EXPEDITION TO THE LAURENTIAN HILLS. 203 



to leave a good home and a civilized business to plunge him- 

 self into a purgatory of unspeakable hardships for small profits 

 and little sport." And even his father, tough as he is in 

 muscle and story-telling, said nearly the same thing. 



" The illusions that cover the sporting world come mostly 

 from the inveterate bragging and exaggerations of sportsmen 

 themselves. The old hunter tells all he can, and more than 

 he can truthfully, of his exploits ; and says as little as possible 

 of his failures, and the miseries which his successes cost him. 

 Thus the mirage rises, and they who are deceived by it, in 

 their turn, learn to brag of their exploits and conceal their 

 failures; and so the deception passes on from man to man, 

 and from generation to generation. 



" I mean to step out of this practice, and tell some things 

 about our Canada expedition that will tend to sober the ex- 

 pectations of novices, and put them on their guard against 

 inflated reports and promises of sport. 



" We went to Canada in full expectation of being able to 

 get plenty of venison and fish for our winter supplies. When 

 we came away, all hopes of getting these provisions had van- 

 ished, and we had found it necessary to borrow meat of our 

 neighbors, the lumberers, and were about to send to Montreal 

 for a barrel of mess-pork ! 



" Our illusions vanished one after another in this fashion. 

 We were told that at Bass Lake we could catch fine, large 

 bass in any quantities, either by drop-line or trolling. We 

 fished patiently with drop-lines at various times for hours to- 

 gether, and got one nibble ! We trolled the lake up and down 

 with two boats, and caught one bass of perhaps a pound 

 weight ! 



" We were told that at Salmon Lake, during a week or ten 

 days after the 8th of October, we should find myriads of sal- 

 mon-trout on their spawning beds every evening, and could 

 spear boat-loads of them and salt them down for winter use. 

 We had prepared two excellent spears and a jack ; and we 

 worked hard to gather " fat pine ; " and we laid in a store of 

 salt. But we had no success in finding fish, except on one 

 night, and then only in moderate numbers. All wo caught 



