TO PLEASURES OF ANGLING. 



although he had killed his fish in twenty minutes. 

 This despatch indicated extraordinary skill in a 

 novice. ISTo expert could have done better. In- 

 deed, it is not once in a hundred times that a 

 thirty-five-pound salmon is brought to gaff so 

 promptly. I was content and happy with a single 

 fish of twenty-four pounds as the result of my 

 day's labor. 



Every new day brought new pleasures and an 

 increase of fish ; but no one caught more than five 

 in any one day, and sometimes some one's count 

 was nil. But every day brought with it some 

 special excitement or adventure, some new inci- 

 dent or experience to break the monotony of the 

 camp, and to maintain the reputation of the sport 

 as more attractive, inspiring and exciting than any 

 other. Among them were these : 



The General had been fishing with but passable 

 success, when the monotony was broken by a leap 

 which indicated greater weight and dimensions 

 than anything with which he had yet been favored. 

 With the promptness of an expert he struck at the 

 right moment and with the exact force requisite 

 to hook his fish strongly a great art, which few 

 salmon-anglers ever acquire perfectly. Then fol- 

 lowed a struggle which justified his estimate of 

 the weight of the fish. For more than an hour, 

 every known appliance was used in vain to bring 



