BASSANO 



618 



BASS VIOL 



shelter of rocks or snags, but the small-mouthed 

 species prefers the clear, running water of a 

 stream. The former often attains a weight of 

 from six to eight pounds, and sometimes even 



!ve or fifteen pounds, but the latter does 

 not grow so large. Both are excellent food 

 fishes, their flesh being white, flaky and very 

 firm if taken from cold water. 



The black bass is caught best by casting, as 

 it swims not far from the surface of the water 

 and spies the bait the instant it strikes the 

 water. A light rod with tackle somewhat 



r than that used for trout-fishing is the 

 regular outfit. Bass will rise for minnows, 

 frogs or angleworms, but most frequently arti- 



BLACK BASS 



ficial flies of brown or black with a plentiful 

 mixture of red are chosen. The average trout 

 cannot tire out a fisherman as can a large game 

 fish; most amateurs will find a struggle with 

 five-pound bass a sufficiently sharp contest. 



The Salt-Water Bass are not closely related 

 to those above described, but they, too, afford 

 excellent sport. The best-known species is the 

 striped bass, or rock fish, of the Atlantic coast, 

 one of the chief food fishes of North America. 

 Angling for these great fish, which often weigh 

 from forty to eighty pounds, is one of the chief 

 sports of the eastern coast. With these, as with 

 their inland relatives, casting is the most effect- 

 ive method, but the rod and tackle must be 

 correspondingly stronger, and living bait seems 

 most attractive. In all seas surrounding Amer- 

 ica bass are plentiful ; the sea bass off the coast 

 of Southern California sometimes weigh 

 between 300 and 400 pounds. G.W. 



BASSANO, bahssahn'no, ALTA., a town 

 eighty-two miles east of Calgary and ninety- 

 seven miles northwest of Medicine Hat, on the 

 main line and two branches of the Canadian 

 Pacific Railway. Three miles from Bassano is 

 the great Horseshoe Bend dam, which cost 

 $7,000,000, and was built to impound water for 

 the Canadian Pacific's irrigation project. The 

 dam consists of an earth embankment 7,000 

 feet long and about forty-five feet high, to 



which is joined a concrete spillway 720 feet long. 

 Bassano is the natural center for the surround- 

 ing agricultural area, and will probably become 

 the most important point between Calgary and 

 Medicine Hat. Population in 1911, 540; in 

 1916 about 1,200. See CANADA, subtitle Irriga- 

 tion. 



BASSOON', a musical wind instrument of 

 the double reed variety, played by blowing 

 through an S-shaped mouthpiece. Like a flute, 



BASSOON 



its notes are produced by holes, some of which 

 are stopped by keys, others by the fingers. It 

 serves as the bass among wind instruments, and 

 has a compass of three octaves. For con- 

 venience of carriage the instrument is divided 

 into three or more parts, whence it derives its 

 Italian name 

 jagotto, meaning 

 a bundle. 



BASS, base, 

 VIOL, a musical 

 instrument 

 played with a 

 bow, constructed 

 like the violin, 

 though much 

 larger (see VIO- 

 LIN). It is so 

 large, in fact, that 

 to be played the 

 bottom must rest 

 on the floor and 

 the body held be- 

 tween the knees. 

 Viols are really 

 the ancestors of 

 the violin, atone 

 time there hav- 

 ing been the 

 treble, tenor and 

 bass viols. Bass 

 viols are occa- 

 sionally- used as 

 solo instruments, 

 to play lute com- 

 pos i t i o ns, but 

 they are more 

 generally used to 

 play the bass in orchestras. Two are used in 

 the larger symphony orchestras. 



BASS VIOL 



