Ranching, Sport and Travel

Ranching, Sport and Travel, by Thomas Carson

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Title: Ranching, Sport and Travel
Author: Thomas Carson
Release Date: January 16, 2007 [EBook #20382]
Language: English
Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1
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[Illustration: ONE OF THE "BOYS."
(Portrait. See p. 125.)
Frontispiece.]

RANCHING, SPORT AND TRAVEL
BY
THOMAS CARSON, F.R.G.S.
WITH SIXTEEN ILLUSTRATIONS

T. FISHER UNWIN
LONDON LEIPSIC Adelphi Terrace Inselstrasse 20
1911
[All Rights Reserved]

INTRODUCTORY NOTE
This book is somewhat in the nature of an autobiography, covering as it does almost the whole of the Author's life. The main portion of the volume is devoted to cattle ranching in Arizona, New Mexico and Texas. The Author has also included a record of his travels abroad, which he hopes will prove to be not uninteresting; and a chapter devoted to a description of tea planting in India.

CONTENTS
CHAP. PAGE
I. TEA PLANTING 13
In Cachar--Apprenticeship--Tea Planting described--Polo --In Sylhet--Pilgrims at Sacred Pool--Wild Game--Amusements--Rainfall--Return to Cachar--Scottpore --Snakes--A Haunted Tree--Hill Tribes--Selecting a Location--Return to England.
II. CATTLE RANCHING IN ARIZONA 42
Leave for United States of America--Iowa--New Mexico--Real Estate Speculation--Gambling--Billy the Kid--Start Ranching in Arizona--Description of Country--Apache and other Indians--Fauna--Branding Cattle--Ranch Notes--Mexicans--Politics--Summer Camp--Winter Camp--Fishing and Shooting--Indian Troubles.
III. CATTLE RANCHING IN ARIZONA (continued) 81
The Cowboy--Accoutrements and Weapons--Desert Plants--Politics and Perjury--Mavericks--Mormons--Bog Riding.
IV. ODDS AND ENDS 103
Scent and Instinct--Mules--Roping Contests--Antelopes --The Skunk--Garnets--Leave Arizona.
V. RANCHING IN NEW MEXICO 117
The Scottish Company--My Difficulties and Dangers--Mustang Hunting--Round-up described--Shipping Cattle--Railroad Accidents--Close out Scotch Company's Interests.
VI. ODDS AND ENDS 152
Summer Round-up Notes--Night Guarding--Stampedes--Bronco Busting--Cattle Branding, etc.
VII. ON MY OWN RANCH 170
Locating--Plans--Prairie Fires and Guards--Bulls--Trading --Successful Methods--Loco-weed--Sale of Ranch.
VIII. ODDS AND ENDS 198
The "Staked Plains"--High Winds--Lobo Wolves--Branding --Cows--Black Jack--Lightning and Hail--Classing Cattle--Conventions--"Cutting" versus Polo--Bull-Fight--Prize-Fights--River and Sea Fishing--Sharks.
IX. IN AMARILLO 226
Purchase of Lots--Building--Boosting a Town.
X. FIRST TOUR ABROAD 234
Mexico--Guatemala--Salvador--Panama--Colombia--Venezuela --Jamaica--Cuba--Fire in Amarillo--Rebuilding.
XI. SECOND TOUR ABROAD 250
Bermudas--Switzerland--Italy--Monte Carlo--Algiers --Morocco--Spain--Biarritz and Pau.
XII. THIRD TOUR ABROAD 256
Salt Lake City--Canada--Vancouver--Hawaii--Fiji --Australia--New Zealand--Tasmania--Summer at Home.
XIII. FOURTH TOUR ABROAD 270
Yucatan--Honduras--Costa Rica--Panama--Equador--Peru --Chile--Argentina--Brazil--Teneriffe.
XIV. FIFTH TOUR ABROAD 287
California--Honolulu--Japan--China--Singapore--Burmah --India--Ceylon--The End.
APPENDIX 317

LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
ONE OF THE "BOYS" (see page 125) Frontispiece
PLUCKING TEA LEAF 20
NAGAS 37
ROPING A GRIZZLY 70
A SHOOTING SCRAPE 76
ONE OF OUR MEN, TO SHOW HANG OF SIX-SHOOTER 78
1883 IN ARIZONA, AUTHOR AND PARTY 80
WOUND UP, HORSE TANGLED IN ROPE 106
WATERING A HERD 116
HERD ON TRAIL, SHOWING LEAD STEER 137
CHANGING HORSES 153
A REAL BAD ONE 164
BREAKING THE PRAIRIE 230
FIRST CROP--MILO MAIZE 230
LLAMAS AS PACK ANIMALS 279
DRIFTING SAND DUNE, ONE OF THOUSANDS 279
PERUVIAN RUINS. NOTE DIMENSIONS OF STONES AND LOCKING SYSTEM 281
PALACE OF MAHARANA OF UDAIPUR 310

RANCHING, SPORT AND TRAVEL
CHAPTER I
TEA PLANTING
In Cachar--Apprenticeship--Tea Planting described--Polo--In Sylhet--Pilgrims at Sacred Pool--Wild Game--Amusements--Rainfall--Return to Cachar--Scottpore--Snakes--A Haunted Tree--Hill Tribes--Selecting a Location--Return to England.
Having no inclination for the seclusion and drudgery of office work, determined to lead a country life of some kind or other, and even then having a longing desire to roam the world and see foreign countries, I had arranged to accompany a friend to the Comoro Islands, north of Madagascar; but changing my mind and accepting the better advice of friends, my start was made, not to the Comoro Islands, but to India and the tea district of Cachar. Accordingly the age of twenty-two and the year 1876 saw me on board a steamer bound for Calcutta.
Steamers were slow sailers in those days, and it was a long trip via Gibraltar, Suez, Malta, the Canal and Point de Galle; but it was all very interesting to me.
Near Point de Galle we witnessed from the steamer a remarkable sight, a desperate fight, it seemed to be a fight and not play, between a sea-serpent, which seemed to be about fifteen feet long, and a huge ray. The battle was fought on the surface of the water and even out of it, as the ray several times threw himself into the air. How it ended we could not see. Anyway we had seen the sea-serpent, though not the fabulous monster so often written about, and yet whose existence cannot be disproved. The sea-serpent's tail is flattened.
At Calcutta I visited a tea firm, who sent me up to Cachar to help at one of the gardens till a vacancy should occur. Calcutta, by the way, is or was overrun by jackals at night. They are the scavengers of the town and hunt in packs through the streets, their wolfish yelling being a little disconcerting to a stranger.
It was a long twelve days, but again a very interesting journey, in a native river boat, four rowers (or towers), to my destination. I had a servant with me, who proved a good, efficient cook