242 GREAT SUCCESS. 



" I never remember having had a blank day on the Nam- 

 sen," says Mr. Hutchinson. " In this river the salmon run 

 to an enormous size. One of my friends (alluding to Mr. 

 Dann) killed a splendid fish of forty-five pounds. I weighed 

 it myself. I one day rose from forty- seven to fifty salmon, I 

 forget the exact number ; of these I hooked nineteen, and 

 killed nine. The largest was thirty-seven pounds, then came 

 one of twenty-seven pounds, and none were under fourteen 

 pounds, with the exception of one of four pounds. Unfor- 

 tunately, I fished that day with a hook of, I think, very bad 

 shape ; but for this, I am confident my day's sport would 

 have been unequalled." 



" In reference to our conversation last night," writes Mr. 



C , under date the 29th of September, 1851, "I find 



by my fishing-book, that in 1842 I killed in the Namsen 

 three hundred and twenty-three fish, weighing three thou- 

 sand eight hundred and forty pounds, and was obliged to 

 leave the water for want of tackle. I was on the river from 

 the 15th of June to the 8th of August. Of the above fish 

 eight were over thirty pounds, and three of the eight above 

 forty pounds. I lost one monster, such as I shall probably 

 never see again." 



" Mr. Owen," my friend went on to state in his note, 

 " fished in the Namsen the same year, and killed a great many 

 salmon one in particular, that weighed a good fifty pounds ; 

 but before this point could be ascertained, it was needful 

 to cut the fish in two, and then to weigh the halves 

 separately." 



The present Sir Charles Blois has probably been more 

 successful than any one else in the Namsen. In 1843 he 

 killed, as he himself told me, three hundred and sixty-eight 



