148 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



[March 13, 1890. 



The holy man, 



The gable man, 

 And I'll do all that ever I can, 

 To help the holy gable man. 



And suddenly dropping his mythical violin took up the 

 trombone, and then the fun commenced, as the remaining 

 trinity all got mixed in the change, sometimes all drum- 

 ming, playing flute or trombone or violin. Ned rapped 

 the confused performers to order, and assessing the fines, 

 started off again with the violin, saying: 



The lovely man, 

 The angling man, 

 And I'll do all that ever I can, 

 To help the lovely angling man. 

 Ned dropping his violin for a, drum just before ending 

 caused another confusion in the bandfl escaped the fine, 

 but the half breeds, being caught on the wrong side of 

 the musical scone, were put down for another fine. An- 

 other verse was given which had some significance in it, 

 and which caused quick exchanges of glances between 

 the half-breeds. It ran: 



The sulky man. 



The half-breed man, 

 And I'll do all that ever I can. 

 To help the sulky half-breed man. 

 This resulted as the others in undue confusion, mer- 

 riment and fines. There are as many verse3 to this song 

 as the leader's impromptu abilities will admit of— with- 

 out end you might say. The shouts and laughter that 

 greeted the conclusion of each verse made the welkin 

 ring. It was as if a party of Venetian revelers from the 

 carnival were returning home, overjoyed with libations 

 of the purple wine. Shakespeare' when he wrote that 

 "Men are but ehildren of a larger growth," had a sweet 

 knowledge of human nature, as did also he who wrote 

 that 



"A little nonsense now and then 

 Is relished by the best of men." 



We were now over the bay and coasting along a highly 

 picturesque shore surrounded by the solemn silence of 

 the slumbering rocks and trees and the heroic forms of 

 towering pines and firs that stood out like bronzed war- 

 riors on their granite pedestals. For miles such scenery 

 passed in pleasing review. When we reached the high 

 hills, the Pillars of Hercules, just off Gros Cap Island, 

 the wind had entirely died out and our sail hung per- 

 fectly lifeless. It was meridian and shadowless, and the 

 warm sun spread in one golden glow o'er the receding 

 wood, the rock-bound shore and the quiet waters. Not 

 a sound reached us, not even the murmuring of the gentle 

 ripples. Only now and then a lone bird twittered, or the 

 snowy breast of a screaming gull flashed against the 

 gray rocks. Everything was calm and peaceful, and the 

 tenderness of a fleecy sky mellowed all things in the 

 bright landscape spread "before us. The shores were 

 bathed in rosy mist, while lovely Gros Cap Island, just 

 ahead, looked like an emerald or an amethyst set in 

 silver, with the lighthouse tower in the far distance 

 standing like a watchful sentinel. The view at that 

 auspicious moment was magnificent beyond description, 

 and as our boat drifted in expectation of a rising breeze 

 we gave ourselves up to the ethereal softness of the 

 balmy air and lapsed into sweet reverie and dreamy in- 

 dolence, and then I murmured: 



"No more, no more 



The worldly shore 

 Upbraids me with its loud uproar ! 



With dreamful eyes 



My spirit lies 

 Under the walls of Paradise." 



Our dolce far niente was soon dissipated, as Lake Su- 

 perior, true to its reputation, in a fitful mood sent us a 

 spanking breeze that raced us o'er the arching waves into 

 harbor at Gros Cap Island. Here we took our final meal 

 of the trip, dried our tents, which had been deluged by 

 the fog and spray in crossing Goulais Bay, burnished the 

 kitchen ware, spruced up a little, and then once more 

 were on the white-capped billows with a stiff breeze at 

 our heels. We reached the enterprising city of the rapids 

 about 4 o'clock, delighted beyond measure with the trip 

 of three weaks spent in woods and on waters, and which 

 to us will always be a delight to memory dear. 



Alex. Starbuck. 



Cincinnati, Ohio. 



The following paragraphs of Mr. Starbuck's paper were 

 inadvertently omitted in their proper place; they should 

 have formed the opening part of the second number of 

 the series, printed in the issue of Feb 6: 



A trapper, a full-blooded Indian, who had his tepee in 

 our immediate vicinity, started out at twilight in his 

 canoe to "pump" for lake trout. He had a squid heavy- 

 weighted, over which he drew the skin of a fish, and 

 this he kept bobbing up and down in the water, which 

 suggested to me the idea of pumping for the coveted fish. 

 The evening before he had caught seven by this method, 

 but this time he returned without the quarry. He took 

 his failure quite philosophically and ever hopeful for the 

 future said : 



"Me git 'em next time." 



After we had retired in the evening the prowling 

 canines we had driven away came nosing around our 

 camp in search of food. They would poke their noses 

 under the tent in such a savage manner, that Ned was 

 fearful they would take a bite out of him and so laid for 

 them with a heavy club. He sent several of them howl- 

 ing away by his well-directed blows and then they left 

 as for good and our slumbers were peaceful the remainder 

 of the night. In the morning we awoke only to realize 

 that a heavy wind was prevailing and that our wished 

 for departure was for the present delayed. Ned by this 

 time had succeeded in possessing himself with stoical 

 qualities, and when fully realizing in the dawn the true 

 situation of affairs outside, turned over in his blanket 

 with the determination of having another nap, even as he 

 said, "if it blowed great guns for a week." I followed 

 suit, content to await the sunny side of events. 



Pete, when the blow came up in the evening, got aid 

 from some of the Indians near by, and took our boat 

 ashore and hauled it over into a small pond near by. 

 Joe, who had gone to his home, which was about a mile 

 distant, in the early hours of the evening, returned when 

 Pete had the breakfast well under way. As we were 

 weather bound, and likely to be for a few days, we con- ' 



eluded, Indian-like, to have extra bills of fare for our 

 meals. That morning Joe had brought us ten pounds of 

 maple sugar which we had purchased of him, and which 

 we desired to turn into syrup for our hot breakfast cakes. 

 A beautiful half-breed, with large lustrous eyes and 

 plaintive voice, who resided within a stone's throw of our 

 camp, persuaded us to purchase several quarts of delicious 

 raspberries. These, added to our already well-supplied 

 larder of luxuries and substantials, enabled us to do 

 something toward emulating Lucullus or some other less 

 distinguished hero of the groaning table. As we have no 

 desire to arouse the envy of other camping anglers, will 

 omit the particulars of the menu. Suffice it to say that, 

 while the gale held us here for two days, we feasted so 

 royally that Ned got an idea that the gout had started in 

 his toe. I reminded him that though our first parents 

 ate themselves out of Paradise and that Job's children 

 junketed and feasted together often, but that they never 

 once complained of gout from such excesses either in the 

 toe or elsewhere. As a matter looking to relief of that 

 toe, which was doubtless suffering from a sensitive corn, 

 I ordered the delicacies to be omitted for the present from 

 the usual bill of fare. Ned soon imagined that his toe 

 improved with the regimen of diet, but he afterward 

 ascertained that a bunion he was doctoring with a patent 

 salve was poisoned by the questionable remedy. He then 

 came back to his feed, and nothing henceforth was too 

 luxurious for the table. 



CANADIAN FISHING LEASES. 



Editor Forest and Stream: 



The recent "protest" of the Minister of Fisheries of the 

 Dominion of Canada seems to have given rise to con- 

 siderable misapprehension, as well as apprehension, on 

 the part of those who leased salmon fishing privileges at 

 thi' recent sale in Quebec. The facts material to their 

 interests are as follows: 



The Dominion of Canada is the result of the "British 

 North American Act" of 1867. Under this Act the 

 separate Provinces were united to form that Dominion. 

 It has been termed the Constitution of the Dominion, and 

 it defines the relations of the Central and the Provincial 

 Governments one to the other, and their reciprocal rights 

 and powers. 



Section 91 of this Act gave exclusive jurisdiction of the 

 "Seacoast and Inland Fisheries" to the Dominion. 



The question then is this: Do the words "inland fish- 

 eries" include the rod-fishings on non-navigable waters? 

 "Non-navigable waters" are, in the well-settled common- 

 law definition, those above the ebb and flow of the tide, 

 whether actually boatable or not. 



In the case of the Queen vs. Robertson, decided in 1882, 

 the report of which' fills nearly 100 pages in the sixth 

 volume of the Canada Supreme Court Reports, this ques- 

 tion was brought to an issue by reason of a lease given 

 by the Dominion Minister of Fisheries of the salmon fish- 

 ing of a portion of the Miramichi River above tidewater. 

 This case was appealed first to the Exchequer Court of 

 Canada, and thence to the Supreme Court of Canada. 



The question whether the right co lease the fishing in 

 non-tidal waters opposite ungranted Crown Lands was in 

 the Dominion, or in the Province in which such land was 

 situate, was exhaustively discussed. 



The decision of the Supreme Court of Canada was clear 

 and emphatic. 



The fishings on non-navigable waters were not included 

 in the words "inland fisheries" of the Act. Such fishings 

 were the property of the riparian owners — that is, those 

 who own the banks of the river. As to fishings opposite 

 ungranted Crown Lands, the right to lease was in the 

 Province where the lands were situated, and not in the 

 Dominion. 



The uniform practice has since been in accordance 

 with this decision, and the Province of Quebec held the 

 recent sale directly under its authority. 



The Dominion Minister of Fisheries in his recent "pro- 

 test" moved directly in the face of this decision. 



Tt becomes important therefore to consider the status 

 of the Supreme Court of Canada in its interpretation of 

 the law of the Dominion. 



The Supreme Court of Canada corresponds closely to 

 our Supreme Court of the United States. It is the high- 

 est appellate tribunal in Canada. Its decision is final 

 and conclusive, except as follows: As a matter of favor, 

 and not of right, the Judicial Committee of the Privy 

 Council in England may grant leave to bring a further 

 appeal before it. In this way only can a judgment of 

 the Supreme Court of Canada be set aside. How likely 

 a British tribunal is voluntarily to thrust its fingers into 

 the crack between the Dominion and one of its Provinces 

 in a mere property dispute involving but a few thous- 

 ands of dollars, any one at all familiar with British 

 Colonial policy, especially in reference to semi-independ- 

 ent Canada, can easily determine for himself. 



Yet either this must be done and the Privy Council 

 over-rule the Queen vs. Robinson, or the Supreme Court 

 of Canada must be induced to reverse itself, before the 

 Dominion Minister of Fisheries has a legal leg to stand 

 on in any active interference with the enjoyment of the 

 rights purchased at the Quebec sale. 



Neither of these has happened as yet. Neither is 

 likely to happen at all. Neither can possibly happen ex- 

 cept in what may be considered the remote future as 

 compared to the life of the Quebec leases. 



Indeed it is inconceivable that the Minister can have 

 made his "protest" with any such idea. The "protest" 

 seems to be simply a protest and nothing more — a 

 familiar legal step taken by him who wishes to save such 

 rights as he may have from the consequences of an im- 

 plied acquiescense in a proceeding hostile to the possibil- 

 ity of his right. HENRY P. Weels. 

 New York, March 7. 



Protect Potomac Fishes.— The law of March 2, 1885, 

 providing for the protection of fish in the Potomac River 

 within the limits of the District of Columbia, expired by 

 limitation a few days ago, and there is now nothing to 

 prevent the hauling of seines on the spawning grounds 

 and the consequent destruction of fish eggs. Efforts for 

 the reenactment of the law are opposed by the owners of 

 a few fishing shores, which cannot be rented with a pro- 

 tective law in operation. Hundreds of fishermen on the 

 lower Potomac and hundreds of anglers in and around 

 Washington are anxious to have the law revived and will 

 hope for the renewal of protective measures, the benefits 

 of which are plainly evident, 



BUZZARD'S BAY REFORM. 



Editor Forest and Stream; 



As many of your readers are interested in the sea fish; 

 eries of southern Massachusetts, and especially of the 

 waters of Buzzard's Bay, I think that the action of the 

 town of Fairhaven at its annual meeting on Monday last' 

 cannot fail to afford them the greatest satisfaction. ' 



It has long been my opinion that the setting of pounds 

 weirs, trap3 and other fixed apparatus for the catching 

 of fish has been destructive of the fisheries of the se& 

 coast, and has been the great cause of the scarcity of 

 many of the species of our best food fishes, in which ou* 

 waters formerly abounded. 



About twenty years ago I, with a few others, corn< 

 menced an attack upon them which we have maintained 

 in spite of constant and repeated defeats, down to th« 

 day. 



As I stated in my communication to vou of June 8' 

 1889, published in your issue of July 4 of that year, wi 

 have always been met and opposed by a powerful com.' 

 bination of several interests, backed up by any amounl 

 of money, and sustained, so far as any restrictive legist 

 tion was asked for, by legislative committees chosen 

 specially to look out for and protect those interests. 



By persistent efforts and by making frequent use oi 

 the public journals and other means of calling the atten 

 tion of the people to a matter of so much consequence tc 

 them, and of which they were generally so little in 

 formed, we have been able to procure the passage oil 

 some laws from year to year to regulate and control 

 though not to prohibit the use of such destructive engines 

 and except that alaw was passed in 1870 to protect the fish 

 eries in the headwaters of Buzzard's Bay absolutely pro 

 hibiting the use of any nets or constructing or maintain 

 ing any weirs, pounds or traps northerly of a certain line. 



In 1889 another act was passed wliich provided thai 

 "Whoever constructs or maintains a fish weir in tide 

 waters without first having obtained authority to do si 

 from the Selectmen of the town or the Mayor and Alder 

 men of cities in which such weir is constructed or main- 

 tained, should be liable to a fine, to be indicted and en 

 joined therefrom." 



The authority thus given was to be in the form of a 

 written license for a term not exceeding five years. 



These laws are now in force on the east side of tin 

 Acusnet River in the town of Fairhaven, and running' 

 out into Buzzard's Bay there is a narrow neck of lane 

 about three miles in length called Sconticut Neck. TbS 

 has been found to be the favorite resort of the food fishes' 

 of the sea in the early part of the season, along the shores 

 of which they come to deposit their spawn. 



Aware of this and taking advantage of the provision od 

 the law made for that purpose, the fishermen have for: 

 the last twenty years lined the shore with pounds, weirH f 

 nets and traps, in numbers varying from four or live to 

 twenty-four or twenty-five, capturing in them vast mim« 

 bers of the best food fishes of the sea in their spawning! 

 season. Those that were fit for sale were thrown upon* 

 the market, and the rest into the compost heap for manure. 

 _ Twenty years ago we began our efforts to stop the! 

 licensing of these ponds and weirs in the waters of Fair-' 

 haven by petitioning the Legislature year after year, and 

 by repeated attempts to get the town of Fairhaven to in- 

 struct its Selectmen to grant no licenses. Five years agfl 

 a Board of Selectmen, of which a very prominent traj 

 man (as we call them) was chairman, granted licenses $ 

 himself and others for the term of five years. As them 

 was no way to avoid those licenses during that terrS 

 about three years ago we were able to get the town to in- 

 struct the Selectmen not to grant licenses for a long«3j 

 term than to the longest term of licenses then unexpired 



The next year the same thing was done, the publM 

 sentiment all the while increasing against the pound! 

 and stationary apparatus for tLhing, and so on until thig< 

 year, when all the licenses having expired, a Board 05 

 Selectmen has been chosen who will certainly carry out* 

 the instructions of the town, and the town has voted by 

 a large majority to grant no more licenses to set pounds, 

 weirs or traps within the limits. This will do entireMl 

 away with from twenty to twenty-four pounds and weirs,; 

 and leave the shores of Fairhaven free for the passage, 

 increase and growth of the fishes. 



Our New York and other non-resident friends whm 

 come down here to see us in the summer, and fish in oiffl 

 waters, we hope will appreciate what we have done, and| 

 congratulate themselves as well as us. 



The Southern Massachusetts Fish and Game LeagUff 

 has been very active in this work, and its triumph now,, 

 over so many obstacles ought to insure to it a large raA 

 crease of non-resident members. There is a great deal 

 yet to be done, and as our enemies are wide awake, in 

 order to save our fish and our fisheries no efforts must ffl 

 relaxed, no vigilance laid aside. 



Of course, no great increase in the number of fish can, I 

 for a year or two, be expected; but we shall find that they j 

 will be distributed according to their natural instinct&S 

 and that millions of fishes will be set free to deposit theiB 

 spawn and to mature for future increase and growt™ 

 The pound men have enjoyed the monopoly of the fishes 

 for more than a quarter of a century, and it is only falq 

 that the people now should come in for their share of (H 

 property so valuable to them and so peculiarly their owm| 

 New Bedfobu, March 5. Geo. H. Palmer. <■ 



Abundance of Blueftsh— Off the mouth of AlbemarM 

 Sound bluefish are reported to be present in great nua» 

 bers, attracted probably by the shoals of river herring, am 

 alewives. Thirty thousand alewiveswere recently taken 

 in a single haul of a seine in the Roanoke Island 'region. ! 

 It may not be generally known that alewives migrate 

 along our east coast in immense schools every year, only 

 the sexually mature ones entering streams, while the iuvl 

 mature fish remain at sea, where they are destroyed in 

 myriads by bluefish and sharks. 



Names of the Helgramite.— On the North Branch 0H 

 the Susquehanna River helgramites have a variety cm 

 names, among them being, "clippers," "dobsons," "heXfl 

 gramites" and "devil-catchers," About three crops ai3 

 found in the river during the year. They are plentifij 

 late in the fall, but at two or three intervals in summeH 

 they cannot be obtained. When the helgramite showaB 

 red or yellowish color on its head, it works to the shore 

 and hides under stones; later it goes into the sand t<fl 

 complete its development —Geo. W. Lung ( Wilkesbarre, 

 Pa.) 



