BLACK BASS AND MUSKALLONGE FISHING. 211 



dexterous blow, you drive your leister home. Very 

 much like poaching ; still where fish are so abundant 

 and wanted for food, this system becomes less cul- 

 pable. 



At the northern end of Lake Couchachin, the 

 beautiful Severn, after tumbling over a grand fall, 

 starts on its erratic, precipitous course for Lake 

 LIuron. To visit this spot was not more than seven 

 or eight miles of water, through a labyrinth of islands, 

 and along the most picturesquely beautiful shore, 

 wooded to the margin. Beside the fall was a saw- 

 mill belonging to a descendant of the French aris- 

 tocracy, who had emigrated before the days of 

 " The Empire." Whether or not the proprietor hap- 

 pened to be at home, a cordial welcome could be re- 

 lied upon, and the fishing underneath the fall was 

 always excellent — sometimes so good that your bait 

 would scarcely touch the water ere it was seized. 

 However, there was one drawback, for the spot was 

 infested with snakes, particularly a large, thick, dir- 

 ty-brown water species, which looked exceedingly 

 venomous. From the indifference with which the 

 mill hands treated them, I imagine their look was 

 worse than their bite. They had, however, a pen- 

 chant for minnow, for I saw one captured on the 



