of the English sportsman or gamekeeper would not do for the hunter of the American woods; he would in all probability see very little, though he might disturb a great deal of game: the backwoodsman or Indian hunter treads as noiselessly as a panther; his eye searches the thickets in his front to catch the twitch of car or tail as a fly is shaken off, or the sparkle of the eye as his game peers through the foliage. He looks at the ground for "sign" as to what game has passed and when it went: the bruised leaves and broken twigs of the dogwood-bush tells him a stag has frayed the velvet from his antlers, and he will tell within a little how long it was ago. The disturbed dust and leaves under the live oaks are turkey "scratchings;" yet these others beyond are very much like them, and a tyro would pronounce them to be all made by the same agency: the hunter scarcely glances at them to detect the difference; he knows that they have been made by peccaries. The hunter is not only well practised in forest "signs," but he knows the sounds as well, and can, upon occasion, imitate them. In the spring of the year, by imitating the cluck of the hen turkey, he calls up the "gobbler" to his fate; and in the north, with birch-bark pipe he lures up the bull moose by lowing like the cow. In this last, however, no white man can equal an Indian, according to Lieutenant Hardy's descrip tion : "No man has ever succceded in imitating the call of the moose with such truthful resemblance to nature as an Indian. A white man can call in the right key, and loud enough for a moose six miles off to hear. He may even get an answer from a distant bull; but it is when the moose approaches that he fails, and the Indian tact comes into play. The cautious brute will stop sometimes a dozen times in the half-mile before coming within range of the hunter's rifle; and then it is that those extraordinary sounds, suppressed bellowings and gruntings, which are uttered by the Indian as if proceeding from the chest of a huge animal, allay suspicions, and cause him to come crashing wildly through the bushes to his destruction." A stranger, too, would soon get lost in these immense wilds, but the practised hunter or Indian threads them apparently by the same instinct which guides the bee to its hive or the bird to its nest. It is not instinct, however, but true knowledge of the woods; and although you do not see them stop and hesitate which course to take, it is simply because the path to them is plain before them. Their guide-posts are their shadows, the moss on the trees, and the direction in which their largest branches point. The forest ranger is no mean cook. He might not suit the pampered appetites of your city aldermen, or that of the "Lunchers at the Pubs," but he can put before a man who has a healthy, well-earned appetite dishes that no one need despise-fish baked, wrapped up in leaves in the hot sand, whose scales not having been removed retain all their juices and sweetness; kidneys broiled upon the sweet oak embers; haunches of venison, roasted to a turn; or barbecued ribs, or baked stag's-head, cooked in a forest oven. The oven is a hole dug in the ground, and heated by making a fire in and over it; and when it is thoroughly hot, the embers are raked away, moss or long grass is wrapped around the head, which is then placed in the hole; the embers are then raked back again, and in two or three hours the head is cooked; the skin peels off nicely, and you have, upon a piece of bark, which serves for a dish, a feast fit for anybody, after you have dusted it with red pepper and squeezed a lime over it. The picking on the head, the tongue, and the brains furnish a very fair breakfast, as I have proved hundreds of times, and hope to do again. In England, fox-hunting can alone be seen and enjoyed, and it is a right noble sport; but as for shooting, the man whose experience has been confined to the British Isles no more knows its pleasures than I do the joys of the blessed. Shots enough can be had at the half-tame pheasants, the hares, &c., but it lacks the free right of ranging where you will. The spice of danger which you get in foreign sports, and, more than all, the big game-the bison, the bear, the panther, and the wild boar-these, when you have brought them down unaided by hounds, you may feel justly proud of it But here Ponto stands, and you hold straight; and after all what is it?-a jack snipe! A TIGER-TRAP. BY AUCEPS. During one of my excursions, amid the dense jungles which surrounded the military station of Midnapore, in the East Indies, I, upon one occasion, inadvertently struck out into a plain, which was dotted in various directions by tufts of towering bamboos, and I observed several large herds of wild buffaloes busily occupied in grazing upon the green surface of the valleys, which were to be recognised on this extensive arena. A rude and unsophisticated ryott was passing by me at the time, whose naked appearance was remarkable for its pristine simplicity, whilst from his hand were dangling several small alligators, guanas, and snake weasels, which it would appear he had succeeded in snaring by means of wire nooses. These repelling and truly disgusting reptiles constituted a portion of his daily food, the same being boiled down in an admixture of turmeric, chilleis, and other stimulating ingredients peculiar to the climate of India; a large portion of boiled rice, when eaten with the aforenamed anomalous luxuries, is regarded by the above class of people as a favourite repast. I asked the wanderer what he was about to do with his scaly capture? His reply was, "Khand, sahib" (" I am going to eat it, sir.") Well, I thought the necessitous circumstances to which human nature is reduced in these Indian wilds far exceed any parallel to be met with in the records of economical statistics; and when I further took into consideration that the Zillah of Midnapore was taxed as to the jummin it afforded the Honourable East India Company, under the Revenue Act of the late Lord Cornwallis (called the Act of Settlement), full eighty per cent. upon the yield of the soil, throughout the abovenamed district, I could not but express an inward horror at the galling aspect which was pourtrayed in the picture that presented itself to my gaze. But I learned that this practice was but too commonly in use among the natives of the hills. In this part of the country, large tracts of land were to be observed occupied by heavy crops of a vegetable production called brinjall (the egg plant of this country), and the above is eaten very largely by the famishing portion of the community frequenting the jungle wilds of the province of Cuttack. A few underground onions, garlic roots, and wood vermin may be said to constitute the ne plus ultra of the resources of a very large portion of the degraded and abandoned serfs, who are doomed to toil through a life of ignominious and perpetual servitude in India. I could not resist proffering to this miserable human sufferer a few copper pieces I had at hand, with which he appeared suddenly convulsed with emmaddened joy; the poor mortal had not experienced, very probably, so benignant a smile from the fair face of Fortune since he was born, and he evinced, upon the eventful occasion, such a course of ludicrous gesticulations that I was readily induced to imagine his senses had suddenly taken leave of him. I questioned him as to the nature and character of the country around, as soon as he had somewhat recovered himself, and asked him if the neighbourhood had been of late infested by tigers; for Midnapore had long been noted for the numerous depredations which the people had sustained by means of the too frequent incursions of the above ferocious animals into the villages, during the moonlight-nights, at which intervals, they would carry off the inhabitants as well as bullocks and other domestic animals which were attached to the farmsteads of the husbandmen. The man, pointing to a tope of bamboos about a hundred yards off, observed: "Ek to baug ke kull hi, sahib !" ("There is a large tiger trap set there, sir.") I induced my informant to accompany me to the spot and show me the purport of his meaning. On my arrival at the tope of bamboos, surely enough a huge teak chest, occupying the space of the poopcabin of a fifteen-hundred-ton merchantman, astracted my attention. The gin was so contrived that the aperture would admit of a tiger or any other wild beast of large dimensions to enter it without experiencing the slightest obstruction. At the nether extremity were strong iron bars, perpendicularly arranged in the flooring of the trap to obviate an egress. In the centre was a similar iron fence constructed, which admitted of a sheep or goat to be encaged; and at two feet from the entrance was fixed a treddle, which operated upon a hinge communicating with a sliding shuttle set above, which when infringed upon by the foot of any animal caused the shutter to slide down by the aid of two grooves and confine the victim a prisoner within the cavity of the box or chest. By this means wild beasts were frequently captured alive, and the bait, consisting of a sheep or other domestic animal, was secured thereby from the obtrusive assaults of his expectant devourer. This trap was laid down by command of the Zemindar of Midnapore, for the capture of tigers and leopards ranging the jungles around. Having satisfied myself on the matter, I parted company with the ryott, and after having spent an hour or more in shooting black partridge and quail, which are abundant in these parts, I repaired homeward, and on the following day waited upon Ram Kissen Dutt, the Zemindar of Midnapore, and solicited the favour of him to furnish me at his earliest convenience with a tiger, should he succeed in capturing such a prize. He readily assented to my request, and in the course of a week I received notice from the Omlah of the Judge of Midnapore that my wish was gratified, as a majestic Bengal tiger was at my disposal, which had been trapped the night previously. A great task lay before me, which consisted as to the best manner in which he could be secured for transmission to Calcutta, a distance of one hundred and thirty miles, partly to be effected by watercarriage. It was ultimately arranged that the trap containing the beast, which was a chest that travelled upon dwarf stout wheels, should be removed from its existing position by the aid of buffaloes or bullocks, and conveyed to Calcutta by this vehicular arrangement. But this method was attended with the greatest inconvenience and embarrassment, for the buffaloes, the instant they smelt the tiger and were conscious that the ferocious beast was in close proximity to them, commenced snorting and exhibiting the most frantic gyrations, and were beyond all management. An elephant from the lines, belonging to the commissariat department, was then introduced to the scene, and having been yoked to the cage, succeeded in removing the same to the station. In the course of the week, two veteran native Shirkarrhees arrived at Midnapore, who took charge of the royal beast, and undertook to convey him to Calcutta, which they succeeded in doing. They experienced great trouble on the journey with their charge, and were handsomely remunerated for the pains they had taken and the success they had ensured in the attempt. This tiger was presented to the late Field Marshal Viscount Combermere, at that period of time His Excellency the Commander-inChief of Her Majesty's forces in India, and was transferred by that gallant officer to the Trustees of the Tower of London, in the menagerie of which it was retained for some years. LITERATURE. "EPHEMERA." By HELEN and Gabrielle Carr. Moxon. Under the above noms de plume, two most talented ladies have published a series of poems which will be read with pleasure by all who can appreciate imagery flowing out of a fine and original fancy-pathos which either dissolves into tenderness or swells into passion, and expression so apt and so suggestive, that phrases and lines recur to us more readily than from any other works of the day, except those of Tennyson. The "Lines on the Funeral of William of Normandy," by Helen Carr, paint with the most lively fancy the feelings of the heart, the vanity of human things, and its fleeting honours and enjoyments. The young, the imaginative, the impulsive will be charmed with the "Retreat towards Corunna," and "Le Chasseur d'Afrique;" while the older, the wiser, the sadder readers will find a mine of delight in the "Dead Boy to his Mother," "The Dying Soldier," "The Dream," and other sonnets of a similar nature. The illustrations by "Helen Carr are extremely beautiful. Well does she merit the poet's and the painter's wreath; for never were the two arts more happily blended than in her person. We now turn to the "fair Gabrielle," who contributes some most exquisite poetry to a volume which, despite its short-lived name, will, we venture to prophesy, prove a standard work. "In Memoriam William Peel," is an admirable composition: the verse is harmonious, the diction pure, and the sentiment healthy. There is much meditative pa hos in a dirge written on the death of a brave soldier, an accomplished scholar, and a Christian. In some lines addressed to Lady Barrett Lennard, the writer does ample justice to the subject; for all who have heard that lady's "full, clear voice stirring the soul to secret sympathy," cannot fail to admit the truth of every word. Few professional artistes come up to Lady Lennard, as an amateur actress, singer, and composer. We have hitherto selected the most pathetic poetry, but neither lady is devoid of powers of fancy in lighter works; and both have fully studied the law under which the processes of fancy are carried on. This law is as capricious as the accidents of things; and the effects are surprising-playful, ludicrous, amusing, tender, or pathetic, as the objects happen to be appositely produced or fortunately combined. Fancy depends upon the rapidity and profusion with which she scatters her thoughts and images. In these, Helen and Gabrielle Carr are conspicuous. To conclude. The powers requisite for the production of good poetry are observation, description, sensibility, reflection, imagination, fancy, invention, and judgment-qualities which both Helen and Gabrielle Carr possess to a great degree. As (to adopt the phraseology of Mrs. Malaprop) "comparisons are odorous," we will not pause to award the palm of merit to either, leaving our readers to judge for themselves. All we can say is, that throughout the volume under notice, "they have exhibited (we quote the language of a great critic) a very wide display of original poetry, variegated with deep reflections and striking allusions -a wilderness of thought, in which the fertility of fancy scatters flowers of every hue and of every odour." SALES OF BLOOD STOCK, &o. On Tuesday, June 13th, at Viroflay, in France, the remainder of the late Duke de Morny's Stud : Ruy-Blas, br c, by West Australian out of Rosati (M. Porte) Tantale, bc, by West Australian out of Termagant (Viscount Daru) Floreal, b c, by West Australian out of Forest Flower (Baron Finot) Effronte, br c, by West Australian out of Rackety Girl (Mr. H. Jennings) Testament, ch c, by Fandango out of Test, (bred in England) (M. Grolier) Vautour bk c, by Zuyder Zee or Oulston out of Vesta (bred in England) (M. Lecesne) FRCS. 900 7,000 6,000 950 5,000 1,250 1,000 600 2,000 6,800 |