e the fly, so that it is often
necessary to make very careful inquiries from them as to the manner in
which they catch fish in any fishing grounds that they may recommend;
and such inquiries are very difficult to anyone not acquainted with
their peculiarities and the Chinook jargon.

Many weird fish stories might be told about Fish Lake, but they become
wearisome, and enough has been said to give some idea of the fishing to
be obtained. It is, indeed, somewhat unique in its reality, and requires
no Western embroidery of detail to be added to the facts quoted. These
facts show, by the way, the immense fertility of the rainbow, where
conditions are favourable, its fly-taking propensities, its boldness and
voracity; all of which qualities will commend themselves to English
fishermen, and confirm the enterprise and judgment of those who have
introduced the fish into this country, where it seems to bid fair to
equal, if not even to surpass, itself in the same good qualities.

It is in the nature of a digression, perhaps, but as it has a bearing on
the primitive methods of obtaining fish, the following account of a
peculiar kind of fishing may be of interest here.

There is a large lake in the interior, up the Cariboo road, where the
half-breeds indulge in a curious form of sport. A large portion of the
lake is very shallow, and when it is frozen over the bottom can be very
clearly seen. When this is the case some of the half-breeds go out on
skates and mark trout through the ice, which they then pursue and
attempt to drive into the shallowest parts near the shore. A fine fish
is driven about until he appears to be quite exhausted, and finally is
driven into shallow water, where he often hides under weeds at the
bottom; a hole is then cautiously cut in the ice above him with a knife,
through which he is speared. A fish about 15lb. was once sent to me
which had been caught in this way; it was not a trout, but the large
kind of char, commonly known as Great Lake trout.

There is another lake called Mammit Lake, about twenty-five miles from
Savona's and about fourteen from Fish Lake, which affords very good
fishing. It is a large piece of water, about fifteen miles long,
surrounded by open bunch grass hills, and can be reached from Savona's
by a good road. Its name is derived from the large numbers of white fish
called mammit which abound in its waters, and can only be taken by the
net. This lake is little fished, but several