94 MONTENEGRO 



as to attain proportions unheard of in our waters. In 

 habits also they differ somewhat from their British 

 cousins, having acquired those of salmon. Treating 

 the Lake of Skodra as their sea and feeding-ground, 

 when they are full fed they run up the Moratza, just as 

 spring salmon ascend the Helmsdale or the Black- 

 water. They are beautiful to look upon, with silvery 

 coats, excellent to eat, and must be noble creatures to 

 catch ; but it is heartrending to record the method by 

 which those we saw were taken. The water, we were 

 told, was still too cold to tempt many trout out of the 

 lake. Nevertheless, some of the natives were at work 

 their angling equipment consisting of an enormously 

 long bamboo, a length of very stout cord, a bunch of 

 lobworms, and no reel. When they hook a fish they 

 simply walk away with him, giving no law and allowing 

 no play. 



About four miles above Podgoritza the Zeta flows in 

 upon the right bank of the Moratza, passing under a 

 beautiful Turkish bridge of a single soaring span, 

 guarded by a fort, which has been dismantled since the 

 annexation of this province to Montenegro. This river 

 was running clear, the water being of a lovely jade-like 

 green; but even here we plied our craft without 

 reward. Few trout had reached it so early, although 

 a miller near the bridge had killed a seven- 

 pounder on the previous evening. But indeed the 

 heat and glare were so intense as not only to make 

 fishing a penance, but to render it in the highest 

 degree improbable that any fish would move to fly or 

 minnow. 



