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- ^ or which anglers contend none approaches the 

 angling. sa lmon 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 i 70 a year, I have landed in that time forty- 

 four salmon, which pans out at i i los. 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 



