174 WILD SPAIN. 



Mediterranean rivers, afford shelter, in their middle and 

 upper waters, to Salmo fario. 



In the sluggish, mud-charged rivers of the corn-plains, 

 and of the upland plateaux, the trout, of course, finds no 

 place. The finned inhabitants of these regions, so far as 

 our limited knowledge goes, are the shad (sdbalo) and 

 coarse fish, such as dace (lisa) and his congeners, with 

 monster eels, crayfish, and the like. But as the rock- 

 ramparts of the Castiles and Northern Estremadura are 

 approached, our speckled friend again appears. Beneath 

 the towering sierras of Gredos and Avila we have landed 

 him while resting from the severer labours of ibex-hunting 

 on the heights above. 



These upland streams of Castile run crystal- clear, with 

 alternate pools and rapids in charming sequence. Many 

 closely resemble our moorland burns of Northumbria — 

 even the familiar sandpiper, the white-chested dipper, and 

 the carol of the sky-lark (a note unheard in Southern 

 Spain), are there to heighten the similitude ; but here, 

 heather and bracken are replaced by bresos and pinriiales 

 — shrubs whose English names (if they have any) we 

 know not. The trout run smaller in inverse ratio of the 

 altitude ; in a stream at 3,000 feet the best averaged four 

 to the pound ; in another, barely below snow-level, six or 

 eight would be required to complete that weight — small 

 enough, but welcome as a change, both of sport and fare. 

 "Who, but an angler, though, can appreciate the heaven- 

 sent joys of casting one's lines on " fresh streams and 

 waters new " ? 



This watershed marks the southern limit at which 

 (within our observation) the art of fly-fishing is practised 

 by Spanish anglers — of their more usual modes of taking 

 the trout, we treat anon. Fly-fishing, did we say ? Fish- 

 ing with fly would be a more accurate definition ; the 

 moment a trout seizes the rudely-tied feathers, he is jerked 

 out, regardless of size or sport — the tackle used, it goes 

 without saying, is of the strongest and coarsest. To play 

 and land a trout secundum artem was, we were assured, 

 impossible, by reason of the malesas — weeds, snags, and 



