IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



squirrel is well prepared against the lean 

 months, because, heedfully beginning to 

 gather his store when the warning comes, 

 he has better opportunity to make it ample. 

 Like other creatures he but follows na- 

 ture's immediate promptings, ,and often, 

 but not always, is he right. 



Man may draw deductions from these 

 things, should he choose to reason from 

 effect rather than cause, but he gains noth- 

 i,ng thereby, for the sources of the squirrel's 

 knowledge are likewise open to him. His 

 prophecy has precisely the same value as 

 though he founded it upon the date when a 

 neighbour dons his woollen socks. 



Possibly experience may have informed 

 the squirrel of this trend of the weather to- 

 wards stability — 'law', one may scarcely 

 call it — but neither man nor squirrel is 

 able to go much further. 



The general character of our seasons de- 

 pends upon the permanency of the conti- 

 nental anticyclone. This is believed to be 

 governed by the Pacific winds, which are 

 controlled by the Pacific currents. These, 

 in turn, are dominated by the trade-winds. 

 Beyond the trade-winds lies, at present, a ', 

 blank wall. If the squirrel sees through 

 it, his instinct has a marvellous length of 

 130 



