212 I GO A -FISHING. 



two cascades. Trout do not ascend perpendicular falls 

 of any great height, nor do they descend them of their 

 own free will. They are timid fish, and desire a clear run 

 in case of danger, and it is probably this prevision and 

 provision for flight which leads them to be shy of all 

 pools which lie between cascades. 



We fished the river a few rods down from the Basin, 

 then crossed the woods fifty or a hundred rods to the 

 Cascade brook, which runs into the Pemigewasset a half- 

 mile below. This is one of the finest brooks in America 

 for scenery, as well as for small trout. It comes down a 

 thousand feet in the course of a mile or two, and its last 

 descent is over a smooth broad face of granite, a hundred 

 feet wide, and sloping steeply two or three hundred feet. 

 Along this slide the brook sometimes wanders hither and 

 thither, from side to side, as if hesitating to hurry down ; 

 but in high water it is a broad and mighty torrent, white 

 as snow, roaring and dashing itself in great masses of 

 foam high in the air, and covering all the slope from for- 

 est to forest. 



We found the stream lower in comparison than the 

 Pemigewasset, and commencing at the foot of the slope 

 we fished it down to the junction. The supply of trout in 

 all these streams is something wonderful. It never mat- 

 ters whether we fish side by side or follow one another. 

 After one has apparently exhausted a pool, the other com- 

 ing a little after will find it well stocked with fish, who 

 had taken refuge under rocks while the first was there, or 

 who have rushed up to it as he passed down stream. 



We had a short dispute as to the proprietorship of a 

 small trout. We threw into a pool together, standing on 

 opposite sides of it, and as we lifted out each his trout 

 there was but one between us, swinging in mid-air over 



