98 FORAYS AMONG SALMON AND DEER. 



his rod almost bent double by some huge fish, which 

 at once plunged into the lowest depths of the pool, and 

 quickly ran out several yards of line. For a moment 

 there was a sullen pause, and we all stood in intense 

 anxiety and suspense, for the fish was evidently a 

 monster ; when a sudden dash once more renewed the 

 strain on rod and line ; and in another moment, strong 

 and well-tried as it was, the latter snapped, and all 

 was over. The fish had doubtless sawn it asunder on 

 the sharp edge of some rock, and had gone away with 

 the fly and some twenty yards of horsehair. 



Such was the provoking termination of our inter- 

 course with the " genus Salmo " for this year an 

 intercourse from which, beginning though it did at a 

 late period in the season, I had derived great enjoy- 

 ment and advantage; having been, on the whole, 

 fortunate beyond my greatest expectations, and having, 

 in spite of inexperience and clumsy skill, met with 

 more than average sport. What Horace says of the 

 poet is also, to a certain extent, true of the fisherman 

 Nascitur, non Jit." And yet the reverse also is 

 true to a degree. For though he must have an inborn 

 taste for the pursuit, yet it must also be a work of time 

 to acquire the amount of skill requisite to ensure 

 success and enjoyment. If, born and bred within the 

 sound of Bow bells, he suddenly finds himself trans- 

 planted, rod in hand, to the banks of a salmon river in 

 the Highlands, he is not " ipso facto " at once con- 

 verted into a skilful disciple of the gentle craft. Nor 

 will any amount of preparation, in the shape of book- 

 lore, " crammed " for the occasion, enable him to 

 acquit himself creditably, until he has added thereto 

 personal experience and careful application. 'Twas 

 no fool, be assured, that wrote the ancient but no less 

 true proverb, irae^nara naefaaTo. ; so certain is it that 



