50 FRESH WOODS. 



block, " an innocent blackness," as sooty, as 

 ragged, and almost as expert as himself. 



The boy was naked up to the thighs ; his 

 head was bare, but covered with a shock of 

 tangled hair 



" And through its folds the wild winds sang a song." 



He got no rise while I was looking on, but 

 he threw his fly with a neat and tender hand. 

 Truly he had been well educated ; there was 

 a sureness, a certainty, a satisfaction in his 

 cast which betrayed long experience and in- 

 born aptitude. I would back him against 

 many of your scientific anglers. 



These are the born fishermen, who, if truth 

 were told, do ofttimes help to fill the baskets of 

 which you so loudly boast ! Happy sweeps ! 



After watching this scientific display of 

 native genius for some minutes, I humbly 

 wended my way down stream to my own 

 fishing-ground. 



I began with my accustomed vigour, i 

 have learnt to throw cautiously and carefully, 

 and sometimes, when the wind is with me and 

 the space is open and free from trees and 

 bushes, I can make a very fair cast indeed ; 

 but somehow I can never be certain about it. 

 My fly frequently goeth where it listeth, not 

 where I list. There seems to be a peculiar 



