43 



is drained into it by the Wey, the Enborn, and the 

 Blackwater. The district east of Alton and north of 

 the South Downs is drained by the Rother, which is 

 a tributary of the river Arun, and discharges into 

 the English Channel, near Arundel, in Sussex. In 

 .all these rivers, springing out of the chalk hills, there 

 is good trout fishing, but not equal to that on the 

 south side of the South Downs, where the country, 

 sloping away to the southward and westward, either 

 drains into the Solent or the river Avon ; and it is to 

 these southern rivers and streams that Walton more 

 particularly alluded. The Test, or Anton, rises in 

 the neighbourhood of Andover and Whitchurch, and 

 falls into the Southampton Water to the westward 

 of the town of Southamption, while the Itchen, 

 rising near Alresford, and passing Winchester and 

 Bishopstoke, discharges into Southampton Water 

 to the eastward of the town. The Avon, entering 

 Hampshire from Wiltshire, and passing Fording- 

 bridge and Ringwood, discharges into Christchurch 

 Bay, where the Stour also empties itself. There are 

 also several smaller streams rising south of the hills 

 which stretch from Winchester to Petersfield, and 

 discharge themselves into the Solent. All these 

 streams are well stocked with trout, and some of 

 them contain roach, perch, pike, and grayling, and 

 the larger ones also salmon. If greater facilities 

 were given to salmon to ascend they would doubt- 

 less do so, as they are occasionally caught in 

 stake nets while working their way along the south 

 coast, evidently in search of rivers, up which to 

 ascend for the purpose of spawning. But the river 

 proprietors do not provide means for the salmon to 



