THE THOUSAND ISLES. 195 
beautiful natural grove, we set to work to builcl a lire and 
prepare our fish for dinner. Tlie pleasantest arrange- 
ment connected witli this fishing is that each boat is 
provided with a basket of good cold fare, a frying-pan 
and the necessary means of cooking ; and in the middle 
of the day it is customary for several to meet at an 
appointed island, and for the fishermen- to have a jolly 
dinner. Although we were first to arrive, our com- 
panions were not long behind us, and the best fish, 
especially the black bass, were selected, cleaned, split 
open, and fried in the grease tried out of a few 23ieces of 
salt pork. Our provisions were combined and made 
quite a handsome picnic set-out, rendered more accept- 
able to our sharpened appetite by a few glasses of iced 
champagne. Of course we had our stories to telli^how 
skillfully we had landed this fish, or how unfortunately 
we had lost that; and one man, who had struck and 
almost landed a mascallonge, was agitated with mingled 
happiness and despondency. The days were long, our 
boatmen had had a hard tug of it, the shade was grateful, 
the champagne refreshing, our cigars excellent, and con- 
sequently no one was hurried. The wind, however, kept 
increasing, and after a couple of hours, pleasantly passed, 
we once more embarked and bid each other farewell till 
night. 
My boatman struck well in toward the Canadian shore ; 
but although we crossed places where he had had won- 
derful success on many a previous occasion, and of which 
there were extraordinary stories of mascallonge, our 
luck had deserted us. However, perseverance was re- 
warded ; suddenly my hand-line was taughtened as 
