THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER.
 
 ANGLER'S RAMBLES 
 
 NORTH OF ENGLAND AND SCOTLAND. 
 
 Author of " A Book on Angling," $c., fyc. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 "THE FIELD" OFFICE, 346, STEAND. 
 1874. 
 
 All Rights Reserved.
 
 LONDOK : 
 PRINTED BY HORACE COX, 346, STRAKD, W.C.
 
 PREFACE 
 
 THE object of the following pages is to tell the tourist 
 and angler where he may 'obtain fishing amongst the 
 glens and valleys of the border counties and Caledonia, 
 and what the fishing is like. To tell this as pleasantly 
 as possible has been, of course, also an object, and I 
 have ventured here and there to lighten the matter and. 
 to carry it out of the hard region of 'mere dry detail, 
 in order that those who run may not only read, but 
 be interested also, if possible. 
 
 FRANCIS FRANCIS. 
 
 THE FIRS, TWICKENHAM. 
 
 9G
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 FIRST RAMBLE, 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 The Start Morpeth The Wansbeck Mitford Rothbury The 
 
 Coquet Mountain Burn Fishing... ... ... ... page 1 
 
 CHAPTER H. 
 
 Pepperhaff Spinning Brinkburn Crag End The Lower Coquet 
 
 Weirs, &c. 14 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Good Farming Alwinton Sudden Spate Burn Fishing The 
 
 Thrum at Rothbury 22 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 Otterburn A Waterloo Eelic Alnwick The Laidley Worm 
 Wooler A Wrastling A Look at the Glen Ewart Bridge 
 Whitling ... 32 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 Wooler Wooler Water The Glen Old Poll of Bendor The Bow- 
 mont and College Burn A White Devil in the Coo-haugh 
 Heathpool Linns By Yeavering Bell The Glen at Coupland 
 A Muckle Whisky Flask 42 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Ewart Bridge Whitling Flodden Field The Till at Etal Mid- 
 day Musings Dangerous Wading ... ... ... ... 51
 
 Till CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VH. 
 
 Alnemouth Natural Upholstery Hulne Abbey The Alne 
 
 Midges Weirs, Ac. page 62 
 
 v CHAPTER VHI. 
 
 The Upper Till Bewick Bridge Chillingham Castle Lord Tanker- 
 ville A Novelty "Rabbit Fishing Ecce Iterum Vipera The 
 Chillingham Wild Cattle The Lower Alne The Kettles The 
 Pin Well The Hedley Kow ... 70 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 The Twelfth of August A Eainy Shoot The Tops of the Cheviots 
 Wooler Water A New Way of Poaching A Windy Shoot- 
 ing The Breamish Broom Park ... ... ... ... 80 
 
 CHAPTER X, 
 
 Coupland Castle The Earl of Durham The Cauld Pool The 
 Twentieth Emancipation of the Blacks The Bowmont and 
 the Gipsies ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 90 
 
 CHAPTER XT. 
 
 A Back Day on the Till from Wheatwood to Doddington The Pike 
 of the Till Bob the Poacher The Voices of Evening Carham 
 The Tweecl Carham Wheel Jamie Wright, of Sprouston 
 The Troutin' Day A Day's Trouting on Tweed 99 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Tweed Fisheries Muckle Sandie and the Bailiffs Jumping a Horse 
 out of a Quicksand Dan Thankless Kelso Melrose Ab- 
 botsford A Day at the Salmon ... ... ... ... ... Ill 
 
 CHAPTER XHI. 
 
 Fishermen's Rights The Floors Water Mr. Fawcett and Salmon 
 Fishing Two Days at Kelso A Good Day at Carham Tweed 
 Flies The Salmon Fly Bamborough Castle The Three Idiots 122
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 SECOND RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 The Start A Temperance Hotel A Temperance Dinner A Plea- 
 sant Evening Bag-nets on Dee and Don ... ... page 141 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 The Don Kintore Pisciculture at Aberdeen Cruives of Don 
 The Don at Inverury and Alford The Dee from Aboyne to 
 Cambus-a-May ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 148 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Ballater Chalkley's Vagaries Abergeldie Balmoral Prince 
 Albert as a Sportsman Number of Deer Otters on Dee 
 Perils of a Dee Salmon ... ... ... ... ... ... 158 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Loch Kinnord Crathes Castle The Baron of Leys The Feuch 
 Macbeth' s Cairn Dee Flies Ballater and Aboyne Fisheries 
 The Ythan, Inverness Macbeth Vitrified Forts The Ness 
 Mr. Snowie 169 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 Baptism in the Ness The Force of Fashion A Day on the Ness 
 Chalkley The Black Stream A Fish at the Two Stones 
 Another at the Black Stream A 20-pounder lost at the Two 
 Stones Kelts ! Kelts! Kelts! 179 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 Drummossie Moor The Battle of Culloden Ben Wyvis The 
 Rites of Baal Druidical Circle The Roman Walls on the 
 Ness A Monster Kelt The Switcher The Beauly A Death 
 at the Cruive Pool Eilan Aigas and the Falls of Killmorach . . . 190 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A Last Day on the Ness The Eesults of Over-confidence The 
 Nairn The Hill of Clava The Phoenicians and Balaklava 
 Ness Flies Sir Alexander Gordon Gumming The Findhorn 
 Altye The Dungeons of Gordon Castle Incident at the 
 Soldier's Pool Trout Lochs The Sluice Pool Note on the, 
 Findhorn Flies for the Findhorn 202
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 The Blackwater The Alness The Carron Good Sport The 
 Oykel The Cassley The Shin Andrew Young " Ephemera" 
 The Fleet The Brora The Helmsdale Conon Angling- 
 Publics and Angling Hotels ... ... ... ... pnge 214 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 The Conon The Orrin Eeason for Superstition in the High- 
 lander Taffy and Sandy Flies for Conon The Spey Aber- 
 lour The Fiddich Burn 228 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 The Avon Ballindalloch The Legend of the Coo-Haugh Spey 
 Flies Grant Town The Pass of Killiecrankie, Perth Harry 
 of the Wynd Stormontfield Cargill Water The Isla Pearl 
 Fishing ... 242 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 Large Bull Trout The Stanley Water, Mr. Brigg's Adventure on it 
 Luncarty Water Glenalmond Bessy Bell and Mary Gray 
 Bleach Works The Bermoney Boat Hurling on Tay Tay 
 Flies 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 
 The Tweed again Sprouston Dub Mrs. Johnstone's A Fish in 
 the Dub Smolt Slaughter on Tweed The Teviot Ae mair i' 
 the Dub A very Holding "Prison" Tweed Flies Closing 
 Remarks 266 
 
 THIRD RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 Hell Gate Inverary Dugald Dalgetty Loch Awe Port Sonna- 
 
 chen Claddock Kit Noith and his Friends ... ... ... 27G 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A Pleasant Lunatic An Unpleasant Ferox Ard-honel One Good 
 Day Ecce Iterum Ferox Bock Agin General Fishing on 
 Loch Awe . ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 286
 
 CONTENTS. xi 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 Loch Leven The Balbriggan Brothers Archy Macquoid High 
 
 Jinks Father Fairlicht ... ... ... ... ... page 296 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 Loch Lomond Its Tourists Luss The Macgregora Sir James 
 Colquhoun Fishing at Luss Rowardennan Inversnaid The 
 Head of the Loch ^ ...< 310 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 A Mysterious Stranger Loch Air an Dallanaich A Great Expedi- 
 tion The Mysterious Stranger absorbs and lies, and is left 
 lying 322 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 Loch Arklet Poaching and Pike Loch Katrine Trying the Pater- 
 noster The Waterworks Extension of the Loch How I went 
 up Ben An and Benvenue Loch Chon and its Pike, &c. . . . 332 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 Buchlyvie Bailie Nichol Jarvie and the Clachan of Aberfoyle Loch 
 Ard Causes of its Decadence Eob Roy Walter Scott's 
 Genius ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 The Clyde compared with the Thames The Sea Lochs Sea Fish- 
 ing at Row ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 358 
 
 FOURTH RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIV. 
 
 The Start for Thurso A Gale The Cruive Pool and the First 
 Fish Strathmore The Linn of Skinnet A Brace of Fish 
 Bagged ... ... ... ... ... ... ... ... 366 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 My Snuggery at Strathmore The Linn of Skinnet again A Good 
 Day My Yankee Sir C. Blois and the Sauce Pool An Awk- 
 ward Predicament .. ... .376
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVI. 
 
 The Moors about Strathmore Stalking the Wild Goose A Won- 
 derful Eel Loch Beg Disappointed of a Spate ... page 381 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 Durley Castle A Legend -The Pot of Gold and the Devil's Pool 
 Loch More A Sporting Fish Trouting and its Pleasures A 
 PracticalJoke A Real Big Day on the Linn ... ... ... 389 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVni. 
 
 A Run with a Bull (not a Bull Trout) A Great Take in Loch More 
 Trout Flies and Salmon Shooting Blue Rocks from their 
 native Traps Thurso Flies 399 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 The Rivers on the North, North- West, and Western Coasts, with 
 some Notice of the Inland Lochs and the Rivers of the Solway 
 Firth... 405
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 FIRST RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE STABT MOBPETH THE WANSBECK MITFOBD ROTH- 
 BUBY THE COQUET MOUNTAIN BURN FISHING. 
 
 I THINK Albert Smith, in by far his best work, Mr. Ledbury's 
 grand tour, makes the following expressive observation : " When 
 the clocks had done striking the hour, which in Paris usually 
 occupies about twenty minutes," <fec., &c. This remark occurred 
 to me at York, where I broke the journey North by stopping the 
 night, for the clocks there appear not to be actuated by any par- 
 ticular guiding principle, being much addicted to the aberrations 
 of those of Paris. Morpeth was the place to which I had resolved 
 to steer, and, having slept at York, to Morpeth I went. Mor- 
 peth is a dull little town, with a gaol big enough to accommodate 
 all the inhabitants, which may account for the dullness. 
 
 It was market-day when we reached Morpeth, but the market 
 was evidently by no means a brisk one, and there was but a small 
 irruption of farmers. The only striking object was a ragged 
 and beggarly British Fakeer, who strove to excite sympathy and 
 to promote the circulation of coppers by howling an astonishing 
 refrain, composed of "Oh, Hallelujah! oh, Hallelujah! oh, Halle- 
 lujah ! oh, Lord ! " prolonging the last word to a kind of Little- 
 Bethel-bellow that would have made him choir-master of the Eev . 
 Stiggins's congregation without competition. The variety of key s
 
 * BY LAKE AND GIVER. 
 
 and tones in which he managed to give the above words was very 
 striking, while he had a species of tremolo movement for the afore- 
 said bellow at times, specially applicable to benevolent old ladies. 
 
 Catching a sight of the Wansbeck as I entered the town over 
 the bridge, I saw that it was dead low, and yet dirty, which did 
 not speak much for the chances of fishing. There had been a 
 heavy thunderstorm a day or two before, which had just sufficed to 
 send all the ditch-slushings and road-washings into the river, but 
 had increased the supply of water infinitesimally. I determined, 
 however, to do my possible to fish it, and selecting a very com- 
 fortable inn (Braithwaite's), took up my quarters there. 
 
 I applied to one or two gentlemen whom I knew to be sports- 
 men, or rather fishermen, who dwelt there, but beyond advising 
 me by all means to move on, they appeared to be unable to 
 render me any assistance, so I trusted to my own resources. 
 There are five or six miles of open or non-preserved water about 
 Morpeth ; and no doubt, after rain, sport may be obtained. From 
 what I saw of the river, I should say there is not much good fish- 
 ing below Morpeth, though there is a sprinkling of good fish. 
 The water, however, is very pretty, and but for the constant 
 penning back by the mills, when the bed of the stream is left in 
 many parts almost dry, it is capable of holding plenty of good 
 trout. It would make a nice little breeding-stream, too, for 
 salmon ; but there are insurmountable weirs, and, save in very 
 heavy floods in the winter, few fish ever do get up. 
 
 Above Morpeth the river belongs to some three or four prin- 
 cipal proprietors, and here the river is very pretty indeed, in 
 alternate stream and pool, and is generally well stocked with 
 bright and lively trout of excellent quality, and running about 
 three or four to the pound, and in some of the waters it is not 
 difficult to fill a good creel. The chief desideratum is a little 
 rain, without which sport is indifferent. At this period of the 
 year, too (Midsummer), water is especially desirable, because, the 
 sheep-washing being but lately concluded, the pools and streams 
 are loaded to such an extent with the sickening and poisonous
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 3 
 
 refuse that the fish are extremely averse to food. I stayed but 
 three days at Morpeth, on two of which I fished. I might have 
 stayed longer; but it was the fashionable time of year, and Mor- 
 peth, which is much resorted to by visitors, owing to its healthi- 
 ness, and the beauty and variety of the walks about it, was rather 
 full, and lodgings were not to be had. 
 
 The first day I fished below the town, in the open water. The 
 walk was delightful, the river running through a ravine graced 
 with hanging woods and rocks, interspersed with ferns and wild 
 flowers in great profusion and variety. But the water and the 
 weather were as bad as bad could be. Added to this, although 
 the stream is well adapted to fly fishing, nothing is done here 
 but bait-fishing, and constant minnow and worm much damages 
 fly-fishing. That I did nothing did not at all surprise me, 
 particularly as on my return I found the mill below the town 
 had penned back the water, and there was no stream, and only 
 water in the small holes and pools. I had written to one or two 
 of the proprietors above the town, but none of them were 
 at home, so some days would elapse before I got an answer. 
 Fortunately, however, the steward of Admiral Mitford, of 
 Mitford Castle, happened to come into the town, and he 
 very kindly gave me permission to fish. Just, as I was starting 
 the post came in, so that I did not get away until rather late. 
 However, at length I ascended my vehicle, and I drove to 
 Mitford, a distance of some two or three miles. It is a lovely 
 spot, the scenery being similar to that below the town hanging 
 woods and deep ravines, with the crystal river now a mere 
 thread at the bottom, winding a tortuous course between the 
 steep wooded banks. The ruins of the old castle, which in the 
 days of bows and arrows must have been a place of strength, 
 frowning down upon the children whose great-great-great-grand- 
 fathers have played beneath its walls even as perchance their 
 grandchildren may do, while not far from it stands the last 
 ruined arch of Newminster Abbey, carefully railed in and, oh ! 
 
 how carefully preserved ! Archaeologists, rejoice ye that such a 
 
 B 2
 
 4 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 delightful antiquarian feeling should exists in this out-of-the- 
 way spot. No ruthless hand is suffered to be lifted against 
 those sacred stones ; and cursed and anathematised indeed would 
 he be by his fellows who should dare to remove one block of it. 
 For know, ye lovers of the things of eld, that while one portion 
 of the abbey stands (and this is the only portion that does 
 stand), the parish is held ever tithe free. Here is a motive, then, 
 for respect to the remains of the past. Can stronger motive or 
 more effective be, think ye ? Alack and alas, were it not .for 
 this, I am forced to confess and believe that long ago the 
 dust of its prelates might have "stopped a bunghole," and its 
 inullions and architraves have graced a multitude of pig-troughs. 
 While putting my *od together, the keeper made his appearance, 
 and offered to show rne the water. 
 
 He told me, and told me truly, that the water was so low and 
 clear, the day so breezeless, that I should do nothing with the 
 fly ; and, to be ready for all hazards, he put a bag of worms in 
 his pocket. I don't like large stream worm-fishing, although 
 to use a woma properly in very low and clear water requires 
 a good deal of skill. About a mile of the water above the house 
 is preserved strictly for friends, and to this I cast a longing 
 glance as I noted the many trout that dimpled the surface of 
 the little pools as we walked along. It is evidently a trout 
 paradise, and not often invaded by the angler. The upper part 
 however, to which we wended our way, enjoys no such immunity, 
 but shows a very decided difference. As we walked on, a good 
 deal of game made itself evident. I almost stumbled over one 
 hen pheasant with a nide of eight, all of whom could fly well. 
 This has been an excellent breeding season for all kinds of game 
 indeed the keepers hereabouts say they never remember a 
 better. I commenced fishing with the fly, but there was not a 
 breath of wind to aid me. The fish were jumping out of the 
 water ; a score or more of them came at the fly sometimes, 
 making an apparently fine rise at it, but they did not shut 
 their mouths on it ; sometimes following it for yards without
 
 EY LAKE AND RIVER. O 
 
 attempting to seize it. The fly fisherman who is up to his work 
 knows well enough what this means ; particularly when, with a 
 scorching sun and no wind, a heavy bank of oppressive cloud 
 conceals the distant heavens to windward. Nevertheless, I worked 
 on for some two or three hours, refusing the keeper's offer of .a 
 worm ; but, at length finding that there was really nothing to 
 be done, I took to the worm. It was of very little more use 
 than the fly, for I only took three or four small fish with it ; and 
 even the keeper, who tried his hand for a pool or two and made 
 nothing of it, was fain to confess that "he didn't thenk I should 
 make up just a dish of fish thot day." I got tired of it at 
 length, and, after trying the stream up for a mile or two of 
 very awkward scrambling among the thick underwood along the 
 banks, with now and then a slip and a stumble off the slippery 
 stones into the stream, I gave it up, and returned homewards 
 lightly loaded. With three or four inches of water in the 
 stream, all this would have been very different, and twilight 
 would probably have found me with a heavy creel still hard at 
 wttrk. I saw enough of the stream to convince me that it is at 
 times well worth fishing, and that a very nice dish may easily be 
 picked out of it. The fish, though small, are very bright, well 
 made and flavoured, and extremely game and lively. There 
 are " several small feeders of the Wansbeck, which give good 
 fishing at times, and where there is no difficulty in getting 
 permission. Indeed the angler, if the weather and water suits, 
 may do well at Morpeth for a day or two, though he will have 
 perhaps often to drive to his ground some six or seven miles. 
 On the succeeding day I bade adieu to Morpeth, and packing my 
 belongings in the trap, was conveyed to Eothbury, fifteen miles 
 off, to fish the Coquet. On the journey I passed over the Coquet 
 at Wheldon-bridge. an excellent station for the angler, where 
 there is a comfortable angling inn. The Coquet is a much more 
 considerable stream than the Wansbeck, and quite capable in 
 parts of affording salmon-fishing. It was very low when I 
 reached Eothbury, but, as luck would have it, as I got there it
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 began to rain, and continued at intervals heavily even into the 
 next day, so that on the Sunday it was running well, and of that 
 fine porter colour which anglers love to see in salmon rivers. 
 While it was raining an old woman passed. " A saft day, sir," 
 said the old dame on passing. "Delightful weather," answered 
 I, beaming and getting wet through with the most cheerful 
 complacency. "Ehow! " quoth she, looking at me as if I were 
 last from Hanwell, "Ehow, sirs," slowly shaking her head, 
 " F'hats to become of tha ha (hay) crap if 'tbides ? " " F'hats to 
 become of the fusshin if it disn't ? " I asked in turn, with all 
 the best of the argument, having the rain to back me. The 
 query routed her. " Fussh'n ! Fussh'n ! Lord help us ! " May 
 difference of opinion never alter friendship. 
 
 Eothbury, at first sight, is a straggling, uninteresting-looking 
 village, but it grows upon one for, in whatever direction we 
 look, the views are fine ; and, however we may approach Eoth- 
 bury, it looks picturesque and pretty. Situated in an indenta- 
 tion amongst the rocky Simonside hills, prettily embowered in 
 trees, with the sparkling Coquet wimpling round it, with the 
 fresh clear air of mountains abounding in wild thyme and fra- 
 grant shrubs sweeping down its street, it is indeed a healthy 
 and desirable little spot, as the troops of well-dressed, cherry- 
 cheeked, laughing children that meet one at every step abundantly 
 testify. Eothbury is a great resort at times, for the smoke-dried 
 denizens of Newcastle and Gateshead ; for, added to its other 
 attractions, there is a stretch of some fourteen miles of excellent 
 trout-water of the Coquet here, which is open to all. Tt is aa 
 pretty and varied a water as heart of trout fisher could desire. It 
 is tolerably well stocked with fish, which run from three or four 
 to the pound to a pound weight. Trout have been caught up ta 
 61b., and there are a few caught yearly of 31b. and 41b. ; half- 
 pounders, and even three-quarters, being no rarities. The trout 
 are very strong, and, for their size, show great play ; while, such 
 is the nature of the pools and streams, that very few of them, 
 and those mostly of little account to the angler, can be netted ;
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 7 
 
 tlie streams being so sharp and the bottom so rough, and the 
 holts and roots so cavernous, that the river may be said to pre- 
 serve itself. Here and there there will, of course, be a pool which 
 a few large boulders or a stout stake or two would improve ; but, 
 generally speaking, not a great deal can be done with the net, 
 and hence the greater part of the river is always well-stocked ; 
 and how delightful it is to feel, while pulling the trout out of the 
 streams, that there is no leave to ask, and no keeper to fee 1 No 
 wonder that Eothbury is popular. For the information of 
 anglers and families, there is a comfortable little angling inn 
 The Three Moons with a snug parlour and good attendance,* 
 and there are plenty of clean, comfortable lodgings, with a coach 
 from and to Morpeth daily. 
 
 Walking down the village, I could not but be struck by the 
 march of civilisation. I was looking for the baker's, and found it 
 difficult to find there appeared to be but one, and that of a 
 very retiring, unobtrusive nature ; but of drapers and milliners, 
 a round half-dozen at least. There, I believe you, we had 
 the fashions i' faith. There were your crinolines, any quantity 
 of them, like enormous parti-coloured parrot cages, in rows. 
 There were your fardingales, and lappets, and tuckers, truly ; and 
 I could not help comparing the cases, and thinking, with Prince 
 Hal, over Falstaff 's tavern scores : " What, all these sacques to 
 one poor pennyworth of bread ? Oh monstrous !" 
 
 The rain, which I mentioned in my last, brought a foot of 
 water into the river, which was much needed, as it was very foul 
 from the sheep washing, so that the fish were quite sick and 
 shy. The spate did not, however, half suffice to clean the river, 
 though it certainly did some good ; but from the rise taking 
 place on a Sunday we were unable to take advantage of it. The 
 trout-fisher of experience knows well that the time to make a 
 good bag is when a flood is beginning to come down, and the 
 water is rising. That is the time when the fish, on the look out 
 
 * This has since been rebuilt, and is now a comfortable and spacious 
 hotel.
 
 8 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 for the insects and other food brought down by the rising waters, 
 feed most ravenously. The day after the fish are usually so 
 gorged that they will hardly move at all ; and this I found to 
 be the case when, on the succeeding day, I went forth armed 
 with my spinning-rod and a favourite old Allies' minnow. I 
 chose to fish up, and at the first three streams I fished, to my 
 surprise, 1 got a trout from each. I then met a brother angler, 
 who told me the fish were taking badly. I certainly had not 
 had cause to think so, and was prophesying a heavy bag. I, 
 however, soon found that he was correct enough, for I went a 
 long way without getting another fish or a run. Not knowing 
 the water, I had chosen about the worst that I could have 
 selected, having started about a mile above the town, just below 
 the little village of Thropton, above which the water becomes 
 very indifferent for a space. I worked on perseveringly, however, 
 but only got five or six more trout, and those I fished hard 
 for. This was a lamentable failing from what I expected. At 
 length it came on to rain, and that so heavily, that I thought it 
 worth turning homewards and I got home at length, after a 
 tiring walk in the rain, wet through to the skin. Northumber- 
 land is a fine county for rain when it is a wet season, which is 
 pretty often. Mackintoshes partake of the nature of. a delusion, 
 and there is no means of dodging the drops. 
 
 On my return, I found Mr. Mavin, a fisherman, and a real one 
 too, who had been sent to me by an acquaintance to show me the 
 water ; he advised me to go down below the town in the evening 
 and try the fly, as the river would then be clear enough for it. 
 I took his advice, and had an hour's pretty sport in a very nice 
 piece of water, taking more and better fish than I had caught 
 all the morning thanks to a fly which I mounted, and which 
 turned out a regular killer. This fly was one made by Martin of 
 Brecon. It is a general killer, and, as I believe, one of Martin's 
 own invention buff crewel body, honeydun hackle, and light- 
 coloured hen pheasant wing and had I chanced to mount it 
 earlier, I should have doubled my take.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 9 
 
 The next day with Mr. Mavin to cicisbeo me, I went down 
 the water about three miles, and fished up ; we got away too 
 late, however, and, although I began well, the fish soon went off. 
 I thought myself a pretty good performer for trout with the 
 single-handed rod, but I soon found that my attendant was a 
 better one. He was wading, and I was fishing from the bank, and, 
 of course, he had all the advantage of knowing the stream, and 
 fishing with the most killing flies, &c. But he was picking up 
 fish after they had done rising at me, and on looking at his flies 
 for the cause, I found he was fishing with fine single hair, and 
 with a light long double-handed rod, which he worked to perfec- 
 tion. I was no longer surprised, as I, trusting to the water being 
 peat coloured, had been fishing with really coarse gut, with an 
 old chub line in fact. The day was very bright at times, so that 
 our take was very moderate, and the trout were of indifferent 
 size ; I scoring somewhere about a dozen in the day, and my 
 attendant about a score, and better fish. 
 
 The water we fished was really beautiful alternate pool and 
 stream, with large rocks and stones. Here a gravelly, there a 
 sandy, and again a rocky bottom, with overhanging trees casting 
 the shade which trouts love, and under which they lie watching 
 for the insects which ever and anon come sailing along, or drop 
 from the leaves above. It is awkward casting unless you wade, 
 and nasty wading when you do, as a ducking is by no means a 
 rarity, the stones being slippery and shifty. Moreover, there are 
 quicksands aboub. The unwary and unwitting angler may place 
 his foot upon an apparently solidly-planted stone, when suddenly 
 down goes the stone through the thin crust, like a plummet in a 
 well, and the angler is lucky if he escapes with a ducking. I 
 have always had a horror of quicksands and those sort of things 
 since I spent half an hour above my middle in a Cornish shaky 
 bog while I was snipe-shooting, when a boy. I was chasing a 
 wounded duck, and plumped into a boghole up to my middle in 
 my blind eagerness. I shall never forget that half hour. I had 
 read that dreadful scene in " The Cruise of the Midge," where
 
 10 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 the niggers are swallowed up in the quagmire during the boat 
 attack on the mangrove swamp, and I was fully penetrated with 
 the horror of the situation. It was a bitter cold, snowy day, but 
 the perspiration streamed down my face ; when, at length, by 
 laying my gun across and resting upon it, I managed, by clutch- 
 ing some reeds and twigs within reach, little by little., and with 
 the utmost caution, to pull myself out of my uncomfortable 
 position. Yah ! shaky bogs, mangrove swamps, and quicksands 
 avaunt ! I'm a decent chiel, wi' a dread o' throupin. I'm free 
 to confess that, had all the Undines invited me to " come unto 
 these yellow sands, and there take hands " in spite of golden 
 locks, undulating forms, unearthly eyes, silvery moonlight, heavenly 
 voices in spite of any amount of mandolins twanged with the 
 most inconceivable and bewitching sweetness, of lavish offers of 
 nectarean draughts of nothing from pasteboard goblets I should 
 have declined the honour, and remembered Mrs. Caudle. There 
 are good trouts in the pool where these sands be but they 
 would need to be very good ones indeed to tempt me to wade for 
 them. 
 
 The next day I thought I would fish up a little beck, the Eye, 
 which runs into the Coquet at Thropton. It is a kind of fishing 
 I am rather fond of, rambling along up amongst the hills from 
 wee poolie to wee poolie, with mimic cascades and streams such 
 as you might almost make with a good-sized ewer ; keeping care- 
 fully out of sight, and casting the worm neatly into these spots, 
 and pulling out the spotted yellow jackets from every likely hole, 
 and that to an extent astonishing to the uninitiated ; wandering 
 on, never tied to one place for more than a few minutes, calling 
 on nature without notice, and finding her most charming when 
 not adorned or interfered with by art. Now a sand-piper or 
 water-ousel goes twittering away, or a waterhen scuttles into its 
 favourite lair ; while the pee-wit, or the golden plover, or, may- 
 hap, the curlew, with their wild and musical, but melancholy 
 notes, add to the sense of delightful loneliness which pervades 
 this mountain beck-fishing. It is the dolce far niente of trout-
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 11 
 
 fishing, for there is no bother about flies and tackle : a yard of 
 gut you can't lose it and a couple of hooks is all your stock. 
 There runs a little darkling stream under that hole in the over- 
 hanging bank or rock. You know that if you cast your worm 
 neatly and properly into that stream, and guide the line clear of 
 those stones (just where the lady-fern and Blechnum grow so 
 luxuriantly almost in the stream), that you will catch a trout of 
 half a pound or less to a dead certainty. You are as sure that 
 he's there waiting for you as I am that that is Eothbury Church 
 and yonder is Crag End. You needn't consider whether you shall 
 try him with brandling, red-worm, black head, blue head, or 
 marsh-worm he will take any or all of them. Suppose you 
 make a bungling cast no matter, cast again ; the only cast 
 which is useless is that which does not permit him to see the 
 worm, or which does permit him to see you. Barring these two 
 contingencies, you may cast for a week ; and the odds are a 
 hundred to one that he takes your worm as soon as he sees 
 it. And then the walking save the brisk walk home with 
 the heavy creel at night what is it but a delightful lazy 
 saunter from brae to brae, and from cast to cast ? Then, 
 too, you lunch, on a hard egg and a biscuit, as only a 
 fisherman can, and after that lie down on your back in the 
 heather, fern, or wild thyme, or all together, looking up at the 
 ever-shifting canopy above ; and you smoke your tobacco as 
 though it were worth a guinea an ounce, while the laverock sings 
 to you " Lirra la, lirra la, la, la, he hu, he hu," higher and 
 higher, till you lose him in the clouds. Hark now, the pretty 
 little furze-chuck joins chorus with the yellow-hammer, who is 
 whistling beseechingly for " bread and no cheese ; " and good- 
 man grasshopper, not to be outdone, stands on his stilts and 
 swells his treble pipe, till you wonder he does not crack it in 
 that " E alt " of his. The monotonous note of the corncrake, 
 too, comes drowsily up from the lowlands, and the bees hum a 
 midday lullaby ; the brooklet murmurs softly peace and forget- 
 fulness; the very "louping o' the trouts " in the little ruby-
 
 12 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 coloured pool below the Linn yonder makes itself heard through 
 all, connecting itself in a wavering, indistinct, and dreamy manner 
 somehow with something you have in hand you are fast for- 
 getting what. Degenerate angler ! to be indulging in such a 
 recreant forty winks as this. But here comes Queen Mab, in 
 likeness of a midge, and, after buzzing in your ear, she bites 
 your nose, d'ye see ; while gossip Puck, in the fashion and habit 
 of a cleg fly, carefully selects his ground, and, standing upon his 
 head and forelegs, with hinder ones wide-a-tilt, so as to get a 
 good, deep bloodthirsty grip of you, levies a contribution dire 
 upon your under eyelid. Ha ! has the Percy, or the Douglas, or 
 Jockie of the Cleugh, or some other hero, with whom you are 
 somehow engaged in an unaccountable struggle, dire and deadly, 
 upon the fatal field of Something-or-other-burn, suddenly and 
 unexpectedly driven his dirk through your left eye right into 
 the very brain, and so dispelled the airy conflict ? What a por- 
 tentous collapse ! from Douglas to a gnat ! And so you up. 
 and at it again. Yes ! it certainly is the dolce far niente of 
 trout-fishigg ; and, though I don't mind a hard day's work when 
 there is anything to work for, I'm fond of the dolce too when 
 there is nothing. 
 
 I 'fished up this little brooklet for some miles, trying here the 
 worm and there the fly, but somehow " the throots were no in 
 the humour they wouldna' buckle to at a'." I could not make 
 It out. It is a sort of sport I am a bit of a dab at. I was told 
 there were plenty of fish, and there was no apparent reason for 
 their not coming to the scratch. I- had fished up to within a 
 mile or two of the head, when I met a bricklaying being, a low 
 beast, a pestilent democrat evidently, who had fished every hole 
 just half an hour before me a hulking brute. I should like to 
 have told him what I thought of him, but he didn't look good to 
 quarrel with ; some of these cads can wrestle, you know, and 
 pitch one over their shoulders, and I had no taste for any such 
 aeronautic expedition. Of course, he had "five dizen of verra 
 nice throots." I had a bare dozen. There's too much equality
 
 BY LAKE AJTD EIVEU. 13 
 
 and all that sort of thing hereabouts for me, you know, out and 
 away. Confound the fellow ! how he must have enjoyed the 
 day ! and I hope his family enjoyed the fish. And after all, 
 you know, it was all fair sport he hadn't a pair of pole nets 
 over his shoulder. He was very civil, and so we took a drop 
 out of my flask just for good luck ; and I hope he may always 
 get as good sport when he goes out for a holiday, only, confound 
 him, I hope he will start half an hour after instead of half an 
 hour before me.
 
 14 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 PEPPERHAFF SPINNING BEINKBTJRN CRAG END THE LOWER 
 COQUET WEIRS, &o. 
 
 THE next day it blew such a gale of wind down the Valley of 
 Coquet that I could not keep my minnow in the water, and so 
 was constrained to relinquish the attempt. Towards evening 
 some rain came down, and the water was coloured, and the next 
 morning promised well for fishing. As it was towards the end 
 of the week, however, having to wait for the post, it was late 
 before I got away, and consequently when we reached our desti- 
 nation, which was a place called Pepperhaff, it was full late. 
 Pepperhaff is an appanage of the Duke of Northumberland. 
 There are some iron-stone or mining works there. The two or 
 three huts that comprised the village if it could be so called 
 reminded one more of Irish cabins than anything usually met with 
 in England ; one most wretched pig-stye of a place answered in 
 every particular to the description of ould Barney's cabin in 
 " The Fine Ould Irish Jontleman :" 
 
 I'll sing ye a song, and a fine ould song, made by a Paddy's pate. 
 
 Of a fine ould Irish jontleman, who lived on his estate ; 
 
 His cabin it was kivered o'er wid a tatch and all complate 
 
 Wid a great, big, tundrin, tarein hole in the roof of the edifish, 
 which was originally conthrived by the architect who made the 
 plan of the same, to allow the smoke so gracefully to retrate, 
 Like a fine ould Irish jontleman, one of the oulden time. 
 
 The walls so old were hung around wid the divil a thing for show, 
 Save lashins of oak shillelahs, which had knocked down many a foe, 
 And there ould Barney sat and smoked in brogues and trunkless hoae, 
 And quaff 'd his naggin of potheen to warm his fine onld nose, 
 Like a rare ould Irish jontleman, one of the oulden time.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEH. 15 
 
 Certainly ould Barney was not visible within tlie doors of any of 
 the Pepperhaffian domiciles, but his absence evidently created 
 a void, and the pig, the crather, only seemed half happy without 
 him. But, alas ! Pepperhaff is not in Tipperary nor Donegal, 
 though it ought to be. It is only fair to the late Duke to say that 
 the ruinous state of the property was not at all owing to any 
 neglect upon his part, as I believe he expressed a strong wish to 
 have it put into a habitable condition, but the tenant was 
 evidently of a mind with the old Scotch woman, who was ready 
 to sacrifice her life rather than allow the hand of the spoiler to 
 be laid upon her cherished "midden." The Duke was an excellent 
 landlord, beloved by his people ; indeed there was throughout his 
 wide domain but one feeling towards the Duke of Northumber- 
 land on the part of his tenants, and that was of almost filial 
 reverence. I never heard a man so universally well spoken of; 
 and the Duchess was not a whit behind him in this respect, but 
 worthily shared his duties and his honours. 
 
 We had to get some fresh minnows before fishing, and' Mr. 
 Mavin had brought a little neb for the purpose ; we soon caught 
 enough to set me going (I had hitherto used the artificial 
 minnow), and I waded into a likely-looking stream, popped on a 
 minnow, using the tackle which is chiefly in vogue in this part 
 of the country, and which consists of only two hooks a large, 
 longish-shanked one, and a smaller one a little above the large 
 one, say half or two-thirds of an inch, for the lip. You bait as 
 with Colonel Hawker's tackle, running the large hook down 
 through the bait and out a little above the tail, crooking the bait 
 so that it spins well. I explain this for the benefit of the 
 uninitiated. The tackle is very simple ; and if the fish are 
 feeding well you don't miss many of them. If, however, they 
 are coming shyly, I must confess that you do not kill one in 
 three. When this is the case a single thread of gut, with a pair 
 of hooks to stick about midway in the bait, is useful ; some 
 people to this add a triangle, which projects beyond the bait 
 and spins around it so as to take the fish when they come
 
 16 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 short, but this is just Colonel Hawker's tackle, with a lip-hook 
 added. 
 
 The first stream I went into I pulled out three nice fish half- 
 pounders, one of them a trifle over, and hooked another good fish 
 of about |lb., which I got in to the side, but which retired at 
 the sight of the landing-net. The fish then went off, and I only 
 took another for some distance up.- At length I came to a very 
 pretty turn in the stream, where the water ran darkling away 
 under the deep boughs, with a large rock at the head of the 
 pool or stream, and behind which good fish might be expected 
 to lie. "Plop" went the minnow as far under the boughs 
 into the black water as was practicable ; and, tug, swish, 
 went the line for a couple of yards, almost cutting into my 
 fingers with the dash of a Socdolager as he took the minnow 
 and banged round behind the rock. " Now for twenty 
 minutes' sharp work," thought I, "for it is either a salmon or 
 a large bull-trout ;" but my expectation was not fulfilled, the 
 hook coming away free the next moment, to my great annoyance. 
 The small slip-hook alone had taken hold, and the head of the 
 minnow only was smashed. What the. fish was I know not ; but 
 he was " a wheen muckle yan." Mavin said there were very large 
 trout in this pool. It might have been a trout, but I incline to a 
 sea fish of some kind. I caught another fish or two, and they went 
 off as the day got warmer and brighter, refusing both minnow and 
 fly. Near this pool where I lost the fish we secured a large stock 
 of minnows. At one push of the little net, we got the bag nearly 
 full, which would hold above a solid quart. These were taken 
 home carefully and salted ; and I can testify that they answer 
 fully as well as a bait as when they are fresh ; indeed, I am by 
 no means sure that the trout do not highly approve of the flavour 
 of them, as, after tearing and missing one, they will often come 
 at another one most ferociously. Many anglers are often 
 shrewdly put to it concerning the conveyance of minnows, 
 &c., and therefore there is no harm in my mentioning the 
 above facts, though they are no novelty to the generality of
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 17 
 
 trout fishers. The minnows may be kept for weeks, until they 
 resemble a bundle of dried caplins. Still, even then, unless a 
 fresh stock can be had, they should not be thrown away, for as 
 soon as the minnow becomes thoroughly wet, it fills out and 
 looks almost as well as ever. The only drawback to salted 
 minnows is, that they are soft, and do not stand long, a few 
 sharp throws or a run soon destroying them. But there are 
 times when no others can be obtained ; and a dozen or so of 
 salted minnows take up but little room in the angler's equip- 
 ment. 
 
 In the evening I got a few nice fish. Morning and evening are 
 the best times in the summer for a well-fished river like Coquet. 
 From about three till seven the fish go off, and little or nothing 
 can be done. 
 
 As we were walking out we met the coach, and the driver, the 
 son of our host at Morpeth, had procured me a ticket for a day 
 on the Brinkburn waters. The waters of Brinkburn Priory being 
 considered about the best part of the Coquet fishing, we deter- 
 mined to fish it next day, but we found that both the conveyances 
 were engaged an important matter, look you, where there are 
 but two in the place. It mattered little, however, as the day 
 turned out badly and there was a good deal of rain. 
 
 Brinkburn Priory was founded in the reign of Henry I., by 
 William de Bertram, Baron of Mitford, who endowed it and estab- 
 lished the Black Canons there, dedicating it to St. Paul. It is 
 most charmingly situated, deeply embowered in tall trees and 
 hidden by overhanging banks, so that at a short distance it is 
 invisible. Its invisibility had once, but for its owners, stood it 
 in good stead. A Scotch army had ravaged the neighbouring 
 country for miles and was returning to The Border, having passed 
 close to the Priory without seeing it. So delighted were the 
 monks at their escape, that, fancying the Scotch were out of 
 hearing, they set the bells ringing for joy ; but they rang so 
 lustily that the sound attracted the notice of the retreating force, 
 which thereupon turned about again and rectified the oversight
 
 18 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 by sacking the Priory. This was making them pay for ringing 
 the bell with a vengeance. Can our lodging-house and swell 
 hotel-keepers have learnt their lesson from the Scotch army at 
 Brinkburn ? 
 
 The Priory, though not extensive, is a fine old building, the 
 architecture being Saxon and Norman. The proportions in the 
 interior are very fine and harmonious. It has been restored, and 
 that with a judgment and taste that do great credit to the owner ; 
 it belongs to the Cadogan family. To look at the roof I did a bit 
 of climbing in a small well-tower, up about a hundred stone 
 steps in the narrowest quarters I ever set foot in a kind of 
 chimney shaft with steps in the inside ; I could compare it to 
 nothing (having due regard to the relative proportions) but a 
 cockroach going up the inside of a corkscrew a yard long. As I 
 went up I continually looked through narrow slits to get a view 
 of the country. That view was trees, at distances varying from 
 fifteen to fifty yards, while, from the topmost one, the look-out 
 was improved by the ruins of a jackdaw's nest or two. Having 
 arrived at the top I looked down from the rafters of the priory, 
 which threw their huge arms or legs rather downwards, and 
 at that great height felt, as I saw how small the people looked 
 below, like an unfledged sparrow on one of the girders of the 
 Crystal Palace. I had a fine opportunity of practising a bit of 
 Blondin, as there was a plank across to the belfry ; but I had 
 looked down, which Blondin, I am told, never does ; besides, I 
 hadn't a proper pole, and the only one I had stood a chance of 
 being fractured against the slates if I tried it; so I carefully 
 desisted, and came down the corkscrew again, cockroach fashion, 
 and only breathed freely when I stepped off the bottom rung. 
 
 The modern dwelling-house stands close to the Priory, and is, of 
 course, rather overborne by it still the look-out, though confined, 
 is very pretty ; and the river, which forms a deep dark pool here, 
 sweeps round the walls and gives it quite a fortress-like appear- 
 ance. This deep pool, which is of considerable length, is called 
 the "Wheel" I hope I have spelt it right and it harbours a
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 19 
 
 number of large fish. The keeper told me that up to the last 
 spate there had been about half a dozen old salmon in it, but the 
 spate had carried them down. A July kelt may be no novelty, 
 but as these old villains are great devourers of their own grand- 
 children, I like to remove them out of harm's way, and always, if 
 possible, serve them with a distress warrant if they do not vacate 
 at the proper time. 
 
 The water at Brinkburn is beautiful water, with excellent 
 streams, and is very well stocked with fine trout. But our day's 
 fishing was unfortunately a decided failure (for Brinkburn). It 
 was a regular July day a blazing sun without a breath of wind 
 or a cloud in the sky all day. I got quite tired of it at last, and 
 gave up fishing as a bad job, and sat me down in the shade and 
 hummed, 
 
 Under the greenwood tree 
 Who loves to lie with me, 
 And tune his merry note 
 Unto the sweet bird's throat, 
 Come hither, come hither. 
 
 In faith he might come to a worse place. I got but nine fish, 
 one of about three-quarters of a pound, and two or three half- 
 pounders. A rather curious thing happened to me while spin- 
 ning the minnow down a fine rough stream with a good length 
 of line out. I had a heavy run apparently, and] after a little 
 <* pully-hauly " I induced the rash stranger to show himself, and 
 found my captive was a large eel, to my very great disgust. 
 The state of my nice neat minnow tackle the angler may imagine 
 twisted and yarned in a filthy tangle, all frayed and daubed, 
 tied in a score of slime-hidden knots ; I cut off the hooks 
 savagely, and having unfortunately plenty of time, I sat down 
 and tied them afresh. But I had my revenge upon the caitiff, 
 for I ate him ; and, as he agreed with me, it was probably the 
 only point we were unanimous upon, A 121b. or 14lb. creel of 
 trout is but an ordinary day at Brinkburn, and I could not but 
 look with an envious eye over the walls of the priory into that 
 
 c 2
 
 20 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 deep pool, at the fine trout I saw "putting up their nebs," in 
 various inaccessible places ; and meditatively I thought how the 
 good Prior of Brinkburn mayhap had, in years gone by, longed 
 and mused to the same effect. 
 
 On Sunday afternoon, I took a walk to the top of Crag-end, 
 one of the rough, rocky hills which hang over Eothbury just 
 one of those hills that artists love to paint, and giving that 
 picturesque outline and blending of the neutral tints of the cold 
 grey stones and the dark green and purple of the heather, and 
 lighter yellowish green of the bracken, which one stands before, 
 smothered in crinoline albeit, and admires so in a well-executed 
 picture at the exhibition. For "Bracken green and cold grey 
 stone " make capital subjects for pictures as well as poetry. 
 Here, however, the objectionable goddess Crinolina had no power 
 to interfere with the view, and I enjoyed it thoroughly. After a 
 stiff scramble, during which I noticed a great quantity of the 
 whortleberry amongst the undergrowth, we surmounted the hill, 
 and found planted there one of the stations left by the Sappers 
 and Miners during their survey ; and from this as a resting-place 
 I looked away over a wide brown stretch of moor, with hills and 
 dales, and in the far-off distance the round humps of Cheviot 
 rose like the huge paps of mother Earth herself. The intense 
 stillness of the evening, the wide spread of patchy brown and 
 apparently lifeless moor, gave an inexpressibly wild and primitive 
 air to the place. Not even a sheep-bell tinkled, and I felt as if 
 by ascending this hill I had cut myself off from civilisation for 
 evermore. I could hardly realise that the other side of the hill 
 presented such a different aspect. There is good shooting upon 
 all these hills ; that heather holds grouse, and these whortle- 
 berries are affected greatly by blackgaine. They are not always 
 so still and solitary, though, as to day, and 
 
 Crag-end shall see another sight, 
 
 When the twelfth comes, and sportsman wight, 
 
 Commanding fires of death, shall light 
 
 The darkness of its scenery.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 21 
 
 Three or four years ago I surveyed the lower part of the 
 Coquet from Wheldon Bridge to Warkworth to inspect the 
 weirs and take plans of the salmon ladders which, as in the 
 case of those of the Alne, are fully depicted and described 
 in my work on salmon ladders. The river here consists for 
 the most part of long deep strong reaches caused by the great 
 weirs with fine deep weir-pools, full of broken water and big 
 eddies. The trout' in this part of the river are very fine, fre- 
 quently being taken of 21b., 3lb., and 41b. weight, or even 
 larger. Such salmon as frequent the river of course affect these 
 places, and are now and then taken there, even with the rod. 
 Bull trout are very plentiful in this part of the river, and they 
 often run up to salmon size. At the lowest weir (Warkworth) is 
 a salmon-trap a species of elongated and enlarged cruive, from 
 which the water can be shut by means of hatches, and the fish 
 which enter it are left floundering on the dry bottom. Ack- 
 lington, which is the second weir on the river, is a huge 
 perpendicular stone structure lift, high, and the decay of the 
 salmon-fishery in Coquet dates from the construction of this 
 weir, which was impassable to salmon. Between this and Whel- 
 don Bridge (where there is another weir) are two more dams, at 
 Morwick and Felton. These weirs have all passes attached to 
 them. The difficulty, however, is, as they are rather out of the 
 way, to get the salmon to use them. Warkworth, with its 
 ancient hermitage and lovely river scenery, is a favourite spot for 
 tourists, who throng it in fine weather.
 
 22 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER, III. 
 
 GOOD FARMING ALWINTON SUDDEN SPATE BURN FISHING 
 THE THRUM AT EOTHBURY. 
 
 I HAD been greatly struck by the admirable farming I everywhere 
 noted in my journeys through Northumberland it looked so neat 
 and so very effective. The crops show a first-rate head, and the 
 plant of turnips particularly was very fine, and I hardly saw an 
 instance where they had missed. The fields generally were very 
 clean too ; women being very extensively employed in farm work. 
 The tourist will often see a band of from twenty to fifty 
 stalwart beings in petticoats and who might be mothers to a 
 race of Bersakers, such amazons do they become hoeing and 
 weeding away as though it were women's mission to exterminate 
 weeds. There is something that reminds one of the Bed Indian 
 or the South Sea savage about this. Still they keep up the 
 connection with civilisation, and once a week try to femininise 
 themselves by putting on their crinolines this operation, by 
 the way, usually being performed in a convenient saw-pit or 
 stone-quarry by the roadside, the monstrous structure being 
 carried so far for convenience, as the Irish women carry their shoes 
 and, thus bedizened and translated, they display their " hoofs 
 of dreadful note," and their other masculine proportions in 
 ''the toon" on the "mairket da." Farmers must have their 
 rork done, however, and generally, I should say, there are no 
 oetter farmers in England than these Northumberland men. 
 But the rentals they many of them pay would astonish a 
 southern farmer ; 5000/., 6000Z., and 7000/. a year being not 
 very unusual, and I heard of grass land letting at 61. an acre.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 23 
 
 Plenty smiles everywhere. The hills abound with sheep, while 
 the valleys' teem with magnificent herds of cattle. The sums of 
 money realised here for wool are very considerable. But when 
 the vast extent of sheepgrazing ground comprehended by the 
 green-topped Cheviots and the many lesser ranges of hills is 
 considered, this is not a very surprising fact. 
 
 But fishing is more in my line than farming, and I will leave 
 my "muttons" for (to me) the more congenial subject. I had 
 wished to see some of the fishing higher up the river, and now 
 had an opportunity of joining two gentlemen who were going 
 up to Alwinton to stay for a day or two for the fishing there. 
 They had a seat in their conveyance at my disposal, and I gladly 
 accepted it. Alwinton is about twelve miles up stream, and 
 there are some nice burns which run in near it, and can be 
 fished from it, the principal of which is the Alwine, though 
 I believe there is a better one some two miles above. The 
 morning found us ready. There had been a smart rain on the 
 hills during the night, but the river had not spated as yet, and 
 was low and clear. However, as it was still raining, and looked 
 heavy on the hills when we started, we hoped the river might 
 rise a little enough to give us sport and we drove off in high 
 spirits. There was nothing worth note in the drive. We passed 
 through the picturesque little village of Harbottle, with its 
 ruined castle ; and some two or three miles on we descended a 
 sharp bank, forded the river, which still showed no signs of 
 improving, though the rain had been heavy during our drive, and 
 pulled up at the little inn, which is no bad refuge for an angler, 
 who might make out well here for a week. 
 
 On seeking the river side we found there was too much colour 
 for fly-fishing, so we betook us to the worm, and commenced 
 wading up from stream to stream, casting into every likely pool 
 and run, hooking and catching or losing trout. They are great 
 worm-fishers in this part of the country, and the style in which 
 some of them will operate rivals in skill the deftest fly-fishing. 
 The day promised to be a good one, but promise is not fulfil-
 
 24 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 ment, and I soon had an opportunity of seeing the Coquet 
 spate, which it did with a suddenness only seen in these 
 mountain streams. One or two of the little runnels had been 
 coming down the bank sides smartly, and I was rather appre- 
 hensive that we might, from the character of the river and the 
 high land on all sides, get a rise in the water beyond our 
 desires ; and my apprehensions were soon justified. I was 
 passing round a bush from one cast to another. I was not half 
 a minute in my transit. While fishing the last stream the river 
 brattled pleasantly and quietly in its accustomed manner upon 
 its way I could have forded it anywhere ; but when I reached 
 the nest stream it was a roaring, raging, yellow torrent, that 
 would have swept a man away. It came down almost in a 
 bore. The river was suddenly bank full, and one of my 
 companions, who was standing on a stone fishing quietly and 
 unobservantly, found it, without warning, come down over his 
 boots, so that he was glad to hop on shore as speedily as 
 possible. It was at once evident that all fishing in Coquet 
 was at end, and we must betake us to the burns, which might 
 not be so unmanageable, and might be fished with worm well 
 enough. 
 
 And a nice scramble we had all over those hills in search of 
 the burn some two miles above us. Wading-boots and a mackin- 
 tosh are not great aids to hill scrambling, very far from it ; 
 indeed I scarcely know anything so troublesome, useless, un- 
 comfortable, and in the way 
 
 Waterproofs sore, long time I bore, and waders were in vain ; 
 Grown tired at last, I braved the blast, and much preferred the rain. 
 
 I think it was the late Lord Derby, who much preferred the 
 gout to Gilbey. Sitting by one's study fire, with materials handy, 
 and no dread of a fiery toe, one can only say that there is no 
 accounting for taste ; but to return to our hill side. It is a grand 
 and picturesque thing to look at, to stalk up the Alps in big 
 boots and a long coat fluttering in the wind, on the outside of a
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 25 
 
 big grey horse, and to shout " Forward, my brave fellows ! " any 
 number of centuries or sentries, as the case may be, looking down 
 on you, but it is quite another thing to scale Cheviotside, steep 
 as a church roof, and slippery with rain, embarrassed in buckets 
 and a horrid waterproof that flops about all wet and dabby, 
 scarcely able to gasp out " Come along, old fellow ! what a 
 beast of a hill this is ! worse than the last, but not a patch on 
 the one on ahead." One may say, "Look on this picture, and 
 on this " I believe Napoleon had rather a jolly time of it than 
 otherwise, besides it is one thing to say " va-t-on," another to 
 say " allons." What was worse, too, when we reach the burn, 
 it ran in on the other side of the river. I tried the ford, to see 
 if I could cross ; but having had one or two narrow escapes in 
 wading in spated rivers, I saw at once that the attempt was 
 dangerous. I didn't want to form a subject for one of those 
 agreeable newspaper paragraphs one drops on now and then, 
 headed "Lamentable Occurrence," or "Shocking Accident;" 
 so I yielded willingly to the whispers of discretion, and sat down 
 on the bank, and looked at it instead, while we betook us to 
 our sandwiches for consolation. But what was to be done ? 
 There was the burn looking in fairish order, too ; but as we 
 could not get to it, and it could not well come single-handed 
 to us, we turned at length upon our tracks, and bore away 
 back for Alwinton, determined to try what might be done on 
 the Alwine. 
 
 "We found the Alwine in full spate, but quite fishable ; and 
 we were advised to try the minnow. We had a good stock, and 
 at once commenced ; and had the trout been large enough to take 
 it fairly, no doubt I should have made heavy slaughter among 
 them, as I had frequently five or six runs in a stream without hook- 
 ing a fish my tackle being somewhat large. After working up 
 for a mile or so, and missing some scores of runs, I changed to 
 worm ; and now I had an opportunity of seeing what it was that 
 had been running at me six and even seven to the pound would 
 be a large average for them. I got about four dozen of the little
 
 26 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 wretches, with half a dozen of perhaps four or five to the pound ; 
 and, having returned to Alwinton, I refreshed with some excellent 
 Bass, and came away home. I regret I had not a better chance 
 of trying the Coquet here, as I hear the river is very good for 
 some miles up. 
 
 This was the last fishing I did upon the Coquet, for, anxious 
 to get on, I left for Alnwick, en route for Wooler, the next morn- 
 ing. Generally, I believe, the upper part of the river is the best 
 part. There are some fair fishing stations from Wheldon-bridge, 
 which is close below the Brinkburn water, and by Felton ; but I 
 did not go to them, as I hear they are a good deal whipped. 
 Indeed, this, I fear, is too much the case for really good sport 
 late in the year wherever the river can be at all easily com- 
 manded from ; and the local anglers on the river have long been 
 noted for their skill in the use of their weapons. 
 
 The following description of the skill of the old anglers at the 
 various villages on the Coquet is from Thomas Doubleday's "Old 
 Angler's Triumph" in " The Newcastle Fisher's Garlands," and 
 was published in 1830. It is very terse and forcible : 
 
 At Shilmore they're guid at the mennim (minnow), 
 
 At Felton they're guid at the flee, 
 
 Lang Rothbury's streams for the brandin, 
 
 But Weldon, old Weldon, for me. 
 
 The Sharperton codgers are cunnin", 
 
 At Thropton they're guid at a thraw, 
 
 Bnt up wi' the bonnie red heckle, 
 
 The heckle that tackled them a'. 
 
 Coquetdale has been famous in literature, and there are many 
 angling songs of some standing and merit anent it ; and the 
 anglers who now frequent it, if not as skilful in constructing 
 lyrics, are quite as skilful and active in the pursuit of fish. And, 
 though considering that so much of the river is entirely open, 
 and fair sport may be obtained in the early part of the year 
 more particularly yet the state of the river must be very diffe- 
 rent now from what it was in the days when 300 or 400 salmon, 
 sea-trout, and grilse were sometimes taken at one haul of the
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 27" 
 
 net between Warkworth and the sea ; nor can the trout-fishing 
 in Coquet be said to be equal to what it used to be, if we may 
 believe the following lamentation of an old angler, which is given 
 by Stephen Oliver the younger in his " Northumberland Eam- 
 bles " : " Talk o' fishin'," says he, " there's no sic fishin' in 
 Coquet now as when I was a lad. It was nowse then but to fling 
 in and pull them out by tweeses and threeses, if ye had sae mony 
 heuks on ; but now a body may keep threshin' at the water a' 
 day atween Halystane and Weldon, and hardly catch three dizen, 
 and many a time not that. Aboot fifty years syne, I mind o' 
 seein' trouts that thick i' the Thrum, below Eothbury, that if ye 
 had stucken the end o' your gad (fishing-rod) into the water 
 amang them it would amaist hae studden upreet." I think I may 
 say that this is about the best yarn of the abundance of fish 
 I ever came across. 
 
 This same Thrum is a very curious spot. The stream has 
 here worn for itself a narrow channel in the solid rock, and the 
 water pours through it in places with a resistless sweep. In one 
 spot the whole of the river pours through a narrow confined abyss 
 scarce two feet in width. In other parts it widens to three or 
 four yards, and the stream appears to have eddied out for itself 
 in the solid stone a succession of chambers, looking like large 
 pots or cauldrons, where the waters whirl incessantly, smoothing 
 the stone almost to a polished marble surface. The length of 
 the Thrum is -about from 100 to 200 yards, and the name is 
 said to be derived from the thread-like appearance taken by the 
 river here a thrum being the Northumbrian for an end of 
 thread. This part of the river, where it is more open; is still a 
 great resort for fine trout. It is one of the prettiest bits of 
 scenery on the Coquet. Here there is a most picturesque mill, 
 old-fashioned wheel, and all complete ; a pretty little foaming 
 weir ; high rocky banks, o'erhung with spreading trees, and one 
 of the finest pools upon this part of the river, where salmon are 
 sometimes killed, and which is seldom without a sea-fish or two 
 of some kind. The sky-line behind is broken up and closed in
 
 28 BY LAKE AND RIVEK. 
 
 by high rocky hills, similar to Crag-End. I fear the little skill 
 as an artist I once possessed has deserted me, or I might have 
 been tempted to spoil some drawing-paper and good colour by 
 transferring the mill on the Thrum to my collection of " remini- 
 scences," with the necessary and graphic addendum, " This is a 
 mill ; " otherwise I really wouldn't promise but that, after a lapse 
 of years, even I myself might not mistake it for some fabled or 
 pre-Adamite monster, or some other unknown matter. It is a 
 curious thing, but I never had a great taste for drawing anything 
 but skeletons as a boy, and those I was great at. I came across 
 an old Lempriere but a few weeks since that was full of them 
 a regular bone-house. There was a favourite one I have actually 
 dreamt of and shuddered at, he was so more than real ; I used 
 io call him TITT*** (the nickname of our head-master, who was 
 very like a grasshopper in his movements). He was a marvellous 
 skeleton, that ; he smoked a pipe and breathed flames, and had 
 forty-six ribs, in defiance of the rules of anatomy. But to get 
 back to the Coquet. 
 
 The angler who wishes to make a good creel in the Coquet, 
 particularly late in the season, will find it no easy matter with 
 the fly. The fish are very well educated, and " know a hawk 
 from a hernshaw," and he will have to fish against professional 
 fisherman, who can fish as lightly as he can, and know every 
 trout in the river by name almost. There are several good fisher- 
 men, but Mavin is the best of them by far. He attends gentle- 
 men, and knows all the best flies, places, pools, and dodges. If 
 he has a fault, it is that he is a little too fond of fishing himself. 
 His pet flies, with which he certainly takes a great many fish all 
 through the summer, are, to make a bull, spiders, made with 
 grouse and partridge hackle, yellow and lemon bodies respec- 
 tively. He dresses a very neat fly, so that the angler can rely 
 upon getting all that he needs in this line at Eothbury. If he 
 wants his flies dressed upon fine gut, however, he had better send 
 his own, as there is none to be got there. 
 
 There is a good deal of fair shooting on the hills about
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 29 
 
 Bothbury, a good range of grouse and blackgame ground, and 
 this merges again into low-country game, which is also plentiful 
 enough. Eents of shootings, too, are not expensive, from some 
 few I heard of ; but the shootings are yearly coming more into 
 request. In conclusion, as concerns Bothbury, it is not at all a 
 bad place for the angler to make head-quarters for a month, as 
 he can get up or down the river easily ; but I should recom- 
 mend him to go early in May or April for the best of the fishing. 
 It is a very pretty river to fish, is fairly stocked with trout, and 
 no leave required save on one or two limited extents ; it has 
 plenty of good tributary burns, and there is a very comfortable 
 angler's inn, while, as I have before hinted, Paterfamilias will 
 find plenty of good lodgings, averaging at the rate of 10s. a room 
 per week. That is about the tariff, and that is the rather peculiar 
 way of paying. Living is reasonable, and there are famous healthy 
 hills for the cherubs to skimble-skamble over, with no soldiers 
 and very few policemen for the nurses ; very nice and varied 
 walks, not more than the average amount of toffy-shops in 
 country places, no toy-shops, and only two doctors ; a capital 
 chemist's, a library, and any amount of millinery establishments 
 for missus and the young ladies ; no show places, and, conse- 
 quently, no excursionists ; a church handy, an energetic parson, 
 and the river contiguous. George Eobins could not say more for 
 it, and I expect to be immortalised in Eothbury, and to have a 
 monument erected to my not memory, no, say " honour ; " and 
 if ever the principles of universal suffrage should be extended to 
 representation, and if ever Eothbury should become a place of 
 sufficient note to return a member to Parliament, I shall 
 expect to have the representation of the constituency of Eoth- 
 bury forced upon me. What a day would that be ! In my 
 mind's eye I see the two chaises put into frantic requisition ; 
 while the angler who wants one to go a-fishing will be scouted as 
 an unsympathetic, unpatriotic, and hoggish individual. The 
 four publics will keep open house out of pure philanthropy ; 
 committees will sit all day long in each of them at their own
 
 30 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 expense ; every lodging-house will be specially retained without 
 pay, disclaiming all views of petty lucre, and only desirous to 
 emulate which shall construct and get rid of the greatest amount 
 of red, white, and blue favours, all in the best Coventry sarsanet, 
 in a given time. A gross of green parasols, as per Eatanswill, 
 will be recklessly distributed by the attorney (if there is one, 
 which I don't think there is another virtue for Eothbury) as 
 the proceeds of pure conscience-money in respect of overcharged 
 and untaxed costs in some other election. The member in pro- 
 spective, however, it must be clearly understood, don't bind 
 himself to kiss or even hug all the children ; though if some of 
 the young ladies he saw there ahem, ahem. The church tower 
 will be hung with three dozen pocket-handkerchiefs, one dozen 
 from each of the drapers, as a graceful and appropriate contribu- 
 tion, printed in the fashion of Union Jacks and British standards, 
 if the said parson of the parish and the beadle thereof likewise 
 don't render themselves obnoxious to these patriotic ebullitions ; 
 the very ballot boxes will be constructed out of the timbers taken 
 from the wreck of the British Constitution, and out of compli- 
 ment to the ladies, Home Rule and the grey mare will be pro- 
 claimed in Eothbury, and all sorts of attractions be put forward 
 to signalize the occasion. 
 
 Before abandoning the Coquet, I may say that efforts have 
 been made to reduce the bull trouts and to introduce the salmon ; 
 and, though most of the weirs have had passes constructed in 
 them and a large number of salmon fry have been turned out, I 
 fear the bull trout have got too far ahead ever to give the salmon 
 a really fair chance ; and, though the Coquet was in days gone 
 by a fair salmon river, yet the tremendous obstructions caused 
 by the formidable weirs constructed on it, and the alteration of 
 the bed of the "river by reason of destructive floods, has much 
 modified its capabilities for producing salmon. 
 
 As I had to catch the coach from Alnwick, which leaves at 
 half -past eight in the morning, and as it is a good twelve miles 
 of steep hill and dale, we had to make an early start of it ; and
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 31 
 
 the grey of the morning had hardly cleared off the mountain- 
 tops when I turned out, and, after a scrambling attempt at break- 
 fast, mounted the shandrydan of a four-wheeler, and commenced 
 the arduous ascent. A straight line across wide, dreary moors, 
 with nothing but a shepherd and his dog visible in the distance. 
 Snow-posts every hundred yards significant fact of the delights 
 of this country in the winter time ! The wind a warning to 
 razor-grinders. What a nice place to lose oneself in in a snow- 
 drift ! Now we mount another awful steep pitch ; as I reach 
 the top my nose, well-tutored for many long years to the pecu- 
 liar savour, sniffed The Briny. Yes ; there is no mistake about 
 it. Father Ocean is somewhere to the fore, and half a mile 
 on we catch sight of him, looking as oily as a Jew quack- 
 doctor, and as mild as though his brow were never wrinkled 
 and storms never affected him. All hail ! old boy. You and I 
 have' had many a pleasant foregathering, and, I must confess me, 
 surely many an unpleasant one too, for 
 
 When wind and weather come together, 
 Upon my soul there'll be stormy weather. 
 
 which has not unfrequently been the case during our acquain- 
 tanceship ; and on such occasions sometimes, though not always, 
 I experience throes, as if, like Mark Twain, I was striving " to 
 bring up my immortal soul." If there is any very particular phase 
 in any particular disease, worse than a bad attack of sea sickness, 
 I am happy to say I have not yet experienced it ; it would be 
 superfluous perhaps, to say I hope I never, never, no never may. 
 But we top another hill, and there lies Alnwick below us, with 
 that magnificent structure, Alnwick Castle, in the midst of it.
 
 32 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 OTTERBURN A WATERLOO EELIC ALNWIOK THE LAIDLET 
 WORM WOOLER A WRASTLING A LOOK AT THE GLEN 
 EWART BRIDGE WHITLING. 
 
 NORTHUMBERLAND is certainly one of the most interesting, if not 
 the most, interesting county in England. The Englishman goes 
 all over the world to see scenery ruins, palaces, and battle-fields, 
 and what not ; but, when he has them altogether within a summer 
 week's ramble close at home, he hardly seems to care about 
 them ; and many are the men who have looked down on the 
 plains of the Pyramids, and pilgrimaged to Waterloo, who have 
 never looked on Flodden nor cared for Otterburn. And yet their 
 nerves have thrilled, their cheeks glowed, and their eyes bright- 
 ened, as they read how 
 
 Groom fought like noble, squire like knight, 
 As fearlessly and well ; 
 
 and, further, how 
 
 The Dowglas lost hys lyffe, 
 And the Perssye was lede awaye, 
 
 while they have but a dim and confused appreciation of the 
 Pyramids, and were bored to death as they bought sham relics at 
 Waterloo. Talking of Waterloo reminds me of a good relic 
 story. A relative of mine was looking over the plains of Water- 
 loo a short time since. The guide, a shrewdish garqon, was ex- 
 plaining the position of the French, English, and Prussians. 
 " Here, Monsieur will observe, the French charged ; and here, 
 Monsieur, the English formed square. Yonder, Monsieur, is the 
 farmhouse that was taken and retaken ; and yonder, again, among 
 the trees is where the great struggle, &c., &c., was," and so forth ;
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 33 
 
 " and formerly, Monsieur, these trees showed traces of the battle, 
 and were filled with bullets. Ah, sacree ! what do I see ? a 
 bullet ! No yes ! it is it must be a bullet a r-relique of the 
 gr-r-rande bataille." Frantic excitement great digging with a 
 huge clasp knife much perspiration and exasperation, and at 
 length out rolled a respectable bullet, which had been in the 
 tree evidently but little time. " Monsieur will purchase a relique 
 of the grande bataille ? Five francs will be but a bagatelle for the 
 priceless relic." " Humph ! " quoth my relative, a man not apt to 
 be enthusiastic in such matters ; " the tree, my friend, is a young 
 one, you will perceive, certainly not twenty years old. The battle, 
 my friend, as you are aware, was fought above forty years ago. 
 Thank you, I will not purchase that priceless relic. Put it in the 
 gun again, and fire into a larger and an older tree next time." The 
 hint may not be lost, even as regards battle-fields nearer home. 
 
 But, while satisfied to be too often cheated upon foreign soil, 
 Englishmen somehow are tolerably astute when they turn their 
 eyes nearer home, and they throw away very little enthusiasm or 
 money either on their own matters of this kind. There is scarcely 
 an uninteresting mile in the northern part of Northumberland. 
 All along the Border is " haunted holy ground." Druidical re- 
 mains are numerous ; every favourable hill has been crowned 
 with the camps of Saxon or Eoman ; every favourable site has 
 been a battle-field. Here are ruined priories, ruined castles, and 
 tumble-down hermitages galore, as well as others of the same 
 stamp, in good preservation, in all directions. Poetry and song 
 and doughty deeds have ennobled and hallowed hill and valley, 
 rock and plain. It is not possible for me to do more than barely 
 hint at a tithe of these matters. It would take months, perhaps 
 years, to go through Northumberland properly, and to see and 
 find out all that there is to be seen. The artist will find delight- 
 ful and picturesque scenery ; the archaeologist will be in a perfect 
 embarras de richesses ; the fisherman will find streams containing 
 multitudes of trout, running in all directions ; and the tourist 
 will find all these things, and plenty of legends besides. One
 
 34 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 thing he will not find at all general, however, and that is good 
 cooking ; cookery is not an art the aboriginal Northumbrian 
 excels in. Everything is pitched into the oven on the one hand, 
 and the frying-pan on the other. As for boiling or roasting, 
 they do not seem aware of it in a general way, and the meat too 
 often comes to table dried up or greasy. I attribute much of 
 this to the practice of the women to such a very large extent 
 working in the fields, instead of their more legitimate sphere. 
 This is a drawback, but not one the ordinary tourist-fisherman 
 who desires little beyond something to eat and drink, and some- 
 where to sleep, scenery, and mental fodder will care to quarrel 
 with perhaps. Well, he will find plenty of mental fodder about 
 Alnwick, one of the most celebrated towns near the Border. 
 How many times the castle has been besieged I will not under- 
 take to say. Malcolm, King of Scotland, lost his life before it in 
 1093, and William the Lion, King of Scotland, was taken 
 before it in 1174, as a stone near the town informs us. The 
 stronghold of the Percies, it cannot but have a charm for the 
 admirer of chivalry and poetic feeling. I am not writing a history 
 of the town, and must, as I have said, touch these matters very 
 briefly. There are, however, many objects of great interest about 
 the town. Chief of all, of course, is the Castle, the seat of the Duke 
 of Northumberland, which is a most striking edifice. It has been 
 well and carefully renewed and restored within the last century, 
 preserving its old outward form without alteration. The towers 
 and pinnacles strike the visitor very much, being topped, though 
 scarcely ornamented, with all sorts of strange figures of life-size, 
 which appear to be doing a variety of incomprehensible, incon- 
 gruous, and uncouth things ; and I cannot but think the general 
 aspect of the castle would be improved hugely by these figures, 
 now so out of place, being consigned to some more congenial 
 location. As they stand now, they give one at the first glance 
 the idea that the towers are vast chimneys, and are given to v 
 smoking, and that these queer figures are the results of the taste 
 of some ambitious fumifiers, as I believe the gentlemen who
 
 BY LAKE AND HIVEB. 35 
 
 cure smoky chimneys call themselves. There are, besides, 
 sundry old and curious arches and gateways to the town Cone 
 of which is said to have looked down upon eight centuries), 
 and some beautiful churches. The visitor will often be attracted 
 by a strange figure, which he will suppose to be St. George and 
 the Dragon, and which is rather prevalent about Alnwick. 
 This is a memento of the legend of the "Laidley Worm,"* a 
 fabulous monster which was said formerly to have laid waste the 
 country about Spindleston Heugh a rocky hill between Alnwick 
 and Bamburgh. This Laidley Worm was the daughter of the King 
 of Bamburgh, transformed thus by her step-mother, who was a 
 witch, and envious, according to the usual wont of witches. Her 
 brother, who rejoiced in the striking cognomen of " the Childy 
 Wynd," which, as there appears to be a good deal of transforma- 
 tion in the yarn, may suggestively enough be taken for a facetious 
 transformation of "the Windy Childe " this brother, I repeat, 
 in revenge, in the end transformed his stepmother herself into a 
 toad, she having failed to sink his ships as they were returning 
 (which, by the way, had silken sails and rowan-tree masts 
 rowan-tree being unto witches what holy-water is to their papa). 
 Not knowing that the serpent was his sister in disguise, the 
 Childe went to attack the monster that threatened " to ruin the 
 north countrie." Arriving at the cave, he drew his sword and 
 gave the serpent to understand, in what could hardly be con- 
 sidered a serpentine manner or language, that he that, in fact, 
 if she hit him he'd hit her again. Whereupon the serpent or 
 dragon requested him " to kiss her three times " rather a 
 staggering request to a young gentleman prepared for battle, 
 especially when the ballad gives the following tempting descrip- 
 tion of the charms to which he was invited : 
 
 For seven miles east, for seven miles west, 
 
 And seven miles north and south, 
 No blade of grass or corn could grow, 
 
 So venomous was her mouth. 
 
 " Loathly worm " serpent or dragon. 
 D 2
 
 36 .BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 Now, for a lady, Or a serpent, or whatever she claimed to be, 
 with such very striking peculiarities, to make such -a remarkable 
 request, and that without holding out any inducement whatever, 
 might rather perhaps be considered as " coming it a little too 
 strong." Amazing as the proposition was, our windy friend 
 appears to have been nowise surprised at it, but fell to embracing 
 the serpent as though it was the most natural thing in the world, 
 the ordinary thing to do, and no more than serpentine etiquette 
 on the occasion. The wind-up of the ballad is, of course, per- 
 fectly satisfactory to all parties : 
 
 He sheathed his sword and bent his bow, 
 
 He gave her kisses three ; 
 She crept into her cave a worm, 
 
 But stept out a fair lady. 
 
 Whether the windy child was astonished even at this what Mr. 
 Swiveller would have called "staggerer number three," the 
 chronicler does not relate. 
 
 But the people in these northern parts appear to have been, if 
 I may be permitted the phrase, rather "troubled with worms," 
 for there is yet another legend anent "the Lambton worm." 
 The origin of this one take warning, oh ! ye metropolitan 
 anglers, who rusticate on the Sabbath at Twickenham and 
 Richmond appears to have been fishing on a Sunday. The 
 heir of Lambton caught a fish on a Sunday, and threw it into a 
 well. In utter defiance of all the rules of natural history, save 
 perhaps such as may be gleaned from "The Vestiges of Creation/' 
 this fish persisted in growing into a worm or serpent. The fish 
 might of course have been an eel ; the eel have somehpw been a 
 conger, and the conger is a sort of first cousin to the sea serpent, 
 if not the actual Simon Pure in many accredited instances, and 
 thus the beast may be explained but then the size is such a 
 choker. This snake, " without a word of lie sir," grew to be 
 900 yards, or rather more than half a mile long. It is unneces- 
 sary to relate the whole of the legend after this sample of it ; 
 but as the serpent, when he was cut through, had a faculty very
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 37 
 
 unusual in creation, to say the least of it, viz., that of growing 
 together again immediately, it became very difficult to reduce 
 his dimensions. Albeit the ambitious naturalist who went out 
 to make a specimen of him attired himself in the costume of a 
 lunatic knife-grinder, or got himself vandyked and embroidered 
 all over with razor blades, and gammoning the snake to fight out 
 the battle in the river, he soon got the best of it, for as soon as 
 ever a chunk of the sarpent was whittled off, the current carried 
 it away before it could reunite, and by this process the whole 900 
 yards piece speedily became "a remnant on a reduced scale," and 
 was undeniably sold " a great sacrifice." 
 
 But I am devoting too much time to Alnwick, which, as I 
 shall return to it, I will say no more of at present. The Wdoler 
 coach leaves at 8.45 in the morning, and by it I started. The 
 drive to Wooler is very pleasant, the road passing over small 
 rivers and burns full of trout, and by gentlemen's seats agreeably 
 situated, we at length cross Wooler Water, and roll into Wooler. 
 The coach is crowded to-day, Wooler games being on, and some 
 of the best wrestlers on the border are expected. There was 
 Jamieson, of Penrith, the champion of Cumberland, a perfect 
 Hercules, a fellow "whose hug would make a bar grin, I guess." 
 There was Scott, of Carlisle, a middle-sized, bull-headed-looking 
 fellow, good-tempered, but determined ; T. Davidson, of Castle- 
 side, a smaller man in appearance than Scott, but active and 
 rather less fleshy, with an angular, hard-looking phiz, that showed 
 endurance ; and last, but not least, there was Jamie Davidson, 
 of Ilderton Moor, a mighty favourite with the Woolerites, a long, 
 lithe, wiry herd, as hard as nails, with sinews like cords ; always 
 laughing and smiling, his hard mug beamed with grim good 
 temper. The herds are swarming in from the hills, most gentle- 
 manly and civilised-looking creatures in appearance, each with 
 his pork-pie hat and inseparable "maud." For this sport is 
 in great estimation with them, they being mostly good at a 
 "wrostle." The women swarm, too, very solid, very parti- 
 coloured, rainbow petticoats and stockings, and such " under-
 
 38 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 standings ! " with regular gorilla crinolines oval, square, flat, 
 triangular, any shape, in fact, but round. "An Englishman's 
 house is his castle," says the law ; but why oh, why should 
 fashion make an Englishwoman's dress her cage ? Anything so 
 hideous and savage as these deformed structures, with which these 
 good-natured, cherry-cheeked country lasses were then in the 
 habit of disfiguring their comfortable proportions, it would be 
 difficult to conceive. Hear the judgment of Paris, oh ! ye 
 Northumbrian damsels : 
 
 Lesbia hath a robe of gold, 
 
 But all so tight the nymph hath laced it, 
 Not a charm of beauty's mould 
 
 Presumes to stay where nature placed it. 
 Oh, my Norah's dress for me, 
 
 That floats as wild as mountain breezes, 
 Leaving every beauty free 
 
 To rise and swell as nature pleases. 
 
 "And so say all of us," "which nobody can deny." Bravo, Mr. 
 Moore, a bos la crinoline ! 
 
 Under the tutelage of my friend Mr. J. Thompson, to whom I 
 owe many kind offices and much smoothing of the way for me, I 
 went down to see the games. Putting the heavy shot was just 
 over, and leaping with the pole had commenced. There were 
 several competitors for the prize, but one after another fell off 
 as the bar got towards the nine feet mark, until at length the 
 trial lay between Jamieson, the wrestler, and an Irishman, one 
 Larry something nine feet three inches. It seems a great 
 height to go over, but with a short run, the pole well grasped, 
 and with only one false jump, the two men managed to heave 
 themselves over, and drop the pole on the other side without 
 touching the bar, amidst loud shouts "nine feet five." There 
 are several attempts at this, but at last both men heave them- 
 selves over. It seems and looks incredible nine feet seven inches. 
 Larry tries and Jamieson tries ; but it ends in Larry not doing 
 it and in Jamieson coming down sair, so as to severely strain one 
 of the sinews in the ball of the great toe, having previously had
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 39 
 
 a similar accident. And no wonder ; a ten or eleven-feet fall for 
 a man of fourteen or fifteen stone or thereabouts is an awkward 
 matter ; and if he does it often, something must, as Eobson used to 
 say, "bust." The prize is therefore divided, and the wrestling 
 begins, " Coomberla-and fashion," for eleven stone men. The 
 names of B. Taylor and Adam Boss are called, and the men, stripped 
 to their drawers, socks, and jerseys, step into the ring. Mighty 
 neatly got up, too, and a good deal of taste and fancy is dis- 
 played in the wrestling toggery, for there is a prize for the man 
 who is most comme il faut in this respect. Now they approach, 
 stretch out their arms, neck is laid to neck, and shoulder to 
 shoulder, and they stretch their long arms down, feeling along 
 the backs of their antagonists for a favourable chance of getting 
 a grip ; and they are mighty cautious in getting it, because a 
 bad or a good grip at once decides the throw ; so that they do 
 not take hold until sure of a favourable one, for when once the 
 grip is taken, if either party releases his grasp, he loses the fall. 
 Fifteen minutes is the outside time allowed for getting gripped 
 or "fast," as it is termed Gradually the men feel their way. 
 Now one catches, but the other doesn't follow suit, and so there 
 is some more feeling and dodging. Now they are fast a short 
 fit of convulsive tugging and straining, in which all the skill and 
 the strength is put forth, and down goes Boss to mother earth. 
 Another couple take their place, and struggle after struggle takes 
 place, considerable skill being shown ; Scott of Carlisle and 
 Davidson of Castleside being left in in the end to contest the 
 prize. This they did in very fine style, Davidson gaining the 
 best of three falls. 
 
 Then came the all weights' wrestling, when much disappoint- 
 ment was felt at Jamieson not being in a condition to try for the 
 prize. His foot was so painful he could hardly stand on it. 
 Every one was anxious to see him come against the wiry herd of 
 Ilderton Moor speculation and expectation had long been rife as 
 to the result. It was not to be, however, and Jamie Davidson 
 carried off the prize with tolerable ease, having grassed his
 
 40 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 opponents in fine style, swinging most of them off their legs as 
 if they had been schoolboys. Then came a curious sport called 
 "hitch and kick." A bladder was suspended to a high cross-bar, 
 and the competitors had to run, spring up, and kick it. It was 
 hung, to commence with, about seven feet or eight feet high, and 
 gradually worked up to nine feet five inches, at which height a 
 lithe young fellow (John Bell) managed to kick it, while the only 
 remaining opponent failed. Then came jumping, &c., &c.* and, 
 barring the break down of the grand stand, which took place at 
 an early period of the festivities, all passed off well and satisfac- 
 torily. These games are an excellent institution. In the north 
 almost every town and village of note has them at different 
 times. It is quite unnecessary to point out the benefit derived 
 from their encouragement, as. it must be self-evident. 
 
 The next day, taking our rods, Mr. T. and myself sailed forth 
 to the water belonging to Sir H. St. Paul, on the Ewart, which 
 is the lower part of Glen. We put up trout flies, but it was 
 blowing heavily, and ere we had got over a pool or two it came 
 on a perfect hurricane again. It was almost impossible with my 
 single-handed light rod to keep the flies on the water at all, so I 
 gave it up and looked on at my companion, who having a double- 
 handed rod, of course could fish heavier, and managed to make 
 out somehow. We had tried a cast or two for whitling, which 
 I believe is a term applied indiscriminately to the common white 
 or salmon trout, and what may be called the grilse bull-trout. 
 How this may be I cannot positively determine, but I am sure 
 that under the name of whitling I have captured very different 
 fish. 
 
 The wind came down more gustily and heavily than ever 
 when we reached a fine round pool, called the Ewart-bridge 
 pool. Here we made a pause, and determined to do our best, as 
 it was full of these white and bull trout. The bull-trout run 
 heavy, though they don't take the fly as well as the white trout. 
 Presently one or two of these whitling begin capering about, 
 and in a trice whitling flies were up. Mr. Thompson covered a
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 41 
 
 nice rising fish, which, after two or three boils, came at him 
 with a spring and he held him. The little fellow behaved 
 marvellously like a small salmon, running, plunging, and leaping* 
 after the fashion of white trout generally, but he was soon 
 brought to book, and I landed him, a nice little fish of 21b., 
 rather lanky, but in good order. A few minutes after this, the 
 wind being a little more favourable for me on the other side 
 of the pool, I hooked one of the lively fellows, which gave me 
 good sport on my light tackle ; I soon landed him ; he was near 
 upon l^lb. After this we rose several fish, but they got very 
 shy after a lengthened residence in fresh water, accompanied 
 with plenty of whipping. Presently I covered a good fish I saw 
 rising at the tail of the pool ; up he came with a dash, I struck 
 rather sharply, and off went the fish with- my fly and half my 
 casting line. I had put a whitling fly on a very fine gut trout- 
 cast, and paid for the temerity. Accordingly I sat me down 
 disconsolate, and rigged out another cast, using stouter gut and 
 two flies ; but whether it was the stouter gut, or that the fish 
 had had enough of it, or what, I cannot say, but I got only one 
 more rise, and that a very shy one : so we "went home and had 
 our white trout for dinner, and very good they were making 
 our arrangements for the morrow meanwhile.
 
 42 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 WOOLEE WOOLEB WATEE THE GLEN OLD POLL OF BENDOE 
 
 THE BOWMONT AND COLLEGE BUEN A WHITE DEVIL IN 
 
 THE COO-HAUGH HEATHPOOL LlNNS BY YEAVEEING BELL 
 
 THE GLEN AT COUPLAND A MUCKLE WHISKY FLASK. 
 
 WOOLEE is called the metropolis of the Cheviots, but for a 
 metropolis it is not an extensive one. As a village it is neither 
 picturesque nor pretty, but the neighbourhood is delightful. 
 Here we are close at the feet of the Cheviots, which are 
 remarkable hills, presenting, for the most part, no great dif- 
 ference in shape, being huge green rounded mounds of vast 
 capacity, some of them nearly 3000 feet in height, but all of 
 a similar character green to the very top, here and there well 
 clothed in heather patches along the sides, while the lower slopes 
 are thickly clad in large masses of fern. These hills are of course 
 grazed by thousands of sheep, and the mutton is scarcely inferior 
 in fineness of flavour to the far-famed Southdown. On the tops 
 of many of the hills adjacent to Wooler are found vestiges of 
 camps of various dates of antiquity, Druidical remains, and other 
 objects of interest ; while the valleys have (more or less) stories 
 and legends of battles, folk-lore, and other matters, attached to 
 them. There are near Wooler, in all directions, numerous burns 
 which, after a flush of rain, afford good trout-fishing ; and as it 
 often rains among these hills, and the burns that feed the larger 
 rivers run in all directions, east, west, north, and south, it seldom 
 happens but one or the other catches the rain ; and when the 
 rains are unusually heavy, however thick some of the streams may
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 43 
 
 be, there will nearly always be found others which are fishable. 
 Two things the angler here should always provide himself with, 
 viz., a bag of well-scoured worms (these should be the smallest 
 lobworms, which I always find the most suitable), and a couple 
 of dozen or so of minnows, as fresh as they can be obtained, as 
 the fresher they are the tougher they are. The fishing here is of 
 so changeable a character, and after a shower of rain the streams 
 come down so suddenly, that the angler can never calculate how 
 he may have to make out his day's sport. He may go out with 
 the notion that the stream he is going to fish is in capital order 
 for fly-fishing, and he may find it almost too thick for worm or 
 minnow. He may go out provided to fish with minnow the 
 stream may be roaring red, and before evening may be down again 
 almost low for fly. Such is the change which excessive drainage 
 has produced in our northern rivers. Every drop of rain is in the 
 rivers almost as soon as it falls. They are bank-full and perhaps 
 half over the fields for a few hours, and the next day one would 
 hardly believe there had been any run of water into them for a 
 month. Thus the angler must be well and thoroughly armed at 
 all points to avail himself of his chance in these sudden changes,, 
 or he may have a long and tedious scramble over hills and bogs 
 for nothing, for the lack of a small bag of worms or a bag of 
 minnows which will not take up six square inches of space, and 
 weigh next to nothing. 
 
 In the evening, after dinner (to which we came back after our 
 rather blusterous day's fishing), I started out, determined to try 
 the worm down Wooler-water to the Till. It is a pretty little 
 stream, taking its rise near Hedgehope-hill among the Cheviots, 
 and contains a good store of lively little trout, but it wants rain 
 to fish well. Whether the water was over thick, or whether 
 some tar-water which got into the stream had sickened the fish 
 or no, I know not, but I only got two or three fish one of 
 about a pound, which, curiously enough, sprang ashore on to a 
 bank of gravel the moment the hook struck him, thus saving 
 me any further trouble about him. I tried one or two pools
 
 44 BT LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 on the Till for whitling, but only rose one, for the Till was get- 
 ting thick too. 
 
 The Glen is one of the best, if not the best, of the trout-waters in 
 Northumberland, and the next day (having a permission from the 
 Earl of Durham) we determined to fish it. Mr. Thompson and 
 myself, thinking it would be in fine order, made a start for it ; 
 but, just as we started, it began to rain again, and before we got 
 to the turnpike it was coming down heavily. We took refuge in 
 the public house at Bendor, and listened for an hour or more to 
 the groans of Old Poll, an old lady of nearly a century's 
 experience of the vanities of this wicked world, and who has a 
 most painful knack of doing little else but groan, and that in a 
 most startling and cold-blooded key. For an hour the rain and 
 Old Poll, with our fly-books, divided our attention ; and still it 
 rained on. We decided to face it at length, and we sallied out. 
 The wind was driving over heavily from the dark field of 
 Flodden, and the rain at present showed no signs of abating. As 
 the day was so bad, and was, moreover, half -gone, we determined 
 not to waste a day of our order on Lord Durham's water, but to 
 go on to the upper Glen, where a namesake of Mr. T.'s had some 
 water, and to look at the lower part of the Bowmont and College 
 Burn. The College Burn and the Bowmont are the two streams 
 which, united, form the . Glen. They were all more or less 
 coloured, College being especially red ; and we had about half a 
 rnile of the head of the Glen to fish. I commenced on some 
 sharp, rapid water, where I began to pick up the fish fairly, 
 though they were small. We worked on, but the fishing fell off 
 as we got higher up, and still the rain peppered us. Presently 
 we reached the point of separation, and determined to fish up the 
 Bowmont, as affording most chance of sport. A singular 
 difference is observable in the character of these two streams. 
 College is a rattling, good-sized mountain burn, dashing along 
 over the stones, from pool to pool and from stream to stream ; it 
 was now the colour of London stout. The Bowmont, on the 
 other hand, is here like a south country coarse-fish river, and
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEK. 45 
 
 looks more like a pike than a trout stream, resembling the Loddon 
 or Windrush, deep and quiet, with a stream at the turns here and 
 there. It was less red and more muddy than College : a coloured 
 water or smart breeze is, therefore; wanting on the Bowmont to 
 do much good. The fish in the two streams are as different as 
 the streams themselves : in College they are most abundant, and 
 it is nothing unusual to have three on your line at once ; and they 
 make but few sham rises, usually getting fast when they come at 
 the fly. They are very small, however, and one of half a pound 
 is not common. T have heard of twenty-four dozen of these fish 
 being taken between ten and four o'clock. The Bowmont fish 
 are nice chubby fellows, often running up to three-quarters of a 
 pound ; and on a fair day the angler may pick out half a dozen or 
 a dozen half-pounders, with one or two of a larger sample. They 
 often rise without taking, too the fish, from the nature of the 
 stream, being far better fed than in the College, and consequently 
 more dainty. 
 
 I did not get on so well at first on the Bowmont as my friend. 
 Out of compliment to me, or from some whim, he put up one of 
 my flies, and, rather to his astonishment, it began taking fish 
 fast. Finding this, I, after a time, was induced to try it too, 
 and I put up a smallish Francis, when I found its qualities quite 
 as much appreciated by the northern trout as by those in the 
 south ; and it did so well all that day and the next on Glen, 
 that I seldom afterwards fished without it, and I can fairly say 
 that I believe that it took a full half of all the fish I caught, and 
 certainly most of the best ones. The difficulty which even I 
 experience with regard to this fly is to get it properly tied. 
 Either the hackles are of a bad colour, the fly is over-hackled 
 and like a bottle-brush, or the body is as huge and fat as a moth's. 
 The fact is, like all flies, it should be varied slightly in size 
 and delicacy to suit the water. If the angler expects to go upon 
 fine low waters, and to fish with a fly as big as the top of his 
 thumb, and to catch fish, he deserves to fail, and should not 
 blame the fly (which may suit other waters well enough) if he
 
 46 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 does. I have seen flies which have been shown to me as speci- 
 mens of the Francis, which it was a disgrace to the tyer to send 
 out. 
 
 But to return to our sport. We fished up the Bowmont for 
 some distance, when, suddenly turning around I saw my com- 
 panion divested entirely of his clothes, and standing stark naked, 
 like Adonis, on the river brim, in the drizzling rain. At first I 
 naturally concluded that he was suddenly overcome with some 
 species of mania, and had become a piscatorial Nebuchadnezzar ; 
 but I was soon reassured. He had been catching fish rather fast, 
 and, the wind being high, and the stream rather bushy and foul 
 on the far side, he had had the bad luck to get hung up two or 
 three times, and on each occasion lost fine new casting-lines, 
 flies and all. The last occasion had taken his only remaining 
 cast, so he suddenly resolved to re-collect his lost lines, and, with 
 the decision and promptness which characterises him, at once 
 slipped off his toggery and went in, as there was no other means 
 of getting across. Now a bath in July is nothing very out of the 
 way ; but such a July as this has been here I a shaving wind 
 and sleeting rain ! " a raw and gusty day, the troubled Bowmont 
 chafing with its shores," it required a little strong persuasion to 
 face it. Mr. T. was some years since master of an excellent 
 pack of otter hounds, which he hunted himself over all the 
 numerous streams in this neighbourhood most assiduously and 
 successfully ; and therefore a jump into a pool was to him a 
 mere matter of course. So, in he went, and, like Caesar and 
 Cassius, he "did buffet it with lusty sinews," and the first line 
 was gathered. The others were some distance off, about a quarter 
 of a mile down stream ; and, dripping like a Naiad, or rather a 
 Triton, he reappeared in puris naturalibus on the river-bank. Off 
 he started down the bank over the grass land, to the utter 
 amazement and horror of the cows, which grazed thickly there- 
 anent. They had never seen such a thing before. What was 
 this pale ghost that came skimming along the river-side over the 
 greensward towards them ? Nearer comes the spectre, and nearer
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 47 
 
 yet! They cannot stand it a mighty terror seizes them. Bogey 
 or Jumbo is before them ! Like the negroes, they evidently 
 believe their devil is white, and the word was clearly passed that 
 there was a white devil in the coo-haugh. Vade retro, Sathanas! 
 and every cow turns tail, and, with heads down and tails up, they 
 scour the far pastures in an awful state of mind. I believe my 
 friend must have ruined all the milk for that day. But the 
 other lines are collected, and T., all the fresher for his bath, is 
 soon dressed and at it again. The fish rose but middlingly ; 
 altogether we managed to bag some four or five dozen, though 
 I doubt if there was a fish of half a pound among them. 
 
 Having fished up the Bowmont for some distance, and seeing 
 several fishermen making to the river, we resolved to leave it and 
 take a look at the College, where there was some pretty scenery 
 to see ; so off we started. The water being too thick certainly 
 for fly-fishing, we did not waste much time in casting, but 
 scrambled along a gorge between the lofty hills on either hand ; 
 until the ground taking a sudden rise, the stream came out from 
 a throat below, under the shade of hazels and ferns, black as ink, 
 and inclosed, like the Thrum at Rothbury, between narrow walls 
 of rock, save that these walls were in places some forty or fifty 
 feet deep ; a succession of falls or linns dashing along one over 
 the other in the deep dark gulf below, from which the spray rose 
 thickly ; many sorts of ferns and foliage of various kinds hanging 
 lovingly over the spot, which is called Heathpool Linns. Burns 
 has aptly described it, or a spot evidently very like it, in the Birks 
 o' Aberfeldy : 
 
 Bonnie lassie, will ye go to the Birks o' Aberfeldy ? 
 
 The braes ascend like lofty wa's, 
 
 The foaming stream deep roaring fa's, 
 
 O'erhung wi' fragrant spreading shaws, 
 
 The Birks o' Aberfeldy. 
 
 Bonnie lassie, will ye go to the Birks o' Aberfeldy ? 
 The hoary cliffs are crowned wi' flowers, 
 While o'er the linns the burnie pours, 
 That rising weets wi' misty showers 
 The Birks o' Aberfeldy.
 
 48 BT LAKE AND EiVEH. 
 
 It was, in truth, a charming spot in the very heart of the grane 
 old Cheviots. It is easily got at, too, being close to a farmhouse, 
 so that it is a great resort for pic-nics ; and the only thing that 
 spoilt the romance of the place (and it did spoil it) was the 
 debris of a huge salad that had but lately been made there, for 
 some scores of lettuce-leaves and sundry bits of old newspaper 
 decorated and desecrated the spot. 
 
 We then turned us homewards, having a long walk of some 
 eight or nine miles before us over the shoulder of Yeavering Bell, 
 a curious hill of considerable height and singular shape, with some 
 peculiar remains, in the shape of a wide stone circle, Druidical or 
 otherwise, on the lofty summit. Tolerably wet through, we got 
 home at last, tired and washed out. The next day we made a 
 start for the water on the Glen at Coupland: The Coupland 
 Water, then held by the Earl of Durham, is a very pretty water. 
 It is well stocked with whitling, too, and the trout often run of a 
 fair size, from half a pound to a pound, or a pound and a half 
 even. Sometimes, of course, they are caught larger, but it is not 
 usual. The river has some capital holes for the whitling all the 
 way from Ewart-bridge up to the Cauld at Coupland. They are 
 occasionally taken above this, even up the Bowmont, as they can 
 get up above the Cauld by the mill-stream or in heavy floods. In 
 a good wind, or early and late in the day, they may be caught ; 
 but they took badly the year I was there. Our sport at starting 
 was indifferent, as the day was heavy and dull. We worked on 
 for a few fish up to a fine deep pool, called The Foxholes ; here 
 we rose a whitling or two, but the wind was not enough on the 
 pool to induce them to take. Indeed the pool is so overgrown and 
 shaded that but few winds do touch it. Just above the pool is a 
 nice rough stream, and out of this Mr. T. managed to coax a 
 niceish whitling. Just then heavy thunder amongst the hills 
 commenced, accounting for the sluggishness of the fish, and in 
 about half an hour it obliged us to leave off fishing and take refuge 
 in the keeper's cottage : the rain was very heavy. In the evening 
 (after looking over the kennel, and praising the condition of
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 49 
 
 the pointers, which looked creditably fit for work) the weather 
 having cleared, we recommenced fishing. In the rough stream 
 above The Foxholes I picked up some good fish, and tried 
 hard for a huge fellow of 8lb. or 91b., a bull trout, I think, 
 which I saw feeding ; but I had had a rise at the fly near 
 about the same spot previously and missed it, and I 
 fancied, as this fish persistently refused it, that I had risen 
 and missed him. I got three nice trout of about a 
 pound each, and a whitling ; and besides these we had taken 
 only about three dozen, of which perhaps a dozen were 
 from a quarter to half a pound. The stream is here swarm- 
 ing with white trout or whitling fry, which are exceedingly 
 troublesome to those who don't bag them, which is rather too 
 much the practice on these northern streams, neither size nor 
 sort being any safeguard from the creel, and smelts or trout of 
 eight or ten to the pound are reckoned as " all fish that come 
 to net." I could not make up my mind to kill the whitling fry, 
 and so was much bothered frequently to get them off, or be rid 
 of them ; for they would keep rising, and, in spite of my not 
 striking, often hooked themselves, and took up valuable time. 
 
 The heavy rain had so swamped the high grass, rushes, 
 nettles, &c., which grow thickly here on the river bank, that we 
 were well soaked again, at least up to the middle, before we 
 reached the turnpike road once more, and it was late before, 
 tired and wet, we reached home. On reaching home, I found, 
 on looking at my landing handle, that the boy who carried it 
 had managed to lose the brass screw at the butt end, and the 
 two spare tops which the handle contained. I was much vexed 
 at this, as, if the tops were lost, one of my best and most useful 
 rods was placed hors de combat. Fortunately, however, the 
 miller's man picked up both the tops and the brass butt screw, 
 which is rather a large one of some inch and a half in diameter. 
 There is a good joke in connection with this which, although a little 
 at my own expense, I cannot refrain from relating. The miller's 
 man brought back the tops to my friend T. ; I was away at the
 
 50 BY LAKE AND E1VEB. 
 
 time. He handed them over, saying, " Hey, sir ! but a'm no sur- 
 prised at the jontleman losing the taps, or ony thing else, for d'ye 
 ken joost forbye them a' picked up the screw-tap o' a muckle 
 whusky flask ; an na doot but the jontleman '11 have been awfu* 
 fou ! " and he produced the large brass screw of the landing- 
 handle, which would have argued a muckle flask indeed had it 
 pertained to one, being, although of the same shape, about four 
 times the usual size of the screw -taps to the whisky-flasks.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 51 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 EWART BRIDGE WHITLINQ FLODDEN FIELD THE TILL AT 
 ETAL MID-DAY MUSINGS DANGEROUS WADING. 
 
 I HAD my journal to write up, and was rather tired with long 
 walks, hard flogging, and repeated wettings, and resolved to have 
 a day in for rest, but towards evening it looked tempting, and, 
 taking our rods, Mr. Thompson and myself sallied forth to try 
 the river by the Ewart bridge. Arrived at the river side, T. 
 found that he had left one of the joints of his rod at home, and, 
 substituted one of another rod, which did not fit; of course, this 
 put out his chance of fishing. So I went to work solus. At the 
 first pool I tried I rose a couple of whitling, and lost my fly in 
 one of them. The trout, however, did not rise well, and beyond 
 a bare half-dozen, I did little till I came to the Ewart bridge 
 pool ; here I got a fine whitling of about 21b, almost fresh run, 
 as I should judge. He had had a terrible mauling in the nets, 
 having escaped with a severe scraping. 
 
 I rose another fish or two, and touched one, but got no more 
 whitling, although I caught a very nice trout of about 1 jib., a 
 well-fed, handsome fish ; and, as it was getting towards dark, we 
 turned us homewards. 
 
 The next day, thinking that the Till would be in good 
 order, we went down to it, resolving to fish it down to the 
 mouth of the Glen ; on arriving at it, however, we found it 
 rather thick for the fly, and set to work with the minnow. I 
 rose several whitling to the minnow, but could not get hold of 
 them. I picked up a nice trout or two, but the day got windy 
 and - more windy, and the river came down thicker and thicker, 
 
 E 2
 
 52 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 until the trout went off altogether. We got about eight or ten 
 fish only true, they were all good fish, one which Mr. 
 Thompson took being l-|lb. The Till here is a dull, sluggish 
 river in places, but there are nice streams in it. It winds 
 about in the most abrupt turns, and when there is a breeze on 
 it, or a little water in it, it gives fine trout, though rather 
 reluctantly. It would suit admirably for the introduction of 
 grayling, which would be a great acquisition to it. The river 
 flows over rich meadow land, and the banks abound in food, 
 and this accounts for the fine size and condition of the trout, 
 and also for their disinclination to take the hook. The Till trout 
 are certainly (with the exception of the Tweed, of course) the 
 finest fish in this part of the country, being fat, brilliant, well- 
 fed fellows, running from lib. to 21b., from -|lb. to fib. being 
 about the average when the fish are taking. They are very shy, 
 and want much coaxing, however, in a general way. 
 
 We determined to take the next day on the Coupland water, 
 as the stream was getting low, so, instead of fishing the lower 
 water (being anxious to try our hands at the whitling), we drove 
 at once to the pools below Coupland. Tackle was soon together, 
 and I had hardly made three casts on the pool below the bridge 
 when I had hold of a nice whitling, which danced about merrily 
 for half a minute, when he danced himself off. A little dis- 
 gusted at the opening of the day, I fished on, determined not to 
 let the next one off so easily, if I was so far favoured ; and in 
 half a dozen throws I held another, which gave some good sport 
 on my light rod before he was basketed. I rose one or two in 
 the next pool, but the wind did not strike well, and they would 
 not buckle to. On the succeeding pool, however, I got another. 
 I had got hold of a few good trout, too, and the day did not 
 promise badly ; but the wind was a cross-wind, and, though 
 tolerably heavy, it only struck here and there. Towards the 
 afternoon and evening it blew a gale of wind again, but the 
 trout rose well, and I managed in the evening to fill my basket 
 with very nice trout. Indeed, this was the best day's sport I
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 53 
 
 had had, since I should think my basket held some 201b. of fish. 
 Many of them, too, were very sizable trout. My companion 
 thinking that the trout would not rise in such a heavy wind, 
 went down to the Foxholes pool, to try for whitling, three of 
 which he got hold of, but, for the want of a landing-net, he only 
 bagged one of them. Tolerably satisfied with the day's sport, 
 we shouldered our loads, lighted our pipes, and tramped home- 
 wards not wet through, for a wonder. 
 
 I had written to Lady Fitzclarence for permission to fish 
 the Till at Etal, and having received permission for a couple of 
 days, which were named on my card, I took a gig and drove 
 over. The drive is a pleasant one, passing by Coupland and 
 under the hill of Flodden. 
 
 The Field of Flodden, fatal Flodden ! is now cut up into a 
 good many fields. Hedges and ditches have broken its expanse, 
 and even Lord Marmion would have found a series of double 
 posts-and-rails a series of obstacles to the perfect manoeuvring 
 of the equites not easily to be got over. The first flight in 
 Leicestershire, in pink and velvet, might make a successful 
 charge upon Flodden now, but Chester and Stanley, Lennox and 
 Argyll, with iron pots on their heads, and twelve or thirteen 
 stone of iron on their backs, would inevitably charge into the 
 first bullfinch, with a yavvner as a take-off, and stick there. 
 
 Flodden is situated on a short ridge of low hills, from one 
 side of which Flodden edge the ground falls more gradually 
 than from the other, and here is where the brunt of the battle 
 was fought. Yonder, by that quarry, is the spot where King 
 James made his last stand, and fell pierced with wounds, two of 
 which at least were mortal, There, too, the little burn that 
 " Clare " sought to obtain water from, but which ran with 
 the blood of the combatants the people here say for four 
 days after. The blood of trout is the only sanguined fluid that 
 ever stains it now. See, there are a troup of mowers and merry 
 haymakers hard at work in one of the fields, thoughtless how a 
 grimmer mower and a feller haymaker has toiled upon that sod
 
 54 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 they now so lightly trip over ; and yet the plough has often 
 turned up one of the ripened stalks cut down and made by him, 
 in the shape of skull or thighbone. The story of Flodden 
 is briefly told. It was in the fair summer time of year in 
 which I am writing, somewhat better than three centuries and a 
 half ago, that King James crossed the border, with a large, well- 
 
 o * o 
 
 officered and well-found army. Henry the Eighth was in France, 
 and the command of the English forces fell upon the Earl of 
 Surrey and Lord Dacre. Sitting on a green hill just above 
 Wooler, a few years since, I traced the line of the English march, 
 and the positions occupied by each army. On the far left, upon 
 those three heights, encamped in a very strong position, lay. the 
 the Scotch army. To the right, on Wooler Haugh, lay the 
 English army. Finding that King James would not leave his 
 strong position, Surrey faced northwards, as if marching for 
 Berwick, crossed the Till by yonder picturesque old bridge, and, 
 keeping behind that high ground by Doddington, marched on as 
 if for Scotland, until he reached Barmoor ; encamped there the 
 night, and then changing his route, instead of going to Berwick, 
 went to the north-west by Duddoe to Twizel-bridge, so as to 
 throw himself between the Scots and their country. He then 
 crossed the Till again at Twizel-bridge, unopposed by James, 
 crossed Pallinsburn, and met and fought the Scotch at Flodden- 
 edge. The result of the combat is well known. The loss of 
 the Scotch was frightful, and hardly a family in Scotland of 
 any consequence but had to mourn a relative. Words cannot 
 describe the closing of the scene better than Scott has : 
 
 Then did their loss his f oeman know ; 
 
 Their king, their lords, their mightiest" low, 
 
 They melted from the field as snow, 
 
 When streams are swoln and south winds blow, 
 
 Dissolves in silent dew. 
 
 Tweed's echoes heard the ceaseless plash, 
 
 While many a broken band, 
 Disordered, through her currents dash, 
 
 To gain the Scottish land ;
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 55 
 
 To town and tower, to down and dale, 
 To tell red Flodden's dismal tale, 
 And raise the universal wail. 
 Tradition, legend, tune, and song, 
 Shall many an age that wail prolong : 
 Still from the sire the son shall hear 
 Of the stern strife and carnage drear 
 
 Of Flodden's fatal field, 
 Where shivered was fair Scotland's spear, 
 
 And broken was her shield ! 
 
 But we pass another turnpike and pay another ninepence, turn 
 to look at the cauld at Ford, which sadly needs to be done away 
 with or greatly mitigated, and Etal comes in sight : it is but a 
 collection of neat little cottages, with one small roadside public- 
 house ; with Etal House, the seat of Lady Fitzclarence, over- 
 looking the village, and the remains of a fine old ruin, which I 
 had not time to inspect, at the other end of the village. The 
 hostess of the public either could not or would not take me in, 
 seeming, in answer to our queries, as if she did not want the 
 trouble ; so there was nothing for it but to try a village on the 
 other side of the river, and here I had no better success. On we 
 went again, about half a mile further ; and we found accommo- 
 dation at last at the Bell, at Cookham, a small roadside inn, 
 where the host was a relic, I suppose, of the celebrated English 
 billmen who fought at Flodden, as lie knew how to charge and 
 how to manipulate a bill, though they certainly did their best to 
 make the wandering angler comfortable. (N.B. If the angler 
 fills his flask with whatever he is in the habit of drinking, 
 before he takes refuge in these parts, he may perchance find it 
 very useful.) 
 
 I soon found my way to the river through the meadows, and 
 walked down about half a mile of still, deep water, which is un- 
 deniable pike water. Soon I reached Etal, and here the principal 
 pool between the two mills was reserved for her Ladyship's friends. 
 Below the Barley Mill is some fine-looking water alternate 
 streams and deep pools. I commenced fishing it down, having
 
 56 BY LAKE AND E1VER. 
 
 on a light trout-cast, with a good whitling fly at the end. I had 
 but fished half-way down the pool, when a great boil came up 
 in the middle of the dead water. " A salmon or a large bull- 
 trout, by all that's lucky ! " thought I, and in my excitement I 
 forgot the light trout-cast, and stuck it into him. The gut was 
 as fine as hair, and he carried it all away. It was peculiarly 
 exasperating, being the first and only rise of any kind I had had. 
 Down I sat, in no very contented frame of mind, and put up 
 another cast ; but, hoping soon to make up for the accident, and 
 auguring well from this rise, I went to work again reassured, 
 and counting on fair sport. But " man never is, but always to 
 be blest," and I reckoned without my host, for, although I fished 
 on till dark, I did not rise another respectable fish, and I only 
 got two or three small trout altogether. One pool a somewhat 
 shallow one, about a half mile or better below the mill was 
 alive with whitling, which was sheering about all over it, but 
 would not look at a fly. I tried this pool again and again, but 
 it was quite useless. Although the river was coloured slightly, 
 it was low, and the water was full of filthy green slime. I 
 could hardly make a cast without getting my hooks smothered 
 in it, and it was precisely in these slimy spots that the 
 best fish appeared to take delight in lying, for when I came 
 by any of these spots, half a dozen or a dozen good trout 
 would rush away into the stream, returning again as soon as 
 I was well away. After trying till evening in vain, I turned 
 homewards. 
 
 I made an early start of it after breakfast the next morning, 
 determined to give the water a good trial. The day was not so 
 favourable as could have been wished, being heavy and dull, with 
 now and then bright sun and not much wind ; and what little 
 there was of it in a bad airt. I met the keeper, who was fishing 
 when I got to the river, but who had done nothing, and did 
 nothing while I was with him. He was a very good fisherman, 
 throwing his fly like a master, and, of course, knowing the river 
 and the flies that suited it well. It struck rne, however, that his
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 57 
 
 rod could very well have been dispensed with, as I had the day, 
 and he knew it. From his want of success, I did not anticipate 
 any great amount of sport myself; but I walked on below him, 
 and tried my hand. For some time not a single fin of any kind 
 could I raise. There was something more than usual in the 
 weather to keep them down so ; Till trout are at all times kittle 
 fellows to get hold of, but to-day they seemed nailed to the 
 bottom. But what I lost in the fishing was made up by the 
 beauty of the scenery. The Till here runs in a sort of deep 
 ravine, beautifully wooded with magnificent ash trees, inter- 
 spersed with oak, larch, and other firs. 
 
 I sit at midday under a bank, overhung with shady hazels 
 and waving ferns of various kinds, the river flowing quietly by at 
 my feet. Under the deep shade of an overhanging branch upon 
 the further side rises a cautious old trout, the only one rising in 
 the pool. See how quietly the old gentleman comes up, sucking 
 down an unlucky caterpillar or blundering beetle that has lost 
 his foothold on the twig above. How like an usurer in his den 
 the old scoundrel waits and watches his victims as they drop 
 into the down stream of discount, until, hopeless and helpless, 
 they descend into that Avernus, that limbo of a maw of his. 
 " Throw a fly to him," say you ? Throw your hat to him throw 
 your basket or your boots to him ! Throw a lame duck to Levi, 
 Levi, and Levi, of Westburnia, Spring-gardens, Mincing-lane, 
 Cursitor-street, and Heaven (or the other place, more probably) 
 knows where else. No, no ! In the first place, my good friend, 
 he is unapproachable. You can't get your fly to him, throw 
 how you will. The eddy outside the bough will sweep it away 
 long before he can see it. Let him alone let him run his 
 course let him fatten ; the inevitable law will hook him some 
 day, never fear. Perhaps the next flood or the one after, when 
 he is improving the occasion, and making a grand coup, some 
 minnow or worm, fatter and more tempting than usual, may lead 
 him to his fate ; but to-day is not the day, so be content. And 
 look at that water-rat, sitting on a stump trimming his whiskers,
 
 58 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 like a buck as he is. His little black eye glistening towards you r 
 you think he doesn't see you ; but make a feint to get up, and 
 "flop;" you see he is off, and that line of bubbles down 
 stream marks his progress to some favourite lair. Yonder deep, 
 still pool is a favourite haunt for huge pike, they say, and you 
 can easily credit it. Twenty-pounders might lie perdu and un- 
 suspected in it. It is a good haunt, too, for the robber otter 
 now, with his cousin, sly Eeynard, the only robbers on the border 
 whom the wardens of the Marches marshal their forces against. 
 "Tak two coos, Tammy; tak two coos,"* goes the wood-pigeon 
 in all directions, far and near, for it abounds here ; and the soft 
 dulcet note gives an air of repose and calm to the spot which 
 renders it difficult to leave. But the luncheon of hard-boiled 
 eggs is finished, and, after a sup of the flask, I am up and at 
 work again. Before leaving this point of luncheon, I want to 
 give a hint to brother sportsmen. Hard-boiled eggs are capital 
 things for lunch, but there is one thing that is better, and that 
 is a cold mutton chop. Have some cooked for breakfast, and 
 put up a couple for lunch. Cut meat gets dry and tasteless, and 
 sandwiches become like unto a sheet of pickled blotting-paper 
 bound in boards ; but a cold, uncut, succulent mutton chop is 
 not to be improved on in the way of luncheon. To those who 
 doubt it, I say try it. 
 
 The day improved a little, a fresh wind got up, and I began 
 picking up some nice chubby little trout. On my way down I 
 had tried the pool for the whitling again, but with just as much 
 
 * This curious and capital interpretation or rendering of the wood- 
 pigeon's note is thus accounted for in these parts. One Tammy Something - 
 or-the-other went out one night to drive (steal) a cow. He had succeeded 
 in his errand, and was making off with his booty, when passing under a 
 tree, a wood-pigeon began his note, which, to the excited ear of the Bor- 
 derer, said as plainly as bird could say it, " Tak two coos, Tammy ; tak 
 two coos." Roman augur could hardly have had more faith in birds than 
 Tammy. " Hey, noo, and what's that ?" said Tammy. " Tak two coos, 
 Tammy ; tak two coos." " A dunna but what a-weel," said Tarn ; " as 
 weel be hangit for twa as ane ;" and he went back for another, got caught 
 thereby and was hangit, and laid the blame on the pigeon. The geese 
 saved Rome, and the pigeon hanged Tammy.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 59 
 
 success as on the preceding evening. They flew about all over 
 the pool the moment a fly was shown them. One or two 
 other pools lower down the river, of a similar kind, I tried with 
 like success. The whitling declined the honour of my acquaint- 
 ance totally. There was not wind enough, and the water was 
 in very bad order. 
 
 One point I cannot forbear noticing, and that is with 
 regard to the wading in Till, and my advice to all anglers is 
 always when wading it look to your footing. There is a good 
 deal of truth in the ghastly old rhyme which has so often been 
 quoted : 
 
 Says Tweed to Till, 
 
 What gars ye rin sa still ? 
 
 Says Till to Tweed, 
 
 Tho' ye rin we speed. 
 
 An I rin slaw, 
 
 Where ye droon ae mon 
 
 I droon twa ; 
 
 and to the appreciative eye Till has a most deucedly felo-de-se-ish 
 look about it. There are constantly shifting beds caused by 
 heavy and sudden spates and a loose soil, deep holes, and bends 
 with hollow banks set with jagged stakes that look like monstrous 
 teeth fanged like the mouth of the Jabberwock, and nasty cur- 
 rents, and swirly holes to drive you into them. I was wading 
 along fishing a pool little better than half knee-deep where I was 
 wading. I had walked down it about fifty or sixty yards, when, 
 suddenly looking down, there at my feet was a black profound deep, 
 where a sudden ledge of rock like a watery crevasse sunk down 
 before me in a horribly abrupt and unexpected way, not eighteen 
 inches from my feet. It was the merest chance that I looked 
 down, because I was fishing the bushes on the opposite bank, 
 where there was a suspicious dimple or two now and then. 
 Another step and I should have found myself floundering about 
 amongst the pikes and Lurlines of the Till, in twenty feet of 
 water, and if I had not been able to swim, or even being able 
 to with heavy wading boots and a lot of baskets and impediments
 
 60 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 
 
 hung all round me, I might not have been able to get out so 
 easily. I need not say that I backed out of the position with the 
 most judicious caution, and as I went along the bank a disagreeable 
 refrain rang in my ears : 
 
 Good Inck to your fishing ! Whom watch ye to night ? 
 * * * * # 
 
 For a blue swollen corpse is a dainty meal, 
 And I'll have my share with the pike and eel. 
 
 I felt like Father Philip after his escape from the kelpy, and sat 
 down, smoked another pipe, and picked out a fresh fly. But it was 
 all no use, the weather was dead against me, and after all I got 
 about a dozen trout, when the evening became sultry, and heavy 
 peals of thunder behind me came rolling up ; anon, a loud crashing 
 in the opposite direction, away towards Flodden and Yeavering 
 Bell, announced that the storm was all round. The heavens grew 
 darker and darker, and I had some two or three miles to walk 
 to the inn ; I was in hopes of being able to get there before 
 the rain came on, but did not succeed, for before I was half-way 
 it came down like a water-spout, and long before I reached it I 
 was soaked to the skin once more. On the way home, walking 
 along the side of the river, I saw a flash of lightning descend into 
 the field on the other bank of the stream, about fifteen or twenty 
 yards from me ; I saw the place where it entered the earth a 
 slight cloud of blueish smoke, about as much as one puffs from 
 a pipe, slowly ascended from the spot. It was perfectly calm and 
 still at the time. The storm being some miles from me, no 
 thunder accompanied the flash. Of course the storm (which soon 
 passed off, though the rain held on all night) accounted for the 
 disinclination of the fish to move : though the water was in very 
 bad order, and would not have fished well had the weather been 
 ever so favourable. The Till here is a fine large river, in alternate 
 stream and pool ; some of it forms very nice trout water, but much 
 of it is mere dead, dull pike water, and I am rather inclined to 
 think that the pike and otters don't allow the water to become
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 61 
 
 overstocked. At times, I believe very good sport is had, but it 
 did not fall to my lot. 
 
 A friend who was passing from Coldstream to Wooler gave me 
 a lift so far in his vehicle, and at Wooler I got the coach back 
 to Alnwick.
 
 62 BY LAKE AND EIVEK. 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 ALNEMOUTH NATURAL UPHOLSTERY HULNE ABBEY THE 
 ALNE MIDGES WEIRS, &c. 
 
 IT was the seaside season. Alnemouth, as a watering-place 
 is, of all the places I ever saw, the best contrived one for 
 the full and thorough enjoyment of the delights of laziness. 
 " The delights of laziness ? " methinks I hear a reader exclaim. 
 Ay, my very dear sir ! I repeat the phrase : The delights of 
 laziness ! Alnemouth is a village, on the sea-shore, with some 
 bettermost houses on the outskirts which the gentry resort to ; 
 it is some three or four miles from Alnwick, whence a railway 
 runs to within a mile of it. The beach at Alnemouth is a long 
 flat waste of delightfully uninteresting sands. Above the beach, 
 and amalgamating with it as it were, is a plateau of sand- 
 hummocks covered with long thick, wire-grass. Bounding this 
 inland, again, is a sloping cliff or high bank, covered with fern, 
 with terraced walks along it and seats. There was no yachting, 
 no fishing, only the herring fleet at anchor a long way off ; no 
 old men with spy-glasses to bore you to look at things ; no 
 pebbles to excite you into action, such as making good shots at 
 the water with them. The sparsest amount of crinoline ; very- 
 few of poor Leech's boots and petticoats, while nursery -maids and 
 "their charges were as scarce as plums in a school " stick-jaw." 
 Only one bathing machine was visible and here I make a point 
 at fair game. Why a man should undergo that unpleasant 
 process of encrusting his frame with unwholesome salts, I cannot 
 -conceive. Is it pleasure to step upon hard, angular or rounded 
 pebbles of aggravating and laming tendencies, in the cold wind
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 63 
 
 or blistering sun ? Is it pleasant to have your eyes, nose, and 
 ears filled nay, saturated, with the bitterest, most acrid, and 
 filthy to the taste of all nature's compounds ? and is that 
 compound improved by swallowing half-a-pint of it at a time 
 through the medium of those passages ? As for its being in- 
 vigorating, I am not much of a chemist, but I should like to 
 know how pickling a man can invigorate him, or make him 
 better or stronger. If he wants to wash, let him wash in clean 
 fresh water ; already his body is naturally encrusted with filth, 
 and upon what principle of invigoration or health does he 
 encrust it still further ? I always feel horribly languid and tired 
 after sea-bathing ; but some people bear an extra greatcoat better 
 than others, I suppose. 
 
 But to return to Alnemouth. There was a very moderate 
 amount of bathing at least there was none on the day when 
 I was there ; and in fact there really was, as far as I could make 
 out, nothing to do or see, and nothing whatever to distract one. 
 So the devotee to laziness has but to smoke his pipe all day in 
 the open air, and, in the most comfortable attitude he can 
 assume, to enjoy himself. Does he incline to the perfectly prone 
 position ? there is a stretch of sand that an army might lie 
 down upon. Is he particular in the choice of a couch ? let him 
 come with me up amongst the hummocks where the rank grass 
 and ferns are, and there I will be his cicisbeo, his ready 
 attendant, and will give him the choice of a hundred thousand 
 couches, of all possible shapes and dimensions, and no two alike. 
 There they are, nature's couches ; this is her show-room, and 
 nature is a more cunning upholsterer than Gillow himself, mark 
 you. My visitor likes a couch, mayhap, with a rounded dip in 
 the middle, a soft cushion of grass about the small of the back, 
 a broad flat of sand for the shoulders, and a slightly elevated 
 tump for the head, with fern on it to nestle in he shall be 
 suited. Then there must be a sand lump to raise the knee over, 
 with perhaps a bunch of grass atop, so that the legs may dangle 
 loosely and lightly and springily on the other side. Well, there
 
 64 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 it is. " Out of the wind, sir ? " Yes, sir ; on that side ; there, 
 if you please. Not a wind that can blow that you cannot get 
 shelter from here, sir. Observe, hummocks on all sides ; and, 
 unless the wind blows straight down from heaven (which it does 
 not do here, sir, whatever it may do in foreign parts), you are 
 safe from it. Does my visitor tire of his couch ? does he desire 
 one a little more extended ? a little flatter or higher, perhaps, 
 with a better or a different view of the sea ? He has not even 
 to get up and look for it. Let him simply exert himself so far 
 as to turn over. This does not sound easy ; but I assure him 
 that practice makes perfect, and when he has once really made 
 up his mind to it, I do further assure him that the effort 
 required is a very slight one, indeed not nearly so great as that 
 of getting up. Is he stout, and to an extent protuberant ? it is 
 unimportant he will find the soft sand and the hollows between 
 the grass tumps very accommodating. Does his new couch not 
 quite suit him ? While his hand is in, he has but to turn over 
 again "'tis as easy as lying." If he is very difficult to please, 
 then I repudiate him altogether, as not in a fit frame of mind to 
 enjoy properly the delights of laziness. See him on his couch. 
 If that be well chosen, every limb is free and resting, and he has 
 no difficulty in getting at the materials for filling and lighting 
 his pipe. How slowly and methodically nay, how perfectly 
 that pipe is filled. There are no plugs or lumps in that tobacco, 
 but when the pipe is lighted it smokes like a chibouk. The 
 rings of smoke curl upwards, expanding as they go, until, 
 reaching above the level of the sand hill, the light breeze catches 
 them, and they become blue air. It does not rouse or excite the 
 nerves at all to watch them. There is no variety to speak of ; 
 one is so much like another that even the organs of comparison 
 are not called into play. The soft summer wind just gently 
 soughs through the long yielding grass overhead. The glorious 
 sunshine wavers on the grey sands in a misty, undefined manner, 
 somewhat after the fashion of the water-mark on the back of an 
 old, brown bank-note. The wavelets follow one another with a
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 65 
 
 tiny wash upon the sands, barely to be distinguished in the 
 hot hum of mid-day. You feel the ocean rather than hear it. 
 "The sea," too, "is as calm as an infant's sleep." So much for 
 the pleasures of Alnemouth. 
 
 I had procured from Mr. Holland, the Constable of Alnwick 
 Castle, from whom I received many acts of politeness, leave to 
 fish the Alne in Hulne Park, and on the day after my visit to 
 Alnemouth availed myself of his permission. The day was toler- 
 ably favourable, and I made a start to the water above Hulne 
 Abbey ; but I got away rather late, so that I did not reach the 
 river before mid-day. The walk to Hulne Abbey through the 
 park is really a beautiful one; I have never seen one to equal 
 it a pretty river, a sward like velvet, a perfect arboretum of 
 foliage, with plenty of interesting remains in the way of ruins, 
 combined to render it agreeable. The park is very well kept 
 and laid out, and the views are charming. I did not visit 
 Hulne Abbey on this occasion, though I did so subsequently. 
 Hulne Abbey, now a picturesque ruin, where you can be accom- 
 modated with tea and cakes at Is. per head, was the first Car- 
 melite monastery founded in England. It was founded by Ealph 
 Fresborne in 1240, he having brought the monks from Palestine 
 and settled them in a wilderness which at that time bore some 
 fancied resemblance to Mount Carmel. Fresborne became the 
 first abbot of the order. There are two magnificent pieces of 
 tapestry in one of the chambers, which are in better preserva- 
 tion than any I have ever seen elsewhere. The abbey is now 
 so hidden by the surrounding trees that it is not seen until the 
 visitor comes close upon it. Just below it runs the Alne 
 a pretty little river, though somewhat dull and dead in parts, 
 so that it always requires a wind to do much good in it. The 
 fish in this part of the river do not run very large. Some 
 years since a coal mine broke out into a small tributary 
 brook which runs into the Alne at the head of the Duke's 
 property, and the water killed the whole of the fish in this part 
 of the river. The fish do not run above four or five to the pound,
 
 66 BY LAKE AND BIVER. 
 
 a lialf-pounder being rather unusual, I should think, where I 
 fished (above Hulne Abbey). I might perhaps have hooked one 
 in some five or six dozen fish. Higher up, however, above the 
 brook referred to, the fish run of a much better size |lb. and 
 lib. being not uncommon. 
 
 I commenced upon a deepish little pool above the bridge, on 
 which there was a good breeze, and immediately began to catch 
 fish ; and I did not quit the pool until a dozen and a half of nice 
 little trout lay in the bottom of my creel. They nearly all took 
 the red spinner, but they rose very shyly, often coming up two 
 and three times before they seized the fly. From the sport 
 I had in this pool I augured a big day ; but somehow one is 
 always wrong in one's auguries about fishing. As I went up, 
 I found the river give fish much less readily. One or two 
 streams and pools I fished for nothing, and they looked favourable 
 ones too. However, I kept on working away now catching fish, 
 now missing or losing them ; but never wanting the landing-net 
 I was sorry to find, although I certainly lost some of the best 
 ones in weighing them out as I did. I kept on getting a fish or 
 two every here and there, and as I got towards the head of the 
 park I found my creel growing heavyish ; and having reached 
 the little brook which carried the efflux of the coal mine above 
 spoken of to the river, and which was thick and of an unwhole- 
 some-looking colour even then, I turned on my tracks, crossed the 
 river, and fished back again to the bridge from the other bank of 
 the river. The wind went down rather, and I did not get many 
 fish on my way back. Moreover, the midges now became not 
 only troublesome, but something infernal ; and, in spite of my 
 smoking furiously to drive them away, they visited my eyes, 
 nose, ears, and forehead in a fashion that left large bumps upon 
 them for a day or two. I slapped and I rubbed, I smoked and 
 blessed the varmint, all ineffectually fishing away meanwhile for 
 few fish, with savage energy. I visited the Alne here subsequently, 
 when these venomous little monsters were to the full as busy and 
 vicious. I attribute much of it to the fallen timber, a good deal
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 67 
 
 of which is scattered about in the shape of rotten branches and 
 dead wood, reduced almost to tinder, which, I fancy, forms a 
 favourable nest for them. 
 
 On looking over my creel I found I had between four and five 
 dozen of nice little trout in it, nearly all of a size, and if there 
 were very few large trout, there were not many very wee ones. 
 I lost the evening fishing, moreover, as I had nearly two miles to 
 walk to reach the gate by nine o'clock (the park gates closing at 
 that hour), or I might no doubt have done better. 
 
 A few sea-fish get up the Alne at times, I believe, and there 
 are below Hulne Abbey some long deep pools capable of holding 
 them, I should say. But the Duke has such a succession of 
 ornamental weirs, utterly impassable save in the very heaviest 
 floods, that the fish have no chance. Indeed the Duke's fishings 
 generally in this part of the world appear, by all accounts, to be 
 managed neither wisely nor well ; and he would greatly benefit 
 both himself and his neighbours if he let the fish have a some- 
 what freer run.* There is a bit or two of open water on the 
 lower Alne between Alnwick and the sea, and which gives some 
 fine trout at times, but it is of course a good deal fished. The 
 water is much more open, too, below Alnwick, and there are 
 several mills in the tails and heads of which good fish are often 
 met with. It will never be made into a salmon river, though 
 white trout would do well enough in place of the bull trout. 
 
 A song on the Coquet has been sent to me. It is from the 
 " Fisher's Garland." As it is well worth insertion, I append it, 
 though it is rather out of place. 
 
 TUNE. The Miller o' Dron. 
 Auld nature now revived seems, 
 
 Cauld winter's blasts are fled, 
 And freely flow the sunny streams 
 
 O'er Coquet's pebbly bed. 
 
 * All this has since been carried out, as most of the weirs on the Aliie 
 have had passes made over them, as may be seen in my work on " Salmon 
 Ladders," published at the Field office, in which plans and sections of all 
 the Alne passes are fully shown. 
 
 F 2
 
 
 68 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 The mellow thrush frae Dewshill Wood 
 
 Proclaims the dawn of day, 
 And to the Coquet' s crystal flood 
 
 The fisher wends his way. 
 
 CHORUS. 
 
 Then luck be to the angler lads, 
 
 Luck to the rod and line, 
 Wi' morn's first beams we'll wade the streams, 
 
 The night we'll wet wi' wine. 
 
 Nae mair we'll fish the coaly Tyne, 
 
 Nae mair the oozy Team, 
 Nae mair we'll try the sedgy Pont, 
 
 Or Derwent's woody stream. 
 But we'll awa' to Coquet side, 
 
 For Coquet bangs them a', 
 Whose winding streams so sweetly glide, 
 
 By Brinkburn's bonny Ha'. 
 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 And we'll prepare our limber gads, 
 
 Lang lines, and braw brass wheels, 
 We'll wile the trouties frae their hauda, 
 
 And soon fill a' our creels ; 
 We'll catch them here, we'll catch them there 
 
 Wi' mennim, bait, and flee, 
 We'll thousands kill wi' hook and hair 
 
 'Tween Thirlmoor and the sea. 
 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 At Weldon Brig there's wale o' wine, 
 
 If ye hae coin i' pocket ; 
 If ye can throw a heckle fine, 
 
 There's wale o' trouts i' Coquet. 
 And we will quaff the bluid-red wine, 
 
 Till Weldon' s wa's shall reel, 
 We'll drink success to hook and line, 
 
 And all wha bear the creel. 
 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 If ony Dolt our song that hears, 
 
 Abuse the rod and fly, 
 May he to pay him for his jeers 
 
 Have other fish to fry.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. '69 
 
 If ony Witling dare to lash 
 
 The lads wha make the cast, 
 May he, to pay him for his clash, 
 
 Dance in a line at last. 
 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 And ! in all their angling bouts, 
 
 On Coquet, Tyne, or Reed, 
 Whether for maidens or for trouts, 
 
 May anglers still succeed. 
 By Pont or Coquet, Tyne or Team, 
 
 In sunshine or in rain, 
 May fisher ne'er put foot in stream, 
 
 Or hand in purse, in vain. 
 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 The sun is on the mountain side, 
 
 The daisy on the sod, 
 The river sparkles in his pride 
 
 Then fishers take the rod, 
 Since summer streams begin to dart, 
 
 To streamy Weldon Post ; 
 And he shall have the lightest heart 
 
 Whose creel shall weigh the most. 
 Then luck, &c. 
 
 ED. ED.
 
 70 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE UPPEE TILL BEWICK BEIDGE CHILLINGHAM CASTLE 
 LOED TANKEBVILLE A NOVELTY RABBIT FISHING ECCE 
 ITERUM VIPEEA THE CHILLINGHAM WILD CATTLE THE 
 LOWEE ALNE THE KETTLES THE PIN WELL THE 
 HEDLEY Kow. 
 
 SOME days before I had written to the Earl of Tankerville to ask 
 permission to fish in his water on the Till, and on my return 
 from fishing I found a very kind note from him, not only granting 
 any permission I wanted, but inviting me to spend a few days with 
 him at Chillingham, and to fish the water from there ; and having 
 accepted the invitation, I started the next morning by the coach 
 for Chillingham. Chillingham is situated about two miles off 
 the road between Alnwick and Wooler ; and as the river, which 
 is the upper part of the Till, runs under the road at Bewick - 
 bridge, some five or six miles from Wooler, I determined, so as 
 not to lose a day, to get off the coach, and fish from the bridge 
 to the castle. The stream was rather low and the water bright, 
 while the sun came out every now and then in a way that made 
 success very doubtful ; occasionally there came a cloud and a little 
 wind, which I took advantage of, and I managed by about five 
 o'clock to get a nice dish of fish ; but they were hard to get, and 
 required very careful fishing, as for four fish that rose at the fly 
 scarcely one took hold. I worked on, however, until I got 
 within about a mile of the castle, when, not knowing the dinner 
 hour, I left off. The stream is pretty, though not large. There 
 are excellent trout in it ; I hooked two, which I lost, as they 
 took hold badly, both of which were above a pound. There are
 
 L'V LAKE AND EIVER. 71 
 
 a great many eels in the Chillingham water : looking over the 
 bridge the next day, I saw five or six of some half or three- 
 quarters of a pound each, and I should think a few eel baskets 
 would pay well ; but, as far as I could learn, eels are not much 
 sought after or regarded by any one in the north indeed, the 
 country people will rarely eat them. 
 
 Leaving the river, I walked through an avenue of noble trees 
 to the castle a fine old building of Elizabethan architecture, 
 with a spacious courtyard, through which you enter. It is 
 situated upon the slope of an eminence, surrounded by magnifi- 
 cent trees, and backed by woods, through which the deer and 
 the wild cattle, for which Chillingham is celebrated, roam un- 
 molested. These woods afford in the winter the best cock 
 shooting in the county. Lord Tankerville told me that above 
 thirty brace were killed in one of them in one day in the previous 
 season. The estate is generally well supplied with game of all 
 kinds, and I saw numbers of hand-reared pheasants running 
 about the park near the entrance. Far up above the slope, and 
 bounding the park in that direction, is a craggy hill, which can 
 be seen from all parts of the country, and on the top of which is 
 a round double entrenchment, called Eoss Castle, which is said to 
 be of Celtic origin, as the name would indicate, the word "ross " 
 signifying a promontory. Chillingham Castle from this aspect 
 .appears a long central building, with loftier wings at each end ; 
 these are thickly covered with ivy, which rounds them off, and 
 gives antiquity in its most graceful form to the appearance of 
 the castle. 
 
 I was very courteously and kindly received, and spent some 
 days at Chillingham very pleasantly. Lord Tankerville is very 
 fond of all field sports, and is one of the best shots in -the county, 
 and an enthusiastic deer-stalker to boot, as the numerous heads 
 and trophies of his skill, which grace the great dining-hall (an 
 apartment capable of dining some 300 or 400 people), indicate. 
 
 The next day, I went down to the river, Lord Tankerville 
 walking with me. The day was very bright and the river low,
 
 72 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 and there was at first but little wind, so that I did not expect in 
 a stream so sulky as Till usually is, to do much.* As I got on, 
 however, the wind mended, and I got a very nice basket of fish 
 indeed. There were between three and four dozen, and several 
 fish of half and three-quarters of a pound ; and, as on the day 
 previous, I lost some very fine fish, owing to their taking badly, 
 from the lowness of the water. Had the wind favoured me, 
 instead of having to cast right in the teeth of it, I am convinced 
 that, in spite of the low water and the bright sun, I should have 
 had a big day ; and, of course, as on the previous day, there was 
 no evening fishing, the dinner hour not admitting of it, or the 
 take, no doubt, would have been much larger. The Till trout are 
 very game fellows, coloured gold and silver, bedropped with crim- 
 son ; they are handsome fish, generally. There are few whitling 
 and not many pike in this part of the water. 
 
 I saw, while walking up the bank of the river, a very curious 
 thing. I would ask my angling friends if they ever angled for 
 rabbits ? if they ever caught a rabbit, for instance, when fly- 
 fishing ? I cannot account for the circumstance I am about to 
 relate, but leave it to speak for itself. 
 
 As I was fishing up stream, several yards above me I saw 
 something swaying about under water, which looked like a 
 drowned cat, hanging apparently by the neck. On coming up to 
 it, however, I discovered that it was a full-grown rabbit. I 
 thought at first that it had been snared, had broken the hold, and 
 somehow rolled into the water and got hung to a branch. 
 I called Lord Tankerville's attention to it, when he got a long 
 stick, and between us we " howked " the beast out, and I found 
 that it had literally been caught by an artificial fly, it having 
 
 * It is generally considered that whatever one does on the Till here is 
 equal, as a matter of skill and credit, to killing double as much on Glen 
 or Breamish, so much easier are fish to kill on those rivers ; and yet 
 Breamish and Till are the same river, and separated from one another 
 by a bridge only. Below Bewick-bridge the stream is Till, above it, 
 Breamish ; and the fish, also, within a very short distance, are said to 
 differ in their habits and peculiarities.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 73 
 
 been hooked in the shoulder by a fly which was the stretcher on 
 a fly-cast, the bob fly being entangled round the branch of a tree 
 that grew out under the water. The straining of the skin out 
 from the hook showed that the rabbit had used some severe 
 exertions to get free, though fruitlessly. We got both the flies 
 off. They were in good order. The rabbit had apparently been 
 in the water some two or perhaps three days ; how it got hooked 
 and in that position I cannot say. There are very few rabbits 
 indeed about that part ; and had anyone fishing there got his 
 cast hung in this branch, he could easily have got hold of the 
 branch and disengaged it. The cast, too, was quite a stranger ; 
 the flies not being at all such as are generally used on the river 
 there, being of much larger size, and more like lake-trout flies. 
 The river is closely preserved and watched, and is never fished 
 save by his lordship and his visitors or friends. I have 
 thought it over a good deal, but confess myself unable to solve 
 this rabbit-angling satisfactorily. We confiscated the flies, but 
 left the rabbit to the gleds. 
 
 The river here, though it holds very good fish, yet runs down 
 so fine that at times fishing is hopeless, and whitling do not stay 
 much in it. It struck me that if at the end of some of the 
 pools where they are favourable to it, slight weirs of rough brush 
 and stakes could be constructed, or big stones were laid across, so 
 as to keep up an extra depth of some five or six inches, the river 
 might be greatly improved. The floods in the winter are heavy, 
 and of course would, without some little circumspection and 
 management, wash away any obstruction which was too much 
 opposed to them. Still the experiment might be tried with a few 
 stakes and wattles, at a very trifling cost indeed. 
 
 In the course of the afternoon Lord Tankerville left me to go 
 snake-hunting, and when he came home he brought with him a 
 large black adder which he had destroyed, of above two feet in 
 length. It was, in truth, a venomous-looking beast. There is a 
 curious circumstance connected with it : Some time since, our 
 friend Mr. Buckland, stopping at Ohillingham, en prissant, to have
 
 74 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 n. look at the cattle, was during his walk in the park conducted 
 over a sunny knoll, which attracted his attention somewhat. 
 "What a delightful place Don't you find lots of snakes here ?" 
 he asked with that enthusiasm for natural history, and particularly 
 snakes, which even the "linked sweetness long drawn out" of the 
 great viper question has been quite unable to dispel, or even to 
 check in the slightest degree though I confess I have wished 
 more than once, that like the celebrated Indian acrobats Muley. 
 Hassan, and Aali, who threw flip-jacks and swallowed each other, 
 the last man throwing a flip-jack and swallowing himself, that 
 the vipers, after swallowing each other, could and would leave a 
 residuary legatee viper to all the rest, who might be induced to 
 complete the feat, and so make an end of it " Don't you find 
 lots of snakes here ? " asked our friend. His lordship opined 
 that there might be snakes there, he couldn't undertake to say, 
 but he would notice the spot more closely at the right season. 
 A day or two previously he had happened, while crossing the 
 knoll, to remember the circumstance, and looking about he 
 chanced upon the newly-cast exuviae of a large viper. Thinking 
 that the owner could not be far off, he determined on the first 
 sunny day, when the snake was likely to show out, to go forth 
 and do battle with "the Laidley Worm " and the day in question 
 being favourable, he went to the spot, found the adder and killed 
 it, thus verifying Mr. Buckland's expectations and experience. 
 
 On the day after the fishing I went out with Lord Tankerville 
 to have a peep at the park and a look at the wild cattle. The 
 wild cattle are the specialite of Chillingham. Much has been 
 written and said of the Chillingham wild cattle, and there is no 
 doubt that they are the last remnant of the large herds of cattle 
 that once roamed free and unrestrained through the southern 
 wilds and forests of Caledonia ; as the country became enclosed 
 and tilled, they gradually disappeared, a few at last only 
 remaining in one or two places where they had been confined, 
 amongst which was Chillingham, and this herd of about 100 head 
 are now the only pure-blooded representatives of the original wild
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 75 
 
 cattle. As regards their wildness, they are as wild as ever they 
 were, and will not allow any one to approach them. If a man 
 appears in sight near them, the herd immediately take to violent 
 flight, and for this reason it is a great favour for strangers to be 
 permitted to see them. Some of the cows often have calves by 
 their sides, and when they are frightened they rush off in a 
 stampede to their holdfast, a place called Eobin Hood's bog, 
 where they are never followed or molested. In going under the 
 trees it often happens that the whole herd, in their mad race, will 
 attempt to pass between a couple of large trees, much too close 
 together for them to pass ; a jam then takes place, in which the 
 calves are inevitably crushed to death ; and as they are very easily 
 stampeded, the scent of a man being at times enough to cause it 
 without their catching sight of him, or the dash of a deer by 
 them (and the deer, when startled by man, have often a most 
 annoying habit of rushing right through the herd of cattle), the 
 keepers are obliged to be very cautious how they allow any one 
 to approach them. They are beautiful creatures : pure white, 
 with black muzzles, hoofs, and tips to the horns, and red 
 ears. They are the most thorough-bred looking beasts I ever 
 saw. The bulls are especially splendid brutes. We got 
 within about eighty or ninety yards of them, but they 
 would not allow us to come nearer, and it required careful 
 stalking through a thick plantation and taking the 
 wind to achieve even that. They did not run, but kept 
 walking slowly and feeding away from us as if they suspected we 
 were there rather than knew it. One of the old cows who had 
 a calf by her side (there were three or four more who had calves 
 also) was very suspicious, and stood for some time gazing fixedly 
 towards us, and trying to get our wind. At length, partially 
 reassured, she walked slowly after the herd with her young one. 
 Once I made sure there would have been a bolt, for a hind which 
 we had not seen was roused by us and ran towards the cattle, 
 passing obliquely by them. Although it did not stampede them, 
 it evidently rendered them more uneasy, and as they were
 
 76 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 gradually approaching a narrow part of their territory, from 
 which there was no escape save by flight, we left them and 
 walked back to the castle. The bulls often kill each other in 
 their combats. An instance had occurred but a short time 
 before. Two young bulls, uniting their forces, managed to 
 thrash the old leader of the herd. For three days the old gentle- 
 man sulked by himself in a retired spot, goring everything he 
 could in his blind rage, and gradually lashing himself up into 
 increased fury. At the end of that time, one of the young 
 bulls chanced to see him, and thinking that what he had done 
 with the assistance of another, he was now man enough, or bull 
 enough, to do by himself, he gave challenge to the veteran. A 
 battle royal ensued, in which the old bull recovered his position 
 and asserted his prowess by killing the young one. I saw the 
 head a remarkably perfect one. His lordship has made a col- 
 lection of heads, in obedience to a suggestion made by the late 
 Sir E. Landseer during his last visit. On the succeeding day I 
 had to leave, having promised to shoot with a friend on the 12th, 
 which was close at hand; and, having greatly en joyed my visit, I left 
 for Alnwick. By the way, I should say that as his lordship throws 
 the greater part of his fishing on the Till entirely open to the 
 public, only reserving for himself and his friends a small part 
 near the castle itself, wandering anglers have no right to expect 
 that that shall be thrown open to them also. 
 
 On the succeeding day I fished the lower part of the Alne 
 below Hulne Abbey. The water was lower than usual, the sun 
 bright, and there was no wind ; and the fish, which appeared in 
 this part of the water to be unusually well educated, were very 
 shy, and would not come to the point at all. I chose to fish 
 this lower part because, on the previous occasion, when walking 
 home in the evening (there being a good rise on) I saw some 
 rather fine fish putting up in the deep still dubs in that part. 
 What was the cause of it, however, I know not, but there was no 
 rise on this evening, the fish going off altogether at an early hour. 
 Perhaps the unusual lowness of the water was the cause ; howbeit
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 77 
 
 they would not rise, and a bare half dozen was all my spoil. The 
 river contained fine pools and occasionally some good streams, but 
 the pools wanted wind, of course. It was a good deal fished, however. 
 Monday was the eventful 12th of August ; so on the next 
 day (Sunday), having an invite to shoot with Mr. Thompson on 
 the 12th, I betook myself to Wooler again. Before dinner we 
 walked up to a place called the Kettles, a curious glen among 
 the mountains at the back of Wooler, the scene of a battle in 
 lang-lang syne. There are traces of an encampment still to be 
 seen. There is a big stone, too, called the King's Chair, and 
 here once upon a time a certain king but who he was, or when 
 it was, or where he lived, the deponent sayeth not did sit and 
 did watch his army fight another army in the valley below, but 
 whose army the other army was, of why they fought, or who got 
 the best of it, your deponent won't undertake to say. There, 
 too, is a large stone, much worn on all sides, like a huge grind- 
 stone, for hereon the soldiers of either side came to sharpen their 
 swords when they were blunted and notched with hacking and 
 hewing at least so somebody says, but deponent voucheth not 
 for the truth of the same, further than that there are well-worn 
 stones on the spot indicated. On our return we stopped in an 
 adjacent-glen, at the Fairy's Well, commonly called the Pin Well, 
 a small rough basin rudely fashioned from some half-dozen large 
 granite stones, which contains bright clear water. The bottom 
 is almost covered with crooked pins, in every state of preservation, 
 from the new bright one of yesterday to the old rusted worn one 
 of him or her now sleeping peacefully in the auld kirk-yard not 
 far awa, and whose sons and daughters, or even grandchildren 
 may be, have dropped in those later ones in their turn, to propi- 
 tiate the good fairy of the spot : the belief, or kindly superstition 
 of the place, being that if you utter a wish and drop into the 
 well a crooked pin as an offering, the wish, by the aid of the 
 fairy, will come to pass ; and many a maid forlorn, and many a 
 stout herd pining with hopeless love, have thrown a pin to the 
 fairy and breathed the dearest wish of their hearts over that
 
 78 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 simple basin of crystal water in the dim twilight half doubting, 
 half hoping, the fulfilment of their wishes, in fear and trembling 
 as the mist of the hills wreathed itself into fantastic and shadowy 
 forms, and every stone, turf, or twig, assumed a fairy figure or 
 shape to their superstitious and excited imaginations. The 
 practice is kept up, though the superstition, however, like all 
 others, is dying out before the march of civilisation. Alas for 
 the country that has no superstitions ! And what superstition 
 could stand before the apparition of a pork-pie hat or the march 
 of crinoline ? Imagine the gentle and civilised Damon viewing 
 that awful slice of a blackened chimney-pot on the top of his 
 head, as he gazes at his own features in the sparkling glass of 
 nature at his feet ; or fancy Phyllis, with her three-cornered 
 crinoline, tripping up to the Kettles in a gale of wind, to ask 
 the fairy's kind interference between her and Damon-of-the-pork- 
 pie, without being blown away by the indignant fairy. One 
 almost regrets the days of wolf-skins and pigments ! 
 
 One of the latest superstitions which held place in the Northum- 
 brian bosom was that anent the Hedley Kow. The Hedley Kow 
 was a sort of northern Puck or Eobin Goodfellow a most mis- 
 chievous sprite, who constantly assumed all sorts of strange forms 
 to delude, terrify, or punish travellers or farmers who might have 
 stayed ow're late at the market or have indulged somewhat too 
 freely in the "juice o' the bairly," as I am forced to confess they 
 are somewhat prone to even now, for many of them yearly suc- 
 cumb and sink under the attacks of " the old complaint " the 
 execrable and poisonous stuff often vended at many of the houses 
 of so-called entertainment under the name of "whisky" having 
 much to answer for in this respect.* These wayfarers, in their 
 
 * It is a thousand pities that an Adulteration Act cannot be put in 
 force here, and the scoundrels who manufacture and sell this vile poison 
 (for it is nothing else) are not trounced, as they deserve. More than half 
 the mischief that flows from the free indulgence in whisky, as it is 
 called, is caused by its being so made or adulterated as to be not whisky, 
 but downright poison, which is sold freely at mosb of the small public- 
 houses.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 79 
 
 acquired gift of double-sight, being too often prone to see more 
 than is dreamt of in the philosophy of their less-gifted or more 
 temperate, or, perhaps, stronger-headed neighbours, A rather 
 absurd story is told by Oliver, in his "Bambles on the Border," 
 of an adventure somewhat of this sort : A decent farmer riding 
 homewards one night, approached a part of the road famed as 
 the scene of many an antic of the Hedley Kow ; he saw before 
 him another passenger on horseback, and, wishing for company, 
 pushed on to overtake the stranger. No sooner did he quicken 
 his pace than the stranger, alarmed, did the same. The hinder 
 man shouted " Stop ! " The one in front grew more frightened 
 at the noise, and then commenced a race paralleled only by that 
 of Tarn o' Shanter, or Ichabod the pedagogue in the " Legend of 
 Sleepy-hollow." Whip and spur was the order of the night, 
 until the man in front, terrified out of his wits at being, as he 
 supposed, pursued by a yelling, howling demon, which manifestly 
 gained on him, pulled up, beaten and breathless, determining to 
 attempt what exorcism could do, as running away failed. Turn- 
 ing around, in breathless and broken accents he adjured the 
 astonished spirit, in the sacred names of the Holy Trinity, to say 
 what he was when the supposed phantom, scarcely less alarmed 
 than his neighbour at what had taken place, broke out with, 
 " Whoy I's Jemmy Brown o' the High Field wha's thou ? "
 
 80 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE 12 OF AUGUST A EAINT SHOOT THE TOPS OF THE 
 CHEVIOTS WOOLER WATER A NEW WAY OF POACHING A 
 WINDY SHOOTING THE BREAMISH BROOM PARK. 
 
 I DON'T suppose there is any day in the year looked forward 
 to with so much interest and anticipation as the 12th of August. 
 The great saturnalia of St. Grouse has numerous attendants and 
 fervent acolytes. I won't say how I looked forward to it ; I 
 won't pretend that I was less of a boy, as it were, looking to the 
 holidays, than my neighbours. The morrow must come in its 
 time, so we drank success to it, and went to bed and dreamt, of 
 course, that grouse were like blackberries, and as easy to come at. 
 Alas ! for the waking reality. 
 
 It blew the day before, it blew all night, and I began to doubt 
 for the day's sport ; one thing was tolerably certain, that the 
 grouse would not lie well after such high winds, and it only 
 wanted a little rain to complete the destruction of our sport. 
 It is unnecessary to say that we had it but of that anon. Mr. 
 T.'s shooting lay rather wide, and in smallish lots, so we had 
 often a distance to walk from one part to another of it. The 
 best part of his grouse ground lay eight miles off, near Heath- 
 pool Lynns, but there was a little bit of heath about half-way 
 over the moors, where there was usually a brood or so, and where 
 we expected to get a shot or two. We could have driven to 
 within a mile or so of the further ground, but not wishing 
 to miss the chance of a shot, we walked it, and it was a long 
 grind of eight miles, over those moors, and it took just the sharp
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 81 
 
 edge off one's walking by the time we really commenced shoot- 
 ing. The day -opened fine, but very windy. We reached the 
 half-way bit. The heather was rather thin, and had been 
 heavily burnt, and in such weather it was, of course, very bad 
 lying. My friend got two shots, but they were very long ones, 
 and did not help us to fill the bag, and so we trudged onwards ; 
 and now it began to drizzle. Everybody (that is everybody who 
 cares to read this) knows that sort of drizzle called a Scotch 
 mist, and the insidious way in which it commences, sneaking into 
 all the cracks, creaks, crevices, and button-holes, and laying a 
 thorough foundation of damp, so that when the rain does come 
 you are all over like blotting-paper, and a short sharp shower 
 wets you through all over. So it began with us. At length we 
 reached the moor. It was not of large extent, comprising a hill, 
 part of another, and the moss between. As a foretaste of what 
 we were to expect, we no sooner let the dogs loose, and took up 
 the first brae, than away went four broods, one after the other, 
 right off our ground, as wild and almost as strong as if it had 
 been the 12th of November, instead of the 12th of August. They 
 went to some friends on our right who were shooting, and 
 no doubt had some fun with them, as we heard them rather busy 
 in the quarter they had gone to, an hour or two after, while 
 unfortunately the gentlemen on the moor to our left were not 
 shooting, so that we got nothing driven to us for what we 
 drove off. 
 
 The rain steadily increased, but we kept on bravely. Broods, 
 pairs, threes, and fours, went away at 150 yards rises, and 
 shooting appeared utterly hopeless, the moor lying very exposed, 
 and badly off for shelter in the quarter the wind was. 
 
 Thompson and self looked at each other. 
 
 "What's to be done ?" quoth I. 
 
 "Liquor," quoth my friend, with that presence of mind which 
 helps him along where others would despair. 
 
 To this I readily acquiesced, as it was getting moist, and was 
 "no that warm." And as the sun was over the foreyard, 
 
 G
 
 82 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 we piped to grog. The dew appeared, and disappeared as a 
 natural sequence, and we once more braced our energies to the 
 task. 
 
 Presently one of the dogs pulled up and looked round at me, 
 as much as to say, " Here he is at last, governor ;" and if ever a 
 dog winked at me perceptibly that dog did. He was a well- 
 worn veteran, in his last season ; a good old dog, very grey and 
 very knowing. Up got an old cock grouse, in a prodigious flurry, 
 but my old double spoke out, and did for him as Dick Turpin did 
 for the Bishop's coachman see " Pickwick" " purvailed on him 
 to stop." Another got up to Mr. T., who also dropped his bird. 
 We tried round the hill, and only found a cheeper or two ; so we 
 went to lunch, under the very partial shelter of a stell, which is 
 merely a few rough stones heaped up into a rude wall, where the 
 sheep are herded in bad weather. While at lunch the weather 
 held up for a few minutes, the clouds lifted suddenly from the 
 mountain peaks, and we caught a glimpse of truly a lovely scene 
 and a fair country. One occasionally sees the efforts of the 
 richest pictorial imagination depicted upon drop-scenes and in 
 general scenes in our best theatres. The effect is very fine, the 
 scenes are very beautiful ; but I have once or twice in my 
 life had momentary glimpses of scenes which exceeded anything 
 that painter could devise or machinery effect. I saw a glimpse 
 once on Killarney a peculiar sun-glint through rain upon the 
 lower lake, which I have never seen approached. I once went 
 into a small beech covert of mine, when shooting in Bucking- 
 hamshire ; there had been snow and frost in the night, and every 
 tiny twig and leaf and spray was lined and fretted with frozen 
 snow. Suddenly the sun broke through the trees, and such 
 a striking and resplendent vista I never saw no scene-painting 
 could convey it. Here, again, among green mountain-tops 
 innumerable, was Nature in truth unapproachable. Those won- 
 derful Cheviots they are so like in shape, and yet so various ! 
 The pitch of the hills down into the valleys is often so steep that 
 it is barely possible to walk along it. The round curving humps
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 83 
 
 at the top being completed, down they go with a precipitous 
 sweep, sometimes into pretty cup-shaped smiling valleys, green, 
 ;and apparently smooth as a billiard-cloth, with little burns 
 whimplirig and winding along the midst of them like silver 
 threads ; sometimes they go down almost sheer, forming a deep, 
 dark precipice, into a shaded, gloomy, mist-ridden gorge, such as 
 >Sinbad and his friends might have picked the diamonds out 
 'of by means of lumps of eagles' meat. You could almost fancy 
 that herd above the precipice Sinbad himself. There the hills 
 were all around us, some clad in a rich patchwork of green with 
 purple heather, others decked in light yellowish-green wavy fern, 
 half way up the sides ; others again dressed in small oak, or with 
 scattered juniper and yew darkly dotting their base ; while, out 
 'beyond them all, we had a glimpse of the vale of Tweed a very 
 land of Goshen and promise, it looked so fair. There was the 
 merse of Berwick extended before us like a map ; far away the 
 eye rested on Dunse Law ; and near to us, the beautiful Eildon 
 Hills, which Scott loved so well to roam over, dwarfed into 
 insignificance by the gigantic mounds of Cheviot, had yet an 
 abrupt and ragged beauty of their own, which shrunk not from 
 comparison with their huge brethren. Yonder, too, is Yetholm, 
 the gipsy territory ; that spur of a hill is a corner of Yetholm 
 Common. But lo ! the Prompter rings his bell, and the heavy 
 drop-curtain of mist descends again upon a scene which will ever 
 dwell in my memory. 
 
 Down comes the rain again, but, invigorated by lunch, we are 
 'up and at it again, and, by dint of hard walking and good shoot- 
 ing, we managed to screw the bag up to 7^ brace and a plover. 
 We killed a bird badly diseased, too, which I sent up to the 
 Field for examination. The day was terribly against us. It 
 rained from lunch out without intermission. Only one brood did 
 we get near enough to shoot at, and at that my first barrel 
 missed fire altogether, and my second hung fire owing to the wet. 
 Mr. T. was wide of them, and had a very long pop to no use. 
 
 All our birds were singles, or scattered birds, My gun missed 
 
 G 2
 
 84 BY LAKE AOT BIVEB. 
 
 fire several times, too, or I should have scored at least another 
 brace or two of grouse, and a couple of plovers. 
 
 If the walk out was undesirable, what was the walk home ? I 
 had not a dry thread on. Twelve hours pitiless pelting on those 
 unscrupulous Cheviots had reduced me to a walking sponge : the 
 rain ran in and out, how, when, and where it listed. My boots, 
 of course, were mere water-buckets ; my powder was paste ; my 
 tobacco undeniably damp, not to say wet ; while matches could 
 not be coaxed to go off anyhow, but smoked and stank away 
 with a dull, phosphoric smell and glare in the dying twilight 
 without ignition. And still the rain came down, swish, swoop, 
 over the dreary moors for eight blessed miles. How it did come 
 down, oh dear ! searching out every joint in one's harness, 
 creeping insidiously in at the back of one's neck, and as 
 Miss Miggs said, "running aperiently down one's very back." 
 Eddying into the gulfs and bays of one's costume, so to speak, 
 with a shiver and a shudder, and then out again, down one's- 
 trousers and into one's boots clothes were mere cullenders, 
 and hats were streamers. And then the walking, sliding,, 
 slipping, bumping, bogging, with arms reversed. Our little party 
 manfully faced it, and struggled homewards. We got home at 
 last. A warm tub, dry clothes, and a good dinner soon put us- 
 all on our legs again, and we fought our battles o'er again, and 
 thrice we slew the slain. I always think the chat over the weed, 
 after a hard day's shooting, is as enjoyable a thing as a sports- 
 man meets with. The "I say, T., do you recollect that shot 
 you made over the knoll at the back of the dell ? By Jove ! old 
 fellow, that was a clipper." "Yes, and that wasn't half a bad 
 one you made out of those glitters, when that old cock was 
 stealing away up the hill ; " " and how well Eake found that 
 single bird," &c. 
 
 On the 13th I took it easy, being a little stiff after my long^ 
 tramp ; in the afternoon, however, we drove some two or three- 
 miles up Wooler water, calling on Mr. Hughes, who owns a 
 portion of one bank, to ask permission. Wooler water is a.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 85 
 
 pretty burn, rising at the foot of Hedgehope, one of the highest 
 of the Cheviots, being second only to Cheviot itself, which is 
 2658 feet in height. The trout in Wooler water are not large, 
 though at times plentiful, but it gets a good deal fished ; when 
 there is a little water in it, a fair basket may be made. The 
 greater part of it is open, and it is wormed ad nauseam. There 
 are a few whitling in it, and the bull-trout run up it later in the 
 season. The scenery through which this pretty little stream 
 Tuns is most charming ; and the angler who is a lover of 
 nature will hardly regret a wander up either of the valleys 
 through which the two burns run which unite to form Wooler 
 water a few miles above Wooler, even if his creel be a light one 
 at the day's end. We went a little above the junction. As we 
 reached the stream I saw two anglers, one upon each side, 
 literally ivorming their way downwards ; and above them we 
 found two more, so that the water had been uncommonly well 
 worked by the time we reached it. Under these circumstances 
 it was not to be wondered at that our sport was small in fact, 
 we did almost nothing ; a bare dozen of small black trout being 
 all that we could compass. Owing to the above inauspicious 
 circumstances, even though there was plenty of water in the 
 .brook, and it was well coloured, the trout would not feed ; for 
 when they did come at either fly or worm, they took very badly _ 
 I worked it down for about a mile and a half, but gave in at last 
 and went home. It is worth a trial, however, if the angler have 
 a spare day, and the water be in order. 
 
 The herds have a curious way of poaching here, as well as in 
 the College and other small burns about the neighbourhood. 
 They go with a heavy mallet, and having driven the trout under 
 the large stones they strike the stone a smart blow. The jar 
 somehow stuns the trout, and they are easily picked up. This is 
 said to be a very destructive method of poaching, but I have, 
 never seen it in operation. 
 
 On the 14th we made another trip to the moor, but the day, 
 -which was threatening and windy at the commencement, turned
 
 86 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 out even worse than the 12th. The wind was tremendous, and 
 the. rain showers cut into us as if they would drive through us. 
 ,The grouse were wilder than on the 12th if possible, and such an 
 effect had the weather had upon them that I saw a large number 
 already packed, although I believe they had never been shot at. 
 Up to lunch time we did nothing. The grouse got up and went 
 away at distances which for the time of year were incredible. 
 After lunch we sallied out from our " bield," determined to try 
 our best. We had been sitting under the lee of a small hill, but 
 when we rounded it and met the full force of the blast it was 
 tremendous. We could hardly make way against it ; our coat- 
 tails were whirled wildly around our heads, and one hand was 
 employed in keeping our hats on. The rain came like bullets, 
 and battered us about at its pleasure. The very dogs flatly 
 refused to face it, but lay down for shelter in the long heather,, 
 looking piteously at us, as much as to say " Eeally, now ! this is- 
 too bad. You never can be such fools, you two fellows, as- to 
 go out into this." We coaxed them up, however, and on we 
 went. Just then an old cock grouse got up wild, a long shot 
 from me, and, catching the wind, he was going away with it like 
 lightning. "Nothing venture, nothing have," thought I. So, 
 although I did not imagine for a moment that it was in powder 
 and lead to stop such a skyrocket, I put up the gun, and, holding 
 a good yard and a half before him, I let him have it. He came 
 in for the full charge, and spun over, coming down with the wind 
 as dead as a stone. I paced the distance, and it was a good 
 eighty-four yards. Allowing twenty yards for the drift of the 
 wind, which it was fully, it was " a lang shot," and I was very 
 proud of it. It was a good omen, too, for we managed to pick 
 up three brace more in our last round, Thomson coming in for 
 the lion's share, and shooting remarkably well. 
 
 The homeward journey was perhaps a trifle worse than that 
 on the 12th, though I managed to keep my tobacco and matches 
 dry, and there was consolation in that. Had the weather been 
 reasonably favourable, we should no doubt have had two very
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 87 
 
 nice days' grouse-shooting ; and it was the more unfortunate, as 
 the 13th, on which we decided not to go up to the moor, was 
 a fine, warm, sunny day, well adapted for the purpose ; and I 
 hear that the grouse behaved very respectably upon the other 
 grounds near us. 
 
 Mr. Burrel, of Broom Park, had given me permission to fish 
 that part of the Alne which runs through his property, and, 
 thinking that it would be in fine order, I started the next morning 
 with Mr. Thompson's brother, who was kind enough to accompany 
 me, and to drive me over to fish it. It was a longish drive, some 
 thirteen miles to Broom Park, and I had better have taken it from 
 Alnwick, from which it is less than half that distance. About 
 half-way we passed Percy's Leap. Walled-in, within a small 
 enclosure, and shaded by small trees, are two large stones, which 
 are said to mark the distance which Sir Ealph Percy leaped on 
 receiving his death-wound at the Battle of Hedgeley Moor, in 1463. 
 The incident is touching. Fighting as a partisan of Henry VI. 
 against Edward IV., he received his death, and, while dying, 
 he exclaimed, in evidence of his fidelity : " I have saved the bird 
 in my breast." I had the curiosity to climb over the enclosure, 
 and pace the distance from stone to stone it was eight yards 
 and a half. A mile or two further on we passed over the 
 Breamish. It was in full 6pate, and of a fine porter-colour. The 
 Breamish is a capital stream, and gets a good deal fished, as there 
 is a good bit of it open to the public, or was up to very lately. 
 The Breamish, as I have already said, is another name for the 
 Upper Till. The Breamish trout partake somewhat of the fine 
 quality of the Till fish, but from the different character of the 
 water they are better risers, particularly in the spring, when it 
 is advisable if possible to give the more open parts of the 
 stream alook up, as it is a good deal fished, being rather 
 get-at-able, particularly by anglers who come on the coach from 
 Alnwick. This, however, is chiefly for the brown trout fishing. 
 In the autumn the sea fish get up, and then the wandering 
 angler may chance to make prize of a much nobler quarry. Mr.
 
 88 BY LAKE AND ETVEB. 
 
 Moffat, who knew the Breamish well, recommends as flies the red 
 and black hackles, the smoky dun ditto, dun fox, black gnat, 
 little dark dun, blue dun, tawny fly, ash fox, ashy dun, crane 
 flies, great light dun, little ditto, hare ear and woodcock, case 
 winged orange fly, cream camel, small black fly, barm fly, red 
 and black ants, fern fly, &c., and I may add that the collection 
 will kill fish in every stream on the border, bar none, when fish 
 are taking. Breamish is also a capital worm stream when 
 coloured, and minnow, too, often takes very large fish in it. But 
 to return to the Alne. Soon after we passed over a very thick 
 and muddy little brook, which was running down (which proved 
 to be the upper part of the Alne), and pulled up at the inn at 
 Alne-bridge. 
 
 Here we made inquiries as to the way to the park, &c., in- 
 tending to find out the keeper's lodge, but somehow we missed 
 the turning, and walked a long way round the outside of the 
 park without coming to the entrance. Not wishing to lose more 
 time, as the day was getting on, we made inquiries of a man at 
 work with respect to the river, &c. He pointed out all that we 
 required, and we made our way to the stream. It was very thick 
 and muddy, and fly-fishing was clearly out of the question. As 
 the river appeared rather small upwards, we took downwards. I 
 intended to try the minnow, but, after getting a fish or two out 
 of the nice little sharp stream we first hit upon, we found the 
 river for a long way down was nothing but one long dull dub, 
 with very little stream. No doubt the water contained very fine 
 trout, and, with a good wind upon it, and a clearer water, I can 
 easily conceive that it would give good sport to the fly ; but it 
 was of course quite unfit either for minnow or worm, so we viewed 
 it rather blankly, for it looked as if a day's sport was very pro- 
 blematical. We went on, however, until we came to a mill. 
 Below the mill was a nice little stream or two, though small ; 
 but when we came to them we found a man fishing with worm, 
 who of course had skimmed the cream off the water, if one may 
 be allowed to use the expression. We got a fish or two from the
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 89 
 
 streams notwithstanding ; but a little below we found the river 
 resume its dubby character so, hardly knowing what to do, or 
 how to make the day out, we slowly turned upwards again. The 
 water, I thought, was a shade clearer, and I saw a fish or two 
 rise, so I determined, although it was still very thick, to try a 
 fly. It did not do, however. While we were trying it the keeper 
 came to us, and advised us to try the water above the bridge, 
 where we should find some nice streams, suitable to either min- 
 now or worm, and we at once made for them. Here we found 
 the river, though a mere burnie, a very pretty one, and a con- 
 tinuation of wee sharp streams and holes ; and had we chanced 
 to come upon this part of the water in the morning, we could 
 easily have filled our creel. But it was getting towards evening, 
 and after fishing it up for some little distance, and picking up a 
 few nice trout, we had to give in, as it came on dusk, and we had 
 a long drive home before us.
 
 90 
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 COUPLAND CASTLE THE EARL OF DURHAM THE CAULI> 
 POOL THE TWENTIETH EMANCIPATION OP THE BLACKS 
 THE BOWMONT AND THE GIPSIES. 
 
 THE day after I received the invitation to Chillingham, there- 
 came another invitation from the Earl of Durham to stay at 
 Coupland Castle, for the purpose of fishing the Glen. As the 
 Glen is the best trout-stream in these parts, and I was desirous to- 
 give the whitling pools close to Coupland Castle another and an 
 early and late trial, I gladly accepted his lordship's invitation, 
 although, as I have related, I had already fished the water. 
 I shall not, therefore, dwell much upon it now. The sport I had 
 during the two days I fished it was of the same character as I 
 had previously enjoyed, save that the whitling would not take. 
 The first day the river looked all that could be desired ; it was- 
 just clearing off, and of a fine light porter-colour, but the fish 
 did not rise well, being gorged with the food that had come 
 down with the rain of the previous days. The whitling, too, 
 were evidently restless, and desirous of moving on in the fine 
 running water ; but the cauld under Coupland barred them. But 
 for this cauld the upper parts of College and Bowmont would be- 
 stocked with whitling, to the great delectation of the herds and 
 the Yetholm gipsies, who are supposed to be the great poachers- 
 of all the streams and fields in these parts ; a good many fish do- 
 get up by the mill stream. The cauld pool above the dyke, and 
 just below Coupland Castle, is the finest pool by far on the river, 
 being broad and deep enough in parts to hold salmon, and of con- 
 siderable length and capacity ; about a mile and a half above it
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 91 
 
 is another cauld, but less difficult to surmount than the Coup- 
 land one. Were this one raised, and a pass placed in the Coup- 
 land cauld, the whitling would get an extra mile and a half of 
 very fine water, full of good pools and streams suited to them, 
 with much good breeding ground, and Lord Durham's fishing 
 would be greatly improved. There is one point, however, that 
 would require consideration, viz., at present the pools below the 
 Coupland cauld, which are swarming with whitling, are close 
 under the noses of his lordship's keepers, the kennels being not 
 200 yards from them. Were this abundance transferred to the 
 pools below the cauld, a mile and a half up, it might prove a 
 serious temptation to the Yetholm folk. I have touched upon 
 this subject, and given reasons pro and con., because a passage has 
 been, I believe, talked of once or twice. Coupland Castle is 
 beautifully situated, standing on the top of a high-wooded bank, 
 at the foot of which runs the Glen. The house itself, which is a 
 delightful country seat, contains all the means and appliances for 
 comfort without being unwieldy or oppressive. It is surrounded 
 by trim gardens and well-kept lawns, from which the flower- 
 beds, well stocked with all th good old-fashioned, sweet- 
 smelling flowers, greet the senses with a smiling and cheerful 
 good-morrow as the visitor steps, refreshed, from his bath out 
 into the early sunshine of the fair summer morning. The 
 preserves around the house give good shooting at lowland game 
 of all kinds, while within a mile or two his lordship has a capital 
 tract of grouse-shooting, on which I heard of one gentleman, who 
 was staying at Coupland Castle, bagging his twenty-five brace in 
 the day, bad as the season and weather had been. 
 
 The second day of, my stay was windy and rough, but the wind 
 did not strike well on the pools below the cauld ; so, after trying 
 them for a short time, without much sport, I went up to the 
 cauld pool, on which there was a nice breeze. I should say, that 
 whenever leave is given to fish to strangers, the cauld pool is 
 always excluded, as it adjoins the gardens, which are immediately 
 over it ; and as the house is very close to it, it would be trenching
 
 92 BT LAKE AND EIYEE. 
 
 rather too much upon the privacy of the family. But there is 
 plenty of excellent water below, and therefore the deprivation to 
 the angler is slight ; and the cauld pool being rather dull and 
 still, does not always fish well, as it is a good deal sheltered, 
 and not every wind strikes it ; moreover, there is not much of it 
 which everybody could fish, even if they had leave, as it is much 
 overgrown with large trees, which stretch their arms over the 
 bank very awkwardly in places. Two things served me in fishing 
 this pool one was much practice in fishing very wooded places, 
 and the other the power to throw a long line when it is required. 
 Some years since I fished a good deal in Buckinghamshire, in a 
 small but excellent trout-stream there ; a portion of this stream, 
 where many very excellent fish are, is quite overgrown with trees. 
 The practice I got there stood me in good stead here. Before 
 coming to the trees, there was an open space for some twenty or 
 thirty yards, which was quite open and treeless. Here I found 
 the fish very shy at taking within ordinary distance, though they 
 were rising freely enough. I tried them, and passed on to the 
 trees ; where the fish, being less fished over, rose more boldly, 
 and I got several nice fish one or two of above a pound, and 
 several from a half to three-quarters. They took a cow-dung 
 fly, dressed by Wright of Sprouston, very well indeed, nay 
 almost exclusively. Coming back, after I had fished the pool 
 over, to the open part, where the fish were still rising, I fished it 
 again, and the difference in the behaviour of the fish was most 
 marked. It then occurred to me to try a few longish throws 
 beyond the ordinary fishing distance to which the general run 
 of anglers pitch their fly, and, oddly enough, I found the fish 
 beyond that distance take remarkably well ; a fish at ten or 
 eleven yards would leave off rising when the fly came over him, 
 but one at thirteen or fourteen and over took the fly freely. 
 Evidently the reason here also was because they seldom had a 
 fly put over them. I feel convinced that a middling caster 
 would hardly have taken a dozen fish in the cauld, and those of 
 no great size ; whereas I managed to get between four and five
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 93 
 
 dozen of very good ones, nearly as many having been taken by a 
 relative of his lordship's a few days previously I understood. 
 The Glen runs away very quickly, for although it had been in full 
 spate the day before, it was now down to its natural size again. 
 There was, of course, no evening fishing, as dinner occupied the 
 usual evening fishing time, so that my take, all things considered, 
 was a good one. The next day I left Coupland ; Lord Durham 
 was very kind, wishing me to prolong my stay, and to pay them 
 another visit in the event of my coming again to the Glen. 
 Indeed, Coupland Castle, so charming both for the beauty of its 
 situation, the pleasant sport afforded in its precincts, and the 
 thoughtful urbanity of its noble owners, will long retain a green 
 spot in my memory. 
 
 The 20th came full upon my departure from Coupland. I had 
 promised my friend, Thompson, to shoot blackgame at Heath- 
 pool Lynns with him, and we made our way to the farmhouse 
 in good time. I have described the scenery here before, so need 
 to dwell no more upon it. Leaving the higher hills and heather 
 to the grouse, we took to the waving bracken and boggy valleys, 
 which blackgame love. We walked for some time before we 
 got a point at black, though we got a number of points at 
 partridge, which, much to the surprise and aggravation of our 
 dogs, skimmed away unharmed by us, having eleven more days' 
 lease of life. It was very amusing to watch the puzzled expres- 
 sion of Bake, the younger dog, who could not make this out at 
 all ; once or twice he looked round, when he was on partridge, 
 to see if we were within distance, and then stiffened himself up 
 an extra screw, as though to say, " I won't do anything wrong ; 
 here I am, and here I'll stay, and if you don't kill 'em, mind, 
 I'm not to blame, don't blow me up. I wash my paws of it." 
 As for the old dog, Old Dick, he knew all about it after the first 
 point or two. At length Eake stood in the corner of some tall 
 fern near a rushy bottom. " Black " was the simultaneous 
 whisper, and up got a young cock hardly arrived at his full 
 plumage. He flew past me along the bottom, and the shot was
 
 *94 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 so easy that I missed it with the first barrel, and T. immediately 
 wiped my eye. Of course we were all upon the expectation of 
 seeing the rest of the brood, but, though we hunted and tramped 
 over the ground all around, we found no more. It was evidently 
 -a stray one. Lower down in the bottom the dogs began to draw 
 upon partridge, and after drawing about fifty or sixty yards up 
 got a fine covey of partridges. We were now about to take 
 lunch, and had carried the basket down to a spring, when, as I 
 was crossing the ground a second time, a blackcock got up and 
 I dropped it. I loaded immediately, and T. joined me, when, 
 on searching about, seven or eight birds of a brood got up. We 
 each killed our first birds, and both shot at the same bird for 
 a second which was, of course, considerably chawed up in 
 consequence. Three other birds got up directly afterwards, one 
 of which T. killed ; the whole brood of about a dozen had been 
 lying exactly on the spot whence we flushed the partridges. 
 Having marked in several of the birds, we were about to 
 follow them, when the farmer, who had been ill and in bed, 
 came down to take us to some other ground, over which he 
 could take friends ; and this having the reputation of being 
 very excellent ground, and as we could find the rest of the 
 Tjrood we were leaving any other day but could not shoot 
 the other ground, we rather foolishly left our marked 
 birds and went on to Trow Burn. It was very pretty shooting, 
 but awfully stiff walking. We were shooting in tangled fern, 
 often up to our necks, with now and then a boggy undergrowth, 
 and the huge flowering rush by way of a change. The sides of 
 the hills were abominably steep and high, and up and down, 
 from the very top of the hills down to the rushy bottom of the 
 valleys, were we constantly obliged to clamber and scramble 
 backwards and forwards. It was heavy work with the sort of 
 jungle we had to force our way through. Of course it was im- 
 possible with two dogs to beat the hundreds of acres of this 
 stuff that lay before us, so we skimmed through it as well as 
 we could, though we might have left scores of birds, or even
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 95 
 
 Broods, untouched and unfound ; yet nearly all the birds killed 
 were old ones. We saw, too, a great number of old grey hens, 
 "but they none of them, save one, appeared to have broods. The 
 late and hard frosts had evidently cut them fearfully. After a 
 long round, we made the bag up to seven and a half brace, and 
 got back to the farmer's. Had a tithe of the old hens we 
 aw reared broods we might very easily have trebled our bag ; 
 as it was, we only found two broods all day, and in one of 
 them the birds were too small to shoot at. We plodded home- 
 wards over Yeavering Bell a long tramp, but, not being wet 
 through, I thought little of it. 
 
 I had an invitation to Carham Vicarage, the residence of Mr. 
 Thompson's father, in order thence to study the beauties of Tweed. 
 The best way to get there appeared to be to fish up the Bowmont, 
 and as Mr. H. Thompson, who had been staying at Wooler, was 
 driving over to Carham, he offered to take my luggage over with 
 him on the 21st, to meet me the following day at Mindrum, 
 about six miles up the Bowmont, and to pilot me thence to 
 Carham, some five miles further. I was glad to accept his offer. 
 We drove with him some distance past the turnpike on the 
 evening of the 21st, leaving him to continue his journey to 
 Carham, while we had a farewell hour or two upon the Lower 
 Olen water, between the bridge and Sir H. St. Paul's, a part of 
 the water I had not yet seen. It is a very fine piece of water. 
 Indeed, to my mind it is better than the upper water at Coupland. 
 It is not so often fished either, and it contains very fine trout. 
 We got an excellent basket of trout, some three dozen, and the 
 best for size which I saw at all, several of the trout being |lb. 
 and lib. and over, and few under ^lb. T. also got a whitling, but 
 I could not delude any of these wary fellows even though we 
 worked on to Ewart-bridge pool, and found them rising when 
 almost dark. , 
 
 This was my last trial of Glen, and I left its banks with 
 regret. It was fished once a week in the season by an excellent 
 club. The Glen is the property of M. Culley, Esq., from whom
 
 96 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 Lord Durham then leased it. Mr. Culley is a most ardent 
 angler, and is a member and patron of this club, and some 
 excellent fishermen there are in it. The best basket made in 
 the year I was there was some 331b. or 341b. ; Mr. Thompson, 
 also a member of the club, coming in second with about 281b. or 
 291b. Considering the size of the fish in these rivers, these are 
 great baskets to make. Thirty-four fish of lib. each is no bad 
 day ; and even sixty-eight of -^Ib. one could manage to put up with, 
 and the season was not a first-rate one. I once killed 43 brace 
 and 45 brace on two successive days on the Lathkill, but then the 
 fish run of a better size there than in the rivers further north ; 
 but I was heartily sick of my load by the time I got home 
 each night. 
 
 To the above I must now add that Mr. Culley has now resumed 
 his right over Coupland Castle and the Coupland water of the Glen, 
 Lord Durham's lease being ended. He is a first-rate performer 
 with the rod. What leave may be obtained in the Glen now, I 
 cannot say, but if the river is to keep up its character at least it 
 would be sparing ; but before leaving the Wooler country, I may 
 say that there is still a good deal of water open even to the 
 wandering angler on the Till, Bowmont, Breamish, College, and 
 Wooler water, besides smaller burns, good when there is water in 
 them, but useless at other times. Indeed there is no part of 
 England where there is such a quantity of open water as all along 
 this border country, few of the tributaries of the Tweed being 
 entirely closed to the angler, and many of them entirely open ; 
 but anglers multiply every year, and the open waters get more 
 fished, and more poached too, unfortunately, and though a good 
 catch may be made now and again, the habitual large takes of 
 former years are not to be looked for. 
 
 The next day I drove up to Canne Mill, on the Bowmont, and 
 I commenced operations a little above it. It began to rain and 
 blow, the wind, with its usual perversity, insisting for the most 
 part in blowing steadily and heavily down-stream. Fortunately 
 where the river wound about much I now and then managed to
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 97 
 
 fish up, and I took some fairish fish. They were rabid at the red 
 spinner and the cow-dung, a few taking my blue dun ; and at 
 one time I thought I should have filled my creel, but towards the 
 afternoon the wind was so troublesome that I could not cast 
 properly. With a nice up-stream wind one might, I think, have 
 filled two creels. I got a good basket of fish, however about 
 seven dozen. Possibly I might have caught more had I dwelt 
 longer over good spots ; but I had about five miles of water to 
 fish up to reach Mindrum, and not knowing the country, I was 
 afraid of being late, so I got on rapidly. 
 
 It is said that the Yetholm folk poach the Bowmont heavily, 
 as it runs so near them. It may be so ; but there certainly are 
 a great number of fish in it, notwithstanding. In one or two 
 places where there was a bit of a fall and rapid, the fish were 
 rising incessantly, keeping the little pools in a constant commotion, 
 like a pot boiling. The Yetholm gipsies are of course the scape- 
 goats for every deed of plunder or rascality committed far or near. 
 I fear that, as poachers, they deserve some of the animadversion 
 cast on them. But a certain personage (decidedly the first 
 gentleman in Europe) is never so black as he is painted. The 
 gipsies still occupy Yetholm as of yore, and are mighty touchy 
 upon all matters affecting their privileges, and the great families 
 of Blythe, Douglas, Faa, and Young still flourish. Old Blythe, 
 their king, was lately, dead when I was there, and the territory 
 of clothes-pegs and toasting-forks lamented his loss. Wet 
 through, but walking and fishing my way upwards, I worked 
 steadily on for Mindrum. Arriving there in the fall of the 
 afternoon, I found my friend, Mr. H. Thompson, waiting for me, 
 and we took our way over the hill for the Vale of Tweed and 
 Carham, which we reached long after dark. 
 
 Before leaving Bowmont, I would give the angler a word of 
 advice. If there is not a good rough wind, or if the water be not 
 coloured with rain, do not go to Bowmont. It is all very much 
 like the lower part, and though there are a good many streams 
 every here and there, the greater part is dub unmistakeable
 
 98 
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 dub. In these, if there be wind or they be slightly coloured, you 
 will kill fish, and plenty of them. If it be calm and clear, you 
 kill a few fish in the streams perhaps, but the dubs are of course 
 unapproachable save in the evening. If the weather be favour- 
 able, though there is no scenery to recommend it, the angler will 
 certainly do well to pay Bowmont a visit, as he will easily fill his 
 creel, and may often get hold of whitling. No leave whatever is 
 required until he almost reaches Mindrum, where a small portion 
 of it is preserved.
 
 BT LAKE AND EIVEE. 99 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 A BACK DAT ON TILL FROM WHEATWOOD TO DODDINGTON 
 THE PIKE OF THE TILL BOB THE POACHES THE VOICES 
 OF EVENING OAEHAM THE TWEED CAEHAM WHEEL 
 JAMIE WEIGHT, OF SPEOUSTON THE TEOUTIN' DAT A 
 DAY'S TEOUTING ON TWEED. 
 
 ON looking over my notes I find one day's fishing omitted. As 
 it describes a part of Till not touched on yet, I must crave 
 permission of my readers to go back to it. The 1 9th was a 
 very windy and squally day. I thought the Till would be 
 slightly coloured, but not enough to prevent worm-fishing. 
 Minnows I could not get, or I think I could have done well. 
 Accordingly, I sallied out to Wheatwood-bridge, about a mile and 
 a half from Wooler, to fish down to Doddington-bridge. I tried 
 above Wheatwood at first, with the fly ; but the wind was too 
 furious and the water too thick. I then went below the bridge, 
 and the water tempted me to try a worm, and in the very first 
 stream I got a nice trout of nearly a pound. This induced me 
 to keep on, although I saw the footsteps of an angler in the 
 sand, who had evidently fished every bit of the water before me ; 
 I had met him upon the bridge ; and he was giving it up as a bad 
 job. I, however, having nothing else to do, determined (for the 
 sake of seeing this part of the river) to persevere. The water 
 was nicely coloured, and had it not been for the fierce gusts of 
 wind, which precluded my holding the rod for two seconds in 
 any desired position, no doubt I should have made up a 
 splendid dish of fish, for I got scores of bites ; but it was utterly 
 impossible to command the rod it was whisked here, there, 
 
 H2
 
 100 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 anywhere, by tlie wind. I could not tell when I had a bite, and 
 the hooking of the fish was a pure matter of chance. As to- 
 casting the bait to a nicety under bushes or banks, or between 
 weeds, it was not to be done ; and so I went on from dub to dub, 
 and stream to stream, renewing my worm every ten minutes or 
 quarter of an hour, after a visitation from a good trout, for there 
 were none but good ones on the feed to-day, and occasionally, 
 when the banks were high and sheltered, perhaps catching a fish. 
 For some distance the river is a nice alternation of stream and 
 pool. The pools are deep and rather dead, but they hold good 
 fish, and some of them have capital pike. The Till pike which 
 more resemble a Trent pike than any I have seen elsewhere in 
 shape and make are well fed and shy fellows ; they do not run 
 large so far up the river, one of 61b. or 71b. being uncommon. 
 They are very fine eating, however, as I can testify from having 
 dined off a 4-pounder at Mr. Thompson's, which was stuffed 
 and baked in a savoury gravy, and was marvellous daynteous- 
 meat. Let not the ardent pike-fisher of the metropolis fancy 
 that a visit to Till would repay him I do not think it would. 
 Till pike feed on trout, the fry of the Salmonidce, and the 
 choicest of large minnows, and are very capricious ; a few are 
 caught now and then by the rod and line, but the greater number 
 of those that are caught in this neighbourhood are nightlined, 
 there being siindry poaching brothers of the angle in these parts 
 who turn a shameful penny in this way. There is one lanky 
 Scotchman, in particular, a long fathom of drunken humanity, 
 who haunts the river side with a rod. Ye piscatorial deities, 
 such a rod ! It would give Farlow a fit of the strongest 
 convulsions if such a thing were displayed before him as an 
 instrument for the capture of fish verily, indeed, " a thing of 
 shreds and patches." Here shines forth an old umbrella-stick, 
 there the remains of a broken whip-stock ; anon a green hedge- 
 twig vamped on to an old parasol-rib furnishes a top with curious 
 properties, while the butt bears a suspicious resemblance to a 
 superannuated wooden leg. It looks more like a geometrical
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 101 
 
 instrument constructed for the purpose of teaching the young 
 idea the variety of angles which can be formed by two right 
 lines. Bob is as angular as his rod, and Bob and his rod always 
 put me in mind of the first proposition of the 1st Book of 
 Euclid, and the sight of them usually set me demonstrating 
 the problem, for poor Bob never could " describe an equilateral 
 triangle upon a given finite straight line" after a successful day's 
 fishing, though he might often be seen trying involuntarily to 
 make the circles concerned in 'the same, and holding forth in the 
 market-place in an erratic discourse, interpersed with bewailing 
 howls of psalmody, which usually merged into a determined 
 three-day's drunk, terminating in a lock-up, and perhaps a visit 
 to Newcastle not always at his own expense or with his own 
 consent. The rod, however, of course was a mere blind, seldom 
 used save when in company, for he always betook himself 
 solitarily to lonely and unfrequented parts of the river, and 
 his basket (a mysterious-looking affair) generally contained a 
 dozen or so of rude night-lines, if report does not shamefully 
 ill-use the estimable Eobert ; like other great men, Bob may 
 suffer from calumny, though I doubt it. But, to continue my 
 own fishing. 
 
 Although I got a good many bites, I did not get one fish for 
 every half dozen ; still I picked up fish, and good ones. At 
 length the river became one long consistent dub, dead and 
 apparently streamless for about a mile. This, of course, it was 
 useless to attempt ; so I got down below it, and commenced 
 where Wooler water enters, but Wooler water was thick, and 
 made Till a deeper colour than it was above. The river here 
 too, is a little more exposed, so that the wind was even worse ; 
 but there are some very nice streams, and now and then I did 
 get a fish. I had passed Doddington-bridge, and was working 
 down, when evening came on, so I turned about and fished up 
 again. The wind fell as the evening closed over me, and then 
 the fish left off feeding ; so I tackled up, and strolled slowly up 
 the river bank, enjoying the quiet evening walk after the
 
 102 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 blusterous and unquiet day. And now nature began another 
 phase of her existence, and the voices of the evening made them- 
 selves manifest. The voices of the evening ! Who hears them. 
 like the angler, as he returns by the river-side meditatively 
 conning over the incidents of his day's sport ? 
 
 Hark to them ! " Key-wit," complains the lapwing, "key-wit, 
 key- wit," as, disturbed from his lair, he hovers about now far 
 off in the next field, and now menacing you overhead. Anon the 
 water hen, with sharp shrill note, suddenly surprised, flaps over 
 the pool heavily to the sheltering bushes on the far side. Hark T 
 too, how the subsiding wind rises and falls alternately now 
 hushing the willows and reeds like a nursing mother, now wailing 
 and sobbing like a tired child amongst the hollow banks and 
 sedges, then away over the wide meadows to seek its home 
 amongst the giant hills that frown upon us in the twilight dis- 
 tance. Halloa ! " Quack, quack, queek, queek," and a brood of 
 flappers beat the water in wild and scrambling alarm, while the 
 old parent duck, with her warning quack, sweeps by you in hasty 
 flight. " Scape, scape," an errant heather bleater, a wanderer 
 from the hills, springs aloft as you pass a rushy muddy pool : he 
 is heard, but you see him not, unless by chance he flits before the. 
 moon, which is rising and making the river gleam like a bran new 
 service of plate, and tipping every bough and leaf, rush and reed, 
 with molten silver. Who is that grey and ghostly fisherman 
 deserted by his fellows that stands so lone and still by the shallow 
 pool yonder ? Who ? Trust me, friend angler, he is your rival, 
 and can show you a trick of fishing you could hardly equal him 
 in. Take him up for night poaching, an old scoundrel, if you 
 can ; but faith he is hard to catch. But now he hears or sees 
 you, and so his broad pinions are spread wide too, and grand- 
 father heron flops off with no sound but the heavy beating of his 
 broad wings, and more speed than you give him credit for. 
 Haply as you leave the river, in the alders, by the dyke side, you 
 hear the soft sweet notes of the sedge-warbler, for he sings at 
 night as sweetly too, though not so powerfully, as Philomel
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 103 
 
 herself. Phew ! what a pother is here ! ay, you have disturbed 
 a large covey of partridges from their jugging place. They are 
 strong on the wing too, and it wants nearly a fortnight of 
 September yet : they will try your skill on the first, friend, and 
 you will hardly get so close upon them in a week from that time. 
 And so you walk on, sometimes musing, sometimes marvelling, 
 as each new voice salutes you, that you never noticed "the voices 
 of evening " before, though you may have heard them a hundred 
 times ; but it is your mood to hear, and note them too, to-night, 
 and you do so wonderingly, as though they were all new things 
 and this some other hemisphere, and so you tramp on homewards 
 under the moonlight. Is your creel light, friend ? What then ! 
 your heart is light too, and there be other things to admire in 
 the world besides fishes, so take that by way of consolation. 
 
 My creel was not abundantly stocked, holding about a dozen 
 and a half, but they were all fish of from ^lb. to fib., with one 
 or two of lib. ; and yet if one did that within 100 miles of 
 London and called it nine brace, you would regard it as highly 
 satisfactory. 
 
 And now for the Tweed, the glorious Tweed, sung in song and 
 praised in story by how many hundreds of abler pens than mine ; 
 pens that have earned immortal fame for their wielders in all 
 parts of the world where literature is prized. The Tweed is a 
 magnificent salmon river, of unbounded capabilities of produc- 
 tion. Eising on the confines of Peebleshire, for more than for 
 a hundred miles the Tweed hurries onward to the sea, presenting 
 throughout its course one long and uninterrupted home and 
 nursery for the salmon. But even the facilities offered by the 
 Tweed itself are as nothing compared with those afforded by the 
 hundreds of miles covered by its multitudes of tributaries, many 
 of which are large and important rivers, all of them presenting, 
 as breeding places for the young fish, resources so boundless that 
 it would be impossible to estimate what might be the amount of 
 salmon it could produce if it only had fair play. It is, however, much 
 too closely netted at the mouth, and should have a shifting weekly
 
 104 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 close time, while the pollutions in many of its tributaries are 
 something awful, and if not checked ere long threaten to 
 extinguish the fishery altogether. 
 
 Apart from its capabilities as a salmon river, the Tweed and 
 its tributaries present unlimited sport for the trout-fisher. The 
 Tweed trout especially are magnificent fellows, equal in point of 
 size, flavour, and gameness to almost any produced by the far- 
 famed rivers of the south. The average run of Tweed trout, on 
 a fair fishing day will run from three to the pound to l^lb. say 
 from -|lb. to l^lb.; but trout of 21b., 31b., and even 41b. are not 
 uncommon, while occasionally they are taken of larger size. The 
 fly-fisher from the south will often be puzzled when he comes to 
 Tweed what fly to select for his cast ; for it produces and sends 
 down so great a variety of flies, that, although the fish may be 
 nsing in hundreds, it is often very difficult to tell what fly they 
 are rising at ; added to this, the myriads of small and delicate 
 flies, scarce larger than midges, which often throng its waters to 
 the great delectation of the trout, preclude all hope of accurate 
 imitation. This fact has caused the use of a number of general 
 flies, known usually by the names of the inventors, and, to save 
 the trouble of selecting and searching for the right fly, Tweed 
 fishers are too apt to pin their faith to these flies in all instances. 
 Now there are times when these flies kill well enough, as there 
 are times in other rivers when almost any moving thing in the 
 shape of a fly, not absolutely unreasonable in size, make, and 
 colour, will be taken by the fish ; and there are of course other 
 times when a little discrimination would perhaps serve to stock 
 the creel fairly which otherwise goes home somewhat light ; and 
 sure I am that there are many well-known flies admitting of 
 accurate imitation which might be used at almost all seasons on 
 the Tweed with advantage, and which would serve better than 
 a blind reliance upon general flies, though, as I have said, 
 there are often times when the general fly will be found 
 advantageous. 
 
 I got to the Tweed rather late in the season for trout
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 105 
 
 fishing, and my hopes and chances of sport were not con- 
 siderable, as the trout were fast losing condition, and 
 changed their colour ominously within a short period of their 
 capture. 
 
 I had written to ask permission to fish of the Earl of Home 
 (to whom the greater part of the Carham water belongs) some 
 time previously ; but at that time he had a large party staying 
 with him for the sole purpose of salmon fishing, so that he was 
 unable then to give me permission to fish for salmon, nor would 
 there have been any boat for me if he had ; indeed, his boats 
 were all daily double-manned with fishermen, which is very un- 
 usual a rod to a boat being quite enough, either for sport or 
 comfort. He, however, gave me unlimited leave to trout fish ; 
 and, after the departure of his party for the grouse-shooting, he 
 very kindly gave me all the leave which I required, and, as the 
 sequel will show, I had at least one good day's sport upon his 
 water. Carham Water is about the best salmon water on the 
 Tweed the casts from Birgham dub down to Ladykirk com- 
 prising magnificent rapids, deep swirling pools and eddies, rough 
 broken water and still dubs, available in every state of the weather 
 and water, and seldom or ever without fish. For hours, when 
 the wind has been low, and the sun too bright for trouting, have 
 I sat upon the bank above Oarham Wheel a deep, tumultuous, 
 swirling pool, where the largest salmon lie in security or gazing 
 at the splendid rattling stream at the "Kirk End," watching the 
 silvery salmon springing aloft every now and then, of all sizes, 
 from 201b. to olb., and thinking futilely, as some overgrown 
 monster flashed into the sunlight, and fell back into his native 
 element with a huge splash, " Ah, my boy ! If I only had a good 
 salmon-hook stuck in the gristle of your nose, I'd give you 
 something to jump for ; " and yet there are not a tithe of the 
 salmon in these waters that there used to be but a few years 
 ago. What a stretch of river it might be, and how thronged 
 with fish, under other circumstances ! 
 
 Carham Vicarage is very pleasantly situated on the banks of
 
 106 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 the river, and the kindness and hospitality I received during my 
 stay there added one more grateful memory to the many already 
 stored up in my mind of " the kindly North." 
 
 There had been a considerable flood in the river some days 
 previously, and trees were floating down the river wholesale. 
 The river rose eight or nine feet, and kept in fine running order 
 for several days ; and, had there been any quantity of fish left 
 at Berwick, the river would have been well stocked from end to 
 end. This flood had, however, been going down when the rain 
 of the day before came on, and apprehensions were expressed 
 when I reached Carham that " she would be down in the morn- 
 ing," the meaning whereof was not that "she," the Tweed (all 
 rivers are " she's " here, as in Wales), would be lower, but would 
 come down from the hills again higher and thicker ; and I was 
 told if she could be seen from the windows, she would be too 
 high for fishing. It is needless to say that in the morning I 
 looked out anxiously, and, sure enough, there, at the bottom of 
 the glebe, was a thread of silver discernible high up the banks ; 
 and fishing, as I saw when I went to the river after breakfast, 
 was hopeless, for, from the rain of the day before, it had popped 
 up some four or five feet again, and was as thick as need be. As 
 it was possible that it might be in order for the minnow by the 
 evening, I wasted no time, but walked up the river-bank to 
 Sprouston, to see the water, in company with Mr. H. Thompson. 
 We also wanted some flies of Wright, who abides there. Wright 
 is one of the neatest and best tyers on Tweedside ; but he needs no 
 notice from me, his name being known far and wide. He was at 
 home, and at work ; and we sat and chatted with him for an hour 
 while he and his assistants plied the pliers and dubbing-hook on 
 some salmon flies which he had an immediate order for ; and very 
 pretty and deadly-looking flies they were chef d'ceuvres of their 
 kind. We got all the information, too, we could as to what was 
 doing amongst the salmon in those parts ; how one gentleman 
 had killed half a dozen, and another three the day before ; the 
 flies they used, and so on. The morrow, it was prophesied, would
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 107 
 
 be a grand trouting day. Leaving our order with him, we came 
 away at length. 
 
 In the evening, though somewhat late for the take, we sallied 
 forth and commenced just above the " Kirk End." I fished with 
 the minnow, Mr. Thompson with the fly. We did not do much. 
 I caught a couple of nice fish, when, casting over a shallow usually 
 dry, but now covered by the flood, I got hung in a twig growing 
 on it, and in my endeavours to clear my tackle I broke and lost 
 three parts of the trace. I marked the spot exactly, and looked 
 some days after, when the river was down, for the tackle, but 
 could not find it, so suppose it was carried off by an eel, as they 
 are very plentiful in the Tweed. As I was rigging out a new 
 tackle, Mr. T. came down to me to tell me the fish were taking 
 the fly freely, and I went up to the spot where he was fishing to 
 try the fly ; but by the time we had effected the change the trout 
 went off, and I only caught one more, so that we got but six or 
 seven ; they were, however, very nice fish of from three-quarters 
 to a pound each, some of the fish being bright or silvery, like a 
 Thames trout in the height of condition. The season was 
 evidently beginning to tell upon their rising. A week or a fort- 
 night before this time they would have risen till ten o'clock, and 
 perhaps later ; now, however, they had commenced the early 
 closing movement, and eight o'clock found them putting up the 
 shutters and retiring to rest, and from this rule I did not find 
 them depart subsequently. 
 
 The next morning, though rather bright, was a fine trouting 
 morning apparently, as the river looked in splendid order. And 
 here I give an appropriate Tweed trouting song, written (it is 
 needless to say) by a local genius, and certainly far from being 
 devoid of merit. There is a feeling and taste in the lines which 
 will recommend them to every angler, while the quaintness 
 of the old Border language and expressions will by no means 
 detract from their value. I owe this song to the attention 
 of a friend who was staying at Mr. Thompson's while I was 
 there.
 
 108 BV LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 THE TKOUTIN' DAY. 
 
 I'll mount the creel upon my back, and aff wi' merry glee, 
 And ha'e a gallant troutin' day, wi' minnits* an' wi' flee ; 
 I ken ilk stream and wimplin' pool, ilk plantin', brae, and mead, 
 By Beaumont fair, by sleepy Till, or by majestic Tweed. 
 
 Your swivel mount, the minnie spin, the water's porter-brown, 
 And try the cast aboon the cauld, belaw sweet Coldstream town. 
 The wind is saft, the sky is grey, the colour o' the tide 
 Proclaims the spate frae Slitrig brae, or Yarrow's mountain-side. 
 
 The laverock's chirlin' in the sky, far far aboon our ken, 
 The blackbird's notes are ringin' high, frae out The Quarry glen ; 
 The brairdin'-bearf sae sweet to smell, a' wat wi' dewy spray, 
 Makes high our bounding spirits swell on sic a troutin' day. 
 
 The saft wind pirlin' through the trees, the gowans at my fit, 
 The big trouts boilin' at the flees, as owre the stream they flit ; 
 The salmon wans upon the ford, just new run frae the sea, 
 The swallows swarmin' owre the tide, a' please the fisher's ee. 
 
 Fling owre to where the eddies boil, upon their rocky bed 
 I hae him fast, the greedy -gowl, he stuck it like a ged.J 
 The tackle's stout, the haud is fast, for landin' famous ground ; 
 I've worked him down, he's out at last, his weight aboon a pound. 
 
 Another and another, still they're rising by the score ; 
 I dinna think I ever saw them tak sae weel afore. 
 But night is closing in at last, my pouchen heavy feel, 
 I scarce can get my lid made fast, wi' sic a stockit creel : 
 
 I'll hame on Sandy Foster ca' o' fishers he's the sire 
 And wi' the lave we's hae a blaw aroond his kitchen fire. 
 The warmin' cheerer circling bright the weary turning gay 
 A' listenin' to the hard-won fight that crowns a troutin' day. 
 
 The fish upon the table spread, in ashets bright and clean, 
 The big anes a' laid uppermost, for love o' being seen. 
 The cantie laugh o' harmless glee, the royal lots o' fun, 
 Wi' auld Tarn Smith, blithe Uncle John, or canny Willie Dunn. 
 
 Oh ! Coldstream fair ! there's ane, at least, that bears a love for thee, 
 A fervent, deep, and stirring throb, that time will never dree ! 
 I'd sooner starve at Coldstream-cross, and bite a crust that's brown, 
 Than row in wealth and luxury in ony ither town ! 
 
 * Minnows t Barley 
 
 I Pike Plates
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 10D 
 
 Fine as the day was, it belied its appearance, for the sport 
 turned out to be very indifferent, and, instead of the heavy creel 
 we anticipated, we got but little over a dozen fish, and none of 
 any large size. I attribute it to the fish having gorged them- 
 selves in the flood of the day before, having also been well fed in 
 the heavier flood which occurred previously. 
 
 Until noon scarcely a fish showed himself ; then they began 
 to rise fairly, but at what fly it was very difficult to determine, 
 there were so many varieties on the water. The fly called by 
 Yorkshire fishermen the little needle brown was very abundant, 
 and, had I had any good imitation, it might have done ; but the 
 flies which they were really taking were very diminutive duns, 
 pale blue and yellow, not larger than the smallest midges, but the 
 most perfect and beautiful little insects conceivable. It would be 
 utterly impossible for the rude hand of man to imitate them, 
 so all that one could do was to keep whipping away with a good 
 specimen or two of some of the larger flies which also abounded, 
 and to hope the fish might sooner or later take to a change of diet. 
 I kept up a red spinner of Ogden's, and the blue dun previously 
 mentioned by me, with a local general fly, said to be a great 
 killer at times. On this occasion, however, I did not get a fish 
 upon it, nor, although I tried it subsequently, did the fish appear 
 to fancy it at this time of year. I got seven or eight upon the 
 two former flies by perseverance, Mr. T. doing about the same 
 execution. It was very annoying to keep on throwing over rising 
 fish, the only visible result being to stop their rising. In this 
 part of the water stone causeways have been built out into the 
 river, with the view of saving the banks, but I think they have 
 not served the purpose they were designed for, as the river whirls 
 round inside these dykes and dams, and makes large eddies which 
 in floods rather damage the banks than save them. These eddies 
 are fine places for the trout, however, and in the centre of them 
 may be seen a large sheet of foam, whirling and twirling about 
 without ceasing ; into this all the flies which come down into the 
 eddy are drawn, and this foam is a perfect larder for the trout,
 
 110 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 who follow it about in its gyrations, and rise within its precincts 
 incessantly, the black water in the midst of the foam constantly 
 marking and betraying their risings as they suck down the insect 
 of their choice ; and, having such a selection all ready to hand, 
 they are the most perfect and determined gourmands in that 
 choice. The object of the fisherman is simply to cast into this 
 foam, wherever it may be, for where it is, there the fish are ; 
 and, if he has the right fly, he may pull the big trouts out at 
 every cast, or two while the rise is on, for they have their distinct 
 times for rising and for leaving it alone ; and when the rise is 
 not on it is next to useless to keep thrashing the water with a fly, 
 though perhaps minnow, worm, or creeper, as the case may be, 
 may then be advantageously employed. 
 
 Our creel, as I have said, was light when we were compelled to 
 go in to dinner. After dinner, the evening was cold, and the 
 fish did not come on at all, not being hungry, I suppose. 
 
 The next day was worse still, for the river had nearly cleared, 
 and the day was bright, hot, and without a breath of wind all 
 day. The trout certainly rose, as on the previous day, about 
 noon, but they were shyer than before. We got some half dozen 
 of fish, however, in the evening ; but the early closing had spoilt 
 the evening-fishing altogether, and we were obliged to abandon it 
 at a comparatively early hour.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 TWEED FISHERIES MUCKLE SANDIE AND THE BAILIFFS 
 JUMPING A HORSE OUT OF A QUICKSAND DAN THANKLESS 
 KELSO MELHOSE ABBOTSFORD A DAY AT THE SALMON. 
 
 THE Tweed, since its fisheries have risen in value so much, is 
 very fairly preserved in these parts, and comparatively little 
 poaching goes on. Now and then a well-mended kelt is con- 
 demned to die an unrighteous death by pot-hunting sportsmen 
 who ought to know better. Formerly there was a good deal of 
 wholesale poaching with nets, but I do not think there is much 
 now ; various kinds of set nets used to be very common, and the 
 poachers, a cunning and daring race, were " aye hard to grapple." 
 There is a good yarn told of one Muckle Sandie. Muckle Sandie 
 was a huge and a most determined poacher ; he had his net set 
 for salmon on one occasion when two bailiffs chanced to come 
 upon it ; having procured a salmon, they stuck it in the net and 
 laid down under tha bank in hiding, determined to take Sandie 
 in flagrante. But Sandie was no the chiel to be had that fashion, 
 and the bailiffs waited in vain. The day passed, and not a soul 
 but one solitary woman with a keel * on her head, to fetch water, 
 came near the river. Still they determined not to give up, and 
 stuck to it manfully all night. The next morning the bailiffs, 
 tired out with their long watch, went disconsolately down to the 
 river's brink determined to take the net as they couldn't catch 
 the delinquent, when "Hey! what! Gone? Never!" But 
 it was gone clean gone. But " How, when, where, who, or 
 which way ? " 
 
 * A sort of pail with a long handle.
 
 112 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 "Gude day, sirs ; an what ails ye? Hae ye tint onything? " 
 asked a stalwart female with a keel on her head, who came down 
 to the river for water at the moment. 
 
 " Tint onything ! " roared the amazed bailiffs, " what's come o' 
 the net ? " 
 
 " Ehow ! the net ! Wast that'n ye was speering after ? Am 
 thenkin, then, ye joost had a lang leuk at naethin ; for it was 
 awa in the keel or the clock chappit twal yesterday. And Sandie 
 bid me gie his respectfu' thanks for the muckle fine fusshe in't 
 to ony ane that speered on it." 
 
 Under the pretence of fetching water the morning before, she 
 had whipped the net out and into her keel, and bore it off under 
 the very noses of the unsuspecting . bailiffs, who not only lost 
 Sandie's net, but their own fish, and got laughed at into the 
 bargain. 
 
 The eels, too, were terrible poachers of the fish caught in set 
 nets, for I have it from a friend that he has constantly known 
 the whole of the insides of fish thus taken eaten completely out, 
 nothing being left of them but the bare skin. If the eels could 
 be taken, without in any way interfering with the salmon, they 
 would form a most valuable item in the Tweed fisheries, while- 
 the salmon-fishing could not but be most extensively benefitted 
 by their being thinned. 
 
 On Saturday evening I determined to betake myself to Kelso, 
 en route for Melrose and Abbotsford ; being so near the great 
 sights of Tweed side, I could not forego them. 
 
 We started for Carham station. On the way to the station we 
 passed through the turnpike-gate ; by it runs a little rill a 
 mere insignificant ditch ; nevertheless that ditch or rill separates 
 England from Scotland, and we were now over the Border. The 
 pike-house is said mostly to stand in England, but the hearth- 
 stone is in Scotland. Here, then, was the identical line of the 
 Border, on which so much has been written, and of which so 
 much is even now styled " debateable ground." Here we could 
 to a few inches decide which was England and which Scotland.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 113 
 
 I have one amusing extract concerning the Border, and the line 
 it takes, sent me by a friend, which I here append : 
 
 The Scottish Chronicle, or an abridgment of the " Black Book of 
 Paisley," says : " Scotland is divided from England by certain marches 
 from the East Sea called the Scots Sea, to the West Sea called the Irish 
 Sea, from the mouth of Tweed till it come betwixt Werke and Hadden 
 (Wark and Haddon), where the march leaves the river ; thence it passeth 
 south-west by secret ways known only to the inhabitants of that countrie, 
 till you come to Eedden Burne, and so up the said burne till you come to 
 the height of the fells of Cheviotte ; from thence west by the tops of the 
 fells to a march ditch, and from the march ditch to the river of Carshope, 
 and down Carshope till it fall into Liddel, till Eske and Liddel meet, and 
 passing along the north side of Eske it goeth endlong a ditch till it come 
 to the river of Sarke, and down the river Sarke till it fall into Solway, 
 where the waters of Annan and Nith, running severally into Solway, 
 all meet in one channel in the Irish Sea, 'making plenty of fishes.' 
 Here, by the flowing and ebbing of furious tides, made through many 
 lands ends, and partly by the inundations of the said waters, there are 
 very dangerous quicksands called Solway Sands, that no man can safely 
 pass over them without danger except they have an accustomed guide, 
 because of sinking holes, that are frequent in them. Being every tide 
 overflowed with the sea, the travellers take their journey through them at 
 a low or ebb water. If any man or horse fall in his fellow-travellers 
 casting their cloaks or other cloths about the place where he sinks, by 
 their running often about, the sand swells up to a height, and so vomits 
 out that which is fallen into the sinking hole. Upon the banks of Solway 
 in June and July the country people gather up the sand within the flood 
 mark, bringing it to land and laying it in great heaps, thereafter they 
 make the salt spring water, and cast it upon the sand with a certain 
 deuice, causing the water to run through the sand into a hollow pit 
 purposely made to receive it, which water being boiled in a little vessel 
 of lead there is made thereof good white salt, after the temperance of the 
 weather. This place is called ' Saltcoats.' " 
 
 I have heard of jumping out worms from their holes in this 
 way, but jumping a horse out of a quicksand is quite a novelty. 
 
 Carham station, though an insignificant affair, stands on a 
 somewhat famous site, for here stood the stronghold or tower of 
 the last of the Border robbers one Dan Thankless. Yonder, 
 where that debris of coke, coals, ashes, rusty iron, and railway 
 refuse, cumbers the soil, was the corner of his kail-yard ; and 
 
 close by, in the ditch by the roadside, similarly bestrewn, under 
 
 I
 
 114 BT LAKE AND RIVEB. 
 
 the knotted elder-bush, Dan Thankless's unsanctified bones lie 
 buried ; for be it known Dan fell not in raid or battle, nor was 
 he hanged upon a gibbet after the fashion of his kind ; neither 
 was his head erected upon a spike, a terror to evil-doers, nor his 
 body drawn and quartered by willing but rude and unskilled 
 anatomists. No, Dan, to his immortal disgrace and the shame 
 of his race, died peacefully in his bed, and consequently it may 
 have been considered as well-nigh time that his profession became 
 extinct. How would his forbears have raged with indignation 
 could they have forseen that their kail-yard should become the 
 site of a vile commercial transaction in the form of a railway- 
 station, and even the very hearthstone but a convenient slab for 
 the money-changers and ticket-sellers, where actual buying and 
 selling would be carried on, and where one policeman, armed 
 only with eighteen inches of painted ash-stick, would be sufficient 
 to check anything like a reiving of pocket-hankerchiefs or a 
 " driving " of portmanteaus. Oh, profanation ! But let us hope 
 of Dan, that, like the renowned Tom Bowling 
 Though his body's under ashes, &c., &c. 
 
 We slept at Kelso, and got on to Melrose uncomfortably early 
 the next morning. At Melrose, the first thing I noticed was 
 that the names of Walter Scott and John Knox were not likely 
 to be forgotten, for they graced two houses in the main square ; 
 but though the names at first a little staggered me, I soon saw 
 that their representatives were but " mute, inglorious Miltons " 
 after all, for the fictions of the one extended not beyond a belief 
 that reels of cotton and silk contain the exact amount specified 
 on them, while " the Beformation " of the other would possibly 
 be never directed to anything but rolls the one doing a smart 
 stroke in haberdashery, the other being connected with the baking 
 interest. 
 
 Of course, being Sunday, nothing could be seen in Scotland. 
 The abbey was religiously locked up, so that the simple and 
 apparently harmless privilege of strolling through the sacred 
 precincts was denied to us. As possibly, however, such a privi-
 
 BY LAKE AND KIVER. 115 
 
 lege might, by ill-conducted people, be grossly abused, and the 
 abbey turned into a bear-garden, no doubt the proprietors 
 have reason for inclosing it, and placing it under lock and key. 
 We strolled down to the river, however, and had a peep at that, 
 for they could not very well lock that up, or no doubt they 
 would. It is very pretty, but does not look like very favourable 
 salmon water, though there are, I believe, some good casts in it, 
 particularly above the cauld. Most of the water here belongs to 
 Messrs. Broadwood, the great pianoforte makers. Later in the 
 day we strolled up the nearest of the Eildon hills, at the base 
 of which Melrose is prettily situated. These hills are not of 
 great height or bulk, though they are in their way very pic- 
 turesque ; and the steepness of their sides, and sharpness of their 
 outlines, make them not only very striking, but hard to scramble 
 up. From the top of the nearest one we had hopes of a fine 
 view, but the afternoon set in misty, and the view was much 
 circumscribed and interrupted ; we did now and then, however, 
 get a charming peep of the valley of the Tweed, with Gala- 
 shiels and the other small towns and villages which grace its 
 banks. 
 
 In the evening I strolled out to the abbey, and as the moon 
 was rising, I had an opportunity (above the closed gates) of seeing 
 the beautiful view so well-known to the admirers of Scotch guide 
 and hand-books. Through the tall window (the crowning beauty 
 of the place) shone the rising moon, showing up the delicate and 
 lovely tracery, and gilding the salient points, and no doubt flood- 
 ing "the long-drawn aisles " with its silver light ; but this, alas ! 
 I could not see, owing to those envious gates, though I would 
 have given a handsome sum to have been permitted half an hour's 
 stroll through them under such circumstances. 
 
 If thou wouldst view fair Melrose aright, 
 Go visit it by the pale moonlight. 
 
 says Sir Walter Scott ("but don't go on a Sunday evening," he 
 might have added) and hereupon he gives such a description of 
 the beauties of the scene that it is difficult to believe that Sir 
 
 J 2
 
 116 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 Walter never did visit the abbey by the pale moonlight. Never- 
 theless, it is asserted that he did not, and upon apparently good 
 authority, and I am not aware that the assertion has ever been 
 contradicted. 
 
 The next morning I visited Melrose. Now, I am not about to 
 enter on a description of it. It would be treading ground which 
 has been far too well and frequently trodden before, and the 
 reader desirous of a more intimate and archaeological acquaint- 
 ance has only to take up the handbook most convenient to 
 himself, to have a better description, and to know more about 
 it than I can tell him. I will only briefly say that Melrose 
 is almost the only fashionable ruin much bepraised and visited 
 which has not disappointed me. To say that it is beautiful, 
 that the architecture and effect is almost entrancing, is to repeat 
 well-used and very well-deserved praises. Two things, however, 
 jar upon the sensitive visitor (at least I consider myself a sensi- 
 tive visitor, and they jarred upon me), viz., the situation, which 
 is nowise favourable to its charms, and the repulsive neatness 
 maintained in the interior, which gives it the air rather of a 
 modern Eoshervillian ruin, than of a really venerable pile. 
 Carefully swept, and garnished with every little fragment and 
 carving of gurgoyle, frieze, or mullion, built up apparently into 
 hideous little gimcrack altars to bad taste and petty niisadorn- 
 ment, one feels inclined to seize a large shovel and send each mass 
 flying to their natural resting-places in forgotten and neglected 
 corners only there are no such things, for every corner is most 
 particularly attended to, so much so that even the spiders must 
 get disgusted with their quarters, and the bats dissatisfied with 
 such unquiet lodgings. I could think of nothing but some 
 amiable old annuitant surrounded by a score of sycophants and 
 flatterers, who polish his boots and brush his hair, and keep him 
 alive for what they can get out of him. I paused before the 
 grave of the wizard Sir Michael Scott, and wished I could have 
 invoked the aid of the grim old sorcerer to give the harpies (who 
 spoilt n?y intellectual feast by befouling the viands with their
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 117 
 
 abominable taste, and who worried me with stereotyped descrip- 
 tions) a gliff that would make them shy of the abbey for ever 
 and a day. 
 
 Abbotsford, which is a short half -hour's drive from Melrose, is 
 a very nicely-kept, singular, and interesting curiosity-shop. The 
 building itself is perfectly indescribable, and how such an 
 apparent confusion of peaks, pillars, towers, and chimneys ever 
 got thrown together is a mystery. Fortunately for me the view 
 of it is very well known, so I am not called on to attempt 
 description. The inside is as remarkable as the outside, for the 
 collection of curious and rare things therein displayed is so very 
 varied, and at the same time so interesting, that the effect pro- 
 duced by the contemplation of one singular object is immediately 
 destroyed by the next, which is to the full as curious ; and this 
 goes on until the confusion of mind produced by the attempt to 
 form a notion of the outside is thoroughly completed by the 
 interior, and the visitor comes forth quite prostrate and 
 bewildered with what he has seen, and half an hour's walk 
 in the grounds, with a long gaze at the placid Tweed flowing 
 here so peacefully along, is absolutely needed to arrange his ideas, 
 and to get some distinct notion of what he has really seen. The 
 collection is perfectly wonderful, but so rich and diverse that a 
 mere walk through it cannot give any satisfactory reminiscence 
 of it. Then the variety of ceilings and architectural adornment ; 
 the odds and ends of windows, carvings, medallions, and of 
 heaven knows what besides, would almost lead the matter-of- 
 fact stranger, who did not know where he was, to ask, " Wasn't 
 the owner and projector of all this a little just a little 
 cracked? and, if not, how on earth did he avoid becoming so ?" 
 The library seemed to me the only room in the house where 
 there was simplicity and repose. There was Sir Walter's desk, 
 and there his chair. "Don't sit in it, please." Everybody 
 wishes to, and as thousands visit the house weekly, and some- 
 times excursions of hundreds at a time, if it were permitted, the 
 chair would have to be renewed yearly. Is not this species of
 
 118 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 vulgarity a wonderful thing ? is it not confined to and sympto- 
 matic of the true British snob ? What satisfaction can a stupid 
 heavy-sterned Briton derive from sitting in Sir Walter's chair, 
 and wearing it out ? Does he imagine that the divine afflatus 
 can be communicated by the contact between his well-filled 
 nether-broadcloth and the chair of the immortal dead ? or that, 
 like little boys, he will imbibe learning by application to 
 the breech ? But to the library : there was the gallery, with 
 the little door out of Sir Walter's bedroom, through which he 
 could descend to his desk at any hour of the day or night, 
 without interruption delightful privilege. Then, too, the 
 books ! thousands of rare and valuable tomes. My fingers 
 itched, my eyes watered for them; I felt "Kleptomania" 
 coming over me. Here was a wonderful old black letter volume, 
 full of wonderful engravings of arms and armour, and worth its 
 very weight in gold ; would it be possible to drop it out of 
 window and pick it up promiscuously when walking round the 
 garden ? But what if I were caught in flagrante ? Would a wrong 
 address help me ? No. Would it be of any use for me to say I 
 was eighteen when I was eight-and-thirty ? I doubt it. Would 
 the magistrates or counsel sympathise with my youth and beauty, 
 or my lofty and distressed connections ? I fear not ; besides, the 
 attendant never gave me a chance ; so my mania was ungratified, 
 and I was un-committed. I could willingly have spent a month or 
 two in that one room. To the lovers of curious and rare things, 
 Abbotsford is a mine of wealth worthy of a score of visits ; but 
 the taste shown in the whole thing is, I cannot help thinking, a 
 little questionable. No doubt better judges of such things will 
 look upon all this as only two or three removes from " flat 
 blasphemy ;" but what are people's impressions worth if they do 
 not describe them truthfully ? so I will take my chance, and 
 abide by them. 
 
 On my return to Carham in the afternoon, having permission 
 from Lord Home to fish the Oarham waters T determined next 
 day to make my first essay on Tweed with a salmon-rod, and,.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 119 
 
 having procured half a dozen well-tied flies from Wright, I set all 
 in order for the ensuing morn. Somehow the salmon although 
 there had been one or two fine, dark, windy days for them 
 had not been in a taking humour at all ; one, or at the outside 
 two, small grilse being, with a blank sometimes, the amount of 
 sport obtained. Still, there were a good many fish showing 
 themselves, and a change of wind or weather, or some alteration 
 or modification in ozone or some of those inscrutable agents 
 which may or may not have to do .with the taking of fish, 
 might ensue any day, and put them in a good humour ; and, of 
 course, I hoped it might come to my luck to be on the water on 
 that day. 
 
 On the next morning I looked out anxiously at the weather : 
 apparently it was all that the heart of a salmon-fisher could 
 desire. Dark and windy, with a good water not too low. In 
 fact, to look at the day, one would have expected to get four or 
 five fish at least, and perhaps half a score, or perhaps a big one 
 or two. Breakfast ended, I walked up to " The Wheel " with my 
 rod, and there was Willie Scott, his lordship's fisherman, waiting 
 for me. A nice, douce civil lad is Willie, and a capital fisher- 
 man, too one who takes it for granted that the gentleman who 
 is going to fish with him has some knowledge of the use of a 
 salmon-rod, and has some knowledge of hooking and playing a 
 fish, and who does not conceive it necessary to shout a host of 
 useless and exasperating directions into his ear when he is doing 
 his best, and which only tend to make him nervous and irritable 
 a frame of mind not favourable to successful fishing, as is too 
 often the wont with fishermen of greater self-pretensions to skill 
 in their art. Now, I have sometimes met men who think that 
 a salmon cannot be killed unless they vociferate and advise to "do 
 this or do that ; " and who will not let you fish in your own 
 way, nor strike in your own way, nor do anything in the way you 
 are accustomed to do it, and who, having succeeded in making 
 you lose your fish, take on themselves to blame you for doing so. 
 It is "Ah, sir; if ye'd only just done so and so." I once
 
 120 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 lost three fish in succession, I firmly believe, through trying 
 to follow the advice of one of these wiseacres. At length I 
 hooked a fourth, and he commenced anew, as if nothing 
 had happened. I turned round, and pointing to a tree some 
 twenty or thirty yards behind me, I said, " Have the kind- 
 ness to walk to that tree, and when I want you I will call for 
 you." I killed my fish, and also the next I hooked. A word of 
 advice as to the presence of a sharp rock or some unseen danger 
 is all that a moderately-skilful fisherman requires, and the more 
 quietly this is given the better. 
 
 The rod was soon up, and the fly selected by Willie lapped on, 
 the fly chosen being the one locally known as the " dun-wing." 
 We rowed off, and I commenced on the head of Carham wheel, 
 a magnificent cast, and fished it carefully down ; every now and 
 then a huge fish would heave himself aloft, or a lively grilse 
 come dancing up, sometimes barely a yard or two from the hook, 
 but none of them cared for a taste of the dun-wing ; and having 
 fished it down, we came back and fished it over again with a 
 silver body a very striking fly but in vain ; not a fish would 
 move. Once more we shifted to a doctor. Every moment I 
 expected to see a big boil, or to feel a pluck at the fly ; but 
 blessed are they who expect nothing, for they are never disap- 
 pointed, and I was. I fished it on the top, I fished it 
 deep, a foot under water ; I fished it slow, I fished it quick ; 
 I played the fly roughly, I drew him steadily along on an 
 even keel but it was no go. It was, of course, unaccount- 
 able ; but that is nothing, because it always is unaccountable. 
 Clearly enough they wouldn't come, so we went on to the next 
 cast. Fished Ship End, Long Ship Flummery, I think it is 
 called and at last half-way down the Kirk End stream. "There 
 he is !" said Willie Scott. I was looking at a couple of stones 
 on the other side of the river, having marked a good fish oppo- 
 site to them, and being desirous of putting the next cast 
 over him. So I did not see the fish ; but as I did not feel him 
 either, I concluded that he rose falsely. I tried him again and
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 121 
 
 again. I fished the stream out, tried other flies, but he would 
 not come again, so I left him. On I fished, cast after cast, but 
 did nothing. Then we lunched ; and after lunch I went to it 
 again, and at last, in a cast rejoicing, I think, in the euphonious 
 title of " bluidy breeks," up came a small grilse of about 41b. 
 at the dun-wing, and after a nice little scamper here and there 
 the net was slipped under him, and we drank his health. I had 
 been afraid of a blank, but that was saved. I fished on until 
 the evening came on, but did not extract another rise out of the 
 sulky dogs. So ended my first day.
 
 122 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 FISHERMEN'S EIGHTS THE FLOOES WATER MB. FAWCET AND 
 SALMON FISHING Two DAYS AT KELSO A GOOD DAY AT 
 CARHAM TWEED FLIES THE SALMON FLY BAMBOROUGH 
 CASTLE THE THREE IDIOTS. 
 
 THE Tweed fishermen are a very independent set of fellows, 
 very civil, when not upset, with a certain pride in themselves 
 and their calling, but quite sensible to the difference between 
 good and scurvy treatment. Not a hundred years ago, a gentle- 
 man well known on Tweedside was fishing with one of them, 
 whom, for the sake of individuality, we will call Davie. Soon 
 after starting, the gentleman killed a ten-pounder, and, greatly 
 pleased, took out his flask and drank "to the fusshe," and, without 
 offering Davie a sup, returned it to his pocket, blew out the 
 feathers of the fly, and went to work again. The stream was 
 heavy, but Davie never shirked it, and ere long "his gentlemen" 
 was in another. This was killed, too, and out came the flask 
 again. The gentleman, much delighted, laughed, slapped his 
 thighs, prophesied a big day, drank to the fusshe again, and put 
 up his flask all as a matter of course. But the deuce of a drop 
 got Davie. Davie glowered on't. " He didna joost like the 
 prospec it was no the sort o' thing he was usen to at a'." 
 However, he put off from shore into the stream once more, bent 
 to his work with desperation and a dry throttle, and again the 
 lucky fisherman was in his fish. A third time they got to shore, 
 and a third time the fish was landed a noble fifteen-pounder. 
 Laughing, joking, chuckling, in the highest glee, the angler 
 again brought out the flask, again drank to the fusshe, ~ and
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 123 
 
 again, without passing it on, returned the bottle to its abiding 
 place. Davie rose from his seat. " I'm thinking we'll have an 
 amazing day, Davie," said the gentleman. " A'm thenkin ye 
 wull," said Davie, drily, as he stepped out of the boat and 
 handled the chain. " Hallo ; what are you about ? " asked the 
 fisherman in wonder, as Davie, having dragged the boat up, 
 commenced locking the chain to the post. " Mon," said Davie, 
 " Ef ye drink by yeresell, ye may fusshe by yeresell, and gang 
 to for me," and, putting the- key in his pocket, he stalked 
 off and left the astonished angler to his meditations. 
 
 They are extremely jealous of their reputation, too, as the 
 following anecdote will show. A friend of mine was one day 
 fishing with one Tammy, when he hooked a large fish, which 
 showed them great play ; at length, having nearly tired the fish, 
 he brought it round, and once or twice Tammy failed to gaff it, not 
 being able to put the hook into the part he wished. " Ah," 
 said my friend, growing impatient for the fish's landing, " Ah 1 
 confound you, Tammy, you never could gaff a fish properly, for 
 yere always looking for the tail, so as not to spoil the fish." 
 Down went the gaff, and off came Tammie's coat, and in a 
 monstrous rage he began squaring up at my friend after his 
 fashion. " Ye tell me a canna gaff a fusshe ! " said Tarn. " Ye 
 tell me a canna gaff a fusshe ! ! A'm roosed a'm roosed to 
 deeds o' bluid, ye ken, when ye tell me a canna gaff a fusshe ! 
 Tak aff yere coat, mon, for a'm roosed to deeds o' bluid. Ye 
 touch my honour when ye say a canna gaff a fusshe ! A'll ficht 
 wi' my best friend gin he tells me a canna gaff a fusshe. Tak 
 aff yere coat, mon, for a'm roosed to deeds o' bluid, ye ken 
 a'm roosed to deeds o' bluid ! Tak aff yere coat, or all trample 
 on ye." " I'll not take off my coat, Tammy," said my friend, 
 quietly, " but by the lord ! I'll give the coroner a job if ye can't 
 swim, for I'll throw you overboard if you miss him again." 
 Whether Tarn thought my friend looked as if he, too, "was 
 roosed to deeds o' bluid, ye ken," or that he had done sufficient 
 .to vindicate his wounded honour, or whether the fish at that
 
 124 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 moment presented so tempting a mark that Tammy could not 
 resist the opportunity, or whether both circumstances combined 
 to interrupt the course of his ire, I know not ; but he retrieved 
 his character, and wiped off the slur cast upon it by my friend, 
 by at once gaffing the fish with a skill and dexterity which left 
 nothing to be desired ; and as he was a twenty-pounder, and my 
 friend's whisky-flask was always as free as the air to a deserving 
 boatman, no doubt, 
 
 If any pain or care remained, 
 They drown' d it in the bowl. 
 
 If the angler wishes for sport, he will certainly find it advan- 
 tageous to treat his fisherman at least as well as he treats 
 himself. 
 
 I had applied to the Duke of Eoxburghe for leave to fish the 
 Floors water, and had received a very courteous permission for 
 two days' fishing, and determined on the day after my return to 
 Carham to make a trial of it. It was, apparently, a good day 
 for salmon-fishing ; and having heard the water very highly 
 spoken of, I anticipated a big day. I took the train to Kelso, 
 and soon found the Duke's fisherman, Mr. Stevenson, who in 
 due time piloted me through a portion of the park to the river 
 just below Floors Castle, which is beautifully situated, and forms 
 -a lovely and imposing view from Kelso-bridge. We commenced 
 operations on a reach of rather heavy, dull water, which stretches 
 from the cauld up-stream for about a quarter of a mile. Here 
 there are some good casts for heavy fish, which find good lying 
 ground. We fished it carefully down to the cauld two or three 
 times with a good choice of flies ; but on this day, favourable as 
 it looked, their mightinesses were not in the humour to put in 
 an appearance, for I did not get a rise, and indeed I saw very 
 few fish move. After lunch we fished on up the river for above 
 half a mile, trying some fine likely streams, but it availed 
 nothing. At the upper part of the water there is a short sharp 
 current between two rocks ; it is an awkward bit to cast properly 
 over without wading, as the angler has to cast rather up-stream.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 12 5> 
 
 At the throat, however, I saw a grilse leap out of the water, so I 
 resolved to try him, and at the second cast he came up but 
 only to look, for I neither fastened nor felt him. I tried 
 him again, and again he came, but more faintly, and with a 
 smaller boil than before. After giving him a rest I tried him 
 again, but he would not look at it. I changed my fly, and at 
 intervals I put several other flies over him, but it was of no 
 avail, and I was obliged at last to leave him. I then fished the 
 water down to the landing place, and tried the slack water again, 
 but I got no other rise, and, being tired with a long day's 
 flogging and so little encouragement, I gave in, and tackled up 
 to a blank day. Just as I was putting up my rod, not ten yards 
 from the landing-place, a huge twenty-pounder came up with a 
 prdigious plunge, as though to say, " Here I am you see, but I 
 wasn't to be gammoned by your bunches of feathers and tinsel." 
 On this very spot, some three days before, Stevenson told me that 
 a blind gentleman,* whom he was fishing with, hooked and 
 killed a handsome fish of above 20lb. weight. As I was walking 
 back to the inn to get some refreshment it came on to rain, and 
 having let the last train to Carham depart, I had to walk home. 
 The weather held up for a time, and thinking it was going to 
 clear up, I left my rod and tackle to save carrying back for the 
 next day, and I made a start ; but I had scarcely got a mile 
 from Kelso on the road for Sprouston ferry, when it came on 
 again harder than ever, and I walked the whole distance and a 
 long and wearisome walk it was in the pelting rain reaching home 
 at length soaked to the skin. 
 
 The next day I made for Kelso, fearing that the river would 
 come down, if not already risen, as it had rained nearly all night. 
 When I reached the river, however, I found that it had not 
 started as yet. It was a tremendously squally gusty day, blow- 
 ing so at times that the boat could hardly make head against it. 
 Stevenson did not like the look of it, and indeed there was every 
 
 * Professor Fawcett, late M.P. for Brighton.
 
 126 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 prospect of a very rough day's work cut out for him ; but it 
 struck me that this was just the very weather to suit the dull 
 water and the big fish, and .1 was in great hopes of hooking a 
 big one if the water did not rise, as, when it does begin to start, 
 it is useless to attempt salmon fishing on Tweed, and indeed on 
 most other rivers. I had not taken three casts above the landing- 
 place when I rose a fish at the silver body, but he did not take. 
 I tried him again and again changed flies, but it was useless, 
 and I fished down to the cauld without another rise. On the 
 very brink of the cauld there is a good cast, and at the second or 
 third cast into the smooth, gliding water, a sudden boil and a 
 sharp pluck at the silver-body announced that I was fast. I had 
 been in hopes that it was a good fish, but five minutes' 
 middling play brought a 61b. grilse to the net, and I was soon 
 thrashing away again, but I could not coax another to move. 
 The washing of the waves against the banks began to thicken 
 the dead water ; so I thought, as the water was deep and there 
 were large fish, that I would try something a trifle more showy, 
 so I changed to a Ballina fly, and subsequently to a parson all 
 toppings, and cock of the rock, a mighty showy fellow 
 but it was all unavailing. And now I fancied the river 
 began to rise, and when we reached the landing-place doubt 
 was changed to certainty ; she had shot up three or four 
 inches, but was very slightly discoloured. It was quite 
 enough to destroy all chances of sport, however. Still, in hopes 
 that by an outside chance something might be done, I worked 
 on, being desirous to try the fish which I had risen twice on the 
 previous day. When we reached the cast, however, the river 
 had risen full six inches, and the nice fishing stream was lost in a 
 rattling torrent. I saw a couple of fish disport themselves there, 
 however, and as I could not now at all reach the spot, not having 
 wading boots with me, I handed the rod to Stevenson (who had), 
 and he tried it, but could not fish it properly, as the stream was 
 too powerful. We left it at length without a rise, and we fished 
 the river carefully down to the landing-place without even seeing
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 127 
 
 another fish. From the way the day commenced, I was certainly 
 in hopes of having a better bag to show ; but the rising water 
 no doubt put an end to sport. 
 
 There are some pretty streams in the water I fished, particu- 
 larly opposite to and above Floors Castle, altogether there are 
 twenty-two recognised casts on it, but of course they are not 
 all in order at the same time. On the lowest of all, " Max- 
 wheel," which seldom gets the wind on it properly, some years 
 ago, the Duke of Eoxburghe killed twenty-seven salmon and 
 grilse in one day when the wind served. 
 
 The next day I took another turn at the Carham water. 
 Another gentleman, who had permission, had sent word a day 
 or two before to say he should be down, so that he had 'the 
 choice of the best water. Willie Scott was engaged to attend 
 him, and was waiting, expecting him down by the train. 
 
 I had to take Birgham Dub a large wide stretch of rather 
 still water and I went with a capital boatman and experienced 
 fisherman, whose name has escaped me, Mr. H. Thompson taking 
 a trout-rod and occupying the bow of the boat, for the purpose 
 of getting a dish of fish for breakfast. It was not a likely-look- 
 ing day, being a trifle sunny, and with very little wind ; and, 
 the Dub requiring a good brisk wind, our chance of sport looked 
 small. We fished it over, however, for an hour or two, and only 
 saw one fish move. By this time the train had come in, and 
 Willie Scott's gentleman had not put in an appearance ; so we 
 were at liberty, much to our satisfaction, to take the lower 
 water; so we dropped down to the wheel, and fished it down 
 two or three times. The day began to cloud over a little, and I 
 was in great hopes of getting a rise out of the wheel ; I was the 
 more anxious, too, as the fish are usually heavy there, and I saw 
 some big ones rolling up. I fished this magnificent cast very 
 carefully, tried most of my best Tweed flies, and one or two 
 taking-looking strangers, every minute expecting to see the big 
 boil which heralds a quarter of an hour's active excitement. 
 But it never came, and having given it a fair chance, we went
 
 128 BY LAKE AND EiVEB. 
 
 to lunch. As this was the last day I could spare, I must say I 
 did not feel delighted -with the aspect of things I hardly anti- 
 cipated a blank on such fine water, but I did not quite like the 
 look of it. -However, never despair ; and the result proved that 
 there was corn in Egypt yet, and that a bad beginning has often 
 a good ending. 
 
 No sooner was lunch over than we put off again, and with 
 " silver-body" temptingly skimming the water, I fished down a 
 short distance, till I came off " The Prison," or " Long Ship 
 End," when a sharp pull and a bending rod told glad tidings. 
 Oh ! how musical is the sound of the reel ! Talk of a solo on 
 the sacbut or saxhorn, or the grinding of the most melodious 
 hand-organ that ever drove Professor Babbage frantic, or glad- 
 dened the heart of an ennuied nursery-maid in charge of a covey 
 of craving two-year-olds. Pshaw ! " What fairy like music steals 
 over " not "the sea," but the river ? "voice of the mermaid," 
 indeed ! What's a mermaid to a multiplier ? not that I ever 
 use a multiplier, save for the sake of alliteration. Talk of the 
 Sirens, forsooth ! Had the wise Ulysses only been a salmon 
 fisherman, the click of a reel would have fetched the wax out 
 of his ears, and brought the artful old scoundrel to book in the 
 twinkling of a bed-post. I landed at The Prison, .and the fisher- 
 man landed the fish in The Prison only just in time though, for 
 he was getting too near the stakes to be pleasant, one of which, 
 being loose, came up entangled in the net. The fish was a reddish 
 one, of about 61b. We put off again, and in half a dozen throws, 
 almost on the same spot, another tug and another bend of the 
 rod proclaimed another fish on. Again we landed, and after a 
 little gentle persuasion I induced my friend to come within the 
 sweep of the net. It was the fellow fish to the other ; there 
 was not a quarter of a pound between them. A little below 
 this I struck something which at first I thought was a grilse. 
 In playing it I thought it was a good trout, but on getting it in 
 vre found it was a fish called on Tweed the silver-white. It was 
 about fib., a very lively, handsome, brilliant little fish, and, as I
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 129 
 
 proved next morning, delicious eating. As to the real name of 
 the silver-white, I believe that it is neither more nor less than a 
 young white or salmon trout, and that is the opinion of many 
 other good judges ; it differs widely from the orange fin or black 
 tail, which is the young of the bull trout. Pleased with the 
 prospect of sport, we got on, without losing time, to the Kirk- 
 end. Half-way down I saw a large fish come up, and, as 
 it looked a feeding rise, I marked the spot carefully . It 
 was a few yards below two sunken stones, over which the water 
 swirled and eddied temptingly. At length we got to the cast. 
 I threw over it, and, thinking to coax him, let the fly sink 
 deeply ; just as the line was at its full extent, I felt something 
 touch it as if it had brushed against one of the stones over which 
 I was fishing ; raising the point slightly to clear it, I felt the 
 slightest possible tug more like an obstruction than a tug. 
 "There he is, sir! " sung out Willie, who had his eye on the 
 rod-top ; and "there he is," I felt ; and I struck sharply, but I 
 was too late, for the cunning rascal had cheated me. Fishing so 
 deeply there was no rise to be seen ; and he came so gingerly 
 that I was deceived at the first pressure, and too late at the 
 second. I felt like an abandoned criminal. " Hey, faith, that's 
 a big yan! That's joost the way those big yans often rise. Hey, 
 mon, what a pity ye didna yack it into him ! " quoth the boat- 
 man. But it was of no use crying over spilt' milk. I anathe- 
 matised my want of judgment and decision, but that was useless 
 now of course he wouldn't and didn't come again. As 1 had 
 marked the fish, and was fishing owr the spot where he had 
 risen, I have no doubt it was the fish I saw, which was a fish of 
 from 151b. to 201b., as I judged. 
 
 In a stream called, I think, the Kitchen Craigs, I got another 
 rise, but I made no mistake this time ; indeed, the fish took care 
 of that, and I stuck fast in a lively grilse, which jumped about like 
 a pea on a hot shovel, leaping and running bravely. He soon 
 came to net, however, a beautiful little fish of between 41b. and 
 51b. weight, just fresh from the sea, with the sea-lice on him
 
 130 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 thickly, and as bright as silver sheen. Things were certainly 
 improving. 
 
 We now turned upwards again, as evening was coming on, and 
 I took off my silver-body with which I had killed all my fish, 
 and put up a white-wing. Fishing up I came again to the 
 Kirk-end, and at the head of it I got hold of an obstinate sullen 
 fish of nearly 81b. He was not very handsome, being rather red, 
 nor did he show much sport, but he was not landed until it got 
 almost too late to try for another. I had had a very fair day 
 since lunch-time, having, including the silver-white, " killed five 
 sea-fish out of six rises," as Willie said which is not bad work ; 
 and I make no doubt but the sixth would have shared the fate of 
 the others if I had but been aware of him. So tackling up, I bade 
 adieu to Tweed indeed, this was the last time I used a rod in 
 the North. 
 
 The Tweed flies I used were the dun-wing, the drake-wing, and 
 the white tip. These flies are well-known, and have been des- 
 cribed over and over again. The fly I killed best with was the 
 silver-body a grey, ghostly, very shrimpy-looking fellow ; the 
 body all silver foil, the tail golden pheasant topping, with a small 
 sprig of jungle cock ; two or three turns of silver twist with 
 yellow tag above it, and one turn of black herl over the butt of 
 the tail ; silver twist, with light grey hackle, with black centre 
 and points ; grey drake feather hackled at shoulder, with a mixed 
 wing composed of strands of bustard, gold pheasant tail and 
 tippet, puce macaw, brown drake, green parrot, red under-feather 
 of gold pheasant's tail (two or three sprigs of each of the above), 
 with a good bunch of grey drake, gallina, and wood duck, and a 
 single topping over all with blue macaw veins, make a very non- 
 descript cold grey wing, if properly mixed. I have been particular 
 in describing this fly, as I found it a killer. The white tip is a 
 well-known Tweed fly, with a dark body, and a pure white wing. 
 It shows well at night, and should always be the dernier ressort. 
 
 With regard to trout-flies for the north, the southern angler 
 should not listen to any nonsense that half-bred fishermen talk
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 131 
 
 about Cockney tackle and London flies, and who advise him to 
 leave his London-made flies at home, and trust to the village 
 tinker and all that sort of fustian. You can get the best 
 materials in the world in London, if you only know how to select 
 them. I found my southern flies kill well enough. So the 
 southern angler should by no means leave his book at home, for 
 the flies of the south are the flies of the north : the duns and 
 spinners of the south are the duns and spinners of the north. 
 But, if the young angler mistrusts his judgment, and fears or 
 does not know what to select, he had better drop a line to 
 Wright of Sprouston, or Forrest of Kelso. 
 
 Before leaving the subject of flies, I give a song, written 
 I believe, by a well-known fisher on Tweedside, and sung also by 
 him at various festivities. I have to thank the same friend for 
 it who got me " The Troutin' Day " : 
 
 THE SALMON FLY. 
 
 Come, see me dress the salmon-fly, 
 
 With feathers bright and gay, 
 Of ev'ry hue and brilliant dye 
 
 That tempts the scaly prey ; 
 With azure pinions of the jay, 
 
 The tail of buzzard brown, 
 Mixed with the goigeous colours frae 
 
 The golden pheasant's crown. 
 
 In harle from off the peacock's tail 
 
 I'll wrap the polished steel, 
 And modestly will blend the hale 
 
 Wi' freckles frae the teal. 
 The flossy silk, sae saft to feel, 
 
 A'doon the breast will hing, 
 While hackles, bright as cochineal, 
 
 Will form the under wing. 
 
 With purple from the gay macaw 
 
 The topmost wings are drest, 
 And tinsel bright in mony a raw 
 
 Binds round the gaudy breast. 
 K 2
 
 132 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 A plume from out his orange crest 
 
 The cockatoo will lend, 
 Which droops behind in graceful rest, 
 
 To cover barb and bend. 
 
 My fly is dress'd I'll throw the lure 
 
 To tempt the salmon bold ; 
 A deadly barb, both sharp and sure, 
 
 All swathed in shining gold. 
 The brightest rose bears 'neath its fold 
 
 The prickly thorn conceal'd, 
 While sweets that mankind dearest hold 
 
 Aft rankest bitters yield. 
 
 Vice aft appears in Pleasure's garb, 
 
 Let giddy youth beware 
 Beneath may lie the polished barb, 
 
 'Mong feathers bright and fair ; 
 Deep hidden 'neath sic tinsel glare 
 
 The wiles of life may lie, 
 And brilliant follies gild a snare 
 
 As deadly as my fly. 
 
 ' The day after leaving Carham I had to go to North Shoreham 
 to make inquiry of the fishermen and others regarding the 
 encroachments of the French. While visiting North Shoreham 
 as a change from its herring barrels, offal, rotten weed, and 
 general amalgamated association of stinks I ran over to Barn- 
 borough to have a look at that gem of the north, the castle. 
 I nearly missed seeing Bamborough. but rejoice that I did not, 
 as the loss would have been irreparable, for it would be difficult 
 for imagination to conceive anything grander or more magnificent 
 than the coup d'ceil of Bamborough Castle. As you approach it 
 from the village, there is a simple massiveness of outline and 
 conception which fills the delighted eye, and harmonises wonder- 
 fully with the real massiveness of the work itself. Eising from 
 a rock which springs up abruptly from the sea-shore, it seems to 
 have grown from it, and to be a part of itself. One face 
 
 domineers the ocean, while the other keeps watch and ward over 
 the land, and calmly gazes upon the rocky hill of Spindleston
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVER. 133 
 
 Heugh (whilom the dwelling of the Laidley worm), which stands 
 over against it frowning and snarling with ragged tooth-like 
 rocks, as though it was ready at any moment to spawn forth 
 from its crevasses another monster to destroy Bamborough and 
 persecute creation, if it could only withdraw itself from the 
 lordly, lion-like regard of that sublime old castle. This is strong 
 praise, but I can only say that if I knew stronger I would use it, 
 for I never saw anything of its kind that surprised or pleased me 
 so much as Bamborough. There, too, was no bad taste no 
 sweeping and garnishing no snobbery no petty Eoshervillean 
 adornment and, better than all, no hungry, empty-headed, 
 chattering attendant to distract your senses and spoil your 
 views. All was simplicity and repose. There was vigorous old 
 age, appropriately clad, not befrizzled and becurled like an anti- 
 quated beau or a metropolitan grotto. An artist could repose 
 on the rank grass that decks the sandhills around Bamborough, 
 and gaze at it for hours without feeling repletion. It can hardly 
 be called a ruin, though it dates from the Conquest, and portions 
 of it even show Eoman origin. The solidity and strength of the 
 original building may be conceived when I state that time and 
 ruin have touched but little of it, for not only is the castle 
 habitable, but it is a most comfortable residence, and all the 
 outbuildings are in good order and repair. There were kings of 
 Bamborough at one time, and truly it is a regal residence ; as a 
 fortress, in the days of bows and arrows, it must have been 
 impregnable, and even now Sir William Armstrong would find it 
 a very hard nut to crack, for there are whole flights of steps in 
 the solid stonework of the outer walls, which I should think in 
 some places are forty or fifty feet thick. Beyond the castle are 
 the Farn Isles, the scene of Grace Darling's exploit. Poor 
 Grace ! she was one of " those whom the gods love." The Farn 
 islands from Bamborough, sleeping peacefully in the calm still 
 sea, are inexpressibly beautiful and smiling ; but when swept by 
 the furious north-east wind the roaring of the stormy surge, 
 and the battling of the fierce currents that run between them,
 
 134 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 they must be a sublime and splendid spectacle. These islands 
 abound in wild birds, which visitors formerly amused themselves 
 by destroying, wasting powder and shot to show the little skill 
 they possessed, as three-fourths of the birds were useless when 
 killed. Various conveniences are kept ready in the castle for the 
 relief of wrecks, which oft bestrew the fatal islands and the 
 dangerous Budle sands. There are some noble charities also 
 wound up in the existence of Bamborough, so that it is not only 
 beautiful and grand, but confers very practical and solid benefits. 
 Two days after I was, thanks to a friend of Mr. Thompson's, 
 shooting a moor but three or four miles inland from Bamborough, 
 which, with the Farn Isles, lay, as it were, almost at our feet. 
 It was a magnificent day, and we drove to the moor from 
 Wooler. Half way we passed the village of Chatton. There is 
 a whimsical anecdote anent Chatton which I give. Some years 
 since a traveller, a stranger to the place, was wending his way 
 towards Belford via Chatton, and, not knowing the road, he was 
 afraid of missing his way. He accosted a man whom he met on 
 the road, with " Can you tell me if I am on the right road to 
 Belford?" Instead of answering the question, the stranger 
 caught hold of his coat, and with a stupid smile said, " Hey, 
 mon ! what braw buttons ye gat ! Faith, but their bonny anes." 
 Seeing that the poor fellow was an idiot, the traveller released 
 his coat, and got on out of the way as quickly as he could. About 
 half a mile on, he met another stranger hastening along in a 
 hurry. To him he repeated his question as to the road to 
 Belford, whereupon the stranger, without answering it or noting 
 it, said, " Hey, Jenny MacLauchlan's gan to kill a soo (sow), 
 and a'rn to have the blether (bladder). Hoo ! " and with a 
 shout, a skip, and a caper that fairly discomposed the traveller, 
 the fellow bounded on his journey. " Good gracious, another 
 idiot! The Lord be thanked," muttered the traveller, "they 
 were neither of them mischievous, and I am well out of it," and 
 he continued his journey with increased apprehension as to the 
 road. About a mile onward he met a third stranger. " Sir, can
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 135 
 
 you tell me the road to Belford ? " he asked. " Mon," said the 
 third stranger, " if ye gang to Sandy Scott's, dinna ye ate hairy 
 crowdie ;* it's a bad thing for a sair belly." And with this 
 solemn adjuration and a great shake of the head, the third idiot 
 continued his journey. " The Lord help us ! " said the alarmed 
 traveller to himself, " has the county lunatic asylum been broken 
 open, and all the inmates turned loose ? or is this the normal 
 condition of this particular part of the country ? " Eliminating 
 on these questions, he reached Chatton at length, and then the 
 thing was explained. There were three brothers named 
 Mackenzie, all daft, but harmless, and all herds, and he had 
 chanced to meet them one after the other. 
 
 The moor was a nice level one, very easy to walk, and con- 
 tained mixed shooting, but the grouse were wonderfully wild for 
 the time of year. It was only by walking round or over the tops 
 of knolls, and by such means, that we could possibly get a shot 
 at them. On the open they were up and away at two and three 
 hundred yards, and sometimes at double that distance. We 
 managed to bag a couple of brace, but we had relied rather on 
 the black game, for which the moor was very favourable, from 
 the little streams that intersected and the quantity of covert 
 along their banks ; but they were very scarce, and we only 
 found one old hen and a brace of fine young cocks, which I 
 bagged with a right and left ('they were very easy shots), and a 
 few wary old cocks, that were wilder even than the grouse. We 
 found several snipe, but, as we were shooting with very large 
 shot, to accommodate the wildness of the grouse, they mostly 
 managed to slink off between the crevices, only one falling to 
 friend T. The bag was a mixed one, consisting of two brace of 
 grouse, one of black cock, one brace of partridges, one snipe, a 
 couple of hares, and a rabbit. 
 
 The next day we went partridge-shooting at Wooler, on a small 
 farm shot over by T. We did not start till mid-day, and, as the 
 
 * Crowdie is a species of porridge.
 
 136 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 turnips were thick and high, we lost a good deal of time, hunting 
 for cripples ; but we managed to bag fifteen brace and a couple 
 of hares almost all of them being done to death in one field, 
 and that not a large one. The corn was not all down, there 
 being a patch or two about, and we did not go into it, or we 
 might easily have increased our score. The next morning we 
 went to another little farm, a plot of two small turnip-fields, and 
 three or four stubbles, appertaining to the parsonage. There 
 were a couple of coveys in it, and we knocked them about a little, 
 getting four brace and a half out of them, when it came on a 
 pelting rain, and we left them, and went home to lunch. After 
 lunch we went to the other farm again which we had shot over 
 the day before. The rain had washed out all scent ; the dogs 
 could do nothing, and most of the birds were scattered, from our 
 having killed their parents I suppose the day before, and they 
 would not stir until you almost trod on them, and hardly then. 
 It was not at all favourable, and we got only the same number 
 as we had bagged in the morning. 
 
 On the ensuing day I paid my last visit to the grand old 
 Cheviots, for we shot Heathpool Lynns again. We had very bad 
 luck with the black game. As we were beating along the 
 bottom, where we had found them on the previous occasion, bur 
 attendant, who was stationed on the side of the hill to look out, 
 walked into the very midst of seven of them. They went away 
 like skyrockets off the moor. We then tried a place called the 
 Black Bog, and instead of approaching it along the bottom, as we 
 ought to have done, we very foolishly came in at the top, and a 
 fine brood of eight or nine got up wild, only one passing me 
 within shot. He fell to my first barrel, among the rushes in the 
 bottom ; my second being directed at a bird that was evidently 
 hit by my companion, but got off. 
 
 After this we only found a few old cocks, which were un- 
 approachable, and one young cock, which got under my feet and 
 flew towards T., so that I could not shoot, and T. being, I 
 suppose, equally in difficulty, somehow managed to let him off.
 
 BT LAKE AND RIVER. 137 
 
 We killed eight brace and a half of partridges, one blackcock, 
 three hares, and two couple of rabbits ; and, leaving the game at 
 the farmer's, to be sent home next day, we trotted home gaily, 
 over the shoulder of old Yeavering Bell, to whose bold crest, 
 gleaming in the silver moonlight, I paid a last and lingering 
 adieu. 
 
 The wandering angler may do far, far worse, than spend a 
 summer among the Cheviots. 
 
 Before leaving the Tweed, it may be well to say a few words 
 about the trouting upon the Tweed and its tributaries, on which 
 an angler might spend many summers with advantage. Much 
 of the Tweed, particularly of the upper section, is open to 
 anglers ; and, indeed, little difficulty is thrown in the way of 
 trout fishers until they reach Galashiels. From there to Kelso 
 the proprietors more or less object to strangers, though there are 
 portions of the river still open ; but there is quite enough of 
 Tweed and its tributaries still open to render the angler quite 
 independent of leave. From Kelso to Carham the river is 
 open to trouting, as is most of the water from Wark downwards. 
 All the lower portion is well marked, and the towns and 
 villages on the bank have all excellent inns for the anglers' 
 accommodation. On the upper part, supposing the angler 
 starts from Innerleithen, or, say, Peebles, he will find a 
 convenient inn at Broughton. The next is at the Crook, and 
 some little distance above there is, or used to be, an inn called 
 the Bield. These points of refuge will enable the angler to fish 
 most of the upper waters of the Tweed and many excellent 
 tributary burns. But and this applies to many other inns 
 in the wilder parts of Scotland in August it is as well to 
 find whether quarters can be had beforehand, as the inns are 
 frequently full of grouse-shooters ; and even before this anglers 
 and artists often keep them full for weeks together. From 
 this the angler can cross over to Tibbie Shiel's, fishing up Talla 
 and down Meggat Water a first-rate burn. Here he has St. 
 Mary's Loch and the loch of the Lowes, both holding fine trout,
 
 138 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 and the latter pike and perch ; and thence he can either work 
 the surrounding district, or make down the Yarrow to the 
 Gordon Arms, whence he has the choice of fishing down the 
 Ythan, via Traquhair, to Innerleithen ; or he can continue on 
 down the Yarrow, via Yarrow, to Selkirk ; or he can cross to- 
 the Ettrick at Tushielaw an inn will be found half-way to 
 Selkirk, at Ettrick-bridge ; but portions of the Yarrow and Ettrick 
 are preserved. Tib Shiel's needs no notice of mine ; it has a 
 world-wide reputation already. The tributaries of the Tweed 
 often deserve the name of rivers ; and these, again, are sub- 
 divided into fine streams, fed by innumerable burns, all 
 of which more or less hold trout, a few only of which are really 
 closed to the angler. On the south bank, we have first the Till, 
 with its tributaries, the Glen, College, and Bowmont, many por- 
 tions of which are open to anglers, though the Glen is the least 
 so ; but enough has been said of them. Then comes the Teviot, 
 a considerable river, with its tributaries, the Kale, Oxnam, Jed, 
 and Ale Water, the last being the largest. Some of these streams 
 produce capital trout, but they are preserved in parts, and much 
 polluted in parts. It would, of course, be well for the angler to 
 find out which parts are preserved, and the limits, which can 
 hardly be given here, as they may be altered yearly, as pro- 
 prietors take up the whim of preserving. The lower part of 
 Teviot is preserved by a club at Kelso, but I think tickets can 
 be had. Starting from Kelso, the angler will find fairly con- 
 venient stations on most of these streams, and on some of them 
 towns of some size, with railway accommodotion. The next 
 stream of note is the Ettrick, which is joined a little above Sel- 
 kirk by the Yarrow, which flows from St. Mary's Loch. Both 
 of these streams are more or less preserved in the lower por- 
 tions ; they are excellent streams, and have already been referred 
 to. Then comes Manor Water, a few miles above Peebles, a fair 
 stream, with abundance of small trout, and some good ones in 
 the lower reaches, and in Glenwrath burn. Several fair-sized 
 burns then come in, and next Talla Water, a fairish trouting
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 139 1 
 
 stream. Crossing over to the north side, we come on Biggar 
 Water, which is not so good as it used to be, and where the trout 
 are scarce, and the Lyne, which is worth notice, being one of 
 the finest fishing streams that flow into Tweed, and with excel- 
 lent burns ; and Eddlestone, which runs in at Peebles, and is not 
 worth notice ; and next the Liethen, which runs in at Inner- 
 leithen, where, as is the case with many other waters, there are 
 plenty of trout, but small ; and next the Gala, which debouches 
 at Qalashiels there are plenty of good trout in it, but it is a good 
 deal fished; and next the Leader, an excellent stream, most of 
 which is preserved, three smallish bits only being open. Some 
 distance below Kelso the Eden falls in, but it also is almost closed 
 to the angler, as is the Leet, which comes in at Coldstream. The 
 Whitadder is the last, and certainly the best of all the tribu- 
 taries of Tweed ; its largest feeder, the Blackadder, holds large 
 trout, but is a good deal preserved, though there are parts of it 
 open, but it is not nearly as nice a stream to fish as the 
 Whitadder, and the Whitadder is not preserved to nearly the 
 same extent as the Blackadder, though it has been so over- 
 fished and so unfairly fished that several proprietors are be- 
 ginning to talk of closing their water to the public. In the 
 season the Whitadder holds grilse, quantities of bull trout, and 
 plenty of whitling. The upper waters and head tributaries 
 abound with small trout ; the stations, too, at Allanton, Dunse, 
 Ellemford, and Longformacus are well placed and convenient. 
 Anglers should be careful in fishing these waters not to give 
 offence, if possible, to the proprietors, but to behave as sportsmen 
 and gentlemen if they wish these privileges to be continued. 
 For in many instances, where waters have been closed to the 
 public, this has frequently been caused by the gross misconduct of 
 wandering fishermen, who have no notion of how they ought to 
 behave when walking over the property of others. Anglers 
 should always strive to be unobjectionable and inoffensive, and, 
 beyond all, should do their best to avoid trespassing where water 
 is preserved. This is the last of the Tweed tributaries, most of
 
 140 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 which can be got at by rail from Berwick ; while in Beloe of Cold- 
 stream, Wright of Sprouston, and Forrest of Kelso, the angler 
 will find first-rate purveyors of angling requisites. From the 
 head of the Tweed the head waters of the Clyde can be struck 
 as they intermingle.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 141 
 
 SECOND RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 THE START A TEMPERANCE HOTEL A TEMPERANCE DINNER 
 A PLEASANT EVENING BAG-NETS ON DEE AND DON. 
 
 ONE of the most difficult things to accomplish is a good start. In 
 racing, in rowing, in coursing, and in commencing a narrative, a 
 good start is everything. The next best thing to making a good 
 start is the making up for a bad one. Now, I made a bad one, 
 but of that anon. Let us begin at the beginning. The first thing 
 the angler considers, when he is about to start upon an excursion, 
 is the momentous one of tackle. Quite wonderful is the lot of 
 things, never wanted before, which all of a sudden he finds him- 
 self in need of. It is bad enough if he is only going to fish one 
 river ; but if he is going to fish from half a dozen to a dozen, 
 it is then necessary that he should be armed at all points and 
 provided against all necessities. I don't know how many visits I 
 paid to Farlow's. I must have bored that most patient of tackle- 
 makers to death : I must have sat upon him like an incubus : I 
 must have been as bad as the " fiery brown " to poor Martin 
 Kelly, who died of it. Many were the conclaves, and deep was 
 the erudition called forth in those all-important consultations. 
 I had intended to start on Thursday ; but just before starting, a 
 matter of business occurred to delay me. Two days were lost by 
 it, and I was only able to get off on Saturday. I always prefer 
 the night train, as one gets over in sleep a great deal of the long, 
 wearisome twenty-hour journey to Aberdeen. Accordingly, on 
 Saturday night, I got to the Great Northern, and then found 
 that we could not book further than Edinburgh, in consequence 
 of the objection to travelling on the Sabbath in Scotland.
 
 142 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 I determined, however, to go to Edinburgh, as it wonld give 
 my friend Chalkley who accompanied me in search of the 
 picturesque, he not being much of a fisherman an opportunity 
 of seeing that city ; and it would give me an opportunity of 
 calling upon my kind friend, the editor of The Scotsman ; and 
 thus our rather untoward start would be turned to a fair 
 account. I will not describe our journey. We had the carriage 
 to ourselves, and we rather enjoyed it. But at length we were 
 shunted out at Edinburgh. I had never stopped there for a 
 night, and coxild not call to mind the names of any of the best 
 hotels, so I asked the guard, who had been very attentive, to tell 
 me the name of the best. 
 
 " Well, sir, ye see there is the Waverley ; that's a capital 
 hotel ; but then it is a temperance hotel, and perhaps that 
 won't suit you." 
 
 I fear that I made some strong observations on temperance 
 hotels in general, for he said quickly, " Ah ! then, sir, you had 
 better go to Quilp's, for that is a capital hotel." I am circum- 
 stantial in my account of how I got there, as I do not wish it to 
 be believed that I went there knowingly. 
 
 We went to Quilp's : we breakfasted, and then walked round 
 the town, and went up to Arthur's Seat, and the Castle and 
 saw the lions, in fact, returning a little before dinner-tune. There 
 was a table-d'hote at five o'clock, as I had been told, and I 
 determined to join it. It was a few minutes before dinner when 
 Mr. E. called on me. He wanted me to dine with him, but I 
 had already elected to dine at home. 
 
 " Well," he said, " You will come in afterwards, perhaps, and 
 take your wine with me, as of course you will not get any here." 
 
 " Not get any ! " quoth I. " Why not ? " 
 
 "Why, I suppose you are aware that this is a temperance 
 hotel?" 
 
 " A what ! " I exclaimed, bouncing off my seat with amaze- 
 ment ; while poor Chalkley, who is ordered by his physician to 
 Jive generously and to take a fair allowance of wine and a
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 143 
 
 moderate supply of spiritual comforts, fairly gasped at him in 
 unspeakable horror "A temperance hotel!" The words were 
 spoken, and he was clearly serious. 
 
 " You don't mean it ?" He nodded. It was the nod of doom 
 to all who know what it is to be a stranger in the town of 
 Conventicles, encompassed in the " sanctified bends of the bow " 
 upon a Sunday. I looked at the dinner-table. Sure enough 
 there was a huge water-bottle to every two men, and tumblers 
 enough to swim in ; but there was no wine glass to be seen. 
 The spirit within me which was principally bile, by the way> 
 incidental upon railway refreshments was grievously moved. 
 I know I was wroth, I fear I was profane. But I soon cleared 
 up, for there was a " sweet little cherub that sat up aloft," in 
 the shape of a brandy-flask, in my bedroom, locked up in my 
 portmanteau ; and I said as much. 
 
 " Then, whatever you do, don't let the landlord know it, for 
 he is a desperate fanatic in his profession, and I expect he will 
 consider it incumbent on him to 'cast out the spirit,' " said my 
 visitor, rising to take his leave.* 
 
 Shall I describe that dinner ? a dinner presided over by 
 fanatically temperate commercials, a species of being which, 
 judging by experience, is a shade or two more disagreeable than 
 intemperate ones would be. Shall I tell how dreadfully they 
 ate and drank, and how that water disappeared ? 
 
 " Sammy," I whispered to poor Chalkley, who has a hydro- 
 phobia for water as a drink, and who laboured in serious silence 
 over the unmoistened viands " Sammy, there's a young man 
 on the next form but two as has drunk nine tumblers and a half 
 of water, and is a swellin wisibly afore my werry eyes." 
 
 "Don't!" said Chalkley; "dreadful, isn't it? I never 
 
 * E. himself got a clip from the temperance flail, for when the land- 
 lord heard from him how the mistake had arisen, he said, " Weell, weell, 
 Meester R., it joost puzzled me sairely to ken hoo ony friend o' yours 
 ever cam' this gate." He told us the story in the evening, even at the ex- 
 pense of a laugh at his own cost, but it was too good to be lost.
 
 144 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 experienced anything like it. I'd give a sovereign for a glass of 
 sherry ! " 
 
 " No go, old fellow ; try the water. Only think of the good 
 you are doing to the microscopic world of science in preparing 
 subjects of animalcular interest for future investigation!" 
 
 Shall I detail how they carved? and how one commercial, 
 whose ideas of carving were of the most primitive kind, shaved 
 a ham sideways, cutting off all the fat at the first slash, and 
 leaving none for future consumers ; and how he asked, " If any 
 gent said 'am?'' and how several gents did say "'am" very 
 few, in fact, saying anything else when they desired that viand. 
 Shall I tell how a villanous old kelt, which blushed for its 
 untimely appearance at table, being red where it should not be, 
 and not where it should, was served up to us under the fiction of 
 salmon ; and how the// ate it, and how I rejoiced at the way they 
 would want brandy some hours after, and wouldn't get it ; and 
 how many other things filled up the sum of our great affliction ? 
 No ; I forbear ! 
 
 In time for all things have an end, even the temperance 
 dinner (which is, mind you, a pretty long operation, too, for 
 temperance in drinking by no means includes temperance in 
 eating) came to an end, and we betook ourselves to the more 
 congenial and hospitable home of our friend. 
 
 He had asked the late Mr. Stewart, the " practical angler." 
 who was about the best trout-fisher in Scotland, and another 
 friend or two occupied in the guild of letters^ to meet us ; and 
 we had a delightful evening among practised conversationalists, 
 in which wit without coarseness, and humour which would have 
 been acceptable even to the most scrupulous, ruled the hour. 
 Stories of the Wilsons, scraps from Tibbie Shiel's, anecdotes of 
 leading professors and reverend divines lights of science, and 
 pillars of the Conventicle followed each other in rapid suc- 
 cession. But time, the inexorable severer of the best of friends, 
 put an end to our enjoyment. In Scotland hospitality is a much 
 more active virtue than it is in England, and even the most
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 145 
 
 serious business cannot prosper unless a libation be poured out 
 on the shrine of Ben Nevis and Lochnagar ; talking is dry work, 
 no doubt of it, and I fear me that if we had pulled up at the door of 
 our hotel, and told our host how much of contraband material 
 we had about us, how subversive our contents were to the dearest 
 and most cherished principles of the constitution of his un- 
 congenial caravansery, he would never have allowed us to " run 
 our cargoes," but we should certainly have had to pass the 
 night on the door-step, in penance for our short, or rather long 
 comings. On the way home, Chalkley, moved by the spirit, 
 insisted on singing, in a nasal and lugubrious key, something 
 which commenced in this wise 
 
 Good people, who around do dwell, 
 Abjure the temperance hotel ; 
 For if you don't you might as well 
 At once be doomed to go . 
 
 "Ye munna mak that noise, mon," said the harsh voice of a 
 guardian of the night, breaking off ruthlessly Chalkley's 
 harmony. 
 
 " Whatsh that he shays ? " he asked. 
 
 " Says you musn't make that row," I replied. 
 
 " Row," said the indignant improvisatore. "Kow! whatsh 
 he call a row ? Wash only shinging a hymn. Wheresh harm 
 in shinging a hymn on Shunday night ? " and he wanted to 
 argue the point, but I wouldn't stand that, as the Scotch bobby, 
 as a rule, is not amenable to argument. 
 
 On Monday morning we made our flitting, and as the train 
 stopped for half an hour at Perth, I walked across to Mr. 
 Pople's, at the British Hotel, to ask what was doing. He told 
 me that the river had not fished well yet, and little had been 
 done ; but it was getting into order, and they soon expected to 
 be making good bags. On rolled the train through a rather 
 interesting country, until at length we closed up with the 
 Aberdeen coast. The coast looked smiling and pleasant, and 
 glimpses of little coves and caves, with tiny strands, dotted with
 
 14G BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 rocks, over which the green water played and circled like 
 dimples on the cheek of beauty, greeted us as we rushed onwards. 
 The morning was calm and lovely, and the fresh sea-breeze was 
 exceedingly invigorating to asphyxiated Londoners. Here and 
 there the white wing of a gull, or a sail far out in the horizon, 
 lightened up the picture. But there was an alloy even in a 
 scene so fair, and my wrath was greatly roused by the sight of 
 the bag-nets which fringe the coast at every available point. 
 At every jutting of the rocks, at the entrance and exit to every 
 little bay, cove, or nook, there were one, two, and even three 
 sometimes, of those infernal machines blocking up the fair way 
 of the salmon, and plundering the rivers. Every time we could 
 catch sight of the shore, there were bag-nets, bag-nets, bag- 
 nets ! I should think that in that fifteen or so of miles south of 
 Dee mouth there must be I would almost say hundreds of 
 them, to judge by what I saw. Now, bag-nets are expensive 
 things to work, and it takes a good many fish to pay the wear 
 and tear before any profit can be realised, and the quantity of 
 fish they must rob the rivers of is enormous. Mr. Eussell, in 
 his admirable work on the salmon, states that the Dee and 
 Don are injured by these nets to the loss of 18,OOOZ. of yearly 
 rental ; and I have very little doubt but that he is right in that 
 estimate. 
 
 Meantime, I hear that little is doing up the Dee ; that the 
 season is not so good as it was expected it would be. The fish 
 have not got up yet. But how it was to be expected the fish 
 could get up, or how long it would take them to run the gauntlet 
 in and out of all the bag-nets between Stonehaven and Aberdeen 
 to say nothing of the tremendous draft nets, which require 
 curtailing too, at Aberdeen I am sure I don't know ; and how 
 it is that any fish get to the river at all until the extreme end 
 of autumn is a wonder. For, to look at the ingenious way in 
 which these nets intercept the salmon's course, one would be 
 fairly amazed that any fish at all should escape them. One 
 comfort is, that after having fished out the rivers, they will fish
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 147 
 
 each other out. Meantime rod-fishing is worth 101. a-week on 
 the Dee, and people are glad to pay it, and think themselves 
 well off if they get a fish a-day for it. Contrast the position 
 of the rod-fisher and the bag-netter, and I think my readers 
 will own that there is a very large screw very loose indeed 
 somewhere. 
 
 L2
 
 148 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 THE DON KINTORE PISCICULTURE AT ABERDEEN CRUIVES OF 
 DON THE DON AT INVERUEY AND ALFORD THE DEE FROM 
 ABOYNE TO CAMBUS-A-MAY. 
 
 " THERE'S cauld kail in Aberdeen," I believe though in what 
 particular part of Aberdeen that undesirable vegetable prepara- 
 tion may flourish, I cannot say : certainly we did not discover it. 
 Our kail was very superior in quality, well cooked, and abundant* 
 for our host of the Eoyal did his best to make us comfortable, 
 and to show us all that was to be seen. I looked up my old 
 acquaintance Mr. Brown, the inventor of the phantom minnow, 
 which is the very best artificial bait ever yet invented, 
 who brought me a few specimens of his cunning handiwork in 
 the fly way, as superior slaughterers on the Dee and Don, to test ; 
 and I decided to stay over the next day and go up the Don, on a 
 part of which Mr. Brown has a ticket. Accordingly on the next 
 morning we made a start up to Kintore. The Don is a very fine 
 salmon river, and perhaps one of the best trout rivers also, in 
 Scotland, the part up about Alford being particularly famous as 
 a trout water. It is said to be a late salmon river, but I fancy 
 the reason it is a late river is because the salmon cannot get 
 up earlier, however good their intention, as the stream is blocked 
 by all manner of mills and a set of cruives, of which I will speak 
 presently. There are paper mills on the river, which are not 
 very particular to a little refuse, I am told. When will the 
 Legislature take the misdeeds of mills and factories in hand ? 
 
 The Don runs through a fertile agricultural country, and this 
 would, of course, account for its giving such good trout. The
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 149 
 
 trout are plentiful, and run up to 41b. weight, and sometimes even 
 larger. A singular contrast is presented by the two rivers which 
 empty themselves at Aberdeen ; for while the Don is of such a 
 character as I have described, the Dee runs through a sterile 
 tract of wild moorland ; so that there is an old rhyme which 
 says 
 
 A rood o' Don's worth twa o' Dee, 
 
 Unless it be for fish and tree : 
 
 the Dee being a superior salmon-stream to Don, and the upper 
 portions clothed with valuable woods. But to return to the Don. 
 A long stretch of the Don, between Aberdeen and Kintore, is very 
 dead, dull water ; and this, it is said, abounds with pike, though 
 the pike do not grow of any large size ; still they no doubt take 
 sharp toll of the smolts. The water at and above Kintore is 
 pretty salmon water sharp streams and fine pools ; and the 
 river is easy to fish and wade. Just the reverse again with Dee, 
 which is hard to fish, and awkward and even dangerous to wade. 
 Bods were soon ready, and we went to work, I using one of 
 Brown's dun turkey-winged flies ; and Brown following me with 
 the phantom ; while Chalkley walked the bank and rejoiced in 
 the picturesque. We fished, and we fished, but we saw nothing 
 but a few dead kipper-kelts, which had died after spawning. 
 And here is another contrast ; while many of these dead kelts are 
 seen on Don every season, very few are seen on Dee. I got a 
 pull from a fish of about four pounds, under a large bush, but I 
 scratched him smartly and he would not come again ; and Brown 
 got a haul at the minnow. 
 
 " Here's a good pool up here," said Brown ; " we call it ' The 
 Dark Nuik (nook) ; ' and if there's none of those rifle-laddies 
 there, pop-poppin' aboot, we may see a fusshe there though 
 he'll be a kelt, mayhap, for the chances are twenty to one 
 in favour of a kelt." 
 
 I could not quite make out the rifle allusion till we came to the 
 pool, when it was quite plain enough. They had stuck their target 
 and butt up on the bank, about the centre of the cast ; there being a
 
 150 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 straight range along the bank just there, and a high cliff to take 
 stray balls on the other ; and, consequently, when there is practice 
 going on, it is not possible to fish the cast, which, considering 
 it is the best cast on the water, is rather trying. However, 
 there was no practice to-day, so to work we went ; and as the 
 cast was too long for the minnow, Brown put up a fly. I 
 fished it down about two-thirds, but the wading became too 
 deep for my "Fagg's ; " so I gave it up to Brown, who had 
 wading breeks, and who could therefore command the lower 
 part. And here he got a pull, and after a fair amount of sus- 
 picious rolling and tumbling I tailed out about the best kelt I 
 ever saw. He was wonderfully " weell mended ; " and but for 
 a little redness of the vent, and breadth of the fish at the anal 
 fin, it could not have been told from a clean fish. It was 
 thoroughly well-coloured and shaped ; and there was no parasites 
 in the gills, which were as bright and as red as need be. We 
 did no more, and it came on a heavy snowstorm, so we tackled 
 up, our only spoil being three trout, of which two came to the 
 salmon-fly and one to the minnow. Two of them were in 
 capital condition for the time of year, being half-pounders ; the 
 other, a pound fish, was rather dark on the belly. We ate the 
 bright ones for breakfast, and very good they were. 
 
 The next morning Mr. Robertson took us to see an apparatus 
 for incubating salmon ova, set up by Mr. Adams, the manager 
 of the Don and other fisheries. Mr. Adams had erected his 
 apparatus (which consisted of some thirteen or fourteen large 
 slate troughs three parts filled with gravel, on the old plan) in a 
 small office opening out of the ice-house ; and the cistern, which 
 supplied a never-failing flow of the Don water, owing to constant 
 pressure being on, was actually in the ice-house, so that a low 
 temperature could always be kept up. In these troughs he had 
 some 40,000 ova, and outside he had two other troughs containing 
 a further number just hatched out. These fish, when reared, 
 are to aid in replenishing the Dee and Don. A spar out of one 
 the cruives would answer the purpose far more effectually to my
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 151 
 
 mind. However, Mr. Adams is sanguine in interesting many of 
 the proprietors in the work of artificial hatching and rearing j 
 and expects to get it done upon a much larger and more com- 
 plete scale ; and I trust his hopes may be realised, as it is a step 
 in the light direction, and great praise is due to Mr. Adams for 
 the trouble and pains he has taken in the matter. No one who 
 has not had the charge of such an apparatus can appreciate the 
 amount of trouble and anxiety consequent upon it. After show- 
 ing us these matters, he took us to see a sight which I confess 
 was rather less gratifying to me viz., the cruives of the Don. I 
 had wished to show my friend Chalkley a salmon freshly hauled 
 out of the water ; and as the only chance in the then state of the 
 water was up at the cruives, we walked up. On the way we 
 discoursed on the smallness of the usual size of the spring fish on 
 the Dee and Don, and Mr. Adams told us that the average 
 size was decreasing rapidly in the Don ; that whereas, some years 
 ago, the average for salmon was 131b., last year it had sunk to 
 lOlb. a great falling off ; and if I may judge of the fish I saw 
 at the fish-house and at the cruives, this year it will be con- 
 siderably lower, as I do not think one of the fish I saw, out of 
 hard upon fifty, would have scaled lOlb. 
 
 At length we reached the cruives, which are pleasantly and 
 romantically situated under hanging woods. The weir, to my 
 astonishment, was without a queen's gap ; and on my return 
 home I turned out "Paterson " and looked to the Scotch Act, 
 and, to my further surprise, there was no provision whatever 
 about gaps. Eegulations as to the cruives and their construction 
 are left in the hands of the commissioners ; but not a word about 
 gaps. To return to the cruives on Don. There was more water 
 than usual coming down, and the consequence was that the 
 boxes were under water, and could not be got at. This, I think, 
 is in consequence of the dyke being put up so high, in order to 
 prevent enough water going over the waste part, which would 
 perhaps let salmon up it, and it drowns the boxes. The dyke 
 is also so long and straggling that whatever water does come
 
 152 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 over is too thin for salmon to get over ; and when a flood comes 
 on, the boxes cannot be opened, owing to what is called stress of 
 weather, but which is in reality the bad construction of the 
 waste dyke to the cruives. Of course it may be said that 
 if the water comes over the cruives, the salmon could go over 
 them too ; but then it is a question whether the salmon 
 would do so, but would not rather go into the boxes and 
 remain there ; and if these are set, and cannot be got at when 
 a spate is on, the Sunday slap cannot be of much use. The best 
 way would be not to allow the boxes to be railed in or covered 
 at the top. Mr. Adams told me, however, that little was really 
 done in the cruives, as the upper heritors had, sometime since, 
 compelled them to set the spars of the hecks full three inches 
 apart, which would let a fish of considerable size through ; and 
 that, if it were not for the net which is kept going below the 
 boxes, the fishery would not pay them. This, of course, may be 
 so ; and many fish may, when they can avail themselves of it, go 
 through. The cruives, however, certainly look rather severe, and 
 the net keeps the ground pretty clean ; and, although there are 
 few clean fish up the river as yet, twenty were taken in the net at 
 one haul that same morning so it looks as if the Don would 
 be an earlier river if it could. The great fear of most of the 
 proprietors at the mouths of rivers is, that if they let many fish 
 up they will never see them again. If they would only try to 
 learn the problem of the Galway fishery, and if they would only 
 argue, " If I let a salmon up, and that salmon deposits its eggs, 
 a very large number of its progeny will come down, and I shall 
 then probably reap ten or a dozen fish by deferring the capture 
 of that one " we should soon have a much better system pre- 
 vailing in our rivers, and salmon would speedily be abundant. 
 But the lesson seems hard to learn ; the nimble ninepence being 
 everywhere preferred, no matter at what cost and risk. 
 
 A short distance below the cruives is the Brig o' Balgownie, 
 celebrated by Byron in " Don Juan." Attached to the bridge is 
 a mysterious prophesy to wit :
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 153 
 
 Brig o' Balgownie black's your wa', 
 Wi" a wife's ae son and a mare's ae foal, 
 Down ye shall fa'. 
 
 Whether the wife has not produced the "ae son," or the parti- 
 cular " ae foal " has not come to light, or the two have not come 
 into conjunction, the Brig stands yet, maugre the prophecy. 
 Perhaps the wife's ae son is that celebrated New Zealander who 
 is still in the womb of the future, and who, in the ripeness of 
 prophetical fulfilment, shall contemplate the ruins of "mair 
 brigs than ane." It is a single Pointed Gothic arch, with nothing 
 very striking or formidable about it. I fear me that " the boy 
 feelings of the youthful poet must have been somehow mixed 
 up with the consciousness of an imperfect Gradus and a neglected 
 Delectus, and, consequently, Balgownie's scenery, &c., &c., was 
 just a transcendental way of " creeping like snail unwillingly to 
 school." 
 
 There is a club on the Don, but, of course, it is a local one, 
 and not easy to get into ; but capital fishing can be had at one 
 or two stations by staying at the inns. The nearest to. Aberdeen, 
 perhaps, is the Minton Arms, at Inverury, kept by Mr. Jno. 
 Annand, where both salmon and trout can be taken. At the 
 Forbes' Arms Hotel, kept by Mr. John Law, at the Bridge of 
 Alford, about twenty-eight miles from Aberdeen, there is also 
 good fishing for trout and a few salmon ; while at the Haughton 
 Arms Hotel, at Alford, kept by Mr. Eeid, there is five miles of 
 very fair trout fishing and a few salmon in April and May. Mr. 
 Browne has very kindly furnished me with this information as 
 to the Don, and also with a hint or two for the Ythan and 
 Deveron. 
 
 On our return from the cruives, we bade adieu to our attentive 
 host of the Eoyal, and, wending our way to the station, we were 
 soon panting and puffing away up to Dee-side, on, I suppose, the 
 slowest railway in the world, for Ballater. When we reached 
 Aboyne, where the rail terminated, or, rather, I should say, died 
 a sort of natural death, we found that the coach did not meet
 
 154 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 that train, but met the morning one ; so we were obliged to stay 
 the night at Aboyne. 
 
 The Aboyne water is the very cream of the Dee, as, although 
 it is a long way up, salmon usually run through the lower waters 
 (the pools not being holding pools), and make straight for Aboyne. 
 A part of this is rented by Mr. Cook, of the Huntley Arms,* 
 and it is very fine water, and usually shows capital sport, so that 
 the three tickets for it are generally all taken before the season. 
 The ordinary take of a good rod is about forty fish to the 
 month. The year before I was there, an unusually good year, 
 one rod took eighty-four fish in the month. The fish are the 
 property of the sportsman so that, if this gentleman had been 
 commercially-minded, it was not a bad thing. The spring fish 
 in the Dee certainly run small, for, though ten or twelve-pounders, 
 or even fourteen or fifteen, are not altogether strangers, the great 
 run of the fish are about from five to nine or ten pounds. Much 
 larger fish, however, do run late in the season, as 201b. kelts are 
 not uncommon. The Dee depends rather for its water upon the 
 snows which remain in the mountains. A warm sun, a south-west 
 wind, or a little warm rain for a few hours, will usually produce 
 a spate ; and the prospects of the spring fishing may usually be 
 gauged by the snow on the hills in March and April. April is 
 the best month for Dee, if the water be right. 
 
 On arriving at Aboyne, I found, as I expected, all the rods 
 occupied ; so my chance was out there. One gentleman offered 
 me the opportunity of fishing with him the next day, when we 
 could take pool and pool about an offer so liberal and kind that 
 I was glad to avail myself of that chance of seeing the water. 
 Accordingly, next morning we drove a few miles up in the coach, 
 which is, as Paddy would say, " an omnibus, bedad ; " and which 
 was but thinly tenanted now ; although in the tourist season, as 
 my acquaintance remarked, " you could'nt hang a snipe on it." 
 Our plan was to send our traps on to Ballater by coach, and fish up 
 
 * Now Mr. Johnstone.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 155 
 
 the water to Cambus-a-May, which was then the extent of the Aboyne 
 water ; thence I could walk the remaining four miles to Ballater. 
 As we were starting, the news was brought in that a head of 
 some fifty fresh fish were then going up under Aboyne-bridge, 
 which was right joyful and acceptable news, as sport had not 
 been first-rate hitherto, although I saw, when I arrived, a couple 
 of fish which one gentleman had taken that day : they ran about 
 41b. and 61b. or 71b. each. Soon the coach stopped, and set us 
 down ; and we made our way to the river-side, where the gillie 
 was waiting us. Eods were to, and I commenced with very 
 little anticipation of doing anything, however, as the day was 
 excessively bright and still, and the water low and exceedingly 
 bright. Indeed, the Dee is almost always bright, and seldom 
 discolours much, being, from its rocky bed, one of the clearest 
 and brightest rivers in the country. I was surprised when, look- 
 ing down upon a fine salmon-pool, called " the Bed Brae " (which, 
 by the way, is the name of some pool on most Scotch rivers), 
 from a considerable height, to observe how distinctly I could see 
 all the pebbles at the bottom, when the sun was shining. They 
 say you can see every pebble in twenty feet of water. So you 
 could in the Thames, at one time ; but now, alas ! you cannot 
 see every dead dog at the bottom, even in twenty inches of 
 water. 
 
 I worked on, however, from pool to pool, my companion taking 
 a turn here and there, but we neither rose nor saw a fish ; and 
 when we got within about a mile of Cambus we parted he 
 fishing down towards Aboyne, and I taking the water up towards 
 Cambus. He did his best to describe the casts I had to fish ; 
 but, not having a gillie with me, I soon found that my labours 
 might be in vain, and that I might be thrashing nice-looking 
 water, but not salmon-casts. Chalkley had been chirruping like 
 a bird : the moors and hills delighted him exceedingly he was 
 saturated with the picturesque. His foot, like Mr. Briggs's, was 
 clearly on his native heath, and his name pro tern, was unques- 
 tionably and unmistakeably Macgregor particularly as he had
 
 156 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 bought a Scotch cap, which became him so much that persons 
 paid him the compliment of mistaking him for a native. He 
 now wandered off up-stream, promising to meet me above, and, 
 being somewhat tired, I sat down, and indulged in a smoke and 
 a reverie. 
 
 The silver Dee rolled at my feet, swirling and gurgling along 
 from stream to pool, and brattling over shallows pleasantly 
 enough. But the rifts and splinters of trees, the huge displaced 
 stones, the remains of rails and fences carried away, and all the 
 debris of the last winter's floods collected high and far up the 
 banks ; the torn and barked trees, and bushes everywhere rasped 
 by masses of floating ice, showed what Dee could do when she 
 came rushing from her mountain fastnesses in all the resistless 
 force of the winter's spate. The mountain peaks, near and far, 
 were clad with snow, and looked like silver-haired sons of old 
 Terra watching over the body of their father. The brown 
 heather glowed in the afternoon sun. The silver birches, 
 feathering away up the mountain -side, the lovely and graceful 
 maidens of the forest, with their hair unbound and shorn of 
 their summer tresses, were relieved by the dark green firs in 
 the background ; while above them gigantic crags, split by the 
 weather into many a rift and scaur, seemed nearly threatening to 
 topple over into the river below. The cock grouse was crowing 
 his challenge far and near ; the little ouzel popping and dipping 
 along from stone to stone, while a solitary sea-pyat, or oyster- 
 catcher, flapped lazily up-stream, uttering from time to time its 
 shrill melancholy pipe. It was a lovely scene ! What a land 
 this must have been in the fine old reiving, ranting days of the 
 clan feuds ! How I could fancy the secret march of the hostile 
 clan stealing along through yon dark woods and overhanging 
 rocks. And then the sudden attack on yonder village or the 
 adjacent fortress. The sacking of the same, The Milonic feat 
 of the " lifting " of the cattle. The triumphant march of the 
 victors "bock again ; " their pibrochs sounding louder and louder, 
 .and clearer and clearer, as they approach down the glen there
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 157 
 
 commencing with an indistinct whine, and ending in a full- 
 blown and overpowering bray of victory, until they burst into 
 sight amid the glancing of steel, the tossing of bonnets, and 
 waving of tartans. "By Jove! sir," as Chalkley would have 
 remarked, " it was enough to make a fellow almost pleased to 
 have his property reived and his throat cut in such a decidedly 
 romantic and picturesque kind of manner, you know." Of course 
 there is no accounting for taste, and pre-Baffaellism is a won- 
 derful invention. But to my narrative
 
 158 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 BALLATER CHALKLEY'S VAGARIES ABERGELDIE BALMORAL 
 PRINCE ALBERT AS A SPORTSMAN NUMBER OF DEER 
 OTTERS ON DEE PERILS OF A DEE SALMON. 
 
 NOT knowing the salmon casts, I sauntered on up the bank slowly, 
 until I came to the little public-house at Cambus, expecting to 
 find Chalkley there before me. But the picturesque apparently 
 had gotten fast hold upon him, and he was not there. I sat me 
 down upon a stone, and waited for more than an hour ; but he 
 did not come. Having about four or five miles to walk, on an 
 unknown road, I thought it advisable, as it was getting towards 
 dusk, to step on, imagining he must have gone on before, and I 
 made my way on towards Ballater. Cambus-a-May, which con- 
 sists of a public-house and a boat, is in the region of some 
 mountains which are locally called the Cairngorm mountains, 
 and fine specimens of cairngorms are often found thereabout. 
 By the river-side about there seems to be a capital place for 
 blackgame. I saw, at least fifty grey hens, all in one flock 
 apparently, perched up in the tops of the birch-trees, feeding on 
 the young buds, or some other comestible they found to their 
 taste. I had also, while coming along the bank, disturbed 
 several pairs of grouse, which were healthy and strong, and, if 
 the early summer be propitious, will no doubt throw forward 
 broods. Anon, I arrived at Ballater. Here I met my friend, 
 Mr. S., just coming in from fishing ; he had done nothing, but 
 two of the other gentlemen had each a fish. Sport with him 
 had been but middling ; he had three fish on one day, but had 
 had two or three blanks. The water was not quite right, being
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 159 
 
 rather low, and there was not as many fish up as there had been 
 the previous season. 
 
 But where was Chalkley ? The Invercauld Arms had not 
 received him under its fostering roof. I could see a mile or 
 more up the road, and could not make him out. Evening was 
 coming on, and I began to grow uneasy. He was not in the 
 habit of moss-tramping. He was not accustomed to moors. He 
 might lose his way, and wander about, goodness knows where. 
 He might tumble into a bog-hole, and never tumble out again. 
 He might fall over some crag or precipice there were plenty 
 about the Cairngorm hills and never be found save by the 
 eagles. And I thought of dismal tales of dark mysterious lochs, 
 in silent misty glens, where mortal living foot had never trod ; 
 of savage crevasses ; of being frozen to death in the snow, and 
 then found, months after, like the traveller in the Canadian 
 snow-storm 
 
 With his hat on his head, and the reins in his hand ; 
 The dog lay crouched at his master's feet 
 
 frozen stiff in the foundered sleigh, while the beautiful " Morgan 
 Brown" steed had floundered its last into the snowdrift. I com- 
 mend those charming lines to such of my readers as have not 
 read them. I know nothing in poetry so truthful and forcible 
 as that picture. It occurred to me just then, and I fancied 
 Chalkley with his hat on his head he always liked to have his 
 hat on his head and with his empty flask, instead of the reins, 
 in his hand ; and but, by Jove ! he hadn't any flask. I 
 remembered he would not take one. No whisky, and out on 
 the mountains all night ; for, as he had not come in yet, he 
 must have lost his way! Things were getting serious very 
 much so. I got in a funk. I ordered a gig to go out some- 
 where, anywhere, in search of him ; when, just as excitement 
 was at its highest pitch, and everybody was very uneasy about 
 him, in walked the delinquent, as smiling and satisfied as 
 possible. Of course he would do so; I might have known 
 it. That is just the way he always does. He thought I should
 
 160 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 have done something extraordinary, of course walked back a 
 few miles to Aboyne, I believe. However, we were all right 
 now ; and, as dinner was ready, we all went to it. Mr. P., his 
 son Capt. P., my friend S., Chalkley, and I we made a pleasant 
 party. There was one other angler, a Mr. A., who had a rod on 
 the water, but he did not join us. We five took all our meals 
 together, and made a delightful evening when the dinner was 
 disposed of, and the pipes and cigars put in requisition. Then 
 came the history of the deeds of the day, in flowing chat 
 broken only, perhaps, by an occasional snore from the sleepy 
 party in the easy chair. It was matter of common interest 
 "how this one rose that fish three times at the point of the 
 brae," and how " the other got the fish at the head of the moor- 
 pool just before dark ; " and after trying this or that, he suc- 
 cumbed to the charms of the "yellow eagle ; " and so on. But 
 the gossip of anglers is endless ; it is a sport that can be talked 
 and written about for ever. 
 
 There were no rods to be had on the river, all being taken up. 
 So the next day I walked with Mr. S. down the north bank. 
 Soon after we started it began to rain, and it rained off and on 
 the whole day. The burns began to swell ; indeed S. had to 
 carry me across one, as I had no waders on a proceeding which 
 aroused Chalkley's bile. He was wet through, and accused me 
 of detaining his macintosh in my carpet-bag for some occult 
 mysterious purpose, and therefore he offered S. half-a-crown if 
 he would drop me in mid-stream a proceeding rendered very 
 probable by the fits of laughter which seized upon S. at the 
 serious manner in which Chalkley propounded his highly-advan- 
 tageous bargain. We got safely over, though in a very tottering 
 condition. 
 
 In one fine pool below a high bluff cliff, a good fish came up, 
 and was hooked. After some play, just as his nose was brought 
 to the gravel, off he went. Much vexed at his bad success, for 
 this was the fourth fish running he had lost, Mr. S. went to work 
 again, and, after fishing another pool, he thought to look at his
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 161 
 
 fly, which was found utterly smashed an accident one is parti- 
 cularly liable to on Dee-side, from the precipitous rocks at one's 
 back. "Pity I didn't look at that before," quoth S., "might 
 have saved my fish." On went another fly, and on went S. Two 
 pools lower, in a fine run, up came a fish in mid-stream. He 
 was a little red from long residence in the river, but was a good 
 clean fish notwithstanding. After a turn or two, he went off 
 too. We fished a few more pools ; and as the water was now 
 rising rapidly from thawing snow, we went home. The fish had 
 possibly been disturbed by the rise a little, as both Mr. A. and 
 the Captain had hooked and lost fish as well as Mr. S. 
 
 The next day the water was up a foot, and Mr. S. had the 
 upper water, which runs up almost to Balmoral, but for a part 
 of the way only on one side, the other belonging to the Prince of 
 Wales and the Queen. Oiv the way up we passed AbergeJdie, 
 a quaint, old-fashioned place, with all sorts of queer turrets and 
 peaks, and a sort of Flemish mediaeval look about it. It is not a 
 large house. It is rented by the Prince of Wales for the shooting. 
 They have a strong rope made taut across the river there, on 
 which works a cradle, and by this means persons can cross the 
 river or obtain anything from the opposite shore which is a 
 great convenience, as the high road runs hard by, and there is not 
 a bridge either up or down for nearly four miles. Abergeldie 
 has an interest of its own attached to it. It is beautifully 
 placed, and groups of fine birch trees grace the banks of the 
 river near it. It gave the origin to the song, the " Birks o' Aber- 
 geldie," and most appropriately too ; but Burns, I think, very 
 unjustly and unfairly robbed it of its fame by turning the old . 
 burthen of the song into " The Birks o' Aberfeldy." It was a 
 place of strength in olden days, when reiving was in fashion. 
 Balmoral we only got a peep of from the road, and it did not 
 look so palatial a place as I expected. 
 
 The upper Ballater water is, to my fancy, prettier water than 
 the lower ; of course, being further up-stream, the fish do not run 
 up there quite so soon ; but to counterbalance this, it is not
 
 162 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 nearly so often fished, being rarely so more than once a day, and 
 not often that, as the practice is to go up to the top and fish home 
 to Ballater ; whereas the lower waters are fished from both sides, 
 and both out and home. Mr. S. got hold of a nice little fish 
 just above Abergeldie, and the gillie was getting the gaff ready 
 when, as the fish's nose touched the shore, he managed to make 
 off, which was exceedingly provoking, as it made the seventh fish 
 Mr. S. had lost after hooking. He had lately invested in a new 
 and rather heavy greenheart rod, the top of which was unusually 
 large and stiff, in order to pick the line off the water quickly, 
 so as to facilitate long casting. New fish are usually rather 
 tender in the mouth, and it may be that the stiff top did 
 not give to every plunge so readily as it should, and thus the hold 
 speedily cut out. I cannot account for his ill fortune in any 
 other way. We fished very hard, pool and pool about ; but we 
 did not even see another fish, and eventually we scrambled into 
 the cart, and so honie to dinner ; the captain having one fish and 
 Mr. A. another, some others having been hooked and lost. 
 
 The next day we went down the south bank, fishing pool and 
 pool about, but we did nothing. The captain, however, had a 
 fish, and we ate most of him for dinner, and finished him off for 
 breakfast. Mr. S. had unexpected business which called him 
 away, and offered me the use of his ticket ; but as I could not 
 stay long, I used it for one day only before I left. The next day 
 I had leave on the Balmoral water ; but having letters to write 
 and answer, did not get away so early as I could have wished. 
 We drove to Balmoral, however, and I found one of the keepers 
 awaiting me ; a very nice, intelligent fellow he was, thoroughly 
 versed in his business. 
 
 Balmoral is beautifully situated, and a more charming summer 
 residence it would be difficult to conceive. Embosomed in woods, 
 whence its more prominent towers and turrets peep forth most 
 attractively, it is almost surrounded by high hills and lofty 
 mountains, portions of which give admirable grousing, while 
 other parts comprise the deer forest, which alone extends over
 
 BT LAKE AND EIVEB. ] 63 
 
 some 40,000 acres. The grounds about the castle are not very 
 extensive, and have not been spoiled by any attempt to make 
 them appear what they are not. The moor and the forest have 
 been partially cleared, and pleasant winding walks have been cut 
 amongst the rocks, trees, and heather ; but these distinguishing 
 features of the Highland landscape flourish luxuriantly in all 
 their native grace and beauty. Here and there a group of hardy 
 shrubs may have been added to diversify the shades of green ; 
 but no violent changes have been attempted. The castle itself 
 is much larger than would appear from the road, and is capable 
 of entertaining a pretty large company. It is impossible to give 
 any idea of it, as it is exceedingly and charmingly irregular in 
 construction, being a collection of small turrets some of them 
 in the Flemish style, others in various styles ; yet the eye dwells 
 upon the mass of clean cut stone with pleasure. The outbuild- 
 ings are disposed conveniently about the grounds the stables 
 here, the poultry-house there, the dairy elsewhere peeping out 
 from the trees, which also surround them on the hill-sides, 
 more like Swiss chalets than outbuildings. The rapid Dee 
 runs through the grounds, forming many a pleasant stream and 
 pool. 
 
 I should very much have liked to have a look at the inside 
 of the castle, of course ; but Her Majesty has a very natural 
 objection to having her private residences made show-houses of 
 and this one is especially sacred to her, for here her late hus- 
 band spent many of the happiest hours of his life. It is delight- 
 ful to hear the way in which he is spoken of by all here who 
 came in contact with him. Elsewhere he could be misrepre- 
 sented and slandered ; here, at least, he was only known as a 
 kind landlord and an honourable and worthy gentleman, who 
 administered to the large estates under his control with 
 a wisdom and liberality that endeared him to all around 
 him. To point how misrepresentation was put in force in one 
 instance, in trying to fix a want of true sportsmanlike feeling 
 upon him, I cannot avoid referring to the old story of his firing 
 
 M2
 
 164 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 into a herd of deer at random (" into the brown of them," as it 
 is called), as a raw shot sometimes in moments of excitement fires 
 into the brown of a covey of partridges without selecting any 
 one in particular, and wounding many but killing none a most 
 unsportsmanlike proceeding. Now I took particular care to^ 
 inquire about this matter, and to find out what sort of a shot 
 Prince Albert was at deer. The keeper who was with me said 
 that he was by far the best shot at deer with a rifle he had 
 ever seen in his life. The Prince of Wales, he said, was a good 
 shot, but he was not nearly so good as his father. Indeed no 
 one he had ever seen could hold a candle to him. He had 
 seen him kill deer dashing between the trees at speed, over and 
 over again ; and one day (the occasion, possibly, when he fired 
 into the brown of them) six or seven deer came past him in one 
 of the corries. He had with him three double rifles, and fired 
 as the deer passed the six barrels in succession. Five of the 
 deer fell dead in their tracks, and the sixth ran about a mile 
 before it fell. Each deer was slain handsomely and fairly with 
 the single rifle bullet. There are not many men in England 
 or elsewhere who can ditto this feat, and it is most improbable 
 that any one capable of it would ever "fire into the brown " at 
 any game. I made other inquiries as to this fact in other 
 quarters, and the story was confirmed in every particular. Many 
 of the hills round about are crowned with mementos of Prince 
 Albert, raised spontaneously by the tenantry, whose grief at his 
 loss might reasonably enough rest upon some solid foundation. 
 
 There are nearly one thousand head in the royal deer 
 forest ; I saw very many slots of the deer in the snow on the 
 river-bank, where they had crossed to feed on the turnips when 
 driven down from the mountains by the deep snows. Some of 
 the slots were very large. The grouse-moors are abundantly 
 stocked, and very extensive. On these moors the farmers are 
 never allowed to burn the heather at all. They come to the 
 keepers and say what they would like burnt, and the keepers 
 burn it, taking care to burn it in patches ; and, as most of the
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 165 
 
 burning is conducted when the snow lies in patches over the 
 moors, the burning never can go too far, or get beyond control, 
 -as it is speedily extinguished by the snow. To those who do 
 not know of this system of burning, I strongly recommend it. 
 I saw it in progress, and it answers capitally. 
 
 I tried the pools near the castle, but got no rise. At length 
 T came to the iron bridge across the river, and just below it 
 was a nice-looking cast. I had made a few throws, and was 
 raising my line which appeared to be sucked into the eddy 
 behind a rock when I found some resistance I raised it 
 higher, and I felt a tug. I tightened it, and found that a 
 .salmon had kindly hooked himself without my knowledge. I 
 had seen no rise, and felt no pull. He showed himself once, 
 and was a nice clean fish of about lOlb. or lllb. ; but he wabbled 
 about so strangely that I could not make him out. Presently 
 the hook came away, and on the point of it was a scale, so that 
 lie had been hooked foul, and must have rolled across the line as 
 I raised it. I fished on some distance, but did nothing until I 
 got near to Abergeldie, where, in a fine broad pool, I got a rise ; 
 but nothing more. I gave the fish five minutes, and then went 
 .at him again, letting the fly go much deeper in the water a 
 practice which I invariably adopt whenever a salmon rises 
 and refuses. It will nearly always bring him to hook ; and this 
 time, sure enough, he took it fiercely enough. He gave a little 
 nice play, and duly came to gaff a good fish, nearly 61b., 
 though a little coloured from his residence in the fresh water. 
 la a very fine stream, perhaps the best-looking in all the upper 
 water, I got a rise and a pull from a fish, which, of course, had 
 seen all he desired, and would not come again. Some distance 
 further on, the keeper, who had the rod for a cast or two, rose 
 another fish ; but he declined also, and I suspect must have 
 tasted the feathers. We saw no more, but got to our dog-cart, 
 and so home, crossing a fine burn, the Muick, a tributary of the 
 Dee, which flows from Loch Muick. a lake up amongst the 
 .mountains, amidst magnificent scenery. I had not time to
 
 166 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 hunt after the picturesque, but Chalkley, who pilgrimaged to it r 
 described the falls and the rocks, &c., &c., as lovely. The lake 
 and burn give capital trouting in the season. Close to the lake 
 Prince Albert had a small hunting-lodge built, just large enough 
 to accommodate him for the night, when he was up there shooting,, 
 to save the trouble of coming back to Balmoral. The Queen 
 often rode up and joined him there. 
 
 Ballater is charmingly situated, and forms a sort of watering- 
 place for the Aberdonians, who flock out there in the summer 
 time, taking lodgings and enjoying the invigorating mountain air, 
 and excursioning to Balmoral, Brae Mar, and even Blair Athol ; 
 while, for picnicking, Ben Muick, Loch Muick, Craigendarroch 
 a remarkable wooded crag, hard by and many other spots, form 
 most agreeable refuges, where quarters of lamb, lobsters, salads, 
 champagne, Bass, and general flirtation, form an agreeable 
 relaxation to the pleasure-seekers. 
 
 The day after I fished Balmoral, I had Mr. S.'s ticket for the 
 south side of the lower water. The water is pretty, but I fear 
 there was no great abundance of fish in it. We wanted 
 warm winds, melted snow, and fresh spates to bring fresh fish 
 up. Above the town, in the higher part of the lower water, 
 there are some very fine pools, especially the moor pool, one of , 
 the best and nicest casts on the water. I did nothing, however, 
 beyond raising one fish, which came very shyly in the dusk of 
 the evening ; he had been pricked, I fancied, and on inquiry I 
 found the captain had been very attentive to him, and often 
 raised him. 
 
 There are a great many otters on the Dee, and some very large- 
 ones are frequently seen. Portions of fish were constantly 
 turning up along the banks of the river ; and the evening before 
 I left, just above the bridge, there was found on a little island, a 
 huge baggit, nearly 201b. in weight, and full of roe, with only 
 the otter's bite taken out of the back. Supposing an otter to 
 require a fish a day, he takes as much as one rod would from 
 the river during the rod-fishing season ; only the otter is fishing
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 167 
 
 all the year round, and if there be very many otters, as there 
 are said to be, the wonder is that any salmon are left in the 
 river. I strongly recommend the most stringent measures being 
 adopted to keep them down. If these be not adopted they 
 must speedily make a considerable clearance in the fish. They 
 cannot be hunted in so large a stream, but they may be trapped 
 and shot. 
 
 Nothing surprised me more than the great scarcity of kelts in 
 the river. I never at that time of year saw anything like so few, 
 There appeared to be hardly any, and I fear that the previous 
 year must have been a very short breeding. If it was not, where 
 were the kelts ? It was supposed that by taking the nets off 
 a month or so before the end of the season, a sufficient supply 
 of fish could be insured for breeding purposes, but I do not 
 believe that any such untimeous provision would be found to 
 serve in the long run. This trumpery concession on the part of 
 the nets amounts to saying, for nine-tenths of the season hardly 
 a fish shall get into the river, and then, when they are no longer 
 of any use to us, being gravid and unsaleable, you anglers 
 may do what you can with them. We could not well outrage, 
 propriety by fishing on a Sunday, so we throw that in as well. 
 Now the Sunday slap was all very well when there were only one 
 or two sweep nets at the river's mouth to contend with. The 
 fish ran in past the nets easily, and stocked the river, but now 
 they have fifteen or twenty miles of bag-nets to run past, and 
 the Sunday slap just transfers the fish from No. 99 bag-net 
 to No. 95, half a mile nearer the river mouth mayhap, but 
 hundreds, nay, thousands of miles from the upper waters of the 
 river, if the doctrine of probabilities as to their reaching it be 
 entertained. Moreover, now, instead of a few sweep-nets at 
 the river's mouth, nets of vast capacity, which take the entire 
 river in, are shot one after the other, so that the escape of a 
 salmon is almost miraculous. Again, every pool and stream for 
 miles up here has its little coble and net. The fish never knows 
 when his enemies have done with him ; and then proprietors
 
 168 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 wonder that the fish don't rest in the lower pools. Best in the 
 lower pools ! I only wonder they rest until they reached the 
 mountain-tops, where the first burnies come from. I wonder 
 they don't jump clean out of the river to escape it altogether. 
 Only imagine a man condemned to pass through London knowing 
 that for a considerable part of the way his life is in constant 
 and imminent danger. In street after street enthusiastic 
 Volunteers, with double-barrelled breech-loading Enfields if 
 there be such things lurk in doorways and blind alleys to 
 pot him, as though he were a rabid cur, as he goes by. If he 
 steps aside into an area, it is a pitfall or horrible oubliette, . From 
 every window here and there, stalwart matrons hurl accumulated 
 paving stones and heavy articles of domestic usance upon his 
 devoted head. Yawning chasms, of which he has no warning, 
 are dug by viciously-minded contractors in gas or water, with 
 prepense malice, that his bones may be broken and his mangled 
 body captured in the open sewers below. While from every bye 
 street mad cabman and infuriated bus-drivers dash at him, 
 seeking to run him down as a common foe and a scourge to 
 humanity. Now I ask any one, after having threaded all this 
 sort of thing from Bow to Oxford-street, whether he would 
 consider himself justified in stopping in his tremendous race for 
 life until he had left even Uxbridge far behind, and found 
 himself out upon the breezy heaths of Beaconsfield. I know I 
 wouldn't ; but then I wouldn't go into a river at all I would 
 do as the stake-netters aver the salmon do, spawn in the sea 
 among the rocks and islands, that the salt water might kill all 
 the eggs ; or, if any progeny survived contrary to all probability, 
 I would be of the veriest old Saturn Saturnine, and eat 'em.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 169 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 LOCH KINNORD CRATHES CASTLE THE BARON OF LEYS THE 
 FEUCH MACBETH'S CAIRN DEE FLIES BALLATER AND 
 ABOYNE FISHERIES THE YTHAN, INVERNESS MACBETH 
 VITRIFIED FORTS THE NESS MR. SNOWIE. 
 
 BEFORE bidding adieu to Ballater, I must take occasion to praise 
 the capital accommodation to be found at the Invercauld Arms, 
 and the unvarying assiduity and attention of Mr. Cook to his 
 guests. Nothing could be more comme il faut for an angler's 
 hotel. 31. 3s. a week was the tariff of board and lodging for 
 anglers ; for this they had a room to themselves ; and one 
 great trouble was avoided, viz., from the time the angler entered 
 the inn until he paid his bill he had not to put his hand into 
 his pocket ; everything was charged at a regular fixed rate in the 
 bill, even to the gillie's hire, which was 2s. Qd. per day and his 
 whisky, which was limited and charged at Is. per day. His lunch 
 was included in the 31. 3s. So that there was no doubt as to what 
 one should pay for this, that, or the other ; attendance and all was 
 included in the bill, and at a much lower figure than nine anglers 
 in ten would probably give if it were left to their own judgment. 
 As these small matters are often amongst the worries of an 
 angling trip, I recommend the practice to all landlords of angling 
 hotels, as it gives their guests complete satisfaction at no loss to 
 themselves. The provender was good and liberal, and the angler 
 could have anything he liked to devour at any time of the day ; and 
 he could calculate beforehand to a fraction what his expenses would 
 be. In some seasons the fishing is very fair, though, of course 
 not equal to that at Aboyne ; but then it was just half the
 
 170 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 price. I heard from Mr. Cook after I left it improved very mucK 
 many good fish being been taken. In April, which is the best 
 month for the Dee, it would be better still, as there was a great 
 deal of snow on the hills, and the Dee depends for its spring 
 freshes on the snow. 
 
 On our way back to Aboyne we passed a fine loch Loch 
 Kinnord. It is a beautiful sheet of water, some miles in extent, 
 with fine wooded islands upon it, and is full of very large pike,, 
 which are not often fished for. Adventurous pike-fishers who are 
 constantly making inquiries as to where they shall go, might well 
 take a month here in October ; and if they were to get a boat up 
 by rail from Aberdeen, I am sure that their takes would be some- 
 thing new in pike-fishing, both in size and numbers. The two 
 next days I went up to fish the water of Sir James Burnet, Bart., 
 on which, through the intervention of a friend, I had procured 
 permission. Finer pools and streams it would be impossible to 
 imagine ; they are all than can be desired ; but the fish will not 
 remain in them, having been so worried by the nets. They rest 
 there after their first rush perhaps for half a dozen hours or so, 
 and then go on ; and when the great run of fish takes place, in 
 early spring, ^in the grilse season, and, in the autumn, capital 
 sport is often obtained ; but at any other time the only chance, 
 as I think, of sport is after a good spate or on a Monday, when a 
 few stray fish may have made into the river. Tempted by the 
 fine appearance of the pools, and by the fact that the first day 
 was a very unfavourable one, bright-steel sky, and bitter east 
 wind, although I had no sport, I tried it again, and caught one 
 big beast of a kelt, about 141b. 
 
 Crathes Castle, the seat of Sir James, is one of the finest and 
 most interesting buildings on Dee-side. The older portion of 
 the castle bears marks of great antiquity, and the old doorways, 
 rusty portcullis, and barred windows evidence ruder times when 
 more of "the right of the strong arm " was in vogue than those 
 we live in. Other portions of the building are apparently Flemish, 
 from the gables and peaks, and attached to these is a portion of
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 171 
 
 even later date. It is beautifully situated on an eminence, 
 amongst superb trees and fine old shrubs. I find in Black's 
 Guide an account of a former ancestor yclept the Baron of Leys, 
 and of him there is a humorous ballad writ. It appears that he 
 had become entangled in some foreign liaison, and, being desirous 
 of concealing his identity, with true Scotch caution, when asked 
 his name by his ladylove gave her for answer a series of absurd 
 names which could not be easily identified certainly. Thus 
 answers the Baron of Leys to his love's importunity : , 
 
 Some ca's me this, some ca's me that, 
 
 Whatever may best befa' me, 
 But when I'm in Scotland's King's high court 
 
 Clatter-the-Speans they ca' me. 
 
 To which his true love, who is evidently in a bad way, and to 
 whom her rose, no matter by what name it is called, would appear 
 to smell equally sweet, maketh answer : 
 
 Oh, wae's me now, O Clatter-the-Speans, 
 
 And alas that ever I saw thee, 
 For I'm in love sick, sick in love, 
 
 And I kenna well fat to ca' thee. 
 
 Thereupon the Baron of Leys, who is evidently quite unworthy 
 the tendre he had established, sayeth : 
 
 Some ca's me this, some ca's me that 
 
 I carena what they ca' me ; 
 But when wi' the Earl o" Murray I ride 
 
 It's Scour -the-Braes they ca' me. 
 
 And so on. I wonder what the ladies would ca' him ? an out- 
 and-out loafer, I strongly suspect, for obtaining love upon false 
 pretences. I should like to try him by a jury of matrons, all 
 with marriageable daughters ; a maiden of fifty, or the " mother 
 of the modern Gracchi," for counsel against him, and a Mrs. Chief 
 Baron for judge ; and if they didn't " scour his braes" and " pipe- 
 clay his weekly accounts " for him, I know nothing of the sex. 
 "Clatter the speans," indeed 1 a pretty clattering of the speans
 
 172 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 ihere would be about his devoted ears. Evidently the baron had 
 fears of a breach of promise before his eyes. 
 
 Opposite to Banchory, which is close to Crathes, the Feugh 
 one of the largest tributaries of the Dee rolls in. It is a 
 foaming, rocky stream ; but many salmon and grilse at times run 
 into it, and it sometimes gives capital sport. Not far from 
 Banchory, upon a wild open heath near Lumphanan, is Macbeth's 
 cairn. Here Macbeth is said to have been hunted down and finally 
 slain ; and near the cairn, remains of rude entrenchments are 
 seen, and weapons of ancient warfare have often been turned up, 
 giving evidence in favour of the assertions made by the older 
 chroniclers. Some years ago, when visiting a moor near Lum- 
 phanan, I saw this cairn. The country around is very wild and 
 desolate indeed, the whole of Dee-side is replete with objects of 
 more or less interest, and it forms a favourite summer-tour 
 route for excursionists. 
 
 The flies used on the Dee are peculiar, being dressed upon very 
 long shanked hooks made expressly for the purpose. Three or 
 four of them are peculiar to the Dee, and I will endeavour to 
 describe them. The first is called the Bed Wing. The body is 
 composed of one-third dirty orange-yellow towards the tail, and 
 the rest of claret (inclining to purple) mohair ; broad silver tinsel. 
 Tail, a golden pheasant's saddle feather, and two or three turns 
 of the tinsel as a tip. The hackle is a very large black heron- 
 hackle, the fibres of which reach from the head of the fly to as 
 much beyond the point as possible ; the hackle should be wound 
 up about two-thirds of the body ; at the shoulder is lapped round 
 a teal feather. The wings are two long strips of swallow-tailed 
 gled set flat, so as to support the fly in the water, or the dun 
 reddish feather sometimes found in the turkey's tail does almost 
 as well. The sister fly to this is called the Tartan. The body 
 is dressed with one-half dirty orange, and the upper half scarlet 
 mohair ; broad gold tinsel, two turns of it for the tip, and a red, 
 gold-pheasant breast-feather for tail. Over this body is run a 
 sandy red hackle, one side of the fibre being snipped off pretty
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 175 
 
 closely ; over this is run a large grey heron's hackle I think they 
 come from the rump ; they are very long in the fibre indeed, 
 the difficulty with these Dee flies is to get feathers long enough 
 in the fibre. The grey hackle is laid on over the red for two- 
 thirds of the body ; at the shoulder is a teal hackle, as in the 
 other fly. The wings are two strips of silver-grey speckled 
 turkey. It is a singular looking fly, giving one the idea of a huge 
 spider. The White Eagle is even a greater monstrosity. The 
 body resembles that of the Red Wing. The tail is a breast feather 
 as in the Tartan. From head to tail is wound what is termed an 
 eagle's hackle, but it is the fluffy part of a golden eagle's feather 
 just over the leg. In fact, upon a cursory inspection, the fly looks 
 like the stump of some feather. The shoulder is decorated with 
 the invariable teal hackle, without which it seems no Dee fly 
 would be perfect. The wings are slips of the silver-grey barred 
 turkey, with black tips ; and a very monstrous-looking production 
 is the result. Nevertheless, it kills well towards evening ; and if 
 dressed small, and with less of the eagle on it, it will kill well by 
 day. Another fly of the same cast is the Yellow Eagle, which is 
 just the same fly, only the eagle feather is dyed of a bright lemon 
 yellow. I have heard many theories as to what a salmon mistakes 
 the usual run of flies for ; but for what he can possibly mistake 
 a " yaller aigle " (as it is called in those parts) passes my compre- 
 hension utterly. There is nothing like it that I ever saw, either 
 in earth, air, or water. These flies are used large in spring and 
 high water, and smaller as the water fines down. The other flies 
 used, are patterns used also upon other rivers golden and claret r 
 or golden and copper bodies, with claret hackles, jay shoulders, 
 and mixed wings do well enough ; but the herons and eagles are 
 the speciality. The same flies a size smaller do for the Don. 
 The Ballater water is, I believe, still open to the public by ticket, 
 taken from Mr. Cook, of the Invercauld Arms ; and I hear that 
 part of the Aboyne Water also, which has been closed to the public 
 for some years, has this season been re-opened by Mr. Johnstone, 
 of the Huntley Arms, Aboyne, who has fishing for three rods
 
 174 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 above and below Aboyne Bridge. As the Dee fishing is always 
 in request, an early application for tickets is always necessary, and 
 the lessee of the Fife Arms, at Braemar, has also a good stretch 
 of the river for the use of his customers. Before working up to 
 Inverness I may give a little information on the Ythan. 
 
 The Ythan, a river formerly famous for its pearls, runs into the 
 sea, at Newburgh, a dozen or so of miles north of Aberdeen. It 
 is a moderate salmon, a fair sea trout, and a capital brown trout 
 river, and fishing may be obtained at Newburgh, to which a coach 
 runs from Aberdeen. Here, by staying at the Udney Arms 
 Hotel, kept by Mrs. Allan, the angler may get very fair sea-trout 
 fishing ; and somewhat higher up the river, at Ellon, by staying 
 at the New Inn, Mr. Lamond's, a salmon or two may be got late 
 in the season. From Aberdeen we journeyed to Inverness. 
 
 Inverness is called the capital of the Highlands ; and from 
 the beauty of its situation, the associations which belong to it, 
 and the noble river which flows through it, it deserves the 
 appellation. The first thing which strikes the tourist is the castle, 
 a very handsome building of reddish stone, which stands on a 
 high mound overlooking the river, and dominating the town. 
 The present building is of modern date, and comprehends the 
 gaol, the court-house, and the other county buildings ; upon the 
 same site, however, other castles have stood and perished. 
 Formerly, in remote antiquity, a castle stood upon an eminence 
 to the south-east of the town. Here it was said that Macbeth 
 murdered Duncan : the best authorities, however, deny this. 
 Macbeth, nevertheless, certainly had possession of this castle, 
 which, was destroyed by Malcolm Canmore, Duncan's son ; and a 
 castle was built upon the site of the present one, which was 
 destroyed and rebuilt several times before the present one rose. 
 The whole neighbourhood seems to recall Macbeth. While 
 coming here in the train, which is only equalled in slowness by 
 that of the Deeside railway, ten miles an hour being held to be 
 fair travelling, Chalkley was infected seriously with Macbeth- 
 ianism if I may say so ; he was perpetually looking out for
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 175 
 
 wild heaths, and blasted trees, and ugly old women in dilapidated 
 garments and clothes-props, and he quoted Shakespeare tremen- 
 dously. One of the passengers ventured to remark that it was 
 rather close with all the windows up, On ordinary occasions 
 Chalkley would have said, "Beally! Do you think so?" Now, 
 I should have said the thermometer was somewhere about twenty- 
 eight on this occasion. He fixed the old gentleman with his eye, 
 and replied, " Sir, the air bites shrewdly ; it is very keen ; it is 
 a nipping and an eager air" which much perplexed the old 
 gentleman, who got out carefully at the next station. 
 
 " How far is't hence to Forres ?" he asked of a big guard with 
 a huge red beard, in a deep, sepulchral voice, and with a theatrical 
 wave of the hand. 
 
 " Joost saxteen mile, sir," answered the literal-minded official ; 
 adding, " and if ye want to gat oot ye'll mok haste, or she'll be 
 ganging." 
 
 "Behemoth!" muttered Chalkley ; and he retired within himself . 
 
 Inverness has rich and fertile land round it, and has a pecu- 
 liarly mild climate ; and is surrounded with lofty hills, so that it 
 combines lowland and highland advantages. One of the plea- 
 santest walks I ever saw is open to the public here. The Ness 
 makes a series of large islands just above the town, which are 
 accessible from either bank by light suspension-bridges. These 
 islands, which are more than a mile long, are beautifully and 
 thickly wooded, and a more charming retreat in the summer- 
 time can hardly be conceived. Here a band plays on summer 
 evenings, and the lads and lasses dance to the music under the 
 greenwood shade ; while the salmon and trout spring from the 
 crystal Ness on either side to catch a glimpse or a hearing of 
 what is going on, like so many dolphins looking after so many 
 Arions. I noted this to Chalkley, who punned on it in a manner 
 so vile, that I hardly dare to reproduce his perpetration. 
 
 " And very proper, too ; there's good authority for it. 
 
 Meantime some rude Arion's restless hand 
 Wakes the brisk harmony that salars love "
 
 176 BY LAKE AND EIVEB.> 
 
 quoth lie, and the villain took to flight ; for he knew that the- 
 largest boulder I eould lift would be hurled at him, even though, 
 like Ajax, I should have to rend from its parent "no small part 
 of a mountain." 
 
 Opposite to these islands are two very remarkable eminences, 
 one of which is a little round steep hill, beautifully feathered 
 with light wavy trees ; this is called Tom-na-hurie, or the Hill of 
 Fairies. It is now converted into a cemetery rather an awkward 
 place to get the bodies up to, I should think. Whether the- 
 fairies will still patronise it under these circumstances remains to 
 be seen. The other (Craig Phadric) is a peculiar hill, crowned 
 as my informant Lord Saltoun pointed out, by a vitrified fort. 
 Now, I did not know what a vitrified fort might be, but I did 
 not like to show my ignorance by asking. My archaeological 
 education, I suppose, was left imperfect in this particular, and I 
 determined to look it out in some of the authorities at my 
 disposal when I got home, and I did so ; but none of them gave 
 me any inkling of the composition of vitrified forts. They were 
 glib enough upon " those remarkable remnants of antiquity, 
 vitrified forts and vitrified cairns," and so forth ; but that was all 
 not a hint' of their construction or origin. So I went to 
 Chalkley, who looks as if he were chock-full of all that kind of 
 information. 
 
 " Chalkley," I asked, in as careless a way as I could assume, 
 " seen Craig Phadric ?" 
 
 " Well yes only from a distance, though." 
 
 " Anything peculiar about it ?" 
 
 " Oh, dear, yes a most remarkable monument of antiquity 
 a most charming and delightful old a a place ; one of 
 the most perfect specimens of a vitrified fort, you know, in the 
 kingdom." 
 
 " Dear me, you don't say so !" " Just so yes !" " Vitrified 
 fort !" said I reflectively, dwelling on the word. " By the way 
 what is a vitrified fort ? I don't fancy I ever saw one." 
 
 " A vitrified fort ! oh ! ah ! I suppose that is oh ! it's a fort
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 177 
 
 that has been vitrified I should say. Can't say I ever saw one 
 exactly myself that is to say, not closely, you know." 
 
 " Well, but, how the deuce or what can the process consist 
 in?" 
 
 " I'm sure I hardly know, unless it is done all over shiny out- 
 side, like the pumice-stone houses one sees at deserted watering- 
 places, or the inside of the large red crockery pans one's always 
 tumbling over in back-yards, and such places." 
 
 Still, we never came to any satisfactory conclusion, and, 
 to this day, we are both in a state of debased ignorance on the 
 subject. 
 
 The Ness is the queen of Scotch rivers. It is such a large 
 and splendid stream, and the pools are so wide, that, when a 
 heavy salmon is hooked in one of the larger pools, he gives 
 magnificent play. I believe that a fish which inhabits wide open 
 waters usually gives five times the sport you get out of one 
 which inhabits a more confined locality. The one runs fast and 
 free, knowing he has plenty of room do so ; the other wobbles 
 along dwarfed in his ideas of resistance by the poky hole he 
 dwells in. 
 
 The first thing I did was to call on Mr. Snowie at the great 
 repository of all sporting intelligence in this part of the country. 
 Both Mr. Snowie and his son gave me every assistance in their 
 power, and both interested themselves warmly in trying to pro- 
 cure for me all the sport they could. Mr. Snowie has been 
 for so many years a respected and trusted providore of sport to so 
 many patrons, that comment of mine on the useful post he occu- 
 pies so well is needless. No sportsman ever thinks of passing 
 through Inverness, if he has a few minutes to spare, without a 
 run into Snowie's to hear what this one or that one is doing, and 
 what his own prospects are ; for Snowie generally knows quite as 
 well as he does, and often much better. 
 
 My arrangements were not completed, and I had an hour or 
 two to spare, so I walked up with Mr. Snowie, jun., to a fine long 
 pool which he had leave to fish. The kelts were jumping about,
 
 178 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 
 
 and some fine sea trout popped tip now and then ; but, though 
 he fished it over twice, he only got a couple of rises, and did 
 nothing, and did nothing. The afternoon was very raw with a 
 shaving east wind. It was a very bad taking day. The next 
 day was what is called an open day on the "Four Cobles water." 
 The Four Cobles water is the lowest water, and comprises several 
 fine pools, which fish well at the proper season, about July and 
 August, if the river is in condition. A part of the Four Cobles 
 water belongs to the town, and the town have let it upon condi- 
 tion that one day in eight shall be open to the public to angle 
 over the whole of the water, and about harvest the pools are 
 lined with anglers ; and it is not an uncommon thing for a good 
 rod to pick up his two or three, or even more, fish a day of 
 course, the day is looked forward to with great eagerness. Being 
 desirous of seeing the water, I walked up with Mr. Snowie, jun. 
 There were not many anglers out, and the weather was 
 just what it had been for a week previous dark, with an 
 uncanny east wind. So little or nothing was done. I saw one 
 fellow with a small sea trout, and a brown trout of lib. and 
 better. The latter was caught with worm, and was not in 
 good condition. The Ness gives very fine trout-fishing at times, 
 many of the fish running very large, some being taken up to 
 61b. and 71b. weight. Mr. Snowie fished down the same 
 pool as he had the day before, and with like fortune. The 
 water is 5ne water to look at, and when the river is in order, or 
 about a foot or eighteen inches higher than it then was, it is 
 good fishing water ; but it was getting rather low now. 
 
 The warm westerly breezes and genial sun had melted a 
 considerable quantity of the snow on the mountains, and many of 
 the rivers were in full spate ; and never was water more wanted 
 or more grateful.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 179 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 BAPTISM IN THE NESS THE FORCE OF FASHION A DAY ON 
 THE NESS CHALKLEY THE BLACK STREAM A FISH AT 
 THE Two STONES ANOTHER AT THE BLACK STREAM A 
 
 20-POUNDER LOST AT THE TWO STONES KELTS ! KELTS ! 
 
 KELTS ! 
 
 THE first Sunday we arrived here the Baptists held high cere- 
 monial. Two new sisters were to be received into the bosom of 
 their communion, and a very ostentatious dipping of the damsels 
 took place in the river Ness, in about the most conspicuous part 
 of the town. They were led down almost waist-deep into the 
 river by the officiating priest, who then, supporting them in his 
 arms, gently laid them back into the water, taking care that they 
 should be thoroughly immersed. It was a bitter cold day, 
 with a N.E. wind, and a more pitiable spectacle than those 
 females presented when they came out of the water would be 
 difficult to imagine drenched, dripping, and chilled to the skin, 
 they marched off amidst the comments of an enormous crowd of 
 spectators, who assembled to see the ceremony. One of the 
 regenerated fair ones was a young and rather good-looking girl ; 
 the other was not remarkable for beauty, and came in for a trifling 
 modicum of chaff. 
 
 I do not know whether regeneration or revivalism, which Is 
 getting popular in Scotland, is altering the fine old spirit of the 
 Scotch damsels, as evidenced in many a good tale and sly joke of 
 Burns, Allan Cunningham, and a host of others. I hope not, but 
 civilisation is making tremendous advances. The newspapers are 
 
 full of huge millinery advertisements, and the fashions get here 
 
 N 2
 
 180 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 as soon as they do in London, and are adopted more readily. 
 And the ubiquitous piano, too shade of Broadwood ! what 
 doleful snarlings from wire-haired instruments, in the extremity 
 of torture, one does hear every now and then ; and when one 
 does hear such a piano so out of tune that the major keys all 
 sound like minors, hammering away at one of those very minor 
 Scotch tunes that seem to have neither ending nor beginning, 
 but to go groaning away on the same interminable note, without 
 change or cessation, then I say that that celebrated feat of music 
 performed by Eichard Swiveller, Esq., on the flute, to the 
 deprecation of melancholy, would be the music of spheres, 
 whatever that may be (and it is something very transcendently 
 beautiful, I have no doubt) in comparison. " She," I overheard one 
 strapping lassie say to another, contemptuously, " She can't play 
 nane ; I can play Bonnie Doune, and the something-or-other 
 polka." I would rather have overheard anything smacking of 
 the old tale, told by Allan Cunningham, of a damsel on Nith 
 side, even though it evidenced somewhat more of freedom of 
 manners than prevails now. In those parts a backward or slow 
 lover was looked on with the greatest contempt ; and during a 
 wordy war between some young ladies one day, in which various 
 young men's names were brought into discussion, some reference 
 was made to the supposed sweetheart of one of the fair ones 
 present. " Him," quoth the indignant maiden, " him ! why I 
 tried him wi' a lanely room and a lighted candle, and he had na 
 even the sense to blaw it oot and steek (stop) the door." 
 
 But the change by no means affects the women alone, the 
 men are quite as badly bitten by it. The kilt, of course, one 
 rarely sees, and then on some shopkeeper from Glasgow or 
 Edinburgh ; but if the women have cast off their linsey woolsey, 
 the men have kicked off hodden-grey with equal alacrity. They 
 must all be gentlemen now. A sort of mania for dress seems to 
 have seized on the Highland peasant, and he will go through any 
 amount of privation to come out strong on a Sunday. You 
 wonder who the distinguished-looking party before you is. It is
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 181 
 
 Ihe laird, or the laird's son at least ; and yet, no, it can't be. You 
 can hardly believe your eyes when they assure you that that 
 howling swell is neither more nor less than your dilapidated 
 gillie, Angus, who has carried your basket and cleek all the week 
 at 3s. 6d. per diem. You would as soon think of asking him to 
 -shoulder your gaff in his present costume as you would of asking 
 the minister to take a hand at "put " on the door step. The 
 English labourer will spoil his outside for his in ; the High- 
 lander, on the other hand, mortifies his inside for his out. 
 But I am wandering away into matters which are very foreign 
 to fishing, and which, perhaps, the reader cares but little 
 about. 
 
 Having written to ask permission of Lord Saltoun to fish his 
 portion of the Ness, his lordship very kindly drove into town and 
 took me out to his water without delay. On the way I could not 
 but admire the lovely scenery which distinguishes this part of the 
 banks of the river Ness. When the trees are in full leaf the variety 
 of foliage that towers up and above the banks must be very 
 beautiful, as here much of the bank on one side is in his lord- 
 -ship's private grounds, and huge Portugal laurels, rhododendrons, 
 and other hardy shrubs, break and diversify the masses of birch, 
 fir, and larch. On one of the banks for a considerable distance a 
 great deal of destruction had been done last winter in a 
 tremendous gale ; large trees had been uprooted and cast aside 
 as though they were mere saplings, and immense branches had 
 been torn and twisted off the parent trees in places with as little 
 apparent difficulty as a boy would tear off a twig. No one who 
 has not witnessed it can have any conception of the tremendous 
 force with which the wind seems to rush down the rifts and glens 
 in an alpine country. In this instance, gathering force as it comes 
 from the fastness of Mealfourvonie, a mountain near 3000 feet 
 high, it strikes upon one of the lesser but more precipitous crags 
 upon Loch Ness side. Thence it whirls across the loch with 
 redoubled fury, and woe be to the boat that encounters its wrath ; 
 and when at length it is hurled upon the south side of the great
 
 182 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 glen of Scotland, Lord Saltoun's firs pay pretty dearly for the- 
 strarnash it causes. Precisely the same thing had occurred at the 
 Prince of Wales's place on Deeside Abergeldie ; it was quite 
 extraordinary how easily the largest trees seem to have been rent 
 away by the tornado. 
 
 As we drove along the banks, the number of huge kelts that 
 we saw splashing and leaping about was surprising. Indeed, the 
 river was full of them, though few clean fish were to be taken in 
 the Ness as yet July and August being the best months the 
 Ness not being a spring river for angling purposes, though very 
 early, indeed, for the nets. The fact is, the fish are anxious to> 
 get up to the warm water of the lake, and so do not at that cold 
 season dwell in the Ness, but run straight through to the lake, 
 whence they manage to make their way still onwards up to the 
 Garry and other rivers which form the head waters ; and thus 
 the Garry, which is a long way further up the country, is a good 
 spring river, while the Ness, through which all the Garry fish 
 have runs, holds but few clean fish ; still it does hold some ; and! 
 the probability of a clean fish just makes one obliged to play the- 
 kelts carefully until one is certain of their identity. I have- 
 heard people say that they can tell a kelt from his play at once. 
 If they can, I can only say that they are cleverer than I am ; for 
 I have often mistaken the play of a kelt for that of a clean fish, 
 and been agreeably surprised to find that that which I had 
 set down a kelt turned out clean. I am sure that many clean fish 
 are lost from the anglers losing all patience with the kelts. For 
 although kelts often give capital sport, better than many a clean 
 fish, yet the disgust one feels at seeing their long, lanky bodies- 
 and big heads, and their generally miserable appearance ; the- 
 certainty that they are spoiling the pool, if there is a clean fish 
 in it ; and the anxiety one feels about one's fly, and the rage one 
 gets in at finding the hackle and tinsel cut so disgusts the angler 
 that, as I have said, he is very apt to pull them out anyhow, so 
 that he can get rid of the obstruction ; and if, as frequently 
 happens, he has hooked a clean fish, the mouth is fleshy and
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. lOO 
 
 tender, and away he goes, when in all probability, the angler 
 catches a farewell glimpse of him as he makes off, and it just 
 dawns upon him that he has lost the clean fish of the day. Of 
 course this only riles one all the more with the kelts ; and to 
 have to play a brute carefully, when you are morally sure he is a 
 kelt, but have not had an opportunity of being ocularly so, is 
 trying work. 
 
 Having arrived at the water, we found Johnnie Macdonald, the 
 water-keeper, awaiting us, and Johnnie forthwith conducted us to 
 the top pool, where I was to begin. Though much of the fishing 
 could be done from the bank by wading, yet as there is a boat to 
 each pool for those who don't like to wade, and as I had a 
 bad cold, I eschewed the wading and took to the boat. The first 
 pool is a very curious pool ; it has altered a good deal, I am told, 
 of late years. The river enters it in two converging streams, 
 some distance apart, and the whole of the space between them is 
 one black, dead, glassy back eddy, and if your line gets out 
 of either of the streams (which are not very powerful), it is 
 sucked into this back eddy and drowned. I never hooked a fish 
 in this part of the pool, though curious to see what the effect 
 would be. Of course, if the angler wants to fish this eddy, 
 he ought to go down stream and throw up. 
 
 I fished the streams twice, with a different fly each time, and 
 got but one nasty little kelt ; and as the wind, which was still in 
 the old quarter, E. to N., and was all wrong, blew the boat 
 up against the stream, we could not fish it properly, and so left 
 it. The next stream was a regular kelt stream, with very little 
 chance of a clean fish in it, so, as it was pretty safe work, I handed 
 the rod to Chalkley, whose ambition to catch a salmon no 
 matter whether clean or foul was at the highest possible pitch. 
 His dreams of fishing had never soared to such an eminence, but 
 now that the consummation was within his reach there was no 
 holding him. The spirit of the land was upon him (I don't 
 mean whisky, of course, as it was only eleven in the morning). 
 His eye blazed, his porte was shall I say sublime, no erect, as
 
 184 BT LAKE AND BIVEH. 
 
 erect at least as the swaying and bumping of the boat would 
 permit. He steadied himself, took the rod in his hand with a 
 stern resolve, waved it gently as Zephyr backward, and more 
 gently than Zephyr forward, and the fly just tumbled into the boat 
 again somewhere about his legs. Again and again he essayed ; 
 I tried to teach him, but somehow, as the saying is, his fingers 
 were all thumbs, and his hands all left ones. He would let out 
 fifteen or twenty yards of line, and like Miss Tox, he would 
 " make an effort." You would think from his corrugated brow 
 and compressed lips he was going to cast 140 yards of line 
 at least ; then he would bow the rod gracefully down to the 
 surface, and the fly would gently alight on the water, about two 
 feet from the rod point. Nevertheless, so rabid were the kelts 
 that they came at him regardless of the expense, and fairly ran 
 off with the fly. "Never strike your salmon," says the good 
 old school, and Ohalkley never struck his, and thus achieved the 
 acme of perfection. The kelts came and boldly tweaked him by 
 the nose, as it were, and he held the rod out to them to do as 
 they liked and they did so. Taking the fly and leaving it just 
 when they chose, at last one did manage to jam the point of the 
 hook between his teeth somehow, so that he couldn't let go, and 
 began to pull. Then Chalkley caught the infection, and pulled 
 too. To see Chalkley wind that fish up, as though he had been 
 playing the "Dead March in Saul" on a hand-organ which 
 might have been expected to explode if it were ground too fast, 
 was the finest thing I ever saw in fishing. I laughed to that 
 degree that the very kelpies must have been amazed and con- 
 founded. With a gravity befitting such an important capture ; 
 Chalkley hauled in his first salmon, and I feel pretty sure that if 
 the law for which Chalkley has a wholesome reverence had 
 not objected, that illustrious fish would have figured in a glass 
 case, like Mr. Briggs's. I think he caught another, and then, 
 seeing that he was not really fishing the stream at all, and throw- 
 ing away what chance there might be of a clean fish, I resumed the 
 rod and hooked two or three kelts for him, handing him the rod
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 185 
 
 to play them. We fished the stream down, and went to the next 
 cast, called the Two Stone Pool, from its having two large stones 
 at the end of it. It was a fine wide pool, and, though rather 
 low, was still in fair order. As this was the best and most 
 likely cast for a clean fish, I fished it over carefully twice, but, 
 alas ! nothing but kelts repaid my labour. Thence we went to a 
 fine stream called the Black Stream, from the bed of the river 
 being very dark coloured ; it is the finest stream on the water. 
 We missed on the way a very nice-looking pool called the 
 Laggan, it being too low to give a chance of a clean fish. The 
 Black Stream was no more propitious to us than the others, and 
 we got nothing but kelts ; one big beast, about 1 5lb., contrived 
 to hook himself in the vent, and managed to haul out close 
 upon 100 yards down the stream, when finding the rod would be 
 strained if I pressed it further, I laid it down and took hold of 
 the line, and by this means, with care, towed him all the way 
 Tiome again ; and it was hard work, for the moment he got 
 into the stream fairly, he put his broad fan-like tail broadside 
 to it, and it was like pulling against against a wall. However, 
 he came in at last, and I whipped off his adipose fin, as I did of 
 all the kelts I caught, and returned him ; and as it was getting 
 dusk we tackled up and went home, having pulled out above a 
 dozen kelts. Chalkley was rampant with delight : ' That was 
 something like sport, you know ; only it would certainly have 
 been an improvement if they had all been clean fish" a sentiment, 
 I need not say, I warmly concurred in. 
 
 The next day we were not with Johnnie till twelve, having 
 letters to write, &c. The upper pool gave us a kelt, as usual, 
 the stream only one ;' they were all still in it. The Two Stone 
 Pool was not to-day inclined to yield kelts, and I fished it down 
 to the upper stone, when I got a rise and a hold, and away went 
 the fish down-stream rather briskly. 
 
 " Hallo ! Johnnie, this looks more like business," said I. 
 
 " 'Deed, sir, it's a deal more like the play of a clean fusshe 
 than any I've seen the day."
 
 186 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 Just then out he came nearly a yard high, bright and clean as- 
 a smelt. 
 
 " Faith, he's a nice fusshe ; haud him carefully, sir. I'll land 
 ye, and ye can play him better frae the bank." 
 
 Landed I was, and after a good deal of scouring the pool we 
 got him into the net (an implement, by the way, which Johnnie 
 abominates), a fine fresh-run fish, with the sea-louse on him, 
 about lOlb. in weight. We duly christened him, and then went 
 to work again. However, we did no more in the Two Stone, and 
 so went on the Black Stream, not to lose time. I had not fished 
 it down twenty yards when I got a very shy rise under water, 
 and the next moment I was fast. He was a dull, sluggish 
 animal a kelt as I thought and I was just handing the rod 
 to Chalkley when I caught sight of his tail as he passed the 
 boat. It looked very muscular and clean-cut. "Why, Johnnie, 
 he's eh ! " 
 
 " Weel, I thenk he's joost a kelt ; but play him carefu' ; we'll 
 soon see." Just then he put his back up. 
 
 Very brown back that for a kelt, Johnnie. 
 
 " Weel, it is, sir, indeed ; and there's a scar on his side I mis- 
 doot. Haud him carefu', sir, haud him carefu'." The fish 
 showed himself. " Faith, his clean enoo' ; he's just a wee- 
 coloured with the river." 
 
 And up came the anchor, and we got on shore ; and after a 
 long bout of rather slow play we got him into the net, a very 
 nice fish of about lllb. or 121b. He was slightly discoloured 
 from having been some weeks in the river, and on his side were 
 marks of seals' teeth where he had been sharply cut. This, 
 perhaps, had made him slow in moving up. The very next 
 throw I got a sea-trout of about lib., which I gave to- 
 Chalkley for his breakfast, but we did no more ; indeed, I had 
 reason to be rather proud of what I had done, as two clean fish 
 are not got every day in the Ness in March. 
 
 The next day we went forth doubly armed, for Chalkley, hav- 
 ing been told by Lord Saltoun to try his hand, determined to go
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 187 
 
 on his own hook ; and having borrowed my small rod and my 
 Faggs, and invested in some flies, &c., he set forth upon his 
 mission with a high and stern resolve. Chalkley's notion was 
 clearly that wading-boots were an invention to get wet in, and 
 the first thing he did was to walk deliberate!)' into the water as 
 far over the tops of the boots as he could conveniently go. I 
 believe he would have walked on up to his middle, if the stream 
 had not been rather sharp. Being now quite cool and comfor- 
 table, he hammered away with varied success. I believe he 
 really did land two or three kelts all to himself. He was com- 
 pletely happy, except when he came to pull off my waders, when, 
 sitting down rather abruptly and elevating his legs for some one 
 to help pull his boots off, he shot some two bucketfuls of water 
 which were in them back into his " rudder-case," as Jack-Tar 
 would nautically term his nether integuments. 
 
 " Oh ! oh ! Oh, Lord ! Now, that's too bad. I didn't mind 
 as long as I kept that warm and dry. As for the feet, you 
 know, I think that's rather jolly ; my feet are as warm as a 
 toast." 
 
 My friend has his peculiarities in this respect, e.g., where 
 others would be or are shivering with cold he finds it all quite 
 warm and delightful ; and when, on the other hand, some people 
 complain of sultriness, he would opine that it was the sort of 
 weather when you might put on a great coat and yet not find it 
 too warm. However, the last blow was too much even for him. 
 The centre of his gravity had been roughly invaded, and he had 
 a serious objection to such an unwarrantable liberty. He had 
 been wading persistently over the tops of his boots. They were- 
 of course, full of water, and it took three strong men to pull 
 them off. His stockings were wet through, so he had to walk 
 home in his boots. Wading in the Ness is nasty work, as 
 coming from such a large deep lake, although comparatively 
 warm in winter, she is desperately cold in summer ; and many a 
 life-long rheumatism has she bestowed upon her more assiduous 
 votaries.
 
 188 
 
 My sport, besides a few kelts, on this day consisted in hooking 
 a beautiful 20lb. clean fish in the Two Stone Pool. At the 
 second or third cast on the pool a fish rose so shyly that I thought 
 him worth more careful attention. The sun was bright, so I 
 waited for a cloud ; and when it came I came with it, and the 
 fish came also, and away he went for a spin down stream, 
 making a couple of most brilliant runs, and taking out some 
 seventy yards of line, coming to the top with a plunge, but 
 not jumping. I worked him up a little way, but down he went, 
 further off than ever. Excitement was now getting up, as we 
 were feeling pretty sure that he was clean and fresh-run. Care- 
 fully I worked him up, little by little, until I got him up level 
 with the boat in the shallower stream on the inside, when I had 
 a good sight of him, and he proved to be a very handsome clean 
 fish of about 201b. It was the only sight I did get of him* 
 however, for, as if aware that he was in dangerous quarters, or, 
 perhaps, catching sight of us away he went spinning the line 
 out like lightning, and taking fully eighty yards in his run, 
 when just as I was going to land, so as to keep abreast of him, 
 away came the hook, and I I collapsed. I ought to have 
 landed sooner. 
 
 The next day we did naught but kelts. Chalkley waded again. 
 This time I lent him my Woolgar's ; and as I cautioned him 
 seriously that if he got wet in them he should pay the penalty, 
 he behaved himself with respectability and moderation, and 
 hauled in, I think, only one kelt, but he got quite a dab at 
 throwing, and did not smash more than two or three flies. This 
 was Saturday, and I bade by friend Johnnie adieu, as I did not 
 intend to try the water further. 
 
 A capital attendant is Johnnie Macdonald cool, quiet, and 
 unobtrusive. He seems to know where you ought to be and 
 where you want to be, and there the boat will surely be. He 
 never offers or obtrudes advice. There is no " Keep up the 
 point of yer gad, sir," " Wind up the line, sir," and " Don't let 
 him do this, that, or t'other, sir," " Ah ! sir, if ye," &c., &c.,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 &c., all of which is to me so exasperating that I feel tempted 
 always to do the very opposite of the advice, out of pure aggra- 
 vation. Johnnie sits down quietly, and says not a word unless, 
 spoken to. But if his advice is sought it is generally worth 
 attention.
 
 190 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 DBUMMOSSIE MOOR THE BATTLE OF CULLODEN BEN WYVIS 
 THE BITES OF BAAL DRUIDICAL CIRCLE THE ROMAN 
 WALLS ON THE NESS A MONSTER KELT THE SWITCHER 
 THE BEAULT A DEATH AT THE CRUIVE POOL EILAN 
 
 AlQAS AND THE FALLS OF KlLLMORACH. 
 
 Drummossie muir, Drummossie muir, 
 
 A waefu' day it was to me, 
 For there I lost my father dear, 
 
 My father dear and brethren three. 
 
 Their winding sheet, the bluidy clay, 
 Their graves are growing green to me, 
 
 And by them lies the dearest lad 
 That ever blest a woman's e'e. 
 
 Now wae to thee, thou cruel Duke, 
 
 A bloody man I trow thou be, 
 For monie a heart thou hast made sair 
 
 That ne'er did wrang to thine or thee. 
 
 THUS sung Burns of Drummossie Moor, upon which the battle of 
 Culloden was fought, on the 16th of April, about 120 years ago. 
 Drummossie moor is but some five or six miles from Inverness, 
 and accordingly on Sunday afternoon Chalkley and I pilgrimaged 
 to the spot. The ground rises steadily from Inverness up to the 
 moor, which is a wild, open plain of table-land, a mile or so in 
 width, and sloping down on all sides on the right to the river 
 Nairn, which runs through a deep, rocky, and woody defile, and 
 to the Moray Firth on the left. How somewhat irregular troops 
 as the Highland clans were, compared with their adversaries, 
 could have been brought to fight a battle upon ground so
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 191 
 
 entirely unfavourable to them, and where their enemy's strong 
 points (his cavalry and artillery) could be employed with such 
 fatal effect, when, by marching a few miles either way, they 
 could have occupied a position which would entirely have 
 neutralised these advantages, it seems difficult to understand. 
 It needs no military savant to appreciate fully the utter folly of 
 the choice. The object was to prevent the Duke of Cumberland 
 from forcing his way to Inverness ; but to fight a battle upon 
 the worst possible terms, and with the almost certainty of losing 
 it, was not the way to cover Inverness. It appears that there 
 was much internal dissension and jealousy amongst the different 
 clans and between the various leaders, and a want of sufficient 
 firmness and capacity to control the whole. In fact, many of 
 the clans appear to have behaved like sulky children. The Mac 
 This's wouldn't fight because the Mac That's were upon their 
 right, and the Mac Those marched off because the Mac T'others 
 were on their left. Thus it has ever been with the clans. 
 Everything was sacrificed to private jealousy and private vanity. 
 Individually, the Highlander is the finest raw material in the 
 world. In a rush or a determined charge to the death they are 
 magnificent, as a thousand traits of battle can testify, from 
 Culloden to Coomassie ; but here there seemed to be a want of 
 consistency and adherence which utterly destroyed them. 
 Many other circumstances aided the defeat of Prince Chaiies ; 
 his troops had been harassed by a long, weary night-march and 
 want of food. The Duke of Cumberland's army lay before 
 Nairn, and a night surprise was attempted. The Highland 
 troops marched from a little above Culloden House yonder, 
 which lies embosomed in trees, so peaceful and smiling, that one 
 would hardly think so bloody and tremendous a strife could ever 
 have taken place so near it. One seems to expect that it should 
 wear some distinguishing mark whereby everybody would at once 
 recognise it as Culloden House, instead of a mere ordinary- 
 looking country mansion. Thence, however, marched the army 
 towards Nairn, until they reached a place called Knockanhuic.
 
 192 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 There the intention of a night surprise (which would not have- 
 been a surprise at all, as spies were going and coming between 
 the two armies all night long) was abandoned, and the troops 
 marched back again to the rear of their starting point, a 
 distance, by the map, of about 1 6 miles. (We could trace most 
 of the line of march from the road, but young plantations begin 
 to break up the face of the country somewhat.) Sixteen miles of 
 needless moss-trooping by night, with loss of rest and want of 
 food, with dissatisfaction, disaffection, private feud and jealousy, 
 want of head or control, or definite purpose, are terrible draw- 
 backs to success in a battle. The English army came up fresh 
 and fit for the day's work. By those farmhouses now called Old 
 Lenach the English right wing was stationed ; right across the 
 road on which we stood was the Highland position. The artil- 
 lery mowed them down terribly, the dragoons cut them up 
 terribly, and the battle soon became a disgraceful rout, the credit 
 of which was only redeemed by that one terrible charge so 
 characteristic of the Highlanders, when, throwing themselves 
 upon their foe with all the rage and fury of despair, they clove 
 their way through fire and steel, through rank after rank of the 
 foe, nor ceased until the last arm among them was powerless, 
 and the last claymore broken or beaten down. That heap of 
 rounded mounds, not far from the roadside, attests the noble 
 daring which strove to the death to retrieve the fortune of 
 the day, and forms the last resting-place of those gallant 
 Highlanders : 
 
 Few, few shall part where many meet 
 The snow shall be their winding-sheet ; 
 And every turf beneath their feet 
 Shall be a soldier's sepulchre. 
 
 Conditions all strictly borne out in this instance, as the snow lay 
 white and brilliant everywhere, and not a yard of where we stood 
 but some poor fellow slept below us. To the right, about a mile 
 off, still stands a huge solitary ash tree, whence the hope of the 
 Stuarts bolted somewhat early in the battle. A mile and a half
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 193 
 
 onward is a huge round boulder, of enormous dimensions, whence 
 the cruel Duke surveyed the progress of his army. All his 
 talents as a general, all his energy as a commander, are blurred 
 and degraded by the cruelty he displayed towards his conquered 
 foe. Would, for our own credit sake, we could doubt the truth 
 of much that is told of the doings of the villainous soldiery, but 
 it is all too well attested. Hosts of wounded men were shot in 
 cold blood days after the battle. By yonder old tower, so quaint 
 with its battlements and mouldering quakers,* a great number of 
 officers were murdered I can give it no other term. A large 
 barn, in which many had taken refuge, was positively set fire to 
 by his orders. A war of extermination, in which the Highlanders 
 were treated like rats, and murdered wherever they were caught, 
 without regard to age or sex, was commenced, and carried on with 
 devilish ingenuity and perseverance. The savagery of Red 
 Indians could not go further than the soldiery did. Well might 
 the poet weep and lament, for such a page, let us hope, blurrs the 
 history of but few nations. Not long since, by the quaint tower 
 I have noted, stood one of the old guns left on the field of battle. 
 It has been removed to Culloden House. On the field by the 
 roadside where the fight was hottest, a sort of monumental cairn 
 was commenced, but has been abandoned ; and as the " hottest 
 parts" of the battle-field are now planted thickly with rising 
 plantations, in a few years much that is worth seeing will be 
 obliterated. National feeling may have something to do with 
 this, for such sores cannot be healed even in a century, and feel- 
 ing is still rife, and the Duke still cursed in this neighbourhood. 
 Chalkley and I sat down upon some of the stones about the cairn, 
 and drank "honour and peace to the brave on either side," and 
 smoked the reflective pipe ; but as the afternoon was getting on, 
 we abriged that ceremonial somewhat, and made our way on, as 
 we had planned out a long ramble of some seventeen or eighteen 
 miles. About a mile on was, according to the map, a capital 
 
 * Dummy wooden gnus, now dropping to pieces in grim mockery. 

 
 194 BY LAKE AND EIVEK. 
 
 bridle-road. I wonder what the notion of the framer of that 
 map was of " a bad bridle-read." Snow was lying everywhere, 
 and, of course, added to the. difficulties of making out the track 
 across the moor ; and we stumbled along, sometimes on the moor 
 and sometimes on the road, and sometimes in a diabolical rut, 
 and so on ; at length the capital bridle-road divided into two 
 capital bridle-roads, and which excelled in point of capitalness it 
 was very difficult to say. One seemed to lead towards Fort 
 George, out towards the mouth of the firth ; the other was more 
 towards Inverness ; so after debating which was the origin of the 
 supposed capital road, we choose the latter, which soon (after for 
 some time losing all its capital,) went into the Bankruptcy Court, 
 and expired altogether ; but we knew that if we kept' straight on 
 towards the shore of the firth, we must in time cross the lower 
 road which runs along it. The afternoon had been a little 
 cloudy, but now the sun shone out clearly, and a scene of remark- 
 able beauty and splendour burst upon our view. Before us was 
 the blue firth, with its range of dark hills, amongst which the 
 Beauly Loch ran far up a broad and tranquil sheet of water ; 
 beyond this, and full thirty miles away (though it did not look 
 ten), rose the gaunt mass of Ben Wyvis, one of the highest, if 
 not the highest, of the Scotch mountains, very considerably over 
 4000 feet in height. From almost its base, lump after lump 
 seemed to be borne up into the air as if the Titans had been 
 lifting the earth on their backs, until one gigantic boll towered 
 above them all, dwarfing the lesser range of hills (which showed 
 all sorts of shapes and sizes), and everything else, in fact, into 
 insignificance by his hugeness. Covered with snow, the gradations 
 and indentations were singularly effective. Fleecy clouds would 
 pass along, throwing alternate shade and light, and anon destroy- 
 ing the outline of the grand old mountain, and leaving it doubt- 
 ful which was cloud and which snow-clad hill, when the sun would 
 suddenly glance out, and there was the outline of the mountain- 
 top gleaming in the midst of the blue air like burnished silver. 
 I have seldom gazed upon a more gorgeous spectacle. Anon we
 
 BY LAKE AND KIVEE. 195 
 
 scrambled, after a long round, down towards the road we were 
 searching for ; it had been our intention to examine some 
 Druidical circles which abound upon a point of land that runs 
 out into the firth, but we got too far down, and only came upon 
 one which is close to the roadside ; that, however, is very perfect. 
 The altar-stone and its supports are in very fine preservation, and 
 some two-thirds of the ring very well defined. The interior of 
 the circle is hollowed out like a bowl, " and here," said Chalkley, 
 with powerful unction and immense solemnity, and standing in a 
 reflective attitude, before the altar-stone, " and here the rites of 
 the 'sanguinary Baal were performed 2000 years ago. Here the 
 maddening shriek of the miserable victim of the darkest and 
 most hideous superstition that has ever disgraced and defiled 
 this beautiful land, sir" (appealing to me as audience), " was 
 heard, while men of apparently venerable aspect, with beards 
 flowing down like the tails of the Angola sheep (which are 
 carried upon little platforms, I believe, behind 'em), burnt their 
 wretched votaries by hecatombs, packed like caller herrings in a 
 fishwife's basket. They might wriggle, they might writhe, sir, 
 they might poke their heads or their arms out between the bars, as 
 I've seen 'em do in the Penny Magazine, sir, but they were within 
 the toils, bound in withes, and their veins must burst and their 
 sinews crack, and the very small amount of brains they did possess 
 must frizzle in their brain-pans, sir ; or here, perhaps, the arch- 
 druid, arch-scoundrel, sir, arch-villain, sir, arch-arch-arch-black- 
 guard, sir, mangled and gagged the throats of his unhappy 
 disciples with gilded sickles all set with teeth like saws, in order 
 to prolong the torture, of course. Don't tell me, I've seen pictures 
 of 'em lots of 'em and know all about it. Eelics of supersti- 
 tion and horror, I abandon ye, for Inverness is four miles off, and 
 we shall be an hour late for dinner," and winding up his pathetic 
 picture with this remarkable practical termination ; away went 
 Chalkley, five miles an hour, as if the arch-druid had kicked him. 
 Below the water belonging to Lord Saltoun on the Ness, and 
 
 between that and the Four Cobles water, are some remarkably 
 
 o 2
 
 196 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 fine pools, called the Home Water. It was upon this water, on 
 the pool called the Lower Home Pool, that Mr. Denison, the brother 
 of the late Speaker, hooked that enormous salmon, that kept 
 him at work all night, the paragraph about which went the round 
 of all the papers, at the time of the occurrence. Mr. Denison 
 hooked the fish about eight o'clock in the evening, and lost him 
 about four in the morning, the fish keeping him going pretty 
 nearly the whole of that time. He was seen many times close 
 in to their feet, and was an enormous beast, but could not be 
 gaffed, and was at last lost by the handle of the reel becoming 
 entangled in Mr. Denison's watch-chain : eight hours hard at 
 work and then to lose him after all, is very hard lines ! In all 
 probability the fish was 50 or 601b., perhaps more. I had 
 permission from the gentleman under whose charge the water is 
 in the spring to fish this water, and having engaged the services 
 of a rather well-known character, one Andy the Switcher, also 
 known as the Northern Switcher, I made my way to the Upper 
 Home Pool, and found the boat all ready and was soon at work. 
 After a few casts I saw a large wave come after the fly, but 
 nothing more. I waited again, and again a huge wave, with this 
 time a slight break ; a third time I waited for a cloud and fished 
 deep, and he took, and I at once found I was in something con- 
 siderable. I therefore landed, and commenced a series of opera- 
 tions somewhat similar, I conclude, to Mr. Denison's. Presently, 
 I caught sight of the head and shoulders of a very large fish, far 
 off, too far off to be certain what he was, but they looked so 
 broad and thick that my pulse quickened with the hope that 
 Fortune might cast in my way a big, clean one. I knew that 
 30lb. fish had been lately taken up the Garry ? why might not 
 this be one detained in the Ness ? It was not violently likely, 
 still there was an off chance which obliged me to play him a 
 little carefully not that I could have hauled a beast of the size 
 I had on about as I pleased, if I had wished to ever so much. 
 Nearly an hour and a half was consumed in steadily giving and 
 taking line : now he would make a great charge out towards the
 
 BY LAKE AND KIVEB. 197 
 
 other side of the stream, which, was something like 100 yards 
 wide where I was ; every now and then whirling his huge body 
 tip to the surface with a heavy roll, and just breaking the surface, 
 but not showing himself clearly : then he would work across 
 again to my side, and come within fifteen to twenty yards of my 
 feet, but we could not make sure of him ; at last, in one of his 
 rushes across and down stream, as he turned, he again showed 
 his head and shoulders, and this time Andy saw him : " Weel, 
 weel, weel," and he beamed all over, " he is an a-fu' big fusshe, 
 to be sure, and I'm no certain that he isn't clean ; he's verra 
 thick and deep for a kelt ; haud him carefu'." Another half 
 hour went by, and our friend began to cave in a bit. At length 
 he fell over on his side, almost within reach, and then, but not 
 till then, we saw and were sure he was an enormous kelt. My 
 net had been laughed at at Ballater as such an exaggerated, 
 such a tremendously large affair. Large as it was, it wasn't half 
 large enough to land this brute ; and after several ineffectual 
 efforts, Andy got his head into the net, and managed to scoop 
 him on shore. It was a huge kelt, as I have said, very broad and 
 deep in shape, and weighing, I should judge, about 351bs. Andy 
 said he was the largest kelt he had ever seen, and he was certainly 
 A giant. He would have been hard upon 501bs. if he had been 
 clean. After shaving off an adipose fin bigger than the palm of 
 my hand, we committed his carcase to the river, and, after a little 
 panting and blowing, he made his way again out into the stream. 
 I would very willingly have given a five-pound note to catch him 
 when he came into the river again. Strange, what small appliances 
 will bring down the strength of the largest fish. The fly I caught 
 him on was a wee grilse fly, not much larger than a large sea- 
 trout fly ; and the gut was not very stout single gut, and some- 
 what worn. After this feat of fishing, which took rather a large 
 bite out of the day, I went on again, and fished the pool down. 
 It was a long one ; and by the time I had worked it out fully, it 
 was too late to try another, and we went home, having taken 
 several other kelts, but no clean fish.
 
 198 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 The next day I had some letters to write, and I made Andy go 
 on before me, and fetch the boat across to the other side of the 
 river, walking up the Caledonian Canal path myself until I arrived 
 at the Lower Home Pool a magnificent stream, and the one in 
 which Mr. Denison hooked his monster. Having mentioned the 
 Caledonian Canal, I would wish to note here that by this very 
 Home Pool are some apparently serious leaks in the lofty embank- 
 ment of that canal, and if they are not properly attended to 
 and stopped in time, some day some accident will happen 
 here. In one part you can hear the water rushing like an under- 
 ground torrent through the stones below the surface, where it has 
 cleared away for itself a regular subterranean conduit ; and not 
 far from one of these places, perhaps 14 or 15 yards, is another 
 of these underground streams roaring and rattling along like 
 its fellow. 
 
 I caught a lot of kelts in the Lower Home Pool, one of them, 
 up in the heavy water, of 201b. weight ; but he was a lively 
 beast, and did not take so very long to haul out considering. 
 Here I tried the talents of my friend Andy the Switcher. The 
 bank behind is very lofty, and is, further, exceedingly stony and 
 precipitous. By keeping the point of the rod well out and the 
 fly up stream, I could manage to cast off fairly, but my Switcher 
 showed me his quality by switching the pool all over, every 
 throw being as straight and true as need be. To switch, you 
 give a sort of half toss in, not enough to take the fly completely 
 off the water, or over your head, but so that it shall first touch 
 the surface of the water a little above and at your side. Then 
 switching the rod downwards smartly towards where you want- 
 it to go, away it goes to its destination. It is easy enough to 
 compass, if you are wading and have a yard or two of water 
 behind you ; but when you are well over a rocky shore, nothing 
 is easier than to smash half-a-dozen flies running. I used to> 
 switch well formerly, but had abandoned the practice for many 
 years, and now renewed the cast at the expense of several flies. 
 The lower pool gave us, however, but a few kelts, although we
 
 BY LAKE AND EIYEE. 19S) 
 
 saw one or two clean fish show in it ; and we were so long over 
 it that we could barely find time to try the upper pool, so \se 
 merely scraped over the tail of it and tackled up. 
 
 The next day we tried both pools, being incited thereto by the 
 sight of the clean fish the day before, but nothing but kelts 
 came of it, save a brown trout or so. The day after, being tired 
 of the kelts, I thought I would try for a dish of brown trout, as 
 I had seen a number of very fine ones rising on the further side 
 of the stream on the previous day, there being a good deal of 
 early blue dun on and some March brown. When I got to 
 the water, however, it was cold, raw, and gusty, without a fish 
 moving. I did put up the rod tried a few casts for form's sake 
 and that is almost all I could say : I did nothing. All the nex ^ 
 night there was a warm rain and west wind. 
 
 Having obtained permission to have a day on the Beauly, I 
 started off by train the next morning, having appointed Mr. 
 Geddes, the keeper, to meet me at the station. The Beauly is 
 a very fine salmon river, belonging chiefly to Lord Lovat. The 
 Master of Lovat often has splendid sport. In the Beauly, a few 
 years since, I believe he took 156 fish in five days, or about 
 thirty-one fish per day. The majority of the fish, however, 
 were grilse ; but such a feat of fishing has never before to my 
 knowledge been chronicled in this country. The manner in 
 which it came about was from the fish having run up to the two 
 great cruive pools, where they were stopped from going further, 
 the haicks being in, but the traps not set ; consequently a 
 large number of fish were collected in these two pools, and the 
 Master being a very powerful man, and using an enormous flail 
 in the shape of a twenty-five foot rod, no doubt made short work 
 of them. 
 
 Mr. Geddes was waiting for me, and we walked a mile and a 
 half up to the cruives. Where the stream divided, and forms a 
 couple of splendid pools the one upon the further side being 
 the better of the two I put up a remarkable fly called the 
 snow fly, made on a very large round bend hook ; the body being
 
 200 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 blue pig's wool, the hackle large black heron, and the wing a 
 bunch of peacock's herls, with a shoulder of bright orange 
 mohair ; and as long as there is any snow water in the river, 
 this fly is used, and has been for many years, The cruives were 
 perfectly open and free to the run of the fish. Indeed, it is only 
 when they are running en masse that they are put in work. I 
 tried tbe near pool once with the snow fly, but did nothing on 
 the further side I changed it for a fly a size smaller, and I rose a 
 nice fish well down the stream. I tried him again and again 
 with all sorts of flies, but he would not have them. The day 
 was woefully bright and hot quite a summer's day, with hardly 
 a breath of air or a cloud. The water too, was rising, from the 
 west wind and warm weather, and all this was against fishing. 
 I then tried the other pool all over with the snow fly, and after 
 fishing down a very fine run, under a high cliff of rock on the 
 further side, I was going to reel home, when at the very end of 
 the edge up came a splendid fish, but he came all the wrong 
 way, down and across stream. The eddy having taken and 
 partially drowned my fly, I tried him again, but he would not 
 have it. Nearer in, another fish rose, but he would not have it 
 either ; and further down again, I saw another nice fish that 
 jumped clean out of water at it, and although from his eagerness 
 I argued well for his taking, he refused. After a time I tried 
 the first fish again, and this time he came up more like business ; 
 I felt him, but he got only a scratch, and, of course, was down 
 for the day. After this we went to some very fine pools further 
 down for a mile or so ; but whether it was that from the very 
 high wind I could not fish them properly, or that the bright sun 
 and rising water prevented the fish from taking, I did no good, 
 and after a couple of hours' unavailing flogging, I came back to 
 the cruives again, which are the surest find on the whole river. 
 The sun was now down a little, and the afternoon looked much 
 more likely. The first pool I drew blank ; the second I fished 
 the stream over as before, and two-thirds down up he 
 came, and I held him. He was a rather sluggish fish, making
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 201 
 
 no great dashes, but lie was very " hard in the head " and 
 struggled long. I got him out at last, a firm fresh fish of lOlb. 
 As I had to get to the last train, I feared to stay longer, and so 
 tackled up and made off, finding, when I got there, that the 
 station-master had made a mistake in the morning and put me 
 an hour wrong as to the last train, which hour I had to spend 
 unprofitably in a very dull station, instead of "profitably," as I 
 think it would have been, by the river side. The Beauly is 
 celebrated for much beautiful scenery ; and the falls of Kil- 
 morack, and the island, called Eilan Aigas, in which Col. Fraser 
 resides, are beautiful parts, well worth looking at. The spot, 
 too, where the boiling kettle was placed into which the salmon 
 were supposed to tumble and boil themselves when jumping the 
 fall, is also shown to the curious tourist. The Beauly is a 
 capital grilse and autumn river, and has been to some extent 
 relieved by the doing away of the many stake nets which 
 formerly thronged the firth. 
 
 There are one or two rods to let on the river on application to 
 Mr. Snowie, of Inverness, to whom all anglers who want infor- 
 mation as to them must apply ; and the proprietor of the Beauly 
 Hotel has some nice casts which he lets to gentlemen staying at 
 his hotel.
 
 202 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 A LAST DAY ON THE NESS THE EESULTS OF OVER CONFIDENCE 
 THE NAIRN THE HILL OP CLAVA THE PHOENICIANS AND 
 BALACLAVA NESS FLIES SIR ALEXANDER GORDON GUMMING 
 THE FINDHORN ALTYE THE DUNGEONS OF GORDON CASTLE 
 INCIDENT AT THE SOLDIER'S POOL TROUT LOCHS THE. 
 SLUIE POOL NETS ON THE FINDHORN FLIES FOR THE FIND- 
 HORN. 
 
 I HAD intended to visit the Thurso, aud had hoped to get per- 
 mission to try some of the Sutherland rivers, but I waited to 
 hear good news from the former in vain. It had turned out so 
 badly that it was useless for me to go to it. My hopes of the- 
 Sutherland rivers also fell through, for I failed to get permission 
 on one or two ; and though I got permission to fish one of them r 
 the Helmsdale, subsequently, it came too late for me to avail 
 myself of the offer, my engagements being quite made up, so 
 that my waiting had not been of much avail, and I turned to- 
 another quarter. 
 
 A very fine spate had been on in the Ness, aud I resolved to 
 have a farewell day at the Home and Saltoun waters, thinking 
 that the kelts must be cleared out, and fresh fish come in. The 
 Home was an utter blank. The other I tried on so tremendously 
 gusty a day that we could only fish a sheltered spot or two, and 
 I landed nothing but kelts, which still pervaded the water. I 
 lost a clean fish, however, from handling him roughly, and mis- 
 taking him for a kelt. I saw him at parting, and he was a little- 
 pink, but perfectly good. So much for being too knowing ! 
 
 Skirting Culloden Moor towards the east runs the river Nairn,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 203 
 
 This river lower down lias some nice pools, and which, after a 
 little run of water, are generally supplied with a few salmon and 
 sea-trout ; in fact, if it was looked after better, and had not been 
 like all the smaller rivers here away, completely stripped by the 
 nets, it would be a nice little river, and capable of yielding a 
 very satisfactory revenue. In 1830, the year after the Moray- 
 shire floods, Col. Eose, of Holme, his fishing in the Findhorn 
 being for a time rendered worthless, "went in for" the Nairn 
 rod-fishing, and, by watching the net -fishers at the mouth, killed 
 from sixty to seventy salmon ! After a spate, sport can still be 
 obtained. There was not much chance of salmon and sea-trout 
 being so high up as Nairn-side so early in the season, and I went 
 rather to look at the river, and because it was a picturesque bit 
 of scenery, than for anything else ; and having induced Mr. 
 Snowie, jun., to tutoyer me over the water, we started to Nairn- 
 side with our trout rods, thinking to find a little amusement 
 with the fly. In due time we reached the river-side and found 
 the Nairn in heavy spate, thick and turbid. As to fly-fishing, it 
 was an absurdity ; and indeed any fishing at all looked most 
 hopeless, as she was too full even to make eddies for the worm. 
 Still, it was quite evident that there was no chance at all but to 
 poke into any little hole behind a stone or a turn in the bank 
 with a worm ; and I ferreted my fly-book over for a worm-hook, 
 but could not find one, when my companion lent me a set of 
 Stewart's tackle, and capital tackle it is, and catches three fish for 
 one at the old single large-hook plan. The next job was to find 
 a split shot or two for a sinker ; but no split shot were to be had. 
 I pulled over everything, and turned out every pocket, but no such 
 thing was found. Nothing at all like it, not a bit of lead, 
 absolutely nothing that would do. What was to be done ? The 
 tackle would not work at all in the heavy water without a 
 sinker, and just as I began to despair, Snowie ingeniously came 
 to the rescue ; he kicked a hob-nail out of the sole of his boot, 
 and I tied that on to the line with a fragment of silk, and it 
 answered capitally. We turned up the stones along the river and
 
 204 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 gathered a few worms into a fuzee-box as we went along, and 
 with these makeshifts I managed to delude a couple of dozen of 
 wee trout, which ran about five or six to the pound. But the 
 walk, or rather scramble, for it was all up and down work from 
 Nairn-side to Daviot-bridge, was beautiful ; the scenery well 
 repaid one for the trouble precipitous cliffs, crags, and scaurs 
 banked up the river, so that we often had to make a bit of tall 
 climbing to get from one bend of the river to another. These 
 rocks, a month or so later, when the ferns which grow here 
 profusely are out, must be lovely. Close to Daviot-bridge a 
 good-sized burn falls into the Nairn, and as it was just then very 
 full of water, it made quite a fine fall, pitching down, as well as 
 I could make out, some forty or fifty feet. A little further down 
 the Nairn is the hill of Clava, wide derivatur " Clava ? " and 
 query, what relation is it to " Balaklava ? " Clava is well known 
 as containing the finest Druidical remains in this part of the 
 country, many very fine and perfect circles being found there. 
 Now the Druidical worship was the worship of Baal, and it was 
 brought to England, I believe, by the Phoanicians, and the Phoe- 
 nicians hailed from a place tolerably adjacent to Balaklava. I 
 have not a lexicon by me, and am anxious to find out the mean- 
 ing of the word, as it seems to me that there must be some con- 
 nection, which at this moment I am ignorant of. I have a dim 
 notion that clava means "a, sword," bala "a hill," or "a fort upon 
 a hill," but I am by no means certain. I was informed by the 
 proprietor of this portion of the Nairn, in a very indignant letter, 
 subsequently, that I had been poaching his water without leave, 
 as it was not open to the public. I could only plead ignorance 
 and apologise. The way in which I had been led astray was 
 clear, and certainly, whatever else I did, I did no harm to the 
 water, for the wee black trouts I took were not worth the catch- 
 ing. Fishing may be had, however, at Nairn. 
 
 On the morning I went to the Nairn, Chalkley left me. I 
 mourned his loss, for great was the deprivation. But his lares 
 and penates could not get on without him, and so he retired full
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 205- 
 
 to the very bung with the pictureque. He had gorged himself 
 so much upon it that he looked and talked like an animated tour, 
 a veritable splinter of the great Dr. Syntax, who was the first 
 searcher after the picturesque on record ; and, allowing him to be 
 this, I claim for Chalkley to be the second. 
 
 The flies used for the Ness are very small ones for so large a 
 river, the greater portion I used being grilse-flies. Although the 
 Ness is a large, wide river, the pools are not very deep, particu- 
 larly when the river is at all low. The flies which I found most 
 taking were pig's-wool bodies, the lower half yellow, the upper 
 half a red brown, "fiery brown," I should call it, only there is 
 much difference of opinion as to which is the real fiery brown colour. 
 I believe the late Martin Kelly was the best authority known 
 on this point, having had much experience in that particular 
 colour ; a grouse hackle at the shoulder and a wing of golden 
 pheasant ruff and teal with one topping, a small topping for tail, 
 and silver twist. The fly is varied by having a light blue upper 
 half to the body, with hackle of the same over it, and grouse over 
 that, the rest of the fly dressed as in the last. Another variation 
 is to substitute green for blue, or even claret. The wing may 
 also be varied with tiirkey or mallard, and a few sprigs of bustard 
 or teal. "The doctor" also does well in the summer, and the 
 "silver doctor" likewise. The Popham is also used at times 
 with effect, but it is not a fly that I care much for, and is very 
 troublesome to dress. There is another fly, brought out, I 
 believe, by Snowie, called the Highlander ; but of that anon. I 
 did little with it on the Ness, but it proved a slaughterer else- 
 where. 
 
 Before concluding my notice of the Ness I may say that I have 
 heard from Mr. Snowie that the custom of fishing the Four 
 Cobles water one day in eight on the part of the public still 
 holds good, but besides this the water has been taken by the 
 brothers Mackay, who rent the net fishings below, and who hold 
 it for three days a week. They let the rod fishing by the season, 
 31. 3s., or by the day, 7s. 6d., and as there are some very nice
 
 206 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 streams and grilse and sea trout take well in them, it is by no means 
 dear fishing. The tickets issued have all the Mackays' days 
 printed on them, and also the other days which belong to Mr. 
 Baillie. 
 
 About this time I received a very kind invite from the late 
 Sir Alexander Gordon Gumming, to spend a few days at Altyre, 
 and take stock of the Findhorn ; and having finished up at Inver- 
 ness, I went to Forres, and in good time found myself under 
 the roof of my most hospitable entertainer. Altyre. is certainly 
 a most delightful country residence, embosomed in woods, sur- 
 rounded by pleasant gardens and trim lawns decked with the 
 most magnificent and gigantic Portugal laurels I ever saw, one 
 of which measured one hundred yards in circumference but a 
 year or two since ; with avenues and winding walks amongst 
 ornamental shrubs, and the rarest of coniferse, which abound 
 there. Well supplied in its immediate neighbourhood with all the 
 resources needful for the enjoyment of a great variety of field sports, 
 one need scarcely wish for anything beyond in a country residence. 
 I shall always retain a lively recollection of the pleasant days I 
 spent there in the companionship of a host who was an accomplished 
 .angler, and, like myself, enthusiastic in everything that related to 
 his favourite pursuit. 
 
 On reaching the house the first thing I was introduced to in 
 the porch was a collection of most awful looking implements, 
 some of which appeared to bear a startling relationship to an iron 
 apparatus termed "the scavenger's daughter," whose acquaintance 
 I first made in the Tower of London. " Ah !" said Sir Alexander, 
 " those are a few trifles from the dungeons of Gordonstoun, where 
 \ve used formerly to keep our prisoners. Those," pointing to a 
 huge rusty iron bar, with two tremendous shackles fixed on it, 
 " are the leglets we put their legs into them ; and these," 
 pointing to another delightful instrument of a similar kind, but 
 smaller, " were the bracelets that decked their wrists ; and this 
 little trifle," taking up a huge affair like a slice of a tremendously 
 ponderous gas pipe, " is the necklace they wore not a comfort-
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 207 
 
 able thing to eat one's dinner in. That is the water dungeon- 
 gate from Gordonstoun," pointing to a clumsy, heavy iron 
 grating ; " my ancestors kept them in dungeons sometimes where 
 they were up to their knees in water." "Nice sort of people, 
 your ancestors," thought I. 
 
 We then sent for Duncan, Sir Alexander's angling attendant, 
 and discussed the state of the river and the chances of fishing on 
 the morrow, which were said to be very small, as she was full 
 and running from bank to brae ; and, worse than all, she was 
 not falling. On the next morning this report was further con- 
 firmed, so that fishing for that day on the river was out of the 
 question. Accordingly we strolled down to the farm and looked 
 at the live stock, Sir Alexander being a great rearer of fat cattle, 
 and having obtained many awards and prizes at various cattle 
 shows. Many of the beasts showed great promise, and one young 
 leviathan bid fair to come out very well indeed at the next show. 
 In the afternoon we decided to drive down to a small loch on the 
 grounds called the Loch of Blairs, which had been artificially 
 stocked with small burn trout some four or five years before, 
 from the burn that flows through the property. These trout had 
 thriven famously, having many of them increased to 1-^lb., the 
 majority of the fish being from ^lb. to lib. We did not expect 
 to take many, as it was thought to be much too early for the fish to 
 rise. To our great surprise and gratification, however, they did 
 rise, and very fairly ; and we got about a dozen of fourteen or 
 fifteen inches long each. Fine game fellows they were, making a 
 capital fight of it, many of them getting off in their struggles. 
 The fish were in fair condition, too, and ate very well at table. 
 They took a March brown and a soldier palmer pretty freely, and 
 I can fancy no pleasanter sport on a fine summer evening than to 
 float about on this pretty little loch and to pick up a dozen or 
 two of speckled beauties such as we obtained. 
 
 The next day the river was declared to be big, but fishable in 
 places, and we sallied forth intent on slaughter, I taking a trout- 
 rod, as there was a good chance for sea-trout.
 
 208 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 The Findhorn has obtained a very unenviable notoriety, from 
 the great size and the sudden impetuosity of its floods. Bridges 
 are often carried away and much damage done by it. The floods 
 often come on with most dangerous suddenness, rushing down 
 the river like a bore, and overwhelming everything that may 
 come in its course. 
 
 " Some years since," said Sir A., " I was fishing a pool yonder 
 called the Soldier's Pool, from a soldier having been drowned in 
 it. I had crossed a straggling branch of the river almost dry shod. 
 While I was fishing I observed that the river was changing 
 colour, and looking up I saw a huge red wave coming down 
 beween the high rocks above, with a roar like distant thunder. 
 I made a rush for the place I had walked over ten minutes earlier, 
 not over my ankles, and before I got across it was above my 
 waist, and I hardly stood on the shore when the whole river was 
 one huge, rolling, seething flood. It was a close shave, for 
 twenty seconds later nothing could have saved me. People and 
 horses and carts caught in this way are constantly carried away 
 in fact, the Findhorn is about as dangerous a river as any in 
 the kingdom. I need not say after this that when we fished the 
 Soldier's Pool, I cast a curious glance up the river occasionally. 
 
 The tremendous floods in the Findhorn in 1829, known as the 
 great Morayshire floods, are a matter of history, a large book hav- 
 ing been written on them by Sir T. Dick Lauder ; and the gallant 
 rescue by some boatmen of a farmer and his family, who were 
 surrounded on a small plateau by the roaring flood, is still told 
 as one of the deeds of daring done during this dangerous period. 
 The destruction done to property was enormous, this river as well 
 as the Spey in places rising fifty feet above its usual high level ; 
 and it is perfectly astounding and inconceivable to see the places 
 pointed out as the level of the flood at that date. So filled up 
 were many of the best salmon-pools, and so torn about the bed 
 of the river, and so charged with alluvial matter was the water 
 for a long time after, that the salmon deserted it for years, and 
 it was feared that they would not come back to it again. The
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 209 
 
 estimated damage on the Altyre estates by this flood exceeded 
 80001. 
 
 Some miles up the river is a celebrated pool called the Sluie 
 Pool, the net-fishing of which belongs to the Earl of Moray ; and 
 in the annals of the house, there is a letter from the present 
 Earl's ancestor to his Countess, who was in London, stating that 
 during the night before they had made a tremendous haul of 
 salmon, to the number of 1300, in the Sluie Pool. Long might 
 the Sluie Pool be dragged now without producing 1300 salmon ; 
 indeed, I almost doubt if the entire river proper produces as much 
 in the whole season. Hard by this pool, which is a very re- 
 markable one, is a very striking natural phenomenon. Up to 
 about this point the river runs through old red sandstone or free- 
 stone cliffs. At this point the freestone suddenly ceases, a large 
 block of plum-pudding stone crops out, and then the primary 
 granite commences as abruptly as the freestone terminates, and the 
 river at once assumes a totally different aspect, running over a 
 rock bed and through rocky channels ; and great as is the con- 
 trast, it is difficult to say which forms the more lovely scenery, 
 the fine bold striated cliffs and precipices of the freestone, or the 
 more rugged and jagged rocks of granite. Both are remarkably 
 fine throughout the greater part of its course : the Findhorn is 
 pre-eminently beautiful, and the charming winding drives cut 
 through the Altyre grounds, and wandering in and out of the 
 woods along the banks of the river, are much sought by visitors 
 and lovers of the picturesque in the summer. 
 
 The river was still very high for fishing, and the first pool 
 was a blank. While fishing down the next, a fish rose in 
 very slack water near the side. He was supposed to be a kelt, 
 from the unusual place he came up in. He declined to come 
 again, and we left him. At the top of the same pool I got 
 hold of a very nice fresh-run sea-trout, 2^1b., and one or two 
 other smaller ones, and some yellow trout. Sir Alexander 
 fished three or four more pools up the river, but without 
 
 getting a rise. At length we came back to the same pool 
 
 p
 
 210 BT LAKE AND BIYEB. 
 
 again, and came over the fish which had risen previously ; and, 
 by dint of coaxing and changing of the fly, he came up and 
 took boldly, and after a little sluggish play, he was landed, 
 proving to be a beautiful clean fish of lO^lb., as fat as a little 
 pig, and round as a top. I have seldom seen a handsomer fish, 
 and certainly never ate a better one. We had a slice of him 
 at dinner, and he was full of curd, and as crisp as though he 
 had been crimped. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and we took a long walk through 
 the Altyre grounds and woods. The property extends for 
 nearly seventeen miles in one direction. These woods were very 
 widely planted and cultivated by the late baronet ; and the care 
 bestowed upon them has not been thrown away, as they are 
 now producing a very handsome return. Planting is still carried 
 on by his successor with great spirit. No less than two millions 
 and a half of plants of fir, larch, spruce, &c., have been put in 
 during the past year and a half. 
 
 During our walks we obtained magnificent views from various 
 elevated parts of the grounds. From one place, called the 
 Gallow's-hill, we could see portions of no less than eight dif- 
 ferent counties. This Gallow's-hill is rather a remarkable place. 
 "We had formerly," said Sir Alexander, "the power of life 
 and death ; we summoned our own court, and tried our own pri- 
 soners ; and if we found them guilty we just hanged them out of 
 hand. We hung a fellow here during the last century, one Mac- 
 gillicudy ; he was tried for stealing wood to the value of four- 
 pence, found guilty, and sentenced to be hanged. I may say it 
 was not the only offence by many that he had been guilty of, but 
 it was the last straw that broke the camel's back, and his neck 
 into the bargain ; and we caught him, convicted him, and 
 hanged him on a gallows on this very spot, in the sight of the 
 whole country side. By Jove 1 I wish we had the power now ; I 
 know three or four fellows I'd hang straight off," concluded 
 Sir Alexander, with characteristic energy. During our walk we 
 flushed a great many pair of woodcock, which breed largely
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 211 
 
 thereabout ; and, after glancing over a well appointed kennel, 
 in which were a number of very promising young Gordon 
 setters, we found that our rambles had given us a capital 
 appetite for dinner. 
 
 On Monday the river was in very fair order, and though the 
 day was rather bright, we expected to do great things. The 
 lower pools were a blank, until we came to the Soldier's Pool. 
 " Now here I will make you a bet I rise a fish," said my 
 host ; and, being incredulous, I made a bet (which I owe to this 
 day, by the way, as it was in whisky), and so, at the word, up 
 came the fish. He was, however, but lightly hooked, and after a 
 flounder got off. It was but a little round hole ; I did not at all 
 expect there was another fish in it, but from under a rock on the 
 far side another fish came at the fly, and missed it. He made 
 another [offer with a like result, and then refused all other 
 temptations. ' Onwards we went, after some heavy scrambling, 
 up about a mile or so to a pool, called the Ledenreich, and here, 
 after fishing it blank, Sir A. was just winding home to walk out 
 when a fish took him, and, after being set down for certain as a 
 little kelt, he turned out a nice little clean fish of 6^1b. the 
 fish seldom running so small as this in the Findhorn ; but, 
 somehow, they seemed to run small in all the rivers that year, 
 which I look upon as a sign of over-fishing and unnatural 
 deterioration. In the next pool above we had another bet of 
 more whisky (for which I am also a defaulter), and lo ? as if 
 the fish had been ordered, up jumped a 9lb. fish, and after 
 some smart play and running down over the rapid into Leden- 
 reich, I clipped him. We then went back to the Soldier, and 
 found the fish we had risen at home. He came and took at 
 once, but was so lightly fixed that he also got off, and we went 
 home with two only ; we had expected much better sport, but 
 the draught nets were getting no fish below, in spite of the fine 
 spate. All they caught was the body of a poor girl who had 
 been accidentally drowned some miles up a day or two pre- 
 viously caught in the spate, no doubt, when attempting to 
 
 p 2
 
 212 BY LAKE AND RIYER. 
 
 ford the stream. Sir Alexander wrote to me subsequently that 
 from that time forward he took only five other fish ; so that a fine 
 April spate of nearly five weeks long, with four Sundays in, and 
 fine running water, produced to the only rod upon a long reach 
 of the very best water on the river just eight fish and no more, and 
 the nets in the river, hardly any at all, the only fish obtained 
 being those taken in the fixed nets at the mouth ; and this in a 
 river that formerly gave 1300 fish at a haul in one pool. The 
 stake and ba'g-nets at the east of the river mouth, however, have 
 been taking nearly everything that has appeared at the em- 
 bouchure. Can stronger evidence be needed of the mischievous, 
 destructive, and unfair nature of the present system of stake and 
 bag nets ? Not so many years ago the Findhorn would have been 
 filled with fish by such a spate as I have noted ; now they do not 
 and cannot come in. The last Scotch law did not benefit the 
 Findhorn one bit ; the most destructive nets still remained close to 
 and completely dominated the eastern mouth of the river. Eivers 
 which run into the sea without any wide long estuary have not 
 benefitted much by the interference with the stake nets. What is 
 wanted is a new definition of the mouths of such rivers, which 
 should be made to extend for three miles on either side of them 
 at least (five would be better),, within which stake nets should be 
 abolished. The nets noted were set up but a few years ago, and 
 in the first two or three years they returned tremendous profits 
 to their proprietors, but it must have been at the expense of the 
 stock of the river. 
 
 The next day I had to flit to the north, but as I did not go 
 until two o'clock, we utilised the morning by driving up to a 
 most picturesque and charming little loch, called the Loch of the 
 Eomach, which is inclosed amongst high overhanging hills and 
 woods, and looks more like a wide river flowing through a 
 wooded ravine than a loch. On the way up we could not but 
 notice the immense damage done to the plantations by squirrels. 
 These little pests eat the bark of the trees round about two- 
 thirds up the tree ; the wood dies, and then in the first gale of
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 213 
 
 wind the top of the tree snaps off, and the tree is spoilt. There 
 were literally hundreds of trees thus spoilt as we drove along, 
 and the mischief done must be very serious. As soon as the 
 boat was prepared we embarked, and drifted slowly down the 
 loch, fishing towards the shore. There was rather a stiff breeze 
 blowing, and it was very early in the year ; nevertheless we 
 managed to hook out about two dozen of very nice trout, some 
 of them approaching a pound the majority about half that 
 weight. Later in the season the sport is very pretty in this 
 little loch, and very abundant likewise ; but fine tackle and small 
 flies are needed. Sir Alexander and another rod killed one 
 hundred trout in one day a few years back. I found the March 
 brown, the soldier palmer, and the coch-y-bondu tolerably 
 persuasive both on loch and stream at this season. 
 
 The flies used for the Findhorn are mostly silk bodies and of 
 largish size dark-blue, green, olive, and claret ; large toppings 
 for tails, and well-mixed wings, with whole teal or small bustard 
 feathers in them, and two or three toppings or jungle-cock 
 feathers, heavily tinselled, and hackled variously with jay or 
 .gallina at the shoulder.
 
 214 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 THE BLACKWATEB THE ALNESS THE CAEEON GOOD SPOET 
 THE OTKEL THE CASSLEY THE SHIN ANDREW YOUNG 
 " EPHEMEEA " THE FLEET THE BEOEA THE HELMSDALE 
 OONON ANGLING PUBLICS AND ANGLING HOTELS. 
 
 ON arriving at Inverness 1 found an invitation awaiting me to 
 fish the Blackwater, and a permission to me to fish the Conon, 
 very kindly obtained for me by Lord Saltoun from Seaforth 
 Mackenzie. The Blackwater is the largest of the tributaries to the 
 Conon, and is a capital little river. The fishing part of the river 
 is only about one and a half miles long, the fish being stopped 
 from further ascent by a high fall, but the whole of this mile 
 and a half is fishable ; and as the river had the reputation of 
 being full of fish, and they take well in the Blackwater, I was 
 glad enough to get the invite, and hurried off the next morning 
 to Alness, which was the try sting-place. Unfortunately time 
 was so brief that I could neither write nor telegraph to make 
 arrangements, and was obliged to chance catching my friend; 
 and the chance, as chances will at times, turned against me. 
 
 It was a drizzling morning when I reached Alness what the 
 Scotch call in some parts a " saft," and in others " a fresh " day. 
 It drizzled in that persevering manner which threatened to turn 
 to something a trifle heavier before the day was out. My friend 
 had missed the train that conveyed him towards his fishing by 
 about half a minute, and had returned home, intending to go 
 by the next ; so I made sure I should catch him, and waited at 
 the station. He did not come in, and the train went without 
 him ; so I walked up to his house and found that he had not
 
 BT LAKE AND RIVEB. 215 
 
 long started to drive, via Dingwall. There was a train to 
 Dingwall at one o'clock., and by that I thought I should perhaps 
 catch him. I had an hour to wait, and spent it looking at the 
 little river Alness, which runs through the village. The Alness 
 is a very pretty river, a size or two larger and better than the 
 Nairn. Some of the lower pools are really very fine pools ; and 
 formerly a good many salmon, and plenty of grilse, with 
 abundance of very fine white trout, were taken in the river. 
 But it has been fished out and poached to death. There is a 
 quarrel between some of the smaller holders, while the principal 
 proprietor unfortunately does not care about it ; and thus a really 
 excellent river, which might produce a very handsome revenue 
 and capital sport, is utterly sacrificed. It seems really a thousand 
 pities that rivers like this and the Nairn should be neglected. 
 They may not be first-class rivers, nor even, perhaps, second- 
 class ; but I know, if I had the fishing of them, that with a little 
 artificial propagation I would soon make them yield me a very 
 handsome income. But a few years since a salmon or two, or 
 two or three grilse, and a dozen of fine white trout of from one 
 to five pounds weight, would not have been a very unusual day's 
 sport in the Alness ; now, I fear, it would be a very unusual 
 one. 
 
 When I got to Dingwall, I found that my friend had driven up 
 to the river, which was eight miles off. As it was raining very 
 heavily, I thought he would hardly continue his sport, and that 
 I should most likely meet him on his road back ; and thinking 
 also that I should have quite as good a chance of seeing the river 
 on the morrow, I remained in mine inn, and thus lost my oppor- 
 tunity of seeing the Blackwater, and of having a good day's 
 fishing. My friend returned at night with five fish, having 
 hooked and lost five others. The river, he said, was full of fish ; 
 but (there always is a " but " when anything good is in the 
 horizon) the lessee of the river himself had come up that very day 
 to fish, and whilst he was there, of course we could not expect to 
 get on so short an extent of water. I heard afterwards that he
 
 216 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 had very good sport, which is a decided departure from the bad 
 sport which may almost be looked on as the rule in most of the 
 Scotch rivers this season. My friend, however, to make up for 
 the disappointment, very kindly offered to take me over to 
 the Carron, on which he had permission for a couple of 
 days ; and, having made arrangements for next morning, we 
 parted. 
 
 The train did not get to Alness until late ; but we made a 
 start at once for Ardgay, which was eighteen miles off, across the 
 mountains. The day was lovely, and the drive delightful, as my 
 companion knew all the moors, and all about them, and what 
 sort of sport they afforded, and who rented them ; and so the 
 time passed pleasantly, until after rising steadily for a long way, 
 we began to descend upon the fine bold scenery of the Dornoch 
 firth. A short distance out of Alness we passed a very snug 
 little wayside inn, called the Stittingham Inn. Hard by it is a 
 pretty little loch, which gives good trouting, and the Alness, 
 which also gives good trouting, is not far away ; and there are 
 some good burns in the neighbourhood. For retirement, cheap- 
 ness, and fresh air, and a little light fishing, it is to be commended. 
 The Dornoch firth is the outlet of several rivers : the waters of 
 the Carron, the Shin and the Oykel discharge themselves into it ; 
 but it is very shallow, and the sands are bare at low tide ; but 
 when the tide is running out, and there are heavy spates in 
 the rivers, it runs furiously; and should a stiff breeze blow 
 from the east, it makes a very nasty sea. 
 
 In due time we reached Ardgay and put up. We had some- 
 thing to refresh the inner man, and then got our rods under 
 weigh to fish a few of the lower pools, as, being late, we could 
 not do much that afternoon. The first pool we tried is called the 
 Gledfield pool, and fishes fairly when the river is high. I did 
 not know what fly to put up, but our attendant (an old fellow 
 who knew all the rivers within twenty miles of Alness) seemed 
 to have a fancy for a " Highlander " of Snowie's ; so I put it on, 
 and after a few casts I rose and hooked a nice fish, which, after
 
 BT LAKE AND EIVEB. 217 
 
 exploring the various recesses of the pool, came to net and scaled 
 8lb. My companion very kindly and liberally made me take the 
 best water. As we were going up to the next pool we met 
 a gentleman coming down, and my friend stopped to talk to him, 
 while I fished the next pool, which I was hardly half over, when 
 I rose a fish ; he did not come kindly, so I gave him five minutes, 
 and then tried him again, and he came and fixed himself. He 
 was rather a dull fish, but I got him in at length, and he weighed 
 9^1b. After this we tried two or three more pools pool and 
 pool about ; but the evening got very still, and nothing more 
 came of it. So we just skimmed over the Gledfield again on our 
 way home, and got to our inn. I was up early the next morning 
 and tied a couple of Highlanders before breakfast, and it was 
 fortunate I did. The morning was cloudy, dull, and still, but 
 there was a haze about which I did not like ; and by the time we 
 were at work the haze was away, and a regular August sun was 
 beginning the day. I rose a fish in the first pool, hight the 
 Raven ; but I knew that it was hopeless to expect any to take in 
 such weather. It was very trying, for it was almost the only 
 really good chance I had had of a capital day's sport, the river 
 being in superb order and full of fish, and not another rod on 
 it ; while I could command every pool from the bank. But the 
 sun broiled away, and fishing became a toil, a mechanical labour. 
 I rose another fish in a pool called "The Oak Tree," but, of 
 course, it was useless. Old Bob kept on trying to support our 
 spirits by saying " Ye ken there's wather in her, an' that maks 
 a' the difference." But it would not do water or no water, 
 they would not rise, still less take in such a blaze of light and 
 glare. I fished on, merely hoping to move a fish or two, that I 
 might know where they were, so as to cast them at once without 
 loss of time in the evening. 
 
 My friend rose a fish in a pool called the Bulwark, and, as it 
 was a rough stream, he had hopes ; but, although the fish came 
 again and again five or six times, he always came with his mouth 
 shut, and having at length bullied him into the sulks, he was
 
 218 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 
 
 obliged to leave him. I went on to the falls, where is a splendid 
 pool, which a farmer at work there told me was full of fresh fish, 
 as he had seen them jumping all over it in the morning ; but, 
 rough and swirling as the water was, they would not rise now. 
 I waited an hour for a cloud and got one at last, but it was of 
 no avail ; I just wasted my time, and all would not do. My 
 friend got a couple of sea trout, and as he had an appointment at 
 home in the evening, he left me about half-past six to finish the 
 evening out alone. As he went, I hailed him with : " Now 
 I will go and catch your fish in the Bulwark." I went down, 
 just to try my friend at the Oak Tree, but he was " not at home, 
 thank you." I then went to the pool next above : in three casts 
 I rose a fish, gave him a rest, rose him, and hooked him ; he took 
 one turn and made his conge. I felt exceedingly riled, and hum- 
 med " Bad luck can't be prevented " in the most savage key. I 
 fished the pool on down, and about two-thirds down I rose another 
 fish ; he touched the fly, so I did not expect to see him again, but 
 casting in a little time after to the same spot, deep under water, 
 either he or another fish took me and made a jiggering match of 
 it just inside a ledge of rock ; but I got the best of the match at 
 last, and jiggered him out, and he weighed 8lb. I do not know 
 any sensation so trying to the angler's nerves as a jiggering 
 salmon. - 1 always expect to lose a fish that takes to jiggering, 
 though it is by no means a proof, as has often been stated, that 
 such fish are lightly hooked, or even hooked in the lower jaw. I 
 watched a fish which was jiggering, not long since, and he 
 whirled and twirled himself round and round with extraor- 
 dinary velocity, as if he wished to wind himself up the 
 line, as I have seen a conger do sometimes ; but when he 
 came up he was very well hooked in the lower jaw, and I 
 had to cut the hook away with a part of the flesh, before 
 I could get it out. But to return to my fishing. I then 
 went to the top of the pool, and began it over again ; and just 
 where I had lost my first fish I rose another, and hit him very 
 hard ; but casting in the place a minute or two after, another fish
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 219 
 
 rose and took me. Either the little pool was full of fish, or they 
 rose and rolled over the fly and were touched in the tail or body, 
 and did not heed it ; from their rising so much in the same spots 
 I could not help fancying the latter was the case. The fish I had 
 hooked was the brother of the other, but more lively ; and he 
 ran all over the pool and thoroughly disturbed it. I tried it 
 again, but could not get another rise, so I went up to try my 
 friend's fish at the Bulwark, while my gillie went into a house to 
 borrow a cloth to roll and carry the fish in ; and long before he 
 came out again I was yelling, "wild as the scream of the 
 curlew," for the net, for at the third cast our friend made a 
 lovely rise in mid stream, but rabid for it this time, and we were 
 soon dancing a two-handed reel with the marriage lines between 
 us. In good time, however, my gillie came to the rescue, and we 
 baled out the voracious stranger, the best fish of the lot, 9^1b. ; 
 a little lanky, however, and not quite so well made as the others. 
 
 What a strange feeling it is in human nature, particularly 
 sportsman-human nature, that love of wiping a friend's eye. I 
 admired that fish twice as much as either of the others, and 
 thought with what exceeding charity I would write to my friend 
 and tell him that I had done it, and how he would recollect that 
 I had said that I would do it. Curious beings are sportsmen, 
 particularly fishermen. 
 
 Each of the three fish had contrived to cut the tinsel of a fly, 
 so that my Highlanders were sadly shorn of their attractiveness. 
 I put on another fly, and went to another pool some 500 yards 
 up and caught a sea-trout, and rose and touched another salmon ; 
 and, as the evening was now closing over us, we waded across the 
 river to our dogcart, which stood waiting, pleased with the wind- 
 up to what promised at one time to be a disastrous day. I have- 
 very little doubt, if the weather had been as favourable as the^ 
 water was, that we should have bagged some ten or a dozen fish 
 at least, if not more. Tickets may be had to fish one side of the 
 Carron on application at the inn the Balnagown Arms. I think 
 the charge is Is. 6d. a day, and you give up the fish ; but the
 
 220 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 angler must not calculate upon always getting sport. I was 
 exceedingly fortunate in happening upon the river on the very 
 day when she was in the best spate ; but the river falls very 
 rapidly, and if no rain came, and nothing happened to keep her 
 up, she would be down again dead low in a couple of days. Of 
 course, being small, and with a mountainous and rapid course, 
 the water runs away at once ; and the river, which will be in fine 
 order in the morning, may be full low at night. If the angler 
 chances to be on the spot or within easy reach, it is worth a visit ; 
 but I would scarcely recommend anyone to come from a long 
 distance, as they might have to wait for weeks without a spate. 
 From this I went back to Conon to fish the Conon, but before 
 leaving Ardgay I may as well record what I know of the rivers 
 on this coast of Sutherland, and in the neighbourhood, as all this 
 country is now much more easily got at than formerly. 
 
 Most of the rivers from the Dornoch Firth northwards, within 
 the county of Sutherland, belong to the Duke of Sutherland. 
 The public have little or no chance of getting at them save by 
 permission, they being either held by the Duke or in private 
 hands. The duke's factor, Mr. Peacock, of Golspie, is very liberal 
 in permissions. The Oykel, with its principal feeder, the Cassley, 
 rises away by Assynt. It contains a long stretch of fishable water, 
 extending from the falls above Oykel Bridge down to its junction 
 with the Dornoch Firth ; it is a capital grilse river, and often 
 shows very fine sport. It belongs, as does the Carron, to Sir 0. 
 Boss, and can be fished for about five miles by staying at 
 Oykel Inn, and paying 10s. 6d. per day. - The fish have to be 
 given up, but the sport is worth the money at times. For 
 salmon fishing, spring is the best time, but the summer gives 
 the best grilse fishing. I had leave on it, but I could 
 not afford the time to go to it. The Cassley is a nice stream, 
 and also shows fine sport at times, particularly if there is a flood 
 to bring up the grilse. The river belongs to different proprietors, 
 of whom Sir C. Boss is one : his water can be fished by ticket, 
 by application to his agent, Mr. Forsyth, of Parkhill ; and a por-
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 221 
 
 tion of the Eanig may be fished by staying at the inn, and there 
 are two or three decent pools in it Eosehall is the best station 
 for it. Next comes the Shin, once well-known to the lovers of 
 the angle, when held by my old friend and gossip, poor Andrew 
 Young, than whom an honester and more enthusiastic salmon 
 fishery reformer never existed, and with whom and his friend 
 "Ephemera," of Bell's Life, my earlier career in the course of 
 salmon fishery reform was associated. The Shin used to be a 
 magnificent salmon river, and should be so still. When Andrew 
 Young had it the fishing ran to from 121. to 131. or even less than 
 that per month for a rod. Goodness knows what it is now, four 
 or five times as much, if it has followed the fashion, as doubtless 
 it has ; and what the sport was at times may be gathered from 
 the fact that my poor old friend " Ephemera," or rather Fitz- 
 gibbon, as his name really was, killed fifty-two salmon and 
 grilse in fifty-five hours of fishing, which should be good enough 
 for anybody. What would Manchester and Liverpool pay 
 for such sport now ? The Shin is a largish river, and runs 
 out of a very long loch, and, therefore, keeps in fishing order 
 longer than most of the northern rivers, but still it will run low 
 after long dry seasons, or when the waters are shrunk by frosts, 
 and then the fishing will be indifferent for a season. On the 
 Shin are two falls, the lower one is hardly worth the name, and 
 is of no consequence, the upper, however, stops the fish until 
 about May, when they really mean heading, and then, as the fall 
 has been mitigated, they go above it. The angling there is only 
 middling. Below the fall, however, there are twenty good 
 salmon casts. Tickets by the month are let, and the prices vary 
 with the month. Mr. Peacock, the duke's agent, who, as I have 
 said, lives at Golspie, is the person to apply to for information. 
 Snowie knows the best flies, and will supply them. The rail to 
 Invershin makes approach to the last three rivers easy. The 
 Fleet is a small salmon river not much worth notice, except for 
 the fact that off the mouth of the river, or, perhaps, one should 
 say in the estuary at some states of the tide, salmon may be taken
 
 222 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 in the salt water with the fly. Mr. Peacock occasionally grants 
 permission for it. The Brora has never been open to the public, 
 being held always by private individuals. It is a very nice 
 river, and produces a good quantity of salmon, and is, moreover, 
 a capital early river, fishing well in February, and holding plenty 
 of clean fish much earlier even than this ; the reason of 
 which is simply that it runs through a large loch, and 
 has therefore a comparatively high temperature. The same 
 thing has been observed of many other rivers placed in a like 
 position. On the Ness, for example, the fish must run very 
 early to get through Loch Ness, and reach the Garry so soon ; 
 for the Garry is one of the earliest and best spring rivers in 
 Scotland, and the same must be said of the fishing in Loch Tay. 
 Loch Brora also gives excellent sport with salmon, grilse, and 
 abundance of sea trout. Mr. Peacock is the person to supply 
 any required information in respect to it. I think at present 
 it is let by the month. The Helmsdale at one time used to be 
 let out in rods, but it is I fear among the "has-beens," and is let, 
 like the Brora, by the month. It is also, like the Brora, a very 
 early spring river ; it is a larger river than the Brora, and larger 
 flies are required for it ; the fish, too, as a rule, run larger. 
 From February to May, if there be water, the Helmsdale, as a 
 rule, fishes well. I also had permission on the Helmsdale, while 
 at Inverness, but it was rather late for it, and the river was low 
 and out of order, and time pressed, so I did not avail myself of 
 it. There is a large loch at the head of the river, and many 
 smaller ones as feeders, which contain very fine trout, and 
 some charr. The Berriedale and Wick are the only two rivers 
 remaining south of^Thurso, and they are little worth notice. 
 The railway now runs to Helmsdale, and next year opens to 
 Thurso, which will be of great convenience for sportsmen. The 
 scenery is varied and delightful, but to get back to Conon. 
 
 Conon is not a very picturesque village, and the Conon itself is 
 a large, heavy river, somewhat like the Ness in character. It 
 forms the head of the Cromarty Firth ; it is the outlet of
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 223 
 
 several smaller rivers the Orrin, the Blackwater, and others, all 
 good salmon-streams ; while the main river drains the waters of 
 several lochs far up towards its source, some of them, as Loch 
 Fannick, being of large size. 
 
 Most of the salmon entering the Conon at this time of the year 
 are running for the tributaries to which they belong ; and being a 
 good deal worried with nets, and the cruives with which the river 
 is fished, they do not take well until they reach them. Thus you 
 may see a dozen fish rising in one of the streams, and not be able 
 to prevail upon one of them to look at a fly. Some of the streams 
 are both long and heavy, and it is no joke on a warm day to wade 
 in heavy waders and to work one of those streams steadily down 
 from top to bottom with a 20-foot rod. Oh ! my beloved brother 
 of the rod, do you know the taste of beer of bitter beer cooled 
 in the flowing river ? Not you ; I warrant, like " The Mar- 
 chioness," hitherto you have only had " a sip " occasionally and, 
 as Mr. Swiveller judiciously remarks, " it can't be tasted in a 
 sip." Take, then, your bottle of beer, sink it deep, deep in the 
 shady water, where the cooling springs and freshes are. Then, 
 the day being very hot and bright, and the sun blazing upon your 
 devoted head, consider it a matter of duty to have to fish that 
 long, wide stream (call it the Blackstone stream, if you will) ; and 
 so, having indued yourself with high wading breeks, walk up to 
 your middle and begin hammering away with your 20-foot flail 
 Fish are rising, but not at you. No ; they merely come up to 
 see how the weather looks, and what o'clock it is. So fish away ; 
 there is not above a couple of hundred yards of it, and you don't 
 want to throw more than about two or three-and-thirty yards at 
 every cast. It is a mere trifle. An hour and a half or so, good 
 hard hammering will bring you to the end of it, and then let 
 me ask you avec impressement how about that beer ? Is it cool ? 
 is it refreshing ? does it gurgle, gurgle, and go down glug," as 
 they say in Devonshire ? Is it heavenly ? is it Paradise, and all 
 the Peris to boot ? Ah ! if you have never tasted beer under these, 
 or similar circumstances, you have, believe me, never tasted it at all.
 
 224 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 There is a very snug little angling public at Conon. Perfect 
 happiness is not to be found anywhere on earth, perhaps ; but the 
 nearest approach to it is to be had in a really good angling public. 
 I say "public" in order to mark the establishment I refer to., 
 Had I said "inn," my meaning might have been misconstrued, 
 and I might have been supposed to indicate something of the 
 hotel breed, whereas nothing is further from my thoughts. The 
 hotel does not do for fishermen. It is all too stately and too 
 imposing in every way. There is your solemncholy waiter, with 
 his white choke and his impressive civility, both of which you 
 know you will have to pay for in the bill. Yes, there he is, with 
 that everlasting dirty napkin shifting from one hand to the other, 
 with his oppressive politeness. How can you venture to eat your 
 dinner before that individual without ordering a pint of that 
 sherry ? and, oh ! that sherry. What is it ? There was a 
 wonderful beast shown to the London public many years ago 
 under that title, "What is it?" No one could say, excepting 
 that whatever it was it was very nasty. The sherry reminds me 
 of that beast. You know how bilious it will make you, and 
 you tremble while you consume it. You hate it worse than salts, 
 for it will make you more uncomfortable, yet you feel constrained 
 to order it ; and should you venture to order tea instead of dinner, 
 and something hot and comforting with it, you feel like a culprit ; 
 as if that white choked incubus were an innkeeping detective, 
 finding you out in making away with a meal by compressing two 
 uncomfortable meals into one comfortable one, and covertly dis- 
 posing of that pint of sherry in a highly swindling sort of 
 manner. If you order beer with your dinner, how like an ogre 
 that waiter glares at your wine-glass oh ! that inevitable, over- 
 powering, and all-pervading wine glass ! Why will they put it 
 on the table in that matter-of-course sort of way, which is so 
 trying to weak-minded individuals like myself? What fits of 
 indigestion that wine-glass has given me ! Empty or full, the 
 result is pretty nearly the same. 
 
 But my angling public there, indeed, I am monarch of all I
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 225 
 
 survey. There is no awful waiter with, weekly washing bills for 
 his neckties. There is no need to ask where the smoking-room 
 is. No. I interfere with no one else's comfort but my own when 
 I pull up in front of the fire, put my feet on the hobs, and light 
 my pipe, without "By your leave, or with your leave." There 
 is the couch and the easy chair not easy with the strained easi- 
 ness of upholsterers, but with the easiness of long dwelling 
 heads, shoulders, backs, &c. Somehow, all in dents and holes as 
 they are, every dent and every hole fits something about you. Do 
 I ring, I am instantly waited on by a neat handed Phyllis, whom 
 I address as Mary or Susan, and we have quite a conversation as 
 to what is required for my refection, or other comforts ; whereas 
 the waiter is not an individual with whom I consider it as 
 pleasant to converse, I expect him to supply me with so many 
 pints of conversation to order. And the hostess, who is always 
 so glad to see you and so sorry to lose you, makes everything so 
 pleasant, that you quite share in her views. 
 
 Some time since I was mightily taken with an anglers' inn, and 
 I wrote some verses which I append, as they may answer the 
 purpose of an angling song, with a good chorus, which is always 
 desirable. 
 
 THE ANGLERS' INN.* 
 Of all the pleasant places 
 
 That in my mind do dwell, 
 The anglers' inn, unto my taste, 
 
 All others does excel ; 
 For many a heart, o'erborne with care, 
 
 Belief and comfort finds, 
 And in the jovial angler's inn, 
 Throws sorrow to the winds. 
 Chorus Then sing the angler's happy life, 
 
 And sing the rod and line ; 
 And sing the gentle sou'-west wind, 
 That wafts the tackle fine, 
 
 * If the angler likes this song well enough to wish to sing it, he may, 
 in default of having any other tune for it, contrive to jingle it out to the 
 air of " The Poacher."
 
 226 BY LAKE AND E1VEB. 
 
 And blows it to the fish's mouth. 
 
 I think you'll all agree, 
 There's no place like the anglers' inn, 
 
 For perfect jollity. 
 Then come, my friend, the spring's new breath 
 
 Invigorates the air ; 
 Unto the well-known hostelry 
 
 Along with me repair, 
 Where the sheets do smell of lavender, 
 
 And it's welcome we shall be, 
 For the merry, buxom hostess has, 
 A smile for you and me. 
 
 Chorus Then sing, &c. 
 A taking day has ended, 
 
 Our creels are crammed with fish j 
 With scale and fin of goodly size, 
 
 We've laden every dish ; 
 And o'er a cheering pipe and glass 
 
 Our doughty deeds we tell. 
 On every happy day like this, 
 How memory loves to dwell ! 
 
 Chorus Then sing, &c. 
 Or in the dainty garden, 
 
 Where flowers of every dye 
 Surround the well-trimmed yew tree seat, 
 
 With the river rippling by. 
 We muse upon the sport we love, 
 
 As erst in days of yore 
 The elders of our craft have done, 
 Who've lived and gone before. 
 
 Chorus Then sing, &c. 
 And when the hand that cast the fly 
 
 Can cast the fly no more, 
 And death shall land us fairly 
 
 Upon that unknown shore 
 May we like yonder river glide, 
 
 So calm, so peacefully, 
 From time, that owes us no regret, 
 
 Into eternity ! 
 Chorus Still sing the angler's happy life, 
 
 Still sing the rod and line ; 
 And sing the gentle sou'-west wind, 
 That wafts the tackle fine.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 227 
 
 Though fortune cross and cares perplex, 
 
 While time be left to me, 
 If these be mine, fate cannot frown 
 
 On my felicity. 
 
 Such would be my praise of the angling inn ; but if I dared 
 to approach the description of the superior hotel, I hardly know 
 how I should treat the subject. Let us see ; it ought to be 
 in measured cadence and metre indifferent hexameters with a 
 rhyme to them, for example something, perhaps, in this way : 
 
 THE ANGLER'S HOTEL. 
 
 Come to the Angler's Hotel, hard by some murmuring river 
 Murmuring there you may dwell, troubled with qualms of the liver. 
 Neat are the wines, and the fly's neat as the charges imported 
 Into the bill, and the beds downy as landlord reported ; 
 Golden the sherry with bile ; port, you'll be certainly ill by ; 
 Claret entitled La Eose Rose by Bill Gladstone, or Gilby ! 
 Brandy sub rosd B. B., by tricks that would puzzle the Magi, 
 Cnangeth to Hennessy's best, taken " sub tegmine fagi." 
 Blue are the sky and the hills, blue you will look in the morning ; 
 Blue, very blue, are the pills needed for slighting the warning. 
 White are the napkins and plates, white is the " choke " of the 
 
 waiter ; 
 
 Black are the chops and the steaks, dainty, unwary Piscator, 
 Hint not that lean is the fare, landlord will else be observing, 
 " Gents as come constantly there never find fault with the serving." 
 Eat and be thankful, nor say words that may sound like a curse, or 
 Think of the bill yet to pay things may grow worser and worser. 
 Shell out the "fives" and the "tens," knowing the hope to be 
 
 vain 
 
 There to establish the " mens sana in corpore sano." 
 Bleeding at every pore, quacks recommend still depletion ; 
 Landlords shall make you deplore rabid and rapid secretion. 
 Having once settled the bill, deaf be to any detergents ; 
 Hasten away, and you will surely remember the servants. 
 
 Q2
 
 228 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE CONON THE ORRIN BEASON FOE SUPERSTITION IN THE 
 
 HIGHLANDER TAFFY AND SANDY FLIES FOE CoNON THE 
 
 SPET ABEELOUE THE FIDDICH BUEN. 
 
 DURING the first part of my visit to Scotland the weather had 
 been cold and raw, with very searching and chilling easterly 
 winds, which speedily made their mark upon me in the shape of 
 a severe cold. But, cold or no cold, the work must be done, and, 
 barking away like a faithful watch dog who expects thieves about, 
 I threshed my way onwards in spite of cough, snow, or easterly 
 winds. The weather, however, was not good for fishing, for, 
 besides these cold winds, there was little or no water in the 
 rivers. But all this was changed now ; the wind was " westlin," 
 and was melting the snow upon the Highlands galore. The sun 
 shone out without a cloud, and the weather was one constant 
 blaze during the whole time of my visit to Con on. It rained the 
 night before I came away, and the day on which I was obliged 
 to travel was a fine dark moist fishing day, as is somehow always 
 the case. 
 
 The first day I searched out a Mr. Fergusson, a smith in 
 Conon, who is a first-rate operator with the rod, and knows the 
 river intimately. He came with me, and the first afternoon we 
 fished up to the cruives, and for some distance above. But we 
 did not go to the upper pools, being aware that there were two 
 gentlemen already there who had been fishing them all day. 
 The lower streams are fine streams enough, but evidently never 
 hold fish. The fish rest in them as they are running up for a 
 very short space, just as they do in the lower pools of the Dee ;
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 229 
 
 "but they are a good deal harried by the nets and worried by the 
 cruives, and consequently they do not rest for any time until they 
 get a mile or two at least above the cruives ; and from the rest- 
 less state they are in while in the lower waters, of course they 
 rise badly and take worse. You may see lots of fish rising, and 
 they may even come at your fly, but they are mighty shy takers. 
 I did not have very much experience of them, but in what I had 
 I found this character which I had already had of them pretty 
 correct. 
 
 While we were fishing the first stream, which was a fine long 
 heavy stream, some seventy yards long, the netsmen came up and 
 shot round the eddies on the further side where most of the fish 
 lay, and they got one fish of about 7lb. or 8lb. They had been 
 doing well, however, all the week. Subsequently they fished a 
 shallow side stream which leads away up to the further cruive in 
 the dyke, which is of a very peculiar shape, and is very long and 
 straggling, bending downstream like a tongue. This side stream, 
 however, is a favourite one with the salmon for running up, and 
 though they have to run up to it often quite bare backed, scut- 
 tling away over the stones and gravel for several yards, where it 
 joins the main river, yet they do prefer it to the main river, which 
 has always plenty of water ; and the nets, knowing this, always 
 drag it in preference to the main river ; and that they are justi- 
 fied in their confidence was proved on this occasion, by their 
 coming back in about an hour while we were fishing a splendid 
 pool and run which I do not believe had seen a fish since Tues- 
 day with eight fine fish. 
 
 Here, as elsewhere, the cry was, " You should come in the 
 grilse season for sport." I got quite to hate "the grilse season." 
 In some instances the old familiar, " You should have been here 
 last Tuesday," in the shape of " You're too late for the earlier 
 spring fishing," became evident; but "You should come next 
 week," in the shape of laudations of the grilse-fishing, everywhere 
 pervaded the atmosphere. "Man never is but always to be 
 blest." The grilse are, of course, more abundant than the
 
 230 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 
 
 salmon, and either they dwell longer in the lower reaches of the- 
 river, or they take better while they are in them, as is the case 
 in the Ness and Dee. 
 
 We did nothing and saw nothing. On our return down stream 
 we found an angler fishing one of the best casts. He had risen a 
 salmon and was sticking to him ; but the probability was that 
 long before he left fishing him, the fish was gone onward in 
 his upward course. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and I took a walk up the river 
 some four miles or so, to look at the Orrin, one of the chief 
 tributaries of the Conon. At present the little river was low, not 
 much larger than a good-sized burn, but the wide expanse of 
 gravel and stones swept over and lying bare near its junction 
 with the Conon, showed that when it did come down, it was a 
 considerable stream. Some distance up a fall occurs, which stops 
 the further ascent of the salmon, and here, of course, very many 
 of them find their quietus. 
 
 It was a lovely day, that spring Sunday, warm and delicious. 
 I picked out a shady spot behind a dyke, and sheltered by some 
 bushes, whence I could gain an uninterrupted view of the river, 
 which ran turbulently in a fine rattling salmon stream at my feet, 
 an irregular chain of mountains breaking the background up 
 into all kinds of fantastic peaks, backing up the picture. Here 
 I brought out my luncheon and my flask, and, dipping the 
 pannikin into the crystal water below, I restored the body while 
 I invigorated the mind with the bold, healthy, natural scenery 
 before me. Anon the charms of tobacco were added to the 
 symposium, and my placid enjoyment was perfect. All other 
 sound was lost in the rushing of the river and the plash of 
 gurgling water, save now and then the shrill " cheea, cheea," of 
 the peewits, as they fluttered restlessly about overhead, uneasy 
 at the proximity of a human being to their nests ; or the occa- 
 sional plunge of a salmon as, liber et exultans, he cut his way 
 through the clear stream on his route to the mountains. 
 
 The warm air was instinct with insect-life, newly sprung into-
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 231 
 
 existence. The sky was deeply blue and without a cloud ; the 
 distant hills looked stilly and impassively on, as though all that 
 passed around them was the mere dropping of atoms into an 
 hour-glass compared with their concerns the concerns of giants 
 who had gazed on the creation ! Aye, and on wondrous scenes 
 long, long before it. The creation, as if there had never been 
 a creation before ours ! EV *;. When was that ^ ? Did 
 these hills see it ? or, when did they commence ? I gazed at 
 the hills, and longed to stand upon the highest of them at 
 eventide. Indeed, by half closing my eyes, and stopping my 
 ears to the sound of the waters, I could almost, by an effort 
 of the imagination, fancy myself there. 
 
 To be out on the wild moor, on the lone hill-side, far above 
 the habitation of man, with no companion but nature, as night is 
 coming down and closing in the prospect upon all sides, is, to 
 those unaccustomed to these solitudes at such a time, an eerie 
 thing. How intense is the stillness ! The silence almost makes 
 itself felt, and seems to fall with a chilling effect upon the facul- 
 ties, as though it would arrest them ; by degrees those which are 
 most required, as hearing, become sharpened to an extraordinary 
 degree, and sounds that in the mid-day, and in the hum of the 
 lower world, would escape the ear, fall on it with peculiar effect, 
 and the languid breath of the scarce moving night wind rustling 
 the pendant larches far below, comes swelling up, soughing softly 
 onwards, as it rises and falls through the withered stalks of tall 
 heather, or over the boulders of primeval moss-clad rock, tossed 
 hither and thither in some former and tremendous convulsion ; or 
 bringing with it, mayhap, the hushed roar of some far-distant 
 waterfall, the sound of which falls dreamily on the senses. How, 
 in the midst of such silence, the shrill whistle of the plover and 
 curlew, or the fall of some stone or fragment of rock, worn from 
 its bed by the weather of ages, as it goes trip, tripping, or thun- 
 dering down the precipice, from crag to crag, bursts with startling 
 suddenness upon the ear, which is now nervously anxious and on 
 the stretch to catch every sound ; while things, familiar enough
 
 232 BT LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 by day, become weird and strange in the stilless of evening ! Or 
 to be out, haply, when the wind rages and howls through the 
 mountain passes and corries, while the thunder bursts around, 
 and the lightning scathes and scars the adjacent peaks! Or to be 
 benighted while the softly-falling snow, whirling along in masses 
 hour after hour, heaps itself up in heavy drifts, obliterating all 
 roads, and concealing under its treacherous surface secret and 
 dangerous bogs, rifts, and hollows, which may prove sepulchres ; 
 or, while he is searching for the trodden path, tempts the wan- 
 derer further and further out upon the endless moor, where he 
 loses himself in floundering through the murky night, and gladly 
 lies down at length, worn out and weary, to sleep the sleep of 
 death in a snow shroud ! Or when the heavy mists arise, ob- 
 scuring the mountains and blotting out the valleys taking 
 strange, uncouth, and spectral forms, that impress the mind more 
 powerfully far from the deep solitude they appear in ! There 
 is a solemnity in such associations calculated to impress the mind 
 strangely. Is it any wonder that the mind of the Highlander, 
 who passes his days from youth to age in scenes and amid 
 sights like these, should be strongly tinctured with vague super- 
 stitions ? Consider the shepherd who spends many a long 
 dreary night on the hills, wrapped in his plaid, with no com- 
 panion but his faithful colley, and no roof but the eternal stars, 
 and who is constantly seeing and hearing unwonted phenomena 
 which his rude intellect is incapable of accounting for, exagge- 
 rated and distorted as they are by varying mediums of sight 
 and sound, which often take so wide a range as to afford appear- 
 ances so striking and apparently impossible as almost to warrant 
 a belief in the supernatural. Would it not indeed be strange if 
 some belief in kelpies, bogles, witches, fairies, and ghaists were 
 not a portion of his creed, almost as firmly believed in as his 
 religion ? 
 
 "Ghaists!" as poor old T. used to say, "Will onyone say 
 there's nae siccan thing as ghaists ? whilk is a belief clean 
 against the declaration and manifestation o' the Sacred Buik
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 233 
 
 itsel! Mon," lie would continue, "d'ye ken hoo my wife Meg 
 seed a ghaist in the year o' our Lord aughteen hunder an' 
 twenty-nine? Ay, Meg," and then he would tell that long 
 tale, with a tremendous preamble, to the effect that Meg was 
 engaged to wash up at the great hoose, and had risen, much 
 against his persuasion as he had been somewhat alarmed earlier 
 in the night, and did not like to be left alone about four in the 
 morning ; that Meg, firm to her promise, dressed and set out in 
 the dark ; that he was beginning to feel very eerie and uncom- 
 fortable, when of a sudden "the door bangit open fit to flee af 
 the postel, and in rushed Meg, a' ramfeezled an' tousled, an' 
 scraigin oot ' Steek the door ! steek the door ! ' joost dinged 
 hersel' doon by the chimla lug richt awa' intil a swund. ' An 
 Meg, woman, what's wrang wi' ye ? what ails ye ? Hae ye seen 
 onything ? ' I asked. An' oh ! she lookit, an' lookit, an' 
 glowered sae eldrich-like, I was faurly skeert oot o' ma saven 
 sanses wi' fear mysel', and I'd a mind to get into the meal airk, 
 an' pit the Bible a top o'fr for safety, d'ye ken, for deil a ghaist 
 or a bogle o' them a' daur face thot, mind. An', as for Meg, a' 
 she could was to sit chittering an' wringin' her hands, an' 
 scraigin' oot till ye'd thocht the roof would fa', ' Steek the door, 
 steek the door ! ' An ' Meg, wooman, in the name o' a' that's 
 abune, what hae ye seen ? ' said I again ; an ' Oh ! a dunna a 
 dunna,' said she; ' but steek the door, steek the door!' an sic 
 was the affack o' that veesitation upon Meg, my wife, that she 
 never could and never did tell whatn she had seen to this day. 
 And noo does ony mon after thot mean to tell me he disna 
 believe in siccan a thing as a ghaist?" Deep, indeed, are the 
 superstitions of the Highlanders, and firm was the belief formerly 
 that their own race was the most ancient in the world, as " old 
 as their hills," in fact. There is a capital story told of a dispute 
 between a Welshman and a Highlander as to the pre-eminence 
 of their races in point of descent. Taffy lied most vain 
 gloriously to prove their direct descent from Adam, but Sandy 
 knocked him out of time by declaring not only that Adam him-
 
 234 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 self was a Highlander, but he quoted even the very Gaelic 
 which Adam made use of when he first saw Eve, and which 
 words he avowed to be still carefully preserved (somehow) 
 amongst the annals of his family ; and in proof of his assertion 
 he rendered his claim in the following verse : 
 
 When Eve, all fresh in beauty's charms, 
 First met fond Adam's view, 
 The first word that he'l spoke to her 
 Was " Cai mair tha thu an diugh." 
 
 Pronounced as " Cummir ashin du;" which means in English, 
 " How are you to-day?" After this, it is needless to say, that 
 even Taffy collapsed. 
 
 The next day being Monday, of course there would be fresh 
 fish in the river, as the river was in fine order for fish to run, so I 
 made a start early to get to the upper pools in good time, Fergus- 
 son promising to join me in the middle of the day. There was 
 no mistaking which were the streams, as they were marked 
 enough, and I had spotted them the day before. Early as I 
 started, however, I found two gentlemen there before me, one of 
 whom is a resident, and works the river pretty constantly. They 
 were fishing the best stream a fine, rapid, rattling stream ; 
 having fished the one above it previously, which I did not know 
 at the time. There were but these two streams below the Orrin 
 for some distance down. There is. however, a good cast or two 
 up above ; the one opposite to the rhododendron walk at Brahan 
 Castle is a capital one. I fished the upper stream down twice, 
 and twice rose a fish about half way down it ; but he came very 
 shy, and, although I plied him with various flies, he would not 
 take, which was not wonderful, for the day was broiling and the 
 river was full of snow-water, as were most of the rivers now ; and 
 by the time I had fished the stream down twice as it was a very 
 long and heavy one to fish, requiring deep wading and long cast- 
 ing to cover it I was tolerably glad to take a rest and a weed. 
 By this time the anglers had left the lower stream, in which they 
 had done nothing ; they also having twice risen a fish in the
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 235 
 
 upper stream, I found, though not the same fish I rose. So w& 
 exchanged, and they went on to fish the upper and I the lower 
 stream. The lower stream was a pretty long one, and it was 
 such a tempting-looking one that I fished it over three times 
 with three strange flies. But it was useless ; I did not get a 
 touch or an offer of any kind. By this time the day was well on, 
 and as the other gentlemen had fished the upper stream out of 
 the boat, and had pretty well disturbed it, we decided to go down. 
 I tried two or three nice-looking runs down on my way to the 
 lower pools, but without any encouragement at all. At the tail 
 of a pool called the Green Bank I handed the rod to Fergusson 
 for a few casts, being tired with the hard, hot work. He moved 
 a fish, which touched the fly and would not come again, 
 though we charmed him with various tunes. On the lowest 
 stream of all, which required a very long heave across, up came 
 a fine fish at me at mid-stream, making a most brilliant rise ; but 
 he did not take, and on looking at my fly I found the gut tied 
 round the bend of the hook, so that I had been towing it through 
 the water tail foremost ; the feathers working all the wrong way 
 gave it a strange and wild appearance, which seemed to have 
 some attractions for Master Salmo, for when I reversed it h& 
 declined to inspect it further, clearly reading "Dangerous" 
 written up in the solar dialect. Not another fish could I rise, so 
 I went home ; and as Tuesday was scarce likely to be better than 
 Monday, I arranged for a start south the next morning. Having 
 so done and written my letters, it rained all night of course, and 
 was a dark drizzling day, when I have no doubt I could have 
 killed a fish or two if they had been in the way, and inclined to- 
 rise, a conjunction which is desirable for success in salmon- 
 fishing. I give three standard flies for the Conon, and they are- 
 standard flies for any river, being capital general flies. No. 1. 
 Tail small topping, and sprigs of gold pheasant tippet ; one turn 
 of bright red brown pig's wool, continue half way up with orange 
 yellow, and the remaining half of the body with black pig's 
 wool ; body dressed roughly ; silver tinsel and black hackle over
 
 236 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 the black wool only ; wing a short gold pheasant tippet feather, 
 covered with a nice bright peacock wing, with two shortish 
 jungle-cock feathers at the cheeks. No. 2 is similar, save that 
 the upper half of the body is medium light blue instead of 
 black ; the black hackle only to be dressed on the shoulder ; 
 wing the same, minus the tippet feather. These two flies, with 
 perhaps the slightest modification of the wing, would kill any- 
 where. No. 3. Tail as before ; a turn of black ostrich herl over 
 it, a few sprigs of dark yellow pig's wool above it ; copper colour 
 up to the shoulder, and the rest a dirty light purple ; body not so 
 rough as the others ; silver tinsel, and a black hackle from head 
 to tail ; wing peacock wing as before ; no jungle. This is a 
 capital plain fly, and I make no doubt would be a clipper for 
 Thames trout. 
 
 The river above Brahan for very many miles, save with the 
 exception of one or two small bits, belongs to Sir William 
 Mackenzie, of Coul. Salmon, however, cannot go further up 
 than Loch Luichart, as there is a high fall there which stops 
 them. The fishing was for several years rented by Col. Murray, 
 and it affords excellent sport at times ; far better than the lower 
 part, as the pools are finer and the water altogether better 
 and more holding. 
 
 The next day found me in Inverness, again en route for the 
 Spey. I was bound imprimis for Aberlour. There I was to 
 meet my brother-in-law and an old friend Mr. D..; and Sir A. 
 Gumming had also promised to get me a day or two in the lower 
 part of the river at Bothes, which is usually the best water on 
 the river. On the way up, the river, which ,is crossed by the 
 rail, looked to me decidedly thick, as well as high, which boded 
 no good for the fishing ; and when I arrived I found that neither 
 of my fiiends had done anything that day, though Mr. D. had a 
 nice fish the day before. The river was very full, and was far 
 too high for fishing, save it might be just about the tails of a 
 pool or two. The heavy snow that had fallen so lately, lay 
 thickly on the hills which line the course of the greater portion
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 237 
 
 of the upper part of the Spey ; and when a westerly wind and a 
 warm sun come together, it melts the snow wholesale, and down 
 comes the river a good foot. Every night the river rose eight or 
 nine inches or more, and every afternoon it fell again ; and it is 
 needless to say that when a river is jumping up and down in 
 this way, if it was full of fish, the chance of sport would be 
 small, though there are a few fish which will always take in any 
 water, and it was with some such hope we fished, for Aberlour 
 is not a water that fishes well when very high ; but, on the other 
 hand, it fishes well and longer in low water than perhaps do 
 other parts of the Spey which fish better when high. To show 
 how unfishable the water was, I may say there are a dozen good 
 streams and pools which are fishable on it, and during my stay 
 we could only fish three of them ; and if sport be indifferent 
 while such a state of things exists, I do not think there is much 
 to be said about it ; the reason is pretty evident. Anyone who 
 expects to have sport when a river is two feet higher than it 
 should be with snow-water, expects that which he is scarcely 
 likely to realise. Not that I think the fish will not rise in snow- 
 water, because I know full well that they will. Doubtless it 
 makes them a little picksome and capricious, but it has not the 
 effect of stopping them altogether ; and if the water be not too 
 high, the persevering and skilful angler may always hope to 
 meet his reward, though it may not be large. Superadded ta 
 these drawbacks, however, we had a far worse one than easterly 
 winds and cold weather, which I do not think generally prove 
 insurmountable obstructions to salmon-fishing. Indeed, cold 
 weather is so natural in the Highlands in the early part of the 
 year, that if salmon did not rise in it, they would seldom 
 rise at all at that time. We, however, had broiling-hot sun, 
 regular July weather, just as we had been having at 
 intervals for some time, and that I look upon as far worse 
 for fishing than any other wind or weather it is possible 
 to have. On the first morning we found that the river had 
 risen very suddenly nearly a foot. We crossed it, however,
 
 238 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 to our fishing on the further side. Above the ferry was 
 about the best stream, in the then state of the river, we 
 had, and we had but three. I say the best stream I 
 should have said what would have been the best stream 
 but for the ferry boat, which was regularly several times daily 
 pushed by a large iron-shod staff or towed by a chain up to the 
 very best of the stream, in order to allow for the drifting in 
 crossing, a proceeding which, of course, utterly spoilt it for hours. 
 Having only three streams fishable, it was exceedingly annoying 
 io have the best one spoilt. We fished such of it, however, as 
 the boat had left untouched, but without seeing a fish. We then 
 went up to a fine pool above ; and here, noticing the water (which 
 looked very thick) closely, I observed, apparently, a great quan- 
 tity of sand held in suspension in the water, and when I took off 
 my waders I found a great quantity of sand deposited in them. 
 Some lock or dam must have burst, we concluded, which 
 accounted for the sudden rush of water and brought down this 
 sand. They were launching a number of rafts of timber up 
 .above, we found out subsequently, and that, no doubt, was the 
 reason of the disturbance. It quite spoilt our fishing, however. 
 From this we went down-stream to a pool called Campbell's pool, 
 .a pretty cast enough, and in this my friend Mr. D. rose a fish, but 
 he came shy. We fished one or two other streams without result, 
 and went in to lunch. The day was so bright that it was hope- 
 less ; and as we had plenty of writing and reading to do, we did 
 not go out till evening ; but the river, which had fallen a little in 
 the morning, was rising again, and fishing was all but useless 
 we did nothing. The next day was just a ditto of the last, the 
 river jumping up and down, but on the whole lower than it had 
 been since my arrival. We went up to some very nice water 
 about a quarter of a mile further up, where there was a succession 
 of fine runs of some two hundred yards or so in length, with a 
 fine rocky bottom and rattling streams. The water was now 
 clear of the sand which pervaded it yesterday. I saw a fine fish 
 show himself in the neck of one of the streams, but the fish was
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 239 
 
 clearly running, and not in a taking spot. The water was a great 
 deal too high, but there was just an eddy here and there, where a 
 remote chance lay of a fish rising, but the chance proved even 
 more remote than it looked, as we rose nothing. I would not 
 wish to fish a prettier piece of water, and if fine deep streams and 
 eddies, with huge rocks at the bottom, constitute favourite lying 
 ground, the salmon had it here. Anon we travelled down to the 
 boat pool, still fishing hook and hook about, as dividing the 
 stream rather. Half-way down a fish came at me with a very 
 brilliant rise, even in the midst of the hot sun, as salmon will at 
 times. He gave me a good deal of play, and finally I got him out ; 
 he was about lolb. but was not in prime condition. There was a 
 great deal of doubt as to what he was. Was he a kelt, or was he 
 not ? It was almost as close a thing as I ever saw his head and 
 shoulders were all right in shape and proportion, and his gills were 
 perfectly clean and bright, but he was a little thin in the flank, 
 and his colour was not good ; and so with something of a mis- 
 giving I gave him the benefit of the doubt and turned him in 
 again but to this day I am not certain I did not turn in a clean 
 fish. I described the fish to one of the oldest and most 
 experienced anglers on the river in those parts, and he said that 
 he had once or twice met with such fish, and on one occasion he 
 was just as doubtful as we had been ; but the fish had been 
 gaffed, so he took him home ; and doubtful and poor as the fish 
 looked, he said that it cut and looked perfectly red and clean, and 
 that he never ate a better fish in his life. I have heard more than 
 once of such cases : still it would never have done for me to have 
 killed a fish which the most distant suspicion could have rested 
 on. So he went his way, and I went mine. The next day the 
 river was up and down as usual. I fished in the morning, but 
 did nothing ; and in the afternoon my brother-in-law and myself 
 drove over to the Fiddich, which is about twenty minutes' drive 
 from the inn. The Fiddich is a charming little burn, running 
 between high banks, with hanging woods here and there, which if 
 the angler be not provided with wading-boots as I was not,
 
 240 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 unfortunately entails some pretty tall scrambling. The most 
 of the fish in the Fiddich which I caught, ran small the usual 
 burn trout, in fact, but there are better fish in it, for I saw them, 
 and caught one or two : a minnow in the sharp runs would, no- 
 doubt, produce some big ones. There are here and there a few 
 nice pools, and in the lower part of the stream there are often a 
 few sea-trout to be had, but they cannot go far up the stream, 
 being stopped about three-quarters of a mile from its mouth by a 
 weir. I got about two dozen little trout, and my brother-in-law 
 about a dozen. I should like much to fish the Fiddich about the 
 end of this month (May), and to follow it up into the mountains a 
 few miles. It would prove a delightful scramble, and I am sure 
 the quantity of trout one might take would be considerable, as in 
 some places they rose two or three at a cast, and that part of the 
 stream being nearer to the village and railway-station is more 
 fished. Of course, anyone who expects to take a creel full of 
 half and three-quarter pounders will be disappointed. 
 
 On our return we found, of course, that Mr. D., by sticking to 
 the river while we went trouting, had got a fish in fact, he said 
 he would as we drove home a niceish fish, too, of 8-^lb. It was 
 the fish he had risen in the Campbell's pool, and, of course, he 
 had the laugh of us for going trouting when we might have got 
 salmon. I also found a note from Sir A. Gumming, appointing 
 to meet me at Eothes early the next morning for a couple of days' 
 fishing, which he had a general permission for ; and as they had 
 been taking fish pretty regularly on that water, I calculated on 
 some sport. I made all ready for a start, but early the next 
 morning a surly-looking keeper brought me over a note from the 
 gentleman who had the management of the fishing, saying that 
 the proprietors had suddenly come down the evening before, and 
 were going to fish, and that he had sent a note to Sir A. Gumming 
 to let him know of it. It was just the same misfortune as 
 happened to me at the Blackwater. It was particularly unfor- 
 tunate too, as had I known of it earlier I could have got fishing 
 on one or two capital fisheries up the river without the least
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 241 
 
 difficulty, but my time was too short now for me to get leave and 
 to make use of it. The morning came up dark and cloudy. The 
 river was in a little better order than it had been. My brother- 
 in-law went down to a pool some distance below, where, I believe, 
 he got a kelt. 
 
 Mr. D. went up to the upper water, and I went to Campbell's 
 pool. I had fished it half down when a fish took the fly quite 
 out of the stream, and in the dead water just where the cast 
 ended. I did not see him come, in fact every fish that was taken 
 took deep under water. Somehow, if they did come to the top, 
 they generally refused ; and the first notice I had of him was the 
 giving him an awful drag as I was drawing out the line for a 
 fresh cast. This, of course, was not at all agreeable to him, and 
 he dashed out into the stream at double quick, where we per- 
 formed the usual pas de deux; and after a time I introduced him 
 to a new partner, in the person of my gillie, who, by hook and by 
 crook, stuck so fast to him that he found it impossible to shake 
 off the acquaintance. He was a nice shapely fish enough of 81b. 
 As if it had only been waiting for the purpose, as soon as I had 
 landed my fish, the sun burst out as bright and hot as ever, and 
 the day was crippled for fishing. After lunch we did little more. 
 Mr. D., I think, got a kelt. 
 
 By the way I omitted to give the dressing of the " Highlander " 
 I find. Two turns of silver-twist and gold-coloured silk for 
 tag, one topping for tail, and black ostrich herl over; gold- 
 coloured silk nearly half-way up the body, if the fly be small if 
 large, a few turns of silk and then yellow pig's-wool will be 
 better. Above this, olive-green mohair, silver tinsel, and a pea- 
 green hackle from tail to head ; jay over it at the shoulder, and 
 black ostrich herl head. Wing, sprigs of tippet, with gold- 
 pheasant tail and mallard, with a little pintail over this. Doubled 
 jungle-cock feathers i.e., a long and short feather on either side; 
 over all a topping, and blue macaw points and a very good fly 
 it is when the fish like pea-green hackles.
 
 242 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 THE AVON BALLINDALLOCH THE LEGEND OF THE Coo HATTGH 
 SPEY FLIES GRANT TOWN THE PASS or KILLIECEANKIE, 
 PERTH HARRY OF THE WYND STORMONTFIELD CARGILL 
 WATER THE ISLA PEARL FISHING. 
 
 THERE is a very pretty river, a considerable tributary of the 
 Spey, which runs into it about eight or nine miles above Aber- 
 lour the Avon. It belongs to Mr. Macpherson Grant, of 
 Ballindalloch. Leave to fish it is generally confined to gentlemen 
 staying at the Delneshaugh Inn, at Dalnas. It had the reputation 
 of being a very fine trout stream ; and there was also a capital 
 chance of a salmon almost as good as on the Spey. As there 
 are some excellent pools in it, under the convoy of a first-rate 
 performer with the rod the worthy pedagogue of Aberlour, who 
 was employing one of his holidays in his favourite pursuit, and 
 was going to fish the Spey near Avon-mouth, and who 
 undertook to set us off in the right way- we started for the 
 Delneshaugh Inn, to which we had a very agreeable drive, as our 
 companion pointed out the various objects of interest to be seen 
 along the road. One of the stories he told us was rather 
 amusing ; it related to the old mansion-house of Ballindalloch, the 
 original site of which was to the south-east of the present castle, 
 and within fifty yards of the turnpike-road. Here the laird 
 attempted to build his house ; but when the walls had arrived to 
 about twelve or fifteen feet high, every night the work that was 
 done the previous day was thrown down and demolished ! while 
 persons who watched by it declared that they heard a hoarse 
 sepulchral voice bellow forth "Big upon the coo haugh!"
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 243 
 
 ("Build upon the cow valley," haugh signifying a low-lying 
 fertile valley). The tale of terror was told to the laird, but the 
 laird was something of a sceptic. In the first place, if the devil 
 had anything to with it, of course he would naturally be a Scotch 
 devil ; but then he would be a devil of some attainments, and 
 not a common vulgar yokel like this, whose language savoured 
 more of the bricklayer's labourer than of the well-educated Scotch 
 demon. " Big upon the coo haugh," indeed ! He'd " big " the 
 rascals ! No doubt it was the masons wanting to prolong the job. 
 He'd catch 'em ! Accordingly, accompanied by his butler, the 
 laird went to watch for himself. When, lo ! a mighty tempest 
 arose ; the walls were hurled over as though it were a card-house ; 
 and "Big upon the coo haugh !" was roared forthwith such 
 supernatural energy that the laird almost, if not quite, swooned 
 with terror. Furious grew the tempest ; big trees and little 
 trees were blown up and whirled through the air like straws ! 
 and, entangled in the branches of the trees, the laird and his 
 attendant were blown for a good quarter of a mile clean across 
 the river, and lodged up in the tops of two large trees that stood 
 close together on the other side of the river, and were uninjured ! 
 Here they remained till the morning, afraid to move or speak. 
 When the storm was passed, they cautiously descended, fearing 
 to wake the genius of the storm afresh. " Jock," said the laird, 
 who never expected to see his follower again ; " Jock, is that 
 you?" " The deil kens best!" quoth Jock. "It's a pairt o' 
 me, onyhow." " Dinna blate on, then ; an' we'll tak' the 
 adveece o' yon chiel, whilk is tendered in a way that one canna 
 weel withstaun, and wee'll joost " big upon the coo haugh ; " 
 which it is needless to say he did ; the demon whose abiding 
 place he had previously invaded thereafter leaving him at peace. 
 Now I have mentioned this little legend, not because there is 
 any particular novelty in the story save in the laird being 
 blown across the river into the tree tops without damage to life 
 or limb but because it is a legend so very often told in many 
 
 parts of the country. I am sure that this story of the pulling 
 
 B 2
 
 244 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 down of the work done by day, in the night, until the builders 
 change the site, has come under my notice at least half a dozen 
 times, and that too in places so wide apart that there could not 
 be any suspicion of their having a common origin ; one of these 
 places being the Isle of Wight, which is about as far from the 
 north of Scotland as could well be. Whence, then, could have 
 arisen a belief or a superstition so widely indulged in ? for I have 
 no doubt that there are scores of places where the same story is 
 told, which I have not come across. The places where the event 
 has been said to occur are generally wildish parts of the country 
 what could be the foundation for the story ? Setting aside 
 the supernatural, could the solution afforded by the scientific 
 gentleman's servant in " Pickwick," in that difficult question 
 about meteors caused by Mr. Winkle's dark lantern, and reputed 
 by the said servant to "Thieves." Could Thieves offer any 
 solution ? I confess myself much puzzled, for the story is too 
 general to be without some foundation. 
 
 The inn at Ballindalloch is a comfortable little angling public, 
 where an angler might be in the heart of fine scenery, and 
 enjoy some pretty trouting, with a few sea-trout, and a chance of 
 a grilse or a salmon now and then ; and the Avon is a very 
 pretty little river. When I saw it it was in spate, so doubtless 
 many of the pools looked finer than they are wont to. On the 
 other hand, the trouting did not show to such advantage. The 
 day was very hot and bright as usual, and the snow-water was 
 coming down heavily in the river, and snow-water is as bad for 
 sport with the trout as it is for salmon, as it checks the rise of 
 flies and keeps the insects under the stones and out of sight. I 
 had been persuaded by my gillie that a small trout-rod would do 
 to fish the water, but when I got there I was sorry I did not 
 bring a larger weapon, as I could not fish the salmon pools 
 properly ; and, after trying two or three, I took off the salmon- 
 fly, partly because I could not work it properly, and partly 
 because the brightness of the day and the great body of snow 
 -water in the river gave small hopes of sport, particularly as I
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 245 
 
 could not fish the water properly. The trout also rose very 
 badly, very few rising, and many of those which did refusing. 
 My brother-in-law and myself managed to howk out some dozen 
 or fourteen of them, losing one or two fair ones my companion 
 lost one which he set at lib. Several of the fish were half- 
 pounders, one or two a trifle above ; but fish of three-quarters 
 and a pound are not very rare, though they rarely top l^lb. 
 They are nice game fish, and give good sport. The river runs 
 in many parts over pebbly and sandy pools and streams, 
 here and there by rocks and stones, and when in fair order is, 
 I should think, a very pretty river to fish. The minnow would, 
 no doubt, tell tales in the many sharp streams at the heads 
 of the pools. As I wanted to get on the next morning to 
 Perth, I had my traps sent on by the last train from Aberlour, 
 and caught the train at Ballindalloch (which is about one mile 
 .and a half from the inn), and went on to Grantown, where I 
 slept, catching the down train on the Highland line the next 
 day. 
 
 The flies for the Spey are strange-looking things long wool 
 bodies, the lower half yellow, the upper black or yellow, 
 and dark claret or purple ; some of, altogether dirty olive- 
 yellow. The hackles are large black-and-grey heron hackles, 
 or the long feather not hackle from the back of a peculiarly- 
 coloured cock. This feather is of a shiny, brown hue. All the 
 hackles are laid on the wrong way of the feather, so that they 
 stand up very awkwardly in appearance, but they play much 
 more in the water. In order to secure the hackle as much as 
 possible, the tinsel (which is often silver and gold, side by side) 
 is laid on the reverse way to the hackle, and over it a process 
 which is difficult to do neatly, the fibres wanting so much 
 picking out. The wings are brown turkey or peacock, or 
 mallard, or dun turkey. These flies can be varied by varying 
 the materials and colours above-named. The best fly I found 
 to kill, however, was a black-bodied fly, with gold tag, silver 
 tinsel, black hackle, gallina shoulder, pintail wing, with two or
 
 246 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 even double jungle-cock feathers, and a topping over all. This 
 is an old pattern, and a very general favourite. 
 
 Grantown is very properly so named, being in the heart of the 
 Grant country ; and every other man's name in the place to 
 judge by the shops, &c. is Grant ; and how the dickens they 
 manage to indicate this Alexander Grant from that Alexander 
 Grant, or that one from t'other, and t'other one from another 
 one, and another one from some other one, and so on, would 
 puzzle any stranger. I believe the fashion is as follows. 
 You go to the place and ask for Sandy Grant. The answer 
 is, "Whilk one; there's twenty Sandy Grants." Well, you 
 want the big one. " Oh ! Muckle Sandy Grant. Hey, mon, 
 there's joost twal Muckle Sandy Grants." "Twal?" "Ay, 
 twal." "Stop a bit, it's the red-headed one." "Oh! Muckle 
 Ehu (red) Sandy Grant. Weell, there's sax Muckle Ehu Sandy 
 Grants." You make one more shot at it. " He squints." 
 " E-how, then, it is Muckle Ehu Gley (squinting) Sandy Grant. 
 "Weell, an' there's twa o'm still, and whilk is't ye want?" 
 Finally you explain that the man you want has a long nose. 
 " Oway, it'll be Muckle Ehu Gley Lang-Nebbit Sandy ye'll be 
 wantin. Why did ye na say sae at first. Yon's him." The 
 humorous verses of Sir Alexander Boswell may be remembered 
 in evidence of the multiplicity of Grants : 
 
 Came the Grants of Tullochgorum, 
 Wi' their pipers gaun before 'em ; 
 Proud their mothers are that bore 'em 
 
 Feedle-feedle-fum. 
 
 Next the Grants of Rothiemurchns ; 
 Every man his sword and dirk has ; 
 Every man as proud as Turk is 
 
 Feedle-f eedle-dum . 
 
 I believe this jocular effusion roused the bile of a scion of the 
 clan, who forthwith called Sir Alexander out for poking fun at 
 them. There is a- very comfortable hotel at Grantown, which I 
 commend to the notice of travellers.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 247 
 
 The next day I betook myself to the train, and was soon 
 bowling along " doon the lang glen " which culminates in the 
 Pass of Killiecrankie'. The scenery along this line, as it winds 
 through the narrow glen for many miles, with abrupt mountains 
 on either side, is very fine. Loch, river, stream, and mountain 
 whirl by in rapid succession, until we strike the infant Garry 
 where it commences a small burn and we skirt it mile after 
 mile until it becomes a fine salmon-stream. As we progress, the 
 scenery becomes finer and more striking. The precipitous rocks, 
 clothed with fine wood, descend abruptly to the river, and the 
 gorge deepens. It was clearly just the place for a Highland 
 fight, and where a handful of men might hold the pass against an 
 army. Here it was that Bonnie Dundee or, as he was termed 
 by the Covenanters, the Bloody Claverhouse fought his last 
 fight and died in the arms of victory, in 1689. Turning his back 
 upon the Convention, who refused to hear him, he rode forth at the 
 head of a small band of fifty followers ; and being asked where 
 he was going, he waved his hat and is said to have answered, 
 " Wherever the spirit of Montrose shall direct me." " Brave 
 Dunniwassals " not "three thousand times three," but about 
 three thousand times one came to his standard ; and having 
 gradually drawn General Mackay, who commanded the army of 
 the Covenant, 7000 strong, into the defile, he ascended the water 
 of Tilt, came round the Hill of Lude, and rushed down upon the 
 foe, broadsword and buckler in hand, and completely swept away 
 the greater part of the opposing force. General Mackay escaped, 
 with a remnant of the right wing, but Dundee received his death- 
 wound as he was bringing up some of his men. A stone still 
 stands near Urrard House which marks the spot where he fell. 
 With all his faults (and they were many), he was a gallant 
 soldier and a skilful leader. There is no need to quote the verses 
 which have immortalised him they are in every child's mouth. 
 As we pass along, Blair Athol is behind, Dunkeld the terrible 
 
 Oh ! what a toun, what a terrible toun ; 
 Oh what a toun ia the toun o' Dunkeld !
 
 248 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 is in the rear: terrible now only for the formidable style of its 
 architecture, which abounds in a multiplicity of little extin- 
 guishers stuck on to nine houses out of ten, without regard to fit- 
 ness or use ; and we stop at Perth at last, where the welcome 
 repose of the British Hotel, kept by Mr. Pople who did his best, 
 and very satisfactorily, to make me comfortable received me. 
 I found the house, being so handy to the railway, very con- 
 venient ; and others appear to think so too, for in the grouse 
 season it is necessary to send word beforehand if beds are re- 
 quired, or the house is full. 
 
 On my arrival at Perth, I found that Mr. Paton the gunmaker 
 who fills the same useful post in that town as Snowie does at 
 Inverness had arranged everything for me, had obtained per- 
 mission beforehand for me to fish upon many of the best waters 
 on the Tay, and had, generally, saved me a good deal of trouble. 
 He also took great pains to show me the various waters, aud many 
 other objects of interest about Perth, for which I felt very 
 thankful to him, for his experience at once suggested what was 
 worth my seeing in the fishery line and what was not. Perth 
 was formerly the capital of Scotland, and was fortified by 
 Agricola. It is placed on one of the most picturesque sites in 
 the kingdom. It is said that the Romans were so struck with 
 the beauty of the situation, that when they first saw it from the 
 high ground they exclaimed, " Ecce Tiber ! Ecce Campus 
 Martius!" There is a great deal that is interesting to the 
 tourist in Perth the church where John Knox preached his 
 first sermon against Popery ; a very quaint old house which is 
 shown as part of the building in which the celebrated Gowrie con- 
 spiracy was sought to be carried out by the seizure and captivity 
 of King James by the Euthvens (other authorities, however, 
 assert that not a stone of the original building is standing, its site 
 being occupied by the Town Hall) ; while the neighbourhood 
 of Perth contains a great variety of objects of interest amongst 
 them are Scone Palace, the ancient palace of the Scottish kings, 
 but now the seat of Lord Mansfield ; Kinfauns Castle ; the north
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 249 
 
 and south. Inches two beautiful public meadows of great extent, 
 on the banks of the Tay, the former of which is now the race- 
 course, and was, in the reign of Robert the Third the scene of 
 that remarkable combat between two rival clans, which is related 
 by Sir Walter Scott in the "Fair Maid of Perth." The clans 
 engaged were the Mackays and the Macintoshes, and thirty 
 champions a side were chosen to contest for the victory. One of 
 the Macintoshes was missing on the day, and an armourer named 
 Wynde took his place, for half a French gold dollar. Twenty- 
 nine of the Mackays fell in the combat, and the thirtieth, as 
 described by Sir Walter Scott, swam the Tay and escaped, ten 
 of the Macintoshes, with Wynde, remaining masters of the field. 
 I need not say how curiously I scanned the scene of this exploit. 
 More peaceable games are carried on there now, amongst which 
 the national game of golf appears to prevail the most. 
 
 The Tay is navigable up to Perth, and the whole of the waters 
 above and below Perth, for many miles up are regularly netted, 
 and large quantities of the finest salmon which comes to the 
 market are captured daily throughout the season ; some of the 
 tacksmen paying very large sums in rentals I heard of one who 
 alone paid something like 8000Z. a year in rentals. 
 
 In order to save" time, as soon as I arrived Mr. Paton proposed 
 that I should go at once to Stormontfield. We could thus spend 
 an hour or two there, and see all that was required without break- 
 ing up a day for the purpose ; and accordingly he drove me up 
 to the ponds, which are some six miles or so from Perth. Here we 
 found our old friend "Peter of the Pools" at home, and delighted to 
 see us. Peter took us all round the works, and gave us every infor- 
 mation in his power. The Stormontfield hatching and rearing 
 ponds, which have achieved a worthily-earned world-wide fame, 
 occupy a portion of waste ground on the banks of the Tay, about six- 
 teen feet above the level of the river. From a mill lade which runs 
 along the upper part of the ground, pipes are conducted into an ob- 
 long filtering pond. The water is filtered from this into a canal, 
 which runs the whole breadth of the boxes, and from this the
 
 250 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 boxes are supplied. Sixty new boxes had been added to the 
 number since the last year in order to increase the accommodation. 
 These boxes are six feet long, and there are twenty-four of them 
 in ^a row. There are sixteen rows, with a narrow pathway 
 between each. They are partially filled with gravel, largish 
 stones being laid upon the top, amongst which the ova lie perdu, 
 the whole occupying, as Peter told me, seventy feet square ; but 
 I should think that either he or I must have made some mistake 
 in this, as I fancy the area must be much larger. At the lower 
 end of these boxes is another canal, and into this canal as soon 
 as the young are forward enough to seek their own food, the 
 whole of the fry migrate without any persuasion on the part of 
 their keepers. From this canal a sluice allows them to escape 
 into the first rearing-pond. This pond is 223 feet long by 112 
 wide, and was meant to contain some 200,000 fry ; but, as with 
 only one pond they could not rear more than one lot of fry. they 
 could not hatch every year, accordingly another pond of larger 
 dimensions had afterwards been added to the works, and was 
 ready to receive the fry of the year's hatching. From these 
 ponds a sluice allows the egress of the smolts to the river when 
 they are ready to go. The fish pond was then filled with some 
 150,000 little parr, in the most lively and active condition. It 
 is astonishing how well these little fellows seem to know feed- 
 ing time. Take a piece of boiled liver and crumble it up, and 
 throw it into the pond, and, instantly, some fifty or a hundred of 
 the fry, about the size of large minnows, rush to the spot, and in 
 less than half a minute every fragment of it disappears. Gulls 
 are great enemies of Peter's, and he gives them a dose of shot 
 whenever he sees them paying their regards to his domain. The 
 mischief these winged depredators do to the fisheries may be 
 estimated by the fact that in one, which he shot while it was 
 robbing his pond, pretty near a score of parr were found ; and 
 when the hundreds of gulls we see hovering over the shallows day 
 after day on salmon rivers in the spring, and the number of 
 smolts each one devours per diem, are taken into consideration,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 251 
 
 the loss to the Tay alone must be far larger than Stormontfield 
 can replace. 
 
 During my stay I saw the late Mr. Buist, and had a chat 
 with him upon Stormontfield and fishery matters. I also called 
 upon Mr. Brown, the author of the interesting little work on 
 the " Stormontfield Experiments," I was anxious to meet him, 
 as his experience and knowledge of the statistics of the Tay 
 fishings was very considerable ; but, unfortunately, he was con- 
 fined by severe indisposition, and he was unable to see me. He 
 too, alas ! is since dead. 
 
 The first morning, in company with our worthy host, Pople 
 to whose care we confided the provisioning department, without 
 due consideration of which a fishing excursion on Tay or else- 
 where is not complete we started for the Cargill water. They 
 have a strange but a very good plan at Perth of taking fishings. 
 For example, a person in business cannot of course fish every day 
 in the week, and, consequently, he does not, perhaps, care to go 
 to the expense and trouble of taking a fishing to himself, which 
 he may be unable to avail himself of ; and the rent too would be 
 larger than he would like to pay ; and therefore he rents the 
 fishing for so many days per week as he may wish to fish. 
 Suppose he only wishes to fish one day, he rents a day of one 
 of the proprietors, paying from 10/. to 201. for it, according to 
 the day and the repute of the water. Again, on the Tay the 
 opposite proprietors have three days a week each. They do not 
 both fish on either side of the river whenever they please, as they 
 do on Tweed, but take the whole of the river on alternate days, 
 varying them week and week about this being necessitated from 
 the method of fishing adopted on the Tay, for, as will be seen 
 presently, two boats could not fish simultaneously. This plan of 
 taking the water is a capital one for residents, and brings a little 
 fishing within the reach of moderate means. Most of the waters 
 are rented in this way, though, of course, there are some where 
 the entire fishing is taken by one person. The day was hot, 
 bright, and still, as usual, and the water crystal clear. There
 
 252 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 was a very small chance of our catching fish in such weather and 
 water. 
 
 The Isla, a considerable river, which often shows good sport 
 both with salmon and trout, being a capital trout river higher up, 
 runs in at the top of the Cargill water, and, as we were waiting for 
 the boat to come up, we saw a man at the mouth of the Isla, pearl- 
 fishing. The process was a very singular one. He did not dive 
 down amongst sharks and all sorts of monsters, as do his Ceylon 
 brethren, but he sat in a little square deal box (like a packing- 
 case) about five feet square. A rope was stretched tightly across 
 the river by means of two pegs driven into the banks. On this rope 
 the box was threaded, as it were, by means of a couple of rings or 
 wheels, one on either side of the front of the box. By taking 
 hold of this rope, the fisher could pull himself from one side of 
 the river to the other. The method of procedure is thus : Having 
 fixed his rope, the fisherman commences fishing near one bank of 
 the river. Taking in one hand a huge black tin cylinder, some- 
 what like an overgrown Wellington boot with a glass sole to it, he 
 holds it by a handle, with, the glass just dipping into the water 
 and looking into the other end surveys the bottom of the water, 
 through the tube. The glass (which is but common window- 
 glass) being under water, the broken vibrations which occur on 
 the surface do not affect it, and he is enabled to see the bottom 
 even in twelve or fourteen feet of water, distinctly. Of course, 
 clear water and a still bright, day are desirables. As soon as he 
 discerns a pearl mussel, with a long staff which he holds in his 
 right hand, he prods straight down upon it. The end of the staff 
 is split, and the split is kept open by a wedge. When the 
 mussel is fixed in the split, it is hauled up, detached, and cast 
 into the box, and another prospected for. When the ground 
 below him is cleared of mussels, the fisher pulls himself along 
 the rope for a yard or two, and recommences operations. This 
 goes on until he has worked over to the other bank, when he 
 takes out one peg, shifts it up or down a few yards, crosses, and 
 then shifts the other, and begins collecting again. When he has
 
 BY LAKE AND KIVER. 253 
 
 a sufficient number of mussels, he opens them with his knife, 
 feels round about the beards, where the pearls are mostly found, 
 and removing any pearl that may be there, throws the shell and 
 fish overboard, when the eels who are expert fishers too in their 
 way soon finish him. A great number of pearls are found, and 
 some of them of large size; before the fisher finds one of pure 
 water, while one of good shape as well is very rare. The great 
 proportion of the pearls are dark, brown, discoloured substances, 
 of all sorts of shapes rounded on one side and flat on the other 
 is the most general shape. The man showed me one pearl, about 
 the size of a No. 1 shot, of a most brilliant water, and perfectly 
 round ; he asked 25s. for it ; but such a find is, of course, rare, 
 though sometimes a piece of unusual good luck will turn up, and 
 pearls of great value are discovered. But the large pearls are 
 mostly pear or egg shaped. The older mussels, and those which 
 have a rugged or irregular shell, are the most probable pearl- 
 bearers. The part of the river where he was then fishing pro- 
 duced plenty of pearls, such as they were, but very few of any 
 value, as the bottom was too muddy. The mussels in the Tay 
 and its tributaries, in the Forth and Teith and other rivers in 
 Scotland, in the Donegal and other rivers in Ireland, produce 
 pearls, while those of the Thames, where they abound also, 
 though of a different species, do not. A curious question arises, 
 viz., whether, if the Tay mussels were transplanted to the 
 Thames, they would retain their pearl-bearing qualities ; or is 
 there anything in the soil or water which encourages this property 
 in some rivers ? 
 
 But the boat was waiting for us, so we speedily took our seats 
 and arranged our tackle. Imprimis, the boats are large wide 
 praam-shaped craft, better adapted for dropping down stream than 
 rowing up. We three all sat side by side " Three jolly fisher- 
 men all of a row " with our faces to the stern. Over the stern 
 we each projected a rod, one at each corner of the stern, and one 
 over the middle, and each line had one or two flies attached to it. 
 After a time the middle one was changed to a phantom minnow ;
 
 254 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 thirty or forty yards of line were then let out. The line was 
 stopped by being lapped round a stone which was laid on the 
 stern-board, and away we went rowing ziz-zag across with the 
 head of the boat up the stream, and dropping a little at every board, 
 so that pretty well the whole of the river was combed with five 
 or six flies, or with three or four flies and a minnow at the same 
 time, and with such a profuse choice it would be hard if a salmon 
 could not suit himself if so inclined. This method of fishing is 
 called hurling on the Tay. But we combed as fine a piece of 
 water as there is in the Tay full of rough rapids and splendid 
 runs in vain ; not a salmon did we even rise. It was hardly to 
 be wondered at, the day was a roaster. One good trout was 
 hooked and lost on the minnow, and I killed one of l^lb. upon 
 it subsequently. After lunch, having obtained permission, we 
 fished the next water down. But it would not do, not even a 
 kelt would show, and we were finally obliged to retreat empty- 
 handed. When the fish are rising well I can easily fancy -this 
 plan of fishing may be very exciting at times, as it is not a great 
 rarity to have two fish on at once ; and such a thing even as three 
 being hooked at the same time, and all landed, has I believe been 
 known, though this is, of course, a very great rarity. One salmon 
 seems to me quite enough to engross the attention of one angler ; 
 and what I should do with three rods, each with a salmon on, 
 and each plunging here and there and everywhere, I am sure I do 
 not know. I could manage to hang on to one by each hand, but 
 what in the world should I do with the other ? I never tried to 
 hold a rod between my teeth, nor could I play a salmon between my 
 knees. Stay ! I have it. I would stick the butt of the rod down 
 my back between the collar of my coat and my spine, and, by 
 keeping a stiff back on him, I have no doubt I could manage to 
 work him. Eureka !
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 255 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 LARGE BULL TEOUT THE STANLEY WATER, MR. BRIGGS'S ADVEN- 
 TURE ON IT LUNCARTY WATER GLENALMOND BES9Y BELL 
 
 AND MARY GRAY BLEACH WORKS THE BERMONEY BOAT 
 HURLING ON TAY TAY FLIES. 
 
 THE next day was like the last hot, bright, and unbearable for 
 fishing. In the morning I strolled down to one of the fish- 
 factors to look at the fish. They were not very numerous, but 
 there was one fine salmon of hard upon 301b., and there was an 
 enormous bull-trout of 321b. A huge beast he was, and would 
 no doubt, on the slab of a London fishmonger, figure as a 
 splendid Tay salmon ; for the general public would never have 
 known but that it was really a salmon, the difference in general 
 appearance not being very striking ; only when the fish came to 
 table would it be discovered that he was not as pink as some 
 salmon, and was rather dry and flavourless which would have 
 been attributed to his -being rather large, coarse, and overgrown 
 perhaps, and a mental note would, no doubt, have been taken, 
 not to choose such large salmon in future. After this I walked 
 up to Mr. Paton's, and went all over his establishment, where a 
 variety of breech-loaders and other guns were in progress of 
 making, for Mr. Paton manufactures all his own guns, and having 
 been for years practically engaged in the business, he overlooks 
 and sees to the proper workmanship and finish of all of them. 
 
 In the afternoon we drove out to the Stanley water, which is 
 some seven or eight miles from Perth. This water is classical and 
 world-renowned, for it was here that Leech derived his inspiration 
 for the cartoons of old Briggs catching that historical salmon. 
 Here is the " Cat hole '" where he hooked his salmon, and there
 
 256 BY LAKE AND EFVEE. 
 
 that tremendous run lie took him down and a very nasty run it 
 is ! and there, too, is Hell hole, where the redoubtable salmon 
 sulked ! and that, as I live, is an exact sketch of the very spot 
 where that wonderful gillie is taking his "sneesh! " and here Mr. 
 Briggs landed the fish clasped in his embrace ; and there is the 
 very boat, too, in which he sat beaming upon the river, with the 
 three rods spread out before him ! Who could fail to recognise 
 the scene where befel the greatest event in Mr. Briggs's sporting 
 career? It is splendid water that Stanley water such a suc- 
 cession of rattling, rapid streams and swirls, that I doubt if there 
 be so fine a bit elsewhere on the Tay. It was too early for any 
 chance of moving a fish, so we had walked on up the river to 
 inspect the water. Above the Stanley water comes the Burn- 
 mouth water a fine, long, open pool, for a considerable portion 
 of it, which always holds fish, and that too of the largest. At 
 the top of the Burnmouth water is the Linn of Campsie, where 
 the rocky shores approach each other very closely indeed, and, 
 with the exception of an insignificant side stream, the whole of 
 the Tay here pours in a resistless volume through a narrow neck 
 not much more than twenty yards wide, into a deep, dark, foam- 
 flecked swirling pool below, which resembles a huge basin. A 
 fine view of the Linn is obtained from the high rocks which over- 
 hang the north side. Here formerly a monastery stood, and 
 faint traces are still to be seen of its walls. The scenery is very 
 fine, and is alone worth a visit. Having seen all that we cared to 
 see, we scrambled through the woods, over the cliffs, where a 
 slip or a fall in places would drop one into the river, one hundred 
 feet or more below, back to the Stanley water. The boat was 
 ready for us, and embarking with two rods, each with a brace of 
 flies on, and one with a phantom minnow, we commenced the 
 usual see-saw to and fro. A good many fish were rising and showing 
 themselves. They were kelts, old red winter fish, and a few 
 clean fish but not one would even make an offer at us ; and 
 after about a couple of hours assiduous hurling without any 
 result, we gave it up, got back to our trap, and so home, It was
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 257 
 
 clear that, barring the accident of a dark and windy day which 
 seemed to avoid us as much as possible fishing in the Tay was 
 hopeless. It was also full late for spring-fishing, and too early for 
 grilse. 
 
 The next day I had an invitation from Mr. Marshall, of Lun- 
 carty, to fish his water, and to look over his bleach works, Perth 
 being famed for having in its vicinity the first bleach works 
 established in Scotland ; and in the morning he very kindly 
 drove in and fetched us, and we had a very pleasant drive to 
 Luncarty. On the way, Mr. Marshall pointed out to me the 
 various objects of interest on the road. About five or six miles 
 from Perth he pointed to the left, towards Glen Almond. 
 "Yonder, out by Lynedoch," he said, "lies the grave of Bessie 
 Bell and Mary Gray." The story of these poor girls is so 
 romantic and interesting, that I make no apology for extracting 
 it as I find it told in " Black's Tourist." 
 
 The common tradition is, that Bessie Bell and Mary Gray were the 
 daughters of two country gentlemen in the neighbourhood of Perth, and 
 an intimate friendship subsisted between them. Bessie Bell, daughter 
 of the Laird of Kinnaird, happened to be on a visit to Mary Gray, at her 
 father's house of Lynedoch, when the plague of 1666 broke out. To 
 avoid the infection, the two young ladies built themselves a bower in a 
 very retired and romantic spot called the Burnbraes, about three quarters 
 of a mile westward from Lynedoch House, where they resided for some 
 time, supplied with food, it is said, by a young gentleman of Perth, who 
 was in love with them both. The disease was unfortunately communi- 
 cated to them by their lover, and proved fatal, when, according to custom 
 in cases of plague, they were not buried in the ordinary parochial place 
 of sepulture, but in a sequestered spot called Dronach Haugh, at the foot 
 of a brae of the same name, upon the banks of the river Almond. The 
 late Lord Lynedoch put an iron railing round the grave, and planted 
 some yew trees beside it. 
 
 The following pathetic little ballad, which Allan Eamsay supplanted by 
 a much inferior song, has fortunately been recovered by Mr. Kirkpatrick 
 Sharpe : 
 
 Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, 
 They war twa bonnie lasses, 
 They biggit a bower on yon burn side, 
 And theekit it ower wi' rashes. 
 8
 
 258 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 They theekit it ower wi' rashes green, 
 
 They theekit it ower wi' heather ; 
 But the pest cam frae the burrows-town, 
 
 And slew them baith thegither. 
 
 They thocht to lie in Methven kirk-yard, 
 
 Amang their noble kin ; 
 But they maun lie on Lynedoch brae, 
 
 To beek forenent the sun. 
 And Bessie Bell and Mary Gray, 
 
 They war twa bonnie lasses ; 
 They biggit a bower on yon burn side, 
 
 And theekit it ower wi' rashes. 
 
 "Pennant's Tour." "Chambers's Ballads," p. 146. 
 
 Poor things ! What a melancholy termination to their young 
 lives, and how tenderly and simply is their history given. 
 
 A little further on, the site of an old battle-field, between the 
 Danes and the Scots, in the reign of Kenneth III., was pointed 
 out to me. The Scotch were almost routed, and were about to 
 fly, when a peasant, named Hay, and his two sons, who chanced 
 to be ploughing hard by, came to their assistance, armed only 
 with their plough-yokes. Their appearance and courage re- 
 inspired the flying soldiers. They rallied, and, turning upon 
 their foes, succeeded in gaining a complete victory over them. 
 The king was so sensible of his obligation, that he ennobled the 
 Hays and gave them all the territory his falcon could fly over, 
 and the Hays became lords of a very extensive domain there. 
 They bore on their crest, in memory of their victory, a peasant 
 carrying a yoke over his shoulder. Well, indeed, did they earn 
 their fame, and nobly and richly were they rewarded. 
 
 The bleach-works were very interesting, and we saw all the 
 improvements made by science in the process of late years, and 
 they are not very numerous, except in the drying process, in 
 which cylinders heated by steam are employed, instead of the old 
 plan of hanging the cloths in a large store with open jalousies, 
 where in cold weather, they used to be frozen hard and stiff. I 
 noticed a considerable smell of chloride in one of the processes ;
 
 B5T LAKE AND EIVEE. 259 
 
 but this gets a good deal diluted before it reaches the river, and 
 the leats themselves have trout in them ; it is probable that no 
 great harm is done to the fishery. Mr. Marshall, besides being 
 very partial to angling, would scarcely, if he could avoid it, 
 poison his own water. In one of the processes, where the 
 cloths were rolled up, an immense number of stampers (similar 
 to ore-crushers) are used to beat the cloth, and the din made 
 by these stampers when they are in work is something almost 
 infernal. I stopped my ears and bolted, being somewhat sensi- 
 tive in my auricular arrangements. After looking at the works, 
 we went down to the water, where Mr. M.'s boat was in attend- 
 ance, and we went through the usual process of zig-zagging to and 
 fro over a beautiful piece of water, where, if the weather had 
 been reasonably favourable, we might fairly have expected to get 
 something ; but the fish clearly preferred stopping at the bottom 
 and chancing boiling to coming to the top, with the certainty 
 of broiling ; so we saw nothing of the salmon, and after a couple 
 of hours' fishing, during which Mr. Paton killed a nice trout or 
 two, we went in to lunch, and after lunch our entertainer drove 
 us back to Perth again. 
 
 It was now pretty evident that fishing on the Tay was at ah 
 end for a season. I had seen some of the best waters, and deter- 
 mined to take a look at the celebrated Bermoney boat. Accord- 
 ingly, on the next day, we got into a boat and essayed to row 
 down ; bat we started too late for the tide, and after meeting the 
 young flood, and finding that it would be decidedly harder work 
 rowing than walking, we left the boat at a quay about a mile' or 
 so below Perth, and walked the remainder of the distance. It 
 was a pleasant walk, and the view of Kinfauns Castle is very 
 beautiful. Many nets were at work as we walked on, and about 
 four miles down we came to the place where the celebrated 
 Bermoney boat is worked. The plan is a very simple one. The 
 water to be fished is a creek or fork, and from the shore some 
 little distance down, across to the outer point of the creek, which 
 
 is a promontory projecting down stream a rope has been laid 
 
 s 2
 
 260 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 down and fixed by means of a peg at either end. When they 
 want to shoot the net they take up the rope and pull themselves 
 along by its aid, and are thus enabled to make quicker and easier 
 work of it than they would with oars. Now that I have seen the 
 apparatus, I am satisfied that no judges could have declared it to 
 be capable of being brought under the category of "fixed 
 engines," as neither net nor boat is ever supposed to be stationary. 
 It happens that the town have the fishery immediately above 
 this. The creek is a very favourite resting-place for salmon when 
 the tide is rising or at the full, but they will not rest in it when 
 it is low or ebbing fast ; consequently, if this creek could not be 
 fished and it could not well be fished, they say, in any other 
 way the fish that rest there at high tide, instead of being swept 
 up by the B. B., would be grabbed by the town. Hinc illce 
 lacrymce .' Eleven fish were so taken the day before we were 
 there, and eleven fish would probably fetch 25s. apiece, so the 
 point is worth fighting over. 
 
 The fishings in the Tay altogether must be very valuable ; but 
 I think if they did not net so many of the angling pools so in- 
 cessantly, they would do better with the angling, i.e., the value 
 of the angling would increase to such an extent that it would 
 cover the little loss there would be by nets. As it is, the spring 
 fishing on the Tay and I think very much from this cause, 
 combined with the style of rod fishing adopted is very far from 
 being so productive or valuable as it ought to be. On a mile of 
 the best water on the Tay they had taken the season I was 
 there about a score of fish, and they seemed to think that was a 
 very fair take, as none of the other waters had done anything 
 like it. I confess that I was astounded at its smallness for a 
 river like the Tay, where every cast might and ought to almost 
 swarm with salmon. When we think of the enormous rents that 
 are paid on many rivers for rod fishings, the smallness of the 
 sum realised for the rod fishings on the best part of the Tay is 
 surprising. I subjoin a list furnished to me by persons compe- 
 tent to make it ; it is a fair estimate of the value, &c., and I
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 261 
 
 took the statements down as they gave them to me. Starting 
 down stream from the Birnam Hotel water, which is the first 
 water of any note, we come to 
 
 Miles. 
 
 The Delvin and Murthley waters, belonging to Sir A. Mac- 
 kenzie and Sir W. Stewart. It lets for about 60 2 
 
 Cargill and Ballathie waters : from Isla mouth to Cargill- 
 bridge, and from Cargill-bridge to the Old Oak Tree, 
 belonging to General Richardson Robertson and Lord 
 Willoughby; lets for 96 H 
 
 Stobball and Tay -mouth waters : from the Old Oak Tree 
 to the Linn of Campsie, the best water on Tay, be- 
 longing to Lords Mansfield and Willoughby ; valued at 
 about 48 2 
 
 JBurnmouth and part of the Stanley water : from the Linn 
 of Campsie to Hells Hole ; Lord Willoughby and the 
 DukeofAthol 48 l 
 
 Stanley water : from Hells Hole to Thistle Brig ; Duke of 
 
 Athol, Mr. Howard, and Lord Mansfield 48 1 
 
 Binchell and Blackrock water : from Thistle Brig to Lun- 
 
 carty ; The Duke of Athol and Lord Mansfield 48 2 
 
 Scone and Redgorten water : from Luncarty to Perth ; 
 
 Lord Mansfield and Mr. Maxton Graham . , 48 4 , 
 
 Total* =396 13J 
 
 39 6/. for nearly fourteen miles of the finest river in Scotland! 
 one that has, perhaps, if not the finest angling water, yet as fine 
 as any other, and a river, moreover, which gives to the nets more 
 fish than any other river in Scotland. What can be the reason of 
 .this ? It is not because it is boat fishing, because the Tweed is 
 boat fishing, and many other rivers I could name also ; yet, I 
 have known one-sixth the length and less water on the Tweed 
 fetch a great deal more money. It would not be a very wild 
 assertion to say that, instead of nearly 400/. a-year, these rod- 
 .fishings, if they were what in a river like the Tay they ought to 
 
 * This was estimated in 1865. The rentals have been doubled since 
 then, and the sport greatly deteriorated owing to increased netting, but 
 .still I let it stand. F. F.
 
 262 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 be, should be worth, nearer 4000J. Angling pools ought not to 
 be netted, or very sparsely ; if they are, the fish are rendered 
 restless, and will not rise, even if they are in the river and then 
 the question arises, which is the most valuable, net or rod ? 
 Indeed, a medium course might be adopted if every proprietor 
 was not so desperately jealous of his up-stream neighbour as to 
 fear to leave anything for him. The fish produced by the rod 
 might be given up, and, if the water was not harried as it is, 
 these should be considerable in number; while the expense of 
 men and tackle, which must be very considerable, would be done 
 away with, as the angler would find all that. Of course, such a 
 plan could not be pursued unless all up-stream proprietors agreed 
 to adopt it. It would not do for a few on the angling water to 
 say we will not net, if those above them "did. I am quite sure 
 that if they gave over the netting, in time they would find the 
 angling rents would pay them better than the present system. 
 
 As regards the style of angling adopted on the Tay, I cannot 
 say that I like it. It is a very lazy style of fishing. Boat- 
 fishing at the best is a terrible pull-down to the noble sport of 
 salmon-fishing, but when you do not even cast the fly, it becomes, 
 to my fancy, very tame work when sport is slack. Salmon fishing 
 under any circumstances is apt to become wearying when the fish 
 do not rise ; but much solatium is to be obtained by practising a 
 neat, or a light, or a long cast, and in devising various expedients 
 to tempt the salmon up, and at every likely cast the excitement 
 is kept up by the constantly renewed expectation. But in hurling 
 there is no skill whatever required ; indeed, it scarcely needs even 
 patience, for the angler may take the most comfortable and easy 
 chair, or a seat equivalent to it, stick up his legs Yankee-fashion, 
 put a long regalia in his mouth, and plunge into the last new 
 sensation novel ; and thus, being rowed gently to and fro, with 
 the wash of the stream and the lap of the oars, may either lose 
 himself in his story or in sleep to be awakened from some dream 
 of gratified ambition, or just as that lovely and most delicious of 
 heroines has been found out in murdering her fifth husband by
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 263 
 
 slow poison, by her only son, an elegant and popular young 
 
 minister of the Church of , by the shout, " There he is, 
 
 sir!" and the "birring" of his reel. No, it is not salmon- 
 fishing, to my mind, unless it be for gouty practitioners. Added 
 to this, the practice of sweeping the river with so many flies, of 
 rowing constantly across and across the streams all day long, 
 must, I should think, have a tendency to shy the fish and to keep 
 them down. It may be difficult to fish such a large stream as 
 the Tay satisfactorily by casting, but still I fancy if each party 
 on either side kept to his own half of the river, as they do on 
 Tweed, and fished only that half, that the doubled rods would 
 catch as many fish as they do now. My sport on the Tay was so 
 very moderate, that perhaps I ' am pronouncing a hasty and 
 inexperienced judgment. It may be so, and it may be that upon 
 further experience I should come to a different conclusion. Still 
 I should like to see the Tweed plan well and fairly tried. I think 
 that the fish, being less disturbed by the boats, would rise more 
 freely, and that this might counterbalance the difficulty there 
 would be in covering the half of the water by casting. If, how- 
 ever, I do err in my judgment, I do not feel very bigoted in my 
 opinion. The Tay is a very large river, and it is just possible 
 that it has already been found ineffective to fish it as I have 
 suggested. If this be so, I must apologise for intruding my 
 ideas. 
 
 The Tay flies are strange-looking ones, being usually tied upon 
 long-shanked round-bend hooks ; tails, wisps of pigs's wool, claret 
 or yellow, with a topping a bit of mallard or sprigs of a gold 
 pheasant's tippet ; bodies, yellow or red for the lower half, and 
 blues of various shades above, or yellow, claret, and blue. Where 
 there is claret in the body a claret hackle from head to tail, with 
 gallina at shoulder, where it is almost blue, with black hackle at 
 shoulder ; wings, turkey of various shades ; a light dun brown 
 lightly speckled with a lightish point to it, is the . feather 
 preferred, the lightish point being considered a great desideratum. 
 Where the fibre is not long enough for the large spring flies, it is
 
 264 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 usual to tie another pair of wings on half way down the body 
 broad silver tinsel ; dirty browns, clarets, and blues, are all 
 favourites, with longish hackles and dun turkey wings. But the 
 flies are numerous and various, and the angler will always find 
 the best choice at Paton's, or elsewhere, so I need not attempt 
 a long description of a score of flies. 
 
 With respect to the Tay and its tributaries I may say a few 
 words before leaving the district. I wrote to Mr. Paton to ask 
 him for information, and his son, Mr. L. Paton, who carries on 
 the business at Perth, while his father is at the London estab- 
 lishment at 108, Mount-street, replied to my question. I cannot 
 do better than give his information in his own words. First, then, 
 anyone may fish the Tay from the right bank for either salmon 
 or trout for about three or four miles above Perth, thence down- 
 wards, on both banks. From Perth downwards, it is a sort of 
 disputed point, whether the public may fish by boat or not, as the 
 tide comes up above Perth. Anyhow, the public do fish it, and 
 there is no attempt to prosecute. From Perth upwards the first 
 hotel water is Birnam, and the next Aberfeldy, the Breadalbane 
 Arms, and both waters show fair sport, and at times are really good. 
 On the most of the river, trout fishing from the bank is permitted, 
 except where the river runs through or past private pleasure 
 grounds, such as Scone Park, Stanley Cottage, Stanley House, 
 Stobhall, Taymount, Murthly Grounds, Dunkeld Cottage Grounds, 
 Castle Mongies, and Taymouth Castle. It is capital for trout, 
 from Ballinluig to Aberfeldy, and, I am told, quite free. On the 
 Earn all the fishing is in the hands of proprietors, or shooting 
 tenants. The two best trout streams falling into it are the Devon 
 and the May. The latter is all preserved, the former only partly. 
 The Almond is free, except where it runs through Lord Mans- 
 field's policies at Logiealmond and Lynedoch, but is only a trout 
 river, and the trouts run very small. The Isla is free both for 
 salmon and trout, and a good number of salmon are killed in it 
 in the back end of the season. It is a very sluggish stream and 
 requires wind not a little. Higher up it is a capital trout stream,
 
 BY LAKE AKD EIVEE. 265 
 
 and is all free. It is, of course, very well fished, principally by 
 Dundee visitors. The Ericht flows into it, not far from Coupar 
 Angus, and is an excellent trout stream, especially about six 
 miles above Blairgowrie, where it is called the Ardle. A fine 
 stretch of the Tummel can be fished by staying at Mr. Fisher's 
 hotel at Pitlochrie, and no charge is made, and good sport is often 
 got in April and May. The Hotel is a most comfortable and well- 
 conducted one, near to the falls of Tummel and the pass of Killie- 
 crankie. The rest is preserved. The Tummel is a capital trout 
 river. The Garry and Tilt are both fully preserved. The Braan is 
 a fine trout stream, no use below the Bumbling Bridge, but above 
 that free. Amulree is the best place to stay at, as you can walk 
 down as far as you like and fish home. Splendid salmon 
 fishing may be got on Loch Tay either at the hotel at Killin or at 
 that at Kenmore the fish run very large, often from 301b. to 401b. 
 and over. The charge is 5 a-week for the fishing, and the 
 angler keeps his fish. The phantom is very deadly on Loch Tay, 
 fly being of little use ; three, four, and five fish in a day are not at 
 all uncommon. There are other hotels which have the privilege 
 of letting boats on the lake. The fishing commences early in 
 February and holds till May. 
 
 A portion of the Dochart which runs into Loch Tay at Killin 
 may be fished by staying at the hotel at Luib, and sometimes 
 good sport is got there. There is railway accommodation to 
 Killin direct via Stirling.
 
 266 BY LAKE AND EFVEB. 
 
 CHAPTEE XXY. 
 
 THE TWEED AGAIN SPBOUSTON DTJB MES. JOHNSTONE'S 
 A FISH IN THE DUB SMOLT SLAUGHTEE ON TWEED THE 
 TEVIOT AE MAIE i' THE DUB A VEEY HOLDING "PBISON" 
 TWEED FLIES CLOSING EEMAEKS. 
 
 I HAD promised to meet a friend on the Tweed, at Sprouston, 
 and, as I had somewhat extended the time set apart for the trip, 
 as soon as I could leave Perth, I made for Kelso. On reaching 
 it I found a note from my friend, saying that he could not come ; 
 and as the weather and water did not promise very favourably, 
 I was glad to shorten the time of my stay, though after all 
 things turned out a trifle better than I expected. On the evening 
 of my arrival, I walked over to Sprouston to arrange with Kerss, 
 and to see my old acquaintance, Jamie Wright, and to get a few 
 slaughterers from him. " She " that is, of course, the river, for 
 rivers are always feminine genders in Scotland "was verra 
 sma'," and verra sma' flies were required to do any good ; and, 
 having ordered half-a-dozen double-toothed (double-hooked) 
 tempters for the morrow, I walked up to Mrs. Johstone's to 
 see if any of the gentlemen who belong to the club were at home. 
 I found two ; one of them, who was leaving the next morning, had 
 been out trouting, and had picked up a capital dish of trout, in 
 number about forty, and varying in size from three to the pound to 
 lib. and over, and beautiful fish those pounders were. Altogether 
 it was as handsome a dish of fish as one need wish to catch. Mr. 
 H., the other gentleman, had taken a salmon about 7lb. Mrs. 
 Johnstone's is, for the benefit of those who do not know 
 it, a most comfortable abiding for the angler. It is a sort of
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 267 
 
 half-club, half-public, somewhat after the fashion of the well- 
 known Tibbie Shiels. Over the mantel-piece in the sitting-room 
 is a card registering the notable fish killed by members of the 
 club within the last few years and there i'faith is a goodly list, 
 few under 301b. Against each fish is the date and place of his 
 slaughter, the name of his captor, and the fly that tempted him, 
 
 as thus: "351b. Sept. 10, 1863, Capt. ; Sprouston Dub; 
 
 the Durham Banger," or 361b. Oct. 1, 1862, the Eev. ; 
 
 the Prison ; Jock Scott," and so on ; and amongst the list is 
 the red-letter fish, a 46-pounder, whose capture was chronicled in 
 The Field some years since. Confound the list ! it made my 
 mouth water.- It was like a bottle of sweets stuck on a high 
 shelf out of reach, to a child. 
 
 Early next morning I was about ; but the exigencies of posts 
 and letters, and journals those horrible drawbacks to an angler's 
 enjoyment kept me dilly-dallying about for an hour or two. 
 What a relief it would be if one could only get where posts and 
 newspapers are not ; " Oh, for a lodge in some vast wilderness ! " 
 with not even "pony expresses " to worry one periodically. 
 
 I got to the river at last, and found Kerss waiting for me. He 
 had to go up and fetch the flies, so I waited for another spell, 
 but at last we go off. I had Sprouston Dub for my water, and 
 the .morning, for a wonder, was dark and windy, and there was a 
 very nice curl on the Dub ; and I thought, if ever a fish rose on 
 it, it should be now. Out of my six flies I selected one called the 
 " Kate," and began to fish with it, Kerss dropping the boat slowly 
 down the Dub at every cast. I was about half-way down when, 
 " There he was, sir," as a smart boil in the water told that 
 something fishy had come up to look. But he did not touch, so 
 after a short rest I pitched him the two-hooked tempter again, 
 and let it sink a little, when he came and took it fairly. And 
 now, what was he ? was he a kelt ? No ! per Baccho ! he was not, 
 for there he jumped clean out of the water, and settled all doubts 
 on the question. He was a beautiful clean fish of about 121b. 
 He gave some very fair sport, and although my hooks were small
 
 268 BY LAKE AND BITER. 
 
 not larger than sea-trout hooks there were two, and they held 
 on to him like grim Death on a dead nigger, and vain were his 
 efforts to get me into difficulties. I landed, worked him in, and 
 Kerss popped the net under him, and he came out as good, if not 
 a better fish, than any I had killed during my trip, 11 ^lb., and 
 as "ansum as a picter," as the Thames fisherman would express 
 it. He was duly admired and christened, and consigned to the 
 till until further orders ; and we went to work again. Fished 
 the Dub, but gave it a little rest while we lunched. I tried it 
 again with a change of flies, and near the lower end up came a 
 big 'un to the temptations of Jock Scott ; and he began playing 
 very vigorously, so much so that I felt pretty confident I was in 
 another clean one ; but presently he showed his back above 
 water, and he was of the kelt keltic. Whereupon I " put the pot 
 on," and got him out as soon as I could ; which was not easy, for 
 I do think that a kelt is the hardest fish in the head of any I 
 know, and the way in which he manages to bore down and keep 
 his head well down amongst the rocks, and his tail well up 
 stands on his head, in fact, is remarkable. When we did get 
 him out he was a poor thin brute of some 14lb. or 151b., and he 
 was so exhausted with the pully-hauling he had partaken of, that 
 he lay a long time at the bottom of the water before he was 
 equal to make a move. He disappeared at last, however, so I 
 conclude he recovered. 
 
 After this the wind fell almost to a calm, and it was quite 
 useless trying for salmon, so I put up my trout rod, and worked 
 for trout. I did not catch very many, as the day was not quite 
 all that one could wish ; but I caught two or three "punders," 
 as they are called ; and what game fish they are. It is 
 astonishing how long and persistently a pound fish will play, you 
 cannot haul him out just as you please. Your tackle is fine and 
 your hooks small ; and if you attempt to take your own way too 
 much with him, he will break away to a certainty. I was fishing 
 with a strong, double-handed rod, and not a very small fly, yet 
 was I quite astonished at the time they took to kill.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 269 
 
 One thing had taken my attention, and that was the numbers 
 of boys I saw fishing the river at every bend, and I mentioned it 
 to one of the fisherman. "Yes," he said, "and most of them 
 are killing smolts. It is too bad, and ought to be put a stop to." 
 I made inquiry from others, and what I gathered 'may be seen 
 from the following letter which I sent to the Scotsman, in the 
 hope of inducing the conservators to put a stop to such terribly 
 wholesale destruction : 
 
 SIR, Will you allow me to call attention to a most disastrous and 
 mischievous practice at present very widely followed on the Tweed ? I 
 am, as you are perhaps aware, at present engaged in Scotland on a 
 mission for THE FIELD in reporting upon the various rivers that come 
 under my notice, and pointing out any matter which strikes me as re- 
 quiring attention or amendment. In the course of my journey I have 
 come down to the Tweed ; and on the first morning I arrived here, I was 
 struck by the number of men and boys whom I saw passing along the 
 banks of the river between this and Sprouston, and, on remarking on it 
 to the fishermen, they told me that the greater majority of them were 
 engaged in smolt killing. The smolts are very forward on the Tweed 
 more so than any other river I have been on ; and they are this year re- 
 markably fine, and promise well for a good grilse season, if they are not 
 swept away in the manner they are being just now. We made a calcu- 
 lation (and I have purposely put it at the lowest figure) that there would 
 be at least fifty rods about Kelso daily; each of these would, at the 
 lowest compute, get two dozen of smolts. Many could get four or five 
 dozen, or even far more than that. Suppose this work to continue for 
 only a month, instead of all the season, when the parrs are taken instead, 
 something like 40,000 smolts are the tally which the little poachers of 
 Kelso alone rob the river of. Supposing that only one in twenty of these 
 come back a grilse and it is a fair calculation there is a loss of 2000 
 grilse to the river. But consider this practice being carried on in every 
 town and village on the Tweed : and is it not a wonder that any smolts 
 at all get to the sea ? So ravenous are those little creatures that the 
 coarsest tackle will take them ; and they will devour fly, worm, grub, and 
 almost anything with equal avidity. In fact, a withe stick and a hook 
 will take a dozen or two with very little skill ; and so great is the 
 quantity taken by some of the more experienced scamps, that I am 
 assured that last season some of them in Sprouston took more smolts 
 than their families could eat, or than they knew what to do with, and 
 they were actually thrown to the pigs. Now, if only a tithe of this is 
 true, it is scandalous and abominable in the extreme. No river in the
 
 270 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 kingdom pays so heavily for protection as the Tweed. Year after year 
 we have terrific accounts of the tremendous engagements fought by that 
 active and energetic officer Inspector So-and-so with the poachers of 
 Peebles and Galashiels, that the spawn may be duly deposited in the 
 beds ; but what is the use of all this ratepaying and head-breaking if 
 after the spawn has been deposited, and has passed through nearly all its 
 dangers, and having become a perfect fish, needing but a short trip to the 
 sea to bring it back a 41b. or 51b. grilse, it is allowed to be captured and 
 killed to any extent with impunity ? I constantly see the reports of the 
 scientific gentlemen at the mouth of the river, who are seeking to estab- 
 lish certain points in the history of the salmon, and these reports complain 
 loudly of the vast and rapid decrease yearly of the salmon smolts ; and if 
 practices such as I have noted above are allowed, it is not to be wondered 
 at. One raid on the part of one bailiff would effectually stop the practice 
 which is at present depreciating the river ; and how it happens that no 
 bailiffs ever do come up and see to this abuse, I cannot understand. 
 
 I should have treated upon this in THE FIELD, and not have troubled 
 you, but that the matter is urgent. The smolts are now getting to- 
 gether, and in a week or two enormous destruction will have been done if 
 the mischief be not promptly stopped ; and it will be two or three weeks 
 before my chapter on the Tweed can possibly appear in THE FIELD. 
 
 FRANCIS FRANCIS. 
 
 This letter produced two or three others from other corre- 
 spondents, shewing that the evil was not confined by any means 
 to the Tweed, but was just as rife in its tributaries ; and when 
 one considers the hundreds of miles which there are of these 
 tributaries, upon most of which parr are found, and the hundreds 
 and hundreds of anglers who do not hesitate to bag them to the 
 number of from one or two to ten or twelve dozen daily, it is 
 impossible to calculate the awful destruction dealt to the Tweed 
 from this source alone. When the vast increase of anglers is 
 taken into consideration, this source of destruction is quite enough 
 to account for any falling off, however great, of the salmon 
 fisheries. Formerly anglers were few and far between compara- 
 tively speaking, trout were very plentiful, and the same induce- 
 ments to poach smolts did not exist. The case is much more 
 serious now. 
 
 Another point much complained of is the impracticable 
 state of some of the caulds. There are two or three in the
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 271 
 
 river, which the fish cannot, save under very favourable cir- 
 cumstance, surmount. I think the one at Melrose was cited as 
 an example. 
 
 The next day was Sunday, and towards the afternoon I walked 
 up the Teviot some four or five miles. The caulds in the Teviot 
 are very bad. I saw a great many huge kelts jumping in the 
 pools, and I could not see very clearly how they were to get out 
 of them without a very heavy spate. The lower part of the 
 Teviot for about a mile or so is very pretty trout- water; above 
 that mill-dams dyke it up with long dead pools, with short 
 intervals here and there. These pools, however contain some 
 fine trout, and are the salmon-pools also. Of course a strong 
 breeze is needed for sport. It is needless to say that the Teviot, 
 more particularly the lower part, being so handy to Kelso, is 
 tolerably well fished. Late in the season it gives fair salmon 
 fishing after a flood. 
 
 On Monday I fished the Dub again, and it was a fine, rough, 
 dark day a capital day for the Sprouston water. But I tried 
 the virtues of the Kate, Jock Scott, the Black-and-yellow, and 
 the Drake on it, but failed to move a fish. I then went down to 
 the slap in the cauld, at the back of which a contumacious fish 
 resided. He had risen once or twice to flies, but always came 
 shy. I tried him deftly with the charming Kate, and he came 
 and inspected that young person, but did not break the water. I 
 tried him with Jock Scott, and he just looked at it, but it 
 interested him less than the other. At intervals I tried him with 
 some half dozen flies, but they would not do. Then I thought, 
 " Let us try him with a larger fly, the day is dark and rough." 
 Accordingly, I put up a dun-wing, and at the very first cast he 
 came more boldly than he had at all ; but he would not buckle 
 to, so I was obliged to leave him to his own sulky and abandoned, 
 devices. He was a most rude, suspicious kind of fish a fish 
 devoid of that noble confidence and trust in his species and the 
 human race generally which is so refreshing to meet with in the 
 arid deserts of conventionalism and civilisation none of that
 
 272 BY LAKE AND EFVEE. 
 
 chivalrous sentiment about him that prompted the crusades and 
 knight errantry. I could not do more than I did to provoke a 
 combat nailed my colours to the mast, displayed my shield, I 
 even trailed my coat-a-more, and I proclaimed my Kate to be the 
 fairest and most captivating young person in all those parts : and 
 this cowardly, sneaking salmon would not try conclusions with 
 me. A low kind of fish very : I went my ways quite unworthy 
 of my attention ! I had no doubt whatever that he would be 
 caught with a worm in the first water that came down, and a 
 very proper fate too. He was very sour grapes, that fish very 
 sour! 
 
 "We'll have another try at the Dub, Kerss, there's always one 
 more there," I said. 
 
 "Ay, indeed," said Kerss dryly; "there's always ae mair 
 i'the Dub and sometimes twa." Accordingly I kept on the 
 dun-wing, and tried it up the Dub, and, as luck would have 
 it, just in the best bit of it up jumped a capital fish, making 
 a most brilliant rise, and fastened. From the first there 
 was little doubt that he was a clean fish ; indeed, at this time of 
 the year the betting was 3 to 1 in favour of a clean fish, as kelts 
 were nearly all gone, and the few that were left had all been 
 hauled about, and would not rise well. After a little nasty play, 
 in which the fish fought hard for some foul ground where rocks 
 did congregate, I beat him out of it, and got him within com- 
 fortable distance ; and although he manifested a decent reluctance 
 to come into the net, he slipped gracefully into it at last, and 
 turned up a fine fish of 121b. After this exploit we went to 
 lunch, and found that Mr. H. had hooked and lost two fish ; one 
 he was sure was a clean one, the other was uncertain. I tried 
 the Dub over again and again, but did no more ; and wanting a 
 dish of trout to take home with me, I betook myself to trouting, 
 and got up a respectable basket, but nothing remarkable. I had 
 to leave off rather early, having to catch the evening train, and 
 as I left the Dub I saw Sir E., who was fishing the opposite 
 water, fast in a good fish, which I believe he landed ; and just
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 273 
 
 as I was tackling up Mr. H. got hold of a fine fish of 161b. or 
 17lb., which had been seen several times playing round the Prison, 
 and had often been tried for but without success. This time, 
 however, he had taken bravely, and an exciting struggle took 
 place. That Prison is a very remarkable cast. It consists of a 
 huge tabular stone, which stands up in the middle of the river, 
 and between the stone and the south shore is a sharp ledge of 
 rock, a narrow gut, and a very nasty bottom ground. Bound 
 this stone the fish kept working, never coming near the surface, 
 but playing deeply and dangerously in such ground. Mr. H. 
 landed on the north shore, thinking that he had taken the steel 
 out of him a little ; but Salmo had not half done yet, for, making 
 a rush round the upper face of the Prison, he got into the deep 
 narrow gut, taking line out bravely. He was a gallant fish, and 
 played nobly. Mr. H. got into the boat again perforce, and 
 followed him. Deeper and deeper he shot under the dangerous 
 ledge of rocks, the very dungeons of the Prison, when suddenly 
 up flew the rod-point he had cut him fairly ; Salmo triumph- 
 ant, though sore the angler sore too, but not triumphant. 
 Packing up my traps I bade adieu to my fishing, and made my 
 way back to Kelso, and thence to the rail. 
 
 Sprouston Dub is too well known to need description. It is 
 perhaps the finest and most holding pool for large fish on the 
 Tweed. It is a long pool and is rather dead water out of the 
 stream, as is evidenced by the fact that you may cast up-stream 
 apparently and draw down, and the fish rise quite as well as when 
 you are fishing the reverse way ; indeed, the first fish I caught 
 was caught thus. The probability is that when the water is high 
 there are eddies which in places run up-stream. However that 
 may be, the fact is so far noteworthy as being unusual. Kerss 
 is a well-educated, superior man, and I was fortunate in obtain- 
 ing his assistance in the boat, his experience being great ; 
 and, strangely enough for that part of the world, he never 
 touches whisky, and that is no light praise for Tweedside, where 
 whisky is a complaint which a man takes like the measles. He
 
 274 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 has known the water all his life, and his family has rented 
 it for many years. 
 
 I have mentioned two flies specially Kate and Jock Scott. 
 They are flies which would kill, I feel certain, not only on Tweed 
 but anywhere. The other flies I used are tolerably well known 
 patterns ; indeed, Jock Scott is an old, well-tried favourite. The 
 Kate : tag, silver wire and yellow silk ; tail, a small topping with 
 short kingfisher at the but ; body, darkish red silk and wool ; 
 hackle of the same colour at shoulder, with yellow-orange hackle 
 over it, silver wire ; wing, mixed fibres of wood duck, gold 
 pheasant tippet, black partridge, green and yellow parrot, blue 
 macaw ; topping over all, and two jungle cock points at the 
 cheeks ; black head. 
 
 Jock Scott : silver wire tag, small topping, with point of Indian 
 crow for the tail ; body, orange-yellow silk the lower half, over 
 this is tied three or four toucan points, as in the Popham, over 
 the buts of these a couple of turns of black ostrich harl ; the 
 remaining half of body black ; silver wire ; black hackle at 
 shoulder, with gallina over it ; mixed wing of white tip turkey, 
 bustard, black partridge, a few red and green fibres, two short 
 jungle cock, with kingfisher points at the cheeks ; black head. 
 
 The flies were, as all Wright's flies are, pictures. He certainly 
 does tie an admirable fly, and these little double-hooked fellows 
 were the deftest little beauties imaginable. If I wanted a batch 
 of flies for general fishing, I know no one I would sooner apply 
 to, as he is a practical man, and with the assistance of his 
 apprentices ties the flies he sells, and is not likely to fit you out 
 with a showy stock of rubbish, as is too commonly the case where 
 fine old standard back stocks are kept. He keeps no back stock, 
 simply because he can sell his flies faster than he can make 
 them ; and if you want flies you have to wait while they are tied, 
 unless you order them well beforehand. Most of the waters on 
 Tweed are in private hands, taken by the year or on lease ; rods 
 may be taken by anglers on the Kerss's water at Sprouston, 
 which are usually let by the month, and there are few more
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVBK. 275 
 
 folding waters on tlie whole of Tweed. Of the trouting, &c., I 
 have already spoken. 
 
 Probably a worse spring season has not been known for many 
 years in the north, than the one I have written of. March was 
 remarkable for very low water, and bitter easterly winds. April, 
 on the other hand, turned out very bright and warm, and the 
 falls of snow on the mountains having been very late and very 
 heavy, the rivers were kept up far above good fishing height, by 
 constantly melting snows, which made most of them equally 
 impracticable in another way. When this settled down into 
 something like fishing-water, sport improved somewhat, but the 
 early spring fishing was lost 
 
 T 2
 
 276 BT LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 THIRD RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 
 HELL GATE INVEEARY DUOALD DALGETTY LOCH AWE PORT 
 SONNACHEN CLADDOCK KlT NORTH AND HIS FBIEND. 
 
 EARLY in May I made my way to the mouth, of the Clyde, 
 to the lovely sea-loch side watering-place called Bow, on the 
 Gare-loch, opposite to Greenock and Eoseneath, to join my 
 friend Tupman in a fishing trip to Loch Awe, and after a brief 
 preparation, we made tracks by steamer from Greenock vid 
 Loch Long up to Loch Goil-head, where we took coach over 
 the mountains, through a pass most inappropriately and in- 
 aptly termed Hell Gate for if the difficulty of getting 
 through the real one at all approaches that to be met with 
 in this, I fear that Old Hornie would have but a small congrega- 
 tion, and that " Facilis descensus Averni " would have to be re- 
 written. To be sure this would be " ascensus," which rather 
 alters the case, for it is all terrible uphill work. And here, 
 though it is exceeding early to begin story-telling, I did hear one 
 while in Scotland, which bore so upon this point that I can't help 
 telling it ; for we must be babbling, my masters. B., a well- 
 known manufacturer and philanthropist in a small way, was 
 commenting to a friend, C., a canny, shrewd old rule-of-thumb 
 contractor, on the good that philanthropy effected, and he con- 
 cluded thus : " I wonder, Mr. B., whether we shall be permitted 
 to look down upon our good deeds hereafter, and to watch the fruc- 
 tification of the good seed we have sown here." " Ha ! " said B. 
 curtly and cannily, "but maybe, Sheriff, that it's looking up
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 277 
 
 ye may be." From Hell Gate we descended to Loch Fyne, and 
 so across to Inverary, and thence by trap thirteen miles to Port 
 Sonnachan on Loch Awe. The beauty of those salt-water lochs 
 must be seen to be appreciated, and even I, who have seen most 
 of the finest scenery in Scotland and Ireland, was surprised at it. 
 In the summer thousands of tourists throng the steamboats ; but 
 -those who want to see these scenes comfortably and without the 
 British tourist should go in May if the weather suits, which is 
 before the tourist season. The coach is a sort of cross between 
 a diligence, an omnibus, and some other unnameable vehicle. It 
 is a mode of conveyance certainly, but the road being awfully 
 hilly, as the Irishman said of the sedan chair without a bottom, 
 " Bedad, av' it wasn't for the look of the thing, I'd as lave walk 
 altogether." As we landed from the ferry boat at the little pier 
 at Inverary Tupman repeated Burns. 
 
 Whatever stranger visits here, 
 
 We pity his sad case, 
 Unless to worship he draws near, 
 
 The king of kings his Grace. 
 
 Burns certainly was a terrible Democrat, and it was not likely 
 ihat Maccallum More would escape his wit if Burns ever chanced 
 to sojourn at Inverary ; and though, no doubt, the time is long 
 gone by when it was "a far cry to Loch Awe,"* and the 
 Campbells were not the most desirable of neighbours when a 
 chief of the clan had but to nod his head to cause the fall of any 
 head, or any half-dozen of heads, that were obnoxious to him in 
 Inverary still the name of Argyll is not likely to be unknown 
 in Inverary for some years to come. Inverary is one of the few 
 
 * The origin of this well-known cry, which was afterwards employed 
 in a different signification by the Campbells, arose during a desperate 
 fight between Cawdors and Campbells in Strathnairn in 1499, for the pos- 
 session of Marian, a ward of the Earl of Argyle, whom Campbell of 
 Inverlivor was conveying to Inverary. In the heat of the battle Inver- 
 livor shouted in Gaelic, " 'S fadah glaodh o Lochow 's fadah cobhair a 
 chlam dhoaine." (It's a far cry to Loch Awe, and a distant help to the 
 Campbells.) Walter Scott gives another meaning to it when he puts it 
 into the mouth of one of the Campbells, speaking to Dugald Dalgetty, at 
 -Inverary Castle, in the "Legend of MoHtrose."
 
 278 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 places that one comes across in these iconoclastic times, which 
 Time has touched lightly, and with a little stretch of imagination, 
 and a removal of a few of the more modern tenements, one can 
 recognise the market-place, and guess at the spot on which stood 
 the gibbet, laden with its horrible wealth of corpses, and which 
 first opened the eyes of Major Dugald Dalgetty of Drumthwacket 
 that should have been, late Bitt-master to the great Gustavus 
 Adolphus, Lion of the North, &c., &c., to the wasp's nest he had 
 invaded one can see the cowering Highland women, mourning 
 their slain at the foot of the gibbet, with their heads buried in 
 their plaids can hear Major 'Dalgetty conducting his defence 
 before the Marquis of Argyll in the long gallery of the gloomy old 
 castle of the Argylls. The present one is gloomy enough and 
 ugly enough in all conscience, and how the mind of architect could 
 ever conceive such an amazing structure passes comprehension. 
 
 "A dead fly," said a clergyman, " maketh the ointment of the 
 apothecary to stink." 
 
 " Reverend sir," said Captain Dalgetty, " in respect of the use 
 to be derived, I forgive you the unsavouriness of your comparison ; 
 and also remit the gentleman in the red bonnet the disparaging 
 epithet of ' fellow,' which he has discourteously applied to me, 
 who am no way to be distinguished by the same, unless in so far 
 as I have been called fellow soldier by the great Gustavus 
 Adolphus, the Lion of the North," &c., &c. 
 
 One can see the frowning Marquis immersed in his schemes of 
 intrigue, and hear the whispering of his followers as they eye 
 the bold free lance with looks of anything but love and kindliness 
 at least we can see and hear all this " in the mind's eye, 
 Horatio." 
 
 Lunch was despatched, and we speedily mounted our trap and 
 bowled away for Loch Awe, thirteen (posting) miles; for some 
 distance we drove along the banks of the Aray, a pretty salmon and 
 sea-trout river running through the lovely grounds of Inverary 
 Castle, and in which, along with its neighbour the Shirrah, his Grace 
 had given me a very kind permission to fish either then or
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 279 
 
 later in the autumn when they would yield capital sport, as 
 they are not often fished, and the fish that do enter them are 
 fairly unsophisticated ; but they were dead low now and useless. 
 Port Sonnachan at last, and Host Cameron's comfortable angling 
 inn open to receive us. It stood on the far shore of the lake, and 
 we had to ferry across, and the ferryman demonstrated to us that 
 the M'Gregors were not all gone, but that there was a cateran or two 
 still left. There is a big new hotel on the near side, I believe* 
 but I prefer the humbler hostelry. But here we are on M'Gregor's 
 land, what splendid scenery it is. 
 
 Glen-Orchy's proud mountains, 
 Colquhirn and her towers 
 
 (see " The M'Gregors' Gathering," for the extent of their terri- 
 tory) are all there. Magnificent mountains ; rocky shores, clad 
 with the most varied foliage ; little rippling bays and pebbly 
 strands ; sparkling waters ; here and there a mountain burn 
 pitching over a waterfall. Nature has indeed dealt with a lavish 
 hand, and art has done little to disturb her. Along the northern 
 end of the lake the mighty Ben Cruachan, 3700 feet in height, 
 heaves up his huge back, rugged and storm-furrowed, to the 
 skies, surrounded by his vassal mountains ; on the other hand, 
 Ben Lui (Laoidh) hides his sharper peaks in a fleecy nightcap 
 that should portend rain in May, but unfortunately only portends 
 snow in this May. All along the foot of the Ben Cruachan, 
 which comes tumbling and sliding down to the lake, we float, 
 drifting before the wind, casting right and left in the inky waters, 
 now ruffled by a March wind. "There he was, sir! " cries 
 Donald. Again we cover the timid quarry, and this time the 
 dropper comes dribbling over him in the way that is so irresistable 
 to a loch trout, and he comes at it again in a style not to be mis- 
 taken. A smart chuck of the rod sticks the steel in him, and 
 the line cuts through the water. The rod bends as if I were fast 
 in a 31b. fish at least, but I know better; it is a good pound fish ? 
 and that is all, but he fights as hard and as heavily as many a
 
 280 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 stream trout of more than double his size will. Bang ! bang ! 
 bang ! out of water he jumps like a harlequin from a trap, as I 
 said, an honest pounder. "Ready with the net, Donald? That's 
 it ; and, as he is No. 1, we'll wet him." And the brown and 
 golden captive with his big black spots gets a knock on the head 
 and is pitched into the creel, while we perform the mystic cere- 
 mony of Glenlivat at his obsequies. 
 
 See yonder wee burnie between the rocks, that runs its 
 little porter-coloured flood down into the crystal lake from 
 last night's rain. There is surely a good trout or two there. 
 " Cannily, Donald, cannily, for (singing) 
 
 I've put up the woodcock and yellow, 
 
 I've put up the red and the teal ; 
 "Pis the bonniest flee that a troot can see, 
 
 If it's tied upon trusty steel. 
 
 " Cannily, now, cannily " 
 
 Just in the dubious point where with the pool 
 Is mixed the trembling stream, or where it boils 
 Around the shore, or from the hollowed bank 
 Reverted, plays in undulating flow. 
 There throw, nice judging, the delusive fly : 
 And as yon lead it round in artful curve, 
 With eye attentive, mark the springing game. 
 
 And there he springs sure enough. Thomson must have had 
 this spot in his mind when he wrote these lines. But land 
 the fish, Donald, a pretty |lb. and his brother is behind that 
 small stone, no doubt, Donald. " Ay, mony a gude throot I 
 seen oot o' that." I send an invitation to any of the in- 
 habitants of the fortress in question. It is at once accepted 
 by a fine lusty trout, who, like a hearty good fellow, takes 
 my invite as freely as I offer it, and not only comes home 
 with me to dine, but even stands the dinner, or part of it. 
 Onward we go, but the trout have become insensible to our 
 seductions for the rest of the drift, and, as we turn again to 
 renew it, Donald advises a change of flies. Accordingly off
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 281 
 
 come the claret and the green, and on go the favourite red and 
 teal, that kills on every loch, and the woodcock and yellow. 
 This latter fly resembles a good-sized cowdung very much, and 
 has been the best fly by far on Loch Awe lately. The flies, 
 too, are a size smaller, as the wind is a trifle less and the sun is 
 bright. 
 
 " There goes the first fly I've seen on the water this morn- 
 ing ! " as a small member of the Phryganidte flutters past, and 
 the flop of a good trout follows it. Then several flies come out, 
 and four or five good trout commence, as it is termed here, 
 " rising to themselves." I duly cover them, and picked up three 
 of them in succession ; then occurs an interregnum, and I get 
 another and another ; and then another long interregnum, and 
 so to lunch on a romantic island, about which there is a legend 
 of course, as there is about most of the islands of any extent in 
 the loch. 
 
 Meantime the wind falls, and we cross to the other side where 
 it Strikes better ; and, yonder, too, is Claddich, formerly an inn 
 whti|e much good company assembled. Kit North and his 
 friends held "high jinks " here many a time and oft, and here, 
 no doubt, was laid the foundation of the amusing " Noctes," the 
 scene of which was placed in the arbour at Buchanan Lodge, in 
 which North, the Shepherd, Tickler, and the English Opium 
 Eater, were engaged. The solemn gravity with which North 
 and the Shepherd lie against each other in relating their angling 
 exploits is too good to be forgotten. Fisherman's weight is a 
 proverb, unfortunately ; and fishermen's numbers, when they 
 count by dozens, are not always strictly accurate to "a dizen or 
 twa," we fear. Listen to this : 
 
 " Shepherd. What creelfu's you maun hae killed ! 
 
 "North. A hundred and thirty in one day in Loch Awe, 
 James, as I hope to be saved not one of them under 
 
 " Shepherd. A dizzen pun', and twa-thirds o' them aboon't, 
 a'thegither a ton. If you are gaun to draw the lang bow, e'en 
 pu' the string to your lug ; never fear the yew crackin'."
 
 282 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 
 
 "North. My poor dear old friend, M'Neil of Hayfield, on 
 the other side of the lake, opposite Claddich God rest his 
 soul, it is in Heaven held up his hands in wonder as, under a 
 shady tree, I laid the 130 yellow shiners at his feet. Major 
 Mackay 
 
 A lambkin in peace and a lion in war 
 
 acknowledged me as a formidable rival now in angling as in 
 leaping of yore ; and poor Stevenson, now no more, wreathed 
 round my forehead a diadem of heatherbells. and called me king 
 of the anglers! 
 
 " Shepherd. Poo ! That was nae day's fishin' ava, man, in 
 comparison to ane o' mine on St. Mary's Loch, to say naething 
 about the countless sma' anes twa hunder about half a pun', 
 ae hunder about a haill pun', fifty about twa pun', five-and- 
 twenty about four pun', and the lave rinnin' frae half a stane 
 up to a stane and a half, except about half a dozen aboon a 
 wecht, that put Geordie Gudefallow and Huntley Gordon to 
 their mettle to carry them pechin' to Mount Benger on a haun- 
 barrow. 
 
 " North. Well done, Ulysses. 
 
 "Shepherd. Anither day, in the Megget, I caucht a cartfu'. 
 As it gaed doun the road, the kintra folk thocht it war a cartfu' 
 o' herrins, for they were a' preceesely o' ae size to an unce ; an' 
 though we left twa dizzen at this house, and four dizzen at that 
 house, and a gross at Henderland, on countin' them at hame in 
 the kitchen, Leezy made them out forty dizzen, and Girzy forty- 
 twa aught. Sae, a dispute ha'in arisen, and o' coorse a bet, we 
 took the census ower again ; an' may these be the last words I 
 sail ever speak gin they didna turn out to be forty-five ! " 
 
 On this, North caps him with a tale of a 901b. salmon, killed 
 in three hours in the Awe, when 
 
 " Tickler. Mr. De Quincey, now that these two old fools have 
 got upon angling 
 
 "Shepherd. Twa auld fules! you great, starin', Saracen-headed 
 Longshanks ! If it werena for bringin' in Mr. North intill
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 283 
 
 trouble, by ha'in a dead man fun' within his premises, deil take 
 me gin I wadna fractur' your skull wi' ane o' the cut crystals." 
 
 On this Mr. North turns out the gas, and they adjourn to 
 supper. 
 
 After this, all other fishermen's tales must wax feeble and 
 colourless. What would one have given to have been present at 
 one of these evenings at Claddich, when wit, poetry, learning, 
 humour, and the most sparkling conviviality went to make up such 
 evenings as we shall never see or hear of again ! No other sport 
 but angling could produce such a concatenation ; and well may 
 we be proud of our craft, brother anglers. 
 
 But time progresses, and we must return to our fishing. A little 
 further on we pick up Tupman, who has been sketching Ben 
 Cruachan all day, and who will work at the sketch desperately 
 all to-morrow and wash it all out next day, and call that giving 
 "it an atmosphere." On we progress, now drifting, now rowing 
 slowly, picking up an odd trout here and there ; but it is far 
 from a good fishing day a hot sun, not too much wind, and that 
 very cold from the N.E. a bad fishing day indeed ; and so we 
 reach home and dinner, my basket being eleven trout that 
 weighed 8-^lb. T. did not add to the total anything but the 
 sketch. Two other gentlemen had come in, one with thirteen 
 and the other with nine fish, that averaged a trifle under half-a- 
 pound each, my lot being rather above the average. 
 
 The next day, Tuesday, I tried the opposite side of the lake, 
 but a number of boats were out, some from Dalmally ; thus it 
 happened- that, as we started late, we could hardly get into a bay 
 without finding a boat there, and it is not etiquette to cut into 
 the same bay, to say nothing of its being very little use unless 
 you cut into the front of the other boat, which none but a cad of 
 the first water would do. This put us about a good deal, and we 
 crossed to the other side again, but the wind there was too 
 mighty, and the trout would not move ; got lazy, sought out 
 sheltered nooks, and gave my mind more to smoking and mooning 
 than fishing. Lunch, too ! yes, by Jove, lunch would be a dis-
 
 284 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 traction, and we'd catch some perch and cook 'em, and that 
 would be a distraction too. Here is an island handy, and two to 
 one there are perch in the bay round behind the trees. Go on 
 land and turn over some stones, and collect half-a-dozen worms. 
 Then a spare hook is hunted up, a bit of lead stuck on the line, 
 and a cork from a soda-water bottle improvised into a float, and 
 now we are all ready. Seeking a sheltered cove, where the water 
 is about ten or twelve feet deep, in goes the worm, and hardly is 
 it to the bottom when plump goes the cork under water, and 
 away it streams for the middle of the lake. A chuck of the rod 
 brings on a grand pulling-hauling match, and a fine yellow-sided, 
 black-barred perch of a pound soon makes his appearance on the 
 surface. He is followed by his brother of three-quarters, and 
 then two of a half, and two more of three-quarters, and we have 
 enough ; and hey for the island ! We build a fire of peats or 
 dried sticks, and broil our perch delightfully ; a hard boiled egg, 
 a bit of biscuit and cheese, a big pull at the flask, and lunch is 
 over, and the wind having fallen so that there is little hope of 
 fishing, we will lie back and muse among the heaps of stones 
 which form part of some old ruined stronghold, where every kind 
 of villany was practised centuries ago ; and if these old stones 
 could tell their story, if each old broken window had a tongue, 
 we fear they would malign the good old times sadly. Meantime 
 the smoke of our huge pipe en bois curls slowly upwards among 
 the quivering leaves into the tender green, freckled sky above, 
 .and we become sensible that Donald is maundering a legend 
 of the island to us. For there is hardly an island of any size 
 which has not its legend, and most of them had strongholds on 
 them as well. On this island, if you please, we had the gardens 
 of Paradise, and goulden apples guarded by a fiery dragon or a 
 big flying sarpent with a terrymengous tail I couldn't quite 
 make out which, except that he had a forked tongue and spat 
 venom. And Sir Fraoch, who loved the Princess Miggoo, went 
 to the island to get the Princess some aiples she wanted, and when 
 he got there the sarpent opposed him, and wound round him, and
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 285- 
 
 spat venom at him, which scorched pieces out of him, and broke 
 his sword between his teeth, and was scrunching him to death, 
 when Sir F. whipped out his skene-dhu and ripped up the dragon's 
 wame, and so touched his feelings that, giving a loud shriek that 
 shook Ben Cruachan, he plunged into the lake, in a torment of 
 foam, and was never seen more ; and then Sir F. went into the 
 garden, which stood joost ower yonder, and plucked as many 
 apples as he pleased. But if, as Mark Twain says, the tail of the 
 sarpent wasn't over them all, the breath of the sarpent was, and 
 had poisoned the apples ; so that when he and the Princess ate of 
 them how they managed to bite golden apples I do not know 
 but they both died in strong convulsions, and were buried under 
 the two big rocks up yonder. But the pipe is out, so is the 
 legend ; and once more we betake us to the lake. We 1 did 
 but little, however, and came home with only eight moderate 
 fish, and found Tupman who did not finish painting till two, 
 and had then gone down to Crow's Island and back calmly and 
 loftily jubilant, as if he could do it whenever he liked, with 
 nineteen fish, weighing 1 l^lb. the best dish I saw at all, and all 
 taken in about two hours. T. was superb over it, expansive, 
 genial, condescending.
 
 286 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVII. 
 
 A PLEASANT LUNATIC AN UNPLEASANT FEEOX AED-HONEL 
 ONE GOOD DAY ECCE ITEEUM FEEOX BOCK AGIN GENERAL 
 FISHING ON LOCH AWE. 
 
 THE next day was bitterly cold, with a heavy breeze from the 
 S.E. ; we went down to Crow's Island. There were one or 
 two boats in the best bays on the north shore, so we did very 
 little good ; got only thirteen fish between us, but they were a 
 fair average size. The only other gentleman in the inn, Mr. D., 
 got into a taking bay, and picked them up rapidly, getting 
 twenty-two ; but they were very small, and not what is known 
 as Loch Awe trout. This day Tupman met with an odd adven- 
 ture. He is a most fervent fisher when sport is good, but 
 soon gets disgusted when it fails, and, being disappointed on 
 this occasion, he landed some five miles down the lake and walked 
 home. On his way he passed a cottage, from which a respectable- 
 looking old fellow of sixty or seventy or thereaway, looked out, and, 
 seeing T., hurried back, obtained a thick stick, and, glowering at 
 him furiously, hastened on before him to a little wood that he had to 
 pass through. T. had been reading reviews of "Eugene Aram," 
 sport had been bad, and, worse than all, we had left the whiskey 
 at home. The afternoon was gloomy, so was T., and he 
 muttered to himself, 
 
 " A mighty wind had swept the leaves, 
 And lo the corse was bare. 
 
 I'll paint that capital subject 'Eugene Aram finding the corpse 
 of Harold.' No it wasn't Harold it was what's-his-name,
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 287 
 
 Never mind ! Wonder what that old fellow went in and got that 
 stick for? Pity I left my fishing rod with the spike in it behind; 
 I would have spoke him fair if he offered violence. As it is ;1 
 hem ! I wonder which way I had better go." Just then a 
 decent-looking woman came out of the cottage, and, seeing T. 
 advancing, threw down her besom and hastened out to the 
 wood, reappearing in a few minutes, leading the unhappy old 
 lunatic (as he proved to be) out by his collar. He looked at 
 Tupman from time to time while he was led unwillingly home, 
 as if he would have liked to try whether his skull was timber- 
 proof or no. After this T. hastened home and liquored up as 
 speedily and effectively as he conveniently could ; and when we 
 arrived, hours after, chilled to the bone and fagged out, he 
 was chirruping if you please, and, like Hotspur's dainty lord, 
 was 
 
 Neat, trimly dressed, 
 
 Fresh as a bridegroom, and his chin new reap'd 
 Looked like a stubble land at harvest home. 
 He was perfumed like a milliner. 
 
 and he offered us invidious suggestions touching our making 
 an elaborate toilet for dinner, which were received with the scorn 
 such preposterous propositions merited, and we took a sherry 
 and bitter instead, and then two, and felt better for it. 
 
 The next day was the worst of the whole. The wind was all 
 over the loch, east, west, north, south, coming in flaws with a 
 dead calm behind. Now it would blow for half an hour 
 steadily, and a fish would look up ; then it flew round to the 
 opposite direction, and there was very little of it. I don't know 
 anything more annoying than this sort of weather, which just 
 keeps you on the point of expectation without any fulfilment ; 
 you can't catch fish, and you can't quite leave it alone. How 
 often have I been humbugged by just such conditions ! The 
 cautious Tupman was wise for once, and sketched nearly all day, 
 letting Donald fish for his own amusement, which suited him 
 down to the ground. Cameron went out with me himself, but
 
 288 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 even his well-known skill failed to alter the luck. We trolled 
 a little at last, as the fly became manifestly useless ; I had tried 
 the artificial minnow going and coming on previous occasions, 
 but did nothing. On this day I determined to try the natural 
 bait, and got a couple of small trout from the burn ; for, let 
 what will be said of it, the natural bait will beat the artificial, 
 particularly with big fish. Unfortunately, my bait was two- 
 sizes too large for the hook that I had out, and the bait was 
 not properly armed ; for just as we passed down above Crow's 
 Island, well out on the lake, a tremendous bang at the rod an- 
 nounced a visit from Mr. Ferox, and I had on a big fish for half 
 a minute alas, only for half a minute. I had jumped up and 
 was preparing for the struggle, had seen all clear and ship-shape, 
 and was on the point of telling Cameron how to manage the boat, 
 when horror, agony, and everything else expressive of catas- 
 trophe ! the rod top straitened, and the bait came away before I 
 had even got a run from the fish. On looking at the bait I could 
 discern very little trace of his teeth, a pretty sure sign of a big 
 one, but he had opened one of the hooks. Of course I collapsed 
 that is to say, I became all slack and limp after being smartly 
 wound up for mortal combat ; for I had particularly wished to 
 catch a ferox of Loch Awe, and it is excessively and specially 
 aggravating to lose that which you have long intensely desired 
 just at the moment of victory ; but there's many a slip twixt 
 hook and lip, and none know it so well as your old fisherman. 
 What the size of this fish was I cannot say, but he struck 
 heavily, and took a bait fully five inches long he might have 
 been 51b., or lOlb., or even 151b. I determined for a bigger 
 set of tackle on the morrow. The fish was gone that was a 
 great fact. It was no use crying over spilt milk that was 
 another. 
 
 The last links are broken which bound me to thee, 
 And the last words are spoken which rendered thee free, 
 
 and they didn't rhyme with Shem or Japhet. 
 
 I settled the bait again, and, with an " artificial " towing
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 289 
 
 alongside on another rod, I went solemnly on my way down the 
 lake. "If I'd only done this ! If I hadn't done that ! If if 
 if the fish had only done the other ! What a pestilent word is 
 your if ! " Much virtue in an if," is there ? . I'm not at all con- 
 vinced of that. I'm in the humour to argue the point. For 
 that matter I often am. In this case I should perhaps have said 
 something improper, " if " it had only been proper to do so; but, 
 as I am noted as a great regarder of propriety few more so I 
 only smiled and beamed, and sang something sweetly and softly 
 from Dr. Watts or Mrs. Hemans, and improved the (unfortunately) 
 shining hour by sundry sentimental and beneficial cogitations. 
 I append the verse I sung on the occasion : 
 
 How doth the gentle ang-u-ler improve each shining* hour, 
 By gathering troutlings all the day whene'er he has the power ; 
 How busily he throws his line, how neatly spreads his fly 
 
 I was at a loss for a rhyme here when T. broke in 
 , How thirstily he takes his drink whenever he is dry. 
 
 " Pass that flask here, Cameron. Here's health to men and 
 death to trouts." 
 
 T. and myself only mustered ten fish between us at the quay, 
 and they were not tritons. Our friend Mr. D. had, however, 
 picked up a ferox of 2^1b. on the Phantom, and I took stock of 
 him. He had all the outward distinguishing features of the 
 fish large mouth, powerful jaw, very long incurved teeth, 
 almost hooked in fact (one of the strongest distinctions in the 
 ferox) purple bloom on the back, and one more which I never 
 heard of before I do not know if it is peculiar to Loch Awe 
 viz., ten or eleven large red spots on the after and lower part of 
 the body, and only there, for the red spots never advance beyond 
 the ventral fins, or above the dorsal line. Beyond them the spots 
 are all black, but upon all the Loch Awe feroxes this curious 
 fact is, I am told, observable ; and the men say that there is 
 always one more spot on one side than on the other ; usually 
 
 * This should be cloudy, I think, or shady. 
 U
 
 290 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 they are said to run ten and eleven. This may be a point too 
 far to carry the theory, but I saw that the position of the spots 
 was as I have described ; indeed, it is rare to see more than an 
 odd spot or two on a fish of that size that can be called red at 
 all, and the appearance of such a cluster on either side of the 
 fish's flank is of itself somewhat striking. 
 
 Keener than ever after this, I routed out a good set of Thames 
 trout tackle, went to bed, and dreamt of a single combat with a 
 sort of mermaid ferox at the bottom of the lake, where I con- 
 ducted my affairs without the slightest inconvenience from change 
 of element, although I was not conscious of the possession of 
 gills, and without even the intervention of macintoshes ; and I 
 was just at that stage in the conflict when I was vociferating 
 " Have you a red spot on your left tail ? " " No." " Then it is 
 it is my long-lost mermaid " when a knock at the door, and 
 " hot water, sir," dispelled the illusion, and I once more woke to 
 the consciousness that the weather was very cold and the wind 
 was N.E. And cold enough it was, and there was reason for 
 it, for Cruachan, Ben Vreck, and Ben Lui were all heavily capped 
 with snow, and the wind blew to us straight off them ; the most 
 expensive and cuttingest Sheffield razors were nothing to it. 
 Nevertheless, the water was dark and well curled, and we deter- 
 mined to make a start of it and to try it. Cameron decided to 
 go with us, and he and Donald would do the boat well ; so we 
 made straight shirt-tails down the lake, as they say on the other 
 side of the water, with plaids and great coats, two or three apiece, 
 sou' -westers, comforters, a muckle whisky flask, and all the 
 necessary paraphernalia for comfort during the ethereal mild- 
 ness of a severe May. We decided to go down a good distance, 
 even to Ard-honnel, Ard-chonnel, or Innis-chonel, as it is or has 
 been variously called. This venerable castle is some eight miles 
 down the lake. It was, according to old chronicles, in existence 
 in thirteen hundred and something, and how much before that / 
 cannot depone, and no one else can. There is a legend about it 
 of course and, like all these legends, to make a grim pun, it is
 
 BT LAKE AND RIVER. 291 
 
 full of awe wherein sons shoot their mothers, and mothers pro- 
 phesy the picking out of their sons' eyes by eagles, and there is 
 the usual burning, robbing, and ravishing peculiar to the good 
 old times, when any chief hanged whom he liked on his own 
 doom's tree. However, the roof that sheltered these old iniqui- 
 ties no longer exists ; but the strong walls that contained them 
 still stand, and probably will do so when the iniquities and the 
 weaker walls of the present day have passed away for ever. Fare- 
 well to thee, fair Innis-chonel ! I had a good day's fishing 
 under thy walls, so my memories of thee are pleasant, and apart 
 from the unholy old legends that float about thee. 
 
 Tupman and I did well on that last day, for the breeze held 
 truly, and, cold though it was, the fish rose fairly all day, and we 
 basketed between us fifty trout, forty of which weighed 20lb., 
 bearing out the half-pound average. On the way back, passing 
 above Crow's Island, as nearly as possible in the same spot as I 
 had run the ferox on the day before, I got another heavy pull ; 
 but the hooks did not get hold at all, and when I came to look 
 I found that he had seized the bait very carefully and judiciously 
 by the head part, where there were no hooks. For unfortunately, 
 although I got a larger set of hooks, I could only procure a still 
 larger bait, and nearly half the bait was unarmed, and thus 
 Mr. Ferox had again escaped me by skin of his teeth. Lucky 
 ferox ! Long may you commemorate your escape ! Well indeed 
 may he 
 
 Stand a tip-tail wh.en this day is named, 
 
 And rouse him at the name of Francis, 
 
 Then will he strip his teeth and show his scars, 
 
 And say These wounds I had on Francis' day. 
 
 Old trout forget ; yet all shall be forgot, 
 
 But he'll remember with advantages 
 
 What feats he did that day. 
 
 And a pretty duffer he'll make me figure in the annals of Trout- 
 catchiana, kept at the bottom in one of the crystal caverns of 
 Loch Awe by some hoary-headed old Lord Chancellor Ferox ! 
 
 Well, well 1 one must bear one's burthens, and one ought to do 
 
 u 2
 
 292 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 it meekly ; but, as Mr. Chuckster said on a notable occasion, 
 "my worst enemies, sir, never accused me of meekness." When 
 we got home, to show the extreme uncertainty and variableness 
 of lock fishing, our friend D. had only six moderate trout. T. 
 and I had as nearly as possible taken equal numbers. If there 
 was any difference, he was one or two ahead of me ; yet ordi- 
 narily I should say that I was much the better fisherman of the 
 two. 
 
 The next day we left, and returned to the Clyde. I know no 
 pleasanter spot to spend a fortnight in, wind and weather 
 permitting, than Loch Awe. If the rambler be a keen fisher, 
 there he may indulge to his heart's content either in fly fishing 
 or trolling. In the first he will, judging by the list of takes of 
 past years shown in the book kept at the inn, pick up from one 
 dozen to two and a half dozens of good trout to his own rod, 
 which will average half a pound. Now, when I say this I mean 
 honest weighed weight. If I were speaking loosely by ordinary 
 fisherman's estimate, I should certainly say they averaged three- 
 quarters, and that several of the fish would run over a pound ; 
 but Cameron won't let you guess weights, he scales the fish to an 
 ounce, and as it is they run nearly a pound, which is all the 
 difference. But these Loch Awe fish are among the gamest I 
 ever handled, and for their size are tough antagonists ; they jump 
 out of water, and scurry hither and thither, with an agility that 
 keeps the angler in pleasant excitement, and a pound fish is a 
 strong fighter who will take ten minutes to kill. They are 
 capital eating, cut red and firm, and mighty good for breakfast. 
 Now and then you will take a sea trout or two I got hold of 
 two one day, but the largest was only some three-quarters of a 
 pound. 
 
 For fly fishing, May and early June are the best season. Troll- 
 ing certainly is not as hopeless a case as it is on some lochs I 
 could mention, only one never sticks at it when the fish are 
 rising ; and, as that is the time when they would also be running 
 it is mostly pursued at the most unfavourable and unlikely times,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 293 
 
 and is therefore not so successful as it might be. But, though 
 the ferox is not nearly as plentiful as formerly in Loch Awe, 
 there are still a good few in the lake, and a bottle of preserved 
 dace would, I am sure, answer well here. The practice now is to 
 use artificial baits the Angel, the Phantom, &c. ; and, excellent 
 as the Phantom is, and it is universally used in all this part of 
 Scotland, still it cannot equal the natural bait, which many fish, 
 I am sure, might be killed with. The ferox do not as a rule run 
 large under 61b. I should say but every now and then a 
 thumper makes his appearance ; one of 17lb. was taken a day or 
 two after I left, as I heard. Ferox are generally indifferent 
 eating, but the 2^1b. fish mentioned above was by no means a 
 bad fish. We had him boiled for dinner, and the head and tail 
 alone were left when we had done with it. I stole the jaw, 
 however, to bring it home for comparison, and then, like a fisher- 
 man (I was going to say something else), I forgot to compare it. 
 There are a few salmon in the lake, as well as sea trout ; but the 
 throws are not well known, or the fish are capricious, and the 
 lake is very large, so that it is more often an accident than not 
 when one is hooked. If the angler likes to go in for pike and 
 perch, unfortunately in some bays there are plenty. The perch 
 often run large, but I never happened to get hold of a pike, 
 though I trolled a good deal at times, which rather surprised me. 
 Still, I must believe that there are plenty ; for if they once got 
 into the lake, they couldn't fail to increase. Formerly they were 
 kept down a good deal by set nets ; but no one seems to have any 
 interest in doing so now, and the lake, which had greatly improved 
 under this regimen, is now, I am told, going back again under its 
 abandonment. Surely the innkeepers might do something, if the 
 proprietors are supine. Mr. Malcolm, who is a very large pro- 
 prietor on the lake side, and is also a sportsman, if he only 
 gave the word to his keepers, might do much good. He is 
 building a large hotel at Sonnachan, and, in the interest of 
 the coming customers, he might at least help to keep the pike 
 down.
 
 294 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 There are several good small lakes near Loch Awe (Loch Avick 
 is the largest), it gives nice trout of three to the pound, and 
 plenty of them bright merry yellow fins, but they wanted much 
 walking, and I was lame and could not reach them ; they form a 
 very agreeable change, however, to those who can walk. The flies 
 that killed best were the yellow and woodcock (a large cowdung, 
 in fact), the red and teal (a soldier palmer with teal wing), and 
 the green and teal green and crewel body, silver thread, black 
 hackle, and teal wing. There are several stations, but the best 
 for sport, from all I can learn, is Port Sonnachan. Ford was 
 spoken of to me as an excellent station, where the fish ran large, 
 and sea trout were plenty ; but it is at the far end of the lake, 
 is more difficult to get at, and the choice of ground is small, as 
 you must go and return over the same ground every day. At 
 Sonnachan you can go either way, and can fish nearly the whole 
 of the best part of the lake, which you certainly could not from 
 Ford. It is a good plan to fish to Ford one day and back the 
 next. Cameron also has the right of a day a week at Taynuilt, 
 which is on the Awe, about eight miles off, and sometimes gives 
 first-rate salmon fishing ; but to get the first of the casts one 
 must be early afoot. 
 
 Cameron's is not a swell hotel such hotels are my abomina- 
 tion but a comfortable, snug little angler's inn. Cameron him- 
 self is a most skilful brother of the angle, and a right good judge 
 of weather and wind. His wife is an excellent cook, having pre- 
 sided at a large club in that position. The living is good, the 
 wines and spirits far beyond the average in quality, and the 
 charges certainly moderate. If the traveller be an artist or lover 
 of the picturesque, he will be enchanted with Loch Awe's beauti- 
 ful and grand scenery. It is simply a paradise for the over- 
 worked citizen who wants laziness and perfect rest ; indeed, Para- 
 dise it is held to be by some of the natives, for there is a story 
 of a picturesque-hunter meeting a native, who pointed out 
 various fine views and strange sights, and who finally asked, 
 "Wad ye see Awdam's grave?" "Adam who?" was the reply.
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVER. 295 
 
 " Joost Awdam's oor common feyther Awdam 'n Eve's. It's 
 joost aboon yonder brae. There's some says it's at Tobermory, 
 but a says it's joost here." I am reminded that Adam wasn't 
 buried in Paradise ; but never mind, if the story is not altogether 
 true it is ben trovato a new Ben for those parts.
 
 296 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVIII. 
 
 LOCH LEVEN THE BALBBIGGAN BBOTHERS ABOHY MACQUOID 
 HIGH JINKS FATHER FAIRLICHT. 
 
 WHO has not heard of Loch Leven ? of Loch Leven trout ? at 
 Groves's, in Bond-street, at Heaven knows how much a pound, 
 and not to be had there now, or anywhere else except by 
 accident, at anything a pound. Formerly nets were used on the 
 loch, and the trout were sold ; and by the time they were sold 
 in London, when at all scarce, 5s. a pound, or even far more for 
 fine fish, was not, I believe, at all an unusual charge. The last 
 dodge about Glasgow is to sell sea trout, worth about Wd. a 
 pound, for Loch Leven fish at 2s. ; but the net is now only used 
 to slay the pike and perch, which unfortunately are too plentiful, 
 and the lake is kept solely for angling purposes. The wisdom of 
 this course has been gradually developed ; for whereas not very 
 many years ago a hundred or two of pounds a year would have 
 represented the takings of the proprietor, now thousands more 
 accurately record it. The tariff is 2s. Qd. an hour, and there are 
 few days in the season when there are not from ten to fifteen or 
 twenty boats out on the loch. The great strength of the loch 
 rests on its approachableness, and the system of competition 
 adopted by the numerous Scottish angling clubs at Glasgow, 
 Edinburgh, Stirling, Dundee, and many other towns, from which 
 the loch can be reached in an hour or two by rail. These clubs 
 engage usually from six or seven to ten or a dozen boats. So 
 much by way of introduction. 
 
 The place was Harris's Hotel, in the small town of Kinross, 
 and we sat down to dinner, nineteen keen water-whippers. It
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 297 
 
 was the period of the annual competition at Loch Leven, and 
 the Balbriggan Brithers, of which I have the honour to be a 
 member though a non-effective, had come out to do friendly 
 battle among themselves, and to see who was best man and 
 who was the luckiest. Provost Doublegang had presented a 
 silver salver, 14in. across, to be fished for, the capturer of the 
 greatest weight of Loch Leven trout in one day to be the 
 winner, and for days and weeks before surreptitious visits had 
 been paid to Archy Macquoid's, the Balbriggan tackle-maker, in 
 search of the raal "hechum pechum" (a very favourite fly on 
 most of the Scotch lakes in the South), and mysterious consul- 
 tations were held daily in his little back room. It was surmised 
 that the Sheriff (that's our friend Dingwall, and the keenest fly- 
 fisher of our club) had made a sly visit to Embro' to consult 
 Mistress Hogg as to the precise dressing of that excellent lure, 
 and had come back with some momentous secret that was to 
 land the salver for him in his dining-room at any odds. Then 
 how he would ask three or four of those whose baskets came 
 nearest to his in weight to dinner afterwards, and call our atten- 
 tion to the salver when something was being handed to us on it, 
 as " a sma' trifle, ye ken, Mr. Wilkins joost a token o' respec' 
 like frae a few friens for teachin' them hoo to thraw a flee on 
 Loch Leven," and the sly twinkle of the eye, and the hearty 
 "haw, haw," afterwards, with which he would accompany this 
 little bit of mild chaff, we could well foresee. The Sheriff 
 certainly had been to Edinburgh, ostensibly on business, and if 
 he could go there a fortnight before the competition and not 
 call just to ask " Hoo his auld frien' Mistress Hogg fan hersel' 
 aboot then," he was no our Sheriff, but some impostor. "Joost 
 a chaungling," as Father Fairlicht, the oldest member of our 
 club put it, " who had fa'en asleep, disguised, wi' a muckle 
 whusky flask beside him in the middle o' ane o' the fairy rungs 
 by Miggat, an' after twal' hoors o' haird sleepin' had waukened 
 up and fan himsel' quite anither man, d'ye ken." The true 
 fiery brown never caused more trouble to poor Martin Kelly
 
 298 BY^LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 than did the directions of " the brithers " as to their flies to 
 Archy Macquoid. This is the sort of thing that occurs two or 
 three days before the contest. 
 
 Enter Girzy Macquoid, aetat. 11. 
 
 Girzy. " Here's Mr. Mockintire's Jean, to ken why ye haena 
 sent up thae aipple greens?" 
 
 Archy, himsel' " An' hoo am I to sen' up thae aipple greens, 
 when Maister Mockintire his sel' disna ken ava whatna shed o' 
 green es an aipple green." 
 
 Girzy. "Weel, what'll I say till Jean?" 
 
 Archy. " Say till her ! Why, say that her maister's a du- 
 bitable auld deevil, that disna ken his ain min' twa chappins o' 
 the clock thegither. I've sen' up three lots o' thae aipple greens, 
 an' they're a' wrang. See, noo, gi'e her that lot ; it's joost the 
 first yane I sent. It was a' wrang then ; like enow it'll be a' 
 richt the noo," adds Archy, pawkily ; and Mr. Mockintire's Jean 
 bammocks off rejoicing. 
 
 Girzy. " Here's Meestr Macklehoose comin' oop the street wi' 
 his hat aff and the rain drops patterin' aff his bald pow like 
 peas from an ashet. My certies but he's a grand sicht the 
 noo." 
 
 Archy. "Lord safe us, dinna say't, and they red an' teals no 
 even in haun yet ! The mon'll gang wud, daft and clean dis- 
 tractit. For he's bet half a dizen o' sharry wine he'll beat the 
 Shirra. See, now, I'll gang oot at the back yet, so's ye mayna 
 tell a lee, an' yell say am oot, and ye dinna ken when I'll be 
 bock maybe no till the morrow, sae he needna think to wait," 
 and so on. 
 
 But here we are, with the secrets of angling safely locked up 
 in our pocket books, our books locked up in our creels ; the cun- 
 ning casts, made up in several varieties, ready to come forth and 
 deal death and destruction on the morrow. Dinner, with much 
 fun and merriment for Father Fairlicht, the chief humourist of 
 our party, is specially great to-day is happily over, and we 
 proceed to draw for boats. There are nine boats allotted to us,
 
 BY LAKE AND RFVEE. 290 
 
 with a list of their names, and nine tickets, each with one of 
 these names on, are placed in one hat ; and eighteen, with the 
 names of the competitors on, in another. 
 
 "Mr. Fairlicht and Mr. Crotchet," cries the secretary, after 
 perusing two tickets drawn from one hat. " The Wullie 
 Waught," he continues, as another ticket from the other hat is 
 handed to him. "That's your boat, gentlemen." 
 
 " Weel, weel," says Father Fairlicht, while the secretary is 
 noting this down in his list. " Noo, Mr. Crotchet, we'll hae nane 
 o' your legerdemain ; for I'm no' pairtial to findin' my sandwiches 
 chainged into panetils and my whuskey into Apsom salts." Mr. 
 Crotchet is a dab at conjuring tricks, and has already conjured 
 the soup ladle off the table and into the Sheriff's pocket, whence 
 it had been extracted, amid roars of laughter and much dis- 
 comfiture to the Sheriff. In this fashion the list is made out, 
 until each boat has its two allotted piscators. 
 
 " What's come till the whusky ? " mutters the Sheriff, with a 
 serious change of countenance, " It's naething at a' but sugar 
 and het watter," and he makes various wry faces, to the great 
 amusement of the company, for the incorrigible Crotchet has 
 contrived to substitute a bottle of plain water foy the whisky, 
 for the Sheriff to compound his toddy with. 
 
 "Noo, Sheriff," says Fairlicht, "I'll be a bet against you, and 
 I daursay Crotchet will be one against your partner, Macklehoose." 
 A bet is merely a bottle of wine. That is how we pay for our 
 wine at our dinners, and we allow no other kind of bet ; and we 
 generally have a bet or two all round." 
 
 "Done wi' you, Faither. Book that bet, Mr. Secretary," says 
 the Sheriff, and the bet is booked accordingly. A few more 
 bets are then made, but most of them have been made before, 
 and the secretary then reads them over to see if he has them all 
 booked right. Mr. A. bets Mr. B., Mr. C. bets Mr. D., and so on ; 
 and then all the business being duly competed, we call on the 
 Sheriff to promote the conviviality with a song ; and after the 
 usual objections, the Sheriff, who is a jovial soul, skewers a fly
 
 300 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 on the ceiling with his right eye, keeps the other one carefully 
 on his tumbler, to see that Crotchet does not beguile it in any 
 way, hooks his thumb in his waistcoat hole, and sings Burns's 
 " Lassie wi' the lint- white locks " very well, and reaps a loud 
 round of applause. One or two other songs are given in the 
 usual way, and then Father Fairlicht is called on, who gives us 
 an original song of his own, which runs in this wise : 
 
 THE ANGLEK'S SONG. 
 
 Air "Duncan Davidson." 
 Nae royal road has yet been found 
 
 The trout or salmon tae beguile, 
 A peasant boy may beat the king, 
 
 Wi' a' his tinsel an' his style ; 
 A wee pook out the auld coo's tail 
 Has aften prov'd o' mair avail 
 Than a' the flees we e'er could wale 
 
 Wi' a' our skill and patient toil. 
 
 When trout were dull and unco dour, 
 
 Tae passin' boats we raised a shout, 
 Our faces were baith long an' sour, 
 
 We felt a little put about ; 
 Our arms were sair an' like tae crack, 
 An' pains were fleein' down our back, 
 We thocht that we had lost the knack 
 
 Tae throw the flee an' whip them oot. 
 
 We threw them here, we threw them there, 
 
 Wee flees an' big we vainly try, 
 We threw them wi' the greatest care, 
 
 An' heaved a sentimental sigh ; 
 But ne'er a trout would gie a peep, 
 The schule had skailed, an' aff they sweep, 
 An' in their lairs are sound asleep, 
 
 Or slyly keek wi' cautious eye. 
 
 A gude three-pounder fell tae me, 
 
 But how it cam' I ne'er could learn, 
 Jist chance-like, wi' a trailin' flee, 
 
 While haflins sleepin' in the stern ;
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 301 
 
 The whirl-in' pirn skreigh'd loud and lang, 
 Up tae my feet I quickly sprang, 
 I lik'd the singer an' the sang, 
 I kent the lad had ta'en the earn. 
 
 Sometimes they rise at every throw, 
 
 When in a merry mood to dine, 
 Their gleamin' sides wi' silver show 
 
 The splendours o' the starry mine ; 
 The muckle trout are on the feed, 
 They seize the floating flees wi' greed, 
 We play, or pu' them in wi' speed, 
 
 To throw again the waving line. 
 
 A trusty frien' wi' feelin's kind, 
 
 An' siller a' our wants tae meet, 
 A well-gaun pipe, an easy min', 
 
 Are tae an Angler joy complete. 
 We toast wi' glee the eager wish, 
 " Here's health tae men an' death tae fish," 
 And hope tae see a splendid dish 
 
 O' trout lie shinin' at our feet. 
 
 It's gude tae see the auld folk douse, 
 
 An' wisdom drappin' frae their lips, 
 Or sometimes jist a little crouse, 
 
 The outcome o' their wee bit nips ; 
 They've had their day, an' tales can tell, 
 Which micht be measured by the ell, 
 O' a' the won'ers that befel 
 
 The "Angler " in their Hi elan trips. 
 
 We maun obey kind Nature's laws, 
 
 Altho' the road we canna see, 
 An' in our journey mak' a pause 
 
 At our firesides tae rest a wee ; 
 Our weel-lo'ed waunds we lay aside, 
 Then frae the scene we quietly glide, 
 For ever here we daurna bide, 
 
 Whate'er our station or degree. 
 
 It is needless to say that this literally brings the house down, 
 and the Father's health is drunk with many tokens of respect 
 and goodwill, and the kindly old man, with the head of a sage
 
 302 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 and the fun and frolic of a boy, and now and then a flash of 
 keen trenchant wit worthy of a first-class humourist, rises, with 
 a smile on his lip and a wee something in his eye that adds 
 additional brightness to it, and in a few well chosen words 
 thanks us all with an earnestness which we can see comes from 
 his heart, and then, winding up with a joke at the Sheriff's 
 expense, which is so original, applicable, and funny, that it sets 
 the table in a roar, sits down under cover of the smoke ; and so 
 the symposium progresses ; and when the sma' hours came on, 
 and a select knot of half-a-dozen eager old flailers got together 
 over the toddy to exchange notes, it was hard to think of bed. 
 What lochs and streams, what flies and rods, what deep fishing 
 lore, was then unfolded ! Among that half-dozen there was not 
 a stream or lake of note in Scotland that had not been fished, 
 and we wandered at will, north, east, south, west, and found 
 nothing barren. Heigho ! 
 
 - Gather ye rosebuds while ye may, 
 Old Time will still be flying ! 
 
 and bed-room candlesticks will reproach us, while Harris, good 
 fellow, looks on complacently and as satisfied as though time 
 were really " made for slaves " and beds for sluggards. " Let's 
 have t' other glass. Was that one or two that struck last ? " 
 But no matter ; Mrs. Caudle is happily at home in the bosom of 
 her family, and we shall not be reminded that our clothes smell 
 of filthy tobacco, and that there is a dreadful odour of spirits 
 any where ; so " Put out the light, and then put out the " 
 Snaw-aw-craw waw-w-w. 
 
 Morning beams bright and joyous. One enthusiastic angler 
 who couldn't sleep has been tying flies in the next room since 
 five in the morning or thereaway confound him ! as I sleep 
 next to it ; others are punctual to the minute ; and, haw-yaw, 
 it's half -past seven, and breakfast will be ready at eight sharp. 
 A Scotch breakfast, my friends, is just, to use the words of the 
 
 poet, 
 
 A thing of beauty and a joy for ever.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 303 
 
 The last spoonful of raspberry jam, the last taste of mar- 
 malade has disappeared, luncheon baskets are packed. The 
 omnibus is waiting to convey us and our impedimenta to the 
 little pier. The pier is reached ; Mr. Marshall, the tacksman, is 
 there to allot to each the boats, and the names of the boats are 
 called ; two men coming forward as each is named, they having, 
 like ourselves, balloted for the boats the night before. Koda 
 were soon ready, and each taking his place one angler in the 
 bow and the other in the stern ; I being an odd man, and not 
 competing, had a boat to myself and away the whole fleet of 
 boats started for the far end of the lake, the wind suiting to 
 drift from that direction. As the far end of the lake is a good 
 four miles from the pier, and the boats are very large, roomy, 
 and heavy, it is a smart bit of collar work against the wind ; so 
 leaving the men to toil over it to the best of their ability, and 
 allowing the flies to trail astern at the end of a long line in the 
 hope of attracting a "happening fish," we put up our legs and 
 light the morning pipe. How grand to the real smoker is the 
 first morning pipe ! He has just answered a bothering letter or 
 two, and noted that Bostocks have gone down seven-sixteenths, 
 and is troubled as to whether they will recover or make a further 
 decline, and doubtful whether he ought to have sneaked away 
 from business last night on the plea of going to visit his ailing 
 maternal aunt, or whether he ought not to have sold Bostocks 
 to-day, and then the keeper on the " bit shootin' " that he shares 
 with three old cronies " awa' " up Nevis side, too, has written to 
 say that " disease is very bad, and though we are not as bad as 
 our neighbours, yet the birds are still dying," thus leaving it to 
 be concluded that there are hopes even yet that we may not be 
 behind the worst of our neighbours a dispatch similar to the 
 above literally came to a friend lately but [the cool, ruffling 
 breeze soon carries off the vapours, and, as the first rung or two 
 of tobacco smoke circles away into the clear air, our cares go 
 with them, and we see over again the unfortunate^Queen and her 
 brutal . But stay ! No. On second^ considerations, we
 
 304 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 won't. Let her misfortunes and her errors rest in peace, so far 
 as we are concerned. The scenery of the lake is not very 
 picturesque. The Castle Island, perhaps, is the most striking 
 thing about it. That we will not trouble at present, for we 
 have left it astern while lighting our pipe. As we approach the 
 far shore the boats spread out and diverge like the spokes of a 
 wheel, covering a wide space of the lake. Overboard go the 
 anchors, that we may not drift too quickly, and broadside to the 
 wind we commence our drift. 
 
 I do not know anything so pleasant to the angler as fishing a 
 new water, and particularly if it be one of a great reputation. 
 With what eagerness one gets up one's tackle and makes the first 
 few casts ! how one longs for the first fish ! It was my first 
 visit to Loch Leven. After some twenty or thirty casts a sudden 
 sharp splash announced a rise, and the bending rod-top told of a 
 fixture. Spang, spang, came a small bar of freshly-chased silver 
 out of the water, and in two minutes after my first Loch Leven 
 fish lay gasping on the bottom of the boat. They are wonder- 
 fully like sea trout. Had I taken the fish just fresh from the sea 
 at Ballinahinch or on the Tay, I should have basketed it as a sea 
 trout without another look or another word. We drifted on far 
 out into the loch, but did no more. Another drift produced us 
 a rise and a refusal, a third one fish again, a fourth nothing, and 
 then the wind sank and things looked gloomy. Suddenly a 
 cloud arose, and came rapidly down in a heavy squall of wind 
 and rain, and the lake was soon gloomy enough for anything. 
 The wind shifting to the west, anon the sun began to peep out, 
 and we rowed towards another bay known as the Green Island to 
 my men, though not generally. As we went along I had a rise 
 and a refusal ; then another, also a refusal ; then a third, hooked 
 and got off ; and then trout began rising all over the lake. The 
 blue and yellow dun (known as the hare lug) was out quite 
 thickly, and the fish fully appreciated its gastronomic merits. 
 Presently a heavy splash and a drag told of something larger 
 than common, and away raced a good fish, taking out line and
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 305 
 
 playing boldly at first for a Minute or two ; but he soon adopted 
 more cautious, sluggish, and dangerous tactics, boring down to 
 the bottom towards the weed, and smacking the line with his 
 tail which I felt most of the big fish do subsequently many 
 times, and it is a nerve-disturbing operation. A steady strain, 
 however, soon brought him to the top, and a fine trout of 2lb. 
 made his appearance. He was just a wee bit thin about the 
 flank, and might have been a little better later on, but he was 
 by no means a bad fish. Then I got rise after rise, and refusal 
 after refusal. One fish I just hooked and lost, but I should think 
 that I rose ten fish for one that fastened ; and so it was all the 
 while that the fish were well upon the rise. I am sure I rose 
 thirty or forty fish that refused the fly entirely. The same thing 
 happened to all the anglers ; indeed, it generally does happen 
 more or less on Loch Leven. Anon I determined to change 
 the temptation, and to see whether a new move would answer, 
 and I took off all the Loch Leven flies and put on Loch Awe 
 favourites ; after which I missed far less fish, though the fish did 
 not come up nearly as fast. Still I got two more good fish, one 
 of 21b., another 21b. nearly ; they were not in as good fettle as 
 the first, however, the last being very kelty. Altogether I got 
 eight fish, that scaled 91b. 12oz. The best two baskets of the 
 day were fourteen and thirteen ; the third the same as mine, 91b. 
 12oz.. but with nearly double the number of fish. Had the fish 
 taken only moderately well, I should have had a prodigious take. 
 My experience, too, I found was that of all the other boats ; 
 every one had risen heaps of fish that refused in the most aggra- 
 vating way to fasten. I have very little doubt in my own mind, 
 from this and the next day's experience, that this is, as it is 
 stated to be, owing very much to the prevalence of minnow 
 trolling, which now is practised here to far too great an extent. 
 Wherever fish rise really well to the fly, as they do in Loch 
 Leven, minnow never should be allowed, as sooner or later it 
 seriously injures the fly fishing. The effect of it soon becomes, 
 most palpable ; many of the fishers who had been out on the
 
 306 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 day that we came down complained that the ground around them 
 was trailed over by five or six boats, one after the other, with 
 two or three minnows out ; and we all know that fish will not 
 rise, or rise very shyly indeed, when they have had minnows 
 over them often at any recent date. If it is not practicable to 
 prohibit the minnow altogether, it should be greatly reduced ; it 
 catches the largest and the worst fish, which should not be caught 
 at all, and I am quite satisfied that if clubs frequently have as 
 bad sport as they too often have now, the lessees will find it 
 affect their profits seriously. It is not fair, either, on the clubs 
 which use only fly and no minnow ; indeed, it is particularly 
 hard on them, because they are the main support of the loch. 
 
 The second day on the lake was almost as bad as it could be 5 
 the wind had been blowing a gale all night, but was more 
 moderate in the morning. At first, to glance at the lake, one 
 would have thought the weather perfect. There was a fine fresh 
 S.W. breeze, that looked like slaughtering trout to a large extent, 
 but the old hands shook their wise heads, and said it was just 
 the worst wind on the lake for sport. The result proved them 
 correct, for before half the day was over it grew squally, and 
 black " crows' feathers," in which no fish ever rises as a rule, 
 swept over the water incessantly. It was a hopeless task ; I kept 
 on trying big flies, little flies and moderate flies but it was all 
 of no use. I got only three fish, that weighed something over 
 41b., while the best bag of the day was but 7-^lb. It is a 
 curious fact here that the best wind that can blow is an east 
 wind with that sport is pretty certain ; and the worst is a S.W. 
 wind. 
 
 Loch Leven is a large loch, some eleven or twelve miles round, 
 shaped rather like an ill-grown pear, with the Castle Island in 
 the middle, and owing to the moderate and very uniform depth 
 there is a great extent of fishing ground, and of course a great 
 extent of feeding or food producing ground. That the food of 
 the lake and that alone makes the fish what they are I do not at 
 all believe. There is an abundance of small shellfish, which,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVBE. 307 
 
 from the casual glance I had of them, I take to belong either to 
 Bythinia or Hydrobia, species common enough in large areas of 
 water ; but I cannot be certain, as I did one of those stupid 
 things that one does sometimes. I had plenty of them on the 
 first day ; but thinking that, as they were so abundant, I need 
 not trouble to carry them home that day, I put it off till the 
 next. The next day I was getting up some weed which abounds 
 in the lake, a very pretty mossy-looking plant the Chara flexilis 
 according to botanists and could find no shellfish on it ; and on 
 desiring the men to row to where I could get some, they told me 
 I should be sure to find plenty in the fish, as never a fish was 
 killed without finding his stomach full. Satisfied with this, I 
 went home, opened my fish, and did not find one. I subsequently 
 wrote to Mr. Marshall to ask him to send me a boxful, but these 
 though promised never came to hand at all. Another lesson 
 never to put anything off, and never to trust to chance or anyone 
 else if you can help it. The abundance of this particular kind 
 of food no doubt gives very pink flesh to the trout ; this we find in 
 all lochs where these small shellfish are plentiful. I have seen the 
 same thing in Loch Conn in Ireland, and in other lochs, where the 
 fish are by no means well-shaped, fat fish, and certainly anything 
 but silvery like the Loch Leven fish. But still the flesh is a 
 bright pink, and of good flavour, though they have dark green 
 olive skins, and are not very bright in colour. I am inclined to 
 think there is something, from all I can see, in what Mr. C. F. 
 Walsh advanced some time ago, viz., that these fish come of a 
 race of imprisoned sea trout. We know, from the Tasmanian 
 experience, that sea trout will and do breed without ever having 
 been to the sea ; and, that fact clearly established, considerable 
 light is thrown upon many dark places, and the main difficulty 
 in the theory of their being descended from sea trout, but 
 slightly modified by long residence in a lake and by a descent 
 from fish naturalised to lake existence, vanishes. The big fish 
 that I saw were in the end of May as like sea-trout kelts a good 
 
 deal out of condition as any I ever saw, and I certainly never saw 
 
 x 2
 
 308 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 any other lake trout but these silvery fellows in such a condition 
 at that time of the year. The shape, colour, appearance, every- 
 thing in the outward indications that one could judge by, are 
 infinitely more like those of a migratory trout than those of the 
 brown trout ; and a Loch Leven trout of a pound, as I have already 
 said, would be bagged by 999 anglers out of a thousand as a sea 
 trout without question if caught in a river. One curious fact, 
 however, is noticeable, that the adipose fin is very slightly red- 
 tinged at the tip, which is not the case with the salmon or salmon 
 trout, but is the case, though to a much greater extent, with the 
 bull trout and common trout. Then, on the other hand, it has 
 not that white stripe along the anterior edge of the anal fin 
 which one finds in the brown trout, but not in the bull trout- 
 Structural differences are so hard to determine, and they seem 
 in different varieties of different species so often to run into one 
 another, and to vary so much according to the clean or unclean 
 state of the fish, that no formula I have ever seen yet has been 
 laid down that will enable one to pronounce safely and positively 
 on species. I puzzled over the gill-cover formation at one time, 
 and had fish of all kinds from all parts of the country sent 
 me, and I finally came to the conclusion that it was utterly 
 unreliable. I then tried fin rays, and that, I became equally 
 satisfied, was quite untrustworthy too individuals of admittedly 
 the same species constantly differing in the numbers of their fin 
 rays. Vertebrae, again, became equally unsound ; and finally I 
 came to the conclusion that the less positive we are upon any 
 point of species among the Salmonidce the better, for even the 
 most learned know but very little about it. I took down the 
 number of fin rays that I found in the Loch Leven fish, and they 
 run as follows : Dorsal 12, pectoral 14, ventral 9, anal 10, caudal 
 19. Salmo fario (the common trout), as laid down by Yarrell, 
 agrees in this formula, except that it has eleven rays, or one more, 
 in the anal fin ; Salmo trutta, on the other hand, agrees in all 
 but the pectoral, where it has one less ; and I have found quite 
 as great differences between two specimens of admitted brown
 
 BY LAKE AND R1VEB. 309 
 
 trout taken from different streams. Certain of the fish found in 
 Loch Lomond are said to belong to the same species, and a new 
 species has been set up, named Salmo Levenensis, in order to cover 
 difficulties and dovetail facts, by reason possibly of imperfect 
 knowledge of the habits of fish. The fish of Loch Ard, too, and 
 elsewhere, are also said to belong to the same species. When I 
 come to treat of Loch Lomond I shall be obliged to recur to this 
 again. 
 
 One more fact I must chronicle. As I have already mentioned, 
 the fish feed largely on the shellfish ; but on investigating 
 the stomachs of those I killed on the second day I found that 
 they had been feeding on beetles some of them wee black 
 beetles, some larger, and perhaps half an inch long. Anglers of 
 Loch Leven should bear this in mind. 
 
 Loch Leven flies are like most of the ordinary Scotch lake 
 flies. The white tip with red body known as the Hechum- 
 pechum is held a great medicine by some. I did very little 
 with it, but killed most of my fish with Loch Awe flies and the 
 light and dark hare lug. Flies can be bought at the office on 
 the pier.
 
 310 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXIX. 
 
 LOCH LOMOND ITS TOURISTS Luss THE MACGEEGOES SIE 
 JAMES COLQUHOUN FISHING AT Luss BOWABDENNAN 
 INVEESNAID THE HEAD OF THE LOCH. 
 
 HAVE you ever been up Loch Lomond ? Has anyone in Scotland 
 never been up Loch Lomond ? Has anyone anywhere else never 
 been up Loch Lomond ? Don't be alarmed ; I am not going to 
 conjugate the compound verb, "Togo up Loch Lomond." To 
 persons who have not been up Loch Lomond, I say, go there ; to 
 those who have been, I may add, go again. If you want to go 
 pleasantly, choose some day in June, before the strong flood of 
 tourists has set in, and don't choose either Saturday or St- 
 Monday and the same may be said, perhaps even more forcibly, 
 of the Clyde steamers unless you wish to study the habits of 
 the Glasgow rough, who shines even among roughs, and who is 
 pre-eminent in roughness. A few odd tourists are rather good 
 fun, and if you like to make yourself a little busy among them* 
 or if you don't get out of the way of them, you may derive some 
 amusement from the study of them. Let us take a glance at 
 them. First there is the eating tourist. No sooner has he, or 
 she, or it, or both, or all three, slid off the pier at Balloch into 
 the boat than a suitable station is chosen for the prosecution of 
 the important avocations of the day. A big basket is opened and 
 the business of the day commences, and until exhausted nature 
 cries " Hold, enough," and a strong internal sense of suffocation 
 comes on, jaw-bones are kept moving. No sooner is the home 
 supply exhausted, and a fair half-hour allowed for it to settle, 
 than the lady or gentleman begins once more to feel quite faint from
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 311 
 
 prolonged abstinence, and the eating-saloon is sought out and the 
 pangs of unassuaged hunger are temporarily mollified by a 
 heaped-up plate of half-raw beef and ham. Their principal 
 amusement is feeding the gulls with the fragments which they 
 cannot find room for themselves, and they take profound interest 
 in seeing these edible waifs gobbled down and wrangled over. It 
 reminds them of the time when they were children, and wrangled 
 over the last morsel of apple-pie themselves, and they feel quite 
 melancholy and regretful if any chance bit remains unappro- 
 priated. As for the scenery, they care nothing about it. They 
 come on Loch Lomond because it gives them an appetite, and 
 there is no pitching and tossing, as there sometimes is on the 
 Clyde boats, which rather has a contrary effect. The last we see 
 of them is opening a large paper of " sandwiches," which they 
 have procured somewhere, probably of the steward, as the 
 train leaves Balloch for Glasgow late in the evening. May their 
 "bosoms' lords sit lightly on their throne," if, as in probability, night- 
 mare should rule over that portion of their anatomy twixt night 
 and morning. Then there is the sentimental young lady tourist, 
 who sometimes may be in a position to drop the " young," who 
 sits and gapes at Ben Lomond with an abstracted wrapt attention 
 that becomes very comic ; a book is in her hand, but it droops by 
 her side in " The Inexpressibly Gushing Sensation which pervades 
 the Circumambient Empyrean." Her thoughts, like the late Sir 
 Edward Lytton's, being expressible only in capitals. She eats 
 not, neither does she drink, save of inspiration, though, no doubt, 
 she will ply a decent knife and fork at the table-d'hote at 
 Inversnaid by-and-by, when nobody notices her, and if Bert 
 Lomond were Ben M'Intyre, who serves in Mr. Grocer's shop in 
 Sauchiehall Street, she couldn't be more devoted to it. Then 
 there is the drinking tourist, who goes into a steamboat because 
 it is a public-house all the way. Though he usually brings 
 a soda-water bottle, full of whisky, in either of his coat 
 pockets, in case the steamboat should run short, a constant recur- 
 rence to those faithful companions makes a beast of him in due
 
 OlZ BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 time, and a nuisance to all around, until, happily, a few more applica- 
 tions send him off, snoring like a hog, under the lee of some con- 
 venient trunk or bulkhead Unfortunate beast ! Then there are 
 the spooney-couple tourists, who ought to be put down by Act of 
 Parliament or municipal regulations. They are either on their 
 honeymoon trip, or ought to be. They pretend to try and get 
 out of sight as if anyone could get out of sight in a Loch 
 Lomond steamboat ; the slightest possible isolation, obstruction, 
 or concealment suffices for them ; and the amount of semi- 
 surreptitious hugging and kissing that goes on under the half- 
 shelter of a cloak or an umbrella is calculated very much to 
 disturb the equanimity of those who are not spooney. Then 
 there is the sketching tourist, amateur and artist ; Tupman 
 usually takes to him, and they get up a polysyllabic talk about 
 art, which, I am happy to say, I do not understand in the least. 
 And next, the travelling tourist (chiefly Yankee), who, if you 
 enter into conversation with him, will soon acquire an accurate 
 knowledge of you and all your affairs, down to the maker of your 
 hat and the price of your pantaloons ; the practical joking tourist 
 a pest to all his friends and acquaintances, and not always safe 
 even upon strangers ; the tourist who is always fidgetting about 
 his carpet-bag and his umbrella ; and the tourist who is always 
 in such a hurry, and so on, and so on the full description of 
 whom would require more time and space than can be given to 
 them. But here is Luss, a pretty little Highland village, 
 belonging to Sir James Colquhoun, charmingly situated on the 
 shore of the lake ; and the steamer stops at the little pier to take 
 up and set down passengers. Eossdhu, the splendid seat of Sir 
 James Colquhoun,* is here. At the entrance of the Glen 
 stand the ruins of Banachra Castle. All these spots are im- 
 mortalised by Sir Walter in that splendid song of " Roderick 
 Vich Alpin." 
 
 * Poor Sir James ! His tragic end within a month or two of the publi- 
 cation of these notices will be in the memory of everybody.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 313 
 
 Proudly our pibroch has thrilled in Glen Fruin, 
 And Bannochar's groans to our slogan replied ; 
 Glen Luss and Rossdhu they are smoking in ruin, 
 And the best of Loch Lomond lie dead by her side. 
 
 It is impossible, in spite of all the halo of romance which Sir 
 Walter and others have cast over them, to regard the Macgregors 
 as anything but highly objectionable neighbours ; and viewing 
 their doings by such lights as are afforded by even their friends, 
 one can but sympathise with the desire of their neighbours to be 
 rid of them. Highland cowstealing may have been a much more 
 gallant thing than highway robbery ; but still, if we go into them 
 closely, the difference is not very much, save in the name and 
 "What's in a name?" A cow stealer by any other name will not 
 smell any more sweetly ; and whether one's throat be cut by a 
 Macgregor or a Bill Sykes it comes to pretty much the same 
 thing, as far as we are concerned, though, perhaps in one case 
 we might get a decent burial, while in the other we should be 
 left to the crows and foxes, or, romantically putting it, " eagles." 
 
 The Fruin, one of the best white trout streams on the lake, 
 runs in here when there is any water at all. The Fruin yields 
 fine sport, the fish often running up to a very large size, even to 
 71b. or 8lb., or more. Season tickets can be taken to fish 
 this stream, and many neighbours avail themselves of the 
 privilege. The stream gets a good deal fished, of course, and 
 when the water is fine the fish are proportionately shy. Still a 
 ramble up Glen Fruin is well worth the trouble, if only for the 
 ever changing and lovely scenery it discloses. 
 
 There are four anglers in our party to-day. Shall we shoulder 
 our rods and baskets and go on shore, and try among the 
 delightful maze of islands which makes this part of the lake so 
 lovely ? The question must be determined by the state of the 
 lake, and whether there has been a flush of water down the 
 Leven lately on a Sunday for, alas, the naughty irreligious 
 Scotch fish will travel on the Sabbath, though their proprietors 
 won't. We should see few enough of them if they wouldn't, and
 
 314 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 it is only on a wet Sunday that they have a chance of getting up, 
 the Leven being blocked at all other times by the nets and the 
 filth that comes from the factories at Levenbank. The stock of 
 sea fish that thus gets up is small, and Loch Lomond is a very 
 large area, so that, unless fresh fish have come in within two or 
 three weeks, the stock of fish in this part of the lake will be low, 
 as it is not very good fishing for the lake fish. At the best, half- 
 a-dozen sea trout, some of them running up to 31b. or 41b. 
 weight, with a stray grilse or even a salmon now and then, a few 
 lake trout, and perhaps a big pike or two, may reward the 
 angler, and this is pretty much the character of the water from 
 Luss up to Rowardennan. Thence upwards the sea fish are less 
 plentiful, but the lake trout increase until, from Tarbet upwards, 
 past Inversnaid to the head of the lake, the trout fishing on any 
 really fair day becomes very good, and a score of nice fish, 
 running from half a pound to 1-^lb., with an occasional big one 
 of 31b. or 41b., may be entrapped by the use of the fly and 
 minnow. 
 
 There was a small head of fish just before our visit, so we 
 resolved to take our chance, and after suitable refreshment at 
 the little inn at the top of the village, we got us into a couple 
 of boats and started. It was a very bad day for fishing. The 
 wind was strong enough, too strong indeed, but it was in a bad 
 airt, and the sun was as bright as it could be, the water being 
 low and clear to a degree. I hooked four or five sea fish on the 
 minnow, one of near 21b., but whether I bungled them, or 
 they took badly, or the wind was in the way, or anything else 
 was the matter, I don't know, but I somehow lost them all to a 
 fish, some almost as soon as they struck, and others when half 
 way up to the net. No doubt there are few anglers who have 
 not experienced this sort of day ; a day when everything goes 
 wrong, do what you will ; a disgusting day ; a humiliating sort 
 of day ; a day you don't care to remember. I think four or 
 five small brown trout, the largest somewhere about -|lb. to fib., 
 and very ugly beasts too, was our lot, and our friends were no
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 315 
 
 better. And yet the day before two friends of mine did well up 
 the lake towards Bowardennan, taking the one seventeen trout, 
 one of them 4^1b., and the other sixteen and a pike of 141b. ; 
 but they were mostly taken by the minnow, and many of them 
 were sea trout. This is an unusually good take for that water. 
 
 The scenery at Luss, among the islands, is most charming, one 
 never seems to know where you are going, or how you are coming 
 out, or going to get back again rocky, woody, of all sorts, 
 sizes, and shapes, with cold grey stone, or warm birch ; there 
 they seem to be by dozens, a perfect archipelago or maze of 
 islands, and all lovely in turn, what a place for picnics ! 
 
 Failing in doing much at Luss, we took the late boat on to 
 Inversnaid, where we arrived at 7.30 ; and here Mr. Blair's 
 hospitable hotel received us with a good table d'hote tea, at which 
 various nationalities presided Swedes, Danes, and Americans, 
 appearing to have a weakness for Loch Lomond. The next 
 morning I took a boat with a friend ; I fished fly, he trolled a 
 minnow. A fine S.W. breeze came on as we got about a mile 
 up the loch, just under Bob Boy's Cave, a natural hole in the 
 rocks, apparently caused by their tumbling together, and of no 
 great extent. The fish rose well at the fly ; the minnow was 
 less successful than it usually is, taking only some half-dozen 
 fish, and those all of the smallest, all the best fish and far the 
 largest number coming to the fly. We worked up to the head 
 of the loch, where we lunched, and then worked back again to 
 the hotel, which we reached comfortably by tea time, when we 
 found we had twenty-one trout weighing IG^lb., and two small 
 perch, which took the minnow. A good many fish were hooked 
 and lost, perhaps half as many more. The best fish was l^lb. 
 I saw quite as fine a dish taken two days afterwards round the 
 head of the loch by one of the keepers while I was fishing Loch 
 Arklet. The next day I again tried the head of the loch, but 
 took the opposite side of the lake, in which are some very fine 
 bays. Indeed, I should think the far side the best, but the 
 fishermen say no. The result was very small ; I got only five
 
 316 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 fish, losing eight others that were slightly hooked, but the reason 
 was that it was a dead calm, and the water all day was like a 
 sheet of glass, when lake fishing is all but hopeless. I did get a 
 languid pull now and then at the minnow when a slight air 
 gently ruffled the surface for a minute or two ; but fishing was 
 hopeless, and the fly a perfect superfluity. But for the fact that 
 we had a good stock of fine live minnows, we should hardly 
 have got a single run. It is a great comfort to Loch Lomond 
 fishers that they can always get a good store of live minnows 
 at Inversnaid. Some years ago the proprietor of Loch Arklet, 
 in order to increase the food of the lake, stocked it and the 
 Arklet burn, which runs out close to the hotel at Inversnaid 
 and makes a fine waterfall some thirty feet high there with 
 minnows, and they have increased in both to a surprising degree, 
 so that there is no difficulty in obtaining any number of minnows 
 desired. There are one or two charming islands with ruined 
 castles on them hereabouts which were the strongholds of 
 turbulent chiefs in days gone by, and the scenery here is lovely. 
 I know nothing more pleasant than a cigar after a good day 
 in front of the Inversnaid Hotel, just within hearing of the 
 waterfall, with the glorious lake and magnificent mountains 
 before one. 
 
 The next few days I fished over Loch Arklet, Loch Katrine, 
 and Loch Chon, and as I had to return to Glasgow on some 
 business, I did not then fish Loch Lomond again, but came back 
 a few days after to have another turn at Loch Lomond and at 
 Loch Katrine. The first day after my return I took Loch 
 Lomond. Unfortunately the day turned out very wet. For an 
 hour the fish came on well, and I took seven or eight trout, one 
 of which weighed 41b., the others about lib. and fib. each, and 
 half a dozen perch. A friend who was out in another boat over 
 the same ground doing about the same, save as regards the large 
 fish, his largest being about lib. The largest fish gave me a 
 tough job, for he was over large for the net, and when being 
 lifted into the boat jumped clean out of the net and fell at least
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 317 
 
 4ft. into the water. " Phansy my feelinks," as Jeames de la 
 Pluche was wont to say when Thackeray portrayed him, on 
 seeing by far the best fish I had had hold of at all, and which 
 looked to me 51b. and over, taking a rocketer out of my net into 
 the air, kersquash into the water. What hook that ever stuck 
 in a minnow could be expected to hold ? and my triangles were 
 exceedingly small, and I of course bade farewell to my fish, not 
 in the least expecting him to hang on after such usage. But 
 somehow one of the little toothed gum ticklers did contrive to 
 keep its place, and after another scurry off and more careful 
 manoeuvring I once more got him under and into the net ; but 
 the boatman was clearly not used to landing big fish in small 
 nets, for once more the fish bolted. I fear that had I spoken 
 outwardly what I thought inwardly, the Highland bluid of my 
 henchman would have boiled some, and that I should have been 
 told, like the angler on the Tweed, that I "might fesh by 
 mysel ; " so I wheeled the fish round again, and this time we 
 did manage to bundle him into the boat somehow ; and a fairly 
 handsome fish this big fellow was a wee bit thin in the flank t 
 where out-of-condition fish always do show it, but not bad 
 coloured. A very well-mended kelt he looked to me, and I 
 should have put him down as a sea trout. He had all the 
 appearance of it, and ate very miserably being of a dirty white 
 colour, and poor and watery in consistence as to his flesh ; but I 
 was assured by those who are supposed to know Loch Lomond 
 well that it was just one of the lake trout. I cannot understand 
 it, however. The contrast in the edible condition of the flesh as 
 compared with other lake fish made it the more unaccountable. 
 There are two distinct kinds of trout, it is said, in the lake ; one 
 the ordinary brown and yellow fish which no one can mistake for 
 a moment, and the other a bright silvery fish that looks all over 
 a sea trout, that has the grey fins of the salmon trout, and that 
 even adopts the lively jumping tactics of that fish. They are 
 scarcely as silvery as a fresh-run sea trout, being a trifle rusty 
 and tarnished, but in all other respects I can see no difference.
 
 318 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 They certainly look to me exactly like sea trout that have not 
 gone down to the sea in their regular turn, but just stay in the 
 lake and recover condition there, and thus in time take upon 
 them some few of the characteristics of the lake trout. As I 
 have before said, we know that, from the Australian experiment, 
 it is not an absolute necessity for salmon trout to go to the sea 
 to enable them to recover the condition necessary for spawning. 
 I have long thought that this was just a question of condition 
 and food. No doubt change of water and food does, like change 
 of air and diet with us, improve condition much more quickly ; 
 but, of course, a big fish like a salmon wants so much food to 
 recover him, that we can easily understand he could not find it 
 sufficiently plentiful in a river. We know that in some cases 
 salmon kelts do mend partially, though we do not know how far, 
 or whether any ever do recover sufficiently to breed. Sea trout, 
 however, could of course recover nearly as early as common 
 trout, and no doubt in many instances do so. I have frequently, 
 in many lakes and streams, found undoubted sea trout, and that, 
 too, in fairish condition, and at a time when the sea trout had 
 not begun to run. These fish were, I have no doubt, mended 
 kelts, and, to all appearance, fairly mended too ; but of course 
 they lacked the lustre and brilliancy of fresh clean fish new 
 from the sea ; and this is about the difference in appearance, so 
 far as I can see, as regards these Loch Lomond fish. It is quite 
 possible, also, that they may be the children of fish that have 
 not gone to the sea, and thus still more have weakened the 
 migratory instinct, or tTiere may be something hybrid in the breed. 
 However it be, they are wonderfully different from the ordinary 
 brown trout of the loch, and I have serious doubts of the brown 
 trout theory, and even more of the Salmo Levenensis ; and, in a 
 review of the facts, I am strongly inclined to think, with Mr. 
 Walsh, that Salmo trutta Levenensis^rf would be nearer the 
 mark. 
 
 But we are leaving the lake. The big fish was, of course, put 
 in the place of honour, and he looked very imposing in it. And
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVES. 319 
 
 so we float on, the pleasant south-west wind just tossing the 
 water into ruffling wavelets that plash crisply against the boat, 
 now and then lifting her to and fro with a soothing motion, and 
 fish after fish essays to capture, to his cost, the feathered bauble 
 at the end of our line, which carries such a sting in its tail, 
 and, like pleasant vices often indulged in, proves at length so 
 difficult to shake off that they vanquish their victim in the long 
 run, and haul him away to the shades when he least expects it. 
 But it is luncheon time, and here, in this rocky cavern where 
 desperate men may really have taken refuge for all we know 
 in the cool shades, gazing at the tender light and green foliage 
 that traces the air without, will we take our luncheon, and smoke 
 our mid-day pipe in silent peace and contentment, and sing 
 with Izaak Walton to the music of worthy Doctor Selle, 
 
 Oh, the gallant fisher's life, 
 
 It is the best of any ; 
 
 'Tis full of pleasure, void of strife, 
 
 And 'tis beloved of many. 
 
 Other joys are but toys, 
 
 Only this lawful is ; 
 
 For our skill breeds no ill, 
 
 But content and pleasure. 
 
 Oh, the gallant fisher's life, &c. 
 
 Alack and alas, why does not somebody write such songs now-a- 
 days ? Why are we deluged with horrid music-hall jingles, as 
 vulgar in matter as in tune, and as devoid of wit as the wretched 
 jokes that convulsed the Court during the eternal Tichborne 
 trial ? As for our ballads heaven save the mark ! What read 
 you there, my lord ? Why, as Hamlet answered, "Words, words, 
 words," nothing but words ; no sense, no feeling, no sentiment, 
 no imagination ; nothing but jingle, jingle, jingle. Well, " You 
 that jingle may " for me, I'll none of it. But the day is over. 
 Evening comes on, and, after a comfortable tea-dinner at Inver- 
 snaid, we smoke our last pipe with Blair, the proprietor of the 
 capital hotel we are located in, and listen to the hushed fall of 
 Arklet burn, as it pitches over into the dark foam-flecked pool
 
 320 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 below, and gaze dreamily at the shadows as they deepen on 
 Benvoirlich and Benvean, and wonder when that patch of snow 
 will vanish far up Benreoch, for it is now late in June, and still 
 it shows no signs of going ; and watch the fleecy clouds that 
 float from mountain to mountain across the lake, now " like a 
 camel," anon "backed like a weasel," and presently "very like a 
 whale ; " and so evening comes down upon the lake, and as the 
 air gets damp and chilly, we will retire and counteract the 
 vapours with a toddy. 
 
 I forgot to say that on this occasion I found the water quite 
 thickly studded in places with the cases of the May fly or green 
 drake ; and the next day I saw a good many on the water 
 there must have been quite a decent rise of them the day 
 before ; bnt the trout did not seem to notice them perhaps 
 they were hardly thick enough. I believe, too, they come out 
 strongly on Loch Awe, and there at times the trout do notice 
 them ; and on a smaller lake, Loch Kulliper,* near the Crinan 
 Canal, a heavy rise of Mayfly comes up, I am told, and the trout, 
 which are particularly fine, take well then, though somewhat 
 shy at other times ; and a few Mayfly show on most of the 
 southern lakes. 
 
 There are two very nice burns at Inversnaid one on either 
 shore of the lake which give capital sport after a shower of 
 rain ; but they are private, and leave has to be obtained ; and on 
 one of them, I believe, there is little difficulty in this respect. 
 At the head of the lake too, and in the mouth of the Falloch 
 which feeds it, there is (unfortunately) capital pike fishing ; 
 and 801b. or 901b. of big fish may sometimes be taken by an 
 expert. A friend of mine, who is a fair trout fisher, but no 
 great adept at the Thames style, picked up 741b. or thereabouts 
 two days running last year ; and as nearly all the salmon have 
 to pass up the Falloch to spawn, as it is the largest feeder of 
 the lake, and the greater portion of the smolts have to come 
 
 * This is phonetic, I believe, Keillbar being the correct spelling.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEH. 321 
 
 down and run the gauntlet of these brutes, I am quite sure 
 that the fisheries at the Leven mouth must be seriously affected 
 by the numbers of pike here ; and if anyone would go and stay 
 at the Ardlui Hotel, which is close at hand, and seriously 
 attack the pike for a week in October, they would get capital 
 sport, and do no end of good ; and, though they might get 
 small trout from the burns, I would advise a good stock of 
 dace and gudgeons to be bottled beforehand a good silvery 
 dace would be a very attractive bait. I intended to take some 
 up, but neglected it, and was sorry for it all the while I was 
 there. The burn trout are not bright enough to show well. 
 
 I did not meet with the far-famed powan of Loch Lomond. 
 It is not so often taken now as formerly, and keeps lower down 
 the lake towards Luss. Now and then one or two are found in 
 the maw of some big pike. The powan is one of the various 
 species of corregoni found in the British Islands, of which we 
 know for certainty of four the vendace of Loch Maben, the 
 gwyniad of Wales and Cumberland, the powan of Loch Lomond, 
 and the pollan of Lough Neagh and other Irish lakes. The two 
 which approach nearest to each other of these are the powan and 
 pollan. But there is a remarkable structural difference in the 
 formation of the mouth and the bones of the mouth figured in 
 Tarrell, which enables the line to be distinctly drawn. They are 
 mostly (except in the case of the vendace, which serves, like the 
 whitebait, to hold together gorgeous feasts) only held in moderate 
 repute for the table, and should be eaten when freshly caught. 
 They afford no sport to the angler, rarely taking fly or bait, 
 though tho pollan, having a rather larger mouth than the powan, 
 is a trifle the best fish in this respect. They will make good 
 feeding for the great lake trout, which I hear that the late Sir 
 James Colquhoun introduced into the lake, where they no doubt 
 will thrive abundantly.
 
 322 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXX. 
 
 A MYSTERIOUS STRANGER LOCH AIR AN DALLANAICH A 
 GREAT EXPEDITION THE MYSTERIOUS STRANGER ABSORBS 
 AND LIES, AND IS LEFT LYING. 
 
 DREAMILY I sit at the door of my hotel, gazing at the lofty 
 mountains that surround Loch Lomond. Tupman smokes 
 beside me, enraptured by the most peculiar effect of cloud 
 scenery that I ever saw. It is the time of dusk there is a 
 darkish cloud over the sky upon the far shore, the edges of which 
 are fleecy white, through which the setting sun shines in a very 
 peculiar way. The back of this cloud seems to act as a sort of 
 looking-glass reflector, and throws a light upon the mountain- 
 side which, late in the day as it is, shows every rock and hollow 
 far more clearly than we could possibly see them at the brightest 
 mid-day. Indeed, if a man or a sheep had been on the mountain- 
 side, I fully believe we could have seen them, which, I am quite 
 sure, we never could do at mid-day. Such a curious illumination 
 I never saw before : it was as if a strong lime-light had been 
 hidden behind the cloud, and the full force of it thrown on the 
 mountain. It lasted for some fifteen or twenty minutes, and 
 gradually died out. Tupman was in ecstasies, and the power of 
 hard words and art roots he brought to bear on it quite left me 
 floundering like a stranded porpoise. I opened my mouth to 
 reply now and then, but I found nothing to say to him not a 
 word of more than five syllables. I thought of " poluphloisboio 
 thalasses," but it was not appropriate, and I could not at the 
 moment make it so, I sung softly a line or two of that funny 
 old glee, " Aldiborontifoscofornio, Chrononhotonthologos," which
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 323 
 
 produced opprobrious epithets upon my want of art-knowledge, 
 and I was stigmatised as an ignorant behemoth, but it broke the 
 neck of the scientific eulogium, and I gazed in silence and 
 in peace. 
 
 Somebody spoke a mysterious stranger sat on the seat beside 
 us, smoking a large meerschaum. How did he come . there 
 I did not see him come Tupman did not see him come. Nobody 
 saw him come. He didn't come. He appeared. You remember 
 if you ever saw him, Herr Staudigl, in " Der Freyschiitz," and his 
 " Zamiel appear" and that individual in a very uncomfortable 
 dress of red ochre appears. This individual appeared in a some- 
 what similar way, only without the invocation and without the 
 red ochre, unless his whiskers were ochre they were red. I 
 remember that I was fascinated by his whiskers ; Tupman con- 
 fessed to being taken with his forehead, which was narrow, 
 pointed, and aesthetic. Esthetic but that was Tupman all 
 over ; of course I couldn't say it wasn't, for I didn't exactly know 
 what aesthetic was. By the way, does Tupman himself know ? 
 Mem., The next time he says a thing is aesthetic I will say it 
 isn't, and let him show how it is. I expect he'll flounder, and 
 then I'll give him another touch of " Aldiboronti," &c. But 
 what was this mysterious stranger ? He wasn't a keeper. He 
 wasn't a pedlar. He wasn't a bagman. He wasn't any kind of 
 tourist that we were familiar with. He wasn't quite a gentleman ; 
 but he was an indescribable mixture of many things. He spoke 
 fair English, or fair Scotch, as it suited him, and seemed quite 
 at home in the country, and, in spite of everything against him, 
 his whiskers inspired confidence. Tupman wouldn't have the 
 whiskers, but never mind. He was one of the finest smokers I 
 ever met ; as a drinker I never saw any one equal him, except 
 myself ; and I think twenty years ago I could have run a dead 
 heat with him. As a raconteur he was inimitable and inex- 
 haustible by Jingo, sir, he even beat me he had so much 
 natural wit, such amazing power of ready invention, and such 
 
 indomitable cheek. It was the cheek that did it ; that's what it 
 
 Y 2
 
 324 BT LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 was. Now there is my particular weakness, I haven't a particle of 
 cheek in my composition. Oh, if I only had ! What have I not 
 lost in the last thirty years or so for the want of it ? Audace et 
 auda.ce et encore audace. That is the secret of success, no doubt 
 of it. He could sing a good song, and had the queerest collection 
 of good songs I ever came across. He talked of fishing, and he 
 talked very well of fishing, interspersing his conversation with 
 stories and anecdotes of men and things often of a very surprising 
 character ; indeed, we sometimes almost doubted the truth of 
 them, but there was a clearness and circumstantiality of detail 
 a minute delineation about them that set scepticism aside, 
 and, as it were, almost compelled credence. He talked of a 
 small lake in a lonely valley, away on the skirts of Ben Lomond, 
 not known to anglers, and rather difficult to find. Loch Air 
 an Dallanaich he called it, and I made him spell it, as these 
 Gaelic names come out all over the shop, as it were, in point 
 of spelling. In this lake the trout were as long as " that " 
 indicating with his hands something that might have been 
 fourteen, eighteen, or twenty-four inches, and he told a tale of 
 a tremendous single combat that he had with a monster one 
 he tackled once, which got away, of course, and was still in 
 the lake ; and he so inflamed our curiosity that we besought 
 him to conduct us to the mysterious lake, which at length he 
 promised to do on the morrow. We were to take plenty of pro- 
 vision for a long day, and a very sufficient indeed an unusually 
 large stock of whisky. This he said (with a grin, which I 
 understood afterwards) was indispensable if we wished to find the 
 lake. Tupman has a sort of flask, a big flat thing that holds 
 rather more than three pints, which slings at his back, and has 
 a lock on it which has provoked the anathema maranatha of 
 many gillies ; and if we each took our largest flasks full besides, 
 and a caulker upon starting, we might survive the day. Of 
 course there was no house, or even a sheiling, within miles, and 
 so we went to bed to dream of enormous trout in mysterious 
 and unknown lochs.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 325 
 
 The next morning early, each laden with rod, basket, lunch, 
 and flask, we started. It was but " six or seven miles, or so, 
 across the hills," and we were very merry in anticipation of 
 grand sport to come, as the wind was S.E., just the right wind 
 for the loch. So our unknown friend said, and we stepped 
 away bravely. An hour or two's stiff walking found us breasting a 
 very steep hillside, and after surmounting it, the unknown called 
 a halt, and we took our first|refreshment by a little rivulet. " Is 
 it much farther?" asked Tupman. "Only just among those 
 hills," was the reply. Tupman's face visibly lengthened. There 
 was an undesirable bit or two of climbing to be done, a sort 
 of thing which T. objected to when it came too often ; but 
 re-invigorated pro tern., we went on. Another hour found us 
 among the hills in question. Up we went, and down we went, 
 and still no loch in sight, but to all our questions when we 
 should see it, "Just presently " was the reply. It was actually 
 getting towards noon, and still no lake was in sight ; and we 
 began to think that the lake was a myth, when our companion 
 proposed that we should anchor under the shade of some rocks 
 and lunch, where a little dripping spring made a basin of sweet 
 cool water, and the gentle breeze pleasantly fanned our heated 
 brows, and we sunk into three mossy, ferny seats without a 
 murmur of dissension. Leisurely we despatched our lunch with 
 good appetites, then we qualified our whisky with the spring, 
 and fell into a lazy smoke and chat. It was a lovely scene 
 below us broken, rocky, feathery mountain ground close to 
 us, and wooded slopes below, with green, peaceful glens in 
 the hollow. 
 
 " See yonder white house among the trees ?" asked our 
 acquaintance, indicating a house far below, which stood out 
 prominently. 
 
 " I met our friends W. G. and Bob L. there a few years ago. 
 They were on a walkin' tour, and thought they were unknown ; 
 but / spotted them, bless you ! although, of course, I wouldn't 
 pretend to know them, for fear of scaring them off, for people
 
 326 BT LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 often like to be incog, in the Highlands. Then we had a most 
 delightful evening. Glorious, glorious." 
 
 " And you found them very pleasant fellows ?" I asked. 
 
 " Pleasant is not the word, my friend not the word at all. 
 If you'd only heard G. sing "John Brown's Daughter/' and 
 seen the way he danced the break-down to it, I give you my 
 word you'd have been convulsed. Beat the Happy Land dance 
 into sky blue fits." 
 
 " Indeed ; really." 
 
 " Truly, oh truly ! As for Bob, the conjuring tricks that he did 
 were wonderful. The pea and thimble was nothing to him. 
 The three card trick he was such a dab at that he actually won 
 one and ninepence halfpenny off me at it, and what's more, I 
 paid him, though I was never very famous for ready cash, and 
 actually he kept it. Now, you'll hardly believe that ! Then he 
 got to doing tricks with a match box and three matches of 
 different lengths, and in the course of that I had the honour to 
 suggest a reference which afterwards became famous. He was 
 manipulating three matches very cleverly, and he showed me the 
 trick. 'The audience,' says he, 'would of course stake their 
 pile upon this match, but this is the match after all.' ' And so 
 you see you sell 'em,' said I. ' You see you sell 'em,' he replied, 
 repeating the words once or twice. ' You see you sell 'em,' he 
 continued reflectively ' sell 'em.' ' What is it ? Ah ! I have 
 it luce lucellum ex luce exactly.' And that was the first of 
 it. Odd, wasn't it ? " 
 
 "Very singular," I replied. Tupman nudged me, and pulled 
 down his left under eyelid when our friend was not looking. 
 After this we wandered away to the revolutionary state of thing s 
 now in progress, and so, easily to the old French revolution, and 
 by chance to Canning. 
 
 "What, George?" said our friend, who got through his 
 whisky with amazing rapidity, and was growing loquacious. 
 " George hie hie I remember him when I was a boy quite 
 a young one, I'll allow." Our friend did not look above fifty
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 327 
 
 at the outside, but his was an uncertain phiz which might have 
 existed longer, and it was just possible. 
 
 " Remember him ! I should think so. It was only just over 
 there yonder," pointing to a hill some three or four miles away 
 "that he first composed "The Needy Knife-Grinder," and I 
 had the honour of helping him." Tupman and I glanced 
 furtively at one another. " I remember, I was going up the 
 hill a-fishing, with my rod over my shoulder, and coming round 
 a rock, in a little natural amphitheatre show you the place 
 by-and-by I happened on a fellow walking to and fro, repeating 
 verses aloud to himself, and I heard him recite 
 
 Rough is the way, 
 
 Thy wheel is out of order, 
 
 Cold blows the wind ; 
 
 Thy hat has got a hole in 
 
 And he paused and repeated the line, as if looking out for another, 
 when, remarking that he had torn the seat of his trousers in 
 sitting on a jagged rock, I called out to him, " And so have your 
 breeches!" He clapped his hand behind, proved it was true, and 
 then slapped his hand on his thigh. "The very thing." 
 
 said he : 
 
 So have thy breeches ! 
 Cold blows the wind ; 
 Thy hat has got a hole in, 
 So have thy breeches." 
 
 " Thanks, good youth ! thanks, most apt and excellent stranger !" 
 and we instantly cottoned and collogued, and had a long chat, in 
 which I gave him some new ideas, I flatter myself. " Didn't 
 know George from Adam then, and not until afterwards, when I 
 met with the poem in the anti-Jacobin, and recognised my own 
 handiwork, and made a few inquiries." Then he told us a story 
 of how he captured and held a live stag in position for 
 Landseer while he painted it, and how he suggested the lions in 
 Trafalgar-square, and even put Paxton up to the Crystal Palace, 
 and suggested the Income Tax and the Police to Peel, with many 
 other remarkable coincidences.
 
 328 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 "I say, Frank," said Tupman, while our friend went to mix 
 another glass at the spring, "this chap's lying, I think." 
 
 "Do you think so?" I replied in a doubtful undertone. 
 " Well, it is just possible ; but he's a very original liar if he is. 1 ' 
 "And now for a song," said our friend, and we sang all round 
 singly and then collectively and in chorus, and the three-pint 
 flask began to evince signs of weakness. I proposed to go, as 
 I thought we should get no fishing, but this our friend wouldn't 
 hear of. He was getting on a bit, and said that " This was 
 much better fun than fishin' blow the fishin' ! We'd just sit 
 where we were, and make out the day, and go fishin' t'-morrer!" 
 After another hour, I thought it desirable to move, as it was 
 some distance back, but this again our companion wouldn't hear 
 of. It was all right he was "our guide, philoshopher, and 
 friend," and there was plenty of time after finishing "t'other 
 flask." I noticed that he experienced a difficulty in the word 
 philosopher, and thought that something must give way soon, 
 and I ventured to mention that if we were to reach Loch Air 
 an Dallanaich to-night we really ought to be moving. Where- 
 upon, with a look of pretenatural sagacity, our friend said 
 " Needn be in sh deush of a 'urry, th' loch 'il come to ush 
 fash 'nuff and no mishtake." His meaning was not apparent 
 then, though I puzzled my head for some time to account for it, 
 but at last I thought of the man who sat down in the square 
 (which was turning round and round to his vision), under the 
 profound belief that he had only to wait there till his own house 
 came round in due turn so as to save all walking. No doubt 
 our friend was under a similar delusion, but he seemed to care 
 little for anything except the whisky flask, and ten minutes 
 afterwards, our guide, philosopher, and friend, in the middle of 
 a deep swig at the flask, collapsed suddenly, and fell back in the 
 ferns, overcome by the heat of the afternoon, and soon began to 
 snore like a nine farrow sow. Here was a pretty state of things. 
 We shook him, but beyond a grunt could get nothing out of him. 
 Tupman, in a rage, threw a pannikin of cold spring water over
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 329 
 
 his face and shirt-front, but that too had no effect whatever. 
 What was to be done ? Were we to wait till he had slept off 
 his attack ? That would take four or five hours, and perhaps 
 six or seven, by which time it would be dark night. Where 
 were we ? Did even our guide, philosopher, and friend know ? 
 This we doubted, for one or two little incidents, which before 
 were hardly noticed, led us to think that he did not, and that he 
 had utterly lost the way to the lake he was looking for before 
 lunch. At any rate, we would just ascend that pinnacle of rock 
 to see where we were ; but before we went we stuck the two 
 lower joints of our friend's rod in the ground, with his handker- 
 chief tied to it, to find our way back to him by, and then we set 
 out. We got to the peak, but quite lost sight of the handker- 
 chief in doing so. We thought we could easily find our way 
 back to him, and we could make out the way of getting down 
 the mountain quite plainly, so we set out to return, and make 
 one more effort to rouse up our guide ; but, betrayed by the 
 numerous sheep tracks among the rocks, we soon lost our own 
 way, and wandered about for a good half -hour ; of course, we 
 shouted, but our companion would not have heard it had he been 
 three yards away instead of probably three times three hundred, 
 and so we wandered on for another hour disconsolate. At length 
 it became evident that something must be done if we didn't want 
 to spend the night on the mountains. It was useless looking 
 any longer for our guide. He was a blind guide, a drunken 
 philosopher, a false friend, and must take his chance. A 
 night out would not perhaps be a very great discomfort. 
 If it was, it was his own fault, and we could not help it. 
 So we set to work seriously to get out of our difficulty, and, as 
 luck would have it, five minutes after we saw a smoke, and in ten 
 minutes more stood before a shepherd's bothy. It was a snug 
 little hut enough, composed of turfs and heather. The archi- 
 tecture was of no great consequence. There was a peat fire at 
 the back, and with a hole in the roof for the smoke a dog barked, 
 and a man stood before it. We explained to him our position ; he
 
 330 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 had a little English, and understood us. But when we mentioned 
 Loch Air an Dallanaich he smole a smile, and when we told 
 him all our adventures, and how we had left our friend, it ex- 
 panded into a broad grin, and he called to a companion, who 
 came to the door of the hut and saluted us very respectfully, 
 but without any servility. Him his friend addressed rapidly in a 
 torrent of Gaelic, and when he came to Loch Air an Dallanaich 
 his friend was as much on the grin as he was, and they chuckled 
 to one another till I began to lose patience, but our new ac- 
 quaintance said he had no doubt our friend had found the loch 
 he went in search of, for Loch Air an Dallanaich, rendered into 
 English, was simply " Loch blind drunk ; " and after a moment of 
 vexation I grinned too, while Tupman roared, as he delights in 
 a sell. In the end we left our friend to the shepherds, who 
 promised to relieve him, as the dogs would find him easy enough 
 and after administering to them the last of the whisky and a 
 chunk of negro-head, which is almost the most grateful offering 
 you can make a Highland shepherd, our acquaintance took us 
 round a spur in the hills, and in half an hour pointed out to us 
 Loch Arklet dimpling in the evening sun at our feet. It was 
 easy to find our way down to it, and the high road ran alongside 
 of it ; so, thanking our conductor, we made the best of our way 
 home, having, so far as we were concerned, sought Loch Air an 
 Dallanaich in vain. We found out afterwards that our friend 
 was a sort of peripatetic reporter for one or two newspapers, but 
 Loch Air an, &c., was his stumbling-block. He was a very 
 clever fellow, and capable of even brilliant things in the general 
 utility line, but for his weakness which reduced him to the 
 condition of a literary pedlar. 
 
 While at Loch Lomond I made the acquaintance of Andrew 
 Clerk, the well-known tackle maker in New York, probably the 
 first in the United States; a Scotchman originally, he had 
 migrated to New York, and made a very good thing of his 
 talent. For health's sake he was wandering among the old 
 familiar scenes of his youth, sketching ; and he was no mean
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 331 
 
 artist, and handled Ms brush as well as his rod. We had many 
 very pleasant confabs about sport in Canada and the States, 
 and he gave me a good deal of information. It was very 
 pleasant to meet a person from the other side of the Atlantic 
 whose knowledge and experience was so extensive on the precise 
 topics which are most interesting to me.
 
 332 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXI. 
 
 LOCH ARKLET POACHING AND PIKE LOCH KATRINE TRYING 
 THE PATERNOSTER THE WATERWORKS EXTENSION OF THE 
 LOCH How I WENT UP BEN AN AND BENVENUE LOCH 
 CHON AND ITS PIKE, &o. 
 
 LOCH AHKLET is pleasantly situated about three or four miles 
 from Inversnaid, by the side of the road on which the coach 
 travels between Inversnaid and Stronaclachar, which is the place 
 of embarkation for tourists going down Loch Katrine and 
 through the Trossachs. At one end of Glen Arklet stands an 
 old fort (Inversnaid Fort), which was erected in 1713 to keep 
 the M'Gregors in proper order ; who, if I remember right, 
 returned the compliment some time after by sacking it. The 
 remains of the old ruined walls may still be seen. It has an 
 interest in the fact that at one time it was commanded by 
 General Wolfe, who must have learnt here some of that expe- 
 rience in dealing with rocks and mountains which he afterwards 
 carried to Quebec. On the further shore of Loch Arklet a 
 tumble-down gable and a wall or two is pointed out to tourists 
 as Bob Eoy's house. I heard a tourist on the coach remark to 
 another, as he regarded it somewhat scornously, that " it wasn't 
 up to much." Loch Arklet is in private hands, being held by 
 the lessee of the shootings of Glen Arklet, through which runs 
 the Arklet burn already mentioned, and this, of course, also 
 goes with the shootings. It is a very romantic burn, pitching down 
 many falls, making deep, unseen lynns in its dark ravine, and 
 these lynns, I understand, hold some very nice mahogany- 
 coloured trout of from -|lb. to fib., though they are scarcely as
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 333 
 
 handsome as the Loch Arklet fish. I fished Lock Arklet by 
 permission, but this lake, which had once one of the best names 
 for giving sport of any lake in Scotland, is sadly fallen off. Two 
 causes contribute to it ; the pike have terribly increased for one, 
 for we took, while fishing, quite as many pike as trout on our 
 minnow tackles, most of them only wee fish of a year or so old, 
 which augurs ill for the future, as they are just the fellows to 
 clear off the fry wholesale. I hear of pike of 8lb. having been 
 taken from it ; and in a small lake like Arklet, there is no chance 
 for the trout to get away from their enemies, they are brought 
 so close together. There, too, I heard that not only Loch Arklet, 
 but many other lakes hereabouts, had been skinned last winter 
 and the winter previous by poachers, who swept out the small 
 burns at spawning time, often getting two and three hogshead 
 of trout in a night. No lakes can stand this double depletion 
 for more than a year or two, and, unless it is put a stop to 
 rigidly, they will shortly not be worth the angler's notice at all. 
 I fished round the lake three times in a fine breeze (albeit it was 
 northerly, which is not a good wind for fishing at this part in 
 June). I changed casts several times, and I never got the 
 symptom of a rise not one. We then trolled round and round, 
 taking only seven trout in the end, and as many pike. They 
 were beautiful fish, however, of fib. average, and on the table 
 unequalled, though hardly as game in the water as the Loch 
 Lomond fish. No doubt under the new proprietor's management 
 the poaching of the burns will be stopped, and, as it is not 
 difficult considerably to reduce the pike by employing set nets 
 and trimmers, the fishing may possibly be greatly improved in the 
 future. The lake can easily be re-stocked from the burn below 
 to any extent, and such a charming lake as it is, so capable of 
 giving fine trout, it would be a thousand pities if every chance 
 was not given to it. It is rather a shy lake to the fly I under- 
 stand. From the peculiar formation of the valley I have little 
 doubt that at one time Loch Arklet extended over a far larger 
 space than it does now, but natural causes ^no doubt have con-
 
 334 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 tributed greatly to reduce it. Indeed, more than once it has 
 been proposed to drain it altogether, which might very easily 
 be done by laying a pipe through to Loch Katrine, which is close 
 at hand and at a much lower level while the water which it gives 
 would be welcome for the Glasgow supply drawn from Loch Katrine. 
 On the next day I tried Loch Katrine ; from the little I saw of 
 it, I have a high opinion of this loch. With a good breeze and a 
 fairly favourable day, from two to three dozen of fish may be 
 taken on it beautiful golden trout up to lib. and now and 
 then of course a larger one. As the day was very hot, close, and 
 windless, I was in no hurry to start on my fishing, but waited till 
 the steamer came into Inversnaid at eleven, drove over to Loch 
 Katrine by the coach to Stronachlachar, and there took a boat } 
 and fished round the loch head ; but there was not a breath of 
 wind, and the fish would not look either at fly or troll, so I set 
 my wits to work, and determined, as the lake thereabouts was 
 not very deep or foul, and the bays rather flat and level, that I 
 would try to paternoster it. Accordingly I rigged up a gut line, 
 with a bullet at the bottom and two hooks, one two feet off the 
 bottom, and the other five feet (the top hook took all the fish) ; 
 then putting on a couple of live minnows, I directed the boatmen 
 to pull a stroke or two between every cast, and casting towards 
 the shore, drew the line in towards the boat. So we worked along 
 through one or two bays, catching two or three very pretty fish 
 indeed, when a little breeze sprang up, and we went to the fly 
 for an hour or two, and then a tremendous squall with heavy 
 rain drove us ashore and soaked us ; after which we returned to 
 Stronachlachar, with only half a dozen |lb. fish, and one about 
 lib. But from what the boatman told me, which was confirmed 
 afterwards by friends who have stayed there, there are few better 
 lakes in Scotland wind and weather permitting than Loch 
 Katrine, and there is 
 
 Ample space and verge enough 
 The characters of death to trace 
 
 on many a right stump of a trout.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 335 
 
 The operations undertaken for the supplying of Glasgow with 
 water from Loch Katrine have considerably extended the area of 
 the loch ; for in order to mitigate the severity of the work of 
 tunnelling, &c., they raised the level of the lake considerably by 
 means of a dam at the lower end, so as to get a sufficient slope and 
 fall also. This of course has caused the flooding of a low-lying 
 meadow here and there ; and along the shores where the slope 
 was gradual the waters have run some distance inland, and one 
 constantly in shallow bays comes upon a low row of black 
 jagged stumps of trees standing just above water, and here 
 and there just under ; and very nasty-looking obstacles they are, 
 and you have to be careful with your spinning-tackle in such 
 places, or grief comes upon you. The trees have been partially 
 submerged and killed by this rise of the lake, and only their 
 stumps are left of them. No doubt the trout profited pro tern. 
 by the new feeding ground opened to them. In one instance an 
 ancient graveyard was submerged, and I was told that the Laird 
 whom it belonged to wanted very heavy compensation of the 
 Glasgow folks for disturbing the bones of his ancestors. Un- 
 fortunately, neither the Glasgow folks nor the Court which he 
 appealed to took a sentimental view of his rights in respect to 
 his ancestor's bones, and the solatium which they gave to his 
 pious grief was unsatisfactory. 
 
 As I have said, I subsequently returned and fished Loch 
 Katrine again with a friend, but on this occasion it was bitterly cold 
 as cold as it is in March; and the usual genial north wind, which 
 attended so many of our efforts during this tour, blew half a gale. 
 Now Loch Katrine lies at a very high level higher indeed than 
 most of the large lakes in this district and the result is that 
 a cold wind is extra cold here. It is also owing to the 
 natural coldness of the water, rather a late lake, fishing best in 
 July, as the insects are not fully ripe till then, and the trout, of 
 course, are not active in pursuit of them. The altitude at which 
 the lake stands, and the nature of the surrounding hills particu- 
 larly, render it liable to heavy squalls of wind, which frequently
 
 336 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 drive the angler ashore, to walk some five or six rough miles 
 home again. On my second visit with a friend the day was dark, 
 gloomy, and cold most unfavourable ; the result was only six 
 moderate trout and three beastly pike, ugly, slimy kelts, with a 
 foul smell and malignant aspect ; for pike, alas ! have invaded 
 this lovely loch among the others, and they must do no end of 
 mischief. One feels inclined to wish that the man who intro- 
 duced pike into the Highlands at all had been hanged, drawn, 
 quartered, and hung up to feed fishes. I saw several Mayfly out 
 on the lake it was on the 14th of June ; but it was quite 
 evident that the trout were away in the deep water out of the 
 cold for shelter, and were not on the shores at all, for not a May- 
 fly was taken or even looked at. Had the fish been on the casts, 
 if they had not risen to the fly, at least they would have come to 
 the minnow ; and what makes me more sure that the fish had 
 retired into the deep water was that two or three of our fish were 
 caught and hooked when we were crossing the lake in quite deep 
 water, in places where it was perhaps fifty or sixty feet deep. I 
 have often done this in crossing lakes, but seldom when it was a 
 really good fishing day on the shores. It may be just possible, 
 of course, that on really good fishing days one does not waste 
 time by crossing the water more than one can help. Loch 
 Katrine is rather an uncertain loch ; but there is a large range of 
 good fishing ground, which extends from end to end, though I 
 think the head is the best ground, and holds the best fish, and 
 Stronachlachar Hotel is the best spot to fish it from. This, of 
 course can be reached by the steamboat from the Trossachs end 
 of the lake, or by the coach from Inversnaid. Get the lake 
 in a nice S. or S.W. breeze in July, and two, three, or four 
 dozen of beautiful fish of lb. and fib. up to lib. will reward 
 you. 
 
 I cannot forbear here from relating one adventure which I had 
 on my first visit to Loch Katrine. 
 
 It is nearly twenty years since I first saw Loch Katrine and the 
 Trossachs, and even then I did not fish Loch Katrine, for, if I
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 remember me aright, there was a savage M'Gregor who set folks 
 at defiance in the fishing way there. I fished that lovely Loch 
 Achray, however, but the sport was only middling the trout 
 few, and not large and in default of sport I set myself to climb 
 mountains, at that time a very favourite occupation of mine. I 
 never could come near a mountain but what I must get to the 
 top of it, and as the sport was poor on the lake and the wind 
 nothing to speak of, I set off to walk up Ben An. I do not 
 suppose that in the world there is a lovelier bit of scenery than 
 that eastern end of Loch Katrine, and Scott certainly did not 
 waste his encomiums. Every moment disclosed fresh beauty as 
 I steadily plodded through the birch, and made up the long 
 gradual slope that precedes the real climbing, where 
 
 On the north, through middle air, 
 Ben An heaves high his forehead bare. 
 
 And that forehead is as stiff a 1200 feet as one need wish for. 
 Nevertheless, I breasted it vigorously, for in those days I felt 
 rather like young Malcolm (having had about six weeks' scramb- 
 ling in the Highlands, and, as if 
 
 Eight np Ben Lomond I could press, 
 And not a sob my toil confess, 
 
 which, allowing for poetical license, was pretty much my own 
 state, and in due time I clambered up the last bit of peak, and 
 stood on the top. The top of Ben An is a wonderfully small 
 space a mere extended platform. The peak goes up like a needle. 
 There is a slight elevation at one end, with a narrow ridge, 
 if I remember aright, not more than fifty yards or so long, and a 
 slight expansion at the other. Standing on the elevation, one 
 looks right sheer down a tremendous precipice almost into the 
 lake. It is a prodigious sight, and most extraordinary sensation 
 to stand up there and gaze steadily down. As for the view, it is 
 magnificent. Beneath my feet, 
 
 One burnished sheet of living gold, 
 Loch Katrine beneath me rolled, 
 Z
 
 338 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 promontory, creek, bay, one beyond the other, melting into 
 delicious indistinct harmony in the far distance, purple islands 
 between, and on the opposite shore, 
 
 High on the south huge Benvenue, 
 
 Down on the lake in masses threw 
 
 Crags, knolls, and mounds confusedly hurled, 
 
 The fragments of an earlier world. 
 
 But all this is a bore, and perhaps superfluous, as almost every- 
 body has seen it. " But, hallo, what is the meaning of this ? 
 This is too bad. If Benvenue is not higher than Ben An ! " 
 Now the cause of this reflection and remark was thus : Being 
 of an aspiring, Excelsior-like nature, when I do go up a mountain 
 I do not like anything to be above me in the neighbourhood 
 but the sky. I like to go up the highest mountain, if there 
 is one higher than another. From below, Ben An, from its 
 peculiar sharp peak, looked the highest, and lumpy old Benvenue 
 did not look so high by a great deal ; but when I got to the top 
 of Ben An, and looked across the lake, it was impossible not to 
 see that the lumps were above the peak, and that Benvenue was 
 the tallest. I was disgusted, and I went down again, thinking 
 small things of Ben An. I had been decoyed up on false pre- 
 tences. It was a humbug, a swindle, and so I went back to my 
 fishing, sorely discomfited, and flailed away for an hour or two 
 without success, looking at Benvenue from time to time. 
 
 " Where is the Goblin's Cave," I asked, " That's it, sir ; that 
 deep rift three parts up the side of the mountain," responded 
 the boatman, pointing out the hole. " And that is the Coir nan 
 tonskin," the cavern or den of the goblin, who is or was a sort 
 of a brownie, and a cross between a man and goat, as it was 
 said evidently a descendant of the Satyrs and just above it 
 that mass of birch must mark the Beal a-nam-ho, or Pass of the 
 Wild Cattle. It was very interesting, very ; but I was getting 
 hungry. So I concluded to return to my hotel the Trossachs. 
 Here a roast duck and a pint of port put me on good terms with 
 myself, and rather friendly with all mankind. I sat outside the
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 339 
 
 window and smoked my largest regalia. One glass of toddy 
 promoted reflection. " And I hadn't been up the highest 
 mountain after all." Confound that Benvenue. There was the 
 Goblin's Cave, too. I'd never seen a goblin. Suppose one took 
 one's whisky up there, and lighted a fire in the den or cavern, 
 and waited till dark would one see a goblin ? They were 
 called jolly satyrs, I remember ; why shouldn't they be so still ? 
 It was not half a bad idea. It was a weird sort of thing to do, 
 and rather recommended itself to me. It was something to say 
 I'd done afterwards. Another glass of toddy decided me : I 
 wouldn't be beat. I filled my flask, put a large box of matches 
 and a biscuit in my pocket, pulled my hat down, and, without 
 saying a word to anyone, off I started. I had four miles to go 
 to reach the foot of the mountain ; so, as it was well on in the 
 afternoon, I went off at a good fast trot, which took me along 
 the bank of the stream to the foot of the mountain in half an 
 hour, or a trifle more, and I began to ascend just below the Goblin's 
 Cave. The first five or six hundred feet or so was a species of 
 huge stone quarry, and every step up that I took a mass of big 
 rubble and large stones went rolling away behind me. It was 
 very nasty, not to say dangerous work ; but I worked on steadily, 
 and reached sounder ground anon, but it was horribly rough 
 still. I plodded on for an hour and more upwards, almost 
 without a moment's pause, foot and hand helping each other. 
 I often wonder now, when a steep flight of stairs makes me puff 
 a bit, how I did it ; but I lived in a hilly country then, and shot 
 daily over some very abrupt ground, and practice, no doubt, 
 helped me. However, knowing that the dusk was coming on, 
 and the descent would be dangerous, I lost no time, and kept on 
 up and up and up and now I began to think that I ought to 
 be somewhere about the neighbourhood of the Coir, but I could 
 not find it, and I still kept on ascending. At length I became 
 sensible that I was getting toward the top, and supposed I had 
 passed it (the cave), which I had but I wasn't near the top 
 
 yet ; for as fast as I got to the top of one huge bulge of a slope, 
 
 z 2
 
 340 BT LAKE AND BIVEE. 
 
 I found there was another beyond, and so I went on and on for 
 another hour or so now stumbling over rock, now up to my 
 knees in a moss. At length I made one more struggle up another 
 bulge of rock, and there was nothing before me but space 
 illimitable space. I had reached the top at last, just as the sun 
 was bowing his adieu. Knowing that there was no time to lose, I 
 rested five minutes to get my wind, and ease the pulses that were 
 beating all through me like sledge hammers with the tremendous 
 toil, took a refresher, turned round again, and commenced to 
 descend. Then I found that a furious wind was blowing right in 
 my face. The evening was coming on ; and, alone on the mountain 
 side, thousands of feet above my fellows, with plenty of danger 
 to season the feat, I began to think that I had done a remark- 
 ably stupid thing, and that if I got home alive I should be very 
 fortunate, and have to thank Providence for an escape I did not 
 deserve. Onwards I stumbled, downwards and downwards, and 
 as the light was fast fading I knew that I could not spare a 
 minute ; but I would not be rash. I have a peculiar faculty of 
 locality, and an object once seen rivets itself on my memory, 
 and I knew that I had but to keep on going down, and to avoid 
 slips and precipices. Still, with all I could do, the way was 
 horribly dangerous. Once or twice, when going down very steep 
 bits, the wind was so furious that it nailed me back against the 
 rocks, and if I had wanted to fall forwards I could not very easily 
 have managed it. That helped me a little. Where I was going I 
 did not know, but I still went on downwards. I expect that 
 I must have run half a dozen narrow chances of being dashed to 
 pieces. Once I did slip, and I thought that all was over with 
 me, but I was brought up with a tremendous shake by my feet 
 coming in contact with a ledge of rock, which I found by feeling 
 to be about a foot or eighteen inches in width. I estimate that 
 I fell about a dozen or fifteen feet, and then I stood considerably 
 frightened, with my back against the rock. Which way to move 
 I did not know. Fortunately a huge rock on my right sheltered 
 me a little from the wind ; a large tuft of dry grass and moss
 
 B7 LAKE AND EIVER. 341 
 
 grew beside me out of a rift, and a sudden idea occurred to me. 
 I pulled out my box of matches, struck a dozen of them at once, 
 and thrust them into the tuft of dry stuff, and a bright blaze 
 sprung up for a minute, by the aid of which I saw that the ledge 
 ran round the big rock. I could see nothing immediately below 
 but the scarped rock. The light was speedily blown out by the 
 wind, but I had seen all I wanted ; and keeping my back to the 
 rock, I stepped past the smouldering embers, and shouldered my 
 way carefully round into a dried-up watercourse. Down this I 
 scrambled with bruises and broken shins galore, until at last by 
 good luck I hit upon the stone quarry I had started from. It 
 was no child's play going down this loose stuff, for big stones 
 rumbled down before and behind me ; but fortunately I avoided 
 all serious mischief, and at last found myself once more on firm 
 ground at the foot of the mountain. I paused for a few minutes, 
 refreshed myself with a pull at the flask and a dozen whiffs at 
 the pipe, and then set off at a run for home. The path, which 
 was rather broken, ran beside the stream between Katrine and 
 Achray. Once or twice I stumbled, and found myself with a 
 splash almost up to my waist in the stream, but this was rather 
 refreshing than otherwise, so I did not much mind it ; and, 
 scrambling out, I once more ran on, and finally reached the 
 hotel a very pretty scarecrow, torn and dishevelled, bathed in 
 perspiration, wet to the skin, just at twelve o'clock, having been 
 better than seven hours away. 
 
 " Good gracious, sir, where have you been ? " said mine host ; 
 "we were quite uneasy about you." 
 
 " Up Ben venue," I replied. 
 
 " What to the top ? " I nodded, and drank a deep draught. 
 
 " At this time of night, and since you dined here ? " I nodded 
 again, and took another draught. 
 
 " Good heavens, sir, you don't mean it ? Why, you must have 
 run all the way." 
 
 "I did," I replied; "there and back." 
 
 " And without a guide, too ? Why, I wouldn't send a gentle-
 
 342 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 man up in the day-time without a guide. It's the maddest thing 
 I ever heard of, and how you escaped alive I can't imagine." 
 
 " Well, I had a narrow squeak or two, and that's a fact ; but 
 now if there's any cold meat, I'd like to recruit a little. Then 
 send me a soda and whisky and a bed-room candle." There were 
 about a dozen tourists in the coffee-room, who looked at me and 
 whispered from time to time. Evidently they regarded me as 
 an unusual specimen of their genus. Having walked and run 
 about fourteen miles, and gone up two mountains in the day, I 
 slept well, and thanked Providence that for my folly my bones 
 were not left to the foxes and crows in some lonely corrie in 
 Benvenue. This was my first acquaintance with Loch Katrine. 
 
 Loch Chon is a charming lake to look at ; the scenery is very 
 beautiful. It lies in a valley which runs almost from Loch 
 Arklet right through to Aberfoyle, and the Pass of Aberfoyle is 
 second only, if it is second, in point of beauty to the 
 Trossachs. Loch Chon is rather secluded, and is one of a chain 
 of lakes, big and little, that are made by the burn that runs 
 through the valley. There is no inn near Loch Chon ; probably 
 the inn at the Clachan of Aberfoyle, the Bailie Nichol Jarvie? 
 is the nearest, and that is some five miles or so from the lower 
 end. The lake itself is some two or three miles long ; and, as 
 the road along it is about one of the worst in Scotland and 
 that is saying a good deal it is desirable to have the boat (for 
 there is but one on the lake, and that belongs to Mr. Blair, of 
 Aberfoyle) as near as it can be to the point whence you start. 
 We, coming from Inversnaid, had to drive the whole length of 
 the lake, the boat being at the lower end, and then to send the 
 trap back to the farmhouse at the head of the lake to put up, all 
 of which caused loss of time and trouble ; but as the fishing and 
 boat belong to Mr. Blair, of Aberfoyle, application must be made 
 to him ; of course he keeps the boat at his own end of the lake, 
 and Aberfoyle, no doubt, would be the best place to fish it from. 
 Loch Chon once had a name second only to Loch Arklet in 
 giving capital sport ; but in those days the burns were care-
 
 BY LAKE AND HIVEE. 343 
 
 fully protected by a gentleman who held it, and the pike steadily 
 netted. This has fallen into desuetude, and much that is true 
 of Arklet is true of Ohon. It swarms with pike, and the burns 
 get poached in the winter, so the trout are not plentiful. It 
 is, too, rather a sulky loch, and the fish rise capriciously to 
 the fly ; but it used at times to show fine sport to the minnow. 
 Now, however, the pike monopolise by far the larger share of 
 the sport ; if a London pike-fisher wants sport, just let him go 
 to Loch Chon in October, and I warrant him a full basket on 
 every likely day, and some, big fish ; for at the lower end, 
 among the reeds and lily pads, there are pike of 201b. weight 
 and over, I hear. No one ever thinks of going there on purpose 
 to fish pike, so the real jack-fisher would have untried ground 
 all to himself. There would be no difficulty about bait I 
 expect, as any number of small trout could be had out of the 
 burns, though a jar of preserved bait would be indispensable as 
 a stand-by ; and further I would recommend a long rope and a 
 stone or anchor to prevent drifting. With this I commend 
 Loch Chon to the notice of my London friends, some of whom 
 I doubt not will visit it some fine autumn, to the pleasure 
 of themselves and the great profit of the lake ; and if they only 
 take out 200 or 300 pike, it will be some relief. The pike we 
 took on our minnows averaged 3lb. or 4lb. each. Up to 
 three o'clock, though there was a good breeze on from the 
 usual quarter, viz., north, we had not a trout nor a rise, 
 though we got several pike on the minnow. I then got a 
 rise from a good fish, who repeated it, but did not take 
 hold. Soon after we got one on the minnow, then I got one 
 on the fly the only one we caught on the fly all day and 
 the day resulted in five trout and seven or eight pike, the trout 
 being none over three-quarters of a pound. A northerly wind, 
 however, is supposed to be a very bad wind, and this perhaps 
 was one reason for our want of sport ; but pike and poaching 
 must tell their tale, and when you catch double the number of 
 pike that you do of trout, the prospect begins to my mind to
 
 344 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 look blue indigo hue, in fact particularly when the pike have 
 spread themselves all over the lake, and are not confined 
 to any particular bay or favourable ground, as is usual in 
 most lakes, but take your minnow all over the best trout 
 ground. It is imperative, if some of these lakes are not to be 
 destroyed, that something vigorous should be done. That good 
 large lakes can be destroyed by pike, there is no doubt. If 
 the proprietors were determined to carry on war against the 
 pike, it is not very difficult to do so ; but to check the poach- 
 ing, unless they are owners of the land also, or can interest 
 those persons seriously in putting a stop to it, is, I fear, not so 
 easy, and nothing can be done without a close time for trout 
 in Scotland being established by law. The ruin of many of 
 the lakes in the Highlands, which is proceeding, would be 
 a great misfortune to Scotland ; for the anglers largely con- 
 tribute to keep open the inns in the wilder and more out-of- 
 the-way districts for many months in the year. Allow the 
 fishing to be extinguished, and the profit to be had from tourists 
 and travellers alone will not in [many instances suffice to keep 
 these inns open, the season being so short. The result will be 
 the abandonment of such inns and the closing of those parts of 
 the country to the fertilising influence of strangers' money, 
 which now helps to bring comfort into many a wild, out-of-the- 
 way strath and glen. Surely these are considerations of suffi- 
 cient weight to procure a fence time for trout. I do not 
 pretend to enter on the sentimental view of the case, but I have 
 a notion that the trout is at least as valuable a creature as the 
 tomtit, or the black-headed gull. I should like to see the 
 tourist handed in a dish of tomtits or black-heads, instead of a 
 smoking ashet of brown, crisp, red-fleshed "throots," just fresh 
 from the crystal lake, and to hear his exposition of the case 
 after he had discussed his supper. 
 
 My experience of Loch Chon was not a favourable one, the 
 day was utterly bad and no doubt far better sport could be got 
 on a more suitable occasion.
 
 BY LAKE AND HIVEE. 345 
 
 CHAPTER XXXII. 
 
 BUCHLYVTE BAILIE NICHOL JAEVIE AND THE CLACHAN OF 
 ABEEFOYLE LOCH AED CAUSES OF ITS DECADENCE BOB 
 EOT WALTER SCOTT'S GENIUS. 
 
 LOCH AED had so bad a name that I had been advised not to 
 trouble it. A friend, however, told me that good baskets had 
 been taken lately, so I determined to look it up, and accordingly 
 prosecuted a rather tedious railway journey to Buchlyvie not 
 an interesting place according to the old song 
 
 Baron of Buchlyvie, 
 May the foul fiend drive ye, 
 And a' to pieces rive ye, 
 For building sic a town, 
 
 Where there's neither horse meat, nor man's meat, nor chair 
 to sit down. 
 
 Hence we drive about six miles across a somewhat monotonous, 
 uninteresting, dreary moor. As we leave it to the peewits and 
 crows, we see not the winding Forth nor the peeps of pleasant 
 nooks not far removed from the high road. The afternoon is 
 warm, the jog-trot of the veritable rocking-horse who drags our 
 cart has gradually somehow soothed down our musings, and our 
 pipe is out, when the appearance ahead of three persons on horse- 
 back suddenly attracts our attention. They are mounting the 
 rustic bridge which crosses the Forth close to Aberfoyle. Their 
 riding coats are heavy and square cut, rather peculiar, and perhaps 
 a bit old-fashioned at the first glance a new kind of Ulster, I 
 suppose with large hoods to them. And no yes they are 
 actually riding in their long wading boots, turned down for con-
 
 346 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 venience no doubt brother fishermen evidently ; and now they 
 ride down into the Clachan of Aberfoyle, and stop at the door of 
 the inn to which we also are slowly, very slowly, approaching. 
 They dismount, and after a minute's pause, to remove a peeled 
 willow wand which rests across the door, they enter. In a few 
 minutes, we in turn approach the door, and as we do so, we hear 
 through the open door a harsh, loud voice call out, " We are three 
 to three. If ye be pretty men, draw ! " Then there was a noise 
 as though all the crockery was being smashed up by fireirons, 
 followed by a tremendous smell of burning, as if all the sheeps' 
 heads in the clachan were being singed at the same time. Then 
 the noise ceases, and we peep inside the room, and, lo ! it is our 
 old friend Bailie Nicol Jarvie himself, with the red-hot poker 
 in his hand, and Master Frank Osbaldiston and Galbraith 
 sheathing their swords after the tuilzie, and Iveragh displaying a 
 big hole in his plaid that "ye might put a kail pot through," 
 singed by the Bailie's poker odd we did not recognise them at 
 first, wasn't it ? and so the scene vanishes, and nothing is left 
 of it but the poker the immortal poker so long the outward 
 and visible sign of the Bailie Nicol Jarvie Hotel at the Clachan 
 of Aberfoyle, and we shake ourselves up into wakefulness, and 
 dismount to the welcome of our friend Blair, who has taken the 
 inn, and determined to rescue it from the depths of dirt and 
 discomfort into which it had unfortunately of late years subsided. 
 Formerly the fishing in Loch Ard was good, and the hotel was 
 fairly comfortable. Both, however, were neglected together, and 
 both alike got out of order. Loch Ard suffered from a severe 
 visitation of tapeworm, which attacked the trout to such an 
 extent that, after a day's fishing, it was nothing very unusual 
 for the angler to find a tapeworm or two in the bottom of his 
 fishing creel . Many trout in other lochs have been visited by this 
 scourge, but not to the extent found in Loch Ard. I also discovered 
 tapeworm largely in minnows sent from Loch Katrine, about one 
 minnow in five or six being troubled with it, and those usually 
 the finest. These specimens were sent to Dr. Spencer Cobbold,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 347 
 
 a great authority on such matters, and he declared them to be of 
 the species termed Lizella digramma. All freshwater fish are 
 more or less liable to entozoa, and tapeworm is not at all unknown 
 in trout ; but this appears to have been a most unusual outbreak. 
 The causes are, no doubt, as recondite as the attack of tapeworm 
 upon grouse, and therefore I can offer no satisfactory suggestion 
 upon them, particularly as it is a subject which I am but little 
 acquainted with ; and whether there is any connexion between 
 the attacks or no I have no notion. Some of the old Highland 
 keepers say that the embryos of the tapeworm that attacked the 
 grouse have been washed off the moors in rainy weather into the 
 burns, and so carried down into the lakes ; but I believe that the 
 parasite attending on one animal does not, as a rule, transfer its 
 attentions to another, though there may, of course, be excep- 
 tions to the rule, as in the case, for example, of Trichinae. 
 However, there is no doubt that, from this and other causes 
 chiefly the poaching of the burns during the spawning season, 
 Loch Ard has suffered a good deal, and is not so productive as 
 heretofore, the run of trout being smaller in fact, belonging to 
 a different and younger generation. When the late Mr. Dick 
 lived upon the lake and farmed the fishing, he looked pretty 
 sharply after the burns, and saw that they were protected. Since 
 his death there has been no protection at all. The burns have 
 been fearfully and shamefully poached in the spawning season, 
 and all the best fish of the lake captured and lakes may stand 
 some poaching, or some pike (which latter abound in Loch Ard), 
 or some tapeworm ; but they cannot stand all three, and Loch 
 Ard yielded under' it and so, for a season or two, it got into 
 disrepute, and was but little visited by the Glasgow anglers. 
 This temporary abstinence has contributed, in a sort, to neu- 
 tralise some of the want of protection, and it is now a little better 
 than it was. 
 
 Loch Ard and Aberfoyle present good illustrations of Walter 
 Scott's descriptive genius. Anyone who has read " Bob Eoy " care- 
 fully cannot fail to identify every spot described in it. Here is the
 
 348 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 
 
 Bailie Nicol Jarvie Inn already noted. Further on we can easily re- 
 cognise the place where Helen M'Gregor met the soldiers in search 
 of her husband, and shot the sergeant. Up at that scaur above 
 is the identical thornbush from which Bailie Nicol Jarvie hung 
 suspended by the skirt of his coat one could almost swear to it ; 
 and yonder is the high cliff above the lake off which Morris the 
 gauger was hurled. Here it all is, graphic and living to this 
 day, and we can trace the action just as we can trace the action 
 of the " Lady of the Lake " through the scenery of the Trossachs. 
 Scott never left anything to chance ; he never evolved scenes out 
 of his head or his memory, but set himself laboriously to stereotype 
 them irom nature. It is told of him that once when out for a 
 walk with a friend, his friend returned to him after a slight diver- 
 gence, and found him seated in a little dell, paper and pencil in 
 hand, jotting down the names of every shrub, tree, and wee 
 floweret, moss and lichen, every circumstance of light and shade, 
 &c. ; that he might make use of the picture in some future work ; 
 and this peculiarity of habit in all his descriptions it is that keeps 
 his novels and poems ever fresh and ever green. Contrast with 
 this studied accuracy of detail the practice of another great 
 writer, Bulwer. I have never forgotten a scene in "Pelham." 
 Pelham is on his canvass for Parliament. He enters one house ; 
 they are eating blackberry pudding. In another he finds the 
 garden flaming with crocuses and sunflowers. Such a botani- 
 cal blunder never could have happened in any work of Scott's ; 
 and thus it is that, even though handicapped with forty or fifty 
 years extra, the works of Scott will exist when those of Bulwer are 
 forgotten. Leech in his sporting pictures had just the same 
 careful habit of sketching bits and compounding pictures from the 
 actual life, as I had reason to know personally ; and the reason we 
 have no Leech now, and are not likely to have, proceeds, I 
 fancy, from the absence of that care in more modern caricaturists. 
 They trust too much to imagination and too little to nature. 
 
 But this is not fishing, and my admiration of Walter Scott, 
 and the marvellous accuracy of his descriptions of scenery, which
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 we cannot fail to recognise throughout all this district, has led 
 me astray. On the largest island in Loch Ard stands a small 
 house, built formerly by the Stirling Club for refuge in coarse 
 weather ; it has a large fireplace and an oven, with a table and 
 forms, and really is a great boon in wet weather, as I found it on 
 one occasion. There stood the stronghold of some ancient chief 
 in days gone by, and the peaceful fishing house no doubt is con- 
 structed out of the stones of the old fortress. Eound about 
 this island and the adjoining bay is some of the best ground in 
 the lake. 
 
 There are two lakes at Loch Ard, the lower and the upper 
 lake. The lower is much the smallest of the two, but holds some 
 fine trout and plenty of pike. The first day I tried the lake I 
 did very well, considering the day, which was dark and gloomy, 
 with a fitful breeze that only made a decent ripple now and then ; 
 but Loch Ard fishes with less wind than any loch I know of. 
 Give the slightest disturbance of the surface, and you may hope 
 for fish ; and even when it is quite calm you may still in a 
 dark shady corner pick up a trout or two indeed, it must be a 
 very bad day that sees you come in clean from Loch Ard. I put 
 out a minnow and rowed along the south shore, casting as I 
 went ; a bang at the minnow soon told of the presence of a fish, 
 and a bright, silvery, handsome fish of half a pound, very like 
 the Loch Leven trout, but certainly not identical with them, 
 came dancing in. Then one came to the fly, and another and 
 another. The minnow did not pay, and was soon taken in ; 
 indeed, I only took three fish with it all day, as minnows abound 
 in Loch Ard. I believe, however, that it does best in the even- 
 ing, as I heard of a good basket being taken with it then. I 
 fished hard, being desirous of seeing what the lake could do, and 
 I worked the lake pretty evenly and carefully, wasting but little 
 time over luncheon and such distractions. But the cuckoos have 
 ceased calling on each other across the lake. The last twitter 
 of mavis and merle is over for the night, and little beyond the 
 faint plash of rippling wavelets and the hum of insects is heard.
 
 350 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 The landing place is at band : a couple of strokes urge us into 
 it, and the cart is waiting for us. So we tackle up our rods, &c., 
 count up the fish, remove our belongings to the cart, and bid 
 adieu to Loch Ard, our take amounting to twenty-five pretty 
 fish, of which three scale a pound each, six three-quarters of a 
 pound each, and the rest vary from three and four to the pound 
 up to half a pound. The other two boats out did badly ; one 
 got eight, and the other only six. The next day was almost a 
 dead calm, being hot and bright, and the lake very low ; but by 
 letting out a long line and trailing my flies I picked up a few 
 trout. This is a capital plan when the trout rise falsely at the 
 fly, they will often at such times take the trailed fly freely, the 
 reason being that it is a foot or eighteen inches under water, and 
 they have not as good a chance of detecting the cheat as they 
 have on the surface. In this way I frequently got two on the 
 cast at once. Now and then a slight breeze sprung up, and then 
 we deluded a trout or two ; but the minnow was of no use at 
 all. I tried it by myself in the evening and got a pike of four or 
 five pounds ; but that was all. We mooned about a good deal, 
 and spent some time in the hut. This place is a great resort for 
 pic-nics with the Stirling and Glasgow folk, and the quiet fisher- 
 man, as the summer evening steals over him, often hears the 
 silvery voices of " fair ladyes " joining in " Eow, brothers, row," 
 or the dear old " Keel row " those simple and pleasant melodies 
 that somehow spontaneously burst forth rippling over the waters 
 from the sweet throats of the pic-nicking lasses. Ay de mi. 
 Time was when this sort of thing was a special and rich delight 
 to me ; but half a 'century of years dulls the edge of pic-nicking 
 enjoyments, and I prefer a quiet smoke after lunch, with a good 
 instalment towards a satisfactory bag of trout when the day shall 
 be over. After this we loiter about and drift hither and thither 
 over shallows and deeps, mocking the cuckoos and watching the 
 wee divers, but with an eye to business too, till we find the shades 
 of evening drooping down. My boatman and I did not set our 
 horses together well, or I might have killed many more fish than
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 351 
 
 I did. He was a capital man, no doubt, for a lad or a muff, as 
 he knew the lake thoroughly and had certain set ideas as to his 
 functions ; but he was as obstinate as many mules, and as bent 
 on having his way and not letting you have yours as any boatman 
 I ever met and endured through two days' fishing. I got only 
 thirteen fish, averaging about the same as the preceding day. 
 The other boats got, one a dozen, and the other six, but the one 
 with a dozen was away at six in the morning, and so had four 
 hours' start of us. 
 
 On the third day I had intended to drive up and fish Loch 
 Chon again, as I was assured that our former day on it was a 
 very unfavourable one, that it was doubtless owing to the north- 
 east wind, which the lake never fished well on, and that several 
 people had had decent sport on it, &c. ; so I resolved to give it 
 another try. But when I got up in the morning and found a 
 good breeze from the north-east, I did not think, with my past 
 experience, that I would have another turn at it ; so I resolved 
 to stay on Loch Ard, merely changing my boatman and I think 
 I got the best fellow for boatman of all the lot ; he is a tailor and 
 lives near the lake. He knew his work ; could row stoutly, and 
 did not spare his labours ; did not hurry you over your ground ; 
 did as you told him ; was not bad company ; wanted very little 
 to drink, and took the weather as he found it without shirking 
 or shrinking all of which are in my eyes cardinal virtues in a 
 boatman. Unfortunately, however, though we had a good breeze 
 during a part of the day, we had a pelting rain throughout the 
 rest, so that we got wet through, and had to take refuge in the 
 Stirling Club's pavilion, and light a fire there till we had dried 
 ourselves ; worse than all, the water had broken, and was covered 
 with a thick beastly scum that parted in greasy waves and slimy 
 wreaths when the oar was dipped in it, and resembled tar refuse 
 on the water more than anything else. What this comes from I 
 cannot pretend to say. We have something like it on the 
 Thames at some seasons of the year, though hardly so thick as 
 this was, and it is said to come from some change in the weeds
 
 352 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 at the bottom. Loch Ard is at the bottom in all the bays, as 
 far as I could see, just like a grass field, the weeds being short 
 and thick, like the side of a down. No doubt this scum comes 
 from them in some way ; however that may be, I felt quite sure 
 that it was fatal to fishing as soon as ever I saw it, and so it was, 
 for I only got ten fish all day, and those of the weeest. Perhaps 
 the ten might, with a penny piece or two, weigh 31b. I do not 
 know what the others did, but I fear not much, for I left the 
 lake and took my cart away for Inversnaid from the top of the 
 lake, as I had to be at Luss for a competition of the West of 
 Scotland Club the next day ; I had, too, to leave early to catch 
 the other cart from Inversnaid, which I had told to meet me at 
 Loch Chon head, and thus I bade adieu to Loch Ard. 
 
 Oh, that drive from Aberfoyle to Loch Chon head ; what a 
 delicious bit of scenery it is ! To my thinking, it almost equals 
 the Trossachs. Lake upon lake, pool, brawling burn and waterfall, 
 mountain and fell, rocks, ferns, heather, fitful cloud and waving 
 wood it is just fairyland, and like a pantomime or a drop scene 
 at a theatre, only real, and one can fancy that 
 
 Here in cool grot and mossy cell 
 The rural fays and fairies dwell. 
 
 One seems to want to lie down in the heather with a cigar and 
 gaze on it all day without moving ; to "listen to the waterfall," 
 and to skylark and mavis, curlew and grouse cock, and drink in 
 all sorts of heavenly and earthly sounds and scenes in exquisite 
 and healthy laziness, in perfect abandon to the bliss of complete 
 rest of mind and body ; to re-instil into one's faculties some of 
 that essence of nature which is gradually worn away in the daily 
 friction of the world. Oh, ye toilers and moilers among men 
 oh, ye paterfamiliases, whose wearying struggle it is to keep up 
 with the world and the insane requirements of society, who race 
 with bankruptcy and paralysis and get beaten on the post 
 don't take your families to the seaside, don't be cheated by hags 
 and devoured by bugs, and humbugged by conventionality into
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 353 
 
 the belief that you have enjoyed yourself when you know you 
 have been miserable and devoured of ennui ; but if women will 
 go there, send 'em, and come here yourselves for a season. So 
 shall you have rest for your souls, and fortify yourselves with 
 powers of endurance against the shocks of business and the 
 agonies of Mrs. Grundy in the future. The walk from Aber- 
 foyle, say to Stronachlachar on Loch Katrine, which is about 
 ten miles, is simply delicious. 
 
 As regards the improvement of the fishing on Loch Ard, 
 two things are required the destruction of the pike and the 
 protection of the burns at breeding time. Perfect protection 
 cannot be had without a regular, legally qualified close season 
 from November to March ; though, if the lessee of the lakes 
 has the goodwill of the proprietor and the landowners, he may 
 do a good deal to stop the slaughter. But a close time for trout 
 in the Highlands must be had before long, or many of the lakes 
 will be extinguished as fisheries ; this will extinguish the inns, 
 which, as a matter of course, will extinguish the tourists, and 
 great loss to the districts will be the result. The destruction of 
 the pike in Loch Ard would be comparatively an easy task, for 
 I never saw a lake which could so easily be dealt with by nets. 
 At the head of each little bay is a fringe of rushes and reeds 
 from 20 to 40 or 50 feet or so deep, and in these the pike 
 spawn and bask during the warm weather to a very con- 
 siderable extent. A Thames powsing net run round the outside 
 of these weeds would take every pike in them. A Thames 
 powsing net is a single-walled trammel about 40 yards long, 
 with a 3in. mesh for the lint and a lOin. walling. It is fixed 
 at either end by a couple of ripecks (iron-shod poles) thrust into 
 the ground, the ends of the net being lashed on to the poles. 
 The first pole being fixed at one end of the rushes, the net is 
 run out as quietly as possible all round the rushes until it is all 
 out, the other pole is then stuck in, and the net thus makes an 
 upright wall round the rushes on the lake side. Then go into 
 
 the rushes and beat them with the oars and plunge them with 
 
 A A
 
 354 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 
 
 poles all over, and every pike in the rashes will bolt out into the 
 net and be caught. This should be repeated at intervals of two 
 or three days, until the supply of pike becomes exhausted, when 
 the rushes may be left at rest for a season. Just before spawning 
 time in April would be a capital time for the work. The double- 
 walled trammel, which is used as a set net for pike, being anchored 
 out at right angles to the shore and left all night, would answer 
 equally well for this work ; but forty yards would hardly be long 
 enough for these rush beds sixty would be better, or two nets 
 might be joined together. It would be hard, however, to explain 
 to a Highland boatman how to do these things ; and therefore I 
 strongly advise the Glasgow Club, who are moving to preserve 
 these lakes, to hire a regular old Thames netsman to come up 
 and bring a couple of nets with him, with ripeck irons (poles he 
 can get there in any number) and all the tackle complete, and 
 let him show them for a week how to punish the pike on Loch 
 Ard. They would have a man or two there from other lakes to 
 help him, and thus the method would easily be learnt and dis- 
 seminated, and 10/. or 15/. would be the outside of the cost, and 
 a deadly blow would be dealt at the increase of pike in the 
 Highland lakes.* 
 
 I may say here that T got safely to the competition at Luss, 
 next day, but, owing to unfavourable weather, it was a poor affair, 
 hardly worth chronicling. 
 
 Before closing with the freshwater fishing I may state that the 
 flies used in all the lakes are very similar. The bodies are 
 mostly rough wool bodies, red, red and yellow, black and red ; 
 orange, yellow, and green, with silver or gold thread ; hackles 
 black or red, and wings of teal, drake, or woodcock. It is always 
 desirable to have two sizes at least, one for rough and high, 
 and a smaller for low and calm water, and the best advice I can 
 
 * I am happy to say that these representations have not been futile. 
 The West of Scotland Angling Club, with whom I am in correspondence, 
 have, during the past season, put watchers on some of the burns, and 
 have ordered pike nets for Loch Ard and Loch Chon, and they deserve 
 great credit for their public spirit and sportsmanlike determination.
 
 BY LAKE AND BIVEE. 355 
 
 give to help to make a basket is to keep on fishing. Never 
 allow yourself beat, persevere. If one fly doesn't do, try another. 
 If casting does not do, trail. Somehow determine on getting 
 fish, and don't yield to the pleasant advice dealt out by the poet, 
 who says : 
 
 To my way of thinking, 
 There's nothing like drinking 
 While the fishes are blinking 
 And winking at me. 
 
 It is jolly, it is seductive, but delusive. Stick to your fishing 
 while you are about it, and if you must drink, wait till you get 
 home in the evening. 
 
 There are a few other lakes in this neighbourhood which may 
 be summed up shortly. Loch Achray I have mentioned already. 
 It is a small but very pretty lake, and may be fished from the 
 Trossachs Hotel, which it is close to. It is not a free rising lake 
 at all, but there are good trout in it, and very large pike un- 
 fortunately. Some four miles to the south is Loch Dronkie, but 
 that, I think, is in private hands, though anglers from the banks 
 are not interrupted. It is very similar to the rest. I fished it 
 once only many years since, but sport was bad, the day 
 being bright and still, and while there I picked up the lead 
 belonging to an otter, which was, perhaps, an additional reason 
 for bad sport. The trout run almost equal to those of Loch 
 Chon, and the sport is somewhat similar. Loch Vennachar is 
 a fine lake and fishes better in spring. Indeed, Vennachar and 
 Ard are the two earliest lakes hereaway ; it often gives a salmon 
 or two to the lucky fisherman. It is much affected by the 
 Stirling anglers. Callander is the best station for it, as it is 
 also for Loch Lubnaig. This, too, is a large loch, but the trout 
 are not so large as in the other lakes, though very plentiful ; I 
 never fished it, but for a change it might suit the wandering 
 piscator. The Loch of Menteith has a few good trout, but not 
 many, being full of pike and perch, of which any quantity can 
 be taken. I have said nothing as to rivers, as I fished none ; 
 
 A A 2
 
 356 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 but the upper Clyde with its tributaries might well engross the 
 angler for a summer ramble. Starting from the Elvanfoot 
 Station pn the Caledonian line as the topmost on the Clyde, five 
 or six tributary burns first form the river, the most con- 
 siderable of these being the Deer and Powtrail waters ; between 
 this and Abington three other burns fall in ; and between this and 
 Lamington, other three, one Duneaton water, a considerable 
 one, and next come Garff water, a capital stream, and Culter 
 water, which flows in at Symington, which is a capital station 
 to fish the ^middle district of the Clyde from, accommodation 
 being obtainable at most of the above stations, which are also 
 stations on the Caledonian Railway. From Symington, where 
 there is a good inn, the fishing is good past Thankerton, till we 
 come to Carstairs Junction ; just above this the Medwin falls in, 
 and to this there are many fine burns indeed, curiously enough 
 by means of a cut for a sawmill, a portion of the Clyde water 
 is diverted from the Medwin Burn into the Tarth water, and so 
 down the Tweed, so closely do the sources of these two important 
 rivers run into one another ; Dippool and Mouse waters run into 
 the Clyde near Lanark, and are the last worth notice. They 
 are excellent streams, and yield remarkably fine trout in places. 
 The upper Clyde, too, is well stocked with fine grayling, which 
 often exceed the trout in size. Salmon fishing may be had in 
 the Awe by going to the inn at Taynuilt an,d taking a day 
 ticket, 5s., and sometimes it is not to be despised if the 
 water and weather are suitable. It is a fine river to fish, and 
 coming from so large a lake is seldom very low. Orchy and 
 some of its tributaries, with one or two lakes, can be fished 
 either at Dalmally for the lower water, or for the upper parts 
 Inveroran, and in the autumn the Orchy gives very fine salmon 
 fishing, and all these places can easily be got at from Glasgow. 
 Lucky Glasgow ! though any one going to Dalmally from the 
 south would take the rail to Tyndrum, and thence coach to 
 Dalmally. Taynuilt lies further on, and may be got at best 
 from Oban. The Teith, another very nice river, gives good
 
 BY IfAKE AND EIVEE. 357 
 
 sport at times both with salmon and sea-trout, as well as brown 
 trout, a good stretch of it is rented by the proprietor of the 
 Dreadnought Hotel at Callander. So that the angler has a 
 choice of lakes and rivers at Callander. The Teith is 
 celebrated for its pearl mussels, which are, or were, at one time 
 very abundant. . i i
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIII. 
 
 THE CLYDE COMPARED WITH THE THAMES. THE SEA LOCHS. 
 SEA FISHING AT Bow. 
 
 THE case of the Clyde has often been cited as a reason why 
 salmon should be able to get up the Thames. The two cases 
 present no parallel, except in so far as that both rivers are 
 more or less polluted ; but here all similarity ends. In the one 
 instance we have the pollution of a population of between 
 300,000 and 400,000, and in the other of one of 3,000,000 or 
 4,000,000. In the one instance there are numerous towns and 
 villages above to add to the filth, and in the other nothing of 
 any account. In the one the area and length of river into which 
 the pollutions are poured is probably about a mile, and in the 
 other about eight miles. Eight or ten miles below Glasgow 
 the water, as I saw it, is pure enough for any salmon to live in ; 
 while twelve or thirteen miles down, where the Leven runs in 
 from Loch Lomond, salmon and sea trout are taken habitually. 
 There is nothing of this kind on the Thames. Then again, the 
 Clyde at Glasgow and for a long way below is very narrow 
 hardly as wide as the Thames is above Abingdon ; and when a 
 heavy spate comes down it, the river at Glasgow rises ten, 
 fifteen, and even twenty feet, I have been told. Is it not quite 
 evident that when this happens the body of filth must be over- 
 powered and swept out by the tremendous force of the clean 
 water coming down in flood ; and that while this high water 
 lasts, the river flowing by Glasgow must be comparatively pure ; 
 and if it only lasts from twenty-four to forty-eight hours, that 
 is long enough for a salmon to run clean past Glasgow, or for
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 359 
 
 smolts perhaps to be carried down ? If the Thames had a flood 
 down it 20ft. deep now and then, we might hope to see salmon 
 up it. No doubt in ordinary water at Midsummer the Clyde 
 stinks as badly and looks as foul as the Thames, and thus it is 
 that people are led away in their comparison of the two. Besides 
 all this, there are the two facts that salmon do pass Glasgow, 
 and are constantly seen above it, at least, 1 believe so ; whereas 
 they do not pass London, and are never seen above it, and the 
 parallel therefore does not hold good. 
 
 Glasgow is especially fortunate in having so much good free 
 trout fishing within easy reach. Most of the lakes I have noted 
 are no further off than a mere trip to one of the stations on the 
 Thames would take one; and with this difference, that when 
 you get a good day's sport your fish are worth a great deal 
 more than the hire of the boat comes to, which can seldom 
 be said on the Thames. The average cost of boat and man 
 is about 5s. or 6s., about half what it costs you for punt and 
 bait on the Thames. But Glasgow also has a variety of lovely 
 seaside villages, within a very short steamboat run, all about 
 the mouth of the Clyde, on the shores of those noble salt-water 
 lochs which run into the land for miles and miles, and form 
 almost arms of the sea ; there may be had splendid and safe 
 yachting almost all the year round, and to persons at all troubled 
 by sea sickness it must be a great comfort to be able to carry 
 this out in comparatively calm water. As for the sea fishing, 
 there is no place round the coasts of the British Islands, nor, so 
 far as I know, anywhere else, where such a variety of delightful 
 sport can be had. A little 5 or 6 ton yacht, fitted with fishing 
 apparatus, a trawl, a seine, and a trammel net, with a spillet 
 and lines various, would enable one to provide oneself and 
 friends with fish for eight months out of the year, and leave a 
 good deal to dispose of besides. 
 
 I cannot imagine anything more delightful than a summer 
 spent in exploring these lochs and discovering the various kinds 
 of fishing and the best localities for them. Whiffing for lythe,
 
 360 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 saitlie, mackerel, sea trout, and other fish may go on from early 
 spring to late autumn. In the spring sea trout take the minnow 
 well, and I have known 301b. weight of beautiful fish from lib. 
 to 41b. each taken by one fisherman along the shore by Helens- 
 burg. Almost every kind of salt water fish is caught in 
 abundance in the inlets about the mouth of the Clyde. In 
 one day I took whiting, codling, flounders, wrasse, saithe, 
 gurnet, and father lashers. I got Angus, the pier-keeper at 
 Kow, to procure for me a good pot of rag worms, which are 
 very fine thereabouts. By the way, Angus and I became 
 friendly : he is an institution of Eow. The Queen, I think, 
 mentioned him in her book, and Her Majesty never mentions 
 anything unworthy of mention, nor commends anything un- 
 worthy of commendation ; apart from all ordinary respect and 
 loyalty I have a great respect for her judgment as a woman, 
 and Angus was worthy of notice a fine old fellow, sturdy, 
 honest, independent, and thoroughly Scotch. A very good 
 specimen of the old class of Highlander is Angus. With 
 my rods and pot of rag worms I pushed off in a little boat 
 of Angus's about half a mile from the shore, picked out 
 a spot not too much in the run of the tide, and with a 
 couple of trolling rods, each fitted with a light lead or pair 
 of chopsticks, and a couple of stout gut hooks, I had for 
 two or three hours till the tide turned my hands pretty full 
 hauling in fish, frequently two at a time. Some of the codling 
 went up to two pounds weight, and were capital eating ; and' 
 frequently while reeling in one lot, the point of the other rod 
 was going hard, and had to be left to itself, so that I could not 
 get them in fast enough. Had there been another hand at the 
 other rod I should have largely increased my take ; as it was, I 
 got abont four score of fish various as above noted. As I went 
 more particularly for flounders, they formed the major part of 
 the fish, and capital eating they were too ; but a row of another 
 half mile would have taken me specially into the whiting ground, 
 where large takes are made. I had two or three turns at this
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 361 
 
 fun, and enjoyed it greatly, the boat being quietly at anchor, 
 with scarcely a motion ; and to many persons fond of the sport 
 but with weak stomachs, the advantage of this is incalculable. I 
 only wish I had had time and opportunity to explore the Gare- 
 loch with my rods and chopsticks ; but I could not do every- 
 thing. 
 
 Having heard a good deal of the splendid sport to be had with 
 the lythe and saithe in the mouth of Loch Goil, just above where 
 it opens into Loch Long, I was anxious to get a day there, and I 
 found two friends willing to join me one of whom had often 
 been there before, and knew how to arrange, and what boatman 
 to get. He talked of so many stone of fish that he took on this 
 and that occasion, his largest not being over lOlb., but a good 
 many of 81b., and so on ; and when fish are reckoned by the 
 stone, and by 8 and 10-pounders, it sets all my piscatorial mania 
 a-going, and I long to be at them with an eagerness that obstacles 
 cannot daunt. My friend, however, was not very sanguine 
 of our making a large bag in the daytime, most of his sport 
 having been had at night. The saithe particularly did not feed 
 well by day, and were shy ; lythe we might get a few of, and 
 perhaps a sea trout or so. I, however, had made up my mind 
 that they would bite just to oblige me, and was anxious to go and 
 try my luck at least ; so we went We had a lovely drive from 
 Eoseneath to a little village on Loch Long, opposite Ardentinny, 
 where two sturdy boatmen where waiting for us. Unfortunately, 
 our old friend the north wind attended on us as usual, and came 
 rollicking down the loch to meet us as though it were whistling 
 " Slap bang, here we are again ; here we are again ; here we are 
 again ;" and, as a very little wind is best for the sport, it did not 
 add to our probabilities. My friends used a tackle made of 
 three stout hooks, tied on gimp in the fashion of the Stewart 
 worm tackle. On this they hung a big rag worm, as large round 
 as my little finger, and then plunging their rods up to the middle 
 joint in the water, waited the result as we rowed away. I had 
 on one of those corkscrew spinning sand eels, and in order to
 
 362 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 give it a flavour I had cut a strip from the side of a small saithe 
 I picked up, and wound it round the screw, and tied it head and 
 tail. It was a noble bait, and spun like a top. We had not 
 long started, and I was just paying out a long line when forty or 
 fifty yards astern up rolled a brace of porpoises ; a minute after I 
 had a most tremendous bang at the rod. " I'm in him ! I'm in 
 him! a porpoise! a porpoise! by Jove." Porpoises feed on 
 sand eels, remember, and it was not impossible, only if it had 
 been a porpoise he would have smashed everything to powder ; 
 but whatever it was, in the very commencement of his first 
 run, off he went the hold gave. What an unlucky chap I am, 
 as a poor dear old friend, now no more, would have said, and 
 often did say upon such occasions when he was inclined to 
 chaff, as he usually was. "Just like my luck, eh, old fellow?" 
 and so it was. The fish was gone, and what he was we didn't 
 know, but the cognoscenti opined that he was a big sea trout, 
 and, probably, much the most valuable fish we should hook that 
 day. 
 
 After this we took up our lines, having gone over the best 
 ground thereabouts, and rowed away for Loch Goil, a good stiff 
 three or four miles row, with a strong wind ahead and a heavy 
 boat. When 'we entered Loch Goil we went over the likely 
 places some shallow rocky ground about 200yds. long, rowing 
 across and across, but we got nothing. The fish wei'e not feed- 
 ing. So as we were sharp set after our drive and row, we fed 
 instead, going ashore to do so. Just as we had done lunch I saw 
 one or two gulls hurry towards the spot we had left, and 
 pounce down in the water. " The fish are feeding ; I saw one or 
 two break the water ; and there's another, and another," said my 
 friend, as the splash of a large fish or two was seen half a mile 
 off, and we put to sea again. As we approached the spot, every 
 now and then a big fish or two would come up to the surface 
 with a rush, driving the small fry herring soil up to the 
 surface, when the gulls would swoop down and pick up their 
 share of them. Up and down the ground we went, through and
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 363- 
 
 through the shoal. My friend got a small lythe of 1-^lb. weight, 
 and I hooked a good fish of 31b. or 41b., which served me as the- 
 fornier one did ; but we could not get on with the saithe. Every 
 now and then three or four big fish broke water, and at one time 
 there were fifty or sixty big fish, many of them lOlb. and 121b. 
 weight, dashing up the foam in all directions, all round the boat, 
 often within ten or a dozen yards or so of it, for several minutes. 
 It was a splendid sight, and made us very eager, but never a pull 
 could we get from them. My friend, alas ! was only too true a 
 prophet. If we liked to stop all night, and the tide suited, we 
 might catch wales and whales. I was sorely tempted. I had 
 a good mind to stop, but I'd a better one not to ; so, 
 after trailing along the shore through a spot called the " lythe 
 hole," famous for monsters of this species, we returned to our 
 trap with four small lythe and two or three codlings ; a lament- 
 able end to my "great expectations." I have no doubt, how- 
 ever, that from all I heard a night's fishing would produce 
 something considerable from what I saw of the fish to be taken ; 
 and all the fishermen quite concurred in what I had been told. 
 These lochs are the great breeding ground for all kinds of fish, 
 and from the presence of the herring soil no doubt the herrings 
 also deposit their spawn in them. The heads of the lochs 
 are mostly fed by small rivers, which are hardly large enough for 
 salmon, but they are fine white trout streams. There are also 
 many smaller ones that fall in in other parts, and nets are 
 frequently drawn round the mouths of these at night after a fall 
 of rain, and frequently with profitable results to the net. Bowing 
 softly along these lochs on a still night, with moon or stars only 
 lighting the scene, the dark shadows of the cliffs and mountains 
 thrown down on them from the rocks above, the phosphoric 
 sparkles as some big fish breaks the surface in pursuit of his prey 
 the long trail of brilliants left behind in the boat's water 
 the solemn quietude and silence of the night, are striking cir- 
 cumstances under which to enjoy one's sport ; and if the fish are 
 well on the feed, and one's musings are broken every now and
 
 364 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 then by a tremendous rugg and plunge of an 81b. or lOlb. fish 
 lean quite understand how agreeable "anicht wi' saithe" is, 
 and how pleasant the reminiscence. 
 
 I was very much surprised at the scarcity of oysters in these 
 lochs, most of which present to all appearance the finest oyster 
 ground in the world. I know of no place where oysters would 
 be likely to reach such fine quality as in Lochs Fyne, Long, Goil, 
 and the Gareloch. As regards Loch Fyne, it struck me that the 
 water was charged with minute matters, such as Diatoms, &c., 
 upon which oysters feed. I had not an opportunity of examining 
 and testing the particles, but such was the appearance of the 
 water as I stood on the pier at Inverary. Clear almost as crystal 
 as the water was, you could see every small object, no matter 
 how minute, that was held in suspension, and it seemed as if the 
 water was charged with them, and heavily too. It has been laid 
 down as a principle by shrewd ostreaculturists, that where there 
 are no signs of oysters ever having existed considering how 
 oyster spat must have been wafted all round the coast over and 
 over again the probability is that the place is not very suitable 
 for oysters. This test, however, will not apply to these grounds, 
 because oysters are constently found, though not in such large 
 numbers as to make dredging for them a paying pursuit. I 
 know that oysters are found in the Gareloch, and there are few 
 places that I know of so suitable to all appearance for oyster 
 cultivation as the coast all down by Helensburgh and Eow. It 
 reminds me strongly of the coasts at the lie de Ehe, where the 
 pare system of cultivation was first tried with such signal success. 
 Considering how valuable oysters are, and what a profit is realised 
 out of a well-stocked, well-managed fishery, I wonder that no one 
 in Glasgow has ever thought of utilising these flats and these 
 fine salt water lochs. Judiciously dealt with, I feel certain that 
 handsome revenues might be drawn from them. I have now 
 concluded my notice of the fishing in this part of Scotland, 
 merely adding that there are few spots that I am acquainted 
 with better worth a visit from the wandering angler. Taking
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 365 
 
 Lochs Vennachar and Ard as the earliest lochs, he might in 
 succession fish Loch Awe, Loch Lomond, Loch Chon, and Loch 
 Katrine, and spend a pleasant "season, as I did, before the tourists 
 swarm too much, for finding your inn choke full, with consider- 
 able difficulty in obtaining refreshment, and the certainty of 
 having to share the inside of the stage-coach for the night with 
 two or three others instead of having a downy couch to rest your 
 wearied limbs on, is anything but delightful, and the noise and 
 snobbery of tbe whole thing is a very bad sauce to take with the 
 picturesque.
 
 366 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 FOURTH RAMBLE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 THE STAET FOB THUBSO A GALE THE CBUIVE POOL AND THE 
 FIBST FISH STBATHMOBE THE LINN OF SKINNET A BBACE 
 OF FISH BAGGED. 
 
 IT is a good many years ago since I went to Thurso ; yet every 
 incident that then occurred is as vividly impressed on my memory 
 as if it were only last season. I purpose, with the aid of my 
 notes, to recall them. In those days the railway went no further 
 north than Aberdeen, and one took ship from Aberdeen to the 
 sweet-smelling Burgh of Wick, where the staple is herrings, the 
 talk is ever and always of herrings, and the smell is also of 
 herrings. The train deposited us in the cold grey Granite City 
 about three o'clock in the afternoon ; five o'clock saw us on the 
 quay, embarking on board the old paddle-wheel which plied to 
 Orkney and back. It was a calm afternoon in March when we 
 steamed away from the mouths of the Dee and Don ; and when 
 well on our journey a sumptuous Scotch tea, with haddies and 
 other delights, prepared one for all hazards. My family have all 
 been sailors for generations, and some of them have played a 
 creditable part in the history of their country's wars ; but I do not 
 call myself a good sailor, though I am not what others would 
 call a bad one, having been much acquainted with and used to 
 the sea. My father, though an old captain in the navy, to the 
 last day of his life could never go to sea without being sea-sick : 
 and I believe he shared that peculiarity with the great Nelson 
 himself. Having a very little of the family failing, I laid down
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 367 
 
 a basis of action, and, after taking a stiff caulker of Glenlivat 
 and fortifying myself with a comfortable smoke, prepared to 
 leave the deck and turn in, particularly as I saw a low-lying 
 bank of clouds in the north-east, which looked to me threatening. 
 I pointed them out to the steersman, who did not share my 
 opinion. 
 
 I'm a capital sleeper, aboard or ashore, and can get to sleep 
 anywhere, and in five minutes I was in the Land of Nod. I had 
 wandered in that paradise about three hours, perhaps, when a 
 crash and a tinkle awoke me. It was the face of my watch, 
 which I had hung up to a hook in my berth with too long a 
 purchase. " Hullo ! what the dickens 1 why, it's blowing a 
 gale of wind, and a stiff one too ! " The long easy swing and 
 regular beat of the engines was exchanged for a most violent 
 pitching, tossing, and thumping, while the wind howled and 
 whistled like twenty thousand theatrical gods during a long stage 
 wait. I don't like being below in coarse weather, so in five 
 minutes I was out, dressed, and on deck. It was a splendid 
 sight, being as near a downright furious storm as need be with- 
 out being quite that. The waves were big enough for anything, 
 and as black as ink, with a ridge of curling white angry foam on 
 the top. It was a real ugly night, and the steersman allowed 
 that I had been quite justified in my expectations. It was about 
 one o'clock, and we were opening Wick Harbour ; but in such a 
 gale we could not enter it, and, as we could not do anything else 
 till we attracted their attention on shore, we lay-to for about 
 four hours, which was worse than before. At length, having 
 succeeded in our object, we worked round the head in front of 
 us into Sinclair's Bay, where we were in shelter, and, a boat 
 having been sent in a cart across country from Wick to meet 
 us, we all landed, and walked into Wick. Here a wash and a 
 breakfast refreshed one, in spite of the herrings, and a dogcart 
 sent in by Dunbar from Thurso took up me and my belongings. 
 
 Away we bowled for Thurso, eighteen miles, over a very 
 dreary, dull road, with a not too conversible driver. About half-
 
 368 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 
 
 way we passed a nice sheet of water, Locli Watten, which holds 
 good trout, up to 21b. I was told. In due time Dunbar's Hotel, 
 at Thurso, received me ; but when I crossed the Thurso, my 
 anticipations of sport went down into the heels of my boots, 
 and I felt quite limp and faint. There was what they called a 
 river that is to say, a lot of stones of all sizes, with a small 
 puddle here and there ; but there was not as much water running 
 out of it altogether as would fill a respectable water-butt. Here 
 was a bright look-out ! To think I had come some 900 miles or 
 so for this ! I got some lunch, however, and by the "time I 
 had done Dunbar came in, and I imparted to him my mistrust ; 
 at which he laughed, and said, " It did not matter a bawbee. 
 The Thurso fished better arid better the lower she got, if there 
 was only wind, and she'd fish well for a month yet without a 
 drop of rain. The gentlemen up at Strathmore were getting 
 their two, three, and four fish a day each ; and if I'd come out 
 with him in the evening I should see him kill a good fish, and 
 perhaps two, not two miles up the stream." 
 
 A little reassured at this, I lighted up the calumet of con- 
 solation, and, taking a flask of distilled comfort in my pocket, I 
 sallied out up the river with Dunbar, who over his shoulder 
 wielded what Homer would have described as "no small part of 
 the mast of a vessel," but which he called a rod ; it would have 
 made perhaps rather a tasty hop-pole. We passed a likelyish 
 pool or two, which were of no use then, and at length reached a 
 long deep, still, sullen-looking pool, some forty or fifty yards or 
 so wide ; this was called the Cruive Pool, though cruives there 
 were none. It was the scene formerly of a most prodigious take 
 of salmon I forget how many they got out at one haul, but it 
 was something awful twelve hundred and odd I think. Dunbar 
 put up a fly such a fly ! The Thurso flies, as exhibited by the 
 natives, were no beauties in those days I have a lot of them by 
 me -now, and I look at them now and then, when I've been 
 inspecting a lot of really nice flies, just for distraction ; but the 
 fish approved of them, and that was enough. There was a nice
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 369 
 
 breeze on, and as the fly lighted for the third time on the water 
 a short chopping rise betokened a sea trout, of which there are 
 generally a few, though of no great size, on the lower pools. 
 Then a big boil said " salmon " to us, but whether clean or foul 
 we could not tell, as he would not come again ; and then, after 
 carefully combing the pool all over, we went up to the next, 
 which I think was called the Kelt Pool, and commenced afresh. 
 In a few minutes there was a dull ruffle of the water, and the 
 reel was screeching a music compared with which " A te o cara" 
 by Mario in his best days would have been uninteresting. Again 
 and again the fish bolted up and across the pool ; but Dunbar 
 who has, or rather had then, a very heavy hand* on the fish, with 
 tackle of the severest soon rolled Master Silversides over and 
 over. He had a little jointed gaff at his side, liking always to 
 gaff his own fish a practice I strongly object to, as being always 
 the cause of loss of time, and often of loss of fish. After three 
 or four false chops and misses, he got the gaff into the fish, and 
 hauled him out, a nice new brilliant fish of ll^lb. His health 
 was duly quaffed, and a libation made to him, and once more the 
 long line fell straight as an arrow across the water ; for D. was a 
 fine fisherman without doubt, and many approve of heavy play, 
 and think it always the right thing. Five minutes, ten minutes, 
 passed, when suddenly a spanking fish of some 141b. or lolb. 
 made a most dashing rise, and was fast ; he travelled about at a 
 great rate, but at the second run he contrived to get quit of the 
 steel, and bade us au revoir. " Wait till I catch ye up on the 
 Linn, ye beggar ! " said Dunbar, wrathfully. A change of flies 
 then took place, as the hackle was cut ; after which, though we 
 tried for half an hour, only one faint rise rewarded us, and so we 
 walked home lightly enough. 
 
 "It's easy walking now," said Dunbar, "but I've seen in the 
 winter time when this two miles would tax a strong man to get 
 to the town. I recollect once, when Mr. Thistlethwaite was up 
 here, he started out up to Amester. It looked threatening, and 
 
 we advised him not to go ; but he was a wilful man, and would 
 
 B B
 
 370 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 to Cupar. It came on a heavy storm of wind and snow, straight 
 in his face, and he tried to come back ; but not getting home so 
 soon as we expected, we got alarmed, and sent out a party to look 
 for him, and found him under a hedge about three-quarters of a 
 mile from the town, nearly done for, and if we had not sent to 
 look for him he'd h?ve been a dead man ere morning. Ye've 
 no idea, unless ye've tried it, of the force of a Highland snow 
 storm." 
 
 The next day I started in the trap for Strathmore, which at 
 that time was the lodge where the whole of the gentlemen 
 were. I was put down at Halkirk, a little half-way village, 
 while the trap went on to the lodge with my impediments. At 
 Halkirk I found my gillie waiting to conduct me on to the 
 water which was that day my beat. The last comer always 
 went to the bottom of the water, and took the lowest beat, 
 which included Amester, the Cruive Pool, &c.* ; but, as the next 
 beat was not thought much of, and was a long distance from 
 Strathmore, it was not in use to-day, and was at my service. 
 It comprised a longish dull pool, called then the Linn of Skinnet, 
 close to which now Brawl Castle stands, with sundry other 
 smaller and uninteresting pools up towards Halkirk. There were 
 six beats on the river ; the Linn, far the best water on the river, was 
 at the top. The other beats down to Halkirk were supposed at 
 that time of year to be rather indifferent. One in particular, 
 called the Eocks, was of no use till May, though there was a 
 pool on it, called the Sauce pool, of which more anon. We had 
 a four-mile walk down to our water. A trap was to pick us up 
 in the evening at Halkirk and take us to Strathmore. I tried 
 down some of the pools above Skinnet, but they were too low. 
 In one I think the Red Brae I got a rise, and after a little 
 perseverance hooked and landed a kelt, and then another. 
 Arrived at Skinnet, I changed my fly, and put up one of a 
 couple of dozen I had bought of Blacker, poor " Ephemera's " 
 
 * The names of most of the pools have been changed since then.
 
 BY LAKE AND KIVER. 371 
 
 protege. Very prettily tied flies they were too ; but so they 
 ought to have been, for he charged enough for them, having the 
 ball at his toe then. I remember that the fly was dressed thickly 
 with three different coloured hackles red, blue, and yellow, I 
 think ; for it was a new one to the river, and, as it proved a 
 rattling taker, it took itself off out of my box the next evening 
 without leave. 
 
 I had not long displayed the glories of my tricolour to the 
 salmon of Skinnet, when in mid-water there was a fine no- 
 mistake-at-all-about-it rise a regular head-and-tailer, which 
 says to the salmon fisher in the plainest terms, "I'm come 
 for that fly, and I mean to have it." I chucked him under the 
 chin for old acquaintance, and got him to come home with me 
 though at first he did not seem a bit inclined to cultivate 
 any closer acquaintance ; for he bolted up stream, down stream, 
 and across to the other side with great determination, and for 
 some ten minutes I was alternately winding, up and letting out 
 vigorously. He wasn't a striking fish, however few of the 
 Thurso fish are, for the river is very dead and still, as regards 
 the best pools but he made as fair a fight as it was in him to 
 make, and when his time was come surrendered without any 
 vulgar fuss, like a gentleman, and his life-blood stained the 
 heather." No, there I'm wrong there is not much heather 
 just there to stain ; it is mostly grass, for much of the banks of 
 Thurso have a very meadow-riferous and lawn-like aspect. My 
 prize scaled 12^1b., and was a very thick, handsome, sturdy fish, 
 and while I took stock of him I made my lunch, after which a 
 pipe and so forth, and then at it again. 
 
 Whilst at lunch I had seen another fish rise on the other side 
 of the river, and further down ; so, as there was a ford just 
 above, my gillie played the pious ^Eneas to my Anchises and 
 pickabacked me over, and I made to the spot. It was just off a 
 sort of point that inclosed a little bay. I had marked the fish 
 well, and at the third cast a boil and an obstruction told me 
 
 that my friend was in attendance. I gave him a drag, and he 
 
 B B 2
 
 372 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 made the reel screech once for about 40yds. ; but after that he 
 never took out a yard of line, but kept roaming round and round 
 the little bay just noted, in and out, backwards and forwards. 
 It became tedious, so I laid the butt well into hina, brought him 
 speedily within reach, and my man, who was not bad with the 
 gaff, whipped him out before he had quite made up his mind to 
 conie. He was the brother of the other fish, and scaled the 
 same weight to an ounce or two. I rose two more fish, and 
 marked them down for future use, as they would not be per- 
 suaded, and then walked down to Arnester, where I lost a fish from 
 a slight hold ; and after another half-hour, as we had above four 
 miles across the moor to walk, and the trap had to pick up other 
 anglers on the way home, we tackled up, handled the fish, and 
 made tracks homewards. One other gentleman only was down 
 the river that day, Col. P. he had one fish only, a ten-pounder, 
 while the occupants of the Linn for the beat was shared that 
 day had four ; the. rest had none. At Strathmore I was intro- 
 duced to the other five piscators who were my future comrades. 
 We all dined, smoked, toddied, and chatted fishing together for 
 the rest of the evening till bedtime ; and I thought that, if only 
 the commissariat were pretty good, I could manage to make out 
 my month well enough at Strathmore.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 373 
 
 CHAPTER XXXV. 
 
 MY SNUGGERY AT STEATHMOEE THE LINN OF SKINNET AGAIN 
 A GOOD DAY MY YANKEE SIE C. BLOIS AND THE SAUCE 
 POOL AN AWKWAED PEEDICAMENT. 
 
 STEATHMOEE was a very jolly abiding place ; the victualling 
 was pretty good and the liquors very fair the company most 
 companionable. The sport continued brisk, and got better as 
 time went on, so that we were all in a good humour, and bent 
 on enjoying ourselves. But all the bedrooms were full at the 
 lodge ; so, as the last comer, I had to take up with one of the 
 keeper's houses, where there was a large and comfortable room, 
 and as I had the place to myself I rather enjoyed it, for I went 
 to bed when and how I liked, or not at all if I didn't like. I 
 built up the peats, made a roaring fire, and wrote letters ; had 
 a last glass of grog perhaps two with many last pipes ; and I 
 sometimes even made night hideous and set the dogs howling 
 by practising the cornopean, which I was then learning. I hope 
 no on.e cursed me for my untimeous notes I think I should 
 have cursed myself had I been anybody else ; but if they did I 
 didn't mind it, and, like Dick Swiveller, who took to the flute at 
 night as a consolation, I at least thoroughly enjoyed myself. 
 But to my narrative. At breakfast next morning we all met 
 together six good men and true the late Sir F. Sykes, the 
 late Sir C. Blois, Col. P., Mr. W., Mr. D., and myself. What a 
 jolly, pleasant party we were ! what yarns we had when round 
 the fire of an evening ! How every capture of the day was 
 discussed ! I never heard an angry or a cross word the whole 
 time I was there, and that is something to say, for I have
 
 374 BY LAKE AND E1VEE. 
 
 heard brother anglers quarrel like Kilkenny cats, and use much, 
 worse language ; but then our beats were so marked out that 
 we couldn't conflict or collide in our fishing. We did not allow 
 cards, and we never talked either religion or politics or philo- 
 sophy, and eschewed all the ologies. After breakfast, those who 
 had to go to the more distant beats mounted the trap, their 
 sandwich cases and pocket pistols loaded, and were dropped at 
 their respective stations one by one, where their men awaited 
 them with their rods, and were collected again at night. Those 
 who were close home went leisurely and comfortably down to 
 the river; the last fish killed on the Linn, which was close to 
 the house, being always sent in every day for dinner, and the 
 result was that the fish was often almost wagging his tail when 
 he was popped into the pot, and that was salmon in perfection ; 
 it would break like a carrot. 
 
 The second day my beat was the Linn of Skinnet by right,. 
 so I went to it and soon began to kill fish, taking a 14 -pounder 
 within half an hour of my advent. Then I did the honours to 
 a 15-pounder. These were the two fish I marked the day before. 
 I lost no time, for I was as keen as a first-class Sheffield razor, 
 and ere long I was fast in another, that played brilliantly for 
 a Skinnet fish; but he too was landed, and scaled lOlb. After 
 that I moved down a little, and the tricolour being waved over 
 a likely cast brought another victim to the guillotine, and 
 another 151b. one soon graced the grass. Hurrah ! This was 
 something like a day ; four fish before lunch ! Well done, 
 Thurso ! The fish then took a rest, and fin ding they were off, 
 I laid my four prizes out before me and feasted my eyes on 
 their beauty, while I feasted my whame on something else. 
 While I was feeding my gillie took my rod and went down to a 
 sort of dyke or ridge of rocks that run out into or just above 
 Amester pool, and took a cast on his own account. Presently 
 I saw him fast in a fish. "Bravo!" said I to myself, "that'll 
 make up the score to five ; though I would have preferred 
 killing the fish myself perhaps." My attendant drew the fish
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 375 
 
 ashore, not having a gaff, and tailed it out, and, after dislodging 
 the hook, to tny great surprise pushed it back into the water 
 again. I asked him when he came back why he turned it in 
 again, and he replied that it was " joost a late bagget (female 
 fish big in spawn), ye ken," which I thought strange enough, of 
 course, as one does not often see a female fish heavy in spawn in 
 March though it happens occasionally. After lunch I fell again 
 to fishing at once, and in about half an hour I was fast in 
 another rattling fish. Up and down rushed the fish, and at 
 length made straight towards me. Now under my feet was a 
 shelving bank, with a thin fringe of tall reeds. Seeing that the 
 fish's intent was to bolt into these reeds, I shouted to my 
 attendant to go down the bank and splash the water with the 
 gaff to keep the fish off, as I had no power over him ; and he 
 could easily have done so without wetting a foot, having long 
 thigh boots on. But the more I shouted, the less that calm and 
 seemingly imperturable individual regarded. I could not com- 
 prehend it. He looked on as if he really wished the fish to take 
 to the reeds, which he immediately did, and hanging me up got 
 clear. I repeated " How doth the little busy bee " and " Twinkle, 
 twinkle, little star," in the sweetest voice ; but my calm friend 
 just replied, "Hey, mon, ye canna kill every fish ye heuk." 
 "Confound you!" I roared, "but I could have killed that one 
 if you'd done as I ordered you." To this the individual deigned 
 no reply. I was so angry that I had to smoke two pipes to 
 compose myself ; but when this essence of coolness and cheek 
 proceeded to take up the rod and walk off to try his own hand 
 again, I talked to him kindly and affectionately, and he put it 
 down as if there were an insect of " the flea specie," as poor old 
 Jemmy Hall used to call it, somewhere about his ear, and 
 lighted liis pipe. This fellow had left Thurso for a tour in the 
 States a year or two before, in order to see what he could make 
 out of the rivers there ; and, as he made nothing, he came back 
 again much worse than he went, and was called the Yankee 
 sometimes, but more often ' that somethinged Yankee." I need
 
 376 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 hardly say that he did not exactly suit my requirements, and 
 the next day I gave him him his mittimus. I did no more that 
 day, but got home duly, and my four fish raised a sensation 
 rather, and " Skinnets " went up in the market. After dinner 
 I told my news and lamented my lost fish ; and Mr. W., after a 
 strong word about that Yankee," said, 
 
 " How many fish had ye ? " 
 
 "Four." 
 
 "And they average 151b. apiece, or 601b in the gross." 
 
 " Just so." 
 
 " And ye'd four miles to walk across the moor, and bad walk- 
 ing." I was forced to admit this. 
 
 " Ah ! if he'd been the first fish, you'd have killed him fast 
 enough, and the bagget too, which was as much a bagget as I 
 am ; but that confounded Yankee thought 601b. quite enough to 
 carry four miles, and that's the whole of it." 
 
 Mr. W. had hit it, I felt sure, but this only made me more 
 raw, for, rather than lose the fish and the chance of a good score, 
 I'd have carried them home myself ; and, as I said, I presented 
 my friend with a highly ornate and embroidered "sack" the 
 very next morning. As it turned out, I should, with six fish, 
 have headed the week ; for the Linn men of the day only did 
 five, and those up to 121b. The next day I took Halkirk, and 
 some water above and below one decent pool called the Eae 
 Beg I think, but of this I am not sure. Halkirk was one of the 
 prettiest pools in the river, being rocky and streamy, but it 
 rarely gave a fish, being everlastingly disturbed by ducks and 
 other economic poultry, and also by the brats of children who 
 persisted in pelting real or imaginary ducks, or swimming 
 impromptu boats, &c., or doing some other violently disturbing 
 nuisance all day long ; and many a sly whip was taken at the 
 pool, too, when there was no one handy or likely to be. Never- 
 theless, I wasn't half-way down it when a lively thirteen-pounder 
 came to my beck, and, after visiting all his friends in all parts of 
 the pool to say farewell, he allowed himself to be converted into
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVEB. 377 
 
 merchandise, and five minutes after I was dancing a jig with his 
 sister. My step did not suit her, I suppose ; so she dissolved 
 the connection and returned to her chaperone, or perhaps her big 
 stone. I tried up and down, but it was of no avail ; and until 
 late in the afternoon, when I returned to Halkirk, I did no more ; 
 then, however, I coaxed a nice 121b. fish to hook on, and had 
 just landed him comfortably when I saw the trap coming, and so 
 home. 
 
 By this time my friends began to look on me with curiosity ; 
 for while four, not to say six, fish out of Skinnet in a day was 
 something to coax, two out of Halkirk was more. The next 
 day I tried the Eocks. The Eocks was certainly the prettiest 
 beat on the Thurso to look at, the pools being rocky and 
 rattling, but somehow they seldom held fish until the weather 
 got somewhat warmer. Up to April the fish seemed to like the 
 warmer and muddier or peaty bottoms of the de^ep still linns. 
 Of course there was a pool or two in which a fish might lie 
 one called the Sauce Pool, which lay some three or four miles 
 from Strathmore, being one of them ; but, as a rule, at this time 
 of the year, the beat was regarded as little better than a probable 
 blank. Apropos of this Sauce Pool so called because of certain 
 scum or froth which was caused by the slight fall at the 
 entrance, and the broken foamy water it produced some days 
 after my visit to it, when I barely gave it a careless skim over, 
 Sir Charles Blois had the beat. Sir Charles was an old Namsen 
 fisher, having been one of the earliest of the British anglers who 
 penetrated up to the stupendous Fiskum Foss, pretty well 
 known to a good many British anglers since then. He showed 
 me on his gaff handle one day a notch which he had cut 
 to measure the length of a big fish, that weighed either 521b. 
 or 541b. (I forget which), that he had killed in the big pool 
 below the foss. He was in the boat by himself. He hooked the 
 fish, rowed and managed the boat, and played his fish, landed, 
 and gaffed him all by himself ; and when the size of the fish is 
 considered, that is a feat for anyone to be proud of. Sir Charles
 
 378 BY LAKE AND BIVEB. 
 
 further told me that lie hooked four other fish on the same 
 morning, or as large or larger than the one he caught, and all 
 of which he lost, chiefly for the want of a boatman ; but he had 
 a strong taste for fishing by himself, and could not bear to 
 be looked at while fishing, On the afternoon when he had " the 
 Bocks " he thought he would walk down and have a look at the 
 Sauce Pool. Accordingly he put his rod over his shoulder and 
 stalked off across the moor by himself. When he reached the 
 pool it was in fine order, and he had barely made his third cast 
 when a rattling fourteen-pounder came at him and gave him five 
 or six minutes of smart play ; but Sir Charles soon shortened 
 him home and gaffed him, much pleased with his luck at getting 
 a fish out of the Sauce Pool. He thought, however, that he 
 would try another cast, just on the off chance, and he did so, 
 when he was speedily rewarded with another rise, and soon a 
 fine twelve-pounder was dancing on the grass beside his comrade. 
 Then he sat down and gave the pool a rest for a time, congratu- 
 lating himself upon the unusual feat he had performed. Still, 
 having a grain or two of faith left, he went at it again, when a 
 bigger head and shoulders than he had seen yet put up and 
 gulped in his fly, and in some ten or twelve minutes Sir Charles 
 had the great satisfaction of depositing a magnificent eighteen- 
 pounder by the side of his friends. " Who can tell but what 
 there might even be another?" thought Sir Charles, and faith 
 there was another a fifteen-pounder and he came up nobly, 
 fastened well, and was speedily laid by the rest. By this time 
 the evening was coming on, for four fine salmon are not caught 
 in the waving of a salmon rod ; and then it suddenly occurred 
 to Sir Charles that it was just possible that he might have a 
 difficulty in getting them home. He was not a very powerful 
 man, and, beyond that, had an objection to carrying his own 
 fish ; and there they lay in all their brilliant panoply, close on 
 sixty pound of salmon, to be carried across the moor some three 
 or four miles. What should he do ? If only a shepherd were 
 in sight ! but no, none appeared. He thought of hiding them,
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 379 
 
 and leaving them and sending for them ; but it would be dark 
 before anyone could get to them, and if they were left all night 
 it was a hundred to one but some vermin would find them out. 
 What was to be done ? He almost wished them back in the 
 pool again, only the triumph of howking four fish out of the 
 Sauce Pool was, as he knew well, the triumph of the season. At 
 length two children appeared far off. Sir Charles telegraphed 
 and shouted. The children, amazed at his antics, were rather 
 inclined to run away at first ; but at length he got them to 
 approach near enough to understand his wishes, and so the 
 splendid catch was conveyed home, to the wonder and admiration 
 of all beholders, as it is the fashion to say. 
 
 The next day Sir F. Sykes had the same beat, and in the 
 afternoon he too thought he would comb the Sauce Pool, in 
 case there were any " leavings " ; so, asking me to go with him. 
 for a walk, he took his big spliced greenheart a novelty in those 
 days from Forrest of Kelso, and off we walked. Arrived at the 
 pool, he asked me to pick him out a fly, as I was a lucky man. 
 I did so an old Namsen fly with a warm taking body, which I 
 have always fancied, and which I have described in my Book on 
 Angling as the Namsen, and after a few casts Sir F. got fast in 
 a smart fourteen pound fish, which I gaffed for him ; and but a 
 few minutes after he hooked, played, and lost another, I think 
 by being too severe with him. Sir F. was a very tall powerful 
 man, and used a tremendous rod indeed, I think his rod 
 was a twenty-one footer, and I could not wield it. He could 
 kill a fish very quickly if he was well hooked, and could put out 
 a very long line against the wind ; but if fish were only lightly 
 hooked they were apt to get off, when lighter play would have 
 landed them. However, it showed me that there were for 
 certain six good fish in this small pool waiting for me two days 
 before if I had only fished it properly ; and it served me right 
 that I didn't get them, or most of them as I might have done. 
 
 On the day Sir Charles killed his fish I had the Linn. The 
 Linn par excellence was the finest beat on the river, and was
 
 380 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 always an object of desire and calculation, for it was crammed 
 with fish. It was a long, deep, still pool, rather canally, but, as 
 far as I can remember now, perhaps a mile or a mile and a half 
 long, and all good fishing water. Above it was a long stretch of 
 thin trout water, which ran up to Loch Beg ; and the Linn was 
 the favourite lying place with all the fish, (and their name was 
 legion,) which did not care to run the thin water for the lake. So 
 much desired was the Linn that anglers would split their days 
 with a friend when they had a bad beat that is, Sir. F. and 
 Mr. D. would fish it together when it was Sir F.'s day, and again 
 when it was Mr. D.'s day ; so that they got two days a week each 
 instead of one on it, though of course they did not get the sport 
 that they would fishing it alone. The angler whose day it was 
 on the Linn always was up and taking a peep at the weather by 
 daybreak, and rarely wasted any time after breakfast when it 
 looked favourable, as the fishing commenced not one hundred 
 yards from the lodge. My first day on the Linn was a bad one ; 
 there was no wind, and I only took three fish, and those not 
 remarkable ones four, five, and even six or seven fish being not 
 at all unusual ; three were thought poorish, two bad, and one 
 duffing in the extreme. Three times while I was there were 
 ten or more fish taken on it by one rod.
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 381 
 
 CHAPTER XXXYI. 
 
 THE MOORS ABOUT STRATHMORE STALKING THE WILD GOOSE 
 A WONDERFUL EEL LOCH BEG DISAPPOINTED OF A SPATE. 
 
 THE moors about Strathmore were plentifully stocked with game, 
 and as one walked across them many an old grouse cock would go 
 "conking " away as a warning to his mate to lie close and keep 
 dark. There was also a great deal of other stuff in the shape of 
 ducks, geese, snipes, and plovers, and all sorts of wildfowl rare 
 and common, about ; indeed, Dunbar, who was no mean taxider- 
 mist and naturalist, had made a fine collection of rare birds. All 
 these latter things we were at liberty to shoot if we chose, and 
 now and then we massacred a few plovers, &c., for a pie though 
 it was a great shame, as it was the breeding season and we used 
 to eat their eggs for breakfast. But the geese, of which there 
 was a large flock about the place, were a great nuisance to the 
 little farmer below, who had a large patch of barley just beyond 
 the river. The beasts had a strong taste for barley, a perfect 
 contempt for strong Scotch expletives, and any amount of respect 
 for a gun, which they took care to keep at a very wary distance 
 from. They were the most cunning critters I ever came across. 
 Talk of geese saving Eome by their wide-awakedness ! That was 
 only once, and after all only by a fluke a gobble or two caused 
 probably by accidental indigestion from eating too much of the 
 maccaroni of the period. These beggars saved themselves half- 
 a-dozen times a day, and by the most astonishing devices. How 
 hard I tried to get a shot at them, and always failed 1 I had a 
 rifle with me, which I knew how to use, and I declare that I took 
 as much trouble to try and stalk them as some would to get
 
 382 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 within range of a stag of ten, an old bull moose, a 14-foot tusker, 
 or a mangy " man-eater," but always in vain. One day in par- 
 ticular I drove them off the barley, and they went away for a 
 small shallow loch about two miles off ; so I took a wide range of 
 about ten miles or so, more or less, to get the wind of them, 
 and to get under the shelter of a bank which rose up on the south 
 shore of the loch, and would afford safe hiding. The moors 
 were much intersected by deepish but narrow gullies or drains, 
 and one could often travel some distance up them ; and, after a 
 very cautious but tedious scramble of several miles in from four 
 to eight inches of bog water, I approached the bank behind which 
 the geese were. Cautiously, cautiously, I crept on up to the 
 bank not a whisper, not a creak, not the wag of a hair. On I 
 swarmed up, up the bank, like a wild Indian after scalps, pushing 
 myself along by a sort of Archimedean screw on my stomach, 
 which, ahem ! was alas ! that it ever should come to be so with 
 us less in my way, not to put too fine a point on it, in those 
 days than it is now in prosecuting such enterprises ; indeed, I am 
 doubtful if that mode of progression now wouldn't be something 
 more than inconvenient. On I squirmed then, however, crunch- 
 ing beetles and squelching snails, dismembering daddy longlegs, 
 mangling my shirt front while on which, I am free to confess, 
 is not the best way of mangling it and filling my vest pockets 
 with various botanical and entomological curiosities. At length, 
 by remarkable acrobatic skill and incredible athletic exertion, 
 and much dampness in various prominent and inconvenient 
 places, I reached the brow of that bank. I peeped very cautiously 
 between two tufts of heather, and there 
 
 Oh, frabjous day ! calloo callay ! 
 
 I would have " chortled in my joy," if I had known how, and it 
 would'nt have alarmed the geese. There were about fifty of 'em 
 squattling about the shore of the loch, and only some sixty yards 
 away. 
 
 Alas ! unconscious of their doom, 
 
 The little goslings play,
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 383 
 
 As what's-his-name might have said. The unerring rifle was 
 gradually pushed to the gap in the heather. It creeps over 
 the brow like an iron snake in the grass. There are two 
 gander-pots grandpapa geese standing with their heads erect 
 and looking on like two prime ministers, or a brace of beadles, or 
 a pair of Alexander Selkirks as Dickens puts it, at the gambols 
 and guzzlings of their belongings, with that air of stolid stupidity 
 so remarkable in a bird who is so often stuffed with sage notions. 
 This attitude is broken now and then by a short sharp waggle of 
 the tail, which means nothing in particular that ever I could dis- 
 cover and I have asked many a goose why he did that, and he 
 never could tell me yet. I have surmised, maugre more precise 
 information, however, that the goose had occasion to wag his 
 tail, and did it because he preferred it to leaving it still. These 
 two old sinners, who were digesting their feloniously acquired 
 barley in complacency, were exactly in a line, and, in default of 
 having that wonderful eel by me which I once read of, and the 
 veracious history of which I append below, I could string them 
 with one bullet. I am lowering my eye to the " imminent 
 deadly breech." I know I shan't miss 'em, for I am good up to 
 200 yards, and I feel now like Hawkeye taking a good shot at 
 that Indian in the tree on the other side of the river. " I'll make 
 you smell sage and onions, my shavers ; only wait a minute ; 
 there'll be goose for dinner to-morrow," I whispered. My fore- 
 finger steels to the trigger ; an electric thrill shoots through it ; 
 the moment of combustion has arrived it is here ; when " ca 
 waw ! " two of about the largest sized shrieks that were ever 
 uttered by the throat of that ridiculous and intrusive skunk, the 
 Lnrus ridibundus, were yelled just over my head. " Here he is ; 
 I've got him." "Cawaw!" screeched the wretch again; but 
 once was enough. The geese were on the further side of the 
 loch in the twinkling of a goose tail, on their way back to the 
 barley ; I was the only one of the flock left, and " was left " like 
 Hon. Miss Ullin's papa on the banks of Loch Goil, " lamenting." 
 I sent a futile bullet after them to quicken their way, and then
 
 384 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 pitched the other barrel up at the black-headed cuss above. 
 This, however, wasn't in his contract ; it was clearly extra work, 
 and the pay didn't suit ; so with a half-frightened farewell 
 shriek, he turned and sailed off. I quickened his way too, for just 
 as he turned I let him have it, and I was only an inch or two be- 
 hind him, for I cut a feather out of his tail which made him wab- 
 ble some, and he really did make tracks as if he meant it. 
 
 I didn't go gandering again after this, it was not satisfactory, 
 but contented myself by taking long pot shots into the brown of 
 them 200 yards or more off, whenever I saw a knot of them 
 together in the barley-field ; but I never perforated one by acci- 
 dent, though they didn't like it, for I cut dirt considerably close 
 to them once or twice, and at last it was quite a caution to see 
 how they bolted as soon as my grey cap and the gleam of my 
 rifle topped the dyke. Yes, it is my opinion that if the Eomans 
 had only been half as clever as the geese, and had had a 
 reasonable allowance of black heads among 'em, they would have 
 preserved their Capitol, not once, but for everlasting ; and those 
 little hills they made so much fuss about would have been 
 eternally crowned with temples like the National Gallery ; and 
 then, only think why, they might have imported from the bar- 
 barian the Duke of York's column, the Northumberland lion, the 
 statue from Leicester-square, and a few other of our national art 
 treasures, with instruction to themselves and advantage to us. We 
 could even have spared them some Scotch padrones and a sprink- 
 ling of bagpipes. 
 
 This is the veracious history of the wonderful eel that I spoke 
 of; it reveals facts in natural history hitherto unknown, and 
 quite worthy the attention of the most eminent physiologists of 
 the day. As for the shot with the revolver, it was a pretty good 
 one on the whole, but nothing to make a brag of, and I fancy 
 from the tone of the article that it was thought to be something 
 remarkable, which is a mistake : 
 
 The way they catch geese (states the Buffalo Republican) on the Western 
 waters is sufficiently wonderful without at all taxing the incredulity of
 
 BV LAKE AND RIVER. 385 
 
 anyone. They are very fond of a small and very active eel, armed with 
 sharp head and teeth, whose habits insist upon its swimming very near 
 the surface of the water. It is very seldom the geese can get hold of this 
 choice morsel, and when they do, they have a grand jollification over it. 
 This eel the hunters use as bait for their geese-ships. A short time since 
 two hunters went out to catch wild geese. One hunter laid down in his 
 canoe with a trout line attached to his wrist, and on the other end, in the 
 water, was tied the nimble, sharp-headed eel before spoken of. The canoe 
 floated slowly through the marshes, and came gradually among a large 
 flock of geese, and the eel swimming along close to the surface. One 
 venerable bon vivant of a goose gobbled up the eel, like a flash ; also, the 
 eel had made its way through the body of the epicure, and lo ! the goose 
 was " on strong." Another goose, afflicted with a luxurious palate, swal- 
 lowed the eel, but without any particular satisfaction, as the eel, hardly 
 noticing an obstruction, travelled through the "goose-grease" with 
 scarcely an effort. And so this identical eel travelled and travelled until 
 seventeen geese were on the string, and our scientific friend, thinking he 
 had been fortunate enough, commenced hauling them into the boat. But, 
 wonder of wonders, the seventeen geese rose upon their wings as one 
 goose, and before our friend of the canoe could make a will or say a 
 prayer, he was lifted bodily from the canoe, through the combined efforts 
 of the seventeen geese attached to his wrist, and ere he was aware of it. 
 was thirty feet above the water. A friend of his on the shore saw the 
 difficulty, and, his revolver fortunately being loaded, shot off the string 
 and rescued his friend. So, instead of wild goose, our hunter got cold 
 duck ; aud, although he fishes no more for wild geese with eels, he is pre- 
 pared to affirm, asseverate, or swear to the truth of the foregoing. 
 
 Not liking my beat next day, I thought I would take a turn at 
 Loch Beg. Loch Beg was a capital beat from about the middle 
 of April, but before that it seldom fished well ; and it was then 
 turned into a beat, if another beat was needed. It was a small 
 rocky loch, with small bays and inlets, about enough for one rod 
 when the fish were taking well. I had a notion thai I would 
 spin it, and was rigging out my tackle, which, among other 
 things, comprised a large sized, heavyish Archimedean minnow, 
 which had the call then the Phantom, which now everywhere 
 prevails, not having been invented. Mr. W., a very dry sort of 
 chip, took up the minnow, and gravely inspected it between his 
 finger and thumb. 
 
 " Are you going to show this to the fish of Loch Beg ? " 
 
 c c
 
 386 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 ' Such is my intention," I replied. 
 
 " Vera ingenious remairkably so ; I shouldn't wonder if you 
 left it there." 
 
 And faith he was right, for when I got to the lake it was 
 blowing half a gale of wind, which was pretty nearly the normal 
 state of the wind there ; it never blew less than a third of a gale, 
 or say a quarter, except when I had the Linn, and then it usually 
 either stopped in Orkney or went off into Sutherland on a visit for 
 the day, the consequence being that I would get two or three fish 
 where almost everyone else got five and six. However there 
 was plenty of wind on Loch Beg, and much more than plenty ; 
 the market was overstocked. There was a boat on the lake, and 
 we put off. My gillie was not a Gulston nor a Knollys with 
 the timber. Now and then he caught a double crab, when he 
 immediately dove on his back into the bow of the boat, to the 
 delight of the fishes and Father .ZEolus, and my gentle irritation. 
 Why he didn't fracture the base of his skull now and then I 
 couldn't make out ; I never saw a man try harder. However ? 
 we went gyrating about here and there and everywhere in the 
 most erratic and playful manner. If I saw a salmon rise, instead 
 of the fly or minnow we put the boat over him in a jiffey, which 
 didn't answer the same purpose. 
 
 Then we went ashore, and rigged up an anchor or killick by 
 the aid of a rope, chain, and a big stone. This answered well for 
 fully two minutes and a half, and I began to think that my friend 
 W. was a jolly old bird of ill omen, all croak and no fulfilment, 
 when she slipped her stone and drove bang on to a lee shore, 
 while my gillie described what Sheridan in " The Critic " calls 
 " two revolving suns and two revolving moons " with his oar 
 blades, and then dittoed it with his heels again. I had just 
 made a long cast down wind, to my own great admiration, and of 
 course couldn't get the line in ; the boat gave a brisk jump from 
 a lumping wave which sent me into a sort of hip bath at the 
 bottom ; and, as she stranded broadside on the big stones, we 
 jumped out knee-deep and hauled her ashore to save her planks
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 387 
 
 and get out our traps, all wet through. There was the rod with 
 the whole 75 yards of line out ; but that was all there was 
 nothing at the end. The mermaids of Loch Beg had captured 
 my minnow tackle, cut it off, and hung it up in their tackle shop 
 below. I saw Mr. W. on the further shore, chuckling if ever 
 there was a chuckle in him, which I confess I doubt, for he was a 
 grave senior at the attempt I had made to spin Loch Beg. There 
 were two or three good fish rising steadily, from time to time, in 
 the loch, and both he and I tried them with a fly, but eventuated 
 nothing not even a boil. Loch Beg was as yet clearly no go 
 a beggarly Beg. That evening it began to rain. Now, those of 
 my readers who are salmon fishers know well what an interesting 
 and even delightful phenomenon a downfall of rain may be ; one 
 gets wet through on a salmon river with an equanimity one never 
 displays anywhere else. The river was low ; we wanted, or 
 thought we did, fresh fish up ; would it rain long enough ? It 
 looked very black outside. But Dunbar shook his head, and read 
 the paper. We were snug round the fire, and a faint spit and 
 hiss on the turfs now and then told us it was raining even if the 
 rush and pelt of the storm without had not announced the fact 
 pretty clearly. 
 
 " By Jove, how it is pelting down outside," said one. 
 
 " Give us a water as sure as death, if it will only last ; and 
 they're catching lots of fish in the bay, I bear," quoth another. 
 
 But Dunbar shook his head and smoked silently. " If it will 
 rain till about ten or twelve to-morrow, say, it will do, and it 
 really does look as if it had set in ; only hark how it is coming 
 down. It's my day on the Linn on Tuesday, and by then, I should 
 say, there will be heaps of fresh fish. I say, D., shall we share 
 our days next week ? " 
 
 "I'm agreeable." 
 
 " Very good, then, we must come upon them." But that per- 
 verse Dunbar still shook his head. " The wund was no in the 
 right airt." The oracle had spoken, as oracles mostly do, in the 
 most aggravating manner possible. About half-past eleven I
 
 388 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 retired across to my quarters. It was raining delightfully, and 
 was as black as a wolf's throat. I hugged myself, for it was my 
 day on the Linn on Friday, and I wasn't going to share with 
 any one ; so I revelled in the idea of a regular slaughtering, and 
 went to sleep and dreamt that I had killed eight fish in the Lynn, 
 seven having been the top limit as yet. About six in the morning 
 a knock came at the door. 
 
 " Het water, sir." 
 
 " Oh, eh ! Archy, come in. What sort of a morning is it ? 
 Eaining like mad,. isn't it. eh ? and how's the river ? 
 
 "Na, sir, na, it no just but an ordinar morning. The wun's 
 gane doon too, an' the rain ceased or one o'clock. It'll be no great 
 day for the fushin', I'm thenkin'. The river'll be thick an risen 
 an inch or twee." 
 
 " An inch or twee ! " and I expected to see a great porter- 
 coloured flood, of three feet or more, rolling onwards from far 
 Ben More to the sea. Well, well, to be sure of course if it 
 ceased at one there was no more to be said, so I got up and went 
 to breakfast. 
 
 " The river's just where she was three days ago. But there's 
 plenty of fish in the river, she'll fish well if we've only wind for 
 a fortnight, and I'll back that we kill six hundred fish in the 
 season," said D unbar; and he knew pretty well what he was 
 talking about.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 389 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVII. 
 
 DUELEY CASTLE A LEGEND THE POT OF GOLD AND THE 
 DEVIL'S POOL LOCH MORE A SPOETING FISH TROUTING 
 AND ITS PLEASURES A PEACTICAL JOKE A REAL BIG DAY ON 
 THE LINN. 
 
 THERE was one place which had a great charm for me, and 
 where I mooned away one or two Sunday afternoons in April, 
 when the weather was fine and warm, the lark singing, and that 
 was at Durley Castle. Durley Castle was an old ruined tower, 
 situated in a sheltered dell about the middle of the Eocks. In 
 the middle of a large flat-bottomed irregular basin, as it were, of 
 some acres in extent, a rocky mound rose upon which stood the 
 ruins of a solid square tower, built in the rudest way, with large 
 flat stones ; round the base of the tower, on two sides, flowed the 
 Thurso, making here a deep dark pool, for romantic and legendary 
 purposes pronounced unfathomable. The tower at present was 
 little above the adjoining plateau, though when at its full height, 
 no doubt the upper stories rose well above the plain. Here, 
 reclining against the rocky bank, courting the sunshine, with the 
 song of the lark, the hum of early bees, and the gurgle of the 
 water as it flowed rippling into the pool, I smoked and read and 
 mused alternately ; a boy whom I had for a gillie told me frag- 
 ments of a maundering legend about Durley. The deep dark 
 pool, overshadowed by the Castle, was called, " The Devil's Pool," 
 and there was a pot of gold at the bottom, only no one. could 
 find the bottom, and the devil of course took care of the pot of 
 gold. A fair maid, daughter of the chief who held Durley Castle, 
 whose name I have forgotten, indeed, I am not certain I ever
 
 390 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 heard it, loved a young man in her own clan, whose only fault 
 was that he was below the lady in position and means. Meantime, 
 a famous sea rover, who chanced to put into Thurso bay, saw her 
 and loved her, and made various offers to her father of the most 
 precious gifts in his possession to induce him to give her to him 
 in marriage ; but the chief was fond of his daughter, and did not 
 want to part with her, but was at length induced to promise her 
 by the present of a wonderful casket, which, open when he would, 
 always was full of gold ; spend how he might, he had but to close 
 the lid, and when he opened it, lo ! it was full again. This, of 
 course, was obtained from a Norway sorceress, who sold winds and 
 wealth, and blights, and all sorts of things, and bought souls and 
 other trifles of that kind, and no doubt the price paid for this 
 inexhaustible casket was something diabolically beneficial. How- 
 ever, the maiden was pledged by her father to the rover, and as 
 she did not approve of him, she wandered about in a miserable 
 kind of way until she came upon a palmer grey, who was of course 
 a saint in disguise, who shammed weary and faint and hungry, 
 because if he really was a saint he couldn't well be either, at 
 least such is my notion of saints, but I may be wrong. She of 
 course compassionated, and he, as in duty bound, did the like by 
 her, when he drew from her her tale of distress, and she took him 
 home and fed and tended him ; and even the chief paid deference 
 to his venerable appearance. And when the next morning came the 
 chief took from his casket a piece of gold, and laid it on the 
 saint's palm (he being a palmer) to help him on his way, where- 
 upon the gold piece curled and smoked and frizzled, and turned 
 into a withered leaf to the amazement and conviction of the 
 chief and the saint became suddenly beautiful and saintly, and, 
 seizing the casket, he hurled it out of the window into the 
 deep, black, unfathomable pool below, and a pair of huge brawny 
 hairy arms, with talons like a tiger's, came out of the water and 
 caught it as it fell, and it disappeared beneath the pool amidst 
 a bellow of supernatural laughter, and there the pot of gold has 
 lain at the bottom of the pool ever since, and will lay (I don't like
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 391 
 
 like to say "lie," being suggestive) until some one can hook it up, 
 but as the depth is so profound, no one is likely to. Whereupon 
 I gaged the profundity with my running line and a stone tied to 
 it, and, alas for romance and imagination, nowhere did I find the 
 pool more than about eighteen feet deep, but the peat coloured 
 water and the over-shadowing castle and rocks make it look very 
 black, gloomy, and profound. " What became of all the rest ? " 
 Well, upon my word I never inquired, for I didn't care much about 
 them, and being practically-minded, I forgot all about it in 
 sounding the depth of the pool, and having ascertained that, of 
 course the legend was, if one might say so, "busted." 
 
 I didn't care to go " down " ; it was a long, dull drive there 
 and back, and I thought I would go up and look at Loch More, 
 the largest loch on the river. For there were many small 
 tributary lochs, and one fair-sized one, Loch Oalder, which fed it 
 from small burns, scattered about, but salmon only went into 
 the two that were on the river itself viz., Loch Beg, already 
 mentioned, and Loch More, which lay some way above Loch Beg 
 the stream between them being sharp and shallow, like that 
 just below Loch Beg. Loch More was known to be full of fish, 
 but it was too soon for it, and no boat had yet been taken up on 
 it. A day or two previously, Sir F. Sykes had walked up to the 
 point where the upper and spawning stream flows in, and at that 
 point had hooked a good fish, which went straight out to sea 
 (made for the middle of the lake), and could not be stopped* 
 It ran out all his line nearly 100 yards if I remember aright - 
 and broke him. I therefore picked out my longest line, 120 
 yards, to try conclusions with any fish I could meet, and away I 
 started for Loch More. It is rather an open, exposed loch, and 
 somewhat uninteresting in form. However, we made our way to 
 the feeding stream, which was here little more than a good-sized 
 burn, stealing into the lake over a bar of brilliant sand and 
 gravel. There was of course a deepish hole just outside the 
 point of entry, and a broken eddy or two showed the moving of 
 the water. The breeze was moderate. I fished the mouth care-
 
 392 BY LAKE AND EIYEE. 
 
 fully, and after a few casts a big boil showed on the surface, but 
 the fly remained untouched. I gave him a rest and tried him 
 again ; " no go." I then sat down, picked out a smaller fly 
 of the same colour, and waited for a cloud. It was not long 
 coming, and I again pitched the fly slantindicularly down stream 
 into the loch, and, giving it a minute's pause, began fishing it 
 home a foot under the surface. Just as I was working up to the 
 bar a slight boil, a heavy tug, and a bending rod told me that 
 the ball had commenced. I never in my life saw such a fish as 
 this ; he was perfectly mad, and flew along the surface like a 
 steamboat, leaping and plunging in the most extraordinary way. 
 I don't believe he was ever four feet under water the whole time 
 of his voyage out. Straight for the middle of the lake he 
 steered, taking out line with wonderful rapidity and steadiness, 
 and it became clear to me that he was going to play the same 
 tactics as the fish that broke Sir F. I have often told the 
 story of this fish before indeed, I have related it in my 
 Book on Angling, the play was in my estimation so brilliant. 
 The fish continued these pranks until he had out fully 100 
 yards of line, and even at that great distance, and with that 
 length and weight of line in the water, he continued to jump 
 and spring clean out of the water twice or three times, looking, 
 so far off, no bigger than a good-sized sea-trout ; and one could 
 hardly believe that there was any connection between us it 
 seemed impossible. However, slight as the string was, and far 
 afield as he had roamed, it was destined to work his downfall. I 
 looked down at the rapidly decreasing bulk of the reel, or rather 
 of the line on it, and began to give it out very gingerty ; then I 
 got the rod up, and got a pull on him, and he evidently found 
 the pace too good to last ; but he made another bolt, and got out 
 half a dozen more yards, though I made it hot and hard work 
 for him by sinking the line as deep as I could. Then I got 
 another pull on him, and he submitted to be led back a few 
 yards, when another short bolt showed that he was not beaten. 
 I never met a more determined or desperate fish for his size.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 393 
 
 And so we went on, I winning back ten or a dozen yards now 
 and then, and he bolting and taking back seven or eight of 
 them. Slowly but surely, however, the bulk on the reel was 
 growing. He had long done skylarking, and now fought deep 
 and stubbornly ; but his circles grew smaller and closer, and at 
 length I got him under the rod again. He caught sight of me, 
 made one frantic rush for fifteen or twenty yards, and then 
 threw up the sponge and came in on his side, and my attendant 
 tailed him out on the shelving sand. He was a pretty fish of 
 12^1b., and one of the most gallant fish I ever killed. I'd go 
 all the way to Thurso to-morrow for such another fight. There 
 were no more fish to be had that day ; so I went home proud of 
 my victory, for no one else had killed a fish, owing to the rain. 
 
 The trout in the Thurso were not very good specimens, but 
 small, black, and tadpoly as a rule ; but there were some better 
 ones up near to Loch Beg, and as they wanted some for break- 
 fast at the lodge, I walked off up there with my trout rod one 
 afternoon, determined to bring back a mess. They rose at almost 
 anything, of course, and there were plenty of them, and often 
 two at a time came home on the line. There was nothing up 
 to half a pound, three or four to the pound being the best 
 of them. Such as there were, however, I whipped them out 
 merrily, and wading up the stream, casting left and right, my 
 basket soon began to assume a decent weight and proportions. 
 Arrived at Loch Beg, I passed round, and once more struck the 
 stream between the lakes ; and here the fish were a trifle larger 
 and brighter-coloured, and my basket got heavier and heavier. 
 So engrossed was I with the sport, which is one I am partial to, 
 that I did not observe evening coming on apace ; at length, 
 however. I became aware of the fact, and, having four or five 
 miles across the moor to walk in wading boots, I hastily reeled 
 up and turned my face homewards, congratulating myself on the 
 capital basket of fish I had. It couldn't go less than 201b., as 
 I judged the soldier palmer, black gnat, and grouse hackle 
 being the best executioners, as they will be nine times in ten on
 
 394 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 Highland streams. On I trudged, on and on, and the sun got 
 low, and the walking was not good ; for, though the moor was 
 level enough to the eye, it was full of those nasty little blind 
 gullies which one couldn't see, but perpetually plumped down 
 into some two feet deep, and this took it out of one rather when 
 often repeated, because one had to get out again. And then 
 there were constant tumps (hard lumps of peat crowned with 
 heather or bents), which I kept kicking violently against ; and 
 everything combined to knock one's wind out. And then I 
 became at last aware that 201b. of fish at my back did not 
 lighten the walking, particularly when at every slight mishap 
 the beastly basket would slip round under my chin, and have to 
 be shoved back into place again. -'Never mind, I'll be even 
 with those trouts at breakfast to-morrow," I grumbled. It was 
 only about four or five miles to the house, exclusive of temporary 
 aberrations which so constantly occur when there are no foot- 
 paths and nothing to guide one and these generally make the 
 distance half as far again ; and then it was across the moor, 
 and that was equal to a very long extra on the high road in 
 point of labour. Truly the real distance itself was nothing ; but 
 somehow, as Angelina found it when looking for Edwin, 
 
 Wilds immeasurably spread, 
 Seem lengthening as I go. 
 
 Angelina hadn't to carry a fishing basket with 201b. of trout in 
 it ; and that horrid creel kept bumping the wind out of me too, 
 till I began at last to get out of conceit with the idea of trout 
 for breakfast, and to think that one might even put up with 
 
 salmon steaks if one hadn't this inf . There's another ! 
 
 Whop, rumble, roll, bang ! and I scrambled out of the forty- 
 ninth gully, stumbled over the hundred and fifty-sixth tump, 
 and saw the slit of that beastly creel just under my nose for the 
 nineteenth time. Eight again, and once more out, on and then 
 squash into a bog next. Creel round again. That makes twenty. 
 Bless the creel ! 20lb. of fish twenty times under one's nose. 
 Why it's 2001b. at least. All right once more, and on we go to
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 395 
 
 Joppa. Hallo ! What's that wet on my side, and what a smell 
 of whisky there is ! Why, if I haven't smashed my flask in 
 that last burster. I was just thinking that a gentle drain would 
 perhaps improve things ; and the tobacco being in the same 
 pocket is wet through, too, of course. All right my brick ! as 
 Mr. Swiveller said to Destiny ; on we go again, and let's see 
 who'll get tired first. Whop, squash ; in again, creel once more 
 round my neck and right under my nose, saying like the clown 
 in the pantomine, ''Here we are again!" "Now I've had 
 almost enough of this," said I, driven to bay at last ; " and if 
 those chaps want trout for breakfast, they may go and catch 
 them themselves." So I took hold of the creel, opened the lid, 
 and turned it upside down, and left the trout, with a sort of 
 savage satisfaction, to the foxes and wild cats and stoats, who no 
 doubt, as Lord Eussell says, were " obleeged " to me. After 
 that the road soon got better, and I reached home just as 
 dinner was over. So hurrah for trout fishing ! 
 
 In the evening, while we were in the middle of our smoke and 
 talk, there were sudden screams and alarming yells in the kitchen, 
 with a villanous smell of saltpetre. What was it? On inquiring 
 we heard that '' Sandie's neb (nose) was just blawed clean 
 aff his face, and his pipe blawed joost clean down his throat. 
 He was just smoking quietly by the fireside, when the whole 
 thing blew up." There was an appreciative grin on the face 
 one of our friends at this. The fact was, the lad was employed 
 about the house, or as a gillie or odd man at times, and he had 
 a bad habit of snapping up unconsidered trifles ; he wasn't 
 exactly dishonest, for you might have trusted him with gold, but 
 he looked upon tobacco, cigars, and such things, if left about, a 
 lawful flotsam and jetsam, and several times a cigar left on the 
 mantelshelf overnight was missed by its former owner in the 
 morning. One of our friends thereupon unrolled the outer lea 
 of a big cigar by the assistance of the steam from the kettle, cut 
 a hole in the body and inserted a little plug full of powder, and 
 then neatly replaced the leaf and dried the cigar in the sun.
 
 396 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 All being prepared, he left it on the mantelshelf as usual, and 
 missed it as usual. Sandy got his nose well scorched as a result, 
 and I fancy it ivas a lesson, for no more deadly insult could be 
 offered to Sandy after this than to ask him if he'd " have a cigar.'' 
 Another trick played by my friend D. on his gillie is worth 
 recording here. D. had a goodish muckle whisky flask ; yet 
 somehow, no matter how full it was, it never would hold out 
 the day. He supposed that his gillie must help himself pretty 
 freely to it, as gillies often will, just to drink luck to the fishing. 
 But when and how was it done ? He hardly ever lost sight of 
 him long enough for him to be able to get out the flask and take 
 a good drink. Still the whisky did go somehow, and he resolved 
 to find out where. Accordingly he made the strongest possible 
 solution of Epsom salts, of which a table-spoonful would be a 
 stiff dose, and filled the flask with it, keeping a surreptitious one 
 in his own pocket for his own use. The morning was a good 
 one for fishing, and Mr. D. had not been at the river half an hour 
 when he stuck fast in a strong fish. The fish was running well, 
 and D.'s attention was fully occupied with him, when there came 
 from behind him the most extraordinary sound, compounded of 
 coughing, spitting, gurgling, and retching. D.'s eye twinkled ; 
 he took a half-glance over his shoulder. There was his friend, 
 flask in hand, hacking away at a great pace, and gasping as if 
 dissolution were imminent, but he couldn't get rid of what he 
 had swallowed, which was a good part of a wine-glass full, as 
 speed had to be made on these occasions, and he had therefore 
 disposed of a good stiff dose at a couple of comprehensive gulps, 
 which sorely exercised him for the rest of the day. D. took no 
 notice, and never referred to it, but looked on with perfect com- 
 placency at his follower's pale face as every twinge of the whauie 
 sent a thrill through him, as if it were all right and all in the day's 
 work. He told him in the most kind and fatherly way that he 
 thought he sat up and smoked too much of a night, and that it 
 made him quite pale, and lost him much of his good looks, and 
 so on ; all the while the salts of Epsom were playing at cork-
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 397 
 
 screws and nutcrackers in the most recondite portions of his 
 interior, and it was all he could do to suppress his qualms and 
 groans when D. was giving him such good advice. But the bare 
 sight of D.'s flask was a powerful fetish and a strong taboo for 
 the future. It was the accursed thing to be put away, and not 
 to be meddled with on any consideration. 
 
 Three weeks had passed, and my turn came round again for 
 the Linn. It was a wonderfully favourable day, with a fine 
 strong brisk breeze, and the water apparently in perfect order. 
 I had not been at the water long before I killed my first fish, 
 a nice fish of lOlb., and in the next hour I had added three 
 more to the score, 121b., 12-^lb., and 131b. each, and it became 
 clear that I was in for a big day. Sir F. Sykes came down to 
 chat and look on, and just as he came I had a good rise, up in 
 the neck of the pool, where there was a little stream ; and the 
 fish, which was a heavy one, made one good rush down stream, 
 and then began grubbing about the bottom like a barbel. He never 
 quite sulked, but he kept poking about like a dog looking for a 
 bone in a dust heap. Do all I could stone him, pole him, splash 
 the water I could not induce him to work. Now and then he 
 would sail slowly over to the other side, and then as slowly back 
 again ; but work he wouldn't, and tire himself he wouldn't 
 either. I tried a long line, I tried a short one, but it was all of 
 no use ; and what was the more aggravating, good fish were 
 rolling and tumbling about on all sides of me. I would 
 have laid hard hold of the line and tried conclusions with 
 him ; but we had seen the fish at first, and both Sir F. and I 
 agreed that, judging from his length, he was a 20-pounder, and 
 " the fish of the season." And I did not want to lose the best 
 fish of the year so far ; so for two weary mortal hours did that 
 confounded fish meander about, as if the rod above him were 
 nothing at all. At length, when I was a deal more tired appa- 
 rently than he was, I got him over under our bank, and by a great 
 strain raised him a foot or two. Sir F. laid down on the bank 
 and buried the gaff handle deep in the water, and as I led the fish
 
 398 BY LAKE AND HIVEB. 
 
 by he contrived to stick the gaff in him, and hauled him out 
 
 kicking. He was a long lean red fish, and weighed IS^lb. only. 
 
 When he came into the river at Christmas possibly he scaled 3lb. 
 
 or 41b. more. He was the biggest fish so far ; but a few days 
 
 after Mr. D. caught a 22-pounder close to the house, and I think 
 
 I lost that same fish a week before in a jiggering match, as I 
 
 hooked a heavy fish there, which jiggered himself off the hook. 
 
 But I had lost most valuable time, and if I had got rid of him 
 
 early might have killed half a dozen other good fish. Sir 
 
 Charles Blois came down just as he was landed, and wondered 
 
 why I didn't do this, that, and the other ; but as Sir F. said the 
 
 fish was well handled, and nothing more could be done, I was 
 
 satisfied. Three minutes after, I had a spanking rise from a good 
 
 fish in nearly the same place. This one was no sluggard, but 
 
 worked like a Trojan, and in about five or six minutes I deposited 
 
 a handsome fish of IG^lb. by the now growing heap. Barely time 
 
 for a sandwich, a drink of whisky, and a light to my pipe, when 
 
 I was fast in another, and this too was a good one, apparently the 
 
 brother of the last ; but somehow as he was making his run the 
 
 handle of the reel got caught in the cuff of my macintosh, the top 
 
 of the rod rushed down to the water, and the stout salmon gut snapped 
 
 like packthread. I soon put up another fly, turned up my cuffs, and 
 
 at it again, and for the rest of the afternoon I was kept pretty 
 
 merrily at work, for I killed four more fish, when they went off, 
 
 and 1 went in to get five minutes' rest and a wash before dinner. 
 
 My take was ten fish, weighing 135lb. For weight it was not 
 
 beaten that season. Sir F. took ten in the Linn a few days after, 
 
 but they were smaller fish, and weighed but a little over lOOlb. ; 
 
 and a Mr. D z, a new comer, a few days after his arrival, took 
 
 eleven fish they too only scaled about HOlb. ; and but for 
 
 that sluggish fish I might have done far more. My back and 
 
 loins, however, the next day told me that I had done quite 
 
 enough, for it was a strong breeze all day, and hard work casting 
 
 against it ; and so hard did it blow at times that it was difficult to 
 
 say whether it was the wind blowing against the rod or the fish 
 
 pulling that one was fighting most.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 399 
 
 CHAPTER XXXVIII. 
 
 A BUN WITH A BULL (NOT A BULL TROUT) A GREAT TAKE IN 
 LOCH MORE TROUT FLIES AND SALMON SHOOTING BLUE 
 EOCKS FROM THEIR NATIVE TRAPS TfiURSO FLIES. 
 
 A DAY or two after this I had an adventure with a bull. I went 
 down to fish the Eae Beg water ; but the pools were shallow and 
 the fish sulky. I only got one fish, almost G^lb., the smallest fish 
 I caught or saw while at Thurso. I had with me for an attendant 
 a laddie about 13 or 14, a smart little chap enough, but he was 
 only a boy. As we were plodding along I saw coming down the 
 bank of the river a black Highland bull, and on the other side of 
 the river was another like him. The one on the far side was on 
 his own ground, and had a herd of cows with him in the distance. 
 The one on our side was astray by himself. As the moor was 
 very open, and there was no shelter anywhere, I did not quite 
 like it, for they were working themselves up into a tremendous 
 rage, tearing the turf and bellowing loudly. 
 
 " Is that bull dangerous, think you, laddie ? " I asked. 
 
 " Weel, the laddie that has charge o'm keeps gey an' far awa 
 from 'm, so I think he may be ! " 
 
 " What are we to do, then ? We must not stop here, for if we 
 do, one or the other or both the beasts will be after us." 
 
 As they came down the bank seeking a ford and roaring defiance, 
 I did not like to hurry away, and I thought that the correct thing 
 to do would be to walk majestically back the course I had just 
 come. I confess that the old theory about the majesty of the 
 human eye occurred to me ; but I felt that if it should not prove 
 immediately effective the result would not be satisfactory, and
 
 400 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 there would probably be too little majesty and too much funk in 
 mine to awe the savage beast effectively. I doubt if the human 
 eye is as majestic as it used to be. Then I remembered how the 
 black man in " Sandford and Merton " deftly seized hold of the 
 bull's tail and thrashed him into a good humour ; but that 
 veracious history did not tell us what the bull would have done 
 if the black man had missed his tip that is, his tail ; and I did 
 not think it would suit me to furnish the corollary. Besides, I 
 always hated corollaries, even at school, as they were something 
 more to do after the problems ought to have been over corollaries 
 are a swindle to the schoolboy. No, clearly a gentle and majestic 
 walk back the way we had come, so as not to lower the Scotch 
 laddie's opinion of English dignity and valour, was the right 
 thing. Just then the laddie shouted out, " He's coomin' ! he's 
 coomin' ! " and bolted like a wild goose. I looked back a hasty 
 glance over my shoulder and there, horror of horrors, came the 
 bull thundering down the bank about eighty or a hundred yards 
 away, straight for us, having just caught sight of us. An open 
 moor before us, no shelter whatever but a river which we might 
 have taken to, only there was a bull on the other side too. and 
 likewise cows, which count for something in a scrimmage. I 
 really am ashamed to admit it, but I I bolted too. As I bolted 
 I glanced back ; the bull was gaining. It might have been a 
 very pretty race to a looker-on equal to the boat race, in fact ; 
 but the bull here was Cambridge, it was all 3 to 1 on him, and 
 the horns of a bull are much worse than the horns of any other 
 dilemma I know of. Fortunately, just then we came to a place 
 where peat had been cut, and there was a bank four or five feet 
 deep. "Bob down, hide! " I called to the boy, who was close 
 to me ; and I j umped down and crouched under the bank. To 
 the bull it would look as if the earth had suddenly swallowed us 
 up, and as if 
 
 Each warrior vanish'd where he stood, 
 In broom or bracken, heath, or wood. 
 
 It was a risky thing to do, and a valiant thing, for the bull might
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 401 
 
 X 
 
 have advanced to see what had become of us, when he would 
 have had us in a trap. But there was nothing else to do, so we 
 dfd this ; and fortunately just then, as the bull was gazing 
 in amaze at least, I conclude he was a bellow from the 
 other beast attracted him; back he went to have it out, and, 
 finding a ford just there, he crossed, and then there was a battle. 
 for the pen of Homer, translated by our own William 
 or rather our late own William to describe it ! They charged 
 one another, like little earthquakes or iron-clad express trains ; 
 now one was knocked head over heels two or three times over, and 
 now the other. Oh, if they would only kill one another ! At 
 length the cows on the other side came to the assistance, of their 
 champion, and they gave our bull almost as sound a dressing 
 among them as a bull could desire. I do not know if this is what 
 is meant by being "cowed," but it had that effect certainty. 
 Meantime, we took the opportunity to walk off to the farm, Mr. 
 Henderson's, about a mile off, to whom I gave my fish. I told 
 him of the bull, and asked if it was his. "No," he said, " no ; 
 it'll no be our chiel. for he's awa noo and ours is a quiet chiel 
 too." By way of showing how quiet he was, he related various 
 instances of his playfulness how he had killed a woman, tossed 
 two children, &c. ; finally, he went to the river with us to see, 
 and found it was his very own chiel, quiet enough now, for he 
 had had a tremendous thrashing, enough to have satisfied even 
 an Irish bull, though that is an irrepressible beast too. 
 
 We had had enough fishing and returned home, and then we 
 found that everybody had had a big take but myself ; two or 
 three of the fishers had been on Loch More, on which two boats 
 had been put the day before, and one on Loch Beg. The others 
 divided the Linn, and so forth ; and the result was that the six 
 rods had killed forty-two fish, from 221b. down to 91b. or lOlb., 
 and they were all laid out in the cellar. It was a splendid sight 
 to see such a beautiful lot of fish all taken by the rod in one day. 
 But the Thurso is certainly a wonderful river for fish when all 
 goes well, though there are prettier rivers to fish. 
 
 D D
 
 402 BY LAKE AND RIVEE. 
 
 After this I moved down to Thurso ; for ray month was up, 
 and I wanted to have a day at the rock pigeons, of which there 
 are swarms on the coast. I killed another fish or two, for the 
 lower pools were still at my service when no one else was on 
 them ; and one day I went up to the Cruive Pool with my 
 single-handed trout rod, for there were some very nice trout in 
 the tideway, and a few merry little sea trout. While I was 
 standing looking at the pool above the cruive, I saw several fish 
 rising in it, and, more from idleness than anything else, I pitched 
 my little trout fly over the nearest, when, to my huge surprise, 
 he rose and took it. I struck him, and away he went, but I had 
 only about 20yds. of line on my reel, and what to do I knew 
 not ; however, the fish relieved me of any trouble, for the hold 
 gave. I then covered another fish I saw rising, and he also 
 took ; and he, too, after a short turn, went off. The hook was 
 too small, and 1 had no larger with me. I then tried another 
 fish, but with exactly the same result ; and I rose and hooked 
 five fish in succession, but the fly would not hold, and they all 
 got off. The last fish I allowed to take the fly down with him, 
 giving as much line as I could before I struck him, and then I 
 hit him as hard as I dared, and I did begin to think at last that 
 I was going to kill him, for I ran up and down merrily with him 
 for a quarter of an hour ; but at last the fly came away as in the 
 rest, and I then ran off home as hard as I could run, and fetched 
 my salmon rod, but when I came back they were quite off, and 
 not a fin could I stir. 
 
 It was a lovely morning when Dunbar and I sailed away 
 round the coast in pursuit of rock pigeons. The green wavelets 
 lapped against the bow of the boat as the pleasant breeze bore 
 us along. On the one side the broad Northern ocean, with the 
 high land of Orkney in the distance ; on the other the gigantic 
 frowning rocks, six or eight hundred feet in height, which guard 
 the iron-bound, or more appropriately rock-bound, coast. Sea- 
 birds by thousands gulls, razor-bills, cormorants, and many 
 other species swam, flew, dived, and screamed on all sides of
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 403 
 
 us. Here a big rock stood out, black on one side with cor- 
 morants, and white on the other with gulls, who religiously kept 
 their own territories, it being death to infringe the other. To 
 and fro flitted the restless pigeons, and over all, in widening 
 circles, sailed and chattered or screamed a graceful peregrine. 
 But here is a huge cavern a big rift in the rocks. We paddled 
 very gently in, fending off the rocks. As we reached the mouth 
 we all set up a sudden shout, the boatmen banging on the 
 thwarts with trenails to frighten the birds. Out rush a score of 
 big blue rocks right in our faces, and begin circling up to get 
 out of the gap. I secured a brace right and left, a feat which 
 considerably raised my reputation for holding straight with 
 Dunbar, as one doesn't often bowl over a brace of real blue rocks 
 in their native wilds right and left. Dunbar also did execution 
 and, having picked up our slain, we backed out and sought 
 another cave. This continued with varied success till mid-day, 
 and then we landed in one of the coves, and scrambled upon the 
 cliffs, had our lunch, mooned about, saw a high cliff, the highest 
 of all, from which a coastguard officer precipitated himself into 
 the sea many years ago through jealousy. His wife was very 
 handsome, and he found that she was carrying on an intrigue 
 with another man, or thought she was, and, in a fit of rage and 
 despair, he mounted and made straight for the highest cliii', 
 intending to ride over it ; but when the horse came to the verge 
 he stopped his gallop in a sudden fright, and it was supposed 
 shot the poor wretch headlong over the cliff, for he came back to 
 his stable alone, and the footmarks of the horse were tracked to 
 the cliff edge in the short turf ; the body was never again seen. 
 By and by the pigeons began to return from the corn fields to 
 their homes in the rocks. There was a very strong wind blowing 
 off shore, and if anyone wants to see what pace a pigeon can 
 travel, he should see these wild "rocks" travelling down wind 
 under these circumstances. We lay down under a bank, and 
 looking up could see the pigeons come over the brow almost a 
 
 mile off, and we had barely time to s'ettle ourselves and get our 
 
 D D 2
 
 401 BV LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 guns ready when they were over us and away like a flash of 
 lightning. Talk of partridge or grouse driving, or a rocketing 
 pheasant ! it is a child's play to it. If you didn't hold a couple 
 of yards ahead you had no chance ; and often when the distance 
 that I pitched nay gun in front seemed almost preposterous to 
 me, it was quite wonderful how they came in for the thick of it. 
 And it was also surprising the amount of shot they carried away. 
 We left the boat below to pick up the slain, but our bag was, 
 after all, very meagre for the lot of shooting we did. I think it 
 only amounted to nineteen pigeons, for, of course, we lost several ' T 
 but the amount of powder and shot we discharged I should not 
 like to say. 
 
 This was the last bit of sport I had at Thurso. I had greatly 
 enjoyed myself there, and was sorry to leave. We had been- 
 the pleasantest little social knot of brothers of the angle con- 
 ceivable. Sport was good ; everybody was satisfied, no one 
 disappointed, and there were therefore no heart-burnings and 
 no jealousies, and no trying to cut each other out, as I have seen 
 at other places. Indeed, the system of beats in rotation did not 
 admit of this ; and, added to this, the charge then was very- 
 moderate compared with that at the present day, so much has 
 salmon fishing grown in popularity of late years. The flies 
 have changed so on the Thurso that it is not of much use to 
 name those I killed with then ; but I may say that a Britannia 
 with a green hackle (I first introduced this fly to the river) I 
 found very killing, and also a good large Butcher. The water is 
 deep, and large flies are required in early spring. On the whole, 
 I think I killed rather more than a fish and a half a day during 
 my month, which is pretty good ; but I had great luck with 
 them, only losing six or seven fish, exclusive of those on the 
 trout rod, in the whole time. Good as my fishing was, it has 
 since then been very far surpassed. The deeds of this season, 
 1874, probably will long remain on record as unsurpassed in 
 fishing in the British Islands, the salmon slaughtered during a 
 few weeks having been something altogether prodigious and 
 unparalleled.
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVER. 405 
 
 CHAPTER XXXIX. 
 
 THE RIVERS ON THE NORTH, NORTH-WEST, AND WESTERN 
 COASTS, WITH SOME NOTICE OF THE INLAND LOCHS, AND THE 
 
 ElVERS OF THE SOLWAY FlRTH. 
 
 SOME information, scanty, but enough to guide the angler, I ven- 
 ture to append of the rivers and lakes to the north and west 
 coast, much of it being from residents or actual visitors of the 
 localities. Coining round to the west of Thurso, there is the 
 Forss, a small water which yields fair sport with the grilse and 
 sea trout at times, but it is held usually by the shooting tenant. 
 The Halladale is a somewhat larger water, and holds about a 
 dozen good pools near the mouth. The best sport, however, is 
 had with grilse and sea trout. Mr. Dunbar, the lessee of the 
 Thurso, also rents and sublets the Halladale. The Naver is a 
 largish river ; indeed it is a river of size and consequence. It 
 is let with the shootings, and, save by permission, cannot be 
 fished. It is a fine salmon river, running out of a large loch 
 Loch Naver, close to Aultnaharra Inn. The Naver is a very 
 early river, the fish entering it in December, and rising fairly to 
 the middle of August, the only desideratum being water and 
 weather, and a convenient place to live in, as the river is long and 
 inns wide apart, the Naver being rarely without fish. Loch 
 Naver fishes well for both salmon and grilse, and there are plenty 
 of tributary burns and lochs which give good sport with the 
 trout. I made some flies for it for a friend who rented shootings 
 on it, and had the privilege of fishing it two or three years 
 since ; they were of the Black and teal pattern, and did good 
 execution, I believe. Bettyhill would be the best station for
 
 406 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 the lower water ; Aultnaliarra for the upper. To fish the river 
 at all thoroughly, however, requires a good many long drives as 
 the inns are quite at the top and mouth of the river, and are 
 more than thirty miles apart. The Borgie, Hope, and Grudie or 
 Dionard, are three small rivers let with the shootings, or held by 
 the Duke of Sutherland himself. Loch Hope, perhaps, gives the 
 best chance of sport, as it is a fine sheet of water. "When they 
 are not let, the Duke's agent at Tongue often gives leave, and 
 there are some inns convenient to the rivers. Passing round 
 Cape "Wrath we come to Ehiconich Inn, by staying at which a 
 little salmon fishing may be had on the Inchard and Loch Gar- 
 bet-beg, and any quantity of trouting in the neighbouring lochs. 
 And next we come to one of the best fishing waters for its size in 
 Sutherland, viz. the Laxford and Loch Stack, which abound in 
 salmon and sea trout. The Laxford is by no means a large or 
 heavy river, and Loch Stack is quite a small sheet of water com- 
 pared with many of its neighbours, and the stream is a short one, 
 but the crowds of sea trout and salmon that constantly swarm 
 up it are prodigious. The public have not much interest in it, 
 however, as the fishery, with the deer forest and adjacent shoot- 
 ings are let to the Duke of Westminster, and the neighbourhood 
 is rather out of the way, Lairg being the nearest railway-station. 
 The Inver is a nice river, and often gives good sport ; it is the 
 outlet of Loch Assynt. Loch Assynt fishes fairly in sea-trout, 
 salmon, and grilse, and is noted for its Salmoferox. Fishing can 
 be had on Assynt by stopping at the inn at Inch-na-darnfL 
 Lairg is the nearest railway-station, and is thirty-three miles dis- 
 tant. There is a mail-car, however. The Inver is reserved, as 
 is its neighbour the Kirkaig. Both these rivers formerly were in 
 the hands of Mr. Mackenzie, the innkeeper at Loch Inver, who 
 let them out by ticket only ; these also, I fear, are among the 
 has-beens, and have been for some years out of the public 
 market. Very fine sea-trout are taken in the Kirkaig, and there 
 are grand brown trout in the Inver. Between Inch-na-damff and 
 Altnalough Inn, and in the neighbourhood, are many beautiful
 
 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 407 
 
 lakes, some of -which give fair sport, notably Loch Mulach- 
 Corrie. celebrated for its fine gillaroo trout, Loch Boarlan, Loch 
 Urigall, Loch Meaddie, and Loch Awe or Ah, as it is sometimes 
 called. In these are variety and wealth of sport enough for any 
 moderately satisfied angler. The Kirkaig is the last of the 
 Sutherland streams, and divides Sutherland from Eoss. There 
 are few streams of moment on the western shores of the Eoss. 
 
 The Broom, which runs into Loch Broom, is a niceish stream, 
 and gives plenty of salmon, grilse, and sea trout. The best 
 season for it is in August, but it is rented with the shootings, 
 and is not open to the public. The two Gruinards run into 
 Loch Gruinard, each run out of good lakes ; on the lesser one 
 only can fishing be had by ticket on application to Mr. Mac- 
 kenzie, of Dundonnell. The railway only brings one within about 
 fifty miles at Auchnasheen, but there is coach and mail car for 
 nearly the whole of the rest of the distance. Indeed, this railway 
 which runs from Dingwall right across Scotland to Strome Ferry, 
 on Loch Carron, forms not only the communication with all these 
 western shores of Eoss and Inverness, but forms the high road to 
 Skye and Lewis, or The Lews, as it is the fashion to call the 
 Hebrides. There are not many rivers in Skye that can be called 
 salmon rivers. The Snizort is the chief, and that is nothing 
 remarkable. There are plenty of smaller streams holding sea 
 trout, but they are mostly let with the shootings, and are not 
 open to the public. There are plenty of lochs, some of which 
 give good sport with sea and yellow trout. Loch 'Coruisk, cele- 
 brated for its magnificent and wild scenery, gives fair sport, and 
 is open to the public ; and visitors to the Broadford Hotel occa- 
 sionally get a day on Loch Kilchrist, which holds a few salmon. 
 There are a good many small rivers and some- fair lakes in the 
 Lews which show good sport with sea trout, and also with salmon, 
 but the best are all let with the shootings, and leave has to be 
 obtained. 
 
 To return to the mainland, the best river in Eoss-shire on 
 the west coast by far is the Ewe, which runs into the sea at
 
 408 BY LAKE AND EIVEB. 
 
 Poolewe, and drains Loch Maree. The Ewe is a very short 
 river from the sea to the loch, so short that the great won- 
 der is why the fish rest in it at all, but do riot run through at 
 once to the loch ; or why in so short a transic they rise so well as 
 they do at the fly, both of which circumstances are unusual. The 
 Ewe was first made famous by Sir Humphrey Davy, and it was at 
 Poolewe that Halietus Poietes, Ornither and Physicus, fished and 
 talked that remarkably stilted Dry-as-dust which our progenitors 
 delighted in. I have no doubt I am extremely heterodox in my 
 opinions, but for all that I cannot say I like it, and,- viewed by 
 the light of subsequent knowledge, even the science which should 
 be the backbone of it is a trifle deficient. The Ewe, however, 
 for all that, is well worthy of his or anyone's commendation, for 
 it has been no uncommon thing, short as the limits are, for an 
 angler to reckon up a score of deaths in a day upon this charming 
 bit of fishing ground. Of course the river is in private hands, 
 but fishing in Loch Maree is permitted, and I believe that Kin- 
 lochewe inn at the head of the loch is the best point to fish 
 it from. The trout fishing is unusually good, and the fish run 
 of good size. Loch Maree is a very large loch, and the salmon 
 and sea trout do not take very well on it, or it may be that the 
 best casts are not well known ; it holds some charr also. A 
 strong wind which drives the water out of the loch is very bad 
 for the river fishing, as, although it increases the flow of water, 
 the fish will not move in it, even though the river should be full 
 of them. The head waters of the lake run into and intermingle 
 with the head waters of the Conon and its tributaries, which 
 debouch in the Cromarty Firth on the Eastern coast. South of 
 this there are two or three small streams that run into Loch 
 Torridon, two of which run out of very nice lakes, Loch Doule 
 and Loch Damph ; they hold grilse and sea trout in the autumn 
 but they are mostly let with the shootings or in private hands ; 
 and the Applecross, a nice little river, of which the same must 
 be said. Next comes the Carron, a really good river, along which 
 the railway runs. It passes through a capital loch, Loch
 
 ' BY LAKE AND RIVER. 409 
 
 Dougall, but it is closed to the public. The Shiel is a fair sum- 
 mer river, and holds salmon and sea trout, and can be fished by 
 anglers stopping at Shiel Hotel and taking a ticket, which is 5s. 
 a day. It can be reached either by the rail to Strome Ferry, 
 or by steamer from Glasgow to Glenelg. Continuing south 
 there is little worth notice till we come to Loch Morar, a fine 
 loch some fifteen miles in length, within two or three miles of 
 Arisaig. The hotel keeper there has the privilege of fishing, 
 and, besides a few salmon and sea trout, it holds plenty of good 
 brown trout, some of them of large size. The route is by 
 steamer from Glasgow. South of this is Loch Eilt and the 
 river Aylort, which give fine sport. Formerly the fishing was let 
 by the day, but now it goes with the shootings. 
 
 Loch Shiel, the next fishing to the South, is a splendid loch 
 near twenty miles in length, it contains salmon, sea trout, and 
 large brown trout, and shows excellent sport ; being in a very 
 out of the way district, however, it is little known. I wrote to 
 a gentleman who was fishing it for information, and from his 
 letter in reply I extract the following : " There is one inn on 
 the loch at Shielfoot, and another at Salen two miles from it, 
 but they have no fishing attached. There is no other accommoda- 
 tion for strangers except Ardsheilach, Mr. Balston's, who has 
 salmon and trout fishing on the loch for three rods, and at pre- 
 sent he is full. The proprietors on Loch Shiel are Lord Howard, 
 Sir Thomas Eiddell. and Lord Morton, and Messrs. Dalgleish 
 and McDonald of Glenaladale. The best time for fishing is 
 June, July, and August. The salmon nets are put down in May 
 and taken off on the 2fith 6f August. The brown trout average 
 from lib. to l^lb. ; the white trout from lib. to 41b. or 51b., and 
 an occasional ferox makes his appearance. The salmon are of fair 
 average size, are very well shaped and rise to the fly, but the 
 deadliest bait is the angel minnow, with perhaps the blue phantom 
 next ; flies, claret and brown bodies with dark mallard or 
 turkey wings ; and white trout take almost anything, but prefer 
 blue palmers with yellow head, or vice versa. Steam communica-
 
 410 BY LAKE AND EIVEE. 
 
 tion between Oban and Salen daily in the season. The fishing 
 is best done from a boat, as the banks are often boggy ; boats 
 can be hired, when the trolling is excellent. The white trout 
 and brown trout fishing is very good, and the salmon fishing 
 fair. The best fishing no doubt is in the three or four mile 
 stretch of river between the lake and the sea. That, however, 
 belongs entirely to Lord Howard and Mr. Dalgleish. The inns 
 are fair Highland inns." 
 
 Turning inland from Loch Shiel we come on Loch Arkaig, 
 which contains fine brown trout and an occasional salmon, it can 
 be fished, being open to the public, but is hardly worth going 
 far out of the way for. There is a coach from Kingussie to 
 Spean Bridge, or it can be reached via Caledonian Canal. Loch 
 Lochy, one of the Caledonian Canal lochs, lies adjacent. The 
 trout fishing is very fair here, and they run of good size. It 
 was formerly a good salmon loch, and an occasional one may be 
 taken now, it is open to the public, but it is badly off for inn 
 accommodation, Invergarry Inn being the best place to stop at, 
 and that is four or five miles from the loch. The Garry is a 
 magnificent salmon river, of a rapid and tumultuous character, 
 it fishes very early in spring, and yields very large fish, and 
 fetches a very high rent. The Lochy belongs entirely to Lord 
 Abinger, and is a capital salmon river, and very productive. 
 A story of John Bright taking a header after a salmon that was 
 running away with his line, the end of which had not been 
 properly fastened to his reel, went the round of the papers some 
 years since, it was on the Lochy that the celebrated Democrat 
 was said to have performed this unusual feat. The Spean, which 
 is a fine salmon river, with plenty of white and brown trout in it, 
 is also let to private parties, it runs out of Loch Laggan, a fine 
 loch seven miles long, which is a fair trout loch, though the 
 trout do not run large, but there are plenty of very respectable 
 feroxes which do. Loch Laggan Hotel may be reached from 
 Kingussie by coach ; the innkeeper has boats on it. Loch 
 Treig, in the same district, is a pure sheet of water, but
 
 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 411 
 
 difficult to get at, and not open to the public, it is nine miles 
 long, and gives very good trout fishing. 
 
 .Further to the east lies Loch Ericht, a very fine loch for 
 fishing ; the trout run of excellent size, and there are plenty of 
 feroxes or feroces, as it may suit the critical to pronounce it j 
 Dalwhinnie, which -is close to the Highland Railway, is the 
 station for it. 
 
 Loch Eannoch, to the south of Loch Ericht, is another 
 splendid trout loch, the sport it yields being similar to that 
 enjoyed at Ericht. Kinloch-Eannoch is the station for it ; the- 
 hotel is fairly comfortable, and has four or five boats on the 
 loch, but the proprietors do not agree very well about the fishing. 
 East of this again is Loch Tummel, which holds very fine trout, 
 which take minnow better than fly, and often run up to two, 
 three, and four pounds, but there is no inn on the lake, and the 
 angler would have to drive from Pitlochrie, or from Tummel 
 Bridge ; Pitlochrie is the best route for the last two lakes. 
 
 I was desirous also of knowing something of the rivers that 
 run into the Solway, many of which are very fine rivers, though 
 they are horribly cut up by the nets ; I wrote to two or three- 
 friends who live there, and there is very little fishing that can 
 be said to be open to the public. The Esk is perhaps the most 
 favourable of them all, it runs up to the head waters of the 
 Tweed and Clyde, and separates England from Scotland for some 
 distance. Tickets are issrfed for the Esk and Liddle, the full 
 price for the season being 31. 3s., but short time tickets, for the 
 week or even day, can be had of Mr. McGeorge, the secretary of 
 the association, at Langholm. The Cross Keys, near Cannobie, 
 is almost the key of the position, and is within a mile and a half 
 of the Cannobie Railway Station. The best fishing for sea 
 trout and herlings begins in June. The salmon fishing begins at 
 the end of August, when the nets are off, and continues to the 
 1 st of November, though an occasional salmon and grilse may be 
 got much earlier, only they do not take so well. Six miles from the 
 Cross Keys, another good hotel may be found, at Langholm, and
 
 412 BY LAKE AND RIVER. 
 
 there are farm houses on the river, where one could get quiet 
 lodgings. The Annan, with the exception of some two miles 
 near the mouth, is strictly preserved, though the proprietors do 
 give leave if they know anything at all of the persons applying. 
 There is fine salmon and capital trout fishing on the Annan, 
 while there are also abundance of big chub, locally Skelleys. 
 The Nith, another fine river, is strictly preserved. The Dee, a 
 very fine river, is mostly closed, but there is a portion of it below 
 the Cruives, at Tongueland, where there is a comfortable' hotel, 
 on which tickets can be had, the price of which for the season is 
 G/. Gs ., or 7s. per day. The tickets are issued by Messrs. Martin 
 and Gillone, the lessees ; the best season is from June to October, 
 as then the grilse begin to come in, and the angler is allowed 
 two fish a day if he can catch them, the rest being given up. 
 The Cree and its tributary the Minnick are both in the better 
 parts closed to the public, the lower waters being much netted 
 though the upper are protected by an association. They are 
 excellent spring rivers, the fish being small but plentiful. The 
 Bladenoch is not so good as a river ; it is later, and the fish are 
 much shyer ; leave also has to be obtained here. The Luce is 
 a later river, but the fish run heavy in it. The Luce gets dread- 
 fully netted, but as the , fishing has lately been taken by an 
 excellent sportsman, Mr. Dodd, it may be greatly improved. The 
 Stinchar, too, is a fine river and would be a very fine river if it 
 were not so closely fished. Excellent sport, however, is got on 
 it at times, but it is, like the rest, in private hands. There 
 are other rivers and lakes in most of which there is fair, and 
 often good trout fishing in this district, and this there is little 
 difficulty in getting in many places it is open. 
 
 I have now only to thank the angler who has waded thus far, 
 .and to bid him farewell for the present.
 
 INDEX 
 
 THE EIVEES AND LAKES DESCRIBED OR NOTICED 
 IN THIS WORK. 
 
 Achray, Loch 
 Ah, Loch 
 
 page 
 ... 337, 355 
 407 
 
 Biggar Water 
 Blackadder, The ... 
 
 page 
 .. ... 138 
 139 
 
 Ale Water 
 
 138 
 
 Blackwater, The ... 
 
 214 
 
 Almond, The... 
 
 . . . 264 
 
 Blairs, Loch of 
 
 297 
 
 Alne, The 
 
 65 
 
 Boarlan, Loch 
 
 407 
 
 Alness, The 
 
 215 
 
 Borgie, The 
 
 . 406 
 
 Alwine, The 
 
 23 
 
 Bowmont, The 
 
 44 
 
 Annan, The 
 
 412 
 
 Braan, The 
 
 265 
 
 Applecross, The ... 
 Arkaig, Loch . 
 
 408 
 410 
 
 Breamish, The 
 Broom, The 
 
 87 
 407 
 
 Arklet, Loch . 
 
 332 
 
 Brora, The 
 
 222 
 
 ArkletBnrn, The... 
 
 Assynt, Loch 
 
 332 
 406 
 
 Carron, The 
 
 ..408, 216 
 
 
 
 Casseley, The 
 
 . 220 
 
 Avick, Loch 
 
 293 
 
 
 
 
 
 Chon, Loch 
 
 342 
 
 Avon (Spey), The... 
 
 242 
 
 Clyde, The 
 
 356 
 
 Awe, Loch 
 
 279 
 
 
 
 
 
 College Burn 
 
 44 
 
 Awe, The 
 
 356 
 
 
 
 
 
 Conon, The 
 
 222 
 
 Aylort, The 
 
 409 
 
 
 
 
 
 Coquet, The 
 
 6 
 
 Beauly, The 
 
 199 
 
 Coruisk, Loch 
 
 407 
 
 
 
 Cree, The 
 
 412 
 
 Beg, Loch . . . 
 
 385 
 
 
 
 Berriedale, The ... 
 
 222 
 
 Damph, Loch 
 
 408
 
 414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 page 
 
 Dee, The 154 
 
 Dee (Ayr), The 412 
 
 Deer Water 356 
 
 Devon, The 264 
 
 Dionard (see Grudie) 
 
 Dippool Water 356 
 
 Dochart, The 265 
 
 Don, The 148 
 
 Donjal, Loch 408 
 
 Doule, Losh 408 
 
 Dronkie, Loch 355 
 
 Duneaton Water 356 
 
 Earn, The 264 
 
 Echaig, The 221 
 
 Eddlestone, The 139 
 
 Eden, The 139 
 
 EUt, Loch -409 
 
 Ericht, The 265 
 
 Ericht, Loch 411 
 
 Esk, The 411 
 
 Ettrick, The 138 
 
 Ewe, The 407 
 
 Falloch, The 320 
 
 Fannich, Loch 223 
 
 FiddichBurn 239 
 
 Fmdhorn, The 206 
 
 Fleet, The 222 
 
 Forss, The 405 
 
 Fruin, The ... 313 
 
 Gala, The ... 139 
 
 Garbet-beg, Loch 406 
 
 Gare-Loch, The 364 
 
 Garry (Loch Ness), The 182, 410 
 
 page 
 
 Garry (Tay), The 265 
 
 Glen, The 40 
 
 Glen wrath Burn 138 
 
 GoU, Loch 361 
 
 Grudie, The 406 
 
 Gruinard, The 407 
 
 Halladale, The 
 Helmsdale, The 
 Hope, The ... 
 
 505 
 222 
 406 
 
 Inchard, The 406 
 
 Inver, The 406 
 
 Isla, The 252, 464 
 
 Jed, The 138 
 
 Kale, The 138 
 
 Katrine, Loch 334 
 
 Killchrist, Loch 407 
 
 Kirkaig, The 406 
 
 Kulliper, Loch 320 
 
 Laggan, Loch 410 
 
 Laxford, The 406 
 
 Leet, The 139 
 
 Leithen, The 199 
 
 Leven,The 313 
 
 Leven, Loch 296 
 
 Liddle, The 411 
 
 Lochy, Loch 410 
 
 Lochy, The 410 
 
 Lomond, Loch 310 
 
 Long, Loch 361 
 
 Lowes, Loch of 137 
 
 Luce, The 412
 
 INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 Lubnaig, Loch 
 Lyne, The ... 
 
 page 
 355 
 139 
 
 Manor Water, The 138 
 
 Maree, Loch 407 
 
 May, The 264 
 
 Meaddie Loch 407 
 
 Medwin Burn 356 
 
 Meggat Water 137 
 
 Menteith, Loch of 355 
 
 Minnich, The 412 
 
 Morar, Loch 409 
 
 More, Loch 391 
 
 Mouse Water, The 356 
 
 Mulaeh Corrie, Loch 407 
 
 Nairn, The 203 
 
 Naver, The 405 
 
 Ness, The 177 
 
 Nith, The 412 
 
 Orchy, The 356 
 
 Orrin, The 230 
 
 Oxnam, The 138 
 
 OykeU, The .. ,220 
 
 Powtrail Burn 
 
 Komach, Loch of ... 
 Eye, The 
 
 St. Mary's Loch ... 
 
 356 
 
 212 
 10 
 
 137 
 
 page 
 
 Shiel, The 408 
 
 Shiel, Loch 409 
 
 Shin, The 221 
 
 Snizort, The 407 
 
 Spean, The 410 
 
 Spey, The 236 
 
 Stack, Loch 406 
 
 TallaBurn 137 
 
 Tay, The 248 
 
 Tay, Loch 265 
 
 Teith, The 356 
 
 Teviot, The 138 
 
 Thurso, The 366 
 
 Till, The 51 
 
 Tilt, The ... 265 
 
 Treig, Loch 410 
 
 Tummel, The 265 
 
 Tummel, Loch 411 
 
 Tweed, The, 103, 266 
 
 Vennachar, Loch 355 
 
 Wansbeck, The 
 Watten, Loch 
 Whitadder, The 
 Wick, The... 
 Wooler Water 
 
 2 
 
 268 
 
 139 
 
 222 
 
 43 
 
 Yarrow, The 138 
 
 Ythan, The 138
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
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 See Field, July 17 and 31, 
 1869. 
 
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 WATERPROOFS FOR THE TROPICS 
 
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 THE ORIGINAL BUSINESS CARRIED ON, 
 
 19, PICCADILLY, LONDON. 
 
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 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
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 PISHING BROGUES. 
 
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 " April, 1874. 
 
 " SIK, I inclose cheque for the amount of your account. I have taken a game 
 licence ever since I was 22 years of age, and I think it is only just towards you to say 
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 " To Mr. Grant McDonald, " M. P. LLOYD." 
 
 " Manager to Co-operative Boot Co., 64, Haymarket, London." 
 
 CO-OPERATIVE BOOT COMPANY, 
 
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 64, HAYMARKET, LONDON, S,W.
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
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 FISHING ROD AND TACKLE MAKERS 
 
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 Kink-proof Runners, from 20s. per 100 
 yards complete. 
 
 GARDEN NETTINGS, for Seed, Fruit 
 Trees, Plants against Frost, Birds, 
 Id. square yard. 
 
 "Write for our New Lists and Samples. 
 
 SON, 
 
 Manufacturers of every description of Superior 
 
 FISHING RODS AND TACKLE, 
 
 54, MOORGATE STREET, E.G. 
 
 ESTABLISHED 1819. 
 
 Publishers of " ' Otter's ' Modern Angler," 2s. (26 stamps) ; " Spinning 
 and Trolling," Is. 6d. (20 stamps).
 
 ADVERTISEMENTS. 
 
 OULTON BROAD FISHERY, 
 
 NEAR LOWESTOFT. 
 
 aUABTERS: THE WHERRY INN AND HOTEL. 
 G-. MASOlSr, PROPRIETOR. 
 
 Good general fishing, boats, tackle, and bait supplied. Comfortable sitting 
 and bed rooms, commanding a view of the picturesque waters and the 
 fairy-like grounds ; a first-class bowling green. A large saloon abuts upon 
 the Broad in which refreshments may be taken. 
 
 CHARGES STRICTLY MODERATE. TERMS ON APPLICATION. 
 Lock-up coach-house and stabling. Three minutes' walk from Mutford 
 
 and Oarlton Stations. Loop line from Yarmouth in half an hour. 
 
 JOHN D. BASTARD, 
 Practical Angler and Fishing- Tackle Maker, 
 
 TOKRINGTON, NORTH DEVON. 
 
 Salmon, Peel, and Trout Flies from the most useful patterns. 
 
 Minnows unrivalled. Rods, Reels, and Lines of the best make. 
 
 Gut Collars and Casting Lines of the finest quality. 
 
 A good assortment, which has been proved during several seasons in 
 England, Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. 
 
 THE VADE-MECUM OF FLY-PISHING FOR TROUT, 
 
 Being a Complete 
 
 Practical Treatise on that Branch of the Art of Angling, 
 
 With Plain and Copious Instructions for the 
 MANUFACTURE OF ARTIFICIAL FLIES, 
 
 Illustrated with numerous Engravings. 
 BY G-. 3?. R. F TJ L, 1H A. N, 
 
 Author of "The Book of the Axe" "Rustic Sketches," &c. 
 
 Third Edition re-written and greatly enlarged. 3s. Gd. post free, if ordered direct 
 
 from the Weekly yews Office, Crewkerne. 
 
 " Pulman's ' Fly-Fishing for Trout ' is a worthy companion to Sir Humphrey Davy's 
 Salmonia," Morning Post. 
 
 SALMON AND TROUT FISHING. 
 
 CHARLES FARLOW, 
 191, STRAND (ST. CLEMENT! CHUECH), LONDON, 
 
 MANUFACTURER OP 
 
 SUPERIOR FISHING RODS AND TACKLE, 
 
 AT MODERATE PRICES. 
 
 Foreign Orders executed, with dispatch. Catalogues Gratis. 
 
 PRIZE! MEDAL. 
 
 [2]
 
 ADVEBTISEMENTS. 
 
 BOOKS ON ANGLING, 
 
 In post 4to., price 2s. 6d., by post 2*. Id., 
 
 REPORTS ON SALMON LADDERS, 
 
 With ORIGINAL DRAWINGS, PLANS, and SECTIONS. 
 
 BY FEANCIS FRANCIS. 
 
 Price 5s., post free 5s. 4Jd., 
 
 SALMON FISHING IN IRELAND. 
 
 For WHEBE to GO, see 
 
 "A Year of Liberty; or, Salmon Fishing in Ireland." 
 
 Vol. IV. of " THE FIELD " LIBRARY. 
 
 Just published, 8vo., pp. 300, price 7s. 6d. cloth, post free 7s. lOci, 
 THE THIRD EDITION OF 
 
 FACTS AND USEFUL HINTS RELATING TO 
 FISHING AND SHOOTING: 
 
 Being a Collection of Various Methods for Capturing Birds, Beasts, 
 Vermin, and Fish ; together with a great variety of Eecipes of all kinds 
 useful to the Fisherman and Sportsman ; to which is added a List of 
 Eecipes for the Management and Cure of Dogs in Disease. 
 
 EDITED BY I. E. B. C. 
 
 In six parts, price Is. each, by post Is. let, or in two volumes, price 4s. each. 
 ANGLING QUARTERS on the PRINCIPAL LINES of RAILWAY. 
 
 THE 
 
 "RAIL AND ROD" 
 
 Gives a full account of all the Fishing, and how to obtain it, on the 
 
 GBEAT EASTEEN, 
 GEEAT WESIEEN, 
 SOUTH-WESTEEN, 
 SOUTH-EASTEEN, 
 
 MIDLAND, 
 GEEAT NOETHEN, 
 LONDON AND NOETH- 
 WESTEEN. 
 
 LONDON: "THE FIELD" OFFICE, 346, STRAND, W.C.
 
 LIST OF BOOKS 
 
 PUBLISHED BY 
 
 HORACE COX, AT 346, STRAND, 
 
 LONDON, 7V. O. 
 
 BY LAKE and RIVER : an Angler's Rambles in the North 
 
 of England and Scotland. By FEANCIS FEANCIS, Author of "A Boob on 
 Angling," &c. &c. Post 8vo, price 8s. 6d. 
 
 THE BARB and the BRIDLE : a Handbook of Equitation 
 
 for Ladies, and Manual of Instruction in the Science of Biding, from the prepa- 
 ratory suppling exercises on foot to the form in which a lady should ride to 
 hounds. Eepublished from "THE QUEEN" Newspaper. By "VIELLLE MOU- 
 STACHE." Post 8vo., price 5s. 
 
 THE QUEEN LACE BOOK: a Historical and Descriptive 
 
 Account of the Hand-made Antique Laces of all Countries. By L. W. Part I. 
 Mediaeval Lacework and Point Lace. With thirty illustrations of lace specimens, 
 and seven diagrams of lace stitches. Price 5s., 4to., printed on toned paper, with 
 plates. 
 
 FACTS and USEFUL HINTS relating to FISHING and 
 
 SHOOTING ; being a Collection of Information and Becipes of all descriptions of 
 the greatest utility to the general Sportsman, to which is added a series of Eecipes 
 on the Management of Dogs in Health and Disease. VoL I. of "THE FIELD " 
 LIBRARY. Third Edition. Large post 8vo., price Is. 6d. cloth ; post free, 7s. \Qd. 
 
 THE COUNTRY HOUSE ; a Collection of Useful Information 
 
 and Eecipes, adapted to the country gentleman and his household, and of the 
 greatest utility to the housekeeper generally. Illustrated. Vol. II. of " THB 
 FIBLD " LIBRARY. Second Edition, enlarged and revised. Large post 8vo., price 
 5s. cloth ; post free, 5s. 4eJ. 
 
 THE FARM: being Part I. of the Second Edition of "The 
 
 Farm, Garden, Stable, and Aviary." Valuable to country gentlemen, farmers, 
 &c. Vol. IIL of " THE FIELD " LIBRARY. Large post 8vo., price 5*. cloth ; post 
 free, 5s. 4dL 
 
 THE GARDEN: being Part II. of the Second Edition of 
 
 "The Farm, Garden, Stable, and Aviary." VoL IIL of "THB FIELD" LIBRARY. 
 Large post 8vo., price 5s. cloth ; post free, 5s. 4ei 
 
 THE STABLE : being Part III. of the Second Edition of 
 
 the FAEM, GAEDEN, STABLE, and AVIAEY. Large post 8vo., price 5*.; post 
 free, 5s. 3d. 
 
 A YEAR OF LIBERTY ; or, Salmon Angling in Ireland. 
 
 VoL IV. of " THE FIELD " LIBRARY. Price 5*. cloth ; post free, 5s. 5d, 
 
 POPULAR ILLUSTRATIONS of the LOWER FORMS 
 
 OF LIFE. Illustrated. VoL V. of " THE FIELD " LIBRARY. By C. E. BEEE, 
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 WORKS PUBLISHED BY BORAGE COX-continueA. 
 
 EXPERIENCES of a GAME PRESERVER. Vol. VI. of 
 
 "THE FIELD" LIBRARY. By "DEADFALL." Large post 8vo., price 5s. cloth; 
 post free, 5*-. 3d. 
 
 PRACTICAL FALCONRY; to which is added, HOW I 
 
 BECAME A FALCONER Vol. VII. of "THE FIELD" LIBRAET. By GAGE EARLE 
 FREEMAN, M.A. (" Peregrine," of " THE FIELD "). Price 5s. cloth ; post free, 
 5s. 3d. 
 
 SKETCHES of LIFE, SCENERY, and SPORT in NORWAY. 
 
 Vol. VIII. of "THE FIELD" LIBRARY. By the Rev. M. R. BARNARD, B.A. The 
 work is admirably adapted for use as a Sporting Tourist's Handbook, while 
 it is of absorbing interest to the general reader. Price 6s. 6d ; post free, 6s. 10<t 
 
 DOGS OF THE BRITISH ISLANDS. Edited by 
 
 " STONEHENGE." Second Edition, greatly enlarged (including new Parts 
 on "Kennel Management of Dogs " and "Judging at Dog Shows and Field 
 Trials." 4to., gilt edges, printed on toned paper, price 10*. 6<t ; by post, 11s. 4|d. 
 
 DOGS USED WITH THE GUN, containing Setters (with four Illustrations) 
 Pointers (with Illustration), Retrievers iwith two Illustrations), Field Spaniels 
 (with two Illustrations), Deerhounds (with Illustration). 
 
 COMPANIONABLE DOGS, containing Terriers (with four Illustrations), Bull Terrier 
 and Bull Dog (with two Illustrations), Mastiffs (with three Illustrations), Sheep 
 and Drovers' Dogs (with Illustration). 
 
 HOUNDS and TOY DOGS, containing Greyhound (with Illustration), Blood 
 hound (with Illustration), Foxhound (with two Illustrations), Harriers (with 
 Illustration), Beagles (with Illustration), Fox Terrier (with Illustration), Truffls 
 Dog (with Illustration), King Charles and Blenheim Spaniels (with Illustration), 
 Maltese Dog (with Illustration), Pug Dog and Italian Greyhound (with Illus- 
 tration), Chinese Crested Dog (with Illustration). 
 
 On the MANAGEMENT of LARGE and PET DOGS, and TREATMENT of 
 DISTEMPER, MANGE, and WORMS. 
 
 JUDGING at DOG SHOWS and FIELD TRIALS. 
 
 N.B. The new parts on "Kennel Management of Dogs" and "Judging at 
 Dog Shows and Field Trials," may be had together, price Is. 6d; post free, Is. 8d. 
 
 SHIFTS and EXPEDIENTS of CAMP LIFE, TRAVEL, 
 
 and EXPLORATION. By W. B. LORD, Royal Artillery, and T. BAIXES, 
 F.R.G.S. The work is written expressly for the use of Military and Naval Officers, 
 Missionaries, Travellers, and any who may be obliged to " rough it " in Foreign 
 and Savage Countries ; and it is believed that the ' Shifts and Expedients " here 
 gathered together will be found of the greatest service to all such. The work 
 contains about 900 pages, and nearly 400 Illustrations. Price 45s., cloth gilt ; or in 
 17 Parts, 2s. 6d. each. 
 
 THE ARTS of ROWING and TRAINING. Demy 
 
 8vo., cloth gilt, price 4s. ; post free, 4s. 2d. 
 
 THE SILKWORM BOOK ; or, SILKWORMS ANCIENT and 
 
 MODERN, their FOOD and MODE of MANAGEMENT. By W. B. LORD, R.A. 
 Illustrated. In demy 8vo., price 2s. 6d., cloth gilt ; post free, 2s. 8d. 
 
 THE COURSING CALENDAR AND REVIEW. Edited 
 by "STONEHENGE." Published half-yearly. Fcap. 8m, price 10s. 6d. cloth; 
 post free, 10s. 9<t 
 
 ROUND THE TABLE; or, Notes on Cookery and Plain 
 
 Recipes, with a Selection of Bills of Fare. By " The G. C." Post 8m, pp. 300, 
 price 6a. \ free by post, 6s. 5<t
 
 WORKS PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX continued. 
 
 THE IDSTONE PAPERS. A Series of Articles and 
 
 Desultory Observations on Sport and Things in general, written originally for 
 "THE FIELD" Newspaper. By " IDSTONE." Large post 8vo., price 7s. Gd. ; post 
 free, 7s. lid [Second edition in press. 
 
 THE DIAMOND DIGGINGS OF SOUTH AFRICA: a 
 
 Personal and Practical Account By CHAELES A. PAYTON, " SARCKLLE," of 
 " THE FIELD." With a Brief Notice of THE NEW GOLD FIELDS. With Map 
 large post 8vo., price 6s. ; post free, 6s. 5d. 
 
 THE FIELD DUPLICATE JUDGING BOOK facilitates the 
 
 work of the Judges at Poultry and other Shows, by a very simple method of 
 entering and preserving a duplicate judging list. Price 6d. ; or 2s. Gd. the half 
 dozen. 
 
 THE WISE, THE WITTY, AND THE BEAUTIFUL : 
 
 A collection of good things in prose and verse, adapted for penny readings, 
 railway travellers, and all who wish to pass an hour pleasantly. In small 8vo., 
 cloth gilt, price Is. ; post free, Is. 3d. 
 
 ALL ENGLAND CROQJJET CLUB. Regulations for the 
 
 MANAGEMENT of PBIZE MEETINGS. Price Gd. ; post free, Id. 
 
 THE BOOK of DINNER SERVIETTES (Second Edition), 
 
 which contains a new Introduction on the Decoration of Dinner Tables, and 
 General Directions for folding the Serviettes, of which there are Twenty-one 
 different kinds given, with Ninety-two Woodcuts illustrative of the various Folds 
 required, and the Serviettes complete. In demy 4to., on toned paper, and in fancy 
 cover, price 2s. ; by post, 2s. 2<f. 
 
 THE ART of SKATING ; containing many Figures never 
 
 previously described, with Illustrations, Diagrams, and Plain Directions for the 
 Acquirement of the most Difficult and Elegant Movements. By GEOBGE 
 ANDEESON (" CYCLOS "), for many years President of the Glasgow Skating 
 Club. Second Edition. In post 8vo., limp cloth gilt, price 2s. Gd. ; post free, 2s. 3d, 
 
 THE RAIL and the ROD ; or, The Tourist-Angler's Guide 
 
 to Waters and Quarters. In Parts, paper wrapper, price Is. each ; in cloth, Is. Gd ; 
 
 post free, 2d extra. 
 
 No. 1. GEEAT EASTERN EAILWAT. I No. 3. SOUTH-WESTERN BAILWAT, 
 No. 2. GREAT WESTERN EAILWAT. No. 4. SOUTH-EASTERN EAILWAT. 
 
 No. 5 
 an 
 
 No 
 
 0.5 ) 
 nd } 
 0.6. ) 
 
 GREAT EASTERN, LONDON AND NORTH-WESTERN, MIDLAND, and 
 GREAT NORTHERN EAILWATS. 
 
 May be had in two vols. cloth, 4s. each. 
 
 PHEASANTS for COVERTS and AVIARIES : their Natural 
 
 History and Practical Management. By W. B. TEGETMELEE, F.Z.S. Illus- 
 trated with numerous full-page Engravings drawn from life by T. W. Wood. 
 Royal 4to., bevelled boards, gilt edges, price 12s. 
 
 RAMBLES AFTER SPORT; or. Travels *nd Adventures 
 
 In the Americas and at Home. By " OLIVER NOETH." Large post 8vo., price 
 6s. ; post free, 6s. 4d. 
 
 A TREATISE on HARNESS, SADDLES, and BRIDLES : 
 
 their History and Manufacture, from the earliest times down to the present 
 period. By A. DAVIS. In large post 8vo., price 2s. cloth ; by post, 2. 2rf.
 
 WORKS PUBLISHED BY HORACE COX-continued. 
 
 FOOTBALL OUR WINTER GAME. By C. W. ALCOCK, 
 
 Hon. Sec. of Football Association. CONTENTS: On Ancient Ball Games; their 
 Relation to Football. The Football of the Past ; its Origin and Early Stages. 
 The Football of the Present; its Styles and Differences. Some Eccentric Games 
 at Football Practical Football, and How to Play it. A Few Hints on Football 
 Properties. The Various Styles of Football, with Bales and Notes thereon. 
 Price 2s. 6d. 
 
 REPORTS on SALMON LADDERS, with Original Drawings, 
 
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 post, 2s. Id. 
 
 THE ANGLER'S DIARY, wherein the Angler can register 
 
 his take of Fish throughout the year. An extensive List of Fishing Stations 
 throughout the World is added. Post 8vo., price Is. 6d. ; by post, Is. 8d. 
 
 THE SHOOTER'S DIARY contains Forms for Register- 
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 or off the whole Estate. A List of Shooting Stations throughout the World 
 is also given. Post 4to., price Is. 6d. ; post free, 2d. extra. 
 
 THE RURAL ALMANAC and SPORTSMAN'S 
 
 ILLUSTRATED CALENDAR. Its contents comprise Information of the greatest 
 utility and interest to the Sportsman and Country Gentleman. Illustrated. Pub- 
 lished annually. Price Is. ; by post, Is. Id. 
 
 "WHETSTONES FOR WITS:" or Double Acrostics. By 
 
 VARIOUS HANDS. Edited by " CRACK." Price 5s. ; by post, 5s. 4d 
 
 "Yon have not the book of riddles about you, have you? " Merry Wives. 
 
 OUR COMMON INSECTS: First Steps to Entomology. 
 
 By Mrs. E. W. COX. Price 2s. 6d.; by post, 2s. 8d. 
 
 UNASKED ADVICE; a Series of Articles on Horses and 
 
 Hunting, reprinted from " THE FIELD." Post 8vo., with 11 engravings, printed on 
 toned paper. Price 7s. 6d. 
 
 FIGURE SKATING : being the Theory and Practice of 
 
 the Art as developed in England, with a glance at its Origin and History. By 
 H. C. VANDEHVELL and T. MAXWELL WITHAM, Members of the London 
 Skating Club. Price 6s., by post 6s. 4d 
 
 THE INTERNAL PARASITES of our DOMESTICATED 
 
 ANIMALS ; a Manual of the Entozoa of the Ox, Sheep, Dog, Horse, Pig, and Cat. 
 By T. SPENCER COBBOLD, M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. Illustrated with numerous 
 woodcuts. Post 8vo., price 5s., by post 5s. 3d 
 
 THE GROUSE DISEASE: a Statement of Facts tending 
 
 to prove the Parasitic Origin of the Epidemic. By T. SPENCER COBBOLD , 
 M.D., F.R.S., F.L.S. With Two Illustrations. Price Is., by post Is. Id. 
 
 Shortly will be published. 
 
 THE KENNEL CALENDAR and STUD BOOK, from 1859 
 
 to 1873. Including: The Birmingham, Crystal Palace, Leeds, Manchester (Belle- 
 vue and Free Trade Hall), Dublin, Glasgow, Edinburgh. Islington, Ashburnham, 
 Hull, Nottingham, and other Dog Shows, Reports of Field Trials, with Lists of 
 Prizes Awarded, and Pedigrees of Dogs, Names of Exhibitors, Judges, &c., &c.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
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