ioo SALMON AND TROUT. 



letter on this subject in the 'Field' of September 7, 1867, thus 

 describes his experiences : 



FISHING TROUSERS. I always wear these in preference to 

 stockings, but have been somewhat alarmed of late by my friends 

 suggesting that if I were suddenly to slip off a rock into deep 

 water with them on, I must be infallibly drowned ; that it did not 

 matter how good a swimmer one might be, there was no hope of 

 safety. The confined air in the trousers would cause one's legs to 

 stick up almost out of the water, while the head would be kept 

 down. The thought of such a catastrophe was most unpleasant, 

 so I resolved to try the experiment, having a boat at hand in case 

 of need. I therefore put on the trousers, reeving the string at top 

 as usual round my waist, and dived head foremost into deep 

 water. The result agreeably surprised me, for I found that my 

 legs were gently buoyed up in a horizontal position near the 

 surface of the water, while my head was well above it, and I could 

 use my arms freely in swimming. 



I swam with the greatest ease for about fifty yards, and it was 

 not for some minutes, and until the water had found its way be- 

 tween the reeving string and my body into the trousers, that I felt 

 any inconvenience from having them on. My legs then began to 

 get heavy, and more depressed in the water, but not so as to 

 prevent my swimming easily. 



I am convinced, therefore, that there is no danger in using 

 fishing trousers ; on the contrary, if reeved pretty closely at the 

 top, they will act for the first five minutes positively as life 

 buoys. It is not until after they fill with water that they become 

 dangerous. To prevent this, therefore, as long as possible, it is in 

 all cases most advisable to reeve the trousers tightly round the 

 body, you can thus confine the air and exclude the water. 



The same may be said of fishing stockings and wading boots; 

 a reeving string round the thigh would in these have the same 

 beneficial effect. 



To this the late editor appended the following note : 



[We are especially obliged to Mr. Lloyd for having taken the 

 trouble practically to disprove such a very disagreeable belief as 

 has heretofore existed in this matter, as his published experience 

 cannot fail to be most valuable. It is to be hoped, however, now 

 that the thought of danger from this cause is dispelled to some 

 extent, anglers will not } on the other hand, become as reckless as 



