CONTINENTAL STATES. 181 



being aided by a pretty good curl, I got four very fine fish, with 

 the spider black fly. They were nearly half a pound each. 



" Having spent the winter at Morlaix, I started in the following 

 April on foot, to fish the river Vilaine, and as many of its tribu- 

 taries as I could find convenient or pleasurable. I had a rough 

 passage to its upper streams, and met with some unpalatable 

 meals, and not very luxurious beds ; but the zealous angler abroad 

 must not be too tight-laced on these matters. f When they once get 

 over they afford topics of interest to the mind, and give it that 

 gentle shaking which improves both its strength and elasticity. 

 My notice of this tour must necessarily be very limited. I was 

 full two months with rod in hand almost every day ; and one day's 

 sport and scenery is so like another, that to give an account of 

 everything as it really occurred, would be both unprofitable and 

 wearisome. I shall therefore just dot down a few things, without} 

 any appearance of plan or method. 



" In the upper streams of the Vilaine, minnow fishing takes well. 

 At least this is in accordance with my own experience. There are 

 large deep holes, and the streams are of such a character as to be 

 in favour of this mode of angling. I did fish with fly here ; but 

 from the nature of the water I do not conceive this to be the best 

 bait in the earty portion of the season. 



" I went a few miles up the streams of one of the tributaries of 

 the main river, called the Seiche. The scenery was wild and rather 

 barren ; but the fishing was tolerable. ^ What I caught here were 

 but small trout, such as we often obtain from some of the minor 

 rivers in Scotland. I touched likewise at another of the feeders of 

 the Vilaine, called the Senone, and here too I found the fish small, 

 but numerous. The water was remarkably limpid, and it required 

 the finest tackle, and smallest flies, to do any good in it. 



"As we descend the parent stream, it becomes better adapted for 

 fly, and the fish become larger, and even richer in flavour. I ran a 

 short distance up the Che re, which falls into the Vilaine, but I was 

 so much embarrassed with short brushwood, and other obstacles, 

 that I soon made a retreat. The other feeders are the Lie, Ars> 

 and the Don ; in all of which plenty of sport may be obtained both 

 with fly, and with bait. There are many beautiful sketches of 

 water in all these rivers, which please the angler's eye, and give a 

 sure presage of his obtaining some success." 



Many British anglers make Paris their chief point of operations. 

 In this they have a ready command of the Seine and Marne, and 

 their various tributaries. These latter are much better fly-fishing 

 streams than the main rivers. There are a few salmon taken every 

 year in the Seine, but they are very seldom indeed taken by rod- 

 fishing. The best mode of fishing the tributaries of the river, is ta 

 go from Havre as the crow flies, to the metropolis. The tourist 

 will find the rivers that enter it, on which ever side he takes, to be 

 very manageable with the rod, and tolerably fruitful of sport. The 

 Marne enters the Seine about five miles from Paris, and in its 



