Wild Sports in the Far West

by Friedrich Gerstäcker

Most of the planters are French Creoles; but as several Americans live here also, the law proceedings are carried on both in French and English. The jailer is a poor wretched German shoemaker, and any prisoner that has a mind gives him a cudgelling, and takes his leave. Several cases of the kind occurred last year.

The system of slavery makes a very disagreeable impression upon those who are unaccustomed to it; and although I had long dwelt in slave States, and witnessed the oppressed condition and ill-treatment of the poor blacks, yet the horrors of the system were never so evident as when I first attended an auction, where slaves were sold like cattle to the highest bidder, and the poor creatures stood trembling, following the bidders with anxious eyes, in order to judge in advance whether they were to belong to a kind or severe master. It does not happen so often now as formerly that families are separated, at least mothers and children, so long as the latter are very young. In large auctions, the law has the humanity to decree that families are only to be sold together; but individuals are often sold, and then the most sacred ties are torn asunder for the sake of a few hundred dollars.

I have witnessed most heart-breaking scenes on such occasions. At the same time, I must admit that the treatment of slaves is generally better than it is represented by the Abolitionists and missionaries. It is to the advantage of the owner to keep his slaves healthy and fit for work, and not to overtax their strength, as he is bound to support them in their old age. Their food generally is not worse than that of the poor man in other lands. Though there are instances of rich planters treating their slaves most shamefully, there are others where they are treated as part of the family. In our hotel, we had a cook, chambermaid, and porter, all slaves, who never had occasion to complain of ill-treatment. A negro, or descendant of a negro, is not allowed to quit the place of his abode without a pass from his master, while the free negro must always have his papers about him. If a slave is found without a pass, he is imprisoned until his master claims him, and pays the expenses. Fugitive slaves frequently take refuge in the forests; and I remember how, in Tennessee, large parties used to go out to surround them, and recover possession of them. Although the law speaks in strong language against the importation of fresh negroes, yet I saw several slaves who had been brought over from Africa, and who were called Guinea negroes, to distinguish them from those born in America. The education of the poor blacks is strictly forbidden, for fear they should write their own passes, and thus escape. They are kept for use and increase like domestic animals; and yet these United States have this sentence in their declaration of independence: “that all men are free and equal!”

In the towns the Methodist preachers have driven what little understanding nature has given them, out of the poor blacks’ heads, teaching them to jump and shout, to thank God for being afflicted, and to kiss the rod that chastises them. They kiss it, indeed, but leave the marks of their teeth behind; and when they dare not openly oppose the tyranny of the whites, they do so in secret, and many of the hated race fall by the hand of the oppressed. Examples of this kind are frequent; and although the punishment which the negro has to expect for raising his hand against a white is appalling, it does not prevent the deed, but only makes the doer more cautious.

My present occupation did not allow much time for amusement, though now and then I got some duck-shooting in winter, when the ducks come in myriads from the north to this milder climate, where ice is very seldom seen on the lakes and standing pools, and snow was not seen during the whole winter. Snipe-shooting commenced early in spring, and I followed it up with great eagerness. It is a very different affair here from what it is in Europe; you go out in the evening, and shoot them by torchlight, when, of course, you must have a very small charge, as they approach within ten yards, often within five or six. The negro, who is not allowed to carry a gun without permission from his master, goes out with a torch, and a small bushy bough of a tree, to knock them down. There are two sorts, both smaller than ours, and they occur in such numbers, that in two hours I have often killed from eighteen to twenty. During the day they remain among the thick reeds and in the marshes, and in the evening flock to the meadows and cotton fields. They are delicate eating, and more tender than the European variety. As the weather gets hotter, they fly off to the north.

The spring in Louisiana is enchantingly beautiful. All the grasses and flowers springing out of the ground, all the buds and blossoms on the trees, fill the beholder with rapture: the gray silvery-haired moss dangling from the trees, giving them such a mournful appearance in winter, now added to the beauty of the scene; assuming a more lively color itself, it looked a transparent silvery veil thrown over the blossoms and fresh green of the leaves. The long slender cypresses shone to the greatest advantage under such a veil. All sorts of birds are now to be seen; among them numbers of the mocking-bird, sometimes called the American nightingale, warble sweetly, especially at night.

As usual in all the plantations in Louisiana, several China-trees stood before my house, for shade as well as for ornament. One of them was an old patriarch, whose branches spread far and wide, and which had been used as a summer-house by the former proprietor, who had had a flight of stairs built up to it, and fixed a round table, with several seats. In this tree my hammock was slung between two branches, with a mosquito net spread over it;—for these amiable little creatures were again beginning their wicked tricks; and I slept in the warm night wind, among the blossoms of the tree, which have something of the perfume of the heliotrope, surrounded by fire-flies, lulled by the notes of the mocking-bird, and by the rushing sound of the mighty Mississippi, flowing about twenty paces from the tree.

The heat in May, especially in the middle of the day, was oppressive; but when the other whites had retired to take their siesta, I went with my rifle and harpoon to the swamps, at a short distance from the river, to shoot alligators, which are to be found in incredible numbers, in the warm standing pools. What dreadful statements have been written about the formidable nature of these animals, and their fierce attacks on man! I have always found them gentle, harmless creatures, and was very active in shooting them. However, as I lost those I had shot, by their swimming a little way and then sinking, I took a harpoon with a twenty-feet line, and, going up to the waist in water, I placed myself under one of the many cypresses standing in the swamps, and awaited their approach, as they swam about slowly in the glowing mid-day heat, or sunned themselves on the bank. If one came within twelve or fifteen yards, I was sure of him. The best sport was when he was a great powerful fellow, and I pulled one way as he pulled the other. But as standing in the terrible heat of the sun did not suit me, I resolved to try torchlight, particularly as many of the Creoles told me that no one had ever attempted to shoot them by the light of a fire, it being supposed that the alligator was bolder and more dangerous at night. So, on the next evening, I went to the place with rifle, fire-pan, harpoon, and kindlers. The sight from the banks of the swamp was enchanting, and made me endure even mosquito bites with patience. The dark surface of the water, the immense cypresses standing in it, their moss waving in the night wind, the dark surrounding forest, the hooting of the owls, the melancholy croak of the bull-frog, I had long been accustomed to; but all in the water was wild commotion, and, when holding the flame behind me, the shadow of my head was cast upon the flood, hundreds of glowing eyes shone from all parts of it like balls of red-hot iron. As I had only one hand free, I could not hold the rifle and harpoon at the same time; so I fired at the head of the nearest, dropped the rifle, seized the harpoon, darted it into the animal at the distance of six or seven yards, and drew it by the line to the bank. I had secured two in this way, when I saw a pair of larger eyes coming straight towards me; I fired as before, and darted the harpoon into the wounded animal, as he turned and showed the white of his belly. At the instant of darting the harpoon, I was standing close to the edge of the water, with the end of the line fastened to my right wrist. The alligator had hardly felt the barbed iron, when he darted off and dived, jerking me into the water before I had time to hold back. The pan fell out of my hand, and the fire was extinguished with a loud hiss. The line was too securely fastened for me to free myself, and I was twice dragged under water before I felt firm bottom, when, holding back with all my might, I succeeded in stopping him, he being somewhat exhausted by his exertions and loss of blood; then pulling slowly and cautiously towards the bank, gradually increasing the strain, he collected his remaining strength, and darted off, dragging me head under again; but the water was not more than four feet deep, and this time I had less trouble in hauling the weakened animal to the shore.

Wet through and through, and in total darkness, I had fortunately left my matches, with the split wood, at the foot of a tree. I groped for and found my pan, and in a few minutes another bright flame rose flickering to the sky. The large alligator was about ten feet long, and I could make no use of him; for although the planters use the fat for their cotton machinery, for which it is well adapted, it was too old to be eatable; the two first caught were three and four feet long; I cut off their tails, and carried them home to eat.

Very few of the Creoles, or even the negroes, will eat the flesh of the alligator, partly because they feel disgust at it, and partly because they fancy it to be poisonous; but I found it excellent, and never experienced any bad consequences. It is white and firm, and looks and tastes like fish, but the tail must be cut off immediately, and the back-bone taken out, or it acquires the musty smell peculiar to these animals.