268 FLY-FISHING. 



split bamboo tip ; of cedar, with a lance-wood tip ; and 

 of split bamboo throughout ; and were all of the best 

 workjnanship and perfect representatives of their 

 kinds; the contestants were some of the best anglers 

 of the State, and nothing occurred to mar the plea- 

 sure of the contest or to disparage the correctness of 

 the award. The prize was won by the cedar rod, 

 which was twelve feet three and one-half inches 

 long, and weighed, with heavy mountings, fourteen 

 ounces ; and the greatest distance cast with the right 

 hand was sixty-three feet, although the allowance 

 carried the official return to sixty-eight feet ; and 

 with the left hand the absolute distance was fifty- 

 seven feet. The author cannot help adding that the 

 cedar rod was in his hands, and that the prize is 

 now in his fire-proof safe, as he thinks that success 

 at such a trial and against such competitors is legi- 

 timate ground for no little vanity. 



It is reported that there was a contest of a simi- 

 lar nature in England ; but while the length of rod 

 was restricted to twelve feet, there was no allow- 

 ance for weight. The contestants stood several feet 

 above the level of the water, and the distance 

 reached was seventy-two feet. This, therefore, 

 scarcely furnishes a ground for comparison, as a rod 

 may be made so heavy at the top and limber in the 

 middle as to cast a prodigious line, but which would 

 be utterly unwieldy at the river side ; and for every 

 foot of elevation several feet of additional length are 

 gained. In public trials attention must be paid to these 

 particulars, or they will furnish no satisfactory test. 



