seem to generally acquiesce (though not without grumbling) in the law as entirely within the province of the government and as promotive of the best good of the greatest number. That there is frequent poaching, the local court records furnish abundant evidence. The flambeaux and spear have been too long in use and have too long afforded both sport and provender to be all at once abandoned. But no mercy is shown to those who are caught. A heavy fine, ranging from $5 to $50 and the forfeiture of the canoe with its contents, are the sure penalty of those found repeating the offense. The whites bear it with the meekness and patience becoming the law-loving subjects of her gracious majesty; but when "Lo, the poor Indian " finds himself mulcted in damages and robbed of his canoe (which is at once his lumber wagon and his coach-and-four) he gives vent to something more emphatic if not more expressive than a sigh for the good old days when he was "boss" of the conti

nent.

The prohibition, however, does not extend to trout — which abound in all the salmon rivers to an extent which would render each one of them a distinct and separate paradise to the trout angler. Any resident on the preserved rivers may fish for trout; and if, while thus engaged, they have the misfortune to hook a salmon, I have never heard of an

instance where he was shaken off as an intruder. In such a case, the offense, I believe, is generally forgiven by the warden if reported to him. That a great many are thus taken (always accidentally, of course,) there is no doubt. But these occasional mistakes have no perceptible effect upon the run of the fish, and are wisely winked at by those whose duty it is to see that no salmon goes into the pickle-barrel without first paying tribute to the Queen.

CHAPTER V.

WHAT THE PROVINCES ARE DOING, AND WHAT

NEW YORK SHOULD DO.

That which is good to be done cannot be done too soon; and if it is neglected to be done early, it will frequently happen that it will not be done at all.-[Bishop Mant.

CAN pay the Provincial authorities no higher compliment than to say that, so far as I am able to judge, they never do things by halves. What they deem it necessary to do, they deem it wise to do well. This is a good rule for all governments not only, but for all individuals as

well. The world has lost at

least a century in achievement, because so much that has been attempted has lacked the stamp of thoroughness in its prosecution. "A lick and a promise" is the homely adage sometimes applied to the imperfect results of slip-shod labor. The intelligent observer has daily cause to deplore the fallibility of human nature when he contrasts the golden promises with the leaden performances of men in authority. If all that kings and presidents, and cabinets and congresses, from the days

of Charlemagne until now, have decreed should be had come to pass, the millenium would have been at least as old as our republic, and government defaulters and lecherous scandal-mongers would have been as scarce as chub in a salmon pool. But, unfortunately, only a beggarly moiety of what was promised ever found embodiment in performance, and most of what was attempted, looking to the amelioration and elevation of the race, was prosecuted so feebly-with so little of the essential element of thoroughness-that the devil has seldom had occasion to thrust out his cloven foot to stop the car of progress.

By which digression I simply mean to say, that when the Provincial authorities determined to preserve their salmon fisheries, they determined to make thorough work of it-to replenish as well as to preserve-not only to guard what came to them in a natural way, but to avail themselves of all the artificial processes which practical science had developed. Hence, besides fish commissioners and fish wardens and a fish police, they recognize and employ fish breeders-men of experience, intelligence and integrity (alas! what a rarity) to whom they give carte blanche (as unrestricted as that given to Adam) to go forth and replenish the waters with this king of fish and rarest morsel that ever melted on a gourmand's palate.

And this is being done-not (as in New York) by a beggarly contribution to a petty hatchinghouse which one might cover with a good sized Mexican sombrero, situated so remote from the natural haunts of the most valuable fish sought to be propagated that it requires even more care and skill to transport the tender fry where they are needed than it does to catch them after they are full grown. These provincial establishments are placed where nature has placed a man's nose -just where they are needed, and just where, like the gratuitously distributed Pacific railroad stock, they can "do the most good". on the natural salmon rivers, where the raw material is at hand (this is not intended as a pun upon the mode of manipulation), and where the product, like all good deeds cast upon the world's waters, will "return after many days," to fill the nets of the fisherman, the exchequer of the realm, and the picklebarrel (and stomach) of the consumer. If, as is the case, the spawn or fry is needed for remote waters, either to introduce or to replenish, they are quite as available for this purpose as if, as at our State hatching-house, the raw material had to be imported before it can be dispensed—with the single exception of brook trout, which are as indigenous to Caledonia brook as salmon are to the Cascapedia. These provincial hatching-houses, like the salmon