274 
[Apeh-'S, 1897. 
about an appointment. He did not know that I have 
been coming here for two weeks. It is all a surprise for his 
birthday," 
The j70ung lady laughed some more, and it was I who 
looked inane this time. 
"1 hope you are pleased," said Nellie as she clung to niy 
arm, and we breathed the fresh outside air and walked along 
Under the kindly robe of night that even the city lights could 
not entirely deprive of its property of shielding from unwel- 
come observation. 
"You said it was so easy to learn, but 1 didn't find it so. 
I could show you black and blue bruises all over my body, 
and when T spoke once in your hearing of my aches you 
thought it was the grip." He^e Nellie sighed. "I did it all 
for your sake, and 1 am glad now that I have learned. But," 
and here her voice trembled just a httle, "it is the first and 
last time I will ever keep anything from you. They say a 
woman can't keep a secret. I don't care. " I never want to." 
Dan Daly. 
ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS. 
W. Grafton.— Will Grafton please send us his address? 
F. N. C— The inside of the mouth of a pointer bitch is covered with 
•warts. What is the remedy? Ans. Give compound sulphur tablets 
and apply tincture of iodine to the warts daily. 
N. D. M., New Haven.— Would you inform me the weights of some 
of the largest pickerel caught in the United States and also the 
weight of the largest on record? Ans. Our record is of a 351b. fish 
taken in Pennsylvania. 
S. S. O., Woonsocket, B. 1.— A party of fishermen before going onto 
the pond make up a pool for the man catching the largest fish. Mr. 
G., seeing a tilt fly up, instructed guide to pull in fish, which proved to 
be largest one caught. Does the pool belong to Mr. Q. or to Mr. W., 
whocHught the next laigest fish? Ans. The prize should go to the 
man who caught the next largest fish. The fish taken by the guide 
should not count. 
J. S., Mechanicsville, N. Y.— My two-year-old foxhound does not eat 
and is very dumpish; vomits occasionally; eyelids swollen and a 
brown watery substance (not matter) continually running from them. 
He has never had distemper or any other disease until now. Eeme- 
dies I have given Mm appear to'do no good. Ans. Bathe the eyes 
three or four times a day with a hot solution of Doracic acid (lea- 
spoonful of boracic acid to two pints of hot water), Give tonics. 
As the yachting journal of America, the Forest and Stream ts the 
recognized medium of communication between the maker of yachts- 
wen's supplies and the yachting public. Its value for advertising 
has been demonstrated by patrons who have employed its columns 
continuously for years. 
With the building and racing of large yachts in such a 
condition as it has been for several years and must be for 
the coming season, one looks for all sorts of wild and absurd 
schemes for the revival of the sport. Even the very discour- 
aging outlook, however, does not justify anything so utterly 
absurd as the proposal of the Boston Herald at intervals 
during the winter for the establishment of an international 
cup for the 46ft. class. As this class has only been dead for 
five years, it is quite within the bounds of probability that 
the Boston Seraldhas not yet grasped the fact, and is still 
rejoicing in the belief that it is alive and flourishing. 
The 46ft. class was created in 1891 for no good reason, but 
merely for a change from the 40ft. class, which was still in 
existence. The new class served to kill the old one, and yet 
never had sufficient vitality to carry itself beyond the second 
season, 1893. The building of Wasp in that year, and her 
victory over Gloriana and Harpoon, practically ended the 
racing of the class. In the next season or two Gloriana made 
an unsuccessful fight against Wasp, and since then the lat- 
ter has been the 46ft. class, though sailing with larger or 
smaller cutters and with schooners for want of any com- 
petitor in the class. Last year the class ceased to have even 
a nominal existence, the New York, Larchmont, Seawan- 
haka and Atlantic clubs, with the Sound Y. R. U., dropping 
it entirely from the list of classes. It is still in the 
book of the Eastern Y. C, but that club has given no races 
for yachts of this size or larger for some time, and the class 
was actually dead in the East long before its final demise 
about New Yotk. Even if the present rules of all the large 
clubs but the Eastern did not bar the class entirely, as they 
do, it would still be an impossibility to galvanize it into life 
by an international cup or any other means. 
There is no question whatever that the thing most needed 
for the revival of yacht racing in this country in the classes 
above 50ft. or so is an international race; but it is equally 
clear that no more international cups or trophies are needed, 
there are plenty now on one side of the water or the other. 
There is no need whatever for a trophy to suppl'int the 
America's Cup, provided that this one great trophy be open 
to yachts such as men are willing to build, and on perfectly 
fair terms. That this has not been the case in the past is 
well enough known, but there is no reason why a change 
should not be made that will bring out a challenge for the 
Cup. At the present time the competition is practically 
limited to the 90ft. class, under what conditions neither the 
holders of the Cup nor anyone else can say. It is plainly evi- 
dent that no British yachtsman is desirous of building a 90- 
footer for racing either here or at hefme; in fact, it is doubtful 
whether any more Meteors, Ailsas or Valkyries will be built 
unless by royalty, or possibly by some wealthy manufacturer 
as an advertisement. The signs of the times in England are 
toward a yacht of nearer 80ft. l.w.l. than 90. 
Aa far as America is concerned, a still smaller size would 
be more generally popular and more certain of individual 
instead of syndicate support, down to 70ft. or 60ft. racing 
length. The latter class, quite as large and very much faster 
than the old 70 footers that were once the backbone of 
American racing, would be better than the former. 
If international racing is wanted, and certainly it is badly 
enough needed, the New York Y. C. can open the way to it 
speedily by a clearing up of the existing muddle as to the 
meaning of the new deed in the light of the latest interpre- 
tation of the mutual agreement clause; by making it plain 
that it will give perfectly fair terms to a challenger, and by 
a positive statement that it will meet a yacht of less than 
90ft. with a defender of the same measurement. 
If men wish to race anything as small as the late 46-footer 
for the America's Cup let them do so; such a yacht, even the 
new 51-footer, is perfectly capable of crossing the Atlantic 
on her own bottom and also of making quite as good a con- 
test for the Cup as was ever witnessed in craft of double the 
size. The experience of a dozen years has demonstrated the 
impossibility of maintaining a racing class of even 80ft. 
l.w.l.; and also that if the Cup contests be limited iu any 
way to the largest sizes of yacht they must be held only at 
proportionately long intervals. Great as it is, the America's 
Cup is not a bit too good or too sacred to be raced for by 
such yachts as men on both sides of the ocean are willing to 
build, provided that they are more than mere sailboats, as 
demonstrated by their ability to make the Atlantic passage 
under their own canvas and on their own bottoms. Yacht- 
ing in this country has already suffered severely enough 
from the long-continued effort to force the racing into one 
moribund class, the 90ft., and there is no reason whatever 
for a similar attempt to foster international racing in a class 
that has no existence, actual or nominal. 
Ten years ago, in 1887, and again in 1892, the fleet of the 
New York Y. C. raced around Cape. Cod, from Vineyard 
Haven to Marblehead, for prizes given by J. Pierpont Mor- 
gan, then owner of the steam yacht Corsair I. This year Mr. 
Morgan is commodore of the club, with his fine steam yacht 
Corsair II. as flagship, and he proposes to follow a like pro- 
gramme in taking the fleet to the eastward, possibly to Bar 
Harbor. To this end he has provided very liberally for 
prizes for both sailing and steam jt6chts. So far as induce- 
ments go, there is everything to wi^rant a good race; but 
when we come to the question of the yachts which will com- 
pete, the outlook is by no means "so promising. In the 
schooner division there is Colonia and possibly Emerald; the 
former is a certaintv, but Mr. Maxwell's boats never go east 
of Newport or the Vineyard. It is tp be hoped, however, that 
this year Emerald will cover the whole course of the cruise. 
The only other modern schooners, Amorita and Quissetta, 
are too small to make a good race with the 90-fopters, and 
their possible entry can add nothing to the interest in the 
duel between Colonia and Emerald. 
In the large division of the cutter class there is as yet noth- 
ing; in fact, the available single-stickers for the two classes 
are possibly Navahoe and Vigilant, Queen Mab, Wasp, 
TJvira, the new Gardner boat Syce, and the new Fife boat for 
Mr. Mills. No other new yachts are building, and there are 
no other old ones that will enter against the few named. 
The race will show one thing, if it does nothing more: the 
vast difference in yachting in 1897 a^ompared with 1887. 
The 
;eau. 
Quebec 
The Quebec bateau is a boatof'Sbout 50 tons, perfectly 
flat-bottomed, the bottom being composed of heavy timbers 
bolted together, the body plan being as shown in cut. Al- 
though she has absolutely no keel, the flat side enables her to 
ply to windward even when light. Formerly all bateaux were 
rigged with a standing lug, the yard being always aloft and 
swinging around the intersection with the mast by means of 
a tackle attached to the forward or short arm^ the tackle 
(JtlBBBC BATEAU. 
being let go the yard "up ended" alongside the mast, and 
the sail was brailed in. On account of uncertainty in stays, 
making prodigious efforts necessary on the part of the "fore- 
mast hand" with a huge oar over the stemhead to bring her 
about, the lug has gradually given way to the sloop rig, 
shown in the sketch, but the method of furling by means 
of brails still remains in force, leading the sail all against 
the mast, and the great, open hold readily accessible and un- 
encumbered. 
These boats go aground on their flat bottoms on the equally 
flat bateaux at low tide of the lower St. Lawrence, and 
such is the strength of their construction that they are very 
often, loaded to their full capacity while ashore from 
carts and wagons which drive up alongside. The next tide 
floats them out_to the shipping at anchor in the stream, 
where they discharge through ports in the ship's side and 
return to the mud flats for another load. The bateau was 
not invented; it was developed, and stands to-day an example 
of the "survival of the fittest." Manned by only two men, 
she will often make voyages of considerable length, and to 
see one of them range up alongside a huge three-master in a 
15-knot breeze and a 6-knot tideway is a whole education in 
seamanship. H. K. W. 
The Cruise of the Smack Energy— 1833. 
The letters from which the following extracts were taken 
were written by the late John B. Meigs, U. S. N., to his 
brother Henry Meigs, Jr.; they are now the property of 
Henry Meigs, Esq. , of Bayonne, N. J., to whose kindness, and 
that of J. W. Ellsworth, Esq., we are indebted for the privi- 
lege of printing them. It is possible that their publication 
may be the means of bringing to light further particulars of 
a voyage that must be classed as remarkable when the small 
size, the build and rig of the craft are considered. The hardy 
Yankee sailors, however, seem to have taken it as a matter 
of course. The picture is a reproduction of a small pencil 
sketch which shows the rig clearly enough, but little is said 
as to the model and dimensions of the hull. _ Mr. Meigs 
went out as a passenger to join his ship, then in the South 
Pacific. 
The first letter is postmarked Boston, July 14 (1832), and 
is addressed to Henry Meigs, Esq., New York city, U. S, of 
America. 
On Board the Smack Energy, at the Oven, lat. 45" 6' S., 
long. 66°, Coast of Patagonia, Jan. 15, 1833.— Dear Brother: 
We arrived here on the 8th inst. from Mystic, Conn., from 
whence we sailed on the 7th of November, 1831. It is ttue 
that these vessels are remarkably small, but I feel very much 
prepossessed in their favor; they are both smacks, such as 
you have in New York, and are remarkable for sailing. 
After sixty days' passage out here, and have laid to but once 
since we left, and that was when we first made the coast, the 
wind being from S.E. toS.W. We have had several very 
severe gales since we left, in which I think any other vessels 
would have been obliged to lie to, but we settle our mainsail 
and take the bonnet off the jib, hoist the jib and set the try- 
sail, pull the tiller out of the rudderhead and let her go; she 
is like a duck and measures thirty-eight tons and the other 
thirty-four. The one that I am aboard of is a remarkable 
little craft for sailing, and ever since we left we have not had 
dry decks for more than ten days, all in all. They are bound 
to Valparaiso, to carry on the fishing trade between that port 
and the islands of Massafuero and Juan Fernandez, and 
there is no doubt but that they will make a fortune shortly. 
We intend to go through ^ihe Straits of Magellan after we 
get a supply of wood and water at Port Desire, about 350 
miles to the Sd. of thjs. We are so equal in the sailing of 
these two vessels that we have not been out of sight of each 
other more than five minutes since we left Mystic; the per- 
sons belonging to these vessels are not over thirty-five years 
of age, and all from the s^me town. 
The harbor that we are now in is narrow, ' but very deep, 
and so crooked that no wind can touch you except the 
"whilliwows," as the sailors call them, properly called 
whirlwinds. It is completely surrounded by rocks running 
QUEBEC BATEAU. 
perpendicularly from 200 to 500ft.; at the tops of- them, a» far 
as your eye can reach, nothing can be seen but a dry kind of . 
stubble and what they call Turks' heads, which grow to the, 
size of a barrel head and are covered with thorns of 4 tq Sin. in 
length; and a kind of bush which produces a smalf black- 
berry of the size of the huckleberry, and very Spicy to the 
tfiste, which is, I believe, the principal food of the animal • 
called in this country the guanacka, which is precisely the ' 
same as the llama of Peru, btit rather larger. 
I took a boat the other day and went down to the mouth 
of the harbor to look for shells, but I got nothing but a few 
limpets. Sailing along the beach, I saw one of these guanac- . 
kas walking on the beach; he soon directed his eye toward me 
and walked along the beach abreast of me as far as I went; 
and then I stopped to pick a few limpets off the rocks, and 
looking ashore I saw twelve more of the same kind. I 
tacked ship and ran along the beach pretty fast, and they all 
trotted along to keep abreast of me; and when I went into,, 
the harbor they trotted along on the tops and edges of the 
cliffs and the rocks; sometimes they seemed to be directly 
overhead and sometimes a little further off; they followed 
me up to the vessels in the harbor. In the marshes here ' 
there is the same kind of samphire that grows in all our. 
Northern States. 
We have just finished hauling our vessels ashore to scrub. 
On our passage we killed an albatross measuring 13ft. from 
the tip of one wing to the other. There are various kinds of 
birds here, but none of very beautiful plumage: the condor, 
the white crane, and several species of ducks, and millions 
of penguins the size of a large goose. They stand perfectly 
erect and get 300 or 400 together in a fiock; they will not move ' 
for you when walking on the beach, but on the contrary will 
attack you if you do not get out of their way. There are os- 
triches here, but I have not seen any of them. When I arrive 
at Valparaiso I wUl give you a more detailed account of my 
voyage. 
This harbor has derived its name from the intense heat 
during all seasons; there is a well of water here which seems 
to be made of a solution of alum and saltpeter; it is singu- 
larly strange that this water is cold nearly to the degree of 
zero in the middle of the day, and as soon as the sun sets it 
is so warm that it is scarcely fit to drink. This place is so 
completely devoid of vegetation that it is not astonishing 
that no one has ever attempted to make a settlement here. 
Please report us to the editor of one of the papers, so that . 
the friends of the young men may hear from them (they are 
all well), not forgetting to mention the names of the two ves- 
sels, and of their keeping company so well. The names are 
these: the Energy, Capt. Thomas Eldridge, and the Relief, 
Capt. Charles Chapman. I send this letter by the schooner 
Union, of Boston, returning home from a sealing voyage. 
Off Valparaiso Haeboe, Pacific Ocean, Smack Energy, 
Feb. 29, 1832.— Dca?' Brother: You will confer a favor on me. 
