TROUT FISHING IN S, AFRICA 209 
If English people decide on the trip to South 
Africa, with trout-fishing as one of the main 
objects, their best plan would be to leave the 
United Kingdom, say, in August. The sea journey 
by the Union Castle mail boat from Southampton 
to Capetown ordinarily takes seventeen days, and 
from Southampton to Durban twenty-two days. 
By leaving at the right time in August, the Cape 
and Durban would be made in September. The 
trout would be rising by then. The trout fishing 
would have begun, and it goes on until or nearly 
until the end of April. As the South African 
trout-fishing season closes generally in April (the 
Eerste river, Stellenbosch district, is an exception, 
ending 31st January), the visitor, if he be leaving 
the country about April, could easily arrange to 
get back to the United Kingdom in time for the 
May-fly. And he would have plenty to tell his 
friends at his club, For South Africa is a won- 
derful country. It is a land of surprises, Sun- 
shine is over everything and the atmosphere is 
buoyant. The rarefied air is a tonic. 
Railway travelling, by the way, is good. The 
railways come under the Government. The third 
class is used practically exclusively by natives. 
The trout fishing must not be regarded as 
wholly free. Here and there land bordering the 
river may be equivalent to commonage ; but, as 
a general rule, inquiries should always be made 
and if necessary (as it generally is) permission 
must be sought. It is only fair to landowners to 
say that permission for a visitor to fish from their 
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