ANGLING FOE OUANANICHE 75 



splendid pools of Mr. W. A. Griffiths, on the south 

 side of the Decharge. But many of the best fishing- 

 places, both here and upon the opposite side, can be most 

 successfully reached by means of a canoe. Nothing 

 but a birch-bark or Peterboro canoe can be safely used 

 in the rapid waters of the Grande Decharge, and both 

 French-Canadian and Montagnais guides confine them- 

 selves exclusively to the use of the former. It is a 

 thrilling sensation to shoot the rapids in these frail 

 craft, and to feel that nothing but a sheet of birch- 

 bark and the untutored skill of your dusky guides stand 

 between you and eternity. But they are wonderfully 

 clever, these guides, and it is a constant marvel to 

 those who visit these waters for the first time to note 

 the consummate tact and ability with which they 

 navigate the most treacherous currents and violent 

 rapids, sometimes cutting off with their paddles the 

 top of an advancing wave, at others holding back the 

 canoe in the hollow of a rapid until the moment is 

 propitious for shooting out of it, or perhaps again lift- 

 ing it up sideways to the crest of a favorable roll of 

 water. In many waters the angler has but one guide. 

 At the Grande Decharge, and in the ascent of the 

 various tributaries of Lake St. John, two are abso- 

 lutely necessary. It would be certain death for one 

 man to attempt to guide a loaded canoe in these heavy 

 rapids ; and, besides this, one man has almost all he can 

 do to carry the canoe itself over the portages, while 

 the other is required to convey provisions and bag- 

 gage. 



The new arrival at the Grande Decharge is landed 

 from the steamer upon one of the first islands reached 



