SUMMER. 47' 



Here a man is out of the noise and turmoil of the world. 

 For leagues the eye roams over the tranquil waters, or upon 

 the flat peculiar country converted by the slow running 

 rivers, abundant windmills, and far-reaching broads, into a 

 very Dutch-like kind of scenery. Nothing breaks the 

 silence but the plunge of big fish amongst the reeds, or the 

 constant passage of water-fowl, for which the region is as 

 celebrated as for its coarse fish. When the gentlemen of 

 Norfolk kindly invited the foreign commissioners at the 

 International Fisheries Exhibition to go and inspect this 

 region, Mr. Wilmot of the Canadian Court, and Professor 

 Brown Goode of the United States Commission, expressed 

 an opinion that the waters were very suitable for the 

 introduction of the black bass. This fish has already been 

 acclimatised by the Marquis of Exeter, and from its game 

 qualities, its freedom in rising at a fly, or taking a spinning 

 bait, it would be a very welcome addition to our fresh- 

 water fishes, and would take an intermediate position 

 between the pike and the perch, and the members of the 

 Salmonidae family. And it would be easy to confine the 

 black bass to waters where it would not destroy more valu- 

 able species. Whether the gentlemen who have formed 

 themselves into a society to protect the fisheries of these 

 broads will entertain such an idea, or whether they will act 

 upon a more recent suggestion and attempt the introduction 

 of salmon, remains to be seen. The broads, at any rate, 

 cannot be omitted from a description of our angling waters ; 

 they are visited every summer by thousands of anglers 

 from various parts of the country, and are well worth 

 visiting. 



According to the' terms of the Mundella Act, as I 

 have stated, the Thames fisherman has his opening day on 

 the 15th June, although it is much too soon to angle for 



