18 THE TROUT ARE RISING 
waters—most glorious scenery provides compen- 
sation ; and the wild flowers on Table Mountain 
are indeed worth seeing. 
Soldiering gives a true measure of the popu- 
larity of a pastime. On active service the thoughts 
of the Imperial and Colonial rank and file, as soon 
as they are off duty, turn at once to such amuse- 
ments as conditions allow, cricket or football, or 
sometimes golf. And if there be water containing 
fish at hand then the enthusiasts soon get to work. 
During the Anglo-Boer War of 1899-1902 fishing- 
tackle seemed to conjure itself up by magic. On 
the Klip river near Ladysmith after the raising 
of the siege (1900) bottom-fishing for native 
fish was a favourite occupation. So too on the 
Transvaal Klip (not the same river), miles away 
from town or dorp when the camp was an isolated 
one—at Wittkopjes, near Meyerton—men off 
duty were constantly fishing, and good catches 
of the native yellow fish, which has some of the 
characteristics of the Indian mahseer, were made. 
Superior breakfasts were a satisfactory result. 
That was in the early part of 1901. There were 
no trout in the Transvaal then, and it was a 
peculiar pleasure in or about 1904 to witness at 
nearly the same spot a distribution of trout fry 
under the auspices of the Transvaal Trout 
Acclimatization Society. An officer of the 2nd 
Lincolnshire Regiment stationed, during the Anglo- 
Boer War, on the banks of the Crocodile River 
near Pretoria, wrote in the Field (Oct. 5, 1901): 
“ Being quite alone, I often used to pass the days 
