FOREST AND STREAM. 



411 



THE WORM ON THE HOOK. 



V1CT0E HUGO, with a fanciful antithesis -sufficiently 

 striking to satisfy the most ardent admirers of his 

 style, heads a chapter, " The Apotheosis of the Worm." He 

 means the Worm humanity. Moralists who would fitting- 

 ly express the lowliness of the race have ever manifested a 

 penchant for likening man to the debased, crawling creatures 

 which live in the earth and come up in ram storms. The 

 figure is a favorite one, because mankind can well afford t l 

 have its general self designated as a thing of humility. 

 There is nothing otherwise invidious about the comparison : 

 the suggestion is simply and only of retiring and conscious 

 comparative worthlessness. In the scale of being, the earth 

 worm is below the serpent ; yet let men be likened to ser- 

 pents, or let a man be called a snake, and the epithet is re- 

 sented at once. The worm is infinitely below the brutes, yet 

 no one ever thinks of calling a human brute a worm. Of 

 the two, " brute " is the more offensive. But upon occasion 

 men can declare, with great unction, that they are only poor, 

 miserable, worthless worms. 



The meaning of our common use of language is often very 

 subtle. May it not be urged in behalf of this despised friend 

 of our fishing days, that our thus referring to it as tbe em- 

 bodiment of unobtrusfveness and harmlessness betokens a 

 kindly feeling toward it ? Cowper may be set down as senti- 

 mental and Miss Nancyish when he discards the friend who 

 would needlessly set foot upon a worm ; but even the boy or 

 man who goes fishing, and without aty qualms impales the 

 squirming victim upon the hook, would not needlessly crush 

 the helpless thing beneath his heel. 



When we consider the worm as showing forth nature's 

 wonderful adaptation of means to an end, we may view it in 

 perhaps its highest office. The end here is, of course, a fish- 

 hook. Worms were undoubtedly saved over from the flood 

 on purpose to go fishing with. Who strung the first worm 

 on the hook ? Was it Noah ? How long did men wonder 

 what worms were made for, as we are now speculating (with 

 trustful spirit of ultimately finding out) upon the musquito's 

 creation ? Tbe first fish we ever caught was caught with an 

 angle-worm, and we shall never forget how we put it un to 

 the book. But what must have been the emotions of the first 

 naked fisherman, away back in the early gray of civilization's 

 morning, who fitted the original worm upon a thorn, perhaps, 

 and dropped it down to lure his morning meal. And was it 

 pure accident, a happy hit? or had this primeval angler before 

 seen a hapless worm devoured by a trout ? Let us trust, how- 

 ever all this may have been, that like a true member of tbe 

 angling fraternity, as he undoubtedly was, he at once wrote 

 to his favorite weekly journal, detailing his experience for 

 the benefit of others of the guild. Possibly a study of 

 language, to ascertain when tbe earth-worm was first 

 called ''angle-worm," and an investigation into the pre- 

 historic fish-hook, with especial reference to the adaptation of 

 tbe hook to the bait, might throw some light upon this inter- 

 esting archeologico-piscaiorial speculation. In another column 

 we publish some interesting facts about the life of the angle- 

 worm. Who will enlighten us as to its piscatorial history ? If 

 such delving into the mold of the past seems to be an unwor- 

 thy occupation, it is after all only another form of digging 

 for worms, and we have all done that before now. And if it 

 be farther urged that any knowledge likely to accrue from 

 such an investigation would be ill- proportioned to the toil, we 

 may only suggtst in turn that scores of men are spending 

 their lives in investigations not a whit more valuable to any 

 mortal being ; and more, when scientific acumen has been 

 sufficiently sharpened in the pursuit of the original earth- 

 angle-worm, it will be abundant time to undertake more mo- 

 mentous investigations. 



Now that we have baited our archeological hook, who will 

 bite ? Remember that tbe early bird catches the worm. 



SALMON FISHING IN CANADA. 



Rivbr Godbout, Lower St. Lawrence,) 

 June 19lh, 1879. j" 

 Mb. Editor ; 



When I left the Grand Central Depot in New York on the 

 second day of this month to accept the iAn'co-rapeated invita- 

 tion of that notable Canadian angler, Allan Gilmour, Esq., to 

 fish his salmon river, I felt it a sacred obligation to meet the 

 appointment. Like opportunities are afforded only to a 

 favored few, and 1 knew that if I failed this time, mine would 

 never come again. So I girded up my loins, as it were, and 

 pressed forward to my immediate goal, which was my friend's 

 sumptuous residence at Ottawa. 



I chose the Hudson River, N. Y. Central, and Utica & 

 Black River connection to Ogdensburgh as the route direct, 

 besides affording tbe most grateful variations of change after 

 one of the hottest days of our early summer. I anticipated 

 the refreshing breeze and tbe glinting moonlight along the 

 noble Hudson ; the flashing lights from steamers upward 

 bound to Albany; the shadowy sails of vessels under easy 

 way ; and the comforting rest of the luxurious sleeping coach; 

 with oblivion of time, distance, and material things, until the 

 mnrning call to breakfast among the breezy hills which rim 

 the Adirondack chain of mountains. But a sudden fall of the 

 barometer inaugurated a storm of rain at the very hour of 

 starting which lasted forty-eight hours with you, and pre- 

 ceded a long spell of cool variable weather in higher latitudes 

 which has made winter clothing indispensable ever since. 



Absence of rain after reaching Utica at dawn, rendered trav- 

 elling tolerable, while intermittent gleams of sunshine through 

 broken clouds beamed forth assurances of warmer and 

 brighter days to come. At Lowville an appetizing breakfast 

 of such good things asone rarely finds in juxtaposition at rail 

 road eating houses added encouragement ; and thus fortified 

 we sped on our journey, — sparkling brooks enlivening the 

 wayside, bursting buds and fresh-blown forest leaves emitting 

 a pungent fragrance, and cloud-like mountains, blue iu the 

 distance, dividing with their shadowy outlines our passing 

 interest in the more mundane, matter-of-fact spring work of 

 the farmers in the fields around us. At intervals we passed 

 tbe gateways of the Adirondack Wilderness, where patient- 

 teamsters with wagons and buckboards awaited in daily ex- 

 pectancy the vanguard of the army of anglers who annually 

 visit the. interior trout streams and lakes ; and as my hasty 

 glance took in the familiar scenes of iong-ago experiences, I 

 instinctively sighed tor the days gone by. Then, with calm 

 introversion, fondly contemplating the bundle of salmon rods 

 in the angle of my seat, I silently repeated the trustful 

 prayer: " Spero mdiwa." I felt in my inner consciousness 

 that the high art of salmon fishing so far transcended the mere 

 catching of trout, that Salmo fontinalis (or SavelinuxfonUnalix, 

 as they call him now,) was not entered for competition. My 

 ultima IhuU on the St. Lawrence shore lay far beyond the 

 scarred outline of Bald Mountain, which I could barely 

 trace in the distance. So, with face turned northward, I 

 tarried not till I reached Ogdensburgh and beheld the red 

 cross of St. George floating beyond the fluvial boundary 

 which divides the United States and Canada, and renders 

 Custom House officials formidable and imposing. 



To the honest tourist who has uo purpose to evade the reve- 

 nue laws, Customs officers need be no bugbear. They are 

 sufficiently lenient for a conscientious performance of their 

 duties. I have crossed into all the Provinces many times, 

 and never yet had trunk examined. For several years I car- 

 ried one of the large Goodyear rubber bags, which held all 

 my "possibles" and portables. It laced up like a leathern 

 mail bag, and being first rolled up in canvas, and then tied 

 with rope, it looked like a most suspicious bale. Yet my 

 bunch of fishing rods, or my gun, seemed always to consti- 

 tute a sufficient passport, and I found the officers especially 

 friendly to sportsmen, who inferentially are more likely to 

 leave money where they go, than to take it away. Many 

 innocent travellers, however, often subject themselves to 

 annoyance through ignorance. They have an erroneous 

 notion that all sorts of goods not intended for sale, but as 

 presents, are not subject to duty. For their future guidance, 

 I would say that any shooting or fishing implements, and any 

 impedimenta whatever, not in actual use, are subject to a 

 lax of 30 per cent, ad valorem, which it will be utterly use- 

 less to attempt to evade. They will inevitably be seized if 

 the duty be not paid. 



Prescott, a goodly town of several thousand souls, hobnobs 

 with Ogdensburgh. A large ferryboat plies between ihe two 

 places every hour. Prom Prescott to Ottawa is a run of 

 fifty-four miles by railroad. A person leaving New York at 

 8:30 in the evening by the New York Central can reach 

 Ottawa by 3 o'clock p. m. tbe next day, and the journey being 

 so easy, I have often wondered why St. Lawrence river tour- 

 ists do not more frequently turn aside to visit the Capital of 

 the New Dominion, with its romantic scenery, its handsome 

 purlieus, and its superb Parliament Buildings, instead of con- 

 tinuing direct to Montreal and Quebec. To my eye, this 

 group of Government buildings is the most imposing in the 

 Dominion, and rarely equalled in the States. Perched upon 

 the verge of a lofty limestone cliff whose base is washed by 

 the boiling overflow of the Chaudiere Palls, its clustering 

 towers and aspiring dome overlook a great natural basin 

 enclosed by circum valiant hills still clothed with forests. At 

 its feet the vast mills are resanant with the hum of a thou- 

 sand saws; piles of lumber cover an area of many acres; 

 siuewy steam tugs with rafts in tow, and long strings of canal 

 boats tailing out in line, plod and plash among the eddies and 

 the leaping foam. All around, to the right and left, and rear, 

 the well built city lies spread out, its contour of surface 

 agreeably diversified by rounded hills and slashed by the 

 channels of the Rideau river and canal, which are spanned by 

 graceful bridges of iron. Up and down we discover the 

 Ottawa. 



Of the many elegant private residences of Ottawa, that of 

 Allan Gilmour is perhaps tbe most pretentious. It is located 

 on the cliff, under the very shadow of the Capitol. It has an 

 aristocratic bearing of the Old- World order. Lofty walls of 

 stone and gates of iron enclose its gardens, its conservatories, 

 its court, its stables, and its servants' quarters. Magnolias, 

 palms, bananas, ana other tropical plants flourish under g.ass; 

 heads of moose aud caribou and various trophies of the chase 

 adorn the halls ; in the picture gallery is the finest private 

 collection of paintings in Canada, many of them purchased 

 by the proprietor at great expense during extended travels in 

 Europe and Africa, and fully one-third illustrating wild life 

 on the remote frontiers of the Dominion. There are 100 sub- 

 jects in all. From a terrace on the crest of the cliff a flight 

 of 115 steps descends to a rustic boat landing on the river 

 beneath, where the already famous steam yacht (fruiter 

 sometimes lies. This is the jaunty craft which has brought 

 us to the Godbout, and now rides gracefully at her anchor at 

 the mouth of that river. For the three days previous to our 

 departure from Prescott she had been in loyal attendance 

 upon Her Highness, the Princess Louise, who was engaged 

 in doing the Thousand Islands in company with her consort, 



the Marquis of Lome. Thus consecrated, as it were, we 

 occupied where the royal party vacated; and having returned 

 from Ottawa, and cast loose from the wharf at Prescott, we 

 swung into the mighty tide, and were borne down stream at 

 the rate of fifteen miles an hour towurd the first rapid of the 

 St. Lawrence. 



Luxurious are the appointments of this beautiful vessel. 

 She is replete with all that can minister to the wants or the 

 com forts of the outer and inner man. She is more than a 

 hotel palace car, for she has the promenade deck and the 

 pure untainted air, which the other has not; and she is free as a 

 bird, to float hither and yon at one's pleasure, while to leave 

 the beaten track of the rail is to court danger, damage, and 

 death ! Scarcely less steady than the great mail steamers are 

 in the tumbling rapids which constitute the chief charm of 

 this river excursion, her lesser length and draught render the 

 voyage safer, while the dip of the bow into the whitening foam, 

 and the comparatively greater magnitude of the great waves 

 intensify the exhilaration and increase the delight begotten of 

 a fuller confidence. This vessel is eighty-five feet long, and 

 measures eighty tons, carrying twelve tons of coal in her bunk- 

 ers, and burning about one ton per day,— or wood, in lieu 

 thereof, when required. My friend Allan Gilmour had con- 

 siderately invited an old schoolmate of mine, Hubert A. Ives, 

 Esq., proprietor of the Queen's Iron Foundry at Montreal, to 

 join me at Prescott, and we three, with Messrs. (Junningham 

 and Manuel, of Ottawa, made up the complement of passen- 

 gers. We ran down to Cornwall in five hours, and tied up 

 for the night, and starting early, reached Montreal the next 

 morning:, passing the celebrated Lachine Rapids at 20-mile- 

 per-hour speed, steaming under the Victoria Bridge, and 

 finding a berth below the Bonsecom Market. Thnty-six 

 hours were passed delightfully in Montreal. I was most 

 agreeably surprised to find Mine Host Hogau once more in 

 charge of the St. Lawrence Hall, after a few year»' absence 

 and rest. He is a sportsman by instinct and education, and 

 all members of the fraternity of sportsmen who become his 

 guests will be kindly entertained and receive material aid and 

 information regarding the best resorts for game and fish, and 

 the best and cheapest way to reach them. I would advise 

 those visiting Montreal to make his acquaintance. One of 

 the principal modern lions of the city is the new Windsor 

 Hotel, a massive ornate edifice of stone, in the aristocratic 

 quarter, which will compare favorably with any hotel on the 

 Continent. The stockholders who joined purses to erect so 

 noble a structure deserve the fullest measure of remunerative 

 return. At Montreal we exchanged Messrs. Ives and Cun- 

 ningham for Robert Muir, Esq . of London, England, and 

 proceeded to Quebec, stopping en route at Trois Rivieres on 

 Sunday, and eujoying a most interesting ramble through the 

 quaint streets and delightful suburbs of that ancient French 

 town. We reached Quebec on the day of the inauguration 

 of the new Dufferin Terrace by Her Royal Highness and His 

 Excellency, the Governor General, the latter of whom I had 

 the pleasure of personally meeting at the headquarters of my 

 friend J. M. Gregory, Esq., Ihe Naval Agent at Quebec. The 

 Dufferin Terrace surmounts the crest of the heights whereon 

 the ancient city stands. It is 1,400 feet long by 60 feet in 

 width, and is claimed lobe the finest promenade in the world. 

 The outlook therefrom is transcendant in its scope and im- 

 pressive beauty, as every visitor to Quebec who writes, has 

 written aud testified. In the evening there was a general 

 illumination truly superb, not only of the impregnable heights 

 which the Citadel crowns, but of the cliffs of Point Levis 

 opposite ; so that all the glory of every conceivable device, 

 and angle of multiform and parti-colored lights was not only 

 reflected in tne water, but projected and refracted from either 

 shore, thrice-multiplied and intensified. What locality of 

 this whole hemisphere has such aptitude for a display of this 

 kind V rows upon rows ; tiers upon tiers ; diagonal lines 

 climbing to the apex of Cape Diamond ; ladders of burning 

 jets soaring to tbe highest elevations ; torches of flame flash- 

 ing on the esplanade ; the rigging of the ships ablaze with 

 lanterns ; the Citadel flashing its fires 200 feet above the 

 water level, and illuminated with a ghostly line projected 

 from a calcium light from the cupola of the University a half 

 mile distant? Magic never contrived so marvellous or en- 

 chanting a display. The like I never expect to witness again. 



Here at Quebec we added to our parly Mr. Farquharson 

 Smith, of the Bank of British North America, which made 

 up our full complement of five for the Godbout, and early on 

 Tuesday morning, June 10th, started down the river. Of the 

 continuation of our trip, more anon. Our yacht crosses over, 

 hence to Metis, 35 miles distant over the river, to take -Judge 

 Henry of Oltaw i to the Trinity River, which gives me oppor- 

 tunity to send dispatches. Hallook. 



Rod, Gun asd Quill.— The average paper contributed by 



our correspondents to the Forest ax d Stream is very far 

 from being a mere recital of game killed, or fish caught. The 

 reason is plain. Men who go forth into the woods and fields 

 and along the rivers, with eye and ear open to the beauty and 

 teaching of the natural wurld, are the ones who are prompted 

 to commit themselves to writing. Men, in whose bauds a gun 

 is nothing more than the ax with which a butcher kills a calf, 

 are not the persons who have much natural taste for ink. It 

 is possible to make a so-called sporting expedition only an oc- 

 casion of cool blooded slaughter, but happily such an expedi- 

 tion is rarely described in print by tbe participants. When a 

 sketch of this character is written it is likely to be as spiritless 

 as that which it describes. 



