THE THAMES. 55 



and the Thames fishermen as a body do understand the 

 river, and the habits and haunts of its fish. It does not of 

 course follow that they will give every stranger the benefit 

 of their knowledge; why should you expect them to be 

 above favouritism and scheming when Society, from its 

 Alpine heights of fashion to its plebeian base, is full of it ? 

 The fisherman, naturally too, sometimes loses patience with 

 the amateurs who frequently occupy his punt ; they are out 

 for a day's jollity, and he fools them to the top of their bent. 

 On the other hand, nothing can be more irritating than to 

 be pestered by a talkative fisherman, or a man who will 

 meddle and dictate. 



Last year a friend persuaded me to join him in a day's 

 punt-fishing at one of the higher stations. I was warned 

 that I should find the fisherman a most disagreeable neces- 

 sity, and the anticipation quite spoiled that pleasure of hope 

 which every angler knows is not the least ingredient of a 

 happy day. The man introduced himself to us at our hotel, 

 and ordered breakfast at our expense not at all bad as a 

 beginning. Bottled ale was good enough for our hamper, 

 but the fisherman, volunteering to pack the meats and 

 drinks, coolly told us he could not drink beer, and must 

 have whisky. A pint of Kinahan's was forthwith added for 

 his special consumption ; he was, I remember, particular as 

 to Kinahan. 



He punted us down the river, and brought up at a 

 notable "pitch/' Till then we had rather enjoyed the 

 young man's cool, and not in manner at all offensive, 

 assumption, but when he proceeded to forbid my com- 

 panion to bait his own hooks, plumb the depth, or 

 ouch a fish; when a jack hooked himself upon my 



