58 Rambles witli a Fishing-Rod. 



During a stay of a few days in this pleasant 

 spot, a couple of them were devoted to fishing 

 in the Iller ; for since Herr Max von dem Borne, 

 in his useful little handbook for anglers (' Weg- 

 weiser fur Angler durch Deutschland, Oester- 

 reich und die Schweiz : ' Berlin, 1877), points 

 out that at Immerstadt the river contains heavy 

 trout, grayling, and pike, and by Oberstdorf is 

 an excellent trout stream, it seemed well not to 

 neglect a good opportunity. 



The fishing in the three tributary streams, 

 and two small mountain lakes which contain 

 char the Freiberg and the Christales Sees 

 is at present the property of one of the usual 

 peasant fishermen who form so curious and 

 distinctive a class among the mountains of 

 Austria and Bavaria. He has it for three 

 years, and has paid for it for that period 1700 

 florins. But our introduction to him was far 

 from happy. We arrived at Oberstdorf about 

 mid-day, and during the course of luncheon 

 made careful inquiries of the waitress as to 

 whether strangers could fish in the adjoining 

 streams. Whether we misunderstood her or 

 she misunderstood us does not matter, but we 

 left her with the impression that the fishing 



