248 MY SPORTING HOLIDAYS 



and the salmon, and no more, and proceeded trium- 

 phantly down to Quaale farmhouse. 



All went well for a time. Successive rapid stream 

 and deep pool were safely negotiated until we arrived 

 in the deepest pool of all, just below the farmhouse. 

 Then the raft upset. It was cranky, or somebody 

 had sneezed, or made a sudden movement with the 

 paddle we carried to guide us. At all events, we did 

 upset, in 20 feet of water and 50 yards from the 

 bank. 



I struggled ashore somehow, but then and there 

 concluded that I did not wish to repeat the experi- 

 ment of swimming in wading - trousers. Leggatt 

 cannily clambered on to the raft again The salmon 

 had been thoughtfully tied there. Eventually, having 

 emptied several gallons of water out of my waders, 

 I obtained assistance and a boat, and the raft and its 

 occupants were retrieved a mile lower downstream. 

 My companion was helpless without the paddle, which 

 was lost in the upset, and so sat calmly floating 

 down the wide bosom of the Orkla until overtaken 

 as described. 



My recollection is that after this incident rafts were 

 barred, and we returned home thenceforth by road. 



How the capture of certain particular salmon dwells 

 in one's memory ! In 1876, having passed my final 

 schools at Oxford, I forthwith went to Norway for 

 three months' holiday. In July of that year I was 

 hunting for bear in and around the secluded Boeverdal 

 Valley, some twenty miles inland from Christiansund, 

 and discovered the Boeverdal River. It was a small 

 river for Norway, and out of the ordinary track of 

 anglers. The natives of Boeverdal knew nothing of 

 fly-fishing, though they occasionally angled with 



