The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1894-11-26
A HUNTERS PARADISE.
within Easy Reach a Land of Game, Where
the Waters Teen with Fish.


IND1ANoLA, Tex, March 90. Captain
Fletcher of New York and your correspond
ent have come down to southern Texas in
search of health and incidentally of game.
We asked the landlord of our hotel at Tex
ana what supplies we should need for our
proposed hunting trip along the shores of
Matagorda bay.
"SuppiesY" he repeated. "Why, except
a little cornmeal, flour, salt and such like,
with Jug of something to help along your
bait, you won't want anything. The bay
swarms with swans and all kinds of duck.
The water is alive with fish. You can't see
the sand for oysters. And as for deer and
bear, if you land at the mouth of the San
Bernard and hunt in the bottoms you can
find such game till you get weary a-shoot-
ing. Trust Pat. Heknows what you want
and Just where to take you"
Despite his rather Celtic front name, Pat
was a coal black negro of 40, who for 20
years or more had acted as guide to sports
men in this paradise for game. Pats son
Link an abbreviation of Lincoln, we
learned-was engaged to assist his father,
and he proved to be so active and efficient
that it looked as if his father assisted him.
Before coming here | often wondered
where the wild geese, brant, swans and all
the varieties of ducks that make their way
north every spring spent their winters.
Now the problem is solved They come to
southern Texas and show their wisdom in
the choice.
Back for 80 miles from the gulf of Mex
ico-or, rather, from the long series of bays
and lagoons separated from it by low
sandy islauds-the prairies are alive with
I geese brant and sand hill cranes. They are
so thick that it seems unsportsmanlike to
shoot them They Craze with the cattle
and seem so Indifferent to men on horse
back that it would require no skill to kill
them with pistol
/ From Texana we drove down to the place,
/ where Pat, who had preceded us, had a
sloop ready. The vessel bore evidence of
hard service, but there was place to sleep
and cook, and that was all we cared for.
If we had been pot shooters, we should
have been deferred from our trip by the
fact that at all the settlements along the
gulf venison and wild fowl could be bought
for about the price of the ammunition eX-
peuded in procuring them. As we sailed
eastward | was interested to learn that,
while the geese and their first cousins, the
brant, spend their days on the prairies and
only come down to the water at night
the ducks, of which we got eight varieties
} and the swans keep afloat nearly all thu
} time The latter looked like great whit
3 balls on the dancing malachite waters, ant
l when frightened by the sloop they took Z
: the air and flew away with grace and ma
I jestic sweep of wing that were worth com
ing many miles to see.
) According to Pat, Swans is mighty goot
, eatin whin one can't git nawthin bettah,
; but had they been the veriest carrion tn
temptation offered as they wheeled abou
} us in graceful flights was too great to be re
J sisted Captain Fletcher and myself bagget
! four an hour after leaving Indianola, ant
/ we might have filled the sloop without per
ceptibly reducing the flocks about u.s. W.
, discovered an island hummock on whicl
grew splendid grove of live oaks, and her
: we made camp for the night. We foun(
an abundance of driftwood on the shor
and soon had "A campfire roaring, at which
Pat and his son cooked the oysters, fist
and ducks we had brought from the bay.
: Anything more wildly picturesque thai
our camp it would be difficult to imagine
D.. Pendent through the glistening green o
Z the live oaks We're long, swaying plume
Z of gray Spanish moss, an excellent sub
{ stance, as we found, for a bed. The air wa
as balmy as Maryland May day, so tina
l we needed no shelter but our blankets
c From the water came the ceaseless croak
A ing and quacking of wild fowl. The lap G
the incoming tide and the swish of the out
going river, the droning of insects, attract
/ ed by the fire, and the murmuring of tn
n sea breeze through the overhead branches
= all made us feel that we were in an idea
l. hunters camp and far removed from 18th
!, worlds madding strife"
Q After supper that a king might hay
n envied, eaten with appetites worth nj
lionaire's wealth, we lit our pipes, and to
full of the intensely peaceful enjoyment {
our strange surroundings smoked in silen,
till 10. Then we lay down on the SPANS
moss, nor knew that insomnia or dream
a troubled men. G. A. X.