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Show OF AMERICA. 105 partake of the sluggishness of their element. The hooks must be sunk, as the trout will not come to the surface, and then when he bites he does so as deliberately as if it were a dainty morsel, and you can see him as he takes the bait in his mouth and runs off. How different from the way he bites in the rapid streams ! There, as soon as the bait touches the surface, and indeed sometimes before, he will jump entirely out of the water and catch it, perfectly electrifying the sportsman. I did not fish in Cotton- Wood Lake j but a few days be fore my arrival at Camp Douglas, several officers made an excursion there, and brought away the finny tribe by the hundreds. It was then the month of July, the reader will remember, and they obtained snow from a bank within a few hundred yards of the lake in which they packed the fish to preserve them as they returned through the warm valley. If the reader ever visits Cotton- Wood Lake in the summer, to encamp for the night, I would advise him by all means to go furnished with a mosquito- bar, for I think there is more danger of being carried off bodily by the little insects there, than in any place I have visited. While referring to the natural phenomena of this locality, I must mention the gorgeous sunsets that may be observed from Camp Douglas. Salt Lake, it will be remembered, is west of the post, and during the earlier hours of the day is but indistinctly seen, and its surface is distinguished from the land around by its dark appearance ; but on a clear af ternoon, as the sun is about disappearing behind it, or, ap parently, in the lake, the water is lit up with a brilliancy that makes it look like a sea of mercury. As if rising out of the lake, the sky by the same reflection assumes a similar appearance, and the borders of the fleecy clouds which hang about the horizon become as brilliant as polished gold, and constantly changing in shape as well as in the different hues of their bright colors. The sight fills the observer with wonder and amazement, as he admires their beauty. The same reflection also lights up the outlines of the mountain islands, and after gazing intently upon the scene, I could |