Note 1121 — Chapter XLIII · “PLUS UN PAYS PRODUIT DES POISSONS, PLUS IL PRODUIT D’HOMMES”

Ibid., II. 8, ii. (3, 4). Neither the value nor the valour of the fishes seem worthy of onlookers. Perhaps the husband had invented—China seems to have anticipated most of our inventions—and was displaying the Double Spey or Steeple cast. But a rod, like a wedding, invariably attracts a crowd, as a stroll on the Seine any Sunday will verify. Some years ago Mr. Kelson and I were trying a new salmon rod, faute de mieux, from the south bank of the Thames. In ten minutes the Surrey side of the Waterloo Bridge was black with folk, hoping, perchance, to witness a capture of the mythical Thames salmon.