FOREST AND STREAM. 
gentleman did and commenced unloading our fish, having 
been careful to cover the largest of them with the remnants 
of an old seine we found in the boat. Scarcely had we 
.togmi to land our finny captives before the old fisherman 
dfrlaimcd. rather gruffly and in tones evidently of surprise, 
•'Well, I declare, you have done pretty well!” We kept 
on throwing out the fish, and when the two seven pounders 
reached the shore, it was too much for Uncle John, who 
‘guessed he knew what he knew,” and he cried out with 
all the solemn emphasis of a man who felt that he had 
been sold. “What a darned fool 1 was !” What more he 
might have said we know not, for we interrupted him by 
saying, “Uncle John, any time you want to give up 
twenty-eight fish like these for a quart of fiddlers, we are 
the men for you, and laughing heartily, we left the old 
fisherman to think over his knowledge of good fishing 
grounds, and wended our way home, delighted with our 
hall day's sport and its result. Now every time we meet 
Uncle John we jocosely remind him of this piscatory 
reminiscence, and the old man will shake his head and say, 
“sold again 1 sold again I” Rod and Reel. 
THE LEECH LAKE INDIANS. 
Ftm ANIMALS AND FURS— GAME— PASTIMES— HARDIHOOD, 
ETC. 
W ILD clucks breed in this vicinity as well as wild 
geese. Young geese arc easily tamed, and soon 
become as gentle as domestic geese; we have ouc at the 
Agency. 
Indians very seldom catch mink alive; they use the ordi- 
nary rat trap, which usually breaks their legs; besides the 
place of capture is so far from the settlements, and the In- 
dians have i.o way of transporting them, which renders it 
very difficult to obtain one alive. I understand that at- 
tempts have been often made to tame them, but not with 
success They are sometimes found in houses of settlers 
on the frontier picking up any thing that they may like to 
eat, mid then run to their hole to return again when liuu- 
gry, hut they cannot be handled. They frequently live 
about a house all Winter if unmolested. The fur catch 
(except musk rats) is over for this Winter. The skins are 
1 ere wboleBule dea l erd - Furs cannot be bought 
When the Indians start out on the Winter hunts the 
traders (who are regularly licensed to trade on the reserva- 
tion) hi them out and wait for them to pay when they re- 
turn with their furs. When the traders get enough to 
make a tew hales they are sent to the wholesale dealers in 
‘ 1 ^ P»y for goods which the traders purchase iu the 
Fan i have a few times attempted to purchase mink 
skins for myself, but before enough of the same color could 
he procured, moths would destroy those I had; so 1 gave it 
up. I append the latest price list, viz:— 
Fima AND SKINS. 
Lynx, according to size 
mnJ color $3 OOag.3 50 
Otter. No. 1 0 OOulO ( 0 
FlHli.r, No. i s OOall 00 
Hour, according to size 
quality l-i OOniO 00 
do. cub s Ulan.' 00 
Mdrlm, according to size 
un.l qiialli Y 2 noaio 00 
Mountain Wolf, large 3 00 
Prairie Wolf, Jurgc.. .100 
Silver g. fox 25 OOaTSOO 
Heaver, per lb y 00u 7 50 
Hadger go 
Mink, largo, No 1 305 
Crow fox . . . 
ltcd fox... 
'link, email, No. 
.Mink No. 2. . . . 
Mink No. 3.... 
Mink No. 4 
lluccoon 
ISKudJc 
Muskrat, Winter 
! 00a 5 00 Muskrat, Fall 
1 75a 2 2* 
3 00 
2 25 
1 00 
25 
85 
(IS 
26u27 
20a22 
S!!* hand " hi ]° siting, makes several contor- 
tions with his arms and body, places rapidly one ball under 
each moccasin, which are arranged in a row before him 
Now the opposite player takes the wand and looking in- 
tently in the eyes of his opponent, makes a point to strike 
oue of the moccasins then another; finally turns over two 
of hem; if the marked ball is found, the moccasins and 
balls are passed over to this side and the opposite player 
proceeds as the cither did, placing the halls under the moc 
casins. If he misses turning llic moccasin having the 
marked ball he pays four sticks, and the game goes on until 
tile ball is found. When the twenty sticks Tiavc passed 
over to the opposite player, a separate stick is stuck iu the 
ground as a tally, and so on until the number of tallies 
agreed upou are won by one side or the other. Sometimes 
they choose to turn hut one moccasin, whon if they loose 
they pay two sticks; sometimes they turn three moccasins, 
and if they lose they pay six sticks. The skill in the 
game is for the player not to indicate by his face, or expres- 
sion, the location of the ball, and his opponent’s object is 
when he makes a feint to turn the moccasins, to read by his 
opponent s countneance whether the marked ball is under 
it. Ilie drumming, howling, and rattling goes on uuccns- 
inglv. About this time, wheu the Iudiaus are in from the 
hunt, we can hear this drumming in five or six locations 
all day and night, in the wigwams situated around the 
Agency. In the bummer season they play on the grass 
and when one of the purty becomes fatigued he rolls him- 
self up iu his blanket and goes to sleep, the others con- 
tinuing the game. Yesterday, while returning from the 
trading post, I saw a lot of Indian hoys playing on the snow 
banks; two or three of them had nothing on but a calico 
shirt and a breastpin. They seemed to be eujoying them- 
selves finely, with no appearance of suffering from cold al- 
though the thermometer marked 0° above zero 1 cannot 
account for their apparent freedom from suffering from 
cold unless the amount of dirt on their feet and legs served 
the purpose of clothing. The Indians never wear pants, 
but leggms only, and consequently the hips are perfectly 
naked all through the extreme cold winters when the mer- 
cury often marks 40° below zero. They have a frock coat 
made from a blanket which covers the hips, hut as it 
is open and no lining in it, there can be very little warmth 
in it. Another singular thing about them is, that it is not 
unusual for a squaw while traveling with her wigwam and 
all her earthly possessions oa her back, to stop ut night 
build her wigwam, gather wood for fire, and give birth 
during the night to a child, in the morning pack her wig- 
wam on her back, take her baby rolled up iu her blauket 
and march on, keeping up witli her companions all day as 
though nothing had happened to inconvenience her! ' 
I have never attended a case in parturition among the 
squaws, nor do I care to. 
, , _ , „ Henry McMahon M. D. 
Leech Lake, Minnesota, March 11th, 1875. 
For Forest and Stream. 
HARRISBURG HEARD FROM. 
The trader will uot allow his skins to be selected to ob- 
tnin a particular .shade and quality at any thing like the 
figures given, as they depend on the large and prime skins 
in a great measure to sell the poorer qualities 
The Indians all use snow shoes at this season of the vear 
and arc very expert travelers ou them. An adult snow 
shoe measures about three and a half feet in length i« of 
an oval shape, about oue and a half feet across Hit widest 
JK’, • , Tilc , n ' tenor of the shoes are laced with strips of 
raw hide and linen twine. F 
I frequently see moose horns. The Indiaus do not bring 
, iw!| U 7’,? thc 1Unt Unle f some s P eci, ‘! inducement is 
offu ed, as they are so very heavy and difficult to carry 
We have here only the white-tailed deer. The commonly 
received opinion is that deer, moose, and elk shed their 
“2 r r - 111 ' ! ! V' na ry and Fe bruary , and that every 
,llS a , n i ad ^ ,0,ml P rou g- The first horns grow 
%\ hen t a o years old. 1 have noticed deer huving full horns 
from Au gust, to January, but cannot remember seeing any 
horns t urn^ln, erynls. I remember last June in travel 
mi I lhrou S h the country a distance of seven 
mb s, I counteuTwenty-one deer, but not one of them had 
I-' ’T; . f T r ' Cy " my e 1 V lVe a " bec " doea - Have ridden within 
6 x 7- 1 °f so , me °f tliem and could not drive them away by 
shooting at them; they had their young close by and would 
f UI „ ea .i e 1 leu m, 1 he f,nv ! a hfts no SCcct ’ 80 dogs cannot 
follow them. 1 hey are easily tamed and soon become in- 
tolerably mischievous by jumping into gardens and eating 
the young vegetables. b 
Fite fare from St Paul, Minn., to Albany, is about$ 40 - 
fiom St. 1 mil to Bramerd, $10; from Bramerd here, * 0 . 
fake the cars by any route to Chicago. From there if 
}°u have time, take cars to La Crosse and the steamboat 
fiom there to bt. Paul, which makes a delightful trip. 
Fiom Buffalo you can take steamboat to Duluth all the 
way by water. This route affords a splendid opportunity 
to see the great inland seas. Duluth is about 150 miles 
from Bramerd by railroad. The fare this way would be 
less, but would occupy more time. 
The wild rice I send is a powerful diuretic. It is very 
palatable eaten with milk like white rice. 
The Indians are inveterate gamblers; many of them are 
expert euchre players, but their great game is what we 
can i no moccasin game.” It is very simple and always 
^played with the utmost fairness and good humor I have 
Ktmwjfcit to be played without cessation for a week. They 
U aw< *y blankets, gun, kettle, pipe, iu fact every 
fey possess The game is played iu this manner; a 
Fis stretched on the ground with two or three players 
ne, tom moccasins are obtained, and four bullets; 
i i fll S e i ullols 18 mark ed by cutting or making holes in 
limv 1 . 1 1 W rawirty bo distinguished from the rest. 
ranL «nnT d i! h dru,n ‘ . uu,i twonl y sticks, with all the 
I; i , t d n l S lli 7 c find - and the game begins. One 
find m« CS 1 hc Wa XT 1 etIC , ks ’ und drum . Ibe other the bullets 
tan J,ow fbe drum begins to beat a peculiar 
P “ l ! ; ? elIs and trinkets are jingled, and 
JKSn* ?? ^ U °- f moao '° a ous howl, which they call 
edging, all keeping lime. The player takes the four 
T HAT Harrisburg is the capital of thc old Keystone 
State, and within a few hours ride of the best hunt- 
ing grounds in the State, is a well known fact. But that it 
is also the home of many- “mighty hunters,” is not so 
universally known. 
To those who are disposed to doubt the truth of this 
assertion, I can only say, that could they witness the 
amount of game, including deer, hears, turkies, &c., that 
—(during the season)— is unloaded from the cars at this 
point, they would have to admit that the sons of Dauphin 
County are as formidable iu the chase as they were terrible 
in war. [See History of the Building of Fort Washington 1 
The ueer hunting season of 1874 was the most successful 
known for many years. But while more tlrnu the usual 
success attended the efforts of the majority of burning 
parties from this place, many a good fellow started for the 
mountains with a light heart aud ponderous knapsack aud 
litter days of Herculean toil, returned weary and worn 
bringing nothing back but tired limbs and to'ru garments 
as trophies of their sojourn iu the wilderness. 
Of the latter unfortunate ones, I propose to write, hop- 
ing more for sympathy than admiration from the ’thou- 
sauds of readers of Forest and Stream. In the early 
part of last Fall arrangements for a hunt on a grand scab- 
were completed, and but for the difference between tlieorv 
aud practice many a noble buck would have been turn cat 
Ere said grand hunt was over the gentlemen who were to 
distinguish themselves on this (to them) memorable expedi- 
tion were as follows; — 1 
Juo. Allen, Jr., newspaper correspondent and ogent for 
several literary works of great merit; James Wells travel- 
ing engineer of the great Peun. Central Railroad; George 
Hucket, James McKee aud Martin Leonard, alias the 
"Blacksmith," all first-class engineers of the same great 
road, and last aud leuat, J. O. Boggs, clerk in a wholesale 
coffee house. 
We left Harrisburg as heavily an equipped and sanguine 
a party as ever started tor the mountains, und after two 
hours ride, were safely landed at “Anderson," the nearest 
railroud station to the doomed valley, where we intended 
to “cry havoc, and let loose the dogs of wur.” Here as 
per our arrangement, a team wus waiting to haul our 
plunder to the top of the second mountaiu, from the sum- 
mit of which a railroad of very peculiar construction runs 
down the “Licking Creek Valley,” the objective point of 
this never to be forgotten journey. Our ascent was paiu- 
fully slow, for the horse, in addition to being false, was 
wind-broken. At last, however, by pushing the wa^ou 
and applying the hickory to the horse, we reachedlhe 
summit. We transferred our baggage to the only car 
operated on this remarkable road', aud were soon safely 
lauded at the base. Shouldering our tremeudous loads 
we struck boldly out into the wilderness. A few hours 
trumping brought us to an old cabin, which we intended to 
occupy. An hour’s work made it very comfortable, and 
building a good tire, wc turned our attention to getlin" 
supper. It was soon ready, and each of us did ample 
justice to the meal. After supper, by which time darkness 
was stealing over these vast solitudes, we replenished the 
fire, and in its cheerful light we smoked and discussed the 
prospects for the morrow. After due deliberation a plau 
of action was agreed upon, and we lay down to sleep that 
night, feeling confident that the old log-cabin would form 
the base of a series of brilliant operations that would iue- 
vitably result in the almost total extermination of the deer 
in this famous valley. The next morning, long before duy- 
foimd tbJ*?nf u hn< - ?V. r br ™ kfftst and «lw first gray dawn 
wliera thou ? k ? mUh , " nd n “ ckut posted on crossing*, 
fn/J, u C .\ l ° Ct animal puts and livo. 
wl. 111 /lb.? W n‘ OU *f°;. bul 1,0 fl ‘ r "''T," was their motto, 
M' hce und the clerk were each hurry- 
roL.rann»,. P? r / or ™ their respective parts of the day’s 
P ^ *■ ° f“r all worked admirably, every man per- 
t So 5.W 1 Ul ” MM •» porform Ll," tffi 
should rm? f S 8 1,1,1 arranged that they 
stimild run, they persistently avoided the theoretically 
were C i ^ l ^S» 0 WMp[cd mid guarded on aforesaid. They 
Tl ' f - ?- all l °," r V. Utr<, i‘ , ' cs 1,1 «»»D, only for a second. 
id kc unheeded b nfi ?' U '° " bI "‘ t,> slmU w|»Utl 0 ’* were 
wore away and the night found 
mminVed a V ,u,d ln,,l k'ry, un«l of course dis- 
appointed. A good supper, however, and the inevitable 
rr ,k \r a,ly r, ' vlv ‘‘.' 1 our spirits, ami the evening wus 
wn an nvn 55*5?*’ , , \‘? twllll! ‘ ,lu,di "K "ur disappointment, and 
e, agreed tha the “camp fire" is the ur ,J,» ultra of 
“? P m“T ® f , 1 10 c W l,u ‘ "wmoriw* cluster around 
el.arnW l M Cu, ‘ « » « > ‘ 'To . <• n t to Its i.ulescritmhlo 
2 l „f ,y f ' Vl ' ri ! 11,0 B,orlwa «>»“ " ere told that night, 
more f f ° P ° f ° r U '° m0rrow - Wu lft )’ dowu to sleep once 
nM 0rni , np ’, h , y dn >; n R ht - w, ‘ wore again on the “war 
path, 1 his day s hunt begun aud ended as the first. The 
sharp crack of the rifles and the tremendous roar of t ho 
double shot gun reverberated among the grand old motm- 
tains and awakened echoes for miles around. 1‘lciuy of 
hair, but no blond was shed by the deer. 
The third day’s hunt began and ended as tho two previous 
ones, but it was reserved for the fourth day to witness the 
climax of our misfortunes. We awoke to find tho rain 
pouring in torrents, tho faces or all looked grave, but after 
hearing J. A., Jr., relate some of his exploits on Just such 
days as this, we resolved to try it again, let it rain us it 
would. Messrs. Wells and Ilacket, however, did not seem 
lua hurry for the fray. Tlioy lingered long over their 
breakfast that morning, and we h it them. All day wo 
crawled through the dripping thickets, and fell overlho 
f.°m I w . ? k lllu ndn haci made very slippery. Tho 
Blacksmith," in one of his numerous falls, disarranged 
the sights on his rifle, which sad mishap was not dis- 
covered until he missed a deer stunding within easy range. 
Ho merely knocked off a hunch of hair, whim, hut for the 
accident referred to, would have killed the deer, for lie is a 
good shot. And again, while in the act of firing at another 
that was leisurely approaching him, a large limb of the 
trc ? /V, r ' vl, * cl * 1,0 waa standing, broke with a loud crash 
and fell within a foot of him. The deer and the "Black- 
smith took opposite directions, The “Blacksmith" only 
stopped when he reached the cabin. When tho door 
stopped, history sayoth uot. When we mol that evening 
at the cabin wo wore greatly disappointed to find Momra. 
Wells and Ilacket gone. There is a limit to human eiidut- 
ancc, mental and physical. 
Tlieylind succumbed to tho demoralizing Influences of 
baa luck and wet weather, aud packing their traps they 
had sadly und silently stole away, aud no doubt by thin 
lime were doing their lust on a home run. We missed 
them that night, but a lecture by J. O. B. on tho great 
value of potatoes as food, as demonstrated In the case of 
J. A., Jr., and some choice vocal music by the “Black- 
smith," rendered in his own “peculiar and inimitable" 
style, enabled us to pass the evening very agreeuhly. 
Before we went to sleep, however, wc n solvcd that the 
fates were against us, and that the best thing we could do 
would he to imitate the example of the “departed" and go 
home. Accordiugly, the next morning, alter eating as 
much as possible, wc packed up, and bidding adieu to the 
cabin that had sheltered us so well, we started for a (mint 
where a path crossed the mountains to Granville, a station 
ou the l*. R. R., and the site of old Fort Granville, an im- 
portant post in colonial days. This was several miles east- 
ward of the cabin, and with the understanding that we 
were to meet at the point mentioned, wo separated; Allen 
and McKee intending to hunt along the creek, while the 
“Blaeksmith" and the “clerk” took the fool of the moun- 
tain runnlug parallel with thc crccK. 
Encumbered us we were by the weight of our knap- 
sacks, it was impossible to walk with that light, ciuitlous 
step so necessary to successful deer hunting. But, con- 
trary to our expectations, wo came suddenly on a lingo 
flock of turkies. The veritable “Blacksmith" tired, hut 
without effect, and they scultorcd in every direction. The 
“Blacksmith," after tuking a position behind a log that 
made his huge white knapsack Hie most conspicuous object 
m the vicinity, began to call thorn, disdaining the use of 
any mechanical arrangement to lure turkies to their des- 
truction. lie depended entirely on Ids vocal powers to ac- 
complish that object. To have heard that call was well 
worth a day’s travel, so perfectly did lie imitate a turkey, 
(of some unknown specie*,) that the ones we were after 
tied in terror from that awful sound. Wo started onco 
more, und after a long, tiresome tramp, reached Granville. 
In summing up tho net proceeds of this “big hunt," we 
found it to he as follows;— Six gray squirrels, four wild 
pigeons and six quarts of chestnuts, the latter .1. A., Jr., 
procured by climbing a tree mid cutting off the top. In 
justice to the parties who llguro iu this account, I beg h ave 
to H«y that they are all genial gentlemen and hunters of 
considerable experience, which is especially true of J. 
Allen, Jr., for many indeed tiro the (leer that Imvegouo 
down at the crack of his trusty Ballard. Ami for niiiiiy 
years not a Thanksgiving Day has passed that the table of 
Mr. Wells was not graced by a roasted wild turkey slain 
by his own hands. And all tho rest of the party have 
slain their llrst deer in days gone by, and the almost max- 
disable : result of this great hunt, proves the truth of thu 
old saying that “(ho best Ini j plans of men and mice oft 
gang agloe." But glorious Autumn will come again, 
and, God willing, wc will go to the mountains once more, 
and perhaps can give a belter account of ourselves when 
we return. J. o. B. 
A Heart Wound not Fatal.— C. L. Ford, of the Uni 
versify of Michigan, informs the Medical JUe/trd that a so 
vere wound of the heart Is not necessarily fatal, a* instanced 
in the case of a deer which was shot the past Winter, hav- 
ing a bullet in its heart that had evidently lodged there a 
year previous, os indicated by thc cicatrix. The hbot hud 
traversed the muscular structure for three inches nearly 
parallel to the septum. “The whole indication," he suvs, 
“is complete recovery from the injury done at the time. 
