THROWING AMONG TREES. 125 



alone. Another instance I might mention, which 

 must have struck the commonest observer who 

 " switches his cane" as he walks. If he, in 

 walking along, direct the point of his stick at 

 an object level with his shoulder, and looks to 

 the. stick, he misses it; but if he fixes his eyes 

 on the object, hard, ten to one he hits it. There- 

 fore bear this hint in your mind. 



Throwing in very difficult Places as among Trees. 



But come, let me carry you in fancy to some 

 cool river, 'midst pendant trees, where willow, 

 alder, sycamore, and oak, seem wrestling with 

 each other for the shade, courting the first 

 embraces of the refreshing stream, where big 

 trouts revel in treacherous security, and where the 

 fisher's thermometric mercury, hope, rises too 

 often far above the " temperate !" If you find the 

 instructions I shall now give worth listening to, I 

 should recommend /our commiting them to your 

 " Log Book," since I fear it will be so long before 

 you have acquired dexterity in plain-sailing 

 throws, that your memory of them will not last till 

 you are sufficiently advanced to try throws under 

 circumstances of difficulty, which only tip-top 

 masters of the art can surmount : I mean in places 

 encompassed by trees and bushes. By-the-bye 

 a man who fishes among wooded banks should 



