96 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



it than the clever theories, the bold (sometimes 

 even a little too bold for sober scientific discussion) 

 speculation, the questions, even more telling than 

 the statements. A great man I have always 

 considered the late Matthias Dunn, not merely 

 by contrast with his smaller fellows, but one who, 

 in other circumstances, would have taken by right 

 that place in scientific circles, to which he was 

 by those who knew him ungrudgingly admitted. 

 Three sons reign in his stead, one of whom, named 

 after him, narrowly escaped drowning last summer 

 under peculiarly sad circumstances, and indeed 

 had to give two nephews to appease the cruel sea. 

 Many a visit have I paid to Mevagissey, the 

 last but a few weeks ago, and the fishing is practi- 

 cally as good as ever. That for the fisherman is 

 the great charm of the Duchy. The journey is 

 a long one, I grant. Plymouth, which you may 

 travel down to by the rural South- Western or 

 the more coastwise Great Western route, seems 

 the Ultima Thule of the August holiday, and 

 indeed Plymouth offers sea-fishing of no mean 

 order, but it is worth entrusting yourself a little 

 longer to the G.W.R., and making your head- 

 quarters at one or other of the Cornish ports, even 

 if you go no further than Looe and angle for bass 

 in the mouth of the river. I know all those places, 

 from Looe round to Padstow. Fowey has its 

 beautiful river ; Falmouth is no less blessed ; there 



