Terra*, Five Dollar* a Year. 
Ten Cent* a Copy. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, MARCH 4, 1875 
Volume I, Number I. 
17 Chatham hi. (City llall Mqr.) 
For Forest and Stream. 
RUINS IN MEXICO AND CENTRAL 
AMERICA. 
A RUINED cilyl In the heart 
Of the deep wilderness of woods 
It stands immured— where seldom foot 
Of passing traveler intrudes. 
The groves primeval, year by year 
Above the spot renew their blooms. 
Year after year cust down their wcnlthl 
Of foliage in these desert tombs. 
Altar and idol here arise 
Inscribed with hieroglyphics strange; 
Column and pyramid sublime, 
Defaced by centuries of change. 
Here idols from their pedestals 
Displac'd by roots of mightiest girth; 
There, by a closc-cmbraetlng branch 
Half lifted in the air from earth; 
Or from their stations prostrate thrown, 
Their huge proportions strew the ground, 
With vines and brambles overgrown, 
With interlacing creepers bound. 
No sound of lifcl save when at eve 
The Indian's hatchet cleaves thro’ wood, 
Or trips the Indian damsel by, 
Singing to cheer the solitude. 
No sound, save when the sobbing breeze 
Sighs thro’ the forest's dim arcades, 
Or shrill call of the red macaw, 
Or parrot’s gabble in the glades; 
Or when the chattering monkey troop 
Ollde o’er the tree tops in their race. 
Like wandering spirits of the dead, 
Daunting the shadows of tho place. 
Egypt’s colossal skeletons 
Of temples and of wondrous shrines, 
In the unwatered sands repose, 
Where hot the sultry Summer shines; 
But forests lonely and immense 
Enshroud these ruins from the sight, 
And with their tangled barriers guard 
The hidden secrets from the light. 
Tradition lias no tale to tell, 
And science no record to give 
Of those who roar’d these ancient walls— 
Of the lost race that here did live. 
All desolate these ruins rest, 
Like bark that in mid ocean rolls. 
Her name effac’d, her masts o'erthrown, 
And none remaining of the souls 
Tnat once sail’d in her, to relate 
From what far-distant port she came; 
Whither she sail’d ana what her fate, 
And what her nation and her name. 
But only may conjecture guess 
The fancied story of this place, 
And from these crumbling ruins gain 
Some knowledge of the vanish’d race. 
The wanderer from foreign land 
With awe beholds each mystic spot, 
Ruins of unrecorded years, 
The relics of a race forgot. 
Beneath each gray, sepulchral cairn 
He delves to find the heathen bones, 
The stutues of imperial kings, 
The broken monumental stones. 
All round are sculptur’d pcdeslals 
Mid shivered columns wide outspread, 
Where mighty roots of forest trees 
Spring from the ashes of the dead, 
That in their growth had level’d low 
The pyramids tho soil that strow. 
Hero flowering creepers, glossy vines, 
The shatter’d monoliths o erswept, 
And flowers ’mid painted potteries 
And shapely urns luxuriant crept. 
The dust with antique treasure teems. 
Weapons and ornnments of yore, 
Great vases carv’d in arabesques, 
Idols, that heathen tribes adore. 
Out in the green savannah lands 
The prostrate stones in masses lay, 
Colossal heads with staring eyes 
And fractur’d limbs of granite gray; 
The rnlus of a race extinct, 
The hieroglyphs of langnuge dead, 
Memorials of rites long lost, 
The arms, the wealth of empires fled. 
The stranger’s voice with awe Is still’d, 
III* soul with fascination fill'd, 
When musing in that silent mood, 
With tad. gray plains extended round, 
Amid the burn of insect life, 
’Mid trees with scarlet blossoms crown'd, 
'Mid all I he bloom and solemn pomp 
Of tropic nature's wondron* place, 
Amid the temples and the graves 
Of a once haughty, vanish'd race. 
I. Ml Lx luck. 
For Forest and Stream. 
Jfafys of n <£ ruise it{ Hfentnil 
$11(1 in. 
S OME four years ago I was stationed at Secunderabad, 
in Central India, a large military cantonment close to 
the city of Hyderabad, the capital of the Nizam of the 
Deccans dominions. This prince has a nominal sway over 
a large province extending from the river Kistna on the 
south to the River Godaveri on the north; in reality, the 
country is governed by a very able prime minister, who, in 
turn, ;s under the influence and advice of a representative 
of the British rule. As the city of Hyderabad contains u 
large population of turbulent Mahomedans, Arabs, and 
others who would rejoice at any chanco of a row, it is con- 
sidered advisable to back up the moral influence of tho 
British resident by a material force; hence, some eight or 
ten thousand troops are quartered at Secunderabad, a few 
miles from the native city. No British officer or soldier is 
allowed to enter the latter without an express permit, how- 
ever, and thus there are no collisions between them and the 
natives. 
Once Secunderabad was considered a jolly station ; that 
was a good many years ago, when there was more sport 
round the station, and more sociability amongst the English 
residents, according to those who had known it in those 
days. When I was there it seemed a very dreury place; the 
halo of romance which surrouuds life in the East had dis- 
appeared after a close acquaintance with it, and the various 
drawbacks stood out in bold relief— the heat, the narrow 
ness and stiffness of the small society of the station; the 
monotony and want of interest one felt in a couutry which 
can only be looked on as a pluco of exile, where the white 
man cannot live and thrive. Of sport, there was little; tho 
game for some miles round tho station had been cleared off, 
I pursued my favorite amusement under difficulties; cer- 
tainly it was a bad place for n man with a turn for aquatics; 
still I did manage to do a little boating. About flvo miles 
from my “bungalow" there was a large tank, a term ap- 
plied in India to a collection of water formed by damming 
up a water course and so making a reservoir. In a dry and 
thirsty land like the plains of Iudia, great ingenuity is dis- 
played in making a lank wherever there is a possibility of 
water collecting, and the surface of the country is doited 
all over with them, some of considerable size. Tho “Hoo- 
sain Saugor," the name of the large tank near Secundera- 
bad, was a lake of some extent, being about ten miles in 
circumference, and having a “bund" or dam ubout u mile 
long. To this sheet of water I used to repair occasionally, 
and paddle about in a small canoe I had brought over from 
Burmah with me just to feel myself afloat, and keep my 
hand in. One day, while I was cruising about, I saw a 
little boat drawn up on the bank, and immediately landed to 
examine such a curious phenomenon as a little centre-board 
sailiug boat on the side of au Iudian tank. She was about 
fourteen feet long, of Euglish build, with tho maker’s 
name, and the place she hailed from, “Southampton," on a 
brass plate on the fore part of the coaming; the little craft 
looked forlorn and out of place under the scorching suu, 
half full of mud and water, her white paint discolored, 
and the seams of her halt deck gaping open; while round 
about were native washermen hammering the hapless 
clothes entrusted to them, on flat stones. I made enquiries 
about the boat and found she was one which an enthusias- 
tic gentleman had sent out from England, but was too 
busy to use. He kindly gave me permission to do what I 
liked with the boat, and sent me down the sail and gear, 
which was in a better state of preservation than the boat. 
I rigged up the sail and shoved out into the tank for a 
cruise; being a cat-rigged centre-board, she went very well 
in smooth water, and except the defect of leaking, was a 
very good little boat. I used now to vary the monotony of 
paddling, with an occasional sail; but it was rather slow 
work, although it was enlivened occasionally by the pres- 
ence of ladies to take a cruise, and have afternoon tea on 
a rocky islet in tlui middle of the tank. I longed for more 
extended waters to crulso In, to sail In company with other 
craft, and especially for ii smell of tho “briny." To llnd 
the requisite water wus tho difficulty. There was u river 
certainly, tho Moosii, which flows past the city of Hydera- 
bad, but it possessed tho peculiar characteristics of most 
small Indian rivers, and was a raging torrent in tho wet 
season, and a mass of sand with a trickling rill In tho dry. 
gome hundred ami twonty miles to tho north was tho God- 
averi; happy thought, I might cart the boat out to this 
river, sail or flout down it to the Bay of Bengal, and corao 
back by way of Mosullputoin. This would bo a grand 
cruise, and forthwith I sot about getting as much Informa- 
tion about tho River Godaveri as I could gather from a 
Gazetteer of tho Central Provinces, roporU of survey, &e. 
From these sources I learned that the River Godaveri takes 
its riso on tho custom slope of tho mountains, called the 
Western Ghunts in the Bombay Presidency, from a spring 
amidst rockB in the sacred town of Ntuutlck, according to 
Hindoo belief; then it traverses tho peninsula of Hindustan 
from West to East, and empties Itself into the Bay of 
Bengal near tho town of Coconudu. About 250 miles from 
iin mouth It is Joined by tho River Pranhlln, coming down 
from tho North, the two together form a river of tolerable 
size, even In tho dry sc won. A stupendous scheme for 
making the river navigable from the town of Kamptoe, on 
tho Pranhita, about sixty miles above Its Junction with 
Godaveri, to Coconudn, had boon devised. Between those 
towns there are m regular falls In the river, but Its course 
along Its sandy bed Is Interrupted In three places called 
“barriers," by strata of rock, through which the stream 
makes Its way in u scries of cataracts and rapids In the dry 
season, when tho water Is low. In tho wet season there Is 
a very strong current, but no cataract or rapid worthy of tho 
name. The first barrier, 100 miles from the mouth of tho 
Godaveri, is comparatively short, tho rocks and rapids only 
extending between two and three inllos. A largo dam has 
been built across the course of tho river here, und part of 
the stream diverted into a canal running parallel with the 
course of the river, joining it below the barrier, where tho 
obstructions ceaso. A similar arrangomont wiw being pro- 
ceeded with at the second barrier; this is ubout eighty mile* 
above the llrst, is longer than it, and presents greater diffi- 
culties, there being a full of about fifteen feet at one point. 
Tho River Indra Wutty coming from tho northeast Joins 
the Godaveri. Thu third barrier is on tho Pranhita, about 
seventy miles above tho second, und Is longer, and presents 
more obstructions than either of tho others. No attompt 
to improve tho navigation of the river at this point had 
then been made. 
The country through which the Godaveri Hows is wild 
and consists for tho most part of Jungle. Forty or fifty 
miles above its mouth it pusses through the range of hills 
called the Eastern Ghunts; hero the scenery Is beautiful and 
wild, mountains covered with forest rising above the river. 
Reading and hearing accounts of the river from men who 
hud been there increased my desire to take a eruiso down 
It. In my imagination I pictured myself sailing down past 
wild and romantic scenery, polling occasionally ut deer and 
bisou on the banks, for game was reported to be very 
abundant. Having planned the cruise, I began to make 
preparations some time before the period when I could ob- 
tain leave of absence. Tho first thing was to get the boat 
in order, so I had her carted up to my “bungalow" und 
proceeded to clean bar out, paint her and stretch canvass 
over the deck, so as to make it water light. I even sent to 
Bombay for gold paper, had a ribbon gilt on her top slrako 
and her name painted on a scroll. I called her tho 
"Phantom," after the Colonel of the regiment and his wife, 
(his Christian name was Thomas, and licr's Frances.) 
When she was made beautiful to the eye, I took her 
back to the lank and launched her. I expected she would 
leak a little uflcr having been so long out of water in the 
dry weather that then prevailed; but the rate at which 
she filled and sank directly sbo entered the water, rather 
astonished me. Hoping she would “swell" and tighten after 
a few days, I left her, but when I tried her again there wa« 
