198 SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



or not. Can you tell us anything about it, Parson ? " said 

 the Commissioner. 



" I cannot," replied the Parson, " except that the en- 

 trance to it is so encumbered with shoals, sandbanks, and 

 mud, that few schooners venture into it. In fact the same 

 may be said of the Sault de Mouton, and the Port Neuf 

 rivers. At the former — the Sault de Mouton — I was once 

 for a few hours, and killed a multitude of trout, but do 

 not think it looks like a salmon stream, in fact I doubt 

 very much whether the salmon could surmount the falls, 

 which are upwards of eighty feet high, and very near the 

 sea. Besides which there is no safe anchorage near it, and 

 as you appear to be impatient to flesh your maiden rods 

 with fish, I would recommend you to proceed directly to 

 the Bersimis." 



" What do you know of the Bersimis, Bishop ? " said the 

 Baron. 



" Nothing personally," replied the Priest. " But 

 I have here a letter from an excellent angler and a very 

 honest man, who made an excursion there in the year 

 1847, some extracts from which may not prove unsatis- 

 factory. But before I read them, pray turn to what Bayfield 

 says of the entrance to this river ; as, in my opinion, a river 

 that is difficult and dangerous to get into, and conse- 

 quently difficult and dangerous to get out of, loses many 

 of its attractions." 



" ' Bersimis Kiver," read the Commissioner, " ' enters the 



