THE FASCINATION OF IT 17 
he used on holidays to walk eight miles to the 
Derwent (with some long stiff hills on the way), 
fish several miles of the little river, catch a few 
trout and grayling, and walk back in the gloaming. 
In the middle of this January (1920) he writes to 
me from Scarborough that so long as he has health 
and strength, “and can fish in all weathers,” he 
can hold out until spring, when no doubt he will 
be off for early spring salmon, and a little later 
for the brown trout. A testimonial to fishing this, 
for Sir Charles Payton is in his seventy-seventh 
year. There are, by the way, probably few 
amateurs who have so thorough and complete a 
diary of fishing doings as he. This diary he has 
kept regularly for about half a century, probably 
longer. If you have fished with him, as I have 
had the privilege of doing, you will remember 
that at the end of the day two duties are never 
neglected by him, viz., drying the line, and writing 
up the diary. 
Scots, men and boys, will walk miles to fish, 
being perhaps less pampered by circumstances 
than Southrons, who have better communications, 
In South Africa, too, lads think little of ten or 
even twenty miles on horseback with trout as their 
objective, and they persevere by the riverside 
until night’s curtain is about to fall. After sun- 
down there is no long twilight to favour the 
angler as in Great Britain. Anglers cheerfully 
make the arduous ascent of Table Mountain in 
order to fly-fish the reservoirs there ; and if no 
trout reward them—there are plenty in the 
c 
