CAPTURE OF A LARGE SALMON. 59 



short duration, for almost instantly afterwards my 

 pole I will not say rod was almost dragged ruth- 

 lessly from my hands. However I held on, and by 

 degrees got the butt forward so as to throw the 

 strain as much as possible upon the elasticity of the 

 tamarach. This was no easy matter, and fearfully 

 trying to hook and line. At length, however, I suc- 

 ceeded, and with the effort brought to the surface a 

 noble fish. Being without a reel it was a cruel 

 battle, a struggle for the mastery in which the 

 possessor of the greatest amount of brute strength 

 alone could gain the victory, provided none of my 

 tackle parted. The biped succeeded, and the lithe, 

 resplendently coloured denizen of this distant stream 

 was forcibly abducted from his element. 



My experience of the size of fish told me that 

 this one was certainly over twelve pounds. In shape 

 it was a perfect representative of the species known 

 as Salmo fontinalis, but differed in colouring, for its 

 flanks were marked on either side with five gigantic 

 transverse bars, such as in the fry of the salmon are 

 usually denominated thumb-marks. ^ 



Although I captured several more, this was the 

 largest, and such was the avidity with which those 

 cannibals bit for the bait I continued to employ was 

 a piece of one of their own race that I came to the 

 conclusion that the overcrowding of population here 

 had placed food at such a premium, that all the in- 

 habitants had ceased to be nice in their tastes. 



All Englishmen know with what kindly feelings 



