THE ANGLERS SOUVENIR. 



243 



vantages of that county for those who were fond 

 of yachting in the summer and pike-fishing in the 

 autumn and winter, yet we looked with great con- 

 tempt upon bream-fishing. We had never seen a 

 bream but once, and that was while we were perch- 

 fiahing in Shropshire, and hooked a large, white, 

 bellows-like fish, which broke away, leaving us to 

 guess that it was a bream ; and we disdained to 

 angle for fish that were reputed to be so slimy 

 that we had to take hold of them with a cloth 

 when captured, and so uneatable that they were 

 only fit for manure. We remember, too, that we 

 felt a repugnance to fishing in such sluggish waters, 

 after throwing a fly on the sparkling, dashing 

 rivers and streams of Wales. For weeks we went 

 about with a moping air, like a kitten in a strange 

 house, longing for the sound of rushing water and 

 the glint and dazzle of a cascade, so wearisome 

 was the smooth, oily flow of the level waters. But 

 at last, when the memory of the salmon pools and 

 the grayling fords began to fade, we grew more 

 content, and soon we discovered that there was a 

 singular beauty in the slow, wide rivers and the 

 flat far-reaching marshes. And it was a cruise we 

 had down the Yare and up the Bure, and a little 

 bream -fishing by the way, that completed our con- 

 version ; and this is how it came about. 



Two of us hired a boat, a tiny large-sailed thing, 

 with a centre-board, and a fast sailer, although 

 somewhat ticklish to handle. We provisioned her 



