430 SPORT IN EUROPE 



6 feet 2 inches from snout to tail tip. This was killed at Ovadjik, 

 in Sir W. Whittall's preserves, but it was easily beaten by one shot 

 there this season by the owner, which weighed 185 kilos. Besides 

 pig and roe, jackals are fairly numerous, and an occasional wolf is 

 shot. Hares, though perpetually harried by native sportsmen, 

 survive in miraculous fashion ; and, though never found in numbers, 

 are sprinkled over the whole country. 



:II.— FISHING 



I now turn from the gun to the rod and line. The fresh -water 



angler will find very little to tempt him in European Turkey. 



Most of the mountain streams hold very small trout, 



_. , . but they are never allowed to attain any size. In 



Fishing. ^ ^ 



Albania, in Lake Ochrida. and Scutari Lake, there 

 are fine lake -trout, but they are difficult to take. The Sweet 

 Waters of Europe and the Kutchuk Chekmedjee Lake are full 

 of pike, which run to some size, but they are gradually being 

 thinned out. The most successful bait is a spoon, with which a 

 dozen may easily be basketed, averaging from 5 to 10 lbs. each. 



Sea fishing is to be had at all seasons. The most sporting- 

 fish are the leverak, or sea bass ; the merdjian, a sort of sea- 

 bream, and the lufer, a species of herring. The leverak 

 requires fine tackle and some art to entrap him into taking 

 the shrimp which is spun behind a boat. When hooked he 

 fights to the death, and as he runs up to 30 and 40 lbs., he 

 affords real sport. The merdjian lives in thirty or forty fathoms 



