IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



come that will test both nerve and skill. 

 Knowledge of the set of the tides teaches 

 how the dangerous rips can be avoided, 

 and shortens many a long mile. A very 

 old hand at navigating the St. Lawrence in 

 small boats preferred to row the fifteen 

 miles from Port au Persil to Murray Bay 

 against the tide, — coaxing more help from 

 the in-shore eddies of the ebb than he could 

 win from the weaker flood. That strange 

 confluence of currents known as the Danse 

 des Marees, a few hundred yards outside 

 the wharf, is an uncomfortable spot if there 

 be the lightest breeze against a strong flow- 

 ing tide. A canoe that might otherwise 

 cross the wide stream in perfect safety, 

 would be in peril there. The ablest yacht 

 cannot beat against the ebbs, — something 

 it is well to have in mind when planning 

 an afternoon's sail. These little jaunts 

 had a way of lasting for twenty-four hours; 

 and some will remember the sleepless 

 starving nights in shirt-sleeves, ofif Cap 

 Saumon or Nine-mile Point, and the fierce 

 competition throughout the dark hours to 

 be allowed to warm up at the sweeps. 

 Many a time too the vent de la terre — last 

 movement of air as the perfect summer day 

 draws to its close — won for us a Christian 

 bed instead of a cold plank. 

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