NORWAY IN 1865 123 



been many times since by reference to the original 

 document, may be relied upon as substantially accurate. 

 The fish were very kind to me ; some, but not many, 

 got away, and I do not think any one of those captured 

 took more than half an hour to kill. Most of them 

 were caught from the boat by harling, a practice 

 which I have since learnt to despise. Certainly the 

 process of rowing a boat across a stream and back 

 again with two or even three rods, and twenty yards 

 of line hanging over the stern from each of them, 

 cannot compare with fishing from the bank, or even 

 with casting from a boat where the likely places to 

 rise a salmon are marked and defined ; but in some 

 of the great wide rivers in Norway where a salmon 

 may be lying anywhere, harling is almost a neces- 

 sity, as even if you were purist enough to insist on 

 going through the form of casting, the stream and 

 the strong arms and local knowledge of the boatman 

 would still be responsible for presenting the lure in 

 the proper position, and the honours of the day up to 

 the moment of hooking the fish would really rest with 

 your attendants. 



For a beginner in his early days of sport there 

 is, and ought to be, joy enough in the sudden 

 bending of the rod, the singing of the line through 

 the rings, and the sight of the jumping fish, often 

 first seen in a place you would not in the least 

 have anticipated from the direction towards which the 

 rod is pointed where the line is cutting through the 

 water making a little wake, and scattering showers of 

 spray. At such a moment give good heed to your 

 tackle, and recover your line as quickly as you can. 

 When the fish is travelling up stream, and the line, 



