170 HINTS ON ANGLING. 



the Loire, the Garonne, and the Rhone. The Rhine and 

 the Meuse, flow from South to North; the Rhone is the 

 only one of this magnitude which flows North to South, 

 and the Seine, the Loire, and the Garonne, run from 

 East to West, and traverse the country for a great dis- 

 tance. In addition to these large rivers, there are ninety- 

 three other rivers of a smaller size which are partly navi- 

 gable in their transit, and which unitedly run a course of 

 nearly six thousand miles. Besides these, there are more 

 than four thousand streams, or rivulets, which are not 

 navigable, but which abound more or less with fish of 

 various kinds, and which traverse the kingdom in almost 

 every possible direction. Independent of all these running 

 waters, there are the canals, and still waters about the 

 fortifications. The canals intersect France in all direc- 

 tions; some are more than five hundred miles in length, 

 and swarm with fish of almost every kind. In many of 

 the fortified places, the numbers of fish, such as pike, 

 perch, roach, bleak, eels, etc., exceed all belief, and the 

 waters are one immense sheet of piscatory life and ani- 

 mation. 



And so long as the French authorities adhere to the 

 just and natural laws, which are enacted with reference 

 to fishing, so long will the waters of the country continue 

 to abound with innumerable shoals of fish. In England, 

 where keepers, and watchers, and other underlings, are 

 constantly on the alert to catch the solitary angler, and 

 break his rod or insult his feelings, because he presumes 

 to pursue his innocent and uninjurious amusement without 

 special permission, fish are rapidly diminishing; and in 

 spite of the severity of the existing game-laws, and the 

 exclusiveness they engender, will disappear altogether. In 

 France, on the contrary, where no such harsh and coercive 



