22 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
[JUlrV 12, ig02. i| 
® 
Concerning the Roustabout. 
Editor Forest and Stream : 
Like your many other appreciative i-eaders, I have en- 
joyed Mr. Spears' series of "Walk Down South" narra- 
tives, and regret that they have come to an end. Mr. 
Spears' observations on the hard lot of the negro [oust- 
abouts" on the steamboat he traveled on, and Mr. Charles 
Cristadoro's subsequent remarks on the same subject, no 
doubt present a true picture of this interesting class of 
the Southern negro, as seen by these gentlemeh, through 
spectacles that admitted no side lights on the canvas. 
The impression made on their minds, however, by the 
partial view of the situation which they had opportunity 
to see, and which they have imparted to your readers, is 
that these negroes are proper objects of commiseration 
and sympathy, from the hard, and inferentially unavoid- 
able, lot to which they are subjected. 
While Forest and Stream is no proper place for a 
controversy on the "race question," I may be permitted 
to cast a few "side lights" upon the picture so graphically 
drawn by those gentlemen, in order to dispel the^ very 
erroneous impression which they have imbibed and laid 
before your readers, as a consequence of merely superficial 
observation. 
The negro steamboat "roustabout" is a sui generis,^ a 
class by himself, a unique figure in the post bellum. in- 
dustrial development of the South. His class is perhaps 
the most independent of all the laboring negroes m the 
Mississippi A/'alley. His servitude in steamboat work is 
exceedingly hard, but is purely voluntary, and is indeed 
his chosen profession, so to speak. The pay he receives 
is several times as great as that of any other class ot 
mere laborer, so that the proceeds of a single trip on 
the boat enable him to lie off. and revel m his most 
coveted luxury of crap shooting and similar mdvilgences, 
until his money is exhausted, when he has no dilhculty 
in making engagement for another trip. 
The demands of the steamboat service on the Missis- 
sippi River are, from its very nature, extremely exacting 
on the "roustabout," taxing severely his physical povyers 
while he is actually at work— that is, during the continu- 
ance of his "trip." These -demands have led to the de- 
velopment of this picturesque class of negro laborers. 
But so far from being proper objects of sentimental 
commisseration. the "rousters" are generally masters of 
the situation, in large measure dictating the terms ot 
their service; and. after the example of the white 
"brotherhoods." not infrequently tie up a boat by refu.sing 
to load or unload her, until their demands are complied 
with. , • - 
During the busy season, when cotton is moving, the 
customary pay of the roustabout on Mississippi Riyer 
boats is s'ixty dollars a month ; and it is not unusual for 
them to strike for ninety dollars, and get it, when there 
is great pressure of business. 
The roustabout as a class is conspicuous even among 
negroes for general cheerfulness, and that disregard of 
life's vicissitudes which is characteristic of the race, ap- 
pearing as happy and contented when without any visi- 
ble means of support" as when receiving regular pay; 
working or idling as the whim takes him. But when he 
has "signed" for a trip on a boat, it is perfectly well un- 
derstood what the work is to be, and that no shirking is 
to be permitted. Moreover, he prefers this kind of em- 
ployment to ahv other, and cannot be enticed into other 
fields where both the work and pay are lighter. _ 
Neither can it be considered strange that a gray-haired 
rouster is rarely, if ever, to be seen, and this for several 
reasons: as for one thing, he drops out of this strenuous 
sort of life when he has passed the most robusl age and 
i-; consequently no longer fitted for it. Another reason is 
that the roustabout is perhaps the most dissolute in ins 
habits of all the negro population, falling a victim to 
diseases that result from such habits of ife, getting mto 
fatal broils with his fellows, and furnishing the_ largest 
proportion of the subjects for the police courts m river 
. The roustabout is withal an indispensable adjunct to 
the Mississippi River steamboat traffic, where trips must 
be made on regular dates, and where freight must be 
loaded and unloaded on time, day and night, and in all 
weathers; and long may he continue to labor and sweat 
in season, and to draw high pay, and laugh and smg and 
shoot his "craps," and slash his fellow rouster with Ms 
?eady razor, and dodge the "cop," and adorn the benches 
of the police courts, and amuse himself m divers ways, 
there being no power to compel him either to do or not 
do these things. Coahoma. 
Mississippi. , 
hurt. He walked a few paces further, and then fell 
again, and lost by drowning what little of life was left. 
"The next afternoon we saw three large elephants, 
each with fine great tusks, crossing the river ahead of 
us. They walked nearly all the way over, having only 
once or twice to swim short distances, and refreshed 
themselves by diving and by squirting water over them- 
selves. We ordered 'full steam ahead,' but failed to get 
within range for a 'killing shot.' The next day we saw 
another very large one, also crossing the river, but 
we were out of range again. About noon a large ele- 
phant undertook to cross the river almost directly be- 
fore our bows. We hastily got our rifles and fired several 
shots at his head, now out, now half under water, as 
he lumberingly swam along. Our steamer had such 
headway that it ran right atop of him, and he passed 
directly under us, and soon was so far astern and to- 
ward the farther bank, that it was difficult to hit him 
at a vulnerable point. Though we blazed away, we had 
the mortification to see him mount the bank and enter 
the forest. We were, however, so certain that he was 
mortally wounded and could not get far, that we sent 
some of our most trusty men to follow his tracks. They 
were gone a couple of hours, but did not succeed in 
coming up with him, so we had to reluctantly give up 
the chase and continue our voyage. 
"During the afternoon, within the same hour, three 
elephants, each by himself, crossed the river ahead of 
us, but all of them unfortunately beyond a satisfactory 
range, though we altered the sights of our Mausers and 
blazed awav as usual. Soon we came suddenly upon a 
huge elephant bathing in the river close to the bank. 
We at once opened fire upon him, but our speed was so 
great we could not get a good .shot, and though we 
thought we had mortallv wounded him, he quietly walked 
up the bank and into the forest. We at once stopped 
and sent a canoe ashore with some men to follow him 
and sec if he was seriously wounded. They returned 
after awhile and reported that though he was bleeding 
profusely, they had not come up with him. The next 
morning, about 7 o'clock, we saw a small elephant cross- 
ing the" river a long distance ahead. We at once 'put 
on steam' and bore down upon him. We fired half a 
dozen shots, and thought, nevertheless, he would escape, 
when, just as he was mounting the bank, a bullet pene- 
trated the brain, dropping him dead without a tremor. 
* * * The elephant we shot this day makes a total 
of four killed out of the eleven we saw on the Kuilu.'' 
These extracts read like the old-time accounts of 
shooting buffaloes from the windows of passing trains, 
and alligators from the decks of steamboats in Florida. 
It is, 'of course, inevitable; it is written m large hand 
in the book of fate. Ivory is in dem.and: beside, there 
is not room for big game, especially of the elephantine 
order, in a country peopled by civilized men. The 
forests must necessarily melt away before the ax of the 
woodman. Farms must be opened up if the country is 
to sustain a large and -prosperous community. The red 
man has been compelled to give place to the white, and 
the buffalo range to the cattle ranch. The same thing- 
is decreed for Africa. The native races must crowd back 
and finally disappear, aSid the great beasts of the African 
forests are doomed. Sic transit elephantus. 
T. J. Chapman. 
Doomed. 
taffy, and was to be so regarded metaphorically, no 
doubt. . . 
[I remember that some antiquated army commissions 
of Colonial and Revolutionary times which were un- 
earthed from our family records, were sealed in the same 
way; only there was less wax. The higher the com- 
mission, the bigger the wax, of course.] 
In view of the fact that the broad acres of Spencer 
Grange adioin the demesne of the Governor General, it 
was, perhaps, natural for me to express my pleasure 
that some portions of the royal fruitage had dropped 
over on his side of the fence, though it must have been 
a vice-regal predecessor who shook the tree. The ap- 
pointees of the Crown at Quebec have always held Sir 
James in the highest esteem, and he has quite a few 
elegant souvenirs from the Princess Louise and the Mar- 
quis of Lome, Earl Dufferih, Lord Elgin and other royal 
representatives; for they have delighted to honor our 
author and scholar whose standard volumes occupy such 
conspicuous places on their library shelves.^ As a further 
tribute to Le Moine's worth, a few of his old friends, 
headed by George M. Fairchild, E. T. D Chambers 
Com. J. U. Gregory, Geo. Van Felson, Mayor Parent 
and such ilk, have chipped in for a life-size portrait of 
the author, which is being pamted by R. J. Wickenden, 
to be presented to him. Each subscriber is to receive 
one artist's auto-lithograph from the painting signed by 
the artist and Sir James. En masse, they form a literary 
galaxy, such as not only Canada but Forest and 
Stream should be proud of, for every mother s son 
of them has been a contributor to its columns, one or 
the other of them, almost constantly, for nearly thirty 
years It was a kind Providence which permitted me 
to meet them all in June, weathered and gray, the old 
commodore still at the head of the Department of Ma- 
rine after 38 years' service; Chambers filling many a gap 
in natural history which tlie books have left uncovered: 
George Stewart, F. R. S., who published Stewarts Lit-, 
erary Quarterlv in 1867, and is now editing the Quebec 
Mercury and Fairchild. the breeziest author of them all 
whose forest runes and volumes of Canadian sport are 
the joy of many interested readers. Fairchild hves at 
Cap Rouge, several miles beyond the city walls on the; 
St Louis road, which is a sort of Canadian Plymouth 
Rock where the earliest French settlers made a landing; 
400 years ago, before Kanucks were known. _ The spot^ 
in itself is extremely picturesque, but historically it is. 
transcendent. I suppose the Laval Museum itself does^ 
not contain as quaint old curios as those which adorn 
the walls of RavenscHff. Everything that the aborigines 
used (or wished to use), whether Iroquois, Algonqums, 
Naseaupies, or Red Indians, may be found about the 
premises, inside -the house or out. ^^^^^^^ ^^^^^ 
Wherever the invading foot of the white man passes, 
he seems to leave behind him a trail of blood and rtim. 
In his footsteps later on may spring up amelioration 
and improvement; but before his face the native races 
of men and animals give way and disappear. It has been 
emSiently so in this country, and the same process of 
Srpation has begun in Africa, /he spirit of gam or 
of sport that has practically wiped out the buffalo heie 
is n operation against the elephant over there. Mr. 
Frank Vincent, noted as a traveler, author and natural- 
ist, in his excellent book, "Actual Africa/', gives us a 
glimpse of the work of extermination of this noble ani- 
mal as it is carried on in the Dark Continent. At the 
time of his writing (1895)^ he '^^^if-'^^l^f^?,^, 
chants were killed annually in Africa. The modus 
operandi may be seen from the following extracts .from 
Mr. Vincent's description of his trip up the Kassai and 
"^"The"da?" after, early in the morning, as we were 
rounding a sharp point, we were greatly surprised at 
seeing a large elephant quietly walking across the river 
and half out of the water, just before us. Withm a 
minut^e we had fired five shots at him, three taking ef- 
f^cr and bringing him to his knees. He quickly re- 
covered himself, however, an'd kept on his way, but soon 
fell again, and kicked and rolled frantically. Then he 
gained his k^X onge more, but we saw that be was badly 
Knights of the QuilL 
The coronation honors awarded to literary men of 
England on June 26, whereby they received the title of 
Sir Knight in the new Order of Merit, will be grateful 
to the distinguished recipients whom the world of let- 
ters knows, and admirers. No doubt the distinction 
is well bestowed. Those named are: Conan Doyle, 
the novelist; Gilbert Parker, the traveler and author; 
Francis C. Burnand, the editor of Punch; Leslie Stephen, 
president of the Ethical Society; diaries Wyndham the 
actor, and Oliver Joseph Lodge, principal of the Uni- 
versity of Birmingham. 
In this signal bestowal King Edward has but fol- 
lowed the example of his illustrious mother. Queen Vic- 
toria, who thought fit, some two years before her death, 
to thus recognize the literary merits and distinguished 
abilities of James M, Le Moine, of Quebec, whilom 
president of the Royal Historical Society of Canada, 
the author of some forty valuable volumes of history, 
science, legend and belle letters, in French and Eng- 
lish and already the bearer of many enviable distinc- 
tions conferred by dignitaries and societies on both sides 
of the Atlantic. So that, whosoever may exult or revel 
in the halo of present consideration, or may fall into 
the line of preferment hereafter, the precedent will stand 
tliat Sir James is the first and only literary beneficiary 
of her gracious Majesty; bless her memory! In this 
pre-eminence he will be conspicuous while he lives; and 
no one will wish to gainsay or impair the prerogative 
of so worthy and modest a man. . , , , . . , 
Long and useful has been the period of his eventful 
life Many are the friends whom he has survived. Many 
are' the confreres and savans who have been gathered 
around his hospitable mahogany. Numerous the beni- 
sons which have been called down upon his whitening 
head And now, at the ripe age of 77 years, bereft as 
we all are, indeed, but happy in the ministering com- 
panionship of his only surviving daughter, he serenely 
reclines sub tegmini fugi, literally under his own vine. 
enjoying the entourage and letting the zephyrs stir the 
somnolent leaves while he looks calmly toward the 
shadows which are deepening in the valley because he 
sees they are flecked with the radiance of the glory be- 
yond. The end of such men is peace. 
It was my special privilege to lunch en famiHe with 
Sir James last month at "Spencer Grange,' in the staid 
old city of Quebec— and renew an acquaintance which 
had begun a third of a century ago. There I inspected 
his patent of knighthood, which he lift-ed with a com- 
mendable show of pride out of a richly embossed and 
ornate velvet casket emblazoned with the royal arms. 
It was an illustrated parchment, beautifully engraved with 
ornamental script, after the fashion of the college sheep- 
skin" which we students received at graduation, but 
was ' rendered tremendously imposing by an enormous 
pendant of chocolate-colored wax which looked like 
Incidents in an Explorer's Life. 
A Jaguar in Broad Daylight. 
Once I and some companions were sitting in front 
of a hut in the jungles of Central America watching the 
sun set, and wondering at the volume of water m tn< 
flooded river just before us; then from the other side 
I saw a great animal come out of the woods where 
for an instant it stood in bold outline against the sun- 
set "What is that?" I cried, "a tapir or what? AiJ 
Indian sitting near said, "Tiger." Then the men begaii 
callin<>- to the women and children, for some peopl« 
were stopping with us waiting for the flood to run down 
and in an instant there was commotion in camp, bu 
nremely quiet, the great jaguar stood looking acrosj 
the water; then with a slow movement, his eyes fixed oi 
us he walked to the river and began to swim as il in^ 
tent on reaching where we stood and beginning th* 
attack He must have been well hungry to attack s« 
many people, but a hungry jaguar will do anything 
We rushed for our rifles and before the jaguar cotil 
cro'^s the broad river all were prepared for him. Y0< 
saw^ it your shot." whispered one of the Indians, as Wt 
stood 'waiting. Then I stepped ahead of the others 
feeling sure of my game this time. I wanted the skii 
and had just determined to let the. beast reach shallov 
water on our side of the river, feeling sure I could, kil 
before it sprang on us; when one of my companion 
fired over my shoulder, taking my shot, and killing thi 
game while it was yet in deep water. For a momen 
or two it struggled, making a magnificent effort to read 
shore, then sinking below the surface, disappeared for, 
ever, carried down by the swift current. 
A Black Jaguar. 
If one admires nature in the primeval forests of th 
tropics, one is apt to become separated from travelin. 
companions in order to see and admire in undisturbe 
silence. Once on a beautiful clear day. I had ndde 
ahead of a mule train carrying my supplies and mmin, 
equipment, and was making my way alone mounted o 
a stout mule, and following a trail tliat led on throug 
a great forest of giant palms in Central America, ihes 
giant palms spring from near the ground like ferns an 
rise in graceful curves twenty-five to forty feet A 
other vegetation is shut out, and as one passes on gres 
archwavs of green open in all directions, like the isi« 
of an enormous cathedral, only these have no end, an 
blend into one another till they form, m the distanc« 
one solid wall of green, with the long archways leadin 
out to it. In the deep shade of such forests many varu, 
ties of ferns and wood flowers grow in profusion, 
rode on, lost in wonder, till, suddenly there came 
rustling among the ferns, a moment of silence, a rustliti 
a little before me; and then a large animal stepped ca^ 
tiously out on the road, perhaps one hundred yards (. 
more ahead of me. t j- 11 „ ku,> 
I could see that it was what the Indians call a blat 
tie-er It looked at me over its shoulders, hesitated t<) 
a moment, then faced about suddenly, took a few stej' 
forward, and squatted down in the road its' eyes glo\: 
ing, and its great tail beating vigorously from side ' 
side The Indians say if one meets a black tiger, it 
kill or be killed, and it is said that if one of these an 
tnals appears near an Indian village the people w 
desert their houses, and that the Indians wUl nevi 
