44 



" During our second day's fishing I had a little adventuie 

 which was not unattended with danger, though such was the 

 excitement of the moment that I was scarcely conscious of it. 

 Haring obseryed a large salmon rising at a fly in the middle 

 of the river, I got into the canoe and made old Jean Gros pole 

 me out to the spot ; kneeling as we were often obliged to do, for 

 fear of upsetting the unmanageable little craft. I soon hooked 

 the fish, and making my Charon stick his pole firmly into the 

 bottom, we brought our tiny Tcssel athwart it, kept our position 

 against the force of the current, which here ran very strong, and 

 having a fine range of the open stream I played the fish for half 

 an hour until he was quite subdued. M. Jean was then desired to 

 weigh anchor and push for a shelving sandy bank where we had 

 been accustomed to gaff our salmon. In pulling up the pole, 

 which was shod with iron, the old man, by some inexplicable 

 awkwardness, lost his hold of it — away the rapid stream bore us, 

 whilst the long pole was left standing perpendicularly, vibrating 

 still and shaking its head at us very ominously. 



"Jean Gros! shoulders elevated' themselves to his ears instant- 

 ly, and his wizened and corrugated face was elongated some 

 three or four inches to the obliteration of manifold wrinkles that 

 adorned it. It was irresistibly comic, and I could not help a loud 

 laugh, though it was no joke. We had no paddle nor any thing 

 else to assist us on board, and were running at six knots an hour 

 towards the jaws of a dangerous rapid. My old Voyageur, after 

 his first astonishment, uttered one or two indecent oaths, like a 

 veritable French colonist ; then, apparently resigning himself to 

 his fate, became paralysed with fear and began to mumble a 

 prayer to some favorite Saint. In the meantime some good-na- 

 tured hahitans, who had been watching us playing the salmon, 

 ran down the shore, parallel with us, when they saw us drifting 

 down ; flinging out to us every stick they met for the chance of 

 our catching and using it as a paddle. All this time the salmon 

 remained on the line, and my large rod occupied one hand en- 

 tirely, and prevented much exertion in stretching for the float- 

 ing timber ; but as for abandoning rod or fish — neither was to be 



