The spirit of democracy. [volume] (Woodsfield, Ohio) 1844-1994, 1851-06-18

vanic blasting apparatus, lately received
from England, for blowing up the snags
(stumps of trees,) which obstruct the navi-
CATION of the river. was explaining its
mode of action TO him, when he suddenly
interrupted me-
"The very thing! Instead Of snags, why
not blow up the Muggers!'
confessed that there could be no rea-
son why we should not blast the Muggers.
The difficulty was how to manage it; yet
the more we talked oft, the more feasible
did the scheme appear. s
The brutes kept pretty constant to the
same quarters, when the fish are plentiiul;
and we soon ascertained that poor Sidhoo's
murderer was we'll known in the neighbor.
hood of the nulla. He had on several oc.
casions carried off goats, sheep, pigs, and
children; and had once attempted to drag
a buffalo, whom he had caught drinking,
into the water; but from all accounts, came
off second best in this recontre. There
not being enough water in the nulla to
drown the buffalo, the Mugger was fain to
scuite off and hide himself among the
mud.
| had observed when blasting the snags
that the conclusion produced by the dis
charge had the effect Of killing all the fish
within range Of some twenty-five or thir'
ty yards. After every explosion, they
we're found in great numbers. floating on
the surface OF the water, bellies uppermost.
1t now occurred to me that if we could on.
ly get within moderate distance Of the
Mugger, if we did not blow him to pieces.
we would at all events, give him shock
that would rather astonish him. An explo.
sion of gun powder under water communi-
Gates much severer shock 10 the objects
in its immediate vicinity, than the same
amount of powder exploded in the air: the
greater density Of the water enabling it as
it were to give harder blow.
Having made our arrangements. Mr..
Hall, my brother and myself, got into a
small canoe with the blasting apparatus on
board, and dropped down the stream to
where the nulla discharged its waters into
Rohan. We then got out and proceeded
to village near by, where we obtained
for few annas, the carcas Of a young kid.
A flask with about six pounds OF gun-pow-
der, and having the conducting wires at
tached, was then sewn into the kids belly.
Two strong ropes were also tied to this
bait: and, to one of these, the conducting
wire was firmly bound with small cord
The ropes were about thirty yards long,
and had each attached to its extremities
one OF the inflated goat skins used by wa
ter.carriers. Hall. with his goatskin un-
der his arm, and coil Of loose rope in his
hand, took one side ofthe nula, while my
brother similarly provided took the other.
My brothers. rope contained the wire; so |
walked beside him, while two coolies, with
the battery ready charged, and slung to a
pole which rested on their shoulders, &C.
companied me. A small float was also
attached by string TO tine kid, so as to in
dicate its position.
These arrangements being made, we
commenced walking up the nulla, drag
ging the carcass Of the kid in the stream
and moving it across, from side to side,
so as to leave no part Of the bed untried;
and as the nulla was only about twelve
yards wide, we felt pretty confident that,
if the Mugger were in it, we could scarce.
ly fail OF coming in contact with him.
We had proceeded only about quarter
of mile, when the float suddenly dip
ped. My brother and Hall. threw the
loose coil of ropes they carried on the
water along with the inflated skins. These
soon made it evident by their motion that
the Mugger had seized the kid. He was
dashing across in azigzag direction, down
the stream. | ran after him as fast as
could and paying out from the reel, when
| found it impossible to keep UP with him.
On reaching a place where the banks were
sleeper than usual, he came to a stand
still. got on the top of the bank, and
commenced hauling in the rope. did
not, however, venture to lift the skin out
Of the water, for fear of disturbing him,
until the coolies with the battery had time
to come up. This was very anxious
time; for il the Mugger had shifted his
quarters before they came up, fresh run
with him would have ensued, with the
chance of his breaking the wire with his
teeth. After while | head the coolies ap.
preaching, and my brother scolding them
and urging them to hasten on. Just as
their heads appeared above the bank, the
foremost coolie tripped his foot and fell
groaned with disappointment-presentl
my brother came along with them. and
brought the battery to my feet; good
deal Of the acid had been split, but, witt
the aid Of bottle. Of fresh acid we haf
brought along with US, we soon got the
battery up to the requisite power Every
thing being now in order. commenced
| pulling up the rope with the wire. pro
ceeded as cautiously as possible for fea
Of disturbing the Mugger; but, in spite Q
all my efforts, the inflated skin, in coming
up the bank, dislodged some loose pieces
Of earth, and sent them splashing into tn,
water. Fortunately, however, the Mug
ger had made up his mind to digest tn,
Il - - no.11 N ~ ha1p ok,.oE