336 THE SALMON FLY. 



Some of the particulars to follow will derive much of their interest 

 from the circumstance that they emanate from an accomplished executant 

 of the " Spey," whose name will at once occur to brothers of the rod. 

 For I am fortunate enough to possess a plain and effective argument from 

 Major Grant, and am also at liberty to give the reader the text of his 

 communication. Indeed, the information must be infinitely more 

 acceptable than anything I could write rnyself in my own conventional 

 vein. 



" I hardly think," says " Glen Grant," " that the cast can be written 

 of so as to unveil the mystery from end to end. Comparatively speaking, 

 the riddle of the Sphinx is a contemptibly easy conundrum. Do not 

 attempt to enter into countless matters incidental to the method. Simply 

 state that at times every cast varies now from the run of the water, out 

 of which you take your fly ; now from the length of line you want ; again 

 from making your fly alight on a particular place ; and still more, perhaps, 

 from the strength of the wind and the way it blows. The beginner soon 

 masters all this if left to himself, I know that of old from personal 

 observation. Doubtless there are difficulties to overcome in mastering a 

 new cast and making it familiar ; but merely explain the essential 

 principles, that is all that's wanted. In the natural order of things, the 

 minds of your young pupils will, I feel sure, take a wider range and soon 

 learn for themselves that nothing is denied to well-directed effort and very 

 little obtained without it." 



Here we have a definite, accurate, separate, and entirely practical 

 testimony which the student of the " Spey " would do well to consider. 



Before proceeding further, I cannot but express the hope that all the 

 complications, which to the merest child on the Spey are not complications 

 at all, may be eventually estimated by the student in their true relative 

 proportions, and that the arguments submitted are easy of compre- 

 hension. 



Now the great thing in this cast, the pure essential part upon which 

 it entirely depends, is to compel the line to strike the water after lifting 

 it out instead of sending it back in the air. Bearing this in mind, let 

 us fix our attention on the special features of the procedure from beginning 

 to end. 



