KILLING A SALMON. 29 



casting a dozen yards below it. Gradually I came over 

 him again. " A light cast, Frank, and you have him !" I 

 tried, and succeeded gallantly. I sent the fly across the 

 water with the lightness of the thistle's down, as at the same 

 moment the breeze eddied up the stream, and curled the 

 surface deliciously. A long dull ruffle succeeded whish ! 

 span the wheel ; whish-h-h-h-h, whish-h-h-, whish ! I have 

 him ! 



Nothing, my dear George, can be more beautiful than 

 the play of a vigorous salmon. The lubberly struggles of a 

 pond -fish are execrable to him who has felt the exquisite 

 pleasure that attends the conquest of " the monarch of the 

 stream." His bold rushes his sudden and rapid attempts 

 to liberate himself from the fisher's thrall the energy with 

 which he throws his silver body three or four feet above the 

 surface of the water and the unwearied and incessant oppo- 

 sition he makes, until his strength is exhausted by the 

 angler's science ; all this must be experienced to be ade- 

 quately conceived. In ten minutes I mastered my beautiful 

 victim; and Mortien Beg gaffed and landed a splendid 

 summer fish, which, if the cook's scales be correct, weighed 

 thirteen pounds and seven ounces. 



Overjoyed with my success, I proceeded up the river. My 

 cousin brought me to several delightful pools ; and, with his 

 assistance, I raised and hooked several capital fish, but only 

 landed one of them, a nice and active salmon of about eight 

 pounds weight. From half a dozen white trout fresh from 

 the sea, I received excellent amusement; and at six o'clock 

 returned to dinner, gratified with my sport, pleased with my- 

 self, and at peace with all mankind, excepting that confounded 



cozener, the tackle -merchant in Street. 



Over our wine, the conversation naturally turned upon the 

 " gentle art." My kinsman is both a practical and a scientific 

 angler. " Holding, with few exceptions, all published sporting 

 productions in disrepute, one that I remarked on your book- 



! stand, Julius, strikes me as being at the same time clever and 



I useful : I mean Sir Humphry Davy's." 



" It is both, Frank : his account of the habits and natural 



j history of the salmon species is just, ingenious, and amusing; 

 and there is a calm and philosophic spirit that pervades the 

 whole, rendering it a work of more than common interest. 

 But, practically, it is as useless as all Guides and Manuals, 



