126 FISHING IN EDEN 



across kind of flat " water is generally barren. 

 There is a national scarcity of under-bank cottages 

 by the side of this kind of run. It is in the " trout 

 villages " that you must hawk your bread, and at 

 the odd " farmhouses " lying between. 



Trout communities in becks are to be found 

 where the banks run high and the bushes thick; 

 behind boulders and big stones; at the foot of 

 ancient walls; under old bridges, and round little 

 corn mills. 



Never on any account pass the noisy, gurgling 

 " market " places, and, in choosing your beck 

 itself, let your choice fall where there is plenty of 

 splash. Fishing in " troubled waters " is not in 

 this case unprofitable. 



As you tread your way upwards through the 

 lower, wooded reaches of the mountain homes of 

 the brown trout, on a bright summer morning, you 

 will hear the " gentle droning of the bees and the 

 desultory twitter of birds." Getting farther and 

 farther up your foot will, now and again, strike a 

 musical limestone ; and when you reach the bracken 

 and heather the plaintive call of the curlew, the 

 harsh croak of the raven, and the bleat of the 

 mountain sheep, will tell you that you have 

 reached a land where boundaries are unknown, 

 and that you have passed out of the country of 



