220 SPORTS AND ANECDOTES. 



not to be trusted to. Mine were good ones, of 

 strong salmon gut, I may say extra strong salmon 

 gut, but, from being as dry as tinder, they snapped 

 at the first rush of the fish. Havin^ been broken 



o 



the first time, I never thought for a moment that 

 I should get hold of another fish before my line 

 was wet, but so it was, and again I rigged up a 

 new casting-line and hooks, put on my bait, and 

 the moment I began to spin my bleak, bang at me 

 came another fish and away went my third trace. 

 The traces had each of them three treble hooks to 

 them, and therefore we may suppose that the fish, 

 whatever they were, would have a pleasant time of 

 it. They might have been pike, for there were large 

 pike in the said falls, but I feel sure, by their modus 

 operandi, that they were salmon. However, my 

 negligence, if it can be so called, in not wetting 

 my line before commencing operations, was the 

 cause of my losing three good fish of some kind, 

 and I firmly believe that they were all salmon, 

 though I never got a sight of any of them, for the 

 breaking of the casting-lines was in every instance 

 instantaneous. 



During the time I was at Schaffhausen, which 

 was about three months in 1844, I killed fifteen 



