18 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



composed of those sober quiet colours that are least 

 observable; for whether in shooting, deer-stalking, or 

 fishing, attention to this is all-important to be on the 

 river's margin, at a spot free from bush, rock, or other 

 impediment. The rod is carefully put together (I hope it 

 is a spliced one, for I shall have more hope for the 

 beginner's ultimate success from this choice), the reel 

 attached, the line drawn through the rings, and the cast 

 and flies are carefully taken off his hat, round which they 

 have been wrapped (to make them more subservient and 

 less obstreperous on commencing work), and made fast to 

 the line. Ere an attempt at the first cast is made, take 

 one word of advice. Englishmen are so horsey in their 

 proclivities that they invariably consider a rod, when first 

 they handle it, an instrument to be treated and used in 

 exactly the same manner as a carriage whip. From boyhood 

 upwards they have been used to the latter, and the English- 

 man's hand has obtained wonderful cunning in crack- 

 ing the same. Now the uses of whip and rod are essentially 

 different ; the one is performed by the quickest possible jerk, 

 the other by making the widest possible sweep, as free from 

 angles as the turns on a racecourse. Get this information, 

 whatever your nationality, so grafted into your brain that 

 you will not forget yourself, for on each occasion you do, 

 you will pay a penalty by losing a fly, probably the trail 

 one. I have known some persons so skilled in snapping 

 off flies, even although possessed of considerable experience, 

 that their custom must have been of no small advantage to 

 the tradesman who supplied them with tackle. 



Supposing the angler is facing a river which he is 



