SALMON LOCALITIES. 293 



SALMON FISHING. 



Of all the piscatory sports, this is the first and finest ; and 

 although it cannot now be pursued by the American angler 

 except at the expense of some not inconsiderable time and 

 trouble, stiU there is no land on earth in which it exists in such 

 perfection as in this. 



Time was, when every river eastward of the Capes of the 

 Delaware swarmed with this noble fish, but, year after year, 

 like the Red Indian, they have passed farther and farther from 

 the sphere of the encroaching white man's boasted civihsation, 

 and perhaps will also ere long be lost from the natural world of 

 this era. 



The Kennebec is now the eastern limit of the Salmon's range, 

 and in that bright and limpid river he is yearly waxing less and 

 less frequent. 



In the Penobscot, even to this day, he abounds ; but for some 

 singular and inexpUcable reason, whether it be from the saw- 

 dusty turbidness of its lower waters, or from some especial habit 

 of the fish, it is rarely or never known to take the bait or the 

 fly, within very many miles of the mouth of that grand and 

 impetuous stream. 



