that, sheltered from the slight breeze, were dancing in swarms just
above the surface of the water. The gnats were there in swarms also,
and did their best toward balancing the accounts by preying upon me
while I preyed upon the trout which preyed upon the flies. But by
dint of keeping my hands, face, and neck constantly wet, I am
convinced that the balance of blood was on my side. The trout jumped
most within a foot or two of shore, where the water was only a few
inches deep. The shallowness of the water, perhaps, accounted for
the inability of the fish to do more than lift their heads above the
surface. They came up mouths wide open, and dropped back again in
the most impotent manner. Where there is any depth of water, a trout
will jump several feet into the air; and where there is a solid,
unbroken sheet or column, they will scale falls and dams fifteen
feet high.

We had the very cream and flower of our trout-fishing at this lake.
For the first time we could use the fly to advantage; and then the
contrast between laborious tramping along shore, on the one hand,
and sitting in one end of a dug-out and casting your line right and
left with no fear of entanglement in brush or branch, while you were
gently propelled along, on the other, was of the most pleasing
character.

There were two varieties of trout in the lake,--what it seems proper
to call silver trout and golden trout; the former were the slimmer,
and seemed to keep apart from the latter. Starting from the outlet
and working round on the eastern side toward the head, we invariably
caught these first. They glanced in the sun like bars of silver.
Their sides and bellies were indeed as white as new silver. As we
neared the head, and especially as we came near a space occupied by
some kind of watergrass that grew in the deeper part of the lake,
the other variety would begin to take the hook, their bellies a
bright gold color, which became a deep orange on their fins; and as
we returned to the place of departure with the bottom of the boat
strewn with these bright forms intermingled, it was a sight not soon
to be forgotten. It pleased my eye so, that I would fain linger over
them, arranging them in rows and studying the various hues and
tints. They were of nearly a uniform size, rarely one over ten or
under eight inches in length, and it seemed as if the hues of all
the precious metals and stones were reflected from their sides. The
flesh was deep salmon-color;