SEA-FISHING. 53 



a rod consisting of two very stiff pieces of hazel, spliced 

 so as to make a whole about six feet long; and a line 

 about eight feet in length, made of horsehair, clumsily 

 twisted together, but sufficiently thick to be very 

 strong. On this line, at intervals of about a foot, were 

 fastened by trebled gut large white fly-hooks, three or 

 four in number. The mode of fishing was also new to 

 us. The rod was thrust into the water, close beside 

 the boat, in a vertical position, head downwards, so as 

 to cause the flies to float about a couple of feet below 

 the surface, and held in that position while the boat 

 continued its motion. An hour's steady pulling 

 brought us to our point, without any occurrence worthy 

 of mention, except that (having also brought our guns) 

 we stopped occasionally to fire at a chance sea-fowl, 

 as he floated unconcernedly by with only one ex- 

 ception, however, unsuccessfully. ! We found it most 

 difficult to kill, from the quickness with which such 

 birds can dive beneath the surface, as well as from the 

 amount of shot they will carry. We saw the feathers 

 fly from more than one as we fired, but quicker than 

 thought they had disappeared under water, and 

 presently rose a few yards further from us, apparently 

 uninjured. One or two others fell, after flying some 

 distance, but too far off for us to follow. An oyster- 

 catcher was the only bird we secured, Walter bring- 

 ing it down as it passed over us in fancied 

 security. 



Arrived at the promontory, Walter and I armed 

 ourselves with the tackle above described, and, leaving 

 Donald and his coadjutor Angus to row slowly forward, 

 we took our seats on the opposite sides of the boat, 

 thrust our rods down in the approved manner, and 

 anxiously waited the event. We found it more difficult 

 than we had anticipated to hold our rods vertically 



