162 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
t^EB. 26, 1898. 
A Turtle Chase, 
One of the most interesting hunting experiences I 
ever enjoyed was a turtle chase in the Indian Ocean. It 
is true that I did not take a very active part in it, was 
spectator rather than hunter, but nevertheless the experi- 
ence was a most enjoyable one. 
I had met a friend of mine at Calicut, where his steam 
yacht was then lying, undergoing some light repairs. 
He asked me to go turtle hunting with him, and I gladly 
accepted the invitation. Next day we started, and after 
steaming a couple of hundred miles, the yacht pulled up 
off a straggling group of coral islands. 
It was too late to do anything that day, but early 
next morning we hoisted the native boat over the side 
and got aboard. It was rather an odd-shaped craft, 
with a deck fore part and a high-peaked nose like ^ 
gondola. My friend and I sat in the stern. Kutti Ali, 
the native turtle hunter, perched himself on the decked 
bow, and the men bent to their oars to carry us m among 
the islands. 
It was a perfect day, and the sea was as clear as crystal. 
I never saw such limpid water. There wasn't a ripfile, 
and we could see the bottom at eight or nine fathoms as 
though we were looking through a sheet of clean glass. 
We seemed almost to be floatmg on air. Underneath 
us lay all sorts of colored sea shrubs, interspersed with 
horns and hollows of coral, and among these darted 
thousands of bright little fishes of almost every con- 
ceivable hue. 
Gating down at the bottom, I noticed a long, lazy- 
looking creature whose jet blackness contrasted strangely 
with the gaudy colors all around it. My friend informed 
me that this was the sea slug from which was derived 
that extensive article of commerce which the Chinese 
are so fond of using in their soups, beche de mer. If you 
touched this creature, he said, it would exude a liquor 
which would stain your fingers a dark red. 
Having satisfied our curiosity gazing down into the 
depths, we brought our attention back to the matter in 
hand. Kutti Ali, the spare and sinewy native, was stand- 
ing on the bow, with his hand shading his eyes, looking 
to the right and left for game. Presently he seemed to 
catch sight of a quarry. He began to make active prepa- 
ratiops for the chase. He first gave orders to the boat- 
men to pull in the direction he desired, and while they 
were doinjg so he stripped off everything save his loin 
cloth, and stood ready for the fray. 
For our part, we looked earnestly in the direction in 
which the boat was heading, but could discern nothing. 
The water on which we were now gliding was about 
12ft. deep, and the bottom was mostly of fine white sand, 
with here and there a clump of shrubs and coral. 
It appears that Kutti Ali, from his vantage point on 
the bow, had seen a dark shadow pass from one to an- 
other of these clumps, which he believed to be a turtle. 
As we approached its hiding place, Kutti Ali kept his 
keen eye fixed upon it, so that the quarry should not 
elude him. Presently he motioned the oarsmen to cease 
rowing, and we all peered down over the side. We could 
observe nothing at first, but while we were still looking 
all of a sudden a big, dark creature darted out of the 
shadow of the clump and sped away for the shelter of 
another. That turtle was no fool! Instead of scooting 
off in the direction our boat was pointed, he rounded on 
us, and so gained considerable time. Kutti Ali fished up 
a long bamboo pole and helped to get the boat around, 
keeping at the same time a sharp eye on the clump where 
our chase had taken refuge. The water was so limpid 
and still we could see the spot quite plainly. Once more 
we were on the turtle's track. This time, however, he 
did not wait for us to come up, but scooted away at full 
speed for the deeper water, toward a large patch of 
rocks and sea shrubbery, which promised him greater 
safety from his pursuers. 
It was now a race for life. If our quarry gained that 
patch, he would escape us to a certainty, and he had 
50yds. start. Kutti Ali turned to the rowers and urged 
them to increase their speed. They caught his enthusi- 
asm and pulled like sons o' guns. 
On, on we dashed after that turtle, gaining on him mch 
by inch and foot by foot, but it was exceedingly doubtful 
if we should be able to reach him in time. Kutti Ali 
seemed to fear this, and capered about on his little deck, 
gesticulating like a madman. 
"Valli! valli! oraka valli, kuttigalel" (Pull! pull! 
pull strong, O my children!) and six pairs of lusty arms 
made the boat fairly fly through the water. 
The turtle was now only about looyds. from the big 
clump, and we were still some 20yds. behind. The chase 
looked to us almost hopeless, but not so to Kutti Ali. 
He knew several tricks in turtle hunting that we weren't 
at all up. to. Suddenly we saw him raise his bamboo 
pole and bring the end of it down with a resounding 
whack on the deck. As soon as this noise reached the 
turtle he made a spurt forward, but soon fell back to his 
former speed. Again came the thump of the bamboo, 
and again the foolish and frightened quarry spouted. 
This was repeated a third time, and as each spurt had 
tended to exhaust the stock of air in the creature's wind- 
bag, there was nothing for him to do but to rise to the 
surface and replenish. Up he came, and in such a 
mighty hurry that he sprang almost entirely out of the 
water, his head and neck outstretched to take breath; 
and then down he went again. But this had taken up 
some of his precious time, and we were now close upon 
Presently he seemed to grow "rattled." Instead of 
keeping straight on toward his mark, by doing which 
he might possibly have reached safe shelter, he sheered 
off from his course, and so gave us a better chance to 
capture him. 
On he went past the big clump, leaving it 8 or loyds. 
to one side. Having got his chase out into the open, 
Kutti Ali contented himself with racing along over- 
head and a few yards behind. Before making any fur- 
ther move, he evidently meant to tire the creature out. 
Now, what do you suppose that turtle did? Havinff 
drawn us jjeist the dump, he suddenly rounded on us 
again and scooted back toward it at full speed. He must 
have judged that he would gain on us that way, and 
perhaps reach safety after all. If ever a boat came 
round quickly, it was ours, and we were after our tricky 
game before he had gained half a dozen yards. 
Kutti Ali's mad was up, and it was evident that he 
wasn't going to be fooled by a lumping old turtle any 
longer. We saw him get ready to dive, and when the 
boat came up again and her nose was almost over the 
turtle's back, Kutti Ali made a spring into the air, twisted 
his body round so that he faced us, and went down feet 
foremost just about a yard ahead of his prey. 
As our boat shot over the place where he had disap- 
peared, all we could see as we looked down into the 
depths was a confused jumble of legs and feet and arms 
and flippers. Next moment we saw the turtle darting 
out to sea again. He had evaded the fatal grasp which 
Kutti Ali had tried to get on his flippers, and so es- 
caped. 
The sopping hunter came to the surface puffing and 
blowing, and we pulled him aboard and resumed the 
pursuit. Once more we gained upon him, for he was 
now beginning to grow very tired. Presently the native 
made his spring into the air a second time, twisted his 
body round as before, and disappeared in a volume of 
spray. The unfortunate turtle was not so nimble this 
time as he was before, and though he attempted the 
same dodge, his hind flipper did not escape the wary 
diver. We saw the same jumble of legs and arms and 
flippers, but while we could not witness the feat, Kutti 
Ali, with the hind flipper in his vise-like grip, reached 
forward with a quick motion and seized the fore flipper 
on the same side, and the jig was up. As the man and 
the turtle rose to the surface, another of the boatmen 
leaped over and assisted the breathless but exultant diver. 
With a sudden push upward on one side and downward 
on the other, the captured turtle was turned over on his 
back in the water, and after a few long, wheezy breaths 
through his horny beak and nostrils, and a few inef- 
fectual struggles to regain his natural position, he yielded 
up the contest. 
Our boat was tilted, and with a "heave, ho!" and con- 
siderable danger of a capsize, we got Mr. Turtle on board 
and took him to the yacht. On weighing him we found 
him to tip the scales at exactly 327lbs., and his shell 
measured 3ft. 7in. one way by 3ft. 3in. the other. 
On the whole, what with the sunny loveliness of the 
day, the beauty of the scene and the novelty of the ex- 
perience, this my first and only participation in a turtle 
chase was one of the most enjoyable incidents of my 
life. G. H. W. 
Ice Architecture and Winter 
Carnivals. 
Winter visitors to the hyperborean cities of St. Paul, 
Winnipeg, Montreal or Quebec, never fail to be enthused 
by the eclat of the local hyemal sports, which so often 
culminate in carnivals eclipsing in brilliancy and fervor 
the fetes of more southern climes. Hearthrug denizens 
of low latitudes, who are always wont to contemplate 
zero weather with a shiver, at once fall in love with an 
atmosphere and climate which yields to both sexes a 
measure of vigor and health-giving enjoyment such as 
they had never experienced before or contemplated. 
Romps on snowshoes, curling, coasting, toboggan 
whirls, sleigh rides, fantastic processions, ice palaces, 
and the rhythmic courses of the ice rink, they find, have 
taken the place in those cities of the enervating indoor 
pastimes which were once in vogue, and apparently 
everyone has been the gainer by it. Not to say that 
social interchanges of the drawing room and tea table 
are obsolete, but rather that their enjoyment is enhanced 
and enlarged by the ability and disposition to enjoy 
which are imbued into the whole system, moral as well 
as physical, by the potential agency of frost. Youngsters 
who sport on the streets and rinks are all as rosy as 
radishes and as tough as hickory nuts, jolly and self- 
poised, while the old and elderly declare that life is the 
more worth the living for the vigor which comes to 
them through the self-enforced duty of turning out be- 
times into the frigid air to view or participate in the 
saturnalia of the season. By Pallas! there are no such 
ruddy and happy damsels as those who tramp with the 
snowshoe clubs in witchery of fleecy capotes and gaudy 
tuques of blue and crimson. Instead of poling in for 
the winter like dull bruin they all exert themselves to 
make that frigid period hilarious and especially enjoy- 
able. And the whole community profits in every way, 
for how can sensuality and villainy find place or flourish 
in healthy and rugged conditions? King Borealis in- 
terdicts it. 
The universal eclat which has always attended the in- 
stallation of ice palaces in these boreal cities, and the 
incomparable creations which have grown up in a night, 
as it were, like frost work on a window pane, have had 
the effect to excite a keen interest in the possibilities of 
ice architecture. Long strides indeed have been taken 
in this direction since the year when the empress of all 
the Russias erected her primitive structure on the river 
Neva. Nothing so fairylike and fantastic had ever been 
seen before then, and every fur-clad dweller under the 
arctic line contemplated with feelings akin to awe an 
edifice which was so solid as to resist the assault of 
armies, and yet so unsubstantial and evanescent withal 
as to melt like a dream. The Canadians, who built their 
first ice palace in 1883, were good imitators of the Neva 
model, though quite surpassing it in size and architec- 
tural design; but the Minnesota city of St. Paul later on 
was emulous of what Montreal had previously accom- 
plished, and attempted more pretentious lines. The suc- 
cess which she achieved elicited the admiration of all 
who beheld the wondrous structure which she created, 
it was a subtile inspiration of genius. The Canadians 
had attempted only rectangular lines; the others adopted 
intricate geometrical figures and exquisite curves, with 
arabesques, which were produced without much addi- 
tional labor or expense, so that her first inception far 
surpassed any one the three Laurentian pala<ses which 
had preceded it 
But her second effort (in 1887) was more aspiring 
stUl. It was superlative. It was far more elaborate and 
twice as expensive, while the palaces of 1888 and 1889 
were yet unique conceptions, and marvels even to the 
ambitious men of the Northwest, to whom' colossal en- 
terprises are not at all uncommon. Perhaps the palace 
of 1887 may be regarded as the climax of them all, not 
only in its tout ensemble, but in its details and boreal 
accessions. Its exterior dimensions were 200 by 220ft., 
with a superficial area of nearly an acre. Its principal 
tower rose to a height of 130ft. Imposing effects were 
obtained by an ingenious juxtaposition of angles and 
faqades, towers, balconies and turrets, which would have 
astonished the medieval architects. And the interiors 
were quite as elaborate as the outside, being divided 
into many superb apartments, the chief of all being the 
grand hall of audience, -which was a perfect circle looft. 
in diameter, decoi-ated with ice* statuary of heroic size. 
The throne room at the base of the huge "donjon keep" 
was an imposing octagon 50ft. across, while the throne 
itself was a wondrous work of art, massive, rich and 
chaste, vying with the marbles of Rome. Transcendant 
effects were produced by electric interior illuminations, 
which were truly weird, novel and enchanting. Pene- 
trating the translucent walls, they suffused the whole 
fabric from summit to foundation in a manner more en- 
trancing than moonlight on the lake, or the play of 
phosphorescent ripples on a South Sea island beach. 
It was glory en bloc, congealed! 
For several subsequent years mild winters prevented 
repetition, thereby gaining a new character for Minne- 
sota weather, which was supposed to be almost subarctic 
in its severity. But in 1895 the ice king resumed his 
sway, and a new structure of ice blocks arose. This 
time it was a fortress instead of a palace — a simple, 
rough-work fortification, with parapets 15ft. high, and 
bastions at the angles, and a central tower rising 30ft. 
Its area of space of 600 by 300ft. gave ample opportunity 
for Indian camps, interior games and pageants, and 
wider scope^ for the salient features of the winter carni- 
val, which in itself has invariably proved a source of 
social, physical and pecuniary emolument, as immense 
crowds from abroad were attracted by the street illu- 
minations and parades and the holiday license which 
was everywhere allowed. 
During the same winter Leadville, Col., made a new 
departure, and instituted an ice palace in the castellated 
form which St. Paul had discarded, but circumstances ' 
of mood and weather have not prompted a reproduction 
of the like in any quarter, so that what is written here 
may pass for history instead of current description. 
The amounts spent on these ice structures has been con- 
siderable, but the investments have proved satisfactory, 
and it is a safe venture to predict that if the Klondike 
pans out liberally this year a structure will arise on the 
Upper Yukon which will shame the Eskimo and beat 
all previous records in ice architecture. The following 
are the dimensions of the principal ice palaces erected to 
date: I ,.>.|_:j 
Length, Width, 
Date. Place. feet. feet. 
1888 Montreal 90 90 
1SS4... Montreal 180 J80 
1885 Montreal 160 160 
lSs6 St. Paul ISO 1'60 
188T St. Paul 220 'iOO 
18S8 St. Paul -200 200 
tm St. Paul 252 202 
Height, 
feet. Cost, 
la $2,000 
la 4,000 
100 5,00.0 
106 10,00.0 . 
115 20,000 
132 20,00,0 
IJ] J 5,000 
An Hour with the Gray Squirrel. 
In southeastern Virginia, where — before the war — 
were vast well tended, rich plantations, is now to be 
found much waste land. Those owning large tracts 
can generally afford to cultivate but a portion of the land, 
and the remainder is allowed to lie idle to be overrun 
with field pine and scrub growth. The merchantable 
hard wood timber has been cut off of much of the land, 
but now and then a tract is found whose owner has re- 
fused to succumb to the blandishments of the sawmill 
man. Game of all kinds is plentiful in this section, from 
quail down to deer. Some men would reverse this classi- 
fication, but my brother sportsmen will accept it. Quail 
are especially plentiful, owing to a prohibitory law 
against killing them in any season, now in its second 
year. 
A walk through our stubble in September resulted in 
raising (we only flush in shooting season) three fine 
coveys of well-grown birds, to my regret, all peaceably 
disposed, 
I am law-abiding, but would exercise the universal prin- 
ciple of self-defense, at any time, if attacked by Virginia 
quail. 
While spending a few days in September on a planta- 
tion where the timber had been preserved, I went one 
morning to see if the squirrel was ready for his share 
of the season's sport. 
If you find this gentleman in the hickories then he 
is game and ediblp. Slipping from the house at break 
of day — an ideal morning for hunting squirrels, perfectly 
still and warm — I crossed the barn lot, scaled a fence 
and was in the woods — a grand forest of oak, hickory, 
elm, poplar, gum and other trees, many towering to a 
height that made me wish for something heavier than the 
light i6-gauge weapon I carried; for, although a young 
squirrel is easily stopped in his rush for the den tree, 
by a well directed load of No. 6 chilled from a sJ^lb. i6- 
gauge, an old fellow in tall timber with a coat that has 
had two or three winters' tanning will not even stop to 
scratch for so small a matter. 
You need a lo-gauge and No. Ss for the old folks in 
the big trees, and then you will have to leave otie %p a 
tree now and then. 
If you have a drop of sporting blood in your veins you 
will feel a sense of pure delight in being in the woods 
at daybreak, when all the bird, animal and insect life is 
awakening. You will thrill with gratitude and fervent 
. content that is almost prayer. 
Generally you will wonder at your imbecility in sleep- 
ing away such delight, as you have been doing morning 
after morning for years past, and determine that you will 
do so no more, but rise early and get into the Woods 
often, if not every day. 
This enthusiasm is well founded and real, hut tran- 
t 
