324 Fi.s/ii hi/ Local. Chapt. xxiv. 



" 52 His., ami was 1 feet .". inches in length, which I must confess rather 

 " disappointed me, as I had landed in the previous year one of 57 lbs. 

 " that had not given anything like the sport of this one. 



"A. had most patiently waited three hours for dinner, and then in 

 " despair sat down to his solitary meal. My fisherman's appearance with 

 " my dinner order was a great relief to his mind, as he was on the point 

 "' of sending out natives with lanterns to search the banks and pools of 

 the river, fearing that I had been carried down a rapid and stranded 

 "in some uncomfortable place, even if nothing worse had occurred. 



" On the following day we did not start till twelve, and had very 

 " poor sport, only catching one of 7 lbs. each — attributable, I think, to 

 " there having been a thunderstorm in the hills during the night. We 

 " had serious thoughts of moving our camp a few miles up the river. 



" Two friends arrived next morning in time for breakfast; though 

 " we had fished in the early morning, we had bagged nothing. Tn the 

 "afternoon I went 3 miles up the river, and caught three in a beautiful 

 " rocky stream, losing a phantom ; then, finding that a small boat we 

 "had ordered from higher up the river had arrived, I tried a deep 

 " narrow pool from it. I soon hooked a fine fellow, certainly over 14 lbs., 

 " played him for nearly an hour, when he sulked ; and, as no amount of 

 " stone throwing or pulling would move him from his position behind a 

 " big rock, I got into the boat to go across. That started him, but mi- 

 "luckily he passed a sharp rock, and cut the line. This drove me 

 " nearly frantic — not only losing the fish after having played him for so 

 ''long, but on account of its being the Becond phantom I had lost that 

 "day; and besides, if I had only had a little more patience, and not 

 "crossed the river, 1 probably would have bagged him. Afterwards I 

 " caught four small ones with spoon. A. had a blank day, but one 

 " of our friends, M., landed a 21 pounder. 



"Our next five days' fishing was much in the same style as 1 have 

 "described. We moved our camp some 3 miles up the river, between 

 " two pools. Every day we made good bags, averaging about luu lbs. 

 "a day. A. was al\\a\s very unlucky with big fish; somehow, they 

 " invariabh came to me. Once a 43 pounder that I had hooked, after a 

 " good deal of phiy, sulked in (lie most determined way; nothing would 

 "move him. Hearing in mind how my line had been cut a few days 

 "previous, I was very patient with him, but it struck me as being 

 •' rather odd that I could not stir him at all. So at last A. went over 

 "the place in the boat ; and. finding that the line was round a rock, he 

 "very cleverly cleared the line. Luckily, the lish was nearly drowned, 

 "and became an easy capture; but, from the amount of slack line that 

 " flew back in my face the moment the lino was freed, though I was 



