SALMON-RIVERS OF BRITISH PROVINCES. 393 



a trip, it would be well to leave that to Messrs. Ferguson & 

 Co.'s head man, and be guided in some degree by his canoe- 

 men. 



Until last summer, the Nipissiguit had been free to all 

 anglers, the first party at a fishing-station claiming the pools 

 as a sort of pre-emptionary right. But with the alleged object 

 of protecting the river from illegal and injurious fishing, it 

 was let on the first of last July — for the season — to Mr. Fer- 

 guson, of Bathurst, and the privilege of fishing any of the 

 stations was sub-let to different parties at a price, for a speci- 

 fied time. This was the first time the fishing on any river in 

 New Brunswick had been leased to an individual, and the 

 anglers, who had before resorted to it from St. John and other 

 parts of the province, were loud in their denunciations, at the 

 introduction of any rule that had the semblance of the game 

 laws of the "Old Country," and the consequence was that 

 few of them visited the river. There were persons, however, 

 from Montreal and Quebec — generally British officers who 

 came around by steamer — who rented the privilege of fishing 

 several of the stations of Mr. Ferguson, and the Papineau and 

 Grand Falls were in request. The advantage of paying for 

 the privilege of fishing any station is, that it gives the lessee 

 possession for the time, without the contingency of cavil. 



The lowest fishing-station on the Nipissiguit is '^ Rough 

 Waters,^^ three miles above Bathurst, at the head of the tide. 

 Here there is a succession of splendid pools, extending at 

 short intervals for more than a mile. These, in order as you 

 ascend the rive:, are the Lower Pool, the Eolls, Miller's Pitch, 

 Willis's Pitch, Buchet's Falls, Proctor's Eock, and others that 

 have no particular name, scattered along amongst them — em- 

 bracing in all more than a dozen good casts. The earliest fishing 

 of the season is found here, for the first run of Salmon appear 

 to linger about these pools awhile, before making their way 



