NEW BRUNSWICK. 145 



the highest land in New Brunswick, and from the summit 

 of Bald Mountain is a wondrous view. Millions of acres of 

 forest, interspersed with lakes, and rivers that gleam in the 

 sunshine like silver threads, are spread out like a map 

 beneath, while Katahdin and Mars Hill in Maine, Tracadie- 

 gash in Gaspe, the Squaw's Cap on the Kestigouche, and 

 Green Mountain in Victoria county, are all distinctly visible 

 in the distance. What a Paradise for a fortnight's sojourn ! 



From Nictor Lake the route is up a little stream, winding 

 through a hardwood forest directly under the shoulder of 

 the great mountain, into another lake about four miles long, 

 and thence up a little reedy inlet to the portage. Here, the 

 canoes and camp-stuff are carried two miles to the Nepissi- 

 guit Lakes, the head of the Nepissiguit Eiver ; and thence 

 the journey is all down-hill to the sea. No more arduous 

 poling no more struggling up rapids ! How easy it is to 

 drift with the current ! 



At these beautiful lakes, among this mountain scenery, it 

 were well to tarry for a few days. Beavers build their dams 

 across the streams ; deer abound in the woods, and trout in 

 every brook. 



The descent of the Nepissiguit is somewhat monotonous, 

 though the river runs swiftly throughout its whole course, 

 and is broken by frequent falls and rapids. Its upper part 

 winds its way between perpendicular cliffs, and through a 

 mountainous wilderness. Some thirty miles above its mouth 

 are the " Narrows," a series of formidable rapids hemmed in 

 by precipices of slate rocks. Ten miles further down are 

 the Great Falls. But of these, and the river below, I shall 

 speak in the chapter assigned to the salmon-rivers of the 

 Bay Chaleur. No salmon are taken in the Nepissiguit above 

 the Great Falls. 



The Miramichi is a salmon-river much in favor with the 



angling fraternity. The favorite fishing-grounds begin at a 



point nearly one hundred miles from its mouth, and are 



reached by stage from Newcastle to Boiestown, a distance of 



10 



