A Sportsman 4^7 



camp. The temperature was at zero, and the big 

 lake was almost entirely frozen over with a thin ice. 

 We had a fine time, with a stiff gale blowing in the 

 direction we were going, with two boats breaking our 

 way through it, doing so for nearly all the distance with 

 hea\y tree boughs from the boats, but found the ice, 

 when within a mile of the dam too strong to break. 

 At this we landed on the shore, and finished the last 

 distance through three feet of unbroken snow, which 

 was slow work. The lower lake was comparatively free 

 from ice, which we finished with boat, arriving at camp 

 soon after dark. Two weeks after our arrival we had a 

 severe blizzard, the 9th of December. On that morning 

 the thermometer stood at 24 degrees above. I noted 

 then that the barometer had fallen very low — ^lower 

 than I have seen it for some years, excepting that year, 

 September 13th, when the remnant of the Texas hurri- 

 cane which destroyed Galveston reached the lake, 

 lashing the water into great fury. Then the ther- 

 mometer sank rapidly in a severe gale from the north- 

 west, with flying clouds of snow, and by six o'clock in 

 the evening was down to 10 degrees below zero, and 

 finally reached 17 degrees below, when the gale 

 from the northwest increased with great force, and 

 continued throughout the whole night. On the morn- 

 ing of the loth the thermometer exhibited 13 degrees 

 below zero, with the gale moderated but still strong. 

 By ten o'clock the thermometer was up to 9 degrees 

 below, but remained below zero all day, but we put 

 in half an hour skating on the new glare ice, which was 

 quite sufficient for us. We secured three deer upon 

 this excursion. 



The trout of the Rangeley waters, designated as 



