A HOLIDAY IN DEVONSHIRE. 73 



pendent of anything but a sensible pair of boots, and it 

 should never be forgotten that there, more than 1,500 feet 

 above the level of the sea, fatigue is seldom felt as in the 

 lower country. There is a comfortable little inn at Two 

 Bridges, about two miles from Princetown, in a fine situa- 

 tion, and close to the West Dart and its tributary the Cow- 

 sick. 



These Dartmoor streamlets, it may be convenient here 

 to explain, have many, indeed most, things in common. 

 Besides the larger streams there are, I believe, fifty brooks 

 abounding in trout, but of them all these conclusions may 

 be taken for granted : the trout are remarkably small, 

 delicious eating, and so plentiful that one is almost afraid 

 to mention the undoubted " takes " that, with suitable water 

 and wind, may be expected. As I had feared when once I 

 had surveyed the chances from the railway carriage, my 

 visit to Dartmoor, as a mere matter of fins and tails, was 

 not profitable. The water had not been so low in the 

 memory of our dear useful friend the oldest inhabitant ; it 

 was offensively pellucid; and, to make bad worse, the 

 wind blew either north-east or not at all. Slimy weeds had 

 accumulated in the pools, and nothing but a tremendous 

 freshet would clear them. 



Still with these overwhelming disadvantages, to which a 

 bright sun may be added, and fishing, as on the last day 

 (of course) I found, with not the most appropriate flies, it 

 was easy to take an average of two dozen each day, and I 

 might have basketed double that quantity on the first day 

 had I known how small it was the custom to take them. 

 The fish were verily Liliputian, even smaller than Welsh 

 trout. One fellow weighed close upon half a pound, but 



