TROUT. 81 



day played havoc amongst the trouts. Some long 

 willow-branches, cut with a crook at the end, 

 served me in lieu of a basket. Passing the sticks 

 under the gill-covers, and out at the mouth, I 

 strung trout after trout until the sticks were 

 filled ; then tying the ends together, flung them 

 across my shoulder and trudged along ; a good 

 plan when you have not a basket. I now turned 

 my attention, and devoted all my ingenuity, to 

 the manufacture of a more angler-like fly ; and in 

 this case the adage proved true, 'that a poor 

 original was better than a good imitation.' My 

 well-dressed fly was not one-half as much appre- 

 ciated as the old one ; there was a sham gentility 

 about him that evidently led at once to suspicion, 

 and it was only here and there I met with a fish 

 weak enough to fall a victim to his polished ex- 

 terior; I therefore abandoned the dandy, and 

 returned again to the rough old red-shirted 

 ' trapper ' with which I first commenced. 



There was a stream in which I had better 

 sport than in any of the others, the Mooyee, on the 

 western slope of the Rocky Mountains a small 

 stream, very rocky, clear as crystal, icy cold, and 

 so densely wooded on each side that fishing in it, 

 unless by wading, was impossible I remember 



VOL. i. G 



