ANGLING. 247 



worth killing, and if you hooked a good fish, the chances 

 would be very much against your landing it, owing to 

 the steepness and rottenness of the banks, and the heaps 

 of moss and rubbish with which every river is filled. 

 Moreover, angling is never likely to become a favourite 

 amusement with the present race of Victorians. Unless 

 he can make good wages at it, neither the regular colo- 

 nial shooter, nor fisherman, deems the sport worth follow- 

 ing ; and angling in this country hardly affords excite- 

 ment enough for the amateur sportsman. Of all field- 

 sports angling is, without doubt, the least mercenary, 

 peculiarly the sport of youth and declining years, and a 

 happy and contented mind. As long as the gold-fever 

 rages there is not likely to be much quiet or content out 

 here ; no one in this country, as long as he can earn a 

 shilling, is considered old enough to knock off work ; and, 

 as for the young " currency lads," they are more pre- 

 cocious than the youth at home, and cracking a stock- 

 whip is more to their taste than throwing the fly. 



