A TRIP TO THE LA VAL. 88 
bed. I being the heaviest, had the most of it; but by 
the aid of a blazing fire, I slept warm and comfortable 
till the morning air struck me, when the time came to 
rise, and sent a shiver to my very bones, giving me at 
first horrible visions of consumption, night-sweats and 
early death. Our tally of fish taken during the day 
amounted to fifty-three, weighing nearly two hundred 
poun(Js, and I had captured the greatest weight as yet 
taken at one cast, landing two fish, one of which weighed 
two and the other three pounds and a half. A handsome 
present the river gods made me for my birthday ! 
The next day, after an hour had been spent in vainly 
trying to attract the salmon, our journey was (Continued 
to the camp, the river as we descended proving worse, 
the rocks higher, the rapids fiercer, the water lower, 
our canoe frailer, till it came almost to dragging the 
latter over the bed of a current instead of floating com- 
fortably along its surface. All hope of ascending to the 
head-waters was extinct, the rapids above the lake we 
knew must be worse than those below, and the latter 
were totally impassable for a loaded canoe. Li our 
despair, we fished steadily at every breathing spell, and 
might have taken unlimited numbers, for they rose 
gloriously. 
"While walking unconsciously along, separated from 
my companions, I was fairly startled at observing what 
at first glance seemed to be a female figure seated on the 
opposite side of the stream beneath the bank. The 
impression was only dissipated by a close inspection. 
The rains had scooped out of the bank a dark niche, the 
edges of which were ornamented with vines and moss. 
