DIES PISCATORl^. 517 



This may not perhaps be interesting to the uninitiated, but one who has 

 not witnessed cannot conceive how funny it looks, to be driving a pair of 

 horses, and suddenly see one disappear to the extent of about one-half, his 

 fore-legs pawing in the air, and his hind-legs somewhere else, not imme- 

 diately visible, the general effect being that of an attempt to climb a tree, 

 without any particular prospect of success. No accident, however, hap- 

 pened, and no other inconvenience than that of one or more legs going 

 through every bridge we crossed. 



The next day we reached the falls of the Androscoggin, but had not yet 

 attained the trouting region. We took a boat and guide, loaded in our 

 traps, and put out for the Megalloway. This river is crooked beyond any 

 power of description ; it is a practical exemplification of the ways of the 

 Evil One. One minute the sun is behind you ; the next, ahead ; then 

 right and left, cross the middle, up and down in every imaginable position. 

 You have to row three miles to get anywhere, if it isn't more than twenty 

 rods off. We reached the lower landing, at the farm where we stopped, 

 and it was about an eighth of a mile by land, and two miles and a half by 

 the river, to the house. Water is not a speedy means of locomotion in 

 Northern New Hampshire. 



Our first day's fishing was in the Diamond River, and a good time we 

 had of it. I tried to keep my feet dry till I tumbled in, and then I stayed 

 in. The water here is rapid, and the stream full of rocks, on which you 

 step, and in you go: this is invariable. 



In fishing for Trout, two things are to be observed ; first, you must fall 



down in the water, and secondly, break your rod : N had broken his 



before he started, and soon in he went, up to his neck. To tumble down 

 in a stream like the Diamond, beside being inconvenient, is confusing ; 

 the water carries you off your feet, and bumps you against the rocks ; its 

 roar deafens you, and you think you're going to drown ; your fishing- 

 basket goes one way, and your tackle another, and you regain your feet 

 with a general sense of damp, to hear your friend laughing at you. 



In this day's fishing we caught about seventy-five pounds of Trout among 

 four of us. At night we returned, quite well tired, to the farm-house 

 which was our temporary abode. We had fried pork for supper. I believe 

 I stated, that they had pork in this country. We then went to bed, or 

 rather to musquitoes. 



There were four of us, with two beds, in a room, which, so far from 

 David Copperfield's being able to swing a cat in it, he couldn't have per- 

 formed that feat with a kitten. 



