a ad 

ha | FOREST AND STREAM, 115 
life.” 
Hotel accommodations here are good; men who 
know the country can be engaged as guides, bark canves 
can be hired or bought, and next season boats will be for 
hire on Serpent and Agate lakes; andthe sportsman who 
wants fun at a moderate cost need look no further. So we 
say, and we ‘‘know whereof we speak” —having ‘been 
there.” HAVILAND. 
—_—_—_— oe 
EPH. MUGGINS’ STEEPLE CHASE. 
KA ein 
Evitor Forest anp STREAM :— 
I’m not in the fast hoss business now. It’s plade. Fast 
hosses are good to look at, but they’re bad to own. I had 
one once, and I don’t want no more. I bought him to ride 
a steeple chase. I thought I hada soft thing. Nobody 
knowed I hada high-flyer, and so. I tho’t ’'d lay low an’ let 
out on em’ on the day of the race, and sweep the field and 
make my pyle—but I didn’t. When the day cum, I saunt- 
ered up to the field with the crowd on my hoss; he was the 
ornerest looking plug you ever see, but he could jest go 
like litenin’ streeks. I crowded in with the other fellers, 
when a hogs chap spoke up, an’ sez he:— 
‘Now keep out 0’ the way, young man, the race is goin’ 
to begin.” 
well) says fem) goin’ to run my hoss, too.” 
““Have you entered?” sez he, 
“T jest have that, hoss,” sez I. 
The crowd begun to gether round then, an’ some on ’em 
was mity tickled; but, thinks I, ‘let them laf that win.’ So 
the feller looked in his book, an’ when he found my name 
thare he grinned a grin an’ sez:— 
“Ail right boss; you kin travel,” 
So when the word “go!” wuz given, away we all went, 
hickety goose-paster. 
I never rode asteeple chase afore, an’ in fact, I never rode 
a hossback much any way. It allus a kinder galled my 
feelings, and doubled up my stomick to ride in that kind o’ 
way; but I wuz in the fast hoss business now, and wuz 
ridin’ for stakes and not for plezher; so I dug in my heels 
and gripped hold of the main, and mashed my hat down on 
my head and switched my whip and hollered an’ shet my 
eyes and pitched ahead regardless. 
At first, two or three fellers got the start 0’ me, but I 
sailed by ’em pretty lively as we went over the first field. 
My old scrub was ahead anyways then, an’ we begun to 
feel our otes. Across the field, as we come to a hi fens, I 
cracked my whip an’ dug in my heels, an’ we went at it an’ 
cleared it in tip-top stile. 
The crowd cheered like mad, an’ Istratened up my stom- 
ick as best I cud, and off we went agin. Whew! how we 
did go. Thinks I, guess they don’t laf so much now! Di- 
rectly I cum to aditch. Probly, if the ditch ed been maid 
for steeple chasin’, they would'’nt a maid it so wide, but 
they engineered the thing rong, and when my hoss cum up 
to it, he sort o’ backed up, and then he maid a dive and 
landed his fore feet across, but he couldn’t fetch his hind 
feet, an’ there he stood, like a spenshun bridge, with me on 
his back, 
It wasn’t so cheerful as if it had been some other hoss, 
With some other man on his back. What to do I didn’t 
no. I looked round an’ see the hull crowd comin’ over the 
fense. I wanted to git off, but if I got off there I should 
drop in the ditch, so I turneu round and made for the rear 
intending to drop to the ground on the north bank of the 
ditch. 
Just then the racers all cum up, and when they see me 
clamberin’ down the back end of my hoss, and him bridgin’ 
over the ditch in that way, they all bust out laffin as if 
they'd got fits. One feller rolled off his hoss and fell in the 
ditch, he was so tickled about it. I let him lay there. An- 
other feller let go his grip an’ went off jest afore he sot to 
the ditch. I let him lay. One hoss went ‘down in the 
ditch long side of the feller. I let him lay. The rest went 
over an’ rushed on to glory an’ to victory. 
In the meen time, soon as my hoss felt his cargo litened, 
he gathered up his heels an’ got over all rite, By hook an’ 
crook I got over too, an’ mounted, an’ off I went agin. You 
bet I dug in to make up for lost time. I swung my whip, 
an’ hollered, an’ clung on with hands an’ heels and begun 
to gain on ’em in good stile. There was a big old fense 
ahead, an’ the first hoss that went for it fell back discour- 
aged. The next hoss smashed through, but broke the top 
rale. The next hoss tried twice before he got over, and 
when I cum up I maid for the spot where the top rail was 
off an’ I cleared it as easy as a grasshopper would a punkin 
vine, and then I give a yell that maid the fellers ahead look 
round, an’ they wan’t so much ahead eether. 
When they seed me a cumin’ down on ‘em, like an ava- 
lanche on aflock of sheep, they looked kinder supprized. 
I kept a gainin’ on ’em, an’ directly I tore by ’em yellin’ an’ 
shoutin’ like a demon of fury on a streak o’ chain litenin. 
Phew! how our hosses’ hoofs clattered over the ground. 
How we all shouted and screamed and lashed our nags and 
dug in our heels and tore over the ground! Every man an’ 
every hoss had his blood up to bilin’ pint. Every mussel 
an’ every nerve was strung as tite as abo string. I never 
felt so excited in my life. I felt shure I should win the 
pyle, when all to once I spied an’ obsticle of interest afore 
me in the shape of a hege fense. This hege fense was orig- 
inally a desent sized consarn, but had growed to a most 
outrageous hite and widht, and I couldn’t see no soft spot 
nowhere to git through. For once I wuz sorry I wuz 
ahead, but urgin’ on my firey steed, I made for the lowest 
spot an’ went at it, 
He jumped well, but he maid his calculation rong, for he 
landed plump in the middle of the hege, an’ there he stuck, 
like a rat in a trap. : 



My gallant steed maid furious efforts to ecktrakate his- 
self, but he couldn’t ecktrakate. It was too much hege 
for him, and so he rezined hisself to his fate and gétood 
stock still. I dismounted in my usual graceful stilé, by 
the rear exit, an’ got out of the brambles an’ took an obser- 
vation of the situation. The fellers behind me wuz comin’ 
on like mad, an’ every blessed one of ’em went clear over 
the hege as slick as grees, 
I reckoned it wuz about three miles on to the grand stand, 
and so I kalkulated that if Icould ecktracate my hoss I mite 
cum in ahead yet. Besides that it would be a mercy to the 
animal to git him out of the hege, where the brambles wuz 
prickin’ him to deth. So I got under his lea hind-quarters 
and give him a boost, thinking to cast him heels over hed 
into the field beyond; bulI mite as well tride to boost a 
meetin’ house. The hoss seamed to dislike my medlin’ 
with his legs in that way, so he give hisself a histe, and 
planted his hoofs in my stomick kind of abruptly, and the 
next I know about things I wuz tryin’ to unroll myself in 
the middle of the field, about five rods from the last scene 
of action. I feared I could not live always, for about five 
minutes. This wuz hoss gratitude. My angry passions 
roze. Ilet’emrize. I stripped off the saddle anc bridle 
and left $500 worth of fast hoss-flesh where I hoped it 
would be fast forever. I wuz mad. I didn’t go back to 
the grand stand, but I sloped for home. I wuz scratched 
and bruzed and soar and Dilin’ mad. 
I never tride no fast hoss steeple-chase bizness no more. 
Thad enuff. Yours emphatically, 
Epnraim Mucarns. 
SS 
THE DECREASE OF EDIBLE FISHES 
ON THE JERSEY COAST. 
—_+____. 
PHILADELPHIA, September 19th, 1873. 
Eprror or Forgst anp STREAM :—, 
The first number of Forest anp STREAM (No. 6), it has 
been my good fortune to see, and I must now tell you that 
its racy contents were perused with a feeling of decided in- 
terest. To my mind itfills an aching void, and cannot 
fail to prove a success. 
Among many other interesting articles, my attention was 
specially drawn to the communication of F, Mather on 
“Bass in Trout W aters,” not because of any familiarity 
with, or special interest in the controversy, but from the 
fact that it led my thoughts trom fresh to salt water, and 
from trout to sea fishes. 
Prof. Baird, of the Smithsonian Institute, as is well 
known, has been deputed by the Government to investigate 
the causes which have led to the marked decline in the 
number of edible coast fishes. Inklings only of the result 
of his investigations have been obtained, but sufficient to 
determine that among the destructive causes are the large 
and continued use of the seine, and other devices for the 
wholesale capture of fishes; interference with them dur- 
ing the spawning season, and the large increased number of 
persons who with hook and line are almost continually en- 
gaged in a warfare against them. 
Other causes have been cited, and it needs little argu- 
ment to convince even the most casual thinker on the sub- 
ject, that all of them combined have had the effect of de- 
pleting to a large extent waters which like those of the Adi- 
rondacks once teemed with food fishes. An illustration of 
the correctness of these views will be found in the growing 
scarcity of edible fishes in the waters adjacent to Atlantic 
cities, where the depleting causes referred to haye largely 
prevailed fora number of years past, so that what were 
once the best fishing grounds on the Jersey coast, have be- 
come comparatively barren of finny inhabitants. Whether 
stringent general and State laws should be enacted for the 
protection of coast fishes is a question which admits of no 
debate. 
Let me in addition to the destructive causes cited by 
Prof. Baird, refer to another formidable enemy—predatory 
fishes which so largely abound along the coast. Among them 
the bluefish of course stands prominent, but there is 
still another, and to this one I desire to direct attention. 
All the bays, inlets and thoroughfares along the coast, and 
in addition the waters of the Ocean itself near the shore, 
swarm with sharks of large and small size. These Ish- 
maeités of the salt water are, as you know, insatiable, 
Their cruel maws are ever craving for, and their more 
cruel jaws continually employed in the destruction of edible 
fishes. The fact that sharks are rarely captured and less 
frequently seen in the water, is to most persons prima facie 
evidence that their number is insignificant. This is an 
error. My own experience and observation warrant me in 
making the assertion. For some twelve years, I have each 
summer spent a week in Delaware bay, fishing for 
sharks only, and with catches varying from thirty to forty, 
and ranging from five to eleven feet in length, each trip. 
One of these days, if acceptible, it will give me pleasure to 
give your readers an idea of what regular fishing of this 
character is. 
What is true of Delaware bay in regard to sharks, is ap- 
plicable to the bays, inlets, and thoroughfares along the 
coast, only ina larger sense, and such being the fact, it is 
not difficult to understand how greatly these hungry mon- 
sters are annually assisting in lessening the supply of coast 
fishes. In connection with this, it deserves to be borne in 
‘mind, that while men and sharks are waging an incessant 
warfare against the edible fishes, very few sharks com- 
paratively are taken. 
Some of your readers’ wil] doubtless ask, what are you 
going to do about it? My reply is; go for the sharks. Cur 
bono? First for the protection of the good fishes; second 

for sport, and lastly for profit. Sport! What sport car 
there be in capturing a shark? The same query might 
be proposed in regard to trout, bass, bluefish, weakfish, or 
any other. There is genuine sport init, and of the most 
exciting kind. There is a fascination about it, which to be 
appreciated must be practically enjoyed. If it be sport to 
land a three pound trout, a twelve pound Dluefish or a six 
pound bass, what must it be to hook, play and land a 
three foot shark weighing forty or;fifty pounds? But I will 
tell you all about it one of these days. Profit! What 
profit can there be in catching sharks? Ags much as in any 
other kind of fishing. First, the liver yields a large 
quantity of oil, valuable for a good many purposes. I have 
known ten gallons of oil to be taken from a single liver, 
though this was an exceptionable case. From two to four 
gallons is the average. The carcass is valuable for manu- 
rial purposes, when composted with earth. I estimate the 
value of aten foot shark, when used as above, at not less 
than three dollars, provided of course appliances were at 
hand for the utilization of the carcass, and the ‘trying ” 
of the liver. Such appliances would speedily present 
themselves, if shark capture were macic a business, or if 
those who indulged it for mere sport, would turn over 
their catches to the manufactories. But whether for sport 
or profit, a warfare, in my opinion, should be inaugurated 
against these ‘sea lawyers,” who makeit a point, as law- 
yers generally do, to swallow their clients. When the 
wants of men did not require so much fish food, the shark 
was indispensible for the purpose of keeping down the too 
rapid multiplication of smaller fishes. Those days have 
passed, so far at least as the waters of the Jersey coast, 
and those immediately adjacent are concerned, and the 
time has come when in self-defence a Vigorous raid should 
be made upon these voracious monsters. 
A. M. §. 
—_—_____ 
THE DHOLE OF INDIA. 
pars LE 
4a HE Dhole is of slighter make than the dingo, but like 
the latter, he possesses erect ears; poim‘ed muzzle, and 
asparkling fearless eye. His chest is dee», and belly much 
drawn up; the color is generally of a livist brown, inclin- 
ing to chestnut on the upper part of the Ludy, fore part of 
the legs, tips of the ears, muzzle and <pper part of the 
tail, which appendage is long, but not bushy, like that ox 
the Australian animal; and were it not f x the slenderness 
of the muzzle, and erect ears, he would Lear a close resom- 
lance to the African bloodhound. According to Colonel 
Sykes, the wild dog of the Deccan, (Canis Dukhune 1878, 
‘“Kkholsun” of the natives), is red on the upper part of the 
body, but paler underneath; its head is compressed and 
elongated, its nose very sharp and the eyes oblique, the 
pupils around the irides light brown; the expression that of 
a coarse, ill-natured Persian greyhound, without any resem- 
bance to the wolf, the fox, or the jackal, and, in conse- 
quence, utterly distinct from the Cands quao, or Sumatren- 
sis of Hardwicke; ears rather long, but erect, and slightly 
rounded at the top; the limbs remarkab?y large and muscu- 
lar compared with the bulk of the animul, which is of an 
intermediate size between the wolf and the jackal. Its 
neck and body are elongated, between the nose and eyes 
the color is red; brown, and the brush, which is pendulous, 
and about nine inches long, is tipped with black. The 
length of the body trom the tip of the nose to the root of 
the tail is about two feet nine inches, and the height at the 
shoulder about sixteen and a half inches. Another variet 
of the Dhoie is the wild dog of Nepuaul. Although the 
Dholes or wild dogs of India, according to various authori- 
ties, differ in some minor respects, they all, both ancient 
and modern, appear to agree on one important point, that 
of excessive fierceness, which characterizes all varieties. 
Like the dingo they hunt in packs, and, thus associated, 
are very formidable, and, in fact, are the terror of the ani- 
mals of the forest, not even excepting the elephant and 
tiger. They hunt in silence, and as their powers of scent 
are as cXquisite as those of a sleuthound, there is little pos- 
sibility of their missing the game they are in searcl: fer. 
When close upon and certain of their prey, they ut‘er a 
sharp, shrill, clear cry which can be heard from a long 4.s- 
tance, by others of their kind which understand the mean- 
ing of the sound, and hasten in vast numbers from all di- 
rections to join the already formidabie pack. Their speed 
is tremendous, almost incredible, and their powers of endu- 
Tance very great. Their pace, when in hot pursuit, is said to 
be nearly equal to that which a pack of ferocious greyhounds 
might be supposed capable of exerting; and as their won- 
dertful staying powers permit them to continue this speed 
for an almost incredible time, it may be readily perce.ved 
that the chances of any animal they may chose to pursue 
are very meagre indeed; in fact, if they are strong in num- 
bers, not even the swiftest and most powerful of the deni- 
zens of the forest and jungle can possibly evade them, and 
the size, ferocity, and ‘power of the tiger stand him 3. ny 
better need in saving his life than does the deer’s switt- 
ness of foot, when a pack of these canine demons chose 
to select either for their prey. Indeed the larger the game 
they are in pursuit of, the greater eagerness do they dis- 
play, and the natives assert that both the elephant and the 
tiger manifest unmistakable signs of fear, andseem to have 
an instinctive dread of such terrible enemies. The Dholes 
do not run closely together, but spread themselves over a 
wide tract of ground, so that their prey has little chance 
of escape by doubling, or any similar expedient; but should 
their numbers not be great, this circumstance ig favorable 
tothe escape of large animals, so that when their game is 
a tiger most of them are destroyed: but on the contrary, 
should they be in force, although forty or fifty of the fore- 
most may be crumpled up by the powertul paws of the 
prey, the quarry is, however, soon Overpowered when 
the main body of the pack closes in. Richardson considers 
them eminently useful injIndia for keeping down the breed of 
tigers, ‘‘ which but for them would be iar more numerous 
and troublesome.” Doubtless, however, the scarcity of the 
tigers in districts where Dholes ure numerous is more fairly 
attributed to their continually worrying the great striped 
feline, and preventing it from obtaining any prey, as they 
are most destructive to the game which forms the princi. 
pal food of the former.—Land and Wat. 
