162 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



nel through the massive mountains amid which it 

 has its source. So, one sunny afternoon my canoe 

 was headed thitherward with as keen a relish for 

 discovery as ever Columbus experienced while 

 wearily waiting for royalty to launch him out upon 

 unknown seas. And I had my reward in such a 

 revelation of beauty as seldom comes to mortal 

 vision. When we had pushed oui way through 

 some half mile of very swift water, we dropped 

 into a natural basin of solid rock, whose picturesque 

 surroundings constituted a fitting frame-work for 

 the most charming and peaceful picture I ever saw. 

 The water was from twenty to fifty feet deep, yet 

 so transparent that the tiniest pebble was as clearly 

 visible at the greatest depth as if held in the naked 

 hand. What a pool for trout in their season ! 

 Now, however, not a fish revealed himself. I made 

 a few casts, but without discovering any sign of 

 life until my fly reached the rim of the basin, sixty 

 feet distant, and then I only "flushed" a large 

 trout, who refused my lure and moved off a few 

 feet, as if disturbed by the unexpected apparition. 

 But the water was so clear that I saw his every 

 movement as he lay in seeming dread of what 

 might befall him. In all my travels I never met 

 with any water so perfectly transparent, or in 

 which a minute object could be seen at so great a 

 depth. 



