THROWING THE LINE. 257 



performance, is held more aback and occupies a less 

 elevated range. On this account it is extremely apt, 

 should the angler prove too liberal of his line, to come 

 into contact, as already mentioned, with the bank 

 behind him. 



I have frequently heard salmon-fishers argue upon 

 the matter of distance to which a fly may be hove, one 

 boasting that he can discharge so many yards of line, 

 another that he can master a still greater surface of 

 water, and a third, who ridicules the exploits of both, 

 asseverating that he can lay his fly with dexterous pre- 

 cision across the broadest stream in Scotland. Now, 

 in its adequate place among vaunters and freshmen, it 

 is quite fitting to talk of such wonderful feats as fill 

 philosophers with amaze and doubting, but these mar- 

 vels fall on our sober ears without the desired effect ; 

 and we feel assured that every practised angler will only 

 give his contempt in exchange for their relation. Does 

 it never, I ask, occur to those who make the casting of 

 some fifteen or twenty fathoms a matter of moonshine, 

 to inquire what of actual power the lever they employ 

 possesses, which enables them, as they fancy, to lift or 

 recover such an extraordinary outlay of line ? Giving 

 even the advantage of a rod twenty feet in length, and 

 allowing moreover that its wielder is fully six feet in 

 height, with a proportionate extent of arm, and that he 

 stands elevated above the surface of the stream not 

 less than a foot, I maintain it to be impossible for him 

 to lift in or recover, so as to effect a second discharge, 

 more line than will measure three times the length of 

 his salmon-rod; I do not of course include what is con- 

 fined within the rings of that implement. 



In fact, without adopting the heaving or pitching 

 system practised on Thames and other English rivers 



