
LAKE OKEECHOBEE. 
SS time this winter our Florida correspondent will 
revisit and thoroughly explore this almost unknown 
lake, and we hope then to give our readers a minute de- 
scription of it and the surrounding country. Meantime we 
are pleased to be informed through the New York Herald 
of the discoveries made there by C. K. Allen, of St Mary’s, 
Florida, and four companions. The letters of our own 
correspondent have already brought us to within one mile 
of its shores, where, entangled in the cypress swamps and 
deserted by his Indian guide, he was persistently pushing 
his way through, guided by the sound of waves beating on 
its shore after a storm. 
To reach this point he had travelled forty-five miles from 
Indian river, an inlet on the Atlantic coast two hundred 
miles south of St. Augustine, floundering through swamps 
and quicksands, and meeting no human habitation. Just 
here we take up the narrative of Mr. Allen, who reports 
that after encountering the like difficulties, his party finally 
gained the edge of a bayou which floated them to the lake; 
and once upon its bosom, no farther obstacles to progress 
were encountered. 
From the first two or three miles out from the shore, 
they were terribly annoyed by mosquitoes and flies of var- 
ious kinds, from which they could only in part protect them- 
selves by thick veils over faces and hands. But at eight 

-miles distance the insects were no longer troublesome, 
Three miles from the shore they found shallow water—five 
feet—and sundry low islands inhabited by immensy alliga- 
tors. At a distance of eighteen miles from the shore, 
the water became clear and bottom was found at 170 feet. 
Here they discovered a group of three islands; the largest 
about six miles Jong, and four miles wide. The northern 
portion of this island was a barren, rocky waste, which ex- 
tended back from the shore nearly a mile and a half, to the 
base of a line of rocky cliffs, about one hundred and fifty 
feet high, which extended across the whole width of the 
island. To the south of these cliffs is a magnificent forest, 
composed chiefly of large mahogany, palmetto and laurel 
magnolia. Many of the latter trees, being in full bloom, 
presented an enchanting scene. This forest extends over 
the whole of the southern portion of the island, except to 
within a few hundred yards of the shore, which at every 
point is sandy and covered with rocks. 
In the forest spiders of a gigantic species were found. 
One was seen which was fully two feet long. It had long 
and very strong looking limbs, and would have weighed 
three or four pounds. In its head, which was jet black, 
were several eyes, each surrounded by a bright yellow and 
scarlet circle. The body wus enciréled by bands of scarlet, 
yellow and black. Altogether the spider presented a very 
brilliant appearance, 
Upon the largest island, north of the cliffs, the explorers 
were surprised to find heaps of stones, lying in such a posi- 
tion as to resemble ruins of some kind of structures. None 
of the ruins were extensive, and the structures must, there- 
fore, have been of small dimensions Similar ruins, if 
such they were, were found in great numbers upon the 
small islaad, north of this one. Upon the summit of a cliff 
which stands upon the eastern shore of the large island, 
the party found a large heap of stones lying in a semicircu- 
lar form, and facing to the east. 
The length of these ruins was nearly two hundred feet. 
In front of this semicircle, and about fifty feet from it, was 
alarge heap of stones, nearly twenty feet square. T'he 
ruins found on the plain below, and upon the small island, 
were much smaller than those found upon the cliff, being 
only from five to ten feet square. 
———$—<——$<$<<$<$+—______—. 
SALMON IN THE Hupson.—It will be gratifying to those 
gentlemen who have pressed the matter of stocking the 
upper waters of the Hudson with salmon upon the atten- 
tion of the United States Fishery Commission, through the 
columns of ForusT AnD SrreaM, to learn by the subjoined 
letter that their wishes have been cheerfully acceded to:— 
UNITED STATEs Commission, Fiso AND FISHERIES, } 
WASHINGTON, November 11th, 1873. { 
Epiror Forest AND STREAM:— 
lam perfectly willing to place a good lot of Sacramento 
salmon in the Hudson River. Seth Green has 250,000, and 
I will tell him to so dispose of a portion. 
Very truly yours, 
SPENCER W. Barrp, Commissioner. 
—> + ™ 
—Sir Samuel Baker was announced as ready to appear 
before the English Geographical Society sometime about 
the beginning of this month. It is to be regretted that on 
account of his illness—an inflammation of the lungs he was 
prevented. After Sir Samuel, as far as regards learning 
something about Africa goes, we think we should like to 
hear Lady Baker. 
or 
—We thankfully acknowledge the receipt of a valuable 
paper from Prof. Gill, of the Smithsonian Institute, which, 
together with other deferred contributions will appear in 
our next. Our friends are making earnest, and we think 
very succesful endeavors, to make this paper a valuable 
one. We could not anticipate such generous aid. 

oo 
—There is a monthly journal published in Chicago de- 
voted exclusively to bee culture. It is called the ‘‘ Bee 
Journal,” 
oo 
—The Assiniboine River is frozen over—so are parts of 
the Red River. 
—A pair of skates for Christmas and New Year's, with a 
copy of Forest anD STREAM, can be had by every sub- 
scriber. See advertisement. 
men, manners, and customs—at birds, beasts, and fishes, 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
THE SCOTCH HERRING FISHERY. 
Sos past Dale 
HAT gifted stonemason Hugh Miller, who was not 
only observant of stones and strata, but looked at 











































and wrote wonderfully about them, has left us a charming 
narrative of the Scotch herring fishery; and his chapters are 
vividly recalled by hearing of the late great haul of her- 
rings made from Ross, Argyle, and Inverness, on the coast 
of Scotland. The total yield this year will be no less than 
700,000,000 of herrings, worth to the fishermen some 
$7,500,000. It has been a year of blessing to these hardy 
toilers of the sea. 
No light work is it to catch herrings. The Scotch coast, 
with all its nooks and indentations, its locks and friths, is 
a dangerous coast, and often precipitous cliffs overlook the 
sea. Squalls, driving storms, blown from the German sea, 
often dash the frail fishers’ crafts to pieces, and many a 
brave and honest man is shrouded in the seething waves. 
Even in quiet weather there is constant danger of sudden 
storms, which burst on the sea without a moment’s warn- 
ing. A fishing fleet may quietly glide out of the harbor, 
the brown sails tinged with the warm color of the setting 
sun, and before midnight may be scurrying along under 
the black sky, with a howling sea behind them, their only 
safety lying in making some distant harbor. 
The dangers of herring fishing are increased by the fact 
that it must be mainly prosecuted at night time, the fisher- 
man being then forced to meet the storm in the dark. In 
a second a boat may be swamped, or may be driven against 
an iron bound coast. A brave, manly set are they, these 
Scotch fishermen, and accustomed to brave dangers. He 
has been brought up— 
‘Where the Northern Ocean, in yast whirls, 
Boils round the naked melancholy isles 
Of farthest Thule, and th* Atlantic surge 
Pours in among the stormy Hebrides.” 
It is now twenty-six years since one fair day, fiom a sin- 
gle village, there started out a fleet just about this season. 
The boats went out with a gentle breeze, nor had there 
been any warning of bad weather; but before morning on 
the coast more than one hundred of these fishermen, from 
a single little place, were drowned. Some of the details of 
this sad event are most touching. Out at sea one fisherman, 
when the storm had spent its force, picked up fifteen blue 
bonnets floating on the water, the owners of which must 
have all perished near the same spot. 
-This is the gloomy side of the fishing question; but it 
has a more cheerful one. When the pale grey light rises 
over the east and steals over the seas there is a mass of 
silver lying at the bottom of the fishers’ boats, and as they 
near the shore on the shingle stand the wives and bairns, 
expectant of their husbands’ coming. Nonchalant and 
possibly tired, too, is the fisherman. But up there in the 
cottage there is breakfast for him, and there, too, is his 
welcome bed, on which he stretches his tired limbs and 
dreams of wondrous hauls of fishes. 
St. John, in his ‘Field Notes and Tour inthe Suther- 
lands” says, describing the scenes of herring fishing:—‘‘Sea 
birds innumerable attend on the herring boats, finding it 
easier to pick up the dead fish, whether whole or in pieces, 
which fall into the water, than to dive after the living ones. 
All these flocks of birds enliven the scene—some, like the 
gannets, dashing down from a height into calm water, 
and almost invariably catching a herring; others attacking 
and diving into shoals far down beneath the surface, while 
the gulls, for the most part, feed on maimed and broken 
fish. Every bird, too, seems to be trying to scream louder 
than the rest, and such a Babel-like mixture of sounds can 
scarcely be heard anywhere else. Altogether it is a most 
interesting and animated scene, and to see it in perfection 
it 1s well worth while to take the trouble of passing a night 
in a herring boat instead of in one’s bed. In fact, I can 
truly assert that two nights spent many years ago in her- 
ring fishing have kept an honored place in my memory, 
and are looked back to as among the most amusing of my 
outdoor adventures.” 
Whence the herring comes from, and its habits, are every 
day better understood. Formerly, these fish were supposed 
to have inhabited the great Polar Basin, and that from 
thence issued annually as bees swarm from a hive, and that 
once touching the northern shores of Scotland and Sweden 
they went back again to their icy home. Now, it is pretty 
well proven that the herring never travels very far; that, 
for instance, those which spawn on the shores of the Baltic 
or on the Scotch coasts never leave those seas. This view 
is strengthened by the fact that the herrings on the scveral 
coasts, differing more or less in appearance and size, never 
intermingle much, each colony or school having its appro- 
priate station. 
We are pleased to notice that a change has come slowly, 
it is true, but certainly, over the Scotch fisherman. From 
a creature a slave to drink, whose existence was marred by 
the use of whiskey, whose boat loads of fish were always 
at the mercy of some creditor, dating from the last ten 
years, he has become more careful of his own health and of 
his means. He has now learned to save money, to keep 
his fishing smack in good order, to care for his garden, to 
improve his cottage, and he sends his children to school of 
week days; and when the fish do not call him to sea goes 
with his lads and lassies of a Sunday to the kirk on the 
sea cliff. To-day the pounds and shillings wrung from the 
stormy North Sea atthe peril of his life are no longer 
wasted at the tippling house over rummers of usquebaugh, 
for he is reclaimed. Who would not wish such a fisher- 
man, and all other fishermen, luck? 
—A finished gentleman: a dead man. 
233 
LAST RIFLE MATCH OF THE SEASON. 

HE first competition for the Remington Diamond 
Badge tor long range firing, presented. by Messrs. E. 
Remington & Sons, took place at Creedmoor on Saturday, 
November 15th, under the following conditions: 
Open only to members of the National Rifle Association; 
weapon, any breech-loader not over 10 pounds in weight, 
trigger not less than 3 pounds test pull; telescopic sights 
excluded. 
Distances, 500, 800 and 1,000. Position, any. Rounds, 
7 at each distance, with privilege of two sighting shots. 
The twenty highest scores at 500 yards alone, to compete 
at 800, and the ten highest at the distance, to compete at 
1,000. 
Entrance fee, $1. The badge to become the personal 
property of any member winning it three times. 































This very elegant badge, a cut of which we give, was 
made expressly for the Messrs. Remington & Son by 
Messrs. Kellogg & Decker, of No. 28 Bond street, and was 
designed by Mr. Decker. The badge is of Roman gold, 
is in fact a perfect target. The bull’s eye is a single hand- 
some diamond. The Centre and Outer are shown by del- 
icately enamelled lines, and a laurel wreath gracefully sur- 
rounds the whole. Above it, as supporters,are two Reming- 
ton rifles crossed,accurately modelled after the originals,and 
neatly cisséliéd in the best jeweler’s art. A scroll surmounts 
the whole with the inscription ‘‘Reminzton Badgé.” The 
whole decoration is suspended by a gold chain of the finest 
links. The badge does credit to the good taste of the 
Messrs. Remington, of Mr. Alford, and to the skill of 
Messrs. Kellogg & Decker, the jewelers. 
The day was dull and overcast, consequently at 1,000 
yards a much less elevation was required than had been 
found necessary during practice, when the sun shone 
brightly, a fact which some competitors did not observe in 
t'me to redeem their scores. 
The effect of light wind atmospheric pressure upon the 
elevation required to be given upon a rifle is one to which 
sufficient attention has not been paid by either rifle manu- 
facturers or members of the National Rifle Association. 
The latter are rapidly finding the necessity of understand- 
ing the subject, but are hampered, however, in their efforts 
to improve themselves, from the fact that their rifles are 
not sighted in such a manner as to enable them to form any 
definite theories. Many of our best rifles are sold without 
any distance being marked upon the rear sight at all, an | 
those that are marked are simply divided into divisions of 
1,000 yards—divisions, too, which are not adapted to the 
conformation of the ground at Creedmoor,and the only way 
of moving the sight being by slipping it up and down with the 
fingers. This, of course, makes any change in the elevation 
to a great extent a matter of guess work, and prevents any 
accurate record being kept by the firer, without which he 
will always be more or less in the dark. What is wanted 
is a sight divided into minute divisions and sub-divisions, 
plainly marked by either fractions of an inch, or degrees 
and minutes, and the sight moving with a screw, so that it 
can be set as desired. It is understood that Messrs, B. 
Remington & Sons have decided to manufacture some im- 
proved sights for long range firing, which will be ready by 
spring, and it is to be hoped that they will produce some- 
thing which will supply the existing deticiency 
Among the competitors at the match several had spirit 
levels across the barrels of their rifles, just behind the fore- 
sight. . The elfect of allowing the sight to deviate from the 
perpendicular is very great, but it would seem as if some 
better way could be accomplished than by a glass level, 
which is objectionable from its liability to fracture, as well 
as from the still greater fault that in using it the eye is 
obliged to watch more objects than can well be kept in 
focus. In conversation among the experts at Creedmoor 
yesterday, it was suggested that a small pendulum having 
a moveable bar with an aperture, the pendulum being hung 
