THE HARAKA CLUB. 229 



perch with worms. We came suddenly upon the local 

 watchmaker round a corner, and thought he was bury- 

 ing stolen property ; but no, he was merely gathering 

 bait, and any human being seen in the distance was sure 

 to be stepping riverwards with a rod. Down the river 

 we proceeded again, in a steam launch, at five next 

 morning, eight miles, to Koskeniska, where a rapid, as 

 the name implies, prevents further progress by steam. 



Koskeniska, with its couple of flour mills, and few 

 straggling log hamlets, looked as if it would surely 

 not be suffering so much from over-fishing as Heinola. 

 Nor was it yet we caught no Salmo ferox, but the 

 Kymmene offers no such wonderful angling for great 

 lake trout as does Lake Saima. Two pike were caught 

 in the half hour we tried, after which, with lake trout 

 flies, fifty-five trout, up to one pound each, were taken 

 at the edge of the rapids, to the admiration of the 

 natives. 



After a Eussian vapour bath for it was Saturday 

 night, or the Finnish bath night we stood once more 

 near the platform of one of the mills. The miller and 

 his man had also been trolling for Salmo ferox, but 

 without success, and the former was like the miller of 

 the Dee, who cared for no one, for he came and " plied 

 his angle " immediately in front of us, though to be 

 sure it was his own mill, and he raised his hat as 

 though in apology for scaring away the trout we might 

 otherwise have captured. 



From this point the river can be descended in a day 

 to littis, shooting five rapids, one only not being pass- 



