The Press. — London, England, 1853-06-11 00:00:00

Pm THE PRESS of travel over such well-woru routes as those lying between New York tun' New Orleans, and between New Orleans and the s ources of the Missouri, and yet can tell us so much t hat is both racy and new. n e viEv that Ametican city society which we fauqwe knew so tho roughly by the daguerreotypes—anything but flattering—of Trollope and Hall, of Dickens and Marryat, Mr. Palliser gives us a novel and probably truer, because more genial, por traiture. It is, however, upon his own manor" in the wild, with his trusty rifle iu his hand, a well-trained gallant grey beneath and a herd of buffaloes or some fresh t ra cks of wapiti in front, that Mr. Palliser comes out in his true colours. Succeeding sportsmen—and that o ur author will have many succes sors, and successful ones too, over ill tha nk e sam e ground, we hope an d believe —w us for repeating his directions whereby to en. sure success Of guns the most valuable and indispensable is the plain, smooth-bore, donble-burrelled gun, about fourteen to twelve in the bore. Itet it be made by a tirst-ratt - maker, one who himself superintends the manufacture of every portion of his guns • for, in a country where there toe no gunsmiths to run to in case of an accident, the tweaking of a trigger or a shear, or the failure of some strew of inferior metal or workuumship, may involve the most serious con sequences. 1, for my own pout, its well as both my brothers, in our numerous hunting expedif s in nd t Amitles erwa,e m r em! Ceylon, have alw a y s used the guns a t lock and Son, of Dawson-strert, IMblitt, which, for see en n racy, power, and trustwor thiness, 1 have seldom se equalled, and never excelled. Nothing gives the stains num so much contidenve in using the heavy eharges re quired in elephant -shooting AS the knowledge that the barrels iu his hands have been forged by a good maker. I do not deny that good laurels may be made in mingham ; but lam convinced that there nothing like the master's eye over a gnu in every stage of its con struction. For close mid dangerous shooting I know nothing equal to the double-barrelled, smooth-bore gun. You can haul it more rapidly and handle it more quiekly and dextrously than any other, also at the some time sufficiently depend upon it for lu-curacy as far as sixty Or seventy yards. Next ill importance I would s uggest a single - barr elled, twoo-gnooved ride, which 1 inneh prefer to the poly- or many grooved, for the reasons that with the twiner you can use a larger charge of powder with out danger o shotsf the bullet et tripping; you may tire greater numer with fouling the bane' or losing in ace o nnwy,witlt antl,if you use fancy of conical projectiles, you wily dSO less chance damage to your rifle. Were 1 so circumstanced that I could take a third gun with me, it would be a double-barrelled, two-grooved ritte, whose execution at long range, though lwlow that of the single rifle, is of course far wore twettrate thaw that of the smooth-bore : experience has, indeed, satisfi me that, for a very long shot, you never enil COMA , upon t ed he pre cision with a double as with a single barrel. Even sup posing the laurels to be perfectly parallel (which is almost out impossibility ), still the direction of metal of reel' when tired is different, and hots a different effect upon the Hight of the bullet ; so that barrels, which would throw almost exactly parallel when discharged front a vice, will slightly diverge from each other when tired front the shoulder. You must not infer front these remarks that I uudenalue the (Wilde rifle. For deer -shooting, especially, it is in valuable, sod often, when I have missed it deer with the first barrel, has the animal stood still at the report, as if front curiosity, and afforded me a second shot. I merely would not have you expect too much from it, ow reckon that its accuracy of execution beyond one hundred mid fifty yards is equal to that of a good single-harrel rifle. As to (sallow, sportsmen of the Western are much at variance with those of the Eastern World, the former pre ferring the small bullet of thirty-two, forty, or even fifty to the isamol, while their East. Indian 11111111111 KM as strongly in 1111 l 'of the large had', running front sixteen to twelve or even eight tally, to the imam& The reason ut erepsney 1 limey is this, that the difficulty of olden. good pontlin' in mulch in time Wt•St than in the East tot, the larger 1411, the greater the necessity for superior powder. For my own part, I 1411011141 is i ue liued to select a size carrying front twenty-four to si7tteen to the pound. In your choice of knives, do not lot.- induced to en cumber yourself with any highly-illuminated cutlery of the Getman !ji ges. fitsi l 444 I : they are very hand some to look at, when hint; op over a clumneypiece, lout very ineffective in the titdol, wearying and blistering the hands, and splintering against the hones of any large ai mal. rite best knife for bundle , purposes, in my pinion, is a good, plain, wooden-hand:al butcher-knife ;u let tint handle he bong and the blade thin. In horses your great object should he to combine the greatest hardiness with the highest courage. A thorough bred horse you can train to rush at anything ; iris being • 'tl fit first, or apt to shy, has noodling to tbo with any absence of courage. By patience and perseverance you will teach him to charge any animal, not excepting a grisly bear; while a common, laully-bred andsbe will not even I mpute a bison. Mules, for packing, il some respects superior to horses; hut they cannot supine in d tennse c stan t old ne arly so well. I strongly advise especial an co a ttention to saddles. tilt where you will, and all over the world, your will find nothing to equal the English saddle. Provide yourselves with them at ally cost, and tnmsport them at any ineonvenience. When on the prairie, travel with a blanket saddle-cloth. You will Mal it a (smite:table addition to y • bed; but be careful before putting the *addle over it vu the hum that there is no cretute in its kt dtw ig -,—.----------- folds ; for a sore on your horse's back isood a serious Meow vettience to a king Journe. It is a g 'thin, Wore fastening the girths, to pass your forefinger under the stuldle-chalt. and lift it slightly it the horse's withets. For clothing 1 thin k there is nothing like Scotch woollen stuffs; leather, after a ll , is but an in s ubstitute for these • for. though it has its advantages in point of wear, it is horribly uncomfortable in Net feather, 510 dries as hard and stiff as parchment. Keep your gunpowder in airtight packages ; exposure to the atmosphere weakens it. Ihi not lutrilett yourselves uselessly by trying to forestall a thousand imaginary necessities. Beyond your guns and horses, with their several atipurtenances, yon will absolutely require nothing ou the prairie but your knife, dint and steel, and pipe, an iron bulk for melting lead, ti iill ton g, and two iron kettles —one for cooking, the other for Wili n g coffee—with irou covers to them, which will respectively do for frying melt, and for roasting your cottee. 'Before leaving the settlements, provide yourselves with lead, tobacco, 'vireo, sugar, salt, needles, awls, strong thread, and shoemaker's WAX, 111R1 ALSO one or two divssed skins, for making and In mending .tissinsen; an dt o the ith this equipment you may pass om depdence Pacific Ocean. But as, au fond, the excitement of the chase can be traced to the savage impulse of hunger, so the interest of a book devoted to its descrip tion will be euhtuwed by pictures of savage or quas i- s avage life—will rise or fall in the degree to which its hero dares to identity himself with a savage existence, and risk his safety or his subsistence upon the Mille hazards among which the natural untamed savages of the pro coeval forest hold the precarious tenure of their lives. This test Mr. Palliser eau meet without misgiving. Very early in his volume he con fesses, with natal candour, both the disgust and the awkwardness attendant upon his attempting for the first time the duties of the butcher and the cook. The sportsman edu cated amidst the conventionalities of eivilised society has no care beyond th at of bagging his game. The natural hunter must know how to skin, carve, and broil it afterwards, if he would not lose not merely the trophies of his prowess but his supper into the bargain. This to our dandy sportsmen of the covert or the moor would doubtless be a puzzling, and perhaps revolting, novelty ; but we have an idea that the advantages on the whole would not lie on their side. All physical endurance and peril notwithstanding, there must have been much that was exciting, iu the way o f a ne w sensa tion, in the three days fasting and hunting which Mr. Palliser, left alone in the middle of a long tour to the Fur Company's fort, had to undergo before he succeeded in capturing his long-delayed dinner : The next day was v e ry mad, in consequence of northerly wind which blew pretty hard. In these regi the cold ill winter is always easily supportable in Cahn WClteller; lint the cold, when Ileelitittumied by wind, becomes rao piercing, that great CAW and CialSiallt activity are requisite when travelling to avoid fir•st , hiti.s. Colleloll timiit of rlln and decayed tintla.r awl lark, and 4 built a myse d lf y a ae Inn, ill which 1 weathered the stoOli bill:rattily well. Towards 1101111 it. began to snow, anal coot' d all night, tilling all the crevices between the layers of bark, willow, &c., that formed the roof and sides of my cabin, thus further contributing to my comfort, which was only diaturhea at intervals of a few hours, by my having to go out and IeIICW my lire. little after The following day I co ntinued my j ttttt trey until a noon, wheit, having no none meat, I unharnessed the dog and set off to hunt for my supper. That galls+ was very scarce here I soon forma, as 1 searched fruitlessly for tracks in the recently fallen slaw. I hunted bug and hard, but in vain : night Was stealing on me, and I wits e inorttled to avail myself of the small port' of daylight that remained to retrace my steps to the spot where l had left my travail, where I made my camp and went supperless to bed. Next morning I arose, and delatted with myself for some time whether I should begin by another hunt in this ute , promising region, or pack up and resume my journey until after noon RS l lull done on the previous day. After a little deliberation I adopted the latter plan, and travelled on moil about noon, when I fell in with souse ft-4.sh wapiti tracks. These 1 palmed for a long distance, and at last value in sight of some does, who unfortunately were so far out on the plain as to defy every possible etlint of mine to approach than. y stalk was unsuccessful, fro inability to conceal myself rust toy dog; Inul tied hint from inability I new his fitmtic howling would SOOll pot l every living thin k g in these regions Ott the alert, rs. I Was 141111154101 tdl come too. He followed as I had trained him, ever a ttempting to precede roe, lint all my etforts p nosed fruitless; my game escaped without my hieing able even to venture a shirt, and I hall the mortification of seeps; these stately and graceful creatures break ;may at a rapid trot, which they soon increased into a gallop that speedily carried them out of sight, and thus vanished my chance of supper for another night. I felt very hungry indeed, and was besides very tired. IL slept feverishly, awaked at intervals front visions of the most ram and delicious dishes Owe.' before 1111% I dreamed I stood before the hospitable mansion of an old friend, who led me, in spite of my ire conuoum costume, ito his brilliantly-lighted parlour, and klace gr d me down to a n table loaded with all the delicacies of JUNE 11, 1853. 137 et ery season and climate under heaven, %winding two soups mid a turbot. At last, when itowdereil footmen re ns.v,xl the richly•eltaseti (shyers off these' exquisite tleltelicies. I started up wide awake, to look tin nought lint sow, anti filially I Stlitieelliiipteil with a pipe. On the they following I hunted long and hard till considerably after noon witl ttttt t success. me. lima.%st•tointion of I ttttt ger hail 110 W Watt! left Ille, s uet I %littered 1111101 1e704 MI the third than on the second list% Strange to say I 111111 i not the least appreliensi for the future, lint frit perfectly et)1111‘10111, the which` time, duet s ooner e el. later I NIWIlld fall in with g .. At last I (Mlle to some fresh traeks of deer, tend .... Math' out that the I 11l I l 11111 1110 heel only been walking quietly, but was in the willows Onto. liy ; this I rightly guessed by the itigzag tiiri'etl ol l of Ow trucks ; for deer, before lying clown, walk slowly Axon side to side, as if hesitating %lull. to stop, I 11.1.111lilled 14•111iVely still Mr $ t l . time, looking intently with an eye sharpettell ley hunger and itt length observed something Mir ilk the willows; it was a deer ; evening wits atlvittiving. and hit' was going out to teed. I waited anxiously as he crime au, slowly feeding, most fortunately towards one, until Ile aplirtiaelled 10 alibi,' abort 111th yards, and Own stomas'. I all.W up my rifle, allel, would Ilute tired; lilt he' came still nean.r, feeding slowly forward till he wits scarcely sixty yards sit; when 1 took a steady deliberate shot as he tuned his think towards we. 1 Itetull the bullet cntek against the al ttttt Ider ; lit , nished 6 short distance wides hitcht Hatt ot rolled once in lice snow. To my great satisfaction close at Italia, Mt 1 Made a tire and cut away Illillk VelliSeele, which I broiled slightly, awl ate spitiittgly of, giving the rest to my dog. I then made a rope of the deer's skin, and, fastening one end to the esrease and the other round my shoulders, dragged it to my camp eel the previous night, where 1 cooked Rita ate ix Insist enormous supper , smoked iny pipe, raid slept comfortably. tirisly bears—wild sheep, called (iroton . - curses in the West—bisotts, the counterparts of the Oriental attrochs—elks, Or Wlllliti -- 1)Itillt • yrs, alligators, wolves, and eagles, were the nobler gamic which the author pursued with infinite perseverance over the wiltls anti waters of the States. Snipes, turkeys, wild ducks, and monkeys, were !Maid. Up 111 Mill 11111111t 04 , or when better l'olllll not lie 1110. llis sport was, moreover, diversified—sometintes by his shooting a rattlesnake by way of a bonne immehe., anti sonwtintes by his having to dodge a Red Indian who wished to shoot hum. In the end hlr. Palliser succeeded in reaching England, with sundry captured Mari, 1 . 1 . 1 . 14, 1111(1 antisti, in his twin ; anti at diary, front which a lively narrative of travel and adventure has been selected, in his note-book. Popery Unmasked at the Recent Elections la Ireland. By a Clergyman of the Established Church. London Aylott and Co. Tills is the best pamphlet, as far as our resoling enables us to judge, which has been called forth by the present state of Ireland, and the outrages to which the recent elections have given rise. The statements of the writer are clear, his language is temperate, and no where exceeds the limits of charity and courtesy. We were at first inclined to tax him with repetition ; but when we consider that the evil ho combats springs up afresh, the SUMO in a new form, in each StleeeShiVe division of his subject, we am rather inclined to praise the method with which he has al , ranged his materials, and the skill with which lie has avoided reiterating the same statements and arguments. He agrees with Sir Francis head, tutu all other witnesses who have recently offered theirtestinit tal the subject,in pointing out the religion of the Irish populace, or rather the conduct of its ministers, as this cause more or less immediate of almost all the social and ills which so long have distmeted that unhappy country, a conclusion which is not it little strengthened by the evidence which is daily taken before the eonnnittees on Irish elections. If the influence exercised Oil the returns by the priesthood be no more than is gitimutc,—if it be desirable that the Chitral of Rome should have her nominees in the Senate,—let us a t once, says our au thor (p. I substittne the Rennin. Catholic directory for the list of the voters ; let us avoid the demoralisation and degradation of the present system ; let us not perpetuate pedury, outrage, intimidation , and revenge, by the idle attempt to keep up the mockery of a pi Tulin. election. Our author naturally contrasts the present at titude of the Irish priesthood with the promises of their advocates at the tune of the Einanripa tion Bill. It is, indeed, superfluous to expose the delusion under which the friends of religious liberty then acted, or the insufficiency of the safeguards which they imagined they had