344 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[May 12, 1887. 



jerk out yer fish, 'n' ef a little one comes along ye needn't 

 take it ef ye don't want tu. We'd cut a long row o' 

 holes in the ice, 'r sometimes in a big circle, 'n' throw in 

 a lot o' white beans so 't we c'kl see the bottom 'n' any- 

 thing 't passed over it, 'n' them 't wasn't fishin' 'Id run 

 'round starapin' 'n' poundin' the ice with axes 'n 1 clubs tu 

 keep the fish movin'. When a fish runs under the hole, 

 ef yeV quick enough, ye c'n snatch 'ini out 'fore he 

 knows what struck 'im. Wal, I guess ye'r' warm enough 

 now, 'n' we'll go down "n' see what we c'n du." 



Picking up his axe, Old Shack led the way down to the 

 eddy where, selecting a place to his liking. Tie cut a hole 

 in the ice, thrust his hook down into the water, and 

 placed himself in a kneeling position over it, while Chip 

 and I did duty as drivers by running about, stamping and 

 pounding the' ice with clubs. Presently Old Shack bent 

 lower over the hole, peering intently into the depths be- 

 low, and cautiously moving his rod a little to one side, 

 poised a second, then with a quick jerk hooked and 

 brought forth a tolerably good-sized fish which, with a 

 grunt of sat sf action, he shook off and poised his rod for 

 the next victim. Soon another lay kicking beside the 

 first, and in this manner, varied only by an occasional 

 miss, he continued to draw them out until a goodly num- 

 ber of various kinds and sizes lay scattered and' frozen 

 about him. enough to supply the camp for several days, 

 and he arose satisfied. 



Chip wanted to try his hand, to which no objection was 

 made, and taking his place over the hole Old Shack 

 coached him: "When ye see one comin' don't be in too 

 big a hurry, but wait 'til it gits near enough so 't ye don't 

 hev tu move ye'r hooks much t ye'U scare it away. Then 

 move it careful like to'rds 'im, 'n' when ye git yer hooks 

 under 'im, yank up. Ye'll git the hang 'f it after ye've 

 fished a while." Saying which he took his turn at driv- 

 ing, while Chip waited a little impatiently for his quarry. 

 He did not have long to wait, as was evinced by a violent 

 jerk and an excited "gosh!" when he realized that he had 

 missed his aim. He was more careful the next time but 

 not quick enough, and only succeeded in catching a 

 slight hold near the tail, and' as he brought it to the sur- 

 face the fish shook itself loose and darted away, much to 

 the surprise of Chip, who had half risen, and losing his 

 balance, tumbled over on his back. But after a few more 

 trials he began to get the knack, and succeeded, between 

 many failures, in adding half a dozen more to the pile. 



This was considered sufficient for that day, and, gath- 

 ering up the frozen fish in our arms, we repaired to the 

 shanty. It was long yet until the dinner hour, but our 

 morning's walk and exercise while running about over 

 the ice had sharpened our appetites; so we set about pre- 

 paring an early dinner. Chip had been an apt pupil and 

 now needed no direction from his tutor in beginning 

 operations. He had been long enough in the camp to lose 

 what timidity he had at first felt as guest, and now with 

 a feeling of- independence he assumed the duties and 

 responsibilities of partial host. His assistance in the 

 menial labors of the camp he rightly considered an offset 

 against Old Shack"s capital; and Old Shack had come to 

 regard his services as of considerable value, for Chip was 

 willing to do a little more than his share of the drudgery, 

 and, with the prospect of semi-proprietorship in view, he 

 took no little pride in keeping things in order, while it 

 relieved the old man of a great deal of work that was 

 better suited to younger hands. With such appetites as 

 ours, aggravated by the permeating odor of its cooking, it 

 seemed like a long time while dinner was preparing; but 

 at last the welcome announcement that everything was 

 done and ready to be served caused us to move up to the 

 rude table that stood against the wall, on which was soon 

 placed the several dishes of potatoes boiled with their 

 jackets on, fish fried with bits of pork, corn cakes and tin 

 cups filled with steaming hot coffee, and for a time, 

 which must have seemed interminable to Snap, who sat 

 looking wistfully on waiting for his turn, there was little 

 else but the sound of smacking lips and gmgling coffee, 

 as it was supped in dainty swallows out of respect for its 

 hotness. Old Shack finally arose satisfied, leaving Chip 

 and me, who seemed to have a greater stowing capacity 

 than he had, to finish, and, after lighting h s pipe, settled 

 himself into a comfortable position to enjoy it. 



Then a long interval of silence, superinduced by that 

 feeling of indolence that always follows an over indul- 

 gence of the appetite, was broken by the tapping of Old 

 Shack's pipe against the bunk on which he had been re- 

 clining, as he rose to knock the ashes from it. and refill it, 

 aroused us from our lethargy. "Ye'd better git some 

 more wood in, boys," he said as he picked up the last 

 chunk and put it in the stove, "it's gettin' colder out 'n' 

 it'll be more comf or'ble" with a good fire." We soon had 

 enough piled up beside the stove to last the rest of the 

 day, then after washing up the dishes and giving Snap 

 the remnants of the meal there seemed nothing more to 

 do but "set 'round,*' as Chip had said, and toast our shins 

 before the fire. But Old Shack found employment for 

 hiinself in looking over some of his traps that needed re- 

 pairs. Some of the chains required fixing, the kinks 

 taken out and broken links replaced, and as he proceeded 

 with hie work, assisted by us whenever there was any- 

 thing we could do, we kept up a constant fire of questions 

 concerning his business and past life that would have ex- 

 hausted the patience of one less amicable. But Old Shack 

 was enduring and seemed to take as much pleasure in 

 satisfying us as we did in listening to him. 



Thus the day passed in varying conversation until it 

 came time for me to go, when Chip, who must have 

 reserved the subject for the last, made known to the old 

 man the fact that he had informed me of his intention 

 to go with him in the spring. "Wal," he said, "I'm glad 

 ye told him, 'n' I wish ye didn't hev tu keep it from yer 

 pap. Ef he'd behave hisself I think ye'd be a good deal 

 better off tu hum. Ye'll find it a purty tough kind o' life 

 when ye've seen 's much 'f it 's I hev. But ye never will 

 tho', fer trappin' 's playin' out nifty fast, 'n' 'fore ye git 

 half 's old 's I be there' won't be nuthin' tu trap. 'Taint 

 always 's nice 'n' easy 'a this, 'n' I guess you'll find it out 

 'fore the winter's over, so ye'll hev plenty o' time tu back 

 out." J. H. B. 



Mansfield Valley, Pa. 



Massachusetts Trapping:. — The Massachusetts Legis- 

 lature has passed a bill permitting "trapping or snaring of 

 ruffed grouse, hares or rabbits by an owner of land upon 

 his land, or by a member of the family of such owner if 

 authorized by such owner,' between the 1st day of Octo- 

 ber and the 1st day of January," 



FROM CAYENNE TO PARA. 



NOT being a regular correspondent of yours, but 

 merely an ex-commodore of a canoe club, an ex- 

 purser of a Brazilian mail steamship, and a full-blown 

 incumbent of South American and West Indian malaria, 

 I offer you the following, knowing that if it misses the 

 waste-paper basket it only does so close-hauled. During 

 my knockings about I naturally met fellows who had 

 made some wonderful trips in all sorts of waters and in 

 (sometimes on) all sorts of crafts. I am going to tell you 

 about a voyage which was taken by Mr. Charles Backus, 

 ex- American Consul at Para, Brazil, in the montli of 

 March, 1886. He is a marble sculptor of no little fame, 

 and also a civil engineer. His home is at present some- 

 where in Mexico. The stone works and docks at Para 

 were built by him, and it was in his endeavor to collect 

 his dues from that procrastinating people, the Brazilians, 

 that he chanced to make this trip, 



Mr. Backus, hearing that there was an opportunity of 

 being squared up with (he being in Rome at the time), 

 hove anchor and set off for Para via England and St. 

 Thomas, West Indies. Unfortunately, on arriving at the 

 West Indies, the W. S. and B. mail steamer was found to 

 have left just one day previous ; Mr. B. thus missing 

 connections. 



Backus was not to be balked by a little thing like this, 

 but at once took passage in a French steamer for Cayenne 

 in French Guiana, thinking that the old line of steamers 

 still plied between that port and the mouth of the Ama- 

 zon. At the time of the venture yellow fever and every 

 other sort of tropical disease were raging at Cay enne, and 

 the French convicts and soldiers were dying and moving 

 away by hundreds every day. Once arrived at Cayenne, 

 what was the amazement and disgust of our friend to find 

 that there were no steamers from there to Para and not a 

 chance of getting anywhere from this infernal hole for 

 some time. Determined not to be beaten nor to retrace a 

 single step, a canoe was chartered and its three dusky 

 and highly odoriferous hands instructed to "Vam vam a 

 Para." 



A start was at once made and grub for a twelve days' 

 outing carefully stowed away. I must remind you that 

 the words "grub" and "canoe" do not convey to any one 

 who has been in Brazil the idea of a beautiful little pleas- 

 ure craft, all water-tight and fitted up with no end of 

 tins of potted meats and soups and fruits — no such luxu- 

 ries here. First, a craft dug out of a log, about 20ft. 

 long by about 4ft. wide. This is built up with boards, or 

 rather slabs, very rough, from 3in. above the waterline, 

 and caulked with gum and grass. The bow runs away 

 up into the air, lik^ the bend of a stovepipe, and is quite 

 round, tapering off to a point like a pencil. There is a 

 rough slab deck over all, except aft, where a hole appears, 

 down in which the passenger and crew used to take their 

 turns of sleeping. A few bamboo rods are laid thwart- 

 ships, and on these is a " 'tween decks," made of the 

 same material, stretched fore and aft. Not a very snug 

 craft, I assure you. The main deck is about a foot from 

 your nose when lying down, and if one's feet are big his 

 chances of comfort are few. These boats generally have 

 a rudder, which is a huge affair, swung at the angle 67° 

 with the keel. The tiller is a work of art, if clumsiness 

 and size go for anything. The mast is of hard wood — 

 like everything else in the boat — and is a tough young 

 tree with the branches and bark removed. To this is 

 swung a very large lugsail, with which the natives are 

 really wonderfuUy expert. The sail is never bent to the 

 boom, but merely stretched out by it from the mast to 

 the clew. 



Paddles vary very much; they are always of hard wood, 

 always single, and "frequently are made like snow-shovels, 

 or if you take a short stick, say 3ft. long, and fasten the 

 bottom of a bucket to one end and a 3in. piece of wool 

 for tk3 hand to grasp at the other, you have it. Of course, 

 on gongadas and catamarans the paddles are very much 

 the same as we use here in North America ; they are gen- 

 erally longer, though. 



The grub, or bill of fare, consisted of dried fish, dried 

 beef, the fruits of the season, and farinha, but princi- 

 pally farinha. The first few days was not so dreadful, 

 but when the novelty wore off and a storm came on and 

 land was entirely lost to view, it required no end of pluck 

 and determination to make the three Indians work at all. 

 They even refused to bail. The craft by this time was 

 more like a basket than a boat. The old muzzle-loading 

 gun was here called into requisition, and it looked so 

 fierce that order was soon restored and the mutineers 

 soon resumed then: duties. 



For four days not a sign of land could be made out, 

 and, not having a compass, it was no easy task to navi- 

 gate. The sun itself almost refused to give any light or 

 to announce when it came up. However, more by chance 

 than anything else, land was sighted, and as the grub 

 was almost out, they put ashore. 



The canoe was run up the Sucouju River, and no 

 sooner had it got up a piece than an awful roaring was 

 heard astern and a wave like the side of a mountain came 

 boiling in with dreadful speed and certainty. This was 

 the tide — called the bore — which rises like this every day 

 during new and full moons, and God help any poor fel- 

 lows who chance to get caught ; it is all up with them. 

 Luckily, once more the canoe was favored as though by 

 Providence. It escaped the crest and lumpy part of the 

 wave and only came in for the swell. 



Mr. Backus found it necessary here to look out for more 

 food, and so a hunt was made. He only had six charges 

 for the old gun, and game was not very plentiful. How- 

 ever, out of five shots four monkeys were bagged, roasted 

 and put into the larder for future supply. Mr. B. got on 

 all right for a few days on roast monkey till he saw one 

 of the Indians, knife in hand, sitting on the deck of the 

 canoe enjoying a head. The brute was scooping away at 

 the brain, then the eyes, then the cheeks. This was too 

 much for our ex- American Consul, and he swore he rather 

 starve than touch a morsel of anything so human-like 

 again. Monkey was menu for several days, when sud- 

 denly about ten pounds of farinha were discovered con- 

 cealed under one of the slabs of the deck. The third hand 

 had stolen this, anticipating a famine in the land, and had 

 actually kept it for himself and had been consuming it at 

 night during his watch below. Mr. Backus almost threw 

 the wretch into the sea, and I think would have done so 

 had he not had an eye to his working powers and skill 

 with the paddle. The mouth of the Amazon was at last 

 reached and then the city of Para. The trip from 

 Cayenne to Para took just eighteen days, and must have 



been an awful one, judging from the color of the Consul's 

 skin and the amount of good things he enjoyed when he 

 came on board our skip. At Para he told the proprietor 

 of the hotel to give his three men anything they should 

 want both to eat and to drink for one whole day. It is 

 needless to say that they had but one meal, that, however, 

 was a terror, lasted twelve hours and cost Mr. Backus 

 quite as much as he expected. The three Indians re- 

 mained as full as eggs for a couple of days, and I cer- 

 tainly can't see how they could ever be hungry again. 



Mr. Backus was successful in making his collections, 

 and left for New York with us the following day. He 

 cannot bear the sight of even a monkey tied to an organ. 

 Merely an organ grinder alone sets him thinking, no doubt 

 of the missing link. A Rolling Stone. 



Aadrmts all cmnmunicatiom to the Forest and Stream Pw.'j. Co. 



1NDIOS MANSOS. 



SHORTLY after the Spanish occupation of Mexico the 

 Indians living in the country were divided by the 

 newcomers into two comprehensive classes, "Indios 

 bravos" and "Indios mansos," or wild and tame Indians. 

 The boundary line between these two classes was fluctu- 

 ating. Some bands, like the Papagos in the north, once 

 rovers, at last settled into peaceful and placid citizen- 

 ship; but there were tribes Avhose desert homes held out 

 no temptation to settlers, and who thus, free from the 

 pressure of a stronger race, kept up their predatory 

 habits. 



Peaceful Indians and persons of mixed Indian and 

 Spanish blood form the bulk of the Mexican people to- 

 day. Spaniards and persons of pure or nearly pure 

 Spanish blood are important more by their prominence 

 than their numbers. 



If you should be in doubt about the race of a stranger 

 you happened to meet on the road, and should ask him 

 whether he were an Indian or not, he would probably 

 tell you he was "a man of reason," and perhaps be indig- 

 nant at the question, for the Spanish distinction which 

 classed Indians with umeasoning brutes still lives in the 

 speech of the people; but it may well be doubted whether 

 the qualities of the native races are not in many points 

 more valuable, when looked at with regard to tlie inter- 

 ests of civilization, than the qualities of the men of mixed 

 blood. The latter are the quicker and of brighter intel- 

 lect, but their lack of persistent application seems incur- 

 able. 



In the United States we have, besides those tribes like 

 the Seminoles and Creeks, who have been changed from 

 warriors to laborers, examples of tame Indians in the 

 Pueblos and Zunis of New Mexico, people that have lived 

 by regular industry from the time of their earliest discov- 

 ery; but our settlers have never largely amalgamated 

 with the dwellers on the soil, and the contrast between 

 our methods and theirs is so great that the Indians are 

 looked on with contempt and sometimes with hatred. 



A rich and energetic Mexican is probably harsher and 

 more tyrannous toward his inferiors than almost any 

 American would be, but in Mexico the slower current of 

 life gives a better chance for backward and ill-developed 

 parts of the population to unite in the country's move- 

 ment, and therefore, in Mexico, we find that not onlj" 

 have the tame Indians survived best, but we can even say 

 that without them Mexico would be a crippled State. 



A prominent feature of the Indian character is its lack 

 of adaptability. They change slowly, and for that reason 

 their true powers are undervalued. 



A short acquaintance with these people on their own 

 ground will convince an observer that for patient, endur- 

 ing effort, for the power to work on the smallest fare and 

 with fewest comforts, few men can compare with natives 

 of Mexico; and that they are steadfastly courageous can 

 be proved by numberless instances. These Indians will 

 get drunk occasionally but not habitually, and as for their 

 honesty, there are doubtless thieves among them, but you 

 will rarely find instances of robbery, except the highway 

 robberies common in time of popidar commotion. 



Let us come down from glittering generalities and re- 

 late a few facts tending to show the industry, the abstemi- 

 ousness and the courage of the tame Indians. 



We must first dismiss the notion that because a method 

 is primitive it is simple enough for any one to practice 

 without effort. 



Let any one who has not tried to do it, make an arrow- 

 head out of flint without metal tools to work with. Per- 

 haps it would be better to begin with metal tools and try 

 the other way afterward. 



When one becomes an expert in the manufacture of 

 flint arrow heads he can think with respect of the amount 

 of work needed to make the stone mortars and pestles 

 dug up by the hundred in southern California, and the 

 stone "metates," or corn grinders, turned out still in great 

 numbers in central Mexico. 



No, primitive methods may be caused by poverty, by 

 lack of intelligence or, often, much more often than is 

 thought, because they are really cheaper and better in 

 the particular surroundings. Rarely are such methods 

 the result of laziness. 



We smile when we hear of people scratching the earth 

 with a crooked stick, but the style of plowing thus de- 

 scribed cannot be done by a child with the first forked root 

 he meets. Timber must be chosen with the right curve and 

 the point jutting in the right place, and then hewn by an 

 expert hand, perhaps for several days before the tool is 

 ready, and this plow, in light friable soil, does good work. 



The tools of the Indians are almost always primitive;- 

 sometimes they can work with nothing else^ but usually 

 the reason for getting poor tools is the want of money and 

 knowledge. That the large amount and good quality of 

 work they do can be turned out with these things in- 

 creases one's respect. 



Among the pines and spruces of the Central range you 

 see lumbermen with only a narrow bladed axe like a 

 large tomahawk; no saw, no broadaxe, hewing beams 

 and boards and shipping them off on donkeys; boards 

 that would look far better than sawn boards, true and 

 straight as a level could have made them, and with the 

 scoring of the blade scarcely visible. 



From the Arizona line to the City of Mexico you find 

 simple red pottery made without tools and baked in the 



