The Trout of Los Laurelles 87 



Just how long one could be content with mere scenery in 

 lieu of trout, I am not prepared to say ; if pushed to the wall 

 I confess that when fishing I prefer trout to scenic effects. 

 Still, it is a very impracticable and delightful sentiment with 

 some truth to it, the moral being that the angler should be 

 resourceful, and not be entirely cast down on the days when 

 the wind is in the east. 



I am aware that this method of angling is not in vogue 

 with some, and would be deemed fanciful, indeed inane, by 

 many more ; yet it is based upon a true and homely philos- 

 ophy, not of to-day, the philosophy of patience and con- 

 tentment. '' How poor are they that have no patience," said 

 Othello. It is well to be content with things as we find 

 them, and it is well to go a-fishing, not to catch fish alone, 

 but every offering the day has to give. This should be an 

 easy matter for the angler, as Walton tells us that " Angling 

 is somewhat like poetry, men are to be born so." 



In this satisfactory frame of mind, the sorrows of an 

 empty creel discounted at the start, we left the fine pines, 

 cypresses and oaks of Del Monte, its vistas of ocean and 

 mountain, and drove down into the little valleys over the 

 Corral de Tierra mountains, in search of Los Laurelles 

 somewhere on the Rio Carmelo, down in the Santa Lucia 

 range. We rode for several hours on the Salinas grade; 

 climbing the sides of picturesque hills where 



" The mountains kiss high Heaven," 



and from the summit of some of these peaks on the divide, 

 an extended and beautiful view of the San Lucia and Gabi- 

 lan ranges was obtained. They are less rugged than the 

 Sierra Nevada, with long sloping reaches rolling down into 

 the valley, 



" A misty camp of mountains pitched tumultuously." 



It would be difficult to find a fairer land than this in March 

 or April; a land running riot with wild flowers, stretching 



