PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 241 



ment to find practical confirmation of the truth of 

 the large stories which are told about it. But I can 

 believe them, for its source and surroundings are 

 exactly adapted to make it a great gathering place 

 for trout during the hottest of the summer months. 



In these Stony brook ponds we have our first 

 illustration of the effect of the high dam which has 

 recently been built at Setting Pole rapids. The 

 water was full eight feet above its natural level 

 an advantage only in this, that it enabled us to 

 make an almost " straight wake " for the Raquette, 

 instead of following the indescribably tortuous 

 channel of the brook. 



Near the point where this brook strikes the Ra- 

 quette there has resided, solitary and alone, for 

 many years, a man well-known to the frequenters 

 of these woods. His house is primitive but quite 

 spacious, and is surrounded by forty or fifty acres 

 of well cleared land, of more than average produc- 

 tiveness for this region. Although living thus 

 remote from neighbors and civilization, he is of 

 more than ordinary intelligence, of a philosophical 

 and metaphysical turn of mind, keeps closely posted 

 in regard to trade, commerce, politics and general 

 science, is and has been for many years an attentive 

 reader, is hospitable, courteous and eccentric. He 

 is, withal, an ardent lover of music, and before 

 time and hard work had robbed his digits of their 

 31 



