120 
A WEEKLY JOURNAL. 
D kV-m r > nTx^.» L ^, XN Jl AQDAT "’ 8pOIIT *. I*>’ACTICAL NATURAL II I STOUT, 
TUR 1 noTE '7'°N of Gawk. Preservation of Forests, 
«Tn.T^nrt N<n D CAT,0f< ,nMkn a *° Women of a healthy inteiie^t 
w Oot-doou Recreation and Study: 
PUBLISHED BY 
forest and £freanf ^lublinhing (gomp.vjn, 
AT 
17 CHATHAM 8TREET, (CITY HALL SQUARE) NEW YORK 
[1'obt Office Box 283a.) 
Term*, Rive Dollar* a Year, Strictly Id Adronce. 
A discount of twenty percent, allowed for (Itc coplea and npwarda. 
Advertising Hate*. 
In reirnlar advertising colnmns, nonpareil type. 12 lines to llio Inch. 2i 
cents per line. Advertisements on outside page, •lOcontsperlino. Reading 
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extra. Where advertiaomonts are inserted over 1 month, a discount of 
10 per cent, will bo made; over three months, 20 per cent ; over six 
months, 80 per cent. 
NEW YORK, THURSDAY, APRIL 1, 1875. 
To Correspondents. 
All cotnmnnlcatlons whatever, whether relating to business or literary 
correspondence, must bn addressed to The Forest and Stream Pub- 
lishing Company. Personal or private letters of course excepted. 
A1J communications Intended for publication must bo accompanied with 
eal narno, ns a guaranty of good faith. Names will not be published if 
objection bo made. No nnonymous contributions will be regarded. 
Articles relating to any topic within the scope of tills paper are solicited. 
Wc cannot promise to return rejected manuscripts. 
Secretaries of Clubs and Associations are urged to favor ns with brief 
notes of their movements and transactions, a* it Is the aim of this paper 
to become a medium of useful and rellnble Information between gentle- 
men sportsmen from one end of the country to tho other ; and they will 
find onr columns a desirable medium for advertising announcements. 
Tho Publishers of FonesT and Stream aim to merit and secure the 
patronage and conntenance of that portion of the community whose re- 
fined intelligence onables them to properly appreciate and enjoy all that 
Is bennt.ifnl in Nature. It will pundcr to no depraved tastes, nor pervert 
the legitimate sports of land and water to those huge uses which always 
tend to make them unpopular with tho virtuous and good. No advertise- 
ment or business notice of an immoral character will be received on any 
erms ; and nothing will be admitted to any department of tho paper that 
may not be read with propriety in tho home circle. 
We cannot bo responsible for tho dereliction of tho mall service, if 
money remitted to ns is lost. 
Advertisements should be sent in by Saturday of each wook, If posslblo. 
CHARLES IIA LLOCK, Editor. 
WILLIAM C. HARRIS. Business Manager. 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
guns, which shoot so admirably at first, the subsequent 
rultle and 6huking to pieces is produced by this very cause. 
The Roper four shooter hns an attachment which screws 
on the muzzle of the gun, to produce this effect; an exte- 
rior concentrator, which, however, is adupted only to sin- 
gle barrels. The letter ftoin our correspondent, “Royal,’’ 
which we publish elsewhere, gives a further trial on our 
side of the water, and wo shall look with interest for tho 
results of the grand Field trial. 
The withdrawal of Messrs. W. and C. Scott & Sous from 
this trial will deprive it of much of its interest, but their 
reasons for so doing, as related to us by Mr. W.M. Scott, their 
representative now in this country, are 60 well founded 
that, while regretting the absence of guns of their ac- 
knowledged make, we cannot but approve of their deci- 
sion. The intricacies of the gun trade nre so different in 
England from anything which exists in this country, as to 
require some explanation in order to be understood. The 
Messrs. W. and C. Scott & Sons arc not dcolcrn, in the com- 
mon acceptation of the word, but manufacturers on a large 
scale, who furnish many of the retail dealers with guns, 
the latter using their own names and stamps. Therefore, 
it would he not unlikely that in a trial of this nature their 
acknowledged guns would come into competition with 
others of their own make, hut which purported to emanate 
from other dealers. The embarrassment of the situation 
is obvious, and the Messrs. Scott have done wisely in with- 
drawing. On this side of the water, however, this cause 
does not exist, and we look forward to seeing them again 
at the head of the list in our next home trial. 
Z3T Our patrons are cautioned againBl sending bank notes 
to us by moil. Bend only drafts, checks, or Post Office Or- 
ders. 
THE BORING OF SHOT GUNS. 
W E had purposed continuing tho reports of English 
trials of guns bored on the new, or American prin- 
ciple, by which Messrs. Scott, Greener, Dougall, and other 
makers claim to have achieved such wonderful results in 
the way of pattern and penetration. The approaching 
“trial,” however, instituted by the London Field, is calcu- 
lated to be so thoroughly exhaustive that we prefer to wait 
for its completion before going further into the merits of 
the subject. Tho conditions of the “trial” are too volumi- 
nous for us to reproduce iu full; briefly, they aro as fol- 
lows ; — Such maker can enter three guns; an adjustable rest 
is to be used. Guns of from eight to twenty gunge will be 
allowed, the latter size to be allowed a latitude of one 
eighth ouuce shot. In the second round No. 5 shot will be 
substituted for No. 0. Every gun to be fired into a pit five 
times from each barrel before trial, and no wiping out to 
be permitted until after the contest. The further condi- 
tions regarding powder, shot, wads, and pads are not mate- 
rially different from those in force at previous trials. The 
Field gives cups of the value of 40 guineas and £10 re- 
spectively, besides bearing all the expcuscs of tho trial. 
The result of this competition, for which the preparations 
are so elaborate, should be conclusive, as fur as the work of 
the competing makers is concerned, but the question of the 
desirability of the method of boring, by which this close 
shooting is to be obtained, is by no means determined. Of all 
the voluminous correspondence published ou the subject, 
the letter of “Enquirer,” in the Field of February 27th, writ- 
ten from 8t. Louis, is the most to the point, and while pre- 
dicting that the American system will come into general 
use in England, he claims that it will be at the expense of 
general efficiency in the gun. If we are rightly in- 
formed, Mr. Greener, senior, many years since adopted this 
system of “choke boring" in order to produce close pat- 
tern, but after a lime discovered that it was at the expense 
of the gun made, for it stands to reason that the gradual 
narrowing of the bore of the gun towards the muzzle, by 
which concentration of the charge of shot is procured, also 
produces greater friction and consequent wear and tear. 
Indeed, it is not improbable that with our American made 
ICE PHENOMENA OF NEWFOUNDLAND 
S HOULD any one wish to study the striking phenomena 
of ice-fields and icebergs, let him go to Newfound- 
land, and during the first four months of the year he will 
And around its coasts ample materials for such studies. 
Duriug those months the great Arctic current — “a river in 
the ocean”— which sets out of Davis Straits, is laden with 
icebergs and ice-floes, of which Baffin’s Bay i9 the factory. 
Even so early ns January these ice-masses begin to show 
themselves off the coasts of Newfoundland; but February 
and March are the favorite months for the transport of the 
vast ice crop from the place of its growth to the bosom of 
the Gulf Stream. A river of ice. from one to two or three 
hundred miles in breadth, and from fifteen hundred to two 
thousand miles in length, then flows slowly and majestically 
past the shores o i Newfoundland. The icy stream is not 
continuous, varying considerably at different times, accord- 
ing to the season, and the manufacturing and exporting 
energy of the ice works. Neither does this frozen river 
follow the same track invariably, as the direction of the 
prevailing winds determines whether it shall press closely 
on the shores, choking up bays and harbors, and, at times, 
establishing an ice blockade, or be broken up and driven 
off many miles out of sight of land. A few hours of 
easterly wind deflect the great ice current and drive it in 
on the shore; while before a westerly wind it speedily 
vanishes, and the green waves are dancing where, a few 
hours before, the icc-fields were spread, grim and ghastly. 
Still the ice-laden stream steadily pursues its way, bearing 
on its bosom thousands on thousands of icebergs, and 
transporting ice-fields hundreds of thousands of square 
miles in extent. Here sails the towering iceberg, its white 
pinnacles glittering iu the sunbeams, or reflecting tremu- 
lously by uight, the stars from its gleaming snow-white 
peaks. There, when the winds are hushed, the ice-field 
spreads its ridges and furrows, wrapping old ocean in a 
huge winding sheet, and gliding along in silence deep as 
death. Bui when the storm rises, and rends the glittering 
sheets, by ocean’s swell, into floes and piles them up in 
hummocks, dashing them against and over each other, then 
the thunders awake. Then begins, for the poor mariner 
the reign of terror. With a mighty swing, an icefloe a 
million tons in weight is hurled against a huge iceberg 
which is like an Alp afloat, its summit being 200 feet 
above the waves and its base 1,800 feet below the surface. 
The blow makes the ice-mountain shiver but cannot over- 
turn it, and the floe is rent and torn, with a noise like 
thuuder, into a thousand fragments which are piled ou one 
another, or strewn over the ocean, far aDd wide. Or, 
perhaps, two enormous fields of ice, under the influence of 
opposite rotatory motions, rush together in a death grapple. 
The struggle is frightful, but it is only for a moment. The 
weaker yields, and with a noise louder than thunder, is 
crushed beneath the waves, while fragments of the 
weightier giant arc piled to the height of thirty or forty 
feet ou the hack of his conquered foe, as though to bury 
him deep in the fathomless sea. In these collisions, ice 
twenty or thirty feet in thickness is rent in enormous 
fissures^ and beaten into fragments. The ocean is covered 
with rolling masses, hard as floating rocks of granite, as 
this tournament of the ice-giants proceeds. Heaven help 
the unhappy vessel that is caught in this drifting “pack!” 
Perhaps the night comes down dark and stormy, while the 
choking, blinding snow-drift is hurled on the wings of a 
fierce nor’easter, and the spray bents perpetually on the 
deck, freezing as it falls. No situation more trying to 
human courage and endurance cau be imagined. The 
straining and groaning of the ship’s timbers, while the huge 
blocks of ice strike her, as if hurled from a catapult, mak- 
ing the masts quiver at each blow — the uproar all around, 
as tho blows of the ice-giauls resound— the rush and roar 
of the snowstorm overhead; these make up a scene 
enough to appall the stoutest heart, It is amid dangers 
such as these that the seal hunters of Newfoundland pursue 
their perilous calling, and undismayed by all the terrors of 
the scene, they boldly steer their vessels into the hideous 
tumult in pursuit of their prey: — 
“Men most work and women ninet weep. 
Though the harbor bar be moaning!" 
The vast numbers in which icebergs are borne past the 
shores of Newfoundland are almost incredible. On a clear 
day, from the summit of a bill overlooking St. John’s, one 
hundred icebergs, great and small, can sometimes be 
counted. It is impossible to imagine u more strikingly 
beautiful object thau one of those stately wanderers of the 
deep, Luge and solitary, proudly and defiantly sailing on- 
wards, regardless alike of wind and tide, borne irresistibly 
along by the deep sea current. The waves that dash in 
foam against its sides shake uot Die strength of its crystal 
walls, nor tarnish the sheen of its emerald caves. Sleet 
and snow, storm and tempest are its congenial elements. 
Icefl-oes come in its way, and are shivered to atoms; storms 
rage but it heeds them not. Proudly it flings buck the 
billows from its projecting crags and pinnacles, which 
gleam like cliffs of chalk or white marble. We fauey that 
nothing could avail to destroy such a giant mass, and that 
it may sail on for ever. But all the while the rays of the 
sun are playing on its surface aud silently penetrating its 
substance; and the warm breath of Spring is loosening its 
joints and relaxing its strength. Streams begin to pour 
down its great sides. Huge crags drop down with sullen 
plunge into the ocean. Large pieces become detached aud 
float away in independent existence. Presently it becomes 
top-heavy, loses its equilibrium and turns on its sides or 
reels completely over with a thundering crash, making the 
sea boil into foam, and causing a swell that is perceptible 
for miles. Woe to the luckless vessel or boat that may be 
in too close proximity when this occurs. At times the 
berg cannot recover its equilibrium, and continues rolling 
and tumbling like a huge porpoise, dropping fragment after 
fragment, in its uncouth gumbols, till the whole mass falls 
asunder like a wreck. These rolling icebergs, which are 
peculiarly dangerous, are called “growlers” by tho seal 
hunters. Or the berg may right itself by complete inver- 
sion, and sail on ward, reduced in dimensions, and enveloped 
in mist, until it reaches the w.irm waters of the Gulf 
Stream, where it is finally dissolved. Seldom are any ice- 
bergs ever met with farther South than 40 J of North lati- 
tude. Even when the Summer warmth is but slight, it is 
surprising bow rapidly the smaller bergs which get aground 
dissolve under the influence of the sun’s rays. As the 
Summer advances they become very brittle; and then a 
slight degree of violence is enough to rupture them. It 
sometimes happens that during a storm the seamen try to 
moor their ship for safety under the side of an icebeig. 
In planting an ice-anchor in its surface, when in the brittle 
stage, even tho blow of an axe will sometimes rend the 
huge mass asunder, and the fragments falling ou the 
vessel will crush her like a nutshell, and send the ill fated 
mariners to a eatery grave. It is a perilous matter to 
make friends of sucli treacherous voyagers. The safest 
plan is to keep a respectful distance from the monsters. 
Many a gallant ship has met her doom by striking oil an 
iceberg during the darkness of night, or when enveloped 
in thick fog. 
Tiio utmost vigilance is required in navigating the ice- 
laden seas around Newfoundland. The submerged part of 
an iceberg has often sharp ungular points projecting, ou 
which should a vessel strike a fatal wound may be inflicted 
in a moment. It sometimes happens, too, that a fragment 
of ice, 200 feet in length, has an iceberg resting on each 
extremity, and keeping it sunk at a certain depth below the 
water; ships may then sail between the bergs and over the 
sunken fragment, but it n a perilous undertaking. Should 
one of the bergs shift its position, and set free the sunken 
floe, it will rise to the surface and hurl the ship into the 
air with a tremendous force, leaving her a shattered wreck. 
Should a vessel be caught between two bergs, or between a 
floe aud a berg in motion, she could no more resist tho 
pressure than a wine glass could withstand the effect of a 
ball discharged from an Armstrong gun. 
The majority of the bergs coasting along Newfoundland 
aro of no great size, but occasionally some are seen of vast 
dimensions. Captains of vessels have more than once re- 
ported meeting with bergs half a mile in length. This 
might seem an exaggeration; but one was seen by Ross, in 
Baffin’s Bay, two miles and a half long, and fifty feet 
high; nine times as much of the berg being under the 
water as above the surface. The weight of this berg was 
estimated at 1,292,397,673 tons. The visible portion of an 
iceberg is only about one-ninth part of the real bulk of the 
whole mass; so that if one be seen one hundred feel high, 
its lowest peuk must be 800 feet below the waves. But, 
bergs are frequently seen 200 and even 300 feet above the 
sea; and these, if their sub-marine portions sank to the 
maximum depth, must have reached the enormous total 
height of 2,700 feet ; that is rather higher than the Cheviot 
Hills. The bergs aro of all shapes os well as all sizes, 
sometimes rising into pointed spires, sometimes taking the 
form of a conical hill, sometimes having domes and pin- 
nacles. The most general form, however, is with one high 
perpendicular side, the opposite side very low, and the in- 
termediate surface forming a gradual slope. When of this 
form the higher end is generally to windward. Some have 
been seen containing prodigious caverns, and some with 
hollows, having vast accumulations of snow. Their ap- 
pearance is that of chalk cliffs, with a glittering surface 
and emerald-green features. Pools of azure-blue water lie 
oq tUeir surface frequently, or fall from them in cascades ( 
