BLACK FLIES. 91 



pointed to the myriads of black flies which were crawling 

 upon the rock at my feet, and which he assured me by 

 his signs would long before have fixed their fangs and left 

 their poison in my forehead and my throat and behind my 

 ears, were it not for the smoke proceeding from the fires 

 which he had lighted. 



Soon after, however, I began to feel a certain degree 

 of uneasiness about the calves of my legs, and a consider- 

 able inclination to scratch them to any extent. The fact 

 is, that I wore strong Wellington boots, in the usual 

 manner, under my pantaloons ; that the black flies, com- 

 pelled to keep their humiliating position on the ground, 

 sought to wreak their revenge and to satiate their brutal 

 taste for blood by creeping up my trowsers and biting me 

 accurately round the top of the boot, so that by the time 

 I reached our boat that evening I presented the appearance 

 of having been beautifully fired in both legs for bone- 

 spavin. This taught me a lesson which I have not for- 

 gotten, and by which I recommend all the readers of this 

 little book to profit, namely, when in fishing the Canadian 

 waters I wear boots and no man ought to wear anything 

 else to draw them over my pantaloons. 



Again I sent forth my fiery brown to kiss the bright 

 surface of the Chute-en-haut, again I gradually lengthened 

 my line, again I felt the sullen pull of a heavy fish as he 

 grasped my feathered bait, and again it returned to me 

 mutilated and broken. Again I substituted another, with 



