304 PEAIRIE AND FOREST. 



was a satisfaction in knowing this a feeling I will 

 not attempt to describe, a gratification of a longing 

 often felt, but never expected to be realised. Fancy, 

 brother fishermen, having salmon as abundant as trout 

 in a good trout-stream ! In ten casts I had three 

 rises, out of which I had hooked and killed two fish ; 

 and my friend across the water had also been busy. 

 Ye lords -and commoners, who pay enormous rentals 

 for salmon rivers, can you, with all the paraphernalia 

 that a London fishing-tackle establishment can supply, 

 with all the attendance and accessories that wealth can 

 purchase, show a finer record ? Truly I doubt if it is 

 possible. Again I commenced at the head of the pool, 

 and slowly progressed downwards ; one fish I stirred, 

 but on a second time casting over him, he refused to 

 put in an appearance. Step after step I descended, 

 and when not more than ten yards below where I had 

 hooked my first fish, I struck another ; but alas ! the 

 hook did not hold ; a few spasmodic struggles, and he 

 was free. 



Salmon or trout fishing is not alone enjoyable for 

 the pleasure of killing fish, but for the scenery and 

 attachments which form the necessary adjuncts to the 

 sport. The distance from the haunts of fellow-men, 

 the solitude of perhaps the surrounding forest, the soft 

 murmuring of the descending and rushing water, the 

 opportunity aiforded to study nature in its unalloyed 

 purity all tend to enhance, to the true lover of nature, 

 this princely sport ; the very combination of all these 

 et ceteras making the perfection which all will ac- 

 knowledge to belong to fly-fishing. 



I must have been resting some time, when a more 

 formidable attack of insects recalled me to reality ; and 



