On Fishing' Tours Abroad. 127 



selected ; and then in a stay of two or three 

 weeks the weather and the water are certain to 

 afford sport ; whereas . if a day or two's stay 

 only is made, it is quite as likely as not that 

 the water gets into the right trim just as the 

 unwilling angler is paying his hotel bill. But 

 in a fishing tour, paradoxical as it may seem, 

 fishing should not be the sole, but only the 

 chief or central, object of the traveller's wan- 

 derings. He should be prepared to do a great 

 many other things besides fishing ; though the 

 arrangements and the plans should always be 

 made with a view to obtain as good fishing as 

 is compatible with such other objects as pic- 

 turesque scenery, good air, and the other aims 

 of a Continental tourist. One of the great ad- 

 vantages of an angling tour is that it usually 

 counterbalances the miserable consequences of 

 wet weather, especially among the mountains. 

 A day of rain and mist is to the mountaineer 

 a period of purgatory; on the other hand, the 

 fishing and mountaineering traveller only finds 

 one amusement superseded by another, unless 

 it has caused the rivers to descend in floods. 

 This in itself is a strong recommendation in 

 favour of fishing tours. But while wet weather 



