128 Rambles with a FisJdng-Rod. 



is thus rendered comparatively harmless, the 

 same amount of rain is not required as in this 

 country ; for most of the rivers are of a larger 

 size and greater length, and therefore do not 

 run down with the same quickness as Scotch 

 rivers, and often the smaller ones are fed 

 from a more permanent source namely, the 

 glaciers of the Alps. The glaciers thus prevent 

 the smaller streams from becoming as fine after 

 a spell of dry weather as streams of the same size 

 in Scotland or Wales. Thus the passing tourist 

 is much more likely to obtain fair sport en route, 

 in the Tyrol or Switzerland than he is fishing 

 in the same way in this country. Neither 

 must it be forgotten that foreigners care but 

 little for the sport of fishing ; so that it is 

 much easier to find lakes or rivers where the 

 angling is quite free, or where rod-fishing is 

 looked upon by the proprietor of the fishery as 

 a harmless way of taking fish, and the stranger 

 has but little difficulty in obtaining a day or 

 two's sport. For where the fishing is in any 

 sense preserved, it is usually done for the sake 

 of the netting, the taking of fish being regarded 

 solely from a business point of view ; and there- 

 fore, as we have said, the fly-fisher is looked 



