Evening Star Newspaper, January 20, 1929, Page 87

BY JOHN MAHONY, ERBERT HOOVER'S pre-in- auguration holiday in the land of sunshine and the home of big fish is not a mere friendly toward a surprisingly pro-Hoover in the recent election. Nor are excursions among the Florida Keys after big game fish a new experience for him. He has been a frequent visitor to Florida, where he has been a per- sistent and & consistently successful angler, His recent expedition, as President- elect, will focus public attention on a form of sport that, with none of what = Mr. W. O. McGeehan calls the “accom- «panying ballyhoo,” is considered by many to be without a peer. Catching big game fish is no child’s play. It requires skill, strength and endurance; likewise courage, a steady nerve, sea- manship and a knowledge of the habits of the quarry. Whatever other claims Florida may have made on strained superiatives, there is no disputing the fact that the | fishing grounds along its keys are most | prolific and most versatile in variety of sport. Whether you be an advocate of the lordly troll or the lowly handline, a still fisherman, a caster or a harpoonist, your game—or all of them—may be found within a square mile—almost any square mile—along these keys. Other fishing grounds, it is true, are famous for this species or that—for example, Southern California with its glant tuna, or New Zealand with its enormous | swordfish. But both these species, as | well as more than 600 other varieties, are to be found within five miles of Miami | The majority of anglers who fish in Southern Florida come as Winter visi- tors from Northern States. For that reason. probably, the belief—quite er- | roneous—is widespread that the best | fishing is to be had during the Winter months. Then the air generally is| warm, but invigorating, the sun high | and the atmosphere so clear that the | | tion where the water changes color. On one side of this line extends an end- less stretch of deepest blue; on the other side an olive green. The former, “blue wate: the guides call it, is the Guif Stream. And in toward the shore (not more than 5 or 6 miles away) the color changes again, chiefly to a briliiantly pure em- erald, splotched here and there with purple or black, or marked by occa- sional white-capped breakers. These are the indications of coral mud flats, patches of marine growth or the mark- ings of coral reefs, as the case may be. This is where fish are fish! Good fishing grounds may be found within an hour’s sail of a city of metropolitan aspect. In two hours, if your amateur explorer so eclects (and sometimes he does so unwittingly) he can become so lost in a maze of winding channels, en- chanting isles, brilliant vegetation and unspoiled wild life that he has a feecl- ing of complete isolation from the civi- lized world. In so far as large game are con- cerned, the angler in Florida usually | confines his ettention to about a dozen species, chiefly the saflfish, swordfish (both marlin and broadbill), dolphin, tuna, bonito, barracuda, various mem- bers of the ambor jack family, tarpon, wahoo and the lite. [Each of these species has some outstanding charace teristies, its own peculiar haunts ar its devoted advoeates among anglers. If. however, the fisherman wants to try for bottom fis] er, his field of definitely. Of the big game fish mentioned above, it is almost a daily occurrence action is extended in- { the other. , either larger or small- | THE SUNDAY STAR, WASHINGTON, out for sailfish, which, according to its unbiushing advocates, is the most spec- tacular, the most courageous, the wari- est, the fastest, the most acrobatic and the most difficult fish to catch. The sailfish as found off the coast of Florida, averages 7 feet in length and 80 pounds in weight. A member of the wordfish family, though of much more graceful proportions, it is distinguished by an unusually large dorsal fin of vivid coloring. On warm, sunny days this fish likes to meander along the surface, its massive sail of bright blue and purple extended into the air, some- thing like a peacock on parade. Un- like the peacock, however, it is a demon when aroused, as is the case with most , can be taken only hy means of a steadily moving lure—and this necessitates the use of a boat. Cruisers about 40 feet in length are best adapted for this purpose. Two anglers are seated in the stern, facing aft. 1f there are more than two anglers there is danger of tangled lines; if less, there is less chance of attracting the fish. The boat is slowed down to four miles an hour and for various reasons the troll, or bait, some 50 feet astern, shouid be visible to those on board. By and by two massive brown shadows may be discerned as they slide down a | wave, stealthily stalking the bait, cross- ing and re-crossing from one line to Sometimes this stalking pro= cess continues for as much as 10 min- utes, or even longer, before the fish decides what to do about it. In the meantime, if the boat happens to de- viate from a straight course, or if a bit of weed becomes tangled in the hook, the fish seems to realize instantly that THE SAILFISH LEAPED HIGH IN THE AIR AND PLUNGED ITS SWORD THROUGH A WINDOW. superstructures of ships hull-down on the horizon seem to be close at hand. Here and there, scattered in every di- rection, rising and falling with the easy swells, may be discerned sturdy motorboats of the type known as “cruisers,” moving at reduced speed, each intent on its own business. Spick and span they are, and if at times their movemeints seem crazy, there is a reason. They are after big game fish. Within easy stone’s throw of our boat, the sea shows an irregular though clearly defined line of demarca- Drawines. by Lynn Bogue Hunt. to see specimens of 6 feet or even longer, weighing upward of 100 pounds. * K ok % things are not just what they seem, and, without further ado, it makes oft for pastures new. Hence the necessity for keeping the bait in sight. As the describe the characteristics of | minutes pass, the cumulative effect of each species of the bare but bril- liant dozéen I have mentioned, or the methods that are used in catching them, is obviously impossible. And yet I know from experience that mention of any of them, to the exclusion of the others, usually elicits a storm of pro- tests. But let the brickbats fall where they may; we'll assume that we are the suspense on the angler’s nerves may be better imagined than described. *® ok k% IF the quarry’s inspection passes mus- ter, and it usually does with a well managed boat, one or both of the fish decide in very deliberate fashion that the bait is not only edible but desirable. 0. ANUARY: 20, 1920—PART 7. A MASSIVE HAMMERHEAD SHARK CAME UP AND MADE A MEAL OF THE AMBER JACK. The sailfish is a member of the sword- fish family and its method of stocking the larder, so to speak, is to stun or kill its prospective rieal with a blow of its sword. Then with a wild lunge it wheels around and gobbles the helpless victim. The secret of hooking a sailfish is to simulate nature. The angler must bide hjs time until he feels the “tap” of ihe sword as it strikes the bait. Instantly the bait should be dropped back a couple of hundred feet, and then—and not until then—skould the angler strike. If it is & miss the bait is reeled back to its original position, for the sallfish is probably close by, rather disgusted over his faulty marksmanship and ready to try again. If, on the other hand, the hook is caught and well sunk you can depand on an exciting show for the next nour or two. Generally the first reaction of the fish on being hooked is a wild rush of a thousand feet or more—"sounding,” as it is known. Then he pauses for.a few moments, seemingly. wondering what it is all about. Suddenly he de- cides to come to the surface to see :f he“can shake off this strange restrain- ing influence, and up he comes with a rush. In fact, all the sailfish’s movemenis are rushing, tremendously and untir- ingly so. Reaching the surface, it in- dulges in a series of prodigious leaps, graceful ares of 20 or 30 feet, or straight up, like a twisting prn{ectlle. to-fall back amid a spectacular splash of foam. In the mean time give a thought to the angler. Hitherto his chief asset nas been superior cunning, but now his cun- ning must be combined with strength, endurance end a quick, steady hand. Many a time when a struggle of an hour or so seemed nearing an end I watched an angler, grim and ing, brighten into a smile of an- ticipated victory as he succeeded in “pumping” his fish, foot by foot and inch by inch, closer and closer to the boat. So close, at last, that the domi- nating note of the situation was the hissing of the line, taut as a fiddle- string, cutting the water., N these final moments, the rod itself must take up most of the stresses, and it bends into seemingly impossible curves. The guide—hitherto a silent figure, but now encouraging—leans out- eavily gloved, to grab the fish ord as it rolls past. ‘The grand finale seems near, but the fish, suddenly taking fright at the proximity of the boat or an untoward movement of some one aboard, is galvanized into renewed action and leaps wildly about in every direction. Then with a fierce rush it is off, sounding again. Subconsciously, the weary angler clamps all possible tension on the brake, hoping to check the run before the line is.stripped off the reel. The real heats and smokes, while the angler, bracing himself for another tussle, smiles wanly, though his heart ‘is glowing with admiration for his - opponent, Thus the struggle continues until one of two things happens—and. pri- vately, you decide that, after all, the guide's estimates are very conservative, Such ordinarily are the sequences of the sport in pursuing the wily sailfish. With other big game fish other methods are used, none of them dreamed of in the philosophy of old Izaak Walton. Every angler who has fished off the Florida Keys knows that species of im- mense size, tremendous power and une believable speed inhabit those waters. The proof—the fish itself—is rarely visible, but every fisherman there, at one time or another, has had his line snapped like a thread or relentlessly Real Sport in Store for President-Elect Hooking Deep-Sea Denizens of the Gulf Strea_m Off the Keys, Where Anything From a Hammerhead Shark to a Mackerel Is Likely to Seize Your Line and Give You a Fight That Is No Child’s Play. stripped off his reel. This conviction, if anything, is ever deeper seated in those of us who fish there the year around. And at times we sally forth for these larger brutes exclusively, alwz, s realizing at the outset that, aside from thrills, cuts, bruises and broken gear, the chances are that we shall have nothing to show for our pains. * £ %% ON such quests, ordinary heavy tackle is useless. Our outfit is made up a short, thick rod, extra heavily : & 120-pound test line, which is strong enough when wet to tow a motorboat: long, heavy piano-wire lead- ers, special stream-lined 6-pound sink= ers, and for bait whole fish like mack- erel, kingfish or bonito. Why. not use a rope? the uninitiated might inquire. The answer is that the fish we want will strike only at a moving bait, and a thicker line offers too much resistance for a moving bait to be sunk to the proper depth. ‘We have been told that the fish we hooked in this manner were large sharks, but we know better—and we know better even before we saw one. The actions are utterly unlike. Sharks when hooked move off in stately but irresistible fashion, with the deliberate certainty of a freight train starting on a long journey. These fish plunge around in a mad frenzy of tremendous jerks of 20 to 30 feet. and within a few minutes usually break the line or dis- gorge the hook. It was while fishing thus last Sum- mer that we hooked what the guide called a giant tuna. After more than two hours of battling, we got it close to the surface—close enough to see it— only to lose it in tragic manner. Aside from its size—we estimated its weight at between 500 and 600 pounds —its outstanding features were its dorsal and pectoral fins. These were long and lacy, like those of a fancy goldfish, sweeping backward in grace- ful folds of yellow and violet. The captain and I had played it turn and turn about, until both of us were on the verge of exhaustion. We were resting for the moment, and discussing means of gaffing it, while boat and fish wallowed side by side in the easy ground swell. This latter was our undoing. The motor was in neutral, and before we could get out of the way, the fish had slipped under the boat—or the boat over the fish. Anyway, the line scraped along the corroded strip of metal on the bottom of the keel, frayed in two, and ‘our fish dropped slowly out of sight. We have had similar strikes since, but never have come so close to the prey. Along the Florida Keys fish are so plentiful—nay, even boisterous—that \they can be depended upon to jump of their own accord, not merely into the boat itself, but right into the frying pan, if one be handy. As an every-day ;| routine culinary procedure, this plan, of course, is not recommended—not for the reason you probably have in mind, but because the momentum of & five- pound fish hurtling through the air is disastrous to an orderly array of pots and pans. " DON'T smile, kintl reader, and, above all, do not bet that it cannot be done. For you will surely lose! It can be demonstrated any evening when the moon is low. All you have to do is to anchor in shoal water, set the stove in the center of the cockpit, place a pan on the stove, and hang a light over the pan. Then lic low, keep quiet and let nature take its course. The light attracts the fish. The cockpit floor will soon be a slithering, phosphorescent mess of silvery jacks, runners, tarpon, sea trout and whatnot. About one in five will hit the pan. Yarns of small fish being swallowed by larger fish are common enough, but one of the most remarkable series I have heard was told to me by & Miami guide—an absolutely trust- worthy man, by the way. A small and unwelcome mackerel hit the troll and was hooked. While reeling it in, rather ~disgustedly, the angler was startled by a viclous tug, and saw that a barracuda (the most vicious of fish) had swallowed the mackerel. A few moments later, a large amber jack, attracted by the commotion, tacked the barracuda, bit it in 0 and swallowed the head. This provided a real struggle, but the c'imax was reached when a massive hammerhead shark, seeing the amber jack in dis- tress, came up, made a meal of it at one gulp and majestically headed for the Bahamas and deep water, while the angler, helplessly watching the line strippi oft the reel, called to the guide, at shall I do, captain, what shall I do?” And then there was the time when a sailfish rammed his sword through the cabin top. Laugh at that if you will, but it's true nevertheless. The fish had been brought alongside the boat by an artist who was anxious to paint it while the colors were still fresh. The guide was standing by, ready with the gaff, when, from virtually a stand- ing start, the fish swung around in a semi-circle of about fifteen feet radius, leaped high in the air, rammed his sword through the screen of a port- hole in the cabin top, broke looss the metal framing and made off, frame and all. No chameleon ever changed color mecre thoroughly or more quic than did that guide—his rusty tan changed to a sickly ash, and stayed that way for quite some time. o 8 AR i e A A AR AT P A it & S s B A BARRACUDA, MOST VICIOUS OF FISH, SWALLOWED THE MACKEREL. National Museum Exhibits Greatest Walking Stick Collection BY GENE A. DAT. OVEL pageantry of the world's most beautiful and useful woods, ) in the exhibition guise of 1,400 walking sticks, has been added recently to the educational col- lections at the Old National Museum, where it is attracting unusual attention. ‘This collection of rare and remarkable cares has come into ln? because Rudolph Block, who, incidentally, spurns a walking stick for himself, has cher- ished and cultivated the bizarre hobby of assem.ling canes depicting all the known woods which grow over the world's map. After years of search, thousands of ' miles of globa-trotting and the expend- : dture of a small fortune on his strange hobby, Mr. Block has gathered together & matchless group of canes which he has loaned to Uncle Sam for permanent display in Washington. In the course of his diverse wander- ings over the seven seas and contiguous countries, Mr. Block accumulated his variegated collection. He discovered however, that it was the beautiful woods , and not the walking sticks in which he Wwas most interested. As the cane was 4 practical vehicle for the display of the rare and marvelous woods which this ! traveler collected, he continued to have freasure trove of wood finished as walk- ing sticks. When the collection was completed and included specimens of every known wood, Mr. Block ‘turned it over to the Government for educa- tional purposes. The walking sticks displayed under glass run the gamut of everything that 2’0\1 have seen or could possibly visual- ize in the way of canes. 'The colors| include all the shades of the rainbow— with many blended hues added. In weight, the walking sticks range from the lightest to the heaviest woods iden- tified by science. In grain, design and configuration they typify all the curls and curlicues known to wood growing. ‘World-wide history, superstitions and tribal traditions sre honeycombed among the mass of information con-! cenled in this cane collection. You may have seen, twirled, or even carried, down the Avenue a light-weight cane which qualified as & champion. But did you ever handle a regulation cane, so light in weight that it could be sent as first-class mail by merely at- taching a 2-cent stamp and a meiling card? On the other extreme, have you ever seen a walking stick which com- parably was much heavier for its size than the mighty base ball bat with which “Babe” Ruth, king of swat, darrups home-runs? ‘The wonderful, full-size cane in the Block collection which weighs less than one-half an ounce is made of barriguda ‘wood from faraway Brazil. This South ' American tree is the “little fat man” of the semi-tropical forest. It is so light in avoirdupois that one cubic| foot of the wood weighs under 5 pounds. Mr. Average Citizen immediately rings in cork as a reliable basic unit when he wishes to describe the light-| Balsa wood, | ness of a certain material. Jwhich the ancient Andean shipwrights used in making rafts, today employed in aquaplanes, insula. tion and refrigeration, weighs one-half as much as cork, while barriguda tips the scales at less than one-half the and which is| v BES s LNISRRERR sEFRRREEE THIS WALKING STICK COLLF 10N 1S A REFERENCE LIBRARY ON RARE WOODS NE MADE OF World’s Rare Woods Made Into 1.400 Specimens, Which Represent Exhaustive Search Through the Continents—Years of Globe Trotting and Large Expenditures R equired—Range of Weight and Color Described. AMERICAN § e weridilad ZEWOOD. will carry it anywhere in the United States by first-class mail. Yet it is twice as heavy as the record-breaking cane made of barriguda. * * AMONG the heavyweight canes, one made of palo diablo (devil wood) from Cuba, is outstanding. This ma- terial, which is known as ironwood in Florida, while it is called “ax-master” in British Honduras, weighs over 81 pounds a cubic foot] and is so dense and tenacious -that, in comparison, it mekes . tough tripe appear tender. Others, made of quebracho (ax- breaker) of Argentina end lignum vitae from the We Indies, are as strong and durable. These wonderful materials run the gamut of coiors, from the holly to the jet black of ebony. Red, yellow, brown and olive colored canes, as well as striped and interwoven pat- terns, delight the eyes of the wood en- thusiasts who inspect this display. normal weight of a similar volume of balsa. A cane made of balsa and pro- vided with a meercshaum handle—an interesting stick in the Block collec- tion—is so light that a 2-cent stamp There is even a purple cane, made of nazareno or amaranth, in addition to the blue mahoe fromgCuba and the pink guayatil colorado 6. Panama. The variations in grain and marking are white of | as remarkable as the contrasting colors, The markings range from bird's-eye, hickory and maple to mottled ebony striped with gold from Africa, Mada- gascar and Ceylon. Embuia from Bra- 21l is one of the richest figured woods, resembling black walnut, and is ideal for fine furniture production, despite the fact that much of the supply is used for railroad tles. Certain pecullarities of some of these foreign woods are seen in their names—the pheasantwood of the West Indies, bols serpent from French Cuiana, ribbonwood and lace bark from New Zealand, silky oak from Australia and letterwood from the Guianas. Even the dyewoods, such as fustic, the tropical American source of yellow and khaki colors; red brazil- wood, logwood, which ylelds black dyes, and the camwood from Sierra Leone, Africa, are represented by specimens finished as walking sticks. One of the woods which for centuries have en- gendered superstitious beliefs among Mexicans is the Mexican tamy, which imparts to water a wonderful fluores- ccnce, This @eculiar property has made it a perpetual source of wonder to the natives where it abounds. Group some of these canes together and their blended odors resemble the perfume of garden flowers. Camphor wood from Formosa and sandalwood from India, raspberry-jam wood from Australia, rosewood from Brazil, cigar- box cedar from tfdpical America, laurel from Guatemala, sweetwood from Brit- ish Honduras, oleo vermelho from Bra- zil and many other canes in the Block collection are endowed with distinctive and inviting odors. The pao d'alho from Bragzil, however, is not so popular, for it smells like garlic, while the sneeze- wood from South Africa has the same cflect‘:\s the use of snuff on those who work it. The limited number of regal woods whose use is restricted in the lands where they grow to royalty invariably attract attention. The famcus pink ivory wcod of Zululand falls in this classification. Only those who belong to the royal family can carry weapons or other articles made of this material. It is a capital offense for other members of the tribe to use pink ivory wood in aDy WAy R A AL AN - A notorlous Zulu King, Dingaan, whu! made it cxtremely uncomfortable for the | Boers for many years until he w. finally vanquished, carrfed a mighty spear hafted with pink ivory wood. The story runs that he used this spear in slaying his mother. Subsequently, when the Boers defeated his band, Din- gaan died upon the barbed point of this weapon. His last command was that his followers kill him. A retired British sea captain presented Mr. Block with one of the pink ivory canes in his col- lection. It is a fine illustration of the skill of the Zulus in wood carving. Another wood of particular impor~ tance, on account of the extreme rev- erence accorded it by natives, is the Bloodwood Cacique of Panama, which for centuries was dignificd as an article of authority by the Indians. The medi- cine men of varolus Panaman tribes | claimed magical and curative properties | for this wood. - ‘The fiower wood of China is appro- priately named as & result of its indiv- idual beauty. It is a wonderfully fig- ured brown wood, which FLas never been fully ‘identified by tree experts as to geaus and 2 Chigese | material they use it sparingly and Sabinet im ong, makers cherish this wood so highly that when they acquire possession of such along what remains as legacies to their sons and grandsons who follow similar trades. One white walking stick is made from wood of the cow tree of Eastern Guate- mala, whose bark yields a curious latex, used as a satisfactory substitute for milk. Other canes are made from such historical woods as the Cedar of Leba- non, bog oak from Ireland, bog rowan from North Wales and beautiful speci- mens of bog sugi from Japan. Science has been baffled in its at- tempts to make botanical identifica- tions of such woods as the Brazilian tulip, a popular cabinet wood from Ceara, and the African cherry. Neither of these materials has a botanical name. Many of the woods which Mr. Block has converted into handsome canes were not_elastic and flexible so they could be bent at one end to form han- dies. This ‘collector has used handles made of ggfferent material, such as the twisted gnarly burls of amboyn, t ash, huar, - camphorw ‘cherry. cypress, maple, myrile, s | an made of agate, rock amber, bioodstone, cat's-eye, coral, mother of pearl, jade, Jjasper, marble and tiger eye. handles are made from the horns of African and American bison, sheep, stags, rams and the rhinoceros. tain snakes, such as the boa and python, have been used as fittings and orna- ments on some of the walking sticks, while the mountings are of silver and gold and the inlays of rare wood, One particularly fine inlay is a perfect, natu: ral cross from the Brazilian liana cipo crucis, the vine of the cross, FORLSTRY experts in all parts of the the accurate scientific identification of all the woods in his collection that are known to botany. Many of the rarest woods were identified at the Yale For- estry School, Where exj rcuunmn powerfull 0od, | some’ of the Japanese isu, lilac, thuya. Some of the handles are Other} The skins of lizards, sharks and cer- called LR Y world have assisted Mr. Block in cordant These sounds are lost to the ear, Which catches only the original true note, but the delicate broadcasting ap= paratus picks them up and magnifies In speaking of one of his treasured walking sticks Mr. Block said: “Not even the coating of shellac which protects it against injury can conceal the lustrous, dark-red colorations in this stick of muirapiranga. When I gaze at it I seem to be looking through tmurllee into the very heart of the w “I have several sticks of satinwood from Ceylon and San Domingo, which any woman would love to have trans- lated into a new gown. They are of golden, shimmering yellows, with hues and rippling lights whose apparent. iridescence changes as the tion of the cane is shifted. “I have some walking sticks that rank as ‘Marthas’ of the wood world,” continued Mr. Block. “There is one simple ash specimen which I gloat over as much as I do over the finest ebony or rosewood. There is a Tennessee cedar of golden hue, with small dark-brown knots, which looks as fine as a flaming padouk. And there are pines and pop- lar, willows and gums that gleam in changing light and suggest hidden beau- ties and allurements as much as any snakewood, pimento, alves, kingwood or other aristocrats of the tree tribe. “But are there really aristocrats of the wood world? Or is it merel%.n matter of finding a wood at its best and shaping and polishing it in & way that brings out its beauties?" You can gain some small idea of the value of this remarkable collec- tion of canes by the fact that the handles alone cost more than $50,000. But it is impossible for you even to ’| visualize the vast amount of human labor involved in the gathering of the wood samples included in the collection. Government officials, Army and Naval officers, diplomats, missionaries, explor- ers, steamship companies, museum ex- perts and many others who travel the foregrounds and hinterlands of civiliza~ tion have aided Mr. Block in this strange quest. Same of the outstanding woods are used for special commercial purposes. For example, the rosewood from Hon- duras is employed commonly in the bars of marimbas and xylophones. The co- cobolo from Central America is used in the manufacture of cutlery handles while some of our finest rulers are made from boxwood imported from Tur- key and the West Indies. Pernambuco dwood, satinwood, rimu | Wood is employed in making violin bows, while material from the koa tree is | transformed in the land of its nativity into Hawalian ukuleles. Flutes are mad from the West Indian cocus. Dw‘:oo; is converted into weavers' shuttles, archery bows are made from la lemonwood and degame, while various other rare woods are employed in cabe inet making, inlay and marquetry, Radio Piano. PIANO music, as broadcast over the radio, is often spoiled by the dis- twang of vibrating wires. rts studied "ulht‘ difficult tp deseribe (he V. i 0 the beayty n—l S them. A new plano, designed for radio icasting by a French inventor, mullles these vibratfons and transmi mho pure tone when & key W™ D T S,