WADERS AND WADING. 107 



bank. The river at the point was about forty yards wide; 

 deep ; and the water discoloured by a fast rising flood ; never- 

 theless by dint of jumping, and striding like the Rhodes 

 Colossus from point to point of rock, submerged or projecting, 

 I managed to get across to the other side ; sed revocare gradum ? 

 . . . After killing my fish, a very fine fifteen-pounder with the 

 tide lice on him, I was fain to walk a good three miles round 

 before I could find a fordable place. 



Talking of the Roughty reminds me of a gallant and 

 enthusiastic salmon fisher ' quartered ' in the neighbourhood at 

 the same time that I was. The Major was remarkable for his 

 steady absorption of ' poteen,' which he invariably carried, 

 when fishing, in his pocket in a soda-water bottle. On one 

 occasion whilst following fast after a fish that was tearing down 

 stream he successfully cleared a post and rails— successfully, 

 that is, as far as the fence was concerned ; but his activity cost 

 him dear, for the sacred soda-water bottle, flapping about in 

 his coat-tail pocket, jerked up as he jumped, striking him in 

 the mouth and knocking two of his front teeth clean out. The 

 Major's language was a thing to be remembered — or rather 

 forgotten ! . . . But the Roughty was a real sporting river, and 

 many a break-neck scamper I have had along its channel — 

 pity it was so netted and poached. 



I could fill pages, as no doubt most salmon fishers could, 

 with anecdotes of escapes or catastrophes in the wading and 

 ducking line : personal explorations plummet-wise of widths 

 'obvious' but depths 'uncertain' — trifling errors in hydrostatics 

 on the force of currents — unsuccessful ' negotiations ' of the 

 ' water jump,' &c. &:c. For such emergencies wading trousers 

 are decidedly preferable on many grounds to boots or leggings. 

 They are also, I believe, far less dangerous, as, in case of having 

 to swim for it, instead of getting instantly filled with water, the 

 latter takes a ' measurable ' time to make good its entry. An 

 impression used to prevail that in case of sudden immersion 

 the trousers would buoy up the legs at the expense of the head 

 — the latter performing the office of a sort of plummet, and of 



