252 THE SALT OF MY LIFE 



will have to be counted rather as an asset in the 

 resources of Funchal for amusing its residents, or 

 at any rate such visitors as spend some months 

 in the island. Sportsmen would in such circum- 

 stances be able to pick and choose days offering 

 a combination of fish and fine weather. Anyone 

 going out, as we did, for the inside of a month 

 might not enjoy one day with just the right con- 

 ditions On the other hand, one day of tunny 

 fishing with rods might, given the luck, amply 

 compensate for weeks of waiting. Those who 

 doubt the supreme thrill of playing a heavy tuna 

 (the same fish, as has already been pointed out) 

 should read Mr. Holder's volume (in the " Ameri- 

 can Sportsman's Library ") on Big Game Fishes, 

 without question the most exciting book on 

 angling in cold print. Writing to me on the sub- 

 ject, Mr. Holder, who, may be regarded as the 

 inventor of angling for tuna, told an experience 

 of his, in which a tuna towed his boat for fifteen 

 hours, covering an estimated forty miles, and 

 then broke away ! He regards the chain used 

 on tarpon hooks as unnecessary for tuna, which 

 does not hurl itself into the air, like the giant her- 

 ring, when hooked. It has a habit of keeping 

 well down in the water, he says, more like a shark ; 

 and, as the line is apt to get frayed across the 

 sharp fins on its back, it is desirable to have the 

 piano-wire " leader " longer than the fish itself. 



