400 AMERICAN ANGLBK'S BOOK. 



shrubbery and stunted timber, they are not heard by the 

 fisher down in the deep ravine through which the river 

 flows ; but a voice of ordinary pitch, a thump on the canoe, or 

 the splash of a Salmon when it falls, after leaping above the 

 water, is heard a long distance off, and the sound is pro- 

 longed and reflected from the almost perpendicular rock that 

 walls in the stream on either side. Thus you frequently 

 know when another angler, though he is not visible, has a 

 fish on, and you may frequently receive or give a hint to 

 make less noise, when the culprit is not aware of any lack of 

 caution at the time of offending. It is a realization of the 

 idea of audible silence. 



This, as is the case with most Salmon rivers, is infested by 

 poachers. The Indians spear, and the whites net the stream 

 far beyond the limits prescribed by law. A straggling rem- 

 nant of a tribe occupying a little island in Bathurst Bay, 

 some of whom have skins as white as my own, spear at 

 night and sell their fish at early daylight, or next evening, to 

 the packing establishment at the mouth of the harbor, for 

 four or five cents a pound. As the summer advances they 

 extend their operations high up the river. I found them one 

 night invading our pools at the Grand Falls. A shot from a 

 carbine, though, dropped between the two canoes of the 

 poachers, caused them to leave in a hurry. One fellow was 

 in such trepidation, that he did not even think of dousing his 

 torch, but went paddling down stream, illumining the bare 

 cliffs with the glare of his flambeau. 



It is not well for one who visits the Nipissiguit (and it is 

 so with all Salmon-rivers) to be limited as to time. The 

 angler may arrive when there is a continuation of rainy 

 weather, and have to wait some days, perhaps for a week or 

 more, until it falls ; or he may get there when a long spell of 

 dry weather has retarded the run of fish from the bay, and 



