THE RHONE AND SAONE. 255 



who may either temporarily or permanently take up his 

 abode in any of the southern departments of France. 

 They present an immense variety of beautiful, fishable 

 water the most lovely and diversified scenery con- 

 siderable but not disagreeable variations of climate, and 

 striking and interesting peculiarities in the manners and 

 customs of social and rural life. 



The river Rhone, the " arrowy Rhone," as the poet 

 calls it, takes its rise in the Great St. Gothard, in Swit- 

 zerland, flows through the lake of Geneva, without 

 mingling with its waters, and enters the French territory 

 in the department of Ain. The Saone unites with it at 

 the city of Lyons; and though the former becomes, 

 strictly speaking, a dependent stream, yet its magnitude 

 and numerous tributaries give it the character of a first- 

 class river, and entitle it to special notice. This we shall 

 endeavour to bestow upon it in as succinct a manner as 

 we possibly can. 



The whole of the waters of the Rhone in France 

 being for the most part navigable, and a portion of the 

 Saone also, they can scarcely be said to come under the 

 category of fishing streams ; therefore, we shall direct the 

 reader's attention more particularly to the tributaries of 

 these two main rivers. 



The river Saone takes its rise in the department of the 

 Vosges, not far from a village called Darney. It runs a 

 noble course of nearly two hundred miles before it 

 mingles with the Rhone, and in its higher waters is full 

 of good trout. After it has flowed about fifteen or twenty 

 miles from its source, receiving several small feeders in its 

 route, its volume is augmented by the stream called the 

 Coney, which takes its rise in the same department, and is 

 also well stocked with fish. A few miles before the 



