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CHAPTER VII 



SEA FISHING FROM SMALL BOATS 



IN the pages of ' Punch ' the inimitable John Leech once 

 drew a happy sketch of a very unhappy cockney sportsman 

 middle-aged and corpulent, sitting in a very small boat in 

 company with a stout man in a blue jersey at least, I assume 

 the blueness and a black glazed straw hat. Extreme woe is 

 depicted on the face of the sportsman, who is leaning over the 

 side, holding a hand line, while the mariner in attendance is 

 cheerful of aspect. ' Don't yer feel anything yet, sir ? ' he is 

 asking ; ' perhaps you had better try another worm.' There 

 is a good sailing breeze abroad and a little bobble of a sea. 

 The sketch is so strong it hardly requires words to elucidate 

 it. It is, without much doubt, these same uncontrollable 

 feelings and I am not alluding to the pull of the fish on 

 the line which deter so many from taking their pleasure on 

 the sea. My own pet aversion is a steamboat with a screw 

 propeller ; but seafaring persons do say that nothing is more 

 trying to the feelings, let me call them, than a few hours at 

 anchor in a very small boat when there is a lively lop on. 



Many an enthusiast, full of hope, has pushed off from the 

 beach, where tiny wavelets were breaking, on to what appeared 

 to be (from the shore) a smiling, rippling blue sea, only to come 

 home an hour or two later yellow of visage, and in a state of 

 collapse. It is unfortunate, and I lament that I can suggest 

 no remedy. Those who suffer, if their inward parts cannot be 



