G THE SALMON-FISHER S EOD. 



may happen again. The performance of them is 

 still more pleasant ; they call forth strategy and 

 streno^th — the one tone-restorinsj to the tissues 

 of the brain, the other stimulating to the blood 

 and invicroratino; to the muscles. Seek health — 

 the greatest gift of heaven — where? Alongside 

 the salmon-streams of England's isles — amidst 

 the rural toto penitus orbe divisos Britannos, 

 whether they be Saxon, Gael, Celt, or ancient 

 Briton. I could say more in laud of fly-fishing 

 for salmon ; but the immortal admonition of 

 *' painting the lily and gilding refined gold," 

 warns me to eschew superfluous embellishment. 



The Salmon-Fisher's Eod. — Before I pro- 

 ceed to teach how this angling apparatus must be 

 used, I shall state what it should be in shape, 

 size, material, and so forth. No salmon fly-rod 

 need ever be longer than seventeen and a half 

 feet, and should never be shorter than sixteen. 

 With two well-made rods of the above lengths, 

 the widest and narrowest salmon-rivers may be 

 properly fished, and salmon and salmonid^ of 

 every size satisfactorily captured. I am fuUy 

 aware of the advantages of very long and very 

 powerful rods in wide rivers, and in strong hands ; 

 and I admit, ccEteris j^ciribus, that a strong man, 

 six feet in height, with a rod twenty feet long. 



