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FOREST AND STREAM. 



[July 23, 1891, 



IN SUNSET LAND. 



TN tlic Sunset laud, in the Sunset land, 



Bebind the glorious gu tos of gold untramed of liuman hand, 

 There lie the mouatain, vale and wood, 



The late, the sparkling stream, 

 More uncompared and passing good 

 Than through the clouds they seem. 



in the Sunset laud, in the Sunset land, 

 The pearl-and-opal sea of light in ceas<3less motion graud, 

 Heaves at the leet of hills so bold 

 We can not dream their height, 

 Kor guess to where their foreheads old 

 Bear up the gems of Night. 



In the Sunset land, in the Sunset land, 



All coo) and sweet the pine tree waves i I s slumber-showering hand. 

 And liquid argent runs the stream 



With slumberous, mystic note. 

 And fast asleep the white clouds seem 

 Upon the lakes afloat. 



In the Sunset land, in the Sunset land, 

 No trail of foot or trough of keel is found on leaf or sand; 

 No hand hath ever harmed a tree 



Or bent a blooming flower; 

 And matchless sweet as matchless free 

 The landscape lies in power. 



In the Sunset land, in the Sunset land. 



The dream of Rest swims softly down as in our dreams we planned. 

 The war of work, the clash of care, 



The racking of regret- 

 No echoing thought of these is there. 

 So high ttiat land is set. 



Oh pearl-and-opal sea of light., bai-red back by gates of gold, 

 Oil rainbow bolts shot all too strong into Time's pillars old- 

 Let back, let in ! and let us wend 



Through country heaven-spanned. 

 And learn the Universe's end. 

 There, in the Sunset land I E. Ho CG h. 



SNIPE ON CHINESE PADDY FIELDS. 



WATCHING the French fleet as it layat anchor in the 

 harbor of Hong Kong during the greater portion 

 of the Franco-Chinese war, was at best an easy and 

 monotonous task, as the vessels remained riding at 

 anchor in the outer harbor day after day, week after 

 week, each a "painted ship upon a painted ocean." The 

 long summer days were very much the same, each as hot 

 and uneventful as the other, and although Hong Kong is 

 a truly beautiful little island, we soon tired of it; as the 

 wild excitement of a jinrickashaw ride to Happy Valley, 

 a trip to the top of Victoria Peak, a visit to the native 

 quarter, and the thing is done. Good hotels? Yes; plenty 

 of them. Then the society of the hill and garrison 

 oificers' quarters was all that could be desired; but the 

 half-dozen war correspondents stationed here found the 

 time hang rather heavily on their hands after the first 

 three weeks. They were at a loss for both occupation 

 and recreation. The Colonel and I found a bungalo out 

 near Pokefulun and thus escaped the glare and heat of the 

 city. The owners and occupants of this cosy nest on the 

 mountain side were two of the people, Mr. and Mrs. De 

 Crude, we may call them. They were to us landlord and 

 landlady who, for a fair consideration, gave us two clean, 

 cool rooms, good beds and seats at the family table. IVIr, 

 DeCrude was a ship chandler, and a wealthy one at that. 

 He was over fifty, short and stout, with a fiery red head, 

 partly bald, and with an appetite for rum and sugar that 

 had given his rather hesitating nose a rich j^ttrple color 

 and spoke volumes for his refined taste. He came to 

 China as veterinary surgeon to a horse artillery company, 

 bought his discharge, made a fortune in opium', purchased 

 the ship chandlery establishment and continues to prosjier. 

 Mrs. DeCrude was a matron of forty; with a good com- 

 plexion and a fondness for the pleasm-es of the table that 

 had caused her waist to entirely disappear, as intelligent 

 nature had evenly distributed her abundant flesh from 

 the most attractive and, in fashionable society, the most 

 often seen portions of female anatomy to the points 

 of her broad hips, until she presented a series of straight 

 lines where one usually looks for graceful curves. Some 

 idea of our dinner table conversation may be gained by 

 the knowledge that our host firmly believed that Walker 

 and Webster were engaged in the rice trade somewhere 

 up the coast, and that Lindley Murray was fir.st officer of 

 a tea steamer; while our hostess repeatedly assured us, 

 "Me and John don't want no money," spoke of the 

 delicious weather, and pressed us to partake of the elegant 

 soup, and committed enough atrocious gastronomic lapses 

 in a single meal to cause Ward McAllister to become a 

 shattered imbecile. 



We were at first amused, then bored, and were on the 

 point of doing .something desperate when Major D., of the 

 Third Bulls, informed us that there was some good snipe- 

 shooting back of Kowloon, just across the bay. You can 

 imagine the efl'ects of this intelligence on two travelers 

 who would not start anywhere, even on light march- 

 ing orders, without a trimk rod, fly -book and fowl- 

 ing piece being stored away somewhere in the luggage 

 and considered absolutely necessary for the trip.' We 

 hailed the Major as our preserver and instructed oiu- 

 common property and joint valet, Ah Hoy, to engage a 

 boat and see to our lunch, we looking to it that our fowl- 

 ing-pieces were in good order and that our sliells were 

 loaded just right, the Colonel insisting that 3idi-s. of 

 powder with an ounce of shot was the proper load for 

 "Jacks," while the writer, true to his early education on 

 Long Island marshes, adhered to the theory of the old 

 timer and used l|oz. of shot with 4dr8. of driving power 

 behind it. 



Ah Hoy requires an introduction. Well, here he is in 

 propria persona, with Iris five feet three of Anglo- 

 Chinese humanity, straight as a plumb-line, quick and 

 silent as an Oriental only can be, and as faithful as the 

 sun. Ah Hoy is indebted to the land hunger of old 

 Albion and the civilizing influence of scarlet coats and 

 pipe clay on the mooureyed maidens of the Flowery 

 Kingdom for his existence. His mother was a very 

 ordinary celestial who resided on the outer edge of Happy 

 Valley just back of Hong Kong: his father was probably a 

 private in Her Majesty's Foot. He was a very bright 



boy who, when we enlisted him as guide and interpreter, 

 had just finished his studies in a mission school, having 

 been previously instructed in Cantonese and Mandarin by 

 an old Buddhist priest. He was fond of the folk-lore of 

 his native land and could both speak and write English 

 and Chinese with equally proficient flxieucy. On our trips 

 to the interior, through countless cross-paths and almost 

 iuipeneti-able swamps, in search of information and 

 malaria, he would, with great pride, point out many 

 curious and instructive things that often the most keen 

 observer would in all probability have entirely over- 

 looked. He knew all about China and things Chinese, 

 excepting the haunts and habits of wild game and the 

 pursuit of it, either for pleasure or profit. We decided to 

 make him our guide and trust to our energy, the reported 

 plentitude of birds, and our earnest wish for sport and 

 exercise to give us a good bag. 



We started in a hackow boat for the main land about 

 four o'clock on the morning after receiving the informa- 

 tion that the birds were on the rice swamps and we had 

 located tlie swamps, A strong land breeze sent om- 

 quaint little craft through the water at a fine rate of speed, 

 and we were soon several miles up a large creek back of 

 the English town of Kowloon. The savvimn was beached 

 and a hasty breakfast eaten; then we started for the paddy 

 fields with Ah Hoy carrying our supplies in the rear. He 

 evidently did not understand the trip and determined to 

 have as little to do with it as possible. A walk of a few 

 hundred yards brought us to the dyke or embankment 

 that invariably surrounds a paddy swamp, and then the 

 fim commenced in good earnest. Birds everywhere. 

 The air was literally full of them. As we cleared the 

 clump of small trees on the near side of the rice field, the 

 Colonel's hammerless twelve-bore spoke twice, and the 

 writer noted the miss with the first while a fine, fat, true 

 snipe plumped down into the swamp at the report of the 

 second. This was before I fired a shot. Ah Hoy saw the 

 bird fall, and dropping all the stores at the great risk of 

 serious loss by breakage, he ran out in the mud and re- 

 trieved the dead bird. This was the first wing shot our 

 Celestial friend had ever seen, and it was the making of 

 a keen sportsman and valuable retriever at one and the 

 same time. Ah Hoy stroked the rich brown feathers of 

 the dead bird and said, with a peculiar light in his small, 

 beady eyes, "These plenty everywhere on rice swamp." 

 and we found it so. The Colonel, who is one of the best 

 amateur wing shots I ever saw, bagged twenty-three 

 brace of fine snipe, in every respect apparently the same 

 as the GaUmago tvilnoni, the back and tops of the wings 

 having the same rich dark brown-and-tan, the tail nearly 

 red, the stripes and marks appearing the same to us as the 

 Wilson snipe. The best specimens averaged about lOin. 

 in length, the tails being about 3in. Ah Hoy questioned 

 several farmers about the birds and was informed that 

 they were always there. This is probably true, as the 

 climate in the vicinity of Hong Kong is nearly the same 

 the year round. The Chinese manner of rice-farming is 

 curious and gives the birds just the sort of cover and food 

 they require. 



A Chinaman will take a small piece of ground and build 

 a dyke or wall clear around it; then he brings water from 

 the nearest stream to his inclosed plot by cutting a ditch. 

 The rice fields are usually on a hillside, so that the water 

 can be used over and over again. This is done by having 

 the fields one below the other and letting the water run 

 into the highest until it reaches the desired level, when a 

 gate is cut and the surplus water allowed to flow into the 

 next field. This is often repeated, until the whole hill- 

 side is covered with a series of terraces, each level being 

 a rice field and, it is always safe to say, each field well 

 stocked with birds. 



A few English residents of Hong Kong and the officers 

 of the garrison are the only ones who shoot in this vicinity. 

 John Chinaman is not allowed to keep firearms, and could 

 not shoot anything if he had the free use of the most im- 

 proved implements of the chase; consequently, game is 

 plentiful and never very wild, except in the immediate 

 neighborhood of large seaports where there are English 

 residents. 



After a fine morning's sport, we retired to our sampan 

 and enjoyed a good lunch of boiled rice, fried chicken, 

 potatoes and egg plant, together with a couple of 

 bottles of white label which had been kept cool by being 

 hung over the stern of the boat weU down into the bed of 

 the creek. After lunch, we devoted an hour to the burn- 

 ing of some really good Manilla cheroots, and then gave 

 orders to return to the city, which we reached in good 

 time, delighted with our first day's shooting in China. 



Ah Hoy became such an enthusiastic sportsman that 

 he was soon well informed on the best shooting grounds 

 and guided us to many a warm corner during om- stay on 

 the only English island in China. J. Chas. Davis. 



A PLEA FOR THE GIRL. 



IT is well for the sportsman so often to make his son a 

 participator of his recreations, but if there be only a 

 daughter, or also a daughter, why not give her similar 

 opportunities to enjoy pleasant and invigorating pas- 

 times? 



It is true she often does accompany him when the 

 outing is to be on lake or river, and when the sport is 

 fishing. Her friends admhe her no less if the delicate 

 bloom of her cheek is browned by the sun and wind, nor 

 do they deem her unmaidenly if she enters, heart and 

 soul, into the sport, and in time equals or excels her 

 brother in the gentle art. Nay, rather, her exploits ai-e 

 cherished tenderly and often recounted in words all of 

 praise. 



If in the outing, as sometimes happens, she kills the 

 largest and finest fish in a skillful manner, her fellow 

 sportsman, combining the pride of teacher with that of 

 relative or friend, is not niggardly of praise for her cour- 

 age, her steadiness and skill, nor does it seem unwomanly 

 to him for her thus to conquer a game fish that calls 

 forth more of her real fighting quaUties than would any 

 fun-ed or feathered game she is ever likely to en- 

 counter. 



Then, when her prize is gained, he notes with self- 

 reproach for his own carelessness in that respect, how 

 eager she is that it may be humanely killed at once and 

 an end put to its gaping, writhing misery. Thus, 

 whether for trout in the Adirondack streams, bass in 

 Champlain waters or salmon in Canadian, the girl is 

 everywhere learning the use of the rod, and fast becom- 

 ing an adept at it without losing any of her gentle at- 

 tributes. 



But if the boatmen are in pursuit of feathered game, 

 and guns are to be used, if the gui is allowed to accom- 

 pany them at all, she usually sits in the boat decorously 

 inactive, albeit so ready to applaud the others for a skill- 

 ftil shot, they are secretly glad she came, and wonder 

 they had not thought before that she might enjoy seeing 

 them shoot so well. Or if fur is sought and the chase is 

 to be over hills and woodlands, she is left at home, or 

 only accompanies the braves to the hilltop in sight of 

 home, to which retreat she returns tardily, often listen- 

 ing if she may catch the call of the hounds among the 

 hills. 



If, in rare instances, she should so desii-e, why not 

 teach her the use of the gun as well as the rod, and when 

 the exact and careful knowledge is acquired, give her 

 the same chances to iiractice it that her brother has? The 

 invigorating walk, the charms of the ever-shifting scenes, 

 the thrill of joy brought by success in the practice of her 

 newly-acquired skill would give her as great pleasure as 

 they give her father and brother, and she would often 

 gather a larger store of health for body and soul, than do 

 they, for her need is greater. Though she may have no 

 Mking for the gun. still, invite the girl, when going 

 afield. 



With a girl's natural fondness for flowers, a taste for 

 botany will rapidly develop when she has safe oppor- 

 ttmities to wander in the great wild garden of nature, 

 and see the sky, and sweet places where her rarest 

 flowers hide. You wfll cease to regret your dog discovers 

 no scent of bird or beast when you see her delight over 

 an unknown aster or a late blooming gentian, whose 

 beauty, without her, you would have passed unnoticed as 

 many a time before, and with almost her own enthusiasm 

 you will help search for a rare fern or curious seed-pro- 

 ducing plant she is told grows in the very woods you 

 have so often traversed, nor had you before noticed the 

 fit surroundings of each growing plant, from the gi'ay 

 lichens on the gray fences, and the green mosses on the 

 ledges of old red sandstone, to the white birches growing 

 in the border of the hillside woods, against whose leafless 

 brown trees and clusters of evergreen ferns their delicate 

 and graceful branches shine, white and distinct. 



Take the girl. If she have skill with her pencil, while 

 you search hither and yon for game whose life alone will 

 satisfy your aspirations, she wiU put the very spirit of 

 your favorite haunts in the pages of her sketch book. 



If she have some knowledge of photography she will 

 make a pleasing comrade, and furnish you with manv 

 souvenirs of your day's sport. You may miss the fox by 

 an instant of time through some exasperating mischance, 

 but in that instant the camera may capture him, not a 

 lifeless ball of tawny fur, but an agile, alert creature, full 

 of life and grace. Behind him, too, is a bit of the hem- 

 lock bole against which you have leaned so many times 

 waiting and listening, and beyond the woodland path 

 with its border of ferns and arching tree branches. 



Then, whenever practicable, take the daughter also to 

 the fields and woods and waters. Her spirit rises quickly 

 to the blessed influences of nature; her languor is soon 

 forgotten: her feet, weary of the monotony of floors, 

 grow pleased and rested on the turf, and before long, 

 without weariness, she can climb the hill piastures where 

 the plover calls and the squirrel gathers his store of nuts, 

 and can tramp through woods where the fox and part- 

 ridge hide and along miles of fish-inhabited streams. 



A da}^ spent in outdoor freedom, enjoying the best and 

 highest of a sportsman's pleasures; acquiring a knowl- 

 edge of the Kfe, habits and home surroundings of the 

 game sought that he must of necessity possess to insure 

 success; or in discovering some of nature's treasures and 

 reading some of her secrets, or in admiring the skill of 

 others with rod and gun or in practicing her own, or in 

 making sketch or photograph of wild creatures and their 

 liatmts is far better than indoor existence with its idle 

 work of crochet hook and embroidery needle or the read- 

 ing of the latest novel, or in an aimless ramble around 

 the house or a day spent in maldng calls or in pretended 

 shopping. 



At home there wiU he less crazy patchwork, fewer 

 crocheted tidies, embroidered scarfs and inane decora- 

 tions to distract its inmates. Such tiresome amusements 

 will gladly be exchanged for outdoor recreations and the 

 delights inseparable from them, that natm-e is ready to 

 give impartially to boy and girl alike. 



AOMA. AWAHSOOSE. 



MR. VAN DYKE PROTESTS. 



SAN DIEGO, Cal., July 10 .—Editor Forest and Stream; 

 In Forest and Stream of the 2d I notice this clip- 

 ping in a letter from Montana: 



YELTjOM'STOfTE NATIONAL PARK, Juue 23.— Bdrtof ForcM and 

 Stream: About six weeks ago the tJovernrapnr scout and soldiers 

 sfationcrt at Soda Butte arresft'd T. S. Van Dyke, a hunter and 

 trapper who for years has been funiishiug Cooke Oity with game, 

 he was found asleep in his camp on Laman River— east fork of 

 the Yellowstone. In his camp was found lwo beaver traps and 

 other outfit. The party making tlie arrest removed bis arms, 

 field glass and Kodak. Wii h the camera thoy took several shots 

 at him while yet asleep. He was taken into Ft. Yellowstone, 

 where he was held for thirty-four days and his property conBs- 

 cated. He says hn k loser aiiout $330— for that is the sum at 

 which he values his horses and outfit. 



Some of your readers may think this refers to me. 

 The part about being found asleep in camp seems so 

 natural that I almost believe it myself. If it had only 

 said that some one else was doing the cooking at the 

 same time it would have been so natural that I could 

 hardly deny it. 



I have not been furnishing Cooke City with game 

 for several years. When I first started out with a rifle 1 

 felt like supplying several States, but have always since 

 had all I could do to supjjly myself. Neither am I a 

 trapper. I tried a little trapping here during the great 

 real estate boom, but since then the wool has been rather 

 short on the lambs and the quality has not been extra 

 good either. T, S. Van Dyke. 



"Half Hor"KS in the Sierra Nevada."— Auburn, 

 Cal. — To-morrow I am off for my annual angling torn- for 

 the next four weeks. Perhaps I may give your readers 

 another "Half Hour in the Sierra Nevada" when I get 

 back, if they have not already received a surfeit of that 

 kind of reading, and provided, also, that I meet with 

 anything worthy of note in my outing. — Arefar. 



Sunday Tr*tn to Momence. — The Chicago & Eastern Illinois 

 Railroad placed iu service J une 14 a Sunday train Ijetweeu Cliieago 

 and Momence, leaving Chicago at 8:o3 A. M., and returnin.? leave 

 Momence at 8:45 P. M., thus affording anglers a. Sue opportunits 

 to spend. & da.y on the lilaiiikakee Edver, — A.diM^ 



