Dec 4, 1909.] 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
901 
of the net. The great creatures made no effort 
to escape until they were secured to the boat 
with ropes, when they started up the river full 
speed, towing the boat quite a distance. They 
were finally brought ashore and fastened to the 
dock until the women and children had a good 
look at them, after which they were liberated. 
With a launch or yacht one can find no finer 
river on which to cruise and fish. I have seen 
fine fish taken with a troll in the wake of a 
yacht. Delightful cruises can be enjoyed and 
valuable- and interesting studies made of wild 
life in the waters and alongshore. Clams are 
found alongshore and oysters abound on the 
bars and fish are everywhere, and in the proper 
seasons ducks are numerous. Pelicans slowly 
wing their way along in groups of six or more; 
cranes and egrets stand, sentinel-like, along¬ 
shore; ospreys glide silently about in the air 
overhead, always on the lookout for some luck¬ 
less fish, while he in turn is just as closely 
watched by the bald eagles from their perches 
among the dead limbs of the stunted mangrove 
trees. The osprey takes a heavy toll of fish 
from the river and the eagle likewise takes a 
heavy toll from him. 
Many happy days have I spent fishing and 
idling along this dear old river, and its beauties 
and attractions never grow old to me. Truly 
it is not all of fishing to fish. C. A. V. 
Recent Publications. 
The Silver Horde, by Rex Beach. Cloth, illus¬ 
trated, 390 pages, $1.50. New York, Har¬ 
per & Brothers. 
The scene is laid in Alaska and the better 
part of the book relates to the winter season, 
but the habits of the salmon—the silver horde— 
and how they are taken by the canners, lends 
additional interest to a pretty story of adventure, 
mining and romance. The Cherry Malotte of 
this tale is an old friend. Vivid descriptions of 
the hardships encountered on a mountain pass 
in a storm, of crossing open water in a small 
boat, and of sledging, as well as the plot itself, 
hold the reader’s attention to the end. 
Ten Years of Game Keeping, by Owen Jones, 
“Gamekeeper.” Cloth, illustrated from pho¬ 
tographs, 306 pages, $3 net. London, Edwin 
Arnold; New York, Longmans, Green & Co. 
This volume possesses an especial interest for 
people in this country, who in many places are 
now beginning to attempt to rear wild game by 
hand. True, most of these efforts have as yet 
to do only with exotic species, but we have faith 
to believe that the time is coming when much 
of this energy will be expended on our native 
game birds. 
The present volume can hardly be called a 
manual of game keeping, nor does it purport 
to give direct information. It is rather a series 
of recollections running over ten years and tak¬ 
ing up a variety of interesting subjects in an 
entirely discursive way. As might be expected 
the volume deals with partridges and pheasants 
and vermin and keepers and poachers and shoot- 
ters, and throughout is good reading; and though 
not normally a book of instruction, it has. plenty 
of information between its covers. It is very 
liberally illustrated and is well worth reading. 
Loss of Footing While Wading. 
Another angler—the third for the present 
year—was drowned recently in the River Tweed. 
This was Colonel J. Scott Plummer, a veteran 
angler. While fishing for salmon he lost his 
footing in swift water or stepped into a hole 
and was lost. 
The two cases of drowning while wading that 
occurred last summer have been fully dis¬ 
cussed in the English press and no end of opin¬ 
ions and advice offered to others exposed to 
similar fates. Among other things a “life-sav¬ 
ing jacket” has been exploited in all seriousness 
and gravely recommended by anglers whose com¬ 
mon sense should teach them that no self-re¬ 
specting man could be induced actually to wear 
one. 
Ewen M. Tod, the dean of the Scotch ang- 
GOT HIM. 
lers, in discussing Col. Plummer’s sad death, 
says in the Scotsman: 
“As a ‘fisher’ of over half a century-—who has 
had at least one narrow escape from drowning 
■—may I venture to give my opinion as to the 
dangers attending the wearing of wading trousers 
while fishing. 
“Personally, I have always used a strap to 
fasten the top- of wading trousers to the body, 
because, while the risks of a fatal accident are 
comparatively few, the chances of stepping into 
a hole are many; and then one gets a thorough 
soaking where the wading trousers are kept up 
by ordinary men’s braces, the top being open. 
Doubtless if one gets carried away by a strong 
current the position is more or less serious. I 
have always held that if—by ill chance—the 
man’s body was hurled, even for a moment, 
head downward, the chances would be that the 
air would (as ‘Angler’ suggests) rush upward 
toward the feet, a danger much increased when 
the top of the waders is fastened to the body 
by a strap, as the air thus sent up cannot well 
escape during the immersion, and would almost 
certainly prove fatal to the victim. 
“What one would like to know is: ‘Was Col. 
Scott Plummer a fairly good swimmer?’ At 
present we have no knowledge that he could 
swim at all. 
“But there is a risk seldom mentioned, and it 
is this: A man when suddenly immersed may 
be caught in the very act of taking a deep breath 
(inspiration, in fact). If, during this process, 
he sucks any water into the air passages, there 
is a grave risk of ‘spasm of the glottis’ (air 
passages) instantly setting in, such as is wit¬ 
nessed when anything solid or liquid enters the 
air passages during a meal—a matter even then 
of no light moment—but how much more serious 
when the unfortunate victim is submerged in a 
rapidly flowing river.” 
This is the only bit of questionable advice 
from Mr. Tod’s pen that we have read. His 
books and papers on fly-fishing are as full of 
meat as they are charming in style and senti¬ 
ment; but since he states that he has had “'at 
least one narrow escape from drowning,” it 
may be well to believe that his suggestion was 
made with less thought than is his custom. Wad¬ 
ing trousers with feet are bound down at the 
bottom and are held at the top by shoulder 
braces, therefore they cannot shift when their 
wearer stoops, nor are they elastic like ordinary 
trousers, consequently they must be very large 
and loose. 
If you were to don waders and brogues, then 
stand under a tap and let the trousers fill with 
water, you would find it difficult to move on 
land with so much weight; but, if you were to 
walk into deep water while burdened thus you 
would find that the extra weight had little or 
no influence on your movements. This is on 
the same principle that enables you, under water, 
to move boulders with ease whereas on land 
two or three men would be needed to exert equal 
power. Therefore, if this be true, you have 
less to fear from water in your waders than has 
been claimed. It is the heavy and clumsy 
brogues, more than the waders, that would im¬ 
pede your free movements in attempting to 
swim. 
Now, if you bind the waders with a belt and 
permit sufficient water to flow into them to 
drive out the air confined in the legs and feet, 
but no more, it may be assumed that you can 
swim with fair success; but if you fall in swift 
water this does not follow. Instead, the belt 
may be expected to exclude water and retain 
the air, and in, drifting down stream with legs 
up and head down, the angler may console him¬ 
self with the thought that attempts to imitate 
the wooden-legged man who also tried to swim 
must of necessity be a dismal failure. 
Unencumbered, the angler may recover his 
feet and gain safe ground quickly after falling, 
but with rod, creel, net or gaff to impede his 
free movements, it is quite a difficult matter to 
regain footing, even in calm water. Every 
angler knows how hard it is to pass between 
the middle and top strand of a barbwire fence 
when fully equipped for fly-fishing; every loose 
article is caught by a separate barb, and so it 
is in falling in a boulder-strewn rapid. To throw 
away a pet rod requires time for thought—time 
that it is best not to waste. Unconsciously one 
clings to it, particularly if he has been playing 
a trout, thus reducing his swimming resources. 
It is seldom the footing is lost in ascending 
a rapid, either directly or obliquely, and if you 
fall while engaged thus, the first impulse is the 
correct one: you grasp the first firm object with 
