136 SMELT-FISHING IN MAY. 



there is the estuary of the river, which, little 

 more than two hours ago, we saw pleasantly 

 gliding out of its parent lake, now about to 

 be lost in the all-devouring and boundless sea. 



AMICUS. Our conversation this morning 

 seems to have made you somewhat poetical. 

 With equal justice the sea may be considered 

 the parent of the stream, the ocean the com- 

 mon parent of all streams. What it receives it 

 returns, and in a purer state ; and so both are 

 fed and preserved in their unchanging con- 

 dition ; both ever giving and ever taking. But 

 of the river, as an angler I should like to know 

 of its fishing. In its sluggish course it is 

 unpromising. 



PISCATOK. The angler who can reconcile his 

 conscience to the killing of Salmon-fry, when 

 about to take their departure from their native 

 stream, may, I am assured, have good sport 

 here in the latter end of April, and the be- 

 ginning of May, when they are of their largest 

 size and best condition as smelts ; and, as it 

 said that for a while they go backward and 

 forward, gradually seasoning themselves to 

 the salt water, a day's fishing here at that 

 season, to determine this point, might be 



