Oct. §7, 1900,} 
During the times of ttiigtation, wafblera, creepefS and 
a great many other small birds were to be seen along the 
shores by day. I could not identity them in their winter 
plumage. Towhees and various kinds of thrushes stayed 
vvith us from fall till spring, and could be heard chirping 
among the small palmettos in the morning or evening. 
The whistling of the cardinal grosbeak heard through- 
out the day was pleasing music. The mockingbirds were 
residents during the entire year, and toward spring sang 
day and night, their most ambitious efforts being sere- 
nades to the full-moon. 
Small flocks of bufflehead and diisky duck appeared in 
the fall. "VVc had fine shooting for a while, as our canoes 
were scarcely noticed by them. However, the hunters 
with sailboats and launches soon made the game wary. 
Years ago, before much hunting was done, the fishermen 
used to catch a great many water fowl in the shad nets. 
The St. John's, though, is not productive feeding ground 
for birds of this class. 
The bass and perch fishing, the only kinds, were disap- 
pointing. Negroes were almost the only anglers. Boat 
[oads of them were out every warm day, and the same 
shiny faces were to be seen in the same sunny coves. 
None of the fishermen ever had any luck. A positive 
gloom appeared to envelop eacli group. Lines of white 
eyeballs glared at floating corks with a vindictive stare. 
The snag that dared to interfere with any of those hooks 
was punished. There was never any hilarity or song from 
those boats. The occupants asked one another for bait 
cither in whispers of sepulchral tones. Such intentness 
on such a river was remarkable. It was impressive. We 
would watch awhile, then witli gently plied strokes we 
passed on. feeling as if we liad viewed the dead. I haA^e 
often tried to conjecture what the result would have been 
had a fish by chance plunged one of those corks be- 
neath the water. 
There were times when the bay in fi'ont of ollf house 
became em-aged because of liarassing winds that whipped 
the moss of timber on the banks, hissed whitecaps over 
the water, and lined our shore with foam — a passion so 
violent that we could hardly make headway against it 
with canoes, and spent hours to reach the bend on the 
opposite side. These trips throu";h a storm that washed 
decks with waves and faces witn spra)^ while the wind 
held us iiv a grip were exciting. The rowboats that 
ventured out at such times were either propelled with 
difficulty or with a rush. Sailboats scudded at terrific 
speed with canvas reduced to the smallest rig, The wild 
dreams of the river pleased and appalled all of us. 
Calm days w'ere .such a contrast. The quietude of semi- 
tropical shores, the mirror-like condition of water, the 
brightness of sunshine, and the gentleness of breeze 
soothed us into a languor in which we cared not for yes- 
terday nor to-morrow, but wished to live forever in the 
delightful present, and glide past banks where flowering 
limbs sprinkled us with petals, past cypress forest from 
whose dark depths came woody perfumes, b}' palmetto 
swamps, sunny shores, sunny marshes, our course aci'oss 
bay, through narrow bend, over long reach to other bays, 
bends and reaches, on a river certainly the most beauti- 
ful that ever existed, and in a climate the most delight- 
ful. Sometimes we would land in solitudes so quiet 
that the tapping of woodpeckers became an uproar, and 
sometimes on shores where there were no noises. 
One cruise was a varied experience. I made it alone. 
Our cook, an old aunty, had provisioned my boat well, 
because I reminded her so much of her long lost son 
who had always been "a-pirouting around the woods." 
Starting at sunrise, I arrived after three hours of slow 
paddling at a creek ten miles up stream. The waj'^ 
through this was alternately in shadow and sunshine. The 
forest was composed of huge cypress and of more kinds 
of palmettos than I had ever seen before. Grapevines 
and unknown vines leaped from limb to limb at dizzy 
heights. Flowers were abundant. Scarcely any birds or 
other living creatures were to be seen. A camp of hog 
hunters shook their heads to the wag of a bloodhound's 
tail when they had questioned me. 
"I ain't a-saying a word ag'in your little boat — it's 
right pretty, it sure is — but it 'pears to me if I was out 
here by mj'^self, I'd want to be in. something big enough 
to float a man." 
A native at the landing further up stream told .me of 
deer that he had chased into crotches of trees, then 
caught alive. He marveled at my intending to camp 
alone on the lake shore, declaring that there were 
"scads" of bear in that vicinity. A small steamer came 
upon me unexpectedly while I was bidding farewell to 
this loquacious friend. A few miles more of paddling, 
or ten miles of creek, brought me to Lake Crescent, a 
narrow sheet that extended far away to a nearly invisible 
shore. 
A log road that left the lake at a place several nides 
from the entrance ran back through palmetto swamp and 
beneath live oak limbs to dry ground. A group of 
stunted pines beyond a ditch made a suitable place for 
camping. The view through cypress forest ended in a 
perspective of white tree trunks. The array of cypress 
knees, white stumps shaped like bottles, resembled an 
army of pigmies halted in the shadows. The pine hills 
inland during the afternoon were bright with simshine, 
Camp, when established, was a cozy retreat. 
I rested in front of the tent when work was over and 
watched day change to night. The wilderness was not 
lonely. Small birds like wood thrushes, their eyes nearly 
as large as shoe buttons, peered at me from ditch brush, 
and flew about uttering notes that resembled the fall of 
dropping water. Towhees flew up from the small pal- 
mettos just before sunset to inquire of one another whether 
there would be light for more scratching. Squirrels in 
big timber announced with b arking that the sun still 
slione where the upper set lived, for the light through 
the high moss was indeed a glory. This faded, hills in 
the opposite direction became a shadow, night enveloped 
everything except the visible world around the camp- 
fire. All noise except the music made by rushes of air 
through high timber then ceased. 
;\t the daikest hour of the very dark night I heard some 
ponderous creature coming through the brush, not in a 
straightforward manner, but with clumsy hesitation, at 
times wallowing among palmettos or other thick growth, 
divertint!; the line of its approach to one side, then to the 
other, the tardiness of its appearance becoming at last 
P0R£ST- AND STREAM. 
so unbearable that 1 seized ray gun aiid awaited with 
extreme trepidation the arrival of the unseen visitant. 
Even when the foe had become ensnared in the brush 
just beyond the fire nothing for a moment was dis- 
cernible. Then I saw two glowing balls that shone from 
a large black head, on which there were white horns of 
wicked length, the whole countenance the most terrify- 
ing apparition that ever disturbed a peaceful camper, and 
being, without a doubt, that of the prince of all evil. A 
well-aimed pine knot taught that inquisitive black steer 
with whom he was trifling. I left for home at daybreak. 
The tide, which the day before had flowed toward the 
lake, was running in the opposite direction through the 
creek in the morning, and assisted me again. A barge 
loaded with cross ties passed while 1 was eating lunch 
and afterward became a leader that would turn bends 
half a mile off, to be only a moment later across necks 
of land a few hundred feet wide, but deriding whistles 
in time came back from a great distance. A native at 
the exit of the creek was baiting quarter of a mile of 
trout line with sweet potato. 
Long trips were venturesome because of the water 
hyacinths, the most insidious foe in those waters, flotillas 
that jostled purple flags to a chorus of ''seek-seeks" 
wherever they went — treacherous pirates that forever 
sought to imprison mankind to punish with starvation 
and other means of inflicting death. Yet under favorable 
conditions they were only pretty flower beds, on which 
the spike bloom could be arranged in distinct rows by 
moving our boats slowly, or could be whirled into masses 
of color by our paddling swiftly. Nearly every steamer, 
large or small, that plied on the river had been caught 
by them. Small craft were in constant danger. The 
crew of a rowboat that were caught in the morning could 
not be reached by steamers, and were finally rescued after 
mght by laying boards on the weeds to them. 
The plants accompHshed their purpose so quickly that 
our cove would be changed in a few hours from a spar- 
klmg bay to a weedy marsh, which would exhale muddy 
odors and bring loathsome crews, frogs that made night 
hideous with their singing and moccasins that crawled 
ashore to lie in wait beneath the electric lights — a strange 
condition of affairs that caused us to. wish for immediate 
death and greatly fear it. An ofifshore breeze would 
quickly disperse the floating fields with their nauseous 
smells and obstreperous peediweeps, but would leave the 
serpents for the cudgel of man. 
Six months of constant association made us pretty well 
acquainted with the river. We learned to recognize 
nearly all the boats at sight. Every bit of shore scenery 
became familiar. The coves, jungles, high points with 
views, cypress swamps, and palmetto groves, were all 
explored. The knowledge that we acquired of local 
ornithology, botany and trees was something wonderful. 
In February foliage came on the deciduous trees. The 
first to change were the groves of small cypress in stmny 
shoals. White Hmbs became tinted clouds, then masses 
of green. Wild flowers appeared at about the same 
time. Violets were visible on grassy banks, and blue iris 
carpeted many of the swamps. Later every breath of 
atmosphere was sweetened with great white flowers hung 
high on the big magnolia trees. For a while limbs of the 
wild pear snowed the shallows with petals. Often we 
went ashore to gather deck loads of blossoms. There 
never was such another playground. 
But a thousand springs could not greatly disturb our 
tnend the St. John's. Other large rivers have their 
moods — play or work, are peaceable or angry — but the 
St. John's knows only how to sleep; and sleep he will 
forever and ever, through all time, while earth exists! 
Sun, shine brightly; flowers, be gay; sing your sweetest, 
birds; you cannot arouse from that vast slumber, that 
luxurious ease, that magnitude of restfulness. 
H. L. Steigee. 
B2& 
The Ward Lake House. 
The Ward Lake House is an inn without a host, yet no 
less It welcomes the weary traveler. Supper is over, and 
while the fire still flickers (wood is short to-night) I will 
tell of this diminutive lodging house iti the heart of the 
Hushpuckana Swamp. 
Ward Lake is fed at one end and • discharged at the 
other through Hushpuckana Bayou. To name it were 
to name the acme of untamed nature. Just here where 
the levee crosses, the Ward Lake House is situated— not 
a mile from where the panther uttered his indescribable 
yell, the day we crossed through the "overflow" in a skiff 
a dozen years ago. Time has not much marred the face 
ot nature here, and still the buck and gobbler roam near 
by; ducks sometimes come in for ma'st, and now, in 
the swaying, moaning cypress trees overhead the owls 
hold discourse in dulcet tones. 
Ward Lake is at the middle of a long march for the 
levee engineer. If he left one end, he must push through, 
night or day, but now man and horse can rest. 
There is but one room, 10 by 12. Inside is a bed and a 
small stove. Once there was found a nest of young mice 
between the blankets, but that doesn't signify— thev are all 
grown up now. (Maybe Mr. Hough could teach them 
to smg.) 
The house stands untenanted, except when occasionallv 
a traveler calls who has a key to fit. ?Ie unlocks, throws 
in his saddle and baggage, leads his horse to water and 
gives him the "bait" of oats he has brought along. He 
brings himself a bucket of water, chops some wood, starts 
a hre and lights the lamp. He gets out his bread and 
meat, brought along in his knapsack, takes down a coffee 
pot and a box of ground coffee from the shelf and busies 
himself over the fire a little while, when there evolves a 
feast to be held in no great derision. 
How nearly are the two ends of the earth met! In a 
corner of the Ward Lake House is a long-distance tele- 
phone. The house was built especially to shelter the 
phone which is there for use in times of emergency by the 
levee guards. Charley, out on the river front, has just 
agreed to ring "before day" and have me quickly on my 
w'ay again. At this 'phone you can stand and say. almost, 
'Give me the world." to wit: "Give me New York"— 
even have connection right into the office of Fore=;t \nd 
Stream. Would you like to hear a Ward Lake owl bv 
wire? Wait, I'll call him— or perhaps vou prefer waiting 
till the panther gets tuned up! Tkipod. 
MicsissiPfi. 
Getting Lost. 
t 
Some Experiences in India, 
Talking of getting lost, yott may remember the cases 
in your own experience in which you got "turned round/^ 
and of others in which you got lost. You have traveled 
by river, steamer or train, and have no doubt felt the 
strange sensation of being "turned round," You know 
for certain you are going in the proper direction, bui 
you feel you are going in the opposite one to that in 
which the train or steamer is traveling. This feeling you 
cannot for the time conquer. But you have only to sit 
still awhile, close your eyes, open them again, and ypu 
are back from the land behind the looking glass, and 
your world has again become normal. The same feehng 
takes hold of you as you lie in bed of a night. It may be 
in your own house, it may be in a strange place, some 
railway hotel during a journey, for instance. But the 
feeling is there; this is the preliminary state of mind to 
getting lost. Merely losing your way by taking a wrong 
track and wandering miles even in a wrong direction is 
not what is called getting lost. You must lose all idea 
of direction. The sun or moon, as the case may be, must 
be to you in some point in the heavens where you know 
It must not be, but still you are quite unable to collect 
your senses and to ascertain your position or direction 
in the faintest manner. There are some people who will 
never admit they are lost. A story is told of an American 
Indian who was found wandering about in a foolish man- 
ner ill the woods. He was asked if he was lost. "Lost!" 
said ho. "No, Indian 'not lost; wigwam lost." 
On more than one occasion has it been my lot to get 
.properly lost, and two of these occasions were on the 
huge plain that stretches from the Pegu River on the east 
to the mouth of the Sittang and the sea on the north- 
west and west. Fortunately, the getting lost was for 
only a few hours, but these few hours were hours of the 
utmost perplexity. On the first occasion it was at night, 
and I was alone; on the second I had a guide and quite 
a following, and it was broad daylight. 
I had been in camp near a village called Magyibinquin 
and about eight or ten miles southeast of Pegu town. I 
had already had a few beats in the surrounding jungles 
and I .flattered myself I knew the adjacent country pretty 
well, and believed that I could find my way about. We 
had been after deer only. On one occasion the whole 
village had come out with their nets to show me their 
style of hunting. One solitary dog accompanied us, the 
last of the Pegu hounds of that village, for all the rest had 
already fallen a prey to tigers. And during one of the 
beats It also went to join the great majority. I saw the 
dog go into a bush some twenty yards off. Next there 
was a yelp and then silence. The tiger had without ex- 
posing himself broken the poor beast's back with a single 
blow of Its paw. The country was literally crawling with 
tigers. We used to pot pea-fowl of a morning in the 
reaped paddy fields. If a bird shot at happened to fly 
over into the elephant grass that surrounded these clear- 
ings the dogs used to refuse to retrieve them, as the 
chances were they would meet a tiger face to face who 
equally with them was engaged in picking up the wounded 
birds, ihe knowledge of the presence of tigers was one 
that not only added to the excitement of being lost but 
was a disturbing factor against a calm view of your posi- 
tion, if you happened to be lost at night, 
A short two miles from Pegu is the Kalee stream. It 
has a deep muddy channel lined with impervious jungle 
ihe prevailing bush has a jagged thorny edged corru- 
gated leaf, much in appearance like holly, for which it is. 
made to do duty in Rangoon for Christmas floral decora- 
tions. Coming in from Payagale one morning I pidled 
up at a laager of country carts on the further side of this 
stream. There was a tank with a big peepul tree near it 
hence the place was fixed on as a regular camping 
.ground. 1 he peepul happened to be in fruit and I stopped 
to shoot the green pigeons that were settling' on it in 
large numbers. I made a decent bag enough for the 
dinner pie, and as the sun was getting high I gave up and 
cantered into Pegu. While at breakfast I heard excited 
tallving and saw a crowd bringing in a poor fellow who 
had just been struck down by a tiger. On inquiry I 
found he had gone under the tree I had just been shoot- 
mg the pigeons at to pick some fuel when he was sprung 
on. L confess to feeling rather creepy, knowing what I 
myself had just escaped. A few days later on two men 
tiad put up at a village , on the outskirts of Pegu While 
one of them was busy making the fire to cook the even- 
ing meal the other man was preparing something to cook 
m the rest house above. The man below says he saw a 
<lark mass fly over him and the fire on the floor of th- 
rest house and the next minute he saw his friend being 
carried off by the tiger. 
The day succeeding this occurrence I came into Peeu 
irom another camp. I had hoped to get back early in 
he afternoon I knew the road, so had ridden in alone, 
and was confident I could find my way back again As 
a rule It is much easier to find your way into a large town 
to which all traffic converges than to find your vvay out 
?, i outlying village; but I had marked the turn- 
rell]'. "^V"*^ ^'^^ ^ <^o"ld find it again on mv 
return The afternoon, Uowever, was well spent when 
I started on my return, and I had not gone half a mile 
autllLrf "^|ht settling down on me. and I still in the 
Inr kV i"* ■ ^ ^^u^ ^'r ^^^^ 8^'°°"^ t^e gardens 
.n7h"f P ''T'/^^'" "^y^^^^ °" a brick cause- 
way, and before I knew where I was I was dodging about 
among some rest houses and brushing past the very one 
where the tragedy of the previous ifight had occmred 
ihe taking of the man so close to town had caused quite 
.s<:are, and everybody was giving these rest 'houses a 
wide berth - as it came on for dark, and I found not a 
soul about of whom I could ask my way. I had already" 
begun to lose myself, tor the rest houses were half a 
mile out of my route To do the best for myself I made 
a bee hue, as I thought, for camp till T came on a cart road 
and a telegraph line skirting it, and this I began to follow 
There was a moon of five days old in the heavens and not 
a cloud about. After going a short way I found 
telegraph line going in a direction that was not mine 
On th>s I changed front, leaving the track and ridW 
across coumry. I found myself going toward / dlri^ 
hne which looked like jungle, while my way lay across 
