NORWEGIAN FISHING 155 



and there was an honourable understanding 

 that one Englishman should not interfere with 

 another already in possession. 



A generation later, when I first knew 

 Norway, this was the prevailing system. It 

 may almost be described as a case of "one 

 man, one river " certainly as far as the 

 smaller rivers were concerned. In each 

 valley an Englishman held sway, holding the 

 fishing rights of the choicest part of the water 

 direct from the landowning peasantry ; the 

 upper and lower waters being more or less 

 derelict, and trapped and netted at the owner's 

 will. It was a system which, with the im- 

 provement of communications and the influx 

 of other anglers, was bound to fail. At that 

 time the townsfolk had not yet seen the 

 advantage of combining business with pleasure, 

 of getting their sport arid making the English- 

 man pay for it (and a little over), which they 

 have since grasped. But when they took 

 up the game, they played it to the utmost. 

 Gradually every scrap of available water was 

 taken up by syndicates in Bergen and else- 

 where. When the Englishmen's leases fell in, 

 they found that they had to compete with 



