XV 



country. I have in my possession, and 

 they are open .to the perusal of any one, 

 many letters from many gentlemen resi- 

 dent in the various parts of the empire to 

 that effect. 



Such being the reputation of my father, 

 and it being known besides, that he had 

 left several memoranda behind him rela- 

 ting to fly-fishing, made from observation 

 during a successful practical experience 

 of upwards of half a century, and that 

 those documents were in my possession, 

 I have been solicited year after year, I 

 may say in truth, week after week, since 

 his decease, which took place about eight 

 years ago, to put them into a readable 

 shape, and communicate them to the 

 public. I should long since have done 

 so, but I doubted my own abilities to 

 perform the literary portion of such a 

 task. I felt it would be a matter of 

 chance and time, to find a gentleman 

 who united within himself a love and 

 practical knowledge of the art of fly-fish- 

 ing, and a capacity of communicating by 



