BOAT FISHING 



all confident of ever reaching the shore. Soon the 

 boat was nearly half full, and we were sitting almost 

 up to our knees in water, and it was plain that she 

 would never keep afloat till the end of the journey. 

 Things looked black indeed, but fortunately the low 

 shore of one of the islands loomed through the scud 

 and rain, and we just managed to drag her ashore 

 and empty her. Thankful for our escape, we held a 

 council of war, and determined that it was impossible 

 to make the regular landing-place ; so relieving the 

 boatmen at the oars and guided by their local know- 

 ledge, we rowed laboriously to shore at the nearest 

 available spot, dragged the boat to land, and walked 

 home, dripping and uncomfortable, not quite so sure 

 that we had done such a very wise thing after all. 



Another description of boat fishing for salmon is 

 practised in Wales and its borders, where the coracle — 

 the lineal descendant of the prehistoric British boat — 

 is employed both for rod and net fishing. These 

 clumsy-looking contrivances consist of a framework 

 of laths or basket-work covered with tarpaulin, straight 

 at one end and spade-shaped at the other, with a 

 board in the centre to sit upon, supported upon another 

 set edgeways below it. They are about five feet by 

 three, and are worked with a single paddle somewhat 

 of the shape of an elongated cricket-bat, which the 



