VERGE OF CIVILIZATION. 379 



worthy of the sportsman's skill, let him then by all 

 means devote his leisure to the capture of the subject 

 of this chapter : but I would sooner take one salmon, 

 ay, one trout, than a dozen of these fresh-water 

 sharks. 



But let me shift the scene from the valley of the 

 muddy Ohio river to the pellucid Severn, a feeder of 

 Lake Huron. I was living on the confines of civili- 

 zation literally, for there was but one residence further 

 north than the house of which I was an inmate, and it 

 was inhabited by a canny Scot, who never knew what 

 it was to take a day's relaxation, his entire energy, 

 early and late, being devoted to the improvement of 

 his homestead. Shortly after my arrival I paid him a 

 visit, but I found that information on shooting matters 

 would have to be obtained through my own exertions, 

 for more than a complaint against Bruin occasionally 

 depriving him of a pig, he knew literally nothing of 

 the sporting capabilities of his neighbourhood. It is 

 always pleasant on a new field of operations to obtain 

 a slight inkling of what you may expect. It is far 

 from agreeable to have to draw a charge of snipe shot, 

 and thus lose time, to substitute B B, or perhaps ball, 

 small game being expected and large game found. In 

 wandering about the neighbourhood of my temporary 

 residence, about two miles from home I came upon 

 one of those beautiful little sheets of water so fre- 

 quently found upon the northern portion of the Ame- 

 rican Continent. This soon became a favourite retreat, 

 for wild duck were numerous on a portion where wild 

 rice grew luxuriantly, and passenger pigeons and spruce 

 grouse had adopted it as a watering-place, owing to its 

 freedom from intruders. All devoted admirers of nature 



