A Sportsman 307 



These fishermen were on hand for any edible fish 

 which might come along, sinking or trolling, as the case 

 might be, for cod, blue-fish, barracuda, and flounders, 

 or for mackerel, sea bass or salmon. Their fishing 

 was entirely with cotton handlines, using small fresh 

 fish for bait, which abounded in plentifulness. 



I was strongly affected in contemplation of the field 

 before me, and will give an account of my experiences 

 in this remarkable arena, where the sportsman's king 

 of fishes, the salmon, could be taken in full vigor in 

 the open sea, lustrous and eager in the pursuit of its 

 natural food, undiminished by the abstinence and 

 confinement incidental to river pool life, at the com- 

 mencement of the long fast which ordinarily ter- 

 minates its existence. 



To see these vigorous, combative monarchs of the 

 Salmo family brought up along side of the boat, swerv- 

 ing in the pull, from side to side, by powerful strokes 

 of tail, and never ceasing in their fighting gameness, 

 even when struck by the cruel gaff, with its following 

 of spurting ruddy life's blood, or until the fatal brutal 

 head blow given in the boat. 



Ignoble and inglorious this ending of the silver- 

 spangled warrior of the deep sea, whose speed through 

 the crystal waters equals that of the dolphin, or any 

 denizens of the sea equal almost to that of the 

 fleeting hare on land. To see this sparkling form 

 in fresh fulness, in the last tremulous throes of death, 

 seemed a sorrow. Still, perhaps, it was better to die 

 thus in perfection of life and action than slowly to 

 perish from exhaustion and mutilation in a stagnant 

 pool, or, blind and bloodless, gasp in starvation amid 

 the whirling eddies. 



