slide which leads to the summit. The current, barred by the
wall of rock, takes a great sweep to the right, dashing up at first in
angry waves, then falling away in oily curves and eddies, until at last
it sleeps in a black deep, apparently almost motionless, at the foot of
the hill. It was here, on the upper edge of the stream, opposite to the
slide, that we brought our floating camp to anchor for some days. What
does one do in such a watering-place?

Let us take a "specimen day." It is early morning, or to be more
precise, about eight of the clock, and the white fog is just beginning
to curl and drift away from the surface of the river. Sooner than this
it would be idle to go out. The preternaturally early bird in his greedy
haste may catch the worm; but the salmon never take the fly until the
fog has lifted; and in this the scientific angler sees, with gratitude,
a remarkable adaptation of the laws of nature to the tastes of man. The
canoes are waiting at the front door. We step into them and push off,
Favonius going up the stream a couple of miles to the mouth of the
Patapedia, and I down, a little shorter distance, to the famous Indian
House Pool. The slim boat glides easily on the current, with a smooth
buoyant motion, quickened by the strokes of the paddles in the bow and
the stern. We pass around two curves in the river and find ourselves at
the head of the pool. Here the man in the stern drops the anchor, just
on the edge of the bar where the rapid breaks over into the deeper
water. The long rod is lifted; the fly unhooked from the reel; a few
feet of line pulled through the rings, and the fishing begins.

First cast,--to the right, straight across the stream, about twenty
feet: the current carries the fly down with a semicircular sweep, until
it comes in line with the bow of the canoe. Second cast,--to the left,
straight across the stream, with the same motion: the semicircle is
completed, and the fly hangs quivering for a few seconds at the lowest
point of the arc. Three or four feet of line are drawn from the reel.
Third cast to the right; fourth cast to the left. Then a little
more line. And so, with widening half-circles, the water is covered,
gradually and very carefully, until at length the angler has as much
line out as his two-handed rod can lift and swing. Then the first "drop"
is finished; the man in the stern quietly pulls up the anchor and lets
the boat drift down a few yards; the same process is