4 AN EXCITING STRUGGLE DESCRIBED. 



no sooner does the angler feel his fly arrested in 

 its progress by a smart snap and pull;, than he 

 lifts the point of his rod with a gentle jerk, and 

 lo ! the unsuspecting fish is hooked. 



A stunulatino; stru^rsle is the next thinf^ I se e 

 — a struggle between the art of the fisherman, 

 and the innate wily resources and strength of the 

 fish — disappointed, surprised, and, may be, mad- 

 dened into instantaneous and furious effort, if it 

 have been stricken — if the lethalis arundo, the 

 deadly barb, have been driven into cartilage or 

 flesh too roughly. I can perceive, by the loud 

 and rapid ticking of the winch, sounding like the 

 whirr of an alarum clock, how quickly line is un- 

 wound by the harpooned fish in its flight ; or I see 

 it repudiate flight, and sullenly, after a drag or 

 two, sink nearly to the bottom of the water, and 

 there, working to and fro with head and tail, endea- 

 vour to reject the hook, or break from it ; or I see 

 the hooked fish, still more impatient, throw somer- 

 set after somerset high above the water, in order 

 to break from the bit and bridle that hamper the 

 freedom of its motions. I see the lusty fish break 

 away from the hook and escape, or I see it rush 

 circularly round a rock, and cut, by means of a 

 sharp stony edge, or against a rougher one wear 

 away to breaking, the gut-rein, which, under other 



