FOREST And StREAM. 
geneity; in spite of the attenuated region which they 
inhabit, they have few things in common with the bank 
people. Living miles apart, they nevertheless keep up 
an acquaintance with one another. One could trace 
a cabin boat from St. Paul to New Orleans, months 
after the passage. Cabin-boaters tie in beside their 
kind for a night, and there is sure to be intercourse 
between the newcomers and their neighbors, if no more 
than a hail. A river man sizes up another by his "out- 
fit" — that is, the looks of the boat. A man in a good 
skiff, with tent and outfit, is received with less caution 
than one in a 25-foot "ratty" shack, built of drift wood 
and covered v,'ith tar paper. Men like Anderson take 
in a hundred details at a glance. Nets on the roof in 
the weather, frayed rope ends, and unselected firewood 
are a better criterion of a river man than the paint on 
his cabin boat, however, for the river man is always 
"swapping," and some of them change their boats every 
month, as good horse traders change their horses. 
Anderson told me one day that he'd put me "on to 
something. You take the green heads of mallards and 
you skin them out. You take the skins and have you 
a vest made. It'll cost you considerable to have a 
tailor make it, but you go into a restaurant in some of 
those big cities and there'll be somebody looking at 
your vest all the time. Then some big merchant or 
somebody offer you a big price for it — mebbe you make 
$40 or $100 on it," Most of Anderson's tastes, as he ex- 
pressed them, ran in similar lines. 
He liked salted beaver, and the memory of the barrels 
ful which he had put away for winter use came back to 
him frequently. He mourned, almost daily, the dis- 
appearance of game. "I ust to have a hundred ducks 
and geese salted down," he would exclaim. Again, "I 
killed seven wild torkeys out of one tree— shoot the 
inunder von first. Blame dis sifilasion. The Indians 
lifed the right kind of vay. I vould like to live the vay 
they did it. The white men bothered them— spoiled the 
goot vay of living." 
Considering the way Anderson was living, one could 
hardly imagine a more primitive life, save that he had 
to buy his flour and pork instead of raising it, or trap- 
ping substitutes. He mourned the old produce boat 
days. In those times men came down the river in long 
fiat boats, which they loaded down with all sorts of 
vegetables, for sale at New Orleans and on the sugar 
plantations of the lower river. 
Mrs. Mahna and her son dropped in one day while on 
the way to Helena from the mouth of the St. Francis — ■ 
a nine-mile pull, and nine miles against the current. 
Mrs. Mahna had keen eyes, a remarkable chin, and most 
decisive manners. One had only to note the stroke she 
gave her oars to see the sort of a woman she was. The 
dip and recover of the oar blades spelled "head of the 
family" if anything ever did. She came in to warm by 
the fire, and as she wriggled her fingers over the stove 
she asked if we had seen Whiskey Williams go down 
with his gasolene launch and little beauty of a cabin 
boat? We had. 
"I thought likely," Mrs. Mahna said. "You know, 
Anderson, the first time I met up with Whiskey Williams 
was up the river. I seen him coming down stream with 
the wind blowing him fit to lift the roof. He kept look- 
ing up stream, didn't pay any 'tention to my boat, till, 
says I, 'Ha, thar! Gwin to tear my boat up?' With 
that he looks around and grins. 'Throw me a line,' says 
I, and he done it, and I made him fast and swung him 
in, but he not paying no 'tention to me till I yelled, 'Say, 
you gwin to take me with you?' seein' as he was about 
rootin' out my stakes. He no more'n tied in than three 
fellers come along down into^ a blue skiff with a red 
gunwale, an' then I knowed what was up. 'Sure enough, 
they was after him for whiskey boating, but they stood 
off, and went back pretty soon." 
"Did he have any whiskey this trip?" Anderson asked. 
"Naw ! He ain't carried any whiskey down below siiice 
they ketched up with him two years ago and fined him 
$300. That like to have made his heart dreen dry. He 
loads up with medicine now to Memphis, and sells that. 
Las' time he got fined 'twas $50 up the way. Whiskey 
Williams took on so the feller as was judge said, 'Well, 
gimme a drink of good whiskey an' $25 an' you can go.' 
Williams done hit — huee ! 
"By ginger, me and the ole man an' the boy's gwin to 
fish up here this spring. That boy's sixteen now — got 
his own nets. Say, I'm running nine nets myself. 
They're making all kinds of fun of me. My nets got 
inch an' a half mesh, an' they say I'm catching minners. 
Hue-e! I'll minner them, I will. Well, now say, Ander- 
son, what do you say to drappin' down to Old Arkansaw 
River? They say that tough crowd down there ain't no- 
wise so bad as it used to be. Old Best — that feller who 
tried to kill his girl there — married her at las'_ an' now 
he's gone up to Rosalie, layin' in a stake, 'lowing to go 
into a whiskey boat, I hearn say. Well, should he, I 
'low he'll be his own bes' customer, he will. Hue-el but 
don't he go on his high lonesomes, though ! 
"Say, you know after Whiskey Williams got shot up 
that time, I was on to his boat soon's he was out of 
range — thought mebbe he'd got killed. He was just a 
prancing around inside. He was just tickled to death. 
'Never touched me anywhere — ain't a hole in the cabin !' 
said he, laughing happy; but I seen something wet run- 
ning out of one of his closets, an' showed him. He 
jumped like a cat. 'Busted a bottle!' he shrieked, 'Busted 
a bottle ! Lawse, busted a three-dollar bottle !' said he, 
■tas'in' the juice. Well, sir, how that man took on 'bout 
them a-busting a bottle of whiskey while shooting him 
up. My, but he does hold it ag'in them bank folks for 
shootin' that bottle! He ain't never been there since to 
sell 'em whiskey, nuther. Well, boy, you got the kinks 
thawed out of your knuckles? Hain't we better be 
movin', then? All right, come on. So long, Anderson, 
see you 'g'in. You think it over — lots better fishin' 
down the lower river than yereaway. They'll be skifts 
down; send word up, an' if you'll go down, we'll all drap 
down to Old Mouth any day come decent wahmin' 
weather." 
With that Mrs. Mahna popped into her skiff at the 
stroke oar, and away she went with the boy, lifting the 
boat through the water like a _ gasolene. A couple 
of hours later she returned, and without a pause buckled 
into the river current, with six miles up stream yet to go, 
and not minding it a bit. A woman who could tend 
twenty-five nets a day in spring fishing and clear from 
$20 to $50 a week doing it, Mrs. Mahna is a type of the 
"new woman" of the river. "She's a better man than her 
husband," Anderson said. Some wemen of her type are 
known from end to end of the cabin boat waters of the 
Big River. It is worth noting that river women are 
scrupulous about marrying their lovers. Many of them 
have had several husbands — with wedding certificates and 
either divorce or burial certificates to prove their claim 
to respectability. It sometimes happens that one helps 
kill her husband in order that a legal marriage to her 
new love be possible. I saw one wedding certificate on 
a cabin boat in which the name of the woman had been 
scratched out \vith a lead pencil and another one sub- 
stituted; but this appears to have been an exception. 
I was much interested in Helena, Arkansaw. Daily I 
went down there after my mail and to get supplies. 
Sometimes it was convenient to walk around town and 
look at its streets— a genuine Mississippi River levee 
town, it had most of its features different from those of 
"hill villages." It is worth seeiiig — or Arkansas City, 
either, which is of the same sort. 
Raymond S. Spears. 
Medicine in Camp* 
A FEW weeks since some of your readers asked for an 
article upoii how to fill a medical case that had been pre- 
sented to him, and I have waited for some of my profes- 
sional brethren to comply. In the last issue a gentleman 
made some good suggestions relative to the practice of 
medicine in the woods — suggestions that may be followed 
with a great deal of profit by the average woods loafer. 
With the kind permission of the editor, I will attempt to 
amplify his sketch somewhat, in the hope that what I shall 
say may be of value to my hunting and fishing colleagues. 
By far the greater number of causes for the hunter to 
resort to the healing art will be in the various accidents 
that may befall one. Here the old saying that "cleanliness 
is next to godliness" should apply with all the force pos- 
sible. If a wound of any character is kept absolutely 
clean, there is very little danger of it giving much trouble. 
Dirt is the surgeon's abomination. Follow out the first 
aid suggestions of the U. S. Army and do little else. The 
first bottle in the case should be filled with antiseptic 
tablets, known among physicians as Bernay's Tablets. 
They are made in white and blue; get the blue, as there 
is less danger of confusing them with other tablets that 
you may carry in the case. One of these dissolved in a 
quart of hot water makes the ideal antiseptic solution for 
all cuts and wounds; and aside from washing thoroughly 
and binding up in a pad of absorbent cotton saturated in 
the solution, little else need be done to any incised, punc- 
tured or contused wound. Carry a half pound of pure 
surgeon's cotton, three or more two-inch rolled bandages, 
and one yard of sterilized corrosive gauze in a bottle. 
These will make you a full supply of surgical necessities. 
Be careful to not do too much. Meddlesome interference 
will work harm. Resort only to simple measures in all 
cases of surgical nature. 
Your correspondent of last week suggested cocaine. 
Well, cocaine is a good thing in the hands of a surgeon, 
and a very bad one in the hands of a layman. Still, there 
is nothing that will allay pain like it, and if you see fit 
to fill the second bottle with that drug, let me advise you 
to get it, not in the crystals, but in tablet form. One 
tablet will, when dissolved in the hypodermic, make a 
4 per cent, solution which is strong enough to render 
anaesthetic anti superficial part of the body for a time 
long enough to perform any simple surgical operation — 
such as extracting splinters or fish-hooks. Let me caution 
you to be very careful in its use, however, as certain per- 
sons are very susceptible to its action. 
Morphine sulphate, % grain in tablets, is a very valu- 
able adjunct to the case. The indications for use are 
commonly known — pain being the most important. I do 
not approve of the use of the hypodermic by laymen, 
and would suggest that you use all remedies by the mouth 
whenever possible. One tablet of morphine by the mouth 
every two hours will allay pain fully as well as by hypo- 
dermic, and with far less risk to you. 
In all congestive conditions such as colds, fevers, etc., 
you will find that three-grain doses of quinine will be 
invaluable. Therefore, carry some capsules of that drug 
in the next bottle. I will say this to you, unless you use 
at least eighteen grains — that is, six three-grain doses in 
the course of one night — the quinine will do you no good 
in colds. 
The other gentleman spoke of Sun cholera tablets. I 
have found a preparation called "Chloranodyne," as pre- 
pared by Parke, Davis & Co., far superior for conditions 
of that character to anything that I have ever had occa- 
sion to use. Given in fifteen drop doses, it will relieve 
any choleraic condition that it has ever been my misfor- 
tune to meet. I use it on my own person ; and you know 
when a doctor uses a thing himself that it must be all 
right. 
You will do well to take some calomel tablets, say }i- 
grain, or else some C. C. pills, which amounts to the 
same thing. In the beginning of fevers, colds, etc., and in 
fact all places where the system needs a good overhaul- 
ing, there is nothing equal to a grain of calomel, given 
in broken doses. 
As a fever eradicator, there is nothing that will take the 
place of phenacetine, given in five-grain tablets every 
three hours. The action is to produce profuse sweating, 
and persons with a weak heart will dO' well to be cautious. 
Certain persons are very apt to find out when they ap- 
proach the higher altitudes that they are possessed of a 
heart — something that never occurred to them before. A 
few grailules of digitalin will relieve the feeling of suffo- 
cation, and may be the means of saving a life. Therefore 
it may be well to_ carry one bottle with digitalin. It is a 
thing that you will not need, unless there is some heart 
disease lurking about in your system. 
Coughs and colds are a very common ailment, especially 
during the fall and winter seasons. One of your case 
bottles supplied with a combination tablet composed of 
senega, ammon._ bromide, tinct. squill, tr. aconite, ex. 
grindelia, ex. guiac, and supplied to the drug trade under 
the title Senega Compound, will be a very valuable thing 
in the winter coughs. _ 
. Lastly, let a stick of silver nitrate be wrapped in blue 
paper and placed in one of the case bottles. This is the 
caustic par excellence, and may be applied to poisoned 
wounds or bites, stings, etc. Cauterize deep, and then stop 
the action of the drug with common salt. 
You will notice that I have said nothing about snake- 
bite remedies. The reason is this : There is not one case 
in ten thousand where the common rattlesnake kills a 
man. I have lived in a snake country all my life, and 
have never known a full-grown man to die from the bite 
of a rattlesnake. Children and weak persons do' die, but 
not full grown healthy men. At the same time it is not 
pleasant to run the risk, and I will tell you what to do. 
In the first place, there is no medicine that has a bit of 
influence upon any snake bite. The remedy for the virus 
of snakes is as yet undiscovered, consequently it would be 
folly for you to carry a lot of drugs under the assumption 
that you could cure yourself if bitten. The remedy par 
excellence is to remove the poison, and no other is of any 
avail. Wash the wound clean, and make an incision 
across it down deeper than the fangs of the serpent pene- 
trated, then suck the virus out, washing your rriouth out 
with warm water. Do this several times. Before all, 
though, when you are first bitten, tie a handkerchief 
around the limb above the wound and twist a stick into 
it, making an improvised tourniquet. In half hour loosen 
the bandage for a short time and allow a little of the 
poison to flow into the circulation. In this manner you 
may instil the poison gradually, and the system will take 
care of it. After having sucked the wound out fully, you 
may cauterize it well with the caustic. Then, above all 
things, do not get rattled. Keep cool and you are in very 
little danger. I have no knowledge of the bites of the 
southern snakes such as copperheads, moccasins, and 
cotton-mouths, but see no reason why they should be any 
worse than rattlesnakes. The sooner people lose their 
fear of snakes, the simpler the problem of treating their 
bites will be. 
Appendicitis was mentioned by someone. When a doc- 
tor does not know what to do in these cases, there is little 
probability of your being able to do very much. Appendi- 
citis is a matter for the surgeon. If you should have an 
attack of the disease in the woods, simply do nothing and 
you will be doing the wise thing. The average case of 
appendicitis will right itself as far as can be under abso- 
lutely no treatment whatever, and every attempt at treat- 
ing it only renders the matter more complicated. In my 
own work here in the city, I do not give one dose of 
medicine. I shoot them into the hospital as soon as possi- 
ble and proceed to remove the offending organ. I should 
hardly advise your attempting it, however, while out in 
the hills. 
The natural tendency of persons ill with ordinary com- 
plaints is to recover; therefore let your treatment be of 
the simplest. 
In some future article, with the kind permission of the 
editor, I may try to set down some simple rules for sur- 
gical cases that will meet the ordinary requirements. 
Chas. S. Moody. 
Sand Point, Idaho. 
In an Alaska Snow Slide. 
Ira F. Wood, writing from Dawson, Yukon Terri- 
tory, in a letter which is published in the Elizabeth- 
town (N. Y.) Post, relates: 
"We had a little experience in a snow slide Oct. 28. 
It might interest you. It did me for a few minutes. 
We killed eight caribou one day. As one wounded one 
had strayed some distance from the rest, and we were 
anxious to get the game out of the hills as soon as 
possible on account of going to the lower country, we 
decided to haul this one to the foot of the mountain 
ourselves, to enable the dog driver to get to it more 
readily. 
"The mountains were very steep where we were, some 
rising almost perpendicular. The ravines were filled 
with drifted snow, some to a depth that afterward 
proved surprising. It being so early in the season we 
thought there was little danger of a snow slide. So 
we pulled the caribou to the mountain crest and slid 
it down the mountain side through a ravine. We 
watched the caribou until it reached the bottom. Then 
thinking of no danger, we started on a trip that came 
near being our last. George was the first to start. 
Sitting on his snowshoes he followed the trail of the 
caribou and reached the bottom in safety. I waited 
until George was nearly down, so as not to run into 
him. Then, placing my snowshoes under me, I fol- 
lowed the course of my companion. I had only got 
nicely started, when I saw George running for one side 
of the ravine. As he ran, he said: "Ira, we are gone." 
He nearly made the outer edge of the slide when he 
was hurled down and passed from my sight almost 
instantly. At the same moment great seams opened 
up above and below me and tons and tons of snow 
broke away with a roar I shall never forget. As it 
tore down the mountain side with a force irresistible 
carrying with it its two human occupants for passengers, 
I expected each moment to be my last, and even now 
I wonder what power enabled me to keep on top of 
that heaving, tumbling mass of snow. 
"Just before the slide stopped, some distance to my 
left, I saw George in his struggle for life extend his 
arms above the snow. So I knew that he still lived. 
As the slide suddenly stopped I climbed over great 
cakes of snow that had piled up near me and made my 
way as quickly as possible to where I last saw George. 
As I did, I saw him rise slowly to his feet. As he 
stood there bare-headed on that cold day, half ex- 
hausted and suffocated with his struggle between life 
and death, his_ first words were: 'Ira, we are lucky to 
get out of this thing alive. I never expected to see 
you again.' 
"Time will undoubtedly erase from my memory a 
good many of the adventures I have experienced in this 
land of snow and ice; but I am under the impression 
that it will be some time before I entirely forget the 
incident that came so near being fatal on Oct. 28, 1904." 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream should 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., 
New York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
