18 PRAIPJE AND FOREST. 



boyhood upwards they have been used to the latter, 

 and the Englishman's hand has obtained wonderful 

 cunning in cracking the same. Now the uses of whip 

 and rod are essentially different ; the one is performed 

 by the quickest possible jerk, the other by making the 

 widest possible sweep, as free from angles as the turns 

 on a racecourse. Get this information, whatever your 

 nationality, so grafted into your brain that you will not 

 forget yourself, for on each occasion you do, you will 

 pay a penalty by losing a fly, probably the trail one. I 

 have known some persons so skilled in snapping off 

 flies, even although possessed of considerable expe- 

 rience, that their custom must have been of no 

 small advantage to the tradesman who supplied them 

 with tackle. 



Supposing the angler is facing a river which he is 

 desirous of throwing across. The rod being held in 

 the right hand, gradually, but with increasing velocity, 

 raise your rod from left to right; when the line is 

 straight out from you, make a sweep, and bring the 

 flies down upon the water with a half-circular motion 

 of the hand. This last movement will raise the slack 

 of the line and cause the trail fly to strike the water 

 first, which should always happen. When this first 

 lesson is thoroughly learned with the left hand, it 

 should then be practised up and down stream : when, 

 with perseverance and attention, such precision may 

 be gained that the fisherman can place the flies at 

 every effort within an inch or two of the desired 

 spot. 



After having said thus much, it will not be deemed 

 out of place to mention those tradesmen who supplied 

 me with the important portions of my outfit ; for so 



