188 SPORT IN NORTH AMERICA. 



morning Mead and myself were there by sunrise. 

 It was a lovely sight. Before us lay the beautiful 

 lake, the extent of which was about a league squai*e. 

 The lake was fed by innumerable streams flowing 

 from the summits of the Catskills, and the overflow 

 was passed through a canal along the valleys until 

 it fell into the Hudson. It was by this watery way 

 that the salmon regained the upper waters from the 

 sea, as far as Cedar Lake, where they found plenty 

 of food, and bred in the most astonishing manner. 

 There were salmon in these waters that weighed up 

 to sixty pounds avoirdupois. 



" Now, boys/' cried Mead, as soon as we arrived 

 at the fishery, where his men were all waiting for 

 him, " Ave must have a good haul this morning. 

 I've got to send sixty fish to New York and Phila- 

 delphia this evening. Is all ready ? " 



" Yes, sir," replied the foreman ; '^ and we're 

 quite ready to begin as soon as you give the word." 



" In with you, then," cried Mead. 



There was a large boat, with an immense seine net 

 leaded and corked. One end was fastened to the 

 shore, and the boat pushed ofi* whilst the foreman 

 payed out the net, and the boat was rowed as quietly 

 as possible in a semicircle until we gained the shore 

 again. As soon as this manoeuvre was complete, 

 the boat went outside the semicircle, and eight men 

 began hauling in the net, whilst those in the boat 

 beat the water with oars and boathooks to keep the 



