" HARLING " THE SALMON. 41 



and foiled until, at length, he suffers himself, palpitating 

 and shuddering, to be hauled out of his native element, 

 and stretched upon the " flowery mead," a victim ! 



It may be that Salmo solar is hungry, and affects a 

 little bit of fish ; for he too has epicurean sympathies. 

 Well, in the very nick of time a shy little minnow makes 

 his appearance ; now dangling right before his jaws, now 

 receding into the distance, now approaching him again, 

 until he is tempted to dart at and seize it to find himself 

 befooled by his appetite. " And," adds a lively writer, 

 "as if a man could not do harm enough with one rod and 

 line, which a providential arrangement of hands has made 

 the full complement of his offensive armoury, he gets 

 him a boat if he be suitably situated, and hangs him out 

 astern therefrom three rods, each with its line and lure. A 

 second conspirator the boatman tacks quietly across 

 and across the stream, thus drawing the lines through the 

 water, while the first sits cat-like in the stern. Suddenly 

 a reel rattles, the boatman shouts a husky ' therrum,' and 

 the contest between brains and instinct commences ; some- 

 times, it is true, to the discomfiture of the brains. The 

 number of rods renders it possible to pander to so many 

 tastes at once, that the salmon falls a frequent prey to 

 this great sport of 'harling.' " 



For this sport of " harling," which is both exciting and 

 effective, it would seem necessary that the stream should 

 be broad, so as to afford space for the movements of the 

 boat ; and the current quick, in order that the lines may 

 be kept always in new water as the boat drops slowly 

 down. In a romantic burn, where the water tumbles and 

 flashes over rocky ledges or eddies, and whirls round great 



