20 CASTING AS A BEGINNER. 



one escaping after a quivering jump and the 

 other breaking me, fortunately only the gut 

 point, under the fir logs. After that I tied on 

 the first fly that came to hand and it received 

 due attention. Whether, mistaking my sex, 

 Notumque furens quid femina possit, they feared 

 she would come the next day and dynamite the 

 pool, as Cingalese blasters do in Ceylon, can 

 never be known, but anyhow they made 

 ravenous amends. When reaching home I had 

 nine fish the best seven of which weighed 5 lbs 

 9 oz., by far my best basket for the season on 

 that river. Latitude, longitude, temperature, 

 season, time, wind, cast, fly, identity and 

 position of angler, state of water in colour and 

 volume, all were precisely similar on these two 

 evenings, yet the results were accurately as 

 described. 



