The Palatka daily news. (Palatka, Fla.) 1884-1888, 1885-10-14
PLANTATION PLEASURES
OId-Time Fishing MethOds----COon
Hunting in the Coon Season.

Americus, Ga, Recorder.
''Git up, boss, eff yo's gwine wild me t,
de fish baskets" cried Morris, and f1uus
myself out of bed in jiffy and was soor
tramping along with Morris, watching
the purple semi-circle Of darkness as i
slowly faded in the west, fringed with ;
border of crimson and gold where the
first rays of the rising sun struggled will
the departing night. Low down on tht
verge of the western horison burned will
brightness, intensified by such contrasts
single star, glowing and twinkling as
if it were the last champion of the flying
lrgions of Erebus bidding defiance to
Aurora's gilded throng.
Don't you catch possuns now?"
asked of Morris.
.'AIos' too ea'ly in de season, sab. But
wen de 'simmon leabs tu'n red, an de
yaller spots come in de tater patch, an
pindah punches tu'n brown, an de cane
patches look des as blue as de sky, den
de 'possum huning' time Begin
just then we entered the swamp and
passed under a tangle of vines from
"hiIh huh6 III PuA PAO ioSAO"oASS', Siio
great clusters of muscadines. The trees
had grown to a prodigous height, but
the vine had run up to the top, and above
its topmost bow tender twig of the vine
waved to and fro like banner, while a
big yellow-brown goss hawk perched
himself on the topmost branch of the
tree, and with its outspread wings front
ing the rising sun he seemed glori.ied by
the blaze of light, and then saucy little
bee martins tried in vain to worry him
into recognition Of their noisy pres
ence.
Roll on, roll on, thou royal river.
With thy yellow waters murlnuring low;
Now smooth, now rough;
By bank and bluff
On to the Gulf of Mexico.
Between two walls of vivid green
flows the current of the dashing Thro1-a-
teeska. The yellow sand banks and
dusky coves just suffice to break the
mighty monotony of the grand sweep of
it's yellow current. A blue kingfisher
with top-knot as far out of proportion
to his size as is the tall, plumed cup of
the average Georgia militia man, sat
dreaming on a dead branch that reached
far out above the water. His bright
eyes caught a glance of our approaching
and with a spiteful screech he flew fur
ther up the stream. / looked in vain for
any intimation of fish basket.
Il blieve dey's er baskit tied out dar,"
h.
mass of willows and drift-wood that had
accumulated in an eddy, ''see dat vine
out dar.' looked but saw nothing un-
usual.
Right at my feet he stopped dowu and
began to unite bullace vine that was
tied in such way as to deceive any one
but an expert. Then he began drawing
it out of the water and at length the
long basket came to the surface and we
knew by the Tapping that it was full of
catfish. You may suppose that am go
ing into details as to how many we took
from it, their size and so on /; but l am
not going to do it. I'll have Morris to
tell you how the basket is made, though.
"Yo' see, boss, we des takes some
long white oak splits, bout five feet
long, an den we takes some thin splits
to weave 'em togedder. We has huff
splits ter make de baskit bout er foot
trough. By weavin' er roun' an roun'
we gifts de baskit made. Fur de upper
een', we make er funnel shape consarn
which we fits inter de baskit, wild de |
small een', not quite close up, pintin
innards. Den we bats in wild years oh |
con, pea bread an CON bread, an udder |
t'ings which am easy to sour, an den we |
frows her in wild plenty OBJ sinkers. De
fish comes in trough de little hole, an
den can't fin dey way out no mo-, and
SO we has 'em safe an SCUM
Long time stood and gazed out upon
the broad stream. l thought how the
screech of the steam engine would soon
startle the sleeping echoes and how the
ruthless rattle of the saw mill machinery
would frighten away the wood nymphs
as the gigantic bodies of these great /
trees were converted into broad planks I
and huge beams.
Dem fellahs wild the dredge-bOat
done broke up de bes' fishin' groun's,"
said Morris, as he strung the catfish on a
willow wand. "Yes," thought 1. land
soon the clatter and din of the wheels os
progress will take the place of the wild
soirees of the forest birds and these
mighty forests viii melt away before the
dawning light of the new regime"