28 PRAIRIE AND FOREST. 



when first they handle it, an instrument to be treated and 

 used in exactly the same manner as a carriage-whip. From 

 boyhood upward they have been used to the latter, and the 

 Englishman's hand has obtained wonderful cunning in crack- 

 ing the same. Now the uses of whip and rod are essential- 

 ly different; the one is performed by the quickest possible 

 jerk, the other by making the widest possible sweep, as 

 free from angles as the turns on a race-course. Get this in- 

 formation, whatever your nationality, so grafted into your 

 brain that you will not forget yourself, for on each occasion 

 you do, you will pay a penalty by losing a fly, probably the 

 trail one. I have known some persons so skilled in snap- 

 ping off flies, even although possessed of considerable ex- 

 perience, that their custom must have been of no small ad- 

 vantage to the tradesmen who supplied them with tackle. 



Supposing the angler is facing a river which he is desir- 

 ous of throwing across. The rod being held in the right 

 hand, gradually, but with increasing velocity, raise your 

 rod from left to right ; when the line is straight out from 

 you, make a sweep, and bring the flies down upon the wa- 

 ter with a half-circular motion of the hand. This last move- 

 ment will raise the slack of the line and cause the trail 

 fly to strike the water first, which should always happen. 

 When this first lesson is thoroughly learned with the left 

 hand, it should then be practiced up and down stream : 

 when, with perseverance and attention, such precision may 

 be gained that the fisherman can place the flies at every 

 effort within an inch or two of the desired spot. 



After having said this much, it will not be deemed out 

 of place to mention those tradesmen who supplied me with 

 the important portions of my outfit; for so much of your 

 pleasure and comfort depends upon them, that a sportsman 

 intending to prosecute a distant and lengthened tour through 

 the American wilds, would be guilty of committing a great 



