CHAPTER XVIII 

 GLIMPSES OF CANADA, ETC. 



PERHAPS I may be allowed to say that my visits to 

 both Canada and the States were on journalistic work 

 which gave little time for play of any sort, and I half 

 fear that I only introduce these scraps of fishing matter 

 to get an excuse for re-telling my own story of how I 

 caught a big " 'lunge " in Canada, in the early autumn 

 of 1897. In the Natural History books of the Pro- 

 vince of Ontario the designation is Maskinong6. The 

 word is often made mascalonge, or muscalunge, and, it 

 being less labour to pronounce one than four syllables, 

 people in many districts where the fish is caught, for 

 short call it " 'lunge." As offering a minimum strain 

 upon the pen, in this form I will refer to it in the course 

 of my chronicle of how I caught my sample. The 

 fish is, in a word, the great pike (Esox nobilior), and it 

 is to all intents and purposes possessed of the general 

 characteristics of the Esocidae family. Our old friend 

 E. lucius occurs in Ontario waters, and the Indians call 

 it kenosha. The French having, in old days, rendered 

 this kinong6, we can easily understand why the name, 

 as adopted by Ontario, was given. While, however, 

 the pike proper is common to both sides of the At- 

 lantic, the 'lunge is confined to the basin of the St. 

 Lawrence. 



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