58 HABITS OF SALMON. 



Theoph. I thank you for the compliment. To 

 initiate you, then, and that you may have a more 

 accurate knowledge of its depths, holes, and 

 shallows, than you can acquire when it becomes 

 high and coloured with its occasional beautiful 

 coifee-brown tinge, I propose, that we make an 

 attempt on the river ; and you shall make your 

 debut thereon for a noble salmon. 



Herb. I quite agree with you, seeing that 

 I shall thereby also learn before-hand where 

 the stumps, and roots, the Scylla, and Charyb- 

 dis, of fishermen, lie hidden, and know how 

 to avoid them, " if I have luck" in hooking 

 a fish. But is the particular knowledge of 

 a river more important in salmon than trout 

 fishing ? 



Theoph. Certainly; although there is scarce 

 an inch in a trout stream where you may not 

 expect to find sport, more or less ; in a salmon 

 river you may traverse many a half-mile, with 

 the dead certainty of not passing by one salmon 

 in all that distance ; they are, in fact, only to be 

 found in certain localities, and a novice will waste 

 many an hour in vain, if he knows them not. 

 Besides, in any given favourite spot, of fifty 

 yards, *for instance, salmon will shift their posi- 

 tion with every alteration in the height of the 

 water/ and we must fish for them accordingly. 

 All this I must undertake to teach you when the 



