86 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



US that all was in readiness to begin as soon as we 

 pleased. 



Before night had come on^ a large net had been 

 stretched across a part of the river which narrowed 

 between some rocks. This was in order that the 

 trout and salmon that escaped the perils of the 

 torch-fishing should fall into the pockets of the 

 seine, which was made like the esparto nets which 

 the Marseilles fishermen use for the tunny fishing. 



"All right/' quoth Mr. Bergeron, "let us tether 

 up the horses and start." 



Samson, the fisherman, whose skill had been so 

 highly spoken of by Mr. Bergeron, had made all the 

 arrangements for the fishing party, and certainly I 

 never witnessed such a spectacle. In our boat were 

 my host and self, with five or six harpoons or spears. 

 To the shaft of each of these was fastened a fine 

 rope-yarn cord, as supple as a hank of silk. Mr. 

 Bergeron then explained to me what we were going 

 to do, and how it was to be done. 



As soon as we had quietly rowed into the middle 

 of the river, two negroes who had been posted on a 

 small promontory which jutted out into the stream, 

 lit a fire of fir cones, faggots, and dead wood, so as 

 to produce a great deal of flame and very little 

 smoke. At the bottom of our boat were heaped up 

 about twenty torches, made of pine twigs twisted 

 together and coated with resin. Whilst my host 

 was explaining all this to me, Samson took up a 



