A CANADIAN RIVER 97 



jagged reefs of rock or boulders of terrify- 

 ing aspect. The dexterity with which the 

 men pole their craft up-stream through 

 these obstacles, fighting their way inch by 

 inch, or again guide the canoes on the not 

 less dangerous journey down-stream, is past 

 all belief : they are artists, and to their skill, 

 much more than to the fisherman's, are due 

 the big catches which have made the Casca- 

 pedia famous. 



The river banks are clothed by a dense 

 forest of spruce and pine, with here and 

 there a sprinkling of birch (yellow and 

 white) and maple, while near the water's 

 edge there is a considerable growth of pop- 

 lar, mostly the balsam poplar, appropriately 

 so called on account of the fragrance of its 

 leaves when the buds first expand. On a 

 warm evening the air is heavy with the scent 

 of these trees. So dense is the growth that 

 there are very few spots at which it is pos- 

 sible to take a cast off the shore; but at one 

 or two points, generally where a shingle bed 

 adjoins the pool, it is possible for the fisher- 



