A PERFECT SALMON POOL. 87 



absence of the weight of the Indian, and dragged by hand 

 through the water ; in others the water ran so rapidly that 

 it was with difficulty we made any way against the current ; 

 but in others we came upon tranquil pools, in which as we 

 glided past we could see the lordly salmon shoot like a 

 sunbeam, from one side to another, disturbed by such 

 unusual visitors. In some of them I wanted to delay and 

 try my skill in captivating some of the inmates, but my 

 frightful friend would not hear of it : I therefore quietly 

 resigned myself to my fate, and at length we reached the 

 Chute-en-haut ; and never did Nature and Nature's child 

 present to the enjoying eyes of a fisherman a more beau- 

 tiful and enticing picture of a perfect salmon pool. 



I shall not attempt to describe the fall of the bright 

 waters over a bed of shelving rocks, which just pent them 

 up sufficiently at the head of the basin to give their 

 progress through the whole of its depths a visible impetus. 

 I shall not vainly essay to make present to the mind's eye 

 of my reader the deep, clear, sandy bottomed cove, which 

 was worn into the rocks on the right-hand side of the 

 river, nor the dancing stream which leaped and kissed the 

 overhanging alders on the left, nor the island of glittering 

 gravel which about a hundred yards down from the fall, 

 divided the river into two streams and thus enabled the 

 angler to fish every portion of it perfectly. 



Cautiously, lest he should disturb a fin, my frightful 

 friend paddled his canoe through the still water on the 



G 4 



