THE SPORTSMAN IN FRANCE. 285 



appearance ; and were I a salmon I should 

 inevitably rise at it. The major, how- 

 ever, would never reveal the nature of the 

 material of which it was composed. 



The Jacques Cartier river is full of fish ; 

 and had I but a yacht 1 would sail for the 

 St. Laurence every year, were it only for 

 the extraordinary sport to be met with in 

 its tributary streams. A European can 

 form no idea of the numbers of salmon that 

 are to be met with, and in point of flavour 

 they are equal to any I ever tasted, not 

 excepting those taken from the Severn. 



The fish in the Jacques Cartier river do 

 not run very large ; the biggest I ever 

 caught did not weigh fifteen pounds. I 

 once had half my line carried away, and 

 my rod (a London one) shivered to splin- 

 ters by an enormous fish, I should say 

 nearly double that weight. It is true I have 

 seen some immense salmon in the pools 

 and eddies under the overhanging rocks 



