AN ALBANIAN TROUT-STREAM 181 



the strenuous painting and polishing of bright 

 work which made the men-of-war of those days 

 so spotless and wonderful. I also managed to 

 get a day's leave for one of the senior mid- 

 shipmen, who was a keen fisher, and having 

 rationed the skiff and added a barricoe of fresh 

 (condensed) water, because the drinking of 

 " shore water " in those regions ' is the surest 

 road to the naval hospital, if not to the cemetery, 

 we started off upon our three-mile pull, the 

 skiff's awning spread over us to keep off the 

 sun. We left at about 9.30, as " Divisions " 

 on board ship, a parade and muster followed 

 by prayers, is not a function that can be 

 avoided, and we arrived at a bit of sandy 

 beach by the mouth of the stream, full of hope. 

 The stream itself looked perfect for trout, and 

 even if there were none there it looked as if 

 there ought to be. There was a mill, with a 

 mill-pool above it, about three-quarters of a 

 mile from the sea, but it was no day for fishing 

 with a wet fly in still pools ; the fast parts 

 in the stream below gave a better chance, 

 especially where the current ran into stiller 

 water at the top of a pool, or where it began 

 to run off at the bottom. The trout that we 

 took averaged small. On such a day no mature 

 and self-respecting fish, however inexperienced, 



