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and biographer, Dr. Sprat, that his health suf
fered from his change of situation, and he
adds —‘‘Besides, 1 can get no money from my
tenants, and have my meadows eaten up eve
ry night by cattle put in by my neighbors.”
Seven years only, did he thus imperfectly
—as he describes—enjoy his retreat. In
1667, after an illness of a fortnight, resulting
from exposure in one of his fields, he died in
the forty-ninth year of his age. His remains
were interred with great pomp and display, in
the Poets’ Corner of Westminster Abbey.
Charles the Second bore this testimony to his
character, when he received the news of his
death, ‘-lie has not left behind him in Enir
land a better man.” This compliment would
have been of more value had he who uttered
it possessed, himself, a lofty mind and an
amiable heart; but the flagitious character of
that monarch rendered it equivocal testimony
—and were there not higher evidence of Cow
ley's nobleness and amiability, they might
properly be considered apocryphal.
Skctcljcs off ife.
For the Southern Literary Gazette.
MY UNCLE SIMON’S PLANTATION ;
—OR
SKETCHES OF SOUTHERN LIFE.&C.
BY ABRAHAM GOOSEQUILL, ESQ.
THE COON-HUNT.
l '\ oeat ingenti clamore cithaeron,
baygetique caues.” —Tirg. Georg, iii.
The echoing hills and chiding hounds invite.”
My last two numbers were descriptive of
events which happened off the plantation.
My readers must not, however, consider me
as wandering from my proper bounds; for 1
design giving accounts of many things which
do not occur immediately upon my Uncle's
plantation. Part of my title is “ Sketches of
Southern Life, &c,” which will comprehend
almost any thing I choose to write about.
and bus much I thought due to consistency,
and I now proceed to give an account of a
scene which is often enacted upon Uncle Si
mon’s premises.
Summer is passed and gone, and old Boreas
occasionally gives us a blast by way of hint
that winter will be upon us presently. In
the meantime, he has sent before him a plea
sant harbinger, whose surname is Autumn.
ISow it is that the pleasures of the chase are
again coming in vogue, and 11 echoing hills
and chiding hounds invite.” Until the cot
ton is all picked out, Reynard may still lie
securely in his bed, and give himself no un
easiness about dogs; but, in the meantime,
the coon and some other game must pay the
penalty of the negroes 5 tardiness in harvest
ing the snowy staple.
A day or two ago. cousin Aristides told me
that if I could afford to get up by day-break
next morning, we would go out and catch a
coon. To this I readily gave my consent, for
1 have always been remarkably fond of hunt
ing- So, after we had lain down, and enjoy
ed all the pleasures which Morpheus, by the
aid of feather-beds and downy pillows, could
bestow upon us, for the space of seven or eight
hours, we rose manned for the task before
fs.
Cousin Aristides’ first act was to take
down a ram's horn, which hung suspended
by a leathern string in the porch, swing it
around his neck, and blow as if a second
Jericho was under siege. Thereupon, eight
eager hounds rushed from their resting pla
ces, and came running and howling to their
master, as if the walls of the aforesaid besie
ged city were about to tumble down at their
heels.
“All’s ready,” said cousin Aristides; “let's
go.”
1 should have mentioned that both myself
and my relative, Nimrod, had put on some
old clothes, and our worst Loots and hats.
The legs of our trowsers were stuffed into
those of our boots; for the cunning coon
a, afgtß a ¥ ©& SB‘inns*
seeks the muddiest place he can find to avoid
his pursuers, and we certainly did not want
our Sunday rigging besmeared with mud,
not even for “that same old coon,” him
self.
We walked down to the creek, about a
half a mile from the house, and my compan
ion kept up a continual halloing by way of
encouraging the dogs. We had been near
the stream for some time, and dusky morn
was fast assuming the place of somber night.
Still not a single dog had once opened, ex
cept a puppy or two, which made an aston
ished hare scamper at the top of his speed
across a neighboring broom-sedge field. —
These were not yet initiated into the myste
riesof coon-hunting, having been reared since
the last season. No attention was paid
them, either by ourselves or by the dogs,
which had more experience.
We passed on up the creek, and by this
time Phoebus peeped over the eastern hills
with his merry face, and told us that if we
did not soon get a trail, our sport would be
up, as raccoons always seek their dens long
before he makes his appearance. xYt this,
cousin Aristides halloed louder and oftener
than he did before, and 1 joined him. There
was a small lagoon just ahead of us, and we
knew that this was our last chance. If we
did not get a trail there, we should have to
go home without any game. Soon we heard
old Lowder open once in the lagoon just be
fore we got to it. But he opened so hoarse
ly, and with so little spirit, we knew it was a
very cold trail, However, to make the best
of a bad prospect, we cheered on the old dog
with all our might. He was immediately
joined by Ringwood, and we heard them open
alternately, as they slowly proceeded from
us. We overtook them soon, and tried to get
the other dogs to join them ; but the trail was
so cold, no others could discover it.
There was quite a contest between Lowder
and Ringwood. to see which should be the
first one to get the trail off. Now, they
would smell the whole length of a log, and
now swim to a chunk, or stump, or bunch of
bulrushes, to find whether the coon had been
there. They examined every tree particular
ly, to see if the game had gone up any of
them. But it all seemed like poor business;
for the farther they receded in any direction
from the spot where Lowder first struck the
trail, the fainter became the scent, and the
less frequently either of them opened. Now
might be seen the different plans of different
canine tacticians. Ringwood circled round
and round, each circle he described becoming
larger and larger, to see if he could not get
the trail off in some other place; while Low
der proceeded slowly on, running his nose
over every inch of ground, first forwards,
then backwards, now to the right, and now
to the left, leaving scarcely a hair’s breadth
untried. But our two dogs worked in vain.
They could not trail, and they could not tree.
The coon had been to the lagoon in the fore
part of the night to get frogs, &c., and had
left soon after; so that by this time his trail
had gotten so cold, even old Lowder and
Ringwood could not follow it.
We concluded that we would go round the
head of the lagoon, about a half a mile off,
and see if we could not have better luck. No
sooner had we reached the head, than our
two veteran dogs simultaneously opened, as
if the scent of coon was tolerably hot. Some
of the other dogs joined in with them, and all
who could smell the trail buckled down to it
like clever fellow-s. After they had gone on
in a galloping trail for nearly a quarter of a
mile, the puppies raised their voices in con
cert with the other dogs. Like an animated
torrent, the pack drove forward, yelling as if
old Nick was before them. The hills rever
berated with the echo of their cry, and the
sound of their voices was hurried along up
on the glassy surface of the stream for sever
al miles. By and by, after they had run ve
ry nearly a mile, they came to a dead halt,
and their voices ceased. We soon came up
with them, by taking the chord of the arc
they had described in running, having thus
saved, on our part, a good deal of traveling.
When we reached them, they were scattered
in all directions, smelling up all the trees, or
trying to take up the trail again. We knew,
by this, that the coon had taken a tree close
by-
It was not long before some of the more
inexperienced hounds began to bark up a
sapling of tolerable size. Ringwood and
Lowder went to the tree, and commenced
smelling on the roots, and thence up the bo
dy, as high as they could reach by standing
on their hind-legs. They finally concluded
that their companions were barking up the
wrong tree, and so left them in their error.
As soon as the two old dogs were gone, how
ever, the younger ones left also, so much
confidence had they in their elders, ft is a
fact, notorious to every huntsman, that each
dog commands the respect of the pack in pro
portion to his ability and veracity. A. pup
py, or an untrained dog, which is running
here and there, and ever}* where, opening
whether he scents the game or not, is never
noticed by the pack : while a steady, well
| trained dog, which never opens without
smelling the trail, is heeded every time he
barks, and the other (logs run to him, know
ing that they can thereby be put upon the
I right track. Such is the force of veracity,
| even among brutes.
There is one thing to be observed here, in
! regard to the cunning of the coon. Just be
fore getting to the hollow tree which con
tains his den, he runs up other trees all
around his lodging place, and then jumps
off, so as to deceive the dogs by making
them bark up the wrong tree. Lowder and
! Ringwood were, however, so well acquainted
with the tricks of the game which they were
pursuing, that the one they were hunting
could not deceive them, as he did the young
er (logs. These latter barked up several oth
er trees besides the one I have already men
tioned, but their opinions were not endorsed
by the old heroes in whom we had so much
confidence. But, by and by, we heard Low
der and Ringwood barking at a tree with a
great deal of fierceness. They were soon
joined by the other six hounds, puppies and
all. We knew, from their manner of hark
ing, that they saw the game, and hastened
on as fast as we could. After emerging
from the woods, we came to a marshy place
all overgrown with saw-grass and small
cane. Looking up a small sapling, about
twenty yards in the marsh, where the dogs
were barking, we saw a coon. Going up to
the tree, cousin Aristides threw a stick at
the animal, which caused it to jump out.—
The hounds caught it, and soon killed it.
This was a female.
As soon as the fight was over, Ringwood
circled around and soon struck another trail.
All the other dogs joined him, and after they
had run about a hundred yards up the marsh,
they treed up a gum-tree, whose top had
been blown off by the wind. Looking up this
tree, we saw a coon which, at sight of us,
popped down into his hollow. We knew,
from the size of this one, that he was a male.
The female had also tried to reach this den,
but the dogs had pushed her so closely, she
was compelled to take the small sapling
from which we made her jump, when she
was caught by the hounds. They had both
been out late.
We bio wed the dogs off from the gum.
where they had last treed, to go home and
eat our breakfast, and afterwards bring John
with us to cut the tree down. After we had
indulged in some good hot coffee, nice ham
and biscuit, which kind aunt Parmela kept
upon the hearth for us, and fed the dogs, un
cle Simon concluded he would go with us,
and enjoy the sport of catching the second
coon. He made John saddle his horse for
him, while we ate. As soon as all things
were ready, uncle mounted his horse, and
cousin Aristides and myself preceded him on
i loot. John laid a keen-edged axe upon his
shoulder, and followed us. The dogs leaped
for joy, and ran off as fast as they could g 0
to the tree where we left the coon. When
we got there they were barking, and gnaw
ing the tree with all their might.
John set in with a sturdy arm to cut the
gum down. The hills sent back alternately
the hayings of the dogs and the sound of the
j axe - % by, the tree began to totter,
! and we called the dogs off a little distance to
keep it from falling upon them. Presently
there was a crash, as the gum fell in a very
thick place of saw-grass and small cane.—
The dogs were there in an instant, but the
coon ran off, and was hidden from their sight
by the matted growth which 1 have mention
ed. They bulged right through the grass
and cane, guided by their unerring nostril
The thick vegetation offered but little resis
tance to their impetuosity, and, after running
a very short distance, we saw the coon
bounce up a stump about fifteen or twenty
feet high. As good luck would have it, he
had run right from the centre of the marsh,
which was only about fifty yards wide, out to
the bank, where uncle Simon sat upon his
horse. When we got to the stump, U p
which he had run, there he stood on its top.
with back and tail curved, and bristles erect,
looking for all the world as cousin Dorothy’s
tom-cat would look, if he Avere twice as large
as he is. His eyes Hashed with rage, and
his tusks, which were fully a half inch long
and keen as needles, together with the sharp
claws of his fore-feet, showed that he would
do battle ere he would die.
We determined to make John hold Lowder
and Ringwood, for they, being old and expe
rienced in killing coons, would have soon
put an end to our sport. So John caught
these two dogs by the. backs of their necks,
and cousin Aristides threw a stick up the
stump, at which the coon jumped down. As
soon as he touched the ground, the puppies
mounted him as if he had been only a hare
At this ho reared on his hind-legs, uttered a
scream oi indignation, and, placing one paw
on each ear of one of the puppies, soused his
head into the mud and water, at the same
time burying his tusks in the poor fellow's
nose, whose yells were now added to the
squallings of the coon. This was all done in
a second. In another second, he had served
the second puppy in the same way. Both
of these contented themselves with howling
and barking during the remainder of the
fight. Nothing could induce them again to
take hold. There were now only four dogs
to fight, who were served in a way similar to
that of the puppies. But they would return
to the onset. They snapped, barked and
yelled, and the coon screamed and fought
like a tiger; while cousin Aristides, uncle\Si
mon and myself, hallooed at the top of our
voices. It required all of John’s exertions to
hold the dogs Lowder and Ringwood. Mud
and water splashed on every side, and such a
hubub and confusion was raised as is rarely
to be heard, except at the death of a coon.
The coon kept fighting and retreating, until
he got to a small pond, into the middle of
which he swam, balanced himself on the wa
ter, and bade defiance to his pursuers. The
dogs swam to him, and, as each one approach
ed, he jumped on their heads, and sunk them
under the water. This was often repeated,
until the hounds began to grow tired of the
sport. It is impossible for any number of
dogs to kill a coon in swimming water. But
dogs well trained have a way of managing
which shall be illustrated in this place hyoid
Lowder. Cousin Aristides hallooed to John
to let go his dogs. Old Lowder swam direct
ly to the coon, caught him about the breast,
and turned immediately round to swim to a
dry place. In vain did his coonship bite,
scratch and squall. The old veteran pursued