Superior fishing; or, the striped bass, trout, black bass, and blue-fish of the northern states. Embracing full directions for dressing artificial flies with the feathers of American birds; and account of a sporting visit to Lake Superior, etc

ALBERT R. MANN
LIBRARY

New York STATE COLLEGES
OF
AGRICULTURE AND HoME ECONOMICS

AT

CORNELL UNIVERSITY

THE GIFT OF

WILLARD A, KIGGINS

Cornell University Library

Superior fishing; or, the striped bass, t

Cornell University

Library

The original of this book is in
the Cornell University Library.

There are no known copyright restrictions in
the United States on the use of the text.

http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924003697889

(Ome,

SUPERIOR FISHING:

OR THE

Striped Bass, Trout, Black Bass, and Blue-Fish
OF THE NORTHERN STATES.

Embracing full Directions for Dressing Artificial Flies with the
Feathers of American Birds 5 an Account of a Sport-
ing Visit to Lake Superior, ete., ete.

BY
ROBERT BARNWELL ROOSEVELT,

>
PRESIDENT OF THE NEW YORK FISHERY COMMISSION ; PRESIDENT OF THE
NEW YORK ASSOCIATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF GAME; AUTHOR OF
“THE GAME FISH OF NORTH AMERICA;” “FLORIDA, AND THE
GAME WATER BIRIS;” “FIVE ACRES TOO MUCH,” ETC., LTC,

ILLUSTRATED.

NEW YORE:
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
751 BROADWAY.

1884.

Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1834, by the
ORANGE JUDD COMPANY,
Tn the Office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington,

PREFACE.

On reading the title of this book, it is natural to
consider what is ‘‘Superior Fishing ?” Is it the
good days when fish were plentiful to our utmost
heart’s desire, days which we have all marked down
in our memories never to be forgotten, as the ancients
used to set ared letter against them ? oris it those
expeditions which have given us the most pleasure,
apart from the mere question of the sport? Or
finally, should the designation only be applied to
the kind of fish, and the skill of the art applied in
his capture ? In truth it can hardly be said to be
any one of these, but rather the whole combined.
We all have had poor fishing, yet an enjoyable time,
or splendid luck with little satisfaction, and we have
had right good fun taking inferior kinds of fish.
The trip such as I have described to Lake Superior,
unites in an eminent degree all these requisites.
There was the novelty of the expedition, for the
reader will see that it was taken some years ago when
travel was more difficult; the fish were next to the
finest the world of waters produces, and they were
to be taken in an abundance which would have sat-

(v)

VI PREFACE.

isfied the most greedy soul. Again, the excursion
to Point Judith when the big striped-bass were
running. What with the delicious salt air of the
sea, the rugged cliffs which formed our fishing-
ground, the exercise of the nicest skill in casting,
the excitement of guarding against the in-rolling
breakers which might at any moment carry the an-
gler off his feet, and above all the sense of freedom
with the limitless ocean in front, and the rocky shore
and bare pastures behind. Could anything be more
perfect ? Mere numbers may make what is techni-
cally termed ‘‘ good fishing,” but that alone can
never supply ‘‘ Superior Fishing,” in the full accep-
tation of the words.

The reader may miss the noblest of all the deni-
zens of the deep, and demand why the salmon has
been omitted. Certainly not for any want of re-
spect for the ‘‘king of fish,” or of appreciation for
the delights of taking him, which might not inappro-
priately be termed the ‘‘supremest fishing,” but
simply for the conclusive reason that he does exist
—to speak from the position of the practical angler
—in the United States. So after his exclusion first
stands the trout, next to him the bass, whether of
the salt or fresh water, for it is hard to decide
between them, then the blue-fish, the pike-perch,
the lake-trouts, and possibly winding up with the
mascallonge, for as to the grayling, it is so rare that
it can hardly be said to be an American fish. AI
these require the best of tackle, and the highest de-
velopment of skill, and when captured are a source

PREFACE. VII

of the proudest satisfaction. Below them itis more
a question of the sportsman’s fancy or prejudices.
Remember, however, that in all manner of sport
there is something higher than the mere capture of
the finny prey, the communion with nature, the
presence of the waving trees, and the babbling
brook, of the thundering waterfall, the clouds and
the winds and the waters, which bring the human
soul nearer to the skies from which it came, and to
which it must inthe end return. See to it then that
the days and nights in the woods, are days and nights
of improvement as well as of pleasure, that the sports-
man learns as well as lives, and comes out more of
a man for every hour spent in them. If tired, and
over-worked, and city-bred, remember too, that the
game of a country is the best medicine, and that no
cure equals the sporting cure.

THE AUTHOR.

INDEX,

Achigon, 1.
Agates, ios.
Agawa, 99,

ascent of, 104,
canoes for, 99,
Indians at, 92.
mouth of, 59,
American Anglers’ Book, 269.
Anthony, John, 151.
Apostle Islands, 122.
Artificial baits, 272.
flies. See Flies,
bait-fishing, 246,
fly-fishing, 246.
minnow, 273,
Bacon, fried, 340.
Bass. Sce Striped Bass,
Batchawang Bay, 65,
falls, 82,
fishing. 79, 82,
river, 77, 110,
Bayfield, 152,
Baans, 341,
Beaver, teeth of, 115.

* Bergall, 160
Birch canoe, 126.

Black bass, 10.

where found, 11.

in Lake Superior, 71, 75.
Blue tish, 160, 274, 279.
Brulé river, 122.
Buzz, 212.

Cakes, griddle, 844,
Camlet, 200.
Casting fly, 263.
contest, 266.
distance, 265.
annual tournaments, 268.
for striped bass, 139, 140, 142,
menhaden, 189, 144, 145, 147.
line, 261.
shrimp for striped bass, 143.

(Ix)

Catch, 204.

Chippewa, 78.
house, 36.

Chowder. clam, 334.
Scott's, 845.
Webster's, 343,

Chum, 158, 302.

Chumming, 287, 802,

Cinderbeds, 285.

Clams, baked, 384,
broiled or fried, 885,
chowder, 834.
stewed, 335,

Cleveland, 28.

Close time of fish, 187.

Cock 4 doosh, 48.

Coffee, 312,

Cookery for sportsmen, 312,
in the woods, 330.
materials for, 331.

Copper mines, 109.

Corn starch. 114.
bread, 344.

Cot, 155.

Cypress, J., Jr., 18,

Deacons’ quarrel, 171.
Dead river, 122,
Detour, 33.
Detroit, 28.
Dining by Americans, 29.
Duck, roast, 341.
Dyes, 240.
yellow, 240.
orange, 240.
scarlet, 240.
crimson, 241.
brown, 241,
blue, 241.
purple, 242,
Violet, 242,
claret, 242.
black, 242,

x INDEX.

Dyes, lavender, 243.
blue dun, 248,
green, 243.
gray drake, 243.
gut, 244, 245.

Eggs, fried, poached, or scrambled,
35.
Esox boreus, V7.

Feathers, preserving, 213.
for fly-making, 201.
Fish, protection of, 183.
close time, 18%.
baked, 338.
boiled, 336.
broiled, 337.
chowder, 334.
fried, 337.
potted, 342.
stewed, 338.
diminution of, 184, 185.
importance as food, 184,
spawning season, 187, 189.
Fisheries, value, 190.
Fishing grounds, 15, 16.
Flies of Lake Superior, natural, 117.
salmon, 202.
salmon from Scrope, 215.
trout, 210, 211.
Flies, 215.
alder, 281.
August dun, 235.
black gnat, 228.
black palmer, 238.
blue bottle, 237.
blue dun, 220.
brown palmer, 238.
cinnamon dun, 236,
fly, 236
cow ding, 222.
dark mackerel, 282.
downhead fly, 228.
fern fly, 280.
grvannom or green tail. 225.
gold-eyed gauze wing, 233,
gravel bed or spider, 225,
great red spinner, 223.
great dark drone, 221.
reen drake, 231.
azel fly, 232.
jron blue dun, 226.
Jenny spinner, 227.
Kinmont Willie, 215.
Lady of Mertoun, 215,
little dark spinner, 229.
yellow May dun, 228,

Flies, March brown, 223.
meg with the muckle mouth,
216

meg in her braws, 216.

Michael Scott, 216.

oak fly, 228.

orange fly, 235.

peacock fly, 222.

projecting bodies, 217.

red ant, 234.

red palmer, 237.

red spinner, 220.

Ronald’s flies, 219.

sailor and soldier, 230.

sand fly, 224.

silver horns, 234.

stone fly, 224.

toppy, 215.

turkey brown, 229.

water cricket, 221,

wren tail 233.

yellow dun, 226.
sally, 230.

Floss silk, 199.
Fly-book, 262.

casting. See Casting Fly.

making, 196.
bodies, 199.
buzz flies, 212.
catch, 204.
double hackles, 210.
gut loop, 202.
hackles, 200, 209.
hooks, selection, 197.
Hyde's directions, 218,
matcrials, 198, 199, 200, 201.
materials preserving, 313.
midge flies, 213.
palmers, 213,
projecting bodies, 217.
salmon, 202,

s

tip, 203.

tront, 210, 211.

tying silk, 199, 212.

wax, 214, 198, 199, 213.

wings, 201, 205, 209.
mixed, 208

Garden river, 121.
General remarks, 9,
Goulais Bay, 61.

Grand Island, 122.
Gravy, 341.

Gros Cap, 53, 55, 61, 116.
Griddle cakes, 344,

INDEX.

Guides, Alexis Biron, 40.
Joseph Le Sayre, 40.
Gut, 198.
loop, 202.
Harmony river, 67, 112, *
alls, 68.
upper falls, %5,
Heute lake, 47.
Hooks, selection of, 197,
Hudson’s Bay Company, 60.

Ice drift, 55.
Asie aux Arables, 55.

Judith Point, Sec Point Jndith.
Kinnikinick, 58.

Labrax Lineatius, 138.

Lake Huron, 82.
George, 33.
trout, 186, 275.
spawning season, 187.

Lake Superior, VES Paks =

flies for, artificial. 40, 128.
flies of, natural, 117.
north shore, 122.
resumé, 120.
return from, 118.
route to, 121.
tackle for, 128,
trout of, 124,
map, 130.
Lanse aux Cripes, 88.
Leader, 261.
Lines, how prepared, 139.
for striped bass, 147.
Lines, 260.
Liver, how cooked, 344.
Lobsters, 388.

Mackinaw salmon, See Namaycush.
Maine, 14.
Mamainse, 88, 110.
Maple Island, 65.
Marquette, 121.
Meats, baked, boiled, broiled, and
stewed, 340,
tough, 342.
Menhaden bait, how prepared, 153,
Midge flies, 213.
Mines, 117.

XI

Mohair, 199.
Mount Kineo, 101,

Namaegoose, 122.

Namaycush, 62.
baits, 134,
characteristics, 185.
color, 182,
localities, 184,
seasons, 133.
spawning, 135.

Nepeegon, 124, 91.

Oysters, peoied, fried, or roasted,

scolloped. 334,
stewed, 382,
Omelet, 336.

Palmers, 213.

Pancake Bay, 88.

Partridges, 111,

Pedro Don, 22.
baggage, 83.
conversation in Chippewa, 94,
disquisition on liquors, 24.
canoeing, 102.
china, &4.

Chippewa house, 36.
refusal to get up, 112.
sugar, 80,

table cloths, 86

Pickerel of Lake Superior, 77%.

Pictured rocks, 122.

Pike-perch, 10.
where found, 10.
cut, 76.

Poaching, 192.
punishment for, 193,

Point Judith, 150.
blue-fish, at 160,
porgec at, 160.
snipe at, 159.
striped bass at, 151,

Pointe aux Pins, 53.
Chenes, 53.

Mines, 109.

Potatoes, 339.

Port Huron, 29,

Pork, fried, 340.

Protection of fish, 183.

Potomac, 189, 245.

Punch, arrack, 346,
champagne, 347.
Frank Forester’s, 347,
fish house, 846.
nondescript, 347.

XII

Punch, pine-apple, 346.
Porto-Rico, 347.
regal, 347.

eens from “Turf, Field and
Farm, 316.

Reels, 255.

for bass, 146,

welding, 257.
Reel-bands, 255.
Rice, 296.
Rock-fish, 138.
Roast birds, 341.
Rods, 246.

for salmon, 246.

for trout, 249.

rings for, 255.

Rod ferrules, 253.
how separated, 254.
Salino amethystus. See Namay-
cush,
confinis,136.

siscowel, 138.

Salmon, boiled, 342.
fishing with trout rod, 251.
flies from Scrope, 215,
fly-making, 202.
kippered, 343.
trout, See Mamaycush, 136,

Sault Ste, Maric, 34,
fishing at, 42.
little rapids, 50.

rapids, 42.
trout pond at, 45,

Silk for tying flies, 199, 212,

Siskawitz, 63, 188.

Slick, 153.

Smoked beef, 291,

Snappine mackerel, 274.

Soups, 340.

South Bay, 161, 280.

Spanish Mackerel, 308.

Spinning tackle, 275.

Sportmanship, 19, 20.

Squid, 274

Stateroom, 24.

Ste. Marie river, 83,

INDEX.

Stop, 204.
Striking trout, 265,
Striped bass, 138, 274.
baits, 149.
casting menhaden, 139, 144, 147.
cel skin, 153.
fishing adventure, 157.
fly-fishing, 139, 140, 142.
hooks for, 154.
ap ents for catching, 146,

55.
localitics, 148.
seasons, 151, 152.
tackle, for, 142.
Superior fishing, 21.
Superior, Lake. ‘See Lake Superior.

Tag, 203.
Thumb- stall, 155,
Tinsel, 199,
Tip, 203.
Trout, 13,
cooked on first principles, 343.
Lake Superior, 14.
Maine, 14.
preserving, 90.
Lake, See Luke trout.
flies 210.
Truite du Lac. pee Namaycush.
Tying Silkk, 199, 212
Trolling spoons, 275.
Buels, 276.

Vails, 149.
Vegetahles, 342.
Veil, 21.

Venison stew, 348.

Wax, 198. 199, 213.
soft, 214,
Wajack’ 97.
White-fish, 12.
how captured, 46.
Point, 121
bait, 296.
Wings, 201, 205, aia
mixed,
Worsted, 199,

SUPERIOR FISHING.

GENERAL REMARKS,

AttTHoveH the shores of our northern coasts, both
along the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans, abound in
numberless varieties of the finny tribe, and myriads
of striped bass, cod, mackerel, tautog, herring, shad
and blue-fish in the Northern States, and salmon,
sea-trout, and capelin in the British Provinces, visit
usin their season; the Middle States, unless in a
few limited localities, produce few varieties, and
generally inferior kinds of fish. Throughout the
Valley of the Ohio, and that vast region west of
Pennsylvania, south of the great lakesand Michigan,
stretching westward to the Rocky Mountains and
northward to th: Canadian boundary, as well as the
centre of British America not communicating im-
mediately with the sea or the immense bays of the
Arctic Territory, there can be found but two, or at
the most three kinds of fish that are worthy of the
attention of the epicure or the sportsman. It is true
that savage pickerel, immense mascallonge, and gi-
gantic cat-fish lie in wait amid long weeds, and em-

10 GENERAL REMARKS.

bedded in deep mud, a terror to their smaller
brethren and a prize to the unrefined fisherman who
looks to the profit to be derived from their heavy
carcases ; and that other coarse and ill-shapen crea-
tures are taken in the net; but the only fishes that
the true angler can regard as objects of sport are
the pike-perch, and the black bass. ,

The pike-perch, which is variously termed the
pickerel, pike of the Jakes, glass-eye, big-eyed pike,
and pickering, is taken in immense numbers in Lakes
Erie and Huron, was formerly numerous in the
Ohio, and inhabits to a greater or less degree the
ponds or sluggish waters of that section. It is a
savage fish, biting voraciously at bait or trolling-
tackle, and where better fish are scarce, is regarded
as a piscatory delicacy; but its play is weak and
dull, and as it is taken with strong tackle, its capture
requires neither the skill nor experience that lend
the principal charm to angling ; and by comparison
with sea-fish, its flavor is coarse.

Captured mainly with the all-devouring net, it is
salted and packed for winter use as our cod or
mackerel are preserved, and constitutes at Sandusky
and some other places an important object of com-
merce.

The black bass, a fish that, from its abundance in
their country, Americans may claim as peculiarly
their own; a fish that is inferior only to the salmon
and trout, if even to the latter; that requires the
best of tackle and skill in its inveiglement, and exhi-
bits courage and game qualities of the highest order—-

GENERAL REMARKS. 11

fairly swarms in the upper central portion of North
America.

In all the lakes, large and small, that dimple the
rugged surface of Canada; in the sheets of pure
water embosomed in the gentle swells of the west-
ern prairies; in those inland seas that are enveloped
by our extensive territory; and in the numerous
rivers of the west—the black bass is found by his
ardent admirers.

From the confines of Labrador, throughout the
Canadas, in British America, the Western States,
and far beyond the Mississippi, there is scarcely a
stretch of water, whether it be the rapids of the St.
Lawrence, the sluggish bays of Lakes Ontario and
Erie, the cold depths of Huron and Superior, or the
lakelets of the interior, that does not abound with
this splendid fish.

We find his brother, or brother-in-law, the large-
mouth black bass, lazy, ugly, and ill-flavored by
comparison, but yet not to be despised on hook or
table. He looks with little favor on the artificial
fly when cast at him in winning way, but takes the
trolling spoon with amiable avidity.

The black bass has been introduced into the Middle
States ; and finding many of the clear, transparent,
rocky, eastern ponds admirably adapted to his health
and propagation, he is populating waters that have
heretofore produced little besides perch and sun-
fish. By afortunate provision of nature, most ponds
that are not suited to trout are favorable to black
bass ; and being a hardy fish, able to endure long

12 GENERAL REMARKS.

journeys, he is readily transported from place te
place. The time will soon come when the worthless
yellow perch will be supplanted by his noble con-
gener.

He has been imported even into that semi-detached
point of New England, Cape Cod, and thrives won-
derfully in Lake Mahopac, adding much to the at-
tractions of that favorite watering-place of fashion-
jaded New Yorkers, and is being generally distri-
buted among his eastern friends. If not exposed to
a hot sun, he may be carried a long distance out of
water, and will often revive when apparently the
last spark of vitality is extinct. But his natural home
is north and west of the Middle and Eastern States ;
there his name is legion, his fame deservedly great,
and he may be almost said to be the one game fish.

It is true that among epicures the famous white
fish of Lakes Huron and Superior, which is also
found in a more flabby condition in Erie and Onta-
rio, ranks before either the black bass or the pike-
perch; but as he is deceived by neither decoy nor
bait, he is not worthy of the fisherman’s regard.
To be tasted in perfection, the white fish must be
eaten fresh from the rapids of Lake Superior, where,
lying in the eddy below some immovable rock, he is
taken by the sharp-eyed Indian in the long-handled
net from out the foaming water, brought immedi-
ately to land, cooked and placed steammg hot upon
the table before he has lost the delicious freshness
of his native element.

The black bass, however, is in the west what the

GENERAL REMARKS. 13

trout is in our eastern brooks—the principal source
of the angler’s enjoyment.

The rivers that empty into Hudson’s Bay are
ascended by the migratory salmon, but from their
peculiar character do not furnish fly-fishing except
for trout. The latter are found in Lake Superior
and the streams that empty into it, in the tribu-
taries of the Upper Mississippi, and in the brooks of
the Alleghany and Rocky Mountains; but are not
generally distributed through the weedy streams of
the Western States.

The flat expanse of Ohio is not favorable to the
existence of that lover of the noisy brook and tum-
bling torrent; and streams flowing through marl
deposits are supposed not to furnish proper food; so
that the beauty that we in our eastern homes entice
from every stream or brooklet from Maine to Penn-
sylvania, is found rarely, if at all, in Illinois, Indiana,
Ohio, western Kentucky, and southern Wisconsin ;
but in the cool depths of Lake Superior and its
amber-hued tributaries he absolutely swarms.

In the Upper Mississippi there are black bass and
mascallonge; in the brooks that, rising amid the
hills of that region, swell its current, there are trout ;
in neighboring lakes black bass and perch abound ;
among the Rocky Mountains are found several spe-
cies of trout; and in the waters of Oregon and Cali-
fornia salmon are plentiful.

Although the largest trout in the United States
are taken in Maine, in the Rangeley region, the
greatest number and the most vigorous are found in

14 GENERAL REMARKS.

Lake Superior, where fish of two pounds weight
can be captured to the heart’s content. The fish of
Maine are of rich and strong color, while those of
Lake Superior have the bright sides and delicate
tints of the sea-trout. All brook trout, however—
the genuine salmo fontinalis—haye the peculiar
bright vermilion specks that distinguish them from
kindred species, and these are distinctly visible npon
the silver sides of the fish of Lake Superior.

The innumerable rivers of the State of Maine are
interwoven together in such a manner that the fish-
erman, urging his silent canoe with dripping paddle
or stout pole, gliding beneath the arching boughs
that shade in gloom the narrow stream, or pushing
boldly into the open lakes, can pass from one region
of waters to another, and, making short portages,
explore in a continuous trip rivers that run north,
east, and west. To the true sportsman, armed with
pliant rod and feathered hook for the seduction of
the merry trout, and trusty rifle loaded with heavy
ball for the destruction of the lordly moose, nothing
surpasses the intense enjoyment of wandering amid
the forest wilds from river to river, threading the
uninhabited groves, or following the unknown and
unnamed stream, and leaving to whim or chance, or
the influence of luck, to determine his final destina-
tion. Alone with his single guide he is content;
accompanied by a friend, still better pleased; in a
party of associates perfectly happy; blessed by the
society of ladies—real ladies and true wood nymphs
—he is in Elysium,

GENERAL REMARKS. 15

Or, he may coast the shores of our western
lakes, where the bright sun sparkles on the rippling
surface, and only seek the shade upon the Jand to
avoid its heat; there he may kill the black bass, the
mascallonge, afid in Lake Superior the trout; flce-
ing from the approaching storm to some sheltered
nook, he partakes the inland ocean’s varying
moods, passing the days upon its surface and the
nights amid the neighboring forests; stopping oc-
casionally to use the light shot-gun and kill a few
woodcock or partridges, and now and then slaying a
duck upon the route.

In the wide world there is no other country so
propitious to the fisherman as the northern part of
North America; it furnishes every varietye of sport,
from the delicate refined fishing of the transparent
ponds and over-fished trout-preserves of Long Island,
to the coarser and easier sport of killing with large
flies and heavy rods the countless hosts of Maine,
the Labrador coast, or Lake Superior; from the
casting the menhaden bait into the boisterous ocean
for striped bass, to the trolling amid the Thousand
Isles of the St. Lawrence for the ugly and powerful
mascallonge; from the capture of the noble salmon
to that of the spirited black bass. In fact, there is
so much and so good fishing everywhere, that it is dif-
ficult to give a preference or Jay out any specific
directions. You may go by railroad to Capo Vin-
cent, and thence by steamboat to Clayton or Alexan-
dria bay, and fish the St. Lawrence; or take the
ocean steamer from Boston to Eastport, and thence

16 GENERAL REMARKS.

to Calais, and explore the St. Croix River for land-
locked salmon ; or continue on to St. John, and by rail-

~ad and stage or steamer to the Nipisiquit, and kill
the true salmon—salmo salar—king of fish; or you
may take the railroad from Boston to Bethel and
cross by stage into the Umbagog region of Maine,
and visit its innumerable lakes with unpronouncea-
ble names, or may embark on the steamboat at
Montreal, and wake up, after two days’ tranquil
voyage, at the river Sagaunay, the outlet of Lake
St. John; or you may stop anywhere on any of
these routes, even out in the ocean, on the way to
New Brunswick, if you please, where there are pol-
lock or haddock, and have good fishing. There is
excellent. fishing close to New York city, and better
still the farther you recede from it.

It is true the fisherman will not find those refined
comforts that the more cultivated and densely peo-
pled districts of Europe afford ; but he will receive
a hearty welcome and wholesome entertainment at
the country tavern or the farmer’s house. If, how-
ever, he have youth and tolerable hardihood, he
should look for no such reception; but, carrying his
canvas-home, enjoy the luxury of unrestrained inde-
pendence, kill and cook his own dinner, and sleep in
the pure air of the wilderness. He will have to sur-
render a few necessaries that habit has made so, but
he will be repaid a thousandfold by increased hap.
piness and improved health; he will not have ser-
vants to wait on him, nor desserts or wines to pamper
him; but he will have his guide to instruct, and

GENERAL REMARKS. 17

abundant food to support him. He will acquire an
insight into the mystery of wooderaft, and learn a
few of its wonders and delights; he will come to
rely upon his own stout muscles and sharp eyes,
and return to the city a renovated being. Or, if
he have sufficient enthusiasm and high courage, he
may cast aside all trammels, and taking his rifle or
rod, salt pork, and hard bread, strike off into the
trackless forest with no covering to shield him from
the rain or sun, no floating thing of beauty to bear
him in its bosom over the water, no store of pro-
visions to fall back upon if fish do not rise and the
bullet flies astray; but bearing bravely up against
heat and weariness, sleeping, amid the rain and
storm, wrapped in the heavy coat, catching or kill-
ing game sufficient for daily food, or going hungry
till better luck shall interpose. This, indeed, is
manhood; and our country, with its vast solitudes,
its unbroken forests, its network of water-courses,
its endless chains of lakes, its vast mountains and
limitless prairies, offers inducements for such a life
that no other land possesses.

As pretty full instructions have been given in the
Game Tish of North America to aid the learner in
commencing his experiences of camp life, the reader
who desires such information is referred to that work ;
but whether he shall go into the solitary wilderness,
away from man and human habitation, or can only
tear himself from business for a few hours for a fly-
ing visit to some quiet preserve near the bustling
sity, he should never forget that he is a sportsman,

18 GENERAL REMARKS.

and owes the duties of moderation, humanity, pa-
tience, and kindness under all circumstances; that
he cannot slaughter or poach; and that, from his pro-
fession, he should ever be a gentleman. He should
never forget the words of that most amiable of our
fraternity—the splendid shot, the skilful angler, the
genial companion, and the graceful writer, now long
since gathered to his final resting-place—who was
known to the public under the name of J. Cypress,
Jr:

“No genuine piscator ever tabernacled at Fire-
place or Stump-pond who could not exhibit proofs
of great natural delicacy and strength of apprehen-
sion—I mean of things in general, including fish.
But the vis vivida animi, the os magna sonans, the
manus mentis, the divine rapture of the seduction
of a trout, how few have known the apotheosis!
The creative power of genius can make a feather-
fly live, and move, and have being; and a wisely
stricken fish gives up the ghost in transports. That
puts me in mind of a story of Ned Locus. Ned
swears that he once threw a fly so far and delicately
and suspendedly, that just as it was dropping upon
the water, after lying a moment in the scarcely
moving air as though it knew no law of gravity,
it actually took life and wings, and would have
flown away but that an old four-pounder, seeing it
start, sprang’ and jumped at it full a foot out of his
element, and changed the course of the insect’s tra-
vel from the upper air to the bottom of his throat.
That is one of Ned’s, and I do not guarantee it, but

GENERAL REMARKS, 19

such a thing might be. Insects are called into
being in a variety of mysterious ways, as all the
world knows; for instance, the animalcula that
appear in the neighborhood of departed horses ;
and, as Ned says, if death can create life, what is
the reason a smart man can’t? Good fishermen are
generally great lawyers; ecce signa, Patrick Henry
and Daniel Webster. I have known this rule, how-
ever, to have exceptions. But the true sportsman
is always at least a man of genius and an honest
man. I have either read or heard some one say,
and I am sure it is the fact, that there never was an
instance of a sincere lover of a dog, gun, and rod
being sent to bridewell or penitentiary ....If I
were governor and knew a case, I would exert the
pardoning power without making any inquiry. I
should determine without waiting to hear a single
fact that the man was convicted by means of perjury.
There is a plain reason for all this. A genuine
sportsman must possess a combination of virtues
which will fill him so full that no room can be left
for sin to squeeze in. He must be an early riser—
to be which is the beginning of all virtue—ambitious,
temperate, prudent, patient of toil, fatigue, and dis-
appointment; courageous, watchful, intent upon his
business; always ready, confident, cool; kind to his
dog, civil to the girls, and courteous to his brother
sportsmen.”

To constitute a sportsman, therefore, it is not suf:
ficient merely to be able to catch fish; although a
very important element in the angler’s composition,

20 GENERAL REMARKS.

it ig not all that is required, vor will it alone entitle
him to full fellowship with the fraternity. He must
have higher aspirations and nobler gifts; he must
look beyond the mere result to the mode of effect-
ing it, regarding, perhaps, the means more than the
end. Any unfair trick or mean advantage he must
never take, even to fill a vacant creel or empty
pocket; he must never slay the crouching bevy,
huddled in terror before his pointer’s nose; he
must never resort to the grapple or the noose, no
matter how provokingly the wary trout, lying mo-
tionless in the clear water, may disdain his choicest
flies; and, when the nature of the fish pursued
induces it to accept the imitation, he can use the
natural bait, only in extreme cases and at great risk
to his reputation. The noblest of fish, the mighty
salmon, refuses bait utterly, and only with the most
artistic tackle and the greatest skill can he be
taken; the trout, which ranks second to the salmon,
demands an almost equal perfection of both, and in
his true season, the genial days of spring and sum-
mer, scorns every allurement but the tempting fly.
The black bass prefers the fly, but will take the
trolling-spoon, and even bait, at all seasons ; whereas
the fish of lesser station give a preference to bait, or
accept it alone. This order of precedence suflici-
ently proves what every thorough sportsman will
endorse—that bait-fishing, although an art of intri-
cacy and difficulty, is altogether inferior to the
science of fly-fishing ; and that the man who merely
follows it without higher aspiration, and uses a

GENERAL REMARKS. 21

worm equally for the beautiful trout and the hideous
cat-fish, cannot claim to be a sportsman. Occasion-
ally there is a person who will use the bait with
wonderful ability, and entice the reluctant fish
against their will to an unwished-for meal; but he
never experiences the higher pleasures of his pur-
suit—his enjoyment in making aneat and killing fly,
his satisfaction at its success, his delight in putting
it properly upon the water, and his gratification
when with it and his frail tackle he shall have over-
come the fierce and stubborn prey. Therefore to
his many other qualities, the true sportsman must
add a thorough knowledge of fly-fishing, and only
can the use of artificial fish or fly, or casting the
menhaden bait for bass, be termed SUPERIOR FISHING.

THR FIRST VEIL.

22 LAKE SUPERIOR.

CHAPTER I.
LAKE SUPERIOR.

Don Pepro is descended from one of what we in
our young country call the old and highly-respecta-
ble families, and having been nurtured amid the
refinements and luxuries of life, is one of the most
gentlemanly men imaginable. At the public rooms
of a hotel, in the halls, on the piazza, in the saloon
of a steamboat, he can never pass a lady, though she
be a perfect stranger, without in the most defer-
ential manner removing his hat. To this reverence
for the fair sex he adds an easy elegance towards
his own, that at once commands attention and
respect.

Never having taken an active share in the world’s
affairs, his abilities, which are far above the average,
have lain dormant or run to criticising art or com-
mitting poetry; and he is rather apt to discuss very
small matters with a minuteness and persistency
that important ones scarcely merit.

He had travelled Europe, of course, had shot
quail and taken trout in Long Island, fired at croco-
diles on the Nile and jackals in the desert; and
although probably the greatest exposure of his life
had been damp sheets at a country inn, and his

LAKE SUPERIOR. 23

severest hardship the finding his claret sour or
being compelled twice in one day to eat of the same
kind of game, he was now seized with a sporting
mania, and determined to rough it in the woods.
An unsafe companion, perhaps, the reader may
think; but it is not always the roughest men who
have the most pluck, nor those accustomed to the
commonest fare who grumble the least when offered
still coarser, and there is truth in the words of wor-
thy Tom Draw: “Give me a raal gentleman, one
as sleeps soft and eats high, and drinks highest
kind, to stand roughing it.”

So we discussed matters over a comfortable din-
ner, with the aid of a couple of bottles of claret,
one of champagne, and a little brandy; and Don
concluded he would as lief eat salt pork as wood-
cock, and ship biscuit as French rolls. He was
anxious to examine my list of camp articles, and was
quite ready to do away with a large part of them;
but finally determined to leave that matter to me,
holding me strictly responsible for carrying any
unnecessary effeminate luxuries. The discussion
was not a short one, but this happy decision being
arrived at, I was perfectly satisfied.

We met by appointment a few days later at a
leading house, in that thriving, active city of Cleve-
land, which seems to be drawing to itself the busi-
ness of the other cities of Lake Erie, and, cannibal-
like, to be growing fat on their exhausted lives. It
is a thoroughly American city, and, like all our
cities, doubtless has the handsomest street in

24 LAKE SUPERIOR.

the world, for so we were assured by the citi-
zens.

A large part of the trade of Cleveland is with the
mines of Lake Superior, and steamers leave almost
daily for that region, carrying a miscellaneous as-
sortment of the necessaries of life, and returning
laden with copper and iron ore. Not content, how-
ever, with this unexciting freight, these vessels pro-
pese to carry excursion parties round the lakes, and
are all, if their advertisements are to be believed,
supplied with brass bands, and every luxury of the
season.

In Cleveland we intended to purchase such ardent
spirits as we might require, and Don commenced :

“ Now as to this question of liquor, I should like
to have your views concerning kind and quantity ?”

“ Well, I expect we will be in the woods twenty
days, and have made my computations on that basis ;
so we will need a case of liquor, and as you prefer
brandy, brandy let it be.”

“No, no; by no means,” responded Don; * do not
let my predilections influence you ; besides, a dozen
bottles seems a good deal. If we were gone twenty-
four days it would be just a pint a day, or a half
pint apiece—rather severe, considering we expect
to rough it.”

“You know we have to give the men some occa
sionally, and then we will meet other parties and
have mutual good-luck to drink. It will not be an
over-supply, though we can make it less if you say
so; I myself drink little when in the woods.”

LAKE SUPERIOR. 25

“TI believe that,” replied Don, ironically; “and
considering how well I know you, it was hardly
worth while to mention it. But this is a serious
question, for we can get nothing drinkable after
leaving Cleveland; and if we have to do what
you say, do you not think we shall run short?
I want plenty of everything, and it would be
better to take a dozen and a half, if there is a
doubt.”

“There is no doubt; but if ‘gs

“Tf you say there is no doubt, that is sufficient ;
but I am surprised you should give the men expen-
sive brandy, when they would probably prefer a
coarser article.”

“Of course, we will take a common whiskey for
the men; but occasionally while using the flask onr-
selves we will naturally pass it to them.”

“Ah, yes; I understand. But, ‘really, I art not
satisfied it should be all brandy; you must not ex-
pect to have the same comforts you would in the
city, and if you will take my advice, you will have
at least part whiskey.”

“But you prefer brandy, and one is as easy to
carry as the other.”

“Really, now, you must not consult my wishes;
in fact, although I admit a slight preference for
brandy, many persons prefer whiskey. Before you
decide, it would be well to examine the matter tho-
roughly ; and as we are now at the store, you must
make up your mind promptly.”

This conversation had taken place as we were

2

26 LAKE SUPERIOR.

walking from the hotel to an establishment that
had been recommended to us.

“Remember,” continued Don, “ you must act for
the joint interest, and there are several points well
worth considering. In the first place, whiskey is
much cheaper; then it is probably purer than the
brandy you buy here; if a bottle should be broken
the loss is less o

“ Certainly; if you would be equally content, I
should arrange it differently.”

“ How often must I tell you not to consider me,
and Iam decidedly pleased at your change of views.
Now, putting aside any snpposed preference on my
part, what proportions would you suggest ?”

“ Nine of whiskey to three of brandy.”

“ Ah,” gasped Don, losing his breath at the sud-
denness of this response, “ have you given the mat-
ter sufficient consideration? You have not even
ascertained the price;” and then turning to the
clerk, he asked: ‘‘ How do you sell your best whis-
key ?”

“Hight dollars a dozen, and brandy two dollars
a bottle.”

“ Nine bottles of whiskey would be six dollars,”
I calculated aloud, “and six for the brandy, make
twelve. Have them packed and delivered on board
the City of Cleveland promptly at half-past seven,
because she leaves at eight.”

“ But are you satisfied ?” cricd Don in an agony
of horror at such a want of discussion; “have you
examined all the bearings of the change? Can it

LAKE SUPERIOR. 27

be packed in time? You know whiskey does not
go as far as brandy. Are you sure you have
enough? Is there no question about that being
the best proportion? Would you not prefer all
whiskey? In case of sickness, may we not need
more brandy? What is the best mode of packing
it? Is it sure to be at the boat punctually ?”

“ That is the clerk’s affair; if it is there it will be
paid for, and if not it won’t. Let’s look at the
town; come,” and I dragged him off just in time to
avoid a dozen new propositions, and as many unan
swerable questions, leaving the clerk, bottle in hand,
looking the image of despair at the avalanche of
inquiries that had burst upon him,

After strolling about for several hours we reached
the boat, and found the case of liquor waiting for
us, and proceeded to select our stateroom. This
matter rose at once to a serious question in Don’s
eyes. I resolyed to leave it entirely to him, confi-
dent that his elegant manner would impress the
steward. He at once devoted his entire attention
to it, flitting from place to place in the forward and
after cabins with the steward at his side, pointing
out defects here, suggesting changes there, popping
in and out of doors, describing his foreign expe-
riences and the prime necessity of comfortable quar-
tors, turning down the slteets, peering into cracks,
feeling the pillows, casting a suspicious eye upon
blankets, dissatisfied with all, and finally resolved
to take one which could not be examined at the
time for want of the key, but which the steward,

28 LAKE SUPERIOR.

who had been a respectful and sympathetic listener,
assured him had none of the defects he had pointed
out.

The immaculate stateroom was engaged, the boat
pushed off, the key was obtained, and lo and behold!
if it had none of these specified defects, it had ano-
ther—one of the wooden supports, a huge beam
eighteen inches broad, passed directly up through
the foot of both the berths, reducing them to four
feet. six inches in length. When Don made this
discovery his face was a study for his friends the
artists; anger could not do justice to the occasion;
despair, bewilderment, horror, astonishment, seemed
blended, with a lurking suspicion that the sympa-
thetic steward had been making game of him. He
rushed to the office, could find nothing of the stew-
ard, but was informed that all the other staterooms
were engaged.

However, after supper, the officials relented and
gave us another room, enjoying mightily their joke,
as I always believed it to be, although Don never
could be brought to admit that they could by any
possibility have dared to make fun of him, and in-
sisted it was a blunder of that “stupid steward.”

We reached Detroit by five o’clock of the follow-
ing morning, and as the boat for some wise reason
remained there till two in the afternoon, we strolled
round the city. It is a promising place, and has the
finest street in the world, so the citizens assured us,
called Jefferson Avenue. The market was well sup-
plied with fish, and among them sturgeon, cut into

LAKE SUPERIOR. 29

slabs of yellow, flabby flesh ; pale Mackinaw salmon,
and darker ones from Lake Superior; white fish,
the best of which were sold for six cents a pound;
lake mullet, black and white bass, yellow and white
perch, sun-fish, northern pickerel, suckers, pike-perch,
cat-fish, and lake shad or lake sheepshead, called in
French Bossu, or humpback—a very appropriate
appellation. These fish had been for the most part
taken in nets; but black bass are captured abun-
dantly with the rod in the small lakes near Detroit,
and in Canada opposite. The principal articles sold
in the market, however, were strawberries and
hoop-skirts ; the latter being so numerous that Don
remarked incidentally that the inhabitants absolutely
skirt the market. This he evidently intended as a
joke.

A few miles beyond Detroit is situated its pre-
tentious rival, Port Huron, which is also a flourish-
ine town, and has the handsomest street in the world ;
and opposite Port Huron are Sarnia and Point Ed-
wards, the termini of the Grand Trunk and the
Great Western railroads of Canada. We touched
at Point Edwards at about eleven o’clock in the
evening. :

America is a great place; the people are upright,
virtuous, honest, enterprising, energetic, brave, in-
telligent, charitable and publie spirited; they are
the finest race of men and the most beautiful and
cultivated womerin the world, but they do not know
how to dine. To gobble down one’s victuals, regard-
Jess of digestion or decency, is not eating like Chris-

30 LAKE SUPERIOR.

tians but feeding like animals; to thrust one’s fork
or spoon into the dish appropriated to holding food
for all, is uncleanly and offensive; to eat peas with
a knife is bad enough, but to use it immediatcly
afterwards to cut butter from the butter-plate is
absolutely disgusting. No one who does these
things is either a lady or a gentlemen; and no one
who cannot keep his arms at his side while cutting
his meat is fit to eat at a public table.

There was one gentleman, as he would claim to
be considered, who sat near us, who, although he
had a proper silver fork, endeavored religiously to
eat his peas on a knife that happened to havea small
point. This operation, always difficult and danger-
ous, became, from the formation of the blade, almost
impossible; the peas rolled off at every attempt, and
the unfortunate rarely succeeded in carrying to his
mouth more than one at a time, till finally reduced
to despair, he seized a table-spoon, and with it de-
voured them in great mouthfuls.

The dinner was quite a lively scene; the ladies,
although there was plenty of room, were smuggled
in clandestinely before the gong was scunded, and
the men, dreading the horrors of a second table,
rushed for the remaining chairs, standing behind
and guarding them religiously, but politely waiting
till the ladies were seated. There was plenty of
food, but each man immediately collected such deli-
cacies as were near him, and he imagined he might
need, and transferred them to his plate or a small
saucer, There was abundance of time, no one hay-

LAKE SUPERIOR. 31

ing the slightest prospect of occupation after dinner,
and yet every man, woman, and child set to work eat-
ing as though they expected at any moment to be
dragged away and condemned to weeks of starvation.

The waiters, feeling themselves above their places,
were independent if not insolent, and we overheard
the following discourse between one of them and an
unhappy wretch who had come in late and could
obtain no attendance. The suffering individual
began rapping on his plate with the knife till he
attracted the notice of a passing waiter:

Waiter— Well, what are you making that noise
for ?”

Starving Individual— I should like to have
something to eat.”

Waiter —Isn’t there plenty to eat all round you?”

Individual—* But I want some meat.”

Watter—“ Why don’t you ask for it, then?
What do you want ?”

Individual. What kinds are there ?”

Waiter—“ Why there’s beefsteak, to be sure.”

Individual— ‘I would like to have some beef-
steak.”

Waiter—“ Why didn’t you say so, then, at first ?
Give me your plate if you expect me to getit for you.”

It was their habit to empty the water left in the
glasses back into the pitchers, and when I asked
one for a glass of water, he drank out of it himself
first, and then handed it tome. On another occa«
sion he helped Don by giving him the tumbler a
stranger had just used.

82 LAKE SUPERIOR.

These little peculiarities all round encouraged
sociability; you could hardly refuse to know a man
when you had drunk out of the same glass and
eaten from the same dish with him, and a lady
naturally felt at home with a gentleman whose ribs
she had been punching for half an hour. The pro-
gress of the meal, however, was somewhat checkered,
not a few of the guests clamoring for their dessert
ere the others had finished their soup. The only
explanation of this haste was from the graceful
stewardess, who was the redeeming feature of the
boat, and who said the waiters were in a hurry so
as to have it over as soon as possible. It might
aptly be said of the Americans: ‘“ They eat to live.”

Beyond Lake St. Clair the land on both sides of
the river is low, and, especially on the Canadian side,
adorned with cultivated farms and dotted with pic-
turesque country houses. <A half mile barely sepa-
rates the two nations; and, in case of war, with our
present improved artillery, the intervening river
would hardly form an obstacle to mutual destruc-
tion, till the once smiling fields and happy homes
would be one vast scene of desolation.

Emerging into Lake Huron we began to perceive
the effects of the cool water and consequent conden-
sation of the warmer atmosphere ; a heavy fog lay
upon the surface, at first not higher than our upper
deck, but creeping up as the night advanced. On
one side a beautiful fog-bow with faint and delicate
colors, spanned the sky, while on the other a bril-
liant ring of sparkling silver surrounded the moon

y

LAKE SUPERIOR. 33

The water that was an opaque, milky white at
Cleveland, had been growing darker, greener, and
clearer, attaining perfect purity ere we reached
Lake Superior, and exposing to view objects many
feet below its surface.

’ Having reached Detour, which is a growing place
and will soon have the finest street in the world, at
eight o’clock at night, and the channel through Lake
George being intricate, the captain announced we
could proceed no further that evening, and the pas-
sengers generally went ashore to explore the coun-
try. The land is low around Detour, though there
are clusters of pretty islands, and here for the first
did we see the rocky northern formation and the
evergreen trees.

Lake George, which is at the head of Lake Huron,
or more properly a part of it, is shallow and muddy.
A channel, narrow and of but twelve feet in depth,
has been dredged and marked out with stakes ; it is
crooked, and will scarcely admit of two vessels pass-
ing abreast. The shoal mud-flats were visible in
every direction, and our wheels stirred up the bot-
tom as we passed.

It was with a feeling of relief that we escaped
from this lake into the deeper and rapid waters of
the river Ste. Marie, whose eddying current and
bold shores were a pleasant sight, to our eyes wearied
with the sameness of lake travel. We had been
three nights and almost three days caged in our
floating home, and were delighted at the near
approach to our destination. We had not heard

o*

ot, LAKE SUPERIOR.

the band mentioned in the advertisements, but sup-
plied its place with a crazy piano strummed by
amateur performers; we had not partaken of all the
luxuries of the season, but had appreciated with
sharpened appetites the substantials that were fur-
nished; we had not enjoyed the company of fair
excursionists from Cleveland or Detroit, but had
formed the acquaintance of one or two kind beings
in crinoline; we had not had an exciting trip, but
had been transported safely and slowly, and at
eight o’clock that morning we reached the Sault
Ste. Marie.

A weary waste of waters lay behind; our track
lengthening into the dim distance, stretched out to
many thousand miles; we had crossed deep streams,
had burrowed through high mountains, had darted.
along broad meadows, had swept across majestic
lakes, had ascended mighty rivers; less than a
hundred years ago many mouths would have been
expended in completing this same journey; serious
difficulties would have had to be overcome and dan-
gers encountered; we had condensed a year of our
grandfathers’ lives into three days; we had spanned
one-half our great continent, fled from the metropo-
lis of civilization to the native haunts of the savage ;
in fact, gone back from the nineteenth into the
eighteenth century. We had been carried by steam
upon the track of iron or in the moving palace ; in
future we were to embark in the voyageur’s bateau,
and be propelled by oars or sail. IlLeretofore the
unnatural wants of civilized life had been indulged

LAKE SUPERIOR. 85

and gratified; hereafter, the commonest home, the
simplest covering, the plainest food, was to be our
lot; hitherto we had been in the land where gold
was the talisman that commanded ten thousand
slaves; henceforth we were to trust ourselves to
kindly nature and our own capabilities. Glorious
were our anticipations from the change. Our ves-
sel, the unromantice City of Cleveland, which, from
the beginning, had been lumbering along at the
moderate rate of ten miles an hour without ever
being betrayed into the slightest evidence of eathu-
siasm, seemed overjoyed at her approaching arrival,
and dressed herself in her gala costume of variegat-
ed bunting. She whistied merrily to announce to
the inhabitants that once more she was to bless their
sight, and tried to get up a little extra steam for a
final burst. The travellers crowded her decks, the
natives collected along shore; the former waved
their handkerchiefs, the latter, probably having no
handkerchiefs, swung their hats; and amid all this
excitement we came merrily up to the dock.

The Sault, or Soo, as the name of the village is
always pronounced, is not a large place, but proved
to be larger than I expected ; our dull plodding east-
ern people can hardly imagine how rapidly the
west is growing in wealth and population; already
our little western brother is claiming to be a man,
and if we are not careful will be too much for us
some day. This newly planted village, almost at
the extreme northwest of American civilization, in-
cluded an excellent hotel, a dozen stores, and at

86 LAKE SUPERIOR.

least a hundred houses and workshops. Already
the belles of Illinois, Wisconsin, Iowa, and Minne-
sota were congregating at it to enjoy its cool tem-
perature and invigorating atmosphere, and ere many
years are passed it will be a fashionable watering-
place, thronged with the éite of western society.
Its principal hotel, the Chippewa House, was admir-
ably kept, and doubtless is the pioneer of an infi-
nitely more gorgeous affair.

Don, however, who is rather particular and not
much accustomed to the free and easy mode ot
country life, was somewhat disappointed with our
room. It had the great desideratum of plenty
of fresh air, for it was of the whole width of the
house and had windows back and front, but Don
was surprised that people who kept hotels did not
acquaint themselves with the other important requi-
sites,

“There, for instance, you observe the water
pitcher has a cracked handle. Some time you will
undertake to lift it and it will give way, and then
there is no telling what it may ruin; the trunk,
even, may receive the entire contents.”

“But, Don, that is an old crack; it has evidently
stood several years, and will doubtless last the few
days we are here.”

“Not so certain; and just observe that disgusting
nick in the wash-basin, it will always look dirty even
if it is not.”

“Don, you are wrong there; that is a good sign,
it proves the basin may nick but won’t break.”

LAKE SUPERIOR. 37

“Then there is no slop-basin ; now what do you
suppose we are to do without a slop-basin ?”

“Why, throw the slops out of the window, to be
sure.”

“You would hardly call that decent in New York;
and not only may they fall on some passer-by, but
the window is too small to permit it conveniently.
Just look at this pillow; it is long, to be sure, but
not stuffed with half feathers enough; what am I
to do with such an apology for a pillow as this ?”

“ Why, double it up, of course.”

“T see,” he concluded, in a resigned tone, “you
are making a joke of these matters, so we will not
pursue the subject; but now that we are on shore
fresh from our voyage, I wish to ask seriously your
deliberate opinion whether you would advise any
one to take the trip just for the pleasure of the jour-
ney itself?”

8e LAKE SUPERIOR.

CHAPTER I.

Iv the northern part of Minnesota is the greatest
elevation of what geologists denominate the eastern
water-shed of our continent; lying almost exactly
in the centre of North America, here the streams
that flow to the north, east, and south, find their
source. Lake Superior, that adjoins this section on
the east, is the chief of those magnificent lakes that
empty from one another into the St. Lawrence, and
finally wash the coast of Labrador. The Mississippi,
taking its rise in the same region and but a few miles
away, flows southward with ever increasing volume
to the Gulf of Mexico, and then sweeping around
Florida and through the Atlantic, rejoins the waters
of Lake Superior off Newfoundland; while the
Red River of the North, pursuing a contrary course,
empties into Hudson’s Bay and thence into the
Northern Ocean. These waters, starting from little
rills and springs scarcely more than a few steps
apart, after wandering thousands of miles asunder
come together and commingle in the Northern Atlan-
tic Ocean.

Here were the famous Indian portages. One from
Lake Superior through Pigeon River, Sturgeon Lake,
and Rainy River into the Lake of the Woods, has
served to locate the boundary between two great

LAKE SUPERIOR. 89

nations, and is the native highway between Hudson’s
River and Hudson’s Bay. Another through Brulé
River leads into the head waters of the Mississippi,
and thence, by ascending the Missouri, to the rivers
that empty into the Pacific Ocean. These portages
were traversed year after year by the aboriginal in
habitants, who have left their tracks in the well-worn
paths that are still followed by the voyageurs, and
are suggestive of easy grades to those who wish to
bind our country together by paddle-wheel and rail-
road track.

Lake Superior, with a surface six hundred feet
above, and a bottom three hundred feet below
the level of the sea, stretches out in vastness and
splendor five hundred miles long by nearly two hun-
dred broad, and holds in its bosom islands that would
make respectable kingdoms in the old world. On
the southern shore its sandstone rocks are worn by
the waves and storms into fantastic shapes, imitative
of ancient castles or modern vessels, or are hollowed
out into deep caverns; on the north the bolder shore
rises into rugged mountains whose face has been
seamed by the moving ice-drift of former ages. In
the country bordering upon the south are located
inexhaustible mines of copper and iron of immense
value ; and along the northern coast are found agates
and precious stones.

A hundred streams pour their contents into the
great lake which, from its enormous size and depth,
retaining the temperature of winter through the
summer months, empties its clear, cold, transparent

40 LAKE SUPERIOR.

waters into the river Ste. Maric. Not producing a
large variety of fish, those that dwell in its bosom
are the finest of their species. The speckled trout,
the Mackinaw salmon, and the black bass are large
and vigorous; sturgeons are plentiful, although
valueless except as an article of food; and the white
fish are the daintiest fresh-water fish in the world.

The forests are mainly composed of the sombre
evergreen trees, relieved frequently by the beautiful
white birch, and along the low lands by a consider-
able number of other varieties; the shore on the
north is a bold bluff five hundred feet high, but
where it descends to the water it forms occasionally
tracts of fertile interval; on the south the coast is
more level and apparently more sterile. Both shores
are as yet totally uncultivated, and from the severity
of the winters will probably long so remain.

Immediately upon our arrival at the Sault we
made our preparations for a campaign against the
fish, and engaged as guides Joseph Le Sayre, a
Melicete chief, and Alexis Biron, a Canadian half-
breed. Old Joe, as we called him, though he did
not seem over forty, was a fine looking Indian with
an erect graceful shape, and pleasant open counte-
nance; Alexis, though apparently a good man, was
not so prepossessing.

We embarked in a large, stout canoe, and paddling
across the broken water at the foot of the fall, com-
menced fishing the streams into which the river is
divided by numerous islands near the opposite shore.
A small, brown caddis fly, or, scientifically speaking,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 41

phryganea, covered the water in myriads, was
wafted along in clouds by the wind, and settled upon
the trees and rocks everywhere. Knowing that they
changed from a species of worm on rising to the
surface, we selected clear, calm spots and endea-
vored to examine the process. It was too rapid for
human eyesight; a spot of transparent water would
be bare one instant, and the next there would be
upon its surface two or or three little creatures danc-
ing about and trying their wings preparatory to a
bolder flight. We never managed to see the larva,
but invariably beheld the perfect fly appear instan-
taneously.

Their number was incalculable; living ones filled
the air, were blown along like moving sand, were
carried into our faces so that we could scarcely face
the wind, and settled upon our boat; dead ones
covered the water in all directions, were devoured
by the fish, especially the lake herring, and were col-
lected by the current in masses resembling sea-
weed. They were nearly the color of common
brown paper throughout, legs, wings, and body
being of much the same hue. They arrive every
year at the same time and in about the same num-
bers. They last a week or so, and although we
found them the entire length of our subsequent trip,
their favorite locality seemed to be the Sault. They
are used as bait for the lake herring, which I believe
is identical with the cisco, an excellent fish closely
resembling, and in my opinion equal, if not superior
to the white fish.

42 LAKE SUPERIOR.

The trout usually begin taking the artificial fly in
the early part of July, but although we had been
warned that they were not as yet rising this year,
we had no anticipation of the wretched luck that
awaited us. Notwithstanding the water seemed
promising, and deep, dark holes, beautiful eddies,
and lively pools indicated success ; and notwithstand-
ing continual changes of our flies, we only killed
three small fish. Perhaps the numerous natural in-
sects, or the daruvce from which they were metamor-
phosed, proved a sufficient and preferable food ; we
could not induce the trout to rise, and did not even
see them breaking.

Exploring all the little streams of the Canadian
side, hoping at every cast to improve our luck, we
worked our way slowly and arduously, for the water
was unusually low, against the current, and steadily
ascending with the strenuous efforts of our canoe
men, who used stout poles for the purpose, we at
last emerged above the islands and at the head of
the rapids.

Here the water of the lake, confined to the narrow
channel, chafed uneasily in tiny wavelets, as though
conscious of the approaching struggle. Above, the
river stretched away to the westward, cvidently
from a considerable elevation but comparatively
smooth ; nearer, it was rushing like a mill-race ; below
it was broken into white waves, huge cascades, and
seething rapids. How wonderful is the change in
the appearance of water lying calmly in the lake,
hurrying rapidly but silently down a smooth slope,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 43

lashed into billows by the wind, toiling among rocks
or leaping over falls—but above all is it peculiar and
terrible in passing through broken descents! See it
glide so deceitfully smooth, but with such resistless
power toward the rapids; notice its tiny innocent
ripples and childlike murmurs at your feet; see the
pretty rolling undulations. Trust yourself to its
seductions. Now it has you in its fearful current,
now it drags you along, it clasps you struggling and
shrieking in its fierce embrace; it throws its white
arms around you, lashes itself into a fury, whirls you
about in its powerful eddies, sinks you down in its
mighty whirlpools, dashes you against the rocks,
drags you along the jagged bottom, tosses you over
the cascades, and finally flings you torn, bleeding,
disfigured, and lifeless to the bottom of the tranquil
pool at its base.

In the sunlight it resembles liquid crystal; flow-
ing along placidly, transparent as the diamond, it
sweeps upon the rocky shoals and flies up in a
shower of purest pearls, alternately revealing or
hiding some monstrous gem to which it lends its re-
flective brilliancy; over the limestone it is opal, over
yellow rocks it becomes onyx, over the red, ruby or
garnet, over the green, emerald.

Bending and waving in ever varying beauty of
form, but carrying in its bosom or reflecting from its
foam the sunlight fire, a thousand times intensified,
of precious stones.

As the day was well advanced, we determined
to trust ourselves to the unreliable element and run

44 LAKE SUPERIOR.

the rapids, which is one of the favorite amusements
of the adventurous. This can be made as dangerous
as desirable, according to the selection of route,
either near shore, where there is only the chance of
an upset and a few bruises, or through the centre,
where it is certain death. We chose a middle
course, but as near the centre as our guides, who
were not venturesome, would go. Crossing over
above the broken water to the American shore, the
large, high-sided, but fragile canoe was headed down
stream, giving us a view of the prospect before us.

Great ridges of white foam stretched at intervals
almost from shore to shore, while the darker water
was broken into heavy waves, curling up stream and
ready to pour into the boat as it should rush down-
wards through them. At first the canoe settled
gently, making us plainly feel that we were going
down hill; then it gathered way as the current in-
creased, and went plunging on its course. The
wayes flew from our bow or leaped over in upon us,
the rocks glided by racing up stream, whirlpools
twisted us from side to side; we sprang over tiny
cascades or darted down slopes deep and dark, or
shallow and feathery white with foain; we rushed
upon rocks where inevitable destruction scemed
awaiting us, and the shore, trees, and houses went
tearing by ; past the little island at the head of the
rapids, past the main fall, through foam and spray,
we dashed headlong, till the few minutes required
for the entire descent being exhausted, we glided
calmly and quietly into the water below.

LAKE SUPERIOR. 45

Looking back it seemed as though we gazed upon
a hill covered with water instead of up a river, and
nothing but practical experience would convince a
tyro that it could be navigated in safety with a birch
canoe. Exhilarated with the pleasurable sensations
we had enjoyed, and satisfied that the trout were
not in a rising mood that day at least, we returned
to the hotel.

The few fish we had killed were transferred by
our host to the cook, and reiippeared on table in fine
style. After discussing an excellent dinner and
comparing notes with the other fishermen present,
we accepted the invitation of the canal superinten-
dent to examine the locks and visit his pond of tame
trout. We found the canal an admirable structure,
expensively built, and of a size to accommodate the
largest steamers that navigate Lake Superior ; not,
however, being skilful in works of that character,
we felt more interest in the trout pond.

The latter was quite small, fed by a pipe from the
canal that cast up a jet in the centre, and was filled
with over a hundred of fine, large, active trout,
weighing from one to four pounds. They were
wonderfully gentle, would feed fiom the hand, allow
any one to scratch their sides and lift them from the
water, and if one end of the food was held fast, they
would tug like good fellows at the other. When
we held a piece of bait between the first finger and
thumb, and at the same time presented the little
finger, they would frequently seize the latter by
mistake; and although on that occasion they let go

46 LAKE SUPERIOR.

instantly without doing the least harm, the proprie-
tor said when hungry they occasionally left the
marks of their teeth. It was extremely interesting
to watch their movements, as their appetites were
never allowed to become ravenous and produce
quarrelling among themselves. They were magnifi-
cent fellows, swimming about majestically, and com-
ing to the surface in a fearless way to return the
gaze of the spectators.

The trout were mostly taken in nets from the
canal when the water was drawn off. They had
been known to spawn, trying to ascend the jet for
that purpose, and depositing their eggs where the
water fell; but the spawn either was eaten by their
comrades or failed to hatch. Under no circum-
stances, however, would the young have lived
among such rapacious giants.

Having amused ourselves sufficiently with the
tame trout, we turned our attention once more to
their wilder brethren; but as no better success
attended us than in the morning, we returned early
to superintend the capture of the white-fish. Every
morning and evening the Indians and halfbreeds
are seen by pairs in their canoes, one wielding a
large net with a long wooden handle, and the other
plying the paddle. Ascending cautiously to the
eddy below some prominent rock, the net-man in
the bow peers into the troubled water, and having
caught sight of the white-fish lying securely in his
haven of rest, casts the net over him. The moment
the net touches the water the other ceases paddling,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 47

and allows the canoe to settle back with the cur-
rent ; the fish thus entangled in the meshes is lifted
out and thrown into the boat. The net is about
four feet across, the rim is of wood, and the handle
is bent at the end so as to afford a secure hold.
Nothing but the practised eye of the native can dis-
tinguish, amid the foam and spray and broken water,
the dim and varying outline of the fish. Many are
frequently taken at one cast, and they are sold,
large and small, for five cents apiece.

Although undoubtedly delicious eating, fresh from
the cold water of Lake Superior, white-fish are not
superior in flavor to their smaller brethren, the lake
herring. The latter, so closely resembling the for-
mer as to be only distinguishable by the sharper
projection of the lower jaw, are taken with the na-
tural brown fly that has been already described.
Differing little, if at all, from the cisco of Lake
Ontario, they rise with a bolder leap at the natural
fly, and their break is as vigorous and determined
as that of the trout. They do not seem, except on
rare occasions, to take the artificial fly, but with
bait not only furnish pleasant sport for ladies, but
an admirable dish for the table,

The lake herring is found in many of the extensive
waters of the West, but being smaller than the
white-fish, is overshadowed by the reputation of the
latter. It is a pretty fish, bites freely and plays
well, but having to contend in delicacy against the
white-fish, and in vigor against the trout, it does
not receive the attention it deserves. Early in July

48 LAKE SUPERIOR.

they collect at the Sault in millions, filling every
eddy of the rapids and crowding the canal, and de-
vour the dead and living phryganide. Later they
retire to deep water.

It being now apparent that the trout did not 1n-
tend to accept our delusions as veritable insects,
and as fish of three and four pounds had been taken
with minnow, much to our envy, Don determined
to try the bait. There are several species of min-
now captured from among the rocks of the Sault
in shrimp-nets, but the favorite is a peculiarly shaped
fish bearing the enphonious title of cock-a-doosh.
What the name signifies, either in French or Chip-
pewa, we could not ascertain ; but the broad, round
head and slim tail remind one of a pollywog, which
of all created things it most resembles. The cock-
a-doosh is a muscular little fellow, and not appear-
ing to mind a hook thrust through him, furnishes a
lively, attractive bait.

At the suggestion of some gentlemen who were
old habitués, and who recommended to us a couple
of men that had accompanied them on former trips
up the lake, we had determined to discard our pre-
sent boatmen, although without cause of complaint,
and engage Frank and Charley Biron to accompany
us into the woods. We had laid in our supplies of
food, all of which, except the tent, the liquor, solidi-
fied milk, and a few especial luxuries were purchased
in the village stores, had made our preparation for
departure in the morning, and devoted the afternoon
to fishing the little rapids.

LAKE SUPERIOR. 49

Our present men had already ascertained our in-
tended change, and we had hardly pushed off before
old Joe began upon us. He spoke French, the lan-
guage of communication between the natives and
travellers, and never shall I forget his reproachful
tone and manner. Perfectly respectful, he pictured
our enormities and unkindness in such eloquent
words that we hung our heads in shame.

Never before had he, the chief of the Melicetes,
acquainted as he was with the whole length of the
lake, been displaced for younger men. The young
men were good voyageurs—that he did not dispute ;
but was it reasonable to prefer them to one who had
lived his whole life in the woods, or was it right to
brand with disgrace a guide who for two days had
served us, as we admitted, faithfully ? Unusual, in-
deed, was it to change the men, and should he have
this discredit cast upon him? He had not been en-
gaged positively to accompany us; but had we not.
spoken to him and asked his advice? Was he not
justified in expecting it? He was sorry and hurt
that we should have done so; he had been pleased
with us; he knew that he could have pleased us;
but could he rest under such an imputation ? Were
younger men better boatmen than he? Were they
better acquainted with the lake? Were we dis-
satisfied with him so far? Why, then, had we
changed, unless indeed to offend him? His feel-
ings were wounded, and he felt sure that we must
regret our injustice. If we said that we had been
advised to do so, it must have been by persons who

a

50 LAKE SUPERIOR.

did not know him or had some unworthy object;
and should we have done so great a wrong without
more inquiry? “No, messiewrs ; this is the first
time I have been turned away for younger men.”

It is impossible to give his language, for Joe, al-
though usually taciturn, burst forth with an over-
whelming flow of eloquence, showed us our conduct
in such a light that we would gladly have retracted,
and compelled us to take refuge behind our ignorance
of the customs of the place. Disclaiming the intention
to cast a slur upon him, we expressed the fullest con-
fidence in his abilities, and said that were it not too
late we should cancel our other engagement. Some-
what mollified, the pleasant expression returned to
the old brave’s countenance ere we reached the
little rapids, where the excitement of fishing di-
verted our attention.

Don here met with his first success with the cock-
d-doosh, striking and. killing, after a protracted strug-
gle of twenty minutes, a fine trout of three pounds.
The rapidity of the current, which flowed deep and
strong without an eddy, gave the fish a great advan
tage, and tried the rod to the utmost. The hook,
from its size taking a better hold than the diminu-
tive fly-hooks, remained firm and enabled Don at
last to bring his prey to the net—and4 kill our first
large fish in the waters of Lake Superior.

Having fished faithfully, but in vain, for a mate,
although we saw in a deep pool quite a number as
large or larger, and as my fly would still only at-
tract the small ones, we headed once more up-stream,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 51

The two miles’ return was slower than our descent,
and gave us time to admire the scenery, to watch
the vessels passing through the narrow channel of
the shallow river, and note the decaying woodwork
of the old fort that once did good service against
the Indian, but would be a ludicrous structure in
modern warfare. On arriving at the Sault the finish-
ing touches were given to our preparations for camp-
ing out, and a wagon engaged to transport our
stores by land to the head of the canal, where our
new men and their barge were to meet us early on
the morrow. We parted with Joe, who, however,
that evening and next morning heaped coals of fire
on our heads by doing us innumerable little favors
in the way of suggestions, advice, and physical aid.

The day following, as the last article was placed
upon the cart, we were informed that neither
eggs nor bread was to be had in the village. Our
horror, or rather mine—for Don little knew what a
dearth of eggs implied—can only be appreciated by
an experienced cook; bread was a minor matter, as
we had ship-biscuit, but eggs were indispensable.
It appeared on inquiry that the baker had been heat-
ing his own coppers, as the fast men express it, in-
stead of his oven, and was now sleeping off the effects
of his debauch ; and hens, feeling their importance in
that desolate country, only lay on special occasions.

While we were in a condition bordering upon
despair, uncertain whether to proceed, the steamer
Lilinois hove in sight. Never was an arrival more
opportune, for one of the numerous ventures of the

52 LAKE SUPERIOR.

bar-keepers on these vessels is to supply the country
with eggs, and recollections of the baskets full that
we had seen hanging from the cross-beams of the
City of Cleveland came vividly to our minds. Leav-
ing Don to purchase the eggs, I pushed on with the
baggage. The former boarded the steamer as soon
as she touched the dock, and, rushing to the bar-
keeper, demanded eight dozen eggs. He was in-
formed, however, that they were sold by the basket,
which contained fifteen dozen, and he could have no
less. Then it was that Don rose to the importance
of the occasion. Others might have doubted, hesi-
tated, or failed to make the purchase at all; but he,
without a pause, grasped the basket, laid down the
money, and started for the head of the canal. Fif-
teen dozen eggs were a perfect mine of comfort ;
in their golden bosoms lay undeveloped numberless
ego-noges, delicious cakes, and appetizing omelets,
and Don’s character was established for ever.

The wind, strong and contrary, was dashing foam-
crested waves against the piers of the canal, threat-
ening to make our journey a slow one; our goods
and chattels were safely and carefully stowed, fill-
ing the barge as nearly as was desirable; we had
even cast off and commenced our yoyage, when
through the canal we saw approaching a tug-boat.
She was called the Bacchus, and, like her jolly pro-
totype, willingly lent us her aid; and giving us a
tow, made our old boat, for that occasion at least, a
fast one. She tore her way along, crushing the
waves with her high bow, throwing a mass of white

LAKE SUPERIOR. 53

water from her propeller, and carrying us in fine
style past Pointe aux Pins, nearly ten miles of our
route.

Having left her, as our course now lay more to
the northward, we managed with hard rowing, very
different from our previous gallant progress, to
reach Pointe aux Chines or Oak Point, in time
for dinner. Looming up at the distance of about
six miles, rose abruptly to the height of five hun-
dred feet the bold promontory of Gros Cap, its
round head enveloped in driving fog. A scanty
verdure of pines and firs covering its sides, it stood
out a bold Jandmark, being the first high land of the
northern shore.

About halfway between Pointe aux Chénes and
Gros Cap lies a low and narrow island, covered with
small trees and underbrush, furnishing an admirable
camping-ground ; and the wind increasing as the
‘fog descended, crawling slowly down the mountain
sides, we could advance no further.

All day long canoes filled with Indians, taking
advantage of the to them favorable wind, passed us
on their way to a grand council at Mitane. It was
vonderful where they could all come from; the
men seemed to carry their wives, papooses, and
household gods, and were accompanied by number-
less dogs that ran along the shore; one party con-
sisted of a squaw seated at the bow to paddle, ano-
ther in the stern to steer, and a brave amidships
tast asleep; the canoe was propelled by a blanket,
nsed as a sail. The Indians exhibit great skill in

54 LAKE SUPERIOR,

sailing so unsteady a boat as a canoe; although to
ordinary mortals it is difficult to stand up in one,
they manage to sail them in heavy winds and over
a rough sea. This art appears to be peculiar to
them, for I have never known it attempted by the
Canadian voyageurs, nor even by the half-breeds.

The fogs rising from the cold waters of Lake Su-
perior are frequent and dense; on this occasion the
moisture settled upon the bushes, fell from the
leaves in large drops, and dampened the boughs of
which our bed was to be composed. For this latter
purpose, as there was no sapin on the island, we
were compelled to use oak sprouts, a substitute
that Don at first, attracted by its beauty and appa-
rent comfort, approved, but which, when before
morning the leaves were pressed flat and the stems
made unpleasantly prominent, he anathematized
vigorously.

After supper we wandered along the shore, pick-
ing up the queerly shaped and oddly colored stones
that abound on the Canadian side of the lake. No
agates nor amethysts, and none of the really beauti-
ful pebbles, are to be obtained south of Michipicot-
ten, but everywhere are curious specimens to be
found. Carried, as it is supposed, by the ice-drift
of former ages from their natural beds, crushed by
the moving mass, and rounded by the beating waves,
the hardest only survive, while the strangest and
most incongruous varieties are collected together.
Meeting with novel specimens at every step, we
were continually rejecting what we had just selected,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 5

or

till we hardly knew which were really the most re
rearkable.

Next morning broke with the weather the same,
but towards mid-day the wind fell. Don had been
gratified with his meals thus far, but on being offer-
ed rice for breakfast, said that it reminded him of
his European experience, where rice was not con-
sidered fit to eat without being filled with raisins
and having goose-gravy for sauce. In fact, he did
not think he could eat it without these accompani-
ments. Before the trip was over, however, he found
that in spite of European authority and the absence
of goose-gravy, rice was quite palatable.

By hard work we reached the camping-ground at
Gros Cap, a small island almost adjoining the main
land, which is too rocky and precipitous to locate a
tent, and having arranged our camp amid the driv-
ing fog, essayed the fishing off the point. Fortune
did not smile upon us; and having killed one fish
for supper, we were glad to escape from the cold,
damp air, and return to the warmth of the fire.

The appearance of the rocks in this region is re-
markable. Not only are they veined with metal
and quartz, running in long seams, but they are cut
up by deep furrows, at the bottom of which are
strewn broken and pounded stones. The origin of
the furrows, or scratches as the geologists term
them, has been differently explained ; some writers
attributing them to the action of water, and others,
with probably the correct theory, alleging they were
made by the ice-drift of former agess The ice-drift

56 LAKE SUPERIOR.

was the accumulation of snow and ice in the neigh
borhood of the north pole, its increasing masses
forcing their way towards warmer latitudes, and
carrying with them immense rocks and boulders.
The drift formerly extended far beyond its present
limits, pouring into the deep water of Lake Supe-
rior, and must have crushed and riven whatever lay
in its course—cutting deep furrows whenever the
boulders it was carrying came in contact with the
unyielding native rock. The character of the rifts,
which do not resemble the effects of water, their
uniformity of direction, and the pounded character
of the stones, confirm this view.

Whatever may have been their origin, they are
troublesome to cross, forming as they do abrupt gul-
lies running from high up the hills into the deep
water, and occurring at every few hundred feet.
But where they pass below the surface, they and the
natural caverns worn by the waves form admira-
ble retreats for the timid trout. For the whole
length of the shore, the broken rocks lie piled up
in the water, and at some places extend far out; as
they furnish the best locality for sport, although
generally the angler has but a short distance to cast,
occasionally a long stretch has to be made. The wind
is frequently adverse or across his line, and as he
must reach a particular spot in spite of all obstacles,
his capabilities are often put to the severest test.

To encounter and overcome difticulty is the true
sportsman’s delight, almost as much so as to see
the silver-sided beauties of the lake rise suddenly

LAKE SUPERIOR. 57

from their fairy caverns and seize his fly, to feel
them struggling and fighting for their liberty, jump-
ing again and again, and finally to watch their fading
brilliancy enveloped in the fatal net. The trout of
this region resemble the sea-trout of the Gulf of
St. Lawrence in their habits and appearance. They
have the same pearly whiteness on their sides and
bellies, heightened by the minute specks of carmine ;
the same vigor and dauntless courage, the same savage
voracity, and the same way of springing out of wa-
ter when they are on the line. They rise unexpect-
edly with a rapidity resembling fury, grasp their
object with determination, and on being struck, fight
bravely. Their flesh, also, is equally red and firm,
their fins of a pure color but not quite so delicate,
and their shape identically similar. Of course they
could never have ascended from the sea, but are in-
debted for these peculiarities to the pureness of the
water of the lake, as the sea-trout are to that of the
gulf. And whereas the sea-trout lose their bril-
liancy on ascending the rivers, so do these of the
lake—a fact which we afterwards ascertained—be-
coming even darker colored than their brethren of
the lower regions, and obtaining the reputation
among the ignorant natives, from their changed ap-
pearance, of being poisonous.

Another party of fishermen had located on Gros
Cap island, our tents being pitched within a few
yards of each other, and we passed a pleasant even-
ing in their society; our pipes—for I had after
much difficulty persuaded Don that cigars were

BF

58 LAKE SUPERIOR.

made for the club-house, not the wilderness—suggest-
ed inquiries about the native weed called Kinnikin-
nick, which the Indians in their grand peace councils
used before the advent of the white man, and which
in a perverted form had lent its name to the tobacco
we were using. It appeared that the identical weed
was growing close around us, and although the In-
dians of their party laughed with contempt at any
one using it when pure tobacco was to be had, we
induced them to collect and prepare a small quan-
tity.

The preparation consists of drying it thoroughly
by the fire until it is brown, and then pulverizing it
by friction in a cloth. The operation was soon
completed, but, although we tried it mixed and un-
adulterated both, we were forced to admit it had
absolutely no flavor whatever. Perhaps it wanted
more time or care in the curing, as the men com-
plained of the dampness.

Our new-made acquaintances left next morning
early, and Don and myself took a late breakfast and
were joined by an unexpected visitor. .A quantity
of cold potatoes and ship-biscuit, intended for our
men’s breakfast, had been temporarily placed on a
neighboring log, and while we were partaking of
warmer edibles, a few steps off a pretty little ground
squirrel ran out, chirruped a merry good-morning,
and proceeded asa matter of right to help himself to
the cold victuals. He was sleek, bright-colored, and
fat, evidently accustomed to many such repasts;
and after trying a piece of potato and finding it

LAKE SUPERIOR. 59

was good, he took up a whole one in his mouth and
ran off with it. It was larger than his head, and
looked droll enough in his mouth, stretched to the
utmost; he had not gone far before his sharp teeth
cut through, and taking out a piece, let the rest fall.
Not taking the trouble to pick it up, he returned
with another little cry to the dish, and this time
chancing on a smaller one, carried it off in safety.

Having stowed that away, he returned, and being
satiated with potatoes, tasted the biscuit, which had
been soaked in grease and was tender. The piece
he selected had a larger piece hanging to it, and to
see him pull the latter off with his fore-paws was
highly amusing. The biscuit, on trial, proving ac-
ceptable, with a little flirt and another cry, he
seized quite a large piece, and with a glance at us
as much as to say, “I am only taking a fair rent for
the use of my land,” he ran off with it in the same
lively, confident way. It was a beautiful sight, and
we stopped our meal to watch his pranks.

MOUTH OF THE AGAWA,

60 LAKE SUPERIOR.

CHAPTER III.

Gros Cap is the first of the rocky hills that form
the northern boundary of Lake Superior, and which,
with the higher chain of mountains further inland,
divide the streams that run to the southward from
those that empty into Hudson’s Bay. The Hud-
son’s Bay Company, that wonderful commercial under-
taking that had stretched its arms across our con-
tinent, and which, after the destruction of the beaver,
has lost its influence and been shorn of its power,
has stations along the coast of Lake Superior at the
mouths of the various rivers of importance. At
the Sault on the Michipicotten, the Pic, and the
Neepigon, they have planted their trading posts, and
although their glory has departed, they are still
kept up and do some business. These stations were
convenient stopping-places for the voyageurs, and
were located at the mouths of rivers, of which the
fountain-heads communicated by a portage with a
different system of waters. For instance, the Michi-
picotten is the Indian highway to Hudson’s Bay, and
both on it and on the rivers adjoining that empty
into the latter, has the great Company its stations
The study of the results that that purely commercia

LAKE SUPERIOR. 61

undertaking has achieved, from the Saguenay River
throughout the British Provinces to the far West,
is an instructive evidence of the power of man un-
restricted and untrammelled. In various ways it
has left its mark for ages.

Gros Cap isa perpendicular bluff, shooting straight
up from the water, and with its rocky clefts just
furnishing foothold for the active fisherman ; pieces
of rock seem to have been broken off and thrown
into the water at its base, and among these trout
are numerous. No place furnishes a pleasdnter
camping-ground, although not directly at the fish-
ing ground, and few spots afford better sport. As
fortune was not particularly propitious, and our
journey was indefinitely extensive, we took advan-
tage of a calm that had settled down upon the lake
to push on across Goulais Bay, which lay as calm
as a mirror, bathed in the glorious reflection of a
cloudless sky.

Farther out, Isle Parisienne seemed floating on
the water, while inside of us the bleak sides of the
abrupt hills were reflected in long wavy lines. The
sun had climbed the eastern sky and poured down a
flood of warmth and light in strange contrast with
the tempestuous weather of several days. The
atmosphere, instead of being dense with impenctra-
ble fog, was exquisitely transparent, and the water,
that perfect ornament to every landscape, stretched
away as far as the eye could reach.

“Dark behind it rose the forest,
Rose the black and gloomy pine-trees;

62 LAKE SUPERIOR.

Rose the firs with cones upon them,
Bright before it beat the weather,
Beat the clear and sunny water,
Beat the shining Big-Sea-Water.”

Such a day is admirably adapted for taking lake-
trout, and no sooner had we entered the bay than our
lines were arranged for the purpose.

The Namaycush—pronounced more nearly like
Namegoose, with the accent on the second syllable—
the Salmo Amethystus of our ichthyologists, the
Truite du Lac of the Canadian, and the Mackinaw
Salmon of the American, inhabits Lake Superior
throughout its length and breadth, is eaptured along
the shores and in the bays, and when smoked, fur-
nishes the principal food ofthe Indian. It prefers a
rocky uneven bottom, where the water is neither ex-
cessively deep nor very shallow, and during the
summer months bites readily at any of the ordinary
trolling-spoons. An ivory imitation-fish is especial-
ly attractive; and an old-fashioned bow!-spoon,
elongated with bright tin on one side and red on
the other, is in general use.

Whenever the Indian is paddling in his canoe
over any of the favorite localities, he trolls with the
latter bait, which is sold at the stores in the Sault;
and to make it imitate more accurately the herring
it is intended to represent, he attaches the line to his
paddle. By this means a peculiar darting motion is
given to the spoon which is said to be very fatal.
Buel’s patent spoons, whether with feathers or with-
out, are successful; and so little particular is this

LAKE SUPERIOR. 63

voracious fish, that he will bite at a white rag
attached to the bare hook.

Once struck, however, and he surrenders without
an effort, appearing even to swim gently forward,
which conduct, although natural in a man under
similar circumstances, is not expected in a fish. So
slight is his resistance that it is difficult at times to
tell whether he is on the line or not; and although,
of course, on approaching close to the boat he flounces
and struggles a little before he can be gaffed, he
affords the sportsman no excitement whatever. He
may also be taken in deep water with a long line
and sinker, with the lake-herring for bait, and is thus
during the fall captured of enormous size. —

He is found occasionally to weigh seventy pounds,
and perhaps more ; a handsome fish to look at, he is
also excellent to eat, and with the peculiar confor-
mation of the trout, he combines its elegance and
the rich redness of flesh of the true salmon. He is
rarely taken by trolling to exceed ten pounds in
weight, and on the north shore more frequently of
five or six; but of that size is an invaluable addition
to the fisherman’s larder. He may be either boiled
or broiled, and makes a capital foundation for a
chowder. He must by no means be confounded
with the siskawit, which is only taken in the upper
part of the lake, rarely exceeds seven pounds, and is
so fat as almost to dissolve in the frying-pan—at
least we were thus informed by our guides, for we
took none ourselves.

The best time to take them is in calm weather,

64 LAKE SUPERIOR.

because on such days they rise nearer the surface
and are able to see the bait farther. If the wind is
strong or the boat moving rapidly, they will not
bite; in fact, the boat should not be sailed or rowed
faster than three miles an hour, and a common
hand-line of fifty or a hundred yards is sufficiently
good tackle. They are persecuted by the aborigines,
who capture vast numbers for winter use; but we
never caught more than a dozen in a day, as we
never fished exclusively for them.

Goulais Bay is one of their favorite haunts, and
we were soon made aware of their presence. I had
the pleasure of striking the first, and felt some
anxiety, it being a new species to us, till he was
safely gaffed and landed. He weighed four pounds
and a half, and we fairly feasted our eyes over his
beautiful shape. Don soon had one still larger, and
we took six while crossing from the headland of
Gros Cap to Goulais Point. They differed a little
in size, the largest being six pounds, but not in
shape or appearance, and were in their way as ex-
quisite a collection of fish as ever were taken.

We could doubtless have killed many more if we
had wished to remain for the purpose; but the Har-
mony River, our destination, was a long way off,
and the sun was running across the sky at a rapid rate.

We stopped to dine at Goulais Point, and took
advantage of the opportunity to bathe; the water,
close to the shore where it was shallow and had
been heated by the sun’s rays, was warm, but ocea-
sionally streaks cold enough almost to freeze the

LAKE SUPERIOR. 65

blood were encountered. The Namzgoose, on being
prepared for the pot, were found to contain spawn
well advanced, and were exceedingly fat.

The dinner being over and the men rested, our
slow progress was resumed, and we passed Maple
Island—ZJsle aux Aradles-—into Batchawaung Bay.
The sun in his downward course marked out a
broad golden path upon the still surface of the lake,
vividly recalling to our minds that most exquisite
picture in “Hiawatha” of the chieftain’s departure
for the “land of the Hereafter; which now had
the charm of a peculiar interest, as we were floating
upon the very waters where the scene is laid:

“ And the evening sun, descending,
Set the clouds on fire with redness ;
Burned the broad sky, like a prairie,
Left upon the level water
One long track and trail of splendor,
Down whose stream, as down a river,
Westward, westward Hiawatha
Sailed into the fiery sunset,
Sailed into the purple vapors,
Sailed into the dusk of evening.”

Thus dreamily murmured Don, as with his back
against our biscuit-barrel, and his feet upon our
butter-tub, he gazed upon the dying glories of the
orb of day; and now, as the last glimmering spark
sank below the horizon, the strange pale light of
the north crept over the sky; the stillness of death
brooded upon land and water, and ephemere, issuing
from their larva state, burst into winged life and

66 LAKE SUPERIOR.

followed the course of our boat. Fronting us was
the long island called by the same name as the bay
beyond it, and towering far above were the moun-
tains of the mainland, cleft in two places where the
Harmony and Batchawaung Rivers had broken their
way to the lake; to the right extended the bay for
many miles, and to the left stretched in its immen-
sity.the trackless “Gitche-Gumee, Big-Sea-Water.”
Darkness approaches slowly in northern latitudes ;
our oarsmen were weary, and our pace was mode-
rate, but we had to make a long detour to reach
the river beyond, and it was determined.to camp on
the island. Reaching the upper end, we landed, and
our men searched for a favorable spot. One pecu-
liarity of a voyageur is his antipathy to camping at
an unusual place; warned by his experience of the
inconveniences that attend such a course, the diffi-
culty of making a comfortable bed, properly secur-
ing the tent, and arranging the fire, he will endure
considerable extra labor to reach a spot with which
he is acquainted. Therefore we were not surprised
when Frank reiippeared and announced the imprac-
ticability of establishing our camp.

The day had been hard for the men; the weather
had been hot and the journey long, and it gave me
pleasure to hear Don propose that we should row
for a time. He was rather unaccustomed to the ex-
ercise, but kept up bravely as we continued our
course round the island and across towards the main
shore. The pale light still filled the atmosphere to
that degree that, at nine o’clock, we could read fine

LAKE SUPERIOR. 67

print; the ephemeree still followed us with fluttering
wings, and whisks extended ; the death-like calmness
still rested on the unruffled. water. At the point of
the island were four pretty little islets clustered to-
gether, lending additional beauty to the bay em-
bosomed in majestic hills. The way seemed length-
ened out amazingly, and our arms were weary, and
the night had closed in darkness ere we reached the
mouth of the Harmony River, the Auchipoiscebie
of the Indians. Here we found an old camping-
ground, almost a cleared field in size, and the rem-
nants of several wigwams. Collecting the poles of
the latter, we built a rousing fire that illuminated
the surrounding forest and cast a lurid glow upon
our active men. By its light we landed our stores,
pitched our tent, established our quarters, and re-
tired to rest.

We had made a long thirty-five miles, against
unfavorable circumstances, felt exhausted but
thankful we had arrived at last, and taking a little
refreshment, drank good-luck to ourselves and the
Harmony. Just as I was about closing my eyes to
sublunary things, Don remarked :

“There is a serious question I have to put to you.
To-day’s journey has probably been exceptionally
slow and tedious, but how long, under ordinary cir-
cumstances, do you think it would require to come
from New York to the Harmony River ?”

Next morning early having broiled a Namzxgoose
for breakfast and found it both well cooked and ex-
cellent, we ascended the level water that extends

68 LAKE SUPERIOR.

for some distance from the mouth of the river. The
day was fair and the wind favorable, the birds sang
their welcome merrily, and the trees bowed grace-
fully as we passed. An old duck and her young
were startled by our approach, and fled, making such
use of their powerful legs as to outstrip us readily.
A short distance beyond the smooth water, and
almost three miles from the lake, we came to the
lower fall or pitch of the stream, which had become
quite narrow, and there we made our camp.

It was a lovely spot; the thick trees formed a
dense shade over our tent, the trembling cascade fur-
nished continual music; opposite, a rivulet of purest
ice-water emptied into the stream; in front the
river spread out into a broad, quiet pool; while
through intervening trees and bushes we could catch
glimpses of the high falls a few hundred yards above
us. Previous camps had been located at the same
place, and a path had been cut to the rock close by,
from which we could fish below the cascade.

Hastily disembarking such things as we had brought
with us, impatient to explore the river, and tanta-
lized by half glimpses of the cataract beyond, we
crossed the stream in the barge, and guided by
Frank, followed a well-worn pathway in the woods.
A few hundred steps brought us to the bank, where
a glorious prospect greeted us. The stream, rising
among the summits of the hills, pitched down
over aslanting precipice, seaming its brown face with
irregular, delicate lines of silver. Issuing from a
mountain gorge, so far above as to be scarcely dis-

LAKE SUPERIOR. 69

tinguishable, it leaped over pitch after pitch, collect-
ing in deep pools at every break, and whirling round
or dashing over huge boulders in its course, till de-
scending the last shute, the main body tumbled in
one heavy wave into a dark, turbid pool at the base.
From either shore the evergreen trees projected, lean-
ing over as if to protect the uneasy river, and a
heavy trunk, originally torn up and borne along by a
spring freshet, had lodged upon a broad, bare, rocky
island in the centre. Numerous little rills branched
off from the main stream, and forming innumerable
fantastic miniature water-falls, sought different paths
to the lower level. The rocks were bare and mostly
of a dull brown, constituting a strong contrast to
the green fringing of the mountain sides, and were
worn away by the immense volumes of water and
ice that forced their way throngh in early spring
and swept them clear of vegetation.

At the foot of the lower shute there was a seeth-
ing cauldron, white with foam near the fall, and
black from its great depth in the centre; below, the
wearied stream rushed down a stretch of rapids, and
sought temporary relief in a broad, quiet basin that
reached to the first of the cascades, close to our
camp, and in which the water seemed absolutely
motionless,

Hardly giving ourselves time to note and enjoy
the beauties of this most romaiitic spot, and urged
on by the sportsman’s instinct that looks to the at-
tractions of nature, after having tried for game, we
commenced casting in the rapids. Our efforts were

70 LAKE SUPERIOR.

rewarded, and we landed some fine fish of from one
to two pounds, and had grand sport with them in
the current and eddies. Putting on for a tail-fly a
large, full, brown hackle with scarlet body and sil-
ver twist, I at last alvanced cautiously towards the
black pool below the shute, and keeping well out of
sight, cast it across the boiling water; it fell among
a mass of whirling foam, but being swept down,
passed over a portion of the dark water, and was
ravenously seized by a fine tront.

Astounded at the unexpected consequence, the
frightened fish darted hither and thither about the
pool until, finding his efforts to free himself vain, he
rushed towards the rapids below. Here the rod and
line were powerless to restrain him, and he made
the reel spin as I followed along the rocks. How-
ever, with care he was guided through the dangers
of the foaming current, strong eddies, and project-
ing rocks, and was led after a long battle into a spot
of comparative quiet, near an old dead tree that
projected over the water.

Being myself prevented from approaching by the
branches of this tree, I instructed Frank to watch
a good chance and use the net; but never shall J
forget his look as, after two or three vain attempts
—for he was not altogether skilful—the upper fly
caught in his shirt, and the trout, which must haye
weighed at least three pounds, made a furious dash,
parted the leader, and eseaped. As though it was
my fault, instead of his awkwardness, Frank turned
towards me with a most reproachful expression,

LAKE SUPERIOR. a’

and without a word came to have the hook cut from
his shirt, intimating that if I would hook him, I
could not expect to land large trout.

The fishing below the falls of the Harmony was
absolute perfection; although the fish were not
large, that is, not of monstrous size, and rarely ex
ceeded two pounds, they invariably after a short
struggle took to the rapids, and compelled us to
follow them, at a pace and under difficulties that
brought salmon-fishing vividly to our recollection.
The steady roar of the falls and the picturesque
wildness of the scene added to the intensity of the
enjoyment, and served to occupy our minds when
not employed upon our sport. Of easy access from
our camp, we afterwards ordinarily visited them
alone, leaving the men to attend to numerous house-
hold duties, and had the advantage of being able
to wait upon ourselves.

The hours passed quickly by, and when the calls
of appetite could no longer be resisted, we found
ourselves with two dozen splendid trout, which
were the selection from nearly a hundred. Well
satisfied, we hastened back to our camping-ground
which Charley had been busily arranging, and while
the men were preparing dinner, we tried the cascade
near by.

This was certainly a fortunate day, for Pedro
soon hooked a splendid black bass and landed him,
after a vigorous struggle of half an hour; he
weighed three pounds and three-quarters, and was
thoroughly game, and established a fact that Pro-

72 LAKE SUPERIOR.

fessor Agassiz seems to doubt—that black bass in-
habit Lake Superior. The guides recognised him
at once as an old acquaintance, and called him by
the familiar name of achigon.

After a hearty dinner we descended to the mouth
of the river for the residue of our camping articles,
and while returning J trolled with a small Buel’s
spoon. Unfortunately happening to espy a duck
upon the water, I laid down my rod to take the
gun, when a black bass struck, nearly jerking the
rod out of the boat, and with a mad spring carried
off my bait and casting line, while the duck, alarmed
at the noise, flew away amid the confusion.

Having landed our load, and leaving the men to
complete the camp, Don and myself hastened back
to the scene of our morning’s sport to renew, and
even surpass, our previous enjoyment ; for after kill-
ing several fine fish in the strong water in splendid
style, I struck one of great weight in my favorite
pool. Ie soon took to the rapids, and stopping in
an eddy, fouled the line without escaping. In vain
all means were tried to clear the line without alarm-
ing the fish; it had caught on the further side of a
large stone, and could only be reached from a rock
that projected its smooth, slippery surface aboye the
current at some distance from the shore. Rendered
desperate, and summoning all my courage, I crept
out into the rushing stream, and, supported by the
handle to the landing-net, sueceeded in reaching
this dangerous location.

No sooner was the line free than the fish again

LAKE SUPERIOR. 73

darted down stream, taking out the line at a tremen-
dous rate. I turned to follow, but what was my
dismay to find that, although I had managed to get
from the shore to the rock, the current followed
such a direction that I could not return. On went
the fish; in vain I sounded the bottom with the
handle of the landing-net, or felt for a safe footing,
or essayed to jump; the water was too threatening
and the risk too great. Still the fish kept on, and I
had just made up my mind to take the leap for his
life or my own, when the line became exhausted
and the leader parted. Slowly I wound in the line,
sadly picturing the supposable weight of the escaped
fish, and depressed in spirit, managed with Don’s
assistance to regain terra firma. The only consola-
tion was in the thought that we had secured full as
many fish as we could use.

That night was extremely warm, and one of the
most trying I ever endured in the northern woods;
not only were mosquitoes abundant and ferocious,
but that terrible pest, the sand-fly, existing by my-
riads in the sandy soil, made merciless attacks upon
us. The shores of Lake Superior are unpleasantly
prolific in all the minute torments that are most
dreaded by the sportsman. During the day the
black-fly absolutely swarms, in the evening the sand-
fly arises from the sand in invisible millions, and at
night numberless mosquitoes continue the pursuit ;
repelled, but not dismayed by ointment and lini-
ment, they wait till it is dried or rubbed off, and
dart upon the exposed part; they far exceed in

4

74 LAKE SUPERIOR.

numbers their brethren of New Brunswick, where
the rocky soil is less suited to them, and, in spite of
all defences during hot weather, inflict much misery.

Don’s first idea was to despise their attacks, and,
disbelieving the vi:tues of pennyroyal and creasote,
stoically to endure the discomfort of the woods
as a necessary accompaniment to enjoying the
pleasure; but by the time tea was over he had
changed his mind, and at bedtime carefully enve-
loped himself in his veil.

The thermometer rose to eighty-six in the tent,
and being little lower at midnight, the veils were
found to be rather suffocating. The moderate tem-
perature of the northern climate is the great protec-
tion of the sportsman; ordinarily in a trip of a
month there will not be three oppressive days, but
when the weather is warm and insects numerous, a
good chance is offered to exhibit courage and jollity.
Next morning, when the heat continued, and the sun,
rising above the hills, shone through the dense fog
like a globe of fire, Don wore a solemn but patient
expression of countenance, and fully justified my
confidence in bis endurance.

The weather during the early season had been
warm and dry, and the lake was two feet below its
ordinary level, and although its main body retained
a cool temperature, the shallews were heated. The
rivers, on the contrary, that flow into it from the
north, taking their rise from swamps and shallow
ponds, not only are tinctured with decaying veecta-
tion and are of a rich amber hue, but had absorbed

LAKE SUPERIOR. 75

the heat, so that the fish which in our latitude are
in summer accustomed to desert the lakes for the
cool spring brooks, had mostly left the rivers for the
cooler lake. Only where the water was cooled and
aérated by a fall, or at the mouth of some trickling
spring, were they to be found in any numbers.

I have said that opposite the camp there was
such a rivulet, and at its mouth, crowded together,
each striving to get his nose nearest to it, was a fine
school of large fish. The water of this rivulet must
have been not far above the freezing point in tem-
perature, and was delicious drinking, while the main
stream was nearly tepid.

Being informed by our guides that there was a
second fall above the first, and good fishing near it,
we proceeded, after taking a few fish and a good
drink from our spring-water rill, to ascend the river.
We were compelled to make our way through the
brushes and undergrowth, over the dead trees,
and among the rocks that covered the shore, and were
hardly repaid for our labor ; the fall proved to be only
a small cascade, and though there was a deep fine
pool at its base which Frank assured us contained
trout of five pounds, we could not persuade any of
them to rise. As no fish above the main fall could
have access to the lake, I felt convinced there were
none of large size, and the weather continuing warm,
we returned early to the camp.

That evening was again devoted to the black
bass, which took both the fly and spoon greedily,
and which, when captured, were deposited alive in

76 LAKE SUPERIOR.

a pond-hole in the rock, where their appearance and
motions could be studied to advantage. They were
not handsome fish, with their broad backs, deep
bodies, and thick heads; their extended fins were
peculiar and characteristic, and their general form,
fierce red eyes, and large mouths were more indica-
tive of ferocity than grace. Those that we opened,
although it was in the month of July, were heavy
with spawn, and the ova had the appearance of
being almost ready for deposit,—suggesting the pos-
sibility that these fish differ from those of the eastern
country in their spawning season. It is hardly con-
ceivable that they would carry their eggs till April
or May of the ensuing year, in which month black
bass spawn elsewhere; and if not, their habits must
be entirely dissimilar.

The long walk through the sand and mud had
made our shoes rather unpresentable, restoring along
the edges the original russet of the leather; and as
he was about retiring, Don suggested to me the pro-
priety in our next trip of bringing with us blacking
and. brushes.

PIKE-PEROU,.

a

a
\ ‘i

Hi

ah i

“ATINVA §$ IHIHO Dla

LAKE SUPERIOR.

I
“I

CHAPTER IV

Next morning, the weather being cooler and the
wind favorable, we took our departure, after having
captured some fine fish at the falls pool, for the
Batchawaung River. It was but a short journey
round a sandspit that projected into the bay, where
we took a single trout, and we were soon in the
mouth of the deep dark river. The banks were low
and of course covered with trees, most of which
were of the deciduous character; the water was
sluggish, and the interval between the bay and dis-
tant mountain extended several miles.

We passed an Indian paddling a canoe loaded
with bark, the sole occupant besides ourselves of the
qniet stream, and our guides conversed fluently with
him in the musical Indian tongue. Occasionally a
brood of ducks, alarmed at our approach, broke the
oppressive silence with their vigorous efforts to
escape, and Don, trolling with Buel’s spoon for black
bass, struck and landed a small ill-favored pickerel
—esox boreus—of some four pounds weight.

The Batchawaung is the favorite resort for anglers
who visit the north shore, and being within easy
access of the Sault—not more than a day’s sail with
favorable weather—is fished to excess. It isa large
stream, filled with rapids and pools, and usually

78 LAKE SUPERIOR.

crowded with trout of immense size; but the water
is dark and easily heated, so that the fish often desert
it for the lake. There is a sameness about the
Batchawaung, and a want of picturesque effect, that
is altogether different from the Harmony ; we missed
the noise of the falling water, the sight of the pretty
cascade, when we came to pitch our tent about four
miles from the mouth, at the first shallow rapids,
and throughout our whole trip we never saw the
equal of the romantic Harmony.

There are but two rivers emptying into Batcha-
waung Bay that are generally laid down on the
maps—the Batchawaung and the Chippewa—but
the guides assured us there were four fine streams.
The location usually given to the Chippewa applies
well to the Harmony, and it may be they are the
same river under different names. Our ordinary
maps of the northern shore of Lake Superior are
altogether imperfect, and even the charts of the
Hudson’s Bay Company are not entirely accurate.

Anxious to explore the stream, no sooner was our
camp pitched and dinner over than we embarked
and continued the ascent, being poled against the
current by the two guides, and trying every promis-
ing spot as we passed. Fish, however, were no-
where to be found, and disgusted with the heat
that not only annoyed ourselves but had destroyed
our sport, we were about giving up, when Frank
stopped the boat over against the mouth of a little
murmuring tributary brook. There were a quantity
of small stones and large rocks where the rivulet

LAKE SUPERIOR. 79

joined the river, and the cast being a long one, I
extended my line and dropped the fly just where
the two currents met. It was taken instantly by a
fish that, after fifteen minutes’ vigorous play, was
landed and found to weigh two and a half pounds.

That inaugurated our sport, and was followed by
the capture of at least two dozen magnificent trout,
that were not only immense in size, averaging nearly
three pounds, but were extremely beautiful and un-
‘commonly vigorous, Their tints were rich and dark,
differing as greatly from the lake fish as the trout
of the Canadian rivers differ from those of the salt
water. They fought with great courage and per-
severance, requiring skill and patience to land; and
anxious as we were to take a large one, that is to
say, one of over four pounds, those of two and
three pounds were so numerous and voracious that
we could not effect our object.

We landed some by hand and threw many back
into the water, but, notwithstanding, soon had
more than we could possibly use. There being no
reason for our taking any more, and Don having com-
plained that the cast was inconveniently long on
account of the imperfections of his rod, I assured
him I could cast entirely across the pool, and to
prove it, lengthened my line, and at the first cast
hooked fast in the rock beyond. Not caring to
break the line, we dropped the boat across the
stream, and while passing over the pool, beheld the
pottom literally black with fish. If we had been
inclined to wanton destruction, we could doubtless

80 LAKE SUPERIOR.

haye killed a hundred; but having no means to pot
or souse them, and knowing that they are com-
paratively worthless salted or smoked, we had re-
solved not to kill more than we could eat.

On the way back to camp we took a long, lean,
poor, sickly fish, that, if in good order, would have
reached six pounds, but in its unhealthy state only
weighed two and a half.

At supper that evening Don made a formal pro-
test and complaint, insisting that he would drink no
more tea till he had white sugar; he entered at
some length into the characteristics and peculiarities
of sugar in its various stages, questioned the advan-
tage of using brown sugar at all, intimated that white
was the best, most economical, and least bulky,
advised me in future to take none other, and finally
having disposed of every conceivable case but his
own, inquired why, when we had abundance of
both, he was not allowed the one he preferred, by
which time [had it out and ready at hishand. He had
evidently braced himself for a terrible argument,
seemed somewhat surprised at the want of opposition,
and after a moment or two began to call in question
the propriety of opening a new package, when the
brown sugar was already in use; that, in fact, al-
though some people preferred white, and he must
confess he was among the number, others liked the
flavor of the dark colored; that little inconveniences
were the natural concomitants of x sportsman’s life ;
that when a number of bundles were opened they
were more exposed to dampness—a serious injury ta

LAKE SUPERIOR. 81

sugar—and there were more packages to look after,
and that he was decidedly of opinion it was unadvisa-
ble, and that he was entirely willing to go without
his ten. By this time the tea was drunk and supper
ended.

It is a delightful thing of « cool summer evening
to sit round a rousing fire that casts its variable
glare upon the trunks and lower branches of the
stalwart trees, and gives a ruddy glow to the white
tent, the dense underbrush, and the kindly faces
of the honest guides. At such times, while listening
to wild stories of woodsman’s life, that are doubly
interesting when repeated upon the ground where
they occurred, a pipe is absolutely delicious. Every
member of the temporary household selects a rock
or log, fashions a seat to his satisfaction as best he
may, and recalls the events of other similar expe-
ditions for the edification of his associates. On
such occasions cigars, which are cumbersome at all
times, do not seem to answer, and recourse is had to
the little pouch of Killikinnick which every one
carries with him; under the joint influence of story
and tobacco, the time passes quickly away, and the
hour of bedtime arrives too soon.

Notwithstanding the summer evenings are usually
cool above the line of the British Provinces, we
happened to have fallen upon a hot spell; and
although the fire was not disagreeable, the mosqni-
toes, which are benumbed by cold, were lively and
plentiful. Under these circumstances our mode of
proceeding was to close the tent and then with a

82 LAKE SUPERIOR.

candle carefully burn them one after another. To
do this successfully requires nerve and skill; the light
must be approached quickly enough to catch the
nimble fellows, and just far enough not to scorch the
tent; the operation gave Don decided pleasure,
especially as they are consumed with a loud “ pop.”
In course of the proceeding he incidentally re-
marked: “Their galleys burn; why not their cities,
too ?”

Next day we ascended the river to the falls, which
were about three miles from camp, and were found
to be attractive neither to the fisherman nor the
lover of nature. The water was warm and fishless,
the shute was small and unromantic. We dined at
its foot, and descending, fished the pool that the
day before had rewarded us so satisfactorily. Our
prey was still there, eager as ever for hook and fea-
thers, and soon covered the bottom of our boat
with their glistening forms. My line after some
time happening to become fouled in the bottom, and
skilful fishing appearing to be out of place, I laid
down the fly-rod, and taking the bass-rod, cast the
trolling-spoon with some effort and a loud splash
into the pool; instead of alarming the fish, it was
eagerly seized, and I kept on catching fish with it at
every cast, till Don became disgusted with such
unsportsmanlike procedure, and insisted upon re-
turning to camp.

That day was made remarkable by the advent of
a thunder-storm, a rarity in the northern clime,
and the only one that occurred during our entire

LAKE SUPERIOR. 83

trip. It was not violent, and had none of those
terrible characteristics of similar phenomena in
southern latitudes, and even in our regions would
have been considered a tame affair.

As, however, it drove us within the tent, and gave
us a little unemployed leisure, my attention was
attracted to Don’s baggage, which consisted of an
incongruous assortment that would hardly have been
thought of by any other amateur backwoodsman,
and would certainly have astounded a professional.
Of course there were abundant clothes of various
colors and kinds, of which a buckskin under-jacket
suitable for severe winter weather, but hardly
necessary in asummer-trip, and a handsome dressing-
gown, were prominent articles; also his shaving
materials, very neat and elegant, that were not used
till he returned; a thermometer that kept us in-
formed as to the amount of suffering we were
entitled to feel from the condition of the weather;
a picture of his two extremely pretty children, set in
a passe-partout frame, with a glass over it that was
in daily danger of destruction, a bundle of tooth
picks that would have lasted us both a year, a new
and effective patent portable boot-jack, a clothes-
brush and whisp, a bottle of eau de cologne, a pair
of flesh-brushes, and many other things that might
be classed as “odds and ends.”

Most of these articles were jumbled together in a
large water-proof bag, from which he was never
known to be able ta obtain any specific article with.
out emptying the whole on the floor; but the pic.

84 LAKE SUPERIOR.

ture, his looking-glass, comb, hair-brush, and soay
he kept among the eggs. The eggs suffered con-
siderably from the association, and their injury was
felt by myself as head cook; but Don could never
be persuaded to change his habits, producing abun-
dant arguments to prove that that was their only
appropriate place.

At supper he announced his firm conviction that
china cups and plates were a necessity to existence,
that tin was an abomination, and that on all future
trips, he should be properly supplied. He was in-
dignant at a suggestion that they might be broken,
and burst forth :

“You are so set in your ways that you think no
one can have any ideas but yourself, or make any
improvement on your plans. Here you are, drinking
high-priced tea, and even brandy-and-water, out of
tin cups that hold a quart,”—this was an exaggera-
tion, as they were only pints—‘“have a disgust-
ing taste that absolutely destroys the flavor, and are
of such a shape that you have to dip your nose into
the fluid before you can swallow any of it. With
hot tea this is painful, and with brandy, or even
water, far from pleasant.”

“Glass or china would be more agreeable on
some accounts » was the mild reply.

“TJ should think so,” he interrupted. ‘ Allow me
to ask what you paid for this tea ?”

“ One dollar and fifteen cents a pound.”

“ And what does it taste like ?”

€¢ Tea.”

LAKE SUPERIOR. 85

“Tea! Well, there are ‘some people that can
hardly tell wash-basin slops from the best Bohea.”

“ But, then,” I hurriedly explained, to moderate
his disgust, ‘china is so liable to be broken; I had
once an entire case of liquor smashed by my guides.”

“Yes, and that liquor-case is a case in point;
because that was lost you do not give up carrying
liquor, do you? Then why cease using china cups,
not that they have been, but only from fear that
they may be broken ?”

“They are so much heavier than tin,” I remon-
strated.

“Asif the weight of two cups, one for you and
one for me, and two plates, was so serious. Let’s
dispense with something else; take less to eat, if
you please, but have it decently served.”

Convinced by this eloquence, I meekly promised
to comply on our next expedition, but Don was not
altogether satisfied, and continued :

“JT do not wish you to consent to these views
merely to suit my wishes. I want you to be con-
vinced. I dare say there are advantages about tin ;
it may be knocked about, is always ready at hand,
is light, and stores in small compass ;.for rough tra-
vel, doubtless, it is admirable, and, were we to make
long portages, would be better than china. After
all, the taste of tin must be more apparent than real;
the metal cannot come off, or it would dissolve;
and how, then, can it give a taste ? The pots are
large,*but a man wants a good, long drink, whether
of tea or brandy, when exhausted with hard work

86 LAKE SUPERIOR.

or exposure. After all, you will find many advan-
tages in tin cups, and, really, the plates are scarcely
objectionable; before deciding, you must look at these
matters from both points of view. However, as we
cannot obtain china this trip, and as we are discuss-
ing improvements, there is one thing I insist upon
hereafter—we must have table-cloths and napkins.”

“ What!” I exclaimed, absolutely overcome at
this suggestion.

“Table-cloths and napkins. You have probably
heard of such things before ; they are customary at
a gentleman’s table, and if a person does sleep in a
tent, he need not forget he isa gentleman. Look at
this table, made out of two rough boards that were
never even planed, transported in the bottom of our
boat, and walked over daily with dirty shoes and
occasionally with bare feet, sullied with the marks
of promiscuous bundles, half covered with grease,
and stained with tea, bilge-water, and fish-blood
gracefully intermingled.”

“That is too bad; they are two good, clean
boards that Frank washes regularly, and which are
in themselves an unusual luxury; for in wood’s-life
we usually dine off a log or a flat rock.”

“ They may be washed occasionally ; but as dead
fish are first gutted on them, and as tea and grease
are afterwards spilled on them till they are revolt-
ing with filth, I do not see, for my part, how you
can eat your dinner off them.”

“JT don’t eat off them; I eat off my plate.” .

“That you may call a joke; but hereafter I shall

LAKE SUPERIOR. 87

have table-cloths and napkins. You carry towels,
why not napkins ?”

“ Because you cannot stow a large number, and
if you have oniy a few, how are they to be kept
clean? The guides have enough to do without
trying to wash table-cloths with cold water and no
starch.”

“Tf that is so, I should take an extra man to wash
them.”

The next day we met with a loss. We had no-
ticed that the Indians, when they travelled, were
invariably accompanied by their dogs; these were
rarely accommodated on board the canoes, and fol-
lowed along the shore, swimming the inlets or cross-
ing at the head, making often much longer journeys
than their masters, who passed from headland to
headland, but coming up with the camp at night to
partake of the frugal meal. Sometimes, however,
they strayed, and either lived on chance gleanings
from travellers or perished in the woods. There
were two ownerless dogs near our camp, and al-
though precautions had been taken by our men,
they succeeded in carrying off our only ham, leaving
us nothing to show for it but the empty bag.

Don’s appetite had been sharpened by open air
and exercise, and he expatiated at length upon dis-
appointed hopes of fried ham, broiled ham, ham
omelets, ham plain, and ham and eggs, and sug-
gested many new and doubtless excellent dishes, of
which ham was to be the principal part. His advice
was valuable, but somewhat late.

88 LAKE SUPERIOR.

Being already tired of the to me uninteresting
Batchawaung and its one pool of numberless trout,
and having a strong and favorable breeze, we broke
up camp, descended the river, killing a duck on the
way, and once out in the open water, headed for
the Point of Mamainse, which is Chippewa for stur-
geon. The wind, however, soon came out ahead,
increased to a gale, and drove us into L’anse aux
crepes, or Pancake Bay, where we were detained
that day and night.

Lanse aux crépes is at the mouth of a little rivu-
let that tumbles over scattered boulders, and occa-
sionally contains some nice trout; but the water
was low, and although we caught enough small fish
for supper, we did better with young ducks, hap-
pening to get a shot into a brood, and killing with
the two discharges seven plump, luscious, well-
grown little fellows, which replenished the gridiron
finely.

The temperature fell to thirty-seven degrees, and
with it the mosquitoes—a delightful change from
the oppressive heat and hungry hordes that had tor-
mented us. We camped for the night at the mouth
of the rivulet, and continuing our voyage early next
morning, soon reached the bold, imposing promon-
tory called by the Indian name Mamainse. The
shore is rocky and precipitous to such sn extent,
that the fisherman finds difficulty in casting the fly,
or even pursuing his way along the steep cliffs.

The water is filed with broken rocks, as at other
parts of the coast, and where these project above

LAKE SUPERIOR. 89

the surface a good stand is obtained. At one spot
the waves had worn out a deep cavern, where a
dozen men could sleep, protected from the air, and
often under foot could be heard the smothered rum-
bling of the water as it rushed into deep holes out
of sight. Above the bare rocks, which are often
fifty feet perpendicular, stretch the sparse under-
brush, the stunted evergreens, and the moss-covered
granite of the mountains, till they reach an elevation
of a thousand feet. Frowning down upon the
water stands the Point of Mamainse, a rallying-spot
for the summer fogs and winter storms, a landmark
to the voyageur, a barrier to the fiercest commotion
of the lake, and the upper boundary of Tequamenon
Bay, as the confined portion of Lake Superior near
its outlet is called.

It is an extensive promontory, and point after
point presented itself to our wearied eyes; we
landed, rose, and lost some fine fish, and killed seve-
ral of good size; but as the wind was adverse, we
could not afford to waste time, and pursued our
journey till nightfall.

Next morning we tasted a Batchawaung trout
that Frank had salted and smoked by hanging near
the fire ; inasmuch as it was green and had not lost
its original flavor altogether, it was quite appetiz-
ing; but a smoked trout that has been dried suffi-
ciently to keep, is about as hard, unpalatable, and
indigestible a morsel as man can put in his mouth.
Tt has neither the flavor of the mackerel nor the
richness of the cod, and not the slightest pretence

90 LAKE SUPERIOR

to the delicacy of the salmon. Slightly salted and
smoked, however, it will remain good for several
weeks, and furnish a variety to the woodsman’s
Spartan fare.

Unfortunately there is no way of preserving
trout; these fish, so delicate fresh, are almost worth-
less pickled, soused, salted, or smoked; while those
of a size to be worth catching are too large to pre-
serve by potting, in which way alone can their flavor
be preserved. They are pickled by being immersed
in water that has had sugar and salt boiled in it;
they are soused by being cooked and preserved in
vinegar and allspice; they are smoked by being
salted for a night and hung in a smoke-house or
near the fire; they are kippered by being rubbed
with salt and a little pepper, and hung in the sun;
they are potted by being cooked and packed tightly
in jars, and having hot Jard or butter with spices
run in and over them. Only when prepared in the
latter way are they eatable, and then only when
they are small.

This day we had our first really favorable wind
that bellied out our sail, and relieving the men from
the labor at the oars, drove us along at a famous
rate, enabling us to push boldly out into the lake
that was alive with the dancing, foam-crested waves,
and urging us onward famously in a direct course.

When far from shore and miles from the habita-
tions of a civilized being, we espied approaching
another barge similar to our own, and which proved
also to be carrying a party of fishermen.

LAKE SUPERIOR. 91

Our sail was hastily lowered, and the vessels being
laid alongside of one another, we held an interest-
ing conversation with our fellow-travellers. It ap-
peared they had ascended the Neepigon, and gave
glowing accounts of the number of fish, but not
much of the character of the fishing; saying that
the trout, which were large on the average, were
collected in pools as we had found them in the
Batchawaung, and were so numerous as to ruin
the sport. They had had a long journey, and were
out of whiskey, a deprivation that we hastened to
supply ; and were glad to see civilized beings, and to
feel that they were once more on the confines of the
land of the white man.

With mutual good wishes we bid them farewell,
and watched their barge after we separated growing
smaller and smaller in the distance, till it was lost
to view. How suggestive are such meetings of
individuals who have never encountered one another
before, who form. an acquaintance as it were in the
wilderness, shut out from the rest of mankind, and,
separated, never to meet in the wide world again ;
like a ray of sunshine through a storm-cloud, shining
for an instant across the surrounding darkness, gone
in a moment, and never to be re-illumined, leaving
nothing behind but a pleasant memory! Not one
of the persons in either boat will ever forget that
meeting, and nevertheless no conceivable cireum-
stances can bring them together again on the bound-
less waters of Lake Superior.

We reached the Agawa that night. The stream

92 LAKE SUPERIOR.

was sluggish at its outlet, near which a change in
its course had left a small pond in the sandy shore,
and was not altogether inviting, with its shallow, dis-
colored, heated current. It has a high reputation
among those who have explored it, but flows into
the lake in a commonplace manner. A neighbor-
ing swamp encouraged the growth of mosquitoes ;
and the black flies, which seemed to be of an un-
recognized and indescribably vicious species, were
annoying in the extreme. There was a small settle-
ment of Indians near by, and hardly had we com-
menced pitching our camp, which had to be located
some distance from shore on account of the pebbly
beach, ere they appeared.

There was an old man, the embodiment of harm-
less idiotey, who turned out to be a patriarch and
not the fool he looked; two fine-looking, straight-
featured young men; two boys, a little girl, and
three dogs. The latter evidently belonged to the
family, for they all, dogs included, stood in a row,
the latter fully as intelligent as the former, and
none of them offering the least assistance while our
men and ourselves raised the tent. The old man
wore a conciliatory expression of imbecility, the
young men a confirmed air of vacuity, and the dogs
and children seemed imbued with a few sparks of
intellect.

They made no motion and uttered no word till a
fire was lighted, when they instantly crouched round
it. Asa race, living in the rudest manner, and de-
based from their native simplicity by contact with

LAKE SUPERIOR. 93

the white man, they have small claims to intelli-
gence; but to their credit, be it said, they are ordi-
narily honest, and unless grossly outraged, perfectly
harmless.

They are readily moved to laughter, greatly
enjoyed the appearance of our hats, which were
stuck round with flies, and shouted with delight
atthe noise made by Don’s click reel, when he
took a trout in the small pond previously men-
tioned, and throughout our intercourse with them,
proved themselves pleasant, trustworthy compa-
nions.

While our guides were preparing supper, Don
proceeded to explore the neighborhood, and made
his way to the wigwams, where he found more of
the same family. Immediately on our appearance,
the women, after peering furtively through the
chinks, retired into obscurity, ignorant, probably, of
our high delicacy towards the female sex; and in
fact throughout, betrayed a disgusting want of con-
fidence ; the three favorite wives of the silly old
patriarch, wives that we were told were both young
and pretty, having fled into the bush before our
canoe had touched land. During our entire stay
we had nothing but dissolving views of female
charms—loveliness that was not arrayed in crino-
line—although Don devoted every spare moment to
persistent visits.

A young man appeared promptly from under the
blanketed door of the first wigwam, and Don com-
menced an instructive conversation on the subject

94 LAKE SUPERIOR.

of numerous dogs that were howling round in un-
pleasant proximity to our calves.

“You have a large number of dogs ?”

“Ya.”

“T suppose you use them in the chase?”

Yaa”

“They accompany you in your journeys ?”

co Ya.”

“What do you chase with them ?”

‘73 Ya.”

“JT asked what do you chase with them?”

ee Yea?

“Oh, I see you speak French.”

Fa.

“ Qwest ce que Von chasse avec les chiens 2?”

“Va.

Don now began to doubt whether his new friend
spoke either French or English, and had recourse to
Chippewa, at least as near Chippewa as he could come.

“Vat you chase, chassy, vis the doggees ?”

te Yeas

“ You chase les cers the deer, the elks, the moose ?”
gesticulating freely.

Vas?

“The beaver, the—the—castor ?”
Ya.

“The rabbit, the—the—ze rabeet ?”
73 Ya.”

“Don,” I burst forth at this stage, “he does
not understand a word you are saying.”
“On the contrary, he evidently understands per-

LAKE SUPERIOR. 95

fectly, how else could he answer so intelligently ; of
course he does not pronounce yes accurately, but is
entirely comprehensible.”

“ Well, then, ask him about the canoe he is build-
ing; how many it will hold, what those strings are
for, and where he caught that large trout yonder ?”

“You build ze canoe ?”

ce Ya.”

“Tow many it hold ?”

Ya.”

“Tt hold one ?”

“Ya?

“Tt hold two ?”

Va?

“You see he says it holds one or two.”

“ Well, now about the strings.”

“ Zese strings, what for?”

Nia.”

“No no; what for yese strings ??

Ya.”

“ What zay use for?” raising his voice.

“Ya.”

“ You no understand; what for, what for ?”

eva!

“Leave the strings and try the fish ?”

“You see ze trout, éruite ?”

Ya.”

“ Where you catch him ?”

“Ya.”

“Up ze river ?”

& Ya,”

96 LAKE SUPERIOR.

“Or near by ?”

‘74 Ya.”

* No, no; where catch him ?”

13 Ya.”

“Here or zere;. here or zere?” very loud, as
though the savage were deaf.

“Va.

“That will do; and after this instructive conversa-
tion we had better seek our camp and supper.”

“Just as you say; he evidently does not fully
understand the last question, although I think we
might obtain some valuable information from him.
We certainly want to know where he took that fish,
which must weigh four pounds.”

“We certainly shall not find out, as baby talk
evidently is not Chippewa, although I wish it was,
and will need Frank’s aid in our communications.”

The other Indians were still seated near our fire,
and received with apparent thankfulness the rem-
nants of our supper, of which we took care that the
little girl should have her share, after we had
finished. As the river was low and could not be
ascended with our barge, nor without much labor on
foot, it was necessary to hire canoes; but unfortu-
nately we had nothing but United States money,
which was about as worthless as white paper.
Frank took ground that we should pay them in
stores of pork and biscuit; but as he seemed utterly
regardless of our anxiety to make a positive bargain,
and but little mindful whether they were paid or
not, Don felt it necessary to approach the subject

,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 97

cautiously, and having read of the pipe of peace,
thought the opportunity a good one for its introduc-
tion. Taking out his pouch, he gave them enough
tobacco to fill their pipes all round, having learnt
from Frank that it was not necessary to pass his
own from mouth to mouth, which he had considered
imperative, but which was not altogether plea-
sant. He was solicitous about their having their
pipes well lighted, and being pleased with the
tobacco, and when refssured on that head, and
satisfied that genial smoke was producing its natu-
ral effect, he permitted Frank to give a few gentle
hints suggestive of our desires to ascend the river,
our possession of quantities of pork that we did not
wish to take back with us, and our anxiety to be
satisfied that canoes could be had.

The subject being skilfully launched, Don ex-
pressed great interest in the little girl, whose name
he found was Wajack, which being interpreted,
means Little Rat, and finally made his great point
by the production of his picture. This had hung
in our tent night after night, had been carried in
our basket day by day, and had smashed its score
of egos; but now it repaid us. The hearts of the
savages were won, their delight was rapturous,
expressions of admiration were universal, the highest
encomiums were passed upon it, and the little chil-
dren, whose likenesses were really extremely pretty,
were as the perfection of loveliness as Frank
interpreted it, pronounced to be “so nice and

fat.”
5

98 LAKE SUPERIOR.

This we felt to be our moment of victory, and
Frank was directed to improve it. Standing before
the fire, with a gridiron in one hand and a dish-cloth
in the other, he burst into a strain of unequalled
eloquence. Without understanding a word, we
could imagine him painting our desolate condition ;
how-we were strangers from a far-off land, had left
the pale-faces, our wives, our little ones, bringing
with us only their faint delineation on paper, in
order that we might see the beauties and grandeur
of the Indian’s home—to sleep in the woods, to
float upon the lakes, to wander through the forests,
to explore the rivers. How we felt the red men to
be our brothers, and wished to know them better,
wished to stay long with them, to voyage in their
company and under their guidance; that we were
great men in our own land, but knew little of the
wilderness or the manners of savage life; that we
were rich in corn, in pork, in flour and biscuit, but
had not thought to bring our purses, which were
filled to overflowing, with us; but that we felt our
brethren of the great Chippewa tribe would befriend .
us, would supply us with canoes and guides, and
help us on our way. That the great universal
brotherhood of man demanded it, and that the time
might come when they would be in our land, penni-
less and ignorant, and might have to look to us for
canoes and guides; and would be glad to remind
us of the time they helped us up the Agawa.

At the end of every sentence and at every pause,
the Indians all, big and little, broke in with a simul.

BIG TREE,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 99

taneous m—m-m, a sort of grunt that became more
vigorous as Frank became excited, and grew louder
as his arguments grew stronger ; till before he was
through, the listener would have supposed that the
entire party was suffering in the agony of what
children know as the stomach-ache. The grunt was
not in the least like the conventional humph, was
uttered without opening the mouth, which would
have been an excessive and unnecessary labor, and
was capable of great expression. It began sympoa-
thetic, grew appreciative and confirmatory, and at
last became wildly enthusiastic, evidently taking its
origin from the Greek chorus, which is of a similar
appropriateness ; it was the strangest accompaniment
to a public speech we ever heard.

Feeling the importance of the case, we endea-
vored to keep our countenances; but what with
Frank’s bursts of eloquence, his graceful and im-
pressive gestures with the gridiron, the vehement
grunt in chorus at every pause, our strange
position congregated in the wild woods round a fire
with a parcel of unkempt savages, begging to swap
off, as our Yankee brethren would say, a quantity of
biscuit for a passage in a canoe, we could not con-
tain ourselves, but rolled over in convulsions of
laughter.

At first the Indians did not know what was the
matter, then they joined with us, and when we
attempted to imitate their grunt they shouted louder
than we had done. Frank felt that aspersions were
cast upon his eloquence, and seemed to have his

100 LAKE SUPERIOR.

feelings hurt, but unable to resist the general hilarity,
at last joined the

“roar
That echoed along the shore.”

What Frank had really said I never could find
out, but believe that he mentioned the subject we
had at heart no farther than merely to order the
young men to bring their canoes. Although half
breed himself, he was influenced by the general
contempt for the rights of a savage, and determined
in his own mind to have the canoes and pay for
them as he pleased. Donbtless also he was more or
less controlled by a dread of self-depreciation in
acknowledging that he served penniless employers.
To our persistent questions he would respond laco-
nically that it was arranged, but would say nothing
as to particulars. As we were entirely in his hands,
having discovered that not a word of our language
did the Indians understand nor we a word of theirs ;
and as, although our desire to do justice was great
and might have been strong enough to induce us to
give up the idea of obtaining the canoes, we were
utterly unable to communicate it, we were com-
pelled to submit to Frank’s course.

The Chippewa language is beautiful, easy, flowing,
graceful, full of vowels, expressive, capable of
vigorous impression, and, were it more generally un-
derstood, pleasant to acquire; but above all is it
advantageous when an entire ignorance of its mean-
ing enables you to take what you want and pay for

LAKE SUPERIOR. 101

it as you please. And if the native is dissatisfied he
cannot vituperate or abuse you, as the strongest word,
le plus vilain mot, as Frank expressed it, fortunately
is “ chien.” :

102 LAKE SUPERIOR.

CHAPTER V.

Tux canoes arrived on the following morning ere
our breakfast was dispatched, and having stowed
into them our fishing-gear and the requisites for a
simple meal, we were about embarking when Don,
who was directed to sit on the bottom of one, be-
tween the two Indian boys, entered a violent protest,
and seating himself on a log instead, announced he
should cither not go at all, or should be allowed to
pole and have sole charge of one end of the canoe.
This proposition astounded all who could under-
stand, and would have astounded the others still
more if they had understood it; but ere we had
recovered our breath Don commenced explaining
his views :

“For many years I have heard of voyaging in a
canoe; have thought it the chief pleasure of the
wilderness, and have been anxious not only to learn
how, but to do it. Of course, you will hardly ex-
pect me to know how to manage so frail a boat
without practice, and yet if I never practise, how
am Ito learn? It is selfevident I must commence
some time. If you admit that, and you can scarcely
dispute it, what better time could I have than the
present ? You propose to take the bow of the other
canoe, and although you are probably not as expert
as the savages, you did not acquire such skill as you

LAKE SUPERIOR. 103

possess intuitively, but by experience. You will
probably suggest that I may upset; if so, the con-
sequences fall only on myself. You have put no
stores in this canoe, and the ducking will be mine.
Let one of the Indians stay behind, for I have counted
upon this as my greatest pleasure.”

“ But, Don,” I reasoned mildly, somewhat appalled
at the prospective consequences, “you will smash
the canoe.”

“Oh, no; you did not do so when you commenced ;
and if I do, it is not worth over fifteen dollars, and
I can pay for it. We have stores enough, and I can
make up the difference to you.”

“ But you will never succeed ee

“ Pooh, pooh! You succeeded, why not I? Ido
not ask you to give up the pleasure which I sce
plainly you are bent upon, but we can leave one of
the Indians here; I will go with the other, and you
with Frank. That will make the load lighter, be-
sides.”

“Has monsieur ever poled a canoe ?” asked Frank,
wonderingly.

“No; but I must commence. Of course, I will
have difficulty at first, but it will come; do not
trouble yourself about me.”

“The work of poling against a strong current is
tremendoas, and the river being low, the rapids are
unusually heavy. You will be entirely exhausted
ere you have gone half-way.”

“Do not worry yourself about my sufferings ;
although your argument is evidently defective, as

104 LAKE SUPERIOR.

low water cannot be stronger than high, if I fail to
keep up with you I can lag behind or come home.”

“Really, you do not know what you are under-
taking ; but I will tell you what you can do. Go
with the two Indians, see how they manage in the
first rapid, and then take the place of one and
try it.”

To this, after much protest and complaint, Frank
and I persuaded him to agree ; more, however, as a
personal favor to ourselves than on any other ground,
and his grumblings of dissatisfaction were loudly
audible till we had passed the first rapid ; Don nei-
ther offered to pole'nor grumble afterwards.

The water was very strong, collected in large
pools, and then rushing with tremendous force down
a confined channel, or else pouring in long exhaust-
ing stretches of foaming current over pebbly shal-
lows and amid protruding boulders. At one spot
Frank and myself were fifteen minutes, just able to
hold our own and not advancing a foot, with the
imminent risk of upsetting at any instant; and when
T was out of the canoe fishing, he was utterly una-
ble, to the intense delight of the Indians, to stem
the rapids at all.

The canoes were small, and the canoe-men had to
occupy a most uncomfortable position: kneeling and
sitting on their heels, not being able to stand erect
as I had often done in larger boats, so that Frank
complained of cramp in his legs for days afterwards.
Short setting poles were used, and our utmost
strength had to be exerted where the current was

LAKE SUPERIOR. 105

strong. Of course, the Indians were entirely at
home at the work, and although straining their best,
enjoyed our deficiencies and shouted over our mis-
haps; whenever we either caught a trout or came
near upsetting our canoe, whenever we had any
good luck or any bad luck, and often when we had
neither, they roared with laughter. Not appearing
to give the fate of their canoe, which was in our
hands, a thought, they were intensely amysed when-
ever we brushed against a rock or careened her till
the water flowed in. Instead of the proverbial taci-
turn grimness of the conventional Indian, they were
hilarious and loquacious, although their language
was a sealed book to us. They were on the best
footing, and held animated conversations with our
guides, were continually amused at their own witti-
cisms, and when on our return, while descending an
unusually dangerous rapid, Frank, distrustful of my
judgment, insisted upon taking entire charge of the
canoe, and as a natural consequence came very near
upsetting and throwing us into the boiling waters,
to the peril of our lives and destruction of the boat,
they could hardly contain themselves, but made
merry over it the entire way home.

The Agawa winds among high, bleak, and sterile
hills, is rapid and filled with pools, but has none of
those tumbling cascades which give life to the water
and wear out deep, dark holes where trout love to
congregate in warm weather. The current, stained
with the dead leaves and decaying vegetation of
the ponds and marshes, where it has its source, is

5*

106 LAKE SUPERIOR.

amber-colored, and lends its hue to the pebbly bot-
tom over which it flows. It evidently, throughout
its great extent, furnishes admirable spawning-
grounds for the fastidious trout, and in cool weather
is filled with them in vast numbers. But when a
warm season has heated the water, and a drouth
has diminished the current, the fish, finding the ele-
ment unsuited to their comfort or even existence,
are compelled to seek the cool, shady caverns of the
lake shore.

The river, when we visited it, was in this condi-
tion, and there were none but small, dark-colored
fish, which, although excellent in the frying-pan, after
the excessive exertion of surmounting the rapids
had given us an appetite, furnished but tame sport
on the line.

Our dinner was pleasant, our trip exciting, the
scenery wild, the river interesting, the savages
amusing, and ourselves agreeably entertained ; but
we returned early, possessed of a wretched show of
game. We had taken two dozen fish, but none of
them were large.

On issuing from the secluded channel of the river,
we realized, to our surprise, that a heavy gale was
blowing from the south-east. We had not felt the
wind till we approached the open water, and emerged
from among the hills and trees, but soon found the
waves rolling in upon the sand-beach in a way to
remind one of the surf on ‘“ Old Long Island’s sea-
girt shore.”

The waves appeared to drive the trout in from

LAKE SUPERIOR. 107

the lake, and towards evening the river near its
mouth was alive with them, breaking in every di-
rection ; yet, strange to say, although we cast our
flies frequently directly over them, and kept on fish-
ing till it was night, not a trout did we take. In
all our experience such a thing had never happened,
and where they were so numerous, a dozen often
being visible at the same instant, so voracious and
unaccustomed to the presence of man, it was extra-
ordinary. Fish will frequently, although breaking
freely, refuse the fly, but generally a few will be
misled, and occasionally one will be caught; but
here in the Agawa, a hundred miles from civiliza-
tion, we saw ten thousand trout in the space of five
hundred yards, and after expending skill and pa-
tience, failed to take a single one.

No explanation of this phenomenon presented
itself; there was nothing in the air, water, or time
of day to explain it, and although it was followed
during the night by a great change of temperature,
there would appear to be no connection between
the two events. The fish seemed to be playing
rather than feeding like salmon running in from
the sea; and, anticipating cooler weather, may have
been preparing to ascend the river. And it is
proper to mention here that two gentlemen, who
fished the river a few weeks afterwards, had remark-
ably fine sport. :

Fishing having proved itself vanity and flies a mis-
conceptien, we returned to the tent and superin-
tended the payment of the guides, by impressing

108 LAKE SUPERIOR.

upon Frank the necessity of giving them sufficient.
One received his in a greasy, dirty hat that he had
worn for several seasons, and which could hardly
have improved the flavor; and the other, not having
so expensive a luxury as a hat, wrapped his in a
neck-cloth that had been in use day and night for
years, and had never been washed. Frank gave
them each, in addition, a little butter on a biscuit,
and they hurried away, delighted with their trea-
sures.

The Indian children had brought a number of
agates that they had collected from time to time,
and Don selected the best, which were, however,
inferior specimens, and paid for them also by barter.
Of course, our little friend Wajack had her store to
exhibit, and received a favorable consideration from
Don, who endeavored to make her understand a few
English words, which were such exquisite baby-talk
as to be nearly incomprehensible to the rest of us.
He found in the long run that he succeeded better
by holding up the proposed payment and pointing
to the agate, as none of the savages presumed to
ask for more than we offered.

The following morning the trout again declined
positively to recognize our allurements, and the
wind being fair, we concluded to commence our
homeward voyage. We were sorry to part with
our amusing Indian friends, notwithstanding an
oceasional pang of fear for our numerous articles
that lay scattered about, and which it is only justice
to say were entirely untouched: but as we could

LAKE SUPERIOR. 109

make nothing of the fishing, had become possessed
of the best agates, and had explored the river tho-
roughly, we proceeded to reémbark.

The wind was, for the first time, in every way
favorable; but ere we had reached Point aux Mines
it had become so violent that Frank, alarmed at the
increasing rowan, began to talk of his wife and
eight children, and how sorry they would be if he
were drowned; and when the wind further in-
creased, and Frank began to talk of his nine chil-
dren, we concluded it was time to stop and put
into a port of distress. In truth, those open, heavily
laden boats are not the safest of vessels in a sea-
way, and yawing about as they do before every
wave, have to be watched carefully lest they broach
to and fill.

Charley enjoyed Frank’s terror, and would have
kept on as a matter of pride till his employers were
satisfied; but Frank, with streaming hair, staring
eyes, and blanched countenance, was a picture of
distress, and if we had not given permission, would
have taken it to run behind the first friendly point.

This proved to be Point awe Mines, where in
former days a copper mine had been located, and
the shafts and buildings, dilapidated it is true, and
fast crumbling to pieces, remained to mark the
traces of man’s enterprise. The point had been
purchased by a company from the Crown; but as
the latter failed to pay the Indians, who were the
rightful owners, they, with the assistance of many
of the Canadians, among whom was our friend

116 LAKE SUPERIOR.

Charley, made a night-attack upon the post, and,
by a complete surprise, captured it without loss or
bloodshed. The speculation never having been pro-
fitable, the company was only too glad to be cap-
tured; and having obtained an extravagant indem-
nity from the home government, never resumed
possession of the works.

The buildings were windowless and tenantless,
and served as shelter for voyaging parties of In-
dians; the underground passages were falling in,
the machinery was going to ruin, the platforms
were rotting, and the gardens had grown up with
long, rank grass.

We explored the shafts, collected some specimens
of the ore, and returned to the boat in time to find
the wind greatly abated, and embarking, soon ar-
rived at the Point of Mamainse. Having fished for
a short time from a rock named after one of our
best New York fishermen, Stevens’s Rock, we con-
tinued our voyage, and reached the former camp-
ing-ground on the Batchawanng before dark.

The weather had changed. The rain was falling
in that dull, penetrating drizzle that is so depressing
to one’s spirits, and the cold air made our wet
clothes and damp bed far from comfortable. Camp-
ing in a rain, building a smoky fire from damp logs,
and making a bed of wet boughs, in spite of the
protection of water-proof blankets, is unpleasant,
although it rarely produces sickness. Don bore the
discomfort with a patient composure that was an
‘eminent example to our city exquisites, and never

LAKE SUPERIOR. 111

uttered a complaint; on the slightest provocation
he would probably have proved, conclusively, that
moisture was man’s natural condition, and infinitely
preferable to sunshine and dry clothes.

On ascending the river next day, as Don and
myself were walking along the bank we observed
a rustling in the grass, and pausing, roused a flock
of partridges. I shot one as they rose, and behold-
ing them, to my great satisfaction, alight on the
neighboring trees, proceeded to poach, thinking
only of the pot, and shot from the trees and on the
ground, in utter disregard of all sportsmanlike rules,
‘he entire covey. They consisted of but a single
vrood, and the young were not more than three-
quarters grown; but the anticipation of their juicy
tenderness on the gridiron overpowered any qualm-
ish sentimentality, and right glad were we to collect
the ten plump, tender little fellows into a bloody
pile.

The trout had moved from their former locality,
but were plentiful as ever, enabling us to satisfy our
desires and return early to camp, with one fish of
four pounds and several of three. During the day
there was a sudden change of temperature, preceded
by a furious attack from the brulots upon our un-
happy persons. Apparently anticipating the advent
of cold weather and partial lethargy, they satiated
their appetites with our blood, in spite of ointments
and veils.

During our absence a party of fishermen had
arrived from the Sault, and finding our camp,

112 LAKE SUPERIOR.

located themselves a few hundred yards below us.
As we descended the river next morning, we stopped
to exchange salutations and inform them of the con
dition of the fishing. Being ourselves abundantly
satisfied with killing trout, we proposed making a
short visit to the romantic Harmony before return-
ing to the Sault, and left the strangers in the sole
possession of the Batchawaung.

We found the Harmony lower and warmer than
we had left it, almost deserted by trout, but other-
wise as beautiful and picturesque as ever. We lin-
gered round the falls, and listened to the noisy cas-
cade, drank from the ice-cold spring, shot a few
ducks on the lower stretch of water, killed a dozen
fine trout at the upper shute, and indulged in the
luxury of laziness.

Don had been heretofore as active as any member
of the party, often up the first and to bed the last ;
frequently rousing the guides from their slumbers by
a loon-like call, repeated until they appeared ; but
on our first morning at the Harmony he positively
refused to get up, and to my persistent entreaties,
replied in a despondent voice:

“Tt is no use; you give me no rest, keep me up
every night till eleven, work me to death all day,
and let the flies and mosquitoes annoy me without
cessation. I will stand it no longer, and intend to
leep as late as I please.”

“But, Don, breakfast is ready, and you will
lose it.”

“ Then I shall have a second breakfast. You feed

LAKE SUPERIOR, 113

me on pork, and trout, and ducks, till I am tired of
them, and get no nourishment from the endless repe-
tition.”

“T have made a beautiful omelet this morning,
and it will be ruined.”

“Then make me another—we have plenty of
eggs—or I will make it for myself.”

“But you will miss the morning’s fishing.”

“T do not care. Ihave caught trout enough to
last my lifetime, and I will have a little rest.”

With that he turned over, incontinently went to
sleép, and no efforts on our parts, nor shouts from
the guides, who with delight imitated the cry with
which he had been accustomed to wake them,
could rouse him till eleven o’clock. Apparently
much refreshed, he eat a light lunch preparatory to
a more substantial dinner, the hour for which had
almost arrived. Getting up at eleven o’clock in the
woods is equivalent to sleeping till four in the after-
noon in the city...

Somewhat moved by his complaints, and having
plenty of leisure-time, I devoted myself to providing
for dinner the best our larder afforded : soup made
from preserved vegetables furnishing the first
course ; trout, larded and fried, the second ; broiled
duck, garnished with thin pieces of pork, the third ;
and such entremets as boiled rice, chow-chow, and
the like, closing with a dessert of that remarkable
and ill-named preparation called corn-starch, one of
the most valuable discoveries for the city-bred ex-
plorer of the woods.

114 LAKE SUPERIOR.

Corn-starch is a remarkable edible, supplying the
greatest variety possible, never seeming to result in
the same production, and furnishing a subject of un-
tiring wonder as to what form it will take next.
On some days it would be beautiful, transparent,
bluish jelly, then it would be a solid, opaque white,
and again a dusky brown semi-liquid substance ;
frequently it resembled pap, and now and then
would be full of doughy lumps, as though endeavor-
ing to effect an experimental pot-pie; sometimes it
tasted of liquorice, at others it seemed flavored with
molasses; but generally it had not the slightest
particle of taste. I never could calculate on a result ;
if I tried to obtain jelly, I made pap; if pap was my
purpose, pot-pie would be the product.

Don eat it daily in a state of bewilderment bor-
dering. on idiocy, inquizing regularly after the first
taste: ‘“ What have we here, now?” But once,
when brown instead of white sugar was used, and
effectually obliterated all other flavor, he made what
young ladies call a face. The inventor of corn-
starch must be a wonderful man, but it is to be
desired that he would reduce his bantling to a little
better state of subjection, and put on his labels
directions more applicable to the woods, where
milk and moulds and flavoring extracts are not to
be had, and ice-creams are a reminiscence of the
past.

Monotony is the drawback to life in the woods,
and corn-starch is doubly welcome on that account.
It is nutritious, being composed of the essential

LAKE SUPERIOR. 115

portions of the grain, is compact, and easily pro
tected from wet; it furnishes an astonishing variety
of desserts where any dessert is a luxury, and it is
an admirable addition to one’s stores, though I wisk
it had a little more taste.

The dinner, including the corn-starch dessert, was
a success, and revived Don’s spirits, so that he was
up betimes thereafter during our stay at the Har
mony.

With reluctance we bade farewell to the pretty
stream, whose soothing murmurs, grateful shade,
and wild scenery invited us to remain; and our
eyes lingered on the hills from which it springs, as
we slowly passed out of Batchawaung Bay on the
route to Gros Cap and the Sault. But, aware that
our limited time was almost expired, we pushed on
our homeward way, stopping to dine at the camp-
ground near its mouth. Here we found, amid the
débris of ancient wigwdms, the bleached skulls of
numerous beavers, and were surprised at the pecu-
liar formation of their long, mordant teeth. We
had frequently noticed logs of considerable diameter
that had been cut through by these powerful natu-
ral saws, and that bore the long furrows that they
made; but were astonished to find, in extracting
these teeth from the skull, that they constituted
nearly a semicircle. Worn as they would’be by
severe and continued use, nature had made this
provision to supply the rapid waste, and the portion
of the ivory concealed in the skull was fully two
inches long. Don collected several, and finding a

116 LAKE SUPERIOR.

peculiarly large specimen, muttered, on withdraw.
ing the teeth, that it must be the remnants of

“ Ahmeek, the king of beavers.”

Before reaching Gros Cap we struck and lost, by
the fouling of our trolling lines, which were both
out together, a very large lake trout. This fish, in
spite of his size, gave so little play that we were
scarcely aware that we had hooked him, and were
astonished when we saw his immense proportions
as he came near the boat. We scarcely considered
his loss a disappointment.

We spent two days at Gros Cap, having fine
sport and killing some large fish. Don broke his
tackle several times, and the lively, bright-colored,
vigorous trout, luxuriating in their appropriate ele-
ment, the cold spring water of the lake, gave us
excellent play. Wandering from rock to rock, and
casting out into the limitless lake, every rise was
sudden and unexpected, every step changed the
distance of our cast and the character of the fishing-
ground.

The submerged rocks were visible through the
limpid water, and from beside them or from their
deep, dark fissures a trout might rise with a furious,
impetuous plunge at any moment. The fish were
numerous, breaking in the placid evenings in my-
riads, and the sport was entrancing. During the
warm mid-days, when the sun was too brilliant or
the lake too calm for fishing, we would wander
about the island, hunting specim.ns, inspecting na-

LAKE SUPERIOR. 117

tural peculiarities, and chasing the ephemere that
had supplied the place of the brown phryganide.

There was a surprising similarity of color in all
-he natural flies of that region; they were mostly
of modified shades of brownish yellow or gray.
The yellowish variety had two long whisks, one
inch and three-quarters long, banded with gray,
eyes round, white, and protuberant, with a black
speck, and eight sections to the body. They were
quite active and numerous, while other varieties
resembled them in general appearance and charac-
teristics.

The rocks were seamed with veins of copper, the
oxide of which had discolored the adjoining stone,
and occasionally we could obtain pretty and appa-
rently rich specimens. Unfortunately, neither Don
nor myself, though well enough read in the classics
and other equally useful sciences, had ever studied
mineralogy, and were as good judges of minerals as
a savage would be of a watch. Our ignorant con-
clusions, however, were that if the north shore of
Lake Superior were properly explored, under Yan-
kee supervision, mines might be discovered equal-
ling those of the south coast. With this sage con-
clusion we were forced to be satisfied.

Charley had a passion for prospecting ; was ready
at a moment’s notice to dig out with the axe any
strange-looking deposit, fully convinced that some
day he should make his fortune, if he only could
learn to distinguish the valuable from the worthless.

At last a strong westerly wind came out, and a

118 LAKE SUPERIOR.

heavy fog settled down upon us, wrapping the hills
m its graceful shroud, hanging pendant from the
distant rocks and trees, shutting out the lake from
view, covering the bushes with glittering gems, and
wetting our thin clothes uncomfortably. As there
was too much sea running to fish, we wrapped our-
selves up in the water-proofs, and embarking the
remnants of our property, set sail for the Sault.

This was to be our last day on the lake, our last
day in the open woods, the last time we were to
stand face to face with nature’s solitude—and our
spirits felt depressed at the prospect. No more
sleeping beneath the cool canvas, no more looking
out upon the limitless Big-Sea-Water, no more peer-
ing up into the silent night, and no more of those
thronging thoughts and grateful inspirations that
feed the soul in the wilderness. The freedom from
rules and restraint was to be laid aside, the easy
dress must be replaced by the methodical cut, the
manners and acts must be shaped to those of others,
and we were to conduct ourselves henceforward
according to the received and established pattern.
We were approaching civilization, where stiff and
stately houses were to limit our views, and man’s
works shut out those of God.

The wind soon hauled ahead, and driving back
the fog, let down a flood of sunlight on the spark-
ling water; but the current being quite strong in
our favor as we approached the outlet, we made
good headway, passing in our course a yacht crowd-
ed with sportsmen, and under full sail going wing

HOUR.

AST

RL

OU

LAKE SUPERIOR. 119

and wing for the Neepigon, encountering other sail-
ing vessels, and meeting with occasional evidences
of man’s presence.

At six o’clock that evening we shot the rapids,
and discharging our load at the wharf, ensconced
ourselyes once more beneath the hospitable roof of
the Chippewa House. Three glorious weeks had
come and gone since we were last there—three weeks
of unalloyed happiness, three weeks of invigorating
life and exercise, worth all the medicines in the
world—three weeks of intelligent and sensible enjoy-
ment. Jn that time impressions had been made and
lessons had been learned never to be forgotten;
health had been acquired that would last for years,
joy tasted that would leave its flavor during life.
And now farewell to the staunch old barge ; farewell
to our canvas home, to the merry camp-fire, to the
woodsman’s life; farewell to the deep forests, the
sombre pines, the waving elms, to the dancing
streams, and the open water; farewell to our faith-
ful guides; farewell to the graceful trout, the elegant
namzgoose, the fierce black bass; a long farewell
to Gitche-Gume, Big-Sea-Water, the greatest of the
great lakes of our great country !

120 LAKE SUPERIOR.

CHAPTER VI.

Tue finest trout-fishing in the world is to be ob
tained at Lake Superior; although larger fish may
be killed in the lakes and streams of Maine, and
greater numbers in the brooks of New Hampshire,
‘Vermont, New York, and Pennsylvania, nowhere is
to be found the same abundance of trout, averaging
above two pounds, and wonderfully game and vigor-
ous, and nowhere a more beautiful region to explore
or pleasanter waters to fish over. The entire rocky
shore of the lake, along both coasts, is one extensive
fishing-eround, where the skilful angler can at any
point find delightful sport; the innumerable tribu-
taries, large and small, of the British or American
territory, unless shut out by precipitous falls, are
crowded with myriads of the speckled beauties ;
and the rapids at the outlet furnish trout of the
largest size.

The true mode of enjoying the sport is by camp-
ing out, when the adventurous sportsman roams
from point to point and river to river, from camp-
ing-ground to camping-ground, at his own unre-
strained will, varying the sights and sounds of
heauty that are ever present in the wilderness; but
excellent fishing can be had at numerous places.

LAKE SUPERIOR. 121

united with comfortable accommodation. At the
Sault St. Marie, at Marquette, at Grand Island, and
at Bayfield public-houses are to be found, and so
plentiful a supply of fine fish that the heart of man
cannot fail to be satisfied ; but the finest sport is to
be realized along the Canadian shore, where camp-
ing-out is a necessity; for while on the southern
coast the trout average a pound, on the northern
they will run fully two pounds in weight.

Near civilization game and fish are sure to be
scarce and shy. There are trout to be caught in
the Sault, but on account of the depth of water, bait
is apt to kill the largest. So in the vicinity of the
other cities, the angler can visit them all in a sum-
mer, but if he can spare the time, and is not prepared
to roam through the large, and perhaps dangerous
lake, he ought by all means to go to the Neepigon,
as he can now do without difficulty, and take his
share of the innumerable and enormous fish which
are to be had there. He may not catch any over
five pounds in weight, but he is sure to take as
many as he wants, while the scenery alone would
more than repay a trip.

A few miles below the Sault the Garden River
affords good sport aud fair-sized trout, but is a difti-
cult stream to ascend, while the first promontory
on the southern shore of the lake, called White Fish
Point, has long been famous as a fishing-station.
At Marquette, which is a regular stopping-place for
the steamers that traverse the lake, the waters are
somewhat fished out; but about thirty miles to the

6

122 LAKE SUPERIOR.

eastward, within an casy day’s sail, at Grand Island)
there is splendid fishing, magnificent scenery, and a
passable boarding-house. Here are the famous Pic-
tured Rocks, ornamented with the fantastic hues of
many-colored sandstone, and worn by waves and
storms into a thousand odd shapes and strange re-
semblances, hollowed out into caverns, washed away
into pinnacles and spires, at one place representing
a yacht under full sail, at another a turreted castle
of the olden time.

About sixty miles beyond Marquette are the
Dead, the Yellow Dog, and Salmon Trout rivers,
which are apt to be encumbered with drift-wood
and underbrush, but which are filled with fish, and
from one of which a brook-trout of six and a half
pounds was taken. The photograph of this fish, or
another of about the same size, is preserved at the
Sault.

At Bayfield, the further terminus of the steam-
boat route, named after the first American explorer
and surveyor of this region, is the best of fishing,
united with good hotel life. In the neighborhood
of this village two hundred and fifty pounds weight
of speckled trout have been killed in one day by
one good fisherman and one poor one; fish of two
and three pounds are common, and in the sheltered
channels, between the Apostle Islands, the name-
goose are taken in unlimited quantities. The Brulé
River, and the many streams that empty into the
lake in the neighborhood, although often choked
with drift, are filled with fine trout.

LAKE SUPERIOR, 123

On the north shore, amid the interminable forests
that stretch in primeval solitude to the northern
sea, enlivened only with the voice of the Peebiddy
bird and one other melancholy warbler, beautified
by a rare sprinkling of native wild-flowers,

“Tn the kingdom of Wabasso,
In the land of the white rabbit,”

and along the Canadian shore of the lake, is the para-
dise of the fly-fisher. Every river swarms, every bay
is a reservoir of magnificent fish that find their
equals in size, courage, vigor, and beauty only in
the salt waters of New Brunswick and Lower
Canada. The entire coast is one long fishing-sta-
tion, the rivers are stew-ponds, and the lake one
vast preserve; at every step the angler may cast
his fly into some eddy of the discolored stream or
over some rocky shoal of the limpid lake with a fair
prospect of alluring, from the depths a glorious em-
bodiment of piscatory power that shall struggle and
fight, leaping from the water, and making many
fierce rushes for a good twenty minutes, till he
yields himself to the embrace of the net, exhibiting
amid its brown folds the glorious silver brilliancy of
the loveliest inhabitant of the liquid element. As
he advances along the shore, an endless variety of
water and land, continuous changes of rock and
tree, and dark, bottomless depths or light gray
shallows, present themselves to his eye; at one mo-
ment he is clambcring along the steep, rough side
of a precipice, whence he can scarcely toss his line

124 LAKE SUPERIOR.

a dozen paces, at the next he is walking securely
upon some flat rock whence the receding hills per-
mit him to cast to the utmost limit of his ability, or
he may ascend the nearest stream by the aid of his
strong barge, or in the light canoe, or else wading
waist deep against the rushing current, and there,
overshadowed by the hills and shrouded amid the
waving trees, he can visit pool after pool, try eddy
after eddy, till he and his men and the boat are
loaded, and satiety bids him rest.

Along the lake there is scarcely a choice of local-
ity; from the sandy beach at Point aux Pins to the
outlet of the Pigeon River—the boundary of two
nationalities—at every point, in every cove, trout are
to be taken, and often in abundance ; but probably
the best as well as the most accessible spots are
Gros Cap and Mamainse. Of the rivers the most
famous is the Neepigon, where barrels of trout,
averaging four pounds, have been taken in one day ;
but the Batchawaung and the Agawa are nearly as
good, and within a more convenient distance, while
the Harmony is unequalled for wild and romantic
scenery.

The fish of Lake Superior excel those of the other
inland waters, cither in flavor or game qualities, and
sometimes, as with trout, in both. The lake-trout
and white-fish bring a higher price in the Detroit
markets than those of Erie and Ontario, have a more
brilliant color and firmer flesh, and the trout in-
finitely surpass in appearance, strength, and endur-
ance the dull, logy productions of the Umbagog or

LAKE SUPERIOR. 125

Moosehead Lake. On taking the fly and experiene-
ing the astonishing disappointment, they make one
rush like their fellow-sufferers the salmon, and find-
ing the pain clings to them, they leap with tho
energy of grilse with wild repetition, in the vain
hope of shaking the tormenting barb from their lips.
Nor do they resign themselves after a feeble strug.
gle, but retain strength for many a rush when the
ugly net is exhibited, often smashing tackle, carry-
ing off leaders, and breaking tips in the course of
the contest. Their colors are exquisitely delicate,
their backs transparent mottled green, their sides
of pearly whiteness, marked with brilliant carmine
specks and faint blue spots, and their fins of the hue
of clouded cream. Their flesh is flaky and rich,
seamed with curd, and delicious to the hungry
sportsman.

After having fished from Labrador to the Missis-
sippi, and killed trout in every State where trout
are to be killed, I am satisfied that the fishing of
Lake Superior surpasses that of any other region on
our continent, and is, as a natural consequence, the
best in the world.

There are several remarkable peculiarities of scen-
ery, among which are the pictured rocks and the
sand dunes; and the sparkling lake, when stirred by
a gentle breeze, is beautiful in the effulgence of the
vertical summer sun; but the forests are gloomy
and sombre, nearly impenetrable on account of fallen
trees, and in the lower lands grown up with vast
ferns, those evidences of the antiquity of our conti-

126 LAKE SUPERIOR.

nent; so that the sportsman is mainly confined to
his canoe and the narrow strip of lake shore between
the beating waves and the impending hills. Beneath
his feet are the hard rocks, seamed with yellow veins
of copper, or wave-worn pebbles sparkling with a
hundred varying colors, only less beautiful than the
glistening fish that the skilful angler entices from
the lake and Jands among them. From.this narrow
strip he surveys the broad expanse of the Big-Sea-
Water, and dreams of the countless myriads that
rest in its liquid depths.

He travels with ease and comparative comfort ;
in the commodious barge he stows the innumerable
articles that fill the measure of a sportsman’s luxu-
ries, including among them a roomy tent, appetizing
delicacies, abundant clothes, and whatever else fancy
dictates. With the barge, which, although twenty-
two feet long, is light and draws little water, he
ascends the larger streams; or he hires some pass-
ing Indian and his birch canoe, that wonderful
structure so beautifully and accurately described by
Hiawatha:

“Tay aside your cloak, O Birch-Tree,
Lay aside your white-skin wrapper,
For the summer-time is coming,

And the sun is warm in heaven,
And you need no white-skin wrapper.

Give me of your boughs, 0 Cedar,

Of your strong and pliant branches

My canoe to make more steady,

Make more strong and firm beneath me,

LAKE SUPERIOR. 127

Give me of your roots, O Tamarack,
Of your fibrous roots, O Larch-Tree,
My canoe to bind together,

So to bind the ends together

That the water may not enter,

That the river may not wet me.

Give me of your balm, O Fir-Tree,
Of your balsam and your resin,
So to close the seams together
That the water may not enter,
That the river may not wet me.

Give me of your quills, O Hedgehog,
All your quills, O Kagh the hedgehog,
I will make a necklace of them,

Make a girdle for my beauty

And two stars to deck her bosom.

Thus the Birch Canoe was builded
In the valley by the river,

In the bosom of the forest,

And the forest’s life was in it,
Allits mystery and its magic,

All the lightness of the birch-tree,
All the toughness of the cedar,
All the larch’s supple sinews ;
And it floated on the river

Like a yellow leaf in Autumn,
Like a yellow water-lily.”

And in this thing of life and beauty the fisherman
finds his way to the head waters of the smallest
brooks or crosses portages from one river to ano-
ther, feeling for the time the joys of independence
and savage life.

128 LAKE SUPERIOR.

The gaudy flies known as the Irish lake-flies,
dressed on a small salmon-hook of about No. 14, are
successful throughout the entire length of the lake;
but in the rivers a common brown or red hackle on
the same sized hook, dressed with silver tinsel, scar-
let body, and very full, long hackle, is decidedly the
most killing, and in the lake answers full as well as
the more expensive articles. Very small flies are
not desirable, owing probably to the depth and
occasional turbulence of the water in the lake and
its discoloration in the rivers, which prevent their
being perceived by the fish. Stout tackle and a
heavy rod are better than lighter gear, as no one
wishes to waste time on small fish, and the rises are
so frequent that the angler will not become weary
by continued casting. A gaff is necessary for the
Mackinaw salmon, and a large landing-net for trout,
but otherwise nothing is required different from
that which the sportsman would take in a day’s trip
to the classic haunts of Long Island.

As the region around Lake Superior is well to-
wards the Arctic zone, the weather is cool, and
blankets, overcoats, and warm clothes are necessary ;
but there will be frequently several successive days
of extreme heat, when the thermometer will rise to
ninety in the shade. The great drawback to this
section of country, in fact to all our unopened lands,
is the immense number of mosquitoes, black-flies,
and sand-flies. These pests are found numerously
everywhere in our woods, but nowhere are they so
plenty or combined so equally as along the shores

LAKE SUPERIOR. 129

of Lake Superior. All day long the black-flies watch
their chance to find a bare spot of human flesh ta
sting and tear; immediately on the falling of the
shades of evening the almost invisible sand-flics, the
“no see ’ems” of the half-educated Indian, make
their appearance in countless millions of infinitesimal
torture, and all night long the ceaseless hum of the
hungry mosquito drives sleep from the wearied
sportsman’s eyelids. Veils and ointments are, there-
fore, a prime necessity, without which a visit to this
section is an impossibility; and even with the best
protections, the warm days that give these insects
unaccustomed activity are scarcely tolerable. But
in spite of these petty discomforts it is a noble lake,
beautiful in all its moods, silent and waveless in the
warm sunsbine, rippled and sparkling in the gentle
breeze, or lashed to anger by the storm, when it
rages along the shore and bursts in furious surf
upon the rocks. Nowhere else can trout-fishing be
had in greater perfection and more endless variety,
nowhere else can the fisherman find purer sources
of enjoyment or finer opportunities to exercise his
art, and nowhere else can the lover of nature dis-
cover more to amuse or instruct him. It lies in the
heart of an almost unbroken wilderness, the largest
lake in the world, one huge spring of the coldest
ice-water, and filled with trout that the painter can
scarce find colors to imitate, and that will dwell in
the angler’s memory for ever.
6*

LAKE SUPERIOR.

130

MACKINAW SALMON, 181

MACKINAW SALMON.

Namaycush—Salmo Amethystus.

Or all the varieties of Salmonide that perma-
nently inhabit the fresh water, this fish, although
somewhat destitute of game qualities, is alone en-
titled, on account of his great size and excellence up-
on the table, to the honored name of Salmon, is
found throughout the northern lakes, being prevent-
ed by the impassable barrier of Niagara Falls from
descending to the sea, occasionally visits Lake Erie,
but attains his finest condition around the cold, clear
depths of Lakes Huron and Superior. He is named -
after one of his favorite localities, and reaches the
immense weight of nearly or quite one hundred
pounds, and is the grandest prize of the inland
waters of our northern continent.

In color, the Mackinaw Salmon differs, as does the
brook trout, according to the peculiarities of his
habitat, whether rocky or muddy shoals, or deep
open water ; and to such a degree that, according to
Professor Agassiz, he is known to the Canadian
Voyageurs under different names, and individual
specimens are frequently considered half-breeds or
a cross between this species and the Siskawitz.
Among tho aborigines he is distinguished by the ap-

132 MACKINAW SALMON.

pellation whichis usually spelled namaycush, although
it is pronounced namaegoose, and has the accent
strongly on the second syllable, and is never by them
confounded with any other variety of lake trout.
The fish of Lake Superior are of stronger colors; are
darker on the back; have redder flesh, and are uni-
versally preferred gastronomically to those of other
localities.

In Spring and early Summer, they appear to leave
the deep water, and seeking the rocky shallows, feed
voraciously upon the numerous small fry furnished
in abundance by our western lakes. Throughout
May, June, July, and August, they can be captured
in abundance with the trolling spoon, trailed after
a boat propelled by oars or a gentle breeze, but are
rarely taken of over twelve pounds weight. At such
times they are excellent eating; their flesh being
rich, firm, and closely approaching in color that of
their congener, the famous Salmo Salar, and they
are delicious simply boiled or made into the basis
of a chowder.

Unfortunately, although they bite voraciously,
they give no satisfactory play, allowing themselves
to be drawn in without resistance, and there is no
fish approaching them in size which is so largely de-
void of game qualities. At times they seem even to
swim gently forward as though they preferred com-
ing towards the boat, till the fisherman is uncertain
whether they are still on; and although at the last
moment they make a few flounces, their apparent
weakness for a fish so powerfully formed, is astonish-

MACKINAW SALMON. 183

ing. To be sure if aman had a hook in his mouth
he would follow the slightest pull; but we do not
expect such conduct from a fish, especially from one
endowed. with the graceful and vigorous shape of
the Mackinaw Salmon.

They take any of the trolling spoons, appearing,
however, to prefer the old style, copied from the
bowl of a spoon, but rather elongated, to the expen-
sive and fanciful modern improvements. Those sold
at the Sault St. Marie are from five to six inches
long and made of tin; buta better bait will be found
in the mother-of-pearl imitation fish. To insure suc-
cess, the weather should be moderate, either calm or
with a gentle breeze rippling the surface of the water,
for the reason that in the open lake a strong wind
will cause so heavy a swell that the fish cannot see
the bait, and the oarsmen cannot control the boat.
They are not shy; but as the water is frequently
deep, although wonderfully clear, the difficulty is to
attract their attention. For this purpose sufficient
line must be used to sink the bait slightly beneath
the surface, and the boat must not move too rapidly.

They are captured in all the bays and indenta-
tions of Lakes Huron and Superior, where the bot-
tom is rocky and the water not over one hundred
feet deep. In Lake Superior they are abundant ; in
Goulais’ Bay, at Michipicotten Island, in the vicinity
of Bayfield, and almost everywhere else.

Late in the fall they retire to the sombre depths,
and are only taken by still fishing with a long line
and live bait, and at such times the deep water

184 MACKINAW SALMON.

abreast of Gros Cap is one of their favorite locali-
ties, and they are there frequently caught by the
Indians of from fifty to seventy-five pounds. They
are salted and smoked by the inhabitants for winter
use, but like the speckled trout are too dry for that
purpose, and should never be killed by the sports-
man except as an article of immediate consumption.
They are usually distinguished among Americans
as the Mackinaw Salmon, although that universal and
totally undescriptive name Lake trout is occasion-
ally applied to them, aad are called by the Canadian
voyagers truites du lac.

The gums of this fish are of a purple tinge, and
from this peculiarity, which is by no means invaria-
ble, is derived their scientific name. The scales are
small and the lateral line is nearly straight. The
under gill cover is large and grooved; while there
are many teeth, the prominent ones being very sharp
and much curved, and the tongue has a row on each
side.

The fin rays are :—D. 14, P. 15, V. 9, A. 12, 0.198.

The tail is narrow at the root, and spreads broad
toward the extremity. The color on the back is
deep sea green, spotted with green and yellow spots;
on the sides it is purple, with lilac spots, and on the
belly pure white. The tail is dark and beauti-
fully spotted the whole length. It is, altogether, a
remarkably handsome and graceful fish.

The spawning season is October, and the opera-
tion is performed in the shallows near shore, at which
time the fish are mercilessly speared by the natives.

LAKE TROUT. 185

LAKE TROUT.
Salmon Trout—Salmo Confinis.

Tus variety of the non-migratory Salmonide,
although somewhat similar in general appearance to
the foregoing species, does not attain the same
gigantic size. It is found numerously throughout
the middle and Eastern States, as well as in the
great’ Northern lakes, but bears a vastly inferior
rank in the estimation both of the epicurean and the
sportsman.

Its gastronomic appreciation, I believe, however,
is much influenced by the period of the year in
which it istaken. Envly in the season it is rich, firm,
and of fine flavor, the flesh being of a light orange,
and breaking into beautiful flakes. At such times
it is unquestionably excellent. In Summer it is
admirable as the foundation for a chowder, having
some of the peculiarities in a higher development
of the cod; and serving as a pleasant change from
the ordinary boil or fry of the common trout. It
is also quite eatable if cut into steaks and
broiled.

Its scientific description is as follows :—The scales
are minutely striate; the lateral line is slightly
curved near the head; the tongue has large teeth

136 LAKE TROUT.

along the central furrow ; there are many acute teeth
on the palatines and vomer ; the tail has a sinuous
margin ; the bases of the vertical fins are spotted,
and the flesh is coarse.

The fin rays are :—D. 14, P. 14, V. 9, A. 12, C. 21 3.

In color it is blackish or bluish-black, with nume.-
rous pale spots. Itis taken with trolling tackle, but
rarely or never with the fly. The spawning season
is October, when it seeks the shallow water for that
purpose.

THE SISKAWITZ. 137

THE SISKAWITZ.

Salmo Siscowet.

Tuis species has a dentition very similar to the
Salmo Amethystus, but not quite so robust. The
upper and lower maxillaries and intermaxillaries,
and each of the palatines, have a row of teeth. The
vomer one and the tongue two rows, beside the
acute teeth. The tail is less furcate, and the dorsal
fin is larger than in the Mackinaw Salmon. The
flesh is rick and of fine flavor, but almost too fat.

The fin rays are:—D. 12, P. 14, A. 12, 14, V. 9,
C. 30.

This fish is shorter and stouter, and not so dis-
tinctly spotted as the Mackinaw Salmon; it is alto-
gether less handsome, but has similar habits, and
bites readily at the trolling spoon. It was first de-
scribed by Professor Agassiz, not many years ago,
during his tour of Lake Superior, but has always
been distinguished by the Indians and Voyageurs, and
known among them under its distinctive appellation.

The Siskawitz inhabits the upper portion of Lake
Superior, and never descends towards the outlet, and
is taken in the neighborhood of Isle Royale in abun-
dance. It is said also to be found in some of our
other lakes, but is very rare.

138 STRIPED BASS.

STRIPED BASS.
Rockyfish—Librax Lineatus.

Turse glorious fish, the delight of the angler’s
heart, the bravest and strongest except the salmon,
the largest without exception of the finny tribe that
tke sportsman pursues, frequent every cove and bay
of our northern Atlantic coast, and furnish the main
attraction of salt-water fishing.

Their mode of capture differs according to the
locality ; from the rock-bound coast of the Eastern
States the adventurous angler, perched upon some
projecting rock, casts the simple bait into the crested
wave, amid the thundering surf of the stormy sea;
along the sandy shores and in the tranquil inlets of
the Middle States, gut snells, sinker and float come
into play in the rapid tide ways; and among the
numerous lagoons and bays of the Southern States
the clumsy but effective hand-line is employed.

To the eastward, menhaden and lobster are the
favorite baits; in Pennsylvania and New York
shrimp, crab, and squid ; and in the Southern States
killeys, herrings, and other small fish. The artificial
baits are the eel-skin, imitation squid, and gaudy
bass-fly. The eel-skin used mainly along New
HKugland shores is attached to a hand-line, and cast
into and drawn rapidly through the boiling surf of

STRIPED BASS. 139

the ocean; the squid is towed with trolling tackle
behind the sail or row boat, in the quiet waters of
the Middle States; while the fly is used with stout
rod and long line wherever the fresh current of
some river haunted by fish falls directly into the salt
water of the sea.

For casting with the menhaden from the rocks,
Cuttyhunk Island, Point Judith, West Island,
Pasque Island, Montauk Point, and Newport Island
itself, are favorite localities; while the Little Falls of
the Potomac at the Chain Bridge, near Washington,
where the green waters dash over the sunken rocks
and eddy round the cliffs that rise perpendicular
from the river’s brink, furnish the finest fly fishing
for bass in the world.

For bait-casting the necessary implements are a
large reel, running on steel pivots, two hundred
yards of flax line attached to a 7° hook with a
round head, and a rod of not over nine feet in
length, with a large agate funnel top. With such
tools experienced fishermen can cast a slice cut
from the side of a menhaden, and weighing about
three ounces, two hundred, aye, nearly three hun-
dred feet into the curling breakers of the Atlantic
ocean, and kill bass that will pull down the scales at
fifty, sixty, and seventy pounds.

. A mode of preparing a bass line to render it
light and water-proof, without weakening it, is
recommended by excellent authority, and is simply
to-soak it for one vight in fish oil which does not
rot linen, to hang it up to drain the following day,

140 STRIPED BASS,

and to place it in mahogany sawdust to dry. When
thus prepared it does not soak water, nor even sink.

Fly-fishing for bass, however, is the perfection of
the sport, and infinitely surpasses in excitement all
other modes of killing these noble fish. The best
season on the Potomac is in July or August, and
the favorite hours the early morning, or the twilight
ofthe evening. Theignorant and mercenary natives
who inhabit the romantic region of hill and valley
in the neighborhood of Tenally Town, about five
miles northwest of Washington, and who, dead to
the beauties that nature has lavished around them,
and utterly unacquainted with scientific angling,
look merely to their two cents per pound for striped
bass, manufacture a fly by winding red or yellow
flannel round the shank of a large hook, adding
sometimes a few white feathers. They substitute
for rod a young cedar sapling, denuded of bark and
seasoned by age, and attaching to the upper end a
stout cord, fish with the large flannel swathed hook in
the rapids and below the falls of the Potomac, at
the old chain bridge, and without a reel, kill bass of
twenty or thirty pounds.

No spot can be imagined more wild and roman-
tic, and with proper tackle, the reel, the lithe salmon
rod, and the artistic fly—no sport can be more excit-
ing. The roar of the angry flood, the bare precipices
topped with foliage on the opposite bank, the flat
dry bed of the stream where it flows during the
heavy freshets, but at other seasons a mass of bare
jagged rocks, and the dashing spray of the broken

STRIPED BASS. 141

current lend a charm to the scene. While the fish,
rendered doubly powerful by the force of the stream,
and aided by the numerous rocks and falls, have
every chance to escape.

The bass pursue the silvery herring, which is the
principal natural bait, and ascend the Little Falls of
the Potomac during the summer months in vast
numbers. They are captured in such quantities
with the net in the salt water and with hook and
line in the rapids, as to be almost a drug in the
market.

As the season advances, the native crawls upon
some rock that reaches out into the stream, and with
his coarse but elastic cedar pole, casts the roll of
flannel, wrapped round a hook and misnamed a fly,
into the seething current; and when the brave fish
seizes the clumsy allurement the fisherman contends
for the mastery as best he may, occasionally at the
risk of a ducking in the stream consequent upon the
sudden breaking of his tackle, and accompanied
with considerable risk. When a man has but a
slight foothold upon the slippery surface of a shelv-
ing ledge, and has attached to the end of his rod a
vigorous fish of twenty pounds, he is apt to fall if
the line parts unexpectedly. Many are the tales of
such accidents, and now and then of fatal results.
But with proper tackle, the scientific angler is mas-
ter of the situation; he can reach any part of the
current, casting into the eddies at the base of the
precipitous cliffs opposite ; he can yield to the rush
of the prey; can retire, paying out line, to surer

142 STRIPED BASS.

footing, and can follow the fish along the shore; and
finally, having subdued his spirit and broken his
strength, can lead the prize, gleaming through the
transparent water with the sun’s rays reflected in
rainbow colors from his scales, into some quiet nook
where he can gaff him with safety. Such is fly-fish-
ing for striped bass amid the most lovely scenery,
gorgeous in its summer dress of green and alternat-
ing hill and valley, dotted with pretty farms and
smiling grain-fields; and there is but little sport
that can surpass it.
Bass are also taken at the Grand Falls, ten miles
further up the river; but the Little Falls are their
favorite locality, as they are here just passing from
the salt tide into the pure, sparkling, broken fresh-
water. They frequently weigh twenty pounds, and
occasionally much more; but, of course, the main
run is smaller, and the number killed in lucky days
is prodigious, being counted by hundreds.
' Bass are said to be taken with the fly in other
rivers of the Southern States, and also to a certain
degree in those of the north. At the mouths of
narrow inlets, where the tide is rapid and diluted
with fresh-water, a gaudy red and white fly with a
full body, kept on the surface by the force of the eur-
rent and not cast as in fly-fishing, will occasionally
beguile them ; but generally speaking, bass are not
fished for with the fly north of the Potomac.
Although the artistic angler naturally despises the
miserable flannel abortion manufactured by the in-
habitants of Tenally Town, it will often be found as

MINNEHAHA FALLS,

STRIPED BASS. 143

good a lure as though composed of the rarest mate-
rials; in fact the bass exhibit none of that daintiness
of choice that is universal with salmon. So long as
the fly is large and showy they seem to be satisfied,
and their immense mouths can readily grasp a No.
7 hook, such as the natives occasionally use. One
of half that size is abundantly large, however, and
the clearer the water the finer should be the tackle.
The rod, reel, and line are those appropriate to sal-
mon fishing, although the line, if it is wet by salt-
water, should be afterwards rinsed in fresh to pre-
vent rotting. Some fishermen’ fasten a float above
the fly, and paying out line let it run down stream
into distant eddies; but this is not so orthodox a
mode of proceeding, and does not require equal skill
nor as delicate tackle.

After a fish is struck, the same care has to be ex-
ercised if he is heavy that is necessary with the sal-
mon, and he will often compel the angler to follow
him a long distance ere the gaff terminates the strug-
gle. Bass make very determined but not such rapid
runs as their fellow-denizen of the flood, the salmo
salar, but rarely retain that reserved force which
makes his last dash so often fatal; nevertheless they
are resolute and powerful, and have to be handled
with care.

Another mode of taking bass, which is strongly
recommended, even for the open bays of the north,
by one of our best fishermen, but which I have only
tried in the narrow coves, inlets, and streams, where
the tide-way can be covered by a good cast, is to

144 STRIPED BASS.

use the salmon rod, line, and reel, but to substitute
ashrimp for the fly. The casting is then done in
the ordinary manner, and the gentleman referred to
claims, that it is by far the most killing mode. If
even equally successful, it is certainly far preferable
to the use of the float and sinker, or to the dull
monotony of bottom fishing. Any sport that brings
into active play the faculties of body or mind, and
which demands practice and experience, surpasses
the one that requires the merely passive quality of
patience.

The most successful, and excepting perhaps fly-
fishing, the most skilful method of taking the
striped beauties of the northern coasts, is with the
menhaden bait, cast into the boiling surf of the
ocean, or the larger bays; and this sport is univer-
sally enjoyed along the iron-bound shore of New
England, from New London to Eastport. This en-
tire reach, is one mass of rock, indented by innu-.
merable bays, or severed by inlets into barren islands,
where the tide rushes, and the surf beats; and in
every favorable locality are the bass taken With a- ”
stout rod, a long line, and menhaden bait. From
almost every bold rock, or prominent island, can the-
angler cast into the vexed water of some current,
made by the huge waves rushing over the uneven
bottom, and allure thence the fierce bass, who has
been attracted from the ocean depths, to feed. on
the small fry that hide in the clefts and crevices;
and waiting with fins often visible above the tide,
to pounce upon his prey, mistakes for it the angler’s

STRIPED BASS. 145

bait, and after a brave struggle surrenders to human
ingenuity.

Although the true fisherman may pursue the small
fish of the Delaware or Hudson, of New York Bay
or the Sound, may patiently bide their time at Hack-
ensac or Pelham bridges, McComb’s dam or the
hedges; and may have true pleasure in capturing
them with dancing float and shrimp, or running
sinker, and shedder crab; if he can spare a week
or two, he should cut adrift from the noise and tur-
moil, foul stenches, and fouler deeds of the city,
and hastening to Newport or Point Judith, enjoy
the noblest sport of the salt water—bass-fishing
with menhaden bait. He will need stout nerves,
strong muscles, good tackle, and abundant skill; for
he will be called upon to cast with the utmost of
his power, perhaps a hundred yards, and to strike
and land fish that may weigh half a hundred pounds.
He will be exposed to the sea-breeze, or it may be
the storm wind at early day-light, and the spray
from the salt waves, and wet and cold will be his
portion ; but he will forget these trivial evils, when
he strikes the bass of forty, fifty, or sixty pounds, the
fish that he has been living for, and when he lands
him safely on the slippery rocks.

Fishermen of character have been known to as-
sert, that they could cast with the rod, the ordinary
menhaden bait, one hundred and twenty yards; and
although from a high stand, with the aid of a strong
wind, this is possible, the ordinary cast is not over
half that distance, and to exceed one hundred when

i

146 STRIPED BASS.

standing on a level with the water is rare indeed.
In fact, seveniy-five yards is a good cast, and no
man need be ashamed who can put out his line fair
and true that distance. Rather better can be done
with the hand-line than with the rod, but with far
greater fatigue, and a painful over-exertion of the
muscles of the arm that is almost unendurable to one
who has not steady practice. The length of cast is
in 2 measure controlled by the direction and vio-
lence of the wind and the elevation of the stand
above the water; in a contrary wind the best angler
will find it difficult to reach seventy-five yards, while
from a high rock, with a favorable wind, he will
cover that distance with ease.

The use of the hand line is neither artistic nor
adapted to gentlemen who fish for pleasure, although
more killing probably than the rival method. For
rod fishing, the best tackle and implements are ne-
cessary ; the rod must be short and stout, the finest
being made of cane at a fabulous expense; the reel
should have steel pins or run on agate, be made
large and perfectly true, and the line must be from
two hundred to three hundred yards long. Cane
rods are preferred on account of their lightness and
elasticity, but they are at present almost unattaina-
ble at any price, and the ordinary ones will answer
well, although after several hundred casts weight
will be found to tell on unaccustomed muscles. The
objection to jewelled reels is, that a fall or blow may
render them useless, while they run but. little
smoother than those with steel pins. The reel and

STRIPED BASS. 147

guides must be large to deliver the line freely, and
if the line is seen to bag during the cast between
the guides, it is a sure sign that they are too small.
“The line is of twisted grass or raw silk, which is the
best but most expensive and delicate; of plaited
silk, which is the strongest; or of linen, which is
cheap and common, but as they are all easily rotted,
is the one in general use. The grass line, if it over-
runs and whips against the bars of the reel, is sure
to cut, but it delivers beautifully; the silk line soon
becomes water-logged and sticky; and the linen one
combines these defects with a faculty of swelling
when wet peculiarly its own. A perfect bass-line is
a desideratum not yet supplied. The American reels
and cane rods are perfection, but the lines are a
cause of reproach and vexation of spirit.

Casting the menhaden bait is similar to casting
the float and sinker, only the power is enormously
increased and deficiencies proportionally magnified.
The line is wound up till the bait, if a single one, is
almost two feet from the tip, the rod is extended
behind the fisherman, who turns his body for the
purpose, and then brought forward with a steady
but vigorous swing that discharges it without a
jerk, like an apple thrown from a stick by rustic
youths. The reel is so far restrained by pressure of
the thumb that it revolves no faster than the bait
travels, but does not in the least detain it, and upon
the accuracy of this manipulation mainly depends
the result. If too niuch pressure is used, the line
cannot escape rapidly enough and falls short; if too

148 STRIPED BASS.

little, the reel overruns and entangles the line, stops
ping the cast ere half delivered with a jerk that
threatens its destruction. The fisherman must be
able to use either hand on the reel to rest his arms.
and to take advantage of the wind.

If he is an adept he will drive the greasy bait
straight and true directly to the desired spot, and if
the weather is favorable and the fates propitious, he
will bring up some scaly monster of twenty-five or
mayhap thirty pounds, who will start seaward with
bait, and hook, and line, and only be persuaded,
after many efforts‘and determined rushes, that it is
in vain. The strong ocean breeze will play with his
hair and the salt spume wet his cheek; the vessels,
like floating marine monsters, will drift across the
waste of waters before him, the seagulls will hover
round uttering their harsh ery, and he will cast and
cast till arms and legs are weary, and he may kill
in a single day a thousand weight of fish. The
fresh air will give such a tone to his system, and the
exercise such strength to his muscles, and the ex-
citement such vigor to his nerves, that he will hardly
believe himself the same relaxed, despondent, list-
less individual that left the city a week pxevious..

The most famous localities for the sport are West
Island, Pasque and Cuttyhunk Islands, all of
which have been purchased by clubs of gentlemen,
and Point Judith; so that except at the latter,
there is now no free fishing to be had, in spite of
the venerable and ancient law of the Commonwealth
expressed so quaintly, ‘‘ fishing und fowling are

STRIPED BASS, 149

free to allmen.” There is often great difficulty in
obtaining bait, particularly during a storm, which
is the time that it is most needed, as the fish bite
best in rough weather, and on going from the
cities it is well to pack a few hundred menhaden
in a box with ice and sawdust, and thus insure a
supply for some days ahead.

VAIL’S, NEAR STUMP POND, L. 1

150 POINT JUDITH.

POINT JUDITH.

Ir is a long, weary, and dusty ride by the way of
the New Haven and Shore Line Railroads to Kings-
ton; but if, at the end of the journey, a pretty little
widow, with hazel eyes, is found waiting to drive
over to the South Pier in the stage, and you are the
only other passenger, you will probably consider
yourself repaid for all annoyances.

It is seven miles from Kingston to the South
Pier, the driver may happen to be a little tight,
very sleepy, and wholly unobservant of what is
passing in the back of his vehicle. Moonlight is
either reflected with great bvilliancy from hazel
eyes, or else hazel eyes originate a brilliancy akin
to moonlight, and certainly moonlight, hazel eyes,
white teeth, rosy lips, soft hands, and a slender
waist, are very bewitching in a close carriage of a
moonlight night, with a preoccupied driver. Some
women have a smile like sunshine, and their laugh
rings like a chime of bells; and if you happen to be
riding alone with a pretty widow, and something
suggests love-making, and her merry laughter slowly
dies away into a gentle smile, and the smile fades
into a look of sympathetic feeling, that you have to
draw very near to see, till you feel her palpitating
breath upon your cheek, and her hand trembles

POINT JUDITH. 151

when by the merest accident you touch it, and the
ride occupies an hour or more, you may, before the
South Pier is reached, almost forget that you are
matried.

If this fortune befalls you at the station, you will
probably fail to notice the beauty of Kingston vil-
lage and Peace Dale as you pass through them, and
will find the subsequent lonely ride from South Pier
to Point Judith dull and dreary. Some two miles
from the Pier is a house kept by John Anthony, the
son of Peleg, where sportsmen most do congregate,
and where all their reasonable wants, except the
wherewithal to quench their thirst, can be supplied,
and which is situated within a few steps of the best
fishing stations. John Anthony is a Yankee born
and bred, honest, faithful, willing, and acquainted
with all the habits, devices, and iniquities of bass
and blue fish. He will tell you that in May, when
the grass plover have their long note, and are beard
far up in the air travelling northward, bass are to be
caught with the eel-skin; that in June, when high
blackberries are in bloom, they begin to take lobster
bait; but from July 1st, and all through the fall, they
take menhaden, otherwise called bony fish or moss-
bunker, the bait that the true and skilful sportsman
loves to cast.

In July and August, the largest fish, occasionally
bass of fifty and even sixty pounds, rejoice the heart
of the angler by surrendering to his skill, while in
the Fall, although more numerous, they are smaller,
In both these particulars, the fishing at Point Judith

152 POINT JUDITH.

and West Island, and further northward, differs
from that in the vicinity of New York. Great suc.
cess, however, depends upon several contingencies.
It is supposed that the Gulf Stream, that prolonged
current of the Mississippi River, which sweeps with
its warmer temperature through mid ocean carrying
a genial atmosphere and fertilizing showers to the
otherwise arid shores of France and England,
changes its course yearly, approaching our coast and
sending its swarms of living creatures among the
rocks of Narragansett Bay, or withdrawing so as to
leave us desolate and to increase the severity of our
winters. We all know that our cold seasons differ
greatly in intensity, and bass fishermen know that
success in fishing varies equally; but from what
cause these results flow, no one can positively say.
After a heavy storm has darkened the water by
washing impurities from the shore, and at spots
where the dashing breakers fill the sea with foam,
the bass bite most fearlessly. Every crested wave
rising against the horizon ere it breaks, flashes with
their sparkling scales, and so sure as the bait cast
from the powerful two-handed rod réaches that
wave, so sure is it to be grasped by the nearest bass.
The breakers drive the spearing and other small fry
from their hiding-places among the rocks; the dis-
colored water blinds them to their danger, and bass
trusting themselves in the very curl of the heaving
swell collect in myriads to the welcome banquet
But as the discoloration misleads the spearing so it
also conceals from the bass the line attached to

POINT JUDITH. 153

the treacherous bait, and the latter, while pursuing
remorselessly his prey, becomes himself a victim.

Neither shrimp nor soft crabs are used in this style
of fishing, and the earliest bait, the eel-skin, is pre-
pared by stripping the skin off the tail of an eel
from the vent aft to the length of about a foot, leaving
it inside out, and drawing it over a couple of hooks
so placed on the line that one shall project near the
upper and the other near the tail end. A sinker of
the size of one’s little finger is inserted at the head,
and the bait is cast by hand and drawn rapidly. The
rod is not often used in this style of fishing, as the
heavy bait is apt to sink ere it can be reeled in.
The skin is frequently salted to increase its firmness,
and when used must be kept in continual motion, to
the great fatigue of the enthusiastic angler.

The menhaden bait is prepared by scaling it and
then cutting a slice on one side from near the head
to the base of the tail, passing the hook through
from the scaly side, and back through both edges, so
that the shank is enveloped and the flesh is outwards,
and then tying the bait firmly with a small piece of
twine that is attached to the hook for that purpose.
A menbaden or bony fish furnishes two baits, and
the residue, except the back bone, tail, and head, is
cut up fine, called chum, and thrown into the water
to make a slick. A slick is the oil of the menhaden
floating over the waves, and extended frequently by
tide or current a long distance, attracts the bass,
by suggesting to them that their prey is near at
hand.

Wk

154 POINT JUDITH.

Where the water 1 clear it is customary im rod-
fishing, which is the only scientific mode, to use two
hooks; the smaller, some two feet below the other
is attached to a fine line or gut leader, and denomi-
nated without any apparent reason the fly-hook.
Many of the best fishermen never use more than
one bait, and where the fish are large and plenty,
one is sufficient. The fly bait is not generally tied
on, but twisted round the hook in a manner difficult
to describe.

Lobster bait is deficient in tenacity, and has to be
tied on like menhaden, and probably the natural
aquid would be an effective and manageable bait,
could it be provided in sufficient quantities. Limerick
hooks, except those manufactured expressly for the
purpose with a round head, are in great disfavor,
having a bad reputation for strength, and the O’-
Shaughnessy forged hook is usually preferred. With
skill, however, and plenty of line, the fisherman is
more to blame than the steel, for the breaking of the
latter. The best hook isnow manufactured witha
round head andis fastened to the line with two half
hitches, the end again hitched above them so as to
take the friction ; and as it is carried off by the first
blue-fish, or in the Yankee vernacular horse mack-
erel, that takes a fancy to it, the angler must be
well supplied. :

The Bait, especially a single one, is light, but ex-
perienced hands claim to be able to cast it more
than a hundred yards, a feat that the tyro will
scarcely credit ; but ordinarily half that distance is

POINT JUDITH. 155

all that is requisite. The line should not be less
than six hundred and may be a thousand feet long,
and if of flax should not be over fifteen strands.
The rod, reel, and line, must be of the very best,
and the guides and funnel top large, or the angler
will fail to do himself justice, and will probably lose
his largest fish.

The friction is so great in casting, that the thumb
must be protected by a thumb-stall or cot, as the
natives call it, or better yet, one for each thumb, so
that you can cast from either side, and snub the fish
with either hand. They are made of chamois
leather, India-rubber, or some equivalent material ;
and in casting by hand, a similar protection is re-
quired for the forefinger. A shoemaker’s knife is
admirably adapted to cutting bait.

If, then, familiar with these things, you shall have
chosen a favorable time during or at the close of a
south-easterly storm, and at break of day, accom-
panied by John Anthony, shall have posted yourself
upon Bog rock, or the Quohog, which is New Eng-
land and Indian for hard clam, or upon the famous
Scarborough, that great station in a heavy north-
easter, you may anticipate brave sport. The
waves will come rolling in, streaming out in the
wind like a courser’s mane, with snowy crest, and
breaking with thundering roar they will sink back
seething with foam. As the tide rises a few drops
will fall pattering upon your feet ; shortly the waves
will leap up to your knees, then plunge into your
pockets, reach to your waist, pour down your neck

156 POINT JUDITH

and if you are not on the watch will lift you im their
embrace and fling you torn and wounded down
among the sharp-pointed rocks. You must wear
water-proof clothes, and while you keep your eye
on the line you must not neglect the inrolling swell,
but avoid or brace yourself to meet its shock. And
when the bass seizes your bait, and you have fixed
the hook by one sharp blow, you must be gentle
and moderate, only using severe measures where
they are absolutely necessary. If the blue-fish
comes, and he does not carry away your hook at the
first snatch, reel him in as quickly as his indomitable
pluck and vigor will permit. He is not game when
you are bass-fishing. If the ungainly flounder, ex-
hibiting unexpected activity, shall chase and grasp
your bait, lug him out by main force, treating him,
though excellent to eat,like the vulgar commoner heis.

‘When the day is advanced, and the game has
grown wary, you may rest; and looking out to sea,
perchance behold the blue-fish chase the menhaden
and the porpoise devour the blue-fish, and the
thresher shark plough his way through schools of
lesser creatures, killing with blows of his powerful
tail, and then devouring his prey at his leisure.
You may listen to the “wild waves singing,” and
watch the continual change of the sky ane water,
enjoying the refreshing — and pure air, or
amuse yourself by throwing in the head of a men-
haden, and noting how quickly the bass that refuse
your bait will strike with a great whirl at the Hoste
ing object,

POINT JUDITH. 157

Two fishermen engaged with their sport were
once standing upon a rock together, when one struck
a very large fish supposed to weigh over seventy
pounds. The sea was high and wild, and made it
difficult to gaff the fish, after a wearying struggle
had reduced him to submission. A favorable oppor-
tunity was watched when three heavy rollers had
passed, covering the rock with spray, and the other
fisherman darted to the edge of the surf to make
the attempt. Unfortunately the bass, not being
quite exhausted, made a short run that delayed the
operation, till a gigantic wave, rolling in unheeded,
caught the preoccupied fishermen unawares, engulfed
them in its green waters, flung one down bruised
and sore, and carried off the other who held the
gaff, and was nearer the brink, into the deep water
beyond. Poor fellow, he could not swim, and the
terror of approaching death passed across his fea-
tures as he looked up beseechingly and tried to
cling to the steep and slippery rocks. The waves
tossed him about like a plaything, bringing him
close to the rocks, dragging him away, and then
eruelly hurling him against them. His friend was
powerless to save him; but having a stout line, and
the fish now floating exhausted upon the surface,
shouted to the drowning man to catch the line and
support himself by it. This was accomplished, and
amid the dashing surf, alone with the shadow of
death upon the water, the skilful fisherman, work-
ing his way carefully among the rocks, giving to the
strain of the surging sea, but. gaining every inch of

158 POINT JUDITH.

line the strength of his tackle would permit, led the
man and the fish, floating side by side, into a cove
that was in a measure sheltered from the fury of the
waves.

Slowly the line came in; the man lived, and still
clung to it, and although occasionally submerged,
managed to sustain himself sufficiently. Nearer and
nearer he came, quite close even to the shelving
rocks, and twice during a lull could have climbed
them in safety, had not his strength been too greatly
exhausted. He made a feeble effort, still clinging,
however, to the line, but was carried back by the
receding current, and it became apparent his life
depended upon his friend’s ability to help him.

This was no easy matter; the strain upon the line
was excessive, the rocks were wet and slippery, and
the sea frequently swept across with resistless force.
Shortening the line as much as possible, the friend
crept down towards the edge, and taking advantage
of the first lull, called to the drowning man to cling
fast with his hands for a moment, and rushed down
to seize him. The instant, however, the line was
relaxed, the water carried away its feeble victim,
who was quickly beyond reach. Ere he could be
brought back a tremendous wave, resolute to devour
its prey, came thundering in; it rose above points
that had projected many feet out of water, it dashed
in flying spray high up upon those that it could not
overwhelm, its crest gleamed and hissed, and with
one mad leap it sprang over the intervening ledges
and threw itself upon the fishermen with fearful

POINT JUDITH. 159

power. The one upon the rocks was beaten down,
and only by falling in a crevice and holding fast
with all his strength was saved from being carried
off. When the wave passed he struggled to his
feet and looked down into the deep water for his
friend. The line was broken, and man and fish
were swept away together.

Danger never deterred a sportsman, but rather
seems to enhance his enjoyment; and there is just
sufficient risk and enough cold water to make fishing
from the rocks a pleasurable excitement. The
fiercer the storm and the wilder the water the bet-
ter the fishing, and the peril is more than counter-
balanced by the sport. Occasionally, at these times,
a fisherman will be lost, but more frequently he will
capture the gigantic fish that has been the ambition
of his life; and if he does perish it is in a good
cause, and he has the sympathies of all his ardent
brothers of the angle.

Bass, like other fish, do not feed in a thunder
shower, but during the latter part of a north-easterly
or south-easterly storm, and immediately after when
the wind has hauled to the westward and mado
casting easier, they are taken in the greatest quan
tities. In fact it is hardly worth while to fish for
them at any other time.

At Point Judith there are some bay snipe and
plover after the fiftecath of August, and the quail
shooting which begins on the twentieth of Octo-
ber is quite good. Blue-fish or horse-mackerel are
not pursued for sport, but rather pursue the angler,

160 POINT JUDITH.

taking off his hooks and cutting his line with their
sharp teeth most unmercifully. In fact a story is
told of one that deliberately bit through the line
above a large bass that had been hooked, and appa-
rently released him designedly, from fishy friendship.

That excellent but neglected fish the porgee,
which the inhabitants call a scup, is plentiful, and
also the tautog or black fish ; and the bergall, which
they denominate chogset or cunner, a worthless
fish, is so abundant as to try the fisherman’s temper
by continually devouring his baits.

When the sea has subsided and the fishing is over,
and you have as many fish as you want nicely
packed in ice, you will have to drive over to the
depot behind the laziest horse, unless Anthony
buys a new one, that it was ever your misfortune
to ride after. The boyish driver, however, enter-
prising like his father, will poke and whip and utter
that peculiar word comprehensible only to horse-
flesh, “ tschk,” and if the animal does not absolutely
lie down in the ditch you will make the seven miles
in about two hours and a half, and be thankful that
you have done so well; having reached home, what
stories you will tell of the large fish you captured
and enormous ones you lost, of the dangers you ran
and how beautifully you cast, and your friends that
receive of the game will believe in you.

THE SOUTH BAY. 161

THE SOUTH BAY.

Ove cloudless day in the fervid month of July, a
handsome, bright-eyed youth of something over
twenty summers, opened the gate of the little yard
in front of Deacon Goodlow’s house and strode with
an elastic step towards the side door. He was evi-
dently at home and felt no need of ceremony, for
without pausing to knock he turned the knob and
entered.

The deacon’s house was one of those innumerable
romantic little white cottages with wings added after
the main structure, that dot the flat surface of Long
Island, or Mattowacs, as the poetical Indians once
elegantly named the wonderful sand-bar; it was
hidden in trees and almost covered with vines, and
had an air of superiority and taste somewhat un-
usual.

“Well, Katy,” said Harry, addressing a sprightly,
rosy-cheeked maiden that he encountered inside,
busy at some pottering woman’s work; “ what do
you think, now? Your father and mine are going
fishing to-day. I left them talking it over, and
arranging that they were to drive over in your
father’s buggy, as our solitary horse is needed for
other purpose.”

“TJ am glad of it, Harry; Mr. Hartley takes too

162 THE SOUTH BAY.

little recreation, and father does so like a day on the
Bay. He was speaking about it only yesterday.”

“But how odd that they should go alone; I
wonder why your father does not take you, you like
the Bay almost as well as he does.”

“Pretty nearly,” she replied with a laugh; “TI
love the breeze and the water, especially when we
run outside and plunge into the monstrous waves of
the ocean. It seems so fresh, and limitless, and
powerful.”

‘“* Yes, and you like to pull out the blue-fish; it is
not all poetry, for to tell the truth, I have always
felt convinced from your way of looking at them,
that every time you caught a fish you thought of
the pot and fancied how nice he would be on table.”

“Take care, sir, or the next time we go I will
leave you to your own devices in the way of cook-
ing. Do you remember when I found you trying
to cook a big blue-fish on a long stick, over a huge
hot fire, without any salt or butter?”

“ But the old folks will be sure to fall out over
politics or polemics, and come home in a dudgeon,
as they have been near doing before this, your
father is so fiery ; I hope, for my future peace, his
daughter does not take after him.”

“ Now, Harry!” accompanied with a deep blush,
was all the answer, and Katy was turning away,
knowing instinctively how to punish her saucy lover,
when Harry hastily continued :

“J think I have prevented that, however.”

“Have you? How?”

THE SOUTH BAY. 163

“T suggested something else for them to talk
about, that will occupy their thoughts most of the
time.”

With a shy, sidelong glance, like a bird alarmed
but uncertain of the danger, Katy replied :

“ And what subject was that, pray ?”

“Our love, Katy.”

“A very silly subject, that need occupy nobody
any time at all. You had better say your love,
sir.”

“ Now, darling, don’t tease, I have only a moment,
or I shall be too late for the cars.”

“Then, why not go at once? I am full as busy.
Was not that Jane calling me?” She made a great
show of leaving, but managed to remain, evidently
anticipating something of importance from her
lover’s manner, and in a female way dreading
though desiring the disclosure.

“Wait one instant; I need not repeat how I love
you, you have heard that often.”

“ Yes, indeed.”

“ But to-day I am to be admitted to a partnership
with my old employer, who kindly offered it, with
some complimentary remarks, so late as yesterday.”

“You deserved it long ago.”

“ Not at all, I was well paid for my services ; but
now”—-having drawn the willing but skittish beauty
towards him, he whispered—“ now I can keep a
wife.”

Her lips were close, her cheeks were tempting,
her eyes turned away, her hands busy with the but-

164 THE SOUTH BAY.

tons of his coat, it is not certain he took advantago
of these opportunities ; but suddenly starting into
life, she gave him a gentle tap on the car, pulled
away, and turning to hide her blushes, called out, as
she darted from the room :

“You must catch her first, and the train starts in
twenty minutes.”

“So it does,” he muttered, as the delighted look
of admiration with which be had regarded her
faded slowly from his eyes; “ what a darling witch,
it is so full of fun, and yet, as the neighboring poor
can testify, so gentle, generous, and sympathetic.”
A thousand thoughts of all the loving acts he would
do for her came into his mind as he hastened towards
the depot.

“Well, friend,” said Mr. Hartley, as the two
deacons were journeying along at a sober gait in
the old-fashioned but comfortable buggy of the
wealthier, “what a beautiful day it is, not merely
for our sport, and it could hardly be better, but to
admire the beauties of nature! The summer foliage
looks truly gorgeous in the broad sunshine.”

“Yes, indeed, and the influence of such a day
must be felt by the moral nature of man. Even upon
man debased by vice, I believe in the country as a
moral purifier, and think a system should be devised
by which criminals would be thrown in contact with
it as much as possible.”

“T agree with you fully, and had an evidence this
morning how it opens the heart and emboldens the
affections. You know Harry has long been atten-

THE SOUTH BAY. 165

tive to your daughter Katy, and I believe they have
had a sort of halt understanding.”

“A fine fellow is Harry; true, honorable, and
energetic,” said Mr. Goodlow, heartily.

“ He is so, and I, as his father, am proud to admit
it; but Katy is a noble girl, and worthy of the finest
fellow in the world.”

“Well, we start the subject with a hearty
accord,” replied the friend, smiling ; “I can readily
imagine what will follow, and have no doubt we will
be equally of accord on that.”

“The short of it is, Harry has just been placed in
a position that authorizes him to marry, and he
wants you to trust Katy to him. On the subject of
support he was satisfactory, and on that of love en-
thusiastic. He hoped your favorite minister would
perform the ceremony.”

This last remark was uttered very slowly, for it
must be known the two deacons belonged to rival
churches and different persuasions, and had had
many a contest over form and ritual.

“That is a matter of small moment,” was the
response, “but if any form should be simple it is the
marriage ceremony. I really think it had better be
performed in your church, where there is less regard
for formality.”

“ And for that reason I coincided in my son’s
selection ; our church teaches us that while we are not
to insist upon forms as the essence of religion in any
of its departments, we are not to indulge prejudice
against them. That they are immaterial either way.”

166 - THE SOUTH BAY.

“ A strange view, indeed,” responded the oppos
ing deacon, warming to the question; ‘ strange that
any one could conceive that the form in which he
expressed his adoration was unimportant ; in all re-
ligion, prayer takes the form of the bowed head and
bended knee. Unseemly postures and acts are
themselves irreverent, not to advert to the effect
they must produce upon the mind that indulges in
them on serious occasions. We owe to our fellow-
men respectful deportment on solemn occasions, how
much more so to our Creator. Form is the embodi-
ment of the spirit of true worship, and partakes of
its essence and beauty.”

“We fear,” responded his associate, “that form,
from its very beauty, may distract the heart and
engross the attention to the neglect of the essentials
of devotion. Pleasing forms are beautiful to our
senses, but God looks to the pure heart and humble
mind; the formalities of religion too often hide an
aching void of real principle, and while they quiet
the conscience produce no good fruit in the soul.
Therefore, we dread them, lest though the sepulchre
be whited on the outside it hide rottenness within.”

They were both intelligent men, devoted to their
sects, which although in belief almost identical, in
forms were dissimilar; and they enforced and illus-
trated their views with great vigor, learning, and
eloquence, and with the ordinary effect of religious
discussions, that each was finally more firmly con-
vinced that he was in the right. The hopes of their
children were forgotten for the time, an occasional

THE SOUTH BAY. 167

sharp innuendo added spice if not acerbity to the
argument, and before their destination was reached
a feeling of coldness, approaching dissatisfaction,
had sprung up between the two friends.

There were no bluc-fish running, and it was deter-
mined to try the striped bass that, although small,
had begun to be plentiful, and in case of their
absence to tempt the flounders, sea bass, black fish,
or other like plebeians. In silence they pulled off to
the fishing ground, and silently they cast overboard
the anchor-stone and baited their hooks. Fishing
has a calm, soothing influence incompatible with
anger or estrangement. Occasional remarks were
made which would doubtless have soon led to a per-
fect reconciliation had not the Fates prominently in-
terfered. Mr. Hartley, who rowed the boat, had
stationed himself in the bow, and strange to say
began to take fish as fast as he could land them,
while Mr. Goodlow, in the stern, usually the favorite
location, caught nothing.

Fishing is a contemplative amusement, but when
one contemplates his associate catching all the fish
the amusement vanishes. Deacon Goodlow was a
devotee of the gentle art, fancied himself an expert,
and never doubted his far excelling his less expe-
rienced brother; had great faith in skill as opposed
to luck, having often expatiated upon the fact that
he rarely found an equal, and felt fully convinced
that in skill he was not excelled.

Now skill is a very necessary thing and will tell
in the long run, but luck is sometimes, doubtless for

168 THE SOUTH BAY.

a wise purpose, permitted to triumph over it. In
vain did the unfortunate deacon renew his baits,
change the depth of his sinker, fish on the bottom or
near the top; the result was the same. Ilis irritation
increased and broke forth into ejaculations of impa-
tience, and a sudden desire to move to some other
spot.

“There seem to be no fish here, we had better
try a new place,” he said pettishly.

“T am doing very well, and donbt whether we
could better ourselves,” replied his associate with
that hilarity that success engenders, landing two
bright little bass at once.

“You do not call that good fishing, they are mere
sprats. I have taken many a bass of twenty-four
pounds, and two of over fifty.”

“ But you know the run is always small in this
month.”

“Of course I know that; but I never saw such
luck, you must have taken twenty, such as they
are,”

“ More than twenty, thirty at least; but perhaps
we had better change places, I have taken more
than I want and you had better try your hand.”

After some demur and a coquettish but half sulky
refusal to deprive him of his “good luck,” Mr.
Goodlow complied with his friend’s suggestion, but
wonderful to say the luck changed at the same time;
the fish all fled to the stern of the boat and were
landed there faster than they had been previously
over the bow. In fact, one line seemed to be

THE SOUTH BAY. 169

bewitched as though the fish were in a piscatorial
conspiracy, Even when the unfortunate fisherman ex-
tended his line and allowed his float to swing round
beyond the stern and even alongside of his compa-
nion’s, that of the latter would be dragged under at
every moment, while his would remain undisturbed.

“Well, I have seen luck before,” he began,
fiercely, “‘ but never such luck as this; how deep are
you fishing ?”

This question, as betraying the possibility of infe-
rior judgment, fairly stuck in his throat.

“* About three feet.”

“* Mine is the same. No, it is mere luck, that is
all”? Anger was making his language slightly un-
grammatical.

Mr. Hartley replied, as he landed another brace :
“Of course it is, and now let’s change seats again
and see if we cannot outwit the fish.”

Being patronized by an inferior fisherman is
almost unbearable, it implies triumph with nothing
to justify it; and an assumption of superiority will
be suspected if not intended. So Mr. Goodlow held
out for a time, saying slightingly: ‘“ Oh, it was a
mere question of luck, mere luck that must soon
change ;” but as it did not, and as his friend’s man-
ner was soothing and even submissive, he at last
consented, with the air of conferring a favor, to re-
sume his old place in the stern.

At the first cast which Mr. Hartley made after
returning to his seat at the bow, he hooked and
landed the largest fish yet seen. This was too much,

8

170 THE SOUTH BAY.

and if people swear inwardly it is greatly to be
feared the unfortunate deacon will have to report
hereafter one of the commandments broken on that
occasion.

“Come,” he said, “we will go home; another
time perhaps I can have a little luck. I used to
think there was something like skill in fishing, but
there does not appear to be in catching these misera-
ble little fish.”

“Why, my last one must have weighed two
pounds.”

“Two pounds! Not an ounce over one. I have
had enough for this day, and the sun is remarkably
hot.”

“Oh, I cannot go just yet; here comes another,
nearly as large as the last.”

‘*T insist upon it,’ Mr. Goodlow continued, having
reeled up his line and taken apart his rod. “T will
not stay longer, my horse must be fed, and it is
late.”

“ When a person comes out fishing,” replied Dea-
con Hartley, growing irritated, “it is a poor way to
be wanting to go home because another catches the
fish, especially as I am perfectly willing to divide
equally.”

“What do you think I care for those puny little
fish? You may keep them all, in welcome.”

“T suppose I may if I wish; they are mine be-
cause I have caught them, or nearly all; but I will
give you half if you will cease grumbling at. what
you call your luck.”

THE SOUTH BAY. 171

“Well, what is it if not luck! Perhaps you think
you surpass me in skill and experience,” answered
the other sneeringly. “TI tell you I am going home.
Tt is my horse, and you may come or stay, as you
choose.”

With that he seized the oars and shipping them
into the nearest rowlocks, commenced furiously
rowing the boat stern first. But the anchor-stone
was down, and although he dragged it a few inches,
he did so slowly and with great labor. Mr. Hartley
went on deliberately fishing, but of course could
catch nothing while the water was being disturbed.

“ Pull up the anchor-stone, sir,” said Mr. Goodlow
fiercely, the perspiration streaming down his face.

“J will do nothing of the kind,” responded Mr.
Hartley.

The tugging at the oars was resumed, but when
Mr. Goodlow was nearly exhausted, whether by
accident or not will probably never be known, the
oar slipped along the surface throwing a shower of
water over the quondam friend, fairly taking away
his breath. Without a word the latter dropped his
rod, and seizing the bailing scoop, a sort of wooden
shovel with a short handle, dipped it full of water
and threw the contents in his companion’s face ; the
latter replied with a fresh douche from the oar.

The water fairly flew in mimic cataracts for ten
minutes, till both parties were wet to the skin; ori-
ginally, scoop had the best of it, but as skin and
clothes will not take wetting beyond a certain de-
gree, oars caught up, and the two irate lights of the

172 THE SOUTH BAY.

church were as well drenched as if they had fallen
overboard. Mutual exhaustion produced a cessation
of hostilities, and after a moment’s pause, Deacon
Iartley slowly drew up the anchor-stone, and Dea-
con Goodlow rowed silently to shore. Without a
word, without a glance, the latter stepped to his
buggy, untied the horse, jumped in and rode off.

Mr. Hartley had to secure the boat, collect his
fish, injoint his rod, and walk four mileshome. The
day was hot, the road was dusty, the fish were
heavy, and tired enough he would have been, if an
acquaintance passing in a wagon had not taken him
up. The dust having covered him from head to
foot helped disguise what had happened, and he
allowed the gentleman to think he had slipped into
the water.

The thoughts of the two deacons on the way
home were not enviable. One had to meet a son, the
other a daughter, and the latter dreaded the inter-
view most; not that he admitted he was most to
blame, but fearing more her sharp eyes and re-
proachful countenance.

“Oh, Harry,” said the pretty little girl usually so
gay, now with sad-looking tearworn eyes, as she
encountered her astonished lover on his way home
from the railroad, “ your father and mine quarrelled
dreadfully to-day, so much so that they would not
ride home together.”

“ Just as I expected,” replied Harry, triumphant:
ly; “your father is so easily excited.”

“No, but he says it was your father’s fault, at

THE SOUTH BAY. 173

least he does not say so directly, but what he does
say gives me that impression. Just think, your
father threw water over mine, and he was all mud
and dirt when he reached home.”

“Impossible,” said Harry, with a laugh, “he must
have fallen overboard.”

“Oh, no, and your father would not ride home
with him.”

“‘How did he get home then? he certainly would
not have walked by preference four miles, on so hot
a day as this. Imagine his half killing himself to
deprive a person of his company who wished to be
rid of him.”

“Oh, it must be; father was so angry, he told me
I should not see you again.”

This response was illogical, and went far to dis-
prove itself, but was enforced by her bursting into
tears. ‘I have been crying ever since,” she sobbed.

Harry consoled her, sure of her affection; and
knowing that parents are a slight affair against
affection, he brought back smiles to her lips by his
comments on her account of her father’s statement,
and promised her it would come right if she only
kept on obeying as scrupulously as she was ther
doing. She punished him for this by flying away
in her former merry manner, leaving him to seek
an explanation at home.

‘“‘ Father,” he said, on arriving there and seeking
him out, “how spruce you look; that is your best
suit. Are you going to pay a visit?”

“T believe not, this evening; my other clothes

174 THE SOUTH BAY.

were soiled while we were fishing.” Strictly true,
but not all the truth.

“The deacon across the way came home rather
muddy, they say. What luck did you have? Did
it rain while you were out ? There was not a cloud
to be seen in New York.”

The father felt it would be useless to evade the
question, and related the whole story, bearing kind-
ly the good-natured comments of his son, between
whom and himself there was a feeling of friendship
as well as of affection.

“ And now, father,” Harry began, after the recital
was over, “and now how are you going to make up?
You will have to make the first step, because you
were not in the wrong.”

“Or, more truly, because my son loves the
daughter of the person who has ill-used me. Are
you not angry at my being left to walk home this
hot day?”

“J should be, if that wagon had not come along ;
everything depends on that wagon. You know it
was much pleasanter than riding with an angry
man.”

“But then the dust; my clothes are ruined; a
new suit will diminish your patrimony, which is not
enormous.”

“Then Pl make you a present of a splendid suit
of black on my wedding day. Iam rich, at least in
expectation, being a partner and no longer a clerk.”

“To tell the truth,” continued the father, drop-
ping the tone of badinage, “I did feel ashamed of

THE SOUTH BAY. aly (si

myself, and was arranging a little plan of reconcilia-
tion, when our servant girl brought word that Mr.
Goodlow had forbidden her drawing water from the
well.”

Harry looked at his father with a surprised,
troubled, and slightly angry look. The well was on
Mr. Goodlow’s land, but had been used from time
immemorial by both families, as there was none other
near. He began to think the matter was more seri-
ous than he had at first supposed.

“T felt this to be unchristian,” continued his
father, “‘and could not bring myself to make the
first advance after it.”

“T can hardly believe the story, and will cross-
question the girl,” replied Harry. ;

It turned out to be true, however; the girl had
been going to the well, as Deacon Goodlow descend-
ed, “all mud,” as she described it, from his buggy,
and he seeing her at first seemed inclined to avoid a
meeting, but suddenly changing his mind told her
angrily never to come there for water again. With
all due allowance for kitchen exaggeration, the fact
could scarcely be disputed, and Harry suddenly
burst forth:

“We will dig a well of our own; I have always
hated dependence for anything, even on her father,
and then we'll see—”

What they would see was not very clear, except
that they would see the well built, for Harry, with
his usual impetuosity, at once set about making the
necessary arrangements, his new position enabling

176 THE SOUTH BAY.

him to supply the requisitemeans. He engaged the
men and selected the spot that very evening.

Next day the well was commenced and advanced
rapidly towards completion, the water for family use
being carted in the mean time from a distance in
barrels. What the deacon over the way must have
thought when he saw the excavation progressing
and the water cart regularly every morning passing
in front of his door, no one knows; for not a word
did he say. He could not have had an easy conscience
nor a pleasant time, however, for Harry had not put
his foot on the premises, and consequently Katy's
eyes were almost as full of water as the barrel.

It was a long way down to the region of water,
and if truth, as is generally believed, lies so deep,
there is no wonder it is rarely reached; but the
effort was at length successful, and when the liquid
vein was struck the crystal fluid proved plentiful,
half filling the deep well.

The water carts ceased their journey, the work-
men were discharged, Deacon Hartley had a well of
his own, Harry felt independent; but there was
something else wanted. The latter had not exactly
evaded Katy, who he knew was pining to see him,
but, feeling his pride hurt, had not taken as great
pains as he might to have thrown himself accidental-
ly in her way. She had felt this neglect, and now
when his pride was satisfied hers was aroused, and
she kept herself carefully in-doors.

It took a week to build the well, and a weck had
elapsed since—that was two weeks of misery, all

THE SOUTH BAY. 177

because the fish did not bite as they should have
done, and neglected scientific allurements for less
artistic attractions. Deacon Goodlow was misera-
ble, because Katy looked unhappy and reproachful,
occasionally enforcing her reproaches with a sob or
two. Deacon Hartley was miserable, partly because
he was ashamed of himself and partly because it
went against his whole nature to quarrel; Katy was
miserable, because her lover had neglected her, and
she had had no chance to disobey her father’s in-
junctions not to see him; Harry was the most
miserable of the party now that the excitement of
achieving his independence was over, because he
missed the presence of his lady-love, and knew in his
heart he had vented a little of his anger by neglect-
ing her.

Harry was pining for her now in a much more
rampant way than she had previously pined for him,
and had revolved twenty impracticable schemes of
restoring matters to their condition previous to the
war. The inevitable laws of nature, however, that
had caused all these mental wounds, helped to bring
them to a crisis and finally to effect a cure. It was
Sunday morning, and Harry had resolved twenty
times he would join Katy on her way to church, for
she went before her father to teach a class of Sun-
day scholars, and twenty times resolved that he
would not. His father had convinced himself as
many times that neighborly ill-will should be cor-
rected at a sacrifice even of a little pride, and as
often that. he could not make the first advance;

g*

178 THE SOUTH BAY.

when a small voice was heard at the door, and elec-
trified them both. It was not a sweet voice nor the
tone rich, in fact it might be called harsh and unre-
fined, but the sound was pleasanter to Harry’s ears
than any he had heard in two weeks. The voice
belonged to the extra help of Mr. Goodlow’s house-
hold.

“« Please, sir, master said I mussent, but could we
have a little water from your well?”

Harry and his father gazed at each other and then
at the girl in wonder.

“ Please, sir,” she continued, seeing their bewil-
dered air, and addressing herself to Harry in an in-
jured tone, “our well has run itself dry. Ever
since you built yours the water has been getting
lower, and last night it all went. Master says it’s
on account of the elevation, but I say it’s because
yours is further down hill.”

“Do you mean to say you have no water at all?”
said Harry.

“ But I do, then, unless you call mud water; we
managed to make tea last night by tying a new bit
on to the rope; but wasn’t it bitter and gritty,
though? You ought to have tasted it; but to-day
it’s as thick as paste, and you know we cannot send
a water cart on Sunday.”

“ How did you manage for washing ?”

“ That’s how it comes we have no water for break-
fast. We had saved up a little that had settled
the worst down to the bottom, but we did not have
enough to wash, and Miss Katy, when she tried to

THE SOUTH BAY. 179

use the well water, came out all streaked, and used
up all that we had put by; because, as she said, she
would rather go without her breakfast than go dirty.
I guess I wouldn’t, though.”

“ But why did you not send to us before?” said
Mr. Harttzy, compassionately.

“Why, because master thought as he had ordered
away your girl, you would do the like by me; un-
less he begged pardon, or something of that sort,
and he did not feel equal to that after your throw-
ing him overboard the day you went fishing.”

“ He surely never said I threw him overboard?”

“No, but I guessed it; how could he ’a got so
wet otherwise, and why was he so mad?”

“Well, you guessed all wrong; I did nothing of
the sort, and hope you have told no one such a silly
story.”

“Never mind that now,” interrupted Harry.
“Mr. Goodlow is waiting for his breakfast ; so take
as much water as you want or you will be too late.”

“ Give my respects to Mr. Goodlow,” added his
father, “arid say he is welcome to water from our
well at any time, and that I regret it has injured
his.””

“Yes, and you can add that father will call on
him this evening, and now be off; Vll draw the
water for you.” This was very polite in Harry, but
respect for woman, even in the humblest ranks, is
ever the attribute of an American, and—it is possi-
ble Harry may have wished to send a message to
Katy. ‘“Leastways,” as the girl would have said,

180 THE SOUTH BAY.

Katy was hardly out of sight of her front gate when
she heard a step she well knew.

“Oh, Harry,” she said, turning a pair of sorrow-
ful eyes upon him, that shot reproachful torments
into his very heart. “Tow could you?”

The sentence was incomplete in its construction,
but complete enough in its effects; it was enforced
with a little sob and made Harry about as con-
temptible a wretch, in his own esteem, as if she had
rehearsed a set speech of an hour’s duration, depict-
ing his enormities.

“Tam so sorry, Katy. Do you forgive me, I have
been wretched?” This was a good tack, and being
borne out by his appearance and evident contrition,
went a long way towards securing his pardon.

What exactly was said, the tones being low and
the faces close together, will never be discovered,
but light came back to Katy’s eyes, color to her
cheeks, and a smile, if nothing more, to her lips;
and cre the church was reached a happier couple
could not be found within it. Joy is doubly blessed
if preceded by sorrow, and only those.who have
known its want can appreciate happiness.

That Sunday evening, as had been his custom,
unbroken for many years till the last two weeks,
Harry presented himself at Mr. Goodlow’s gate and
entered unannounced. It can hardly be said he
was wholly undisturbed, but outwardly exhibited
perfect composure, prepared to meet and deter-
mined to exhaust the worst. Courage dispels dan-
yer, and there was nothing and nobody to meet

THE SOUTH BAY. 181

more terrible than Katy herself. She was in splen-
did spirits, full of fun, rendered more touching and
gentle on account of the recent estrangement, and
charmed Jarry with the renewal of her former
witchery. He gave himself up to the mere enjoy-
ment of her presence, following her every motion
with unwearying admiration, and never removing
his eyes from her loved form. Heseemed as though
drinking through his eyes her graceful beauty, and
experienced all those charming sensations that love
alone bestows.

He had almost forgotten, basking in present joy
and dreaming hazily of future happiness, there was
an angry father in existence, when the latter gentle-
man appeared at the door. A gleam of surprise
crossed his features, but Harry at once stepped for-
ward and was in the act of boldly justifying his
presence, when he saw another figure in the door-
way—that of his own parent.

Mr. Goodlow slowly advanced, and extending his
hand frankly to Harry, said:

“T am glad to see you, and hope you will forget
the errors and weaknesses of humanity, and forgive
me the annoyance my foolish and unworthy quarrel
has caused.”

“And you, Katy,” said Mr. Hartley, “must du
the like by me; we have been guilty of wrong, and
should only do worse by being ashamed to own it
before our children, whom our example is most
likely to affect.”

Harry felt as though he had escaped from a build-

182 THE SOUTH BAY.

ing on fire, and at once recovering his elasticity, re-
plied :

“No; in quarrelling Katy and I never intend tc
follow any one’s example. Do we, Katy ?”

“We only regret,” she continued, evading his
gaze, “that a shadow should have come between
those we love so dearly.”

“JT hope, never to return,” replied Mr. Goodlow,
“and that these weeks of folly and punishment may
not be lost upon us all; but let us speak no more of
it.”

“We have something more serious still to men-
tion,” resumed Mr. Hartley, gaily. ‘“‘ We have been
settling your wedding-day, and, Katy, you should be
very grateful, for I named an early one.” He took
her affectionately in his arms, for she had always
been like a daughter, and kissed her warmly while
she hid her blushing face.

“That is right, father,” burst forth Harry, enthu-
siastically. ‘I suppose you went on the principle,
‘Tf ’tis well done, when ’tis done, ’twere well ’twere
done quickly.’ ”

“No, Harry, on an entirely different one,” said
Mr. Goodlow, laughing heartily. ‘On the principle,
that ‘ Alls well that ends well” Though that is but
a dry joke, as far as we are concerned.”

PROTECTION OF FISH, 183

PROTECTION OF FISH.

Tue subject of the protection of fish demands
the consideration of every political economist, as
well as of every sportsman in our country, or we
shall soon be reduced to the condition of France, and
forced to repopulate our deserted streams and lakes
and furnish to the people, with great labor and at
high price, one of their chief articles of food. In
olden times, during the epicurean days of Rome,
and later during the reign of the Catholic fast days,
the utmost attention was bestowed upon the preser-
vation, protection, and improvement of fish; enor-
mous revenues were invested in immense tanks
where they were fattened, and different species were
transported to countries where they were unknown,
and domesticated In unaccustomed waters. With
the advent of the Roman Catholic religion, several
foreign varieties were introduced into England,
among others the fat carp and the lean pickerel ;
and fish ponds were invariably attached to monas-
teries and convents.

Although the religion that ordains fish-eating to
be fasting, having shrunk from its gigantic reach and
extent, is confined in our Jand to a single sect, and
the inhabitants of the waters are no longer a, reli-
gious institution ; fish must always constitute a con-

184 PROTECTION OF FISH.

siderable portion of the diet of the poor, and an
acceptable change, if not permanently agreeable, to
the rich. Whatever serves for food to the people,
above all to the lower class, deserves the attention
of the statesman, and any practice that will tend to
diminish its price demands the assistance of the
philanthropist. Consider if the price of fish were
suddenly to double, how far the injury would ex-
tend, and how much suffering would follow. When
a gradual change takes place in the cost of any arti-
cle of food, man adapts himself to altered circum-
stances, and the loss, though equally great, is not so
perceptible as when the advance is sudden.

That the supply of this food can be exhausted,
and its quality easily reduced, is painfully apparent ;
streams in the neighborhood of New York that for-
merly were alive with trout are now totally desert-
ed. The Bronx, famous alike for its historical asso-
ciations and its once excellent fishing, does not now
seem to hold a solitary trout, or indeed fish of any
kind. The shad that fifty years ago swarmed up
the Hudson River in numbers incomputable, have
become scarce and quadrupled in price during that
period of time. Salmon, most nutritious and noblest
of fish, which in ancient days paid their yearly visits
in vast numbers, if early historians are to be be-
lieved, to our principal rivers as far south as the
Delaware, are at present taken nowhere to the
southward of Maine, und in but limited quantities
even in that wild region.

On every portion of our sea-coast, in spite of re

PROTECTION OF FISH. 185

plenishment from the mighty ocean, the same dimi-
nution is visible, while many of our confined inland
waters are absolutely depopulated. The insatiable
maw of New York market swallows alike the trout
from Maine, the bass from Lake Erie, or the white-
fish from the Sault Ste. Marie, while the parvenus
that have acquired sudden fortuves in that wonder-
ful city, endowed with the instincts of neither gen-
tlemen nor sportsmen, think it magnificent to devour
trout in Autumn and black bass in Spring, judging
by their extravagant price that they must be rare
and therefore good. The rapidity with which a
section of country can be fished out by energetic
pot-hunters where the law places inadequate re-
straint, and often in spite of the law’s restraint, has
-been remarkably evidenced in the history of Sulli-
van County. When the Erie Railroad was still in-
complete, and the tide of explorers had just com-
menced to penetrate beyond Goshen, and only occa-
sional stragglers reached the land of promise and
performance beyond Monticello; the swamps were
alive with woodcock and the streams with trout.
But as the railroad advanced and gave improved
facility of travel, so-called sportsmen poured over
the country in myriads, following up every rivulet
and ranging every swamp, killing without mercy
thousands of trout and hundreds of birds, boasting
of their baskets crowded to overflowing, and count-
ing a day’s sport by the hundred; till Bashe’s Kill,
where the pearly-sided fish once dwelt abundantly,
was empty, and the broad Mongaup, the wild Calli-

186 PROTECTION OF FISH.

coon, and even the joyous Beaver Kill, with its in-
numerable tributaries, were exhausted. The wood-
cock disappeared from the cold black mud of the
springy swamps, the trout no longer broke the sur-
face of the noisy rills of that picturesque region,
and the hunters and fishermen turned their atten-
tion and carried their clumsy rods, bait-hooks,
cheap guns, and case-hardened consciences, else-
where.

So it has been and will be everywhere, unless the
people and the real sportsmen ‘take the matter in
hand ; the farmers, who are after all to be the salva-
tion of our institutions, lose by the destruction of
game one of the greatest attractions of their lands,
and are interested in preserving for themselves and
their city friends the wild dwellers in the lakes and
brooks from wanton and ruthless destruction. Law-
givers are concerned in the passage of proper laws on
account of public interest, and the increasing neces-
sity of cheap food that a rapidly. augmenting popu-
lation engenders, Sportsmen have the greatest
stake, for if they would retain for their old age and
leave to their children the best preserver of health,
a love of field sports, they must protect game-birds
and fish. They should discourage, by their conver-
sation and example, all infringement of the law or
any cruel or wasteful prosecution of what should be
sport. If they find a man who destroys, for the
purpose of destroying, they should not only shun
but expose him; if they mect with a case of palpa-
ble infraction of the law, they should enforce punish-

PROTECTION OF FiSH. 187

meut; by these means, and the enactment of judi-
cious statutes, the beautiful wild creatures that form
so pleasant an addition to the charms of country
life, may be preserved in undiminished numbers for
all time.

The first necessity, however, is that proper and
uniform enactments should be passed in every por-
tion of our extensive nationality. If the close times
differ in adjoining states, fish will be killed in one
and sold in the other ; it is useless to attempt to for-
bid the catching of trout in Maine, if they can be
eaten in New York. Pinnated grouse, killed on the
western prairies where they are fast being extermi-
nated, will soon become extinct if not protected
in New York. Woodcock, if forbidden to be killed
in New York during the summer, are nevertheless
shot there and sold in New Jersey, if the law of
the latter place permits. Lobsters, which are dis-
appearing off the bottom of the sea, are protected
in Boston and New York, but not in Philadelphia.

The universal rule should be comprehensive and
simple, as the habits of the fresh water fish are suffi-
ciently well known; protection should be given
during the spawning season, and for such a period
before and after as to prevent the annihilation of
those who have survived the numerous dangers that
surround them, and are ready for the duties of par-
turition, and to allow them to recover from the
exhaustion resulting from the operation.

No trout should be killed except from the first of
March to the first of September; no lake trout except

188 PROTECTION OF FISH.

from the first day of February to the first day of
November, and no black bass or mascallonge from
the first day of January to the first day of June.
These times may be restricted for certain localities
where greater protection is necessary, but should,
under no circumstances, be enlarged. Trout spawn
from the middle of October to the latter part of
November, and do not recover their condition till
the opening of Spring. Lake trout spawn about the
same time, and mascallonge and black bass in
March, April, or even as late as May and the early
part of June.

None of these fish should be taken in nets, nor by
spearing, and no fykes, seines, or gill-nets should be
used in the waters which they inhabit. Stringent
regulations to this effect are necessary, as it has
been the habit of the market fishermen of the
northern section of our country to use a net with
meshes small enough to catch yearling trout, and
which they frequently throw to one side and leave
to perish miserably. This net fishing is continued
all winter, so that not only are thousands of large
fish destroyed in the act of spawning, or just after
doing so, but millions of the young, the seed of the
harvest, are slain without profit, being left on the
ice to freeze.

Spearing is also terribly fatal. None can escape
the sharp eye of the spearsman, and although many
more are wounded than killed they rarely recover, for
their natural enemies, the eels, are ever on the alert
for such occurrences, and fastening themselves upon

PROTECTION OF FISH. 189

the wounded spot suck out the little life that is left.
There are many streams of New Jersey which, by
persistent gigging, as it is called, have been divested
ef every swimming thing, so that they are abso-
lutely uninhabited. Not only trout, but catfish, eels,
and suckers, have met the same untimely fate, and
now boys and men search vainly for their prey.

By fair fishing no stream or pond can be entirely
exhausted ; when trout have the privilege of biting
or not, they will exhibit sufticient circumspection to
perpetuate their species; but when they can be fol-
lowed during the hours of darkness to their retreats,
and exposed by the glare of the jack, are liable to
death by the fatal spear, or in case they may be
enveloped by the all-devouring net, they have no
defence or escape, and must soon disappear entirely.
Their numbers, instead of helping them or delay-
ing the catastrophe, excite the cupidity of the
poacher, and accelerate instead of deferring their
destruction.

Interested parties in various sections of the coun-
try, endeavor to convince themselves and others
that trout change their nature in these favored
localities, and either spawn from time to time as
fancy dictates, or postpone the performance till
winter’s frosts have driven profitable visitors to their
city homes. The proprietors of the frontier taverns,
where sportsmen congregate in search of*finny prey,
boldly assert that there are several kinds of brook
trout, of which one variety spawns in September,
another in October, and so on in such manner that

190 PROTECTION OF FISH.

it is always right and proper to fish for them. Na-
turalists have, as yet, failed to discover this pecu-
liarity or describe these varieties; and although they
know that individuals may differ casually or delay
the act a few weeks, they recognise one well known
spawning season. The ova of trout are largely
developed in September, and, except in the colder
latitudes and where they are extremely abundant,
these fish should be exempt after the first of that
month; but in October and November, pressing
hunger should be the only excuse for killing them.
The laws, however, are not so much to blame as
the neglect of their enforcement; perfect statutes
will not answer if they are not carried out, and the
first duty of sportsmen’s clubs and of individual
sportsmen, a duty to humanity, to themselves, and
to their fellow creatures, is to enforce the game
laws. By game laws are not meant those barbarous
statutes of England that made it more criminal in a
poor man to slay a hare than a human being—sta-
tutes that are deservedly odious to free men, and
which by no possibility could be introduced into the
New World; but provisions for the protection and
preservation of the wild inhabitants of our woods
and waters, a common heritage of beauty and sus-
tenance, and the property of our citizens indiscrimi-
nately. These creatures are a considerable source
of wealth, worthy the most careful atterttion; they
breed and increase of themselves without care or
expense ; and constitute a large portion of the stock
of our markets. It would be an interesting investi

PROTECTION OF FISH. 191

gation to ascertain how much money is paid yearly
in the City of New York for the wild deer and
game birds of the west, the sea fishes of our coast,
the finer varieties of our inland waters, and the sal-
mon of Canada. The latter, alone, amounts to
hundreds of thousands of dollars, and is a severe
tax paid to a foreign country for the fatuity that
drove those noble fish from our own rivers.

This vast source of revenue will, however, disap-
pear, unless precautions are taken to prevent the
untimely slaughter of these unprotected creatures.
If their periods of incubation are disregarded, their
nests and spawning-beds broken up, and themselves,
when engaged in the duties of maternity, disturbed
or slain, they will diminish rapidly till the forests
shall cease to be vocal with their harmony, and the
water animated with their gambols.

In England not only do game preserves produce
a good rent from enthusiastic sportsmen, but the
fisheries, particularly of salmon, are extremely valu-
able as commercial enterprises. At present, in our
our country, we only recognise the value of these
advantages by their loss. The Tay produces a
rental of $70,000 yearly for the salmon fisheries,
and so profitable have fishing rights become, that
several rivers that were once exhausted have been
restored, and now yield large revenues.

If we would have salmon at our own doors, we
also must restock the Merrimack, Connecticut, and
the numerous other rivers that were once frequented
by them. But the trout and the black bass are still

192 PROTECTION OF FISH.

with us, and by decent care and treatment may be
plenteous, for the pleasure and support of ourselves,
our children, and our children’s children. Consi-
derable attention has been expended upon some of
the ponds and streams on Long Island ; and although
the poacher makes occasional depredations, and
lurking through the bushes plants his net, or with
wriggling worm draws forth his unseasonable prey
during the forbidden periods, the improvement
already is remarkable. Ponds that were once empty
of fish are made beautiful by the splashes of the
playful trout, and streams that were deserted are
replenished. Enforce the law thoroughly, and dis-
continue unreasonable slaughter, and fish, from their
enormous fecundity, must increase immensely.

It is probable that the localities in the neighbor-
hood of our large cities have passed their worst
days, and that the beautiful lakes and rivers, en-
sconced in the wild woods and amid the green hills
of our unopened country, are in the most danger.
A cockney sportsman, by which we mean not a city
sportsman, but him who, wherever born or bred,
fishes only for quantity, and from a vain-glorious
spirit of boastful rivalry, is, indeed, a ruthless thing ;
he spares neither fish, flesh, nor fowl, whether he
can use them for food, or must leave them to
putrify, and regardless of the means or implements
he employs. This merciless biped invaded Moose-
head lake one year, armed with fly and bait rod,
and with two additional trolling rods projecting
from each side of his boat as he moved from place

PROTECTION OF FISH. 1938

to place, murdered thousands of glorious trout ;
supplying his own wants, the public table, and the
hog-pen—for the latter was separated from his feed-
ing place—till the pigs, disgusted at his brutality,
were surfeited, and bushels of putrescent fish had to
be buried or thrown into the lake. Others, almost
as murderous, roam the north woods of the State
ot New York, and even penctrate as far as the un-
broken shores of Lake Superior, threatening anni-
hilation to our game of every kind. The man who
kills an animal, bird, or fish, knowing that it must
be left to spoil, justifies the charge of cruelty
against our class, and deserves the scorn and con-
demnation of all right-thinking men.

Wanton injury to public property, in game,
should be punished precisely as similar injury to
public property in grounds or buildings, by incar-
cerating the offender in prison; for of the two, the
latter is less injurious in its ultimate results. A
building may be replaced, but who can restore life
to the fish that bears a thousand undeveloped young
in its bosom, or can give back to the starving fawn
the mother that has been slain at its side? Mere
pecuniary fines are an insufficient punishment; the
poaching criminal is the poorest, as he is the mean-
est, of offenders, and laughs at any attempt to col-
lect penalties that are not enforced by imprison-
ment; while the wealthy cockney is willing
to run the risk of fine if he can, by taking the
advantage of honest sportsmen, have the chance
of boasting of his wonderful prowess and _ suc-

9

194 PROTECTION OF FISH.

cess. A few months in jail would cure the reck-
lessness of the former and cool the ardor of the
latter.

A still more murderous proceeding, so infamous
that it is rare even with professional poachers, is to
cast poison into the water, thus slaying, by one fell
process, large and small, young and old. Condem-
nation of such a practice is unnecessary; and were
it otherwise, fit language could hardly be found to
depict its enormity.

By the introduction of unsuitable fish much injury
is occasioned, more frequently through ignorance
than wilfulness. Perch placed in a sluggish trout
pond, like many of those on Long Island, will
devour the young fry, and soon diminish the yield;
and pickerel, which are especial pets of our farmers,
although nearly worthless for food or sport, have
devastated some of the best ponds in the country,
The former are devotedly fond of minnows or small
fish of any kind, and such bold biters as to give rise,
in England, to the story of a country gentleman
who enticed an ardent angler to his house by stock-
ing one of his ponds with several dozen perch, all
but one of which the visitor captured on the day
after his arrival, before breakfast. The pickerel is
exceedingly voracious, and also right fond of his
smaller fellow fish for dinner.

To meet these cases the ponds must be drawn off,
as neither perch nor pickerel remain in running
water, and the waters must be re-stocked. In fact,
wherever, from any cause, the drain is greater than

PROTECTION OF FISH. 195

the supply, the deficiency must be made good by
artificial means.

By these means can the seductive little beauties,
whether of the feathered, furred, or scaly tribe,
that allure us to the great woods, the pleasant mea-
dows, or the sparkling brooks, be preserved through
endless time in undiminished abundance, furnishing
the incentive that leads us away from our dull books
or wearying cares, the crowded streets, the congre-
gations of eager men, the trials and excitements of
business, to genéle communings with the hills and
skies, to contemplative musings beneath the leafy
forests, or by the noisy water-falls, strengthening
our nerves, renewing our hold of life, and elevating
our moral nature.

196 FLY-MAKING.

FLY-MAKING.

Berorr making an artificial fly, it is essential to
ascertain and select the best materials, and the neces-
sary implements for the purpose. In the Game Fish
of North America the author has explained the sim-
plest and easiest mode of tying a fly, and if there be
any person who has not read that work he should
procure itat once. The instructions there contained.
must be first mastered before the following are
attempted, lest discouragement should result; and
no one that does not desire great accuracy and
finish need waste the time and labor of understand-
ing and executing the ensuing directions. There are
afew persons who wish to tie a fly handsomely ;
this chapter is written for them. The fish probably
care little whether the fly is made at Imbrie’s esta-
blishment, of the finest materials and from the most
approved patterns, or by some unknown German
wholesale dealer, of any chance feathers.
Remember, however, that he who strives not
after perfection never attains mediocrity, and the
improvement of himself is one half of the anglev’s
pleasure. If we are content with an ungainly fly,
we will be satisfied with inferiority of rod and tackle;
and although the fish may not see the difference, the
angler may become, from neglecting one point,
slovenly in all. A well-made fly is a beautiful

FLY-MAKING. 197

object, an ill-made one an eye-sore and annoyance;
and it is a great satisfaction both to exhibit and exa-
mine a well-filled book of handsomely tied flies.

Nothing can be thoroughly done unless strict
attention is given to minutiz. The material must
be selected and protected with the greatest care, the
scissors and knife must be sharp, the spring pliers of
suitable strength, and the nails of the workman must
be long and his hands scrupulously clean. Here-
after the table-vice, the use of which was recom-
mended in the Game Fish of North America, and
which will be found both convenient and for extreme
neatness necessary, will be dispensed with, and the
hook held in the hand during the entire operation.
This at first may appear awkward, require more
time, and give an inferior result; but sad would
be the case if the loss of a vice were to diminish a
man’s capabilities.

The selection of the hook depends mainly upon
the fancy of the fisherman, and partly upon the
locality of its destined use. If fish are scarce and
shy, select one that will insure striking ; if they are
abundant, but strong and vigorous, choose one that
will hold. In trout-fishing there are two that bear
the palm in striking, the Sproat hook and the forged
O’Shaughnessy; in holding a fish after he is struck,
my preference is for Warren’s Lake-trout hook,
which, however, does not make a handsome fly; for
salmon-fishing, the O’Shaughnessy forged hook is
the general favorite. The objection to the straight
or hollow-pointed Limerick, is that it may be drawn

198 FLY.MAKING,

over a flat surface without catching, while the point
of the O’Shaunessey, by projecting, catches and
penetrates.

Fish-hooks of the best quality of home manufac-
ture, of all shapes and sizes, may be obtained at
from twenty-five to seventy-five cents a hundred,
and will be found equal if not superior to any Eng-
lish hook at double the price, or they can be
manufactured of any shape desired.

So few persons make their own flies in this coun-
try that none of the tackle-makers sell the mate-
rials, and hence the amateur will have to collect
the latter as opportunity offers. Gut, of course, can
be purchased anywhere; but the strongest kind of
that suitable for salmon-fishing is often difficult to
obtain, if not entirely out of the market. In trout-
fishing, select fine, round, transparent strands, and
pay from one to two dollars per hank of one hun-
dred strands; for salmon choose the strongest and
roundest, and pay from three to four dollars. Gut
is imported from Spain and Italy, and is made by
drawing out a dead silk-worm till it is of the proper
fineness ; and none imported from the East, and no
imitation of grass, sinew, or the like, is worth using.
The quality can be determined by its hardness; if it
resists the teeth well, it is good; age weakens and
finally decays it.

The best wax, although it is by no means perfect,
is made of one part of resin, one of beeswax, and
four of shoemaker’s wax, the two former melted
together and poured into water, and then worked in

FLY-MAKING. 199

with the latter. It should be kept in a small piece
of leather. Shoemaker’s wax itself is the strongest,
but is sticky in warm weather and hard in cold.
The best silk is the finest sewing-machine silk,
marked with three 0’s on the spool; but for very
small trout-hooks the better plan is to twist two or
three strands of spool floss-silk together and wax
them carefully.

Tinsel of a superior kind is difficult to obtain; the
silver should be both variegated and plain, and the
yellow either gold or well covereca with gilt, and
both flat and wound over fine silk. A mixture of
both sorts of a poor qnality is used to tie linen
goods, and can be obtained at the furnishing stores,
but a better article is to be had from the importers
of gold and silver braids. The proper kind of floss-
silk comes in spools, and can be wound off by the
single thread over the hand till a proper thickness
is attained, and will work much better than the
common floss skeins. If the latter are used, they must
be divided into several strands and are apt to bunch.

Worsted of all colors can be obtained in the
rough, or the yarn may be picked or used intact ;
the former is the best plan, and rivals mohair in
appearance.

Mohair may be purchased from the importers of
woollens, while it seems impossible, except by direct
importation from the English tackle-shops, to obtain
either pig’s hair or seal’s fur. For salmon-flies the
two last are infinitely preferable, having a gloss that
no other material possesses.

200 FLY-MAKING.

Mohair and camlets are the finest selection of
goat’s hair (the former being carded and the latter
combed), and work beautifully. The most elegant
flies are those with silk bodies, but they are rarely
so effective as those of mohair. Many of the wild
animals of our woods furnish a fine fur, such as the
grey, red, and black squirrels, martin, mink, rabbit,
and others.

A golden pheasant is indispensable for salmon-flies,
and a spoiled skin can be obtained from the taxider-
mists at from two to five dollars, according to their
scarcity. Hackles for salmon-flies should be large
and from matured cocks, those for dyeing delicate
colors pure white; while for trout-flies they should
be small, either from hens or from cocks not over
two years old, and taken from the upper part of the
head. They must taper well to the point and not
have a stiff stem, and should have the fibre about
the length of the hook shank. For wing-flies they
must be smaller than for hackle-flies and palmers,
and the superfluous fibres are to be stripped off be-
fore the feather is tied on. Small neck feathers of
almost any bird will make a hackle sufficiently large
for the midge flies. The natural colors afford
abundant varicty for trout-flies, but for salmon the
gayest must bedyed. The necessary colors are red,
claret, blue, orange, purple, and yellow; and by suit-
ing the dye to the natural color, so that the latter
shall shine through, a fine effect is often produced.
Considerable practice and experience will be neces.
sary in selecting hackles to distinguish the weak

FLY-MAKING. 201

from the harsh, and to determine the proper size and
elasticity. Collect all varieties of dimension and
color, and tying each selection round the roots with
a thread, keep them in separate papers. After a
while, those that experience shall have proved to be
unsuitable may be discarded.

The feathers of small birds make good wings for
trout flies, and there is not generally much difference
in their color. Our brown thrush is nearly the
shade of the English land-rail ; the robin furnishes a
fine and cohesive feather ; the woodcock’s tail makes
a pretty fly, while the mallard and wood duck are
indispensable.

There are two distinct feathers from the mallard
which are used for different flies; the brown and
grey mallard feather, both taken from the drake,
the former from the back near the wings, and the
latter from the body beneath the wings. The bird
must be in good plumage, and under the most favora-
ble cireumstances they are both, except in simple
wings as hereafter described, difficult feathers to tie ;
the fibres, although very fine, being apt to separate.
Another light feather, much easier to handle than
the grey mallard, is taken from the back of the can-
vas-back, but is of rather too pale a color; that from
the red-hgad is of darker grey. For salmon flies a
larger range is requisite. The turkey of all shades,
but especially the black and brown of the wild bird,
is the main-stay; the golden pheasant’s tail is some-
what similar ; the peacock gives us excellent feathers
of many shades, and the finer herls from the eyes of

Q*

202 FLY-MAKING.

the tail add lustre to a mixed wing. Peacock and
ostrich herls are used for the heads and bodies of
certain specimens. Ibis, macaw, guinea-fowl, blue-
jay, king-fisher, parrot, are all necessary ; while the
Argus pheasant, although injured by the water,
makes an exquisite wing, and the silver pheasant is
used with effect in black bass flies.

For dyed feathers the pure white of the swan
furnishes an excellent material, while crossing colors,
such as yellow over ibis, produces great brilliancy.
The mallard and canvas-back are also favorites for
dyeing. The principal shades are yellow, blue, and
purple.

We will now proceed to make a salmon-fly after
the simplest plan on a large hook, and remember
that the point is held down, and when the further
side is spoken of, it refers to it in that position; the
head is always towards the right and that is called
the upper part, and towards it is above.

Select a piece of stout gut a little longer than the
shank; pare down the ends with a knife; double
them together so that one shall extend beyond the
other; insert the picker between them, bend at the
top and shape it by twisting and pinching the ends.
If the hook is very large it is well to take several
strands of gut and first twist them together by means
of a vice fastened to each end, while they are wet
and before shaping them over the picker. When
the gut is prepared lay it down and take a well
waxed piece of silk about six inches long, and hold.
ing the hook in the left hand, wind a number of

FLY-MAKING. 203

separated coils from the lower towards the upper
end of the shank, but not quite to the head. Ifthe
silk is well waxed it will remain in its place while
you pick up the gut with your right hand, and lay
it along the under side of the shank upon these
coils, Hold it there with your left while you wind
firmly and closely toward the bend; catch the last
turn beneath the gut or pass a half hitch, and cut
off the end. Take a fresh piece of silk, always
thoroughly waxed, and pass a few turns over its end
so as to fasten it; then hold a piece of tinsel four
times as long as the shank between your left fore-
finger and the further side of the hook, just project-
ing above it, and nearly vertical; pass three turns
over it, and wind the silk in separated or loose coils
towards the head and let it hang there. Fasten the
spring pliers on to the lower end of the tinsel length-
ways with it, and holding the shank in the right
hand, with the Jeft forefinger in the pliers, twist
several turns down and then back to form the tag,
covering the edges of the first turns with the second
carefully and neatly; let the pliers hang; pass the
hook to the left hand; unwind the silk with the
right down to the tinsel; fasten off with three turns
and cut the tinsel close to the hook. Unwind from
the floss-spool over your right hand a dozen strands,
and smoothing them evenly together and holding
them against the hook with the lef, tie in the ends
firmly, and again coil the tying silk toward the head
out of the way. You may wind the floss with either
hand or with the pliers as you please; if you wind

204 FLY-MAKING.

with the right hand, hold the hook in the left and
press the second finger on each turn as it is passed ;
this is called stopping it or using the stop. After
covering about one sixteenth of an inch, seize the
end between your second and third or third and
fourth fingers, and hold it firmly while you bring
down the tying silk and pass three turns; holding
the silk in that way is called using the catch, and is
difficult to acquire with facility. Cut the floss off
neatly, and selecting a feather from the golden
pheasant top-knot, Jay it on its face,—the side of the
feather which lies nearest the bird from which it is
taken, is the inside or back, and the contrary side
the outside or face,—and secure it firmly. Stop the
tying silk and take up your hackle, which should
have been previously prepared by stroking back and
pulling out a few fibres toward the point, and hold-
ing it by the point with the right hand, lay it on its
face with the butt towards the left so that the bare
spot shall come at the upper end of the floss silk tip,
and pass two turns of the flying silk; insert a piece
of tinsel in the same manner parallel to and just
over the hackle, and having fastened it, hold the
tying silk with the catch; take up the dubbing of
mohair with your right hand and spin it over the
tying silk towards the left, having again taken the
latter into the right as soon as you have caught the
end of the mohair with the stop. Shape the mohair
so that the body shall taper and twist it evenly
together with the tying silk towards the shoulder,
using the stop all the way, and do not carry it too

FLY-MAKING, 205

close to the head; pull off the superfluous mohair
with the fingers of the right hand and pass the silk
four turns over the upper end of the body, and
winding it towards the head slip it between the
gut and the hook, In this way you can always
secure the tying silk when you wish to Jay down
your work. Spring the pliers on to the tinsel, and
with the right forefinger pass four even open coils
carefully and regularly ; unwind the silk, and having
secured the tinsel replace it. If these coils are im-
perfect or irregular, neatness cannot be obtained.
Having cut off the tinsel, catch with the spring pliers
the butt of the hackle and follow the edge of the
tinsel; rolling the hackle on its back so that the
fibres shall point down the shank. When you reach
the shoulder pass several turns of the hackle close
above one another, and bringing down the tying silk
secure the butt. If one hackle is not sufficient, and
it rarely is, introduce a new hackle close above the
first, precisely as you did the other, only on its back,
and wind a sufficient number of close coils and again
fasten it. The second hackle, if weak, may be fas-
tened in on its back by the butt, and wound with the
point.

The silk being hitched under the gut cut it off and
apply a new piece as you did the second, and wind
it towards the shoulder, letting it hang close down
to the hackle. Prepare the wings by cutting with
a sharp knife a few fibres from each of two mated
feathers, together with a little of the stem, so that
the fibres shall not be separated, and taking one

206 FLY-MAKING.

piece by the butt in the right hand, lay it on the side.
of the hook next to you, and holding it with the left
pass two turns sceurely, but not so tight as to de-
range the feather; then catching the silk, pull the
butt fearlessly into its proper place, and passing
another turn firmly, hitch the silk under the gut, and
bring it over the reversed way on top of the wing.
Cut off the butt and taking the hook in the left hand
with the head towards the left, apply and hold the
other wing with the right hand. Still keeping the
hook reversed and wind two turns of silk with the
left hand from you, and having arranged the butt
pass another turn and hitch the silk again under the
gut, so as to reverse it for the second time. If the
wings are in their proper place, equally on each
side of the hook, restore the latter to its original
position in the left hand, and having cut off the butt
neatly, pass as many turns as you think advisable ;
then having with your nails stripped off the fibres
from the butt end of an ostrich herl, tie it in with the
point towards the left and the elevated ridge of its
stem above. Hitching the thread again under the
gut, wind with the spring pliers the herl in close
coils to form the head; secure and cut it close, and
then stopping one end of silk under your forefinger
whip the other over it three turns and draw all tight.
Apply a little varnish at the head and your fly is
finished.

To strengthen the fly, it is well to use a little var-
nish before the head is commenced, and even before
the wings are laid, but the writer’s experience goes ta

FLY-MAKING. 207

prove that the wings are the last part of the fly to
give out. The head will be smaller if instead of the
ordinary tying silk three single strands of floss are
used.

To make a handsome fly, fasten the hook, the tag,

the tip, and the tail as directed, then preparing an
ostrich herl as for a head, tie it in and wind seve-
ral coils close to and covering the butt of the tail,
holding the hook in the right hand with the silk
coiled up out of the way, and using the pliers to guide
the herl. Secure the end, apply with the left hand
at the nearer side of the hook, the tinsel, and after-
wards at the further side floss, for the body. Coil
the tying silk out of the way, and with the left hand
wind the floss half way up the shank and secure it;
then tie in a hackle and some dubbing as heretofore
directed, and having spun the latter on the tying
silk with the right hand, work it up towards the
head for the second division of the body, and secure
it firmly. Hitch the silk under the gut, and thrust-
sing the butt of the hackle down through the gut
loop, with the pliers sprung on to the tinsel, and on
the left forefinger coil the tinsel up as far as the
hackle; withdraw the latter from the loop, hold it
and the hook in the left hand, and with the right
forefinger continue the tinsel to the head. Secure
it; wind and secure the hackle as heretofore, and
apply a new piece of tying silk composed of strands
of floss.

Select a few fibres of various feathers, which, com-
bined, will produce a pleasing effect, and holding

208 FLY-MAKING.

them all together in the left hand twist the lower
half, that, nearest the stem several times, and break
it with the nails of the right thumb and finger, till
the fibres are softened at the spot where they are
to be tied to the hook. Include with them a piece
of herl, and applying them with the right hand to
the hook, hold them and it with the left, while you
take sufficient turns of silk with the right, hitch the
silk and springing the pliers on to the herl, wind and
fasten the head and finish off.

There may be as many joints or divisions as fancy
shall dictate; and they can be either of floss silk,
mohair, or other material. To conceal the joints
herl may be wound like a head or a few turns of
hackle taken, or two small feathers from the golden
pheasant’s neck may be applied, one above and the
other below, and after being looscly tied they may
be drawn down by the butts till they are separate
round the entire joint. The favorite feather for the
tail is the golden pheasant top-knot, but in many
flies scarlet worsted is preferable, and the fibres of
other feathers may be substituted. In making a
mixed wing as it is called, separate the fibres as
much as possible, and after the wing is fastened, a
long golden pheasant top-knot tied over it will
often improve the effect. It is common to add to the
wing two fibres of blue macaw, one on each side,
and to tie them properly the silk should be reversed
by passing it under the gut, as directed for tying
simple wings. Care and experience are requisite to
the selection of a handscme mixed wing, and fibres

FLY-MAKING. 209

of mallard or wood duck, plain or dyed, are usually
a component part. Delicate feathers produce a finer
effect than coarse ones.

In tying in an entire plume reduce it to the
proper size by pulling off the fibres, and if the stem
is large pare it away and always flatten and work it
with the nails; then tie it loosely till it is properly
arranged, and finally, secure it with a number of
turns. It will slip unless made unusually firm, which
the smallness of the head will readily permit.

Where the tail is worsted, it may be made of
several thicknesses, left longer than necessary, and
pared down and picked out after the fly is finished.
As it is essential that in making a head, the ridge of
the stem of the herl should be above, and as it is often
obstinate in its refusal to take that position, it may
be wound either way,—that is, from you or towards
you.

Care should be taken with simple wings that each
is in the same relative position to the body, and that
the fibres are not separated; with this object not
only must the thread be reversed as above directed,
but cohesive feathers should be selected. Some are
exceedingly difficult to tie, while others, such as the
pheasant and turkey, retain their place readily. They
should be selected from feathers taken from the
opposite sides of the bird; and if two or more differ-
ent kinds are to be used, the first wing should be
completed before the other is commenced, and before
the thread is reversed.

Tn rolling an ordinary feather in place of a hackle,

210 FLY-MAKING.

the same course may be taken as with the latter, but
the better way where it is large enough is to strip off
the fibres of one side, and then pare away the stem
with a sharp knife. This requires care lest the knife
slip and cut your hopes in twain. The same may be
done with a simple hackle where great neatness is
required, except thatthe stem does not need paring.

The tinsel may be double, tied in on opposite sides
of the hook and wound contrary ways, but the effect
is hardly better than a simple twist. In the latter
avoid too many coils; they should not exceed four
on hooks numbered not larger than one and a half.

Two hackles, which, if the colors are well con-
trasted, produce a fine effect, are usually rolled to-
gether, but may be wound one after the other if
care is taken to pick out the fibres. They are tied
in at one time and handled as though they composed
but one.

A trout-fly may be made in the manner heretofore
directed for salmon-flies, omitting as much as you
please, or the wings may be laid together back to
back or face to face, held in that position inthe left
hand, and applied to the hook after the fibres have
been pinched with the nails at the proper place.
Being secured in that way they resemble the wings
of the ephemere closely ; whereas to make one of
the phryganide a few fibres of one side may be
stripped off and tied on alone, lying close down upon
the hook. Remember the ephemeridce have
whisks, the phryganide have none; the wings of
the former stand up, of the latter lie down. Coarse

FLY-MAKING, 211

fibres of hackle, or golden pheasant breast and back,
are usually employed for whisks ; and two strands of -
floss carefully waxed with a small edge of the wax,
will make a tying silk as strong and large as should
be used for a small fly. If well waxed, the finer the
silk the firmer it holds; ifnot waxed no silk what.
ever will hold.

Another way of tying a trout-fly, by which more
life is supposed to be given to it, is by commencing
to fasten the gut at the bend and finishing at the
head, holding the hook reversed; then change the
hook to its proper position, and reversing the thread,
lay on the wings, which are composed of two strips
of feather folded, so that they shall point up along
the gut; secure them firmly and cut off the butts
close, divide them with the point of the picker and
pass the thread through the opening each way several
times, and if necessary above them both, but not on
the root of the wings, till they stand up, then push-
ing them into their original position tie in below
them by the larger end a hackle and a piece of
round tinsel, and spinning a little dubbing on the
silk, wind it toward the bend; hold the thread with
the catch, and with the pliers wind the tinsel and
afterwards the hackle, and fasten both at the bend ;
and finish off with two halfhitches. The silk com-
posing the material in which the round tinsel is
wound may be left for a tail, the coating being
pulled off; or the tip of the hackle may be so left,
or proper whisks may be introduced. The wings
being drawn into their appropriate place will remain

212 FLY-MAKING.

there, and offering resistance to tne water are sup-
' posed by some to imitate motion. Those tied in this
manner are not handsome, but are great favorites
with certain fishermen for their assumed killing qua-
lities, and are considered ruined if the silk covers
the roots of the wings, as is done by most.Irish fly-
tiers.

Flies may also be finished at the shoulder under
the wing; a course that seems to offer no advan-
tages and to combine most disadvantages. Or the
body may be tied, beginning at the shoulder and
finishing at the bend, as last described, omitting the
wings and leaving a place for them till the last; a
new piece of thread is then applied, and the wings be-
ing tied in their natural position, the second finis
is made at the head.

To prepare two single strands of floss as tying
silk, hold one end between your teeth, twist the silk
and rub it lightly with a small edge of wax. Ifthe
weather is cold the wax may require thumbing be-
fore it can be used or will stick to the silk. There
will be found considerable difference in the strength
of strands of floss according to the color, and in
very small flies this may be suited to the insect
intended to be imitated, and the necessity of any
other body avoided.

The word buzz, which is taken from the buzzing
motion of an insect’s wings when moved rapidly, is
applied to the hackle wound more or less along the
body, and supposed thus without wings to repre:
sent that motion. The hackle may be carried all

FLY-MAKING. 213

the way from the bend or only part of the way, or
merely tied very full at the head. In this matter,
as well as concerning palmers, writers differ. A
palmer is properly a long-bodied fly with two small
hooks, and hackles wound the entire length, to
represent a caterpillar and its hairy ornaments.
The hooks are often made double expressly for this
purpose. A hackle has but one hook and a shorter
body. The word midge is another word that leads
to mistakes; there are only a few proper midge-flies,
such as the gnat, ant, etc., but any fly may be
dressed on a minute hook and called a midge-fly,
although this is not an accurate use of language.
Horse-hair is sometimes used as a substitute for gut
by old-fashioned anglers, but it is weaker, more apt
to slip, and more perceptible to the fish.

An excellent plan for preserving feathers conve-
niently and safely, isto put them in envelopes suited
in size to their length, and to stow them, together
with a piece of camphor, in a tin box. If they are
looked over occasionally, and the camphor renewed
as it wastes, they will remain untouched by moth ;
but if they are to be kept for a long time unhandled,
they should be deposited inalinen bag. The enve-
lopes should be large, for if the fibres are bent they
will not make handsome wings, and the different
classes of feathers may be tied in separate bundles.

The following wax is recommended in the Appen-
dix to “Fly-fishing in Salt and Fresh Water :”—
Melt some resin in a small vessel over a slow fire,
and whilst it is on the fire and after it has become

214 ' -FLY-MAKING.

fluid, take a pure white wax candle, light it and let
it drop into the melted resin; there is no rule as to
the quantity. Pour out upon a board either greased
or rubbed with wax from the candle, one fourth of
the composition; then drop more wax into the re-
mainder and pour out one fourth more. Proceed in
the same manner with the other two fourths, and
thus you will have wax of four degrees of hardness ;
that with the least wax dropped from the candle
being for use in hot weather, the others for different
degrees of temperature of the seasons. After the
composition has become cool on the board, it should
be well worked on the board as shoemaker’s
wax is.

To make soft wax to use upon very delicate silk,
dissolve some common shoemaker’s wax in spirits of
wine until it becomes of the consistency of butter,
then put a small quantity on the inside of a piece of
an old kid glove, and draw the silk gently through
it. Or put a piece of shoemaker’s wax the size of
a walnut in a small bottle, and pour over it an ounce
of eau-de-cologne ; shake it occasionally till it dis-
solves, when it is ready for use; then taking a drop
between the finger and thumb, draw the silk through
it. It may be carried in a metal bottle with a
screw stopper, and if well corked will keep for
years.

In Scrope’s Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing,
is found the following description of a few favorite
salmon flies :—

FLY-MAKING. 215

No. 1. Kinmont WIt1E.

Wings.—Mottled feather from under the wing of
a male teal.

Head.—Yellow wool.

Body.—Fur of the hare’s ear.

End of Body.—Red wool.

Tail.—Yellow wool.

Round the body.—Black cock’s hackle.

No. 2. Lapy or Merrovuy.

Wings.—Mottled feather from under the wing of
the male teal.

Head.—Crimson wool.

Body.—Water rat’s fur.

End of body—_Crimson wool.

Tail.—Yellow wool.

Round the body.—Black cock’s hackle.

End of body. —A little red hackle.

No. 3. Toppy.

Wings.—Black feather from a turkey’s tail tipped
with white.

Head.—Criinson wool.

Body.—Black bullock’s hair.

End of body.—Crimson wool.

Tail—Yellow wool.

Body.—Black cock’s hackle.

Find of body.—Small piece of red cock’s hackle.

216 FLY-MAKING.

No. 4. Micuart Scort.

Wings.—Mottled feather from the back of a drake
(mallard).

Head.—Yellow wool with a little hare’s fur next
to it.

Body—Black wool.

End of the body.—F ur from the hare’s ear; next
to the hare’s ear, crimson wool.

Tail—Yellow wool.

Round the body.—Black cock’s hackle.

Lind of the body.—Red cock’s hackle.

Round the body.—Gold twist spirally.

No. 5. Mee wiru THE Muckie Movutu.

Wings.—From the tail of a brown turkey.

Head.—Crimson wool.

Body.—Y ellow silk.

Lind of body —Crimson wool.

Tail—Yellow or orange wool.

Round the body.—Red cock’s hackle.

Round the body.—Gold twist; over it hackle
mixed with color, as above.

No. 6. Mec 1n HER Braws.

Wings.—Light brown from the wing of a bittern.

Head —Y ellow wool.

Next the head—Mottled blue feather from a jay’s
wing.

Body.— Brown wool mixed with bullock’s hair.

Towards the end of body.—Green wool; next to
that crimson wool.

FLY-MAKING. 217

Tail—Yellow wool.

Round the body.—Gold twist; over that cock’s
hackle, black at the roots and red at the points.

“ Concerning these flies, I will note one thing, which
is, that if you rise a fish with the Lady of Mertoun,
and he does not touch her, give him a rest and come
over him with the Toppy, and you have him to a
certainty, and vice-versd. This I hold to be an in-
valuable secret, and is the only change that, during
my long practice, I have found eminently successful.

Another method of dressing No. 3, Toppy; wing
feather from rump or tail of turkey, which is black
below and strongly marked with a white tip, to be
set on Tweed fashion (that is to say, the wings
parted and made to lie open like a butterfly’s wings).

“ Body black mohair; three turns of broad silver
tinsel.

“ Blue or black heron’s neck-feather at the shoulder;
if heron’s feather cannot be procured, a good-sized
black cock’s hackle; orange or yellow wool, for tail.”

The long transparent bodies which are made in
imitation of the ephemeridw, and are rather more
admired by the fancy angler than by the fish, are
composed of small pieces of gut, whalebone, or other
similar material, which, after being cut to the proper
length, are fastened on at the shoulder, together with
a thin flat end of gut, such as comes in the covered
part of every hank, and which, after being well
soaked in warm water, has been smoothed down
with the finger nail. The latter, while still damp
and pliable, is wound evenly round the material of

10

218 FLY-MAKING.

the body, including the hook, for several turns, and
then round the body alone, and secured at the ex-
tremity by passing a couple of turns over the end
and drawing it through. As this is transparent, it
will show the color of the substance below, and may
even be wound over floss-silk bodies which do not
project beyond the hook, and while adding brilliancy,
will protect them from injury. The whisks may be
included with the solid material of the kody, and
an upper section may be added; the hackles are to
be introduced, and the wings secured afterwards ;
but although a very perfect imitation, it is not gene-
rally so killing as the ordinary artificial fly.

In giving the preceding directions, it is by no means
intended to advise that the table vice should be
discarded ; but, on the contrary, a small or hand-
some fly can be tied much more easily with its assist-
ance. A little practice with the fingers alone will,
however, greatly increase one’s expertness, and re-
move an awkward difficulty in case the vice should
by any chance be left behind. The great objection
to tying a fly with the fingers is the risk of mussing
the feathers, especially in summer, when perspiration
prevails.

I am indebted to Mr. J. James Hyde, a gentle-
man who, although an amateur, is one of the most
finished anglers and neatest dressers of a well-imi-
tated trout-fly in the United States, for the follow-
ing directions for tying al] Ronalds’s flies with the
feathers of our American birds, so that the angler
who may be unacquainted with the English feathers

FLY-MAKING. 219

can make an accurate imitation, and not, as is too
common in this country, produce some wretched
abortion for a well-known fly, and may at the same
time avoid the unnecessary outlay of importing
expensive foreign materials.

The following list of flies is taken from Alfred
Ronalds’s ‘ Fly-Fisher’s Entomology.” This work
has been selected because its descriptions are imita-
tions of real flies, and not of traditional or conven-
tional nondescripts, which, although the delight of
professional dressers, might be safely worshipped
without breaking the commandment, since they are
not the “likeness of any thing in the heaven above,
nor in the earth beneath, nor in the waters under the
earth.”

Some alterations have been made for the purpose
of facilitating the reader in his choice of materials,
and the feathers indicated are, in most cases, those
of our own birds, which may be easily procured, and
are quite as suitable as the foreign ones given by
Ronalds. Mohair is the best material for the bodies
of trout-flies, and though others are sometimes
named as being an easier method, the experienced
amateur will prefer mohair, with which he will pro-
duce the same effect, without any of the objections
to which all other materials are liable; and by a judi-
cious mixture, any shade of color may be obtained.

Ronalds’s work being descriptive of English flies
only, it has been deemed advisable to substitute
their American prototypes in all cases where they
are known; and although the trout are not perhaps

220 FLY-MAKING.

thorough entomologists, the scientific fisherman will
always prefer to use a fly which exists in the waters
he frequents, to an English resemblance, restricted
perhaps to a confined locality some thousands of
miles away. Asa general rule, there is no doubt
that the best imitations of the fly the fish are taking:
will be the most successful; yet there are excep-
tions, of which the ibis fly is a glaring instance. It
is also desirable at times to vary the sizes of flies,
and to make the imitations larger than the living
flies—when, for instance, the water is rough or thick;
but these variations are not of absolute importance.

No. 1. Taz Brive Don.

This fly is the earliest American ephemera, and
may be found on warm days in February. In
March it is abundant. It lives three or four days,
and then becomes the red spinner.

Imitation.

Body.—Mouse-colored mohair, spun very thinly
on yellow silk.

Tail.—Two fibres of gray mallard.

Wings.—F rom a quill-feather of the robin’s wing.
The third or fourth feather with a tinge of reddish
brown at the extremity of the fibre.

Legs—Two or three turns of a blue or ginger
dun hackle. One side of the hackle may be stripped
off for the ephemeride.

No. 2. Tur Rep Spinner.
This is the blue dun in its perfect or ¢nrago state.

FLY-MAKING, 221

It is now of a reddish brown, and its wings are near-
ly transparent. It lives four or five days, but if
the weather be hot, will be found more at even-
ing.

Imitation.

Body.—Of bright reddish brown mohair, ribbed
with silk of same color.

Tail—Two whisks of a red cock’s hackle, or of
the red body-feather of the golden pheasant.

Wings.—From a thin, transparent mottled grey
feather of the mallard or wood-duck.

Legs.—Plain red cock’s hackle. The wings of the
ephemeride stand upright on their backs.

No. 3. Tae Water CricKert.

This insect lives upon small flies, etc., whose blood
it sucks ina manner similar to that of the land
spider. It runs upon the water and darts upon its
prey while struggling on the surface. In the sum-
mer months it is provided with wings.

Body.—Orange mohair, spun on black silk, and
ribbed with black silk.

Legs and Wings.—A black cock’s hackle. This
fly is always made buzz. The wings are very trans-
parent.

No. 4. Great Dark Drone.

This fly is found upon the grass in a torpid state,
until the sun warms the air, when it takes wing ;
and afterwards, if there be a breeze, it is found upon

922 FLY-MAKING.

the water. They are of great variety of color, but
the black is the most common.

Imitation.

Body—Black mohair spun thickly on black silk

Wings.—The dun feather of a mallard wing. The
wings lie flat upon its back, and the upper fibres of
the hackle should be cut off.

Legs.—A dark grizzled hackle. This is a late fly.

No. 5. Cow-Dune FLy.

This fly is to be found throughout the year. It
is most abundant in March, and during a high wind
it is blown upon the water. The color of the male
is a tawny yellow; that of the female a greenish
brown.

Male.—Imitation.

Body—Yellow and light-brown mohair mixed,
spun on light brown silk.

Wings—The wing feather of the brown thrush,
or of the rail (corncrake).

Legs.—A. ginger-colored hackle.

Fremale—Olive-colored mohair body; wings and
legs the same. The wings lie flat, and the upper
hackles should be cut off.

No. 6. Peacock Fry.

This is a small beetle, very abundant on warm
summer days. It often falls upon the water in its
flight, or is blown upon it by the wind. It is highly

FLY-MAKING. 223

praised by English writers, and is described by
Arundo, in “ Practical Fly-Fishing,” as “the little
chap.”

Imitation.

Body.—Copper-colored peacock’s herl.

Wings.—The darkest part of a robin’s wing-
feather.

Legs.—A dark purple-dyed hackle.

No. 7. Marca Brown.

This epheméra is the next in season after the blue
dun. It is a handsome and attractive fly, and is
eagerly devoured by the trout. The male is of a
chocolate color, and the female a greenish brown.
It lives three or four days, and then changes into the
great red spinner.

Imitation.

Body.—Sandy-brown mohair, ribbed over with
olive silk.

Tail.—Two fibres of a brown hen’s feather.

Wings.—From the mottled wing-feather of a
brown hen, which may be found of the exact shade.

Legs.—A brown hen’s hackle, or the small brown
body-feather of the widgeon.

No. 8. Great Rep Spinner.

This is the metamorphosis of the March brown,
and may be used on warm evenings through the
season. It is a very excellent fly.

224 FLY-FISHING.

Imitation.

Body.—Orange and brown mohair mixed, ribbed
with fine gold twist.

Tail—Two fibres of a bright amber red hackle, or
the body-feather of the golden pheasant, which is a
strong, durable feather for this purpose, and may be
found from a bright yellow to deep red.

Wings.—Light-colored feather from the robin’s
wing.

Legs.—A bright amber red hackle.

No. 9. Sanp Fy.

This fly comes from a water larva, and is one of
the best flies which can be used during April and
May. Its wings are long and full, and lie flat upon
its back.

Imitation.

Body.—Sandy-colored mohair, spun on silk of the
same color.

Wings—From the wing-feather of the brown
thrush, or the mottled brown feather of a young hen.

Leys.—A light ginger hackle. Cut off the upper
fibres of the hackle, that the wings may lie flat.

No. 10. Tur Strong Fry.

This fly also comes from a water larva. It is
heavy in its flight, but runs with great rapidity, and
is generally found in streams, amongst the stones or
close to the sides of the water. Its body is nearly
half an inch in length. >

FLY-FISHING, 225

Imitation.

Body.—Brown and yellow mohair mixed, and
ribbed with yellow silk.

Tail.—T wo strands of brown hen’s wing.

Wings.—From the mottled feather of a brown hen
made full, and to lie flat.

Legs.—A grizzled hackle.

No. 11. Tue Graven Bep, on Spiper Fy.

This fly is found only in running waters, but
where it is found it is very numerous. It may be
used all day, and is a very delicate fly. It will raise
fish in clear water when no other fly will.

Imitation.

Body —Lead-colored silk thread, with which the
fly is tied. Fine and thin.

Wings—From an under covert feather of the
wood-cock’s wing. To lie flat.

Legs.—Two turns only of a black hackle.

No. 12. Tue Grannom, orn GreEN Tar.

This fly comes from a water Jarva, and is found
chiefly at morning and at evening. The green tint
of its body is derived from the color of the bag of
eggs near the tail. There are a number of species
in the United States, and in some the bag of eggs is
yellow, and in some orange. The green is the most
used.

10*

226 FLY-FISHING.

Imitation.

Body.—wW ork in a little tuft of green at the tail,
and then finish the body of sandy-colored mohair.

Wings.—A light brown mottled hen’s feather, to
lie flat.

Legs.—A pale ginger hackle.

The body of the male is yellow, without the green
tag.

No. 13. TuE YELLow Dun.

This beautiful ephemera is one of our very best
flies. There are several varieties, and some of them
are an inch in length. Jt changes to a spinner, very
similar to the metamorphosis of the blue dun (No. 2),
only lighter and yellower, and should be so tied.

Imitation.

Body—Yellow mohair spun very thinly on pale
blue silk.

Wings.—From the lightest part of the feather of
a robin’s wing.

Legs.—A pale yellow dun hackle.

This fly must not be finished off at the head with
the blue silk, but a yellow must be tied in for the
purpose when the body is done.

No. 14. Tue Iron Biur Don.

This is one of the smallest of the ephemeride,
but not the least useful. It lives only two or three
days before changing its coat, when its body becomes
almost white, and its wings transparent.

FLY-FISHING. 227

Imitation.

Body.—Pale blue mohair, very thinly spun on
reddish-brown silk, with which the head must be
finished,

Tail—Two whisks of the yellow body-feather of
the golden pheasant.

Wings.—From the wing-feather of the blue-bird.

Legs.—A very small yellow dun hackle.

No. 15. Tur Jenny SPINNER.

This is the name of the iron blue dun (No. 14) in
his new dress, in which be lives four or five days.
Tt is a killing fly towards evening in clear water in
summer. There are in the United States at least
some hundred varieties of these small ephemeride,
of every conceivable color, and the skilful dresser
will take pleasure in tying them, using the feathers
of the small domestic and foreign birds which he can
procure. Such are the sky-blue, the orange dun, the
pale evening dun, the July dun (blue and yellow),
the whirling blue dun, and the little pale dun.

Imitation.

Body—White floss silk, tied at head and tail
with brown silk thread.

Tail—Two whisks light dun hackle.

Wings.—From a, blue-bird’s wing-feather

Legs-A very small and very light dun hackle,
nearly white.

228 FLY-FISHING.

No. 16. Tur Lirrtzr Yertow May Dov.

This is another of the ephemeride, and a most
useful one to the fisherman. It is not so small as the
preceding one (No. 14), and changes to a very light
red spinner.

Imitation.

Body.—Pale ginger-colored mohair, ribbed with
yellow silk.

Tail—Two whisks of yellow, or ginger hackle.

Wings.—Mottled feather of the mallard, dyed a
greenish yellow.

Legs.—Light ginger hackle, dyed the same color
as the wings.

No. 17. Taz Brack Gnar.

Every fisherman is familiar with this little insect,
and has taken trout with their mouths and throats
filled with them. It is, however, not properly a gnat,
but a midge.

Imitation.

Body.—Black ostrich herl,

Wings.—The darkest feather of a robin’s wing.

Legs.—A black hackle.

The black midge should be made similarly, but
with a thin black silk body.

No. 18. Tur Oak Fry, atso tur Down Heap
Fry, anp Down Hitt Fry.

This is a land fly, and may be found upon the

FLY-FISHING. 229

trunks of trees or on posts near the water. It is car-
ried on the water by the wind, and is consequently
used with most success on windy days, like the cow-
dung.

Imitation.

Body.—Orange floss silk or mohair, ribbed with
black silk.

Wings.—The darkest part of the wing-feather of
a curlew.

Legs.—A furnace, or red and black hackle.

No. 19. Tue Turkey Brown.

This ephemera is common to most of the waters
of New York, and is found on nearly all the Long
Island ponds, where it is eagerly taken by the trout.
It appears about the middle of April, and changes
to a little dark spinner, which is a most killing fly
just before dusk.

Imitation.

Body.—Brown mohair ribbed with purple silk.
The female is of a greenish brown.

Tail.—T wo fibres of the same feather as the wings.

Wings.—Of the brown mottled feather from the
back of a ruffed grouse.

Legs.—A red-brown hackle.

No. 20. Tue Lirrte Dark SPINNER.

This is the perfect, or Lmago, state of the turkey
brown (No. 19) just described. It is as fragile as it

230 FLY-FISHING.

is beautiful, and can hardly be touched without
maiming or killing it.

Imitation.

Body.—Light reddish-brown floss silk, ribbed
with purple.

Tail—Three whisks of a light dun hackle.

Wings.—F rom a feather of the robin’s wing, or
the under feather of a young grouse’s wing.

Legs.—A light dun hackle.

No. 21. Tug YxEttow Satty.

This is a water fly, which continues in season for
four or five weeks from the middle of May. Its
Wings are transparent, and lie close and flat. It is
sometimes called “the flat yellow.”

Imitation.

Body.—Y ellow mohair, ribbed with pale green silk
thread.

Wings.—White pigeon wing, stained a pale
greenish yellow.

Legs.—A white hackle, dyed the same color as
the wings.

No. 22. Tun Fern Fry.

The two most common varieties of this fly are
known as the “Soldier” and the “Sailor” The
wing coverings of one are red, and of the other blue.
They are both well taken by the trout until the end
of July, on hot days.

FLY-FISHING. 231

Imitation.

Body.—Orange floss silk.

Wings—The darkest part of a robin’s wing-
feather.

Legs.—A red cock’s hackle.

Two or three fibres of some blue feather may be
tied in with each wing, on the outside, or of red, to
represent the wing-covers.

No. 23. Tae Auper Fry.

This fly comes from a water nympha. It lays its
eggs upon the leaves of trees which overhang the
water, whence they drop into it. It is in season dur-
ing May and June.

Imitation.

Body.—Peacock’s herl tied with black silk.
Wings.—From a feather of a brown hen, made

large and full.
Legs.—A black cock’s hackle.

No. 24. Tar GREEN DRAKE.

This is the most famous of all the English ephe-
meride. It is a large and beautiful fly, but is not
found, so far as known, except in running waters.
For ordinary streams and ponds here the “little
yellow May dun” (No, 16) will be found preferable.

Imitation.

Body.—Straw-colored floss silk, ribbed with
brown ; the head of peacock’s herl.

232 FLY-FISHING.

Tail.—Three hairs from a fitch’s tail.

Wings—F¥rom a mottled feather of the -mallard,
stained a greenish yellow.

The female of this fly changes to the grey drake,
and the male to the black drake. They are little
used.

No. 25. Toe Hazen Fy.

This is a beetle, the pupa of which inhabits the
earth. It is found upon poplar-trees, and a species
very similar is found upon fern. It is blown upon
the water, and is to be used on windy days.

Initation.

Body.—A black ostrich herl and a peacock’s herl,
twisted together on red silk.

Wings and Legs —Made buzz with a dark fur-
nace hackle.

As this fly never alights upon the water, it is gene-
rally seen struggling with its wings in motion. *

No. 26. Tut Dark Mackeret.

This is the dmago, or perfect state of another kind
of green drake, darker than No. 24. It is found in
some waters where the true green drake is not, and
is used in its stead.

Imitation.

Body.—Dark mulberry floss silk, ribbed with fine

gold twist.
Tail—tThree hairs from a fitch’s tail.

FLY-FISHING. 238

Wings——From the brown mottled feather of the
mallard, which hangs from the back over a part of
the wing.

Legs.—A dark purple hackle.

No. 27. Tur Goip-Evep Gauze WIn«c.

This beautiful insect is not found upon all waters,
but where it is, affords great sport on windy days.
It may be used from June till the end of September.

Imitation.

Body.—Pale yellowish green floss silk, tied with
silk of the same color.

Legs.—Pale blue dun hackle, with one or two
turns in front of the wings.

Wings.—A pale transparent mallard, or wood-
duck feather, stained slightly green. Very full, long,
and to lie flat.

No. 28. Tote Wren Tatu.

This is a species of hopper, sometimes called “ ant
hoppers.” ‘They hop and fly for about twenty yards,
and sometimes drop short and fall upon the water.
The light and dark brown, and the greenish blue,
are the most common.

Imitation.

Body.—Ginger-colored mohair ribbed with fine
gold twist, short.

Wings and Legs—Feather from a wren’s tail,
wound on hackle-wise.

234 FLY-FISHING.

A brown mottled hackle may be used in place
of the wren’s tail feather.

No. 29. Tae Rep Ant.

There are many species of these winged ants, and
they are familiar to every one. The red and black
are those generally used.

Imitation.

Body.—Copper-colored peacock’s herl, wound
thickly, for two or three turns, at the tail to form a
tuft; the rest of the body dark red silk.

Wings—From the lightest part of a robin’s wing.
To lie flat.

Legs.—A small red hackle.

The black ant is made of black ostrich herl
body; wings from the darkest part of a robin’s
wing; legs, a small black hackle.

No. 30. Tue Sirtver Horns.

This fly is an excellent one until the end of
August, principally in showery weather.

Invitation.

Body.—Black ostrich herl tied with black silk,
and trimmed down.

Wings.—A wing-feather of the black-bird.

Legs.—Small black cock’s hackle.

Horns.—Two strands of the grey feather of the
mallard.

The male has black horns. To make it buzz,

FLY-FISHING, 235

the body is to be ribbed with silver twist upon the
black ostrich herl, and a black hackle wrapped the
whole length of the body.

No. 31. Tae August Dun.

This fly comes from a water nympha, lives two
or three days, and changes to a red spinner. This
fly is for August what the March brown is for
March.

Initation.

Body.—Brown floss silk, ribbed with yellow silk
thread.

Tail—Two hairs from a fitch’s tail.

Wings.—Feather of a brown hen’s wing.

Legs.—Plain brown hackle.

Made buzz with a grouse feather, in place of
wings and legs

No. 32. THe Orance Fy.

This isan Ichneumon Fly. It is furnished with an
ovipositor, for the purpose of piercing the skins of
caterpillars, in which it deposits its eggs, the grub
from which grows in, and ultimately kills, the insect
in which it was hatched.

Imitation.

Body.—Orange floss silk tied on with black.
Thick and square at the tail.

Wings.—Darkest part of a robin’s wing.

Legs.—A very dark furnace hackle.

236 FLY-FISHING.

No. 33. THe Cinnamon Fry.

This fly comes from a water pupa. It should be
used after a shower, and on a windy day. It is a
very killing fly on some waters, and somewhat re-
sembles the land fly, but does not appear so early.

Imitation.

Body.—Fawn-colored mohair, tied on silk of the
same color.

Wings.—Feather of a yellow-brown hen’s wing,
rather darker than the thrush feather. To lie flat.

Legs.—A ginger hackle.

The pinnated grouse’s small wing-feather, dyed a
pale cinnamon with madder and copperas, is an ex-
cellent feather for the wings of this fly, and of No.
34,

No. 34. Tar Crynamon Duy.

This ephemera is found in abundance on the
streams in Pike Co., Pa., and in some other locali-
ties. It is similar to the little yellow May dun, but
is of a bright cinnamon color, and comes on in July
and August. Its metamorphosis is of a light red
brown, with wings almost white.

Initation.

Body.—Red and yellow mohair spun on yellow
silk, and ribbed with the same.

Wings.—The light feather of a grouse’s wing,
dyed cinnamon with madder, or the feather of a
curlew’s wing.

FLY-FISHING, 237

Tail.—_Two fibres of the same feather as the
wings.
Legs.—A ginger hackle.

No. 35. Tue Buiux Bortte.

This and the house fly become blind and weak in
September, are frequently blown upon the water,
and afford good sport. They may be used especially
after a frosty night, but are not unsuccessful earlier
in the season.

Imitation.

Body.—Bright blue mohair, tied with light brown
silk. The body thick.

Wings.—The lightest feather of a robin’s wing.

Legs.—Two turns of a black hackle.

The House Fly may be made thus:

Body.—Light brown and green mohair mixed.

Wings.—Light-colored feather from a robin’s
wing.

Legs.—A blue dun hackle.

Head.—Green peacock’s herl, with two or three
turns under the wings.

No. 36. Taz Rep Parmer.

This is the caterpillar of the garden tiger-moth.
This palmer is found early in the spring, and is
chiefly recommended for streams where trees over-
hang the water. Cuvier states that this caterpillar
changes its skin ten times during its growth.

238 FLY-FISHING.

Imitation.

Body.—Peacock’s herl, with a red cock’s hackle
wrapped the whole length, and tied with red silk.

Ronalds’s palmers are made long, and have a
second hook tied in about half way up the body. It
is a killing fly in streams, and of little use in ponds
in the United States.

No. 37. Tuz Brown Parmer.

The preceding remarks on the red palmer apply
equally to this and the succeeding description. The
white and yellow are equally successful on wooded
streams, and they all may be used through the
season.

Imitation.

Body.-—Light brown mohair spun on brown silk,
and a brown cock’s hackle wrapped all the way up.

No. 38. Tue Brack anp Rep Patuer.
Imitation.

Body.—Black ostrich herl, ribbed with gold
twist, and a red cock’s hackle wrapped over it.

The feather at the shoulder should be a large fur-
nace hackle, and the herl should be thickest there.
Show the gold twist clearly at the tail.

FLY-FISHING. 239

THE ART OF DYEING FEATHERS, HACKLES, PIG’s
WOOL, AND MOHAIR, SUITABLE COLORS FOR FLIES,

Ir is a great advantage to the fly-fisherman to pos-
sess the knowledge of dyeing his materials, as it is
by no means easy to procure them at all times of
the desired color. It is, besides, an amusement and
an inducement to study the colors, sizes, and habits
of the insects which he wishes to imitate. The
colors for salmon-flies should be as rich and brilliant
as possible; those for trout are of soberer hues.
Hackles should be selected with much care, of fine
fibre, of even taper. White hackles are requisite
for yellow, orange, blue, and green; red hackles for
claret, red, brown, and olive. They should be
washed in soap and water before dyeing, and tied
in small bunches for convenience of handling.

It is important in dyeing all kinds of feathers to
dress them thoroughly. They should be rinsed in
clean water when taken from the dye, wiped as dry
as possible, and dressed with the hand in the direc-
tion of the fibres until dry. This gives them a
smoothness and gloss which can be given in no
other way.

Naturally-colored feathers are perhaps preferable,
as a general thing, for trout-flies; but there are
some which cannot be had of the proper color, and
for salmon-flies the dyer’s art is indispensable.

240 FLY-FISHING.

To Dyr YELLow.

Put two table-spoonfuls of ground alum, and one
tea-spoonful of cream of tartar into a pint of water.
When perfectly dissolved and boiling, put in the
feathers, hackles, or hair, and simmer for half an
hour. Take them from this mordant bath, and put
them in the yellow dye, made by infusing a table-
spoonful of ground turmeric in a pint of water, and
immersed until the color is extracted.

Boil until the color is deep enough, and then wash
them in clean water. Dry, and dress them as
directed.

There are several materials for yellow dyes, such
as fustic, quercitron bark, yellow wood, Persian ber-
ries, and weld; but turmeric is the best for the pur-
pose.

To Dyz ORANGE.

To produce orange the feathers or other material
should be first dyed yellow, according to the pre-
vious recipe. They should then be boiled in a dye
made with madder and asmall quantity of cochineal,
until the requisite shade is obtained.

To Dye Scarer.

Make a strong infusion of cochineal, put in a few
drops of muriate of tin, which will make a crimson,
and then put in a little cream of tartar, which will
make a clear scarlet. The proportions in weight
are one part of muriate of tin to two parts of cream
of tartar. It is best to boil the feathers first in the

FLY-FISHING. 241

solution of alum. Simmer them until the color is
obtained.

To Dyzr Crimson.

Boil the materials to be dyed in a solution of alum
and cream of tartar, for half an hour; bruise two
table-spoonfuls of cechineal, and simmer them in
water until the color is extracted.

Take the materials from the alum water, and boil
them in the cochineal liquor until you have the color
you wish.

Wash them in clean water, and if feathers, dress
them until dry.

To Dyr Brown.

Brown may be procured by boiling walnut shells
to a strong solution, and of a more chestnut hue by
boiling in a bath composed of a small handful each
of sumach and alder bark, boiled in half a pint of
water, with half a drachm of copperas.

To Dyer Buve.

Boil your material in the solution of alum and
tartar already described.

Then make a blue dye by dissolving the prepared
indigo paste in water, the quantity of which must
depend upon the color you wish to produce. Boil
until you have the shade you desire.

The prepared indigo paste is made by dissolving
indigo in oil of vitriol and water in a well stoppered

11

242 FLY-FISHING.

bottle, but it is some trouble to prepare, and may
be had already made at a dyer’s.

It requires a white ground to produce a good
blue.

To Dyze Purrie or VIOLET.

First dye your materials blue and let them dry,
according to the recipe already given. Then bruise
a couple of table-spoonfuls of cochineal, which boil
until the color is extracted; then put in the blue
hackles, or other feathers, and simmer them over
the fire until the purple is obtained.

Wash and dress as before directed.

To Dyer CraRret.

Bruise a handful of nutgalls and boil them half an
hour, with a table-spoonful of oil of vitriol in half
acup of water. Put in your material and boil for
two hours; add a piece of copperas the size of a
walnut, and a little pearl ashes. Boil until a fine
bright claret is produced.

Wash and dress as before.

To Dyer Brack.

Boil two handfuls of logwood with a little
sumach and elder bark for an hour; put in the
hackles or feathers, and boil very gently. Put in a
fittle bruised copperas, a little argil, and some soda;
leave the feathers in for some hours with a gentle
heat, then wash the dye well out of them, dry and

FLY-FISHING. 243

dress them. The argil and soda must be used spar-
ingly.
To Drs Lavenper, or Brug Don.

Boil ground logwood with bruised nutgalls and
a little copperas. The shade of color may be varied
by using more or less of the materials.

You may have grey, and duns of various shades,
by boiling with the logwood a little alum and cop-
peras.

To Dyz GREEN.

Dye your material a light shade of blue first,
according to the directions for that color; then put
them into the yellow dye, and examine them fre-
quently while boiling to see that you get the proper
shade. You may get any shade of green by dyeing
the blues darker or lighter, and then boiling them a
shorter or longer time in the yellow dye.

The blue and yellow dyes may also be mixed to
produce any shade of green, but this requires judg-
ment and considerable experience, and the result is
not superior. It must be remembered that the blue
becomes developed by time, and the color should be
at first more yellow than is required.

To Dyzm a Mariarp’s FEATHER FOR THE GREEN
Drake, AND Litrte YELLow May Duvy.

Boil the feathers in the mordant bath of alum
already described.
Then boil them in an infusion of fustic to produce

244 FLY-FISHING.

a yellow, and subdue the brightness of this yellow
by adding copperas to the infusion.

It is better to add a Uétle of the indigo paste to
this dye. It gives a brighter, clearer tone of color,

To Dyr Gut.
An Azure, or Neutral Tint.

1 drachm logwood,
6 grains copperas.
Immerse the gut 24 to 3 minutes.

An Azure Tint, more Pink,

1 drachm logwood,
1 seruple alum.
Immerse the gut 3 minutes.

A. dingy Olive.

1 drachm logwood,

1 scruple alum,

3 scruples quercitron bark.
Immerse from 2 to 3 minutes.

Al light Brown.

1 drachm madder,
1 scruple alum,
Immerse from 5 to 6 minutes.

A light Yellow, or Amber.

14 scruples quercitron bark,
1 scruple alum,

“dUVAHDOOUOHL ON

FLY-FISHING. 245

6 grains madder,

4 drops muriate of tin,

1 scruple cream of tartar.
Immerse 24 minutes.

An Olive Dun.

Make a strong infusion of the outside brown
leaves or coating of onions, by allowing the ingre-
dients to stand warm by the fire for ten or twelve
hours.

When quite cold put the gut into it, and let it re-
main until the hue becomes as dark as may be
required.

All the above dyes for gut are to be used cold.

In “Game Fish of North America,” are to be
found the names and descriptions, and methods
of tying many American salmon and trout flies not
known in England. It has not been considered
worth while to reproduce them here.

246 FLY-FISHING.

ARTIFICIAL BAIT AND FLY-FISHING.

Iw fly-fishing, a rod, and a good rod, is one of the
prime requisites, upon the excellence of which de-
pends, in a great measure, the successful exercise of
the angler’s skill. An excellent rod may be made of
different materials and in different manners, a choice
among which will depend upon fancied, more than
real superiority; but each writer has his favorites,
and, if able, is entitled to give the reasons for his
preference.

Fly-fishing is mainly confined to salmon and trout-
fishing ; for these, essentially different implements are
required; for the long casts and heavy play of the
former, amid the rapids and cascades of the foaming
river, a stout, stiff, two-handed rod is requisite ;
while for the feebler efforts and shorter casts of the
latter, amid the ripples of the murmuring brook, or
upon the placid surface of the quiet pond, a light,
single-handed rod is preferable.

The salmon-rod should be as Jong and strong as
the muscles of the angler will enable him to wield
trenchantly all day through, and should have that
quick, powerful pliancy that will send the fly with or
across the wind a prodigious distance. It is ordi-
narily made of ash or hickory for the joints, and
bamboo, on account of its lightness, for the tip.

FLY-FISHING. 247

Greenheart has lately become the favorite wood,
being now almost universally employed in England,
and offers, certainly, some desirable advantages ; but
I have not had sufficient experience with it to speak
decisively of its merits. A salmon-rod should be
twenty feet long; after giving the matter due
deliberation, and trying to reduce every ounce of
weight, I have resolved that I cannot take off an
inch from twenty feet. To meet the objection that
a weak, small man must, under these circumstances,
either give up the fishing or the rod, I would suggest
that he inure himself to the labor by practising,
for his first few days upon the river, with a sixteen-
foot rod till his muscles are strengthened, and then
substituting one of full length and weight.

A sixteen-foot rod may be handled beautifully,
will cast the fly lightly, will kill a fish delicately, but
it will not enable the possessor to force his line
against or across a gust of wind eddying down the
bank of the stream, nor to command all the casts
of a broad river with facility, neither can he strike
with certainty, nor kill his fish with rapidity. Sal-
mon rivers are usually wide, sometimes wild, broken,
and impassable even for that wonderful compound
of life and lightness, the birch canoe, and cannot be
reached in every part except with a long line under
perfect control; frequently, the very spot where tLe
fish habit, the swirl of the current or the pitch of
the cascade is beyond the limits of him of the fit
teen-foot rod; and if by the utmost effort the line
is cast far enough, the first eddy will slack it up

248 FLY-FISHING.

and deprive the weak, pliant rod of all control
over it.

Again, where the favorite pool lies close by the
overhanging rock, upon some accommodating ledge
of which the angler crawls prone to the earth,
hiding from the sharp eye of the watchful fish, he
can with a long rod jerk out the line, and twitching
it over the surface, beguile the prey; while with a
shorter one he might be deprived of concealment,
and stand confessed a laughing-stock to the fish,
dangling a useless line close to the rocky bank. If
the water, the wind, or the fish are strong, the rod
should be the same; although advocating gentle
treatment, there are times when, J assure the reader,
that vigor must be exerted, and then twenty feet are
better than fifteen.

No practical working rod can be made by the re-
moval of one or more joints and the substitution of
others, to increase or diminish in length. There
must be a uniform taper consonant with the length,
which, in case of alteration, will be destroyed, and the
rod rendered harsh or feeble. The strain will not
come equally upon all its parts; it will bend irregu-
larly, and under a sudden strain is almost sure to
give way. I had a rod in which a single joint could
be substituted for the butt and next joint, which
broke on an average of once a day so long as it was
used in that way, and until the two joints were re-
stored.

The elasticity of a good salmon-rod is like that
of steel, and by the aid of such an implement alone

FLY-FISHING. 24S

can the fly be propelled to a proper distance. The
force must be transmitted to the tip end of the
leader, and the angler must feel in casting that his
rod is up to its share of the work. It must neither
drag, for in that case the line follows the impulse
feebly ; nor be too stiff, for then no life can be iin-
parted to the line. If the rod is weak, it cannot
cast with power; if it is harsh, it cannot cast at all.
It must bend, but.must leap back to its place, driving
the fly far ahead of it by the strong and steady
impulse.

A deficiency in vigor is felt at once by the angler,
as a want of proper resistance to his exertion, and
will be particularly noticeable of a bad day, or in
an unfavorable locality, when the rod will seem to
double back and fail utterly in a weak disgusting
way; while too great stiffness will go to convince
the angler that he is using a bean-pole.

The single-handed trout-rod is a very different
affair, much more difficult both to make and handle ;
coarser tools and tackle will answer for the coarser
fish, but nothing less than the best material and
workmanship will enable the trout-fisher to perform
creditably and successfully. It must be light for fine
fishing, not over ten ounces in weight; it must be
the perfection of elasticity ; it must have a certain
strength ; it must balance perfectly in the hand; in
other words, it must be perfection, to attain which,
requires the utmost care and the greatest skill. It
isastrange fact that decidedly better fly-rods, and
perhaps better salmon-rods, can be obtained in Ame-

Lie

250 FLY-FISHING.

rica than in England, in spite of the greater foreign
experience; a result that is due mainly to our per-
sistent effort after delicacy, and perhaps partly to the
habits and size of our fish; but an English fly-rod is
now regarded as a clumsy monstrosity.

Trout-rods are usually made of ash with a bamboo
or Calcutta cane-tip ; the latter is infinitely prefer-
able to lance-wood, on account of its greater strength
and lightness. The bamboo is split into narrow
pieces the length of one joint of the cane, and being
glued together, is trimmed to the proper shape.
Three pieces should be used, each planed, by an in-
strument made for the purpose, into an obtuse angle,
and fitting neatly together; if two pieces only are
united, the tip will bend to different degrees in dif-
ferent directions.

Bamboo may also be used for the second joint,
and makes a light and vigorous rod, with ash for
the butt; horn-beam or iron-wood, and greenheart,
have also been introduced for trout-rods, but have
not come into general acceptance; lance-wood is
strong but too heavy, while I have long used one of
red cedar. Rods, after they have been exposed to
wet, and have endured the strain of a strong fish, or
even the effort of repeated casting, will warp; they
will, if they are extremely light, prove deficient in
power; they are apt to be either heavy or feeble;
they will, when the current or wind is strong, give
to it and lose their quickness in striking; in fact,
they have many defects common to one or the other
of the above woods, unless they are made of cedar ;

FLY-FISHING. 251

in this case they have but one fault, they are brittle.
A cedar rod never warps; it springs to the hand as
quick as thought to the brain; it is never slow or
“heavy; it cannot be kept down by the wind or the
current; it is never aught but quick, lively, and
vigorous ; it will cast three feet farther than any other
rod except the bamboo, and strike a fish with twice
the certainty. The wood is extremely light, but the
grain is short; it’ never loses its life, but will snap
under a sudden strain.

I once struck a salmon with an eight-ounce cedar
trout-rod ; it was at the basin below the Falls of the
Nipisiquit, where the current of the river, rushing
against the calm water of the deep pool, creates a
gentle ripple. The hour was near midday, and I
was catching sea-trout in that profusion with which
they abound in the northern waters, when out of
the ripple, a few yards beyond my reach, rose a
mighty monarch of the flood, and turning over as
he sank, caused a heavy surge in the tide.

My Canadian guide, an enthusiastic Frenchman,
was with me, and our nerves tingled and our cheeks
flushed at the sight; approaching the canoe, a long
cast brought him out again, but only to miss the
tiny trout-fly. Convinced that he, would rise, I
hastily substituted a small salmon-fly for the stretcher,
leaving on the leader the two small droppers I had
been using, and again carefully cast over him, Out
he came, the water breaking round him and rolling
away in miniature circling waves, and the foam fly-
ing from the powerful blow of his tail as he turned

252 FLY-FISHING.

down. I struck, but it was as though I had struck
a rock; he darted to the bottom, making the rod fly
in splinters; at every surge fresh splinters broke oft _
and fell about in showers; a piece of the lower joint
only was left, when feeling for the first time really
roused, he made one fierce rush and mad leap, and
the line not unreeling fast enough to suit him, he
disappeared with three flies, all my leader, and most
of my line. I do not advise any one to fish for sal-
mon with an eight-ounce cedar trout-rod.

In ordinary trout-fishing, however, salmon do not
abound nor come unceremoniously devouring our
baits intended for their smaller brethren; nor are
even trout so extremely numerous but that, for a
long summer day’s work, a light able rod will be in-
finitely preferable to a heavy one. A rod that
weighs fourteen ounces is heavy, and I have seen
persons with their hands or wrists dreadfully swol-
len after a single day’s fishing, and have had such
persons assure me that their rods were as light as
they could be possibly made. Delicacy to me is the
first essential in trout-fishing, whether delicacy of
rod and tackle, or delicacy of handling and casting.
Catching a trout with a stick and a string is not
half the fun of catching a flounder, the latter being
much more difficult to lug out of water; and deli-
cacy in trout-fishing will bring the best reward.

With a bamboo rod you need use the wrist alone,
and that without much exertion; you can cover
great distances and still control the line, and you can
switch the fly under bushes and in difficult places,

FLY-FISHING. 253

better than with one of slower materials. It is
quick, reliable, vigorous, and light, the slighest
motion gives the tip the requisite spring, and it
answers every effort of the hand instantly. It kills
a fish powerfully and rapidly, and exposure to wet
neither deadens nor weakens it. The ordinary hick-
ory and ash-joint are much stronger, but are logy
in their action and far heavier; joints of red cedar
or malacca are light, beautiful, and expensive, but
are almost unattainable, and are, occasionally at least,
deficient in power; and whalebone, for any part of
the rod, is dull, heavy, inappropriate, and when
water-soaked, utterly worthless. For these reasons
and many others—these are enough, however—a
rod of split bamboo worked round, is the best.

Many persons give the preference to a limber rod,
one that bends in the middle, and they can, after
infinite practice, cast well with it; in pleasant
weather they can throw a light line, but when the
storm lowers and the wind blows, or the current
rages, or the cast is very long, or the bushes over-
hang, then good-bye to the gentleman with that
most wretched of implements, a weak-backed lim-
ber rod. Give me no such inefficient deception to
break my wrist, my heart, and my patience; as well
tell me that whalebone has the vigor of a steel
spring.

The joints of a rod are united in various ways ;
with the salmon-rod it is almost essential, and with
all rods desirable, to use splices, but the custom is to
indulge the laziness of ferrules. American ferrules

254 FLY-FISHING.

fit accurately, and of course after the wood is swollen
by exposure to rain, they will not come apart even
if the joint-ends are all brass, a difficulty that can
be obviated by rubbing them with mutton tallow,
and loosening them every night, and we advise the
same precaution in wet weather with the reel bands.
In this connection it may be well to tell the reader
how he can, with a little trouble, separate the fer-
rules, no matter how solid they may seem to be; in
the first place heat them moderately, and pour a lit-
tle oil round the joint; then take two stout pieces
of string, or better, braid, about a foot long, and
tying the ends of each together, wrap one close
above and the other below the joint in the contrary
directions ; then insert a stick in each loop, and turn
one one way, and the other the opposite. If the
bands slip, rub them with wax.

The English ferrules, not fitting so closely, are not
liable to this objection ; but, on the other hand, would
come apart in use, to the intense disgust of the
angler, were they not held together by a piece of
silk, that, when they are set up, has to be wound
round a loop of brass fastened upon each for the pur-
pose. This silk must be cut every time the rod is
taken apart, and occasions much trouble. The Irish
use a serew-joint, which is firm and not liable to
bind ; but it is difficult to fit, easy to break, and, in
the woods, impossible to replace. Among these plans
the simple socket has obtained the preference, and
probably is entitled to the distinction.

It is doubtless useless for me at this day to tell any

FLY-FISHING. 255

intelligent sportsman that the butt of a fly-rod must
never be hollow; its solidity is necessary to a proper
balance ; but where the fishing is merely to be done
along the streams, a spear-head that can be screwed
into the end will add little to the weight, and prove
useful driven into the ground to hold the rod, while
the fisherman changes his flies or frees them from a
weed or bush. On a trout-rod there should be no
reel-bands, but a gutta-percha ring, or a leather
strap and buckle, will retain the reel firmly, and ena-
ble the angler to change its position at his pleasure,
and by altering the balance, rest his wrist. These
seem trivial matters, but mole-hills are mountains if
they rest upon a sore spot. On a salmon-rod the
reel-bands should be strong, and about a foot from
the end.

There should be rings or guides enough on a fly-
rod to bring the strain evenly throughout, and if one
is destroyed, it should be replaced at once, or a lia-
bility to break will result. If rings are used, they and
the brass top should be large and fastened on with
a whipping of silk, that adds much strength to the
wood. Where a spliced rod is used, it is well to
have a small ring of brass, somewhat similar to the
reel-band on each joint, under which the end of the
splice can be slipped before fastening it.

For salmon and trout-fishing, the reel had better
be a simple, large barrelled click-reel, as the music of
the line, unwinding to the rush of these splendid fish,
while it indicates the rate of its diminution, is to the
angler what the clarion is to the warrior, or the

256 FLY-FISHING.

hound’s bay to thedeer hunter; but a multiplier, nfade
as they are only made in this country, working with
the beauty and accuracy of clock-work, is by no
means inadmissible. A drag must be used with the
multiplier, but a stop never; the latter is utterly
useless, and by slipping unexpectedly, may destroy
your tackle. The reel must be manufactured with
the greatest care and of the best workmanship; no
implement is so worthless if poor, and none will bet-
ter repay the sportsman if perfect. In salmon-fish-
ing, it is only in desperate straits that any effort is
made to check the fish ; he is ordinarily too violent
to submit to such treatment ; otherwise, as the single-
barrelled reel revolves toward you, it could not be
used, as it cannot in bass-fishing.

A multiplier should have steel pins, which require
care and frequent oiling; the same reel may be
used for bass, and, if armed with a drag as above
stated, in case of necessity in salmon-fishing. For
both salmon and bass it should be of the largest
size, and may be painted black to preserve it from
rust, and to avoid alarming the fish. The line will
occasionally catch round the handle, to prevent
which, the latter is sometimes constructed of a but-
ton fitting in a plate.

All reels must be oiled occasionally. On one occa-
sion I proved this to my satisfaction in a very unsa-
isfactory way.

The weather had been hot and dry ; the water had
fallen and become transparent as crystal; the fish
were shy and cautious. After exhausting my in.

FLY-FISHING. 257

genuity in selecting new flies to suit their capricious
tastes, [had settled upon one of bright yellow, which,
if the gentlemen did not wish to eat, they did seem
to enjoy inspecting ; they rose to it freely, and after
I had tried in vain to strike them, curiosity in-
duced me to keep count of their number.

Fourteen times had they risen and disappeared
uninjured ; fourteen times had my nerves tingled,
and my blood started; fourteen times had sudden
hope turned to bitter disappointment, till anticipa-
tion settled down into dull despair. Only those who
have themselves had such painful experiencés can
appreciate my feelings; the continual tantalizing
approximation to success, to be followed by agoniz-
ing failure; the renewed hope that the next rise
would result in the capture of a fish ever to remain
unfulfilled ; the desperate effort to strike quicker or
to cast more attractively 5 all these and many other
feelings swarmed through my heart, as fish after fish
approached his fate, and invariably escaped.

They seemed to be feeding, as it is called, and when
the fly passed they rose, and turning over like a
porpoise chasing mossbunkers, seemed to take it in
their mouths. They did not spring out of water in
the gaiety of reckless play, but acted as they would
have done if swallowing the natural insect. Not
that it is certain that salmon feed on flies; but while
they can rarely be taken while playing, they often
can be when acting in a manner resembling feeding.

My patience not exhausted, for it never is while
fish will rise, I directed the canoe to be dropped

258 FLY-FISHING.

towards the lower end of the fishing-ground, and
stepped from it to a rock in the stream, and then
casting the farthest and lightest possible, was re-
warded. A magnificent fish rose; was secured by
a quick turn of the butt, and stung by the unexpected
pain, fled down the current. Away he went, on
without a pause, the reel hissing, the line unwinding,
and darting into the water, till having exhausted
seventy-five yards of line, and being partially turned
by its weight and the resistance of the click, he
stopped with a heavy surge, and heading back, ap-
proached as fast as he had fled. Instantly and iv-
stinctively my hand fell upon the handle of the reel;
it would not turn, no effort could budge it ; conceive
my feelings now, if mortal man can conceive them.
The fish coming towards us, the line lying in a long
heavy bag behind him, threatening to sink and catch
round some rock, or by its slacking up release the
hook; I jerked in the line, thinking a grain of sand
might have penetrated between the plates, and tried
the handle first one way, then the other, in vain.
This all passed with the speed of thought, but
the fish was approaching as quickly ; there was no-
thing left but calling one of my men to tell him to
take in the line, hand over hand, and holding it in
a loose coil, be prepared to pay it out on the next
rush. Then thinking that the plates must be bent,
I took from my pocket a serew-driver that I always
carried, and unloosened every screw. There I stood,
grasping in one hayd the rod, while the tip bent to
the motions of the fish, with the other working away

FLY-FISHING. 259

at the reel; beside me my best man, slowly drawing
in or paying out the line as need must; both of us
eager, anxious, and startled at this new mode of
killing salmon; the fish, vigorous as ever, making
continual and sustained rushes, but fortunately none
as extended as his first.

Thad freed every screw in the reel, but without
any result ; it was as immovable as ever; there was
no resource but to do the best we could, in our origi-
nal mode of proceeding, under the circumstances.
Never before had a fish proved himself stronger or
braver ; for a good half hour he kept us on the
stretch, and then sulked. Stationing himself in the
edge of the current, he held his own doggedly; fif-
teen minutes of such behavior exhausted our pa-
tience. If I tried to lead him towards the shore, he
took advantage of the eddy to resist ; if to turn him
the other way, he braced himself against the current;
a severe strain, however, brought him to the surface,
and revealed the fact that he was not sulking at the
bottom, but resolutely swimming, head up stream, in
the current.

Not a little surprised, we tossed in a pebble, then
a stone, at last a rock, when, indignant, he fled down
stream; fifteen minutes more of exciting contest,
several rushes when he was on the point of being
captured, resulted at last in bringing him flouncing
on the gaff out of water. He only weighed fifteen
pounds, but had been hooked foul, the point having
penetrated at the hard bone near the eye.

T then sat down deliberately to discover what had

260 FLY-FISHING.

happened to my reel; it seemed to be in perfect
order, but would not move; I tried to drive the
shaft out of its bearing with the mallet—a heavy club
of wood used to kill the fish after they are gaffed,
but only after a good hour’s work did I succeed in
separating it, and found that for want of oil the two
surfaces had become almost solid. They were as
bright as burnished gold, and had evidently been
heated by the first desperate rush of the fish; after
being touched with a drop of oil and replaced, they
worked beautifully.

It is curious to note how, in salmon-fishing, acci-
dents will happen when the fish is on the hook; if
the line is weakened, or the leader fretted, or the rod
strained, the. weight and power of the fish expose
the weakness; if anything is aught but perfect, it
gives way at that critical moment. In trout-fishing
you are apt to discover the defects in time, and in
bass-fishing the tackle is coarse and strong; but in
salmon-fishing you first learn their presence by their
parting. Never use a doubtful strand of gut, or a
second-quality hook; never tie a knot without
thoroughly testing it, and never use a leader that is in
the least worn.

The best line by far, for both salmon and trout-
fishing, is the braided silk covered with a water-
proof preparation, and tapered to the fineness of the
gut-leader. If this can be obtained no other should
be thought of, but if it cannot, the others are about
on a disgraceful par of mediocrity; the one that is
usually praised, that of silk and horse-hair mixed,

FLY-FISHING, 261

being, if possible, the worst, for while it has the
weakness of the horse-hair, and water-soaking capa-
city of the silk, it has a difficulty especially its own,
arising from the protrusion of short ends of hair
that have broken or rotted off, and which are con-
tinually catching the rings or guides. The common
silk line may be coated with raw linseed oil by
stretching it ina garret or some place shaded from
the sun, and rubbing it with a cloth soaked in the
oil; several coats must be applied, allowing each to
dry before a renewal, and care must be taken to
avoid exposure to the sun’s rays, which will rot the
line. If thoroughly coated it will answer nearly as
well as if prepared in a more scientific manner.

The elegance, ease, and delicacy of casting
depend much upon the proportions of the leader or
casting-line, its length, taper, and adaptation to the
line and rod; if these are not accurately ascertained
and complied with—and they can only be determined
by actual experience with each rod and line—the
execution will be faulty. Consequently no absolute
rule can be given, but the length and taper must de-
pend upon circumstances. The strands of gut are
selected, the clearest, roundest, and hardest being
the best, and having been assorted according to size,
are tied together with the double-water knot for sal-
mon-fishing, and with either the same or the single-
water knot for trout. If it is desired to fasten the
droppers between the knots, the latter must be used,
and the gut must be well soaked in warm water
before it is tied. Leaders thus prepared and suited

262 FLY-FISHING.

accurately to the line and rod, will be found cheaper
and more satisfactory than those usually sold in the
shops, and may be tapered to any degree of fine-
ness.

The fly-book in which the sportsman collects his
treasures—the fairy imitations of the tiny nymphs of
the waterside—and which is the source of so much
delight in inspecting, replenishing, and arranging
during the season that the trout are safe from hon-
orable pursuit, is at present one of the most un-
gainly and inconvenient things that he uses. It is
either of mammoth size and filled with flannel
leaves in which the moth revel, but in which the
hooks will not stick, or it is so ingeniously arranged
that the flies on one page entangle themselves in a
remarkably complicated manner with those on the
other, and whenever the book is opened do their
best to tumble ont and carry with them such leaders
as may be within reach of their obstinate barbs. It
has places for articles that are not wanted, and none
for those that are; the disgorger, an instrument
about as useful to the angler as a jack-plane, is
always present, while a piece of India-rubber to
straighten gut, or even silk and wax, is never to be
found. The pockets and slips are so arranged that
the flies cannot be got at without much difficulty, or
else fall out with perfect ease, and are invariably,
when released, found with the gut so curled up that
it cannot be straightened for some time. In fact,
the present style of fly-book is a disgusting mon-
strosity. The true plan is to so arrange the pockets

FLY-FISHING. 265

that those of one page will come opposite the hooks
on the other in such manner that there can be no
entanglement; of course the snells of the stretchers
cannot be kept straightened, but the droppers, hav-
ing shorter snells, may be secured under strips of
paper, and left at full length, the alternate flies
being at each extremity of the leaf; and on the
adjoining leaf in the pockets may be similar flies
dressed for stretchers. Or the droppers, all having
the gut tied, of the same length by measurement,
over two pins stuck into the table, may be secured
on both sides of a separate sheet of pasteboard upon
hooks and eyes, the fly-hook being fastened into the
eye and the loop upon the hook. The latter is
attached to a short piece of clastic, and will hold the
gut straight and safe. The boards thus prepared
are carried in long pockets between the leaves. The
book, when filled and ready for use, should not be too
large to be carried in the breast pocket, should be
composed of stout parchment or ass skin that will
resist the effect of dampness, covered with leather
or morocco, and closed with a neat clasp.

The best implements will not make an angler, nor
enable him, without skill that can only be obtained
by patience and perseverance, to perform his duty
creditably at the river-side. Especially must he
learn to cast his flies far, lightly, and accurately, for
of all the angler’s qualifications this art is the most
necessary. To do this every writer on fishing has
given particular directions, but in reality no plan or
formula can be made that is not subject to great

264. FLY-FISHING.

modifications ; the following, probably, is as nearly
correct as any: After the line is lifted from the
water, which is done with a quick upward motion
of the wrist, the forearm is slowly and steadily
raised until the line has described the necessary
curve and is extended almost directly behind the
angler, when a fresh impulse from the wrist changes
the direction to a forward one, the arm following
the motion until the line has nearly reached its
limit, when it is checked by an almost imperceptible
motion of the wrist, and the flies are made to drop
on the water gently and quivering with almost the
tremor of life. This is the rule when the cast is
down wind and unobstructed, and the breeze light
and equable, but in practice each cast must be
adjusted to the peculiar circumstances under which
it is made; the force that will drive out the line in
a heavy breeze will not be vigorous enough if it dies
down at the next cast, and the line must be stopped
short or it will not extend itself; on the other hand,
if the wind suddenly increases to a gusty flaw, the
flies will be driven into the water with a splash, un-
less the arm is extended to exhaust the additional
force. Jf the cast is across a strong wind, the line
is lifted against it and makes almost a complete cir-
cle, and if well managed can be made to so resist it
that, in the roughest weather, it will go out its full
length and fall with beautiful delicacy. In a hard
blow the difficulty will be in raising the line, and at
times it will not be found necessary to lift the flies
entirely from the water before casting, as the wind,

FLY-FISHING. 265

by its pressure on the bag of the line, will carry
them out of itself. In fishing a stream there is
much to be learned in the art of jerking the flies
under the bushes, and tossing the back line dircetly
upwards to avoid entanglements, instead of behind
the angler; proficiency should be obtained with the
left hand as well as with the right, and in right and
left casts, that is to say, where the line is raised
on either side and the flies brought over cither
shoulder. This last point is essential if two anglers
are to fish from the same boat, for each should
invariably keep the tip of his rod over the shoulder
opposite to his neighbor.

These observations are probably all that can be
placed on paper with any advantage, for complete
knowledge can only be obtained at the brook or
pond under the guidance of those skilful teachers,
patience and perseverance; and after the line has
been neatly cast and the trout lured from his lair
under the bank of the stream, or his mossy bed at
the bottom of the pond, the art of striking him, that
is, fixing the hook firmly in his mouth when he has
grasped it, can only be acquired by actual experi-
ence. All written directions .on this subject may be
reduced to two—it is done with a motion of the wrist
and as quickly as possible; and yet if this art is not
mastered, the rest will be in vain.

There are few matters connected with fly-fishing
that have been more discussed, and about which
there ras been more difference of opinion, than the
length of line that can be cast with the ordinary

12

266 FLY-FISHING.

trout-rod. Assertions were common, and certificates
even have been given at public contests that compe-
titors have cast one hundred feet of line, and many
persons, especially those not thoroughly initiated,
imagine that they can readily manage seventy, eigh-
ty, or ninety. This matter was first brought to a
definite issue at the convention of the Sportsman’s
Clubs of the State of New York, held in 1864, at
the City of New York, when a handsome prize was
offered for excellence in casting the fly, and rules
were carefully prepared to govern the trial. These
rules established general principles, and provide an
allowance, for length and weight of rod, and pre-
scribe certain distinctions as to whether the contest
is only as to distance, or as to delicacy and accu-
racy in addition. In the instance referred to, it was
determined that all these points were to be included.
No rod was admitted that weighed over one pound
or exceeded twelve feet and six inches in length; a
gut-leader of not less than eight feet was required,
and to this three flies were to be attached. The
tackle and rods used by the competitors were, in
every instance, those that they were accustomed to
use in actual fishing, the lines being generally of
plaited silk, covered with the ordinary water-proof
preparation, The water was without a current, but
rufficd by the effects of a light breeze that died
away entirely ere the contest was over, and the stand
was a floating platform, level with the surface, and
upon which the waves occasionally washed se as to
wet the feet of the contestants. The distance was

FLY-FISHING, 267

measured along the water by a rope stretched taut
and marked at every foot of its length with buoys;
parallel with this, and close to it, a staging was
erected, on which the spectators could stand and
observe accurately the quality of every cast. The
contestants were required to use both hands, and
were restricted to five minutes’ time. The judges
were three of the most experienced fishermen of the
State, one of whom is celebrated for his proficiency
in, and devotion to casting the fly.

It will be observed that several customary advan-
tages were lost by this disposition, or brought to an
equality; there was no elevation above the water,
which is always difficult to measure, and which, of
course, adds immensely to the distance that can be
covered; there was little or no wind to add to the
forward motion of the line, and no current to
straighten it out, or assist, by a slight resistance to
the rod, in recovering it, which, after all, is the main
difficulty, as the line that can be lifted and extended
behind the fisherman will readily reach its full
length in front of him; and the distance cast was
measured, not along the line, which will invariably
sag more or less, and may have its length consider-
ably augmented by an irregularity in delivery, but
along the water. Moreover, the competitors were
required to make a neat as well as long cast, lest
they should be ruled out for want of delicacy, and
had to prove their thorough proficiency by dexterity
with the left hand.

The rods used were respectively of ash, with a

268 FLY-FISHING.

split bamboo tip ; of cedar, with a lance-wood tip ; and
of split bamboo throughout ; and were all of the best
workmanship and perfect representatives of their
kinds; the contestants were some of the best anglers
of the State, and nothing occurred to mar the plea-
sure of the contest or to disparage the correctness of
the award. The prize was won by the cedar rod,
which was twelve feet three and one-half inches
long, and weighed, with heavy mountings, fourteen
ounces ; and the greatest distance cast with the right
hand was sixty-three feet, although the allowance
carried the official return to sixty-eight feet; and
with the left hand the absolute distance was fifty-
seven feet.

This was only the beginning of these contests,
which have been kept up yearly since at the meet-
ings of the ‘‘State Association for the protection
of Game,” and have occasionally been instituted
under private auspices. Among the most notable
of the latter was one held in the Central Park of
New York by the ‘‘ Forest and Stream ” newspaper.
At this contest, the longest distances were reached
which had ever been officially reported, although
not up to the famous casts made by Mr. Seth Green,
before the records were reliably kept and which had
been disputed. Unfortunately, however, the plat-
form was raised above the water, so that a correct
comparison with previous casts cannot be made.
The performance, great as it was. has since been
surpassed and now it is established, that by proper
practice and with a rod especially adapted to the

FLY-FISHING. 269

work, ninety feet can be cast with a rod of eleven
feet in length and twelve ounces in weight. Indeed,
the evidence goes to prove that the certificate origi-
nally given to Mr. Seth Green, that he had covered a
hundred feet was correct, for he had a rod and line
especially prepared for casting a great distance and
not for ordinary fishing.

The rods used at these tournaments are entirely
different from those carried by the angler when he
is fishing, they are made for the purpose, are top-
heavy, strong and stiff. The line is not permitted
to remain a minute on the water, but it is retrieved
as soon as cast, and is simply thrown forward and
backward in a manner which has to be practised
distinctly from ordinary trout-fishing. The success-
ful contestants have been in all instances of late
either tackle makers or their employees, who spend
their time developing the single art of distance cast-
ing as an advertisement of their business. A cast
of seventy feet in the ordinary manner, and with
the ordinary tools of trout-fishing, surpasses one of
ninety so obtained. Probably the less a man prac-
tices at this specialty as now understood, the better
he will fish in the stream and on the pond.

A line can be cast farther without any fly attached
to it than with. The taper should be maintained
throughout from the hand to the stretcher, the gut
being selected from strands so arranged, that the
heaviest shall be at the upper end, and the flies dis-
posed on the same plan; that is, the tail one being
the smallest, the middle dropper the next in size

270 FLY-FISHING.

and the upper dropper the largest. This is especi-
ally the rule in pond-fishing, where it is essential
that the lure should fall as lightly as possible, and
that can only be done when the size and length of
the casting-line accord with the weight and size of
the line.

Some people will tell you, and some writers have
written, that the largest fly should be used as a
stretcher, in order, as they allege, to keep the line
taut. This will do well enough in narrow streams,
when it is desirable to trail the flies on the top of
the water, and where the current is sufficiently
strong to hide the deception under a lively ripple,
but in delicate casting such an arrangement would
be a fatal error. The test of the fly-fisherman is
proved, when he tries what he can do in a perfect
calm on a pond. Then if he is not a master, he
will find out his failings to his own disgusted satis-
faction, and to the happiness of the trout, who will
turn up their dainty noses at his want of skill. If
the angler cannot send his three flies fifty feet, or
indeed sixty, if he would be at the head of the pro-
fession, and drop them like three tiny dimples upon
the placid surface, he may as well give up and go to
practising. If the line falls in a tangle, or strikes
the water at the same place as the flies, or if it does
not go straight out as well as drop like a thread of
gossamer, it might as well be kept reeled up, ex-
cept for the advantage which comes to every man
from finding out his deficiences.

There is one point which not more than a dozen

FLY-FISHING. 271

fishermen in this country understand, and which
cannot be too often enforced; that is, the advisabili-
ty of using small flies, much smaller than those or-
dinarily found in the tackle-shops or in the books
of anglers. This is almost a secret, so little is it
appreciated. In rough water or a heavy ripple, put
on large flies, but in confined waters and on still
days use the midges, or to speak more correctly,
have the common flies made of the midge size: The
later the season, and the brighter the sky and stream
or pond, the more imperative is this rule. Let the
young man write it on the tablets of his heart, and
when he has practised he will never depart from it.
Obeying it, he will fill his creel when his less educat-
ed brother goes home fishless and wretched, hay-
ing lost all hope and faith in the things above and
on the face of and in the waters under the earth.

A fly ‘‘dibbled,” so to speak, along the surface
will be found almost always more killing than one
drawn along underneath. There are no rules for
taking trout which the capricious creatures will not
often disregard, so that if the recognized method
fails, resort must be had to the exception, but when
it can be done, if the upper dropper is kept on the
top, so that it will occasionally jump and hop ex-
actly like the real insect, and the gut attachment
being out of water remain invisible to the eye of
the fish, the latter will take it with added con-
fidence. It is true, that he will not invariably suc-
ceed in getting the hook in his mouth, and the
angler may often miss him, but he will rise, when

272 FLY-FISHING.

of the fly used in the ordinary manner he will take
no notice. This method of managing the line is
impossible in long casting, but on dark days and at
favorable times it must not be neglected.

The hackles are not suited to very fine waters.
They are difficult to cast to a distance, especially
when three are on the line, and in clear ponds such
an apparition would frighten the trout from their
“‘feed” at once. But in a boisterous, roaring,
foaming mountain cataract, where the fish cannot
see the fisherman at all, and find difficulty in seeing
their prey, hackles and palmers are admirable.
Winged flies have largely taken the place of both
these species in American fishing, but their true
value should not be underestimated, for they will
often tempt the trout from the wild mountain
streams when the former will fail.

As to the selection of the gut for trout-fishing, the
same principles apply. It must be tapered down
to the fineness of a No. 8 needle, should be wholly
unstained, and even uncolored, and hard, round and
transparent. The use of gut, even for the common-
est fishing, will be found an immense advantage,
and will add greatly to the bag, or, more correctly,
to the ‘* pot.”

At the contests spoken of above, there were trials
of skill in casting for salmon with the fly, as well ag
for striped bass in the fashion necessary along the
ocean coast. In salmon-casting, a hundred and
thirty feet was the limit, while for bass the long-
est distance covered was less than two hundred

FLY-FISHING. 273

and thirty feet. The difficulty that prevented a true
exhibition of what could be done with the bass-bait,
was the necessity of casting within certain limits.
Tn actual bass-fishing, accuracy is not as important
as in fly-fishing, and much greater distances are un-
doubtedly reached than those officially recorded.
An open contest under liberal conditions has yet to
be inaugurated, and we have still no idea of what can
be actually done in this direction.

In addition to the imitations of the natural fly,
efforts have been continually made to use artificial
representations of the other foods and baits of fish;
exact and beautiful copies of grasshoppers and frogs
have been constructed on scientific principles and
painted the exact colors of their prototypes, but
either from the nature of the composition or the
want of life, they have not attained satisfactory
success. It is doubtful whether ever a trout was
captured with such delusions as imitation grass-
hoppers, crickets, or frogs, no matter how confiding
the fish which was experimented upon. Although
they are still retained in the tackle shops, they no
longer. find a place in the angler’s book. Squids
and spoons are a different matter, and have been
long established among artificial baits, but tough
bees and wooden insects have proved in vain. Min-
nows are being imitated with better, although not
with half as good results as can be obtained with
the real bait. But this is not always to be had, as
sometimes minnows cannot be found, avd still more
frequently they cannot be caught. Then the gutta

274 FLY-FISHING.

percha copy must be resorted to per force, unless
what is known as the ‘‘ Phantom Minnow,” is pre-
ferred. The latter is the most perfect of all such
imitations, retaining the natural skin and scales of
the fish, and possibly some little of its smell.

The squid, which is a Scandinavian invention,
although usually thought to be American, is supposed
to be the original imitation of the minnow, and it
remains the most successful of them all in certain
lines of fishing. In trolling for blue-fish, the angler
could not do without it, and it has taken innumer-
able striped bass and Spanish mackerel. It is made
of many different materials, that in use for blue-
fish being the common pewter one, although often
an ivory squid is more killing, or one of bone or
wood. For lake trout, the ivory squid is frequently
better than any other bait, and for Spanish mackerel
the red-colored bone, or one made from the heart of
the red cedar is the favorite. The general rule for
the employment of all these is the old one: on dark
days use the light-colored squids, and on bright
days the dark.

Although to the artistic angler there is no music
like that of the old-fashioned click-recl, certain im-
provements have been made in it which cannot be
disregarded. There were two objections to the an-
cient form of trout reel; one was that the line wis
apt to catch round the handle, and the other that
the line would rot if not dried after being used. To
remedy the former defect, the handle was sunk in
the reel plate, and to meet the latter difficulty, skel-

FLY-FISHING. 275

eton reels have been made. Some of these are con-
structed of wire, and others are composed of hard
rubber. Having large barrels, they wind in quickly,
and while they have lost the charm of music, they
have added that of utility. They have come into
very general use, but if the angler, while working his
way through thick woods, shall find that his line
has unnoticed caught on a twig and, unreeling from
his rod, is tangled up amid trees and bushes for
fifty feet behind him, he will almost wish that he
had a click to give him timely warning. A very de-
cided advance has been made, or rather promised to
be made by the makers, in the matter of the plates
on which the reels are set. Heretofore these have
been of all manner of sizes, according to the gay and.
festive fancy of the manufacturer, with the conse-
quence to the angler that he never could tell, till he
had tried it, whether he would have to cut away more
or less of his rod, or file down more or less of his
reel. It has been agreed that hereafter standard
sizes are to be followed in all instances, so that the
purchaser can buy with a distinct knowledge of what
he is getting. It is to be hoped the angling frater-
nity will keep the tackle-makers up to their prom-
Ises by only purchasing from those who are true to
this agreement.

In speaking of hooks, perhaps it may be con-
sidered desirable to refer to the needle-pointed,
which were an invention of Monroe A. Green, a
brother of Mr. Seth Green, and were at one time
much admired. The difficulty which would be natu-

276 FLY-FISHING.

rally expected of them that they would not hold the
fish, as well as those with a barb, does not exist, and
when it is desirable to capture trout to be kept alive,
they answer admirably, for they very rarely kill the
fish in the process of extraction. The disadvantage
charged upon them is that they have so long a
point that the trout when rising short, will not seize
them above it, and will as a consequence not be
hooked. Opinions concerning them are about equal-
ly divided; sometimes they seem to do admirably,
at others they do not work as well as the ordinary
hook.

As the trolling-spoons resemble no known crea-
ture, they also are supposed to be intended and
accepted for the minnow, although it is difficult to
conceive why fish with their sharp sight, that can
distinguish an almost microscopic midge upon the
surface of the water twenty feet above their heads,
should mistake a piece of revolving tin for a living
fish. The first of these contrivances were manufac-
tured and named from the bowl of a pewter spoon,
the handle being broken off and holes drilled in each
end, so that the line and hooks could be attached ;
this bait was found to revolve and glitter in the
water in an attractive way. It is now almost super-
seded by other modifications; but still, when made
of bright tin and painted of a dark color on the con-
vex side, and rather more clongated than the ordi-
nary pattern, it is successful with lake-trout and
Mackinaw salmon. The first alteration in shape was
by fitting two flanges or wings on a long, hollow

FLY-FISHING. Q77

body, upon the principle of a screw, and named
after Archimedes, by which a rapid revolution was
produced ; but although this invention seemed to
man nearly perfect, it did not satisfy the fish ; for a
very small spoon it will answer, but when larger is
not so attractive as other kinds. Several alterations
and combinations of these two plans were produced
from time to time; they proved to be merely changes
and not improvements, until an invention was made
that is usuaily called Buel’s Patent Spoon—although
it has been said that his patent only covers the
application of three hooks instead of two, and that
the invention has long been in use among the picke-
rel fishermen of the St. Lawrence. The blacksmiths
on the banks of that river certainly manufacture
them unrestrainedly of such material as they prefer,
but only use two hooks; and this would not proba-
bly be permitted if the patent was broad enough to
prevent it.

Be that as it may, however, it is known as Buel’s
Spoon; it is made by fastening two or three hooks
back to back, and attaching a piece of tin nearly
elliptical in shape, so that it can revolve freely round
a collar at the shank, This is its simplest form,
and the one preferred for mascallonge, for which
two strong thick hooks are used, firmly soldered to-
gether; and for pickerel, black-bass, and lake-trout,
it is safer to have the hooks either soldered into one
piece or attached by wire, as the fierce struggles
and sharp teeth of these species will soon destroy
thread or sik. The tin is painted of various colors,

278 FLY-FISHING.

or even replaced with brass, and should be kept
well burnished on the bright side. Feathers of
gaudy colors, such as ibis, golden pheasant neck,
mallard, and wood-duck, interspersed with plain
white, are often fastened along the shank ; spoons
thus prepared are favorites of the black-bass, but
have no advantage for mascallonge over the bare
hooks; they are also used successfully for trout,
especially those captured in salt water, and the fea-
thers as well as the coloring of the tin may be
adapted to the state of the weather. On clear, sun-
shiny days dull colors are preferable, as with artifi-
cial flies; and in dark or rainy weather the lightest
colors answer best. Three additional hooks are
sometimes added, and allowed to dangle loosely be-
low the others; although these occasionally capture
a fish that has missed striking the spoon fairly, they
are more frequently bitten off; they are really no
advantage, and if once imbedded in the bristling
jaws of a gasping pickerel, their extraction is both
difficult and dangerous.

Of the different varieties of artificial bait, not of
course including the artificial fly, the inmost general
and successful is Buel’s Spoon; it is taken by all the
pickerel, from the monstrous mascallonge to the
tiny native of Long Island; by the trout of lake or
brook; by the black-bass of the North and South,
and by the young blue-fish of the salt water; it is
generally a greater favorite than the artificial, and
sometimes even than the natural bait; with black-
bass it has no competitor but the fly, and with sea-

FLY-FISHING. 219

trout it occasionally surpasses the artificial fly itself.
Its irregularity of motion, consequent upon the mode
of revolution, seems to be its charm; and although
it does not spin as well as the Archimedes, it is in-
finitely more killing. Jt has in open water almost
supplanted the use of bait for pickerel and mascal-
longe, and it has been used to a murderous extent
by greedy fishermen in trolling the waters of Moose.
head Lake for trout.

280 BLUE-FISHING.

BLUE-FISHING.

Lona IsLaNnD lies in the State of New York; there
may be other islands that are long, but there is only
one Long Island. Other States may have endeay-
ored to appropriate the name and steal the reputa-
tion of our pastoral Paradise. They may have
called portions of their territory long or short, broad
or deep, that is a matter for them, and makes no
difference to us. There is not, there never was, and
there never will be but one Long Island, and that be-
longs to the State of New York and the inhabitants
thereof. It would be vain to attempt to describe
the attractions and perfections of this favored spot,
to explain our fondness for it and our jealousy
lest some out-of-the-way Western settlement should
set up a surreptitious claim to it by virtue of having
named some bit of its own territory by the same
appellation. Long Island is the natural abiding
place of the civilization-loving quail; it is one of
the favorite haunts of the woodcock ; its plains
were once frequented by the heath-hen, the prairie-
chicken of the West, until the poachers and game
murderers ruthlessly slew them all; it is visited
spring and summer by countless myriads of ducks ;
bay-snipe follow its coast in August and September,
and fish fairly crowd its shores, streams, ponds,

BLUE-FiSHING. 281

bays and inlets. What more need be said? But
even if it hurts the feelings of the residents of the
South and West, the further fact must be stated
that a man may sit out of doors in the evening, may
actually stay out of doors all night, which is a great
comfort to some married men, without getting re-
mittant fever, intermittant fever, typhoid fever, yel-
low fever, break-bone fever, dangue fever or even
chills and fever. Wonderful as this may seem to
the oscupants of the open country in this favored
land of freedom and fever, it is actually the truth.
In fact, nobody dies on Long Island except of old
age, and rarely then.

On the south of the Island stretches a long, nar-
row lagoon of salt water, fed from the land by in-
numerable trout brooks pouring their sparkling
rivulets, scarcely more than a mile apart ; it is con-
nected with the sea by several inlets, cut by the
waves through the narrow beach of low sand that
separates the bay from the ocean. This lagoon,
called the Great South Bay, is in reality sixty miles
long, although it passes under several local names,
but a boat starting from Rockaway can sail sixty
miles eastward without going through any but natu-
ral water communications.

The bay formerly abounded with fish. Here
weak-fish, king-fish, blue-fish, sheeps-head, sea bass
and other species lived and bred, while Spanish
mackerel, bonito and various migratory kinds visited
it in their season, if they did not deposit their eggs
there. They are still fairly numerous, although

282 BLUE-FISHING.

the fishing has been much reduced by the use of
pound-nets in and near the inlets, which not only
capture fish in immense numbers but of immature
size. So Mr. Seth Green, the State Superintendent
of Fisheries, and one of the Commissioners, took a
yacht and set out on an exploring expedition, deter-
mined to investigate the possibilities of the entire
bay. Iwent along to see that they made no mis-
takes.

On the 8th day of August, 1881, the good yacht
Au Revoir started from the neighborhood of Islip,
well provisioned for a two weeks’ trip, and carrying
its load of piscatorial science safely housed in its
comfortable cabin of some ten feet square and five
feet high. Extensive accommodations are not a
feature of the yachts of southern Long Island, for
the reason that while the bay is sixty miles long and
four wide it is for the most part less than two feet
deep. The true yachtsmen, however, can ‘‘ stow”
himself, and a prodigious deal besides, in a very
small space, and “our voyagers” were naturally
good yachtmen as well as great fish culturists. Un-
fortunately the Commissioner is fond of gunning,
and has long held the theory, which no amount of
experience has removed, that there will some time
or other be a great flight of snipe along the beach
on the south of the bay. So he insisted on bringing
guns, cartridges, snipe decoys and all that along;
and, more unfortunately still, he made up his mind
from the signs in the heavens, the direction of the
wind, or the motion of the tides, that the ninth day

BLUE-FISHING. 283

of August was the day on which this flight would
take place. With this idea in his heart he headed
the Au Revoir to the east, intending first to investi-
gate that part of the water which was contiguous to
the best sniping grounds.

No one who has not enjoyed the comforts of a
cabin ten feet square, with just height of ceiling
enough to enable one when sitting on the berth
—which answers the double purpose of settee by
day and bed by night—to take a drink of water with-
out hitting one’s head against the timbers of the
roof, can imagine how snug itis. And when their
first destination had been reached, anchor let go
and sails furled, the explorers found the night set-
tling down upon them and were glad to take refuge
in their cosey home, get out their table luxuries
and superintend the cooking of their meal. Appe-
tite is a permanent passenger by every yacht; it
lends a spice to food, assists in the cookery, helps
along digestion, and aids in many pleasant ways.
Weariness smooths the small pillows, softens and
widens the hard and narrow beds, and brings balmy
sleep. Supper over and even the bright rays of the
kerosene lamp which lighted up the cabin like a
private sun could not keep the party awake, nor
persuade them to attend to the piles of literature
they had brought to while away what never comes—
the unoccupied and waste time of yachting.

At four o’clock next morning Mr. Green remarked
that if they had come to shoot snipe it would not do
to lose the best part of the day. In ordinary life

284 BLUE-FISHING.

there may be a question which is the best part of
the day. The business man may consider that from
ten to three covers the case; the belle may select
the same hours, but from a different portion of the
twenty-four ; to the gourmand the dinner hour is
all in all; to the speculator, the time of meeting of
the Stock Board ; to the lover, the hour when his
mistress is visible ; but to the duck or snipe shooter,
no time equals that from dawn to full sunlight.
There was no denying Mr. Green’s sage remark,
though Sloth begged for a little more “folding of:
the hands to sleep,” and the Commissioner was fain
to set out sleepy and breakfastless towards the shore
in the dingy, accompanied by guns, ammunition,
false birds and the paraphernalia of the fatal art.
Alas! however on this particular occasion there was
error in the calculations. The Commissioner’s
prophecy was simply the contrary of what it ought
to have been. In spite of winds and waves, the
movements of the planets and the conjunctions of
the constellations, there was no flight on the 9th
day of August, 1881. Seth Green having first built
a blind of sea-weed against the protest of the Com-
missioner, who insisted upon having it made of -
bushes, armed himself with the ship’s glass, not the
customary glass of yachting parties, and surveyed
the horizon from the moment it was visible until the
sun appeared. Then he announced that there was
not a bird anywhere, and utterly refused to wait for
them to come from some ‘‘ undiscovered country,”
while there was possible fishing to be had anywhere

BLUE-FISHING. 285

in the land of the living. It was natural that he
should make up his mind promptly and the Com-
missioner surrendered to his views, with the saving
clause, grumblingly uttered, ‘‘that if there had
been thousands of birds they never would have
come near a blind made of seaweed and high as a
hill.” So the ‘‘ white wings” were spread and the
Au Revoir leaped away on her course toward the
west.

Now they meant business, and their destination
was Fire Island Inlet, the largest feeder of salt
water to the Great South Bay, a channel through
which a considerable amount of commerce passes
and a spot that was once famous for the excellence
of its fishing, but which is now so hedged in with
pound-nets that the sport has greatly deteriorated,
while fish that spawn in the bay are almost excluded
from it.

While the pound-nets have ruined the fishing in
the bay by excluding the spawning fish, they cannot
prevent some, especially of the smaller kinds, from
getting part of the way up the channel. The
~*«Cinderbeds,” so called from a peculiar coral for-
mation which grows on them, are the favorite re-
sort of porgies, sea bass and robins or gurnards,
while small blue-fish are taken in the channel by
what is called “‘chumming.” To the Cinderbeds
the Au Revoir flew as fast as the wind and our im-
patience would carry her. We bought a hundred
clams on the way from one of the working boats,
with which the bay is dotted every working day in

286 BLUE-FISHING.

the year, and as soon as we reached our destination
we cast anchor and went to fishing.

Seth Green and the Commissioner each rigged up
his line, and no doubt the amount of skill, erudi-
tion, research and experience involved in that opera-
tion would be hard to describe. Catching a surrep-
titious view of Mr. Green’s rig-out, I found he had
a silk worm gut leader armed with seven hooks,
while the Commissioner had fastened his hooks by
short lengths to his line above the sinker, half way
to the tip of his rod. It is needless to say that
against such skill the fish stood no chance. There
was a pound-net within a stone’s throw, and I com-
miserated its incapacity beside these formidable en-
gines. Not satisfied, however, the Superintendent
arranged a wire bag, filled it with bait that the fish
could not get at, and hung it over the side to at-
tract them. Up came the fish by ones, by twos, by
threes, at every cast, of all kinds, large and small.
The yacht’s deck was covered with fish. Fish flop-
ped and sparkled in the sun; fish bounced about
the cockpit, fish got under your feet; fish hid away
in the cabin. Baskets and boxes were filled with
fish, and had it not been for an interruption the Au
Revoir would have been loaded down with fish.

While these two enthusiastic piscatorial artists
were hard at it, with no signs of giving up, a styl-
ish-looking craft sailed by. It had a signal on
which was the suggestive figure of a fish, and be-
neath that the word ‘‘ Bait,” and the Commissioner
recognizing it at once as the ‘‘chum-boat,” shouted

BLUE-FISHING. 287

out that he wanted a hundred moss-bunkers. Chum
is bait, usually moss-bunker, bony-fish or menhaden,
three names for the same creature, chopped up
fine with a hatchet and thrown overboard from
time to time, while the fisherman puts larger and
more alluring pieces on his hook. The chum gives
out an oil which floats on the water and attracts the
blue-fish, while the bait catches them. As the men-
haden is oily and nasty to handle it is not a pleas-
ant nor clean style of fishing, but it is the only
mode of taking blue-fish which is possible within
the bay, where sea-weed usually runs so thickly as
to cover a trolling squid faster than it could be got
out the length of the line, and often to interfere
greatly with the hooks while chumming. There is
a machine made especially, something on the prin-
ciple of a patent sausage chopper, to grind up moss-
bunkers into minute pieces, but it gets foul if not
cleaned carefully, and is not much used except by
the owners of boats, that make a business of taking
parties out blue-fishing, so that it is called into em-
ployment daily.

Probably no two more discordantly harmonious
elements could be brought together than the Super-
intendent and the Commissioner. Each has the
firm conviction that what he does not know about
fishing is not only not worth knowing but does not
exist. They are both so calmly conyinced of this
fact, and serenely set in their ways, that they utter-
ly ignore not alone the suggestions of the outside
fishing world, but also of one another. Strange as

288 BLUE-FISHING.

it may seem, they are widely at variance, and even
though they may be for the first time essaying a
style of fishing that they have never tried before, as
was the case with Mr. Green in this instance, they
are firmly convinced that they know more about it
than one who has followed it for a lifetime. So
while the Commissioner was satisfied to put on a
gut leader that the professionals would have assured
him the blue-fish would take off at the first bite,
the Superintendent rigged a wonderful gang of
small hooks, such as was never seen by the un-
sophisticated inhabitants of the Great South Bay in
their lives before. The chumming having gone on
by the boatman for a short time, the fishing began.
Science was too much for the finny tribe and they
simply gave up, resistance under the circumstances
was a work of supererogation. The odds against
them were too overwhelming, and they opened their
mouths and swallowed their fate and the hooks to-
gether. It was impossible to say which of the
anglers caught the most fish where both were
taking them all the time. Bright, shining, gleam-
ing blue-fish came over the stern so fast that
they seemed like a long streak of silvery sunlight
rather than mere fish. If there were fish galore
before, they were more galore now, they were indeed
too galore. They were becoming a nuisance, and
as there was no evidence that either of the con-
templative anglers had the slightest intent of stop-
ping, the only question remaining was how long it
would be before the yacht sank under her augment-

BLUE-FISHING. 289

ing load. Fortunately at this point of time dinner
was announced, and the alacrity with which they
laid down their lines, was only equalled by the enthu-
siasm with which they had used them, while the
amount of dinner they consumed visibly lightened
the vessel again. The meal was late, and before
it was despatched the tide had turned, and the fish
had left, for they rarely bite during more than one
tide. So the party devoted themselves to salting
down the prey which they had secured, and of which
there was much more than they could use. The
fish were opened, scaled, cleaned, and all the bones
were carefully removed, as both the scientific author-
ities agreed that the preserving of fish bones was
an unnecessary expenditure of room, labor and salt.
Then they were packed in a half-barrel, with a layer
of coarse salt between each layer of fish, nearly
filling the barrel.

The last words of Mr. Green to me, as he was re-
tiring to his narrow berth that night after his day’s
toil and triumph were: ‘‘I have to-day fixed a rig
to catch salt-water fish here, which I have explained
to the Commissioner, who will explain it to you,
and which I have told him will catch more fish
twice over than any other arrangement, and if you
would like to catch salmon-trout and will come to
me, I will give you a rig for them that will take
more of them than any plan you are acquainted
with.”

Mr. Green falls to sleep quickly, and has a way
of making his slumber obvious to those who are

290 BLUE-FISHING.

with him on the same vessel, and as the Commis-
sioner remained up later, he took occasion to remark
to me when his companion was asleep: “I have
shown Mr. Green my rig for blue-fishing to-day,
and you observed how much more successful it was
than his which he had copied from fresh-water fish-
ing. I will explain it all to you to-morrow, and you
must not forget how it is arranged, for it will catch
twice as many fish as any plan you ever saw.” So
I felt safe about my future success as an angler.
Next day was devoted to resting and the acquisi-
tion of information. The Commissioner sat on the
deck, made sketches, expounded learned theories
on fish and fishing, and discoursed at length on his
favorite hobby, the resources and attractions of
Long Island. The Superintendent in the mean-
while rowed ashore with all the nets, large and
small, and their number was by no means limited,
and a boatman to help him. He drew the larger
nets in the open water, he chased killies up and
down the creeks with the smaller ones, he made a
catch of what he persisted in calling white-bait, but
which was contemptuously designated by the Com-
missioner as spearing; he helped the owners of the
pounds, that were stationed in the neighborhood,
draw them, rather to their discomfort, as they looked
upon him as a natural enemy to their calling. He
went to the light-house and ascended to the top and
studied the lights, and suggested a half dozen new
and improved plans of running the system. He
stopped in at the life-saving station on his return;

BLUE-FISHING.: 291

examined the mortars, the guns, the wagons, and
finally insisted on taking a lesson in resuscitating the
drowned, by pretending he was dead, and making
the men go through the entire operation of bringing
him back to life, in spite of all the dragging,
squeezing, pulling, pounding, that it implied. Be-
coming in the course of the proceeding quite en-
thusiastic, and evidently longing to put his newly
acquired knowledge in practice on some one else as
soon as possible. Throughout the rest of the trip
I was haunted with the terrible feeling that he was
watching me with the fiendish hope that I would
fall overboard and be drowned, in order that he
might have the satisfaction of bringing me to, and
thus adding one more to the list of lives that he has
saved, and in spite of the to me horrible possibility,
that scientific resuscitation might fail in that par-
ticular instance. Indeed I got to be quite nervous
when he was standing behind me and I happened to
be near the edge of the deck.

After his return to the yacht, he started off again
to dig soft clams, carrying the Commissioner with
him, and it was an interesting sight to observe
those stout, sturdy and rather elderly gentlemen in
bathing dresses, that exhibited their forms to the
best advantage, digging away as if their lives de-
pended on the result of their labors, and returning
proud of a half-tilled boat of the bivalves. Evi-
dently good consciences, or good sport, or both
combined through life bring their reward. After
dinner the vessel was got under-way and a trip was

292 BLUE-FISHING.

made through the western part of the bay, past Mr.
Havemeyer’s beautiful home by the sea, which
stands upon the outmost verge and overlooks the
broad ocean and the inlet with its ever-crested
surges, as though it were a sentinel keeping watch
and ward over the shoals of fish and the hosts of
fishermen’s boats that pursue them day and night;
past Uncle Jesse Conkling’s famous hostlery on Cap
Tree Island, past the Wawayanda Club adjoining;
then through the narrow channel beyond, heading
west by Oak Island and Cedar Island. There it
was that Mr. Green once more discovered a mystery
which required probing. He noticed a number of
men up to their waists in water, “treading out”
hard clams, and as he had never seen such an in-
dustry before, was absolutely unwilling to accept
the Commissioner’s explanation of it, but resolved
upon examining for himself. As the water was
only about three feet deep where the men were at
work, and there was a sand bar still shoaler outside
of them, the yacht, in spite of its light draught of
water, went aground. The tide was falling, and all
efforts to get her off proving abortive, there was
nothing to do but prepare to pass the night in peace.
The sails were furled, the anchor was carried out
in the small boat and dropped some distance ahead,
and all hands calmed their minds to the patience
of waiting for the change of tide and rise of water.
To my surprise, no sooner were these little duties
attended to, than Mr. Green proceeded to utilize
his enforced immobility. Donning his bathing

BLUE-FISHING. 293

clothes once more, he clambered overboard and set
to work treading out clams. In his heart he be-
lieved there was no truth in the pretence of their
existence, as clams were not to be found much less
‘to be trodden out in Hemlock or Keuka Lake, or
even in Caledonia Brook. The assumption, that
men could find them by just walking about in the
South Bay and picking them up, was more than he
could credit, and not to be accepted without the
clearest proof. He soon satisfied his doubts, how-
ever, and was punished by having to listen to a lec-
ture from the Commissioner, on the wonderful pro-
ductiyeness of that sheet of water, under the in-
fliction of which he went to bed early and slept
soundly.

Next morning Mr. Green was evidently anxious
to continue the study and practice of the great art
of ‘treading out clams,” but the yacht was afloat
and it was thought better to get under-way and
leave the prosecution of that industry to some
other occasion.

«To the west of this,” remarked the Com-
missioner calmly, when the vessel was plowing
her way along towards the setting sun, ‘‘I am not
acquainted with our course, and we must rely on
our charts.”

“Why not ask the men?” enquired the Super-
intendent, who evidently had not much faith in
that mode of making out a course. ‘‘ Don’t they
know it ?”

«¢Qh no, a man in the South Bay only minds his

294 BLUE-FISHING.

own business. If he fishes for clams he knows
where the clams are, if he uses a net he understands
just where and how to set it, if he digs mussels or
catches ’bunkers, mussels and *bunkers are the ex-
tent of his knowledge. Why should he worry him-
self with vain things? One of my men worked in
the middle part of the bay. Into the East Bay he
has told me he went once. Into the West Bay,
though but thirty miles from his home, he has
never presumed to penetrate. The other has not
been so far. But I told you I can rely upon my
charts.”

«‘Then,” said Mr. Green, ‘‘ the sooner you begin
to study them the better.”

“‘T remember,” said the Commissioner, thought-
fully, as he brought them out of the cabin, “ that
there was a white house, which bore north-east or
north-west or north-by-east or about that, from the
opening in the bulkhead, but I forget exactly which
white house it was, and there seem to be several.”

“Perhaps,” replied Mr. Green, with deepest
“sarkassum,” ‘it 1s that white house we passed an
hour ago, or that one we are abreast of, or that one
a mile ahead. As cverybody appears to paint his
house white on this shore you have quite a choice.”

“Oh!” replied the Commissioner, innocent of
the ill-concealed irony, ‘‘this was a large, white
house, it is either that one in the distance or some
one beyond.”

At this the Superintendent bounced around in

BLUE-FISHING. 295

restlessness. ‘‘ Let’s follow some other boat, that
one ahead, sho acts as if going our way.”

‘Tt is a thousand to one she is not, there are
villages all along the bay, and every cove is con-
verted into a harbor. We shall find the house, but
what troubles me is the course. Iseem not to have
marked it on the chart. I must have known it so
well once.”

‘*And suppose we cannot find it, what then?”
groaned Mr. Green. ‘Where can we make a
harbor ?”” :

““Oh, we can anchor anywhere. The water is
not over four feet deep where we are. But we can
surely find the channel. It was staked out.”

So they took ‘‘heart of grace” at sight of every
oyster stake, and eel-pot stake and net stake in their
course.

‘‘What is the bulkhead, anyhow ?” asked Mr.
Green, after a pensive pause.

“Tt is a strip of sand like a shallow sand bar,
miles long, and dividing one part of the bay from
the other. There is some way of passing around
it, but I do not know how, and that would take us
far out of our course, and nearly up to the main-
land. We shall find the channel, never fear.”

The Superintendent stood this for half an hour
longer, then after they had passed a dozen white
houses, none of which the Commissioner recognized
as the right one, his patience and confidence gave
out together and he exclaimed decisively:

‘“*The sooner we about ship and go for some

296 BLUE-FISHING.

place where we do know the way, the better. We
have time to get back and take a run outside, and
catch some of those big blue-fish that I hear a good
deal more of than I see.”

It was hard work to induce the Commissioner to
consent to give up his search for the house that
bore some course from a spot marked by a stake,
of which there are probably a million or two in the
bay, but he submitted at last and the yacht was
headed back for the inlet. The wind had died out
and valuable time had been lost, the tide turned
against them and they reached the inlet too late to
try the trolling outside. The Commissioner con-
soled himself by making a sketch of Jesse Conk-
ling’s, near to which they had anchored, and the
Superintendent by going ashore and explaining to
the residents and visitors, who received him with
open arms and limitless hospitality, just how to
troll for blue-fish, a knowledge which he had
evolved from his inner consciousness by the mere
prospect of going out for the first time in his life
on the morrow. He returned quite late, after all
the other occupants of the yacht had retired to
their peaceful couches, and waked them up in order
that they might know that he had gone to bed too.

The following morning broke clear and moderate,
with a gentle breeze from the south-west. It was
just the day for our purpose. We had the white-
bait for breakfast that Mr. Green had previously
taken, and which he had carefully preserved on ice.

The “‘ white-bait” were only ‘‘ spearing,” quite a

BLUE-FISHING. 297

common, but very pretty fish of our northern
waters. It is semi-transparent, and certainly looks
‘good enough to eat,” and the Superintendent,
who had never tasted it, assured us it was delicious,
but the Commissioner had eaten it before, and his
souvenirs were not favorable. However, we had
that cooked and the barred-killey, and the green-
killey, and the many varieties which are known
generally as ‘‘mummies,” from the Indian word
mummachog, along the shores of Mattowax, the
Long Island of the aborigines, and Mr. Green ate
of them all. His plan with a fish is very simple ;
first to catch it, then to smell it, for he says every
fish has its own peculiar and distinguishing smell,
then to cook it, then to eat it. No matter what it
may be, nor how repulsive it may look. He once
tasted jelly-fish, but reported that it was bad; in
fact that red pepper was a salve for the taste it gave,
and that when he had exhausted himself trying to
remove the recollection with water he scrubbed his
mouth out with sand. He tests the warmth of all
water in which he fishes with his mouth, and can
tell to a degree of the thermometer what it is, and
he drinks a little to ascertain if it is salt or fresh,
and if brackish exactly how brackish.

Our white-bait were certainly very sandy; they
were too small and pellucid to need cleaning, but
their stomachs were as full of sand as if they lived
on nothing else. Still the Superintendent insisted
that they were a very sweet fish, what there was of
them, a proposition to which the Commissioner
gave a disgusted assent.

298 BLUE-FISHING.

«« A very sweet fish indeed,” he said, ‘‘allof them
which is not bones or sand, and that is not much.
And by the way, I may say incidentally, that while
there is a little real white-bait, the young of the her-
ring, sold in New York markets, what is usually
passed off under that name, is a mixture of all sorts
of young or small fish, among which the spearing
holds a prominent place, and that it is about as
miserable a substitute for real white-bait as mussels
are for oysters.”

Of course this fact was well known to our party,
but the beauty of spearing was misleading some of
them, as beauty has misled some of us more or less
during our lives. The Superintendent was too im-
patient, having finished his own breakfast, to listen
to the abstract discourses of his superior, and direct-
ed the men to get under-way at once and put out
from the quiet bay into the turbulent ocean. Soon
they had passed the inner buoy off Havemeyer’s
Point and were pitching into the rollers that tum-
bled in over the bar which was showing its outlines
by the angry heads of the seas breaking in front of
them. On they went, the yacht gracefully bowing
as she plunged into the waves.

There is something exhilarating about the motion
of a small vessel at sea. A ship is so large that she ~
has asteady movement and does no more than roll
from side to side, but a small yacht dances and
pitches and jumps and tosses with the uneasiness of
a living thing. To look at one going by, she is the
perfection of grace, she rises and falls, lifts and

BLUE-FISHING. 299

bows, leans over on her side and flings the water
from her stem with a charming freedom and ease.
All of which is simply delightful provided the
yachting party is not seasick.

The sea happened to be rather heavier than we
expected, and occasionally a wave larger than usual
would fling its spray on deck, but we were pretty
good sailors and did not mind it. The fish, how-
ever, false to their bounden duty were not biting,
and the Commissioner proceeded to relate remi-
niscences between the puffs of his segar and the
pitches of the boat. There is one point upon which
{ had observed that the two learned authorities were
in perfect accord; they never disputed, never ap-
peared to doubt one another’s stories, incredible as
these sometimes sounded to the uninitiated outsid-
ers. Only they seemed to feel it a point of honor to
match the statements with others as good or better.
He gave accounts of wondrous bags of game and
fish by land and sea, told of his catching, when
trolling at the same place years before, eighty blue-
fish that averaged ten pounds apiece, related how he
had sailed through miles of Spanish mackerel, and
observed that it was nothing uncommon to take
three hundred small blue-fish in a day’s chumming.

‘«‘ Would you believe it,” he added, evidently in-
tending to test the credulity of his companion,
“‘that there is good rail shooting in the streams be-
low my trout ponds ? WhyTI have killeda hundred
rail there in a day.”

I watched the countenance of the Superintendent

300 BLUE-FISHING.

to see if even this story would stagger him, but
there was not a trace of disbelief on his frank and
striking face. I may say that I have myself shot in
the creek to which he had reference, and that I have
never killed half that number, but then I may not
be able to shoot either with the gun or the bow as
well as the skilful Commissioner.

The Superintendent caught the first fish; it was
a handsome fellow of a good five pounds weight.
He was evidently proud of his success, and felt that
it was his turn to dilate and instruct.

‘‘ There is always some time in the day when fish
will bite,” he said ; “‘it may be early or it may be
late, and here perhaps your tides have something to
do with it, but there is always an hour at which
they feed. I remember going to Keuka Lake once,
because I received a letter complaining that the
people who were staying there could not catch any
trout. The first day I got my bait, the next I was
out by daylight. Just as I expected, the trout were
feeding early. I caught ten before nine o’clock in
the morning and only four afterwards throughout
the whole day. I stayed there two weeks; during
the first I took pretty much-all as I say about
sunrise. The second week they bit later, between
eight and eleven, and when I was coming away they
were just beginning to feed in the afternoon.”

At this moment the Commissioner landed a mate
to that of the Superintendent’s, and then came
along stragglers to one or another of the party, but
there were no large schools of them, for the gulls

BLUE-FISHING. 301

which congregate over them and pounce down upon
the small fish that they drive to the surface were
nowhere collected together, but were darting about,
screaming with their discordant cries from one part
of the heavens to the other. We had brought a
quantity of moss-bunkers with us to meet the ne-
cessity of chumming in case nothing was to be done
trolling, and so soon asit was apparent that the
trolling speons were not going to do any great exe-
cution, both the Superintendent and the Commis-
sioner changed their rigs and mounted a slice of the
dead bait on a gang of hooks in place of the regula-
tion leaden squid. Hardly was the change effected
before both of the anglers were fast to a fish. It
took some time to land them, and they proved to be
the largest yet taken, one weighing a full twelve
pounds. They were quickly succeeded by others,
and it was apparent that either a school had been
struck or that this new rig was far superior to the
old, but the sport fell off again after some dozen or
more had been caught, and it was proposed to try
the chumming.

We came to anchor in three fathoms water and
tied up the sails) Wehad taken the precaution of
leaving the small dingy in the bay, as we were sure
not to want it at sea. The swell had diminished
slightly under the influence of the moderate weath-
er, but still there was roll enough to make it un-
steady fishing. If a small vessel is uneasy in the
ocean when under-way it is ten times more so
when it is at anchor. ‘Then it seems to add a

802 BLUE-FISHING.

dozen new motions to the old ones. It wobbles
and twists, and bobs and bounces in the most in-
comprehensible way, and unless a man is accustomed
to the performance he will find it impossible to keep
his feet through it. While the chum was being
cut and sent overboard by one of the men, and
before the fish had a chance to collect, the Commis-
sioner drew upon his stores of reminiscences again.

“¢T remember,” he said, ‘‘ that the nearest I ever
came to falling overboard happened while I was
out in the ocean at anchor chumming, and I think
very near this spot. I was standing on the deck
and stooped over to make my line fast to a cleat
or something of that sort, when the yacht took a
sudden lurch and pitched me forward. There was
nothing for me to catch hold of and no way of
saving myself the moment I had lost my balance.
I had just a second to think as I was going, and I
remember how well I took in the situation. We
had seen several sharks about, their back fins having
been visible close to the boat only a few minutes
before. I am not afraid of sharks as a general
thing, and do not believe in their biting any one in
our northern waters, but the idea of being sent
among them so unceremoniously was far from
pleasant. Then the water looked so clear and deep,
I could see the bottom, and felt sure I should go
there, as I knew I would be pitched overboard
headforemost. I even wondered how long it would
take me to come up to the surface afterwards, and
how much it would cost to repair my three hundred
dollar Jurgensen watch.”

BLUE-FISHING. 303

“ Well,” exclaimed the Superintendent, who was
impatient over this long delay in arriving at the
catastrophy, ‘‘ were you drowned ?”

“No, not quite, for fortunately just as I was
going, and when I had given up all hope of saving
myself the yacht took another cant, pitched me back
the contrary way and brought me to my equilibrium
once more. Since that time I have been careful
how I stood on the deck of a small boat when she
was anchored in the ocean.”

At this moment the first result of this method
of fishing made his appearance, being a twelve_
pound blue-fish, which was at that instant hooked
by the Commissioner. It was quite instruc-
tive to see how suddenly the monitor waz merged
in the fisherman. No sooner had the fish struck
than he bounced out of the cockpit with the
alacrity of a boy of twenty. Indifferent to baths
or sharks, or the perils of the deep he balanced
himself on the narrow and unsteady deck, and
played his fish with the utmost skill until he had
safely brought him over the side.

Chumming in the ocean does not differ from
chumming in the bay, except in the size of the
sheet of water and the consequent unsteadiness of
the performance. The fish are generally larger and
stronger, rarely running smaller than five pounds,
but that is all. When the fishermen had taken a
half dozen fish apiece they were satisfied, and
once more made sail on the yacht and stretched
away for a harbor. We ran through the rough

304 BLUE-FISHING.

water of the inlet without any trouble, and were
soon at rest on the peaceful bosom of the bay.

The yacht was soon anchored over against Jesse
Smith’s, another of the queer summer resorts that
have grown up along the bay shores to meet the
needs of the people during the blazing months of
our hot weather, a species of country restaurant
having no accommodations for boarders, but with
cooking not inferior in results, if in science, to that
of the most famous city places. There the Superin-
tendent, who is of a social turn, spent his evening
so effectually that the yacht was not only under-
way the next morning, but half up the bay before
he left his bunk. The Commissioner had made up
his mind that another good sniping day had
arrived, and was bound for the shooting ground
once more. When they reached his favorite spot
they soon discovered, that as usual, there were no
snipe, and the Superintendent was forced to fall
back upon his love of experiment. He wandered
over the beach and took a look at the ocean, he
climbed the sand hills or dunes, that the sea in its
winter storms throws up, he pulled up plants,
collected berries, and gathered strange flowers, and
finally dug a hole in the sand a few yards from the
bay and tasted the water that came up in it, pro-
nouncing it not good, but six degrees colder than
the bay water and quite drinkable. ‘‘ There,” he
said, bringing some in a cup to the Commissioner,
who was patiently waiting in the blind for that
“flight” to begin which he had expected for so

BLUE-FISHING. 305

many years, “‘taste that; if a man had nothing
better he could get along on that. Try some more
of it,” as the Commissioner made grimaces after
taking a mouthful which he had promptly ejected,
‘you did not get a good taste. It is easy to spit it
out if you don’t like it.”

“No, thank you,” replied the Commissioner,
‘I’ve been spitting ever since the first trial. I pre-
fer Croton.”

Having exhausted the experimental resources of
the spot, he became restless and demanded that we
should return to the inlet and catch more bluc-fish.
To this proposition the Commissioner replied that
we had already as many as we could use, but Mr.
Green was not to be denied. ‘‘ We can give them
away,” he said, ‘“‘as we did with those last night
that we left with Jesse Smith, who will be glad to
get all that we can bring.”

“‘ Well, to tell the truth,” said the Commissioner,
“(we are nearly out of supplies and will have to
return for them. For instance there is no more
bread.”

“‘ But we have ship biscuit,” answered the Super-
intendent, who is a sort of fish gourmand, and will
fish ag long as he can find any use for what he
catches, ‘“‘and your men make very good rolls.
Oh, we can do well enough without bread.”

“¢ But we have no fresh meat,” persisted the Com-
missioner.

“‘ Meat!” expostulated Mr. Green, evidently as-

e

306 BLUE-FISHING.

tonished at the suggestion of such a necessity,
‘‘why have’nt we all the fish we need ?”

“Yes, rather too much if anything,” replied the
Commissioner disparagingly, ‘‘but we are out of
ice too.”

“Oh, we can get along without that,” insisted
the Superintendent, ‘‘I should like to have one
more day at those blue-fish outside.”

“Well, we can try them later, we will return so
soon as we have victualled up.”

“‘Oh,” was Mr. Green’s despondent answer, as he
shook his head petulantly, “‘I know what that
means, we will come back after all the fish have
left the country. My plan is to go shooting or
fishing while there are birds or fish to shoot or
catch.”

‘But to tell you the greatest difficulty,” the
Commissioner answered as a conclusive argument,
“‘we are almost out of water.”

“Water!” replied Mr. Green, who was not to
be overcome by any obstacle. ‘‘ Water! why there
is no trouble about that, you know that what I
found in that hole on the shore was excellent, and
I can get all we want of it. Let the men bring the
barrels ashore at once and I will see that they are
filled.”

“Good Heavens !” exclaimed the Commissioner,
‘‘do you suppose that we could live on that ?”

“Yes, and very well too, I have seen the time
when I would have been the happiest man in

BLUE-FISHING. 307

America if I could have found such a spring as
that.”

“Spring!” observed the Commissioner, with a
tone of mingled contempt and surprise, ‘‘the
people in your section cannot be accustomed to the
purest of water. Well we will do as you say,” he
added resignedly. ‘I can find something better
than that, thank heaven. I forgot to mention that
we are out of champagne, but that is of no con-
sequence.”

“* What is that ?” exclaimed the Superintendent,
evidently much taken aback by the announcement,
“‘no champagne did you say ?”

“Yes,” was the indifferent answer, ‘‘I only spoke
of it to let you know, but of course that is of no
importance whatever, we can readily do without
that.”

“No water,” said the Superintendent, musingly
and apparently somewhat confused, “no bread, no
ice, no meat, and no champagne—no champagne—
I think we had better go for fresh provisions.”

308 SPANISH MACKEREL,

SPANISH MACKEREL.

There is no better fish to eat or more difficult
one to catch than the Spanish mackerel. For an
occasional meal, the rich and luscious salmon may
be his superior on the table, as he certainly is on the
line. But with frequent use the salmon palls on
the palate, and many persons cannot live on them
even in the woods with the stimulating sauce of
hunger, and when the only choice is between fresh
salmon and salt pork. To be good, this as well as
every kind of fish must be properly cooked, not
necessarily with wine, mushrooms, and all man-
ner of disguises or improvements, but with due
attention to the immutable laws of fire and food.
No fish is better prepared than when it has been
plainly boiled, if it is accompanied with a good
drawn butter sauce, but whether boiled or broiled,
fried or baked, if correctly cooked none is more
delicate and delicious than the Spanish mackerel.

He is hard to catch, unless he is pursued with a
net, which is the most certain mode of taking all
species of the inhabitants of the water, not that as
fine tackle or as much skill is required as with the
trout or salmon, but for the reason that he is so
shy. Some years ago Spanish mackerel were so
abundant on the southerly shore of Long Island
that boats, when fishing for blue-fish, would sail
through miles of schools of them, but rarely were

SPANISH MACKEREL. 309

more than one or two caught. They would leap in
graceful curves in front of the approaching boats,
showing their abundance and hunger, but when the
prow came near they would sink, and the trolling
lines would pass unsuccessfully over the spot which
they had just occupied. Two old watermen, blue-
fish followers, who had been in the habit of going
after that more easily deluded species for years, de-
voted their time to ascertaining what was the best
squid or lure for Spanish mackerel, but after two
seasons of failure were compelled to abandon the
attempt, not much wiser than when they began.
Ninety-nine-hundredths of all the Spanish mack-
erel which come to our markets are caught in nets,
and the line does not yield sufficient results to make
its use satisfactory even for sport, but still so beau-
tiful and desirable are they, that a few will now and
then be accepted instead of ten times the number
of their coarser brethren. To take these few, there
is a choice of means, and one thing which has never
been used is well worth trial, the natural food,
either a piece of a moss-bunker or a small spearing
fastened on a gang of hooks, and the reader who is
in a position to troll for Spanish mackerel should
certainly make this experiment. The squids which
have been found most satisfactory are of bone, the
metal ones being almost worthless. Of the bone
squids those which are stained a bright red, or red
and white, are the most killing. Others made of
the heart of the cedar will often do good work. It
is supposed that the red color, which gives the ap-

310 SPANISH MACKEREL.

pearance of blood is the attraction about them.
Lighter tackle than is in vogue for blue-fish is pre-
ferable, and if the fisherman is careful and judi-
cious, he should use gut lengths above the hook for
two or three feet.

Schools of Spanish mackerel may be distinguished
from those of kindred varieties by their method of
leaping from the water.. They do not come out
with a slap as the blue-fish or moss-bunkers, or with
the short and sudden jump of the trout, but spring-
ing with a long vault they “throw a glittering
curve aloft” in a graceful sweep. They make the
fabled arch of the poet which is attributed to many
fish, but is seen only with these and the tarpon of
Florida. They are rapid swimmers and brave
fighters, and must be handled gingerly where light
tackle is used.

Spanish mackerel have for some reason diminished
of late years on the coasts of the Atlantic States.
Not only are they less freely captured by the nets,
but they never collect in the enormous numbers
which were at one time common. This diminution
is exceedingly unfortunate, and every possible effort
should be made by fish-culture and otherwise to
bring them back. At one time hundreds of miles
square of them could be seen almost any day along
the southern shore of Long Island, and a fishery at
Orient, the northerly spur of Gardner’s Bay, was
very successful. Now no such schools are ever met
with on the south side, and it has been proposed to
abandon the fishery at Orient. The innumerable

SPANISH MACKEREL. 311

blue-fish boats which then rarely failed of adding
one or two Spanish mackerel to their daily catch of
the coarser prey, have for the past season averaged
not more than one a week. It is not positively
known whether their absence is due to some change
in the temperature of the ocean or direction of the
Gulf Stream, or the destruction of their food by
the menhaden fishermen, or their exclusion from
the spawning grounds by pound-nets, but their loss
is severely felt by the market fisherman in a mone-
tary way, and by the pleasure angler in the way of
sport.

CAMP KITCHEN,

312 COOKERY FOR SPORISMEN.,

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

THE simplicity of some of the directions given in
the ‘‘Game Fish of the North,” for the preparation
of food in the woods seem almost childish. To
the educated cook they are so, but yet how many
thousands of our people know less of the simplest
rules of cookery than they do of the Iliad, and could
hardly keep themselves alive if they had to do their
own cooking, no matter how abundant the materials
might be. It is a knowledge which comes, but like
all other knowledge if left to itself is sure to come
wrong end foremost. For example, what discussion
we hear and articles we read, about the proper way
to make coffee, and yet there is nothing so simple,
in fact there is only one secret about it, which is,
that it can be made in any way provided the cook
does not seek to ruin it, and find out how with that
diligence of wrong doing which is the sad crown of
most cooks. The French tell you that the only
true method is with the percolator, others will say
that coffee ought to be boiled, some will assure you
that the grains must be put into boiling water,
while again still others will insist that it is undrink-
able unless an egg is compounded with the grains.
Those eminent authorities will probably be offended
to be told that these directions are pure nonsense,
and that coffee is good whether percolated or cooked,

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 313

whether put into hot water or cold, whether mixed
with an egg or without. There is but one rule
about it, never allow it to boil more than five
minutes at the utmost, and to say three would be
better. You may put your coffee in a pitcher if you
please and pour boiling water on it, and if you will
then stir it till it settles you will find it excellent.
The simplest method for the sportsman, however, is
to put the grains in the coffee pot in cold water,
and set the latter on the fire, let it come to a boil
and boil not over five minutes, then take it off and
pour a half teacupful of cold water, the colder
the better, into the pot, and then stand it on
one side to settle, while the other dishes are being
placed on the table. To make the highest class
coffee it is desirable to mix Java with half its
quantity of Rio and quarter of Mocha. A little
chiccory is an improvement, and the percolated
French coffee is not good without it. But before
we get to cooking it is important to arrange what
the wanderer will carry with him and how he
will cook it. In these days when the canned meat
and vegetable possesses the land, in spite of the
possible poison which may lurk in its bosom, the
question is not so much one of kind, but of quantity,
not of choice but of transportation. If you go by
water in a boat or canoe you can carry pretty much
what you like, and can use the cans for ballast till
you want them for food, but if you travel by land
you must restrict your supplies according to your
strength. Take hard bread or ship biscuit and

314 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

plenty of pork, place the ship biscuit in a barrel so
that it will not get wet, and do not count much on
baking bread, which is not an easy task in the woods,
and rarely yields a result commensurate with the
trouble involved. Butter andeggs will keep pretty
well, even in hot weather, if care is taken to place
them in the shade and to bury the crock of but-
ter in water, whenever practicable; salt fish keeps
well, but is hardly needed in the woods where it is
supposed that the fresh articleis tobe found. Ofall
the canned goods, the most satisfactory are corned
beef and the soups, which all taste alike, so that
one kind is a good as any number; tomatoes, peas,
corn, and peaches. Canners who can always be relied
upon, are Richardson & Robbins, and Gordon &
Dillworth. There may be others just as trustworthy,
but these will never deceive you and leave you to
starve on rotten stuff when you supposed you had
abundance of good food, as it is said was done with
more than one of the North pole expeditions. The
dry: soups called the “ Brunswick Soups,” have a
nice flavor but little substance, they will do if
mixed with something more solid. Currant jelly
put up in pails comes in the best way for use in
boating, and then the empty pails can be utilized
for many purposes, notable for salting down fish.
Beans represent nutriment in the most condensed
form and are safe from injury by the elements, they
are also put up as ‘‘ Boston baked beans” in cans,
and in this condition they can be eaten without
cooking—an important advantage when the rain is

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 315

pouring, or the arrival at camp is so late as to pre-
vent the preparation of a regular meal. Rice is
another article which should by no means be
omitted. Sugar of course, tea, tobacco, corn starch,
which makes a pretty good and simple dessert,
smoked beef, corn meal, and above and beyond all,
onions, which are not only good in themselves, but
the soul of so many other good things. But the
cooking implements are not to be neglected, remem-
ber that ordinarily cooking has to be done at an open
fire where saucepans are often a delusion and a
snare, by upsetting just at the moment of fruition,
and sadly disappointing the hopes of the hungry
appetite. Pots and kettles must hang by their
handles from the cross stick, which answers the
part of the iron crane of an older and yet more
complete civilization. The ordinary frying-pan
cannot, however, be omitted, as without it life
would be deprived of many of its pleasures. While
speaking of that, it is well to suggest that if the
fire is hot a stick may be fastened to the handle to
increase its length. If the intention is to bake
bread, a baking oven with an iron cover projecting
beyond the edge, and having a groove to hold ashes
will be necessary, the baking kettle can be used for
other purposes. A plain oyster broiler is another
excellent kitchen utensil, and should not be for-
gotten, it is light to carry, is readily stowed, and
answers many good ends, of course the kettle and
coffee pot, spoons, and whatever other kitchen
utensils there is room to carry will be added.

316 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

The following recipes are taken from the ‘‘ Turf,
Field and Farm,” as they are from a practical
voyageur, and can be compared with some of mine
which are to be found farther on:

Bread.—Take two quarts flour, six teaspoonsful
of baking powder, and one teaspoonful salt, and
mix well together, while dry; then stir in cold water
till a dough is formed of the consistency of soft
putty, and knead it thoroughly, having the baking
pot warm and rubbed on the inside with pork rind.
Make a ball of the dough, roll it in dry flour and
place it in the pot. Draw from the fire a few coals
and hot ashes, and stand the pot on them; put on
the cover, and coals and hot ashes on it, and every
fifteen minutes change them above and below, but
be careful not to get the pot too hot. The pot
must stand near the fire and be turned every few
minutes so as to heat the whole circumference. In
about forty minutes the loaf will be done.

Biscuits.—May be made in the same way by
simply making the dough into many small rolls in-
stead of one large, and they will bake in fifteen
minutes.

Corn Bread.—Take three pints of corn meal and
one pint of flour, six teaspoonsful baking powder,
one teaspoonful salt, and mix well together dry.
Stir in water until it reaches the consistency of
good, rich cream. Have your baking pot hot and
well greased, and pour the mixture in. Bake the
game as bread and always be careful not to bake too

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 317

fast. Never let the coals touch the bottom of the
pot. Twenty or thirty minutes ought to bake the
loaf, but you can lift the cover and try with a
splinter.

Corn Cakes.—Can be made in the same manner
by mixing the composition a very little thinner and
baking on the fry-pan with griddle cakes.

Fried Mush.—This is one of the best camp dishes.
Place over the fire one and a half gallons of water in
a pot to boil. Stir two quarts and a pint of meal
in two quarts of cold water, and while the water in
the pot is boiling pour the mixture in and stir
rapidly while pouring. (Put two tablespoonsful of
salt in the pot before you pour in the meal.) Let it
boil till quite stiff, and then pour into pans to. cool.
When cold cut it crosswise into slices one quarter
inch thick, and lay flat in the frying-pan to cook,
with just pork fat enough to prevent its sticking.
It needs simply to be browned upon both sides.

Pork.—To fry, cut the slices thin, place them in
the fry-pan and cover with cold water; put over
the fire, and let it come to a boil; then pour off the
water and set on the coals to fry.

Pork.—Cut in thin slices, and boiled fast for
twenty minutes, is excellent.

Pork.—A slice freshened and toasted on the broil-
ing fork is also excellent.

Pork.—To boil in bulk of six or eight pounds,
place in the pot and cover with cold water and put
over the fire to boil for three hours. This boiled

318 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

pork cut in chunks, and laid in vinegar forty-eight
hours makes good souse, and can be eaten cold or
fried. Slices of it fried in vinegar can be relished.

Fish. —To boil. Have a clean towel ready for
the purpose, and after salting the fish wrap him
closely in it and pin securely, particularly at the
ends. Have the water hot in the pot and place
him in carefully, then throw in a good handful of
salt and let it boil ten minutes to the pound if a
large fish. A fish of one and a half and two pounds
should boil twenty minutes. When done, lift and
remoye the cloth carefully, and: serve plain with
Worcestershire sauce.

Fish.—TVo broil. Catch him, clean him, salt and
pepper him and impale him openly and securely on
the broiling fork. Have a piece of fat pork two or
three inches square lying in the vessel by the fire.
Hold the inside of the fish over the coals till hot.
Then take the pork and rub it gently over the hot
surface, and hold again over the hot coals. Repeat
the process till that side is done brown, and treat
the other side in the same way. Remember always
that fish must imperatively be cooked slowly.

Birds.—To broil. The same as above, only open
them on the back, and pound them on the breast
with the potato masher. Good for teal, pigeons,
and ruffed grouse.

Birds.—Yo bake. Pluck and draw the birds at

the vent, and wash them clean. Make a stuffing
by chopping fine the bread crusts and pieces which

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 319

have been saved for the purpose with one or two
onions and pepper and salt; moisten with water,
and cram the birds full. Salt them and place
them, back down, in the baking pot, and proceed
to bake as directed for bread. Have a little water
in the bottom of the pot to begin with, and keep it
good by lifting the cover and basting with hot
water occasionally. One hour for pigeons and birds
of that size, and more time proportionately for larger
birds.

Meats.—Of any kind can be cooked in the same
manner.

Meat.—To fry. Have your pieces of a size to
cover the bottom of the fry-pan, and pepper and
salt it. Heat the pan to almost redness, rub the
bottom with a pork rind and throw the meat quickly
on. Let it sear for a few moments till a light crust
is formed on the surface. Remove the meat toa
warm pan in readiness, heat the fry-pan again and
put the meat with the raw side down. When
this is seared the juice is hermetically sealed be-
tween. Now loosen it from the bottom, rub again
with the pork rind and put over coals to finish,
rare or done, to the operator’s taste.

Birds.—To stew. If the birds are small, like
snipe, woodcock, plover, pigeons, or rail, cook them
whole. Iflarge, quarter them. Salt and pepper each
piece and lay it in the pot, with occasionally a cold
buscuit or toasted bread and two or three onions,
cut small. When the birds are all in, pour in hot

820 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

water till they are just covered, and put on the fire
to boil. Add a tablespoonful of salt. Take two
teaspoonsful of flour and one of meal in a cup, and
rub them together with a little pork fat and salt
and pepper, and stir into boiling water, till about as
thick as cream and add a wineglassful of Worcester-
shire sauce. When the birds have boiled an hour,
pour this mixture in and boil twenty minutes longer.
If the birds are young and tender, less time will
cook them. If it boils down too fast, replenish
with boiling water from the tea kettle, so as to keep
at least a pint of liquid in the bottom of the pot at
the finish.

Meat can be cut in pieces and stewed in the same
way ; and cut potatoes.

To Roast turkey, goose, or large meat, have a
light, new dog chain, with a good swivel, and a
hook made of 3-16 inch wire, sharp at the point,
and with an eye into which to snap the chain. In
front of the fire drive two forked stakes, leaving the
crotches three or four feet above the ground, and
across these lay a pole. Salt and pepper your meat
or bird, and hook it securely to the chain. Then
suspend it from the pole, leaving space enough
under to place a pan to catch the drippings. In
this pan have a pint of hot water. Set the meat
whirling slowly, and every few minutes, with the
spoon dip water from the pan and pour on it, letting
it run down the sides back into the pan. If the
meat is not fat, pin bits of pork upon its surface
with little wooden skewers. Keep the drippings in

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 821

the pan from drying by adding boiling water from
the tea kettle, very little at a time, and from these
drippings make gravy by stirring a little flour and
cold water together and stirring this in the drippings
afew minutes before dishing. Keep the meat al-
ways turning and three hours will do a ten-pounder.

Pork and Beans.—Put two quarts of beans in a
pan, fill the pan with boiling water and let it stand
over night, then pour off the water, put the beans
in a pot, season with salt and pepper, fill with cold
water, and put over the fire to boil. After they have
boiled one hour, throw a two-pound piece of pork
in with them ; and let boil an hour longer. Boil
slowly. Now lift the beans from the pot with the
ladle and put them in the baking pot, and plant
the pork in the middle of them and bake, as directed
for bread, thirty or forty minutes. To the residue
in the pot add boiling water and boil for soup till
the baking is done, and you have most excellent
bean porridge. The entire process must be per-
formed slowly.

A stove is a convenient thing to have, but not an
easy one to carry, if it is not too heavy and does not
occupy too much room it is sure to be too dirty
after it has once been used. A make shift can be
extemporized wherever flat stones can be had, and
will be found infinitely preferable to the ordinary
open fire. All that the traveller will have to carry
with him, will be two lengths of common stove-
pipe, the rest is built at the camping ground, and

322 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

can be erected in so short a time that the trouble of
moving house will not be serious. Having selected
the flat stones, lay them up in the shape of a horse-
shoe, the sides being about three feet long, and
about nine inches apart inside, that is, the fire place
will be nine inches wide, or more if desirable. At
the further end, the bend of the horse-shoe, the
pipe is inserted, it can be held in place by wires to
neighboring trees, and a stone placed on top will
serve asa damper. All chinks between the stones
have to be well filled with clay or mud, or earth
banked up against the outside, or what is better yet,
the entire affair can be lowered by having a place
dug for it. Large flat stones must then be laid
over the top and the work is done. One trial will
make any person an adept in building it, and it will
be found a luxury that to appreciate needs only to
be tried. This stove can be erected within the tent,
if the trench is dug to the outside and covered with
boards, and if there is a hole in the top for the
escape of smoke; and instead of stones sheet-iron
may be used for the stove cover.

The angler will often on his lucky days take
more fish than he can turn to account, but which
he will probably find use for before his trip is over.
These can be salted, and of a morning nothing is
better than a salted lake trout or blue-fish. Those
who have only eaten cod and mackerel do not know
what a salt fish is. Split them, and cut off the
head and tail and take out the back bones, bones
do no especial harm, and are excellent things to buy

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 323

at twenty cents a pound for the good of trade,
but when you are doing your own curing it is as
well to leave them out, or keep a separate place for
them. Pack the fish cut to the proper size in a
half barrel or pail, flesh side down, so that whatever
of dirt may be in the salt will not get into them,
but will remain on the skin. Upon each layer of
fish lay a thin layer of salt, rock salt will answer, or
common table salt can be used. Proceed in this
way till the fish are all in, or the receptable is
filled, taking care to put enough salt on top to pre-
vent its melting off when it turns to brine, and
leaving the fish bare so that they will spoil. That is
the only risk in the operation, put down in this man-
ner they will keep in the hottest weather for weeks.

Where the sportsmen intend to remain in one place,
the most convenient way of living will be to put up
a regular house, either purchased ready to set up
with a few bolts, or built by the party out of boards
taken for the purpose, if any one is sufficiently
skilled in carpentry to direct. Doors and windows
are a luxury, although the open tent is considered
by some as the more healthy. The ‘ Hoffmire”
house, as it is called, is admirably adapted for trans-
portation, and is constructed by persons well ac-
quainted with the necessities of woodsmen. Such
extravagances are the exception, not the rule of
“‘summering” in the wilderness, and it is our gen-
eral fate to be without them. We must sleep in the
tent, must cook at the open fire, fight mosquitoes
and black flies as well as we can, without nets to

324 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

keep them out, must endure wet and cold, and
learn to rough it and have a good time with the
aid of our own resources. Among the principal of
these, if properly developed, will be a knowledge of
some of the simplest rules of the cuisine.

Amone all the arts and sciences that improve, ele-
vate, or embellish society, or that contribute to the
pleasure and comfort of mankind, the one that is the
most necessary to health and happiness, has produced
the fewest great geniuses, and is the least under
stood, is cookery. Amid the thousands of men and
women who pretend to a knowledge of its mysteries,
how difficult is it among the former, and how im-
possible among the latter, to find a good cook—
one who is devoted heart and soul to the intricate
science, who passes days in pondering and nights in
dreaming of these delicate combinations that consti-
tute pure and refined taste!

The world has produced in hundreds painters that
delight the eye, composers that enrapture the ear,
scholars that convince the intellect, poets that touch
the heart; but of culinary artists that enchant the
stomach, the truly great may be counted on the fin-
gers. In ancient times more attention was paid to
gastrology, but the degraded taste that could em-
ploy an emetic to enable the repetition of indul-
gence, and the limited resources of restricted na-
tional intercourse, have left us little of value to be
gleaned for the experience of antiquity. The great
masters of the kitchen of those times have passed

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 325

away into oblivion, or have left only a few crude
dishes, remarkable more for their extravagance than
their excellence. It was a deficiency of knowledge
and high art that drove the gourmands of early days
to peacocks’ brains, nightingales’ tongues, and dis-
solved jewels.

The middle ages have left us some right royal
dishes; the boar’s head, the roasted ox, the black
pudding, mince-pies, the plum-pudding; remarka-
ble, however, more for their substantial character
that satisfied a vigorous appetite, than for delicacy
that would gratify an educated taste. During this
period, however, many drinks attained a perfection
that has never been improved on, and those deli-
cious combinations that were called cardinal, bishop,
punch, and the hearty sack, are almost as well
known and as great favorites now as then. There
is nothing to be drawn from the dark ages in the
least elevating to the science of gastronomy, and we
must look to modern times, and mainly to the
French nation, for our highest authorities and tru-
est instruction.

Catherine de Medicis introduced the art of cook-
ery into France, and liqueurs were invented during
the reign of Louis XIV., since which time the re-
vered names of Vatel, Soyer, Ude, Kitchiner, Be-
chamel, and Carmel have become household words
throughout Christendom ; their skill has shed a be-

ign influence over mankind, has restored invalids
to health, and brought peace to families; they are
quoted and looked upon with deep respect by all.

326 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

Coarse minds, to whom the allurements of gastro-
nomy are incomprehensible, consider cooking vul-
gar; while a few pitiable individuals are created
without the sense to distinguish the tasty from the
tasteless, as there are persons without an eye for
the beauties of nature or an ear for the harmony of
sounds. These unfortunates deserve our sympathy ;
but for the individual who affects to despise the
pleasures of the table, as loftily placing himself above
what he terms grovelling appetites, nothing is ap-
propriate but contempt. Who would believe or
respect the man who claimed that his inability to
distinguish green from red was a credit to him?
Or could tolerate one who was filled with ostenta-
tious pride because, by a wretched malformation, he
could not tell Old Hundred from Casta Diva ?

The sense of taste is as noble, and as capable of
education and improvement, as the art of the painter
or the musician. The stomach being the governor,
master, and director of the body, when it is pleased
the intellect works with force, the eye and ear are
in full play, and the nerves and muscles tingle with
animation; when it is sick or exhausted the eye
grows dull, the intellect feeble, the ear inaccurate,
and the whole body drooping and spiritless. It has
its ramifications in every part of the system, and
controls as inferiors the other organs. An ill-eooked
dinner has lost many a battle, ruined many an indi.
vidual, and disgraced many a genius; it is said that
an indigestible ragout cost Napoleon his crown.

Life is dear to all, and yet persons are continually

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN, B27

committing a disagreeable and prolonged suicide,
accompanied with painful indigestions and untold
sufferings, by attempting to despise the rules that
the imperative stomach has laid down. Under cer-
tain well-known chemical laws, food is rendered
both digestible and palatable by special modes of
preparation, and indigestible and unpalatable by
other modes. The same piece of meat that, fried,
will resemble shoe-leather, and afford neither plea-
sure nor sustenance, if nicely broiled would prove
agreeable to the palate and wholesome to the body.

Our country is overflowing with abundance of the
raw material from which good dinners are made;
but we are absolutely without cooks, and the average
American life is shortened one-tenth by the misera-
ble ignorance of the rules of cookery that pervades all
‘classes. The farmer bolts his heavy griddle cakes
and tasteless fried meats; while the wealthy citizen
devours rich gravies and ill-prepared compounds.
The former loses his teeth, the latter incurs the
thousand horrors of dyspepsia, and both shorten
their lives.

But to rise above the unimportant consideration
of mere life, which is held in our land at its true
value, and regarding cookery from a loftier point
of view, is there not something noble in the art that
moulds together the various subjects of taste, and
builds up an exquisite, soul-thrilling composition ? Is
not that man worthy of our deepest admiration, who,
not only from the wealth of materials prepares the
perfection of luxury, but when reduced to the sim-

328 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

plest articles, still manages to gratify the most deli-
cate and exacting of our organs? Who has not felt
his heart expand as he surveyed a royal feast; his
affections become purified, his feelings elevated, as
dish followed dish, and each proved itself worthy of
the other; and at last has not taken a gentler view
of human kind when contentment filled his soul ?
A good dinner encourages generosity, begets sympa-
thy, increases geniality, while it strengthens the
intellect and the nerves; a bad dinner produces ill-
nature, leads to discontent and quarrelling, dulls
the mind, and injures the body. The former aids
Christianity and promotes virtue; the latter is the
bold accomplice of vice and crime; evil humors can-
not exist in the body without spreading to the mind,
and vices in the former create vices in the latter.
Controlled by that complacency which is the sto-
mach’s return for kind treatment, the evil passions
sleep, and fading gradually, lose half their strength ;
whereas, if aggravated by perpetual dissatisfaction
and uneasiness, they become daily more violent, till
they disdain command and burst forth in unrestrain-
ed fury. So that the soul, even, may be endangered
by bad cookery. The civilization and power of na-
tions advance in proportion to their improvement
in their cuisine, and the reformation is said to be
due to the strong Teutonic impatience of fast days.
A coarse taste in eating is as sure an indication of
coarseness in mind and habits, as delicacy of taste is
of delicacy and refinement in other particulars. As
the more vulgar desires are controlled by the

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN, 329

higher impulses of the mind, and clean hands are
often the index of a clean heart, so purity of appe-
tite usually accompanies purity of soul. Nothing
condemns the vulgar man more quickly than the
nature of his appetite, and his mode of gratifying it ;
driven on like the beasts by hunger, he thinks only
of the readiest and quickest mode of satisfying the
unpleasant craving, and never dreams there can be
anything intellectual in a dinner. The Americans,
as a nation, are ignorant of the first principles of
dining; in private, they ruin their digestions ; in pub-
lic, they disgust their fellows. With that practical
turn for which they are famous as a body, they de-
vote themselves to what is profitable; and the arts
of sculpture, painting, and gastronomy are just begin-
ning to be appreciated.

Those huge dishes that delight hungry, vulgar
John Bull, such as roast beef, boiled mutton, and
the like, still meet with the approbation of the active
American. They are well enough in their way,
and when properly prepared, but if underdone, or
overdone, or done too fast, or too slow, they be-
come at once indigestible and unpalatable. Beyond
them is a vast realm of excellent cookery, unex-
plored by the ordinary household, a land of econ-
omy which should be practiced everywhere, and
which the sportsman must learn to practice, if he
would live. He cannot order a fresh joint from
the butcher when the old one has been thrown
away half consumed. He cannot run around to
to the grocer and announce that his potatoes are

330 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

out. He must learn the art of warming over and
using up the remains of the feast.

So must it be while ignorant foreign cooks—
whose only claim to the title consists in having spoil-
ed thousands of potatoes, in having rarely seen, and
never cooked, a piece of meat, and only dreamed of
coffee—possess our kitchens and rule the roast; and
as it is impossible for the master of the house, and
would be unladylike in the mistress, to superintend
the dinner, the only spot for truly scientific cookery
is in the woods. There, under the blue vault of
heaven, where the shade of some friendly tree tem-
pers the combined heat of sun and fire, accompanied
only by the interested and appreciative guides, with
the hot wood fire rapidly forming its pile of glowing
coals, can the contemplative man, tempted by appe-
tite and opportunity, devote himself to the higher
branches of epicurism. Not that the materials are
plentiful, rich, or costly, but working up from the
very plainness of his fare a more gratifying com-
pound. With that bed of coals suggesting broiling,
and that dancing, smokeless blaze inviting roasting,
no intelligent being would think of frying meat.

Under such circumstances, the larder being neces-
sarily limited, and repetition threatening to breed
disgust, ingenuity is sharpened and exercised to
produce variety ; an accurate knowledge of the pow-
er of different sauces is obtained, and new modes of
dressing simple articles invented. It is to lead the
mind of the reader in this direction, and not with
the hope of instructing stupid cooks, or educating

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 331

American taste, that this short article on cookery is
written ; and if the life in the woods, or on the water,
of our sportsmen shall be in a degree improved by
the effort, the main object will be attained.

The materials generally at the disposal of the
hunter or fisherman on the coast and in the woods
consist of fish, oysters, clams, ducks, game birds,
and venison; while he will carry of necessity pork,
ship-biscuit, salt, and pepper, and, if possible, eggs,
flour, sauces, Indian-meal, and as many of the minor
aids of a good cuisine as his means of transportation
will admit.

No attempt will be made to confuse the reader
with complicated directions for the construction of
highly seasoned and strangely named French dishes,
but the simplest and readiest mode of cooking each
article will be given, with instructions in varying
the effect. If the enthusiasm inherent in the sub-
ject shall occasionally carry the writer away and
lead him to indulge in what the reader—living on
hard tack and salt pork—may regard as vain ima-
ginings, the weakness of man in the contemplation
of so vast a subject must be the excuse; and the
disciple need undertake nothing for which he has
not the materials.

There is one simple rule which can be understood
by everybody, and should be printed in letters of
gold, and hung up in every kitchen in the land.
It is “stew slow.” Bad grammar but the first of
the kitchen code. Any meat stewed rapidly may
be good, although that is doubtful, for the pigs; it

332 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

certainly is unfit for food, and had better be thrown
away than put into the human stomach.

OysTER STEW.

The American oyster, to the thoughtful mind, pre-
sents itself almost as an object of veneration, and
would among barbarous nations have altars raised
to its honor; to the practical mind it is a mine ot
luxury, a very Golconda of epicurean wealth; raw
broiled, baked, roasted, fried, stewed, or scolloped,
it is the tit-bit of perfection, and in every mode may
be varied extensively ; it takes all flavors, and is
delicious without any; it is improved by all sauces,
and needs none. It accords with every other dish,
or makes a dinner alone. The subject has never
been half explored, much less exhausted.

A stew may be made with crackers or flour, with
celery, cheese, or milk, and with or without sauces;
but in every instance the juice must be separated
from the oysters and well cooked before the latter
are added, or they will be over-done, shrivelled, and
ruined. The simplest mode is to put some pepper,
salt, and butter in the juice, boil it five minutes, add
the oysters, and cook for one minute longer.

Or you may add to the juice crackers pounded
fine and rolled in butter, and some celery chopped
fine, or a little cheese and Woreestershire or Har-
vey sauce; or you may put a table-spoonful of flour
and as much butter in a cup, and having rubbed
them together and added a little of the warm juice,
may mix this slowly with the rest. This must

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 333

all be done before the oysters are added; and where
flour is used, care must be taken to mix it first with
a small quantity of fluid, or it will lump. A dry
stew, which is preferred by many, is made by cook-
ing the oysters, from which the liquor has been care-
fully strained, in butter, salt, pepper, and sauce.

Frrep Oysrers.

Dry each oyster separately on a towel; dip them
in the yolk of eggs beaten up, and then in pounded
crackers that have been seasoned with salt and
pepper ; heat butter or pork drippings in the frying-
pan, and cook the oysters over a slow fire, turning
them frequently. Do not use too much butter or
drippings, but add fresh as required, so as to leave
the oysters dry when done. A clean tin pan is the
best, and red pepper preferable to black. Lard is
detestable for frying anything, and salad oil is per-
fection. If black pepper is ever used, it should be
purchased whole and ground by hand, as the fine
pepper is generally adulterated and flavorless.

Roastep OysTErs.

To roast an oyster, it is simply put on the fire till
it opens, when the shell is forced off, and it is eaten
from a hot, concave shell, in which butter has been
melted with vinegar, salt, and pepper; or it may be
taken out when half done, and cooked in a pan with
its own liquor, salt, pepper, and a little butter.

Bromep OYsTERS
Are prepared as for frying, then dipped in melted

334 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

butter, placed in a double gridiron, and cooked over
live coals,

ScoLLopED OysTERS

Are placed in a deep dish with butter and bread-
crumbs, or pounded crackers well seasoned and
baked.

CiaM-Bake.

The only proper mode of baking clams was dis-
covered by the aborigines, and was invariably prac-
tised by them on their yearly visitations to the sea ;
the clams are placed on a flat rock side by side, with
their sharp edges down and the valyes up, and when
so arranged in sufficient numbers, are kept in their
places by a surrounding circle of stones. A large
fire is built over them and allowed to burn for about
twenty minutes, when it is cleared away and the
clams are extracted from the ashes, overflowing with
juiciness and steaming with aroma. Burnt fingers
and lips add to the pleasures of an Indian clam-
bake. The best sauce is pepper-vinegar.

Cram or Fisu-CHowbeEr.

Pork, potatoes, butter, crackers, sauce, salt, pep-
per, vegetables, and meat, if any can be had, clams
or fish, or both, are covered with water, placed in a
close vessel, and stewed slowly till patience is ex-
hausted, appetite insists upon indulgence, or the
mess threatens to burn. The large articles are cut
in pieces of an inch square or thereabouts, and may
be highly seasoned.

13

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN, 335

STrEwEeD Crams, on Cram Sour.

Hard clams are not fit to eat, stew them as you
will. Soft clams, after the tough parts are removed,
are excellent stewed with a little butter, or butter
rolled in flour, as directed for oysters; but being
richer than oysters, they do not need so many addi-
tions. The soup is made by thinning the juice be-
fore it boils with milk, which will curdle if thrown
into the boiling liquid. Hard clams make a good
soup if they are cut fine and not eaten,

FRiED on Bromep CrLaMs.

Soft clams may be prepared as directed for oys-
ters, the tough parts being first removed.

ScRAMBLED Egos.

Eggs are broken one by one in a cup to make
sure they are fresh, and then thrown into a pan
with a lump of butter, some salt and pepper, and
stirred carefully, so as not to break the yolks imme-
diately, over a slow fire till the whole is almost hard.
They had better be too soft than too firm.

Poacuep Eees

Are broken into a cup and poured one by one
carefully into hot water, and when done are ladled
out on a flat, broad stick or spoon, so as to let the
water drain off.

Friep Eaes.

Fried eggs are broken one at a time into a cup,
and poured into hot grease.

336 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

OMELETTE.

Eggs are broken into milk, thickened with a
moderate quantity of flour, salt, and pepper, which
is beaten up and fried with butter; parsley, ham, or
bacon may be added, cut fine.

SMokED BEEF
May be fried in grease with a little pepper, or
may be stewedin milk. A little flour rubbed with
butter in a cup, and mixed with some of the warm
gravy, may be added.

Boitep Fisu.

There are two modes of boiling fish ; one recom-
mended by Sir Humphrey Davy, and the other by
the great Soyer. By the former, the fish cut into
pieces is thrown into boiling salt and water, one
piece at a time, and the largest first; by the latter
it is placed in cold water, heated slowly, and allowed
to simmer by the fire. The former, in his Salmonia,
page 120, quotes chemistry to show that by the
excessive heat the curd is coagulated at once and
preserved ; the latter refers to his unequalled repu-
tation. Ihave generally pursued the former course
as the more rapid; the water must be allowed
to recover its heat after each piece is thrown in, so
that it may be always intensely hot; about fifteen
minutes of hard boiling will be required, but the
only reliable plan is to examine and try the fish with
a fork from time to time, as it is ruined if cooked
too long, and uneatable if not cooked enough.

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN, 337

In Soyer’s receipt the fish is placed in cold water
that contains a pound of salt to every six quarts,
which is then heated to the boiling point and allowed
to simmer for half an hour if the fish weighs four
pounds, for three-quarters if it weighs eight pounds,
and so on.

Of course, a fish must be scaled ere it is cooked,
and should be cleaned, although if it is cooked whole
and the party is hurried, the latter process may be
omitted without injury; the entrails, however, are
not to be eaten.

A little of the liquor in-which the fish has been
boiled, with Harvey or Anchovy sauce, or Chili
vinegar, makes an excellent dressing ; but the best
sauce is obtained by dissolving a spoonful of flour,
that has been thoroughly mixed with a lump of but-
ter, in a little warm water, and boiling the whole
for a few minutes. This may be prepared in any tin
pot, and, cooked with chopped parsley, is the making
of boiled fish.

Friep Fisa.

The fish, which should be small, after being cleaned
and scaled, are dipped in water and then in Indian-
meal, and fried, well seasoned with pepper, in the
pan with pork drippings or butter. If the latter is
used, salt must be added. Trout are excellent pre-
pared in this manner.

Browep Fisu.

Fish for broiling may be larger than for frying;

338 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

they are scaled, split open down the back, and well
seasoned. They are placed on the gridiron and
approached for a few moments close to the fire, so
as to sear the pores. They are then cooked more
slowly and well basted with butter, unless a piece
of thin pork is laid across them, the grease from
which will answer the place of basting. A favorite
way to cook a shad or blue-fish alongshore is to split
him entirely in two, and tacking the halves, seasoned
and buttered, to shingles, to roast them rapidly ; each
man eats from his own hot shingle.

Baked Fisu.

Small fish. or pieces of fish, cleaned, scaled, and
seasoned, may be rolled in oiled paper and baked in
the ashes ; or a whole fish unscaled, but cleaned
and wiped dry, may be rolled in damp leaves and
buried deep in hot ashes. When it is done, the skin
and scales will come off together.

STEWED Fisu.

Cold fish may be cut up into small pieces, sea-
soned and stewed in water, with a little salt pork.
If milk is substituted for water, the dish will be
more palatable.

LoxsTERs

Must be boiled when alive till they turn red.
For a dressing the yolk of a raw ege is beaten up,
with a tea-cupful of salad oil poured in very slowly
till it is firm; a tea-spoonful of mustard, a little salt,

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 339

pepper, and vinegar are added and beaten together,
after which more oil may be added, if necessary.
The meat is picked from the shell, cut up fine, and
mixed with a few spoonfuls of vinegar; the dressing
is then poured over it.

Or the dressing may be omitted, and the meat
cut into pieces may be warmed up in milk and but-
ter, with pepper and salt, and served hot.

Poratoxrs

Are usually boiled by being thrown, after they have
been washed, into an iron pot filled with cold water
and a little salt, placed on the fire till the water
boils, and allowed to cook till they are done, which
is ascertained by puncturing them with a fork. The
water is then poured off, and they are allowed to
steam near the fire for a few minutes.

When cold they may be cut up and fried in
grease, or mashed and stewed in milk, or mixed
with small pieces of salt pork or meat, and made
into a species of hash; in either case they must be
well seasoned, and are improved by the addition of
onions.

The best way to fry them is to slit thin pieces
from the raw potatoes, and letting them drop into
cold water, leave them for a few minutes. When
taken out and fried in butter, they will be crisp and
fresh.

Potatoes are tender and mealy if simply baked
in hot ashes, which can be done by burying them
under the fire until they become soft.

340 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

Bomzp Meats.

Meats are placed in cold water with a little salt,
and boiled slowly, the scum that rises being re-
moved from time to time.

Frizp Pork or Bacon.

Pork is cut into thin slices and freshened by being
heated in the frying-pan with a little water. It is
fried without any addition whatever, and the grease
fried out of it is saved for cooking other articles.
It can be breaded by being dipped first in cold
water, and then in crumbs or Indian-meal, and fried
crisp.

The same directions apply to bacon, and both
should be cut exceedingly thin.

Stewrp, Baxep, anD Broitep Meats.

Meat may be stewed, baked, and broiled, much
as has been heretofore directed for fish. In stew-
ing, the great point is to proceed slowly, and in
broiling to close the pores by burning the outside
slightly on the start; and the next point is to sea-
son sufficiently, as both pepper and salt lose their
strength in the presence of heat.

Sours

Are made by boiling a fish or a piece of meat very
slowly ; if salt meat is used, it must have been
boiled previously in a different water; remove the
scum till no more rises, add any vegetables, and
boil till done. Use a quart of water to every pound

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 841

of meat, and keep the pot well covered. Rapid
boiling throws off the volatile portions of the meat
in steam.

Roast Duck.

Dip a duck or other large bird, neither cleaned nor
picked, in water so as to wet the feathers, and throw
him on the fire or into the hot coals. When the
feathers are pretty well singed, he is done, and the
skin, feathers, and dirt may be peeled off together.
A duck needs little more than a thorough heating.
Small birds may be rolled in oiled paper and roasted
in the ashes, or a bird picked and cleaned may be
suspended by a string near the fire, and made to re-
volve by twisting it up occasionally.

Brans
Should be soaked over night, and then well boiled.

Ricr.

A cupful of rice is thrown with a pinch of salt
into enough boiling water to cover it well, and boiled
for fifteen minutes. It must be soft, but the grains
should be separate. The water is poured off, and it
is dished up hot.

Gravy.

White gravy is made as already directed for fish.
For brown gravy, a little flour is heated in a frying-
pan, and stirred till itis brown. It can be kept ina
bottle, and is added in small’ quantities to thicken
the juice of meat or soups,

842 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

Tovcu Meat.

Scalding vinegar may be poured over tough meat,
which is left to stand over night ; next day the meat
is to be cut into small pieces and stewed with season-
ing, and a few slices of potatoe and carrot.

VEGETABLES

Must be placed in boiling water with a pinch of
salt, and are done when they sink; they must be
taken up immediately.

Water Soucuy
Is made by stewing fish cut into small pieces with
chopped parsley and onions, and some pepper and
salt. It may be poured over toast and thickened
with flour and butter.

Potrep Fisu.

Small fish, cleaned and seasoned, and placed with
a little mace in a pot lined with paper, are covered
with melted butter, pressed down, and baked four
hours with a weight on them.

BotLep Satmon.

Bleed the fish the moment it is taken by cutting
its gills, and across its sides, in a slanting direction
at every two inches. Hold it by the tail for a few
minutes in the stream, moving it so as to encourage
the flow of blood. Put the pot, filled with cold
spring water, on a brave fire, so that it may heat
while you are cleaning and scaling the fish. Divide

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 343

into slices through the backbone, where the slashes
have already been made. When the water boils,
add a large bowlful of salt, and when it has re
covered its heat and is serecching hot, throw in the
pieces of salmon, the largest first, allowing the water
to recover its temperature after each. or fish un-
der nine pounds, allow ten minutes, and one minute
more for every additional pound. Serve with a lit-
tle of the brine strengthened with anchovy sauce,
or make a white gravy of flour and butter, as here-
tofore directed. Save the brine for future use.

Trout on First Princrryes.

Catch your trout, put a pinch of salt in his mouth,
roll him up in a few folds of newspaper, dip the
swaddled darling in the water, light a fire, and place
him in the embers. When the paper chars, take him
out and eat him at once, rejecting the entrails.

KippzERED SALMON.

Divide the fish down the back and remove the
bone ; rub him with equal quantities of sugar and
salt, and a little pepper; dry him in the sun or
smoke, Cut into thin streaks, and broiled, he will
be found good and appetizing.

DaniEL WEBSTER’s CHOWDER.

Four table-spoonfuls of onions fried with pork.
One quart of boiled potatoes well mashed.

One and one-half pounds of ship-biscuit broken.
One tea-spoonful of thyme.

344 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

One tea-spoonful of summer savory.

One half bottle of mushroom catsup.

One bottle of port or claret.

One-half nutmeg grated.

A few cloves, mace, allspice, and slices of lemon,
and some black pepper.

Six pounds of sea-bass or cod, cut in slices.

Twenty-five oysters.

The whole to be put in a pot, covered with an
inch of water, cooked slowly and stirred gently.

Liver.

Pieces of deer-liver may be impaled on a red cedar
skewer, witha slice of pork on top, and set up round
a fire, near enough to cook slowly; the pork will
melt and baste the rest.

GrippLE Cakes

Are made by thickening flour with milk or water,
and adding an egg or two, together with a pinch of
salt. They are poured in ladlefuls on a hot griddle
or frying-pan that has been well greased. Rice that
has been boiled and left over, or corn-meal that has
been scalded, may be mixed with the other articles,
and makes rice or Indian eakes.

Corn Brean.

Two cups of Indian meal and one cup of wheat
flour are mixed with two tea-spoonfuls of cream of
tartar, to which is added one pint of sour milk or
of sweet milk in which one tea-spoonful of soda has

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 345

been dissolved, beaten up with two eggs. The whole
isto be baked onehour. Cream of tartar is always to
be mixed with the flour, and soda with the milk, so
that when these are subsequently brought in con-
tact, gas is evolved and the bread is rendered light.

Scotr’s CHOWDER.

The following recipe was furnished by the late
Genio C. Scott, the well known author of the
«‘American Angler” :—

“The old-fashioned iron pot is the best to make it
in, but in lieu of it a copper-bottomed saucepan, as
deep as it is wide, will answer. First take your fish
—almost any kind will answer—but cod and sea-bass
are the best; clean and scale your fish, and cut them
into pieces two inches square; parboil a few onions;
peel a few potatoes and quarter them; cut up some
salt pork into the thinnest possible slices, and cover
the bottom and sides of your pot with it to prevent
your chowder from burning; place upon the pork a
layer of fish, and season it with salt and a little black
pepper. (Since I read ‘My Peninsular Medal,’ I
have been very chary of black pepper, for that
authority states that it inflames the stomach without
stimulating it, while the cayenne pepper stimulates
without inflaming; but a dash of black pepper is
useful for its fragrance.) Next, a layer of the par-
boiled onions quartered; next, a layer of potatoes,
and season the layers; next, a laver of ripe tomatoes
sliced and seasoned (tomato requires more salt than
other vegetables) ; next, a layer of cracked sea-bis-

346 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

cuit; next, a layer of fish; then sprinkle this layer
with infinitesimal pieces of salt pork, but sparingly ;
then your layers of onions, potatoes, tomatoes, and
sea-biscuit, with proper seasonings of each layer ;
pour water enough to cover the contents of the pot,
but no more; cover the pot and place it on a slow
fire where it will simmer or boil slowly for an hour
and a half; a half hour before dishing the chowder
pour upon it a bottle of Burgundy or claret.

“Jn seasoning the different layers of the chowder,
tomato catsup will answer where ripe tomatoes can-
not be had. Sauces are also introduced sometimes,
and in case the party has been used to highly-sea-
soned food, either Soyer, Harvey, or Worcestershire
sauces may be used sparingly. Many prefer to sea-
son with a greater variety of spices and condiments.
I often season with allspice; but camp chowder
should be simple, and composed of edibles easily
obtainable. Clam chowder is made in the same
manner.”

Fisn-Housr Punca.

One-quarter of a pint of lemon juice, one-quarter
of a pound of white sugar, and two pints and a half
of water. One-quarter of a pint of peach brandy;
the same of Jamaica rum, and a half pint of cognac;
the three latter ingredients mixed separately.

Pingarrte Puncu.
One slice of pineapple which has stood a day
covered with sugar, two bottles of port, one bottle
of champagne, and plenty of ice.

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN. 347

Porto Rico Puncu.

Black tea and Porto Rico rum, mixed half and
half, and sufficient sugar, lemon-peel, and ice.

Nonpescripr Puncu.
One bottle of claret, three-fourths of a tumbler of
brandy, a claret glass of Jamaica rum, one bottle of
champagne, ice and sugar.

Anrrack Puncu.

Eight tumblers of Jamaica rum, one and a half of
arrack, and one of lemon juice, which together with
the rind of three lemons, is to be allowed to stand
for ten minutes, when sugar is to be added, and
water to twice the amount of the liquor.

CuampPaGne Pouncu.

One bottle of brandy, one of Jamaica rum, and
one of arrack ; three and a half pounds of sugar, but
no water, four lemons and twelve oranges cut in
slices, a large lump ofice. Add champagne to suit
the taste immediately before drinking.

Reeat Puncn.
Peel twenty-four lemons; steep the rinds for

twelve hours in two quarts of Jamaicarum. Squeeze
the lemons on three and a half pounds of loaf sugar;
add two quarts of dark brandy and six quarts of
water. Mix all together; add two quarts of boiled
milk, stir until the mixture curdles, strain it through
a jelly-bag until clear; bottle and cork.

This [have not tried, but give it on good authority,

348 COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN.

Frank Forester’s Puncn.

The rind of a dozen Jemons, two tumblerfuls of
finely powdered sugar, three pints of pale cognac,
two quarts of cold, strong, green tea, strained clear,
two flasks of Curacao, abundance of ice, and a half
dozen of champagne, This is an admirable liquor,
even without the champagne.

VENISON STEW.

Make a sauce by melting a lump of butter with
two mustard-spoonfuls of mustard, two table-spoon
fuls of mushroom catsup, and one of sauce, mango
sauce being the best ; add the juice of half a lemon,
one wine glass of sherry, and one of claret. Heat
the mixture as hot as possible, and rub in two table-
spoonfuls of currant jelly till the whole is perfectiy
smooth; then take the venison cut in steaks, and
previously either roasted or broiled, and warm it
thoroughly in the sauce to which the juice of the
meat, if any, has been added. Cold meat is redeemed
by this process.

And now my friends, if you are ever fortunate
enough to have the Superior Fishing I have de-
scribed, or if the author’s good-will may avail even
better, and, after the delight and triumph of success,
the well-earned prize is brought up properly upon
the table, either in the rough woods or the elegant
dining-room, and is flanked by such appropriate
dishes as circumstances permit, and laid to rest in the

COOKERY FOR SPORTSMEN, 849

best liquor that can be obtained; then your mind,
filled with present complacency, mnst travel back
over these pages, and forgetting the faults and par-
doning tke errors, acknowledge that if in them you
have not found an instructor, you have found a
brother sportsman ; and, for the sake of the bond
that binds all members of the gentle craft together,
if you cannot conscientiously praise the manner or
the matter of these pages, you will utter no word to
discourage an effort that, while pointing out and
dwelling upon the beauties of nature in our wonder-
ful country, and the pure attractions it offers to the
lovers of our art, has principally been to maintain
the healthy and ennobling nature of field-sports ; to
urge the protection, at proper seasons, of the game
that still lingers in our woods and waters; and to
elevate to a proud standard of honorable, generous,
and merciful rivalry the sportsmanship of America.

THE END.