A HOLIDAY IN DEVONSHIRE. 69 



almost hidden by over-spreading branches and bushy under- 

 growth. Higher up, losing themselves in the Plym, are the 

 Meavy and the Cad — the Cad of which Carrington, the poet 

 of the Devonshire waters, wrote : — • 



" Yet when, sweet Spring, 

 Thy influence again shall make the bud 

 Leap into leaf, and gentlest airs shall soothe 

 The storm-swept bosom of the moor, my feet 

 Shall tread the banks of Cad," 



Both Meavy and Cad are good trout-yielding streams 

 when the conditions are anything like favourable, but at this 

 time they suffered more perhaps than any from lack of water. 

 Onward and upward still, through new phases of entrancing 

 scenery, the train proceeded to Horrabridge, where we 

 crossed the Walkham, now no longer the popular trout 

 stream it used to be ; for here unfortunately, as in other 

 parts of Devon and Cornwall, the mines had been doing 

 serious damage. 



Tavistock, compact and thriving, lies in a natural basin, 

 surrounded by a belt of hills; where Dartmoor ends the 

 Cornish hills continue the duty of encircling the town, and 

 dooming it to more than a full share of wet weather. The 

 Tavy runs through it; and later in the year, when the 

 salmon peel are in their prime, there is no river in the 

 country that yields better morning and evening sport. A 

 well-organised fishing association preserves the stream, its 

 tributaries and sub-tributaries ; and under one of its wise 

 regulations the angler below Denham Bridge is restricted 

 to the use of the artificial fly. It is in these associations 

 the hope of preserving our English fisheries chiefly rests ; 

 wherefore, let every angler, whenever he has the opportunity 



