BRETON TROUT STREAMS 33 



towns are thus enabled to reach some 

 river- side by the last train out, bringing 

 with them their nets, lanterns, and night- 

 lines. The fish are packed before day- 

 break, and a few hours later are safely in 

 an express train on their way to Paris. 

 The local Gardie?i de Peche is only paid 

 fifty centimes per day by the Government 

 for his services. Is it to be wondered at 

 that, should he through the window see 

 the liicker of a lantern on the river-bank, 

 he grunts and turns over in his Ut-clos, 

 pulling his worsted nightcap securely over 

 his ears ? 



In spite of all this, the fishing, on the 

 whole, is no worse than it was ten years 

 ago. Indeed, the census of local opinion 

 agrees that it is better, for the Breton is 

 becoming a keen and by no means un- 

 skilful wet-fly fisher, and has, therefore, 

 begun to look askance at the more flagrant 

 forms of open poaching, which hitherto he 

 condoned. Yet diffidence in narrating 

 this fishing seems so much kinder to the 

 reader than exaggeration. There have 

 been articles on Breton trout-fishing from 

 time to time in our own Press which are 



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