PLEASURES OF FLY-FISHING. 327 



with them, than to be seated in a light, buoyant boat, 

 dancing to the music of the ever-murmuring ripples, 

 deftly whipping the surrounding diminutive waves. 

 It is to mature man what the rocking of the cradle is 

 to the child ; the latter, because it has no knowledge 

 of the past or future, is lulled to sleep, the former 

 feels soothed for the present, and in his enjoyment 

 forgets past trials and hopes for fortune in time to 

 come. There is an alloy in this entrancing pastime as 

 well as in nearly all others to practise it is death and 

 pain to that which affords you the pleasure ; but how 

 few of the gratifications of life are without this ; the 

 success of one is the downfall of another. Even the 

 mosquito in gratifying his appetite for blood is not 

 satisfied to depart after he has glutted himself to 

 excess, but must leave a virus behind him that 

 poisons the orifice from whence he has drawn his 

 sustenance. 



At the mouth of all streams that salmon frequent 

 in the Dominion of Canada sea trout will be found 

 in abundance ; even the estuaries which the larger 

 species has forsaken they do not in consequence 

 desert. 



There was a time when the coast of Maine was 

 abundantly stocked with sea trout ; but that age has 

 passed, for long have these waters been glutted with 

 the debris of manufactures, or the still more injurious 

 sawdust from the pine logs which have been severed 

 into planks for houses or ship -building purposes. 



The sea trout of Canada, we are informed by 

 authorities, differs from that of British waters. Al- 

 though I have captured numbers of both I have never 

 been able to detect where this distinction existed. To 



