Aug. 13, 1893.] 



FOREST AND STREAM. 



117 



and "ravenous," and to tell about it. But why wasn't a 

 man's x^alate given twice the power and the duration of 

 sensation quadrupled? We cleared away the debris after 

 a while, smoked, discussed to-morrow, listened to the 

 frogs and crickefeg and nature's lullaby, and by and by 

 went to bed. 



We had agreed to go away up the lake several miles the 

 following day. So we rose eariy, or I did, and built the 

 fire, brought the water, got some fish itom the fl^h box 

 and dressed them, put the coffee on and woke Ben, who 

 jumped into his clothed and to business, and the way raw 

 material was worked up inty attractive and useful goods 

 was pleasant for to see. The coffee pushed the hd off it 

 was so imi^atient. The fish, done brown, peeped over the 

 edge of the pan imploringly. Crisp fried potatoes leered 

 at us, while flai)jacks flipped into the air and turned som- 

 ersaults kersmack! The scene was tumultuously sugges- 

 tive and inspiring. Resultant incapacity, expansion and 

 regret. We tore ourselves loose iu time,' and with a nice 

 lunch crept aboard the canoe and sailed away into un- 

 known seas. 



But fortmie frowned upon us, when she didn't grin, and 

 the fiah that came to hand were small and seldom. The 

 only entirely satisfactory event of the day was the landing 

 at noon in a little cove where shade and a bubbhng spring 

 enticed to rest, and there contributing with alacrity to the 

 pleasui-e of our palates. *Ti3 not all of fishing to fish. 

 There's a good deal in the lunch basket. We lay there an 

 hom- or so idly enjoying life, while the fleecy clouds 

 drifted lazily aloft, a sleepy sigh from u3^olus gently 

 crinkled the surface of the lake and curious pismires ex- 

 plored om- trousers legs as we burned Lone Jack without 

 a stake and wished there were nevermore trial balances 

 with an odd cent or two which refused to show up. We 

 knew the way back without a guide, and without undue 

 exertion the buoyant Osgood bore us safely to the landing. 



I had thought in the morniag that my appetite had gone 

 glimmering, galley west, all to pieces," was knocked out 

 beyond resuscitation; but a few hours at the oars brought 

 it back as clamorous as ever, and after a deft manipula- 

 tion of pots, pans fand contents we struck our gait once 

 more and thought of many a poor fellow in town who 

 hadn't any. Ben is a phenomenon. He can get more 

 tempting dishes out of a grub box than any man you ever 

 Baw. IVI as soon think of going to the Columbian Exhi- 

 bition without a penny as on an outing without Ben. I 

 love to fish, of course, but there a,re other enjoyments too. 

 The food went in and the stars came out. A great big 

 filll-grown hush settled down silently and stifled noise; 

 even the derisive loon forgot to laUgh and the owl to hoot, 

 and imdei the spell of a 480-grain peace we softly stole to 

 bed. 



Next morning was on time to a dot — ^not so we. My 

 hands were sore and some of my bones ached. The sun 

 had kissed the di-owsy pines several times and the pro- 

 verbial squu-rel was skijDping around the dooryard ere we 

 rolled out. 



"The dew lay flittering on tbe grass, 

 The mist lay over the brook" 



Some time ere the fishers their bunks forsook. We 

 didn't have l40 bass and half of them dead, in the fish 

 box, but we had enough for breakfast, and preparations 

 began and leism-ely proceeded. Appetite waited on them 

 and grew impatient and complained. But the buglf- 

 Bounded at last, and we moved to the attack with no doubt 

 m to the victory. There was the ever satisfying coffee 

 With Highland cream i spuds with bUrsted jackets, grinning 

 with their mealy mouths; hot cakes, light and flufl'y, with 

 maple syrup; golden butter, hard and cool from the lake, 

 where we had anchored it; fish fried with one soup^;on 

 of salt pork and several of excellent judgment. It was 

 lovely. You have no doubt heard of zest. Lusty, gusty 

 zest. It was there. It burst from the bushes with a skip 

 and a hop and proceeded to work things. It hovered o'er 

 the board. It prilled in the lead. It got behind and 

 ljushed. It lent a hand at the bow oar, starboard and 

 stroke, and acted as coxwain. It stimulated the elbows 

 and fingers. Likewise the saUvary apparatus. It was 

 chief factotum at the feast, whooping in its glee and raising 

 a very revel of a row, until tired out with its antics and 

 labors it glid off on a fainting zephyr to recuperate in the 

 solitude of sylvan shades, while we lay back exhausted. 



Subsequently we took the canoe, put out the spoons and 

 cruised along shore to the creek for bait. Had a strike 

 near the creek mouth. Big fish. Battle royal. Got him 

 nearly ia. Flap, swish, splash— gone! "Put out again, 

 quick," quoth Ben. "No," said I. "We won't get back 

 in time for dinner," for we had to catch bait, and one of 

 ua had agreed to go up to a farmhouse on the hill and see 

 if we couldn't augment the commissary department. So 

 we landed and I went for bait, while Ben betook himself 

 to the house where the day before he had seen what ap- 

 peared to be a young and comely woman on the porch. 

 By the time I had got some minnows and a few frogs he 

 returned with a couple of dozen of eggs, some butter- 

 milk, sweet ditto, and some luscious early harvest apples. 

 "Well! If I didn't split the welkin at sight of this rein- 

 forcement. I fractured it. Ben said he'd have brought 

 a chicken or two but he only had two hands. However, 

 as lie would have to return the basket and pails he'd get 

 them next time. Fish didn't get a chance to bite 

 much going back. What do you s'pose Ben did with the 

 apples? Built up some of the most mouth-watering 

 dumplings that ever pursed up their li^js at you, sweetened 

 with sauce freckled with nutmeg. The eggs were boiled 

 soft. Hot biscuit again. Milk to drink. Tapped a jar 

 of honey to keep the biscuit from being lonesome. Ah— hi 

 What an array! Biscuit and bliss, eggs and eggstacy. 

 dumplings and delights, honey and hai^piness, praties and 

 pleasure, gravy, glory and gratitude. The "creaking 

 board," laden with the "delicious viands."' groanfd with 

 the weight thereof, and so did we later, when satiety, 

 having seen the load completed, jumped on top and 

 tramped it down. As I lay back so that the burden 

 might adjust itself easier, I said as I dozed off: "Ben. 

 lez go fishin"' — and Ben replied faintly, "lyemme "lone." 



The sun was about 45° high when we "came to,'" and 

 quoth Ben: 



"I have an idea." 

 •'\ entilate it." 



■We'U go up where we saw those big batrachians yes- 

 terday and catch some fpr gupper." 



"Bless your dear heart," I murmured, "what a treasure 

 you are!" 



So we salhed and frogged and came back in the gloam- 

 ing. 



Did you ever eat frogs' legs by moonlight, with a dash of 

 Worcestershire and crisp fried potatoes, and currant jelly 

 and flaky biscuits so light you had to put something on top 

 of 'em to keep 'em down, and a cup of tea so cheerful it 

 set the loon a-laughing? If not you've got a heap to learn. 

 We didn't wash any dishes that night. We just went to 

 bed. 



We had breakfast next morning just the same, and how 

 we did enjoy the good things, over which we lingered 

 long and lovingly, rolling the delicious morsels upon our 

 tongues or discoursing the while on the delights of camp 

 life. Ben had to take the basket and pails to the farm- 

 house, so we took the canvas and started. I handled the 

 oars and Ben put out a spoon, and before we got half-way 

 he hooked a whopper, a perfect monster, that towed that 

 canoe as a healthy dog would tow a tin can. How he 

 yanked and cavorted and tore up the vasty deep! I set 

 the oars and so checked somewhat his rushes; if I hadn't, 

 I believe he'd have spilled us. As it was we had to trim 

 ship pretty lively now and then. But a muscallonge can't 

 last forever, and after awhile he began to lead, coming- 

 after a break away or two quietly alongside, when with 

 a desperate surge and sweep of his tail he tore the hooks 

 out, threw a shower of water all over us and went. 



Great Scott! What a fish and what a pity! You ought 

 to have seen Ben's face. It lengthened so that it came 

 near pushing the rest of him overboard. It took the 

 heart clean out of him so that he took it up to the farm 

 house with the basket and pails soon afterward. When 

 he returned in the course of time I had two or 

 three bass and he had two as nice plump chickens as ever 

 went to roost. Pure young things they were, just in the 

 morning of life, in the heyday of youth, uncontaminated 

 as yet by the viles of the tempter "and the seductions of a 

 gay world, just budding into usefulness with two buds 

 and with a lovely look of tiustf ulness into their liquid 

 hazel eyes. Then we went to camp. Ben had a half 

 dozen cucumbers and some weak onions, too. How 

 do you cook your chickens generally? We didn't 

 cook ours that way. We stewed the rawness out of them 

 and then put them into a mighty hot skillet with some 

 butter, and when they came out they had not only budded 

 but bloomed, now I tell you. Talk about LucuUus and 

 nightingale's livers and those things, they weren't in it. 

 Didn't seem as though we could fill up. Worse than 

 guinea pigs, but maybe you don't know about them. 

 Can't fill 'em up. Just tiy it once. Well, we had it all 

 over again. Zest was there again renewed and exuberant. 

 And tliere was the usual "rich efliuvia," and "reeking 

 fumes," and "redolence," and "sumptuousness," and "fes- 

 tal board," and "libations," and "wolfish appetites," and 

 "luscious viands," and "steaming Mocha," and "buzz-saw 

 appetites" that you've read about so often. 



I won't enumerate further. It ran along about this way 

 until Saturday morning when we packed up, Tim came 

 for us and away we went. We had had a royal time. 

 We are no pot-hunters or bass hogs but we do love to eat, 



Pythagoras said once that "we eat to live, not live to 

 eat," I agree with Old Py on that, and as the highest 

 sort of Kfe should be our ambition, we have got to eat 

 correspondingly — stands to reason, I notice tliat many 

 of your correspondents are on the same side the fence, so 

 I thought I'd add my voice to the general sentiment, 

 0, O, S. 



"PODGERS'S" COMMENTARIES. 



San FRiiJJCTSCO, Cal., July 24,— -I am in receipt of an 

 advance copy of your reproduction of the small boy and 

 big fish I sent you. In your pei-sonal criticism of the 

 photo, you insinuate that both boy and fish have a very 

 much blown up or stuffed appearance. As to the fish, he 

 is or was, au naturel. The boy, I grant you, is swelling 

 with impatience, and so you woiild have "swelled" to 

 have had at this time of life the handling of a fish of such 

 dimensions. He was a very proud boy; and add to that 

 the dignity of having arrived at the pijie stage, a step 

 probably in advance of all the other boys. No wonder he 

 was fairly bursting with impatience. 



Speaking of the fish in question, "reminds me" that the 

 same gentleman who caught that one has just returned 

 from a camping expedition to the same river with two or 

 three friends; and had even better luck than on the last 

 occasion. Their fishing was simply superb; they landed 

 many large fish, one nine and one ten-poimder, AU were 

 caught with the fly and light tackle. Now, a lOlbs, brook 

 trout is something of a fish, considering that we seldom 

 hear of one being caught with fly weighing over 5 or 61bs, 

 But of course that is in the East, where things are on a 

 small scale (except stories), California, you know, does 

 things on a more liberal standard. Such fish as I am 

 writing of, are not within close reach; to get them, in- 

 volves a three days' jom-ney into the wilds outside of 

 ordinary civflization and going into camp, 



I am glad to see that Forest and Stream is making 

 fishing news a feature of the jjaper; being a wool-dyed 

 lover of the sport, I read all that is to be found on that 

 head with great interest, I am wiUing to surrender my 

 interest in bear stories in favor of fishing yarns. There 

 is not so much of the hair standing straight up feature in 

 fish stories, and more or fewer hair-breadth escapes. By 

 the way, did it ever occur to you that the breadth of a 

 hair is very limited, and makes a very close call as a 

 margin for an escape? What a lot of impossibilities we 

 weave into our expressions and similes in our descriptions 

 of things and occun-ences! "Miraculous" will do in 

 speaking of an escape, but the hair-breadth business is 

 getting down very fine — very. Exaggeration and imagina- 

 tion give color and point to the subject, season it, as it 

 were, to interest the reader or listener, but is this not 

 taking liberties with truth and veracity? I admit a plain, 

 unvarnished tale is like a piece of furniture — a good deal 

 better for the varnishing. This is not a prelude to any 

 "plain tail from the HUls" that I am going to tell, for I 

 have no designs on you. I am innocent of guile on this 

 occasion, I had nothing to write when I sat down and I 

 have written it. 



I was much interested in reading in the last number of 

 Forest and Stream the accoimt by Mr. Clarence Bloom- 

 field Moore of his trip over the Andes, having made the 



same trip myself and recognizing much of what he de- 

 scribes. His reference to the monkey and banana market 

 at Guyaquil I can indorse, for I was rash enough to invest 

 a dollar in the stock and trade of an. old lady with a trad- 

 ing establishment under a tree, giving an open order as 

 it were for the money's worth to be sent aboard the ship, 

 and was seriously embarrassed, when, as the ship was 

 getting under way, the old lady came alongside and 

 dumped my purchases on deck, consisting of a monkey, 

 a parrot, a bushel of oranges and half a dozen bunches of 

 bananas, AU were loose and rolling around deck, and 

 a soft banana gave the first officer a fall, which 

 brought forth such a torrent of profanity and fierce in- 

 quiry for the owner of the garden sass and menagerie as 

 to lead me to join the other passengers in a general dis- 

 claimer of all ownership, I never bought so much nor 

 such an assortment of worldly goods for a dollar before 

 in my life— nor since. Things are cheap in Guyaquil, 

 and I imagine the old lady never had such an unlimited 

 order or made any one transaction of that magnitude 

 during her life experience in the fruit, monkey and parrot 

 line. 



While on the subject of fishing I forgot to teU you about 

 the salmon fishing at Santa Cruz, a fashionable seaside 

 resort on the coast, a matter of 50 miles from town. Even 

 the ladies are enjoying the sport, and go off early in the 

 morning in the Italian fishing boats in front of town and 

 troll with feathered spoon and hand lines. During the 

 last week the run of sahnon has been large, and parties 

 have taken as many as a dozen before breakfast, some of 

 them very large, running tip to 30 or 40lbs, Two gentle- 

 men, a day or two since, took over 2501bs. in one morn- 

 ing's fishing with rod and reel. The fishing is broad out 

 on the ocean a mUe from shore and in the bay, almost 

 within hail of the hotel piazzas. It is a feature of salmon 

 fishing heretofore unknown, I think, I have never heard 

 of a similar instance, at least, of salmon taiing the hook 

 at sea; but CaUfornia salmon partake of the character- 

 istics of the country and strike out original methods for 

 themselves and scorn to be imitators. 



California is not what it once was for fish and game. 

 Too' much civilization, which means law breaking, pot- 

 hunting and in discriminating slaughter. But it does 

 pretty well considering. You can't turn out many 

 Eastern States where there is such a variety of game and 

 fish, especially trout and salmon, of the size referred to, 

 I do not remember ever to have known of a 101b, brook 

 trout being caught with fly in any Eastern waters. Have 

 you? Let us hear from the cow coimties on that ques- 

 tion. PODGERS, 



Visitors to our Exhibit in the Angling Pavilion at 

 the World's Fair should not fail to examine the 

 stock of "Forest and Stream" books which will 

 be shown by the attendant. 



PEARLS IN THE UNITED STATES. 



A paper read by George Frederic Kunz before the American Fisheries 

 Society, Chicago, 1893, 



Pearls are lustrous concretions, consisting essentially 

 of carbonate of lime interlaminated with animal matter, 

 found in the shells of certain mollusks. They are evi- 

 dently a result of an abnormal secretory process caused 

 by an irritation of the mantle of the mollusk consequent 

 on the intrusion into the shell of some foreign body, as a 

 grain of sand , an egg of the mollusk itself, or perhaps a 

 cercarian parasite. It has also been suggested that an ex- 

 cess of carbonate of lime in the water may cause the 

 development of the pearl. Accepting the former theory 

 as the more probable one, it is easy to understand how a 

 foreign body, which the mollusk is unable to expel, 

 becomes encysted or covered as by a capsule, which grad- 

 ually thickens and assumes various forms — round, elon- 

 gated, maUet-shaped, and sometimes as regular as though 

 it had been turned in a lathe. It is suggested that tlie 

 mollusk continuaUy revolves the inclosed particle in its 

 efforts to rid itseK of the irritation, or possibly that its 

 formation is due to natural motion, which is accelerated 

 by the intruding body. 



In regard to the formation of pearls the foUowing gen- 

 eral statements may be made: Whatever may be the 

 cause or the process of their production, these interior 

 concretions may occur in almost any moUuscan shells, 

 though they are confined to certain groups, and their 

 color and lustre depend upon those of the sheU interior, 

 adjacent to which they are formed. Thus the pink conch 

 of the West Indies yields beautiful rose-colored pearl 

 shells consisting of three strata: first, the outer yellow or 

 brown conchioline (cuticula or epidermis); second, the 

 prism stratum, consisting of layers formed of minute 

 prisms arranged vertically to the layers and the shell sur- 

 face; and third, the interior nacreous layer, composed of 

 finely folded leaves parallel to the surface of the shell. 

 The last two strata consist chiefly of carbonate of Ume. 

 These formations were illustrated by transverse cuttings 

 and microscopic sections. When a wound has been re- 

 ceived by the animal in any soft part the tissues become 

 moistened with a lime-like material and especiaUy with 

 the nacre substance. This often happens m the muscles 

 which serve to close the sheU, and the irregular concre- 

 tions thus formed are caUed "sand pearls," When the 

 growth of the pearl is abnormaUy strong the pressure 

 which it exerts on the outer wall of this tissue pocket 

 becomes so powerful that the pocket is absorbed 

 on the side toward the shell, bringing the hard 

 pearl directly against the latter. It then becomes 

 impossible for the pearl to grow any more at the point of 

 contact, for there is no tissue to secrete the Ume substance; 

 but it grows on the rest of the surface, and the thicken- 

 ing layers, as they are formed, pass directly into the 

 nacre layers on the inside of the shell, and thicken the 

 shell itself. Through these over-layers the pearl is con- 

 nected with the shell as thoitgh by a succession of cover- 

 ing-clothes. At first it clings to the sheU at one point 

 only, afterward enlarging the area of its adhesion. In 

 this manner twin or united pearls are formed. Whatever 

 be the method of their formation, it would seem that 

 pearls can be formed only at the expense of the shell, for 

 every substance necessary to their growth is drawn from 

 1 sources which normaUy secrete the shell. Normal appear- 



