THE SALMON. 121 



has struck on the side, or the tail, or the fin. 

 If small, I say, a fish thus hooked shows 

 capital sport, but a large one has the odds too 

 much in his favour ; you may find in such case 

 that you have caught a tartar, one you cannot take 

 with you, one that will not let you go it is like 

 riding a pulling horse in a halter ; not only does 

 the fish experience no sense of pain (a fish's pain 

 under ordinary circumstances is probably but 

 slight), but you have no command over his move- 

 ments. Steering apparatus, to be effective, must act 

 either at stem or stern, but here your rudder is like 

 one fixed amidships, and operates as the weather- 

 board of a barge. The fish of course turns " broad- 

 side on" to the stream, and it would be no easy 

 matter to bring to land even a board or other in- 

 animate substance by means of a line so attached. 

 Add to this the liberty of breathing enjoyed by 

 the fish, the absence of interference with the free 

 play of his gills, and the odds in his favour may 

 be more readily conceived than calculated. 



Under such circumstances a fish must of neces- 

 sity take a long time in killing ; but there must be 

 something essentially wrong in the system of fishing 

 when eight, ten, or even twelve hours are occupied, 

 which is not unfrequently the case, in the capture 

 of a single fish. 



