The gold leaf. [volume] (Henderson, N.C.) 1881-1911, 1896-12-31

Of the West Indies pat together Small as
It Is, however, and hot aid thirsty as it is,
lying right in tho midst of the northern
tropic, / hold it in affectionate reInem-
brance as the one spot in the world where
had the best shooting of my life.
New Years week was close upon us, and
we were wondering how we could fittingly
celebrate with the temperature at 95 in
the shade end no air stirring, when along
came an invitation to visit Barbuda from
the hosrit"ble proprictors. / was then
stopping At Antigua, which is Il few miles
to the south. About 300 years ago the
former island belonged to a certain Lord
Codrington, IL gentleman of the English
aristocracy, who built q castellated resi-
/. denCc and iHClOscd u few hundred acres
with high stone walls The Codrinu utons
lived there for l.c~l.ars 150 years, and about
the best thing they ever did, in my opinion,
was to stock the island with choice sheep
and cattle from the old country and with
fallow deer from their English preserves
When the family finally abandoned Bar
buda some 60 ye.:r@ ago, many of the
sheep. the roats, t.3 horses and cattle, all
their doi:2sti: fowls, and even their former
slaves, ran perfectly wild and ,evel ted to
the s;iraccry Of their ancient and respec-
tive ancestors.
Wild deer, wild turkeys, wild guinea
fowl and wild mcn-what more could a
hunter desire?
At the time of my New Years visit to
Barbuda. it was il possession on lease of
two English gentlemen, who divided the
labor and shared the profits of this vast
estutc with lis 700 or $50 tenants. One
was n practical farmer, who attended to
the purely material working of the estate;
tie other was clergyman Of the Anglican
church. Who combined in one person the
oyecsecr of spiritual and corporcal matters.
He had Il neat little church and a congre-
CATION OF 900 or 800, mostly females, and
all of them bl;rck CT colored. There were
no other whites on the island than tho
farmer and the I3;.rs0n. Their sway was
despotic, their rule urqrcstioned, but hu-
name Like the dumb animals, the black
beings showed d tendency to atavism, and
it required all the energy of the parsOn to
combat tho inherent s;IVageisnl in them
He laDCred, as it were, with the sword in
one hand and the cross in the other; but
his la.,ors wcro not alto -ether unprOduc-
tive This hy the way; for l did not go
to Ear)sIda as Il "fisher Of men, but as a
hunter Of deer and wild guinea birds
However. the lj;iraon and | had a compact
lie was Il have INC shown all the likely
places f,:r the game and l was to regularly
attend services Oh Sunday-a compact
both of Us faithfully kept.
A sale guide named William Jack was
riy Gr5t cicerono, and ho came for me at 4
O'Clock III the morning, when all was cool
and Quiet, and the birds were singing their
notes preparatory to the full chorus at
daylight. If William Jack had come un-
attcLdcd, he would have been all right,
but lie brought along his faithful mongrel,
Doctah, who caused no end of mischief,
though apparently with the best of inten-
tions, for, us William Jack had his
. "d;twg'' hitched by u string, and, further
moro. as said William was long of stride
: and Uoctah WAS short, there was much
difficulty in the matter of locomotion.
: Finally William yaniled the Doctah so for
cibly that Tie string parted and the dog
hicd himself to Il noi s;hbOring field, where
. some cattle were grazing, and where the
wretch not only worried the beasts, to his
great delight, but also frightened away
two noble bucks which were quietly feeding
in their company. The recreant came BACK
eventually, tail between legs, and William
Jack gave him a bastinS that did my heart
good, but it did not avail to recover the
lost hour OF morning, nor the lost deer.
/ Going still farther, we had the pleasure OF
| seeing two does walk leisurely across a
wood path Just beyond range, and still
| later of jumping three deer in teld
| where at least twoscore women were work
| inc. These deer were feeding within gun
! shot of the women, but without any ap-
! parent fear, and it was only when the1f
enemy, man, appeared that they gave leg
hail and sought the seclusion of the woods.
! We walked home in the heat Of the day,
| having secured no deer, but having gain
ed a cheap of sperience," as William Jack
said. Experience, however, was not what
was after, as I most forcibly impressed
unon nv sable friend when came to pay
him for his assistance in gaining that COM
modify, giving him q shilling less than lie
| would have got if a deer or a doe had been
our companion on the return journey
1t was the next and the third day that
yentured forth to hunt the widest and
waryest of Barbuda's s denizens, the guinea
fowl. A little negro boy was my guide
and companion, one who said he knew the
feeding places of all the fowl on the island
We tramped over several miles of field, but
only succeeded in seeing many flocks at a
distance, without getting within shooting
distance of any one of these wild African
birds. Finally, as we were coming up be-
hind q high stone wall, my little guide eau
| toned me to be on my guard. Peerlng
| over the wall, saw group of half dozen
fowl busily scratching in the corn, and at
once concluded they were all my meat
| as drew I'D my gun carefully and slghteo'
| Rut T was not prepared for the hurricane
| of feathers and gust of screechlng 1ur1es,
nropelled with the seeming rapidity OF
| light. which tore into the air and away be-