Rivers. 25 



then the daily takes grow smaller by degrees, while the 

 smallest rivers provide no more than a week's fishing. 



In Norway, as elsewhere, fish often run quickly through 

 the lower portions of the rivers, and, in a big water 

 especially, they will halt little en route; so, to take 

 full advantage of opportunities, the angler fishing such 

 should be constantly at work, paying particular attention 

 to business during the weekly close-time for nets in 

 the fjords, and at those hours by which the fish will 

 reach his fishery as they ascend with each high tide at the 

 river's mouth. 



The pools and beds of Norwegian rivers are of every 

 variety and formation ; some are of solid rock ; others 

 are formed of cobbles, angular blocks of rock, and coarse 

 gravel ; while another variety is of fine gravel, studded 

 with stones of all shapes and sizes. 



Those pools, which are floored and walled in by solid 

 rock, naturally retain their conformation, and when once 

 learnt are known for ever ; but those whose beds are 

 composed of loose stones and gravel may from year to 

 year be swept clean of all obstructions at the break-up of 

 each winter's ice ; and, in consequence, their characters 

 are subject to frequent alteration, and their values as 

 salmon-pools are increased or diminished as the case 

 may be. - _ • 



In some instances the gravel silted up by the floods 



