124 HAPPY HUNTING-GROUNDS 



or what you can see of it, is pointing down, the 

 weight of water on the curve is placing an immense 

 strain upon the stoutest twisted gut and the firmest 

 hold, and you will be lucky if you do not soon feel that 

 heart-sickening "slack" which may mean only that 

 the fish has turned, but generally signifies a definite 

 severance of all connection between the angler and his 

 fish. All such excitements incident to playing the 

 fish fall to the lot of the harler in as full a measure 

 as they do to the more complete angler. 



Proud as I was of my success, my average of three 

 fish a day sank into insignificance when compared 

 with the bags of those fortunate fishermen to whom 

 I was indebted for the permission I was enjoying, who 

 had the run of the whole long stretch of water up to 

 the fall beyond which no salmon could ascend. Their 

 keeper came down to see me one day when I was 

 fishing. I am uncertain whether he was an English- 

 man or a Norwegian, but I remember that he spoke 

 English perfectly, and understood, as do the natives 

 of most countries, the meaning of the verb "to tip." 

 He informed me that the bag of the two rods on the 



o 



water above on the previous day had amounted to 

 eighteen salmon : the largest thirty-two pounds, and 

 the smallest nine. I never fished the Rauma on my 

 later visits, but from what I heard I should imagine 

 that such a bag would seldom be equalled now. The 

 commercial sale of salmon, and the consequent in- 

 crease of netting in all the long fjords has gone far to 

 deplete the once prolific waters, and in many places 

 the goose is already dead, and the natives are begin- 

 ning to miss the golden eggs which it used to produce 

 annually. 



