middle of the raft, and the other two, one at each end, so that the passing fish could not escape the three. When one missed, which happened very seldom, he was hooked by his companions.

In the north of the same hemisphere the Indians practise this mode of fishing, but mingle amusement with their labour by exercising their skill as much as possible. They send their arrows through the air almost vertically, and calculate so accurately their flight and the speed of the fish in the water, that the dart, when it suddenly comes down, strikes into and kills the prey. This kind of fishing has, however, its disadvantages, and even the most skilful hunter is often balked by the wounded fish sinking into the depths, carrying the arrow with it.

Some of the African tribes pursue another system. The Kitsch negroes, whom the German traveller, William de Harnier, became acquainted with when exploring the upper course of the Nile, catch their fish, not by shooting them with arrows, but by spearing them with javelins, to the buttend of which a long cord is attached; the end of this cord the fisher holds in his left hand. Their boats are canoes, long and narrow, formed out of the trunks of trees. Sometimes the whole inhabitants of a Kitsch sheriba (village) combine, and fish together in common. They choose a favourable place, generally a reach in the arm of the Nile, at the extremities of which they construct palisades. The flotilla is then put in motion; each skiff carries two men, of whom one rows in the stern while the other in the bow brandishes his slender lance, which he darts at every fish that comes in sight, and which he pulls back by means of the cord which is attached to it.

CHAPTER IX.

THE MUSKET AND PISTOL.

Hunting by Torchlight in the Forests of America-The Marksmen of Kentucky Snuffing and Blowing Out a Candle-Driving in Nails -Killing Squirrels by Ricochet-Feats of Skill with the PistolA Prince of the Caucasus-Pieces of Silver Pierced in the Air by Bullets-M. d'Houdinot- His Rencontre upon the Sea-shoreShooting à cloche-pied.

WHEN missile arms had been replaced by percussion arms, a change which produced a revolution in the art of war, and consequently in the relative situations of countries; when the hand-cannon had succeeded the cross-bow, which itself had succeeded the bow, which again had succeeded the sling, and this last had succceeded the primitive art of throwing stones with the hand; when the gun had been invented, and it had given birth to the carabine and pistol, these arms were made to accomplish marvels-feats of skill such as would have rendered jealous the marksmen of any time, poor men who had only shapeless and imperfect instruments at their disposal.

Let not the reader expect a faithful and chronological list of the surprising achievements executed by the aid of these "fire-tubes." The province of hunting alone is an inexhaustible mine of the exploits of men who, still better than the Arabs, know how to make powder speak. Besides, in collections of sporting anecdotes the work has been so thoroughly and so frequently done that it would be inex

pedient to trouble the reader with tales with which probably he is already familiar. One exception demands our attention, that strange kind of hunting which is practised in our days in the forests of Kentucky, North America.

He

The Kentuckians are intrepid sportsmen, and one can hardly meet a man there who has not his carbine on his shoulder from the time when he is able to carry it to the end of his career. Often, after having followed the deer all day long, the Kentuckian returns to his house, and after his dinner and a little repose, sets out again at the fall of night to hunt by torch-light, or, as it is called, by forest-light. first gathers a large quantity of fir-cones, his son or his servant who accompanies him carries an old frying-pan, and, thus equipped, they set out on horseback. They penetrate into the interior of the wood, and when they arrive at a favourable spot they light the resinous cones with a flint and steel, and the flame blazes up and flickers in the pan. The forest then assumes the strangest and most fantastic colours. The nearest objects are lit up by the glow of flames, while the depths of the wood remain shrouded in the most profound darkness. The hunter advances, and soon sees glittering before him two luminous points, the eyes of a deer or a wolf, which reflect the light thrown upon them with great brilliancy. The animal, astonished at this strange light, springs up at once in the darkness, and pauses petrified. The stranger, unaccustomed to the habits of the backwoods and the adventurous life of the New World, cannot help feeling a certain shock at beholding these two eyes shining in the darkness, but the Kentuckian is not sentimental, and is, besides, accustomed to the spectacle. Without making the slightest noise he sends his bullet into the animal, whatever it may be, that stands before him. Sometimes it turns