242 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING 



Having described our method of managing the 

 boat, I will endeavour to explain the manner in 

 which we strike the salmon. The leister should not 

 be held firm in the grasp, but sent loosely through the 

 hands, as its own weight in falling will be more 

 effective than any force you can give it with a 

 thrust.* You may think otherwise, perhaps. Well, 

 then, take your own way ; hold the weapon firmly 

 and determinedly ; you are going to do great things, 

 you fancy. But what happens ? The water proves 

 deeper than you had calculated upon, and, not 

 touching the bottom with your spear as a support, 

 in you go, your head taking the lead, and the rest of 

 your members following the playful example. 



Strike your fish over the shoulders if you can, and 

 bring your boat in such a position as to make the 

 stroke as vertical as possible. When you have fixed 

 him, hold him to the ground a space ; then run 

 your hands down the pole, making the distance 

 between them and the fish as short as you conveni- 

 ently can ; lift the animal with his head uppermost, 

 by which means he will come out lighter, and such 

 action as he may make with his tail will assist you 

 rather than himself. 



If you do not bear in mind this instruction, and 



* The Droit lately contained the following : " At the moment 

 that an omnibus was passing on Friday through the Rue Mont- 

 martre, under a house, No. 63, that was undergoing repairs, a pole 

 more than thirty feet in length slipped from the scaffolding at the 

 fourth story, and fell perpendicularly on the omnibus, passed right 

 through the body, and entered so deeply between the stones of the 

 pavement that the horses were stopped on the moment, the vehicle 

 being literally nailed to the ground ; by a providential chance none 

 of the passengers were injured ! ! ! " 



