LAC EMMURAILLE 



boulders I have mentioned, to make a fire. 

 Sitting back to back in the canoe, there had 

 been no chance to observe how melancholy 

 was the countenance of my friend, how 

 depressingly the water coursed down his 

 chilled beak, upon which the inclement air 

 had bestowed a strange diversity of colour- 

 ing. As we laboured with wet wood and 

 dripping birch-bark to kindle a blaze, 

 Michel asked leave to borrow a rod, and 

 while the fire was yet struggling to flame, 

 some exclamation from him turned us to 

 see with amazement the rod bent butt to 

 tip. We were not likely to grudge first 

 blood in recompense for so much of pa- 

 tience and zeal. The fish made a determin- 

 ed endeavour to involve himself and the 

 cast among submerged boulders; this man- 

 oeuvre cleverly defeated, he sought with 

 heavy rushes to gain the open water, but, 

 tiring quickly, was led to the net with 

 unexpected ease. If not too proud, he was 

 too fat to fight. 



According to Dr. Ellis's table, his length 

 (twenty inches and a half) did not entitle 

 him by nearly three-quarters of a pound to 

 the four and a half pounds that the scale 

 awarded, but the girth (thirteen and a 

 half inches) accounted for it. This table 

 95 



