CHAPTER II 



SALMON 



" The salmon, monarch of the tide." 



5S.Aiorj.ETT, LWH Water. 



THE Norwegian Spring is characterised by an 

 extraordinary exuberance of vitality. One week 

 it is winter, the next all nature springs to life. 

 It may almost be compared with the bursting 

 forth of vegetation on the South African veldt 

 when the first Spring rains come, and in a 

 night the burnt-up plains are covered with a 

 mantle of green grass. Here, contrasting with 

 the dazzling whiteness of the snow-clad hills, 

 and of the foaming torrents which descend 

 from them, the valley floor is rich in colour. 

 In the hayfields the sorrel is reddening, rival- 

 ling in brightness its neighbour the Ragged 

 Robin ; while every sandy slope is purple with 

 wild pansies. We are spared the pest of rivers 

 farther north, where with the return of Spring 

 the mosquito rises in clouds to vex the fisher- 

 man. From another plague we are also happily 



