Outfit— The Gaff. 65 



OHAPTEB IV. 

 OUTFIT— THE GAFF. 



When preparing for my first salmon-fishing expedition, 

 an experienced friend sent me two tracings from gaffs 

 which he had used, recommending them as good in form 

 and size. Having selected that which seemed to me 

 most conformable to the laws of mechanics as applied to 

 the problem, as I understood it, I ordered one made ac- 

 cordingly. It was delivered. After stoning up the point 

 until it was smooth and keen, it was placed among the 

 other items of my outfit, erased from my list, and dis- 

 missed from mind. 



At length the sun rose upon the long-wished-for day. 

 At an early hour my Indians presented themselves, partly 

 to report ready for duty, and partly to procure and fit a 

 handle to my gaff. Tom, the name of the Indian who 

 was to be my presiding genius, and who was generally 

 admitted to be the most experienced and skilled in all 

 that related to salmon-fishing of any guide in that region, 

 when his eye lit upon the gaff I had so fondly thought 

 was all that the most exacting could desire, changed 

 countenance. Assuming an expression from which the, 

 ordinary observer might surmise that it tainted the very 

 air he breathed, he took the gaff in his hands and 

 said, " Humph ! wire very thin — cut fish much." Then, 

 grasping it by the point and shank, he straightened the 

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