BLACK BASS AND MUSKALLONGE FISHING. 211 



dexterous blow, you drive your leister home. Very 

 much like poaching ; still where fish are so abundant 

 and wanted for food, this system becomes less cul- 

 pable. 



At the northern end of Lake Couchachin, the 

 beautiful Severn, after tumbling over a grand fall, 

 starts on its erratic, precipitous course for Lake 

 Huron. To visit this spot was not more than seven 

 or eight miles of water, through a labyrinth of islands, 

 and along the most picturesquely beautiful shore, 

 wooded to the margin. Beside the fall was a saw- 

 mill belonging to a descendant of the French aris- 

 tocracy, who had emigrated before the days of 

 " The Empire." Whether or not the proprietor hap- 

 pened to be at home, a cordial welcome could be re- 

 lied upon, and the fishing underneath the fall was 

 always excellent sometimes so good that your bait 

 would scarcely touch the water ere it was seized. 

 However, there was one drawback, for the spot was 

 infested with snakes, particularly a large, thick, dir- 

 ty-brown water species, which looked exceedingly 

 venomous. From the indifference with which the 

 mill hands treated them, I imagine their look was 

 worse than their bite. They had, however, a pen- 

 chant for minnow, for I saw one captured on the 



