ACADIAN FISH AND FISHING. 241 



lake region which gives birth to the Tobique and Upsal- 

 quitch, rivers of about equal size, the Nepisiguit has an 

 eastward course of nearly one hundred miles through 

 a wilderness country, where not even a solitary Indian 

 camp may be met with. It is one of the wildest of 

 American rivers ; sometimes contracted between cliffs 

 to the breadth of a few yards, coursing sullenly and 

 darkly below overhanging forests, and sometimes, though 

 rarely, expanding into broad reaches of smoothly-gliding 

 water — its most common feature is the ever-recurring 

 cascade and rapid. 



The adventurous fisherman will do well to supplement 

 his sport on the river by embarking on a long journey 

 through the solitudes of the interior to its parent lakes. 

 A short portage of a couple of miles, and the canoe 

 floats on the Tobique lakes, and thence descends the 

 Tobique through another hundred miles of the wildest 

 and most beautiful scenery imaginable. At the junction 

 of this latter river with the broad expanse of the upper 

 St. John, civilisation reappears ; the traveller changes his 

 conveyance for the steamer or coach, and the frail canoe 

 returns, with her hardy and skilful sons of the river, to 

 battle with the rocks and rapids of the toilsome route. 



The whole of this tour is, however, fraught vdth 

 interest to the sportsman and lover of wild scenery. 

 Moose, cariboo, and bear are invariably met with ; the 

 two former being generally seen bathing in the water 

 in the evenings, whilst a visit from a bear at night is 

 by no means an uncommon occurrence at some camp or 

 another on the way ; or, perchance. Bruin may be sur- 

 prised when gorging in the early morning, breakfasting 

 amongst the great thickets of wild raspberries which 



