66 SUNSHINE AND SPORT IN 



the wildness of the Rockies and a httle of the 

 dreaminess of Florida, together with hotel comforts 

 that would hardly disgrace Fifth Avenue. Imper- 

 ceptibly the grandeur of Nature is tamed for the 

 entertainment of man. Though few who fish them 

 would suspect as much, even the lakes are artificial, 

 for the brawling Soquilla had none in its own right, 

 and had to be thrice dammed — no mean undertaking 

 even for American brains and capital — ere a scene, 

 already lovely, could be still further beautified by 

 three such sheets of water. Toxaway alone has 

 fifteen miles of shore and a greatest depth of fifty 

 feet, and its waters hold both brook and rainbow 

 trout. The former predominate in Sapphire, the 

 latter in Fairfield. In early springtime, there is a 

 good deal of unconcealed worm-fishing, for it is not 

 here, as elsewhere, the custom to catch trout on 

 the worm and credit them to the fly. On Dartmoor, 

 for example, not long ago, I heard a story of a fine 

 catch of trout, all made on a fly tied by the fisher- 

 man, and there was a fine eel in the basket ! Visitors 

 at Toxaway, on the other hand, use the early worm 

 and say so. For the matter of that, no resident 

 would believe them if they said anything else. 



Such spring heresy need not, however, keep 

 away the artist, for, later in the year, the fly does 

 well — red ibis, black gnat, coachman, grey drake, 

 professor, silver doctor and an irresistible Canadian 

 known as the " Parmachene Belle " all doing execu- 

 tion in their day. On the whole. May and June 

 are perhaps the best months for fishing, for the 

 summer rainfall is heavy in some seasons and 

 hampers what should otherwise be the best sport of 

 the year. Those who scorn the mild exercise of 



