186 LINES IN PLEASANT PLACES 



boats in a standing position. You cast sitting, very 

 much cramped, on the first thwart, with your back 

 to the oarsman. After a little practice you can get out 

 quite as much line as you require, and for myself I re- 

 tained my seat in playing a fish. There is no need to 

 enumerate the drawbacks of casting from a boat ; 

 suffice to say that there are always enough to prevent 

 you from becoming attached to the practice, save as 

 an occasional change. I say nothing of harling, which 

 is a different matter ; you can lounge at your ease in 

 the stern of the boat, with a book in your hand, and 

 trail on until the winch gives you warning that a fish 

 has hooked itself. 



Casting from a boat is much more trying than cast- 

 ing in other ways. When on foot you are tired of fish- 

 ing, you can choose your resting place and sit down ; 

 but in a boat you are cramped and confined all the 

 time, with only the muscles of arms and shoulders 

 engaged. One forgets all this, of course, when there 

 is sport, and I often smile on remembering the amused 

 expression which used to steal over the faces of my 

 men when they first beheld the little formulas which I 

 always observe, be the fun fast or slow. I can best 

 explain this by recalling one particular evening on the 

 Mandal river. It was the one occasion when I deemed 

 it necessary to take out a mackintosh. With the ex- 

 ception of a thunderstorm in the early part of July, 

 the downpour as to which was during the night, the 

 days had been of strong and unbroken sunshine ; but 

 in the middle of the month there came a close, cloudy 

 day when the flies were exceedingly troublesome, and 

 the only mosquitoes that were annoying during our 

 stay came out in full trumpeting for an hour or two. 

 There was a favourite pool, very long and lively, which 

 we called Olaf's Garden, that served me very well, and 



