SMUGGLER APPEARS. 247 



Yet to a man naturally handy and observant, little is 

 required to acquire the art, but a good stream and tolerable 

 attention. He will soon gain more practical information and 

 mechanical science than any book can inculcate. And it will 

 be only when, by practice, he has acquired a knowledge of 

 the science, that he will be able to comprehend what written 

 theories profess to teach. 



We had fished the deep hole above the river, and our rods 

 are, for the last time, handed to the attendants. And shall I 

 never while my idle hours away beside that beautiful stream 

 in the intervals of unfriendly sunshine, stretched beneath a 

 bank, turning the light pages of a book, or watching in 

 dreamy indolence the rushing of a river ? Shall I no more 

 watch the eddying of the pool, with its sparkling surface 

 broken by the bold and glorious spring which marks the 

 salmon rejoicing, like a returned prodigal, in his native river ? 

 No, my foot will never press that bank again ; nor shall I 

 beside that glassy water enjoy those tranquillizing feelings, 

 which the slave of passion, the creature of society, can neither 

 know nor estimate ! 



We had scarcely left the river, when a man, who stood 

 upon an eminence that commanded an extensive view sea- 

 ward, gesticulated with great energy, and made, what ap- 

 peared to me, some momentous communication in the mother 

 tongue. 



" It is the Janel" exclaimed my kinsman, as he bounded 

 up the bank to gain the summit of the hillock. I did not 

 comprehend exactly what the affair was which created such 

 powerful emotions among my companions ; but when I 

 reached the height, a scene of extreme interest was pre- 

 sented. 



Between the Black Rock and the island of Devilawn, a 

 cutter was opening the bay, and standing from the westward 

 under a press of canvass. She carried a spanking breeze in, 

 and, as her course was too points off the wind, her sails 

 drew, and she came up " hand over hand." The approach 

 was evidently expected, for from every nook and inlet row- 

 boats were being launched the whole population poured forth 

 from the mountain villages and the coast, as far as the eye 

 could reach, was in marvellous commotion. Nothing could 

 be more beautiful and picturesque than the appearance of the 

 smuggler. The sunshine fell upon her snowy canvass, a pri- 



