were everlastingly fouling in loose weeds, and the progress of the boat
converted the hauling in of the line into not inconsiderable manual
labour, the outlook became barren in the extreme. My companion A. in
the stern was furnished with the orthodox hand-line, and I sat on the
second thwart facing him. The rod rendered this necessary, and A. told
me afterwards that Ben spent most of his time winking and
contemptuously gesticulating over my shoulder. Probably this accounted
for the number of times he pummelled the small of my back with the
clumsily advanced handles of his oars.

My rod, I might explain, was the trolling or sea fishing version of a
capital greenheart portmanteau rod, to which I had treated myself in
hopes of use in Canadian waters, and was a stiff little pole (in this
form) of a trifle over 9 ft. The medium dressed silk trout-line on a
grilse winch was about a hundred yards in length, and quite sound, and
on a twisted gut trace I had attached a 3-in. blue phantom. Ben
impartially, not to say profanely, objected to the lot. We had ample
opportunity to admire the very pretty scenery of the lake shores, and
the charmingly timbered island which for ten miles diversified the blue
water. The depth was seldom over 6 ft. or 8 ft., there were subaqueous
forests of weeds in all directions, but there was a kind of channel
known to Ben where one had the chance of intervals of peace--spells of
clear spinning for A.'s great spoon to starboard and my delicate
phantom to port. In those times of tranquil leisure we learned much as
to the splendid duck-shooting of the fall and the wonderful stores of
fish in the lake.

Scugog is not a show place, but it is beautiful in its quiet way; the
surroundings are quite English, and Port Perry is a pleasant type of
the small, prosperous Canadian town where nobody perhaps is very rich
and nobody very poor. The aforesaid island in the centre makes the
lake appear quite narrow, and, indeed, its length of fourteen miles is
double its widest breadth with island included. And it is one of a
chain of Ontarian waterways so vast that, had we been so minded and
properly prepared, we might have passed through close upon 200 miles of
lakes and connecting channels. Two hours of incessant hauling in of
weed bunches, and no sign of a run of any other kind, were enough; you
could not be always admiring the green slopes and woodlands of maple
and pine; discussions of local topography c