The herald., 1894-08-29
FOUNDER STRIKING.
A SPORT OF TIE NEGROES OF THE
SOUTHERN COAST.

1t Puzzles n White Man, but the DarISy Can
Hit n Founder With His Spear Where
You Would See Only Mud-The Expert
Fisherman Never Misses His Fish.
Did you ever "strike' founder?
Probably not unless you havo lived or
passed come time on the coast of the
southern states.
One lovely August evening, just be-
fore sunset, as stood on the back porch
Of our summer home on the coast Of
South Carolina, noticed that our boy
Bob, a great big black cheerful looking
fellow about 10 years old, as lazy ras-
cal ahld as big thief as his whole race
could produce, seemed to be very busy
over q boat at the little wharf only
short distance from the house, and as
stood there watching him the mystery
was explained.
Noticing that I was Watching him
with good deal Of interest, he came
UP to the steps, and removing the tat
tored rim Of what was once q felt hat
said:
Boss man, I'ze goin 'strilSin' foun-
der tonight. Like to go long? It's easy
'nuff, 4" he said. "Jest put on ole close
that don't matter bout wettin, and I'll
call for you after supper.
After having finished supper and en-
joyed cigar and :; stroll on the beach,
watching tho bathers in the surf and
spying distant sail ON the horizon, I
proceeded to dress for the occasion. TAX
ing Bob's advice, l selected an old pair
Of baseball shoes, an ancient pair of
cadet trousers that had stood the test of
many e dress parade-a relic of my
'rat' year-a cap Of the same descrip-
tion and flannel shirt and heavy
coat, for it was cool on the water after
sunset, even in midsummer, not forget
ting to take q good supply Of tobacco
and a pipe to keep off the gnats and
sand flies and plug Of chewing tobac-
co for my companion. Negroes always
claim to be out when white man is
around.
l joined Bob at the back door, and we
made our way down to the landing.
Here we found large fiat bottomed
scow, on one side of which was fixed an
old CRATE, in which fire was burning
fiercely, while at the other end was
huge pile of dry oak, with plenty of fat
pine for kindling. Standing in the
boat was colored boy Of about the same
size and blackness Of my attendant,
whom Bob designated to me as ''lny
mammy's sister Sally's boy Rufe. -
Greeting the grinning Rufus. who re-
piled by scraping the bottom of the boat
with one foot, while he touched where
his hat would have been had he worn
any, for no such &rticle enoumbered his
woolly crown, we all made ourselves
comfortable, Bob standing at the bow,
Rufus at the stern, with pole, while L
was invited to take the middle seat near
the fire and requested to keep the boat
clear Of water, which as soon as we be-
gan our journey rushed through the
many crevices with astonishing rapid
ity.
The night was very dffia1, out lighted
by our fire we began to follow the shore,
and our fiat bottom enabled US to keep
in very close And now came to mo
what was the strangest part of the pro-
ceeding. Bob, standing, as have said,
in the bow, armed with striking pole,
which is simply a heavy rod about s
feet long, with q two pronged fork at
one end, kept his eyes fixed on the wa
ter, which was brightly lit up for sew
eral feet in front of the boat, while he
held the pole raised in his right hand.
Of I,a
suddenly thrust the pole into the water
in front of him, and with chuckle OF
triumph dashed the pole into the bot
tom of the boat, and struggling and
splashing around was dark fiat object
about foot long, with two great gap
ing wounds made by the prongs Of the
fork. The founder was exactly the col
OF of the bottom of the water and very
fiat, and how on earth anybody, even Il
hungry negro, could distinguish it with
the boat going at pretty rapid rate
was something could not make out
and have never been able to fathom.
To be sure, the water was quite shall
low, ranging in depth from 1 to g q
feet, and the light from the fire was
very bright, but when you take into
consideration the fact that the soil was
almost black and very muddy and soft,
and that the fish almost bury them
selves therein, it will be seen that it re-
quires no small amount of skill and
quickness to detect tho founder with
the boat being rapidly poled along.
And I never saw Bob miss. 1t would
be natural to suppose that tho "striker"
would occasionally mistake some object
for founder in waters that teemod
with all kinds of fish. or that sometimes
he would fail to secure the fish, oven if
he struck correctly, for it is a known
fact that "the biggest fish ever caught
was the one that got away" but, no,
never knew Bob or any Of the other
many negroes whom l afterward saw
out striking" to be guilty Of failure.
Sometimes the founder would be pierced
by only one prong instead Of two, and
sometimes the wound would be very
near the side of the fish, but secure him
tEcy always did.
That night we were out about two
hours a:,l secured eight of as fine floun-
dcrs as l c7or arN, ranging in size from
10 to Is inches, three Of which fur
nished q very fine breakfast dish the
next morning g-Philadelphia Times.