274 
FOREST AND STREAM. 
een ener nnn eS 
Pat sets fire toa rough birch near camp, and we watch 
the flames in their serpentine course rushing upwards. It 
is too cold to sleep; we sit huddled together before the fire, 
and are entertained by droll songs and stories by Pat. He 
has just been telling us of an adventure he had when a 
young man while hunting caribou, which might have ended 
seriously. He had started out in the morning with only 
his rifle, knife, and a mouthfulof provisions. About noon 
he struck a fresh caribou track, and started in pursuit. 
Twice in crossing alake did he catch a glimpse of him, 
but out of shooting distance. He still resolutely followed 
until the lengthening shadows warned him to retrace his way 
back to camp, and defer the further pursuit until the mor- 
row. Darkness set in, and with it a gathering snow storm, 
and he soon found it impossible to follow his track. He 
now became seriously alarmed, and began devising with 
himself what he had best do. After some time a happy 
thought struck him. He was surrounded by balsam trees, 
and cutting from these sufficient branches he dug a hole in 
the snow and lining it top sides and bottom he crawled in, 
and sheltered from the storm anxiously awaited daylight to 
liberate him from his uncomfortable position. Morning 
came at last, and crawling out more dead than alive he 
took up his track, and had not gone far when he met his 
anxious companions, who had come to search for him. 
We look sorry for want of sleep this morning, but make 
an early start for the lake. We have just returned, and 
with good success—twenty dozen trout, averaging some 
half a pound apiece. Out of one hole I took some five 
dozen, andina depth of only three feet of water. I at- 
tribute our success to the fact that the lake is shallow, and 
the ice, with the heavy accumulation of snow, has been 
forced to the bottom, driving the fish into the channel. I 
caught one—a curiosity. It was about a foot in length, and, 
as I supposed, had a protuberance growing from each side 
of itsmouth. I seized it, and giving ita slight pull was 
horrified when out came afrog of good proportions. It 
had swallowed it headforemost, but had been unable to 
get the hind legs’ ully in. Wehad arare meal—trout in 
all forms. The meat is firm and good. 
We give up all idea of moose or caribou, and prepare 
for one more day’s fishing. At noon we have taken twenty 
dozen more, when Mr. N., complaining of not feeling well, 
we return tocamp. What an enthusiastic sportsman he is; 
fast approaching his seventieth year, he still retains the 
vigor to enjoy it. He often puts me, his junior by many 
years, to the test to equal himin agility. It is growing 
very mild, and we have reason to fear arain storm, which 
will place us in an ugly predicament, as it renders snow 
shoeing almost impossible. We pack up everything pre- 
paratory to a start. . 
At daybreak we are off, and by forced marches we reach 
Michel Lake. The snow shoeing is horrible, the snow ac- 
cumulating on the shoes to such a degree that we are 
obliged to carry sticks to beat it off. 
We descend the mountain safely in a series of slides, and 
are at Ned’s just as it eommences torain. We hastily har- 
ness up, and at eleven o’clock arrive home worn out with 
the day’s tramp. A good night’s rest puts us all to rights, 
and so ended our trip. Though we secured no large game 
yet was I much pleased, and have promised myself another 
such at some future time, when I may have a better report 
to make. G. M. F., Jr. 
et 
PIGEON ENGLISH. 
eas ea 
Eprror ForgesT AND STREAM :— - 
Of all spoken languages the Chinese is to a foreign 
tongue perhaps the most difficult to acquire; mainly pho- 
netic in its construction, the slightest difference in inflection 
may make a vast difference in the meaning of two ora 
dozen words nearly similar. For example, between loug 
sui, lung sui, loong sui, lang swi, and several other ‘‘suis”’ 
with nearly identical prefixes, a slight variation in the 
grunt tells whether it be hot water, cold water, or ice water 
that you speak of. 
Again, if by close study and quick ear one has learned at 
Hong Kong enough to procure ice water for his table or hot 
for his bath, let him travel a few miles into another Proy- 
ince and his learning goes for naught. With the same 
written, the spoken language is very different, and the in- 
habitants of opposite sides of a river may not be able to un- 
derstand each other. ‘‘Amoy,” (gates of the sea,) is, not five 
miles from its walls, known as ‘‘Hai moon,” which, I be- 
lieve means ‘‘shut the door; and as short a distance in 
another direction gives it another name, which I forget. 
Thus foreigners coming to China for trade or other pur- 
poses would "find, but for a resource, an almost insuper- 
able obstacle to communication with the natives. This re- 
source is that strange conglomeration of distorted words 
from many languages known as ‘‘Pigeon English.” Ameri- 
cans, English, Portuguese, Dutch, Spaniards, in short, all 
nations come to China, and must talk with the natives. 
They can’t or won’t all learn Chinese, so the Chinese who 
are not to be baffled, have with wonderful ingenuity con- 
structed a common language for all to meet on. Itis a fun- 
ny thing, though, to heara Frenchman trying to talk pigeon 
English. Toa stranger upon first arrival it sounds ridicu- 
lous, and he is tempted to class it as gibberish, but he soon 
learns his mistake. 
Words apd phrases have fixed meanings. When aChina 
merchant says, ‘‘Maskee, my cansecure, "his word is given 
and your contract is as safe asa bond could make it. He 
has said ‘Enough, I give my guarantee.” 
Poetry can be written in it, as a very successful parody 
of ‘‘Excelsior” that has been widely quoted has proved, 
and the paraphase of Mrs. Herman’s ‘‘Casabianca,” which 
[-have written, is almosta translation. There is hardly more 
freedom of phrase than would be required to put the same 
into French. 
Of course many of the words convey no meaning to one 
not familiar with the language; but they all have meanings, 
and I give. you a glossary: 
Guossary oF TERMSs.—Top-side. up stairs, above, on deck; chop-chop, 
quickly, hurry up; whilo, get away, clear out; allosame, the same as, 
like: joss, deity; number one, first class, perfect; downside, down stairs, 
below; no saby, no savez; maskez, enough, enough said, finished; what 
JSashion, what do you mean? what kind of a way of doing business is 
this? what ting, nearly the same as above; hi yah, exclamation; galah, 
exclamation; chow chow, as averb, to eat or devour as a man, some- 
thing te eat, as ‘my wanchee chow-chow,” I’ want semething to eat, I'm 
hungry. 
The pronoun fe is made to do duty for all genders and 
persons, and means he, she, it, his, hers, its, him, &., as 
required. My, in the same way, means, me, I, mine, &c., 
and when Mr. Willie Edwin, in his otherwise perfect 
“Heathen Chinee” says, ‘‘Me washee, washee,” he makes a 
great mistake; ‘‘My washee, washee” would be correct and 
beautiful. The word pigeon or pidgin means most any- 
thing, but more generally is used for business, as, ‘‘no be- 
longy you pidgin,” means ‘‘its none of “your business.” 
“My saby my pidgin,’ means ‘‘I understand my own af- 
fairs.” ‘You can catchee you own pidgin,” means, ‘“‘You 
attend to your own business,” &c. The syllable ¢e or y is 
added to most English words, and the letter 7 they cannot 
pronounce. ‘‘Cross” is with them closs, ‘‘strong silong. 
This has a curious effect; when at dinner the waiter asks 
you to take some ‘‘lce,”” he don’t mean what he says. 
Chinamen at Hong Kong will quickly detect a new ar- 
rival by the facility with which he speaks. Says one to me 
one day, turning with disgust froma newly arrived Ameri- 
can, ‘‘He belong too muchee damn foolo; he no saby he 
ewn talkee.”” I’m sorry to record that they have not soft- 
ened down our rough word ‘‘damn,” but give it its 
perfect accent, and when one bequeued gentleman calls 
another a ‘‘damned Chinaman,” he insults him as does our 
colored brother when he stigmatises a coffee colored friend 
as a “d. d nigger.” (You can put a dash between those 
other d’s if you wish.) 
The amenities of social life can be explained in this ‘‘pid- 
gin.” I called one evening on a young lady in Hong Kong, 
and to the boy who came to the doorI said, ‘‘Miss Malia 
hab got?” ‘‘Hab got topside.” ‘‘Walkee topside chop- 
chop, talkee Miss Malia hab got one piecy man downside 
wanchee catchee he.” Returned with the message, ‘‘Miss 
Malia talky alla plopper, can catchee;” so I staid. 
A good story is told of a gentleman who, annoyed by a 
terrific racket in the court near his house, sent his boy to 
ascertain the cause of the gun firing, cracker popping and 
gong beating. The boy returned; ‘‘Well what ting?” ‘‘Oh, 
smallo ting, sir; one piecee Chinaman catchee bull chilo, 
he husyband makee chin-chin joss.” In other words, a 
Chinawoman has had ason born; and her husband is re- 
turning thanks to God. 
Chinamen can quarrel in the pigeon. Said one of them 
to a Jew merchant in San Francisco, who had treated him 
with indignity: ‘‘Hi yah, my saby you too muchee; you 
number one damn rascal; you killum Mellica man’s Joss.” 
And sometimes they are forced to use it in intercourse with 
each other. I saw an amusing interview between old ‘‘bum 
boat Sam,” our Hong Kong purveyor, a Shanghai China- 
man who understood the pidgin, and a third Shanghai man 
who did not. Sam couldn’t speak Shanghai dialect and 
the others could not speak that of the South. So the two 
talked pigeon, and the Shanghai man translated to his 
friend. 
Thus necessity has developed a new language, and a gen- 
eration of people speak an idiom unknown to the world at 
large. Re! PIsECO. 
a Open 
LEAVES FROM ASURVEYOR’S JOURNAL 
es 
TRAPPING. 
+ —__. 
FTER securing the skins of the wolves, we started on 
our way home, it being too late to go further that day 
and get back. Upon striking our trail as we passed one of 
the deadfalls, Ralph commenced again growling about that 
‘‘dog-goned fisher.” After pondering the matter over in 
silence for awhile, he broke out with, ‘‘darn his pokey 
hide, let’s fix him;” with that we returned to the fall, and 
after much cogitation and mental calculation, together with 
considerable hard labor, we managed to fix a heavy log to 
a coupleof saplings just over the back part of the dead- 
fall, and so attached to the rear stakes that any violent at- 
tempt to pull away or tear down the same would loosen 
the weight above and cause it to fall. ‘‘There,” said 
Ralph, ‘‘Tll bet that'll do it.” It certainly was a very in- 
genious arrangement, and I hoped with all my heart would 
prove effective. We rigged.up another one the same way 
before reaching camp. The construction of a deadfall is 
well understood, and it is not necessary for me to describe 
it, for hardly a country boy of a dozen years but is familiar 
with its composition, and its spindle or figure four arrange- 
ment. 
The next day Ralph having fixed up his scent drag, start- 
ed off alone on his trail. A trapper’s trail, or line of traps, 
consists of a line blazed on the trees through’ the woods 
along which, at intermediate distances, depending upon 
circumstances, character of the country, &c., he builds a 
deadfall, or sets a trap. These lines are generally eight or 
ten miles in extent, so that they can be gone over, the traps 
visited, and a return made to camp the same day; though 
sometimes they reach the distance of thirty or even forty 

| range all over. 
miles; then the trappers have a camp at each end or often- 
er, (or a sleeping place at least,) with their main camp 
either at one end or often a short distance from the centre 
oftheline. Sometimes, if the lay of the country, the lakes, 
water courses, &c., will allow, the line is laid out in circu- 
lar form, starting from and coming around to the general 
or main shanty. 
The main shanty is generally constructed of logs dove- 
tailed or notched in at the ends, is built commodiously, 
sufficient to accommodate three or four persons, fitted up 
with bunks for sleeping, a fire-place in the middle, if there 
is no stone chimney at the end, is well chinked with mud 
and moss between the logs, anda tight roof made from 
split cedar slabs, and bark. The other or temporary shan- 
ties are easily thrown up by driving in the ground a couple 
of forked saplings six or eight feet apart, across which is 
placed a pole two or three inches in diameter, and from 
this slabs of cedar, or any other tree that splits easy, of 
twelve or fourteen feet in length, are laid to the ground, 
and these overlaid at the seams with bark. This forms the 
roof; the sides may be constructed in the same way, or with 
poles. This makes a comfortablo house of two sides and a 
sloping roof. The fire should be built against a couple of 
hardwood logs (maple is good) placed one above the other 
and kept in their position by acouple of strong stakes 
braced at the back. Hemlock or most any evergreen makes 
the best andirons, as they burn less easy. A fire place con- 
structed in this way will reflect the heat strongly into the 
shanty, 
When going over the line a trail or drag is drawn by the 
trapper. This may consist of a deer’s head or leg or paunch, 
or anything fleshy that will leave a scent, so that animals 
in their roamings about, on crossing this trail will be at- 
tracted by the smell and followit up tothe trap. The 
trappers manufacture ascent for this purpose by placing 
small fish in a bottle and letting them decay in the sun un- 
til a strong oil is formed that when rubbed on the drag, 
and a few drops placed_on the bait or anywhere in the back 
part of the fall, will prove an attraction irresistabie toa 
mink. For wolf or fox it is better to mix with the above a 
little assafcetida and oil of anise. The trappers generally 
go two together, (rarely more, as two can do the work, and 
the profits are greater,) sometime in September or early 
October, and having found a suitable region for trapping, 
built their shanty or shanties, and got in their supplies, 
they blaze their line and construct their deadfalls to locate 
their traps. This takes them until about November, when 
the fur begins to become good. The trapping season lasts 
until about April, though otter skins are good, I believe, 
somewhat longer. The most favorable time for trapping 
is in the fall and early spring. The months of November 
and March are the best. Of course it varies in different 
seasons. 
The best bait for mink is first any part of a fish, even the 
head is good, or a piece of muskrat flesh or a bird) The 
fisher the same; for marten or sable any part of a fowl, a 
duck or partridge head or a red squirrel, or a hare’s leg, in 
fact they will take about the same thing. 
I have but little faith im deadfalls, and few trappers 
now a days, I believe rely on them to any extent. They use 
them sometimes of course on the mountains when they are 
short of traps, but I would no more think of going on a fur 
expedition without a set of steel traps of different sizes 
than I would of going without my gun oraxe. Deadfalls 
will only operate (and then not always successfully) with | 
mink, marten and sable; neither otter, beaver or fox, and 
rarely a wolf, will enter them. Fisher and wild cat are 
sometimes caught in them, but oftener they tear them down 
and carry off the bait, and also the marten or any smaller 
animal you may have previously secured. A good steel 
trap properly set and attached to the right kind of a spring 
pole, is much neater andsurer, as it secures your prize 
from the devouring propensities of the larger animals. 
For otter the trap should be set on their slides either at 
the top or, asI prefer, at the bottom, about two or three 
inches under water. It leaves no scent there and will drown 
your animal before he has time to perform any act of am- 
putation. As for the other animals, you can generally find 
a hole ina stump or log or in the bank of sufficient depth 
to place the bait, then set the trap at the opening lightly 
covered. A first rate place to set a trap for fox, wolf or wild 
cat is near where you have killed a deer. It should be 
thoroughly though lightly covered over with earth, rotten 
wood or leaves. Traps should be thoroughly and often 
smoked or rubbed with fresh bloog to remove the smell of 
the human hand, and it pays a trapper to always wear a 
buckskin glove when handling these traps. 
Along the watercourses, lakes, &c., the trapper looks for 
mink, otter and beaver; the fisher, martin and sable are 
found only in the heavily wooded and hilly 1egions. Wolves 
It is very difficult to catch an otter ina 
deadfall, as they rarely touch bait. Ralph unfortunately 
possessed only one steel trap, and that was an outrageously 
large one for bear. It took two men, and even then a 
lever was called into requisition to set it. Although with- — 
in twenty miles of Ralph’s camp we knew of sixteen differ- 
ent otter slides, I don’t remember of his catching a single 
one while we were camped near him. Had he had a score 
of good steel traps he might have made a small fortune that 
season among the fur. 
And by the way, that is a singular characteristic of these 
most singular animals. They seem to enter into the enjoy- 
ment of the sliding down hill process with all the zest and 
keenness of merry school children, and whimper their 
pleasure to each other with equal gusto. The gambols of 
a party of otters on a slide is a very interesting as well as a 
