SALMON-FISHING 215 
But in addition to the market value of this excellent fish 
there must be reckoned its value for sport. Of all the prizes 
Salmon- for which anglers contend none approaches the 
angling. salmon in nobility. It is the dream of every lad 
who handles a rod that some day he may land a salmon, 
and it is a dream of that rare class whereof the realisation 
fulfils anticipation. Moreover, in a material, as truly as in a 
metaphorical, sense, it is a golden dream ; because, whereas 
industrial pollution and excessive netting have greatly reduced 
the extent and contents of our salmon rivers, the sport has 
risen very rapidly in favour in recent years, and there are 
probably fifty would-be salmon-fishers now for every one that 
plied the craft fifty years ago. Rents, in consequence, have 
gone up in proportion to the demand for fishing water, and it 
is probably no over-estimate which places the average cost of 
salmon landed with the rod at from £5 to £10 apiece, probably 
nearer the latter than the former figure. Of course, with luck, 
an angler may have good sport at a far lower price than this ; 
but let him fairly reckon the good and ill luck together, and it 
will be found that his fish have cost somewhere between the 
figures quoted, either to himself or to his host. Extreme 
instances might be recalled where the cost has been far greater. 
It is not many years since a gentleman rented the Floors waters 
on the Tweed for £2,000 for a single season, which happened 
to be a bad one. He and his friends between them took 
thirteen fish—upwards of £153 for every salmon, without 
reckoning other expenses besides rent. My own recent 
experience is in point. Having during the last three years 
rented a fishing at £170 year, I have landed in that time forty- 
four salmon, which pans out at £11 tos. a fish in rent alone ! 
However, it is not only in number and weight of fish that the 
angler reckons value received. He is a poor philosopher who 
cannot perceive more than half of every pleasure in its antici- 
pation ; therefore he who goes forth expecting to catch ten 
salmon and catches none, really experiences as much enjoyment 
