120 NEW BRUNSWICK. 



twelre dollars, and having neither braces nor thwarts, 

 but an open space its entire length, is convenient for 

 holding a long rod, and being steadier under foot, offers 

 many advantages over the birch canoe. It is particularly 

 excellent in descending a shallow river, where occasional 

 contact with rocks is inevitable ; but is too heavy to 

 portage comfortably. For rapid travel, either up or down 

 stream, it is invaluable. 



Our baggage was stowed, a comfortable seat made 

 with the end of the tent upon the bottom of the canoe, 

 our rods were rigged out for an occasional cast, and we 

 commenced the ascent of the " Smiling Water." There 

 had been heavy and continuous rains, and quite a freshet 

 had now changed its ordinary placid exterior into one of 

 angry turbulence. The river poured down fierce and 

 wild, crested with foam and discolored with sand and 

 decayed matter. But we made swift progress ; starting 

 five miles above Eoiestown, we soon passed the last 

 settlement, and entering among the mountains, amid 

 which flows the upper stream, trusted ourselves alone 

 to the dangers of the wilderness, to the mercy of the 

 black-flies for our comfort, and to our skill as sportsmen 

 for our support. 



Ten months of close confinement in the city, years 

 amid the horrors of civilization, had well prepared us 

 to appreciate a return to man's natural state of savage 

 life ; long contact with vice and folly had made us eager 

 to taste once more of truth and purity, the communion 

 with nature uncorrupted and unsullied ; to feel the aii 

 blow through the waving trees instead of down narrow 

 streets ; to hear the water rippling over its native bed. 



