272 
FOREST AND STREAM 
[Oct. i, i8gSj 
In the Louisiana Lowlands. —II. 
BY FRED MATHER. 
' [Continued from last -week^ 
Sam did not accord with my views of killing only for 
tmr needs; there was a market for food of all kinds in 
Alexandria, and now that we were capturing fish and 
turtles in greater number than we could use, he natural- 
v desired to utilize them for that market. From 1ns 
point of view it was the height of idiocy to turn loose 
catfish and turtles which had a marketable value; l e 
conld not understand it. As for me, I had not journey ed 
to the lake on a commercial venture; Pro . Baird wanted 
an "alligator snapper," a species of turtle and wanted 
e that g vvould weigh at least 6olbs hence I had .engaged 
Sam to care for me on Catahoula Lake, and had put out 
the lines for turtles, as has been detailed. 
Af'er Sam had insisted that the ferocious so t-shelled 
turtle was a ' 'snapper," because it "snapped, ' _ there was 
h le confidence n his knowledge, or classification, of 
tuX It "as Uke the old story of the sportsman who 
va looking for woodcock, and was taken 
ber where woodpeckers were numerous. Sam knew 
hrrtlesdn his wav but his way was not mine The e- 
cre af er removing the catch and rebaitmg the hooks 
Sam^sked; "Has yo' eber had a snappah roasted m de 
Sh -No' I have never eaten turtle except in soup, steak 
and stew If vou have a new way to cook one. go ahead 
"haid" and hung the turtle up Mf^M^ ^ ^ 
tended to on the morrow. We fashed tor ba.t tor ti e 
urtle lines and from what little I had seen of turtle 
fi EJon this trip I got the idea that suckers were the 
bSt turSe bait b?caus g e they caught the most turtles. 
More Turtle Talk. 
On the third evening we caught several soft-shelled 
turtles one snapping turtle such as is common from 
Canada ^Mexico weighing about ^ 'and an a hga- 
tor snapper of nearly the same weight. this latter 
SmSS the same general outlines as the other ranges 
from the Gulf States up the Mississippi f^^g- 
sin, but prefers the warmer waters of the South where 
it "grows to a length of 40m., or more,' says Jordan It 
has been known to weigh _i 5 olbs., and is perhap . the 
most ferocious, and for its size the strongest of reptiles 
In the old Aquarium at Broadway and ihirty-httli 
street New York, in 1877, we had one that weighed 
about 8olbs. This beast would eat the little painted 
turtles from the ponds, 4 to 6in. long, shells and all, 
biting through them at one grip of its powerful jaws, 
I believe that the one we had could bite a mans leg 
off, bone and all, at one bite. 
"Dah " =aid Sara, "is two 'gatah snappahs, but 1 
'spec's dey am' as big as yo' wants. But we bettah keep 
'em 'cause we may get no mo'." 
I had a shoe box in which we brought some ol our 
canned goods and other things, and in this I intended 
to put a big turtle on its side, so that the carapace and 
plastron would be against the sides of the narrow box 
and it could not get right side up. I gave the snapper 
to Sam and put "de gato' " in the box, for, as he said, we 
might net get another. It was small for the box, and I 
wedged it in with a piece of board and some sticks, 
Somehow a tap on the head and an admonition not to 
let its angry passions rise did not quiet it at all, for it 
struck out and snapped at everything in reach. There 
was more of viciousness and bad temper in that boat 
than one often sees. 
"Sam, you call these turtles all one kind, but they are 
different, the one in the box is an alligator snapper, while 
the other is the common snapping turtle; don't you see 
the difference?" 
"No, sah, I don' see no 'stinction; we calls 'em all 
'gato' snappahs, an' dem sof shells is jes' common 
snappahs." 
"Now. Sam," said I, in an educational effort to make 
this man and brother more observant of things, "look 
at the one I gave you; its eyes are close together and 
near the top of its head, its head has a soft skin. Look 
at mine; its eyes are on the side of the head and wide 
apart, while its head is covered with something like 
large scales. The snapper has only a trace of a ridge in 
the center of its back, while the 'gator has three ridges." 
I did not try the names of science upon Sam, and I 
spare the reader. I have given the main points of dif- 
ference between these two very distinct, yet nearly re- 
lated species. 
Sam thought a moment and then remarked: "I 'spect 
yo' is right; I ain' nebbe' notice' all dat befo'." What 
he thought was probably on this line: "Dey's w'ite men 
has eyes close togedde' and some wide apart, an' some's 
got red haids, some's got black haids an' somes got bald 
haids, but dey's de same kin' o' man, an' heah is yo' 
young man fum de Nawth come a-tell me dat dese 
tu'ttlcs is differ'n', an' 'cause de3''s got differen' eyes an* 
haids he's a differen' tu'ttle; Fse fished heah in Catahou- 
la Lake since I was a pickanny an' I knows dese tu'ttles 
'ca'se I was brung up wid 'em." 
Baking a Turtle. 
Our fishing for bait and for camp occupied most of 
the day, as we had 300 hooks to bait, and I was pre- 
ferring suckers. The fish bit very fast, and in .eight 
hours we could get enough for bait, and a few catties 
for Sam and some perch and crappies for me would be 
selected. Then getting wood, cooking and overhauling 
lines, eating and sleeping consumed the day and night. 
I watched Sam prepare his new dish, bent on learning 
a new form of camp cookery, and knowing that all such 
knowledge is prized by readers of Forest and Stream 
in their desire to vary the necessarily restricted menu 
of camp fare, I give the details of roasting a soft-shelled 
turtle in camp, first stating that none of the four species 
are found in eastern New York or New England, and 
that they rival green turtle for tke table. 
Sam took the turtle which mrrj been killed the day 
before, cut- through one side of the plastron and re- 
moved the whole interior arrangements and replaced 
them with balls made of flour, canned corn, condensed 
milk and the turtle's liver, with salt and pepper. I hen 
he closed the plastron, encased the turtle m some 3m. 
of a sandy clay, which he found somewhere, and put it 
in a pit where he had been burning wood for hours, and 
covered it up with coals. If Sam had been where he 
could have reached olives, curry, tobasco sauce, rice or 
Philadelphia "scrapple." no doubt all of these things 
would have gone into that turtle. He simply played the 
limit- and therefore, if I ever am guilty of publishing 
a cook-book, I will say: "To roastaturtlemtheashes, first 
draw your turtle, not for the sake of getting rid of any 
portion of its economy, but in order to make a place 
for whatever you may have in camp." I am sure that 
this was the rule that Sam had in roasting a turtle, for 
he used up a portion of all the things we had except the 
canned tomatoes, at which I drew the line. I can eat 
them, cooked, as a side dish, but to spoil the flavor of 
a chop with them or in any other way is not agreeable, 
and old Sam was surprised when I would not allow him 
to put tomatoes into his turtle. "Here, Sam," I called, 
"put in these onions, you've overlooked them"; and then 
I wished for one little clove of garlic instead of the 
onions. . 
A dream which, as Byron says, was not all a dream 
came as I lay on the cot, and the odors of baked turtle 
suggested a feast. I am a firm believer in dreams. I 
believe that we have dreams; what more? Why then I 
believe in them, at least as in Longfellow's Christus; 
"Do you believe in dreams?" "Why, yes and no. 
When they come Irue, then I believe in them; 
When they come false, I don't believe in them." 
My dream was of some epicurean delicacy, bred, no 
doubt, from hunger and a savory whiff from Sam's turtle. 
It was that sort of disturbing dream that awakens a 
man instead of sending him into deeper sleep. The 
sun was nearly down, and Sam was removing the coals 
and ashes from his turtle, and had begun to dig it out 
from its warm bed. He broke off the clay and the 
skin came with it; then removing the plastron there 
was steaming savory turtle meat literally on the half- 
shell, and it was most excellent. I had eaten birds cooked 
in this way, but roasted turtle was a new dish, and I 
have pleasant recollections of it even now, a quarter of 
a century later. 
Sam's Turtle Pen. 
These soft-shelled turtles are very flat and have a 
leathery shell, which is soft and flexible at the edges, a 
long neck with a flexible tube-like snout that is like a 
pig's in having a rooting appendage to it. There are 
four species, but all have these characters. 
I had modified the orders forbidding Sam to reserve 
any game for market, so far as turtles were concerned, 
for I considered them to be destructive to the fishes and 
they would bear the little thinning which we might do, so 
Sam built a log pen to confine them in; it was 8 by 10ft. 
and 4ft. high, with a log flooring to prevent their digging 
out, and it was evident that he knew their habits, if not 
the distinction of species. The camp was now in good 
running order, and we had baitfish enough in the pen 
to afford a day off, so taking trolling lines, with spoons 
and minnow gangs, and the gun, with Sam at the oars, I 
proposed to see more of the lake. 
Some Frogs and Other Game. 
Among the voices of the night I had noted the chest 
tones of many a frog whose lower register proclaimed 
him to be classed as "an old lunker," and I coveted their 
legs. Keeping along shore I saw one, rigged a fly hook 
on a short line tied to the rod,- and told Sam to back 
the boat near the musician. The hook passed close to 
his nose, he snapped at it and was my frog. Killing 
it by a rap on the head, I skinned the saddle and put it in 
the tin pail. Sam's eyes were wide open. "What yo' 
gwine do wid de frawg?" 
"Going to eat it for breakfast, but I want about two 
dozen more, I reckon you can eat a dozen." 
"No, sah, I do' wan no frawgs fo' my b'e'kfas'. I 
heah people say dat Yankees eats frawgs, but I don' 
b'l'eve it; en du'in' de wah dey said Yankees had hawns 
awn dey haids. but I nebbe' b'l'eve dat. Yo' said yo' 's a 
Yankee, so yo' raus' know if dey eats frawgs; does dey?" 
"Some of them do and some don't, but I've seen 
frogs for sale in the markets of St. Louis and New 
Orleans, so other people must eat them. Do you know 
of any animal that is cleaner than a frog?" 
And so the talk went on. I picked up the two dozen 
and could have got several hundred, killed four blue- 
winged teal out of two small bunches, caught two cat- 
fish of about iolbs. each, several gars and a "bowfin" 
(Anna). That night I got the big turtle I was after, an 
alligator snapper that looked to weigh at least 6olbs., and 
I gave all others to Sam, taking the precaution to put 
the big one in the box, leave the hook in its jaw*, nail 
the snood to the box and put the box in Sam's pen. 
In the morning I rolled the frogs in cracker dust and 
fried them, while Sam made the tea and set the table. 
He watched the frying with great interest, merely re- 
marking: "Dey does look nice, fo' a fac'." 
He had fried some bacon for his breakfast, and as 
all was ready I put a frog on a piece of toast and set it 
before him, when he remarked: "I do' wan' no frawg, 
nebba eat dat kin'; smells good tho'; how does it tas'e?" 
I was polishing the bones of frog No. 4 by this time, 
but stopped to say: "You know how much better soft- 
shell turtle is than the hard shells?" 
"Yas. sah, fo' a fac'." 
"And you know how good chicken is?" 
"Yah. hah! 'Deed I does." 
"Well, Sam, these frogs are as much better than 
chickens as a soft-shell is better than other turtles. If 
you don't believe it, try one, it won't kill you. Some 
people call 'em swamp squirrels; you can think they are 
squirrels if you wish." 
Sam was beginning to weaken, He was longing to try 
them, but his life-long prejudice was in the way. I 
said no more, but kept piling up the frog bones, Sam 
dallying with his bacon, while looking from me to 
the frog before him. Finally he said: "I'll jes' tas'e 
dis yah to see how it goes." From a corner of one eye 
I could see him nibble at it, but I would not embaca 
him by a direct look. He paused, considered, and ga 
his opinion as: "Dey ain' bad." 
"What ain't bad?" J 
"Dese yah frawgs," taking a good bite this t«f 
"golly, dey's mighty fine." | 
I had nearly reached the end of my dozen, and all 
of my appetite, but I said: "Sorry you like 'em, Saj 
but take another," and I left him to finish the lot, afjj 
which he said: "I dunno w'at my ole woman ana 
chill'en '11 say ef dey knowed I'd eat a frawg, I 'sped 
hab some fo' b'e'kfas' ebby mawnin' w'ile we's heahJH 
I do' know 'bout tellin' de ole woman. I 'specf^ 1 
get some fo' her an' cut off de feet an' tell her 
swamp squ'ls; den I'll hab to get out w'en she finds 
frawgs. But it'll be fun, an' she'll get obah it, f 
fac'." 
Last Night at the Lake. 
The week had passed quickly, and as I had my 
turtle for Prof. Baird, my mission was ended, but tl 
was my promise to Col. B. to spend some days w 
him after his family returned; and the camp on f 
lake was preferable to a stuffy room in Alexandn 
which was then a small village on Red River, andJ 
"best house" mainly a bar room frequented by a M 
class of river men, whose manners, conversation M 
morals were several degrees tougher than the carap; 
of any leather turtle it had been my lot to meet. The 
fore we stayed on the lake, believing that one night 
Alexandria would be enough, and more. 
Sam had taken up the set lines, and as I had giV 
him the large 10-0 hooks with wire and snood, he 111) 
them carefully inserted in some soft bark, cottonwool 
think, and counted out about 250 of the original S 
He had killed all his turtles, some twenty or more, jri 
weighing from 5 to 2olbs. each, perhaps in all slS 
20olbs., so that we brought out more weight thanj 
took in. We had roasted our teal in the same -ffl 
that the turtle was roasted; had eaten two and had t| 
cold for luncheon on the way, and with frogs, potato 
and tea for breakfast we started. 
Trolling along the lake to the inlet, which we caj 
down, I caught my biggest catfish on a spoon hd 
Sam reckoned that it weighed 2olbs., while I put it 
15. Sam looked at me pleadingly and asked: ffn 
ain' gwine let him go, is yo'?" _ I 
"No, Sam, you may have it, but if we had killed 5 
kept all the things we've caught you would have neeij 
another ark like the Lazy Lou to carry them in. ] 
man has no right to kill things that he does not need, s 
as I pay you for your work, I had no right to take m 
Catahoula Lake one bird, fish or turtle more thanJ 
needed for our food. But, believing that the 1} 
will furnish more food by letting you take these dj 
tructive turtles from it, I have allowed you to take M 
to sell, as a 'perquisite, a tip or reward, if you untJj 
stand me, but where nature provides so bountifully 
man has a right to waste her gifts." 
This was a case where I was conscious that I 
"talking over the heads of the audience," but no oi 
words were handy, and I watched mv missionary efl 
of planting seed in virgin soil. The old man's face sho^ 
how he struggled with this, to him, new and absti 
problem. He tugged at the oars and was silent 
some minutes, then he said: 
"Yas, sah, yo' 'flosofy am correc' ; no man has a- n 
to was'e the good t'ings w'ich de Great Creator 
befo' him; dat's a sin, as yo' say, an' I nebba was g 
of it. De good Lawd He sen' de tu'ttle an' de cat 
fo' de feedin' ob us po' mo'tals down heah below, are 
preachah say 'all t'ings is made fo' man,' an' as yo'-! 
a man has no right to was'e de gif's o' nature, I 
quite on 'stati' how yo' let all de fish go." 
Anent Game Hogs. 
Here was my precept, and example turned against 
From Sam's point of view I had wasted many "gift 
nature" in releasing fish which might have been J 
keted, to our profit. He interpreted the law of 
dominion of man over "the beasts of the field" 
different manner from my interpretation. His appl 
tion of the law was purely personal, like that or 
game hog and the fish hog, who, although they i 
not kill for market, as my old colored guide die 
his honest way, kill for brag. They think that a. 
which sends them an extra lot of birds or fish is t( 
credited to them as great sportsmen, and don't k 
that they are men of that abominable class called h 
I have a whole vocabulary' of words to describe tf- 
but the editor would blue-pencil them all. They be! 
they are great sportsmen, they "have the record^ 
numbers." The fact is that, chance, luck, fortunt 
whatever you may term it, threw an extra amotul 
game in their way at that particular time, and 
killed all they could. We have all known extra 
davs and extra bad ones, caused by influences bej 
our control, chance, if yofl will; the fish were there, 
were not feeding, the ducks were flying wild or not ^ 
and so it goes. 
For my Sunday Dinner. 
Sam accepted the catfish if he did not accept my p 
sophy, and he rowed away pondering on it. We ent 
the stream in silence, and the Lazy Lou was g 
along well against the feeble current, and no word 
been spoken, each being in a meditative mood, wh 
saw a mallard coming down the creek, and as it sh< 
off to the left I raised the gun from its rest or 
knees and fired. The report startled Sam frorr. 
reverie, but he saw nothing to cause the shot, fo 
bird had dropped on land. We had quite a hunt i 
before it was found at some distance from where ]| 
marked it down as well as I could from the boat 
it was a drake, mallard, young, handsome and fat. 
stroked its breast and asked in a tone which I j* 
stood: "What is yo' gwine to do wid de duck?" 
was too polite to ask if it was to be wasted. 
"The duck is for me. Sam. You have enough to 
your family for a month, and the bird will be cooke 
"my dinner to-morrow. It will be Sunday, and 1 
clean up and rest before I present myself to Col. 3 
Monday. You know the Colonel, I suppose, as y 
always lived here." 
The Colonel. 
"I knows him since he was a baby. 
f 
