CHAPTER III 



" Hostess. Say what beast, thou knave thou. 



Falstaff. What beast ! Why, an otter. 



Hostess. An otter, Sir John ! why an otter ? 



Falstaff. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh. A man knows 

 not where to have her." 



BEFORE I enter upon the practical part of salmon 

 fishing, I will just say a few words about my 

 natural tendency to the sport, to the end that it 

 may be evident that my maxims are not drawn from 

 books, but originate in my own experience. 



I declare, then, that I, Harry Otter, am by 

 nature a person of considerable aquatic propensities, 

 having been born under the sign of Aquarius, or 

 Pisces, it matters not which. My delight in 

 water, however, has its limits, and extends only to 

 external applications : the placid amusement of 

 wading in a salmon river is very much to my taste 

 quite captivating. Showers, and even storms, if 

 not of too long a continuance, are exceedingly 

 refreshing to my person ; but I must in candour 

 admit that the decisive action of a water-spout 

 may not possibly be so gratifying ne quid nimis. 

 Macintosh's invention I consider as wholly uncalled 

 for, accounting it, as I do, an unpardonable intrusion 



