SALMON-FISHING 247 



mind. But I fully agreed with the view once ex- 

 pressed by Colonel Bromley Davenport in relating a 

 a similar experience, that, if the fish had only consented 

 to be weighed and then returned to its native element, 

 he would gladly have accepted the compromise. 



One of the nuisances of the Orkla River was its 

 timber trade. Logs that had been cut the previous 

 winter in the mountains were floated down stream 

 the following summer months to Orkedal-soeren. 

 These same logs occasionally interfered with our 

 fishing, and now and then, floating down a pool, would 

 nearly tumble a wading angler head- over- heels into 

 4 feet of water as he, forgetful, was watching his fly 

 fishing down stream. 



Occasionally they served a useful purpose for our 

 party. We used to rope four logs together for a 

 raft, and so at times return downstream to our home 

 quarters a mile or two below. 



Owen Leggatt, a member of our fishing-party, and 

 I were one day fishing the Long Pool. He had been 

 fishing in the boat and had no waders. So, in a back- 

 water, it devolved on me, in waders, to rope four logs 

 together for our journey home. 



Perhaps the logs chosen were too small, but having 

 carefully carried Leggatt on my back to the im- 

 provised raft, then having deposited a fifteen-pound 

 freshly-caught salmon thereon, and then Ole, our 

 boatman, and myself having also embarked on it, 

 the raft slowly sank to the bottom, and everything, 

 including Leggatt, was soaked. What his precise 

 remarks on that occasion were I have forgotten, but 

 in the end Ole was sent home with the fishing-bags 

 by road, while my companion and I launched out into 

 the stream, the raft just carrying our united weights 



