THE GAME FISHES OP THE WOBLD 



if they wished, and the outsider who visits Norway for the sabnon 

 fishing, finds that the cream of it has been taken, and that all 

 he can get is an inferior psendo-salmon river of very uncertain 

 tenure as to fish, or he can rent from a private owner, or one of the 

 Salmon Eiver Companies, which demand high rentals. 



In a word, the English have it, and they deserve it by right 

 of original discovery, for all they have done through centuries 

 to make sport what it is and to educate the people to love out-of- 

 door pastimes. 



A few years ago the fishing in !N"orway was difficult to reach 

 and there were few comforts ; but to-day good steamers cross 

 the Iforth Sea, and every convenience is to be had in the way 

 of houses and food. Some idea of the angling here can be had by 

 selecting the river Alten, which has about thirty miles of good 

 fishing water, well adapted to casting a fiy. The fish average 

 about twenty pounds, and four rods can take in the season about 

 ten thousand pounds of salmon. The river is controlled by one 

 Englishman. 



The river Famsen is divided into eight beats and affords its 

 owners magnificent sport, occasional fishes making fifty pounds. 

 The fishing here is done from a boat, which is worked in a zig-zag 

 fashion across the stream, so that the fly or spoon reaches every 

 part of it. In rivers of the second class, each rod is supposed 

 to take from eight hundred to one thousand pounds of salmon, 

 l^early aU the rivers here differ or have some peculiarity : thus 

 the Aaro is famous for its large fish, sixty pounders having been 

 taken. The river Leirdal is not a ' boat river ' and can be forded, 

 or the angler may cast from the banks. 



It is a singular fact that most of the Swedish rivers are worth- 

 less. For some reason the salmon entering them will not take a 

 fly, and it is said to be due to the brackish condition of the water. 

 A few rivers which flow into the Kattegat and the Baltic are good 

 salmon streams, and are owned by Swedish anglers. 



While the limitations of the present volume restrict me to the 

 most essential details, I may refer to a few Norwegian rivers. The 



202 



