THE WILTSHIRE STREAMS 127 



Mr. Hussey Freke, Mr. Knowles, and Colonel Wad- 

 dington. I am reminded, however, that the Govern- 

 ment have now acquired land from Durrington 

 to Upavon for military manoeuvres, and it remains 

 to be seen if the fishing, or how the fishing, will be 

 affected thereby. One can only devoutly hope that 

 the fate of the Upper Avon will not be that of the poor 

 Blackwater of Hampshire ! The lower Avon con- 

 tains of course good trout, and in parts good gray- 

 ling, too ; indeed it was the Avon which supplied 

 the Test with the ancestors of its present splendid 

 specimens of tJiyinalliis ; but coarse fish abound. 

 Avon eels appear to have been famous many hun- 

 dreds of years ago, and there is mention of them in 

 Doomsday, and Avon salmon are splendid fish, 

 running very large. The latter get up as far as 

 Ringwood. The Avon flows past many an inter- 

 esting spot and beautiful scene. Netheravon is in 

 a fine sporting country, and it was here that Cobbett 

 was once shown " an acre of hares," Salisbury, with 

 its noble spire and its bright shops, is an attractive 

 country town, and by and by as the river begins to 

 wend its way by the New Forest, many scenes of 

 beauty disclose themselves. One of the prettiest 

 villages by the stream is Ibbesley in Hampshire 

 " with," writes Mr. Wise in his The New Forest, 

 " its cottages by the roadside, and their gardens of 

 roses and poppies and sweet peas, and their porches 

 thatched with honeysuckle. Three great elms over- 

 hang the river, spanned by the single arch of its 

 bridge ; whilst the stream pours sparkling and foam- 

 ing over the weir into the water meadows, and in 

 the distance the town of Harbridge rises out from 

 its trees .... but the whole river is here full 

 of beauty, winding, scarce knowing where, among 



