SPOET IN NOETH AMEEICA. 



INTKODUCTOEY. 



I.— THE NORTH AMERICAN FISHERIES. 



I OFFER to my readers the cloak of Meplnstopheles, 

 and invite them to accompany me to the shores of 

 North Americaj between the twenty-first and the 

 fiftieth degrees of north latitude. Let them not be 

 dismayed at the length of the journey ; we shall 

 have arrived at our destination in less time than it 

 will take to read this first chapter. In these days 

 of steam and electricity we travel quickly. 



Good-bye, France ! Welcome America ! Land 

 of the zealous sportsman^ and above all, of the 

 fisherman : land of great hunting and great fishing ! 

 Everything is on a large scale in that country, even 

 the institutions, which seem however to have broken 

 down of late, through a fatal neglect of the precepts 

 of the immortal Washington. Lakes and rivers, 

 forests, mountains, deserts, and even streams, all 



