FISHES AND FISHING. 299 



him, and determined to go headlong down yon foam- 

 ing rapid, he springs away, making the water fly 

 from' your line like smoke ; and now he has caught 

 the additional impetus of the roaring stream as it 

 hurries to the fall. Place your finger on the line. 

 What ! it cuts you, does it } I defy you to feel your 

 fish, as a skilful rider does his horse ; the fish will go, 

 and you must let him ; he has only been two minutes 

 hooked ; your line is all out (200 yards) and you are 

 up to your chin in the water. And now, hold hard, 

 science is vain. All you can do is, to give him the 

 butt, trusting alone to the strength of your treble gut 

 bottom, and the elasticity of your rod and line. 



'' If any sportsman should affect to drop the cor- 

 ners of his mouth at the sport I have described — 

 but faintly, I should delight to see him with * a go-a- 

 head varmint ' on the hook, at the above sport ; and 

 if he were able to manage him in the known rules of 

 angling science, all I can say is, tliat I would * hide 

 my diminished head.' " 



A gentleman to whom I shewed this, which I cu^ 

 out of a periodical, enabled me to correct the printed 

 statement ; and informed me that he had angled in 

 the river Soane ; that he had always from 200 to 250 

 yards of line on his winch, which frequently would 

 be all run out ; that he was obliged to wade, but not 

 up to his chin ; that the sand of the river is very fine, 



