536 AMERICAN ANGLER'S BOOK. 



NOR. (laying down the letter.) Whe-e-euh ! that's a whopper. 



NES. Which, the fish or the story ? 



NOR. Both the story, in particular. You ought to have 

 asked that man to fall a pound or two. 



NES. I thought it was rather a " fish story," but I believe 

 that there are Lake Trout of that size. 



NOR. You are a good believer, Nestor, and I must confess 

 that I have tried your faith a little myself, on one or two 

 occasions. But when I hear it "piled up" in that way, I say, 

 with fat old Jack, " Lord, how this world is given to lying !" I 

 see, though, your journal is bringing us towards the Sault at 

 last. 



[Reads again.] 



"On a bright June morning, at sunrise, I started on a 

 steamboat, the first that ever made the passage to the Sault ; 

 it was her second trip. The only way of reaching it before 

 this time, was in Mackinaw boats in summer, and on snow- 

 shoes and dog-sleds in winter. I arrived in nine hours, and 

 stopped with Mr. Barbier, an old voyageur and guide, whose 

 life has been spent in this wilderness of woods and waters. 

 He keeps a store with a general assortment of Indian goods, 

 which he sells for money, or barters for furs, sun-dried corn, 

 and maple sugar. 



" There is no cascade, or what might properly be called a 

 fall, in the outlet of Lake Superior, but the 'Sault,' as the 

 word implies, is a rapid, or a succession of them. There is a 

 descent of about twenty-five feet in three-quarters of a mile. 

 A canal to pass the rapids has been projected, and already 

 commenced by the government, which will open all the rich 

 copper region on the lake, to the navigation of steamboats and 

 sailing-craft of moderate draft of water. A brig and a 

 schooner, built on the lake above, were taken safely down 

 the rapids last summer. It is about fifteen miles to Gros 



