DAYS WITH THE LAXD-LOCKED SALMON. 107 



the local name. Here I first became acquainted with 

 the celebrated black fly, in appearance like a very small, 

 bard and active common house-fly. The bite differs 

 from that of the gnat in only becoming irritating on the 

 second or third day. Providentially they are confined 

 to certain localities. They told me at Chicoutimi of a 

 Scotchman who neglected ordinary precautions, and 

 allowed himself to be extensively bitten while fishing, 

 and consequently two days afterwards was driven 

 almost out of his mind by the feverish irritation 

 caused by these minute and insidious insects. "We 

 shot down the lower Chicoutimi, which joins the Sa- 

 guenay near Chicoutimi, called locally the* Biviere 

 du Bassin. The fishing is very poor, as are also the 

 French settlers whose farms line the banks. Stopping 

 at one of these hamlets where a horse was procurable 

 I sent the men back with the canoe and completed the 

 journey by cart. They wished to continue our voyage 

 and paddle down the Saguenay, but I considered the 

 scenery could best be seen from the deck of a steamer. 

 I remained at Tadousac for some days, a watering-place 

 much frequented by the Quebec people and situated 

 at the mouth of the river. The so-called sea trout of 

 the estuary, about which so much is advertised, were, 

 I found, common brown trout from the numerous 

 tributaries of the river. They had found their way 

 to brackish water, and grown out of all knowledge, 

 while they had also become silver-coated and vora- 

 cious, and lost their coloured spots. No doubt real 

 sea-trout are taken later on in the season, though 1 



