Iowa County democrat. [volume] (Mineral Point, Wis.) 1877-1938, 1891-09-11
TWO YEARS VACA ITO \.
BY JULES VERNE
Essr Of The Tour ~ thc Word ~ %
Davs," 80, 900 Leagues UEGcr
tie Seas Etc

March number of the Young colOnistS
explored portion of the msrshy region
known as the South Moors, lying on the
left bank of the River Zealand. 1t was
Donovan who suggested this expedition,
and at his request Baxter made several
pairs of stills, using the more tender sparS
for this purpose. As the moors were COW
cred with water in many places these stills
would enable the young explorers to tray
sl over them dry-shod.
On the morning of the 18th of March,
Donovan, Webb and Wilcox, having
crossed the river in the yawl, landed on
the left bank. Their guns were sluuG
across their shoulders and Donovan had
even armed himself with the only duck.
tng-gun in the arsenal, thinking he would
certainly have an excellent opportunity to
use it.
As soon as the lads reached the bank
they put on their stills and started for the
more elevated portions OF the marsh Fan
accompanied them. She had no stills, it
is true, but from the way in which she
gamboled about it was evident that water
had no terrorS for her
After proceeding about mile in south.
westerly direction the lads reached the
uEleSI pare VI lLlC ltttlNIt tuAA Htlt IItN
removed their stills in order that they
might pursue their game with greater
ease.
Suipe, duck, plOver and teal ahounded
on every side, together with hundreds of
the black divers which are more esteemed
for their down than for their flesh, but
which form very palatable dish when
properly prepared. Donovan and his
companions could have killed hundreds of
these birds, but they were sensible and
conteuted themselves with a few dozen
that Fan rushed into the pools to pick up
for them.
Still Donovan was strongly tempted to
kill several other birds which could never
hive appeared upon the table in spite of
Moko's culinary skill. These were the
shore larks belonging to the Chj0njdedB
family, and some herons adorned with
snowy aigrettes of white feathers But
though the young sportsman restrained
himself-since it would have been posi-
tive waste Of powder and shot-this was
not the case when he saw a flock of the
scarlet-winged famingoes which have
such a fOnduess for brackish water and
whose flesh is as palatable as that 2t Il
partridge. These birds were usually
drawn up in line and were guarded by
sentnels that utter n shrill cry Ike the
blast Of q trumpet on the approach OF dan
ger On behOlding these magnificent
specimens of the islands OrnithOlOgy Don
ovan yielded to his impulse, and Wilcox
and Webb proved themselves no wiser;
but it was in vain that they cudeayored to
kill one of these superb birds, which meas
ure more than four feet from their beaks
to the end of their tails. The alarm had
been gwen and the flock flew Off south
ward before it was possible to Overtake
them even with q shot from the duckiug-
gun.
Nevertheless, the three young Nimrods
returned with game enough to prevent
them from regretting their trip to the
South MOors and to make them anxious
to repeat an excursion which the first cold
days would render still more profitable.
In short Gordon did not wait for the
coming of winter to put the French Cave
in a comfortable condition. An ample
supply of fuel must be laid in, 30 there
had been several expeditions TO the Bog
Woods, and the wagon drawn by the two
namas had gone back and forth from the
cave to the forest several times day for
fortnight. Now, even though the win
so'',,' l,'SY SiA ii''tY.iS VI Lnole' "I'
S ", SUN VI i"e' ",t '''p le'el 70 VI Sou
p'"VS VI 'iio ie"o'l Jaw neeo
nv, I',' So'', uol va. "l,'S9 -.
49,. c NV o. VIZ" nv pi
~ ~" o''' l"S WI ,'' VI ~ 10y
I , '''',S ''e" !l''' NJ" Jul ue o''''.l
,oo' I LUIS ~ '',,','.'.E cue S"",Dl
VnT9' an" "uI'"S III. "e""VS9 VIM" were
~ }.' % N,> 90" W
~ q WV ~ ms sup
80 g GO i''. ''o. T''' ~ N"l" 'I'l''
lil'."y menus ~ uG "'9 S''" i"'i'i "u
Pp Hpu.ai 'N1'l', Wv" us oI""t ''l''S''i1
49, 'li1l'SS' ne vas Col'i,'C", VI '"oov','
He uot"o',' "Hose I'Io' o. onIoe """"
eNplte J." ""o"' wv" ",,"S, i"ue'"' y"
sne"' was ms ''nIO5 INA. ne ieIV 'uaO 'ue
"Al'e "o'u"'lS o''olA',' 10 MN was It
NOV sIosNly unJ"s. 'uaC ne ha'l NOV oeeh
e,ec'eu III Ine hr7I instance W IiCoN'
GU an" Cr"S9 euco"r"Se'l nun II, '"eNe
neas' an" seemed 10 entertain no 'ouoIs
vi ~, n'N N"''eSS AZ tne approaching ec'Iou'
I"e'e was ie'uS no cua"ce Vi 'n'S'
no"e'tt' lor donovan was ny no means
iI'uIlIe WI" ms 'o"'t"'eS' Inc young
et i'us p"r''c,'!'IlS eNihce" no iu,en,'ou
vi NOtIu- lbI MIN, nor, III ldCJ, LOT NOfNOu.