150 
WILD NORWAY. 
For an angler who may be unable to pay the high rents 
asked for salmon-rivers proper, and who is willing to 
forget the fetish of salmon-worship, such streams afford 
a measure of sport that is both good, varied, and cheap. 
But we are getting off the line, and must remember 
that we are endeavouring—in theory, at any rate, and 
in general terms—to direct the casual fisherman to the 
best angling waters that yet remain free. 
Such, as above roughly indicated, were our initial 
experiences. Some streams were too rapid, in others 
the trout ran small. This was preserved; that, for one 
reason or another, failed to fulfil aspirations. The lakes 
I pass over for the present. References to lake-fishing 
will be found scattered passim throughout this book, 
but they chiefly afford trolling; and Za&e-trolling 
alone, I imagine, would hardly attract an angler across 
the sea, while nowadays almost every sheet of water of 
easy access along the main tourist-routes is mercilessly 
worked-—done to death with otters, nets, and traps, to 
supply the numerous stations and tourist hotels in its 
vicinity. 
Very pleasantly, nevertheless, sped those seasons of 
exploration. If sport was moderate, anticipation was 
unbounded, and that made amends. Moreover, we 
were younger then, and there was novelty in the glory 
of the mountains and of the forests, whose chequered 
shade was carpeted beneath with glowing hues of russet, 
green, and gold, and where glades opened vistas of 
towering crag or the distant tracery of ice-braes. But 
scenery, we admit, is not sport, nor even a satisfactory 
substitute. 
Late one summer evening we reached a remote 
