380 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



know what a pleasure it is to be alone where none of 

 man's work mars the prospect, where every object the 

 eye rests upon is as it came from the Creator's hands, 

 unsullied and unchanged. As I sat on a rocky pro- 

 montory to see the sun dip the horizon, perhaps 

 visions of my distant land or far-off friends flitting 

 before me, I was struck with the immense numbers of 

 fish that kept breaking the unrippled surface good 

 evidence that the rod and line might find abundant 

 work, and on the next visit I determined to put it to 

 the test. 



To those who are acquainted with the birch-bark 

 canoe it is needless for me to say anything. All the 

 praises I could sound could not further enhance it in 

 their estimation ; but to those who are not, to them 

 let me say, that there is not in existence a more 

 perfect piece of mechanism for the purpose it is 

 intended. Only learn to handle it properly, and you 

 can go in it anywhere, over shoals, down rapids, 

 through channels where an oar would be useless, and 

 finally, if necessary, you can take it on your shoulders 

 and tramp across portages where nothing but an ox- 

 team could transport a boat. In construction they 

 are models of skill, yet the Indian alone knows how to 

 make them ; for although a white man may occasionally 

 attempt their manufacture, they never do so success- 

 fully. On the following day, with my birch-bark on 

 my shoulders, looking like a gigantic animated letter 

 T, I crossed the portage with a formidable array of 

 lines and artificial baits, full of most mischievous 

 intent towards the finny tribe. This day the surface 

 was broken by that desirable ripple, whether it be for 

 trolling or fly-fishing, and dark clouds occasionally 



