154 LOCUSTS AND WILD HONEY 



under a large birch on the bank. Here we planted 

 our flag of smoke and feathered our nest with balsam 

 and hemlock boughs and ferns, and laughed at your 

 four walls and pillows of down. 



Wherever one encamps in the woods, there is 

 home, and every object and feature about the place 

 take On a new interest and assume a near and friendly 

 relation to one. 



We were at the head of the best fishing. There 

 was an old bark-clearing not far off which afforded 

 us a daily dessert of most delicious blackberries, — 

 an important item in the woods, — and then all the 

 features of the place — a sort of cave above ground 

 — were of the right kind. 



There was not a mosquito, or gnat, or other pest 

 in the woods, the cool nights having already cut 

 them off. The trout were sufficiently abundant, and 

 afforded us a few hours' sport daily to supply our 

 wants. The only drawback was, that they were out 

 of season, and only palatable to a woodman's keen 

 appetite. What is this about trout spawning in 

 October and November, and in some cases not till 

 March? These trout had all spawned in August, 

 every one of them. The coldness and purity of the 

 water evidently made them that much earlier. The 

 game laws of the State protect the fish after Septem- 

 ber first, proceeding upon the theory that its spawn- 

 ing season is later than that, — as it is in many 

 cases, but not in all, as we found out. 



The fish are small in these streams, seldom weigh- 

 ing over a few ounces. Occasionally a large one ia 



