HO SPORT IN EUROPE 



It may safely be said that if the sentiment of gratitude is rare among 



human beings in general, it is practically unknown among Bretons, 



and I was forced to accept the raising of the rents in order to keep 



my rivers. Nevertheless, I owed to this the acquaintance of a 



well-known sportsman, Mr. A. Petit, now one of my most intimate 



friends, and the author of the most complete work on trout-fishing 



that it was ever my fortune to read. 



Although the rivers are almost emptied of their fish, the sport has, 



during the last ten years, made considerable progress among the 



upper classes of French society, and fly-fishing for trout as well as 



salmon is now in great esteem. But there is a lack of suitable spots 



for waging war on the fish, and the few rivers that still retain some 



pretensions to excellence are let every day. Fishing clubs are formed, 



and all that the State neglects, to its own loss, to do for the waters 



that belong to it private enterprise will gradually accomplish on 



waters unsuitable for rafts or boats of any kind.* Such waters are 



in France the property of riparian owners, whereas the 



Result of larger navigable rivers belong to the State, which sells 



too much 



Liberty. these rights by auction, reserving for all. Frenchmen 



and foreigners alike, the right of fishing with a rod 



without payment of any kind. This liberty has results often 



disastrous to the holders of fishing rights sold by the State, and 



* Any person may fish with rod and Hne only in any public water, that is, in all navigable 

 rivers, canals, and their cuts and affluents, the maintenance of which in good condition is 

 chargeable to the State, and into which a fishing-boat can at all times enter. No one, however, 

 must use night lines, trimmers, bank-runners, or any instrument stuck in the banks. This does 

 not apply to ponds or lakes, which belong to the riparian proprietors. In all other ri\ers and 

 streams the right of fishing belongs to the riparian proprietor. 



