22 SALMON FISHING 



or of snow, wind, and even stillness, have a large 

 thoroughness and perfection of their own. Fair are 

 the streams of pastoral England ; but theirs is a 

 tame beauty when compared with that of a salmon 

 river. Meadows the most richly decked with flowers 

 are not so stimulating as the mountains. A great 

 river is as it were a thing apart from the ordinary 

 phenomena of the earth. Always in motion, it seems 

 to throb with vitality ; though constantly changing, 

 it is not less persistent than the hills ; in some 

 ways it strikes the imagination as having a majesty, 

 or enclosing mysteries, greater than the majesty and 

 the mysteries of the sea. I know of no sight more 

 quickening to the pulse than a salmon leaping on 

 the rapid flood. Usually it springs into the air from 

 out of the deepest and wildest rush. The fish seems 

 to revel in the strength of the river, and in its own 

 greater strength, which no torrent can subdue. The 

 river, and the salmon showing, are life, life, life at 

 the highest pitch ! They send a thrill through body 

 and brain. Memory of them haunts one far away 

 in the busy town, and whets expectation of a 

 holiday ; but salmon fishing is not, as some things 

 are, a joy greater in retrospect or in prospect than 

 in reality. It does not pall. If you live within 

 reach of it, time does not hang heavy on your hands. 

 The call of the river is incessant and irresistible. 

 The water was hardly high enough yesterday, and 

 there has been no rain in the night ? What matter ? 

 Salmon are kittle cattle. You can never be really 

 sure about them. They may be on the move to- 



