CHAPTER VII 



THE TOP WATER 



"Once more upon the waters ! yet once more !" 



BYRON ; Childe Harold. 



\Vm:x we leave Second Fos behind us we enter 

 a different land. The road, which in the narrow 

 pass has hung over the foaming waters of the 

 fall, leaves the river as the valley widens into a 

 broad plain, and pursues a more direct course to 

 the next ravine, two and a half miles higher up. 

 Immediately at the top of the Fos, in the very 

 curl of the yet unbroken water, fish often lie, 

 and are sometimes hooked. In such an event 

 it is well to "be aisy " with them, and to in- 

 duce them to swim up into the less dangerous 

 waters above. One's natural inclination is to 

 hold tight to prevent them going down. This 

 is quite futile, and in such a desperate struggle 

 a fish is likely to lose his head and his balance, 

 and to be carried by the force of the water 

 over the fatal edge. For the next half mile 

 there is a fair stream in which salmon may 



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