198 PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



of pleasant memories, with a salute from our only 

 rifle and a cheer from all of us, we swept out into 

 the swift current, and were " homeward bound." 



"What a contrast to our tedious ascent was this 

 seaward journey ! Our light canoes glided through 

 the water like birds in the air. Although there 

 are many " stretches " unbroken by rapids, there 

 is no point on the river, from its source to tide- 

 water, where the current does not move quite four 

 miles an hour. The first nine miles were mostly 

 of this quiet character, and it is impossible to con- 

 ceive of anything more delightfully exhilarating 

 than the movement through such waters on such a 

 morning as that in which we made the journey. 

 It was the very poetry of motion. The sun was 

 without a cloud ; the air was just of the tempera- 

 ture one would like to bask in forever ; the foli- 

 age still sparkled with the dew of the morning; 

 the mountains were aglow with sunlight, while 

 midway of their summits the early mists hung in 

 great silvery masses, forming pictures which 

 dwarfed the grandest handiwork of man, and 

 awed us with their vastness, their grandeur and 

 their indescribable beauty. Every bend of the 

 river revealed some new landscape to admire, while 

 the chirp and whistle and song of ten thousand 

 wood-birds found responsive melody in our own 

 glad hearts. It was no surprise to me that my com- 



