34 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



CHAPTER VI. 



The last post-bag brought a large supply of news- 

 papers and monthly literature. *' Gad-o '-mercy ! " 

 what notions the fishermen of Cockaign must have of 

 the " gentle art ! " It is amusing to read the piscatory 

 articles so seriously put forth in the sporting periodicals. 

 No persons on earth suffer more personal inconvenience 

 than the Cockney artist, or submit so patiently to pecu- 

 niary imposition — and, like virtue, their trouble is its 

 own reward. Punt-fishing and perch-fishing, baiting- 

 holes and baiting-hooks, appear to the mountain 

 fisherman so utterly worthless that I do not wonder at 

 the sovereign contempt with which he regards the 

 unprofitable pursuits of the city angler. 



What a contrast to the Cockney bustle of a Londoner 

 does my cousin's simple preparation for a morning's 

 sport exhibit ! If the wind and clouds are favourable, 

 the rod, ready jointed and spliced, is lifted from beneath 

 the cottage eave, where it *' lay like a warrior taking his 

 rest " on a continuation of level pegs. The gaff and 

 pannier are produced by a loose-looking mountaineer, 

 whose light-formed but sinewy limbs are untrammelled 

 by shoe or stocking. Fond of the sport himself, he 

 evinces an ardent interest in your success ; on the moor 

 and by the river he is a good-humoured and obliging 

 assistant ; traverses the mountains for a day, and lies 

 out on the hill-side through the long autumnal night, 

 to watch the passage of the red deer as they steal down 

 from the mountain-top to browse on the lower grounds 

 by moonlight. 



How different from this wild and cheerful follower 



