The weekly Shasta courier., 1873-09-27
Blue-Jackets' Pets,

9Hit pe put "oolly-neaueo mgger-bOy, or
cockroach in a ''baccy- box" Little nigger
boys, indeed, may often be found on board
a man-o-war the reigning pets. Young
niggers are very precocious. You can
teach them all they will ever learn in the
short space of six months. OF this kind
was one | remember, little Freezing pow
ders, as black as midnight, and shining all
over like billiard ball, with his round,
curly bead, and pleasant, dimply face.
Freezing powders soon became general fa-
verite both fore and aft. His master, our
marine officer picked him up somewhere on
the West Coast; and, although only nine
years of age, before he was four months in
the ship, he could speak good English, was
| perfect little gymnast, and knew as many
! tricks and capers as the cook and the mon
| key. Snowfall was another | knew, but
| Snowfall took to rum at an early age lost
caste, became dssipated and gambler
and finally fled to his native Jungle.
| Jock, OF ours, was seal of tender years.
| who for many months retained the affections
of all hands, until washed overheard in a
| gale of wind. The creatures time on
board was fully occupied in a daily round of
| duty, pleasure, and labor. His duty consist
ed In eating seven meals day, and bathing
in tub after each his pleasure, to lie on
his side on the quarter deck, and be scratch
ed and petted; while his labor consisted of
| ceaselessly endeavoring to enlarge a certain
scupper-hole sufficiently to permit his escape
to his native ocean. How indefatigably he
used to work, day by day and hour after
hour, scraping on the iron, first with one
hipper, then another, then poking his nose
in to measure the result with his whiskered
face! He kept the hole bright and clear,
but did not sensibly enlarge it, at least to
human ken. Jocks successor on that shin |
was youthful bear of arctic nativity. He
wasn't nice pet. He took all you gave
him, and wanted to eat your hand as we'll,
but he never said, 'Thank you," and per-
mitted no familiarity. When he took his
walks abroad, which he did every morning,
although he never went out of his road for
row, he walked straight ahead with his
nose downward, growing, and gnawed and |
tore every thing that touched him-not at
all pet worth being troubled with.
Did the reader ever hear of the sailor |
who tanned a cockroach? Well, this man | |
was shipmate with. He built little cage, |
with little kennel in the corner of it, ex |
pressly for his unsavory pet, and he called
the creature ldzky-" which he named him
self, sir, he explained to me. Idzky was |
giant of his race. His length was fully four
inches, his breadth one inch, while each of |
his waving feelers measured six. This mon
ster knew his name and his masters voice,
hurrying out from his kennel when called !
upon, and emitting the strange sound
which gained for him the cognomen Idzky
The boatswain, his master, was as proud of
him as he might have been of prize pug,
and never tired of exhibiting his eccentrici-
ties.
met the boatswain the other day at the
Cape, and inquired for his pet.
"Oh, SIR he said, with genuine feeling,
"he's gone, sir. Shortly after you left the |
ship, poor Idzky took to taking rather much
liquor, and that don't do for any of US, you
know, sir think it was that, for | never
had the heart to put him on allowance and |
he went raving mad, had regular fits of de-
lirium tremens, and did nothing but run |
round his cage and bark, and wouldn't look |
at anything in the way of food Well one |
day | was coming off the forenoon watch
when what should see but a double line of |
them p ants working in and out of the
little place; twenty or SO were carrying |
wing, and dozen leg, and half score
running on with feeler just like men car
rying a slowed mainsail and tn t. says I, |
is poor Idzkys funeral : and so it was,
and | didn't disturb them. Poor Idzkyr'
Peter was pet mongoose of mine, a
kindly, cozy little fellow, who slept around |
my neck at night, and kept me clear of
cockroaches, as well as my implacable enc
mics, the rats. | was good to Peter, and |
fed him well, and used to take him on shore |
at the Cape among the snakes. The snakes |
were for Peter to fight; and the way my
wary, wee friend lodged and closed with,
and finally throttled and killed cobra, was
a caution to that subtlest of all the beasts
of the field. The presiding Malay used to
clap his brown hands with joy as he e1claim-
ed, All, sauve good mongoose, sar proper |
mongoose to kill the snake"
You don't object, do you" modestly
asked my captain one day, while strollng
on the quarterback after tifin--" you don't |
object, l hope, to the somewhat curious pets
| at times bring on board?"
"Object?" he replied. Well, no not
as rule. OF course you know don't like
your snakes to get gliding all over the ship,
as they were the other day. But, doctor,
what's the good of my objecting. If any
one were to let that unholy beast in the
box yonder loose" -s..
Don't think it, captain interrupted;
"he'd be the death Of somebody to dead
certainty"
NO I'm not such fool he continued.
But, if shot him, why, in few days
you'd be billeting boa-constrictor or an
| alligator on me, and telling me it was for
the good of science and the service"
The 'unholy beast in the box was the
| most splendid and graceful specimen of the
| monitor lizard have ever seen Fully five
feet long from tip to tail, he swelled and Ia
pered in the most perfect lines of beauty.
Smooth, though scaly, and inky black, tar
| taned all over with transverse rows of
bright-yellow spots, with eyes that shone
| like wild-ire, and teeth like quartz, with his
forked tongue continually flashing out from
his bright red mouth, he had wild, weird
| loneliness that was most uncanny. Meph-
istopheles, as the captain not inaptly called
him, knew me, however, and took his cock
reaches from my hand, although perfectly
frantic when any one else went near him.
il a piece of wood, however hard, were
dropped into his cage, it was instantly torn
in pieces; and, if he seized the end Of
rope, he might quit partnership with his
head, but never with the rope.
One day. greatly to my horror, the stew
ard entered the wardroom, pale with fear,
and reported "Mephistopheles escaped,
sir, and yafaing (rending) the men," 4
! rushed on deck. The animal had indeed