who asks that it be referred to the Committee on Game, of which I have the honor to be chairman. To this disposition of the bill the gentleman from Gloucester objects, on the ground that as turtles and terrapins are fish, and not game, it should go to the Committee on Fish and Oysters.

On Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries, says the honorable gentleman, turtles and terrapins are frequently captured, many miles out from land, in nets or with hook and line, as all other members of the finny tribe are; and that, therefore, they are fish, and nothing but fish.

I have profound respect for the gentleman's opinion; as a lawyer he has acquired not only a state but a national reputation; but even I, opposing a pin's point against the shield of Pelides, take issue with him. Sir, I am no lawyer, I don't understand enough of law to keep out of its meshes, but I will answer his sophistries with a few, plain, incontrovertible facts, and, as the old saw says, "facts are stubborn things."

Is a turtle a fish? I imagine not. Down on the old Virginia lowlands of the Potomac River, where I come from, the colored people have dogs trained to hunt turtles when they come up on the dry land to deposit their eggs, and when they find them they bark as if they were treeing a squirrel. Now, I ask the House, did any member ever hear of a fish being hunted with dogs?

Who does not know that a turtle has four legs; that those legs have feet; and that those feet are armed with claws, like a cat's, a panther's, or a lion's? Has the gentleman from Gloucester ever seen a fish with talons? I think not.

It is well known that a turtle can be kept in a cellar for weeks, and even months, without food or water. Can a fish live without water? Why, sir, it has grown into a proverb that it can not. And yet the gentleman says the turtle is a fish!

Do we not all know that you may cut off a turtle's head, and that it won't die till the sun goes down? Suppose now a modern Joshua should point his sword at the sun and command it to stand still in the heavens; why, Mr. Speaker, the turtle would live a thousand years with its head off. And yet the gentleman says the turtle is a fish.

Æsop tells the fable of the race between the tortoise and the hare, and we are left to believe that it took place on dry land-the author nowhere intimating that it was a swimming match. Did the gentleman from Gloucester ever hear of a fish running a quarter stretch and coming out winner of the silver cup?

I read but a short time ago, Mr. Speaker, of a man who had a lion, which, he offered to wager, could whip any living thing. The challenge was accepted. A snapping turtle was then produced, which conquered the lordly king of beasts at the first bite. Can the gentleman from Gloucester bring any fish from York River that will do the same?

Again, a turtle has a tail; now, what nature intended him to do with that particular member, I can not divine. He does not use it like our Darwinian ancestors, the monkeys, who swing themselves from the trees by their tails; nor like a cow or mule, as a brush in fly-time; nor yet as our

household pet, the dog, who wags a welcome to us with his; nor, finally, does he use it to swim with. And, sir, if the gentleman from Gloucester ever saw a fish who didn't use his tail to swim with, then he has discovered a new and most wonderful variety.

Mr. Speaker, I will not take up more of the valuable time of the House by further discussion of this vexed question. I will have only one more shot at the gentleman, -to prove to him that the turtle is the oldest inhabitant of the earth. Last summer, sir, I was away up in the mountains of Giles County, some two hundred miles from the ocean. One day strolling leisurely up the mountain road, I found a land tortoise or turtle, and picking him up, I saw some quaint and curious characters engraved in the shell on his back. Through lapse of time the letters were nearly illegible, but after considerable effort, I made out the inscription, and read—

ADAM. PARADISE. YEAR ONE.

Mr. Speaker, I have done. If I have not convinced every member on this floor, except the gentleman from Gloucester, that a turtle is not a fish, then I appeal to the wisdom of this House to tell me what it is!

ALEXANDER HUNTER.

Notes.-Mr. Speaker is the customary form used in addressing the presiding officer of an assembly. Other forms used for the same purpose are- Mr. Chairman and Mr. President.

Ter'ra pins are large sea-turtles. They are found in great numbers in Chesapeake Bay. Their flesh is excellent for food. Pe li'des means the son of Pe'le us; A chil'lēs, a famous Grecian warrior.

A saw is an old and true saying often repeated.

'sop was a Greek and a writer of fables.

A quarter stretch means a quarter of a mile, and is an expression taken from the race-course.

40.-LEGEND OF THE CAÑON.

făth'oms, measures of length,

containing six feet each. mys'tie, wonderful.

eas cădeş', small falls of water.

hōard, a stock of any thing laid

up.

em boş'omed, half hid.
ǎl'ley, a narrow pathway.

Where the sunset's golden gleamings
On the rocky highlands N rest,
'Neath the moonlight's silver beamings
Of the distant, dreamy West,
Once there roamed an Indian lover,
With his fawn-eyed Indian fair,—
Lover blithe as mountain rover,
Maiden rich in flowing hair.

But the sleep that knows no waking
Chilled the gentle maiden's breast,
And the Brave, N all hope forsaking,
Laid her in the hill to rest,-
Laid her where the eye may wander
Far o'er slopes and ledges steep,
And the mind on billows ponder-
Billows grand, but locked in sleep.

Then the Brave's bold eye was darkened,
And his hand forgot the bow;
Naught to human speech he hearkened;
Naught but sorrow would he know.
Frozen was his heart of gladness

As the summits capped with snow;
Dark his soul with sullen sadness
As their cavern depths below.

But the Great, Good Spirit sought him—
Sought him in his speechless grief,
And, in kindly promise, brought him
Matchless comfort and relief.

"Come," He said, "and see thy dearest-
See her in her spirit home;

Towards the Southland-'tis the nearest-
We shall journey, hither come!”

And they went-the Spirit leading-
Speeding with unmeasured force;
Neither hill nor valley heeding,

On, straight onward, was their course;
With the whirlwind's footstep striding,
By the smooth and rock-cut ledge,
Hills with earthquake's plow dividing-
Plowshare sharp as lightning's edge.

Such their way through hill and valley,
Cold and narrow, dark and steep,
Oped the rock-embosomed alley,

Cut a thousand fathoms deep.
Carving, piercing, cutting thorough,
Toward the drowsy southern shore,
The Spirit formed the mystic furrow,
And told its sides to meet no more.

But the Spirit, good, all-knowing,

Feared lest man's unresting race;

By the mystic pathway going,

Should mar the spirit-hunter's chase. 'Twas then He gave the torrents headway;

A thousand, thousand streams were poured;

'Twas then adown its narrow bedway

That first the Colorado N roared.