Chapter I: Preface

On my return, a short time since, to my native land, from the wilds of America, it was not at first my intention to offer to the public the contents of the diary I had kept during my travels, and written out in detail as an employment for my leisure hours, for the exclusive use of my family in Germany. Incited, however, by the interest awakened by the publication of a few extracts in one of our periodicals, and yielding to the wishes expressed by various friends who had read the remainder, I undertook to correct and revise my notes, and to mould into a continuous narrative a diary which I had only kept when circumstances worthy of being chronicled arose,--for instance, on the voyage out, on my march through the United States, during my sojourn among the swamps of Arkansas, and finally during my hunting trip in the Ozark mountains.

I have endeavored faithfully to portray the social condition of the Americans, in so far as it came under my observation, and many a reader, while turning over the pages of this work, will seek in vain the wonted glowing descriptions of the riches and plenty which the dwellers in the West are reputed to enjoy. It is true that the American farmer commencing operations with small means, may, by dint of _very_ strenuous exertions, realize an independence in a shorter time than would suffice for this object in our old fatherland; but, on the other hand, he must be prepared to renounce every thing that gladdened his heart in his native country--and only too quickly will he discover that to wean himself from the comforts to which he has been from childhood accustomed, to quit the society and intercourse of the civilized world, and to seek in a far land a life of freedom indeed, but likewise of solitude and privation, is a harder task than it at first appeared. And not every man is sufficiently strong of heart to bear the emigrant’s lot without a murmur.

But should any inveterate sportsman, with an imagination heated by the description of these scenes, excited by the dangers and difficulties of the enterprise, depart to the far West, to experience similar adventures, let him remember, when wet, hungry, alone, and a prey to mosquitoes, he lies stretched in the untrodden forest, longing in vain for a fire, and for the society of men; or when he has been following the tracks of the deer for days together, without the chance of a single shot, until he can almost persuade himself that the tales he has read of wild sports in the West are but myths existing only in the brains of the Indians; let him, I say, remember that I have, so far as in me lay, painted all this in its true colors, and that many an adventure which reads admirably on paper, is in reality the reverse of romantic.

The chase in the United States is, moreover, rapidly on the decline; for the American hunter spares nothing, and for some time, particularly since the day when skins were first paid for in hard dollars, a war of extermination has been waged against the poor stags and bears;--so that the hunter who, some five years hence, shall visit these realms, will scarcely find his expectations of sport realized, unless he is prepared either to content himself with small game, or to penetrate to the Rocky Mountains, and explore the territory of the Indians.

With the concluding request to my readers, to remember that these pages are penned by a man who, so to speak, has but just emerged from the forest, and who relates his experiences to his friends at home, not caring for the fact that he might, perhaps, by adopting a different method, have told his story with more effect, this diary is submitted to the kind consideration of the public, by

THE AUTHOR.

CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I.

FROM BREMEN TO NEW YORK.

The Bremen Lighter--A Parting Jollification--The good Ship “Constitution”--The Steerage--The Last of Germany--Sea-sickness--Life on Board--The Channel--Sea Sights--A Shark--A Wreck--Bathing at Sea--Dancing on Board--Stormy Weather--The Coast of Newfoundland--Festivities on the 4th of July--Shark and Pilot-Fish--Mother Carey’s Chickens--Land ho!--Staten Island--Our Destination.....pp. 1--30

CHAPTER II.

NEW YORK TO BUFFALO.

Car-drivers--An Irish Funeral--German Boarding-House--A Pulpit in a State of Siege--Negroes at New York--Shooting Excursion near New York--Railway to Utica--American Canal Boat--My Fat Fellow-passenger--Pennsylvanian smith--Hamilton--Wild Duck-shooting--An Indian Hunter--Night in the Woods--A Yankee Cattle-dealer--Buffalo Politicians.....31--60

CHAPTER III.

OHIO--INDIANA--ILLINOIS--MISSOURI.

Wet and Weary--Out in the Woods--The Forest Mill--A Raccoon--A Pleasant Travelling Companion--My Israelite Fellow-lodgers--Fording the Wabash--A Wet Road--Buck-shooting--Illinois and its Climate--I set off for New Orleans--Lead Mines in Missouri.....61--82

CHAPTER IV.

ARKANSAS, AND “DOWN RIVER” TO NEW ORLEANS.

The Eagle--An Old Settler--My unsuccessful Hunting Dog--The Polish Refugee’s Habitation--An Unnecessary Circuit--Indian Tribe--Little Rock in Arkansas--My Engagement on board the “Fox”--Quarrel with the Captain--An uncomfortable Night--Treatment of Slaves--A Woodland Supper--A Panther--Bear-shooting--Life among the Indians--An Indian Shooting Party--Wolf Traps--Narrow Escape for my Canoe--By Steamer to New Orleans.....83--116

CHAPTER V.

CINCINNATI--A FARMER’S LIFE IN THE WOODS.

A Runaway Couple--Cincinnati and its Religious Sects--The Girl “possessed with a Devil”--I start afresh for the Woods--Bad Sport and bad Weather--Crawfish--Blackfish Lake--A Picnic in the Woods--Mule Drivers from Texas--Strong’s Plantation--A Swimming-race with the dogs--Saint Woodland’s Farm--Bee-hunting--Wild Honey--Searching for Horses--Dancing for a Dinner--Backwoods Building--Ague--My Methodist Friend--Duck-shooting--Snakes in the Swamps--Our Farming Arrangements.....117--149

CHAPTER VI.

A FARMER’S LIFE IN THE WOODS (_continued_).

A Wolf--We shift our Quarters--False Alarm--Squirrel for Breakfast--Primitive Mode of Winnowing Corn--“Oiltrove Bottom”--Pawpaw Trees--“Not at home”--Hard Fare--A Panther--Visit to Hilger--A Great Political Discussion--Clearing Land for Fields--Ague--Prompt Burial in the Swamps--A Backwoods Family--Swindlers in Arkansas--White River and its Neighborhood--Magnus, the Great Buffalo Hunter--A Patient with the Ague--Swamps--Hunting with an unloaded Gun--Death of the Bear.....150--181

CHAPTER VII.

WOODLAND SPORTS--CANE-BRAKES--MY EXAMINATION BY THE SCHOOL COMMISSION.

Turkey-shooting with Dogs--Forest Travel--Scarcity of Provisions--Overcup Oak--Buck-hunting--Buffalo-hunting--Return to the Haunts of Men--Bear-hunting with dogs--The Falling Tree--“Shocking bad Dreams”--Ladies in the Forest--Unemployed Hands in Cincinnati--Card-playing in the Cane-brake--German Settlers down South--The Great School Examination--Speculation in Canes.....182-209

CHAPTER VIII.

FARMING AT FOURCHE LE FAVE--A BACKWOODS “FROLIC”--RESIDENCE AT KELFER’S FARM--SCHOOLS--HUNTING EXCURSION.

Partnership with Rutkin--Removing Goods by Canoe--Scalding Pigs “Arkansas Fashion”--Shooting Deer by Night--Disagreement with Rutkin--A Backwoods “Frolic”--Relays of Fiddlers--Chasing a Wolf with a Canoe--Another Shooting Excursion--The Sessions in the Backwoods--An inconvenient Court-house--Departure from Kelfer’s Farm--Road-making in the Backwoods--Visit to Bahrens--Habitual Reserve of the Americans--Mechanical Ingenuity of Backwoodsmen--An Indian Adventure--Raccoon-shooting--Bee-hunting in the Backwoods--Duck-shooting--Curly the Settler--A Prize--Curly’s Mishap--An Unpleasant Nocturnal Visitor--Shooting a Panther--Return to Slowtrap’s.....210--257

CHAPTER IX.

HUNTING ANECDOTES AND EXPERIENCES--CHRISTMAS--CONWELL AND HIS REMINISCENCES.

Surprised by a Panther--A New Hunting Excursion--The Fox--“Stole Away”--The Two old Cattle-dealers--Bear-hunting Extraordinary--Deer-stalking by Night--Duck-shooting--Thunderstorms in Arkansas--Our Nocturnal Encampment--Indian Migration--A Bootless Chase--Lost in the Forest--Mr. Davis’s Farm--Conwell and his Family--Slowtrap’s Adventure with the Cow--Terrace-hills--A Prize--A Sumptuous Breakfast--A Two-year-old Bruin--A Comfortable Evening--Indian Stratagem--Simplicity of the Backwoodsmen--Bivouac--Story of the Moccasins--Almost surprised by a Panther--A Novel Sleeping-room--Struggle with a Buck--Story of a Buffalo Hunt--Books in Wet Weather--Manna in the Desert--Marauding Wolves--Bruin in his Nest--Honey-laden Home.....258--311

CHAPTER X.

A PERILOUS BEAR-HUNT--A DEBATING SOCIETY--PANTHER HUNT--DISASTROUS EVENTS--DEATH OF ERSKINE--DEPARTURE.

Bears in their Winter Quarters--Bruin’s Cave--Our Adventure in the Cave--Attack and Retreat--Pursued by a Wounded Bear--Victory at last--Another Bruin in his Lair--Backwoods Debating Society--Knotty Points of Debate--A Panther in a Cave--Watchfire and Wounds--Off again after Game--Hunting with the Indians--Skeletons--Narrow Quarters--Wachiga--Our Fatal Temerity--Erskine’s Death--A Terrible Night--A Primitive Operation--I decline taking a Farm--A Rencontre.....312--349

CHAPTER XI.

A FATAL BRAWL--RETURN TO LITTLE ROCK--SUMMARY JUSTICE--DOWN SOUTH.

Whiskey and Bloodshed--Wounded and Alone--A Prize--Return to Slowtrap’s--Little Rock--Deer-shooting at the “Salt Lick”--Logwood Trees in Arkansas--Summary Judicial Proceedings--Calls for attracting Deer--Indian Method of Dressing Skins--A Matrimonial Difficulty--Buck-shooting--Letters at Little Rock--Canoe Voyage down the Arkansas--Celebration of the 4th of July.....350--373

CHAPTER XII.

LOUISIANA--NEW ORLEANS, AND HOME.

Mosquitoes--Meeting with Kean--The Hotel at Point Coupée--Slaves and their Condition--Snipe-shooting--Vegetation of Louisiana--Shooting Alligators by Torchlight--Their Antipathy to Dogs and Negroes--New Orleans--The “Olbers” for Bremen--Mouth of the Mississippi--The Gulf of Mexico--Fever--The Lübecker and his Wife--The Channel--Quarantine.....374--396

WILD SPORTS

AND

ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST.