256 THE TROUT 



unknown wilderness beyond by the reckless pioneers 

 of the rival fur companies. Many of these men, at 

 the peril of their lives and at the cost of inconceivable 

 privations, had acquired invaluable information which 

 must have perished with them. Suffering from cold 

 and nakedness, with famine hourly staring them in 

 the face, the tribes of Indians, starving themselves, 

 refused to part with either horseflesh, dried roots, or 

 dog-meat. There were sinister stories as to missing 

 men who had been sacrificed by lot for the sake of 

 their companions. What is certain and well authenti- 

 cated is, that when they had taken some brawling 

 river for their guide, except for the occasional trap- 

 ping of a beaver or a muskrat, their lives were saved 

 solely by trout. To the trout the topographical ex- 

 plorers of the Great West are even more indebted 

 than to the black buck or the buffalo. 



The trout used always to be endeared to the 

 gastronomic tourist as the specialise of many Conti- 

 nental inns and hotels. We said we had frequently 

 been indebted to our rod for a supper in Scottish or 

 Irish inns. On the Continent we have found it much 

 the reverse ; we have often come back to some famous 

 fishing quarter, with a basketful of beauties which 

 had given short but splendid play in the streams 

 of Tyrol or Salzkammergut ; they were taken over 



