ng along the shady side of the lake, where the
trout were incessantly jumping for a species of black fly, 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