270 NOTES ON FISH AND PISHING. 



my " form ") ; in your right hand you clasp your rod, the 

 top of which may, for further comfort, rest lightly on the 

 edge of the punt, or, as I prefer, on my fishing-tackle 

 case ; in your left, between thumb and forefinger, your 

 line, which you keep taut on your leger-bullet at the 

 bottom of the water. And then you placidly wait, with 

 half-closed eyes, in a delicious semi-dreamy state, or using 

 them to take in the beauties of nature round you (for you 

 have no wretched float to watch), till a single, double, or 

 triple tug given by biwbatus makes you concentrate all 

 your attention on your rod and line, and strike when the 

 due moment has arrived. So sensitive are the fingers to 

 the slightest touch of the line, that a barbel or any other 

 fish merely turning over the bait with his nose in a spirit 

 of anxious inquiry, unfavourable criticism, or simple play- 

 fulness, is immediately felt, and the attempt of an old- 

 stager to suck or bite off the head or tail of the worm is 

 at once communicated. The exquisite sensation of some- 

 thing akin to a very slight galvanic shock is transmitted 

 to the piscatorial brain and heart, which forthwith beats 

 perceptibly quicker in the thrilling expectation that the 

 premonitory twitching, or tremulousness, or gentle " tap," 

 will presently assume the unmistakable form of a definite 

 seizure of, and attempt wholly to appropriate, the bait. 

 The nervous excitement of the most pleasurable kind 

 which the barbel angler experiences during these uncer- 

 tain but hopeful moments is " better felt than described." 

 It far transcends that elicited by the bobbing of a float 

 at the nibbling of a fish, and may even be compared to 

 that produced by the splashing rise of a salmon or lusty 

 trout at your fly, if it does not actually exceed it. Indeed, 

 it is a piscatorial sensation, partly mental and partly 



