I02 The Atlantic Salmon 



With this equipment he in his bark canoe is 

 poled by two Indians to a pool a mile above the 

 camp, which begins at the end of a heavy rapid, 

 deepening as it slackens around the edge of a 

 projecting ledge of rock, and gradually shoaling 

 with its downward flow until it reaches a com- 

 paratively smooth and level bottom, where it 

 glides with almost glassy smoothness, but with a 

 force which has to be felt to be realized. The 

 length of the pool proper is about fifty yards, 

 though it extends or shortens with the rise and 

 fall of the river. In low water the fish lie farther 

 up and even in the heavy rapid, while, when it is 

 high, they are all below the rock, sometimes scat- 

 tered over the shallow smooth stretch. On this 

 first morning of the season our angler, with the 

 assenting minds of his Indians, had his canoe 

 anchored just opposite the rock a good cast out 

 from shore, and began operations with his Jock 

 Scott, in the hope and expectation of soon seeing 

 the big boiling rise and feeling the " tight line" 

 he had so anxiously been anticipating since the 

 first breezes of spring. Fishing with care and 

 deliberation, and all the time getting on better 

 terms with the rod, he came to the end of his cast, 

 about twenty-five yards, with no sign of a rise. 



