The Journal of a Sporting Nomad 



many fishermen were in the habit of giving their 

 captives their freedom after a successful fight. 

 Mosquitoes are a nuisance in these places ; in 

 the evenings they worry one to desperation, so 

 it is as well to provide oneself with a pot of 

 ointment that is warranted to ward off their 

 attacks. 



On the two occasions that I visited Florida, 

 I chartered Bartley's sailing-boat the accom- 

 modation on her was extremely limited, and I 

 " pigg e< i " it considerably. Nowadays I believe 

 there is a fairly comfortable hotel built in the 

 neighbourhood that caters specially for the 

 fishermen guests. The proprietor supplies boats, 

 guides, and no doubt, on an emergency, the 

 necessary fishing-tackle. On the occasion of 

 my second visit to Florida sport was but poor. 

 There were too many people on the ground, so 

 I betook myself to try a new place, Aransas Pass, 

 in Texas. Here I had most wonderful sport. 

 My best day was three fish, and I missed nine- 

 teen ! The reason I lost so many of them was 

 owing to the fact that I wanted to take some 

 snapshots with my camera of the fish whilst in 

 mid-air. To this end I had to hand over the rod 

 to Antoine, my boatman, and between us we 

 made a mess of things. The photographs, too, 

 were not a success, for they were mostly out of 

 focus, and, moreover, my shutter was not fast 

 enough* 



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