354 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



fish, or sudden appearance or descent of the great northern 

 diver, whose wild weird notes have not unfrequently 

 startled the uninitiated, brought a cold shiver to their 

 system, or vividly recalled stories of ghosts, sprites, 

 panthers, and wild cats. You are at last fairly in the 

 wilds, miles from man's habitation if you except a couple 

 of fishing shanties only occupied a few weeks yearly. You 

 nuiy strain your eyes up and down, no snow-white smiling 

 cottage will greet your vision. This country is the same 

 still as in the days when the red man knew no superior, and 

 owned every inch of soil from the Atlantic to the Pacific, 

 save it be that the cruel axe of the lumberman has culled 

 out the choicest giant monarchs of the forest. But having 

 done a pretty good day's walking, we may as well lay up 

 for an hour or so, before making our debut on the 

 Androscogan ; moreover, the trout in the middle of the 

 day do not rise so freely, and a couple of hours' work in 

 the evening, if the weather is propitious, will afford a& 

 many fish and as much sport as the most exacting can 

 possibly desire. 



In the spring the best fishing is to be obtained under- 

 neath the dam which is built across the river a few 

 hundred yards below where it debouches from the lake, and 

 formed for the purpose of gathering a good head of water 

 to assist in shooting the lumbermen's logs. In autumn, 

 however, it is the reverse, for above the dam the greatest 

 numbers and the heaviest fish are found. Why trout 

 should, at the various seasons, select different resorts, is 

 still a matter of surmise ; our opinion is, that in summer 

 all that are able leave the river and betake themselves to 



