TROLLING FOE TROUT. 53 



trees are great boulders which, piled up and partly obscured 

 by the undergrowth, resemble from the lake the massive 

 ruins of some ancient fortification. We landed by a spring, 

 which came bubbling up from beneath one of these great 

 moss-covered rocks, to lunch. It was a pleasant spot, and 

 while we sat 'there dozens of small birds, of the size and 

 general appearance of the cuckoo, save in their hooked 

 beaks, attracted by the scent of our cold meats, came hop- 

 ping tamely about on the lower limbs of the forest trees 

 around us. They were called by our boatmen, " meat 

 hawks," and have less fear of man than any wild birds that 

 I have ever seen. . 



We crossed the carrying place of a quarter of a mile 

 around the rapids, in which distance the river falls some 

 sixty feet, roaring and tumbling down ledges and boiling in 

 mad fury around boulders. We entered the Upper Saranac 

 at the hour appointed, and found our tents pitched and a 

 dinner of venison and trout awaiting us on the island 

 selected for our encampment. 



As the sun sank behind the hills, the breeze died away, 

 and the lake lay without a ripple around us, so calm, so 

 smooth, and still, that it seemed to have sunk quietly to 

 sleep in its forest bed. The fish were jumping in every 

 direction, and while the rest of us sat smoking our meer- 

 schaums after dinner, or rather supper, Smith rigged his 

 trolling rod, and having caught half a dozen minnows, he 

 with Martin, rowed out upon the water to troll for the 

 lake trout. These are a very different fish from the 



