IN A FISHING COUNTRY 



here was always good fishing were the trout 

 in the mood, and, whether in the mood or 

 no, there was assurance that your line was 

 falling over something worth your while. 

 Fishermen dropped into the way of passing 

 on word of their luck a ras la grosse roche; 

 so came it about that this inconsiderable 

 boulder was exalted above the host of its 

 fellows; became the rock, and gave, as 

 prestige widened, the name La Roche to 

 a favoured pool, a bend in the river, the 

 neighbouring country-side. 



At this time of year, from six to twenty- 

 four inches are commonly above water. 

 Anything less or more would be accounted 

 unusual, and the twenty inches that was 

 showing on our arrival announced a propi- 

 tious level from a fishing point of view. 

 After twenty minutes of sounding and 

 groping with a paddle, the grosse roche was 

 found under three and a half feet of water; 

 so the river was up sixty-two inches at a 

 place where it is nearly 300 yards wide. 



But why all this dull particularity of fact 

 and figure about rain in the skies, or 

 rushing to the sea? The object is to give 

 a willing reader an even start with our- 

 selves in thinking out the cause of the fishes' 

 strange inaction — perhaps in reaching our 

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