a 

 map of the shellfish territories of the State of New York, 

 showing the natural growth beds and the triangulation and 

 surveys on planted beds as far as the work has gone. 



The investigation has been conducted with a view to as- 

 certain, first, the. facts as to the decrease in the number of 

 beds of oysters of natural growth in the waters of the State; 

 secondly, as to the cause of such decrease; thirdly, as to the 

 methods to be used to increase the supply; and lastly, as to 

 how the planting of artificial beds can best be encouraged. 



The delay for presenting the report of 1S85 was occasioned 

 by the death of Prof. Henry J. Rice, who was in immediate 

 charge of the work, and whose sudden death left a great deal 

 of unfinished manuscript. It is noteworthy that the result 

 of the investigation has shown that there is a decrease in the 

 supply of oysters in State waters, which Las resulted from 

 the depletion of the natural growth beds by excessive fishing, 

 and bv the pollution of the waters of the bays and sounds 

 near the city of New York, and also by the lack of scientific 

 culture of the planted beds. The damage done by such 

 natural enemies as the starfish, the drill and the winkle, 

 has been small compared with the above causes. 



The experiments in oyster hatching at Cold Spring Harbor 

 by Mr. Fred Mather have been conducted with entire satis- 

 faction aud success. The fact that oysters can be success- 

 fully propagated artificially lias been clearly demonstrated, 

 and'the report of these experiments is given in full and have 

 appeared in our columns. 



The report of Mr. W. G. Ford. Jr., engineer appointed to 

 make a survey of the oyster territory, will be found of great 

 value to oystermcn. It was necessary before any sale of 

 lands under water could be made, that there should be a 

 careful survey of the beds of natural growth, in order that 

 they might be set apart and preserved as the law requires. 

 Mr. Ford has done his work thoroughly as far as he has 

 gone. The methods of surveying lots was as follows: 



Suppose a given lot is bounded by four sides. The boat 

 was placed over each of the four corners, in turn, and held 

 in position while I took a number of sextant angles between 

 the triangulation points I had already determined on shore. 

 In this way each corner was determined independently of 

 the others, and it made no difference how many comers there 

 were. Just before leaving a station we bent a tag to the 

 stake, of which the following is an example: 



New Yokk Oyster Survey, 

 80 Fulton Market, JV. Y. 



Oor. No. 39A. 

 Owners: 



Et.mer Decker, N. E. Cor. 



Totten & Hopping, S. E. Cor. 



E. P. Maneb, S. W. Cor. 



Sherman Decker, N. W. Cor. 

 Date, August S3, me. 



And on the back, "Owners will please send word to the 

 office whether this is correct or not." This saved an im- 

 mense amount of time, for it was impossible to arrange it so 

 that neighbors would always be present, when their lots 

 were surveyed, as one man might own half a dozen lots in 

 different parts of the Bay. For instance, if Black and White 

 were neighbors, and I surveyed Black's property first, when 

 I took White out it was only necessary for him to verify the 

 tagged stake and pass on to those not common with Black. 

 In some cases a man's property was surveyed by his neigh- 

 bors having designated theirs on all sides, in which case it 

 was only necessary for him to write to headquarters that 

 the designations were correct. 



There is some magnificent land available for oyster cul- 

 ture in different sections of the waters of the State, and com- 



Evratively little of it is in use. There are many places in 

 ong Island Sound where it is only necessary to throw in 

 shells in order to get a fine set, and the beds thus sown will 

 produce in a few years large quantities of marketable oysters. 

 In talking with ovstermen Mr. Ford found that many would 

 avail themselves of this territory had they the assurance 

 that their interest would receive the proper protection and 

 the lands made valuable by their labor would not be taken 

 away from them. In marking out the limits of the natural 

 beds I have followed your instructions, to give benefits of 

 doubt to the masses of poorer classes of oystermen. 



The area of the natural beds is fifteen thousand five hun- 

 dred and eighty-six (15,586) acres. Area of lauds available 

 for shellfish cultivation, three hundred and ninety-three 

 thousand six hundred (393,600) acres. 



The report, of the food of the oyster and of the fresh and 

 salt-water diatoms found in them, by Mr. Bashford Dean, 

 instructor in biology in the College of the City of New York, 

 is a very important paper and will repay careful perusal. 

 Mr. Dean made analyses of ouantitive rather than chemical 

 qualifies of waters from different portions of Long Island, 



