172 THE SALMON 



their own voices than catch a salmon as big as the one 

 which got away from Mr. Bromley-Davenport on the 

 Rauma in Norway. But taking the test to be what 

 ought to give pleasure to reasonable beings, and 

 leaving such lost souls as I have referred to out of 

 the question,. I submit that it is hardly fair to 

 compare the ' aggregate amount of pleasure derived 

 from capturing ten or a dozen salmon ' to the 

 ' supreme happiness of standing over a splendid 

 royal.' If you are going in for numbers, compare 

 ordinary fish with stags just worth a shot ; if you go 

 in for quality, balance a record fish with the 'splendid 

 royal.' There are small stags as well as large ones, 

 and my limited experience tends to persuade me that 

 the ordinary stalker as a rule has to put up with 

 moderate animals. This no doubt enhances the 

 pleasure of a great and exceptional success in the 

 forest ; but why should not the fortunate captor of a 

 monster fish be equally delighted with his triumph ? 

 I not only admit the existence of the spirit of rivalry 

 to which Lochiel 'alludes in a w r hisper,' but assert 

 that it is the salt of sport, adding with diffidence that 

 it is as present in the forest as by the stream. The 

 deer-stalker likes to beat the record established by 

 his predecessors in quantity, weight, size, and quality 

 of head and number of points. A like ambition, 



