256 Fishing Gnu- and other Small Beer. Chapt. xix. 



I have been told that the after itching, which is the worsl 

 part of their bites, may be prevented by rubbing gunpowder into 

 the bite immediately on your return home, and that no mark is 

 left by the gunpowder, but I am satisfied the amount of after 

 itching is entirely dependent on your then state of health, and 

 that nothing you can do affects the matter. 



It is better to get them to let go their hold themselves, than 

 to risk the leaving of a broken tooth in your leg by pulling 

 them off. If you should happen to be so far behind the age as 

 to have a flask of powder in your pocket, a little of that sprinkled 

 on the leech will effect the desired release. They cannot stand 

 the saltpetre in it any more than common salt. Tobacco juice 

 or a hot cheroot end will get rid of them. 



But all this is a somewhat luxurious method of being leech- 

 bitten. The usual recipe is grin and bear it, but never scratch 

 the annoyingly itching bites, or you will rue it in their long 

 continuance. 



As to the material of your clothes, you need not " fash " 

 yourself, though woollen, of course, is most comfortable. But us 

 to the colour you should be careful. White turbans, white coats, 

 and white trousers, are all to be eschewed ; " for the apparel oft 

 "proclaims the man" in more senses than Shakespeare meant. 

 Common shikar clothes are the things. 



Wading not only enables you to get at many a pretty bit of 

 water otherwise unapproachable, but when up to the fork in 

 water you are lower down, and consequently less likely to be 

 seen by the fish, than when standing out in line relief on the 

 bank, with the sky for a back-ground. 



I do not think fish see any great distance laterally in the 

 water, and I am inclined to think this is why you find preying, 

 and preyed on, fish living so near each other in the same stream, 

 without clashing half as much as one would expect them to do. 

 It is also a reason in my mind for spinning in the right places, 

 close to where you conclude preying fish to be lying. The case 

 is very different with the By, for that shows against the light ; 

 and the nearer it is to the surface, the further it is seen by B 

 fish on the bottom; for conceiving a fly and the angle of radia- 

 tion, or vision in the water, are represented by an isosceles 

 triangle, of which the apex is the By, the two legs the angle of 



