TO THE BIRD OF PARADISE. SWEET bird of beauty!-whence thy flight Art thou from the haunts of the Houris fair, When a message from heaven it brings. Alas! this world is no place for thee, Thy once-lov'd home is a lonely waste, And the flowers that proffered their dews to thy taste Then why linger here, bright bird of the skies; O'er the far-off mountains-thy home is there- I will gaze on thy flight-I will track thy way, With thee my rest and my treasure shall be Where the spirit may spurn all control, and be free E. H. B. THE BACKWOODS OF AMERICA.* | three marshals under me. I mention this BY A RESIDENT OF SIXTEEN YEARS. WOLF-HUNT. circumstance to show how erroneous those statements are which we find in many writers on America, where they attempt to make it appear that ill-will and hatred everywhere exist against Englishmen; In some parts of North America wolves for, at the very numerous meeting already are still pretty numerous, and are occa- mentioned, I was the only Englishman sionally hunted and trapped by individu- present, and on that occasion I was choals-for there is a bounty upon their heads sen chairman of the meeting, and by of from twelve to thirty dollars; and that meeting grand-marshal of the most sometimes the whole male population of extensive hunt that had ever been projectthe country turns out to join in a "Royal ed in that part of the country. But, to proWolf Hunt." It was in the Spring of 1833 ceed with the regulations:-about fifty that the wolves had become more than settler's houses were named as places of usually daring and destructive to the flocks assembling on the morning of the hunt, of sheep on the Susquehanna mountains, and these places of meeting were selected when a meeting of the inhabitants was with as much care as possible with regard convened to arrange measures for a gene- to getting the people pretty equally distriral wolf-hunt. The meeting was attended buted along the whole line. They were by most of the hunters in that part of the to meet at an early hour, because after country, as well as most of the old settlers, having assembled, they had to choose a and a long series of resolutions and regula captain from among themselves, and tions were agreed to. The district of country make such other arrangements as I, in to be driven was nearly circular, and about my capacity of grand-marshal, might see fifty miles in diameter; so that an idea fit to direct. The chief duties of the cap may be formed of the number of persons tains were to see that the men were distrinecessary to effect it. For the better re-buted in a proper manner to the right and gulation and management of these "Royal left of their respective stations, some time Hunts," a grand marshal is appointed to superintend and regulate the whole; and at the meeting above alluded to I had the honor of being chosen to that office-with • Continued from p. 332. before the general signal should be given for starting, which was to take place precisely at eight o'clock. Such as were not in the possession of fire-arms were to come provided with pitchforks, or other such offensive weapons as they might centre of our hunting-ground was a trian- possess. Every fifth or sixth man along the line was to be provided with a hunting-horn, which was to be blown when the signal for marching was given, and occasionally afterwards, by way of keeping the line in regular order. The general signal for advancing was to be given from a certain point in the line, and so carried to the right and left by the blowing of horns; so that it was calculated that in about ten minutes the signal would be conveyed both ways to the opposite side of the circle of forty-five miles. Everything seemed to augur well; the arrangements were completed, and the appointed morning brought with it a fine and favorable day. Nearly two wolves had been seen and fired at, as the whole country was on the alert, and they retreated through the openings in the sanguine were the hopes of the most ex- line. We were aware that large numperienced for a favorable result to the Royal Hunt.” I cannot say, however, that I participated in this general feeling. I had, during my residence in different parts of the country, been present at two or three similar engagements, much smaller to be sure, but still they were got up in the same way, and I had never known them fully to succeed. Everything might be exceedingly well arranged; but in the practical details something or other would always go wrong. Had you nothing but old regular hunters to manage, there would be little difficulty; but where the company consists of young and old hunters, and those that never hunted before, it is beyond the power of any plan-however well digested--to insure the success of the enterprise. 66 In the present case all went on well until the signal to march was given; when, as it afterwards appeared, the line had not been properly closed in a single point, and therefore the horns were not heard across this opening. That portion of the line nearer to the signal station of course marched as directed, while the adjoining company remained waiting for more than half an hour; when, knowing that the appointed time was past, they set off, not knowing how or in what way the next company had acted. Thus a considerable portion of the line was very much broken; and it was not until they had advanced some miles that they were aware that they were far in the rear of the rest of the party. In an open country there can be no diffi culty in arranging a certain number of men, over a certain space of ground; but in the dense forests-with nothing to direct your course but the light of the sun, or the course and direction of the clouds, and nothing to calculate the distance by -it becomes a matter of great difficulty. For my own credit, and the credit of those under me, I must say that we had left nothing to chance or expediency, that could possibly be avoided. Within the vast circle we intended to drive, there were many scores of small openings made by the settlers; but there were probably ten acres of forest for one of cleared land. In the bers of deer had been driven in; but one of our regulations was that deer should not be fired at. However, when the chances of shooting those we had surrounded became so tempting, the younger portion of our troops broke this rule, and shot down the affrighted animals in great numbers. A young lad of sixteen, who was standing near me, killed a couple of fine bucks at one shot, although they were running in contrary directions. Our men had all mustered in the three roads, and were ready to advance by about two o'clock, when I gave the word "march" from one of the angles of the woods, and in a short time the whole of them were advancing, the word having been passed from man to man to the right and to the left. We found something more than two thousand had mustered in the roads, so that they were arranged about five yards apart, with directions to close in as they advanced into the woods. Nearly in the centre of the triangle stood a hill of considerable elevation, and of a somewhat conical shape. At the foot of this hill our men had directions to halt; and for fear they should not know exactly where to put this command in execution, we had caused a circular line of trees to be marked with an axe, in such a way that it was thought impossible to pass the said line without seeing it. In hunts of this description it becomes absolutely necessary that the hunt should terminate where there is either a hill or a dish-shaped hollow; for where the ground is level, there is very great danger from the shots fired from the opposite sides of the ring; for the young and thoughtless will not be controlled under circumstances of so much excitement. But when there is a hill, or a hollow, the parties may fire up or down, as the case may be, without any danger from the rifles on the opposite side. When it is level, the only safe way is to advance upon the inclosed animals until they break through the line, when the hunters may face outwards, and fire without the possibility of injuring any of the party. Sometimes those that are armed with pitchforks and other offensive weapons, advance within the narrow circle, and give battle to whatever they may find inclosed. I once attended a hunt where the guns were all discharged into the air the moment we had halted for the last time, in order to prevent the possibility of accidents from fire-arms, and to afford such as were otherwise armed an opportunity of showing their prowess. This last method, no doubt, affords the most amusement, for there is a great deal of chasing and attacking, and murder is committed but slowly. However, it is exceedingly difficult to prevail upon regular hunters to agree not to use their fire-arms-they have no idea of knocking down a wolf with a club, or of stabbing a bear with a pitchfork. The triangular piece of wood, into which the company had now to advance, was in some places rendered almost impassable by the quantity of fallen trees, and the thick growth of underwood; so that the line became broken in many places, with openings of thirty or forty yards in different parts of it. Through these openings many deer, and some wolves, were known to escape, and although they were fired at by many of the party, so anxious were all to advance to the centre ring, that none remained to see what execution had been done. All became anxious; and, instead of a regular and steady advance, it became a matter of effort to reach the front; so that the intended line represented anything rather than what it ought to have done. All became commanders; and there was a continual shouting to the more slow and steady to "come up," whilst they, in turn, were calling for those a-head of them to take time." Matters were going on in this way with that portion of the company I was advancing with, and it was every moment expected we should strike the line of marked trees, when we heard a tremendous firing before us, and in a few minutes two or three hundred of the hunters, from the other side of the triangle, met our party. They had been in still greater haste than those under my own observation, for they had advanced with such rapidity that they had not only crossed the line of marked trees on their own side of the hill, but actually ascended and descended the hill, and crossed to the outer side of the circular line, without ever knowing they had done so. This, of course, entirely overset the whole affair, for the opening that this body of men had left in the line was large enough for whatever we had inclosed to escape by. The men on the wings fired a few shots at some of the deer, and two or three wolves and a few skulking foxes, while the main body were debarred the pleasure of seeing any of the game that had been inclosed, except an old bear that had thought it safer to climb a tall beech tree than run the chance of the line being thus unexpectedly broken. Bruin, however, had made an unfortunate calculation for himself; for he had not been discovered more than a few seconds when a score of rifles were levelled at him, and down he came to rise no more. Thus terminated our "Royal Hunt," and although some forty or fifty deer were killed, only a couple of wolves were certainly known to have been brought down, although there were vague rumors afterwards that two or three others had been shot, and slyly left behind for the present, in order that individual hunters might have the whole benefit of the bounty-money. Besides which, some half dozen foxes, and the old bear, completed the spoils of the day. When a few hundreds had assembled, the miraculous escapes began to be related; and if a tithe of what was told was true, it seemed quite wonderful that no hunters had been among the killed or wounded. I proposed to the marshals, who all happened to be on the spot, that we should make up a purse to be shot for, in order that every one who wished might have an opportunity of showing his . skill as a marksman. My proposal was immediately agreed to, and all who wished adjourned to the nearest open field, where the prize was won by one of the marshals, who had expressed a desire to compete with two or three hundred of the best shots in the country. The victor, however, gave up the prize to be contended for anew-he had done all he wished, having proved himself the best shot. Thus ended this famous wolf-hunt; and although much slaughter had not been committed, yet it had a very good effect, for those which remained became better behaved, or at no distant period had left that part of the country. |