LMarch 18, 1897. 
Ignorance of the Iiaw. 
Uditor Ibi'est and SPi'eam: 
While in the eyes of the law "ignorance of the law ex- 
cuses BO man," still I am positive that there are many viola- 
tors of the game laws who would he rigid observers of the 
same were they not ignorant of them. The other day two 
young fellows from the city passed my house, and each car- 
ried a shotgun. Gut of both side pockets of the coat of one 
of the young fellows hung the tails of a number of gray 
squirrels. The law on squirrels vpent into effect on Jan I, 
yet these young men made no secret of the success of their 
day's shooting. Stopped and questioned as to the locality 
where they had shot the squirrels, they proudly said that 
they had shot them in Warner's woods, a famous place for 
squirrels. When asked if they did not know they had 
broken the law and were liable to arrest, they answered that 
they supposed there was no law on squirrels.' That the two 
young fellows who had the squirrels were honest and re- 
spectable could be instantly seen by glancing into their faces. 
I know a young man who saw two Italians passing through 
the village of Westville last November. One was a jolly, 
good-natured son of Italy, yet was showing openly a hand- 
kerchief half filled with small trout which he had netted in, 
the Gaylor brook. Now, that Italian was unconscious that 
he had broken the law, otherwise he would never have laid 
himself liable to arrest by displaying the trout to every per- 
son he met. 
Why would it not be a good thing if bills were passed by 
the legislatures authorizing their fish and game commission- 
ers to see to it that every road leading out of the cities into 
the cpuntry be posted at regular intervals with framed cop- 
ies of the fish and game laws? 
As our country contains so many people who speak other 
than the English language, each notice should be printed in 
two or three different languages, so that the foreigners as well 
as ttie natives could be enlightened. 
Besides the laws, each notice should contain a brief lecture 
telling why the fish and game should be protected, and 
pointing out the benefits to be gained by the people at large 
through such protection. Such an argument would open 
the eyes of many who never stop to think that it is possible 
for the game to entirely disappear should there be no restric- 
tion whatever placed on the killing of game and fish. 
WiLiiiAM H. Avis. 
CdifNECTictrT, Feb. 24. 
His View of It. 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I noticed an article or two in a Foeest and Stream I 
picked up headed something like this, "Who Owns the 
Game the Guide Kills?" "To Whom Does it Belong?" I 
read one of the articles, in which the writer says the guide 
claimed all the game he (the guide) killed. He could not 
have been much of a guide or he would have claimed all 
the ganae, the guns, dogs and camp outfit while he was 
about it. Any self-respecting guide ought to have every- 
thing. I am surprised that that guide did not take the 
gentleman's watch and clothing and hold him up for his 
bank account. I don't think that guide understands his 
business. A guide has no object in taking a gentleman on 
a hunt except to make all he can out of it. He may agree 
to go for $1.50 a day, or say $3 a day at the most— the 
money is no object. The guide's object is to get the man 
out and hold him up for all he is worth. 
There are guides, though, who don't do business that 
way. They charge for their services a fair price, and not 
only expect to do, but do everything possible to make a 
gentleman's trip a success in every way. They never think 
of claiming anything they kill. They suppose that if they 
sell their time and services to a gentleman, anything they 
do, anything they kill (if the employer wants them to 
shoot at all); belongs to the party who hires them. They 
know or suppose they are out for his pleasure, not their 
own; that he hires them to show him the game he wants, 
not only the game, but anything of interest, from a flower 
or insect to a mountain or glacier. Such a guide's business 
is to please his patrons; he treats them as gentlemen and 
expects to be treated likewise. His efforts, time and best 
endeavor given, for the time he is paid for, to make the 
trip satisfactory in every way. If by chance it is not, he 
feels disappointed, usually more so than the person who 
hires him. He would not think of claiming any game he 
killed. In fact, come to think a,boiit it, I never heard of 
such a thing or read of it before I saw it in your paper. Is 
the gentleman who complained sure he had a guide with 
tim? ^ ■ G. 
Yellowstone Park Game. 
A COEKESPONDENT, writing Under date of Feb, 24, from 
Gardiner, Mont., @n the edge of the Yellowstone Park, re- 
ports: There have been several hundred elk just across the 
Yellowstone Kiver from town, also about a thousand on 
Crevasse. Several were killed, but the Stale game warden 
came up and made an arrest, which put a stop to the hunt- 
ing, and the elk are not molested any more. McCartney's 
field, which is just opposite Gardiner in the Park limits, has 
from seventy -five to one hundred antelope in it every day, 
and one could almost at any time stand in Sargent's store 
and shoot one. They are very tame. The sheep are in the 
canon again this year, and elk are scattered all around. I 
hear that there are more elk in Jackson's Hole this winter 
than usual. 
California Notes. 
Murphy, Calaveras County, Cal., Feb. 20.— I got a letter 
the other day from a friend who hves in the southern part 
of this State. In it he says: "We have just had a little 
rabbit drive out my way. About fifty guns were out and 
we got 500 of the long-eared pests." Pretty good. 
Our quail season has just closed. Although this country 
has been very closely shot over during the last few years 
there is yet some good shooting to be had. We have two 
kinds of quail here — mountain and valley. The mountain 
quail live in the higher mountains most of the year and only 
come down here in winter. Our altitude is only 2,000ft. 
The valley quail are more numerous here during the autumn 
months than at any other time during the year. Five dozen 
to two guns is om' best day's record. 
There are a few ruffed grouse in the mountains north of 
here. But few are killed, however, as they are wary birds 
and know just where to hide in the thick timber. Some of 
this timber is over 300ft. in height. 
Yery few deer have been killed around here this winter. 
There has been but little snow in the mountains and as a 
result the deer were not forced to come down to feed. A 
favorite way of hunting with our sportsmen is to wait until 
the hills are covered deep with snow and then go for deer in 
the deep sheltered valleys where there is seldom much snow. 
A party of three in this way got twelve deer in a two days' 
hunt last winter. 
The wild pigeons which were once so plentiful in this 
country are now almost extinct Ten years ago a good shot 
could bag a hundred in a day, while now yon are lucky to 
see a dozen in a season. 
We have some very good dove shooting here in the 
autumn months. Now our game is limited to jack rabbits 
and gray squirrels, and some good sport we have with them 
too. Two years ago oyer 1,000 gray squirrels were killed 
around this town. Walkob. 
Proprietors of fishing resorts will find it profitable to advertise 
them in Forest and Stream. 
MEN I HAVE FISHED WITH. 
XXXV.-Pete. 
It took Pete a long time to learn that small, "no account" 
fish were as desirable as those which were large enough to 
eat, but what they were put into kegs of alcohol for Jie 
never did understand. The postmaster at Tangipahoa had 
recommended him as a darky boy who knew all the fish- 
ing places in the vicinity, and I engaged him to help 
Charles Bell and myself collect the fishes of that part of 
Louisiana whose waters flow into Lake Ponchartrain. He 
was a strong boy, quite dark, and was active when he 
wished to be, and he enjoyed the work. 
This was in June, 1875. Prof. Spencer F. Baird was then 
the United States Fish Commissioner as well as the head 
of the Smithsonian Institution, and in his order he said: 
"After you deliver the shad fry in the river at such place 
as you may select, I want^ou to collect the fishes of the 
rivers and pools, keeping an eye out for trout." 
"Trout in southern Louisiana, Professor?" 
"Yes. So many letters have been received from citizens 
claiming trout are native there, and asking for more, that, 
while we have doubts on the subject, we can't deny their 
statements; and I want you to see if you can find a fish 
there which you will call a trout, and if so preserve it with 
great care." Then with a variety of fishing tackle fit for 
trout, bass or pike. Bell and I started on what not only 
promised to he, but was a most delightful trip. 
Coming down on the railway, before we reached Tick- 
faw, the fact that we had live fish in the baggage car was 
known throughout the train, and visitors came to look. 
In conversation with a gentleman on the subject of trout 
he said: "Trout are plenty in all these streams, sir, yet 
from what you say you seem to doubt it. I was raised in 
the North and have caught trout in Vermont, Canada and 
New York, and I know a trout when I see it." That 
should have been conclusive, but the sluggish streams filled 
with pond lilies did not look trouty. I've taken trout in 
waters where pond lilies grew, but always in the colder 
parts of the pond; and here we were in Louisiana. "Yes- 
sah," said Pete, "datta's a trout, sho 'nuff," as I landed a 
black bass of the big-mouth persuasion, and the old settler 
who was "raised" in the North declared it to be the same 
kind of a fish that he had taken in boyhood in the streams 
of Vermont. On returning to Washington 1 reported to 
Prof Baird that I had fished diligently and had taken 
many fish which I called black bass, but which all the 
people about Tangipahoa called trout, and furthermore I 
had not seen a fish which I would call a trout. The Pro- 
fessor merely said, "I thought it would turn out so." 
On this trip we did not see a small-mouth black bass, 
and the largest big-mouth we took weighed 81bs. on the 
grocer's scales. Here let me get away from the story to 
ask why, in writing of the two black basses, we all agree to 
say "small mouth," while some of us use "big mouth" and 
others "large mouth" for the other fellow? There are al- 
ways two sides to a subject, and a white native said to me; 
"I don't see what right you've got to come an' tell me that 
our trout are bass. They've always been 'trout' here, an' 
we've got as good a right to name 'em as yo' have." That 
was a clincher. 
Tangipahoa could not only give us better accommoda- 
tions in the matter of food and lodgings, but was nearer the 
Tangipahoa and Natalbany rivera than any other, and was 
therefore the place to make headquarters, and we cap- 
tured Pete. The little village had perhaps 300 inhabitants, 
of assorted complexions, and we were genuine curiosities 
to them. There was no newspaper there; but the grape- 
vine telegraph, which runs over the back fences in all 
country settlements, soon informed the people that two 
Northern men were there on all kinds of missions. 
Pete may have been sixteen years old, but he felt several 
inches above his normal height when he started on our 
first trip with a bodyguard of half a dozen boys of all the 
shades between ebony and light molasses cakes. Pete in 
front with the air of a drum major, the boys behind carry- 
ing nets and pails, while Bell and I tried to live up to the 
dignity of traveling with an escort. 
As we walked down the railway track Bell remarked: 
"We have done well in getting Pete. He may not do 
much, but he has a host of volunteers for us, and the Gov- 
ernment gets the whole gang for Pete's half dollar a day. 
I don't know, though, but we could have got Pete for a 
quarter a day, and perhaps- he would serve, like the vol- 
unteers, for the honor, if he was only put at the head of 
them." 
"What you say is probably true, Charles, but we must 
not grind the faces of the poor, and the people of America 
would not bless us if we saved them that little sum. 
Again, if Pete served us without pay we would have as 
little control over him as he would have over his assist- 
ants." 
"That's so; but I was only moralizing over the love of 
authority that many men have and which is exemplified 
in this negro boy. Yesterday he was only a common boy 
like the rest; you have given him position, and see how 
he has assumed an importance among his fellows and 
how they look up to him. You must admit that it is a 
true reflection of human nature, drawn in charcoal." 
We had passed several pools beside the railway where 
excavations had been made to throw up the roadbed in 
this yery flat country, and I should no more have thought 
of looking for fish in them than in the temporary ones in 
more hilly lands, but a little thought showed me that 
these pools were permanent. A swirl in one of them 
caused me to ask a question. 
"Yes, suh," replied Pete, "dese pon's is full o' fish, but 
dey's no 'count, on'y little ones. Wen we comes to de 
ribbah we gets big ones." 
Ordering a halt, the boys unloaded the small 15ft. Baird 
net and started in to drag the pool, which was not over 
/5X 100ft. The result was a surprise. The long bag brought 
out a mass of fish life, and Bell made a rough assortment 
of it into the buckets and I went over them again. The 
supply of alcohol would not warrant keeping many speci- 
mens, and we were the sole judges, if not of the first class, 
of what was worth preserving. 
It was practically midsummer in Louisiana, and the 
vegetation was rank, and I ask you to believe that the 
air was several degrees above what could be found in 
Alaska on the same day. Every darky boy was bare- 
footed and bare-legged. We had seen many snakes slide 
into the pools by the railway, but had paid little attention 
to them. The fact that these darky boys waded In where 
the serpents went was to us proof that the snakes were 
harmless. In one haul we brought out a snake and I 
promptly held it under my foot preparatory to examining 
it, for I was on intimate terms with the dirty water snake 
of the North, having reached for him in a hole under a 
bank in my trout ponds, bringing it forth alive, striking 
me with its harmless teeth before I could twist its head off 
with the other hand. So you all see I was very well ac- 
quainted with the ill-tempered Tropidonotus sipedon, which 
lives on fish and frogs, and I thought this animal might 
be the same. 
Pete called out: "Take cah, dah! Datta's a wawtah 
moccasin, an' he kill yo' if he bites yo'." And he was 
right. It was a very deadly relative of the Northern 
copperhead and scientists know it as Af/kistrodon piscivorus, 
and yet those darky boys went into pools bare-footed 
where they knew this dangerous serpent lay, even after 
seeing it glide into the pool. This was a puzzle, especially 
as they were horrified to see me handle the snake after it 
was dead. I opened its month with a pocket knife, saw 
the poison fangs and pressed out the poison to make sure 
that it was a venomous reptile. The dark, vertical bars, in 
place of alternate blotches, proved that it differed from 
my Northern acquaintance. 
Pete said: "Da moccasin he's good 'nuf w'en yo' don' 
'sturh him. He git outah way ef he gotta chance, but w'en 
yo' put yo' foot awn him he bites, an' he p'ison sho 'nuff; 
he kill a da'ky boy las' year down 'bout Tickfaw, an' long 
time back one bit ole Massa Kya'ta (Carter) down by de 
big swamp, an' he put a hot nail in de hole an' drink a 
pow'ful heap o' w'isky, an' he doan die, hut he leg got 
small an' he been ailin' since; can't eat no fat po'k, no 
possurn, only cawn pone an' 'tatahs. How yo' gwine take 
bread in yo' han' w'en yo' had datta snake dah?" 
"That's all right, Pete, I'll wash my hands before I eat; 
but if you are so afraid of this water moccasin, how is it 
that you boys go into these pools barefooted when you 
have seen snakes go in first?" 
"It's dis yell way: W'en you go slow de moccasin he 
git out yo' way. On de Ian' he see yo', an' in de wawtah 
he heah yo', so w'en we go in de wawtah we go slow an' 
splash an' make noise, an' he go 'way." 
Here was an interesting bit of snake lore from an unex- 
pected source. An ignorant darky boy taught me some- 
thing, and was so sure of his knowledge that he seemed to 
risk his life on it. I say seemed to risk his life, because 
from his point of view there was no risk so long as he ex- 
ercised a proper care. He was a scientist in his way. He 
was afraid to touch a dead snake, but just what reward 
would tempt me to wade about barefooted in a pool where 
I knew deadly serpents were hiding I have never figured 
out. During our stay I watched the boys and found they 
had a system. If our larger 30ft. seine'would sweep one 
of these holes beside the railway, it was done with boys 
on each bank; but if the pool was larger, they took it in 
sections, going slowly and making a great splashing. If 
we hauled out some snakes, they cared little about killing 
them; Northern white boys would have killed them all, 
but these boys seemed to live on peaceful terms with this 
very common reptile, which is also called the "cotton- 
mouth," from some reason unknown to me. Perhaps Pete 
expressed the feeling of indifference to killing them when 
he said: "Wat's de use killin' a few snakes w'en dey'e so 
many in all de holes an' in de swamps?" 
Bell and I complained to the landlord that our beds 
were not made. The first time we thought it a mistake, 
but when it occurred again we protested. He called a 
chambermaid and wanted to know. She looked indignant 
and replied: " 'Deed I isn't gwine in datta room 'mong all 
dem snakes dey's got in dem glass bottles, to make any 
beds. Ise pow'ful sot ag'in snakes, I is, an' I dunno wot 
men's gwine 'roun' gettin' em fo'. Ef a man wants snakes 
in his room he can make hees own bed; I doan gwin dah, 
Um-m!" 
And so it came to pass that Pete was duly installed as 
our chambermaid. He had no fear of pickled snakes, 
dead and well sealed up; and from the disfavor with which 
we were looked upon by the colored girls we thought it pos- 
sible that Pete's services might be required to wait on us at 
table. Our mission was a mystery that no explanation 
could solve. AVe were under more suspicion than when, 
as pirates, we had cruised long island Sound with the 
"Jolly Roger" at the fore. But then we proclaimed our 
mission and were understood; now we were suspected 
of having some occult purposes, the exact nature of 
which these colored people had no clear idea. There were 
glances and whisperings. At last Pete let it out. 
"Dey sez 'at yo' Yankees comes yeah to get snakes an' 
fish to take up No'th to make all de cuUod people slaves 
ag'in. Is dat so?" 
The question was an honest one, and demanded an hon- 
est answer; but what could we say? 
"Who says so, Pete?" I asked. 
"All de gy'ls at de hotel who wouldn' make yo' beds, an' 
all de cuUod people dey want to know wheffo you ketch 
snakes an' put 'em in bottles, an' dey tell me not to wuk 
fo' yo', cause you's bad." 
"Anything more, Pete?" 
"Yessah, dab's Massa Almy, a w'ite man up by de station, 
who says yo' is doin' bad t'ings an' ought to be stopped." 
"Charley," said I, "this boy tells us a story which, read 
between the lines, means that we are looked upon as sus- 
picious characters. He is honest and square with us be- 
