A FISH-DRIVE. 157 



hand, and the remaining third he holds in the left 

 hand. 



As he stands ready and poised in act to cast, he is 

 a magnificent subject for a sculptor. And now watch 

 him cast. The curve of the movement starts from the 

 waist, and a sweeping line of action rises to the right 

 shoulder ; then simultaneously there is a swing of the 

 right arm, a turn of the left hand, and a swooping 

 lateral movement of the right shoulder ; straightway 

 the part of the net that had been held in the right 

 hand flies out horizontally over the water, followed by 

 the part that had hung on the right forearm and elbow. 

 As they fly out the left hand moves forward, and when 

 held out in front of the body gives a fan-wise lateral 

 motion to the meshes and checks them as they slip 

 over the fingers, and thus gives the net its full spread. 

 The sweeping curve of the right side of the net is 

 given by the swing of the right hand and the right 

 wrist ; the full curve of the left side is given by the 

 restraining action of the fingers of the left hand. As 

 the net reaches its full spread it falls in a level ring 

 upon the surface of the water. In a level ring it 

 sinks at once to the river-bed. The thrower then 

 slowly draws it in by a string attached to its summit : 

 as he draws, the ring in which the net fell contracts, 

 until, finally, when he is about to raise it from the 

 river-bed, a solid mass of lead hangs together. Any 

 fish that was inside the outspread ring when it fell in 

 the water is now somewhere enmeshed in the net. 

 The net is carefully brought to the surface and the 

 fish taken out. 



The flotilla drifted slowly down the stream. In the 



