CHAPTER V. 



ENGLAND contains a considerable portion of 

 good fishing- water ; but it is at its extremities, 

 or, rather, round about its edges, so to speak, 

 that it is to be found. The heart of the country 

 is comparatively level ; and the streams which 

 spring out of, and meander through, a very 

 rich and highly-cultivated soil, do not generally 

 possess first-rate angling capabilities. Water 

 conveyance is a subject of importance, in a 

 commercial point of view; and wherever a 

 river, in the heart of England, could be made 

 available to the purposes of internal navigation^ 

 this has been done. From these causes the trout 

 and salmon fishing is not nearly so good as it 

 would otherwise have been, had the streams been 

 allowed to flow undisturbed in their natural beds 

 through the whole range of country they traverse. 



