A NOVA SCOTIAN TROUT LAKE 



33 



birch-bark canoe delightful trips can be made by such lines of 

 communication, and the most hidden penetralia of the wilder- 

 ness can be easily invaded and explored. 



1 the typical lake of the wilds, tributary brooks come merrily 

 dancing down from far back in the woods; shaded by dark firs 

 and hemlocks, full of little falls and rapids, eddying round great 

 which stand out from the stream, capped with ferns and lichens, 

 unde loquaces lym-phee desiliunt. Frequently the flashing stream 

 expands into a long stretch of amber dead-water, broadly margined 

 with sweet green levels meadows of rank grasses waving luxuri- 

 antly enough to suggest a western prairie. Often the brook 

 forms gravelly pools and eddies which closely resemble a salmon 

 nv<-r in miniature. 



The very best cast is usually from some rocky rampart not at 

 a great distance from the ' run in.' From such a stand I took the 

 ' big 'un,' which turned the scale at four pounds and a shade over. 

 - a long and doubtful contest. The oblique rays of the evening 

 sun were slanting across the gentle wavelets, throwing deep shades 

 from the big grey boulders over the darkening water. 



The cast of flies hung nicely to my fancy. The trout ' Admiral ' 

 Bailed on the delicate trace a few feet ahead of a well-tied 'Nixon,' 



:id \\ith an artistic turn of the wrist I sent them like thistledown a 

 ' \v in. !;> from the spot where I had seen the ' big 'un ' feeding. 

 ' "i. as large trout often do (and small ones never), I had seen him 



n a verv leisurely manner lift his head, then dip it slowly, showing 



:K 1)1. i ck" iliirc-il ^nA toil /iiiiotlf f/\r i Krif cn^rmr1 without r1li- 



