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 http://www.archive.org/details/daysnightsofsalmOOscrorich 
 
THE SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY 
 
 EDITED BY 
 
 The Right Hon. Sir HERBERT MAXWELL 
 Bart., M.P. 
 
 * * * * 
 
 * ^ * 
 
THE SPORTSMAN'S LIBRARY. 
 
 The following volumes have already appeared : 
 
 The Life of a Fox^ and The Diary of a Huntsman. 
 
 By T. Smith. 
 A Sporting Tour. By Col. T. Thornton. 
 The Sportsman in Ireland. By A Cosmopolite. 
 
 Reminiscences of a Huntsman. By the Honourable 
 
 Grantley Berkeley. 
 The Art of Deer-Stalking. By William Scrope. 
 The Chase, The Road, and The Turf. By Nimrod. 
 
I 
 
 i^a 
 
DAYS AND NIGHTS 
 
 OF 
 
 SALMON FISHING 
 
 IN THE TWEED 
 
 WITH 
 
 A SHORT ACCOUNT OF THE NATURAL HISTORY 
 
 AND HABITS OF THE SALMON, INSTRUCTIONS 
 
 TO SPORTSMEN, ANECDOTES, Etc. 
 
 BY 
 
 WILLIAM SCROPE, Esq., F.L.S. 
 
 AUTHOR OF " THE ART OF DEER-STALKING " 
 
 " Rura mihi et rigui placeant in vallibus amnes." 
 
 Virgil, Georg. lib. ii. 
 
 ILLUSTRATED BY LITHOGRAPHS AND WOOD ENGRAVINGS BY L. HAGHE, 
 
 T. LANDSEERy AND S. WILLIAMS^ FROM PAINTINGS BY SIR DAVID 
 
 WILKIE, EDWIN LANDSEER, R.A., CHARLES LANDSEER, 
 
 WILLIAM SIMSON, AND EDWARD COOKE 
 
 LONDON 
 EDWARD ARNOLD 
 
 l^ubUsfjer to tfje Intiia mUct 
 37 BEDFORD STREET 
 
 1898 
 
'' Let them that list, these pastimes still pursue. 
 And on such pleasing fancies feed their fill, — 
 
 So I the fields and meadows green may view. 
 And daily by fresh rivers walk at will 
 
 Among the daisies, and the violets blue. 
 Red hyacinth, and yellow daffodil. 
 
 Purple Narcissus like the morning rays. 
 
 Pale gander-grass, and azure culver-keyes." 
 
 J. Davobs. 
 

 TO 
 
 THE LORD POLWARTH 
 
 THE FOLLOWING PAGES ARE INSCRIBED 
 
 IN REMEMBRANCE OF 
 
 THE HAPPY DAYS SPENT IN HIS COMPANIONSHIP ON THE 
 
 BANKS OF THE TWEED 
 
 AND THE SOCIAL INTERCOURSE ENJOYED FOR SO MANY YEARS 
 
 AT MERTOUN 
 
 BY HIS SINCERE AND FAITHFUL FRIEND 
 
 THE AUTHOR 
 
 M844837 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 William Scrope's fresh, spirited way of describing 
 scenes and characters in which he found his dehght, 
 is not the only temptation for including a second 
 work from his hand in the limited list of the 
 "Sportsman's Library." There are other writers 
 of the past — Lloyd, W. H. Maxwell, Tom Stoddart, 
 Wildrake, the Druid, etc. — not yet represented 
 in the series, which can scarcely be considered 
 thoroughly representative without them. It was 
 hard to put them aside, yet Scrope has quaUties 
 which distinguish him from almost all other writers 
 on sport. He never degenerated into a hack. If 
 Dr. Johnson was right in affirming that none but 
 a blockhead ever wrote except for gain, Scrope 
 furnished a singular exception to the rule. He had 
 no occasion to supplement his sufficient income by 
 the labour of his pen. Born in 1772, of an ancient 
 and once famous house, he succeeded his father, 
 the Rev. Richard Scrope, D.D., in 1787, as owner 
 of Castle Combe in Wiltshire, part of the old 
 Scrope estates, and in his person, in 1852, ended 
 the male Une of the Lord Scropes of Bolton.^ 
 
 Having acquired a fastidious taste in literature, 
 
 ^ The name is pronounced as if written Scroop, 
 h 
 
viii SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Scrope never wrote except out of devotion to his 
 subject and for the amusement of his friends ; in 
 fact, in placing Days and Nights of Salmon Fishing 
 beside the Art of Deer -Stalking, a new edition 
 of the whole published works of this author is 
 rendered complete. 
 
 Scrope divided his ample leisure and the activity 
 of a cultivated mind between field sports, literature, 
 painting, and travel. His love of salmon fishing, 
 a pastime not nearly so general or popular 
 sixty years ago as at the present time, naturally 
 guided him to Tweedside ; his literary tastes as 
 naturally brought him into intimate friendship with 
 Sir Walter Scott, who makes frequent mention of 
 him in his journals, declaring him, in one passage, 
 to be "one of the best amateur painters I ever 
 saw — Sir George Beaumont scarcely excepted." 
 Not the least part of the charm which Tweed had 
 for Scrope, as it has had for many who have 
 followed his footsteps along that fair river, came 
 from the glamour of lay and legend thrown over it 
 by the author of Waverley, and there is a tender 
 pathos in Scrope's regretful references to his lost 
 friend — a reverent Moschus mourning for departed 
 Bion : — 
 
 " Ye flowers, sigh forth your odours with red buds ; 
 Flush deep, ye roses and anemones ; 
 And more than ever now, O hyacinth, show 
 Your written sorrow — the sweet singer''s dead."*' 
 
 Tom Purdie, too, is brought before us, and we 
 listen to his quaint sayings in the self-same accents 
 which Scrope heard on those far-off summer days. 
 
INTRODUCTION ix 
 
 Man and Time have wrought many changes on 
 Tweedside since Scrope stood among its sounding 
 woods. Trains rumble along the " Waverley Route," 
 and thousands throng among scenes once peopled 
 by few except fishermen and shepherds ; yet if he 
 were to return, rod in hand, on some early autumn 
 day, he would stand in need of no guide to show 
 him where to seek his sport. Still, season after 
 season, the great fish rest in the Willowbush, 
 Craigover, the Webbs, the Bloody Breeks, the 
 darksome Haly Weil, and the roaring Gateheugh, 
 and, resting, show the same caprice in refusing, 
 the same incaution in seizing, the angler's lures. 
 Different, indeed, are the lures which find favour 
 with the modern Tweed fisher to the sober-tinted 
 simulacra prescribed by Scrope ; but human nature 
 has changed no whit ; there is as confident dogma 
 in prescribing, as tremulous anxiety in selecting, the 
 shade and hue of a salmon fly as there was of yore. 
 Long may it remain so ! In this fond image- 
 worship may the truth never prevail. Salmon 
 fishing would be reft of half its poetry and charm 
 if we lost our faith in the pecuhar attractions of 
 Jock Scott, of Wilkinson, or the Dandy, which 
 have usurped the ancient prestige of Meg-in-her- 
 braws, of Toppy, and Kinmont Wilhe. 
 
 Changes other than these may be noted also, 
 some for the better, more for the worse. The 
 growth of manufacturing towns — Hawick, Gala- 
 shiels, St. Boswells — have grievously stained the 
 fair streams of Tweed and Teviot with manifold 
 pollution. The remnant of spring and summer 
 fish which succeeds in eluding the incessant netting 
 
 62 
 
X SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 in and near the tide, and steals up to the im- 
 memorial salmon casts of Makerstoun, Mertoun, 
 and Melrose, soon sickens in the noisome discharge 
 of dye-works and sewers, so that a summer flood, 
 which brought so much exultation to the heart 
 and work for the arms of Scrope, seldom rewards 
 the angler, unless it be the first of a continuous 
 high water. Strangely improvident, the Tweed 
 proprietors have hitherto attempted no effective 
 plan of artificial propagation to replenish a stock 
 seriously reduced by improved netting machinery, 
 by poaching in close time, and, worst of all, by 
 the destructive effects of pollution on the smolts. 
 Hence it has come to pass that angling in the 
 middle waters of Tweed, that is, between Makers- 
 toun and Melrose, is almost entirely restricted to 
 the autumn, after the removal of the nets on 
 15th September. Scrope, it will be observed, had 
 some of his best sport in summer in the reaches 
 of Mertoun, Dryburgh, and Melrose, and that 
 despite the deadly practice of "sunning," or 
 leistering fish in daylight, which was universally 
 put in effect as often as the water was low 
 enough.^ 
 
 Nor is this all. The experience of several 
 successive seasons has shown that even the autumn 
 running fish are not nearly so numerous as formerly ; 
 and when they disappear, the angler must sorrow- 
 fully betake himself (and his guineas, which are 
 still of some moment to Scottish lairds) to streams 
 more kindly and more providently treated. Indeed, 
 
 ^ '^ Vast numbers are captured in this manner, particularly in the 
 upper part of the Tweed " (see p. 220). 
 
INTRODUCTION xi 
 
 it comes to this, that if the tidal waters continue 
 to be ransacked during the open season in such 
 manner that whole runs of fish are destroyed, 
 if poachers are allowed with impunity to spread 
 their nets all round the river mouth during the 
 close season, if leistering and " snatching " are con- 
 doned on the spawning beds of the upper waters, — 
 if, in short, men are permitted to treat salmon as 
 if they were a dangerous vermin instead of the 
 most valuable of British fishes, whether for sport 
 or market, the wonder will not be that salmon 
 become scarce in the Tweed, but that they should 
 have escaped extermination so long as they have 
 done. 
 
 In two respects the changes since Scrope's day 
 have been for the better. First, the use of the 
 leister, which he describes with irresistible gusto, 
 and the use of the rake hook, of which he speaks 
 with toleration, have both been rendered illegal. 
 Next, kelts can no longer be legally killed, which 
 seems to have had the effect of rendering heavy 
 fish more numerous in proportion to others of less 
 weight. Thus, although Scrope tells us that of 
 the many hundreds of fish which fell to his share 
 not one pulled the scale to thirty pounds, salmon 
 of that weight are nothing unusual in the Tweed 
 at this day. In his recent work on salmon fishing, 
 the Hon. A. E. Gathorne-Hardy notes the follow- 
 ing instances of extraordinary weights taken in the 
 Tweed of late years : — 
 
 1873. A salmon of 53| lbs. 
 
 1886. One of 57^ lbs., killed by Mr. Pryor on the Floors 
 water. 
 
xii SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 1889. One of 55 lbs., killed by Mr. Brereton on the 
 Willowbush, Mertoun (where Scrope frequently 
 fished). 
 
 1892. One of 51^ lbs., killed at Birgham by Col. the Hon. 
 W. Home. 
 
 Few seasons pass without salmon of upwards of 
 forty pounds being killed in the Tweed on the fly. 
 Scrope writes of kelt angling as inferior, indeed, to 
 fishing for clean salmon, but perfectly legitimate. 
 There can be little doubt that the preservation of 
 unclean, but mature fish, which may return from 
 the sea greatly increased in weight, has been the 
 cause of a notable increase in the size of individual 
 salmon. Murmurs are occasionally heard against 
 the favour shown to kelts, which are reputed to be 
 as ravenous as pike, and to eat numbers of the 
 young of their own species. Let those who incline 
 to take an unfavourable view of the morals of kelts 
 study the blue book published by the Scottish 
 Fishery Board, Report on Investigations into the 
 Life History of Salmon (1898) — one of the most 
 valuable and remarkable contributions hitherto 
 made to our knowledge of a difficult subject — and 
 they will receive scientific demonstration that, on 
 a salmon entering a river, its stomach undergoes 
 circulatory and other organic changes which render 
 it incapable of digestion; and that as soon as it 
 resumes its functions after spawning — in short, 
 when appetite returns — the fish hastens back 
 to the sea, where alone instinct tells it that 
 appetite can be satisfied. It follows, then, that 
 injury to smolts can only be done by those 
 kelts which are detained in the river by physical 
 obstacles to their descent, such as do not exist 
 
INTRODUCTION 
 
 Xlll 
 
 in most salmon rivers, and ought not to remain 
 in any. 
 
 Our border stream has won the homage of many 
 a heart ; none ever beat more truly towards her 
 than that of William Scrope ; none would have 
 thrilled more quickly to the lay of one of her 
 latest minstrels : — 
 
 " Brief are man's days at best ; perchance 
 I waste my own, who have not seen 
 The castled palaces of France 
 
 Shine on the Loire in summer green. 
 
 " And clear and fleet Eurotas still. 
 You tell me, laves his reedy shore. 
 And flows beneath the fabled hill 
 Where Dian drave the chase of yore. 
 
 " I may not see them, but I doubt 
 If seen I'd find them half so fair 
 As ripples of the rising trout 
 
 That feed beneath the elms of Yair. 
 
 " Unseen, Eurotas, southward steal. 
 Unknown, Alpheus, westward glide. 
 You never heard the ringing reel. 
 The music of the water side ! " ^ 
 
 HERBERT MAXWELL. 
 
 MONREITHj 1898. 
 
 1 Andrew Lang's The Last Cast. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 " I WILL write a sort of a Book on Fishing," said 
 I to my friend Mr. Lobworm, when a fresh breeze 
 from the gentle south swept over the meadows, 
 " steahng and giving odours," and reminded me of 
 the many calm and pleasant hours I had spent by 
 the margin of some crystal stream. 
 
 "You really had better do no such thing," 
 replied Lob. — He was a man of few words. 
 
 " Your very polite reason, if you please ? " 
 
 " Why, the subject is utterly exhausted ; ninety- 
 nine books have been written upon it already, and 
 no man was ever the wiser for any one of them, 
 although many are clever and entertaining, and 
 moreover abound in excellent instructions." 
 
 " Hold ! you forget dear old Izaac," said I, 
 " whose dainty and primitive work, the emanation 
 of a beautiful mind, has made many a man both 
 wiser and better ; for it is dictated throughout by 
 that wisdom of which it is written, ' Her ways are 
 ways of pleasantness, and all her paths are peace.' " 
 
 "Therefore it is," rephed Lobworm, "that I 
 would have you by all means to refrain : that book 
 will always stand unrivalled and unapproachable. 
 Excuse me, but 'ex quovis ligno non fit Mercurius.' " 
 
xvi SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 "Nay, nay, you cannot for a moment imagine 
 that I shall attempt such a flight as that. I have 
 read of Icarus, and also of the Ulm tailor, who 
 on the first trial of his patent wings fell into the 
 Danube, instead of pitching upon the opposite bank ; 
 so, as I cannot touch the summits, 1 must per- 
 force be content to creep on level lands, — ' timidus 
 procellae ' : — mine shall be a work quite of another 
 character." 
 
 " There is not the least doubt of that, I think," 
 said Mr. Lobworm. " Know likewise," continued 
 he (I never knew him so loquacious or so disagree- 
 able before), — "know likewise, to thy discomfort, 
 nay, to thy utter confusion, that a book has lately 
 appeared yclept The Rod and the Grun,^ so amus- 
 ingly written, and so complete in all its parts, that 
 there is not the least occasion for you to burthen 
 Mr. Murray's shelves with stale precepts that no 
 one will attend to." 
 
 "Pretty discouraging that, most certainly," I 
 responded. " And then we have Sahnonia,^ which 
 is, or ought to be, a settler too ; and also a scientific 
 work by Mr^ Colquhoun, who touches deftly on 
 the subject. But I tell you this. Sir Oracle, that 
 although I see a hundred good reasons why I 
 should abandon my design, yet I am resolved to 
 persist : it is my destiny — that is a classical reason. 
 You know that, to the great edification of our 
 youth, the pious ^Eneas gives no better reason for 
 the hundred rascally and much admired things he 
 
 1 By James Wilson, F.R.S.E., and by the author of the Oakleigh 
 Shooting Code. Edinburgh^ 1841. 
 
 2 By Sir Humphry Davy. London, 1828. 
 
PREFACE 
 
 xvii 
 
 was in the habit of executing in his expedition to 
 Latium. 
 
 " 1 only hope the pubUc will be so good as not 
 to be discerning ; because if they are, I shall have 
 you, my most tender and amiable friend, eternally 
 dinging in my ears, * There, did not I tell you so ? 
 But you would not be ruled by me, so you must 
 take the consequences.' " 
 
 At the end of this colloquy, and when left alone, 
 I began to reflect a httle ; and although at first 1 
 could not help thinking my gentleman somewhat 
 hasty, yet I came to the conclusion that he was 
 partly, if not entirely, in the right. So I began 
 to listen a little to reason, and contracted my plan, 
 resolving to treat on Salmon Fishing alone, as it 
 is practised in the Tweed; for although various 
 authors have written some pages on the sport, yet 
 I am not aware that any one has as yet gone far 
 into the subject, or given any precepts, or treated 
 of the various methods available to the sportsman 
 of kilHng these valuable animals in the rod-fisher's 
 part of a river throughout the whole of the lawful 
 season. This I have attempted to do in the follow- 
 ing pages, having had more than twenty years' 
 practice in that border river alone, above twelve 
 miles of which I rented at different periods. 
 
 To the Tweed I have confined myself; and I 
 beg my readers to observe that my remarks and 
 instructions are meant to apply to that river alone ; 
 and consequently that I am not accountable for 
 what salmon choose to do in other waters, and for 
 the. different means that people may employ for 
 catching them there. 
 
xviii SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Deer-stalking and salmon fishing are at the head 
 of field and river sports : having written what 
 has been very generously received upon the first 
 and best of these subjects, I have been encouraged 
 to take up the other. This I have done the 
 more readily, as I have been fortunate enough 
 to bring to my aid the talents of artists, who 
 are amongst the most eminent in their various 
 departments that this country can boast of I 
 must not, however, impute the landscape part 
 to them : this it was unfortunately necessary that 
 some one should undertake who was acquainted 
 with the scenery, and I must hold myself in a 
 great measure responsible for such portion of the 
 plates. 
 
 It will be seen that in the letterpress I have 
 attempted little more than to give a correct and 
 faithful account of the manner and spirit in which 
 the sport of salmon fishing is carried on in various 
 ways where the scene is laid, and to bring before 
 the sportsman the characters of such people as he 
 is likely to fall in with in his excursions. 
 
 Among those whom I have taken this hberty 
 with, as the type of his class, will be found the late 
 Tom Purdie, Sir Walter Scott's faithful right-hand 
 man, well known to the readers of Mr. Lockhart's 
 delightful Biography, and the genuine parent of 
 the stories here attributed to him.^ 
 
 Since the following pages have been printed, 
 Mr. Yarrell has put into my hands The Annals 
 and Magazine of Natural History for Feb. 1843, 
 
 ^ Tom's nephew, Alexander Purdie, is still Lord Polwarth's fisher- 
 man on the upper Mertoun water. — Ed. 
 
/ PREFACE xix 
 
 containing an account of Mr. Young's experiments 
 on the growth of salmon. I have inserted an 
 extract in the Appendix, for the benefit of those 
 who are interested in the subject. 
 
 I hope I am correct in saying that, judging 
 from the outline, my statements will agree with 
 Mr. Young's experiments. This, however, will be 
 more accurately seen when the Proceedings of the 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh are published. 
 
 Belgrave Square^ 
 April, 1843. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 Citizen Anglers — Mr. Pooley — Mr. John Poplin — Scientific Angler — 
 Self-complacent Angler — Harry Otter . . . Page 1 
 
 CHAPTER n 
 
 SalmouidaB — The Common Salmon — His Powers of Swimming and 
 Leaping — Method of Spawning — Habits — Passage to the Sea — 
 Letter from the Author to Mr. Kennedy respecting the Parr — 
 The Peculiar Formation of its Eyes, similar to that of a Salmon — 
 Mr. Shaw's Experiments — Passage of the Smolts to the Sea — 
 Gilses — Destruction of Salmon Fry — Injurious Effects of Heavy 
 Spates — Tame Salmon — Change of Colour in Fish — Dr. Stark's 
 Experiments — Proceedings at the Literary and Philosophical 
 Society of St. Andrews — Seasons of Various Rivers — Cairn Net — 
 The Salmon Trout — The Grey, or Bull Trout — Severe Contest 
 with him — St. Kentigern .... Page 8 
 
 CHAPTER HI 
 
 Harry Otter — Childish Incident — Martha's Eloquence — The Coy 
 Phyllis — Self-devotion of a Fish — Feats of Master Harry — The 
 Pet Basket — Encounter with a Duck — An Idle Scamp — " I saw 
 young Harry with his beaver off" . . . Page 72 
 
 CHAPTER IV 
 
 Murderous Fish — Hypocritical Fish — Curious Predicament — A Cat 
 Fish — Facetious Whale — Harry Otter Pastoral — Purchase of 
 Horses of Dissenting Opinions — The Illustrious Higginbotham — 
 A Five Pounder — Trout not a Fish — Dumbfoundered — Melrose — 
 Waxing of the Water— Walter the Bold— The Eildon Hills Page 86 
 
xxii SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 CHAPTER V 
 
 Course of the Tweed — Abbotsford — A Challenge — Higginbotham broke 
 — An Ill-natured Twist — A Ponderous Salmon — A Proper Mess — 
 Cut and drowned — Agreeable Wading by a Corpulent Gentleman 
 — A Damp Gentleman, and Fatal EiFects of Wading . Page 106 
 
 CHAPTER VI 
 
 Salmon Lines — A Lucky Cast — Disordered Tackle — Triumphant not- 
 withstanding — New Construction of a Salmon Reel — Salmon Flies 
 — The Metropolitan Fly — Powdered Lawyers — Description and 
 Coloured Engraving of Flies — A worthy Person embarrassed — 
 Vanishing of a Line sea-ward — Mathematical Angling — Raison 
 Demonstrative — Salmon taken by Surprise — Tom Purdie — Salmon 
 casting his Cantrips — Robin Hope — Novel Method of Fishing — 
 Discoloured State of the Water — A very confident Friend and his 
 Mishap —A Gudgeon Hunter — Fertile Imagination of an Angler — 
 Enormous Pike with splendid Eyes — A Discomfiture — Linn of 
 Campsie, and Voyage down the Tay in a High Flood . Page 122 
 
 CHAPTER VII 
 
 An Angler entranced — Absence of Mind — Cow versus Fish — View- 
 taking and Landscape Painting — Claude Lorraine and Salvator 
 Rosa — Poussin — The Grey Scull — Roslin — Pure Genius — Twos and 
 Threes — A Voracious Salmon — Melrose Bridge and the Cauld 
 Pool — The Coup de Grace — Monstrum Horrendum — Duncan Grant 
 — Rob of the Troughs clean dune out — Rob at bay — Rob breaks 
 the Bay ....... Page 169 
 
 CHAPTER VIII 
 
 Glamour — Michael Scott — Michael's Imp — Thomas of Ercildoune — 
 Imperfect Incantation — The Imp victorious . . Page 193 
 
 CHAPTER IX 
 
 Conscientious Water BailiiF — Black Fishers — River Sneak — A Chase — 
 Granting a Favour — The Souter's Retreat — The Clodding Leister 
 — Tom Purdie's Devil of a Fish — Heather Lights — An Unsonsie 
 Gallant — Tom gets a Fleg — "Bleezing up," and Peremptory 
 Kipper ....... Page 199 
 
CONTENTS xxiii 
 
 CHAPTER X 
 
 Sunlight — Mr. Tintern's Partiality to one Leg — His Pony ahint — 
 Occurrence at Abbotsford — Sunning — Net and Harpoon — Voracity 
 of Eels — Tom Purdie's Sarcasm — Mr. Tintern suspected of Howking 
 Tricks — Trolling — A Curious Occurrence — Harling — Bait Fishing 
 — Minnow and Parr's Tail — Black Meg of Darnwick — Firing of 
 Meg's Tower, and her Death — The Leister — Canting the Boat — 
 A Striking Incident — Rake Hooks — Liberal Advice . Page 216 
 
 CHAPTER XI 
 
 The Burning — A Night Scene, and Blazing Up — Tom Purdie diverts 
 Himself — Striking from an Eminence — Tom Purdie gets a Repreef 
 from Sir Walter, and his consequent Embarrassment — Benign 
 Explanation — Sandy Trummel's Mishap — Brig-end Pool — Boat 
 sunk — Michael Scot — A Hint to Proprietors of Rivers — The Otter 
 — Twae can play at that — The Keeper of the Regalia — The Author 
 backs out, and bids Farewell .... Page 246 
 
 APPENDIX 
 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh ..... Page 267 
 
ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 Plate of two Young Salmon ^ From a picture hy E. Cooke, \ 
 
 IN THE Smolt and Parr > " Nil fuit unquam sic > Frontispiece 
 State J impar sibi " J 
 
 Facing page 
 
 " Burning the Water " . From a picture hy William Simson 1 
 
 Olden Days on Tweedside . From a drawing by E. Cooke . 8 
 
 Bringing the Net Ashore . From a drawing hy Sir David Wilkie 20 
 
 Plate of a Young Salmon "j 
 
 IN the intervening > . . . , .48 
 
 State J 
 
 Cairn Net . . . From a drawing by E. Cooke page 64 
 
 Weighing in . . . By L. Haghe . . .68 
 
 Otter devouring a ^^^o^ [^'''\anL'^^l A^ ^^'^''] P^^^el^ 
 " There's a fine Fish now ! " From a picture by Charles Landseer 98 
 
 Melrose Abbey and Land-1 ^r j • z. w >-> i ir^ir 
 
 > From a drawing by E. Cooke page 107 
 
 SCAPE I 
 
 '^ Drowned and about to 
 
 BE CUT." — The 'EiiiDoa \ From a picture by Charles Landseer 116 
 Hills 
 
 1*lZ ReS: 1^ : ■]Pr<ma drawing by E. Cooke page 127 
 
 Lithograph op Flies . Drawn by L. Haghe . . 135 
 
 *^ What Eyes he has ! " . From a drawing by E. Cooke . 161 
 
 A pretty Kettle of Fish ! . From a picture hy Charles Landseer 196 
 
 " Clodding " Leister . From a drawing hy E. Cooke page 206 
 
 " Sunning " at Craigover . From a picture by E. Cooke . 220 
 
 Common Leister and Cleik From a drawing by E. Cooke page 239 
 
 Not so easy as it looks . From a picture hy William Simson 252 
 
CC 
 
DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON 
 FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 CHAPTER I 
 
 CITIZEN ANGLERS 
 
 " John Gilpin was a citizen 
 Of credit and renown." — -Cowper. 
 
 Salmon fishers do not fall from the clouds all per- 
 fection at once, but generally acquire some skill in 
 river angling for trout, and such-Uke pigmies, before 
 they aspire to the nobler spoil ; — pretty work, 
 indeed, would they make of it, if they began at the 
 wrong end : nemo repente fuit fiskissimus. We will 
 venture to say, that many beginners have been 
 frightened out of their wits by the sprightliness of 
 a decent -sized trout : would they then have the 
 presumption to encounter a salmon without fortify- 
 ing their nerves with previous practice of some sort 
 or another ? I would advise each, one and all, to 
 try their hands at something less powerful, before 
 they throw their gauntlet at Entellus. In short, 
 we ourselves, experienced as we are, stand in 
 perfect awe of a salmon to this day ; and think it 
 
 B 
 
2 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 meet to approach him by degrees, by mentioning, 
 in the first instance, the pursuits of less aspiring 
 anglers, and their various grades of ambition. Thus, 
 we shall show the strength of the passion for fishing, 
 even of the most humble description, and by com- 
 parison set off the followers of Salmo solar to the 
 highest possible advantage. 
 
 We omit giving any particulars of such holiday 
 folk as disturb the puddles in the commons about 
 London, and beg to introduce our worthy friend 
 Mr. Pooley, who, being counter -bound nearly all 
 the year, takes his pastime occasionally on the river 
 Lea. A pedestrian he, and a man of pretty 
 considerable pretensions. Behold ! he casts aside 
 his domestic garb disdainful, and packs himself up 
 in a shooting jacket, which distinguishes him from 
 the common herd of travellers, and becomes him 
 admirably. Indeed he shows much address in the 
 skilful use of its buttons ; and it is really surprising 
 to see what an effect he produces by fastening the 
 two last in the waist, thereby making the rereward 
 of his person stick out in bold relief; for Mr. 
 Pooley is a man of a commendable rotundity. 
 The short rod which he trails merrily in his hand, 
 and the basket that irritates the vertebrae of his 
 back, proclaim his high resolve. At early morn he 
 quits the dusky city, with a temporary distaste for 
 the sound of Bow bells, and with pity for such as 
 are doomed to business whilst it is his pleasure to 
 angle. 
 
 At length, behold him arrived at thy lazy 
 waters, O Lea ! With joyous voice he evokes the 
 miller ; orders a dinner, as he is pleased to suppose. 
 
MR. POOLEY'S DAY OUT 3 
 
 of three dishes, the principal one consisting of the 
 fish he is about to catch, with Izaak Walton's 
 instructions for cooking them. The miller gener- 
 ally puts on a somewhat distressing smile on this 
 occasion, as the said dish of fish is rather addressed 
 to the imagination than otherwise — food for the 
 mind alone. Behold him now, seated on a spot 
 which has long borne his name (Mr. Pooley's Seat). 
 The story runs, that he once caught a pike there of 
 five pounds ; but the truth is, that the said pike 
 was actually only two pounds, but he added a 
 pound to its weight every passing year, because he 
 said that the fish would have gained as much had 
 he lived up to the present day of reckoning. This 
 was a mode of calculation that some even of his 
 most intimate friends could not assent to, but he 
 was always peremptory on the subject. His person 
 now being fairly disposed on the bank, with his 
 short and comely legs dangling over the weir, he 
 becomes deeply intent upon his neatly painted float. 
 On this his longing eyes are bent. He sees but 
 askance the swallows that flit by him, and the 
 willow that droops over the pool — he sees only his 
 float. By Jupiter, it bobs ! — now is the decisive 
 moment. Prompt and energetic, he gives a scientific 
 jerk, and up comes the Mght line obedient. Is there 
 the semblance of a fish at the end of it ? O no, 
 certainly not. What then made the float move ? 
 Who can say ? Perhaps it was only a delusion of 
 the optics brought on by a sanguine temperament, 
 or a sUght ruffle occasioned by the zephyrs that 
 kissed thy Cockney waters, O gently slumbering 
 Lea! You were excited, Mr. Pooley, you must 
 
4 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 own, dreadfully excited — and it well became you 
 to be so, for the moment was awful ; but we will 
 leave you to resume your tranquillity. We grant 
 you our sympathy, but deny you our company. 
 
 Pass we on to the more ambitious angler, even 
 to our adventurous acquaintance, Mr. John Poplin. 
 He cannot submit to the worm, paste, or float — not 
 he. His skilful arm is practised to wave his rod 
 gracefully, with nothing less at the end of the hne 
 than the green granam fly. Reclining on his sofa, 
 and tinted with a slight sufliision of bile, he has 
 seen on one auspicious morn a seductive advertise- 
 ment, headed " Trout Fishing." With eager pen 
 he responds to A.B. ; pays a guinea for a ticket to 
 enable him to angle for trout during a whole season, 
 in a part of the river Wandle that is strictly 
 preserved. How very cheap ! After pulling about 
 monstrous fish in his dreams all night he pays his 
 guinea, and drives off to the Elysian fields : there 
 he beholds the whole extent of the fishery lying 
 before him — a mill-pond full seventy yards long, one 
 side only belonging to the advertiser in right of a 
 small water meadow. The spot seems a favourite 
 one ; for a goodly company of citizens are extended 
 along the bank in line at three feet asunder — a 
 similar number on the opposite bank. Now three 
 feet is a liberal allowance, for only two are granted 
 for a soldier standing in close order. With graceful 
 obeisance and skilful tact he apologises, and wedges 
 himself into fine ; hooks his neighbour's tackle on 
 the right the very first throw, whilst he on his left 
 hooks his. They remonstrate, and extricate with 
 proper courtesy. Not particularly admiring his 
 
A CRUSTY MILLER 5 
 
 position, which he deems crowded, he backs out, 
 quits the ranks, and in evil hour trespasses on the 
 water below. Then was thy wrath awakened, O 
 jolly miller ! White in apparel, but rubicund in 
 complexion, you sally forth, portly and irascent ; 
 lofty is your language. 
 
 "Who gave you toleration to fish in my mill 
 tail ? " In return, Mr. Miller, you are called an un- 
 civil brute, and you well deserve it ; for, in civility, 
 you should first of all have remonstrated, and, in 
 prudence, should afterwards have endeavoured to 
 exact a handsome fine for the trespass. But you 
 did neither of these ; on the contrary, I am sorry 
 to say, you were personal and unpleasant, and 
 forcibly deprived our amiable friend Mr. John 
 Poplin of his rod ; so that he returned to London 
 with an accumulation of bile, and scolded his wife, 
 maid, and footboy. Hard was the fate of the caster 
 of the green granam ! 
 
 Mount we now one step higher, nay, a goodly 
 stride or two ; and let us celebrate the real scientific 
 fly-fisher, to whom fortune has been more propi- 
 tious. Possessed of ample means, he roves from 
 river to lake, rich in rods of various dimensions, and 
 the joyful possessor of all the flies that have been 
 named or engraved in all the ninety -nine books that 
 have been published on the art of angling, not for- 
 getting that distinguished fly called the Professor, 
 We have a boundless respect for this young gentle- 
 man. We Uke his custom of roving about. He 
 does not scruple to mount his tilbury, and to flourish 
 his rod over the rivers and lakes of Wales, and to 
 lash also with zeal all the waters of Westmoreland 
 
6 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 and Cumberland. He is not a mere angler, but 
 somewhat of an artist also ; at least he thinks so 
 himself. So when the sun rides high, and the lake 
 lies hot and motionless, " and the flies make strange 
 streaks, albeit skilfully thrown, on the mirror- 
 like surface of the water," as that most capital 
 penman, " the organist," has described it, he plants 
 his sketching stool in some shady nook, and, armed 
 at all points with the necessary implements, 
 imagines that he transmits to his canvass a vivid 
 impression of what he sees before him. 
 
 Well skilled to select his subjects, he does not 
 take a general view of the broad expanse, but gets 
 a glimpse of the lake between the bolls of the trees 
 opposed to it in shadow. Proud of his ultra marine, 
 he touches in the distant mountain, and the rugged 
 brae nearer the foreground he paints rich and sunny ; 
 nor does he forget those accessories that give inter- 
 est and character to the scene — the smoke issuing 
 from the cottage lying in some shady nook, the 
 boat hauled up on the gravelly beach, or the cattle 
 that stand listless on some point of land that juts 
 into the lake. Perhaps, too, some shepherd lies 
 sleeping with his flock around him in a sequestered 
 glade. Thushepaints the images of rural life ; and 
 who happier than himself, when he retires to the 
 clean little inn, and selects the trout for his dinner, 
 giving a cut behind the dorsal fin to descry those of 
 the reddest tint ? Self-complacent are his regards 
 when he eyes his ample capture, beaming are his 
 looks when he contemplates his coloured canvass. 
 It is with pain we take leave of the happy man ; 
 we would willingly write his memoirs, but we have 
 
TO THE TWEED! 7 
 
 a higher duty to perform. We are about to sing 
 of Harry Otter, even of ourselves, doing battle with 
 the lusty salmon as we ride on the waves of the 
 Tweed in our Httle bark, or wade amongst its rapid 
 cataracts. It becomes us first, however, to preface 
 our pages with a short description of the salmon 
 itself, as well as of Harry Otter ; and we will begin 
 with the fish, as being the most interesting animal 
 of the two. 
 
CHAPTER II 
 
 " So dainty salmons, chevins thunder-scared, 
 Feast-famous sturgeons, lampreys speckle-starr'd. 
 In the spring season the rough seas forsake. 
 And in the rivers thousand pleasures take."" — Du Bartas. 
 
 The three species of the genus Salmo which are to 
 be found in the Tweed, and which afford most 
 sport to the angler, are the common salmon, or 
 Salmo salar ; the grey, or bull trout, Salmo eriox ; 
 and the salmon trout, Salmo trutta. The Salmo 
 fario also, or common trout, is, or rather used to 
 be, in great abundance there ; but of this latter 
 species I do not mean to treat. ^ 
 
 Although the salmon fisheries are of considerable 
 national importance, affording a great supply of food 
 and employment to thousands ; yet, surprising as it 
 may appear, the natural history and habits of the 
 fish itself have almost up to this time been very 
 imperfectly known. Indeed naturalists have been 
 altogether mistaken as to the appearance of the 
 fry, which at a certain growth they have supposed 
 to be a distinct species of fish ; and had it not been 
 for the skill and diligence of Mr. Shaw, who has 
 
 ^ Since Scrope's day the grayling {Thymallus vulgaris) has been 
 introduced^ and is tolerably abundant in the lower reaches. — Ed. 
 
OLDEN DAYS ON TWEEDSIDE 
 
THE SALMON 9 
 
 demonstrated this their mistake by a series of 
 scientific and interesting experiments, they would 
 still have continued in error. But not naturalists 
 alone, who are apt to copy their predecessors with 
 somewhat too liberal a faith, but even practical 
 men, who have made their observations from 
 nature, have arrived also at false conclusions. 
 
 Mr. Yarrell, in the second edition of his beautiful 
 work on British Fishes, has given so ample and so 
 scientific an account of the salmon, deduced from 
 the late recent and important discoveries, that little 
 remains to be said on its natural history. 
 
 I shall therefore be as brief on this subject as 
 possible ; adding, however, such remarks on the 
 habits of the three most valuable species of the 
 Salmonidce as my practical acquaintance with the 
 subject may enable me to supply. 
 
 And, first, for the 
 
 COMMON SALMON 
 
 Salmo Salar 
 
 Generic Characters. — "Head smooth, body 
 covered with scales ; two dorsal fins, the first 
 supported by rays, the second fleshy and without 
 rays ; teeth on the vomer, both palatine bones, and 
 all the maxillary bones ; branchiostegous rays, 
 varying in number, generally from ten to twelve, 
 but sometimes unequal on two sides of the head of 
 the same fish." — Yarrell, 
 
 This splendid fish leaves the sea, and comes up 
 the Tweed at every period of the year in greater or 
 
10 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 lesser quantities, becoming more abundant in the 
 river as the summer advances ; that is, provided 
 sufficient rain falls to swell the water to such an 
 extent as will discolour it, and enable the fish to 
 pass the shallows with ease and security. It travels 
 rapidly ; so that those salmon which leave the sea, 
 and go up the Tweed on the Saturday night at 
 twelve o'clock, after which time no nets are 
 worked till the Sabbath is past, are found and 
 taken on the following Monday near St. Boswells 
 — a distance, as the river winds, of about forty 
 miles. 
 
 This I have frequently ascertained by experience. 
 When the strength of the current in a spate is 
 considered, and also the sinuous course a salmon 
 must take in order to avoid the strong rapids, this 
 power of swimming must be considered as extra- 
 ordinary. 
 
 As salmon are supposed to enter a river merely 
 for the purposes of spawning, and as that process 
 does not take place till September, one cannot well 
 account for their appearing in the Tweed and else- 
 where so early as February and March, seeing that 
 they lose in weight and condition during their 
 continuance in fresh water. Some think it is to 
 get rid of the sea-louse ; but this supposition must 
 be set aside, when it is known that this insect 
 adheres only to a portion of the newly -run fish, 
 which are the best in condition. I think it more 
 probable that they are driven from the coasts near 
 the river by the numerous enemies they encounter 
 there, such as porpoises and seals, which devour 
 them in great quantities. However this may be. 
 
THE SALMON 11 
 
 they remain in the fresh water till the spawning 
 months commence.^ 
 
 On the first arrival of the spring salmon from 
 the sea, they are apt to take up their seats in the 
 rear of a scull of kelts ; at this early period they 
 are brown in the back in the Tweed, fat, and in 
 high condition. In the cold months they He in the 
 deep and easy water ; and as the season advances 
 they draw into the principal rough streams, always 
 lying in places where they can be least easily dis- 
 covered. They are very fond of a stream above a 
 deep pool, into which they can fall back in case of 
 disturbance. They prefer lying upon even rock, or 
 behind large blocks of stone, particularly such as 
 are of a colour similar to themselves. They are 
 not to be found all over the river like trout, but 
 only in such rough or deep places as I have 
 mentioned ; it is therefore very necessary for a 
 stranger to take out some one with him who is 
 acquainted with the water he means to fish, for 
 there are large continuous portions of almost all 
 salmon rivers where no fish ever take up their seats. 
 It is true that a very practised eye, which is well 
 acquainted with water, needs little assistance ; but 
 there are not many such nice observers. 
 
 At every swell of the river, unless a very trifling 
 one, the fish move upwards nearer the spawning 
 places : so that no one can reckon upon preserving 
 his particular part of the river, which is the chief 
 
 ^ A great advance since these pages were written has heen made in 
 scientific knowledge of the habits of salmon. A blue book, entitled 
 Report on Investigations into the Life History of Salmon, has lately (1898) 
 been published under direction of the Scottish Fishery Board, and may 
 be commended to the attention of those interested in the subject — Ed. 
 
12 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 reason of the universal destruction of these valuable 
 animals. Previous to a flood, the fish frequently 
 leap out of the water, either for the purpose of 
 filling their air-bladder to make them more buoyant 
 for travelling, or from excitement, or, perhaps, to 
 exercise their powers of ascending heights and catar- 
 acts in the course of their journey upwards. Of 
 the nature of these spates, or floods, I will speak 
 hereafter. 
 
 That salmon will leap a great height I have read, 
 and heard asserted continually ; but even the sub- 
 dued account which Mr. Yarrell has mentioned, 
 placing their powers of leaping ten or twelve feet 
 perpendicularly, I hold to be beyond the mark. I 
 have frequently watched their endeavours to sur- 
 mount falls, and I do not think I ever saw a salmon 
 spring out of the water above five feet perpendicu- 
 larly. There is a cauld at the mouth of the Leader- 
 water, where it falls into the Tweed, which salmon 
 never could spring over ; this cauld I have lately 
 had measured most carefully by a mason, and its 
 height varies from five feet and a half to six feet 
 from the level above to the level below it, according 
 as the Tweed, into which the Leader falls, is more 
 or less affected by the rains. Hundreds of salmon 
 formerly attempted to spring over this low cauld, 
 but none could ever achieve the leap ; so that a 
 salmon in the Leader- water was formerly a thing 
 unheard of. The proprietors of the upper water 
 have made an opening in this cauld of late years, 
 giving the owner of the mill some recompense, so 
 that salmon now ascend freely. Large fish can 
 spring much higher than small ones ; but their 
 
THE SALMON 13 
 
 powers are limited or augmented according to the 
 depth of water they spring from : in shallow water, 
 they have little power of ascension ; in deep, they 
 have the most considerable. They rise rapidly 
 from the very bottom to the surface of the water 
 by means of rowing and sculling, as it were, with 
 their fins and tail ; and this powerful impetus bears 
 them upwards in the air, on the same' principle 
 that a few tugs of the oar make a boat shoot on- 
 wards after one has ceased to row. It is probably 
 owing to a want of sufficient depth in the pool 
 below the Leader- water cauld, that prevented the 
 fish from clearing it ; because I know an instance 
 where salmon have cleared a cauld of six feet be- 
 longing to Lord Sudely, who lately caused it to be 
 measured for my satisfaction, though they were but 
 few out of the numerous fish that attempted it that 
 were able to do so. I conceive, however, that very 
 large fish could leap much higher. 
 
 Although I think the powers of salmon to leap 
 perpendicularly have been much overrated, yet I 
 know that they will ascend steep cataracts in a 
 wonderful manner. Mr. Smith of Deanston, in the 
 Carse of Stirling, has invented a sort of stair, by 
 means of which salmon are enabled to ascend 
 streams in full waters in spite of natural or artificial 
 obstructions. One side of the river under a weir 
 or cauld is separated from the main stream, and 
 intersected by tranverse pieces of wood or stone, 
 each of which reaches about two-thirds of the width 
 of the gap. There are two ranges of these steps, 
 one on each side, and the steps on one side face the 
 centre of the interval between the steps on the 
 
14 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 other ; so that the fish ascend from side to side in a 
 zigzag direction, and can rest in their ascent, should 
 they find it necessary. This is a very ingenious 
 contrivance, and it has been constructed on the 
 Teith, near Doune, with complete success. But I 
 conclude it can only come into operation in such 
 floods as raise the water to a higher level than is 
 required for the mill-dam ; and therefore if rude 
 steps of rolhng stones were constructed at a portion 
 of the back of the cauld, the end would be answered 
 in a better manner, since the ascent might be made 
 more gradual.^ 
 
 The fish pass every practicable obstruction till 
 they arrive at their spawning ground, some early, 
 and some late in the season. The spawning in the 
 river Tweed continues throughout the autumn, 
 winter, and beginning of spring. It commences 
 about September, and I have caught full roeners as 
 late as May ; but the principal months are December, 
 January, and February. Mr. John Crerar, who was 
 fisherman to the Duke of AthoU for sixty years, 
 and who left behind him some pages in manuscript 
 on the habits of the salmon, has recorded in them 
 that fish full of mature roe may be caught in the 
 Tay in every month in the year. 
 
 The fish become weak and wasted before the 
 spawning time, and change in colour. The male 
 loses its silvery hue, and is deeply tinged in the 
 cheeks and body with orange, and is also dappled 
 with red spots, when, in the upper parts of the 
 
 1 A complete description of modern improvements in salmon ladders 
 will be found in Fisheries Exhibition Literature, published by Messrs. W. 
 Clowes and Son. — Ed. 
 
THE SALMON 15 
 
 Tweed, it is sometimes called a "soldier." The 
 under jaw also becomes longer, and a cartilaginous 
 substance grows from the point of it, and extends 
 upwards till it buries itself in the nose above. In 
 this state the fish is very thin in the back, and 
 altogether much wasted ; but its flesh is sometimes 
 eatable, and at any rate infinitely superior to that of 
 a fish which has newly spawned. The female, when 
 ready to spawn, is dark in colour, and her flesh is 
 soft and worthless. 
 
 Salmon are led by instinct to select such places 
 for depositing their spawn as are the least likely to 
 be affected by the floods. These are the broad 
 parts of the river, where the water runs swift and 
 shallow, and has a free passage over an even bed. 
 Here they either select an old spawning place, a 
 sort of trough left in the channel, or form a 
 fresh one. They are not fond of working in new 
 loose channels, which would be Uable to be 
 removed by a slight flood, to th§ destruction of 
 their spawn. The spawning bed is made by the 
 female. Some have fancied that the elongation 
 of the lower jaw in the male, which is somewhat 
 in the form of a crook, is designed by nature to 
 enable him to excavate the spawning trough. 
 Certainly it is difficult to divine what may be the 
 use of this very ugly excrescence ; but observation 
 has proved that this idea is a fallacy, and that the 
 male never assists in making the spawning place ; 
 and indeed, if he did so, he could not possibly 
 make use of the elongation in question for that 
 purpose, which springs from the lower jaw, and 
 bends inwards towards the throat. 
 
 \ 
 
16 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 When the female first commences making her 
 spawning bed, she generally comes after sunset, and 
 goes off in the morning : she works up the gravel 
 with her snout, her head pointing against the 
 stream, as my fisherman has clearly and unequivo- 
 cally witnessed, and she arranges the position of 
 the loose gravel with her tail. When this is done, 
 the male makes his appearance in the evenings, 
 according to the usage of the female ; he then 
 remains close by her, on the side on which the 
 water is deepest. When the female is in the act 
 of emitting her ova, she turns upon her side, with 
 her face to the male, who never moves. The 
 female runs her snout into the gravel, and forces 
 herself under it as much as she possibly can, when 
 an attentive observer may see the red spawn coming 
 from her. The male in his turn lets his milt go 
 over the spawn ; and this process goes on for some 
 days, more or less, according to the size of the fish 
 and consequent quantity of the eggs. 
 
 During this time, trout will collect below to 
 devour the spawn that floats down the river ; and 
 numerous parrs^ so called, are always seen about 
 and in the spawning beds, an explanation of which 
 will be found in the sequel. If a strange male 
 interferes, the original one makes at him, and 
 chases him with great fury, and in these combats 
 they often inflict great injury on each other. John 
 Crerar once had his attention attracted by a great 
 noise of dashing and plunging, at King's Ford in 
 the Tay, and upon looking round he found it was 
 occasioned by the fighting of two salmon. After a 
 short contest one of them set off; and the water 
 
THE SALMON 17 
 
 being shallow, Crerar fired at and killed him : he 
 was a male of course, and weighed thirty-two 
 pounds. This occurred in June, 1799. 
 
 When the female has done spawning, she sets 
 off, and leaves the place. The male remains 
 waiting for another female ; and if none comes in 
 twenty -four hours, he goes away in search of 
 another spawning place. In the spawning beds on 
 the Tweed, great injury is done with the leister, 
 and rake hooks ; and the fishermen, who know how 
 to profit by their cruel slaughter, are in the habit 
 of spearing the male which first comes to the female, 
 leaving the latter as a decoy fish, and killing the 
 other males in succession as they arrive to consort 
 with her. By this barbarous and poaching practice 
 all the largest spawning fish are destroyed, to the 
 great destruction of the river. These foul salmon 
 are bad and unwholesome food, and used to be sold 
 by the fishermen for about half a crown the stone, 
 Dutch weight : they were afterwards salted. 
 Trifling as this price is, the fishermen in the upper 
 parts of the Tweed formerly made up the chief part 
 of their rent in this manner ; for there is no law 
 against kiUing foul fish, except in close time. 
 
 I have now given a brief account of the salmon, 
 from his first entry into fresh water till he has 
 spawned. It remains only to trace him back to 
 the sea. 
 
 When the spawning is finished, the fish become 
 very lank and weak, and fall into deep easy water, 
 where they have not to contend with the current : 
 here, after a time, their strength is recruited, when, 
 as the spring advances, the strongest fish leave 
 
 c 
 
18 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 the depths and draw into the streams. At this 
 time they become clear in colour, and are com- 
 paratively well made ; but their flesh is soft, and 
 without flavour. They now move down the river 
 by degrees, in their passage to the sea. When 
 they arrive in the deep pools where the water 
 runs evenly, they he in sculls, and take a rest for 
 some days : here they are caught in great quantities 
 by anglers, as they take the fly and other baits 
 freely. March is usually the best month for this 
 sport, if, indeed, it can be called sport to kill an 
 animal that is worth a mere trifle, and resists but 
 little.^ If there are freshes, the kelts (for so the 
 females that have spawned are called) quit the 
 Tweed before the month of May, and the kippers, 
 or male fish, at the same time.^ Very many do 
 so in March and April, according to the time 
 that they have spawned and regained their powers. 
 In going downwards they are taken about Kelso, 
 or at least they used to be so in my time, with 
 the long net, in pools where they rest, such as 
 that below Kelso bridge ; but they cannot be 
 caught by the cairn nets, which are so destructive 
 to them in ascending. 
 
 Having now despatched the salmon to the sea, 
 it remains to me to explain what becomes of the 
 spawn, and how and when the young fry arrive 
 at maturity ; and as there have been various doubts 
 and contradictions on this subject, I think it more 
 prudent to lead the reader to a consideration of 
 
 ^ The killing of kelts is now prohibited by law. — Ed. 
 2 Both sexes alike are known as kelts. Kippers are fish which have 
 not yet shed their milt. — Ed. 
 
THE SALMON 19 
 
 the following pages, than to make a positive asser- 
 tion on my own unsupported authority. 
 
 Mr. Shaw's ingenious experiments have lately 
 had a very wide circulation ; but still I have 
 thought it proper to make a very short abstract 
 of them, as they are of too great importance to 
 be omitted in any pubHcation relating to salmon. 
 
 Up to a late period it was universally thought 
 that the spawn deposited as above mentioned was 
 matured in a brief time, and that the young fry 
 of the winter grew to six or seven inches long, 
 were silver in colour, and went down to the sea 
 in this state with the first floods early in the May 
 of the coming spring. They were then called 
 smolts. In the summer months there are always 
 multitudes of little fry in every salmon river, 
 which in the Tweed are called parrs, and have 
 been thought to be a different species from the 
 salmon. I have formerly held several tiresome 
 arguments, both with practical men and also with 
 naturalists, with an intent to convince them that 
 they were one and the same species. 
 
 The late Mr. James Hogg, the Ettrick Shepherd, 
 was particularly stiff and bristly in opinion against 
 me. But he recanted afterwards, and caused to 
 be published in the famed " Maga " an account of 
 experiments made by himself, all tending to confirm 
 my theory. I suppose it would have been better 
 for my credit had I abstained from any colloquy 
 with the said James, which appears not to have 
 been particularly entertaining ; for lately, upon 
 asking my friend Sir Adam Fergusson if he re- 
 collected the circumstance, "Perfectly well," said 
 
20 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 he, " and it was at your own table ; but I cannot 
 say who had the best of the argument, as I fell 
 asleep soon after it began." 
 
 But indeed I had not resided long on the banks 
 of the Tweed, before I came to the conclusion that 
 the parr was not a distinct species, but, as I have 
 said, was actually the young of the salmon ; and 
 very many years ago, long before Mr. Shaw's ex- 
 periments, Mr. Kennedy having brought in a Bill 
 for the better preservation of the salmon fisheries, 
 I wrote to him the following letter, which I tran- 
 scribe from the first draught, which I preserved : — 
 
 " Pavilion, Melrose. 
 " Sir, 
 
 " Your Salmon Bill being in progress, permit me 
 to have the honour of addressing you on a point 
 that is at present overlooked, and that you will at 
 once perceive is of vital importance to its successful 
 operation. 
 
 "It is a fact, that whilst the legislature has 
 imposed penalties for the destruction of smolts or 
 salmon fry, not only those whose duty it is to put 
 the law in force, but the pubhc, and even fishermen 
 themselves, cannot ascertain what these are at all 
 seasons of the year. On the contrary, for most 
 part of the year they go by the name of parrs, and 
 are destroyed daily with impunity, and in incredible 
 quantities. Hitherto the parr and the smolt have 
 been considered as different species ; but that 
 they are precisely the same, I think may be 
 demonstrated. 
 
 "The received opinion, and that which the 
 
f. 
 
 >% 
 
 1^,0 
 
 ^^m 
 
 \^- 
 
PARRS AND SMOLTS 21 
 
 present law of Scotland acts upon, is, that the 
 salmon fry of the winter and spring congregate 
 and go down to the sea in the May of the same 
 season, and that they are of a pure silver colour, as 
 indeed more or less they are. Now in all salmon 
 rivers parrs are to be found in abundance through- 
 out the summer, and early in the spring ; and in 
 the summer they are not of a silver colour, but 
 marked with red spots, and are shaded with vertical 
 bars on their sides at intervals. From the appear- 
 ance of these bars, they are very generally supposed 
 to be of a distinct species from the smolt. Permit 
 me to give my reasons for entertaining a contrary 
 opinion. 
 
 "After May the large parrs totally disappear, 
 and such few as may be found afterwards are very 
 small; but as the summer advances they become 
 larger, and in the spring following the bars and red 
 spots above mentioned gradually die away, and a 
 stronger armour or scale supervenes ; and as that 
 is more or less advanced in growth, the bars and 
 spots are more or less visible. 
 
 "When they are in this silvery state, that is, 
 when the new scales are perfected, they become 
 what are called smolts or salmon fry ; but by 
 removing such new scales, you will find the bars 
 and spots of the parr underneath as clear and vivid 
 as ever. I have therefore a positive conviction 
 that the salmon fry, instead of falling down to the 
 sea the same year they are produced, remain in the 
 river, under the name of parrs, till the year follow- 
 ing. That they increase Httle in size we cannot be 
 surprised at, as it is universally known that the 
 
22 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 salmon himself wastes from the moment he comes 
 into fresh water. 
 
 "If the Committee make themselves perfectly 
 acquainted with the natural history of the salmon, 
 they will be aware of the pecuhar construction of 
 the eye of that fish. Dr. Brewster^ has been so 
 obliging as to examine for me the eyes of some 
 parrs, which I sent him for that purpose; and 
 replies, 'I have examined very carefully the 
 crystalline lenses of the parr, which I find to be 
 the same with those of the salmon, which is a strong 
 confirmation of your opinion.' 
 
 " I must add, that these parrs, as they are called, 
 are never found but in salmon rivers, or in such as 
 have an uninterrupted communication with them ; 
 and that they cannot be the young of the bull trout, 
 as the formation of the tail in that fish is wholly 
 different. 
 
 "When it is considered that trout fishing is 
 enjoyed by every class of people in Scotland, and 
 that, speaking with reference to the river Tweed 
 only and its different tributary streams, hundreds 
 and hundreds of people are trouting daily, and 
 that each person catches several dozen parrs in 
 a morning, except in that interval between the 
 disappearance of the old fry and the appearance of 
 the new in a forward state, it will be found that 
 the young salmon (for such I contest they are) so 
 destroyed will amount to considerably more than 
 the whole marketable produce of the river.^ 
 
 ^ Afterwards Sir David Brewster. 
 
 2 It is scarcely necessary to observe that Mr. Scrope's opinion as to 
 the identity of parr with salmon smolts has been established beyond all 
 question, and that it is now illegal to kill either. — Ed. 
 
PARRS AND SMOLTS 23 
 
 " By your present Bill I know not how far the 
 local Scotch Acts may be repealed ; but I take the 
 liberty of suggesting that it would be for the public 
 benefit if the usage of a pout net in close time were 
 made punishable by a fine. The inhabitants of 
 almost every cottage have these nets, which are 
 taken out under pretence of catching trout, which 
 no one but a proprietor has a right to do in such a 
 way. I have heard that above a thousand salmon 
 have been taken in a small space of the Tweed by 
 these nets during close time. They are most 
 destructive below the backs of caulds, where the 
 fish collect in order to ascend. 
 
 " I should have mentioned before, that what we 
 call the parr in the Tweed goes by various other 
 names in the different rivers of Great Britain, which 
 is a material circumstance to note. 
 
 " If you are desirous of any further information 
 on this subject, I shall most readily give you such 
 as may be in my power. What I have already 
 said is of a nature that cannot make me be sus- 
 pected of having any private or party view to 
 answer. 
 
 " I have the honour to be," &c. &c* 
 
 The above being the first draught, I omitted to 
 put a date to it ; but it was written many years 
 before Mr. Shaw's experiments. For Mr. Kennedy's 
 Bill, to which my letter alludes, was brought in on 
 the 15th of April, 1825, and thrown out on the 
 second reading. 
 
 I received a very obliging answer from that 
 gentleman, the purport of which was to say, that 
 
24 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 as his Bill had failed, it was not necessary to trouble 
 me any farther on the subject. 
 
 This letter contains evidence that Sir David 
 Brewster's experiments were made previously to its 
 being written ; and when I had thought of publish- 
 ing, being desirous to know the exact time when 
 they were made, I wrote to Sir David to call his 
 attention to the subject. His answer, dated 16th 
 of April, 1840, was as foUows : 
 
 " I am pretty sure that my experiments on the 
 structure of the crystalline lens of the parr, which 
 is identical with that of the salmon, were made 
 previous to 1828.^ I remember well your stating 
 to me that when the silver scales of the young 
 salmon (which in Roxburghshire we call smouts) 
 were carefully rubbed off, the colours of a darker 
 hue which characterise the parr were invariably and 
 distinctly seen. I think you showed me the experi- 
 ments, but I am not sure of this. With the view 
 of confirming this your theory, or of over-turning 
 it, I mentioned to you that the fibres of the lens of 
 the salmon," &c. 
 
 Then follows the account of his experiments, as 
 detailed a little farther on. 
 
 Besides the reasons mentioned in the above letter, 
 there were other causes which influenced me in the 
 opinion I had formed ; the two principal of which 
 were — 
 
 Firstly, That no one ever saw a clear silver- 
 
 ^ The date of Mr. Kennedy's Bill, which I have hut just ascertained, 
 proves that they were made in or before the year 1825 ; whereas Mr. 
 Shaw's first account of his interesting experiments appeared in the 
 '^New Edinburgh and Philosophical Journal" for 1836, vol. xxi. p. 99. — 
 eleven years after. 
 
PARRS AND SMOLTS 25 
 
 looking fry below the usual dimensions of those 
 which are ready to go down to the sea ; that is, till 
 the new di-ess comes over them, and obUterates the 
 distinguishing marks of what is called the parr. 
 
 Secondly, That parrs are found above falls which 
 salmon can, but they cannot possibly, surmount. 
 
 A high spate might certainly bring some of these 
 falls more to a level ; but it would be as impossible 
 for a parr to swim up them in a raging flood, as it 
 would be for the sere leaf that falls into the waves 
 to find its passage upwards. Mr. Shaw, who has 
 carefully watched shoals of parr (correctly speaking, 
 smolts) in their descent to the sea, affirms that they 
 pass down the current with the greatest caution, 
 keeping their heads up the stream, and rowing 
 gently with their fins against it, so as to steady 
 themselves and prevent a too rapid descent ; and 
 thus they drop down by degrees, tail foremost, 
 precisely in the same manner that we manage a 
 boat in the Tweed when descending the rapids. 
 
 When the fry were congregating in May I 
 caught these little fish in various stages of the 
 growth of the new scale. In some it had super- 
 vened so as to obhterate the bars and spots entirely, 
 when their sides became silver ; in others they were 
 partially obUterated, so as to leave only a mere stain 
 of colour ; whilst some retained them almost entire. 
 As I caught these fry I sent them up to Sir David 
 Brewster, who was then residing at his beautiful 
 place on the banks of the Tweed. After a careful 
 examination he could find no distinction in the 
 structure of the organs between any of these little 
 creatures, however differing in colour. 
 
26 
 
 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 The salmon has a peculiar formation of the eye, 
 the crystalline lens having the fibres of which it is 
 composed arranged as in the annexed sketch A, the 
 line m n being horizontal on one side, and vertical 
 on the other ; whereas in many of the trout species 
 the fibres are arranged as at C, crossing one another, 
 or rather meeting at two opposite poles, like the 
 meridians of a globe, the Hne joining the two poles 
 being the axis of vision of the eye. 
 
 " After examining the lenses of the parr you sent 
 me," says Sir David Brewster in a letter now before 
 me, " I found the structure to be exactly the same 
 
 as that of the salmon. I have frequently had 
 occasion to mention the proofs that you gave me 
 of the identity of the parr with the salmon, and to 
 mention my own experiments on the lenses as 
 confirmatory of your opinion that the parr and the 
 salmon are one and the same species." 
 
 Salmon begin spawning as early as September, 
 and continue to do so throughout the winter 
 months ; December, January, and February being 
 the principal ones for that operation. They con- 
 tinue on the spawning ground, or rade, as it is 
 termed in Scotland, also during the spring months, 
 though in diminished quantities. I myself have 
 caught full roeners, as they are called, in the month 
 of May in the Tweed. Now we know from the 
 
PARRS AND SMOLTS 27 
 
 proof of experiments that have been made by 
 various persons, that the spawn of the salmon 
 continues imbedded in the gravel from ninety to 
 one hundred and fifteen days, according to the 
 temperature of the water, before it vivifies ; and 
 indeed remains there some weeks after its exclusion 
 from the egg. Mr. Shaw has stated the exact time 
 of this latter period to be fifteen days ; at the end 
 of which time, says he, the egg which was attached 
 to its abdomen, from which it derived its nourish- 
 ment, "contracted and disappeared; the fin or 
 tadpole-like fringe also divided itself into the dorsal, 
 adipose, and anal fins, all of which then became 
 perfectly developed ; the Httle transverse bars, 
 which /or a period of two years characterise it as a 
 parr, also made their appearance ; so that a period 
 of at least 140 days is required to perfect this little 
 fish, which even then measured little more than 
 one inch in length." 
 
 The above not being matter of conjecture, but 
 having been demonstrated by experiment, how by 
 any possibihty can the old doctrine be true, that 
 the fry which go to sea about the first or second 
 week in May, six or seven inches long, can be the 
 spawn of the winter immediately preceding it? 
 And what and where are the young of the salmon 
 all the summer, if they are not indeed parr ; for no 
 silver-coloured fry are at that time to be seen in 
 the river? I must add also, that it is incumbent 
 upon those naturalists who assert that the parr is a 
 distinct species, to prove that it is so from com- 
 parative anatomy. But they have not been able to 
 do this ; on the contrary, as far as I can learn, they 
 
28 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 confess they have discovered no variation of organic 
 structure. 
 
 I have heard it objected that the growth of the 
 salmon being very rapid, it seems out of the order 
 of nature to suppose that a creature should remain 
 so long in fresh water with so little increase of size. 
 But salmon never grow in fresh water; on the 
 contrary, they begin to waste from the moment 
 they enter a river, whether they are clean at that 
 period, or forward in spawning. Besides, as the 
 full latitude of the spawning season endures for six 
 months, some of the fry, acknowledged by all to be 
 smolts, must be six months older than others, and 
 yet when they congregate to go to sea they will all 
 be found to be nearly of the same size. Now if the 
 fry, confessed by all to be smolts, or the young of 
 the salmon, do not increase during so many months, 
 why should it be objected that the parr is not the 
 young of the salmon on the same account ? 
 
 These and other arguments have occurred to me 
 from time to time. All reasoning, however, on 
 this subject is now become superfluous ; Mr. John 
 Shaw of Drumlanrig having demonstrated, by a 
 number of careful and scientific experiments, that 
 the parr is actually the young of the salmon. His 
 first paper, announcing this important fact, was 
 published in the "Edinburgh New Philosophical 
 Journal" for July, 1836, vol. xxi. page 99. His 
 second was read before the Boyal Society of 
 Edinburgh on the 18th of December, 1837, and 
 was pubhshed in the " Edinburgh New Philosophical 
 Journal" for January, 1838, vol. xxiv. page 165. 
 His third and concluding communication, by far 
 
MR. SHAWNS EXPERIMENTS 29 
 
 the most interesting, and which has been lately- 
 received by the Royal Society of Edinburgh, 
 contains a continuance and confirmation of the 
 results of the experiments mentioned in the two 
 first papers above alluded to, together with the very 
 extraordinary fact, that the milt of a parr eighteen 
 months old, and only weighing an ounce and a half, 
 is capable of impregnating the ova of a full-grown 
 salmon. 
 
 Before proceeding to make the experiments 
 related in his last communication, he made three 
 ponds, the banks so raised, and constructed other- 
 wise in such a manner, that it was impossible for 
 the young fish to escape, or for any other fish to 
 have access to them. Accurate drawings and 
 descriptions of these ponds are given in his printed 
 pages, now before me, which he was so obliging as 
 to present me with. " Being thus prepared," says 
 Mr. Shaw (alluding to the construction of his 
 ponds), "with every means of carrying my ex- 
 periments into practice, I proceeded to the river 
 Nith on the 4th of January, 1837, and readily 
 discovered a pair of adult salmon engaged in 
 depositing their spawn. They were in a situation 
 easily accessible, the water being of such a depth as 
 to admit of my net being employed with certain 
 success." The fish were accordingly captured by 
 means of a hoop net. The ova were then pressed 
 with the hand from the body of the female, and 
 impregnated in the same manner by the milt of the 
 male, and the spawn in this state was transferred to 
 a private pond previously prepared for its reception. 
 That there might be no doubt as to the species, the 
 
30 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 skins of the parent salmon were kept, and may be 
 seen at any time. 
 
 On the 28th of April, 114 days after impregna- 
 tion, the young salmon were excluded from the egg, 
 which was not the case when they were visited the 
 preceding day. On the 24th of May, twenty-seven 
 days after being hatched, the young fish had con- 
 sumed the yolk which remains attached to the 
 lower part of the body, and which serves him for 
 nourishment, and the characteristic bars of the parr 
 had becovie distinctly visible. From a deposition of 
 mud, as Mr. Shaw apprehends, all these fry, except 
 one individual, were found dead at the bottom of 
 the ponds, so that there was no opportunity of 
 watching their future progress ; but an ingenious 
 experiment was made, which proved that an in- 
 creased temperature hastened the development of 
 the infant fish. 
 
 But we shall see that Mr. Shaw was too in- 
 defatigable to be daunted by such an untoward 
 accident, and that he persevered in his experiments, 
 till his efforts were rewarded by complete success. 
 
 On the 27th of January, 1837, he captured a 
 male fish of sixteen pounds, and a female of eight, 
 and expressed the ova of the female and im- 
 pregnated it with the milt of the male in the 
 manner above related, and deposited the spawn in 
 this state in a private pond as before, and to which 
 no fish could by possibility have access. 
 
 " On the 21st of March," says Mr. Shaw (that is, 
 fifty-four days after impregnation), "the embryo 
 fish were visible to the naked eye. On the 7th of 
 May (101 days after impregnation), they had burst 
 
MR. SHAW'S EXPERIMENTS 31 
 
 the envelope, and were to be found amongst the 
 shingle of the stream. The temperature of the 
 water was at this time 43°, and of the atmosphere 
 45"* ; and it is this brood which I have now had an 
 opportunity of watching continuously for a length 
 of time, that is, for more than the entire period 
 which was required to elapse from their exclusion 
 from the egg, until their assumption of those 
 characters whicli distinguish the undoubted salmon 
 fry." 
 
 Mr. Shaw then proceeds to describe the size and 
 appearance of the salmon fry at different periods of 
 their age, accompanied with several very accurate 
 and well-executed engravings illustrating the text. 
 " One of these is a specimen two years old, when it 
 has assumed its migratory dress, and measures 
 about six inches and a half, being about the average 
 size of the brood." Two years, — mark this, — and 
 only six inches and a half long ! It then goes to 
 the sea the first floods in May, and returns in two 
 or three months, as it may happen, when it is called 
 a gilse,^ and is increased to the size of from four to 
 seven pounds, and indeed very considerably more, 
 being larger or smaller in proportion to the time it 
 has remained in the sea. A second visit to the sea 
 gives it another increase, when it returns to the 
 river as a salmon. This appears so wonderful and 
 extraordinary a departure from the general laws of 
 nature, that it is no wonder that the most scientific 
 men have been misled. 
 
 But if the salmon fry attain but to such pigmy 
 growth in fresh water, still less is that element 
 
 ^ Generally written "grilse." — Ed. 
 
32 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 favourable to adult salmon, which, as I have else- 
 where observed, fall off in size and condition from 
 the moment they enter a river for the purpose of 
 spawning. When they have spawned, however, 
 they certainly do mend greatly in condition, or, 
 more correctly speaking, recover from their state of 
 weakness. 
 
 But to return to Mr. Shaw. — "The circum- 
 stance," says he, "of male parrs with the milt 
 matured, and flowing in profusion from their bodies, 
 being at all times found in company with the 
 adult female salmon while depositing her spawn 
 in the river, and the female parrs being in every 
 instance absent, suggested the idea that the males 
 were probably present with the female salmon at 
 such seasons for sexual purposes. 
 
 "To demonstrate the fact," he continues, "in 
 January, 1837, I took a female salmon weighing 
 fourteen pounds from the spawning bed, from 
 whence I also took a male parr weighing one 
 ounce and a half, with the milt of which I 
 impregnated a quantity of her ova, and placed 
 the whole in a private pond ; where, to my great 
 astonishment, the process succeeded in every 
 respect, as it had done with the ova which had 
 been impregnated by the adult male salmon, and 
 exhibited, from the first visible appearance of the 
 embryo fish up to their assuming their migratory 
 dress, the utmost health and vigour. 
 
 " The result from this experiment was of so 
 startling a nature, that it was not thought prudent 
 to give it publicity till the trial was repeated. It 
 was so, early in the following January, 1838, when 
 
MR. SHAWS EXPERIMENTS 33 
 
 two lots of eggs of a salmon, weighing eighteen 
 pounds, were impregnated with the milt of two 
 male parrs, and there ensued precisely the same 
 result as before. Again, in December, 1838, four 
 lots of ova from an adult salmon were impregnated 
 with the milt of four parrs with similar success ; 
 and the same parrs, being afterwards placed in a 
 private pond, assumed the migratory dress in the 
 following May, not in the most minute degree 
 differing from what in the Tweed are universally 
 called smolts, and are acknowledged by all to be 
 the young of the salmon." 
 
 All these experiments appear to me to be quite 
 conclusive, and of a nature to satisfy any one who 
 has not pledged himself to an opposite theory. 
 But if any thing were still wanting, it has been 
 completely supplied by an additional experiment, 
 which clenches the proof. 
 
 On the 4th of January, 1837, a male parr, itself 
 the produce of a male parr and female adult salmon, 
 was made by expression of the milt to impregnate 
 the eggs of a salmon weighing twelve pounds ; and 
 for the better security of the lot the whole was 
 placed in a wooden trough, over which a sheet of 
 fine copper wire-gauze was fixed. The trough was 
 then placed in a stream of water previously pre- 
 pared for its reception, and the results were 
 precisely of a corresponding nature to those already 
 detailed. 
 
 Now, if the parr and the salmon were distinct 
 species, their produce would be hybrids, and would 
 not, therefore, breed again, according to the rules 
 of nature estabUshed to prevent the confusion of 
 
 D 
 
34 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 different species by a conservative law ; but this 
 last and most important experiment has proved 
 that the produce from the male parr and female 
 adult salmon will breed again with the old salmon, 
 and therefore that such produce are not mules, but 
 of the same species with their parents. 
 
 In a letter to Mr. Shaw, written in the spring 
 (1840), I suggested to him to impregnate the ova 
 of the salmon with the milt of the common river 
 trout, imagining that the produce, if any, might 
 be what is called in the Tweed the bull trout, 
 which exactly resembles in outward appearance 
 and general size what one would conceive such a 
 process would create. 
 
 I learn from Mr. Shaw's last paper that he has 
 succeeded in breeding the sea trout by artificial 
 impregnation with their own species ; so that the 
 produce of this cross, that is, of the river trout and 
 salmon, cannot be the sea trout of the Spey and 
 other rivers, but may possibly prove what I sug- 
 gested. It is at least a very curious coincidence, 
 that the Tweed, which abounds in common trout, 
 abounds also in bull trout ; whereas in the Annan 
 and the Tay, where trout are very scarce, the grey 
 or buU trout is very scarce also. But though 
 crosses may be produced by mechanical impregna- 
 tion, it is a matter of grave consideration whether 
 such take place naturally. Trout, however, are 
 always seen near the spawning beds of the other 
 Salmonidce, 
 
 " The young of these sea trout," says Mr. Shaw, 
 "at the age of six months bear no very marked 
 resemblance to the young of the real Salmon, either 
 
MR. SHAWNS EXPERIMENTS 35 
 
 in the parr or fry state ; and as they advance in 
 age and size the resemblance becomes still slighter. 
 But upon comparing them with the common trout, 
 the resemblance is very striking, the general outline 
 of the fish being much less elegant than that of the 
 young salmon or parr ; the external markings being 
 also more pecuUarly those of the trout species ; so 
 that in the absence of the parent skins, which I 
 carefully preserved, it would be a matter of difficulty 
 to determine to which kind of trout they actually 
 belong." 
 
 Mr. Shaw afterwards impregnated the ova of 
 the salmon with the milt of the common river 
 trout, according to my suggestion ; and in a letter 
 with which he favoured me, dated 26th of April, 
 1841, he says : — " I am happy to inform you that 
 my experiments with the ova of the common trout 
 and salmon have been quite successful, and the 
 young hybrids are now hatched, and in good 
 health." Mr. Shaw will, of course, pubUsh the 
 details of his late experiments, and thus add to the 
 obligations which those who are interested in this 
 subject already owe him. 
 
 I will only add, that his papers are written with 
 such candour, and all his experiments conducted 
 with such care and abiUty, and so often repeated 
 with similar results, without any effort or intention 
 to make them bend to a favourite theory, that 
 every one, I think, who reads his pages, must 
 consider that the parr and the salmon are of the 
 same species, and that the question is so far set at 
 rest for ever. 
 
 To sum up, — it appears that the young fry had 
 
36 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 burst the egg 101 days after impregnation, the 
 temperature of the water being at that time 43% 
 and the temperature of the atmosphere 45° : a 
 former brood, which died and were excluded in a 
 colder temperature, did not come into life till 114 
 days after impregnation. 
 
 It further appears from a part of Mr. Shaw's 
 pubhcation, which I have not hitherto quoted, but 
 which I have now before me, that the fry, at two 
 months old, are only one inch and a quarter long ; 
 at four months, two inches and a half ; and at six 
 months, three inches and a quarter : that makes 
 nine months and eight days after the impregnation 
 of the spawn. At eighteen months old the fry 
 measure six inches in length, and the milt of the 
 male is matured, and can be made to flow from 
 the body freely by the slightest pressure ; but the 
 females of a similar age do not exhibit a corre- 
 sponding appearance as to the maturity of the roe. 
 The male is at this time in the autumn of his 
 second year, and lies about and in the spawning 
 beds of the large salmon, where he impregnates 
 the ova. The following spring he is about seven 
 inches and a half long, when beautiful silver scales 
 grow over the spots and bars which have charac- 
 terised him up to this period ; and the majority of 
 the breed then congregate, and go to sea with the 
 first floods in May. 
 
 In the latter end of April, 1842, Mr. Shaw 
 obligingly sent me two parcels of the salmon fry, 
 which arrived in good condition ; and although 
 not so glossy as when first captured, were made 
 brighter in appearance by the application of water. 
 
PARRS AND SMOLTS 37 
 
 I carried them immediately to Barnes, the residence 
 of Mr. Edward Cooke ; and having selected the 
 most silvery amongst them, I begged him to paint 
 it as faithfully as possible ; and after he had so 
 done I desired that, during my absence, he would 
 remove the scales from the upper half of the same 
 Jish, and paint it again as it should appear after 
 such removal. The result will be seen in the 
 accompanying lithograph, with the execution of 
 which 1 did not at all interfere. It proves what has 
 been asserted as to change of outward appearance. 
 
 All the fry, however, which go to sea at this 
 period, have not their silver scales perfected ; but 
 many have the bars and spots faintly indicated, as 
 represented in the lithograph (No. 3) introduced 
 a few pages forward, — another fish selected from 
 the same lot ; and although the majority of these 
 little emigrants go to the sea in large masses about 
 the first swells of the river in May, yet I have no 
 doubt but that some are continually going down 
 to the salt water in every month of the year, — not 
 with their silver scales on, but in the parr state. 
 I say not with their silver scales, because no clear 
 smolt is ever seen in the Tweed during the summer 
 and autumnal months. As the spawning season 
 in the Tweed extends over a period of six months, 
 some of the fry must be necessarily some months 
 older than others, — a circumstance which favours 
 my supposition, that they are constantly descend- 
 ing to the sea ; and it is only a supposition, as I 
 have no proof of the fact, and have never heard 
 it suggested by any one. But if I should be right, 
 it will clear up some things that cannot well be 
 
38 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 accounted for in any other mode. For instance, 
 in the month of March, 1841, Mr. Yarrell informs 
 me that he found a young salmon in the London 
 market, and which he has preserved in spirits, 
 measuring only fifteen inches long, and weighing 
 only fifteen ounces. And again, another the follow- 
 ing April, sixteen and a half inches long, weighing 
 twenty-four ounces. Now, one of these appeared 
 two months and the other a month before the 
 usual time when the fry congregate. According 
 to the received doctrine, therefore, these animals 
 were two of the migration of the preceding year ; 
 and thus it must necessarily follow that they 
 remained in salt water, one ten and the otlier 
 eleven months, with an increase of growth so small 
 as to be irreconcilable with the proof we have of 
 the growth of the gilse and salmon during their 
 residence in salt water. 
 
 Having now sent these tiresome little creatures 
 to sea, it remains to me to trace their progress till 
 they become salmon. 
 
 A few, but a very few of these smolts, return 
 from the sea to the Tweed as early as the month 
 of May ; that is, during the same month in which 
 the general emigration takes place : they then 
 weigh from a pound to two pounds each, and are 
 long and thin, and very forked in the tail. They 
 keep on ascending the river during the summer 
 months, the new-comers increasing afterwards about 
 a pound and a half a month on an average, but much 
 less in their very young state. The most plentiful 
 season in the Tweed, if there is a flood, is about 
 St. Boswell's Fair, namely, the 18th of July, at 
 
GRILSE 39 
 
 which period they weigh from four to six pounds ; 
 and those which leave the salt for the fresh water 
 at the end of September, and during the month of 
 October, sometimes come up the river of the weight 
 of ten and eleven pounds, and even more. All 
 these fish are known in the North by the name 
 of gilses, but by the London fishmongers are 
 generally, I believe, called salmon peel. Some of 
 them are much larger than small salmon ; but by 
 the term gilse I mean young salmon that have only 
 been once to sea. They are easily distinguished 
 from salmon by their countenance and less plump 
 appearance, and particularly by the diminished size 
 of the part of the body next to the tail, which also 
 is more forked than that of the salmon. They re- 
 main in fresh water all the autumn and winter, 
 and spawn at the same time with the salmon, and in 
 the manner which I have already described. They 
 return also to sea in the spring with the salmon. 
 It seems worthy of remark, that salmon are often- 
 times smaller than moderate -sized gilse ; but 
 although such gilse have only been once to sea, yet 
 the period they have remained there must have 
 exceeded the two short visits made by the small 
 salmon, and hence their superiority of size. 
 
 When these fish return to the river from their 
 second visit to the sea, they are called salmon, and 
 are greatly altered in their shape and appearance ; 
 the body is more full, and the tail less forked, and 
 their countenance assumes a different aspect. 
 
 It has formerly been suggested that the gilse 
 was a separate species from the salmon ; but they 
 have been proved to be one and the same by very 
 
40 
 
 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 conclusive testimony. Many years ago, when I 
 was on the Tweed, two were put in a salt pond by 
 Mr. Berry : one of them was found dead, and 
 supposed to have killed himself by rushing against 
 a stake ; the other was taken out some time after- 
 wards a complete salmon. But I shall mention a 
 recent experiment, made by a tacksman on the Duke 
 of Sutherland's salmon fishings on the river Shin. 
 
 In the course of February and March, 1841, he 
 took a considerable number of gilses, and marked 
 them with wire in various places sufficiently efficacious 
 to be again recognised. Of these, ten were retaken 
 in the course of the months of June and July 
 following, by which time they had assumed the 
 size and all the distinctive marks of the genuine 
 salmon. The following table shows when each 
 was taken, and its weight at that time, and its 
 increased weight when recaptured. In addition to 
 the fact which it establishes of the identity of the 
 gilse with the salmon, it shows also how rapid the 
 growth of the gilse is in his process of becoming a 
 salmon : — 
 
 When marked. 
 
 When retaken. 
 
 Weight of 
 Gilse. 
 
 Weight of 
 Salmon. 
 
 
 
 lbs. 
 
 lbs. 
 
 February 18 
 
 June 23 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 11 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 9 
 
 18 
 
 25 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 18 
 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 13 
 
 18 
 
 28 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 March 4 
 
 July 1 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 14 
 
 4 
 
 10 
 
 12 
 
 18 
 
 4 
 
 27 
 
 4 
 
 12 
 
GROWTH OF GRILSE 41 
 
 The above disparity of growth is easily accounted 
 for, since it is not probable that these fish, which 
 were caught and returned to the river in February, 
 went down to the sea before March, if, indeed, so 
 early : of course they would not increase in growth 
 in fresh water, though they would mend somewhat 
 in weight after their weak spawning state. Setting 
 these, therefore, aside, it appears that the growth of 
 the last four fish averaged two pounds each per 
 month when they were at sea ; and if they remained 
 in the river after the 4th of March, as it is reason- 
 able to suppose they did, then their growth must 
 have been proportionally greater. 
 
 For the scientific and successful experiments of 
 Mr. Shaw, the Keith Medal was awarded to him 
 for the biennial period of 1838 and 1839 : it is of 
 gold, and of the intrinsic value of sixty guineas. 
 
 The importance of his proof is immense ; for the 
 parrs not having been before considered to be young 
 salmon, have not been hitherto protected by the 
 law beyond the short period in which they assume 
 their silver dress, and thus have been killed by 
 hundreds of thousands, by the multitude of boys 
 and men who angle in the various tributary burns 
 and rivers that pour their waters into the Tweed. ' 
 
 Mr. John Wilson says, in his evidence before 
 the Select Committee, taken in 1824 — "1 have 
 seen from my own window upwards of seventy or 
 eighty people angling within the distance of half a 
 mile on the Tweed." Then there is the Tiviot; 
 the Adder, comprising the White Adder and Black 
 Adder ; the Till, the Eden, the Kale, the Oxnam, 
 the Jed, the Ale, the Rule, the Slitrig, the Gala, 
 
42 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 the Carter, the Borthwick, the Leader, the Ettrick, 
 the Yarrow, the Lyne, the Eddlestone, the Manor, 
 the Quhair, with many smaller burns and mountain 
 streams. In floods salmons enter and spawn in most 
 of these rivers, if not in all of them ; at the subsid- 
 ing of the waters some of them fall back, and some 
 are left nearly dry, and easily captured. It is 
 ordained by nature that the parr should in these 
 cases impregnate such ova as have been deposited, 
 perhaps because he is not so easily discovered, or 
 such an object of attraction as a salmon. What an 
 ample space the above streams present for the 
 destruction of the fry ! And not only are they 
 kiUed by the rod, each urchin, perhaps, taking eight 
 or ten dozen a day, but by various other means in 
 a wholesale manner. 
 
 Mr. William Laidlaw, ^ a gentleman mentioned 
 with so much merited praise in the best biographical 
 work extant, perhaps, who formerly lay under the 
 general misapprehension regarding the parr, writes 
 to me as follows : — 
 
 "So great was the number of parrs in the rivulet 
 of Douglas Burn, that I have seen five dozen taken 
 out of one small pool with aid of a pair of old 
 blankets ; and I and my playfellows, when boys, 
 have committed great havoc by damming up one 
 of the streams, where the rivulet happened to divide 
 into two, and laying the other as dry as we could. 
 The parrs were so numerous, that we used to make 
 the water white with the milt of those we killed. 
 When the water was lowering, the poor creatures, 
 
 1 I am greatly indebted to this gentleman for his communications 
 respecting T. Purdie. 
 
DESTRUCTION OF PARRS 43 
 
 instead of swimming downwards, where they would 
 have had a chance of safety, all kept swattering 
 upwards, and we actually killed them by hundreds. 
 But a fact, which I could not account for, was this, 
 — namely, that they appeared to come up the 
 rivulet during the early part of the summer only ; 
 but after the month of September there were very 
 few to be seen, and not any in October ; and when 
 this discovery relative to the parr was first made, 
 and / think it was from yourself I had it twenty 
 years ago, I used to notice that there were scarcely 
 any parrs in the Tweed during the winter months/' 
 
 So far Mr. Laidlaw. The disappearance of the 
 parrs from the burns is easily accounted for. They 
 would naturally avoid the cold shallow rivulets, 
 and fall into the deep and warmer water of the 
 Tweed during the winter months, where they could 
 not be well discovered, or be so subject to the 
 action of torrents. 
 
 Besides the destruction of the fry in this and 
 similar modes, we must add the thousands that are 
 illegally taken at mill-dams, and the injury which 
 the long net occasions in sweeping over the spawn- 
 ing beds. In the evidence taken before a Committee 
 of the House of Commons in 1824 or 1825, there 
 was an attempt to prove that no harm could be 
 done in this latter manner, as there was no weight, 
 but only a rope attached at the bottom of the net. 
 This is very true ; but the rope itself is sufficiently 
 heavy to sink to the bottom, and disturb the gravel 
 of the spawning beds, which, being newly raked up, 
 and put together by the salmon, must be easily 
 displaced. It is fair, however, to observe, that the 
 
44 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 long net is not used in the generality of such places 
 as fish commonly spawn in. 
 
 To these sweeping modes of destruction we must 
 add the great havoc committed by the eels and 
 trout, which devour the spawn ; and when we 
 consider the peculiar powers and habits of the eel, 
 a fish most abundant in the Tweed, we must at 
 once see that a ruinous devastation is occasioned 
 by these creatures, which bore through the gravel. 
 
 Strongly, however, as all these causes operate, 
 there is one more destructive than all of them put 
 together ; namely, the effect of the furious spates 
 which are continually taking place in the Tweed, 
 and which put the channel in motion, and often 
 sweep away the spawning beds altogether. 
 
 Before the hills were so well drained as at 
 present, this was not so much the case ; as the 
 mosses gave out the water gradually, and the river 
 continued full for a long time, to the great solace 
 of the rod fisher. But now every hill is scored with 
 little rills which fall into the burns, which suddenly 
 become rapid torrents and swell the main river, 
 which dashes down to the ocean with tremendous 
 violence. Amidst the great din, you may hear the 
 ratthng of the channel stones, as they are borne 
 downwards. Banks are torn away ; new deeps are 
 hollowed out, and old ones filled up ; so that great 
 changes continually take place in the bed of the 
 river either for the better or the worse. 
 
 When we contemplate these things, we must 
 at once acknowledge the vast importance of Mr. 
 Shaw's experiments ; for if ponds were constructed 
 up the Tweed at the general expense, after the 
 
ARTIFICIAL REARING SUGGESTED 45 
 
 model of those made by him, all these evils would 
 be avoided. The fry might be .produced in any 
 quantities by artificial impregnation ; be preserved, 
 and turned into the great river at the proper period 
 of migration. There might at first be some diffi- 
 culty in procuring food for them ; but this would 
 easily be got over. At a very small expense, and 
 with a few adult salmon, more fry may be sent to 
 sea annually than the whole produce of the river at 
 present amounts to, after having encountered the 
 sweeping perils I have mentioned.^ 
 
 Proprietors should call meetings for this purpose ; 
 and parrs, hitherto so called, should be protected 
 by law. Let all who have an interest in the river 
 consider the wisdom of mutual accommodation. 
 The proprietors of the lower part of the river are 
 dependent on the upper ones for the protection of 
 the spawning fish and the fry ; and they on their 
 part depend upon the lower ones for the strict 
 adherence to the weekly close time. 
 
 I think this method of artificial impregnation 
 would prove somewhat more successful than the 
 method said to be adopted by the Chinese, which, 
 for the better enlightening of barbaric nations, I 
 will transmit to posterity, from the authority of 
 " The EngUsh Chronicle " of the 25th July, 1839 :— 
 
 1 It is melancholy to record that at this day, when artificial propaga- 
 tion is so well understood and conducted successfully on so many 
 Scottish rivers throughout the whole length of the Tweed, there is 
 only one small hatchery, at Lord Polwarth's residence, Mertoun. The 
 impunity with which poaching is permitted to prevail, both in the sea 
 during the annual close time and on the spawning grounds of the upper 
 reaches, discourages proprietors from undertaking this beneficial 
 enterprise. — Ed. 
 
46 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 " The Chinese have taken a fancy to hatch fish 
 under fowls. For this purpose they collect from 
 rivers and ponds the gelatinous matter which con- 
 tains the eggs of fish, put it into vessels, and sell it 
 to the proprietors of ponds. When the hatching 
 season arrives, a fowl's egg is emptied of its usual 
 contents, and this gelatinous matter is put in. The 
 entrance is hermetically sealed, and the egg is then 
 put under a hen. After some days it is opened, 
 and placed in a vessel of water heated by the 
 sun ; it is kept in the rays until the little fish 
 become strong enough to bear the external tem- 
 perature." 
 
 Not to derogate from the ingenuity of the 
 celestial nation, I have no doubt but that fowls 
 may be dispensed with, and that a river may be 
 stocked with any sort of common fish by trans- 
 mitting the ova and milt amalgamated, embedded 
 in gravel, and placed in a vessel filled up with 
 water. One of our best fish, namely trout, cannot 
 be sent alive even to a moderate distance. It is 
 worth while, therefore, to try the experiment. 
 According to a letter published by the late Sir 
 Anthony Carhsle, something nearly approaching 
 to this was done by him in the river Wandle about 
 thirty years ago. He then imbedded the ova of 
 the salmon in the gravel without the milt of the 
 male, leaving the river trout to impregnate them : 
 he asserts that they did so, and that the river was 
 afterwards full of the fry so produced. It would 
 be interesting to put the salmon eggs properly 
 impregnated with the milt of the same species in 
 one of our best streams, — in the upper parts of the 
 
SIZE OF TWEED SALMON 47 
 
 Test, for instance, — and to investigate the result 
 from year to year. 
 
 Salmon keep on increasing in size till they 
 attain a prodigious weight, even up to eighty-three 
 pounds ; which, says Mr. Yarrell, is the largest 
 fish on record, and was exhibited at Mr. Grove's, 
 fishmonger, in Bond Street, about the season of 
 1821. This was a female fish ; and, from the 
 observation of the same eminent authority, those 
 fish which attain a very unusual size have always 
 proved to be females. 
 
 But the devices and intelligence of fishermen 
 have increased as salmon have become more 
 marketable, so that few escape all the perils that 
 beset them long enough to gain any considerable 
 size ; and we no more hear, as in days of yore, 
 of a fish being exchanged, weight for weight, for 
 a Highland wedder, and the butcher having to 
 pay. The salmon in the Tweed are no longer 
 large; far from it. During my experience of 
 twenty years I never caught one there above 
 thirty pounds, and very few above twenty.^ I 
 have remarked that the largest fish are found in 
 the most considerable rivers, which I attribute to 
 the superior chance of longevity where fish have a 
 greater scope for escape. 
 
 It appears, from the above facts and observa- 
 
 ^ In this respect there seems to have been an improvement in 
 Tweed salmon, probably owing to the protection of kelts. In 1873 a 
 salmon of 57 lb. was taken in the Tweed, one of 57^ lb. in 1886, 
 one of 55 lb. in 1889, and one of 51^ lb. in 1892. Fish of 40 lb. 
 and upwards are taken with the rod nearly every autumn, and from 
 30 lb. to 35 lb. is nothing unusual, especially in the lower reaches. 
 —Ed. 
 
48 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 tions, that salmon are not uniform in their habits. 
 Some come into the river many months before 
 they are in a spawning condition, and remain in it 
 till the time comes for depositing their spawn ; 
 getting worse in condition every day they are in 
 fresh water, and thus, as it should seem, doing 
 unnecessary penance all that time. Others, again, 
 remain in the sea, thriving all the while, and do 
 not enter the rivers till their spawn is nearly 
 matured. I have said above that I believe the 
 smolts singly, or in small quantities, are continually 
 falling down to the sea in nearly if not quite every 
 month of the year, according to their age ; but 
 that they congregate, and go there in vast shoals 
 in the beginning of the month of May. There 
 seems to be a corresponding habit as to the time 
 of their return ; for they come back at first in 
 small quantities, and periodically in the spring and 
 summer months, and in July they arrive in vast 
 quantities ; and this sudden abundance consists, 
 I think, of the fry that have assembled and gone 
 to sea the preceding May, whilst the others that 
 ascend at different periods are the smolts that go 
 down in the same manner. 
 
 The accompanying Uthograph represents a fry 
 in the state when the silver scales just begin to 
 appear, and soften the bars and spots, — the inter- 
 mediate state between the summer parr and smolt. 
 
 As to the belief that salmon return to the same 
 river in which they are bred, I hold it to be a well- 
 founded one. But I think it is not invariably the 
 case ; and that should their native river be too low 
 for their ascent, owing to an extraordinary drought. 
 
/ 
 
 
IMPRISONED SALMON 49 
 
 and continue so when the period of spawning 
 approaches, most of the salmon wiU seek and 
 ascend some other river that may be contiguous to 
 it, whose volume of water is more abundant. Thus 
 many Tweed salmon have been caught in the Forth, 
 and a very successful fishing there is generally 
 followed by a scarce one in the Tweed. 
 
 It appears that salmon will Uve, and even breed, 
 in fresh water, without ever making a visit to the 
 sea. Mr. Lloyd, in his interesting and entertaining 
 work on the Field Sports of the North of Europe, 
 says, " Near Katrinebergh there is a valuable fishery 
 for salmon, ten or twelve thousand of these fish 
 being taken annually. These salmon are bred in 
 a lake, and in consequence of cataracts cannot 
 have access to the sea.^ They are small in size, 
 and inferior in flavour. The year 1820 furnished 
 21,817." 
 
 Mr. George Dormer of Stone MiUs, in the 
 parish of Bridport, put a female of the salmon 
 tribe, which measured twenty inches in length, and 
 was caught by him at his mill-dam, into a small 
 well, where it remained twelve years, and at length 
 died in the year 1842. The well measured only 
 5 feet by 2 feet 4 inches, and there was only 15 
 
 1 This is the so-called land-locked salmon of Lake Wenern, and the 
 ouananiche of some American waters. They are specifically in- 
 distinguishable from Salmo solar, but it is now generally admitted to 
 be a fallacy to consider them ^' land-locked." No cataract could 
 prevent a fish descending to the sea, though it might bar his return. 
 The true explanation is that salmon are fresh-water fish, probably 
 descended from robust individuals of the trout species. They resort to 
 the sea for food which they cannot find in the rivers, but when they 
 can satisfy their appetites in vast and profound sheets of fresh water, 
 there is no object in going further. — Ed. 
 
 E 
 
50 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 inches depth of water. In this confined spot she 
 remained up to Saturday the 12th of last month, 
 when death put a period to her existence. This 
 fish has been the means of great attraction since 
 the time she was mentioned in the newspapers, 
 which was about five years ago, many persons 
 having come a great distance to see her ; and those 
 who have witnessed her actions (of whom there are 
 many in the city of Exeter) can bear testimony to 
 the truth of the following statement : — " She would 
 come to the top of the water and take meat off a 
 plate, and would devour a quarter of a pound of 
 lean meat in less time than a man could eat it ; she 
 would also allow Mr. Dormer to take her out of 
 the water, and, when put into it again, she would 
 immediately take meat from his hands, or would 
 even bite the finger if presented to her. Some 
 time since a little girl teased her, by presenting the 
 finger and then withdrawing it, till at last she 
 leaped a considerable height above the water, and 
 caught her by the said finger, which made it bleed 
 profusely : by this leap she threw herself completely 
 out of the water into the court. At one time a 
 young duckling got into the well to solace himself 
 in his favourite element, when she immediately 
 seized him by the leg, and took him under water ; 
 but the timely interference of Mr. Dormer pre- 
 vented any further mischief than making a cripple 
 of the young duck. At another time a full-grown 
 drake approached the well, and put in his head to 
 take a draught of the water, when Mrs. Fish, seeing 
 a trespasser on her premises, immediately seized 
 the intruder by the bill, and a desperate struggle 
 
COLOUR VARIATION 51 
 
 ensued, which at last ended in the release of Mr. 
 Drake from the grasp of Mrs. Fish, and no sooner 
 freed than Mr. Drake flew off in the greatest 
 consternation and affright; since which time to 
 this day he has not been seen to approach the 
 well, and it is with great difficulty he can be 
 brought within sight of it. This fish lay in a 
 dormant state for ^ye months in the year, during 
 which time she would eat nothing, and was hke- 
 wise very shy." ^ 
 
 That salmon and some other fish assume in some 
 degree the colour of the channel they lie upon, from 
 whatever cause, is a circumstance pretty generally 
 admitted by those who have paid any attention to 
 the subject; and this, perhaps, is the reason why 
 fishermen tell you that they can distinguish the 
 salmon of one river from those of another con- 
 tiguous to it. Indeed, I myself could easily 
 distinguish the Isla from the Tay salmon by their 
 colours, when I rented fisheries on both those 
 rivers. This fact I thought so curious, that I had 
 some correspondence with my eminent friend Sir 
 David Brewster on the subject ; and at the Literary 
 and Philosophical Society of St. Andrews, Dr. 
 Gillespie read the following paper, entitled "Re- 
 collections of the Habits, Colours, and Suffisrings 
 of Fishes." 
 
 " ' My chief experience is with trouts, — such as 
 are found in our mountain lakes and streams ; and 
 
 WL it is mainly to these that my few recollections refer. 
 
 K Trouts seem to have a generic type, comprehending 
 
 I ' 
 
 ■ by]M 
 
 k 
 
 ^ This account seems to have been sent to a Devonshire newspaper 
 by Mr. Dormer himself ^ or some of his family. 
 
52 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 several apparently different species ; which difference, 
 however, in many cases, disappears when the cir- 
 cumstances under which they are viewed are the 
 same. I know a locality in Dumfriesshire, amidst 
 the hills of Queensberry, where three mountain 
 streams, all of different character, meet — the one 
 proceeding from a moss ; the other running over a 
 clear channelly bed ; and the third, from its clayey 
 banks and bottoms, exhibiting a milk-and-water 
 aspect, like the ' flavus Tiberis ' (or Albula) of Italy. 
 Now the trouts in all these streams were of the 
 same generic type ; but differed, notwithstanding, 
 in external appearance or colour. The moss race 
 were of the Roderick Dhu tint — aspect grim and 
 swarthy : the clear channel produced those of a 
 brightly-spotted appearance ; and the clay bottom 
 exhibited a correspondingly bluish race. Now, 
 you might convert the blue fish into bright, and 
 the bright again into black, by merely transferring 
 them into the corresponding streams. This often 
 took place, more or less, after what is called a 
 thunder plump, which falls partially, and is quite 
 local. I have seen one of these streams overflow- 
 ing its banks, and carrying all before it, whilst its 
 two mountain sisters remained calm and unmoved. 
 Upon the ebbing of this partial flood, the trouts in 
 the two conjoining streams immediately rush in 
 quest of food (particularly after a long drought) 
 into the other ; and, in less time than any one who 
 has not marked the fact could believe, they all 
 become of the same appearance. Upon returning 
 again into their native waters, they reassume their 
 former colour. Fill your basket with fish from all 
 
COLOUR VARIATION 53 
 
 the three streams, and in a Httle while that part of 
 the bodies which presses against the others wiU 
 exhibit the same appearance, whilst the other parts 
 will remain as before ; and hence the clouded aspect 
 they exhibit. I once threw a trout, by accident, 
 from a clear channel stream over my head into a 
 peat -moss pool behind me, which had no com- 
 munication with the running water ; and after a 
 few months I caught him as black and portly as 
 possible. Such facts certainly prove, to my own 
 satisfaction at least, that trouts do not vary in 
 original and indelible type so much as is generally 
 imagined. In regard to what follows upon the 
 changing colours of fish when in the act of dying, 
 I cannot speak with the same certainty ; but either 
 my eyes deceived me very much (and at the period 
 of life to which I refer they were pretty good), or I 
 observed the following phenomena : — I usually 
 killed my fish, not by breaking their necks, as is 
 now generally the method adopted, but by slapping 
 their heads against a stone, the edge of my shoe, or 
 the butt of my fishing-rod ; and even when a boy 
 I was sensible of some change which took place in 
 the colour of the dying victim. A kind of streamer, 
 or phosphorus fight, seemed to shoot along the quiver- 
 ing flesh, and only ceased with the fife of the trout. 
 In salmon I should think the fact is still more 
 manifest. The salmon fishery at the Eden afforded 
 me an accidental proof of this. Some summers 
 ago I was in the habit of bathing near the stakes 
 at ebb tide, when the salmon were removed from 
 the nets. I had a pleasure in walking into the 
 inside of the nets, and seeing the finely -shaped 
 
54 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 living salmon plunging about, and still in their 
 native element. Upon securing the fish, the men 
 were in the habit of giving them the coup de grace 
 on the forehead with a wooden mallet — analogous 
 to my fishing-rod butt ; and at each successive 
 stroke on the brain, the colours undulated away in 
 the most delicate and beautiful radiance. All this 
 is, indeed, exceedingly revolting to humanity, and 
 presents a tempting theme for the reprobation of 
 the poet and sentimentalist ; and yet I confess that 
 I cannot enter completely into this feeling, not 
 only from my enjoyment of, and relish for, the 
 sport of rod-fishing, but even from considerations 
 of a more legitimate bearing. I do not think that 
 cold-blooded animals suffer equally with warm- 
 blooded ; and my grounds for forming this opinion 
 I shall shortly state. I have often lost a trout 
 which had gorged my bait, and yet recaptured him 
 in a short time with the former hook deep fastened 
 in his stomach, and the broken line pending from 
 his jaws. I, for one, certainly should have had 
 little appetite to dine so soon after swallowing 
 a fork. I have seen a large trout enjoying 
 the amplitude of a clear pond with a couple of my 
 fly -hooks appended to his nose. Nay, I have 
 even witnessed him rising to a natural fly in this 
 situation, whilst, fisher -like, he caught a smaller 
 companion by the depending hook. Nature is 
 wonderfully benevolent to her children. The 
 absence of all kind of medical aid in the waters 
 seems to be fully compensated by the vis medicatrix 
 naturce — an old experienced practitioner, by whose 
 management the most severe wounds made by the 
 
DR. STARK'S EXPERIMENTS 55 
 
 pike upon the trout, and the grampus upon the 
 salmon, are safely and rapidly cured. I have 
 caught trouts, particularly in the neighbourhood 
 where pike harbour, in various states of mutilation, 
 yet seemingly in good health and spirits ; from all 
 which I infer that their physical sufferings are less 
 than we suppose, and that the quiverings which 
 they exhibit when dying are rather of a galvanic 
 (which the change of colour seems to countenance) 
 than of a convulsive or very painful character. It 
 is, at least, comfortable for those who have been 
 accessary in early life to much apparent suffering, 
 to find out afterwards that the suffering was more 
 apparent than real.' 
 
 " Sir David Brewster stated to the Society that 
 he had been led to consider this subject in con- 
 sequence of a correspondence with W. Scrope, 
 Esq., who had paid much attention to the change 
 of colour in fishes. Mr. Scrope was of opinion 
 that a real change of colour took place, if not 
 voluntarily, at least very quickly ; and he supported 
 his views by the following opinions of Mr. Yarrell 
 and Mr. Shaw : — 
 
 " ' An interesting account (says Mr. Yarrell) of 
 some experiments made by Dr. Stark, was pub- 
 lished in Jamieson's Edinburgh Journal for 1830, 
 page 327. It shows that the colour of stickle- 
 backs, and some other small fishes, is influenced 
 not only by the colour of the earthenware or other 
 vessel in which they are kept, but also modified by 
 the quantity of light to which they are exposed ; 
 becoming pale when placed in a white vessel in 
 darkness, even for a comparatively short time, and 
 
56 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 regaining their natural colour when placed in the 
 sun. From these circumstances, observed also in 
 some species of other genera, Dr. Stark is led to 
 infer that fishes possess, to a certain extent, the 
 power of accommodating their colour to the ground 
 or bottom of the waters in which they are found. 
 The final reason for this may be traced to the 
 protection such a power affords to secure them 
 from the attacks of their enemies, and exhibits 
 another beautiful instance of the care displayed by 
 Nature in the preservation of all her species. Dr. 
 Stark often observed that on a flat, sandy coast 
 the flounders were coloured so very much like the 
 sand, that, unless they moved, it was impossible to 
 distinguish them from the bottom on which they 
 lay.' 
 
 "Mr. Shaw, who has the charge of the salmon 
 cruive at Drumlanrig, has observed that the salmon 
 taken in it change their colour in consonance with 
 the turbid or refined state of the water. In the 
 experiments he has made with parr in diflerent- 
 coloured earthenware vessels, the change of colour 
 is perfected in the space of four minutes. If parr 
 is taken from the dark-coloured vessel, and put 
 immediately to the parr in the light-coloured one, 
 the diflerence of colour between the two fish will 
 be found strikingly observable. 
 
 "Mr. Scrope himself had observed that the 
 trout at Castle Combe are white in a chalky spate, 
 resuming their colour when the water clears ; and 
 that in all the rivers in which he had fished, the 
 fish are clear in a gravelly bottom, and dark in 
 that overhung with trees. All this he considered 
 
COLOUR VARIATION 57 
 
 as resulting from the same principle of preservation 
 by which the ptarmigan and alpine hares have 
 their colours changed with the approach of snow. 
 
 "Notwithstanding these distinct statements by 
 so many observers in whom confidence might be 
 placed, Sir David thought that the experiments 
 required to be repeated by persons acquainted with 
 those branches of physical optics with which the 
 phenomena were intimately allied. It is very easy 
 to explain why a fish may appear dark in a dark 
 vessel, and light in a coloured one ; and why it 
 should have a still different appearance when taken 
 out of both vessels and exposed to the light of 
 the sun. All bodies assume the colour of the light 
 which they reflect, and a brilliant light will develope 
 colours which are invisible in light of ordinary 
 intensity. As the peculiar colours of fishes depend 
 on the thickness or size of certain minute trans- 
 parent particles, it is not easy to understand how 
 the fish could voluntarily alter the size or thickness 
 of those particles, or how exposure to another 
 colour could permanently produce the same me- 
 chanical effect. If a fish is kept in mossy or muddy 
 water, it will doubtless absorb the colouring matter 
 which the water may contain ; but this is rather a 
 process of dyeing than one of physiological action. 
 The changes said to take place in the colour of 
 fishes when dying might arise from the drying of 
 their scales, which produces a change in all colours, 
 but particularly in those of thin films, which are 
 quite different when they are dry from what they 
 are when immersed in a fluid. 
 
 " A conversational discussion then took place, in 
 
58 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 which Professor Connell supported Dr. Gillespie's 
 views, and Dr. Reid those of Sir D. Brewster." 
 
 This subject is in such good hands, that I shall 
 not intrude any speculative observations of my 
 own. We have lately seen such wonderful effects 
 produced by the agency of light, that these things 
 are become less startling. 
 
 It is very certain that trouts and salmon are less 
 vivid in colour, and in fact more grey, when they 
 have been some time out of their element ; fish- 
 mongers throw water from time to time over their 
 fish, as well to preserve their colour as to keep 
 them fresh. I would recommend any one who 
 wishes to show his day's sport in the pink of 
 perfection, to keep his trouts in a wet cloth, so 
 that on his return home he may exhibit them to 
 his admiring friends, and extract from them the 
 most approved of epithets and exclamations, taking 
 the praise bestowed upon the fish as a particular 
 compliment to himself. 
 
 Since our writing the above remarks, I have 
 paid more attention to the subject, and am enabled 
 to state that in one particular part of the river 
 Chess, I have been in the habit of taking trouts of 
 a darker and greyer colour than those which I 
 captured in the other parts of this little stream ; 
 and, observing this to be invariably the case, I 
 desired my fisherman to scoop up some of the 
 channel with his landing net, which proved upon 
 inspection to be part of a stratum of black flint. 
 
 I can state farther, — what appears to me to be 
 altogether a curious circumstance. I had often 
 observed that the largest of those trout which 
 
COLOUR VARIATION 59 
 
 almost continually lay under the hides, which were 
 constructed in the stream and covered with boards 
 — being, in fact, large troughs open at the lower 
 end so as to admit the fish, and staked within so as 
 to preserve them from being poached out — were of 
 a very black colour : this arose, no doubt, from the 
 privation of hght. Sometimes I have seen them 
 lying on the shallows within a few yards of the 
 hide, where they still retained their black hue. I 
 caught with a minnow one of these dirty-looking 
 animals in the month of June last. He was not 
 only black in the back, so that he could be seen at 
 a considerable distance in the water, but was also 
 of a granulated inky cast on his sides and under- 
 neath : his resort was under a hide in comparative 
 darkness. He was not wasted, but of the same 
 proportions with his brighter companions. I con- 
 cluded, however, that from his African appearance 
 he would cut but a sorry figure at the table ; but 
 being about three-quarters of a pound, with no 
 promise of amendment, I bagged him notwith- 
 standing. As this was the first trout I took that 
 morning, he lay at the bottom of my basket. After 
 catching a few more lower down in the river, I 
 thought I would have another look at my swarthy 
 captive. I found him more praiseworthy than at 
 first ; for the upper side, which came in contact 
 with the other fish, became also bright, and of a 
 colour exactly similar to them, whilst the lower 
 side that touched the dry basket retained its 
 original dark hue ; but by turning that part of the 
 fish also towards the others, the whole trout after 
 a time became of a uniform bright colour, and was 
 
60 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 not in that respect dissimilar to the rest. I do not 
 mean to hint that the blackamoor was dyed by his 
 dead companions, because I think that a wet cloth 
 would have produced the same effect ; but it seems 
 extraordinary that the water, which had no effect 
 upon his colour when Hving in the river, should 
 have so decided a one after he was dead, — not 
 bringing back the original dye, but removing the 
 dark tint entirely. 
 
 But to return to my subject. 
 
 It is an undoubted fact that salmon ascend some 
 rivers much earUer than others. I have rented 
 fisheries both in Tweed and Tay, and to my own 
 knowledge the latter river is a month earlier than 
 the former. The Esk and the Eden both fall into 
 the Solway Firth, and are only separated at their 
 mouths by a sharp point of land ; yet, according 
 to the statement of Mr. Howard,^ a proprietor and 
 renter of the river Eden, new fish go up that river 
 three months before they ascend the Esk, and the 
 month of February is one of the greatest produce 
 there. The Irthing falls into the Eden, and may 
 be a fourth of its water ; but no salmon run up it, 
 except in spawning time. Now the waters of the 
 Eden may be presumed to be of a warmer tempera- 
 ture than those of the Esk, which latter is a brawl- 
 ing shallow stream, wider also than the Eden, 
 which is of a deeper and more tranquil nature. 
 
 Snow water is offensive to fish, and they ,will 
 not ascend a river whilst it is impregnated with it.^ 
 
 1 Evidence before Select Committee in 1825, p. 140. 
 
 2 This is erroneous, as acquaintance with some of the smaller, yet 
 very early, rivers in the north of Scotland will prove. The Thurso, 
 
EARLINESS OF THE NESS 
 
 61 
 
 Setting aside this impediment, and cceteris paribus, 
 I believe the season of all rivers depends upon the 
 temperature of their waters during the winter and 
 spring months. Thus the Ness is the forwardest 
 river in Scotland, which the following table of 
 monthly captures produced by Mr. Alexander 
 Fraser ^ will prove. 
 
 Statement of the Number of Salomon killed in the Ness 
 IN Twelve Years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Total 
 
 1811. 
 
 1811-12. 
 
 1812-13. 
 
 1813-14. 
 
 1814-15. 
 
 1815-16. 
 
 1816-17. 
 
 1817-18. 
 
 1818-19. 
 
 monthly 
 
 in Eight 
 
 Years. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 Sal. 
 
 Gr. 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 226 
 
 
 454 
 
 .. 
 
 391 
 
 
 240 
 
 .. 
 
 324 
 
 
 422 
 
 .. 
 
 128 
 
 
 220 
 
 
 2,405 
 
 1812. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 427 
 
 _ 
 
 565 
 
 
 354 
 
 
 204 
 
 
 370 
 
 
 1052 
 
 .. 
 
 388 
 
 
 194 
 
 
 3,554 
 
 Feb. 
 
 194 
 
 ,. 
 
 874 
 
 .. 
 
 289 
 
 
 296 
 
 
 298 
 
 
 696 
 
 .. 
 
 326 
 
 
 266 
 
 
 3,239 
 
 March 
 
 103 
 
 
 591 
 
 .. 
 
 522 
 
 
 164 
 
 .. 
 
 645 
 
 
 490 
 
 .. 
 
 270 
 
 .. 
 
 244 
 
 
 3,029 
 
 April 
 
 157 
 
 
 461 
 
 
 227 
 
 
 195 
 
 
 283 
 
 
 370 
 
 
 248 
 
 ,. 
 
 206 
 
 
 2,147 
 
 May 
 
 29 
 
 
 157 
 
 
 359 
 
 
 152 
 
 ,. 
 
 102 
 
 
 246 
 
 .. 
 
 34 
 
 
 48 
 
 
 1,127 
 
 June 
 
 6 
 
 39 
 
 18 
 
 27 
 
 m 
 
 180 
 
 7 
 
 20 
 
 16 
 
 11 
 
 40 
 
 
 10 
 
 
 4 
 
 
 170 
 
 July 
 
 25 
 
 211 
 
 38 
 
 208 
 
 21 
 
 263 
 
 51 
 
 97 
 
 40 
 
 164 
 
 57 
 
 184 
 
 12 
 
 147 
 
 9 
 
 84 
 
 253 
 
 Aug. 
 
 236 
 
 1361 
 
 318 
 
 700 
 
 221 
 
 710 
 
 292 
 
 186 
 
 187 
 
 406 
 
 604 
 
 340 
 
 260 
 
 286 
 
 74 
 
 240 
 
 2,192 
 
 Sept. 
 
 77 
 
 482 
 
 74 
 
 169 
 
 15 
 
 97 
 
 21 
 
 142 
 
 18 
 
 126 
 
 178 
 
 187 
 
 19 
 
 170 
 
 28 
 
 120 
 
 430 
 
 1480 
 
 2093 
 
 3550 
 
 1104|2468 
 
 1250 
 
 1622 
 
 435 
 
 2283 
 
 707 
 
 4155 
 
 711 
 
 1695 
 
 603 
 
 1293 
 
 444 
 
 18,546 
 
 1819-1820 
 1820-1821 
 1821-1822 
 1822-1823 
 
 Sal. 
 
 1215 
 
 1806 
 
 710 
 
 344 
 
 Now it must be observed that the Ness never 
 freezes, even with the most intense frost. In the 
 year 1807, when the thermometer at Inverness 
 was from 23 to 30 and even 40 degrees below the 
 freezing point, it made no impression upon the 
 river or the lake. "The Ness (says Mr. Fraser) 
 
 which is quite as early as the Ness^ depends for its volume almost 
 entirely on melted snow, and so do the best rivers in Norway. — Ed. 
 1 Evidence before Select Committee in 1825, p. 42. 
 
62 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 was always privileged earlier than any river in 
 Scotland from this cause ; ^ and it will be evident 
 that the salmon taken in December and January 
 are the most valuable produce : for though they 
 appear to be only one third of the total number, 
 yet from their size they constitute more than half 
 the weight." 
 
 The most forward rivers in Ireland, I am in- 
 formed by the London fishmongers, and from 
 other sources, are those on the western coast. In 
 England, perhaps the Severn produces the finest 
 salmon during the winter months ; and the Lord 
 Viscount Clive, proprietor of a salmon fishery in 
 the Severn, near Poole Quay, says ^ the best fish 
 are commonly taken there in November, December, 
 and January, though they are not numerous, and 
 that in the Dovey and Tivy, two rivers with which 
 he is well acquainted, the salmon are always in the 
 best season at the period when the Severn salmon 
 are in the worst condition. 
 
 But if salmon prefer the warmest rivers in the 
 winter, they spawn earliest in those that are most 
 cold. Thus in the shallow mountain streams which 
 pour into the Tay nearer its sources (I do not 
 mean such as may issue from lochs), the fish spawn 
 much earlier than those in the main bed of the 
 river. The late John Crerar, head fisherman and 
 forester to the Duke of Atholl, wrote thus in his 
 manuscript : — 
 
 1 The Thurso and Helmsdale freeze very readily, yet they are fully 
 as early as the Ness. It is no uncommon thing to take fish with the 
 fly in these rivers after thick ice has been poled off the pools. — Ed. 
 2 Minutes of Evidence taken in 1825, &c. p. 14. 
 
VALUE OF TWEED FISHINGS 63 
 
 "There are two kinds of creatures that I am 
 well acquainted with, — the one a land animal, the 
 other a water one : the red deer, and the salmon. 
 In October the deer ruts, and the salmon spawns. 
 The deer begins soonest, high up amongst the 
 hills, particularly in frosty weather ; so does the 
 salmon begin to spawn earher in frosty weather 
 than in soft. The master hart would keep all the 
 other harts from the hind, if he could ; and the 
 male salmon would keep all the other males from 
 the female, if he was able." 
 
 The gross rental of the salmon fishings in Tweed 
 is very considerable ; but has varied very much in 
 amount from time to time, according to the plenty 
 or scarcity of fish. Mr. John Wilson ^ states, that 
 during the seven years previous to 1824 it averaged 
 12,000/. a year ; but in that year only about 10,000/. 
 With the present rental I am unacquainted. 
 
 "The fishings, as regards their relative value, 
 may be divided into the following classes : — The 
 first comprehends the short distance from the 
 mouth of the river to Berwick Bridge, where alone 
 there are probably a greater number of salmon 
 captured than in all the remainder of the river. 
 From Berwick Bridge to Norham, to which place 
 the tide reaches, may be considered the second 
 class : as far as this place the net and coble only 
 are in use. From Norham to Coldstream Bridge 
 the fishings are of still less value ; and here, besides 
 the net and coble, the various modes of fishing 
 practised in the upper parts of the river are also in 
 B use — rod fishing, setting, leistering, cairn, hanging, 
 
 H 1 Minutes of Evidence, &c. in 1824, p. 9. 
 
64 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 and straik nets. From Coldstream to the Bridge 
 of Kelso the net and coble are used only par- 
 tially in floods ; and on INIondays, says Mr. 
 Houy, when, by the cessation of the lower fishings 
 on Sunday, the salmon get further up, I have seen 
 from 100 to 500 salmon and gilses caught at Kelso 
 in the morning by the net and coble. From Kelso 
 to the higher districts of the river the principal 
 
 modes of fishing are by the rod, leister, cairn and 
 straik net." 
 
 When fish are ascending the river the cairn net 
 is very destructive. In the parts of the river most 
 favourable for placing it a cairn is built, as in the 
 vignette.^ This projection into the current makes 
 the water comparatively still and easy below ; and 
 salmon in travelling naturally take to it, as finding 
 there some rehef to the labour of ascending. They 
 pass between the net and the shore ; and en- 
 
 1 This mode of fishing, like leistering and " burning the water/' is 
 now illegal. — Ed. 
 
THE SALMON TROUT 65 
 
 deavouring to get forwards at the point of the 
 cairn become entangled in the net, and are taken 
 in great quantities. 
 
 THE SALMON TROUT 
 
 Salmo Trutta, Linn. 
 
 This fish is called by different names in various 
 localities, — white trout, phinock, sea trout, whitling, 
 hirliiig. It is little inferior to the salmon in flavour ; 
 and being less rich, is I presume more wholesome. 
 It is distinguished, says Mr. Yarrell, by the gill- 
 cover being intermediate in its form between that 
 of the salmon, and grey or bull trout. The teeth 
 likewise are more slender, as well as more numerous 
 than in those fish. The tail is less forked than in 
 salmon of the same age, and smaller in proportion, 
 but becomes ultimately square at the end. 
 
 It is found in most, if not in all salmon rivers ; 
 but it is now very scarce in the Tweed, which I 
 attribute to the spates that are become more 
 sudden and violent in that river than formerly, 
 owing to a more complete drainage of the moun- 
 tains and adjoining lands ; for these fish always 
 prefer the smaller and less turbulent streams. Like 
 the salmon, it remains in the river two years before 
 it puts on the migratory dress, and the males also 
 shed their milt at eighteen months old, similar to 
 the parr (so-called) of a corresponding age. The 
 orange fin, for so the fry of the sea trout is called, 
 so much resembles the common river trout, that it 
 is with very great difficulty it can be distinguished 
 from it. Like the gilse, it returns to the river the 
 
 F 
 
66 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 summer of its spring migration, weighing about a 
 pound and a half upon an average. It afterwards 
 increases about a pound and a half a year ; but is 
 seldom seen above six or seven pounds, though it 
 probably attains to a much greater weight. 
 
 By the aid of the cruive, Mr. Shaw traced this 
 fish from the orange fin of three ounces to the 
 hirUng or whitling, up to the sea trout of seven 
 pounds ; and he has now a specimen in his posses- 
 sion exhibiting the four several marks he had put 
 on it in the course of its annual migrations. At 
 the size of six pounds the central rays of the tail 
 were considerably increased in length, so much so 
 in the males that their tails became actually 
 rounded : the fish altogether at this time loses a 
 great deal of its former elegance. The tails of the 
 females of a corresponding age are more square, 
 and their general shape is more sUm. 
 
 These fish may be crossed with salmon ; I mean 
 that by artificial impregnation hybrids may be thus 
 produced. Mr. Shaw says in a letter to me, dated 
 November 25th, 1840 : — " I put some of your sug- 
 gestions regarding the ova of the salmon, and the 
 common trout, sea trout, and salmon, into practice 
 about a month ago, and shall let you know the 
 result." The following year I had the pleasure of 
 a letter from him, dated October 14th, 1841, saying 
 that " The hybrids which I produced by artificial 
 impregnation last autumn are all in a very healthy 
 state, the cross not having in the slightest degree 
 affected their constitution. Those produced between 
 the salmon and the salmon trout {Sahno Trutta) 
 appear to partake more of the external markings. 
 
THE BULL TROUT 
 
 67 
 
 silvery coating, and elegance of form of the parr 
 (young salmon) than any of the others. Those 
 produced between the salmon and common trout 
 {Salvio Fario), and between the common trout 
 and salmon trout, have in every respect more the 
 appearance of the common trout than the former." 
 Some have imagined that the whitUng or hirling 
 are the young of the bull trout. But this is a 
 mistake, as the hirling abounds in the Annan, 
 where the bull trout is very rarely seen ; and also in 
 the Nith, where Mr. Shaw has never been able to 
 discover one of the other species. Lord Home 
 likewise, whom I consider the very best practical 
 authority, says, " The whitling of the Tweed is the 
 salmon trout, and not the young bull trout, which 
 now goes by the name of trout simply." 
 
 THE GREY, BULL TROUT, or ROUND 
 
 TAIL 
 
 Salmo Eriox, Linn. 
 
 "The grey trout," says Mr. Yarrell, "is dis- 
 tinguished from the salmon and salmon trout by 
 several specific pecuUarities. The gill-cover differs 
 from them decidedly in form, and the teeth are 
 longer and stronger." The tail grows square at an 
 earlier period than in the salmon ; and the central 
 caudal rays continuing to elongate with age, the 
 whole tail, originally concave, eventually becomes 
 convex, and from thence it has been called the 
 round tail The elongation of the under jaw is 
 peculiar to the males only, and is less than in the 
 salmon. The scales also are less, the shoulders 
 
68 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 thicker, and the tail more muscular. In short, it is 
 altogether a more thick and powerful fish than the 
 salmon, and consequently gives the angler more 
 sport ; but to the epicure it gives less, as it is in- 
 ferior in flavour and colour, and if not very fresh 
 from the sea its flesh is short and woolly. It is 
 very much the colour of the salmon, but tinted 
 with grey or brown spots. 
 
 These fish are found in many salmon rivers, but 
 not in all. It is very abundant in the Tweed, which 
 it visits principally at two seasons ; in the spring 
 about the month of May, and again in the month 
 of October, when the males are very plentiful ; but 
 the females are scarce till about the beginning 
 or middle of November. With salmon it is the 
 reverse, as their females leave the sea before the 
 males. The bull trout is also more regular in his 
 habits than the salmon, for the fishermen can cal- 
 culate almost to a day when the large black male 
 trouts will leave the sea. The foul fish rise eagerly 
 at the fly, but the clean ones by no means so. 
 They weigh from two to twenty-four pounds, and 
 occasionally, I presume, but very rarely indeed, 
 more. The largest I ever heard of was taken in 
 the Hallowstell fishing water at the mouth of the 
 Tweed, in April, 1840, and weighed twenty- three 
 pounds and a half ^ 
 
 The heaviest bull trout I ever encountered my- 
 self weighed sixteen pounds, and I had a long and 
 severe contest with his majesty. He was a clean 
 fish, and I hooked him in a cast in Mertoun water 
 
 1 Instances of bull trout much heavier than this have been recorded 
 in the Tay and other northern rivers. — Ed. 
 
'^ 
 
LARGE BULL TROUT 69 
 
 called the Willow Bush, not in the mouth, but in 
 the dorsal fin. Brethren of the craft, guess what 
 sore work I had with him ! He went here and 
 there with apparent comfort and ease to his own 
 person, but not to mine. I really did not know 
 what to make of him. There never was such a 
 hector. I cannot say exactly how long I had him 
 on the hook ; it seemed a week at least. At length 
 John Haliburton, who was then my fisherman, 
 waded into the river up to his middle, and cleiked 
 him whilst he was hanging in the stream, and before 
 he was half beat. 
 
 Besides the three species I have mentioned, I 
 have sometimes, though very rarely, caught a fish 
 very similar in shape to the grey or bull trout, but 
 much cleaner, which the fishermen call a north- 
 country salmon. It is clearly not a bull trout, for 
 that fish is as well known in the Tweed as the 
 salmon itself. I have no doubt but that it is rightly 
 named, and a wanderer from the northern coasts. 
 
 I have also occasionally caught in the Tweed a 
 small silver fish, between a quarter and half a pound, 
 which seems of the salmon tribe ; its flesh is of a 
 pale pink, and good eating. In the river Isla I 
 have taken many of them with a net. 
 
 I have now given a brief account of all the fish 
 of the salmon tribe in the Tweed, except the Salmo 
 Fario, or common trout, which I do not profess to 
 treat of Much more has been said by naturalists 
 as to distinctive character and organisation. Who- 
 ever wishes for minute information on these points, 
 cannot do better than consult the new edition of 
 Mr. Yarrell's unrivalled work on British fishes — a 
 
70 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 gentleman to whom I feel much indebted for some 
 very liberal and scientific communications ; nor 
 must they omit to look into the pages of a most 
 highly entertaining and clever work lately pubhshed, 
 called " The Rod and the Gun." 
 
 I shall only add, that in allusion to the con- 
 sequence attributed to these beautiful fish in the 
 Tweed, and in consideration of the favourable 
 places for spawning in the upper parts of the river, 
 the Royal Burgh of Peebles wears for arms, — vert, 
 three salmon counter naiant in pale argent, with 
 the motto, " Contra nando incrementum." 
 
 In the arms of the city of Glasgow, and in those 
 of the ancient see, a salmon with a ring in its 
 mouth is said to record a miracle of St. Kentigern, 
 the founder of the see, and the first Bishop of 
 Glasgow. 
 
 " They report," says Spotswood, " of St. Kenti- 
 gern, that a lady of good place in the country, 
 having lost her ring as she crossed the river Clyde, 
 and her husband waxing jealous, as if she had 
 bestowed the same on one of her lovers, she did 
 mean herself unto Kentigern, entreating his help 
 for the safety of her honour ; and that he going to 
 the river after he had used his devotion, willed one 
 who was making to fish to bring the first fish he 
 caught, which was done. In the mouth of this fish 
 he found the ring, and, sending it to the lady, she 
 was thereby freed of her husband's suspicion." 
 
 The classical tale of Polycrates, says the very 
 clever author of " The Heraldry of Fish," related by 
 Herodotus a thousand years before the time of St. 
 Kentigern, is, perhaps, the earUest version of the 
 
FISH LEGENDS 
 
 71 
 
 fish and the ring, which has been often repeated 
 with variations. The ring, says Herodotus, was an 
 emerald set in gold, and beautifully engraved, the 
 work of Theodorus the Samian ; and this very ring, 
 Pliny relates, was preserved in the Temple of 
 Concord in Rome, to which it was given by the 
 Emperor Augustus. 
 
 In the Koran of Mahomet the legend of the 
 ring, and its recovery by means of a fish, is 
 introduced. ''Solomon entrusted his signet with 
 one of his concubines, which the Devil obtained 
 from her, and sat on the throne in Solomon's shape. 
 After forty days the Devil departed, and threw the 
 ring into the sea. The signet was swallowed by a 
 fish, which being caught and given to Solomon, the 
 ring was found in his belly, and thus he recovered 
 his kingdom." ^ 
 
 ^ Sale's Translation of the Koran. 
 
CHAPTER III 
 
 " Hostess. Say what beast, thou knave thou. 
 
 Falstaff. What beast ! Why, an otter. 
 
 Hostess. An otter. Sir John ! why an otter ? 
 
 Falstaff. Why, she's neither fish nor flesh. A man knows 
 not where to have her." 
 
 Before I enter upon the practical part of salmon 
 fishing, I will just say a few words about my 
 natural tendency to the sport, to the end that it 
 may be evident that my maxims are not drawn from 
 books, but originate in my own experience. 
 
 I declare, then, that I, Harry Otter, am by 
 nature a person of considerable aquatic propensities, 
 having been born under the sign of Aquarius, or 
 Pisces, — it matters not which. My delight in 
 water, however, has its limits, and extends only to 
 external applications : the placid amusement of 
 wading in a salmon river is very much to my taste 
 — quite captivating. Showers, and even storms, if 
 not of too long a continuance, are exceedingly 
 refreshing to my person ; but I must in candour 
 admit that the decisive action of a water-spout 
 may not possibly be so gratifying — ne quid niviis, 
 Macintosh's invention I consider as wholly uncalled 
 for, accounting it, as I do, an unpardonable intrusion 
 
Otter devouring a Salmon. 
 From a drawing by E. Laudseer, R.A. 
 
THE JOY OF WADING 75 
 
 to place a solution of Indian-rubber between the 
 human body and a refreshing element. It is like 
 taking a shower-bath under shelter of an umbrella. 
 
 Thus far I can extend ; but desire me to drink 
 water by itself, and I am your very humble servant. 
 Had I been at a symposium of brandy and the said 
 vapid element with that worthy Magnus Troil, he 
 should not have drunk all the brandy himself, and 
 put me off with the water, as he is recorded to have 
 done to his very simple friend. I beg to say that I 
 am not one of those two thousand patients who 
 have been relieved by a water cure, administered by 
 James Wilson, Esq., physician to his Serene High- 
 ness the Prince of Nassau, as advertised. Internally, 
 in its pure state, I totally discard it. But I like the 
 society of fish ; and as they cannot with any con- 
 venience to themselves visit me on dry land, it 
 becomes me in point of courtesy to pay my respects 
 to them in their own element. 
 
 Next to wading in water, comes, I think, the 
 pastime of trudging over bogs and fens — ground 
 intimately allied to it, and which Colonel Hawker 
 has made quite classical. This is a sort of debateable 
 land, and the natural inhabitants of it reject you 
 with most unequivocal signs of disapprobation. 
 The redshank, the peewit, the curlew, and all their 
 alHes, scream and dart around you, inhospitable as 
 they are, and tell you, as plainly as bills can speak, 
 to sheer off, and not invade their premises. But we 
 are a sort of Paul Pry, and love to persist responding 
 now and then with our double barrel, which we 
 more especially direct towards the ruff, snipe, wild 
 duck, and teal — birds whose merit we particularly 
 
76 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 appreciate. Thus we are, as may be seen, of an 
 amphibious nature, and respond to the fat knight's 
 description, when he compared Hostess Quickly to 
 our namesake. That this predilection for humidity 
 is with me an instinct, may be seen from the 
 following brief notice of my infant propensities. 
 
 When I was an urchin I stole off, and wandered 
 up the stream that came winding through the 
 verdant meadows of my native valley, till I arrived 
 at the foot of the Castle Hill ; following the little 
 path that dived into a thicket, and wound round its 
 base near the margin of the river : thence, amongst 
 irregular clumps of thorn bushes, holly trees, and 
 other wild wood, stopping a while to gather the 
 cowslips and white violets that dappled the sunny 
 slopes, I pursued my way through a tangled thicket, 
 whose branches overhung the stream. I remember 
 even now that the sunbeam glittered on the leaves, 
 struck through the masses here and there, and 
 pierced to the surface of the water, which shone in 
 spots through the gloom like the fragments of a 
 broken mirror : these lucid touches caught my 
 childish fancy ; but my favourite spot was not yet 
 attained. Not until I had rounded the rib of the 
 promontory on which stood the grey castle, and 
 came to another face of it, did I obtain the object 
 of my ramble. At this turn of the stream I found 
 myself in a small lonely meadow sprinkled with 
 cowsUps, upon which opened two wooded valleys, 
 each watered by a small stream, which at their 
 junction washed out a deep hole ; and at the foot 
 of the hole a small gravel heap was thrown up, upon 
 which grew the yellow iris, and some other vegeta- 
 
AN EARLY ESCAPADE 77 
 
 tion. In Lilliput it would have been termed an 
 island : so in truth it was. I know not how it 
 happened, — unless, indeed, that I was strictly en- 
 joined not to go near the water — but I had a decided 
 propensity to establish my little person on this 
 insular spot. For some time I was either very 
 good, or very much afraid — it matters not which, 
 — and the achievement was dubious. At length the 
 demon of temptation appeared in the form of a 
 dragon-fly, which, glancing from some branches 
 that extended across the stream a little above, 
 danced up and down in the air in all its gaudy trim, 
 and at length settled on an iris, in this enchanted 
 island. I stood enraptured on the bank with my 
 arms outstretched, and my longing eyes fixed upon 
 the beauty. It was irresistible — I could hold out 
 no longer. So mustering up my naughty courage, 
 and letting myself gently down the bank, I paddled 
 through a little shallow water, till I actually set 
 foot safely on the desired spot. Here I found that 
 my love for the Libellula was not mutual ; or, if it 
 was, I may say, 
 
 " Love, free as air, at sight of human ties 
 Spreads its light wings, and in a moment flies." 
 
 Even so did the dragon-fly ; he and my hopes 
 vanished at once. Nevertheless I showed a decided 
 taste for an insular fife, and sat down watching the 
 trout rise on all sides, as happy as a king ; and I 
 might have remained there to this day, had not that 
 kill-joy Martha, who was blest with the care of me, 
 and from whom I had escaped in the morning, come 
 upon my trail. Infuriated she was (for the whole 
 
78 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Xantippe possessed ! her). She saUied forth like 
 another Ceres in quest of her lost child. Half 
 frightened, half pleased, I could see her toiling up 
 the hill. " Master Harry ! Master Harry ! " re- 
 sounded shrilly through the woods and valleys : 
 even now methinks her voice rings in my ears. In 
 vain — 
 
 " Nor at the lawn, nor at the wood, was he."*"' 
 
 But when at length she returned, " alia solinga 
 valle," I stood confessed within the range of her 
 animated optics. She declared her sentiments with- 
 out reserve in very fluent language. I was an 
 obstropolous brat ; a perfect damon (demon), as fond 
 of dabbhng in water as a sallymander, I should 
 catch it when she got hold of me, that I should. 
 This being intelligibly explained, I thought I would 
 delay that period as long as possible. To all this 
 eloquence, therefore, answer made I none ; but I 
 beUeve I looked and felt rather oddly. At length, 
 seeing her amble to and fro upon the banks, and 
 perceiving that she had the hydrophobia strong 
 upon her, I told her if she wanted me she must 
 come and fetch me, as I was forbidden to go into 
 the water. " Hang your imperance, I says. Master 
 Harry, but I'll find one as shall fetch you in a 
 twinkling!" So saying, the eloquent Martha 
 suited the action to the word, and ran round the 
 turn of the river, where it seems she knew the 
 keeper was fishing, who, I believe, in village phrase, 
 " kept company with her." Down comes John, a 
 good-natured feUow ; tickles me with the point of 
 his fishing rod in gamesome mood ; makes two or 
 
PHYLLIS AVAS COY 79 
 
 three casts with his fly at me ; and at length wades 
 to me, and places me on the mainland at the gentle 
 Martha's side. Peace was made, but without 
 promise for the future. 
 
 Henceforth, when I could escape control, I 
 divided my time between the water and the 
 meadows : in warm weather the water, in cold the 
 land possessed me. Then I began to tamper with 
 the minnows ; and, growing more ambitious, after 
 a sleepless night full of high contrivance, I betook 
 me at early dawn to a wood near the house, where 
 I selected some of the straightest hazel sticks 1 
 could find, which I tied together and christened a 
 fishing rod ; a rude and uncouth weapon it was. 1 
 next sought out Phyllis, a favourite cow so called, 
 in order to have a pluck at her tail to make a hne 
 with. But PhyUis was coy, and withheld her 
 consent to spoUation ; for when I got hold of her 
 posterior honours, she galloped ofl*, dragging me 
 along, tail in hand, till she left me deposited in a 
 water- course amongst the frogs. The dairy-maid, 
 I think, would have overcome this difficulty for me, 
 had I not discovered that horse-hair, and not cow's 
 tail, was the proper material for fishing lines ; so 
 the coachman, who was much my friend, plucked 
 Champion and Dumphn, at my request, and gave 
 me as much hair (black enough to be sure) as 
 would make a dozen lines. For three whole days 
 did I twist and weave Hke the Fates, and for three 
 whole nights did I dream of my work. Some rusty 
 ■ hooks I had originally in my possession, which I 
 R found in an old fishing book belonging to my 
 K ancestors. In fact, I did not put the hook to the 
 
 u 
 
80 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 rod and line, but my rod and line to the hook. I 
 next proceeded to the pigeon-house, and picking 
 some coarse feathers, made what I alone in the 
 wide world would have thought it becoming to 
 have called a fly ; but call it so I did, in spite 
 of contradictory evidence. Thus equipped, I pro- 
 ceeded to try my skill ; but exert myself as I 
 would, the line had domestic qualities, and was 
 resolved to stay at home. I never could get it 
 fairly away from the hazel sticks ; therefore it was 
 that I hooked no fish. But I hooked myself three 
 times : once in the knee-strings of my shorts, once 
 in the nostril, and again in the lobe of the ear. At 
 length, after sundry days of fruitless effort, like an 
 infant Belial, I attempted that by guile which I 
 could not do by force ; and dropping the fly with 
 my hand under a steep bank of the stream, I 
 walked up and down trailing it along : after about 
 a week's perseverance, I actually caught a trout. 
 Shade of Izaak Walton, what a triumph was there ! 
 That day I could not eat, — that night I slept not. 
 Even now I recollect the spot where that generous 
 fish devoted himself. 
 
 As I grew up I became gradually more expert, 
 and at length saved money sufficient to buy a real 
 fishing rod, line, reel and all, quite complete. 
 Down it came from London resplendent with 
 varnish, and many cunning feats did I perform with 
 it. About this time I learned to shoot ; not that I 
 was strong enough to hold a gun, but that the keeper 
 put the said implement to his shoulder, when I took 
 aim at larks and sparrows, and those sort of things, 
 and pulled the trigger. So I waxed in years and 
 
GREAT FUN FOR A BOY 81 
 
 wisdom. All the time 1 could steal from my lessons 
 (for I was not quite a Pawnee) I spent in this edify- 
 ing manner ; at length I was fully initiated in all 
 the mysteries of sporting by a relation, himself the 
 prince of sportsmen, who took a fancy to me. The 
 reason was as follows : — 
 
 In the depth of winter, the ground being 
 smothered with snow, and the blast bitter, I 
 followed him out a wild -fowl shooting. I was 
 devoid of hat, an article that I looked upon as 
 superfluous, and that I always lost or mislaid as 
 soon as it was given me. Equipped I was in white 
 cotton stockings ; and my shoes, which were of the 
 thinnest, I had tied to my feet with a string which 
 passed over the instep. I could not put them up 
 at heel with any comfort, because I had large 
 chilblains there, which were broke. At length, 
 after creeping a space on my gloveless hands and 
 knees in the snow, and under cover of some sedge 
 and willow bushes, up flew some wild ducks before 
 my patron. " Quack, quack ! " — down came one 
 to his shot, and feU with a splash into the river. 
 In I plunged after him like a Newfoundland dog : 
 you might have heard the flounce in a still day at 
 Chippenham, about six miles ofl*. The duck not 
 being dead, made a swim and a dive of it. Long 
 and dubious was the chase ; but in the end I de- 
 scried his bill amongst the sedges, where he had 
 poked it up to take a little breath. Making a 
 dexterous snatch, I seized him underneath by the 
 legs — Chinese fashion, with the exception of the 
 I pumpkin — and drew him loud quacking to the 
 bank. When landed I squeezed my clothes a little. 
 
82 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 according to order ; but I do not believe that I 
 benefited my chilblains. 
 
 At a rather more advanced period of my life I 
 used to make long fishing excursions, generally with 
 prosperous, but occasionally with disastrous results. 
 I remember well, when a pair of bait-hooks was to 
 me a valuable concern, I hooked two large black- 
 looking trouts in a deep pool at the same time. 
 As I had to pull them several feet upwards against 
 the pressure of the stream, my line gave way, and 
 left me proprietor of a smaU fragment only. For 
 some time I looked alternately at my widowed rod 
 and my departed fish ; which last were coursing it 
 round and round the pool, puUing in opposite direc- 
 tions, like coupled dogs of dissenting opinions : 
 durum — sed levius Jit patientid. So I sat down 
 with somewhat of a rueful countenance, and began 
 to spin with my fingers some horse-hair which I 
 had pulled that morning, at the risk of my life, 
 from the grey colt's tail. This being done in my 
 own peculiar manner, and my only remaining hook 
 being tied on with one of the aforesaid hairs, I con- 
 tinued to follow my sport down the stream for about 
 half a mile. After the lapse of a considerable time, 
 I had occasion to cross bare-legged from one bank to 
 the other. In my transit through the current, I 
 found something like a sharp instrument cutting 
 the calves of my legs. I scampered ashore, under 
 the impression that I was trailing after me some 
 sharp-toothed monster, perhaps a lamper eel ; when, 
 upon passing down my hand to ascertain the fact, 
 I found to my great astonishment and deUght that 
 I was once more in possession of my lost line, hooks, 
 
DISASTER 
 
 85 
 
 fish, and all. The fish had fairly drowned each 
 other, and, by a curious coincidence, were passively 
 passing in the current at the time my legs 
 stemmed it. 
 
 Originally I had what in Scotland is called a 
 poke or bag to carry my trouts in. This being 
 rather of a coarse appearance, I panted after a 
 basket. One of my schoolfellows had exactly the 
 thing ; and I bargained for it by giving in return 
 all my personal right in perpetuity to two young 
 hawks. Proud of my acquisition, I set out with 
 no small share of vanity, carrying my basket 
 through the whole length of a neighbouring village, 
 which was considerably out of the way. When I 
 arrived at the happy spot where my sport lay, I 
 was successful as usual. At length the declining 
 sun admonished me of some ten miles betwixt me 
 and home ; so I resolved only to take a few casts 
 in a dark and deep pool which was close at hand, 
 and then to bend my course homeward. There I 
 hooked a fine fish, which I was obliged to play for 
 some time, and then, after he was fairly tired, to 
 lift out with my hands, not having yet arrived at 
 the dignity of a landing net. In stooping low to 
 perform this process, the Ud of my new pet basket, 
 which from want of experience I had omitted to 
 fasten, flew open, and two or three of my last- 
 killed fish dropped into the deep water immediately 
 before me. In suddenly reaching forward to secure 
 these, round came my basket, fish and all, over my 
 head, and fairly capsized me. With some difficulty, 
 and even risk of drowning, I got my head above 
 water, and my hand on the crown of a sharp rock. 
 
84 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 There I stood, streaming and disconsolate, casting 
 a wistful look at the late bright inmates of my 
 basket, which were tilting down the weeds through 
 the gullet into a tremendous pool, vulgarly called 
 Hell's Cauldron. Into that same pool with the 
 ominous name had I myself very nearly passed, and 
 thus had followed my hat, which was coursing 
 about in the eddy or wheel of this fearful depth. 
 Thus vanished before my eyes my whole day's 
 sport, for dead fish immediately sink ; and it was 
 not without some skilful fishing up that my hat and 
 I renewed our acquaintance. I have before observed 
 that when I was quite an urchin I never wore a hat, 
 or any covering over my hair ; but as I grew older 
 I thought it decorous to follow the fashion. 
 
 At another time, whilst still a puer, and only 
 possessed of one single bait-hook, to my utter con- 
 fusion I found that solitary hook had been swallowed 
 by a duck, which a mass of sedges under the bank 
 had concealed from my view. There we were, Mrs. 
 Duck and I, dashing, swashing, and swattering 
 down the stream ; the duck all the time declaring 
 his sentiments by the utterance of a fearful noise, 
 and I endeavouring by every means in my power 
 to prevent my only hook from being ravished from 
 me by my feathered opponent. In the meantime 
 a group of lasses, who were washing clothes at the 
 river side, and were friendly to the bird, set upon 
 me, first with their tongues, of the use of which 
 they seemed to be in full possession, and latterly 
 with their pails and watering pans ; in consequence 
 of which I was compelled to snap my line, and 
 turn upon my fair tormentors. But let no boy of 
 
HARRY OTTER 85 
 
 fourteen ever try to face a batch of lasses. In 
 fine, I was terribly mauled, and did not feel my 
 ears at all comfortable in their externals for a con- 
 siderable time afterwards. 
 
 But enough of these idle anecdotes. The reader 
 will now understand that I, Harry Otter, was an 
 idle scamp. If he chooses to keep company with 
 me in my rambles, he will, nevertheless, find no 
 very particular harm in me, and I on my part shall 
 be delighted to hold good fellowship with an 
 indulgent brother of the craft. 
 
CHAPTER IV 
 
 " I in these flowery meads would be ; 
 These crystal streams shall solace me."" 
 
 Much has been said by various humane persons 
 about the cruelty of fishing ; but setting aside that, 
 according to the authority of the eminent author 
 of Sahnonia, and of Dr. Gillespie also, who, by-the- 
 by, is professor of humanity at St. Andrews, fish 
 seldom feel any pain from the hook. Let us see 
 how the case stands. I take a little wool and 
 feather, and, tying it in a particular manner upon 
 a hook, make an imitation of a fly ; then I throw 
 it across the river, and let it sweep round the 
 stream with a lively motion. This I have an un- 
 doubted right to do, for the river belongs to me 
 or my friend ; but mark what follows. Up starts 
 a monster fish with his murderous jaws, and 
 makes a dash at my little Andromeda. Thus he 
 is the aggressor, not I ; his intention is evidently 
 to commit murder. He is caught in the act of 
 putting that intention into execution. Having 
 wantonly intruded himself on my hook, which I 
 contend he had no right to do, he darts about in 
 various directions, evidently surprised to find that 
 the fly, which he hoped to make an easy conquest 
 
FISHY ETHICS 87 
 
 of, is much stronger than himself. I naturally 
 attempt to regain this fly, unjustly withheld from 
 me. The fish gets tired and weak in his lawless 
 endeavours to deprive me of it. I take advantage 
 of his weakness, I own, and drag him, somewhat 
 loth, to the shore, where one rap at the back of 
 the head ends him in an instant. If he is a trout, 
 I find his stomach distended with flies. That 
 beautiful one called the May-fly, who is by nature 
 almost ephemeral, who rises up from the bottom 
 of the shallows, spreads its light wings, and flits in 
 the sunbeam in enjoyment of its new existence, 
 no sooner descends to the surface of the water to 
 deposit its eggs, than the unfeeUng fish at one fell 
 spring numbers him prematurely with the dead. 
 You see, then, what a wretch a fish is ; no ogre is 
 more bloodthirsty, for he will devour his nephews, 
 nieces, and even his own children, when he can 
 catch them ; and I take some credit for having 
 shown him up. Talk of a wolf, indeed, a lion, or a 
 tiger ! Why these are all mild and saintly in com- 
 parison with a fish. When did any one hear of 
 Messrs. Wolf, Lion, and Co. eating up their grand- 
 children ? What a bitter fright must the smaller 
 fry live in ! They crowd to the shallows, he hid 
 among the weeds, and dare not say the river is 
 their own. I relieve them of their apprehensions, 
 and thus become popular with the small shoals. 
 
 When we see a fish quivering upon dry land, he 
 looks so helpless without arms or legs, and so 
 demure in expression, adding hypocrisy to his other 
 sins, that we naturally pity him ; then kill and eat 
 him with Harvey sauce, perhaps. Our pity is mis- 
 
88 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 placed, — the fish is not. There is an immense 
 trout in Loch Awe in Scotland, which is so 
 voracious, and swallows his own species with such 
 avidity, that he has obtained the name of Salmo 
 ferox, I pull about this unnatural monster till he 
 is tired, land him, and give him the coup de grace. 
 Is this cruel ? Cruelty " should be made of sterner 
 stuff. " There is a certain spurious sort of humanity 
 going about that I cannot understand. Thus I 
 know a lady who will not eat game, because, she 
 says, shooting is a cruel amusement ; but she is 
 very much addicted to fowls, and all domestic 
 poultry, feeding them one day, and eating them 
 up the next, with treacherous alacrity and amiable 
 perseverance. It would be more candid in her, 
 therefore, to say to us sportsmen, like the fox in 
 the fable, — 
 
 " Go, but be moderate in your food ; 
 A pheasant too might do me good."" 
 
 " I once saw," says the learned and accomplished 
 Dr. Gillespie, " one of these all-devouring fish in a 
 curious predicament. In fishing, or rather strolling, 
 within these few years, with a rod in one hand 
 and a book in the other, so as to alternate reading 
 and fishing, as the clouds came and went, I observed 
 a great many June-flies, at which the fish were 
 occasionally rising, and which at the same time 
 were picked up by the swallows, as they skimmed 
 over the surface of the still water. It so happened 
 that a trout from beneath, and a swallow from 
 above, had fixed their affections upon the same 
 yellow- winged and tempting fly. Down came the 
 
FISHERMEN^S YARNS 89 
 
 swallow, and up came the open mouth of the fish ; 
 into which, in pursuit of his prey, the swallow 
 pitched his head. The struggle was not long, but 
 pretty severe ; and the swallow was once or twice 
 nearly immersed, wings and all, in the water, before 
 he got himself disentangled from the sharp teeth of 
 the fish." It is true that the trout had no intention 
 of encountering the bird ; but every one knows that 
 pike will pull young ducks under the water, and 
 devour them. 
 
 " The Tay trout," says John Crerar (I copy from 
 his MS.), " lives in that river all the year round. It 
 is a large and yellow fish, with a great mouth, and 
 feeds chiefly on salmon spawn, moles, mice, frogs, 
 &c. A curious circumstance once happened to me 
 at Pulney Loch. One of my sons threw a live 
 mouse into it, when a large trout took the mouse 
 down immediately. The boy told me what had 
 happened; so I took my fishing rod, which was 
 leaning against my house close to the loch, and 
 put a fly on. At the very first throw I hooked a 
 large trout, landed it, and laid it on the walk : in 
 two seconds the mouse ran out of its mouth, and 
 got into a hole in the wall before I could catch it." 
 Thus far John Crerar. 
 
 " The mouse that is content with one poor hole 
 Can never be a mouse of any soul." 
 
 I believe every author on the subject, from the 
 time of dear Isaak Walton to the present day, has 
 taken some pains to vindicate the amusement of 
 anghng. For this purpose they have quoted men 
 eminent for humanity, illustrious for science, and 
 
90 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 famed for high achievement — philosophers, warriors, 
 divines, — who have been dear lovers of the sport.^ 
 But does it require this vindication ? For myself, 
 far from being surprised that distinguished men 
 have delighted in fishing, I only wonder that any 
 man can be illustrious who does not practise 
 either anghng or field sports of some sort or 
 another. They all demand skill and enterprise. 
 If you ask me to reconcile anghng to reason, you 
 may possibly distress me. It is an instinct, a 
 passion, and a powerful one, originally given to 
 man for the preservation of his existence. The 
 waters as well as the land yield forth their increase. 
 In the joyless regions of the north, when the bear 
 famishes on the iceberg, and the gaunt wolf howls 
 amongst the snow-drifts, the miserable tenant of 
 the land stalks along the desolate shores, and with 
 his javelin, or hooks of bone, acquires by his rude 
 skill a precarious subsistence for his family. Ever- 
 lasting winter has stamped her iron foot upon the 
 soil : the snow whitens all interminably, except 
 where the blasts drive it from the face of the bleak 
 rocks ; and without this resource he must perish, — 
 he and his sad family together. Even so it is 
 ordained from above. 
 
 Thrice happy are we, who live in a more genial 
 climate, and who inherit the instinct given to our 
 less fortunate fellow-creatures, and exercise it not 
 
 ^ When Sir Humphrey Davy was at Gisburn, the late Lord 
 Ribblesdale took him to see the celebrated Gorsdale Rocks, expecting 
 they would astonish and interest him, and call forth some very learned 
 remarks ; but the great philosopher noticed only the stream beneath 
 them, which he scrutinised minutely, saying he was sure there were no 
 fish in it, or he should have discovered them. 
 
WHALE FISHING 91 
 
 from hard necessity, but as a means of recreation. 
 Man being thus evidently destined to fish, let us 
 consider the style of thing that is likely to give 
 him the most gratification. 
 
 When I read of the whale fishery, and of that 
 animal running out a mile of rope, for an instant 
 my thoughts were bent on the seas of Greenland ; 
 but I was taken aback by the frontispiece of 
 Captain Scoresby's entertaining narrative, which 
 represents his boat thrown aloft in the air by a 
 playful jerk of a whale's tail, and all the crew 
 tumbling seaward in very sprawling and unstudied 
 attitudes. Now this is a sort of adventure which 
 I do not covet myself, or recommend others to 
 seek. In such case, perhaps, the heroes of the 
 harpoon might be caught at their descent by some 
 ravenous shark ; and unless people have a curiosity 
 about the construction of that animal's intestines 
 for the sake of scientific purposes, a visit to his 
 interior would be useless, and I think imprudent. 
 Besides, whale fishery is a sort of unsavory 
 butchery, which does not suit all tastes. We will 
 take leave, therefore, to discard it at once. 
 
 The truth is, that I hke no sea fishing whatever, 
 being of opinion that it requires little skill ; neither 
 do I enjoy sailing in the salt element, for very 
 particular reasons relating to health. But my mind 
 is full of solemn thoughts as I stand on the sound- 
 ing shore, and see the gallant vessel pass away into 
 the great desert of waters, till her misty hull rests 
 lonely in the horizon. Then, as shades of night set 
 in, and as she fades in the general gloom, I meditate 
 on the perils of storm and battle, and all the ad- 
 
m SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 venturous scenes her crew may encounter, for good 
 or for evil, — far, far away from the land of their 
 affections. 
 
 " Nos patriam fugimus, nos dulcia linquimus arva : 
 Nos patriam fugimus." 
 
 No ; the wild main I trust not. Rather let me 
 wander beside the banks of the tranquil streams of 
 the warm South, "in yellow meads of asphodel," 
 when the young spring comes forth, and all nature 
 is glad ; or if a wilder mood comes over me, let me 
 clamber among the steeps of the North, beneath 
 the shaggy mountains, where the river comes 
 raging and foaming everlastingly, wedging its way 
 through the secret glen, whilst the eagle, but dimly 
 seen, cleaves the winds and the clouds, and the dun 
 deer gaze from the mosses above. There, amongst 
 gigantic rocks, and the din of mountain torrents, 
 let me do battle with the lusty salmon, till I drag 
 him into day, rejoicing in his bulk, voluminous and 
 vast. 
 
 But, alas ! we run riot. Let me now set forth 
 by what chance I became a fisher for salmon. 
 Dining one auspicious day with a friend in London, 
 after a sultry morning gratifying to nothing but a 
 lizard or a serpent, — the town hot, still, and deserted, 
 as the ruins of Pompeii, — we turned from the base 
 thraldom to which we had subjected ourselves, and 
 resolved to wander over the blue hills of Scotland ; 
 " for we had heard of grouse-shooting, and we longed 
 to follow in the field some lusty heath-cock,''' It 
 was Wednesday. On Friday we would depart, 
 that was certain ; for we were young and ardent. 
 
A FALSE START 9S 
 
 Our travelling means were not very rich : they 
 consisted of a curricle with one horse (his companion 
 having died lately), and a tilbury without any. But 
 the next day there was to be a sale at Tattersall's, 
 which all juveniles delight in ; so away we went to 
 the hammer, rejoicing in our soi disant judgment, 
 and purchased two animals most indubitably of the 
 horse species. My friend accommodated himself 
 with a chestnut, I with a mottled grey ; and it 
 would be difficult to say which of the two had the 
 best bargain. 
 
 Now it chanced that these two nags never had 
 harness on their backs from the time of their 
 foalhood ; but this did not interest us in the least : 
 they had it on soon at all events, all at the door of 
 Thomas's Hotel, Berkeley Square. The chestnut 
 shone as off- horse in the curricle, the grey was 
 resplendent in the tilbury. As for the start, I 
 cannot boast much of that — kicks, plunges, rearings 
 to match. There was evidently some misunder- 
 standing. My fellow-traveller, wheeling round in 
 spite of curb or rein, passed me in an opposite 
 direction. My thoughts were intent on Davies 
 Street : the grey differed with me widely in opinion, 
 and was ambitious of the Square ; round which (if 
 I may use the expression) he galloped with un- 
 necessary haste, till he met my fellow-traveller at 
 the bottom, and we passed each other in grand 
 style, our nags being considerably animated by the 
 lumbering of the wheels. Not once alone did this 
 happen ; and before our coursers could be gained 
 over to our opinion. Charing Cross possessed the 
 curricle, and Hanover Square could boast of the 
 
94 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 tilbury. Our skill might reasonably be questioned 
 — our perseverance could not ; for before midnight 
 we rallied, and urged our reluctant beasts to the 
 dulness of Stilton. From henceforth everything 
 went on smoothly with them ; except that the 
 chestnut died of the distemper, and the grey fell 
 out of a crazy boat into Loch Lomond, ran away 
 some time afterwards, overturned the vehicle, broke 
 my unfortunate servant's leg, and lamed himself for 
 life. 
 
 We journeyed on to Selkirk in juvenile mood. 
 From hence my friends went to Edinburgh, where 
 I agreed to join them. And now comes the point 
 — what made me, Harry Otter, a fisher for salmon ? . 
 Why thus it was : I went forth, after my arrival at 
 the aforesaid town, at the hour of prime. I asked 
 no questions, for I cannot endure to hear before- 
 hand what sort of sport I am likely to have. Sober 
 truth is sometimes exceedingly distressing, and 
 brings one's mind to a lull ; it puts an end to the 
 sublimity of extravagant speculation, which I hold 
 to be the chief duty of a sportsman. So, as I said, 
 I asked no questions ; but I saw the river Ettrick 
 before me taking her free course beneath the misty 
 hills, and, brushing away the dew-drops with my 
 steps, I rushed impatiently through the broom 
 and gorse with torn hose and smarting legs, till I 
 arrived at the margin of that wild river, where the 
 birch hung its ringlets over the waters. 
 
 Out came my trusty rod from a case of " filthy 
 dowlass." Top varnished it was, and the work of 
 the famous Higginbotham : not he the hero of an 
 hundred engines, " who was afeard of nothing, and 
 
"IN HIM!" 95 
 
 whose fireman's soul was all on fire ; " but Higgin- 
 botham of the Strand, who was such an artist in the 
 rod line as never appeared before, or has ever been 
 seen since. "He never joyed since the price of 
 hiccory wood rose," and was soon after gathered to 
 the tomb of his fathers. I look upon him, and 
 old Kirby the quondam maker of hooks, to be 
 two of the greatest men the world ever saw ; not 
 even excepting Eustace Ude, or Michael Angelo 
 Bonarotti. 
 
 But to business. The rod was hastily put 
 together ; a beautiful new azure line passed through 
 the rings ; a casting line, made Uke the waist of 
 Prior's Emma, appended, with two trout flies 
 attached to it of the manufacture even of me, 
 Harry Otter. An eager throw to begin with : 
 round came the flies intact. Three, four, five, six 
 throws — a dozen : no better result. The fish were 
 stern and contemptuous. At length some favour- 
 able change took place in the clouds, or atmosphere, 
 and I caught sundry small trout ; and finally, in the 
 cheek of a boiler, I fairly hauled out a two-pounder. 
 A jewel of a fish he was — quite a treasure all over. 
 After I had performed the satisfactory office of 
 bagging him, I came to a part of the river which, 
 being contracted, rushed forward in a heap, roll- 
 ing with great impetuosity. Here, after a Uttle 
 flogging, I hooked a lusty fellow, strong as an 
 elephant, and swift as a thunderbolt. How I was 
 agitated say ye who best can tell, ye fellow tyros ! 
 Every moment did I expect my trout tackle, for 
 such it was, to part company. At length, after 
 various runs of dubious result, the caitiff began to 
 
96 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 yield ; and at the expiration of about half an hour, 
 I wooed him to the shore. What a sight then 
 struck my optics ! A fair five -pounder at the 
 least ; not fisherman's weight, mark me, but such 
 as would pass muster with the most conscientious 
 lord mayor of London during the high price of 
 bread. Long did I gaze on him, not without 
 self-applause. All too large he was for my basket ; 
 I therefore laid the darling at full length on the 
 ground, under a birch tree, and covered over the 
 precious deposit with some wet bracken, that it 
 might not suffer from the sunbeam. 
 
 I had not long completed this immortal achieve 
 ment ere I saw a native approaching, armed with 
 a prodigious fishing rod of simple construction 
 guiltless of colour or varnish. He had a belt round 
 his waist, to which was fastened a large wooden 
 reel or pirn, and the line passed from it through 
 the rings of his rod : a sort of Wat Tinlinn he was 
 to look at. The whole affair seemed so primitive ; 
 there was such an absolute indigence of ornament, 
 and poverty of conception, that I felt somewhat 
 fastidious about it. I could not, however, let a 
 brother of the craft pass unnoticed, albeit somewhat 
 rude in his attire ; so, " What sport," said I, " my 
 good friend ? " 
 
 " I canna say that I hae had muckle deversion ; 
 for she is quite fallen in, and there wull be no good 
 fishing till there comes a spate." 
 
 Now, after this remark, I waxed more proud of 
 my success ; but I did not come down upon him at 
 once with it, but said somewhat slyly, and with 
 mock modesty, — 
 
A COLD CRITIC 97 
 
 "Then you think there is not much chance for 
 any one, and least of all for a stranger like myself." 
 
 " I dinna think the hke o' ye can do muckle ; 
 though I will no say but ye may light on a wee 
 bit trout, or may be on a happening fish. That's a 
 bonny Uttle wand you've got ; and she shimmers 
 so with varnish, that I'm thinking that when she is 
 in the eye o' the sun the fish will come aneath her, 
 as they do to the blaze in the water." 
 
 Sandy was evidently lampooning my Higgin- 
 botham. I therefore rephed, that she certainly 
 had more shining qualities than were often met 
 with on the northern side of the Tweed. At this 
 personality, my pleasant friend took out a large 
 mull from his pocket, and, applying a copious 
 quantity of its contents to his nose, very poUtely 
 responded — 
 
 "Ye needna fash yoursel' to observe aboot the 
 like o' her ; she is no worth this pinch o' snufF." 
 
 He then very courteously handed his mull to me. 
 
 " Well," said I, still modestly, " she will do well 
 enough for a bungler Hke me." I was troUing for 
 a compliment. 
 
 " Ay, that will she," said he. 
 
 Though a little mortified, I was not sorry to get 
 him to this point ; for I knew I could overwhelm 
 him with facts, and the more diffidently I conducted 
 myself the more complete would be my triumph. 
 So laying down my pet rod on the channel, I very 
 dehberately took out my two-pounder, as a feeler. 
 He looked particularly well ; for I had tied up his 
 mouth, that he might keep his shape, and moistened 
 him, as I before said, with soaked fern to preserve 
 
 H 
 
98 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 his colour. I fear I looked a little elate on the 
 occasion ; assuredly I felt so. 
 
 " There's a fine fish now, — a perfect beauty ! " 
 
 " Hout tout ! that's no fish ava." 
 
 " No fish, man ! What the deuce is it, then ? 
 Is it a rabbit, or a wild duck, or a water-rat ? " 
 
 "Ye are joost gin daft. Do ye no ken a troot 
 when ye see it ? " 
 
 I could make nothing of this answer, for I 
 thought that a trout was a fish ; ^ but it seems I 
 was mistaken. However, I saw the envy of the 
 man ; so I determined to inflict him with a settler 
 at once. For this purpose I inveigled him to where 
 my five -pounder was deposited ; then kneeling 
 down, and proudly removing the bracken I had 
 placed over him, there lay the monster most mani- 
 fest, extended in all his glory. The fight, — the 
 eye of the landscape, — ^before whose briUiant sides 
 Runjeet Sing's diamond, called "the mountain of 
 light," would sink into the deep obscure ; — dazzled 
 with the magnificent sight, I chuckled in the 
 plenitude of victory. This was unbecoming in me, 
 I own, for I should have borne my faculties meekly ; 
 but I was young and sanguine; so {horresco refer ens) 
 I gave a smart turn of my body, and, placing an 
 arm akimbo, said, in an exulting tone, and with a 
 scrutinising look, "There, what do you think of 
 that ? " I did not see the astonishment in Sawny's 
 
 ^ Salmon, salmon trout, and bull trout alone, are called fish in the 
 Tweed. If a Scotchman means to try for trout, he does not say '^ I am 
 going s. fishing" but '^I am going a trouting." 
 
 [It requires some courage to criticise the phraseology of such a 
 master as Scrope, but let the stranger beware of applying the term 
 *'fish" to anything of less dignity than a salmon in Scotland. — Ed.] 
 
a 
 
 a 
 
 '^A WEE BIT GILSE" 99 
 
 face that I had anticipated, neither did he seem to 
 regard me with the least degree of veneration ; but, 
 giving my pet a shove with his nasty iron-shod 
 shoes, he simply said, 
 
 " Hout ! that's a wee bit gilse." 
 
 This was laconic. I could hold no longer, for I 
 hate a detractor ; so I roundly told him that I did 
 not think he had ever caught so large a fish in all 
 his life. 
 
 " Did you, now ? — own." 
 I suppose I have." 
 Suppose ! But don't you know ? " 
 I suppose I have." 
 
 "Speak decidedly, yes or no. That is no 
 answer." 
 
 " Well, then, I suppose ^ I have." 
 
 And this was the sum-total of what I could 
 extract from this nil admirari fellow. 
 
 A third person now joined us, whom I after- 
 wards discovered to be the renter of that part of 
 the river. He had a rod and tackle of the selfsame 
 fashion with the apathetic man. He touched his 
 bonnet to me ; and if he did not eye me with 
 approval, at least he did not look envious or 
 sarcastic. 
 
 "Well, Sandy," said he to his piscatorial 
 friend, my new acquaintance, "what luck the 
 morn?" 
 
 " I canna speecify that I hae had muckle ; for 
 they hae bin at the sheep-washing up bye, and she 
 is foul, ye ken. But I hae ta'en twa saumon, — 
 
 1 Suppose, in Scotch, does not imply a doubt, but denotes a cer- 
 tainty. 
 
100 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 ane wi' Nancy/ and the ither wi' a Toppy,^ — baith 
 in Faldon-side Burn fut." 
 
 And twisting round a coarse linen bag which 
 was slung at his back, and which I had supposed 
 to contain some common lumber, he drew forth by 
 the tail a never-ending monster of a salmon, dazz- 
 ling and lusty to the view ; and then a second, fit 
 consort to the first. Could you believe it ? One 
 proved to be fifteen pounds, and the other twelve ! 
 At the sudden appearance of these whales I was 
 shivered to atoms : dumbfoundered I was, like the 
 Laird of Cockpen when Mrs. Jean refused the 
 honour of his hand. I felt as small as FHmnap 
 the treasurer in the presence of Gulliver. Little 
 did I say ; but that little, I hope, was becoming a 
 youth in my situation. 
 
 I was now fairly vaccinated. By dint of snuft 
 and whiskey, I made an alliance with the tenant 
 of the water ; and being engaged for that year to 
 join my friends at Edinburgh, and go on a shooting 
 excursion to the Hebrides and the north of Scot- 
 land, I resolved to revisit the Tweed the summer 
 following. 
 
 It was the above incident that regulated my 
 residence, in a great measure, for above twenty 
 years of my life. 
 
 A year had rolled on since this my first excursion 
 to the North, and I, Harry Otter, was again seated 
 in an open vehicle, enriched with fishing rods, both 
 of small and of ample dimensions ; I must say 
 
 1 A fly so called from Nancy Dawson, who was born on the Tweed, 
 near little Dean Tower. 
 
 2 The Toppy will be described hereafter. 
 
MELROSE UNSUNG 101 
 
 exceedingly ample. The stanch " Arno " lay at my 
 feet ; nor was I deficient in a gun, such as Manton 
 used to turn out in that age of flint. My attend- 
 ant, or groom, was of the freshest fashion, a youth 
 newly hired. John, who was whilom in my service, 
 understood the arts of travelling better than this 
 man. But, alas ! John was a backslider ; for when 
 I asked him if he had any objection to go to Scot- 
 land, "Pray, sir," said he, "is that the country as 
 is infested with eagles ? " I candidly confessed 
 that there certainly were birds of that description 
 there. "Then, I am sorry, sir, but I must beg 
 leave to decUne going," was his valorous reply. 
 
 Tedious it were to recount the dawdling of a 
 long journey performed by the same man and the 
 same horses. I wiU not therefore utter such an 
 infliction. It is quite enough to say, that in the 
 end I ensconced myself in an hostel in the little 
 town of Melrose : inn, properly so called, there 
 was none, for Melrose was then unsung. It was 
 late, and I looked forth on the tranquil scene from 
 my window. The moonbeams played upon the 
 distant hill-tops, but the lower masses slept as yet 
 in shadow ; again the pale light catched the waters 
 of the Tweed, the lapse of whose streams fell 
 faintly on the ear, like the murmuring of a sea- 
 shell. In front rose up the mouldering abbey, 
 deep in shadow ; its pinnacles, and buttresses, and 
 light tracery, but dimly seen in the solemn mass. 
 A faint hght twinkled for a space among the tomb- 
 stones ; soon it was extinct, and two figures passed 
 off in the shadow, who had been digging a grave 
 even at that late hour. 
 
102 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 As the night advanced, a change began to take 
 place. Clouds heaved up over the horizon ; the 
 wind was heard in murmurs ; the rack hurried 
 athwart the moon ; and utter darkness fell upon 
 river, mountain, and haugh. Then the gust swelled 
 louder, and the storm struck fierce and sudden 
 against the casement. But as the morrow dawned, 
 though the rain-drops still hung upon the leaf, the 
 clouds sailed away, the sun broke forth, and all was 
 fair and tranquil. 
 
 The fisherman was sent for express. His apparel 
 may be taken as a general sample of the garb of the 
 piscator on that river, where " Flora discloses her 
 beauties " par excellence, A hat with salmon flies 
 round the crown, the loop of each gut being passed 
 over the head of a pin stuck into the said hat, and 
 the barb of the hook fastened into the felt. The 
 bonnet on such occasions is laid aside. A short coat 
 or jacket ; waistcoat according to fancy ; blue panta- 
 loons ; and a pair of colossal shoes, studded with 
 splatter-headed nails. 
 
 " Well, Wattie, I am glad you are come ; for 
 you shall see me catch a dozen salmon to-day." 
 
 " You mun be a warlock then ; for the deil a 
 mon atween Bolside and Kelso, beside yoursel', wull 
 tak ae saumon the day. If ye were even to throw 
 the Lady of Mertoun ^ into the water, they wudna 
 look at her ; for the storm cam' from the wast last 
 nicht ye ken, and she ^ wull be waxing the morn ; 
 but we can gang doon to her and see." Down we 
 
 1 The Flower of Yarrow, married to Scott of Harden. 
 
 2 The Tweed, like a ship, is always called she, the feminine gender 
 giving it its due consequence. 
 
A WAXING WATER 103 
 
 accordingly went, and she was decidedly waxing, he 
 said. 
 
 All this was a mystery to me at that time ; but 
 I learned from him that when the river is about to 
 flood, the rain that has fallen near its sources comes 
 pouring down from the guUeys and drains, and 
 propels the clear water before it, which then climbs 
 the dry stones of the channel, exhibiting a convex 
 surface, like wine in a glass filled to the brim. 
 This effect cannot be perceived where the river is 
 in quick motion ; but in the little bays and pools 
 that are here and there in the channel, it is 
 very visible : the water will rise to some height 
 before it is in the shghtest degree discoloured, and 
 this in proportion to the quantity of rain that has 
 fallen near the sources ; so that a stranger would 
 not notice the change. In strong spates it is after- 
 wards of a reddish cast, and fines by degrees into a 
 porter colour, which gets clearer and clearer till it 
 resumes its wonted transparency. It must be noted 
 that I speak with reference to the Tweed only ; for 
 it is obvious that every river is coloured somewhat 
 differently, according to the nature of the soil from 
 which, and through which, it flows. Thus the Tay 
 partakes much of the dark moss and peat colour ; 
 and on part of the Inverness coast, where some of 
 the rivers come from a hard stony soil, they are 
 never much discoloured, or, if discoloured, in a 
 different manner. Thus the fisherman is kept two 
 or three days days from his sport. And he may 
 as well go home when the waxing begins, though 
 the water is clear, and the rise is imperceptible, 
 except in the way I have mentioned; for it is a 
 
104 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 singular truth that the sahnon will not take the 
 fly into his mouth when this change takes place, 
 though he will often rise to it, and leap over it.^ 
 This fact is so well known, that no experienced 
 person on the Tweed thinks of fishing during such 
 an occurrence. This waxing commences sooner 
 or later, according to the violence or quantity of 
 the rain that has fallen, and the situation where 
 the storm breaks. In a moderate spate, with a 
 westerly wind, it is seen at Melrose about ten or 
 twelve hours after the rain, more or less. If the 
 wind is very violent, also, the water which is 
 blown out of the lakes will make the river rise 
 slightly ; but in that case no change of colour will 
 afterwards take place. 
 
 " Ye can no fish the day ; so I wud hae ye 
 advised to gang after the patrigs." 
 
 So indeed I did, auspice Wattie, who, to my 
 surprise, seemed somewhat loth to attend me. 
 We found birds — Arno stood — we shot to the top 
 of our bent ; and Wattie would have marked well, 
 but for one failing, which, lover as he was of the 
 sport, he could not overcome. This failing, to call 
 it by the mildest name, was an apprehension of 
 evil, which possessed him to that absurd degree 
 that he sculked astern, and lay upon the ground 
 the moment he expected a shot to be fired ; and 
 I verily believe that he stopped his ears also. 
 Once, when a covey spread beautifully amongst 
 some gorse, for a space he eluded my vision, and 
 
 ^ This rule does not apply to northern rivers flowing through un- 
 cultivated land. I have known fish killed in the Helmsdale with the fly 
 after the river had risen six inches^ and was still rising. — Ed. 
 
THE EILDON HILLS 105 
 
 when the firing ceased, I detected him in his form 
 couched between two blocks of granite ; " for he 
 kent," he said, "that it was no canny to dander 
 aboot, and disturb the patrigs." And I think this 
 was judicious ; but it did not seem to account for 
 the paleness of his complexion. 
 
 My bag was now sufficiently full ; and in return- 
 ing to the hotel I noticed the form of the Eildon 
 Hills, which, we have since been credibly informed, 
 were cloven in three by the art of gramarye. It 
 was then that I discovered that my companion's 
 mind was completely subdued by superstition. 
 
 " Thae hills are pleasant to the view," said he ; 
 "and it is the custom on the seventh day for 
 people to ascend the middle one, and enjoy the 
 prospect. On the last Sabbath I gaed up ; and 
 instead of the hill being throng as usual, I fund 
 mysel' alone, and when I was near the tap a sudden 
 mirkness cam owre me, and I sat doon on the sod 
 in a cauld sweet. Then I cast my een up ; and I 
 saw, as plain as I see ye the noo, twa men houking 
 a grave by the light of a torch ; and ither men 
 joined them, walking twa by twa, wi' pale lights. 
 And when they cam to the grave, they gaed to 
 the far side of it ; and an auld wife cam in front 
 wi' a lang white stick in her hand, and a light 
 like a star a tap o' it : she had an awfu' beard, and 
 beckoned me to the grave. Ou it was dreadfu ! 
 I believe I swooned away, as it was richt I should ; 
 and when I cam' to mysel', all was vanishit, and it 
 was as mirk as pick. And a' this day I thocht 
 that your gun was the instrument that was to pit 
 me intill that grave." 
 
CHAPTER V 
 
 " And far beneath in lustre wan 
 Old Melros' rose, and fair Tweed ran/"' 
 
 Lay of the Last Minstrel. 
 
 My first visit to the Tweed was before the Minstrel 
 of the North had sung those strains which en- 
 chanted the world, and attracted people of all ranks 
 to this land of romance. The scenery therefore at 
 that time, unassisted by story, lost its chief interest; 
 yet was it all lovely in its native charms. What 
 stranger just emerging from the angular enclosures 
 of the South, scored and subdued by tillage, would 
 not feel his heart expand at the first sight of the 
 heathery mountains, swelling out into vast pro- 
 portions, over which man has had no dominion ? 
 At the dawn of day he sees, perhaps, the mist 
 ascending slowly up the dusky river, taking its 
 departure to some distant undefined region ; below 
 the mountain range his sight rests upon a deep and 
 narrow glen, gloomy with woods, shelving down 
 to its centre. What lies hid in that mysterious 
 mass the eye may not visit ; but a sound comes 
 down from afar, as of the rushing and din of waters. 
 It is the voice of the Tweed, as it bursts from the 
 melancholy hills, and comes rejoicing down the 
 

 
 Melrose Abbey. 
 From a Drawing by E. Cooke. 
 
ABBOTSFORD 109 
 
 sunny vale, taking its free course through the 
 haugh, and gUttering amongst sylvan bowers — 
 swelling out at times fair and ample, and again 
 contracted into gorges and sounding cataracts — lost 
 for a space in its mazes behind a jutting brae, and 
 reappearing in dashes of light through bolls of trees 
 opposed to it in shadow. 
 
 Thus it holds its fitful course. The stranger 
 might wander in the quiet vale, and, far below the 
 blue summits, he might see the shaggy flock grouped 
 upon some sunny knoll, or straggling among the 
 scattered birch trees ; and, lower down on the 
 haugh, his eye perchance might rest awhile on some 
 cattle standing on a tongue of land by the margin 
 of the river, with their dark and rich brown forms 
 opposed to the brightness of the waters. All these 
 outward pictures he might see and feel ; but he 
 could see no farther : the lore had not spread its 
 witchery over the scene — the legends slept in 
 oblivion. The stark moss-trooper, and the clanking 
 stride of the warrior, had not again started into life ; 
 nor had the light blazed gloriously in the sepulchre 
 of the wizard with the mighty book. The slogan 
 swelled not anew upon the gale, resounding through 
 the glens, and over the misty mountains ; nor had 
 the minstrel's harp made music in the stately halls 
 of Newark,^ or beside the lonely braes of Yarrow. 
 
 Since that time I have seen the cottage of 
 Abbotsford with its rustic porch, lying peacefully 
 on the haugh between the lone hills ; and have 
 listened to the wild rush of the Tweed as it hurried 
 beneath it. As time progressed, and as hopes arose, 
 
 ^ The tower of Newark stands near Bowhill. 
 
110 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 I have seen that cottage converted into a picturesque 
 mansion, with every luxury and comfort attached 
 to it, and have partaken of its hospitahty : the 
 unproductive hills I have viewed covered with 
 thriving plantations, and the whole aspect of the 
 country civihsed, without losing its romantic char- 
 acter. But, amidst all these revolutions, I have 
 never perceived any change in the mind of him who 
 made them, "the choice and master-spirit of the 
 age." There he dwelt in the hearts of the people, 
 diiFusing life and happiness around him : he made a 
 home beside the border river, in a country and a 
 nation that have derived benefit from his presence, 
 and consequence from his genius. From his 
 chambers he looked out upon the grey ruins of the 
 abbey, and the sun which set in splendour behind 
 the Eildon Hills. Like that sun, his course has 
 been run ; and though disastrous clouds came 
 across him in his career, he went down in unfading 
 glory. 
 
 These golden hours, alas ! have long passed ; but 
 often have I visions of the sylvan valley, and its 
 glittering waters, with dreams of social intercourse. 
 Abbotsford, Mertoun, Chiefswood, Huntley Burn, 
 Allerley ! — ^when shall I forget you ? 
 
 But, to our humble business. The swell of the 
 river had been trifling, and it would be fit to fish on 
 the morrow. The later in the day, said Walter the 
 Bold, the better ; so I fidgeted away the early part 
 of the morning, and hauled over my London tackle, 
 which proved unseemly to the sight of the Scotch- 
 man. The flies, he said, were dressed like dancing 
 dogs ; but my rod, he owned, was fine. 
 
AN AGITATING MOMENT 111 
 
 At last we started. We had about two or three 
 miles to go to the upper cast, called the Carry- wheel. ^ 
 As I neared it, and saw the sweep of the gallant 
 river, I stepped out in eagerness till I came to the 
 top of a steep covered with wood, gorse, and broom ; 
 then I dashed down the rocks, and found myself on 
 the channel, with the rush of a glorious salmon cast 
 before me. Think of this, ye gudgeon fishers ! 
 The rod was put together in haste, — out came the 
 London book ; and whilst I selected that misnomer, 
 a metropoUtan salmon fly, a huge fish sprang out 
 of the water before me, bright and lusty. What a 
 challenge ! In my agitation the flies got entangled ; 
 — confusion worse confounded beset me. The hooks 
 stuck into my quivering fingers, and then a puff of 
 wind scattered them abroad in various directions. 
 To crown all, Walter kept me in a perspiration by 
 making, as if he would throw for the fish, which, 
 by anticipation, I considered as my property. At 
 length I collected my senses, and my flies also ; and 
 it is a wonder that I did so, as the said fish continued 
 his gambols, and repeatedly claimed my attention. 
 
 Now then for it. The cast being narrow at the 
 throat, I began with a short line, which I kept 
 lengthening as it got wider ; for so it became me. 
 I came now, step by step, to the spot where I 
 expected to do for the fish. Excited as I was, I 
 flung with spirit ; but the fly ahghted not upon the 
 wave ; far from it ; it attached itself most perfectly 
 to a birch-tree in my rear, and crack went my top- 
 
 ^ " Wheel," or " wiel," rather, is a common term in Lowland Scots 
 for a salmon pool, and, like English ^' well," a spring is a derivative 
 of the Anglo-Saxon weallan, to well or boil up. — Ed. 
 
112 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 varnished Higginbotham. Thus I was at once dis- 
 comfited almost in th e arms of victory. Being totally 
 driven from my propriety, I cannot be answerable for 
 what I said or did : something very sublime it was, no 
 doubt ; but let that pass. Certain it was that each 
 particular hair of my head stood an end with horror. 
 As I had spare tops to my rod, I soon set all to 
 rights again. But throw, and throw as I would, the 
 salmon would not " come and be killed ; " so I gave 
 up the unreasonable brute at last as unattainable. 
 Nor could the Scotchman make any hand of him 
 afterwards. In fishermen's language, / had set him 
 down. 
 
 The tail of the cast now grew broader, and it was 
 necessary to wade ; so in I went, accoutred as I 
 was ; that is to say, in light, flimsy walking shoes, 
 without nails. I soon perceived that the wet stones 
 were slippery and treacherous beyond endurance, 
 and that my shoes had no adhesive qualities. My 
 untutored feet took no hold, and I floundered about 
 in the superlative degree, quite innocent of a due 
 balance. At length, joyous to relate, I saw a break 
 in the water, and the switch of a fish's tail : I struck, 
 and found I had him fast. As for playing him, I 
 did no such thing ; on the contrary, I honestly 
 confess that he played me, and had all along the 
 best of it too, for I could not keep my footing. I 
 swayed like a pendulum, only more unevenly, till 
 down I went from a treacherous stone, which 
 joggled under my step, and tilted me in about 
 middle deep. Being thus sufficiently humid, I beat 
 a retreat as soon as I was able, and backed out on 
 the channel : arrived there, I felt the beauty of my 
 
LOST ! 113 
 
 new situation, and made certain of a capture. The 
 monster was still strong, and sprung out of water, as 
 if to show me what a prize I was about to obtain, 
 and I acknowledged his value secretly. He next 
 judged it prudent to give a sudden turn, a sort of 
 ill-natured twist — an obstinate obliquity of motion 
 that I shall never forget, or forgive : at once my 
 muscles ceased to quiver — the line lost its strain 
 and sprang aloft in thin air, and the rod was as 
 straight as when it came from the maker's hands. 
 Here was an exposition ! — here was a horror ! To 
 crown all, Walter stood by and took snufF most 
 provokingly philosophical, and I thought I detected 
 a half-suppressed smile on his visage. Raving as I 
 was internally, I still conducted myself with outward 
 decency, particularly when I found that the fish was 
 lost owing to the bad temper of a London hook, 
 which broke in the animal's jaw ; so that I, Harry 
 Otter, was not to blame after all. I gave one solemn 
 sigh for the death of old Kir by, whose hooks would 
 not have broken in the mouth of a shark. 
 
 My Scotch friend now fitted me out with one of 
 his own flies, but desired me not to throw any more 
 in the Carry-wheel ; " for," said he, " as sure as 
 deid, the spirit is against ye : he hampered yer 
 heucks, he broke yer goad and yer flee, and he 
 pulled ye doon in the waters ; and ye never would 
 hae been seen again in this life, gin I hadna cotched 
 ye by the oxter. ^ Thae that the Kelpie grips 
 seldom rise again ; but nae ither spirit, ye ken, has 
 power in the rinnin' water." Whether I partook 
 of this superstition matters not ; but I left the cast 
 
 1 The armpit. 
 I 
 
114 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 because it was unlucky, which is much the same 
 thing. 
 
 I was now under the influence of some better 
 spirit of the flood ; for I absolutely landed two 
 gilse of six pounds each in a cast called the Noirs. 
 Wattie, seeing my rod bent, came up : he said but 
 little ; but that little was the most unqualified 
 abuse of my mismanagement. The fact is, I treated 
 the gilse just as I would have treated a trout ; a 
 very base mistake. I bagged them, however, not- 
 withstanding — thanks to the excellence of the 
 channel. 
 
 The next cast I came to was called the Brig-end; 
 and here I hooked a fine salmon : he was brave 
 and strenuous, and so ponderous, that it seemed 
 as if my hook had caught hold of a floating Nor- 
 wegian pine, "fit for the mast of some high 
 ammiral." After various eccentric courses. Master 
 Fish made a sudden and desperate rush down the 
 river ; — out went my line with a whirring rattle, 
 and cut one of my fingers sharply. I followed as 
 best I might, prancing in the water like a war- 
 horse, with the spray about my ears. Wattie 
 hallooed out, and said I know not what ; but the 
 tone of his voice was far from being compUmentary. 
 Nearly all my line of a hundred yards was now run 
 out ; when the fish made a sudden turn, crossed to 
 the opposite bank, and coasted up it amongst the 
 rocks. Here again Wattie was perfectly wild. 
 
 " Gang back, I tell ye ! — baud up yer gaud ! — 
 shorten yer line ! — ^keep aboon him, ye gomrell ! 
 Ou, ye are drownit as sure as deeth ! Pirn in, pirn 
 in ! — pirn out, pirn out ! Gang forrat, gang forrat ! 
 
THE CONTEST 115 
 
 — gang ahint, gang ahint ! " These contradictory 
 exclamations I could have excused, as I believe 
 they were warranted by the sudden turns of the 
 fish ; but the fellow had absolutely the temerity to 
 attempt to take my rod from me, whereat I lashed 
 out behind, and gave him sundry kicks, as strong 
 and hearty as could be managed with my degenerate 
 shoes. 
 
 I did shorten my line a little, however; but 
 the water pressed against it so heavily that I could 
 not extricate it as I wished. I had now receded 
 to the shore, and gained, as I thought, the victory. 
 Being resolved to be canny, I fixed my eyes 
 intently upon the point where the line dipped into 
 the water, under which I conceived the fish to be ; 
 but to my surprise I caught a glimpse of my play- 
 fellow with the tail of my eye, springing out of 
 the water, and towing my tackle after him about 
 twenty yards above the spot where I conceived 
 him to be. I was in a perfect tremor — ye gods, 
 how I did shake ! But that did not last long, as 
 the Hne all of a sudden vaulted into the air, and 
 streamed abroad like the lithe pennon on a ship- 
 mast, being, at a rude guess, about twenty yards 
 minus of its pristine proportions. This was all 
 magic to me at the time — magic of the most dis- 
 tressing sort; but in after days I saw what my 
 error was. I knew that it consisted in giving out 
 too much line at first, which would have been 
 unnecessary, had I stepped back at once on the 
 channel, kept my rod aloft, and ran down the 
 river-side with my fish, still keeping above him. 
 This, as has been seen, I did not do ; but kept 
 
116 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 deep in the water, where I could make but little 
 way. With a shorter line, and good footing, I 
 might have kept above my fish when he crossed 
 over and made up the stream, and thus have held 
 the line tight; but as it was, it hung back in a 
 huge sweep, that would have gone round the 
 foundations of another Carthage; which sweep, 
 coming in contact with a concealed rock or stone, 
 gave the fish a dead pull, and he broke it incon- 
 tinently : abiit, evasit, erupit It was very distress- 
 ing — very. 
 
 Now having your line in this untoward position 
 is called being drowned, and the breaking of the 
 tackle in the manner described being cut — soul- 
 harrowing, suicidical miseries, that no one can 
 properly describe except Mr. Richard Penn. 
 
 Here ended my fishing, and in summing up 
 the events of the day I had not much to congratu- 
 late myself upon. I had been guilty of almost 
 every error possible : I broke my hook ^and my 
 rod ; I was moreover cut and drowned, technically 
 speaking. I learned, however, four things : firstly, 
 never to fish in a cast where the Kelpie has his 
 stronghold ; secondly, to look occasionally behind 
 me before my throw, where the banks are steep 
 and near ; thirdly, to try the strength of my hook 
 before I use it, not after; and, fourthly, to get 
 into shoes of a proper consistency, and well studded 
 with nails of Brobdingnag dimensions. Take warn- 
 ing, gentle readers, from these disasters, which are 
 recounted for your benefit and instruction. 
 
 The day following I was more successful; for 
 I shot twelve brace of partridges, and killed seven 
 
WADING GEAR 117 
 
 salmon in the evening. This I thought good 
 sport, as partridges are scarce by the river side. 
 
 I rented various houses and large fisheries on 
 Tweed -side for about twenty years after this, 
 remaining there not only during the summer 
 months, but sometimes all the year round except 
 close time ; so that my experience reaches to all 
 the methods of catching salmon during the legal 
 time of the year. I shall now proceed to give as 
 good an idea as I can of the sort of thing to be 
 expected by those who are inclined to follow the 
 same amusement, together with such instructions 
 as I would fain hope may increase their success. 
 And, first, for wading. 
 
 Wading in the water is not only an agreeable 
 thing in itself, but absolutely necessary in some 
 rivers in the North that are destitute of boats ; and 
 that you may do this in the best possible style, 
 procure half a dozen pair of shoes, with large knob- 
 nails at some distance asunder : if they are too 
 close, they will bring your foot to an even surface, 
 and it will glide off a stone or rock, which in deep 
 water may be inconvenient. Cut some holes in 
 the upper-leathers of your shoes, to give the water 
 a free passage out of them when you are on dry 
 land ; not because the fluid is annoying, for we 
 should wrong you to say so, but to prevent the 
 pumping noise you would otherwise make at every 
 step. If you are not much of a triton, you may 
 use fishermen's boots, and keep yourself dry : it is 
 all a matter of taste. When you are wading 
 through the rapids, step on quickly and boldly, and 
 do not gaze down on the stream after the fashion 
 
118 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 of Narcissus ; for running waves wiU not reflect 
 your beauty, but only make your head giddy. If 
 you stop for a moment, place your legs abreast of 
 each other : should you fancy a straddle, with one 
 of them in advance, the action of the water will 
 operate upon both, trip you up, and carry you out 
 to sea. Observe, I am talking of a heavy stream. 
 The body of a man, who probably lost his Ufe in 
 this manner, was found low down the river when I 
 was fishing. I asked John Haliburton, who was then 
 my fisherman, where it came from. " I suppose," 
 said he, " it travelled all the way from Peebles." ^ 
 
 Avoid standing upon rocking stones, for obvious 
 reasons ; and never go into the water deeper than 
 the fifth button of your waistcoat : even this does 
 not always agree with tender constitutions in frosty 
 weather. As you are Mkely not to take a just 
 estimate of the cold in the excitement of the sport, 
 should you be of a delicate temperament, and be 
 wading in the month of February, when it may 
 chance to freeze very hard, pull down your stock- 
 ings, and examine your legs. Should they be black, 
 or even purple, it might, perhaps, be as well to get 
 on dry land; but if they are only rubicund, you 
 may continue to enjoy the water, if it so pleases 
 you. If you go in far enough to throw over the cast, 
 that is sufficient ; for, remember, it is not good to 
 have a very long line when a short one will answer 
 your purpose. You will not strike your fish so 
 soon, and a sudden run of his might place you in 
 an awkward predicament when your progress is 
 impeded by wading. 
 
 1 Peebles was about twenty-five miles from the spot in question. 
 
GREAT FAITH IN WADING 119 
 
 It is really refreshing, and does one's heart good, 
 to see how some that are green in the sport will, in 
 the language of stag hunting, "take to soil." I 
 heard of a very fat man from the precincts of 
 Cheapside, who was encountered in the river Shiel, 
 in Inverness - shire, by two gentlemen — merrier 
 ones than whom "I never passed an hours talk 
 withal." The corpulent man looked at the water 
 for some time Hke a child that is going into a cold 
 bath, and does not half like it ; he then broke forth 
 in the following guise : — 
 
 " I am convinced, gentlemen, that your waders 
 catch most fish. I say, gentlemen, that those who 
 wade are the most successful." His opinion being 
 greatly encouraged, he put forth one foot in the 
 pool ; and not finding the sensation very alarming, 
 for the weather was warm, he walked soberly 
 forward, saying at every step, "Ay, ay, — your 
 waders catch the most fish." Now the rock shelv- 
 ing down near the bank, in progressing he was soon 
 up to the hips — 
 
 " Tendebatque manus ripae ulterioris amore ; "" 
 
 but he could not reach the desired spot even then. 
 In this dilemma he looked wistfully at the shore 
 for advice. " How deep should I go ? " said the 
 enterprising man. One said to the fifth button of 
 your waistcoat, and the other to your shirt-collar. 
 He preferred the fifth button ; and soon treading 
 on a faithless stone, fairly toppled head foremost 
 into the pool. His hand relaxed its gi'asp, and 
 away went the fishing rod down the stream. He 
 himself was soon placed out of danger by the 
 
120 SALMON FISHING IN THE T\^^EED 
 
 gentlemen, an attention that, considering all things, 
 he was fairly entitled to ; but his rod lay across the 
 river, the butt end opposed in its passage by one 
 rock in the middle of it, and the top by another ; 
 so the weight of the stream bore upon the centre, 
 and snapped it in twain. The corpulent gentleman 
 took all with the greatest good humour ; and as 
 the water streamed from him at all points, as it 
 were from a river god, and as he applied a brandy 
 flask to his mouth, he said only at the intervals 
 between his potations, " I am not quite so sure 
 that your waders catch the most fish ; gentlemen, I 
 say, I have my doubts of it." 
 
 To the credit of my friends be it spoken, they 
 waded and swam after the two divisions of his rod, 
 which they spliced together for him, and set him 
 going again ; not in the faithless water, but on the 
 trusty shore, which he now seemed to prefer. 
 
 I cannot in conscience recommend a course of 
 wading to a sedentary man as a new experiment, or 
 even as an old custom revived after a lapse of years ; 
 and this for the following reason. 
 
 General Gowdie was born on the banks of the 
 Leader-water, which falls into the Tweed about a 
 mile and a half below Melrose, near Fly Bridge. 
 In his youth he was an ardent and expert salmon 
 fisher ; in after life he went out to India, and 
 served honourably there for forty years. At 
 length, in the decline of life, he was seized with the 
 Swiss passion — an unconquerable yearning to revisit 
 the land of his sires. Night after night he heard in 
 his dreams the murmuring lapse of the Leader as 
 it glided down his native valley ; again he reposed in 
 
GENERAL GOWDIE 121 
 
 the sunny dell, and thought of " auld lang syne " ; 
 then, when the cheerless morn broke forth, and he 
 found himself on a vast continent, far away from 
 the land of his fathers, he felt as one cast out of 
 Paradise. Gone were the visions of his early scenes 
 and companions ; — lost, long lost, but too well 
 remembered. How distant, alas ! from the bonny 
 copses of Carrol-side ! — how far from the silver 
 waters of the Tweed ! 
 
 After honourable service he set sail for the 
 shores of Scotland, determined to pass the re- 
 mainder of his days in comparative privacy and 
 tranquillity. I met him soon after his arrival, and 
 gave him some salmon fishing. It was delightful 
 to see how he enjoyed himself : he waded as deep 
 as any of us. And I well remember showing him a 
 favourite seat for a salmon near the point of a cairn : 
 he cast his fly at once in the exact spot to an inch, 
 and threw several times with the same adroitness ; 
 not because he expected to raise a salmon — ^for he 
 well knew that if a fish did not come at the first 
 dexterous throw, it was useless to cast a second 
 time for him in the same place ^ — but because he 
 felt great satisfaction at his renewed dexterity, and 
 he was pleased that any one should witness it. 
 
 Poor fellow ! his happiness did not last long. 
 The habit of wading at his advanced time of fife 
 brought on internal disease, which soon ended 
 fatally ; and he only repassed the seas to lay his 
 bones in the fatherland. 
 
 1 This is doctrine which it is strange an experienced salmon fisher 
 should utter. Many, many times may a fish disregard the fly, and 
 yet suddenly leave his lair and seize it. — Ed. 
 
CHAPTER VI 
 
 " I tell you more : there was a fish taken, 
 A monstrous fish, with a sword by's side, — a long sword ; 
 A pike in's neck, and a gun in's nose, — a huge gun ; 
 And letters of mart in's mouth from the Duke of Florence. 
 Cleanthes. This is a monstrous lie. 
 Tony. I do confess it ; 
 
 Do you think Td tell you truths ?'' 
 
 Fletcher's Wife for a Month. 
 
 Having set forth the advantages, as well as the 
 risk of wading, in a fair, and I hope a rational light, 
 I will proceed to advise on other matters. 
 
 In priviis, your rod should be proportioned to 
 the size of the river you fish in ; eighteen or twenty 
 feet long. The longer the rod, the greater com- 
 mand you will have over your fish ; for being 
 enabled to keep the line more perpendicular, you 
 can lead him with more ease and security amongst 
 rocks and eddies ; whereas with a short rod you 
 cannot keep enough of your line clear of the water 
 to prevent danger in such places. It is true that 
 the late Lord Somerville, who was an excellent 
 fisherman, used a one-handed trout rod for salmon. 
 He did not, however, do so from choice, but from 
 necessity ; for having once put out his shoulder, he 
 could not manage to throw with a rod of the usual 
 
PROPER TACKLE 123 
 
 size. He once put this little rod into my hands 
 when we were fishing together in his water ; but, 
 for want of practice, I could make Uttle or nothing 
 of it, but I was astonished to see what a long line 
 he himself could throw with it. It must be noted, 
 however, that he fished from a boat in the upper 
 and narrower part of the Tweed, where the channel 
 is excellent, and where there are few bad rocks ; in 
 a large river, abounding in all those natural obstruc- 
 tions which its waters fight with, no human ingenuity- 
 could have saved him from being often cut with 
 such Lilhputian tackle. 
 
 Your line should be about a hundred or a 
 hundred and twenty or thirty yards, according to 
 the breadth of the river you fish in ; tapering, of 
 course, towards the end. Your gut single, clear, 
 and round. Of such you may make a casting line 
 sufficiently strong for any salmon you wiU ever 
 encounter in these degenerate days. 
 
 The colour of your casting line should depend 
 upon the state of the river. Take some thought, 
 therefore, to adapt it accordingly : in doing so, you 
 may fancy that you and the fish have changed 
 places. Whilst you are on dry land your object of 
 comparison is the dark bed of the river, which mis- 
 leads you of course ; whereas the objects of com- 
 parison to the fish, who Ues below, are the colour 
 of the sky and the medium of water. If the water 
 then be moss-stained, your gut may be very faintly 
 tinged of the same colour, — very faintly indeed, as 
 all dyes are overdone ; but if the river be clear, do 
 not on any account stain your casting line at all. 
 The sky may vary in colour every minute : an 
 
124 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 attempt to match it, therefore, is out of the question. 
 You may easily satisfy yourself of the superiority 
 of white over dyed gut, in ordinary cases, by 
 remarking the appearance of both when placed 
 in a tumbler of pure water. 
 
 Whatever you do, have nothing to say to multi- 
 plying reels : they are apt to betray you in the hour 
 of trial. 
 
 My first discovery of their insufficiency for heavy 
 fish created some embarrassment at the time. I 
 had a pet multiplier, which ran beautifully, and 
 which I had long used for trout fishing. As it was 
 sufficiently large to contain a salmon line, I 
 employed it for that purpose also, till it began to 
 get rickety with the more heavy work. One day, 
 the water being fallen in, and the morning also 
 being sunny, so as to exclude the expectation of 
 killing a salmon, I put some trout tackle at the end 
 of my line, which was on the said reel, and began 
 trouting in Bolside- water. In the course of the 
 day a cloud passed before the sun ; and at the same 
 time, as is usually the case, a slight breeze arose 
 and ruffled the surface of the water. I hastened to 
 change my tackle, and substituted a small salmon 
 fly in place of the trout ones : small, because, as I 
 have said, the water was quite fallen in. Though 
 many years have passed over my head since that 
 time, I remember this fly well. His wings were of 
 the clear brown feather from the bittern ; his body 
 of black wool, with a hackle of the same colour ; 
 and his tail of a very pronounced yellow, being 
 made of the feather of a golden pheasant ; red he 
 was in the head, and altogether of a very commend- 
 
A BAD REEL 125 
 
 able and alluring aspect. The curl on the water 
 still continuing, I whisked him off gaily. At the 
 very second throw, the pool being somewhat dead, 
 I saw the water heave up, advancing in a wave 
 towards me. I waited patiently for the break, 
 which was a slight one, but pleasant and beauteous 
 to behold. This I knew to be the act of the Salmo 
 solar ; and as my Une was short, I was, as I before 
 recommended to others, in no hurry to strike ; but 
 fix him I did in due season. He no sooner felt the 
 hook than he began to rebel ; and executed some 
 very heavy runs, which so disconcerted the 
 machinery of my multiplier as almost to dislocate 
 the wheels. The line gave out with starts and 
 hitches, so that I was obliged to assist it with my 
 hands. To wind up it resolutely refused ; so that 
 I was compelled to gather in the Hne in large 
 festoons when it was necessary to shorten it, and 
 again to give these out as best I could when the 
 fish made a run. Add to this embarrassment that 
 the ground was distressing, there being alder bushes 
 in my rear, which made it impossible for me to 
 retreat and advance by land, by which means I 
 could have humoured the fancies of the fish, so as 
 to obviate in some degree the necessity of giving 
 out and shortening the line. So I had no power 
 whatever over the salmon, which was evidently a 
 very large one. 
 
 In the course of an hour I made no impression 
 upon him at all, my whole aim being to avoid a 
 break. I never engaged with a more subtle animal. 
 Sometimes he would make the tour of all the 
 neighbouring stones, where he endeavoured, no 
 
126 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 doubt, to rub the hook out of his mouth ; then he 
 would take a long rest, as if he cared nothing about 
 it. From the cause I have mentioned my tackle 
 was always in disorder, which kept me in great 
 apprehension. Thus the matter went on for 
 nearly two hours more, still with a very dubious 
 result. At length a stone being thrown in by my 
 attendant at a spot where I could follow along the 
 bank, he put his head down the river peremptorily, 
 and went off like a rocket. I ran with him down 
 the channel, as he skimmed through the shallows 
 and darted through the rough gorges, in evident 
 danger, as I was, of losing him every moment. At 
 length he fairly exhausted himself, and I was able 
 to urge him to a sandbank, and lay him on his 
 broadside. 
 
 The sandbank, however, had a few inches of 
 water running over it, but not sufficient to cover 
 the fish. My attendant, Phihp Garrat, had the 
 tact to place himself between the deep water and 
 the fish. Then came the struggle. A Wiltshire 
 novice, like the said Philip, could not hold a live 
 salmon with his hands, so he tried to kick him 
 forward on the dry channel. All this time I 
 hallooed stoutly to him to take care of the line. 
 My anxiety was extreme ; for the fish was some- 
 times able to place himself in a swimming posture, 
 and wriggle away near the deep water. In fact, 
 had there been but one inch of water more over 
 the sandbank, he would have had it all his own 
 way. Philip, aware of the danger, set at him with 
 redoubled activity, kicking his fastest and best. 
 But the event being still doubtful, he knelt down 
 
Salmon Reel, 1843. 
 
 Latest Pattern, 1898. 
 
OLD PATTERN AND NEW 129 
 
 and grappled with him ; and finding him still 
 slippery and elusive, he cast himself bodily upon 
 him, and fixed him with his weight at once : toto 
 certatum est corpore regni. So thought he of 
 Macedonian appellation ; but he did not express 
 himself in such terms, being a man of no clerk-hke 
 capacity : whatever he might have thought, he only 
 said, looking up with a grin of delight and with a 
 Wiltshire accent, " I got un ! be hanged if I ha'nt." 
 
 A cold bath for a few minutes more or less is of 
 no consequence ; so I made him remain a space, 
 Hke iEtna pressing upon the shoulders of Enceladus, 
 till I came up and gripped the huge salmon by the 
 tail, and walked to dry land with him, triumphant. 
 
 I was nearly three hours in kiUing this fish, all 
 owing to the derangement of a multiplying reel; 
 and as this contrivance, though useful enough in 
 our trout rivers, will by no means answer with very 
 large fish, I have mentioned the above occurrence 
 in detail as a warning to others. 
 
 After this time I caused to be made some large 
 single reels, nicely constructed, so as to give the 
 fine out evenly, and not run too slackly ; and I 
 directed that the cylinders should be of a very 
 ample circumference, which gave me the same 
 advantage that a multiplying reel has with the 
 usual cyHnder.^ 
 
 ^ The original cut being here reproduced, the reader may perceive 
 with what prodigious disadvantages our predecessors had to contend in 
 the matter of tackle. Imagine going forth to battle with a winch of 
 this description : long in that diameter which ought to be short, and 
 shallow in that which should obviously be deep — a very nightmare of a 
 salmon reel. As a contrast I have inserted, by permission of Messrs. 
 Farlow and Co. of 191 Strand, a cut of their latest pattern of aluminium 
 patent lever reel. — Ed. 
 
 K 
 
130 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 William Purdie at that time rented the Bolside- 
 water, which runs by Abbotsford, and in which I 
 caught this fish. His son, then a little boy, 
 happened to pass by when I landed him, and I sent 
 him home to his father with the salmon ; but it was 
 with extreme difficulty that the Httle feUow got up 
 the brae, as his load, which was hung over his 
 shoulders, frequently made him stagger back down 
 the rocks which he had from time to time ascended. 
 That Httle boy came into my service as fisherman 
 some seasons afterwards, and has lived with me 
 now about eighteen years. He is a capital fly- 
 maker and boatman, and a most valuable servant. 
 Some of his exploits appear in these pages, he being 
 the identical Charlie Purdie so repeatedly mentioned 
 in them. 
 
 A great deal of mystery is made on every river 
 as to the flies you should fish with. Thus when a 
 novice arrives at his fishing station, he sends for 
 the oracle of the river ; pulls out his book, crammed 
 as closely as a pot of pemmican, and displays before 
 him the various devices of an Eaton, an Ustonson, 
 or a Chevaher. Nothing dazzled, Donald much 
 admires what one may be, and what the other; 
 this he rejects as useless, that he laughs to scorn. 
 At length, after having grinned extensively at those 
 tinselled animals called kill-devils, he examines some 
 twenty dozen of your best ffies ; and, pulling out 
 one from the number, tells you that might serve 
 well enough if it had different wings, a different 
 body, and a yellow tail. Now all this is overdone ; 
 but I would advise you to acquiesce in the predic- 
 tions of the said oracle, simply to save the trouble of 
 
FANCIES ABOUT FLIES 131 
 
 argument. One thing you may be sure of : namely, 
 that you may as well attempt to make the Tweed 
 run back to its source as to shake his opinions. 
 
 Now, as there is no month in the year when 
 salmon flies are made by nature, so no distinction 
 of species need be observed. My rule has been to 
 adapt my fly, both as to colour and size, to the 
 state of the water : a large fly with sober colours 
 for deep and clear water, and a smaller one, equally 
 unassuming, where it is shallower ; in the throat of 
 the cast, and as long as it continues rough, a large 
 fly also ; at the tail of it, where the water runs 
 more quietly and evenly, a smaller one serves the 
 purpose best. Thus you should change your fly in 
 every stream once or twice. A large and rather 
 gaudy fly is preferable when the river is full and 
 discoloured, that the salmon, which he at great 
 depths, may see it; but I never had any great 
 success with very gaudy flies, either in the Tweed 
 or elsewhere, in clear and low waters. Salmon will 
 rise at them, it is true ; but those that have been 
 long in the water will not take them freely when 
 the river is in the state I have spoken of, though 
 they excite their curiosity, and serve them for play- 
 things. I beUeve it is the fashion now to think 
 otherwise ; so that in these days a golden pheasant's 
 feathers are in as high estimation in Scotland as 
 they always have been in Ireland. 
 
 In tying your flies, you may have some regard 
 to the harmonic colours, as less starthng and more 
 natural. You may laugh, if you please, but I 
 would fain think there is something in this. If 
 you know them not, consult Sir David Brewster's 
 
132 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 table of spectral colours in his distinguished 
 " Philosophical Magazine." 
 
 I have said that there is no animal in nature re- 
 sembling our salmon flies ; but I once caught a fish 
 who was certainly persuaded that he was attacking 
 an animal that he had previously seen flying. This 
 event happened when I was a novice. Walter 
 Ronaldson was attending me, and we were walking 
 by the side of the Elm-wheel in the Pavilion- water. 
 Walter was some way in advance, when I saw a 
 white butterfly fluttering up and down over the 
 water, and a salmon make a fruitless dart at it. It 
 chanced that I had made some large salmon flies 
 with white wings, in imitation of a pattern that 
 was formerly the fashion for trout fishing, and was 
 called, I know not why, the coachman. One of 
 these I immediately looped to my line : the fish, no 
 doubt taking it for the butterfly that he saw flitting 
 above him, came at it at once, and I took him. 
 When he was landed, Walter's astonishment was 
 great when he saw the fly, and he made a dozen 
 imitations of it before he laid his head on the 
 pillow. I should not think that under other 
 circumstances such a fly would be alluring. 
 
 When a man toils a long time without success, 
 he is apt to attribute his failure to the using an 
 improper fly ; so he changes his book through, till 
 at last, perhaps, he catches fish. The fly with 
 which he achieves this is naturally enough a 
 favourite ever afterwards, and probably without 
 reason : the cause of success might be in the change 
 of air and temperature of the water ; and the same 
 thing would probably have occurred if he had 
 
FALLACY OF FREQUENT CHANGE 133 
 
 persevered with the same fly with which he began. 
 When the night has been frosty, salmon will not 
 stir till the water has received the genial warmth 
 of the day ; and there are a thousand hidden causes 
 of obstruction which we, who are not fish, know 
 nothing about. 
 
 As an instance, I once fished over a short stream 
 above the Webbs, in Mertoun- water, without 
 having an offer ; being convinced there were fish in 
 it, I went over it a second time with the same fly 
 immediately afterwards, and caught two salmon 
 and two gilse. Now if I had changed my fly, as 
 is usual, the success would naturally have been 
 attributed to such change. But, observe, I do not 
 mean to assert that all flies are equally successful, 
 for there must obviously be a preference, however 
 slight; but I mean merely to say that a failure 
 oftener occurs from atmospheric variations than 
 from the colour of the fly. Yet an occasional 
 change is always advisable, particularly if you have 
 had any offers ; since the fish in so rising, having, 
 perhaps, discovered the deception, will not be 
 solicitous to renew their acquaintance with a 
 detected scamp. After all, the great thing is to 
 give the appearance and motion of a living animal. 
 
 Once, when I was adjusting my tackle on Tweed- 
 side, I was accosted by a native fisherman in these 
 words — " Ye need na fash yersel' the day wi' yer 
 lang wand, for I wud na gie a pinch o' snuff* for a' 
 that ye'll get ; there are too vadiny pouthered lawyers 
 aboot." Powdered lawyers ! I gazed around me, 
 and did not see a single gentleman of the long robe. 
 What on earth could the man mean? and what 
 
134 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 had a powdered lawyer to do with my sport ? 
 Upon explanation, I found out that he alluded to 
 the numerous puffy white clouds above. Whether 
 the likeness of these to lawyers' wigs was appropriate 
 or not, I leave to those who are learned in similes 
 to determine ; but he certainly was right in his 
 main position. 
 
 If your fish misses the fly in making his offer, 
 wait a while before you throw a second time ; and 
 if he rises at all, he will come more eagerly for this 
 delay. ^ When he returns to his seat, after the 
 unsuccessful sortie, he will say mentally (for thus do 
 fishes and novelists discourse), " What a donkey I 
 was to be so awkward ! By St. Antonio, if he 
 comes again, I'll smash him ! " But if you keep 
 lashing away at him immediately, as I have seen 
 many fishermen do, — ay, and practised hands too, — 
 he will probably treat you with contempt, and will 
 have no intercourse with your gay deluders for the 
 rest of the day. It is some time, perhaps, since he 
 has taken up his seat in the water, without ever 
 having seen an animal like that which you are so 
 obliging as to tender him : all of a sudden come 
 a swarm of locusts, as it were, one after another 
 over his neb, which astonish and alarm him exceed- 
 ingly. Thus it is apparent, my most excellent but 
 too persevering friend, that you do not do justice 
 to his sagacity, or instinct, or whatever you please 
 to term it, if you set to work in such an intrusive 
 manner. 
 
 ^ This is not universal experience. A salmon frequently rises a 
 second time immediately after he has missed the fly once. It is best 
 not to waste precious minutes. — Ed. 
 
ChromoUlh. Art 
 
FAVOURITE FLIES 135 
 
 As in all other rivers, so there are various flies 
 made use of in the Tweed ; but the variety consists 
 more, I think, in size than in colour. A large fly, 
 as I have said, for the heavy and deep waters, and a 
 smaller one for the upper part of the river. That 
 is the general system. More minute particulars 
 I have already given. Here are six flies, which I 
 have always found the most successful : I do not 
 mean to say that they are the best that can be used, 
 but only that they are such as I have most con- 
 fidence in from experience. They were tried by 
 my fisherman Charles Purdie, and in such a manner 
 as to make them cut their way steadily through 
 the water. They are known by diflerent names ; so 
 that when I say to my fisherman give me this, or 
 give me that, mentioning the patronymic, forth it 
 comes, without the trouble of searching over the 
 book myself. 
 
 Two of these flies are of the masculine gender, 
 three of the feminine, and one of the neuter. The 
 masculine are Michael Scott and Kinmont Willie; 
 the feminine, the Lady of Mertoun or the Flower 
 of Yarrow, Meg with the Muckle Mouth in her 
 usual dress, and Meg in her bravery — or, Scottice, 
 braws. The fly of the neuter gender has been 
 called Toppy from time immemorial. 
 
 No. 1. 
 Kinmont Willie. 
 
 Wings . . . Mottled feather from under the wing of a 
 
 male teal. 
 Head . . . Yellow wool. 
 
 Body . . . Fur of the hare's ear. 
 
136 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 End of body . . Red wool. 
 
 Tail . . . Yellow wool. 
 
 Round the body . Black-cock's hackle. 
 
 I found this fly very successful in the Annan 
 when I lived at Kinmont, from which place it 
 derives its name. 
 
 No. 2. 
 
 The Lady of Mertoun. 
 
 Wings . 
 
 . Mottled feather from under the wings of the 
 
 
 male teal. 
 
 Head . 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Body . 
 
 . Water-rat's fur. 
 
 End of body 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Tail 
 
 . Yellow wool. 
 
 Round the body 
 
 . Black-cock's hackle. 
 
 End of body 
 
 . A little red hackle. 
 
 
 No. 3. 
 
 
 Toppy, 
 
 Wings . 
 
 . Black feather from a turkey's tail, tipped 
 
 
 with white. 
 
 Head . 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Body . 
 
 . Black bullock's hair. 
 
 End of body 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Tail 
 
 . Yellow wool. 
 
 Body . 
 
 . Black-cock's hackle. 
 
 End of body 
 
 . Small piece of red-cock's hackle. 
 
 No. 4. 
 
 I will now describe Michael Scott, a most killing 
 wizard. 
 
 " Chi veramente 
 
 Delle magiche frodi seppe il gioco.' 
 
 Wings 
 Head 
 
 Mottled feather from the back of a drake. 
 Yellow wool, with a little hare's fur next 
 to it. 
 
FAVOURITE FLIES 
 
 137 
 
 Body . 
 
 End of the body 
 
 Tail 
 
 Round the body 
 End of the body 
 Round the body 
 
 Black wool. 
 
 Fur from the hare's ear ; next to [the hare's 
 
 ear crimson wooL 
 Yellow wool. 
 Black-cock's hackle. 
 Red-cock's hackle. 
 Gold twist, spirally. 
 
 No. 5. 
 Meg with the Muckle Mouth, 
 
 ^Vings . 
 
 . From the tail of a brown turkey. 
 
 Head . 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Body . 
 
 . YeUowsilk. 
 
 End of body 
 
 . Crimson wool. 
 
 Tail 
 
 . Yellow or orange wool. 
 
 Round the tail 
 
 . Red-cock's hackle. 
 
 Round the body 
 
 . Gold twist; over it hackle mixed 
 
 
 colour, as above. 
 
 with 
 
 No. 6. 
 Meg in her Braws, 
 
 Wings . 
 
 Head . 
 
 Next the head . 
 
 Body . 
 
 Towards the end of body 
 
 Tail 
 
 Round the body 
 
 Light brown, from the wing of a bittern. 
 Yellow wool. 
 
 Mottled blue feather from a jay's wing. 
 Brown wool mixed with bullock's hair. 
 Green wool ; next to that crimson wool. 
 Yellow wool. 
 
 Gold twist; over that cock's hackle, black 
 at the roots and red at the points.^ 
 
 Concerning these flies I will note one thing, 
 which is, that if you rise a fish with the Lady of 
 Mertoun, and he does not touch her, give him a 
 rest, and come over him with the Toppy, and you 
 have him to a certainty, and vice versa. This I 
 
 1 The fashion in flies has changed on the Tweed, as on most other 
 Scottish waters. The gaudiest colours, the brightest tinsel, the most 
 daring combinations are displayed in the lures now in vogue. — Ed. 
 
138 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 hold to be an invaluable secret, and is the only 
 change that during my long practice I have found 
 eminently successful. 
 
 Having now named all things necessary for the 
 sport, 1 must now advise all fishermen. Cockneys 
 in particular, to provide themselves with plenty of 
 spare tackle before they go felicity-hunting ; for in 
 the wilds of Scotland it is not easy to replace any 
 loss that inexperience and ill fortune may occasion. 
 
 A friend of mine told me a circumstance, by 
 which it appeared that a very worthy person was 
 considerably embarrassed for want of this due 
 precaution. This said friend had been fishing in 
 the river Shiel in Inverness-shire, and was seated 
 on a bank with a large salmon before him that he 
 had just caught. He was eyeing the fish with com- 
 placency, and smoking a cigar in all the enjoyment 
 of success. Whilst in this tranquil mood, a man 
 suddenly vaulted over the wall of the Shiel bridge ; 
 
 " And when he had not the least suspicion, 
 Was with him like an apparition.*" 
 
 This man he described to me as fresh in his attire. 
 Thin and new were his shoes, new also was his 
 jacket, new his waistcoat, and novel his pantaloons ; 
 but newest of all was his top-varnished salmon rod, 
 turned out by Eaton : but he was shabbily thatched, 
 his hat being worse than common. His flies, to all 
 appearance, were made by the Turks — men for- 
 bidden by their religion to imitate any of the 
 works of the Creation. As for the man himself, 
 no one could look at him without being put in 
 mind of Mantahni. 
 
AN ECCENTRIC STRANGER 139 
 
 " Demnition fine pool, sir." 
 
 " Very fine indeed, sir ; but you will never catch 
 a fish where you are casting at present, because 
 fish do not Me in that bare water." 
 
 Upon this our man faced round, put his fore- 
 finger to his nose, and, with an expression of 
 sagacity and wisdom that I should in vain attempt 
 to describe, said : 
 
 " Do you see anything green in my eyes, sir ? " 
 
 It was evident such a person was not born to 
 be instructed, but simply to be admired. My 
 friend, therefore, left his rod upon the bank, and 
 walked after him, cigar in mouth, to get some 
 insight into his tactics. Arrived at a better part 
 of the pool, he hooked a fish ; and here it was 
 curious to see the difference of opinion between a 
 Cockney and one who had been bred to the sport. 
 The Cockney was of a yielding disposition, and 
 judged it advisable to let the fish have his own 
 way ; the result of which was, that he ran out an 
 exorbitant length of Une, and was going to a sort 
 of whirlpool amongst the rocks. 
 
 " Hold him in, hold him in ; if he gets to that 
 eddy, you are done." 
 
 " Fine fish, sir, fine fish ; fast hooked, sir. Do 
 you see anything green in my eyes? I have an 
 opinion of my own, sir." 
 
 " So has the fish. And now it is all over with 
 you ; for if you had nothing but a dried herring at 
 the end of your line, you would never get it out of 
 that mess. I hope you have another casting line, 
 because you will never see that again." 
 
 " Fine fish, sir ; fine rod, sir ; fine line, sir ; fast 
 
140 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 hooked, sir, — fast hooked. Do you see anything 
 green- " 
 
 He was stopped short in the sentence by an 
 alarming rush of the salmon, who shot forward up 
 the stream, and took out the whole of the Hne of 
 the consenting party to the tune of 120 yards. 
 Now it is a wholesome rule to make fast the end 
 of the line, by running it through a hole in the 
 cylinder of the reel, and tying some knots at the 
 extremity to secure it ; and as this rule is whole- 
 some, so it has been practised time immemorial by 
 all sagacious persons, and even by some who are 
 not very sagacious. But there are exceptions to 
 all rules, and our man had neglected this caution ; 
 consequently, the line, being all run out, vanished 
 at once through the rings of the rod, and streamed 
 fair and ample below the surface of the water. 
 The mermaid may, but that line shall no terrestrial 
 ever see again. 
 
 "Demnition hard that, sir. What an extra- 
 ordinary incident! Fish well managed, dexter- 
 ously, artistically. Very odd indeed, sir : beauti- 
 fully played ; — fine rod, fine hand. Demnition 
 hard, I must say. Now how far must I go to 
 get a line ? " 
 
 " If you mean to get the same, probably to the 
 middle of the Irish Channel, or the mouth of the 
 Shannon ; but if you seek a new one, which I 
 think would be the most prudent course, walk up 
 to the road, and you will see a milestone, which 
 says, 'To Inverness 120 miles,' — exactly a mile for 
 every yard of Hne you have lost, and I am sorry 
 for it." 
 
THE ART OF CASTING 141 
 
 Casting the fly is a knack, and cannot well be 
 taught but by experience : the spring of the rod 
 should do the chief work, and not the labour of 
 your arm. To effect this, you should lay the 
 stress as near the hand as possible, and make the 
 wood undulate from that point ; which is done by 
 keeping your elbow in advance, and doing some- 
 thing with your wrist, which, as Mr. Penn says, 
 is not very easy to explain. Thus the exertion 
 should be chiefly from the elbow and wrist, and 
 not from the shoulders. You should throw clear 
 beyond the spot where the salmon he, so that they 
 may not see the fly light upon the water; then 
 you should bring the said fly round the stream, 
 describing the segment of a circle, taking one step 
 in advance at every throw. In this manner the 
 fish see your fly only, and not the line. It is 
 customary to give short jerks with the fly as you 
 bring it round, something in the manner of minnow 
 fishing, but in a more gentle and easy way ; and I 
 think this manner is the most seducing you can 
 adopt: it sets the wings in a state of alternate 
 expansion and contraction that is extremely 
 captivating. 
 
 Salmon will often take your fly on one side of 
 the river when they will not touch it on the other. 
 In high water, the channel side,^ as a general rule, 
 is the best, and at the cheek of the current ; and 
 you should not be in a hurry to pull your fly into 
 the more bare and still parts of the channel, where 
 the fish will come more cautiously and lazily. In 
 low water it is best to throw over the channel 
 
 * i.€. the shallow side. — Ed. 
 
142 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 from the rocky side, drawing at first rather quickly, 
 that your fish may take your fly in the current, 
 which is material. In very low water, indeed, 
 when the fish may be said to give over rising, you 
 may try your luck in the rapids by hanging your 
 fly on them ; indeed, you should always let your 
 fly dwell on this sort of water, or the fish wiU 
 either lose sight of it, or not choose to follow 
 where you may wish him. All these things are 
 not easily explained in writing, nor, I believe, in 
 conversation, as will appear from the following 
 example. 
 
 A friend of mine went with two companions to 
 fish in the river Morar, on the coast of Inverness- 
 shire. One of these two comrades was a young 
 Oxonian, and a novice ; the other was an ex- 
 perienced fisherman. They were all three in one 
 of those Highland shielings, redolent of peat smoke 
 and whisky, which is absolute luxury to a thorough- 
 bred sportsman, as being in keeping and character 
 with the nature of his pursuit. The Oxonian was 
 an excellent person, but, as I have hinted, knew 
 nothing upon earth about salmon fishing ; so Mr. 
 E. C, who was an adept in the said art, set about 
 instructing him by word of mouth. The third 
 person of the party happened not to coincide with 
 the excellence of the simple instructions he was 
 giving, and laid it down as an axiom, that it was 
 impossible to catch a fish, unless your fly was at 
 right angles to your rod. This seemed not at all 
 to be comprehended ; and after a little arguing, the 
 said oracle, by way of illustration, took a stick, 
 tied his handkerchief to it, and gave a few throws 
 
A THEORIST AT FAULT 143 
 
 on the table. "Now," said he, "these are very 
 bad throws, and would never catch a fish." This 
 assertion was applauded, and immediately carried 
 by acclamation. " To make a good cast, and keep 
 your fly in the rectangular position," continued the 
 maestro, "you must furl your line thus." So say- 
 ing, he gave the handkerchief a knowing whisk, 
 which extinguished both the candles. Thus he 
 argued with all his might, feeding the young 
 Oxonian with scientific maxims, who promised that 
 he would furl his line, and fish mathematically. 
 
 The next morning no one could start with a 
 fairer prospect of sport than the said novice. He 
 was accompanied by Alan Beg, or Little Allan, 
 because he was told it was quite impossible for him 
 to catch a salmon without his assistance ; and he 
 was taught how to kill his fish par raison demon- 
 strative. But throw as he would, furl as he might, 
 he could by no means manage to keep his fly always 
 at right angles to his rod, although he was a most 
 excellent mathematician. At length, after having 
 lost seven favourite flies, and two casting lines, he 
 broke out in unqualified abuse of the system; which 
 so enraged his gentle brother of the angle, that 
 high words arose, and they were on the point of 
 committing the duello on those very sands where it 
 is said Prince Charles drew up his forces. My 
 friend was asked to act as impartial second to both 
 parties, which he consented to, on condition only 
 that they should stand and fire so that the balls 
 might cross at right angles to each other. But 
 "Etes-vous fou," said he to the Oxonian, "de 
 Taller quereller, lui qui entend les angles, et qui 
 
144 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 salt tuer un saumon par raison demonstrative?" 
 At this good humour returned, and each party 
 fished the rest of the day according to the angles 
 that best suited his fancy, without let or argument. 
 
 Now in holding your fly on a rough stream 
 you must advance your arms, and bring your rod 
 straight across the river, consequently your line 
 hanging straight down the stream may form a right 
 angle at the point of your rod, and so you should 
 work it in this instance ; but in most other cases I 
 prefer the obtuse angle. As to the argument — 
 lis avoient raison tons deux. 
 
 In hooking a rising fish, it is best to strike a 
 little sideways, that the hook may fasten in the 
 fleshy part of the mouth ; whereas, if you pull 
 straight up, you are apt to encounter the upper or 
 bony part ; or if the fish has not closed his jaws, and 
 fairly turned off, you may pull the fly away from 
 him too soon, to the disappointment of both parties. 
 As a proof of this, if it does not appear sufficiently 
 obvious, I appeal to any one, who has tried it, to 
 say whether or not it is an easy matter to hook a 
 rising fish, the experimentalist being stationed on a 
 high bridge. 
 
 Sometimes, however, when a salmon is clean run, 
 and in high glee, you can scarcely miss him, strike 
 which way you will. 
 
 I remember fishing at the Troughs, under the 
 auspices of Rob Kerse, early in the spring, before a 
 clean fish had been caught there that season. I 
 stood over one of those gorges where an immense 
 volume of water, pent up in a narrow passage, rolls 
 furiously between its rocky barriers. Here I fixed 
 
A SPRING SALMON 145 
 
 myself for a few casts — the rocks being of such a 
 nature that I could not go lower down the river 
 either in a boat or by wading. This cast is called 
 the Clippers, and is in Makerstoun-water. 
 
 Here, with a line not given out above my rod's 
 length, I hooked a clean salmon that rose close 
 under me. I struck him as he was at the surface 
 of the water : as soon as he felt the hook, he en- 
 deavoured to dig downwards. I gave him the butt 
 of my rod, and he bent the whole of it in a way 
 that I never saw before, making it in shape, with a 
 shght exaggeration, nearly two-thirds of a circle. 
 " Gie him Une, gie him line ! " roared out Kerse and 
 CharUe Purdie, "od but he'll break ye, mon." 
 Now I knew that if he went down the Clippers 
 amongst the rocks, I should be cut in a moment 
 to a dead certainty ; for, as I noted before, I could 
 not follow. So I was determined not to yield at 
 all events, and I held him firm at the surface of the 
 water. In this position he had not half his natural 
 power, and in less than a minute Charlie cleiked 
 him, and brought him out before he could dig 
 down. Thus he was taken by surprise. He proved 
 to be a clean salmon of ten pounds, and the first 
 that had been caught that season. Now this could 
 not have been done, had not the line been short 
 and the fish almost immediately under me. I re- 
 member Kerse (who had before been pressing the 
 necessity of using double or triple gut in such danger- 
 ous water) saying, " Ay, that was canny enough ; 
 but if you had not been advised by me, it could not 
 have been done at ony gait." I showed him my 
 casting line, however, which, excepting the first 
 
 L 
 
146 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 length next the line, was of strong single gut. But 
 he was certainly right in his assertion as to the 
 necessity of very strong tackle in such a singular 
 cast, especially as the river was very full, and the 
 torrent so impetuous that nice tackle was by no 
 means requisite. 
 
 In a low clear water you must be somewhat 
 dilatory in striking : you often see the heave of 
 the water and a break before the fish has actually 
 seized your fly. Give him time to turn his head in 
 his way back to his seat, to which a salmon always 
 returns after rising at the fly. Tom Purdie gave 
 me an account of a fish that had perplexed him 
 greatly by his non-observance of this rule, as nearly 
 as possible in the following words. He might have 
 used fewer certainly, but Tom was not laconic. 
 
 "I had," said he, "risen a sawmon three suc- 
 cessive days at the throat of Caddon-water fut, and 
 on the fourth day I was determined to bring him 
 to book ; and when he rose as usual, I went up to 
 Caddon Wa's, namely, the pool opposite the ruins 
 of Caddon Lee, where there had been a terrace 
 garden facing the south ; and on returning I tried my 
 old friend, when he rose again without touching the 
 heuck : but I got a gUmpse o' him, and saw he was 
 a sawmon o' the biggest sort. I then went down 
 the river to a lower pool, and in half an hour came 
 up again and changed my heuck. I began to 
 suspect that having raised the fish so often, I had 
 become too anxious, and given him too little law, 
 or jerked the heuck away before he had closed his 
 mouth upon it. And as I had a heavy rod and 
 good line, and the castin' Une, which I had gotten 
 
TOM PURDIKS YARN 147 
 
 frae the Sherra, had three fadom o' pleit gut at the 
 end of it, and the flee was buskit on a three phes o' 
 sawmon gut, sae I was na feard for my tackle. 
 I had putten a cockle-stane at the side o' the water 
 foment the place where he raise ; forbye I kend fu' 
 weel where he was lyin' : it was at the side o' a 
 muckle blue clint that made a clour i' the rough 
 throat, e'en when the Queed was in a brown flood, 
 as she had been for twa days afore. Aweel, I 
 thought I wad try a plan o' auld Juniperbank's 
 when he had raised a sawmon mair nor ance. I 
 keepit my eyne hard closed when the heuck was 
 comin owre the place. Peace be here ! I fand 
 as gif I had catched the branch o' an aik tree 
 swingin' and sabbin' in a storm o' wind. Ye needna 
 doobt I opened my eyne ! An' what think ye was 
 the sawmon aboot? — turnin' and rowin' doon the 
 tap o' the water owre him and owre him (as ye hae 
 seen a hempie o' a callant row down a green brae 
 side) at great speed, makin' a fearfu' jumbUn' and 
 splashin', and shakin' the tap o' the wand at sic a 
 rate, that deil hae me but I thocht he wad hae 
 shaken my arms afl* at the shouther joints, tho' I 
 said to mysel' they were gey firm putten on. I 
 never saw a fish do the like but ane i' the Auld 
 Brig pool in the Darn wick- water. I jalouse they 
 want to unspin the line ; for a fish has far mair 
 cunnin' and wiles aboot him than mony ane wad 
 think. At ony rate it was a fashions plan this 
 I fell on ; for or he war to the fut o' the pool 
 I was tired o' him and his wark, and sae was he, I'se 
 warrant ye. For when he fand the water turnin' 
 shallow, he wheeled aboot, and I ran up the pool 
 
148 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 as fast as I could follow him, gien' him a the line I 
 could at the same time ; and when it was just about 
 a' off the pirn, and he was comin' into the throat, 
 he wheeled again in a jiffy, and cam' straight for my 
 feet as if he had been shot out o' a cannon ! I 
 thocht it was a' owre atween us, for I fand naething 
 at the wand as the Une was soomin' i' the pool a' 
 the way doon. I was deid sure I had lost him after 
 a' my quirks ; for whan they cast a cantrip o' that 
 kind, it's done to slacken the line to let them draw 
 the heuck out o' their mouths wi' their teethy 
 toung — an' they are amaist sure to do sae. But 
 he was owre weel heuckit, this ane, to work his 
 purpose in that gyse, as ye sail hear ; for when by 
 dint o' runnin' back thrae the water as fast as I 
 could and windin' up the line, 1 had brought a bow 
 on the tap o' the rod, I fand the fish had reistit in 
 the deepest part o' the pool, trying a' that teeth an' 
 toung could do to get baud o' the heuck ; and there 
 did he lie for nearly an hour, for I had plenty o' 
 time to look at my watch, and now and then to 
 tak' mony a snuff too. But I was certain by this 
 time that he was fast heuckit, and I raised him 
 again by cloddin' stanes afore him as near as 1 durst 
 for hittin' the line. But when I got him up at 
 last there was mickle mair to do than I thocht of ; 
 for he ran up the pool and doun the pool I dar' say 
 fifty times, till my feet wur dour sair wi' gangin' sae 
 lang on the channel : then he gaed owre the stream 
 a'thegither. I was glad to let him change his gait 
 ony way ; and he gaed down to Glenbenna, that 
 was in Whitebank's water, and I wrocht him lang 
 there. To mak' a lang tale short, before I could 
 
A FISH FOUL HOOKED 149 
 
 get at him wi' the gaff, I was baith hungry an' 
 tyrt ; an' after a' he was firm heuckit, in the 
 teughest part o' the body, at the outside o' the 
 edge o' the wick bane. He was a clean sawmon, 
 an' three an' twenty meal pounds." 
 
 No creature is more capricious than a salmon. 
 One of the lairds of Maker stoun, many years ago, 
 had a fisherman named Robin Hope, who, like 
 many of his brethren on the Tweed, was an original. 
 Attending his master on a day that was considered 
 quite a killing one, not a fish would stir. " What 
 is the meaning of this, Robin ? " said the laird. 
 " Deed, sir, I dinna ken," said Robin ; " for some- 
 times they will tak' the thoom o' yere mitten, if ye 
 would throw it in, and at ithers they wad na look 
 at the Lady o' Makerstoun and a' her braws." 
 
 Salmon never take well when the weather is 
 about to change ; it is therefore useless to go out 
 when the mercury remains at this point. When it 
 first sets in for a continuance of dry weather the 
 fish will rise about your hook, and only break the 
 surface of the water ; but before a flood they will 
 spring clean out of it, for the purpose, perhaps, of 
 filling their air-bladder before travelling. 
 
 These sportive fellows, however, sometimes get 
 into a scrape by being hooked outside. A salmon 
 of ten pounds was caught in the Skurry-wheel, at 
 Sprouston, in the following curious manner. The 
 fish were rising wantonly, but not taking the fly ; 
 in striking at one of them the line looped over its 
 tail, and the hook catching the line on the upper 
 side the fish was fairly snared, and at length killed, 
 after showing extraordinary sport. 
 
150 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Sometimes, also, they will leap out for pastime, 
 and at others from fear. Thus if a salmon has been 
 once touched sharply with the hook, when he sees 
 the fly above him on some future day he will often 
 vault into the air. I once saw a marked instance 
 of this. 
 
 A very young friend who was fishing with me 
 saw a fish spring over his line in this manner, and 
 he kept flinging at him with the same result, the 
 salmon always moving forward, till he fairly chased 
 him up the water some hundred yards ; that is to 
 say, from the Webbs, above Craigover Boat Hole 
 in the Mertoun-water, half way up to Maxwell 
 Burn foot. BeHeve me, it was a pleasant thing to 
 behold. My friend would not be denied. Master 
 Salmo solar, and he was a lusty one, would not 
 accept, but acknowledged the courteous tender of 
 Michael Scott at every cast, in the manner I have 
 described. Thus, they held correspondence with 
 each other a considerable time without coming in 
 contact. At length piscator began to suspect that 
 the repulsive qualities were on his side, and the 
 attractive ones only on the part of the fugitive, 
 who knew, 
 
 " but how it mattered not, 
 
 It was the wizard Michael Scott." 
 
 So he turned his back upon him reluctantly ; but, 
 casting a lingering look behind, he could not for- 
 bear returning and doubling his defeat. This fish 
 had probably been touched by a fly before. 
 
 That night, the hostel being full, we slept in a 
 double-bedded room. At the dead hour of twelve 
 
THE WATER IN TRIM 151 
 
 I was awakened by loud cries of " I have him, I 
 have him ! " — " Hold him fast then," said I, for 
 I thought he had collared a thief; but in truth he 
 had not : he had only got hold of the bell-rope, 
 and was fishing away with it in his dreams, with a 
 salmon, of course, at the end of it. Luckily he 
 did not arouse the Maritornes of the inn : no bell 
 having ever been attached to the pull, which was 
 a mere matter of ornament. 
 
 The first thing to be considered in rod fishing 
 is the state of the water proper for the sport ; and 
 I beg that it may all along be borne in mind that 
 my observations relate to the river Tweed only : for 
 it must be obvious that as rivers vary in their depth 
 and volume of water, no general rule for their 
 being in proper order for the fly can be laid down. 
 
 The waxing, as it is called, and the progress of 
 a flood, has been already explained in a former 
 part of these pages. 
 
 When the Tweed is not clear, but, as it is 
 termed, drumly, salmon that have been some time 
 in the river never take well ; in such case, when 
 there were no clean fish in the water, I have some- 
 times had fourteen or fifteen offers without taking 
 above one or two fish. They do not see the fly 
 distinctly, and therefore come at it slowly and 
 with hesitation. One would think they had some 
 particular method of holding it a while by way of 
 experiment, just within the point of their noses ; 
 for I have often struck a salmon sharply, and felt 
 as if my hook was firmly fixed in him, when in a 
 moment afterwards it has come away quite easily ; 
 and this has happened two or three time in sue- 
 
152 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 cession, the water being in the foul state I have 
 mentioned. It must be noted also, that when the 
 river is swoln and discoloured, salmon travel in 
 the daytime, particularly when there is a fresh 
 wind to ruffle the surface of the water ; and as 
 they are intent on their journey, they are not apt 
 to pay much attention to such food as we worthies 
 offer them. Now as this uncertainty of hooking 
 a fish that offers happens to me or to you, so the 
 same thing will occur to every other fisherman 
 that is out on the same day, these animals being 
 all of the same mind; but I have heard good 
 fishermen in the North say, that they always had 
 the best sport before the river cleared. I suppose 
 it was in shallow streams ; because it is evident 
 that salmon, who always lie at the bottom of the 
 river, or on the edge of a rock near it, could not 
 see the fly at any great depth when the waters were 
 turbid. It must be observed, however, that in 
 more shallow places, where they can distinguish it, 
 there is a great difference between a newly-run fish 
 and one that has been some time in the river ; the 
 new one being wild and gamesome, and ignorant 
 of the ways of the world, and the other the very 
 emblem of prudence, and an admirer of the old 
 adage, "Always look before you leap." It is 
 difficult to express by words the exact state of the 
 water I wish to allude to : if it is only moss-stained 
 good sport may be had with clean fish, but there 
 must be a certain degree of transparency. 
 
 The upper parts of the Tweed come into order 
 for being fished much sooner than those below, and 
 this in proportion to the depth and volume of water. 
 
THE USE OF THE CLEIK 153 
 
 It must be owned that fish may occasionally be 
 caught in turbid, and even full water ; but then 
 it must be by a perfect change of system. At 
 such a time the strong streams and usual salmon 
 casts are useless ; and you must throw in the easy 
 cheeks near the land, and in the tails of the streams, 
 where the fish rest in travelling. In this way I once 
 caught five salmon in the Pavilion-water from off 
 the shore, unattended even by a man with a cleik ; 
 whilst my friend, who fished above me in the finest 
 streams in the water, with a boat and all appliances 
 and means to boot, did not rise a single fish ; not 
 from want of skill — for it was Lord Somerville — 
 but simply because the salmon did not lie in their 
 usual seats. 
 
 A word or two I will now say about the 
 management of the cleik, which, although it seems 
 simple enough, requires some address. Take care, 
 most worthy attendant — for it is to you I speak — 
 that in the efifervescence of your zeal you steer clear 
 of the line, and that after you have struck the fish 
 you tow him steadily to the shore ; and I beg, sir, 
 to caution you, and just merely to hint, that if you 
 attempt one of your flourishes, and try to do all at 
 one rapid jerk, you will have decidedly the worst of it. 
 There must be two motions — a strike, and a haul. 
 
 By way of illustration, I must tell you of a 
 gentleman who came to visit me whilst I lived on 
 the banks of the Tay, and was desirous of seeing a 
 salmon caught before he returned to the South ; 
 so I launched my boat and set to work. Now on 
 these pressing occasions one has commonly a blank 
 day, instead of a show-off: not so, however, in the 
 
154 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 present instance, for in a short time I killed six 
 fish. When I had subdued their strength, I gave 
 up the rod to my companion, who finished them 
 skilfully enough. These fish were from seven to 
 twelve pounds each, as well as I can recollect. I 
 next hooked a large and peremptory salmon ; and 
 when he got weak I could not land, on account of 
 the alders which grew on the margin of the river. 
 
 " Give me the cleik," said my confident friend ; 
 "let me come at him. I should like to try my 
 hand at that, as well as at the rod, though it is a 
 savage affair. Do you think I can manage it ? " 
 
 " I have no doubt of it," said I, — " tarn Marti, 
 quam Mercurio, But pray let me interrogate 
 you a little. Can you swim ? " 
 
 " Swim ! no, not I ; why do you ask me that ? " 
 
 " Because assuredly, if you do not take care, that 
 salmon will pull you into the water ; so be canny." 
 
 There was an open laugh at this, and a look of 
 defiance at the fish. Rash youth ! you stretched 
 forth your dexter, and executed a well-directed 
 stroke at the animal, thinking to tuck him out of 
 the water at one coup ; but you had very consider- 
 ably miscalculated your own powers, and the weight 
 you were to encounter. There were two things 
 decidedly against you : one, that the salmon was 
 three feet long, and lay with his broadside towards 
 you, so that you had a heavy weight to lift, and a 
 considerable column of water to displace ; the other, 
 that you were standing in a boat, and had an 
 unstable balance. Thus, you were tilted forward in 
 a way with which your will had nothing to do ; so 
 that had not I, even I, Harry Otter, laid hold of the 
 
RAPID SPATES 155 
 
 skirts of your coat, we should have been fishing with 
 the long net for you : as it was, the resistance only 
 threw you prostrate in the boat ; and I was sorry to 
 see you so much incommoded by the water which 
 had not been ladled out of it : inheriting all the 
 valour of your ancestors, you still grasped the cleik, 
 and, as I pushed the boat ashore, struggled your 
 very best, till you dragged your prey to firm land. 
 
 He was not a clean salmon, nor was he the cause 
 of cleanliness in others ; but, as you may remember, 
 exceeded twenty pounds. 
 
 The success of a salmon fisher not only depends 
 upon the weather, but upon the state of the river as 
 it is affected by the rains ; so that one may be weeks, 
 and even months, on the spot, without the possibiUty 
 of taking a fish with the rod. The water may be 
 too low to admit of fish coming up, or it may be too 
 full in flood, with diurnal waxings ; so that sports- 
 men who come from a distance, and have not much 
 time to spare, may be grievously disappointed. In 
 the upper part of the Tweed, real good rod fishing 
 lasts but a few days after a spate : indeed, the 
 water there is not properly suppHed with fish till 
 there are two or three spates in succession. 
 
 The hills are now so well drained, that the flood 
 runs off rapidly ; and thus the river soon falls in, 
 and becomes too low for the fly, except in the strong 
 streams. 
 
 Before these complete drainages took place, the 
 Tweed kept full a much longer time than it does at 
 present ; for the rains which fell remained in the 
 mosses, which gave out the water gradually, like a 
 sponge. 
 
156 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Now the hill-sides are scored with innumerable 
 little drains, which empty themselves into the burns, 
 which burns soon become impetuous torrents ; thus 
 suddenly supplied, the Ettrick, the Yarrow, the 
 Leader-water, the Ale, the Teviot, and the many 
 other streams that empty themselves into the 
 Tweed, come raving down from the mountains and 
 from the lakes, and, with their united volume, raise 
 that river to an alarming height in the space of a 
 few hours, which then spreads over the haughs, and 
 sometimes sweeps off corn and cattle, and levels the 
 bridges in its irresistible course. In these awful 
 spates, the water is too strong and turbid for fish to 
 travel : the soil is washed away partially from the 
 ploughed lands; and, as the practice of liming 
 them is very prevalent, the waters are obnoxious 
 to the fish. I have often wondered how the trout 
 could possibly survive this state of things ; but 
 they do survive it, by keeping at the eddies and 
 close to the banks amongst the grass, where the 
 pout nets haul them out by dozens. 
 
 Though I have given the foregoing instructions 
 with much pleasure, I would not advise any one 
 who wishes to stand well with society to utter 
 a word about his propensity for fishing. It is 
 generally thought a poor, inanimate occupation ; 
 and so, indeed, it is in some cases ; and yet the 
 passion is so strong, that I believe the sedentary 
 angler who catches a roach or dace, worthless 
 though he be, and weak and diminutive withal, 
 has as much pleasure in his way as the proud 
 conqueror of a twenty-pound salmon. 
 
 I was once rowing on the Thames when a 
 
ENDURANCE RATHER THAN PATIENCE 157 
 
 friend hailed me from afar, and beckoned with 
 joyous and eager sohcitation. Though I was 
 pressed for time, I pulled up to him against the 
 wind and stream, for I thought he had something 
 of great moment to impart ; but it was only to 
 say "that I would be glad to hear he had caught 
 two dozen gudgeons that morning." But I do 
 not think I was glad, at least not particularly so, 
 though he was a very worthy man. 
 
 As for myself, if I am ever so indiscreet as to 
 utter a word about fishing, I am always asked 
 "if it does not require a great deal of patience." 
 Now, these sort of interrogators are in Cimmerian 
 darkness as to the real thing. But I tell them, 
 that to be a first-rate salmon fisher requires such 
 active properties as they never dreamed of in their 
 philosophy. It demands (salmon fishing at least) 
 strength of arm and endurance of fatigue, and a 
 capability of walking in the sharp streams for 
 eight or ten hours together, with perfect satisfac- 
 tion to one's self; and that early in the spring 
 season, when the clean salmon first come forward. 
 In after life, people are considerably addicted to 
 boats, and to go about attended like admirals ; 
 that is what we must all come to. But your real 
 professor, who has youth on his side, should neither 
 have boats nor boots, but be sufficient in himself. 
 No delay, no hauling the boat up the stream, but 
 in and out, like an otter; even like we ourselves 
 in the time of our prime, Fahrenheit being below 
 zero. We then pitched our tent under Craigover 
 rocks, on Tweedside, and slept in it, that we might 
 go forth, rod in hand, at five o'clock each morning 
 
158 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 to our aqueous pastime. It is true that the late 
 John Lord Somerville objected to our tent, as 
 being a white object, and therefore likely to 
 prevent the fish from passing by it to his upper 
 water. But we proved to him, by mathematical 
 lines adroitly drawn, that it was not within the 
 range of a salmon's optics. So our tent stood, till 
 a violent storm assailed us one night with barbarous 
 fury, tore up the pegs to which the ropes were 
 fastened, and gave up all our canvass to the winds. 
 Thus, we got an ample soaking in our bed, in 
 which we cut a pretty figure, no doubt, when dis- 
 closed to pubUc gaze ; but we were not blown into 
 the Tweed ; so that, upon the whole, we were 
 uncommonly fortunate. But we discard ourselves 
 for the present. 
 
 I say then, and will maintain it, that a salmon 
 fisher should be strong in the arms, or he will 
 never be able to keep on thrashing for ten or 
 twelve hours together with a rod eighteen or 
 twenty feet long, with ever and anon a lusty 
 salmon at the end of his line, pulling like a wild 
 horse with the lasso about him. Now he is obliged 
 to keep his arms aloft, that the line may clear the 
 rocks ; now he must rush into the river, then back 
 out with nimble pastern, always keeping a steady 
 and proper strain of line ; and he must preserve his 
 self-possession, even in the very tempest and whirl- 
 wind of the sport, when the salmon rushes hke a 
 rocket. This is not moody work ; it keeps a man 
 alive and stirring. Patience, indeed ! 
 
 It is indispensable to have a quick eye, and a 
 ready hand : your fly, or its exact position, should 
 
THE PLEASURES OF HOPE 159 
 
 never be lost sight of; and you should imagine 
 every moment of the Hvelong day that an extra- 
 ordinarily large salmon is coming at it. No man can 
 do any thing properly unless he is sanguine, and 
 his whole heart and soul is in the business. " Re- 
 member, my good people all, I do not wish to press 
 this laborious sport unfairly upon you : excuse me, 
 but it may be you are not exactly fit for it — non 
 cuivis hominij' &c. You may saunter about with a 
 gauze net and two sticks, if you prefer it, and catch 
 butterflies. Every man to his vocation ; but " what 
 is a gentleman without his recreations ? " 
 
 There is a speculation in angling that gives 
 great zest to the sport. You may catch a 
 moderate -sized fish, or a distinguished one ; or, 
 mayhap, a monster of such stupendous dimensions 
 as mil render your name immortal ; and he may 
 be painted, and adorn some fishing-tackle shop in 
 London, hke Colonel Thornton's pike, which threw 
 Newmarket on his back as he was landing him — a 
 lad, says the Colonel, so called from the place of 
 his nativity. Of course you expect the latter 
 phenomenon every cast. You see him in your 
 mind's eye eternally following your fly, and you 
 are ready to strike from second to second. It is 
 true he does not actually come, as experience 
 teaches. But what of that ? he may come in an 
 hour — in a minute — in a moment ; the thing is 
 possible, and that is enough for an angler. 
 
 A friend of mine (sacred be his name !) of great 
 repute for his dexterity with the rod, and celebrated 
 for his agreeable and amiable qualities, as well as 
 for his intelligence and various accomplishments, 
 
160 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 had this poetical faciUty of seeing what did not 
 really exist in substance. A curious instance of 
 this popular talent occurred at a friend's house in 
 the country with whom he was staying. There 
 was a fine piece of water in the park, well stored 
 with fish, where he used to spend most part of the 
 morning, rod in hand ; so that his perseverance 
 excited considerable admiration from the host, as 
 well as from his guests. Not having been very 
 successful, his ardour at length began to flag. It 
 was a pity, for it is a pleasant thing to be excited. 
 Wliat was to be done ? You shall see. A report 
 was raised that there was an enormous pike seen in 
 the water, about the length of a decent -sized 
 alligator. He was said to have maimed a full- 
 grown swan, and destroyed two cygnets, besides 
 sundry ducks. At first he was no more believed 
 in than the great sea snake, which encloses at least 
 half the world in his folds. But after the lapse of 
 a few days, the keeper came to the private ear of 
 my friend, and told him that a mortal large pike 
 was basking amongst some weeds, and could be 
 seen plainly. "You are sure to cotch en, sir." 
 He was rewarded for this intelligence, and exhorted 
 to keep the important secret from the other visitors 
 at the mansion. 
 
 When piscator, cunning fellow ! thought that 
 all were out of the way, employed in hunting, 
 shooting, or some other occupation, he and John 
 Barnes the keeper ghded down secretly to the 
 awful spot, and they there descried the semblance 
 of a fish so enormous that it was doubted if any 
 thing less than a small rope could hold him. The 
 
HAT EYES HE HAS 
 
A PRODIGIOUS PIKE 161 
 
 sportsman was astounded — the keeper was not ; for 
 the said awful animal was nothing more than a 
 large painted piece of wood, carved deftly by him- 
 self into the shape of a pike, painted according to 
 order, and stuck in the natural position by means 
 of a vertical prop, which could not be discovered 
 amongst the weeds. It was too bad, really a 
 great deal too bad ; but tolerably ingenious, and 
 beautifully deceptive. The gentleman approached 
 with tact and caution, and the eyes of the fish 
 glared upon him ; as well they might, for they were 
 very large and dazzUng, being made of glass, and 
 originally designed to be inserted in a great horned 
 owl which the keeper had stuffed. 
 
 " What a prodigious fish, John ! " 
 
 " Very perdigious indeed, sir." 
 
 " What eyes he has ! " 
 
 " So he has, sir." 
 
 " I'll try him with a roach. — There, — it went in 
 beautifully, and he did not move." 
 
 " No, he won't take it nohow. Give him a frog ; 
 he seems a difficult fish." 
 
 Piscator did tender him a very lively one in 
 vain ; in short, he offered him every bait he could 
 possibly think of, running through all the devices 
 and temptations he was master of. Cautious in his 
 approaches, that the supposed fish might not see 
 him, he always advanced to make his cast upon his 
 knees, to the no small merriment of his friends, 
 who were looking at him through a telescope from 
 the windows of the mansion. 
 
 WeU, thus he spent the whole morning ; waiting, 
 however, at times, for a cloud to intercept the sun- 
 
 M 
 
162 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 beams, and a breath of air to ruffle the surface of 
 the water. When these came, he would set to 
 work again with renovated hopes ; till at last, tired 
 and discomfited, he bent his steps homewards. On 
 his arrival there, he was accosted on the very 
 threshold by some of the guests. 
 
 " Oh ! you have been fishing aU the morning, I 
 see ; but what could make you stay out so long, 
 and get away so cunningly with the keeper ? " 
 
 " Why, to tell you the truth, Barnes (you know 
 what a good creature he is) told me of an immense 
 pike that was lying amongst the weeds at the end 
 of the lake ; he must be the same that swallowed 
 the cygnets. I never saw so enormous a monster 
 in fresh water." 
 
 Omnes. — " Well, where is he — where is he ? let 
 us look at him." 
 
 Host, — "John, tell the cook we will have him 
 for dinner to-day. — Dutch sauce, remember." 
 
 Piscator, — " You need not be in such a hurry to 
 send to the cook, for I am sorry to say I did not 
 catch him." 
 
 Host, — " Not catch him — not catch him ! Im- 
 possible, with all your skill, armed as you are to 
 the teeth, with roach, bleak, minnows, frogs, kill- 
 devils, and the deuce knows what. Not catch him ! 
 Come, you're joking." 
 
 Piscator, — " Serious, I assure you. I never was 
 so beat before, and yet I never fished better ; but 
 though I did not absolutely hook him, he ran at me 
 several times'' 
 
 An universal shout of laughter followed this 
 assertion, which made my friend not a little sus- 
 
I THE TAY 163 
 
 picious ; but he never again touched upon the 
 subject. Some time afterwards, wandering near 
 the scene of his operations, he saw an immense 
 carving of a pike placed upon a pole near the 
 margin of the water, and painted beautifully : he 
 guessed he had seen him before. 
 
 Let us now return to the Scotch rivers. 
 
 The Tay, which rises from, and is approximated 
 by, vast and desolate regions of moss and moor, 
 preserves its volume of water much longer than 
 those rivers that have their sources in a more 
 pastoral and agricultural coutitry, and of course is 
 much longer in good order for fly fishing. But 
 when the black clouds burst over the vast wilder- 
 ness of mountains, a hundred torrents gleam on all 
 sides, rush down the rocky ravines, and change the 
 burns into turbulent rivers, which pour their floods 
 into the mighty channel of the Tay : thus this 
 river probably carries more water to the ocean than 
 any other in Great Britain. 
 
 I have read much of the rapids of the great 
 rivers in America, and the difficulty of steering 
 and shooting down them in safety ; and the accom- 
 paniments of the scenery, and the descriptions of 
 these cataracts, have always appeared to me 
 singularly wild and picturesque. They made so 
 great an impression upon my mind that, to form a 
 more correct idea of the sort of thing, I meditated 
 a voyage down the Tay when, filled with her 
 countless tributaries, she goes raging to the ocean. 
 Besides this inducement, I had some small boats 
 which I wished to take to Perth by water, instead 
 of land carriage ; for I was changing my quarters 
 
164 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 from Meikleour on the banks of the Tay to the 
 Pavilion on those of the Tweed. These boats 
 were built on Tweedside for fly fishing in small 
 waters, and in warm weather were held for the 
 fisherman by a man who waded in the water, lest 
 the salmon should be scared away by the motion 
 or appearance of the oars, or canting pole, as it 
 might be. Being, therefore, of a very light and 
 diminutive construction, they were not exactly 
 calculated to endure the buffets of large and 
 tempestuous waters : one is not apt, however, to 
 be over nice about such things, and accordingly 
 I resolved to put them to the proof Nor was an 
 opportunity long wanting. After a night of heavy 
 rain, the Tay, which flowed through the park of 
 Meikleour, rose to a fearful extent. This was 
 exactly the sort of thing to suit me ; so I proposed 
 to my fisherman, Charles Purdie, to go down the 
 flood to Perth, a distance of about twelve miles by 
 water. We did so ; and I here insert the particulars 
 of our voyage, as they may serve to give an idea of 
 a Scottish spate. 
 
 We were standing at the foot of the sloping 
 lawn before my house ; and as CharHe Purdie bent 
 his regards on the frightful violence of the flood, I 
 thought he did not half like to embark on it. In 
 fact, he did not only disapprove of the general 
 conduct of the river, but also of the peculiar rocky 
 nature of the channel in which it was its pleasure 
 to gallop along to the ocean. Moreover, he knew 
 there was an obstruction in the river at a place 
 called the Linn of Campsie, about four miles below 
 the proposed starting-place, where at the arrival of 
 
CAMPSIE LINN 165 
 
 his little boat he did not anticipate much pleasure. 
 In fact, neither Charhe nor his master conceived it 
 would be possible to pass the falls into the Linn, 
 since no boat could do so in the ordinary state of 
 the water without being upset, or dashed to shivers. 
 They would see how things looked, however, on 
 their arrival at the spot, and act accordingly. 
 
 " Now then, loosen my boat, Charlie : I will go 
 first ; and take care you do not run foul of me." 
 
 The boats being unmoored, we shot down the 
 river in a moment, and were soon at the end of the 
 park, where the Isla comes into the Tay. This 
 additional volume of water increased our velocity ; 
 we guided our boats into the main currents, and 
 away we went with the swiftness of a steam-engine. 
 Rocks and woods opened to our view in an instant, 
 and in an instant vanished behind us. Thus we 
 were driven along with great fury till we came 
 within the sound of the great falls of the Linn of 
 Campsie : soon we descried before us the awful 
 barrier of rocks which rose up right athwart the 
 stream, extending from bank to bank. 
 
 The waters had worn their way in some places 
 through this barrier, and tumbled madly through 
 the rocky gorges ; down they went, thundering 
 with stunning sound into the enormous cauldror 
 below. Then arose the strife — the dashing of the 
 spray — the buffeting against the banks — the swirl- 
 ing of the eddies, crested with large masses of foam 
 — all was in hideous commotion. 
 
 This state of things threatened to put an end to 
 our proj ected voyage. To go right onwards through 
 the centre gorge was to pass to certain destruction : 
 
166 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 as well might one hope to shoot in safety down the 
 falls of SchafFhausen. 
 
 I was prepared for all this, and was quite aware 
 of the impediment before I began my voyage ; so 
 I did as I had made up my mind to do before I 
 started. I pulled towards some alder trees which 
 grew on the bank above the fall, and held my 
 boat fast by the branches ; I then told Charlie to 
 secure his boat also with a rope, and to land and 
 reconnoitre. We were enabled to do these things 
 without much difficulty, as the water was in some 
 measure arrested in its course above the fall, being 
 slightly bayed back by the barrier of rocks. Being 
 on terra firma, my hero looked ruefully at the 
 torrents : one alone appeared something like being 
 practicable ; and it was one that, in the mean 
 state of the river, was nothing but a dry channel. 
 Whether our small craft could shoot down it with- 
 out foundering or not was by no means evident 
 to the eye, though a practised one, of the ex- 
 plorer. He was, however, somewhat encouraged 
 by two fishermen who were mending their nets. 
 They thought, they said, that we " might possibly 
 descend in safety, if we managed our boats well." 
 Charlie looked, and sighed, and looked again : the 
 thing was evidently not in harmony with his 
 ideas ; for he could not swim himself, and he 
 doubted whether his boat would either, when it 
 arrived at the bottom of the fall. However, I 
 decided that I would try the thing alone ; and if 
 it should prove a failure, the example was not, of 
 course, to be followed. So I brought my Httle 
 boat some way above the cataract, with her head 
 
A VENTURESOME VOYAGE 167 
 
 up the stream, and by rowing against it let her 
 fall by degrees stern foremost, by which means I 
 had a clear view before me, and could therefore 
 steer to a nicety. She went down most agree- 
 ably, though in nearly a vertical position, but 
 pitched upon a rock below the fall ; but before any 
 harm happened, 1 swung her off by inclining my 
 body to and fro. My fisherman followed success- 
 fully ; and having passed the wide-spreading Linn, 
 the channel of the Tay became more contracted, 
 and we resumed our former pace, shooting down 
 the rapids like an arrow, and by occasional swift 
 snatches of the oars avoiding the breakers around 
 us. So we passed amongst the hanging woods 
 and impending rocks of this romantic river, till we 
 arrived at Stanley, where groups of people were 
 assembled on the hill-top, who shouted to us with 
 all their might, and made signs and gestures, the 
 meaning of which I could not comprehend, but 
 they seemed to be warning us of some impending 
 danger : I could not catch the import of their 
 words, as the sound was but faintly heard amidst 
 the din of the waves. So I did not perplex my- 
 self with attending to them, but thought it wisest 
 to trust to my own discretion, which fortunately 
 carried the boats safely to their place of destina- 
 tion. I learned afterwards, that seeing our boats 
 were mere insignificant cockle-shells borne down 
 by the flood with great impetuosity, they were 
 fearful that we should be carried down the mill- 
 dam, and come in contact with the machinery. 
 But a better fate awaited us than such a Quixotic 
 one ; and after a little rough work, in which we 
 
168 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 shipped a reasonable quantity of water, we at 
 length approached the vast bleaching grounds of 
 Perth, where the river swept swift and ample in 
 an even channel under a wooded bank studded 
 with villas ; we then darted through the middle 
 arch of the beautiful bridge in the town, and 
 hauled up our boats on a wharf below it. 
 
CHAPTER VII 
 
 " Whatever Lorraine light touched with softening hue, 
 Or savage Rosa dashed, or learned Poussin drew." 
 
 ExPLOiiiNG one morning the upper parts of the 
 river, with my trout rod in my hand, I came to a 
 little meadow in a vale where the stream played in 
 mazes beneath hanging coppices. In this seques- 
 tered spot, I espied a gentle angler — I may say 
 particularly gentle. His mode of fishing appeared 
 so novel, that I was induced to pry a little into it ; 
 so I ventured to approach him, and asked what 
 sport he had been having. 
 
 " Oh, glorious, glorious, — perfectly enchanting ! 
 All Paradise is around me ! " 
 
 I took notice, however, that although he held 
 his rod pretty much in the usual piscatorial position 
 of altitude, his fly was by no means on the water, 
 but lay very comfortably dry upon the furzes on the 
 bank side, and that, whatever his hand might 
 pretend to be doing, his mind was not at that 
 moment particularly bent upon a capture. Whilst 
 he stood entranced, I took the Hberty of lifting up 
 the Hd of his basket, in which I descried nothing 
 but a pair of gloves — not a fish reposed in it. It 
 
170 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 was clean, new, and Cockney-like, and I ventured 
 to give him a hint to this effect. 
 
 " Well now, I declare, sir, that is very singular ; 
 because I certainly caught two trout, and put them 
 into my creel. But I dare say you are a httle 
 absent, and did not notice them ; I am somewhat 
 absent myself occasionally." 
 
 He examined the basket, and found only gloves 
 by themselves — gloves. 
 
 " Where can I have put them ? " 
 
 " Indeed I can't guess, sir." 
 
 He then began to shuffle about and examine his 
 waistcoat pockets and those of his pantaloons, nay, 
 actually his fob. 
 
 "Perhaps, sir, you did not find quite room 
 enough in your fob, and put them into your coat 
 pocket for fear they should soil the basket." 
 
 " Bless me ! so I did ; and here they are, truly. 
 I see now how it is ; in a hurry, and whilst I was 
 wrapt in admiration of the scenery, I put the gloves 
 where the fish should have been, and vice versa — 
 nothing could be more natural." 
 
 This he said with a simplicity worthy of the 
 golden age. But he declared that although he was 
 not at that moment very intent on the sport, he did 
 like fishing exceedingly. " Because," said he, " it 
 requires no parade of attendance, like other field 
 sports ; it leads to the most beautiful spots ; and I 
 take up my rod and my painting box at any hour I 
 please, and saunter over the flowery meads, in a 
 state of tranquil enjoyment, amidst all the most 
 pleasing images of rural life." 
 
 I observed there was considerable excitement in 
 
ART VERSUS SPORT 171 
 
 fishing occasionally, as well as tranquillity. "For 
 instance, now," said I, " there is a sea trout in that 
 run of water that will make your heart dance, if you 
 should happen to hook him ; I saw him put his 
 head up at the cheek of the current, and he had a 
 wilful look, and is likely to make most pernicious 
 runs when hooked ; for these sort of fish are very 
 active and strong. If you will give me leave, I 
 will change your trout fly for a larger one, and 
 instruct you how to proceed, as from the nature of 
 your tackle I conclude you are not accustomed to 
 fish of this description. There now — go a little 
 higher up the stream ; throw above him, and bring 
 the fly gently round ; and if he comes at it, do not 
 strike him too hard, or you will break your slender 
 tackle. If you get hold of him, we shall see how 
 he is to be managed ; he will put your tranquiUity 
 to the test, I promise you." 
 
 He grasped the rod, and held it aloft; then, 
 after a considerable pause, "He is exactly in the 
 right spot," said he. " Precisely," I replied. 
 
 " What a rich red tone of colour he has, — how 
 well it tells in the shadow ! He will come in 
 capitally." 
 
 " He is not red, I assure you, but clear as silver, 
 and I wish he may come in capitally." 
 
 " Bless me ! he looks red to me, and I must 
 take him immediately ; he is exactly the thing I 
 wanted." 
 
 So saying, to my amazement, he dropped the 
 rod, and pulled out a sketch book, in which he 
 began painting a red cow in water colours that was 
 reposing under a hawthorn bush on the opposite 
 
172 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 bank, just beyond the stream where the fish was 
 lying, and which had been the real object of his 
 remarks. When he had done with the cow, how- 
 ever, I put the rod once more into his hands, and 
 reminded him of the fish. 
 
 " Now throw a few yards above the spot where 
 you see the water boihng around that large blue 
 stone. Very well ; advance a step every time you 
 throw. Capital ! Now you are precisely at the 
 fish. Strike him gently if he rises. Well done ! — 
 by Paul Potter, you have him ! Hold up the top 
 of your rod, and keep an even steady pull upon 
 him." 
 
 "How can I keep a steady pull upon such a 
 wild animal ? Why he springs out of the water, 
 and whizzes about in it, hke that firework called a 
 serpent." 
 
 "Be steady — be steady, or he will whiz you 
 about with a witness. Shorten your line ; get into 
 the water, and follow him." 
 
 " What a cruel speech ! Why I never learned 
 to swim. You are exceedingly inconsiderate 
 indeed, sir." 
 
 " Swim ! why the water on this channel is 
 scarcely over your ankles, and I will help you if 
 you should happen to stumble." 
 
 "Then we should both meet a watery grave 
 together. I have often read of such calamities." 
 
 " In with you — in with you, I say ! or he will 
 be off. There, I told you so ; he has broke your 
 fine ; and, pray pardon me, but pretty work you 
 have made of it with your tranquiUity." 
 
 "Well, as it seems to make you so uneasy, I 
 
.ESTHETIC PHILOSOPHER 173 
 
 will go a little way into the water, though I shall 
 not enjoy it." 
 
 " Why, what is the use of wetting yourself, now 
 you have lost the fish ? " 
 
 "True, true — I did not sufficiently consider 
 that ; so now I will go back, and see if I can 
 improve my cow." 
 
 This was abundantly philosophical ; but in- 
 teUigible enough to me, who being very much 
 addicted to painting myself, know how absorbing a 
 passion it is. 
 
 The cow was a good cow, drawn in a clean and 
 decisive manner, with a correct knowledge of the 
 anatomy of the animal. I praised accordingly, 
 and we began naturally enough to talk upon the 
 principles of landscape painting ; and as we both 
 agreed pretty well as to those principles, so we 
 both laid down the law with as much confidence 
 as if we were the lineal descendants of Zeuxis or 
 Apelles — a fashion, I must observe, most par- 
 ticularly prevalent at the present day. I fear it is 
 not worth while to notice our remarks. I will 
 write them down, however, at a venture ; and here 
 they foUow. 
 
 " View-taking," said the cow limner, " I consider 
 as of a distinct character from landscape painting. 
 The interest of the first, as a work of art, in all 
 highly cultivated countries, must in a great measure 
 depend upon accidental causes. Trees in hedge- 
 rows, and most other positions, have been planted 
 or removed by the hand of man for profit or con- 
 venience, so that they are rarely found in the most 
 natural or effective situations ; other objects share 
 
174 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 the same fate, and even the vivid verdure is pro- 
 duced by artificial means. Still it is right for the 
 view-taker to copy everything before him just as 
 it really presents itself. This may be desirable as 
 a remembrance, or an exact illustration of the 
 scenery of a country, and indeed occasionally, by 
 some happy accident, as a work of art ; it may also 
 have great interest as representing passages in 
 rural life. But it is obvious that, in a country 
 highly cultivated, a scene very accurately delineated 
 represents the materials only, and not the composi- 
 tion of nature, strictly so called. 
 
 "On the other hand, the landscape painter 
 should aim much higher; he should get all his 
 materials from the most striking and characteristic 
 specimens in nature, and study such forms and 
 combinations as may make an interesting impression 
 on the mind. Trees, rocks, water, mountains, — all 
 his materials he should arrange upon the same 
 principle that an historical painter observes in 
 composing from Hving models. He should address 
 the imagination rather than the eye, and endeavour 
 to convey to his work some prevaihng character, 
 which may awaken a corresponding sympathy and 
 interest in the contemplative beholder. 
 
 "As to colour and effect, every tinge of light 
 that is beautiful and striking, every varied appear- 
 ance that the change of the hour and the seasons 
 may bring forth, should be marked down and 
 coloured on the spot. This should be the un- 
 remitting practice of the artist, that his works may 
 bear the impress and truth of nature. 
 
 "Taking care to lay his emphasis upon those 
 
A LECTURE ON LANDSCAPE 175 
 
 dominant objects that give beauty, character, or 
 sublimity to the landscape, he should keep all the 
 rest subordinate, though intelUgible ; always bear- 
 ing in mind that the eye sees those objects only in 
 detail upon which it is immediately fixed. If, on 
 the other hand, he copies from nature every indi- 
 vidual thing before him exactly as he sees it, when 
 his eye rests upon that individual object alone, he 
 does not represent the scene such as he saw it in 
 nature at one general and comprehensive view, but 
 as it appeared to him by examining separate parts 
 one after the other, each part having a distinct 
 focus. If then he adopts this method of proceed- 
 ing, he will paint upon a false, though a very pre- 
 valent principle, and his picture cannot fail to have 
 an unpleasant and irritating effect. 
 
 " Infelix operis summa, quia ponere totum 
 Nesciet." 
 
 He paused a little to take breath, as weU indeed 
 he might ; so I took the opportunity to lay down 
 the law also, and to remark that he must have 
 arrived at his conclusions from a study of the 
 paintings of those eminent masters whose works 
 are sealed with perfection, and sanctified by time, — 
 productions that elevate us above the level of 
 common thought, and carry us into the regions of 
 poetry and romance. 
 
 " In the pictures of Claude, by a happy treat- 
 ment of his subject you see more than the bare 
 materials of common nature. There the glow 
 of Italy Ues radiant before you : the eye passes 
 from the flowery foreground, with its tall trees just 
 
176 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 moved by the zephyr, and wanders from distance 
 to distance over clustering groves, and classical 
 ruins, amidst the quiet lapse of waters, and all the 
 pastoral beauty that poets have delighted to feign. 
 
 " Directly opposite to the blandishments of this 
 great master, but true to itself, is the genius of 
 Salvator Rosa. Little recked he of Arcadian 
 scenes. Mysterious and elevated in thought, he 
 delighted to stalk over the wilds of Calabria ; and 
 there, in regions desolate and dolorous, by the side 
 of some impending rock, amidst the din of torrents 
 plunging down to the horrid gulf below him, he 
 formed a style original, savage, and indomitable. 
 Nothing entered into his pictures that was 
 commonplace or mean. His figures were banditti, 
 forlorn travellers, or wrecked mariners. His trees 
 the monarch chestnut, forming impenetrable forests, 
 or blasted and riven by the thunderbolt. All his 
 forms were grand ; even his winged clouds had a 
 stern aspect, and partook of the general character. 
 Titian, Claude, Poussin, Salvator Rosa, — these, and 
 some others of the good old times, drew the poetry 
 and soul of landscape, and not its mere dead image 
 — and this is the triumph of art." 
 
 I fancy my new friend the artist paid very little 
 attention to my remarks, which I am not at all 
 surprised at; for he began to soliloquise in an 
 absent manner about Poussin, whom he said I 
 should have placed between Claude and Rosa ; and 
 as he seemed to threaten rather a long encomium, 
 I pretended to see a fish rise, and glided away 
 quietly : for I thought enough had been said on 
 the subject of painting already. As I stole off. 
 
THE GREY SCULL 177 
 
 however, I caught a few unconnected expressions ; 
 such as "dark groves and solitude — storms, — 
 tempests, — and alpine ridges." Then he grew 
 somewhat classical, and began to recite from 
 Virgil — 
 
 " Tot congesta manu praeruptis oppida saxis, 
 Fluminaque antiques subterlabentia muros."" 
 
 At this I walked faster and faster, till I got totally 
 out of hearing. Not through dislike of the subject 
 did I make my escape, for it was one after my own 
 heart ; but my rod was in my hand, and hoc age 
 has always been my maxim. Besides the day 
 began to alter, and a fine fresh breeze arose, which 
 came up the river ; clouds appeared over the 
 horizon, which kept gathering, and brought on 
 slight showers and passing shadows, with occasional 
 bursts of sunshine that glittered on the curl of the 
 water. Now, as far as my experience goes, this is 
 the best sort of weather for sport. The prejudice, 
 notwithstanding, I beheve, runs in favour of a grey 
 day ; but such a one has often deluded my expecta- 
 tions : at which time I have found the fish dull and 
 sulky, when I was in hopes they would be up and 
 stirring. It is not meet that they should study 
 Zimmerman. 
 
 It was now the month of September, and I was 
 expecting to catch some of the grey scull that 
 come forward at that season. These fish are of a 
 goodly shape ; but though fresh from the sea, are 
 not quite so glossy in their scales, or so rich in 
 flavour, as your brown-backed salmon that comes 
 up early in the spring. They are altogether of a 
 
 N 
 
178 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 greyer colour than that beautiful fish, and derive 
 their name from that circumstance. 
 
 So soon as I had changed my tackle, my en- 
 thusiastic companion came sauntering up to me. 
 I am not quite clear that he was fully sensible of 
 my presence, for his heart seemed still to be 
 amongst the Apennines with Poussin. I made 
 an attempt to dislodge him, and bring him down 
 to the level of my own ideas. 
 
 " You know," said I, " that Caspar was a great 
 sportsman, though it is not probable that he ever 
 caught a salmon, which is a northern fish ; but if 
 you will condescend to transport yourself from 
 the banks of the Arno to those of the Tweed, and 
 to walk an hour or two with me, I think I can 
 promise that you shall see such a feat performed." 
 
 Stranger (abstractedly) : 
 
 " Fluminaque antiquos subterlabentia muros." 
 
 " Come now, sink Virgil and the artist a little ; 
 put your sketch-book in your pocket, and let us 
 see what can be done with the salmon. Your 
 quotations, my dear sir, with your permission, will 
 keep, as they have kept, for ages — 
 
 " Adde tot egregias urbes. 
 
 No, no ; there are no eminent cities or towns 
 here, only Melrose and Gattonside ; and if you 
 call these 'egregias urbes,' you are egregiously 
 mistaken." 
 
 He made no reply, but looked at me with a 
 smile that seemed directed at the simplicity and 
 absence of his own character. 
 
THE ARTIST OUT OF PLACE 179 
 
 " Now," said I, " as you seem to have descended 
 from your stilts, which I beg to say are very 
 becoming, though somewhat out of season, I will 
 tell you how all people are not exactly of our way 
 of thinking, as to the triumph of art and these 
 classical illusions ; imagining, on the contrary, that 
 painting is a sleight of hand, and comes by intuition. 
 
 " I was lately sauntering with my painting-box 
 in the romantic glen beneath the towers 
 
 ' Where Roslin's chiefs uncoffined lie ; 
 Each baron, for a sable shroud, 
 Sheathed in his iron panoply.' 
 
 As I went along I traced the mazes of the river, 
 in some places brawling among the rocks, and at 
 others ghding silently through the mossy stones. 
 I was thus endeavouring to find out such points 
 of view as had most interest, and to investigate 
 the peculiar character in which the charm of the 
 scene consisted. 
 
 " Having at length settled all this to my satis- 
 faction, and marked in the outline of a scene with 
 a piece of white crayon, preparatory to colouring 
 it in oil, a very respectabJe-looking lady came sail- 
 ing up to me, and begged to look at my canvas. 
 The day being somewhat advanced, she asked me 
 how many sketches I had made that morning ; 
 and upon my telling her that the one she was 
 looking at was the first, she replied with very 
 perfect exultation that her daughters had not been 
 half an hour in the glen before they made nearly 
 a bookful of drawings ; but then, indeed, there 
 were very few people so gifted as her daughters. 
 
180 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 I acquiesced in good faith ; for I really knew no 
 human beings that could do the same thing in the 
 same time, and perhaps I might add in the same 
 manner ; so I concluded that the talent of these 
 young ladies, like Madame LafFarge's genius for 
 pastry, was ' colossal.' 
 
 " ' Then they never learned,' continued the lady ; 
 'it was all pure genius. Indeed Maria showed a 
 singular facility for taking likenesses at three years 
 old. Sir Thomas Lawrence had admired them 
 very much.' 
 
 "I bowed, and did not doubt it. In a short 
 time the young ladies themselves, and very pretty 
 and sprightly ones they were, came tripping up. 
 
 " ' Oh, mamma, we have been here only an 
 hour, and have brought away all the scenery of 
 the glen ! ' 
 
 " ' Only forty minutes, upon honour, Maria.' 
 
 " ' There, sir, you see my daughters do not 
 throw away their time like some people.' 
 
 " I was not quite so sure of this ; but a look of 
 admiration on my part followed of course. The 
 young ladies then began to discourse on art, and 
 to ask what was my peculiar method of getting up 
 sketches. 
 
 "'Pray, sir,' said the accomplished Maria, 'do 
 you make your trees in twos, or in threes ? ' 
 
 "As I did not comprehend the exact meaning 
 of these terms of art, she was pleased to illustrate 
 by favouring me with a sight of one of her recent 
 performances. The trees she particularly alluded 
 to, I found, were those which represented a distant 
 mass of wood. In executing a tree in such situa- 
 
THE ANGLER SETS TO WORK 181 
 
 tions I was instructed that a sort of flourish should 
 be made, consisting of two segments of a circle, 
 just as birds are drawn in prints ; and this is 
 doing trees in twos — in threes, another segment 
 was added ; and thus the mystery was solved, — 
 the whole was executed in a running flourish with 
 admirable facility. I cannot conscientiously aver 
 that any one of the leaves of the sketch books of 
 these intelligent young ladies contained what 
 might be termed a drawing, but still there was 
 something about them that might put a person of 
 imagination very much in mind of drawings." 
 
 Thus, having beguiled the attention of Mr. 
 Tintern (for that was the stranger's name) from 
 the summits in which he had been soaring, I found 
 him quite ready to receive an impression of a more 
 humble kind, and he attended me in my walk, 
 nothing loth. I was very much gratified with his 
 company; for, besides his talent and simphcity 
 of character, there was such an appearance of 
 benevolent feeling in much of his conversation, 
 which I have not thought it necessary to mention, 
 that no one could avoid being taken with him. 
 
 I commenced operations at the Carry-wheel, 
 which is nearly at the head of the Pavihon -water, 
 and had not made four casts before I hooked a fish. 
 He was evidently diminutive ; but, dwarf as he 
 was, he thought a good deal of himself, and was 
 prodigal of the little strength which nature had 
 given him. I thought him conceited, and so hauled 
 him on shore at once without any ceremony. He 
 proved to be a river trout of four pounds — a silly- 
 looking creature enough. 
 
182 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Well, I went forward and caught a few gilses 
 and salmon in the upper Pavilion-water, not worth 
 mentioning, except as the sport had the effect of 
 rousing my new friend from his abstraction ; indeed 
 I met with nothing remarkable till I came to the 
 Kingswell Lees. Now every one knows that the 
 Kingswell Lees, in fisherman's phrase, fishes off land ; 
 so there I stood on terra dura amongst the rocks 
 that dip down to the water's edge. Having 
 executed one or two throws, there comes me a 
 voracious fish, and makes a startling dash at Meg- 
 with-the-muckle-mouth. Sharply did I strike the 
 caitiff; whereat he rolled round disdainful, making 
 a whirl in the water of prodigious circumference : 
 it was not exactly Charybdis, or the Maelstrom, 
 but rather more like the wave occasioned by the 
 sudden turning of a man-of-war's boat. Being 
 hooked, and having by this turn set his nose 
 peremptorily down the stream, he flashed and 
 whizzed away like a rocket. My situation partook 
 of the nature of a surprise. Being on a rocky 
 shore, and having a bad start, I lost ground at first 
 considerably ; but the reel sang out joyously, and 
 yielded a liberal length of line, that saved me from 
 the disgrace of being broke. I got on the best 
 pace I was able, and was on good ground just as 
 my line was nearly all run out. As the powerful 
 animal darted through Meg's Hole, I was just able 
 to step back and wind up a few yards of hne ; but 
 he still went a killing pace, and when he came near 
 Melrose Bridge he evinced a distressing preference 
 for passing through the farther arch, in which case 
 my Hne would have been cut by the pier. My 
 
A TREMENDOUS RUN 183 
 
 heart sank with apprehension, for he was near the 
 opposite bank. Purdie, seeing this, with great 
 presence of mind took up some stones from the 
 channel, and threw them one by one between the 
 fish and the said opposite bank. This naturally 
 brought Master Salmo somewhat nearer ; but still 
 for a few moments we had a doubtful struggle for 
 it. At length, by lowering the head of the rod, 
 and thus not having so much of the ponderous 
 weight of the fish to encounter, I towed him a 
 little sideways ; and so advancing towards me with 
 propitious fin, he shot through the arch nearest me. 
 Deeply immersed, I dashed after him as best I 
 might ; and arriving on the other side of the bridge 
 I floundered out upon dry land, and continued the 
 chase. The salmon, " right orgillous and presump- 
 tive," still kept the strength of the stream, and, 
 abating nothing of his vigour, went swiftly down 
 the Whirls ; then through the Boat shiel, and over 
 the shallows, till he came to the throat of the Elm- 
 wheel, down which he darted amain. Owing to 
 the bad ground, the pace here became exceed- 
 ingly distressing. I contrived, however, to keep 
 company with my fish, still doubtful of the result, 
 till I came to the bottom of the long cast in 
 question, when he still showed fight, and sought 
 the shallows below. Unhappily the alders pre- 
 vented my following by land, and I was compelled 
 to take water again, which slackened my speed. 
 But the stream soon expanding, and the current 
 diminishing, my fish hkewise travelled more slowly ; 
 so I gave a few sobs and recovered my wind a 
 Uttle, gathered up my line, and tried to bring him 
 
184 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 to terms. But he derided my efforts, and dashed 
 off for another burst, triumphant. Not far below 
 lay the rapids of the Saughterford : he would 
 soon gain them at the pace he was going, that was 
 certain ; — see, he is there already ! But I back 
 out again on dry land, nothing loth, and have a 
 fair race with him. Sore work it is. I am a 
 pretty fair runner, as has often been testified ; but 
 his velocity is surprising. On, on, — stiU on he 
 goes, ploughing up the water like a steamer. 
 " Away with you, Charlie ! Quick, quick, man — 
 quick, for your life ! Loosen the boat at the 
 Cauld Pool, where we shall soon be." And so 
 indeed we were, when I jumped into the said 
 craft, still having good hold of my fish. 
 
 The Tweed is here broad and deep, and the 
 salmon at length had become somewhat exhausted ; 
 he still kept in the strength of the stream, how- 
 ever, with his nose seawards, and hung heavily. 
 At last he comes near the surface of the water. 
 See how he shakes his tail and digs downwards, 
 seeking the deep profound — that he will never 
 gain. His motions become more short and feeble ; 
 he is evidently doomed, and his race well nigh 
 finished. Drawn into the bare water, and not 
 approving of the extended cleik, he makes another 
 swift rush, and repeats this effort each time that 
 he is towed to the shallows. At length he is 
 cleiked in earnest, and hauled to shore : he proves 
 one of the grey scull, newly run, and weighs some- 
 what above twenty pounds. The hook is not in 
 his mouth, but in the outside of it ; in which case 
 a fish being able to respire freely, always shows 
 
VICTORY! 185 
 
 extraordinary vigour, and generally sets his head 
 down the stream. 
 
 During the whole period of my experience in 
 fishing, though I have had some sharp encounters, 
 yet I never knew any sport equal to this. I am 
 out of breath even now whenever I think of it. 
 I will trouble any surveyor to measure the distance 
 from the Kingswell Lees, the starting spot, above 
 Melrose Bridge, to the end of the Cauld Pool, 
 the death place, by Melrose Church, and to tell 
 me how much less it is than a mile and three 
 quarters — I say, I will trouble him to do so ; and 
 let him be a lover of the angle, that he may rather 
 increase than diminish the distance, as in good 
 feehng and respect for the craft it behoves him to 
 do. I will Ukewise thank my contemporaries and 
 posterity to bear in mind that the distance about 
 to be measured by this able surveyor was run at 
 an echpse pace, always allowing for some slight 
 abatement in speed pending our immersion. 
 
 Whilst I was taking a rest on the greensward, 
 the heated face of my excellent new friend 
 appeared through the alders. He could not, how- 
 ever, be fairly said to be in at the death ; the coup 
 de grace having been already given about five 
 minutes. He expressed the greatest astonishment 
 at the swiftness and result of the race, and at the 
 power of the fish, who had been able to distress 
 two full-grown men so completely. He owned he 
 was much excited, but thought fishing for salmon 
 would be too turbulent an amusement for him ; 
 though perhaps he might have kept it up with a 
 good pony, had the ground been passable by such 
 
186 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 a beast. Poussin, Virgil, the Apennines, all were 
 forgotten ; and he began to enter warmly into the 
 spirit of the present, and was curious to know by 
 what particular tactics one can contrive to get the 
 better of such a large furious monster, as he ex- 
 pressed it, with such apparently inadequate means, 
 when a small sea trout broke him with all the ease 
 imaginable. As I now reckoned upon his atten- 
 tion, I told him, as follows — how to manage a large 
 salmon, and how a large salmon may manage us : — 
 " When you get hold of a monstrum horrendum, 
 ingens of a fish, say of some five and forty pounds, 
 you must anticipate a very long and severe battle. 
 If, therefore, you have a disposable gilly with you, 
 despatch him instantly for some skilful fisherman, 
 as well to assist you when you are exhausted with 
 fatigue, as to bring your dinner and supper; not 
 forgetting a dark lantern, that you may not be 
 beaten by the shades of night — a circumstance by 
 no means improbable. At the first onset you will 
 probably be obliged to keep your arms and rod 
 aloft, in order to steer clear of the rocks. This 
 action, with a heavy rod and large fish on your 
 line, is very distressing, if continued even for a 
 short time ; and it will be necessary to repeat it 
 often, if the channel is not very favourable ; and in 
 that case your muscles will ache insupportably, if 
 they at all resemble those of other men. The 
 easiest position, when it is safe to use it, is to place 
 the butt of your rod against the stomach as a rest, 
 and to bring the upper part of the arm and the 
 elbow in close contact with the sides, putting on at 
 the same time an air of determination. 
 
DUNCAN GRANTS BIG FISH 187 
 
 "If your leviathan should be superlatively 
 boisterous, no one knows what may happen. For 
 instance, should you be in a boat, and he should 
 shoot away down the river, you must follow 
 rapidly ; then, when he again turns upwards, what 
 a clever fellow your fisherman must be, to stop a 
 boat that has been going down a rapid stream at 
 the rate of eight miles an hour, and bring it round 
 all of a sudden in time to keep company with the 
 fish, who has taken an upward direction ! And 
 what a clever fellow a piscator must be, if he can 
 prevent twenty yards of his line, or more, from 
 hanging loose in the stream ! These sort of things 
 will happen, and they are tickhsh concerns. All I 
 can do is to recommend caution and patience ; and 
 the better to encourage you in the exercise of these 
 virtues, I wiU recount what happened to Duncan 
 Grant in days of yore. 
 
 " First, you must understand that what is called 
 'preserving the river' was formerly unknown, and 
 every one who chose to take a cast did so without 
 let or hindrance. 
 
 " In pursuance of this custom, in the month of 
 July, some thirty years ago, one Duncan Grant, a 
 shoemaker by profession, who was more addicted 
 to fishing than to his craft, went up the way from 
 the village of Aberlour, in the north, to take a cast 
 in some of the pools above Elchies-water. He 
 had no great choice of tackle, as may be conceived ; 
 nothing, in fact, but what was useful, and scant 
 supply of that. 
 
 " Duncan tried one or two pools without success, 
 tiU he arrived at a very deep and rapid stream, 
 
188 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 facetiously termed the Mountebank : here he 
 paused, as if meditating whether he should throw 
 his Hne or not. ' She is very big,' said he to 
 himself, ' but I'll try her ; if I grip him he'll be 
 worth the handing.' He then fished it, a step and 
 a throw, about half way down, when a heavy splash 
 proclaimed that he had raised him, though he 
 missed the fly. Going back a few paces, he came 
 over him again, and hooked him. The first tug 
 verified to Duncan his prognostication, that if he 
 was there * he would be worth the handing ' ; but 
 his tackle had thirty plies of hair next the fly, and 
 he held fast, nothing daunted. Give and take 
 went on with dubious advantage, the fish occasion- 
 ally sulking. The thing at length became serious ; 
 and, after a succession of the same tactics, Duncan 
 found himself at the Boat of Aberlour, seven hours 
 after he had hooked his fish, the said fish fast under 
 a stone, and himself completely tired. He had 
 some thoughts of breaking his tackle and giving 
 the thing up ; but he finally hit upon an expedient 
 to rest himself, and at the same time to guard 
 against the surprise and consequence of a sudden 
 movement of the fish. 
 
 "He laid himself down comfortably on the 
 banks, the butt end of his rod in front ; and most 
 ingeniously drew out part of his line, which he 
 held in his teeth. ' If he rugs when I'm sleeping,' 
 said he, ' I think I'll find him noo ' ; and no doubt 
 it is probable that he would. Accordingly, after a 
 comfortable nap of three or four hours, Duncan 
 was awoke by a most unceremonious tug at his 
 jaws. In a moment he was on his feet, his rod 
 
ROBERT KERSE'S BIG FISH 189 
 
 well up, and the fish swattering down the stream. 
 He followed as best he could, and was beginning 
 to think of the rock at Craigellachie, when he 
 found to his great relief that he could ' get a pull 
 on him.' He had now comparatively easy work ; 
 and exactly twelve hours after hooking him, he 
 cleiked him at the head of Lord Fife's water : he 
 weighed fifty-four pounds, Dutch, and had the tide 
 lice upon him." 
 
 Thus Duncan Grant has instructed us how to 
 manage a large salmon. Let us now see how a 
 large salmon may manage us. 
 
 In the year 1815, Robert Kerse hooked a clean 
 salmon of about forty pounds in the Makerstoun- 
 water, the largest, he says, he ever encountered : 
 sair work he had with him for some hours ; till at 
 last Rob, to use his own expression, was "clean 
 dune out." He landed the fish, however, in the 
 end, and laid him on the channel ; astonished, and 
 rejoicing at his prodigious size, he called out to a 
 man on the opposite bank of the river, who had 
 been watching him for some time : 
 
 " Hey, mon, sic a fish ! " 
 
 He then went for a stone to fell him with ; but 
 as soon as his back was turned, the fish began to 
 wamble towards the water, and Kerse turned, and 
 jumped upon it; over they both tumbled, and 
 they, line, hook, and all went into the Tweed. 
 The fish was too much for Rob, having broke the 
 line, which got twisted round his leg, and made its 
 escape, to his great disappointment and loss, for at 
 the price clean salmon were then selling, he could 
 have got five pounds for it. 
 
190 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Thus you see how a large fish may manage us. 
 
 I must tell you that the above-mentioned Robert 
 Kerse has long been a distinguished character on 
 the Tweed. At a secluded spot, where the woods 
 and rocks dip down to the margin of the river, and 
 where its current is opposed by a rocky barrier 
 through which it has worn its way in frightful 
 gorges, the gaunt figure of Auld Rob of the 
 Troughs has been seen any time these forty years. 
 He is very tall and bony, and when working his 
 boat with the canting pole amongst the rapids, or 
 looking down on the water from a jutting rock 
 with his leister aloft ready to strike, he cuts a most 
 formidable Salvator-Rosa-like appearance. Rob is 
 now highly seasoned with the saltness of time, 
 being nearer eighty than seventy years old ; drinks 
 whisky like water, his native element ; and to this 
 day runs after the hounds, when they come near, 
 like a boy of fifteen. He is a genuine lover of all 
 sports, and has begot numerous sons and daughters : 
 of the former four are gamekeepers and fishermen 
 on Tweed, Teviot, and Ettrick, to the Duke of 
 Buccleuch, Lord Lothian, and Lord Home. They 
 are remarkable as claiming a regular descent from 
 Saxon ancestors in the most remote times, and are 
 an active, athletic, clean-limbed race of men, keen 
 of eye, and swift of foot, of good pluck, and alto- 
 gether amphibious, loving the heather and moun- 
 tain flood better than the street and servants' 
 hall. Stalwart men would they have been in a 
 Border foray had they Hved in the time of Johnny 
 Armstrong. Such and so great are the Kerses ; but 
 they will not go down to posterity like the Purdies, 
 
KERSE AND THE OTTER 191 
 
 carent quia vate sacro : neither could the old river 
 god Rob himself contend with the otter so valiantly 
 as Charhe Purdie. Whether it was that he had a 
 sort of fellow-feehng for an animal that was amphi- 
 bious like himself, and followed the same profession, 
 or from what other cause I cannot say, but Rob 
 did not particularly shine in a fair stand-up otter 
 fight, as you shall hear. 
 
 In the latter end of September, 1839, Kerse had 
 set a cairn net at the Clippers, a little below 
 Makerstoun House, but on the bank of the river 
 opposite to it; and on going to the cairn to 
 examine the net, he saw a young otter sitting on, 
 and entangled in it; he threw more of the net 
 over it, whilst drawing it to the land, and when he 
 had caught hold of the tail, and was carrying it off, 
 a large otter, which he described " as a she ane," 
 five feet in length, jumped out of the water, ran up 
 the bank after him, to use his own words, " like a 
 mad bear," and commenced a furious attack upon 
 him. Rob had nothing to defend himself with 
 but his hat ; and as he was holding the young one 
 with one hand, he found he was likely to have 
 the worst of it, and to be bitten by the one animal 
 or the other. So he threw the whelp to the old 
 one, saying, "Ay, ye she-devil, he may get her, 
 twae to ane is odds." They both swam away ; that 
 is, the two otters, not Kerse. 
 
 On looking after them he saw two other young 
 ones trying to make past the point of the cairn, 
 which, owing to the strength of the current, they 
 seemed unable to effect : Kerse thought he would 
 try the thing again, so he laid hold of one of them. 
 
192 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 and pulled it out also by the tail; scarce had he 
 done this, and had begun to take to his heels, ere 
 out again jumped the old one, and attacked him ; 
 but this time Rob had provided himself with a 
 large stone, and hit the old beast on the back, when 
 he again set off, and carried the young one with 
 him, which was afterwards given to Lord John 
 Scott. During the whole contest, says Rob, " the 
 auld beast keepit squealing, and makin' a noise 
 something like a horse, when he gies a snore." 
 
 How Charles Purdie contended with an otter, 
 will be seen hereafter. 
 
CHAPTER VIII 
 
 " Of Scotland well, the friers of Faill, 
 The limmery lang hes lastit ; 
 s The monks o' Melros' made guid kaill 
 
 On Fridays when they fastit." 
 
 Spec. Godly Songs, page 87. 
 
 In rambling by Tweedside one never loses sight of 
 the Eildon Hills within many miles of Melrose, 
 which, together with the river and abbey, are the 
 dominant features of the country. 
 
 Of the legend touching them there are two 
 versions ; the poetical one given us in The Lay of 
 the Last Minstrel, 
 
 " And, warrior, I could say to thee 
 The words that clove Eildon Hills in three,'^ 
 
 comes, as all the world knows, from a very high 
 authority ; and, besides being extremely probable 
 in itself, has good classical conformity to the 
 magician in Ariosto, who produced marvellous 
 visions in the air which astounded the beholder ; 
 but he having a glass given him by a more 
 powerful enchanter, which enabled him to see 
 things in their true semblance, saw only the 
 magician sitting on a cloud, reading his book ; 
 
 o 
 
194 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 thus in both these cases wonderful things were 
 done by eabaUstical words, which art is called 
 Glamour. 
 
 Now as to the Eildons, I do not exactly see 
 what motive the wizard could have in cleaving 
 them in three ; I therefore rather lean to the story, 
 which is still current in the country, especially as 
 it is very circumstantial, and most agreeable to 
 sober reason. It runs as follows : — 
 
 Old Michael Scott the wizard, whose fame as a 
 powerful magician had spread over most part of 
 Europe^ (the same alluded to as having cleft the 
 Eildon Hills in three), was at continual feud with 
 the holy monks of Old Melrose, and constantly 
 playing his cantrips on them: they on their part 
 were assiduous in using exorcisms, and such means 
 as put Michael Scott's power in some danger ; so 
 the wizard resolved that they should not have the 
 light of the sun during vespers, but that they 
 should either abstain from them altogether, or be 
 put to the expense of oil or candles. 
 
 To effect his purpose he summoned a spirit or 
 imp, or something very like a real devil, who was 
 subject to his bidding, and for whom he was 
 obliged to find constant employment. 
 
 Him he commanded to place a mountain to the 
 west of the monastery, so as to intercept from it the 
 rays of the setting sun. The imp being ingenious, 
 and strong withal, looked around him, and found 
 his affair in the Cheviot Hills. Thither he hied, 
 and with an iron shovel, he took away from them 
 
 ' 1 '' Quel' altro Michele Scoto fu, chi veramente 
 Delle ma^iche Frodi seppe il Gioco." — Dante. 
 
MICHAEL SCOTT 195 
 
 at one scoop a quantity sufficient to form one of 
 the hills, which he deposited where he was com- 
 manded, and in two more journeys formed the 
 other two hills, just as we see them now, only that 
 they were bare of verdure. In his passage a part 
 fell out of the shovel, which is now called Rubers- 
 law, which slovenly slip accounts for the inequaUty 
 in point of size of the Eildons. At this slip 
 Michael was exceeding wrath, and pursued his imp 
 towards Tweedside to punish him. The imp had 
 a good start, and Michael lay rather out of his 
 ground : when the evil spirit came to Old Melrose, 
 he saw a brave company of monks in the haugh, 
 who had made a kettle offish,^ and were carousing 
 with goodly flagons of ale. It is said Thomas the 
 Rhymer of Ercildoune was with them, and that 
 the prior, who threw a long hne, had been very 
 successful with it that morning, having had good 
 sport in the Gateheugh streams, and caught two 
 clean fish in the Holy- wheel, now called the Hally- 
 wheel, a stream which he himself tabooed upon the 
 same principle that the Italians write " Rispetto " 
 on the walls, namely, to keep off intruders. 
 
 At the sight of so many pious men, the little 
 imp skulked behind a tree, and Michael himself 
 was taken aback, and ran cunning, making a cross 
 cut over the peninsula, in order to come in upon 
 the imp below ; the latter being hardly pressed, 
 made for the river, well knowing that his task- 
 master was not only a bad boatman, but that no 
 
 1 It is still a custom to make parties and dress the salmon on the 
 spot immediately after their capture, which is called having a kettle 
 offish. 
 
196 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 enchantment could subsist in a running stream. 
 Arrived there he formed the scoop of his shovel 
 into an iron boat, in which he sat and launched 
 himself, using the handle as a rudder, round which 
 he twisted his tail that he might steer with the 
 greater nicety — tali auxiUo. Michael, forgetting, 
 in the heat of his wrath, his impotence of enchant- 
 ment in a river, got into a fisherman's boat above 
 Dryburgh, and gave chase. Now this boat being 
 more buoyant than the imp's iron one, he gained 
 fast upon him, and just got hold of his tail in a 
 long reach above Mertoun, called ever after from 
 that event the Doup Roads. As to whether the 
 said usual appendage to a devil was greased or not, 
 tradition has left us in ignorance ; but it eluded 
 the grip, and the imp shot down a cauld, through 
 so rapid a gorge, that the warlock hesitated to 
 follow. 
 
 And now a new scene presented itself; a third 
 boat came sweeping under the scaurs in their rear, 
 and joined the chase, its crew consisting of Thomas 
 the Rhymer, and two zealous fathers, who pursued 
 the wizard with bell, book, and candle ; and they 
 would have ran into him a little below Craigover, 
 but that he shot ashore ; and then being on dry 
 land, threw up by his art a bay behind him to 
 obstruct their passage, and thus jocky ^ them ; but 
 Thomas of Ercildoune, who was also a powerful 
 magician, opened a passage on the south side of 
 the river, and the monks only received a slight 
 check. In the meantime Michael launched again ; 
 
 1 This spot still goes by the name of Jocky Bay, and is a good 
 salmon cast. 
 
THE WITCH OF MAKERSTOUN 197 
 
 but the devil beat them all hollow at Little-Dean 
 stream, which, being swift, rocky, and shallow, 
 suited his style of navigation admirably. Now 
 there was, and still is, a witch dwelUng on the 
 craigs near Makerstoun, at the Corbie's Nest, who, 
 by a deception in magic called glamour, assumes 
 p the semblance of a crow. She was a sort of ally 
 of Michael Scott, and flew forth, croaking her 
 hoarsest and best upon the occasion. How far her 
 power extended, and what she did, I have never 
 heard ; but certain it is that the wizard landed, that 
 his magic might have effect, and, with or without her 
 assistance, endeavoured to " bridle the Tweed with 
 a curb of stone ; " but his left foot insensibly touch- 
 ing the running stream, the work was imperfect 
 and disunited, so that the whole volume of the 
 river gushed through the rocks in gorges with such 
 appalling violence, that neither he of Ercildoune or 
 the Frati thought it prudent to follow.^ 
 
 Michael now, seeing the pursuit after his 
 familiar was vain on the water, remained ashore, 
 and summoned another spirit, who was subservient 
 to him, in the shape of a coal-black horse, and 
 springing on him, said, as was his custom, " Mount, 
 Diabolus, and fly " ; but he was scarcely firm in his 
 seat, before the little devil got down to sea, where 
 he sunk his boat, and vanished to the bad place 
 from whence he came. There is still a dangerous 
 sandbank over the spot where this curious iron 
 
 1 These rocks are called the troughs, or in Scotch, trows, and are 
 under the beautiful grounds of Makerstoun. A very active gentleman, 
 who resides a few miles higher up the river, has in very low water 
 leaped from rock to rock, and thus crossed the Tweed without wetting 
 his feet. 
 
198 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 boat is deposited ; and, as the mode of dissipating 
 shoals and blowing up sunken vessels is now well 
 known, I trust some effort will be made, either by 
 government or a joint-stock company, to recover 
 this valuable curiosity. 
 
 Thus terminated a race, singular for the skill 
 that was displayed under embarrassing circum- 
 stances, and wonderful as to the persons and 
 powers that were engaged in it. 
 
 " When next these wights go forth to sail, 
 May I be there to see ! " 
 
CHAPTER IX 
 
 " Dinna let the Sherra' ken 
 Donald Caird is come again." — Scott. 
 
 If I were to write an account of half the poaching 
 tricks that are common to all Salmon rivers, I 
 should produce a book, the dimensions of which 
 would terrify the public, even in this pen-compiUng 
 age. 
 
 In times when water bailiffs in Tweed had very 
 small salaries, they themselves were by no means 
 scrupulous about the observance of close time, but 
 partook of the good things of the river in all 
 seasons, lawful or unlawful. There is a man now, 
 I believe, living at Selkirk, who in times of yore 
 used certain little freedoms with the Tweed Act, 
 which did not become the virtue of his office. As 
 a water bailiff he was sworn to tell of all he saw ; 
 and indeed, as he said, it could not be expected 
 that he should tell of what he did not see. 
 
 When his dinner was served up during close 
 time, his wife usually brought to the table in the 
 first place a platter of potatoes and a napkin ; 
 she then bound the latter over his eyes that noth- 
 ing might offend his sight. This being done, the 
 illegal salmon was brought in smoking hot, and he 
 
200 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 fell to, blindfolded as he was, like a conscientious 
 water bailiff — if you know what that is ; nor was 
 the napkin taken from his eyes till the fins and 
 bones were removed from the room, and every 
 visible evidence of a salmon having been there had 
 completely vanished : thus he saw no illegal act 
 committed, and went to give in his annual report 
 at Cornhill with his idea of a clear conscience. 
 This was going too near the wind, or rather the 
 water ; but what would you have ? — the man was 
 literal, and a great eater of salmon from his youth. 
 
 People who are not water bailiffs have not 
 always so delicate a conscience. Let us examine 
 the style and bearing of such marauders as have 
 fallen under our notice. 
 
 In the first place, there is your man with a pout 
 net, which resembles a landing net, only that it is 
 A^ery considerably larger, and is in shape only half 
 of a circle ; with this he scoops out foul salmon 
 during floods, when, from weakness, they are unable 
 to stem the current, and get close under the banks. 
 This he transacts very snugly, under pretence of 
 taking trouts ; so indeed he does, and welcome too, 
 if he would stop there; but this he is perfectly 
 averse from. 
 
 Next in consequence comes your Triton, who 
 walks the waters with a long implement in his 
 hands, namely a leister, aUas a waster; with this 
 weapon, "quocunque nomine gaudet," the said 
 deity, quick of eye and ready of hand, forks out the 
 poor fish that are spawning on the streams ; and 
 this in close time. Vile, vile Triton ! 
 
 Then comes your lawless band of black fishers, 
 
BLACK FISHERS 201 
 
 so called from their masks of black crape with 
 which they disguise themselves : these men come 
 forth in the darkness of the night to burn for 
 salmon. When the winds are hushed, you may 
 sometimes hear the dipping of oars and the 
 clanking of a boat chain, and see at a distance a 
 small light, like a glow-worm. In a Uttle while 
 the light blazes forth, and up rise a set of Othellos 
 who are about to take a private benefit. These 
 minions of the night are generally men of a 
 desperate character, and it is not easy to collect 
 water baihfFs sufficient in number or willing to 
 encounter them ; but if water bailiffs would fight, 
 how very picturesque the attack would be ! The 
 rapids — the blazing — the leisters — the combatants 
 driven headlong into the river. Why, the battle 
 of Constantine and Maxentius, and the affair of the 
 bridge, as seen in the famous fresco, would be 
 nothing to it. The only thing I should apprehend 
 would be, that the bailiffs would eventually sport 
 Marc Antony and run. 
 
 In contradistinction to these illuminati comes 
 your plausible poacher, a sort of river sneak. This 
 man sallies forth with apparent innocence of 
 purpose ; he switches the water with a trout-rod, 
 and ambulates the shore with a small basket at his 
 back, indicative of humble pretensions ; but has a 
 pocket in his jacket that extends the whole breadth 
 of the skirts. He is trouting, forsooth; but ever 
 and anon, as he comes to a salmon- cast, he changes 
 his fly, and has a go at the nobler animal. If he 
 hooks a salmon, he looks on each side with the tail 
 of his eye to guard against a surprise ; and if he 
 
202 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 sees any danger of discovery from the advance of 
 the foeman, he breaks his line, leaves the fly in the 
 fish's mouth, and substitutes a trout one; — said 
 fish swims away, and does not appear in evidence. 
 
 I once came upon one of these innocents, who 
 had hold of a salmon with his trout-rod in a cast 
 a Uttle above Melrose bridge, called the Quarry 
 Stream. He did not see me, for I was in the 
 copsewood on the summit of the bank immediately 
 behind him. I could have pounced upon him at 
 once, I and my fisherman. Did I do so ? I tell 
 you, no. He would have broken his line as above, 
 and have lost the fish ; and I wanted a salmon, for 
 it is a delicate animal, and was particularly scarce 
 at that time. 
 
 So I desired Charlie to lie down amongst the 
 bushes, and not to stir till the fish was fairly 
 landed, and was in the capacious pocket, which has 
 already been described. Then I counselled him to 
 give chase, and harry the possessor. Judging, 
 however, that if the man crossed the river at the 
 ford a little below, which he was very likely to do, 
 that he would have so much law of Charlie before 
 he could descend the steep brae, that he might 
 escape, I drew back cautiously, got into the road 
 out of sight, and passed over Melrose bridge, 
 taking care to bend my body so as to keep it out 
 of sight behind the parapet ; I then lay concealed 
 amongst the firs in the opposite bank. Thus we 
 had Master Sneak between us. I was at some 
 distance from the scene of action to be sure, and 
 somewhat in the rear, as I could advance no 
 further under cover ; but I had the upper ground. 
 
HUNTING A POACHER 203 
 
 and was tolerably swift of foot in those days, which 
 gave me confidence. I took out my pocket glass, 
 and eyed my man. He was no novice : but 
 worked his fish with great skill. At length he 
 drew him on the shore, and gave him a settler 
 with a rap of a stone on the back of his head ; he 
 then, honest man, pried around him with great 
 circumspection, and seeing no one, he took the 
 salmon by the tail, and, full of internal content- 
 ment, deposited it in his well -contrived pocket: 
 he then waded across to the south side of the river, 
 with an intention, as it seemed, of revisiting his 
 household gods and having a broil. 
 
 CharUe now arose from his lair, and scrambled 
 down the steep. The alarm was given, but he of 
 the salmon had a good start, with the river 
 between him and his pursuer. So he stopped for 
 a moment on the haugh to make out what was 
 going forward on all sides, much after the fashion 
 of an old hare, who runs a certain distance when 
 she apprehends anything personal, then rests for a 
 moment or two, and shifts her ears in order to 
 collect the news from all quarters of the compass. 
 Even so did our friend, and having satisfied himself 
 that he was a favoured object of attraction, he was 
 coy and took to flight incontinently ; I now sprang 
 up from the firs, the game being fairly afoot, and 
 kept the upper ground. The pursuit became close 
 and hot, but as the fugitive, like Johnny Gilpin, 
 carried weight, I soon closed with him. 
 
 " You seem in a hurry, my good friend ; your 
 business must be pressing. What makes you run 
 so?" 
 
204 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 " Did ye no see that bogle there by the quarry 
 stream, that garred me rin this gait ; baud on for 
 yer lives, sirs, for if he overtakes us, we are deid 
 men." 
 
 " Why the truth is, Sandy, that I do not choose 
 to baud on at present, because I came forth in quest 
 of a bonny salmon, and cannot go home without 
 one ; could you not help me to such a thing ? " 
 
 At this Sandy took a pinch of snuff from his 
 mull, and seeing my eyes fixed upon the length and 
 protuberance of his pocket, answered quaintly 
 enough — 
 
 " Ay, that can I, and right glad am I to do ye 
 a favour ; ye shall no want for a salmon whilst I 
 have one." 
 
 So saying, he pulled forth a ten pounder, which 
 occupied all the lower regions of his jacket. " How 
 the beast got here," said he, as he extracted him 
 gradually, " I dinna ken, but I am thinking that he 
 must have louped intill my pocket, as I war wading 
 the river." 
 
 " Nothing more likely, and I will admit him to 
 have done so for once, but, mark me, I will not 
 admit of any salmon doing so in future without my 
 permission in writing. You have been trouting, it 
 seems ; pray what sort of a fly do you use ? " 
 
 " Whiles I use a wee ane, and whiles a muckle 
 flie, — ane for rough and deep water, and the ither 
 for shallow streams. That is the way to trout, 
 both in loch and river." 
 
 " True ! I see you have some bonny little flies 
 in your hat; take it off carefully, Purdie — you 
 understand me — and let me admire them." 
 
THE POACHERS' SPOIL 205 
 
 Charlie advances, and taking off the man's hat 
 with great care so as to keep the crown undermost, 
 he pulls out from the inside six well-tied salmon 
 flies of the most approved colours, which he trans- 
 ferred to his own pocket. I actually saw Meg- 
 with-the-muckle-mouth amongst them. 
 
 " Ay, ye are as welcome to the flees as ye are 
 to the sawmont, and I am proud to do ye a good 
 turn at ony gait." 
 
 "Well now, bear in mind, that I will never 
 permit you to throw a fly wee or muckle in the 
 Pavilion-water again ; and if you darken the shores 
 with your presence a second time, I will have you 
 up at Mebose." 
 
 " I'm thinking I shall tak' your advice, for ye 
 seem a sensible chiel. Will ye accept of a pinch of 
 snufl*?" 
 
 "Good morning, good morning; get home to 
 Selkirk as quick as ye can ; we know ye well for a 
 
 souter of that town. Run, run, the bogle is after 
 
 f " 
 you ! 
 
 "Run, ay that will I, and the deil tak' the 
 hindmost," said he, and off* he went at his best 
 pace; leaving this blessing and the salmon to 
 solace us. 
 
 Perhaps I shall best give a general idea of what 
 was going on formerly in close time by a recitation 
 of the confessions of my departed friend Thomas 
 Purdie ; and let it be borne in mind in his behalf, 
 that at the time of his cantrips salmon were not 
 valuable, and, consequently, little cared for, so no 
 great harm was done ; but it is clear from his own 
 showing that Tom in his early days was a sort of 
 
206 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 Donald Caird, for he had no right to be " bleezing 
 up," where he did. 
 
 For the better understanding of his narrative, I 
 shall give a description of the clodding, or throw- 
 ing leister, or waster, as he was used to term it, the 
 instrument with which he performed his sleights. 
 It differs materially from the one in common use ; 
 a description of which latter will be given hereafter. 
 
 This throwing leister is used chiefly on the 
 upper parts of the Tweed, and its tributary streams, 
 where the water is not deep. The spear has five 
 prongs of unequal, but regularly graduated, length. 
 Those which are nearest the fisherman, and which 
 come to the ground first in throwing being the 
 shortest. The entire iron frame of the spear is 
 double the weight of that in common use. An 
 iron hoop is bound round the top of the pole, as a 
 counterbalancing weight ; and the pole itself has a 
 
TOM PURDIE'S MUCKLE FISH 207 
 
 slight curve, the convex part being the outermost 
 in throwing : a rope made of goats' hair, called 
 " the lyams," is fastened to the top bar of the spear 
 just above the shortest prong; this rope is about 
 twelve yards long, and is tied to the arm of the 
 thrower. The spear is cast like a javelin ; and, if 
 thrown by a skilful hand, the top of the shaft, after 
 it has pierced the fish, falls beyond the vertical 
 point towards the opposite bank of the river ; then 
 the fish is pulled to land by means of the aforesaid 
 rope or lyams, so that there is little chance of his 
 escaping in his struggles for freedom. 
 
 The accompanying engraving represents the iron 
 of the clodding waster ; that in general use will be 
 given hereafter. 
 
 Now for Tom Purdie. I should miss the nice 
 points of his character were I to deprive him of 
 his own peculiar way of communicating his feats, 
 though it is but too true that when he got upon a 
 favourite subject he was most inhumanly elastic. 
 
 TOM PURDIE S MUCKLE FISH 
 
 " While I was with Mr. Anderson, and shepherd 
 at West Bold, one Sunday," says Tom, " I didna 
 go up to Traquair to the kirk, but took a walk by 
 the river side ; there were a vast o' fish in the 
 water, and I saw ane or twae great roeners turning, 
 a sure sign there were mickle kippers too. I had 
 dandered down to near the burn-fit, and had a pair 
 of good stilts aye lying there. My first wife was 
 then a lass, and lived at Caberston ; and the stilts 
 were ready to cross the water at an orra time. I 
 
208 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 took a thought that I would Hke to see what was 
 steering on Caberston throat ; and sae I lap on the 
 stilts and went through at the rack ; and when I 
 was on the other side, I thought I might as weel 
 tak a keek at the throat. I keepit weel off the 
 water-side, until I was doon aneth where the fish 
 began to work. I kend by a clour in the water a 
 gey bit afore me, that there was a big redd there, 
 and drew cannily forrit. 'Odd, sir ! my verra heart 
 lap to my mouth when I gat the glisk o' something 
 mair like a red stirk than ought else muve off the 
 redd, and hallans down the water and make for the 
 south side. I fand my hair creep on my head. I 
 minded it was the Sabbath, and I should not hae 
 been there. It might be a delusion o' the enemy, 
 if it wasna the deil himseF. I stude and consider'd. 
 I had never seen the deil i' daylight, and forbye 
 there was just then a great brown rowaner slade off 
 the redd after him. If it was the deil, what could 
 he be doin' wi' the rowaner ? The water was breast 
 deep at the least ; it might be a fish after a', and I 
 had heard the auld folk speak o' vera muckle anes. 
 I lookit up the brae to the toon. Peggy ablins 
 hadna likit my hankering about the throat on sic a 
 day, and she had slippit in to the house, and didna 
 come out again. Sae when I saw it was sae, I held 
 up the water side for my stilts, keepin', for aw that, 
 an ee to the redds. Heaven forgie me ! 1 neuer 
 saw sic a water o' fish ! If it wasna the deil I had 
 seen, I was sure he wasna far off. I saw eneugh 
 to temp a better man than me ; and I began to 
 think I had better be at hame reading a chapter o' 
 the gude book, if no a leaf or twae o' the Fourfold 
 
THE GREAT KIPPER 209 
 
 State; sae I took the stilts and cam' through 
 again by the rack, and wan hame just a wee 
 thought afore the master and the mistress, honest 
 woman ! cam' hame thrae the kirk. I haflins wist 
 I had been there too ; — but yet I was only lookin' 
 at the warks o' the creation, and couldna say I had 
 dune ony great wrang ; an' if I hadna seen Peggy 
 come out o' the byre at Caberston, I ablins hadna 
 stiUit the water after a'. But I fand I couldna 
 read a styme ; for, do as I might, I couldna get 
 the appearance that I had seen out o' my mind ; 
 and yet whan I consider'd about the mickle rowaner, 
 that I was sure eneugh was a yeithly thing, I 
 couldna help beUeving that it was, after a', a fish 
 I had seen ; but I never saw sic another. 
 
 " Weel, a' the time the master was at the readin', 
 I couldna keep the glisk o' the awsome mickle fish 
 out o' my head, and whan we raise thrae the 
 prayers, I poppit the shouther o' the nowtherd 
 callant, and said quietly, ' Sandy, if I raise ye about 
 twal o'clock ye needna wonder ; sleep as fast as ye 
 can till than, and tak' nae notice to Jamie when ye 
 rise.' I had aft ta'en this lad wi' me afore to baud 
 the light ; for he was a stout loon o' his age, and 
 could baud a fight weel enough ; having a natural 
 cast rather bye common for a kin-kind o' mischief and 
 ploys, and, I believe, was sound asleep in five minutes. 
 
 "As for mysel', I need hardly say I never 
 steekit an ee. I kend fu' weel that if we warna 
 at Queedside by the first o' the Monanday morning, 
 the hempies out o' twae or three o' the touns o' 
 the north side o' the water wad be bleezin' up afore 
 us ; and some devilrie cam' o'er the cock that sat 
 
210 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 on the Byre balks aside us, for he never missed to 
 skirl every ten minutes thrae the time I lay doon ; 
 sae I was as often grapin' the hands o' my watch, 
 which I had gotten in a coup thrae Geordie 
 Matheson three weeks afore. 
 
 "At last, when I had a gude guess it was 
 drawin' near to twal o'clock, and nae fear o' 
 breaking the Sabbath, I gat up and shook Sandy 
 by the shouther, who was out o' bed in a jiffie. 
 We went to the barn, and tied up twae prime 
 heather lights, thrae a bunch or twae, which I had 
 gae'd the miller lad dry on the kiln ten days afore. 
 They may talk o' ryffies and birk bark baith ; but 
 gie me a gude heather light, weel dried on the 
 kiln, for a throat o' the Queed. However, I got 
 the lights on my back, Sandie carried a weel dried 
 bairdie, and I took in my hand my clodding waster. 
 I had gi'en the Runchies o' Yarrowford seven 
 white shiUings for her; but nane could make a 
 waster wi' the Runches,^ nor track an otter either ; 
 they had clean the best terriers in the hale country- 
 side ; and they had an art o' their ain in tempering 
 the taes o' a waster that they took to the grave wi' 
 them. I could hae thrawn mine off the head o' a 
 scaur ; and if she had stracken a whinstane rock she 
 wad hae been nae mair blunted than gif \ had 
 thrawn her on a haystack. 
 
 ^ The Runches (Runcimans) of Yarrowford were two celebrated 
 smiths, probably brought to Selkirkshire by Murray of Philiphaugh. 
 They were famous for a peculiar aii; in tempering edge tools. Their 
 otter hounds and terriers also were capital. SingulaT stories were told 
 of their sagacity. Rob Runchy, as a forlorn hope, once threw his 
 clodding leister at a drowning man floating down the Yarrow in a high 
 flood, and hauled him out with the lyams unharmed. 
 
LIGHTING UP 211 
 
 "On our way to the water, I was nae little 
 fashed wi' the unsonsie callant blowing up the 
 bairdie every now and than, to mak' sure that it 
 wasna out, and I had ance or twice to shake him 
 by the neck ; for I wasna sure that the Gabber- 
 ston folk, who were aye devilish yaap when there 
 war mony fish in the water, mightna be lying at 
 the side o' the throat ready to blaw up when it past 
 twal o'clock ; and gude truly, if they had gotten a 
 blink o' our bairdie, they wad hae ta'en that instead 
 o' the hour. At any rate there was Uttle use in 
 warning aw the north side o' the water that Tarn 
 Purdie was ga'n oot to the fishing ; and, to tell the 
 truth, the Sabbath day was little mair than o'er. 
 
 " But some had clippit the wings o' the Sabbath 
 closer than us after a' ; I saw the twinkle o' a coal 
 every now and than comin' doon Caberston peat- 
 road ; and I weel kend it was just the Sandersons 
 o' Priesthope bent for the same place wi' oursels. 
 It was ill bein' afore them on a Monanday morning 
 wi' fair play, when the water was in good trim. 
 Faith I lost nae time when I saw the twinkle o' 
 their peat-coal (there was nae strae for bairdies at 
 Priesthope) in tying the lights on the callant's 
 back and thrawing him and the clod- waster on my 
 shouther, and stilting the water as I had done in 
 the dayhght. I kent fu' weel the place where the 
 big redd was, and blew up about thirty step below, 
 sae that the light might be at the best when we 
 cam' foment it. Sandy held the light weel ; his 
 een were glenting in his head wi' eagerness ; and 
 just when we cam' to the tail o' the redd, I saw the 
 muckle kipper lyin' Hke a flain wedder. I had, as I 
 
212 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 thought, the advantage on my side, for the brae 
 was three or four feet aboon the water, and I 
 strack him with a my pith. Whither the mid 
 grain had straken him on the back fin, I took nae 
 time then to consider ; but the fourteen pund waster 
 stottit off his back as if he had been a bag o' wool. 
 
 "A cauld sweet cam' owre me, an' I beheve 
 every hair on my body crap. I was dead sure it 
 was the deil JiimseT that had been permitted to 
 throw himsel' in my way for breaking the Sabbath ! 
 For I had begun to tie up the lights as soon as I 
 shook up the callant; an' it was hardly twal 
 o'clock. I pu'd the burnin' light out o' his hand, 
 and dash'd it in the Queed, threw him on my back 
 as fast as I could, an' was hardly able to stilt the 
 water again for vera dread. 
 
 " I needna say we were soon in our beds ; and 
 I took the callant in aside me, for he was to the 
 full as feard, poor fellow, as I was, — an' mair. For 
 when I got time, an' turn'd calm eneugh to 
 consider, I began to see it couldna weel be auld 
 Clutie, for I could mind o' seein' the verra een, an' 
 gib an' teeth and the gapin' mouth o' the kipper. 
 And by and by, I cam' to be certain sure it was 
 neither mair nor less than the big monster I had 
 seen i' daylight. Sae wi' that settlement there 
 cam' the question, How could I get another 
 chance? aweel, I lay still till just afore sky- 
 break, which I kend baith by my watch, and the 
 cock that had been through the night as quiet as 
 the kye aneath him. I waken'd Sandy wi' muckle 
 ado this time, and he had nae grit broo' o' the 
 business : but, however, be that as it may, we tied 
 
THE STROKE 213 
 
 up another light an' set off again. But there was 
 still a hankering i' the callant's mind anent gaen 
 back to the same place, where he had gotten sic a 
 fleg. He was hke a colt that has been scar'd wi' a 
 gray stane, an's no willing to venture back to see 
 that it's nae bogle. ' But is ye sure, Tarn, it wasna 
 the deil ? ' ' Deil a bit o' Satan it was, Sandie, ma 
 man,' says I, ' for I saw him afore you ; and the 
 deil darena show himsel' in daylight on sic a day.' 
 Weel, we gat through the Queed again, and 
 kindled up the auld place. When we cam' up to 
 the muckle redd, the fient a hait was there but 
 twae or three rowangatherers whidden about ; sae 
 we cam' up the water-side, for the light was only at 
 the best, when, gonshens ! there was the great 
 brute o' a kipper, that, when he had gotten a glint 
 o' the light had minded the dunt he got on the 
 back, an' was glidin' up the side o' the water within 
 three step o' the channel. I scraucht to Sandie to 
 baud up the hght, and keepin' clear o' the back fin 
 this time, I strack him atween the back fin an' the 
 gills, at the same time shakin' the lyams off my 
 arm. Peace be here ! if he didna stem the throat 
 four feet deep wi' the waster sticking straight up 
 in his back as if he never fand it, wi' the lyams 
 about him ! I durstna draw however. I had nae 
 fear o' their breaking, for they were spun o' the 
 hair o' the grey auld buck that gaed for mony years 
 on the Plora craig ^ ; but had I pu'd at the lyams, 
 the kipper behooved to turn, an' he might ha' taen 
 
 ^ I know not the derivation of lyams ; the word is only used, as far 
 as I know, to denote a small twisted rope usually made of goats' hair, 
 for the sake of elasticity, and fastened to the bow of the clodding 
 
214 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 doon the throat tap water, an' I wad ha lost my 
 waster an' lyams, or pu'd it out o' his back. That 
 I had nae mind to dae. 
 
 " I never was feard for drownin' in my life ; at 
 ony rate never in the Queed. I strack into the 
 water breast deep, an' wonder sin syne how I keepit 
 my feet ; but I had on a pair o' gude clouted shoon. 
 The kipper tired o' the trade o' gaun against the 
 strength o' the throat, an' traHn' the lyams, turned 
 down the deep side of the water 'atween me an' the 
 brae. I got baud o' the shaft o' the waster, but to 
 try to grund him was needless, sae 1 keepit down 
 the shank, an' that made the force o' the water 
 raise the fish to the tap, an' I push'd him to the 
 side, following as I best could, an' pressed him to 
 the brae, when I lifted him out. Wi' the help o' 
 Sandie (who had, when he saw the blood, gotten 
 rid o' his fear o' the deil) I carried him to the head 
 o' the rack, and when I got him on my back, my 
 certie I was a massy man ! I was aye vext I 
 didna' weigh him, but my behef was he was forty 
 gude pounds, Dutch weight. As I waded the 
 water wi' him, leadin' Sandie by the hand, his neb 
 was aboon my head, an' his tail plash'd in the water 
 on my heels. 
 
 " My father was than miller o' Bold Miln, an' I 
 took him down to be reisted in the kiln ; but we 
 were a' sae thrang wi' talkin' about his size, that 
 we forgot to lay him on the broads, and that, as I 
 was sayin', vexes me to this day." 
 
 leister : it is coiled on the left arm at the other end in such a manner 
 as to go freely off when the leister is thrown. Jamieson in his 
 dictionary derives the word from the French lien. 
 
GLOSSARY 215 
 
 Clour — a heaving up of the water. 
 
 Hallans — slanting. 
 
 Thrae — from. 
 
 Haflins — partly. 
 
 Styme — none at all, in the least. 
 
 Poppit — tapped. 
 
 Steekit — closed. 
 
 Hempies — scamps — rogues. 
 
 Balks — cross beams. 
 
 Skirl — crow. 
 
 Coup — a swap. 
 
 Ruffies — old pieces of tarred sacking. 
 
 Bairdie — a straw rope to keep the light in. 
 
 Yaap — alert. 
 
 Flain — flayed. 
 
 Broo — liking. 
 
 Rowangatherers — meaning trout. 
 
 Massy — proud. 
 
 Meal stone — containing 16 pounds. 
 
 Beisted — dried. 
 
 Broads — scales. 
 
 Lyams — rope of goats* hair used with the throwing leister. 
 
CHAPTER X 
 
 " And doun the stream, like Levin's gleam, 
 The fleggit salmond flew ; 
 The ottar yaap his pray let drap. 
 And to his hiddils drew." 
 
 Border Minstrelsy. 
 
 Whilst the Pavilion ^ was getting ready for my 
 reception, I took up my quarters at an inn at 
 Melrose, and, at my instigation, Mr. Tintern came 
 there also, and thus we soon got intimate. The 
 river had been falling in for some time, and was 
 now too low for fly-fishing ; and as the sky had 
 lately been pretty clear, and as the evening promised 
 a calm and sunny day for the morrow, I promised 
 to show him the manner in which we speared 
 salmon by the light of the sun, should the weather 
 prove as good as I anticipated. 
 
 My expectations for the time, at least, were 
 fulfilled.; for on waking I found the whole expanse 
 of heaven serene and glowing ; not a cloud to be 
 
 ^ Having often mentioned the Pavilion water, I should have 
 explained before that it belongs to Lord Somerville ; and I have thus 
 called it from the name of his house, which I rented for some years, 
 and which is about two miles up the river from Melrose. The chief 
 scene of my operations, however, was some miles lower down the river 
 from Dryburgh, as far as Makerstoun. 
 
MR. TINTERN AGAIN 217 
 
 seen, not a breath of air to ruffle the water ; so I 
 sent to awaken my companion. Breakfast was 
 prepared, but no Mr. Tintern. A Uttle while after 
 1 heard a languid voice say, "Want some hot 
 water." A quarter of an hour elapsed, when I 
 heard the same words again ; after about a similar 
 interval of time I heard, " Want a stocking " ; and 
 then, after a long pause, " Want a stocking " again. 
 I was out of all patience ; so I went up to entreat 
 the man of wants to use more expedition, as we 
 were losing a very fine morning. 
 
 I did not find him in his room, but sitting down 
 half dressed on the upper stair near it, looking at 
 his sketch-book. He had not shaved, as his hint 
 for hot water, having been uttered in a mild tone, 
 had not been taken. He did not so much care 
 about shaving, he said, but he could not go out 
 with only one stocking on, and he could not find 
 the other, and unluckily he had sent his dirty ones 
 to be washed. It certainly was true that one of his 
 legs was bare ; and, after a fruitless hunt, we had 
 nothing left for it but to send into the town and 
 buy a fresh pair. After they arrived, however, he 
 discovered that there was no particular necessity 
 for such a step, as he had favoured one leg at the 
 expense of the other, by putting both stockings on it. 
 
 I had already breakfasted, and my impatience 
 increased ; so it was agreed that my friend should 
 take my host's little pony, and join me above 
 Melrose Bridge. When I got to the spot, Tom 
 Purdie, who was usually very forward on these 
 occasions, had not arrived; but I descried Mr. 
 Tintern at a distance, not upon the innkeeper's 
 
218 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 pony, but walking down hill ; and I went to meet 
 him, that he might not miss us at the river. I came 
 up to him precisely at the turnpike by Newton, 
 and overheard the following little dialogue between 
 him and the turnpike woman : — 
 
 " Here's twopence for you, good woman." 
 
 " What for do ye gie me this ? " 
 
 " Why, for my horse, to be sure." 
 
 " And whaur may your horse be ? " 
 
 " Where ? why here, behind me, my good dame." 
 
 " It must be a gey piece ahint then, I'm think- 
 ing, for I canna see the beast." 
 
 At this he began to pull the bridle rein which 
 he had in his hand; and, upon finding it very 
 particularly obedient, he looked round and found, 
 true enough, that the pony whom he fancied he 
 had been leading down hill, and was at the end of 
 the said bridle, had slipped out his head, and 
 trotted back the way he came. At this incident, 
 he seemed almost as much amused as we were ; 
 though I thought I saw a lurking appearance of 
 distress in his countenance, too, as having further 
 to walk than he had bargained for. 
 
 Let us now see what the fishermen were doing. 
 Charles Purdie and Thomas Jamieson, whilst sit- 
 ting on a rock by the water-side, at length descried 
 Tom Purdie making up to them with his leister. 
 
 " Well, Tom," said Jamieson, " I never knew ye 
 keep ahint afore, when there was any wark for the 
 leister. What makes ye so late, mon ? " 
 
 "Why, I cudna get awa' frae Abbotsford; 
 there was a gentleman wi' Sir Walter ; but wha he 
 was 1 dunna ken, but I think he was EngUsh. Sir 
 
SIR WALTER AND HIS DOGS 219 
 
 Walter gaed out to tak' a walk, and cried to me to 
 follow him. When we war joost gaen up near to 
 the turn before we cum' to the Boor,^ Pepper and 
 Finnet were hunting the woods, and Maida was 
 gaen ahint us ; and, to my great astonishment, 
 when I lukit a wee piece among the trees, Di, who 
 was wi' me, war standing, and pit out her muckle 
 tail like the handle of a cleik. Or ever I wishes, 
 out gets a dirty beast of a hare, and bangs right on 
 to the walk afore us. Sir Walter and the other 
 man war gaen side by side ; or ever I kent, Maida 
 pit his muckle nose past me, when Pepper barkit, 
 and set up his great lugs ; and as the gentleman 
 walked rather wide at the knee, he saw the hare 
 through atween his legs, and made a great brush all 
 at aince, and Ufted him off his feet. The gentle- 
 man, thinking he was going to fa', cotched a firm 
 grip o' Maida's rough hair as he sat strid' legs on 
 his back. Maida wanted to foUow Pepper, and rin 
 awa wi' him aboot thirty yards, when he coupit 
 him off, and he fell owr' the brae among the bushes 
 on the under side o' the walk ; and Sir Walter gie 
 a laugh ; and I cudna behave mysel' ava', for I was 
 nearly fawd doon wi' laughing too. Hey, mon, I 
 never was so takken by the face in aw my life; 
 and when the gentleman got up, his breeks were 
 riven at the knee ; and when he cam' out from 
 among the bushes, he lookit sae soor, that Sir 
 Walter turned round and flate on me for laughing ; 
 but if I was to dee for it, I cudna help it ; and Sir 
 Walter turned his back to the gentleman and 
 laughed himsel', joost as bad as me ; but the gentle- 
 
 ^ A mosshouse or rustic seat. 
 
220 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 man never laughed a bit. Aweel, we turned to 
 gang hame again, and a the way doon the walk 
 the gentleman he keepit looking at Maida, and 
 when he got to Abbotsford, he ordered his carriage 
 and gied awa'." 
 
 " Well, that was better sport than we are likely 
 to have to-day, Tom, for the cluds are beginning 
 to rise, and the wind is getting up ; more's the 
 pity, for it was the finest morning I ever saw, and 
 now we are late, and have lost twae hours. But 
 here comes the maister and the strange gentleman 
 with him, he that does not know a fish from a 
 cow, and who was broke by ane of thae whitlings." 
 
 The little party being now entirely assembled, 
 agreed that, as the day was beginning to alter, it was 
 a pity to disturb the water till they saw clearly how 
 it would turn out ; so the fishermen remained with 
 the boats and leisters at Craigover boat-hole ; and, 
 in the meantime, I, Harry Otter, thought I could 
 not do better than explain the operation of sunning 
 to my friend Mr. Tintern, as there was now some 
 chance of gaining his attention ; so we sat down, 
 and I commenced as follows : — 
 
 Sunning, as I have told you, is a mode of taking 
 salmon with a spear by sunlight ; and vast numbers 
 are captured in this manner, particularly in the 
 upper part of the Tweed, where fish are more easily 
 seen than in the lower, from the comparative 
 shallowness of the water in which they He.^ 
 
 This sport does not begin till the river is quite 
 low and clean, and useless for the fly. To succeed 
 
 ^ The use of the leister, whether by night or day, is now illegal. 
 —Ed. 
 
"SUNNING" THE WATER 221 
 
 perfectly requires a bright and calm day. You 
 cannot see a fish lying even at a very moderate 
 depth when the surface of the water is ruffled by 
 the wind. As soon as the river is thus fairly in 
 order, take the first good day that occurs ; you 
 may not have many more ; and if you have, you 
 will not mend the matter by waiting too long, as 
 after a continuance of hot weather a green vegetable 
 substance rises from the bottom, which lessens the 
 transparency of the water. 
 
 If you have a man sufficiently clever with the 
 leister, let him stand in the water at the head of 
 the stream whilst you are trying below, that he 
 may strike the fish which endeavour to pass out of 
 it into another cast. If you have no such man, 
 and there are very few who can see a fish pass up 
 a rapid gorge, you may hang a net in the stream ; 
 but you must not bar the river by stretching it 
 quite across, as that is illegal. If you sun a large 
 pool where there is deep water, and various runs 
 and eddies in it, it is advisable to place nets in such 
 situations as are most favourable for fish to strike 
 into when they are disturbed by the boats, and the 
 other means in use for frightening them. The 
 pass being thus in part secured and all prepared, 
 the next thing is to rout about, and endeavour to 
 frighten the fish by every means in your power, so 
 that they may hide themselves under the rocks and 
 stones, or even lie, as they sometimes do, half 
 stupified beside them, when you may strike them 
 with the leister. To effect this, it is usual to begin 
 by rowing your boat or boats over the pool with 
 some white object hanging in the water from the 
 
222 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 stern : the sculls of horses are in high repute for 
 this service ; and I dare say a stuffed otter would 
 be excellent, though I never tried it. 
 
 When you think you have created sufficient 
 terror by these means, you may look about for the 
 fish, and the sport begins. You may manage your 
 boat with the leister, as in burning by night, of 
 which hereafter : but you do not, as in that case, 
 necessarily work her broadside in front; and one 
 artist is sufficient for the amusement, though more 
 may partake of it. If the leisterer knows the water 
 well, he puts the boat gently over the rocks and 
 stones, where the fish endeavour to conceal them- 
 selves. Sometimes they get under a large stone 
 and are entirely hidden ; generally they are partially 
 concealed under smaller stones, part of the body 
 and tail only being seen ; so that it requires some 
 dexterity to strike them properly, or indeed at all. 
 Some will lie under the shelf of a rock quite open 
 to the view; in which case you must be careful, 
 when you strike, that a prong of the leister does 
 not rest upon the ledge of a rock above, instead of 
 on the salmon. Others I have seen lying fair and 
 open in the bare channel ; but these will not lie to 
 the leister so well as those in the situations I have 
 mentioned. If you do not strike a fish near the 
 centre of his body, you are never very sure of Ufting 
 him. The late StafFa, before he came to his title, 
 was once sunning the PaviUon-water with John 
 Lord Somerville, and perceiving that the fisherman 
 in their boat had struck a salmon that was likely to 
 get off the spear when he might attempt to lift 
 him, in the true spirit of a Highlander, and without 
 
DUBIOUS DODGES 223 
 
 saying a word to any one, plunged at once into 
 the Tweed with his clothes on, dived down to the 
 fish, and brought him into the boat with his hands. 
 " A Highlander can never pass a seal, a deer, or a 
 salmon, without having a trial of skill with him." 
 
 To take a fish whose tail alone is seen projecting 
 from the hiding place, provide yourself with a small 
 steel harpoon, the barbs of which shut into the 
 shaft when the point enters and makes the wound, 
 but which spread laterally when you pull it back ; 
 tie a line of small whip-cord to this weapon, and fix 
 the butt of the harpoon itself in the point of a rude 
 rod made for the purpose. You may then push it 
 into the tail of the fish, when the little spear will 
 come from the rod; and you may pull out your 
 salmon with the line attached to it. 
 
 There are some very large stones in the Tweed, 
 sometimes two or three lying together, under which 
 salmon can totally conceal themselves ; but you 
 will easily discover if there are any underneath 
 them by the air-bubbles which they cast up to the 
 surface of the water when you poke with your 
 leister shaft. My method of taking these fish was 
 to throw a casting net over the stone or stones that 
 concealed them, and then to poke them out with 
 the pole of the leister. The net should be strong, 
 or they will swim clean through it, as if it were a 
 cobweb ; in throwing the net, you must cast above 
 the hiding stone, allowing for the current, which 
 will take it down some httle distance before it sinks 
 to the bottom, according to the depth and strength 
 of the water. Of course this method may also 
 apply to fish partially concealed. 
 
224 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 In sunning, as in burning, begin at the lower 
 part of the river that belongs to you, so that you 
 may again come across those fish that escape 
 upwards, and may not go beyond your water ; and 
 you will have a more successful day of it, if you 
 wait till your neighbour below has sunned his 
 water. If the river continues low for some time, 
 disturbed fish will be continually coming forward, 
 and you may go over your water two or three times 
 at different periods, till you have caught nearly 
 every fish that takes up his seat in it. 
 
 If a salmon gets off your leister wounded, being 
 weak, you may be sure he will go down the river ; 
 and the eels will come out instantly, if it be hot 
 weather, and follow the blood : if the fish is badly 
 wounded, although not dead, the said eels will soon 
 settle the matter, and eat out his flesh, leaving the 
 skin alone for speculators to make mermaids with.^ 
 You will see the eels by dozens hanging thick on 
 him hke the sticks in a bundle of faggots ; but they 
 are too small to be taken with a salmon spear, and 
 do not resemble the fine silver eels in the Kennet 
 and some of our English streams, but are browner 
 in colour, and have large heads. The Scotch have 
 a strong antipathy to them, and never use them 
 for food. But they should be removed from the 
 river if possible, as they make great havoc in the 
 spawning beds. 
 
 This information having been briefly given, Mr. 
 
 1 Some people will remember an exhibition of this sort many years 
 ago in St. James's Street, in London. It was very ingeniously con- 
 structed, though far from alluring. It was placed under a glass_, and 
 created some sensation amongst the naturalists, as mermaids ought 
 to do. 
 
DUFFER'S LUCK g25 
 
 Tintern went up the river with his fishing rod, as 
 the sky was not yet clear enough for the main sport : 
 after having absented himself for a considerable 
 time, he returned to the party with a fish, which, 
 being too large for his basket, he held with his 
 handkerchief, a corner of which he had passed 
 through the gills. This fish he lifted up before 
 Tom Purdie, with an air of success that I never 
 saw him assume before, saying, " Now, Mr. Purdie, 
 I have conquered a sea trout at last, and here he is !'* 
 
 Tom was all aghast, for before the fish was laid 
 on the ground he thought he saw what he called 
 " a very nice new-swoomed gilse " ; but, upon a 
 closer inspection, his practised eye soon descried the 
 difference ; for it was a real river trout, of above 
 four pounds weight, and unusually bright in colour. 
 Tom turned him over and viewed the other side, 
 then turned him over again, and viewed both sides 
 with great seeming interest ; he then examined his 
 teeth and gills, and uttered a short groan ; pulling 
 out his snuff-box from his pocket, and having 
 solaced himself with a pinch, he took a still more 
 minute survey, looking alternately at the fish and 
 Mr. Tintern : at length, casting a reproachful glance 
 at the animal, he said pithily, " Od, and to be taen 
 by the Hke o' him ! " 
 
 The sky was now clear again, and the wind, 
 which had only been brought on by a few rising 
 clouds, had subsided. Mr. Tintern, however, being 
 too good-humoured to take Purdie's sarcasm to 
 heart, was so charmed with his success that he 
 would not join the leisterers, but preferred fishing 
 with the fly ; at the time he delicately hinted to 
 
 Q 
 
226 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 me, that he thought there was something a Httle 
 sanguinary in the use of such a weapon, though he 
 owned that the invariable custom of knocking the 
 fish on the head immediately they were lifted made 
 their sufferings very short, and certainly, he thought, 
 not exceeding those of sheep and other animals in 
 the way they are commonly killed for the table. 
 
 He then seceded, and I promised to join him at 
 Melrose. We went over the Webbs, and Craigover 
 boat-hole, setting nets and using various devices to 
 make tlie fish conceal themselves, in the way that 
 has been mentioned above. Upon the whole, we 
 were tolerably successful; but having already de- 
 scribed the process of sunning, and being of a com- 
 passionate disposition, I will trouble no one with 
 a relation of the particulars of our transactions, 
 especially as I mean to give a flaming description 
 of what is called " burning the water," towards the 
 end of these pages. 
 
 I went home from Mertoun by Melrose Abbey, 
 to take Mr. Tintern along with me, according to 
 agreement. As he was in the habit of fishing and 
 sketching alternately, I surmised he would establish 
 himself in the churchyard, and fall to work with 
 his crayons : nor was I deceived ; for when I came 
 to the wicket gate, I descried him very busy indeed ; 
 whilst a corpulent little gentleman in a snuff- 
 coloured coat, with a cane in his hand, was looking 
 over his shoulder. As I thought some amusing 
 contrast of character would take place, I listened to 
 what was going on ; in fact, the little man's gestures 
 were so grotesque that I was willing to enjoy them 
 as long as possible. He would stand still and look 
 
TINTERN AT WORK 227 
 
 over the artist's paper with a scrutinising expres- 
 sion ; then he would draw back a little, and stamp 
 his cane on the ground with all the force and 
 dignity of a baihe. In the meantime our friend 
 was so absorbed in his work that he seemed wholly 
 unconscious of this person's presence, till he was 
 aroused by the Httle man himself, who said, in a 
 loud tone, and with an air of consummate eon- 
 sequence, stamping a tombstone at the same time 
 with his staff of office, — 
 
 " Weel, friend, what may ye be doing here ? " 
 
 Tintern, looking back over his shoulder, said, in 
 his absent manner, — " I think he must have been 
 buried at the eastern end of the Abbey ; am I 
 right, my good sir ? " 
 
 "Ay, ay — I thought so, — I ken weel eneuch 
 what ye're after ; ye are ane o' thae chiels that 
 gang aboot to raise the dead bodies o' the departed 
 corpses ; — Od, that's a gude yane ! " 
 
 Tintern (still sketching, and speaking abstrac- 
 tedly), " I'd give something to see old Michael 
 Scott's tomb." 
 
 " Nae dout ye would ; but I'll tak' gude tent 
 to hae a sure hand or twae to watch yer howking 
 tricks the night." 
 
 So saying, "the little round fat oily man" 
 marched off with great dignity, muttering, " Od, 
 that's a gude yane ! disturbing the dead bodies o' 
 the corpses ! He shall gang afore the Sherra'." 
 
 It seems my unlucky friend was doomed to a 
 continued interruption of his studies ; for no sooner 
 had the man in office departed, than some old 
 women came and stood over him for a very con- 
 
228 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 siderable time, and occasionally interrupted his 
 view; one of them at length said pithily to her 
 companions, — " Hech, sirs, this is idle wark ! let's 
 awa to the praaties." 
 
 Such interruptions, though trivial in themselves, 
 are sometimes a little troublesome to a studious 
 man, and happy had it been for Mr. Tintern had he 
 met with no other ; but in a short time afterwards 
 the churchyard was full of all the idle boys in the 
 town, who fairly hooted him, and compelled him 
 to leave the place, which he did under the best 
 protection I was able to afford him. He called 
 them "naughty boys," and they shouted amain, 
 " Corpse lifter ! corpse lifter ! " having been previ- 
 ously so instructed, as may readily be guessed. 
 
 This disagreeable attack annoyed Mr. Tintern 
 so seriously, that he resolved to leave Melrose the 
 next day, which I was sincerely sorry for. I could 
 not, however, change his resolution, as he seemed 
 to think that he was a marked man, and that 
 he should enjoy tranquiUity no longer in that 
 country. 
 
 I got up early the following morning to bid him 
 farewell, and just in time to prevent his going into 
 the Glasgow coach instead of the London mail. 
 He seemed sorry to part with me ; and, as he was 
 getting into the carriage, he begged the mail- 
 coachman not to drive fast, or to whip his horses. 
 
 I felt a blank at his departure ; for he was a 
 most agreeable and clever gentleman, and not the 
 less entertaining for his eccentricities, which appeared 
 only from time to time, and interfered with no 
 one's humour. 
 
CROSS-LINING 229 
 
 In the Tweed, and indeed in some other rivers, 
 they have a method of fishing which is called 
 trolling in Scotland,^ but cross angling in England, 
 where it is practised with the natural May-fly for 
 catching trout. In trolling for salmon, two men 
 stand opposite to one another on either side of the 
 stream, each with a rod in hand ; their lines are 
 joined together, and from the bow which this 
 junction creates about half-a-dozen flies are sus- 
 pended vertically. Of course there can be no 
 casting of the line ; but the flies are hung in the 
 stream, and passed over it, the fishermen trailing 
 them, and acting in concert; thus, by means of 
 the number of flies, and the saving of time by not 
 having the line to throw, a great quantity of water 
 is gone over in a short space of time. But this 
 sweeping method has its drawbacks, and very serious 
 ones they are. Out of the number of fish that 
 offer, very few are taken ; many get only a touch 
 of the hook, and escape, and are thus entirely lost 
 to the proprietor of the part of the ri\'er where this 
 occurs ; for, generally speaking, fish so alarmed quit 
 the water the same night, and travel upwards. I 
 remember a singular instance of this occurred to 
 me in the Pavilion-water. 
 
 The river was very low and clear at the time ; 
 so much so, that it was in good order for sunning, 
 and therefore in no state for fish to travel in. I 
 chanced, however, to hook a salmon with a fly, 
 which, after being played a little, got off" the hook : 
 there was a cairn just above the spot where this 
 
 ^ The term is obsolete, and the practice (now known as cross-lining) 
 is illegal. — Ed. 
 
230 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 occurred, and I told my fisherman to set the net 
 belonging to it that night ; he did so with a very- 
 bad grace, assuring me that it was perfectly use- 
 less ; or, as he was pleased to express himself, "just 
 perfect nonsense." Nevertheless the fish, having 
 started from his stream, was caught in it that 
 night. 
 
 John Crerar mentioned to me another instance 
 where a salmon, having broken a fisherman's line, 
 went down the Tay for a mile, and then up the 
 Tummel three miles, and was there caught the day 
 following by the same fisherman, who thus regained 
 his fly with two or three fathoms of line attached 
 to it. 
 
 On the other hand, I know of three weU- 
 attested instances of salmon having been caught 
 almost immediately after they had broken the fisher- 
 man's line ; but I conclude these fish were touched 
 at first in a part that was scarcely sensitive. A 
 very curious circumstance of this sort occurred 
 in Islay, where a gentleman was broken by a 
 salmon, which he caught immediately afterwards ; 
 upon landing it, he found, to his amazement, that 
 he had not touched the fish itself the second time, 
 but that his hook was linked in the one left in his 
 mouth previously. This was a very deficate affair ; 
 for had not the pull upon the fish been moderate 
 and even, he must inevitably have escaped. As 
 for my own practice, I never recollect having risen 
 a fish a second time that had touched my hook 
 previously. 
 
 What I have said regarding the number of fish 
 lost or set down in trolling is so universally 
 
/ HARLING 231 
 
 acknowledged, that this style of angling is seldom 
 practised, except, indeed, in fishing for kelts in very 
 full waters, when no one can throw completely over 
 the casts without the use of a boat. In this state 
 of the river the flies are drawn down the stream ; 
 but when the water subsides, they are trailed up it. 
 It is practised also a day or two before close time, 
 when the loss of fish off the hook is immaterial, as 
 far as regards future sport. 
 
 In the Tay, and some other large rivers, there is 
 another method of fishing with a fly in full water, 
 which is called harling. Two rods are laid in the 
 bottom of a boat, and hang over the stern, with a 
 large fly attached to each line. The boatman then 
 rows against the stream to the right and left of the 
 river in a zigzag direction, but still letting the boat 
 fall gradually down the river, so that he passes over 
 no fish that have not previously seen the flies. The 
 rower judges his pace by the objects on the banks. 
 When fish rise they hook themselves. Those who 
 practise this method are generally fishermen who 
 have been working the previous night, and like it 
 because they have not the fatigue of holding or 
 throwing the rod. They fancy, also, that having 
 two flies, they have a double advantage ; but this 
 is a deception, because both flies follow each other 
 in the same direction. Without much fear of con- 
 tradiction, I pronounce this same harling to be a 
 most prodigiously stupid method of proceeding, and 
 little superior to setting night lines. I tried it 
 once in the Tay, but no more harhng for me. To 
 do the Tweed folk justice, I never saw it practised 
 there ; and I can only recommend it to those 
 
232 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 liberal persons who wish to drive the salmon from 
 their own waters to those of their neighbours 
 above. 
 
 What, alas ! becomes of the beautiful wielding 
 of the rod, thrown (albeit heavy, and difficult to 
 manage) with a grace and dexterity that indicates 
 no exertion, the fly not falling like a four-and- 
 twenty-pounder, but just kissing the surface of the 
 water, and moving to and fro in a manner so 
 seducing as to beguile the most wary salmon of 
 every atom of prudence ! 
 
 FISHING WITH BAIT, MINNOW, AND PARR's TAIL 
 
 When the water is too low for the fly, and quite 
 clear, then begins the bait or worm fishing in 
 Tweed. The tackle consists of a large hook at the 
 end of your Une, and a smaller one above it, placed 
 like the lip-hook in minnow tackle. These are 
 threaded with worms. The manner of putting 
 them on will be better learnt from the fisherman 
 on the river side, than it can be explained in writing. 
 When the water is in right order, that is, low and 
 clear, as I have said above, and the weather fresh, 
 a clever fisherman may glean the river of almost 
 ' all the fish that are left in the streams. Tolerably 
 large shot being fixed towards the end of the Une, 
 and the worms themselves being heavy, it requires 
 some dexterity to throw a good distance without 
 accidents. To obviate these, and to effect your 
 purpose, begin with a line of a moderate length, 
 and tuck out a few folds of the reel, holding them 
 fast with your hand when you bring your rod back, 
 
THE IGNOBLE WORM 9SS 
 
 but letting them go just as you have discharged 
 your throw. Thus the hne is short at first, but 
 the weight of the shot and worms carries out the 
 folds to the extent required. Having thus cast 
 beyond the run of the salmon, let the stream carry 
 round your bait easily, without any jerk on your 
 part whatever, or any further motion than humour- 
 ing it towards the shore. Contract the line as the 
 bait comes near you, by gathering it up in folds 
 with your left hand, and holding them fast against 
 the rod with the fingers of your right, letting them 
 go again at the proper time when you cast, in the 
 manner I have before described. Thus you may 
 throw a very long Une without endangering its 
 safety by coming in contact with the ground or 
 any objects in your rear. 
 
 You may fish to any depth you please merely 
 by elevating and lowering the point of your rod, 
 according to the run of the water. When the 
 weather and water are quite fit for the sport, the 
 fish seizes the bait briskly, and returns with it to 
 its seat or elsewhere : you must give him the line 
 by puUing from the reel with your left hand, and 
 letting it run smoothly between the fingers of your 
 right. A check at this time may lose him ; but let 
 him alone a few seconds, and he will have gorged 
 the hook ; then strike and kill him as soon as you 
 can : he is safe enough. Fresh open weather is the 
 best for this sport ; but fish will sometimes take 
 well even in a frost. 
 
 Many excellent and credible fishermen have 
 informed me that they have had good sport with 
 the worm in northern rivers, and in those of Ireland, 
 
234 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 when the water was thick. Their testimony I do 
 not doubt ; I only say fish are not caught with the 
 worm, or bait, as it is called, when the water is in 
 a foul state in Tweed. I remember a gentleman 
 applying to me for leave to take a day's salmon 
 fishing, which I granted. There had been rain 
 the day before, and a spate came down in the 
 morning. I thought this unlucky ; but he was of 
 the contrary opinion, and rejoiced in the change ; 
 " For," said he, " if I sit on the point of a cairn, I 
 shall catch every travelling fish that passes with a 
 worm, as I have often done in Ireland." This was 
 a new light to Charles Purdie and myself Worms 
 were given him in abundance ; an excellent cairn 
 selected for the sport; and there my gentleman 
 sat the livelong day without having an ofier. Old 
 Richard Wilson could have introduced him into the 
 landscape with effect, for he was picturesque and 
 well placed ; but as a fisherman, says Charlie, " he 
 is useless a'thegither." However, the cairn is a laud- 
 able monument of his patience and perseverance. 
 
 FISHING WITH MINNOW AND PARR's TAIL 
 
 Salmon do not take the minnow or the parr s 
 tail so well in the Tweed as they do in the Tay, 
 nor so well in the upper parts of Tweed as they do 
 in the lower. The minnow, in low water, is prefer- 
 able to the parr's tail ; and it should be worked in 
 the same manner as in trout fishing, only not quite 
 with so quick a motion. It is not necessary to use 
 more than two hooks ; namely, the large hook that 
 passes through the minnow, and the lip hook. 
 
MINNOW FISHING 235 
 
 Shot should be put on the casting line about a foot 
 and a half from the bait — fewer or more according 
 to the strength of the stream. 
 
 What is called the parr's tail is a pretty liberal 
 allowance of the said little fish, consisting of a 
 diagonal cut from the shoulder to the anal fin ; so 
 that in fact you have all the firm part of the fish, 
 discarding the head and the stomach. In full 
 water I think this bait is preferable to the minnow ; 
 and it has the advantage of a much firmer hold of the 
 hook, not breaking like the soft parts of the minnow. 
 
 Clean salmon will take this bait whenever the 
 river is in order for the fly, or perhaps a little before 
 it is so, even when the water is slightly discoloured, 
 or, as the fishermen call it, drumly. But foul fish, 
 including kelts, never take it well in the upper 
 parts of the Tweed, unless the water is clear, 
 though they will take it in a drumly water in the 
 Tay ; nor can any sport be expected with it in very 
 warm weather. 
 
 The best state of the water, and the most con- 
 venient time, is between the fly and bait fishing ; 
 that is, when it is rather too low for the one, but 
 not low enough for the other. The best weather 
 is a fresh day, with wind to act upon the surface of 
 the deep pools. In summer the proper hour is 
 early in the morning. After a night's burning, 
 salmon take the minnow, small parr, or parr's tail, 
 particularly well in the streams. 
 
 The best way of casting the minnow is precisely 
 that which I have indicated in my instructions for 
 fishing with the worm. 
 
 As in a deer forest, however extensive, every 
 
236 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 burn, rock, glen, moss, and mountain has its dis- 
 tinct appellation, so that you can describe with the 
 greatest accuracy where a hart has been slain, or 
 any signal event has happened ; so in a salmon river, 
 every stream and pool in which these delectable 
 fish He is called by a name that either distinguishes 
 its character, or relates to some event or circum- 
 stance which tradition has not always preserved. 
 Some casts are called after the names of persons 
 who were drowned in them : there is one such, 
 yclept Meg's Hole, some little distance above the 
 Melrose bridge. I wonder who Meg was ; but 
 Charles Purdie, who is coming up the river, is right 
 sure to tell me some nonsense or another anent it, 
 so 1 will sound him. 
 
 " WeU, Charlie, I see you have been putting all 
 the boats in place, so sit down upon the bank here 
 and rest yourself : pulling a boat up a strong stream 
 is hard work, and pulling several over is harder. 
 Now, tell me why the pool I fished the other day 
 is called Meg's Hole ; but stick to truth, mind, and 
 do not let me hear any of your foolish tales." 
 
 " Aweel, then, I'll tell ye the hale truth. Ye'U 
 hae heard o' Thomas the Rymer, him that in days 
 long gaen by lived at Erlston,^ and was taen awa' by 
 the fairies, and is wi' them at this day ; we hae Sir 
 Walter's word for it. Black Meg of Darnwick lived 
 wi' this Thomas, who, ye ken, was an enchanter ; 
 and Meg learned some awfu' words of him, and 
 also power as a witch. Ae time she was seen 
 sitting upon ane of the towers, aboon the Elfin 
 glen, in the shape of a raven ; at anither, she came 
 
 1 Formerly Ercildonn. 
 
BLACK MEG OF DARNWICK 237 
 
 doon to the Tweed at the gloamin' in the hkeness 
 of a lang-craiged heron, flapping her muckle wings, 
 and uttering dreidfu' shrieks ; and again she was a 
 cormorant, perched upon a blastit tree on the moor. 
 I have seen her mysel' mair than ance." 
 
 "Seen her, man! why you said she Hved with 
 Thomas the Rymer ; and it is some centuries since 
 he was taken away by the fairies." 
 
 "Aweel, aweel, that may be; but as sure as 
 deid I aince saw her in her ain proper shape ; and 
 she had a long neb, and a muckle mouth, and a red 
 petticoat on, and she held a leister under her oxter, 
 as if she war gaen to the burning ; and wha kens 
 but she may Uve till this day ? for her deid body 
 was never found, nor the corpse-light ^ seen. There 
 are three towers on the muir a long way aboon the 
 Elfin glen ; ye'U hae seen them yoursel' ; and Meg 
 used to Uve in ane of these towers by turns : no 
 one kent in which she was,* and nobody cared to 
 speer. At nightfall she would come doon the 
 glen to seek thae grey stanes ^ that the fairies cast 
 their cantrips with, and muckle scaith she wrought, 
 rotting the sheep of ae body, and takkin' the milk 
 from the kye of anither ; so the lads waylaid her 
 wi' flails, and pitchforks, and sic-like gear. They 
 
 ^ When a dead body was lost, it was supposed that a light appeared 
 over it at night, to indicate its position. 
 
 2 These fairy stones, as they are called, are to be found in the Elfin 
 glen, where the Maid of Avenel is said to have appeared. This 
 romantic spot belongs to Lord Somerville, and is in the ornamental 
 grounds belonging to his house called the Pavilion. The stones are of 
 a grey colour, and of various curious shapes, sometimes closely re- 
 sembling articles in common use, such as tea-cups, saucers, &c. ; 
 they are supposed to contain some charm, and are constantly sought 
 for to this day by all sorts of people. 
 
238 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 chased her a' the night in the glen, up and doon 
 the braes and thickets, and through the water ; but 
 they could never grip her, and they came back at 
 skreigh o' day wi' torn plaids and broken shins, all 
 covered wi' mire ; and some o' them had a sair 
 sickness afterwards, and repentit that they ever 
 meddled wi' her." 
 
 " Oh, of course ; but what became of her at last, 
 Charlie?" 
 
 " Why, then, when she persistit in her foul ways, 
 some o' thae freebooters, who feared neither witch, 
 warlock, nor deil, made a raid into her country, and 
 pit a fire round each of the towers,^ and made the 
 ane she was in too het to baud her, and out she ran 
 wi' awfu yells, skelping owre the moor, and so 
 doon to the Elfin glen, where ane o' these same 
 reivers, who had a flaming firebrand in his bond, 
 wounded her ahint wi' it ; and the deidly night- 
 shade still grows in the place where her blood was 
 spilt. Then they drave her through the glen, and 
 so doon the brae above a deep pool in Tweed, and 
 pushed her in wi' a pole and a firebrand : so she cam' 
 to her end by wood, fire, and water. 
 
 "The pool was draggit in the mornin', but her 
 body was never found ; and many people watched 
 all night for a lang time, and the corpse-light never 
 appeared ; nor was her wraith ever seen, except by 
 mysel' and my feyther at Trequair, and Walter of 
 Darn wick, who saw it howking a grave wi' many 
 ither wicked spirits round it on the tap of Eildon 
 Hills. 
 
 "So the pool goes by the name of ' Meg's Hole ' 
 
 ^ The three towers are still standing in the place indicated. 
 
THE LEISTER 239 
 
 to this day; and when ye howkit the muckle 
 sawmont that ran ye doon to the Cauld pool, ye 
 ken that her spirit tried to drive him through the 
 farther arch of Melrose Bridge, but ye were owre 
 canny for it." 
 
 The earliest method of taking fish, previous to 
 the invention of either hooks or nets, was that used 
 by the Egyptians, by means of a spear resembUng a 
 
 trident. A sculptured stone, excavated at Chester 
 in 1738, and engraved in Lyson's history of the 
 county as a Roman remain, represents a fisherman 
 with his spear and basket. 
 
 I will now describe the salmon spear at present in 
 use. It was formerly called waster ; but that term 
 is nearly out of use, except by the old fishermen, 
 and it is now better known by the name of leister » 
 
240 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 It resembles a trident in its general appearance ; 
 but has five prongs, instead of three, made of very 
 stout iron : there is only one barb to each prong, as 
 two would tear the fish too much in extricating 
 them. This weapon is fastened to the end of a pole 
 more or less long, according to the depth of the 
 water in which it is intended to be used ; sixteen 
 feet is the general length, and it is not easy to see 
 or strike a fish at a greater depth ; but in sunning 
 I have sometimes tied a hght rope to the top of the 
 pole, and gone deeper than this with success, but 
 then it was when the river was unusually clear. 
 The preceding woodcut represents the cleik and the 
 leister : the latter is rather narrower, and altogether 
 of a neater make than those in general use. 
 
 In burning, the boat is managed with this leister ; 
 but no one can make use of it in this way who 
 has not learnt to work it with a pole, — which art 
 is termed canting, and is, I beheve, little under- 
 stood except in the Tweed : in the Tay and the 
 Annan they know nothing of the matter. Now 
 the pole is not used as in punting ; but the man 
 who manages the boat, instead of shifting his place, 
 stands up or sits down at the stern ; he keeps his 
 eye upon her head, and forces her straight up the 
 rapids, pressing the pole in the direction in which 
 he would steer with a rudder. This is in a great 
 measure effected with a twist of the body. If he 
 does not keep her straight in her course, the current 
 takes her at the side, whips her round in an instant, 
 and down she goes, the deuce knows where, head 
 foremost; nor can you resume your position till 
 you again bring her head up the stream. 
 
WORKING THE BOAT 241 
 
 In forcing your boat up very strong water, at 
 every fresh thrust you must catch up the pole and 
 put it in again very quickly ; for when you are not 
 pushing the boat will recede if the rapids are heavy, 
 and thus you may lose way. This, I think, can be 
 done better by sitting than standing, as you are 
 nearer your work. In this manner you may thrust 
 your Uttle craft where no oars could take hold of 
 the water. 
 
 To perform this requires vast practice, and 
 accordingly it was a considerable time before I 
 mastered it completely, although I had been accus- 
 tomed to punting on the Isis in my younger days. 
 The rapids had it all their own way for months, or 
 more. As you use the canting pole, which is shod 
 with a heavy iron spike, so you must use the leister ; 
 only with more caution, lest you should injure the 
 prongs. 
 
 As a proof of the difficulty of this operation, I 
 will mention that I once put the canting pole into 
 the hands of an EngUsh gentleman, who was a 
 good rower, and, as he asserted, a good punter 
 also. We were sunning a strong stream called the 
 Carrywheel, and I had placed Charles Purdie at 
 its gorge, to leister such fish as might attempt to 
 pass up it from the fright given by the disturbance 
 below. In a few seconds the head of the boat, not 
 being held straight up the stream, went round Hkfe 
 a shot, and so down the river. My friend was 
 perfectly confused, and did not know what on 
 earth should be done ; so, as we were losing way 
 rapidly, I took the pole and brought her head up 
 again. Still he would not give in, and was deter- 
 
 R 
 
242 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 mined to have another trial. Well, he pushed 
 here, and he pushed there, and with these strenuous 
 efforts succeeded in describing pretty accurately in 
 his course what in Gothic architecture is called the 
 zigzag moulding, losing way, however, at every angle. 
 
 Not having taken any notice of the objects on 
 the banks, he did not precisely know whereabouts 
 he was ; but his exertions, simply as exertions, were 
 highly laudable. When he had permitted the boat 
 to fall down into easy water, he had some little 
 command over her, and of this he was right proud. 
 As time was precious, I resumed the command, and 
 put the boat up again with my leister. When we 
 came up to the fisherman, my novice said, with con- 
 siderable exultation, "Charlie, did you see me cant?" 
 
 " Hout tout, mon, you canna cant ava ; she was 
 aye ganging doon," was the uncourteous response. 
 
 Having described our method of managing the 
 boat, 1 will endeavour to explain the manner in 
 which we strike the salmon. The leister should 
 not be held firm in the grasp, but sent loosely 
 through the hands, as its own weight in falling 
 will be more effective than any force you can give 
 it with a thrust.^ You may think otherwise, per- 
 haps. Well, then, take your own way ; hold the 
 weapon firmly and determinedly ; you are going to 
 
 ^ The Droit lately contained the following : — ^'^ At the moment that 
 an omnibus was passing on Friday through the Rue Montmartre^ 
 under a house. No. 63, that was undergoing repairs, a pole more 
 than thirty feet in length slipped from the scaiFolding at the 
 fourth storey, and fell perpendicularly on the omnibus, passed right 
 through the body, and entered so deeply between the stones of the 
 pavement that the horses were stopped on the moment, the vehicle 
 being literally nailed to the ground ; by a providential chance none of 
 the passengers were injured ! ! !" 
 
LEISTERING 243 
 
 do great things, you fancy. But what happens ? 
 The water proves deeper than you had calculated 
 upon, and, not touching the bottom with your 
 spear as a support, in you go, your head taking the 
 lead, and the rest of your members following the 
 playful example. 
 
 Strike your fish over the shoulders if you can, 
 and bring your boat in such a position as to make 
 the stroke as vertical as possible. When you have 
 fixed him, hold him to the ground a space ; then 
 run your hands down the pole, making the distance 
 between them and the fish as short as you con- 
 veniently can ; lift the animal with his head upper- 
 most, by which means he wiU come out fighter, 
 and such action as he may make with his tail will 
 assist you rather than himself. 
 
 If you do not bear in mind this instruction, and 
 choose to have a go at a salmon at a fittle distance 
 from you, as having a way of your own, I will tell 
 you what will probably happen from this freak 
 also. The stroke will drive back the boat, and 
 you and the fish will part company. You may 
 have struck him, perhaps, — not impossible that ; 
 but your intended victim twists off in a moment, 
 and says as plainly as a salmon can speak, levro 
 Vincommodo, 
 
 I should observe that in burning the water by 
 night there is no time to fix every fish to the 
 ground, and that they are then most usually hfted 
 quickly ; indeed, as the boat falls gradually down 
 the stream, it generally comes over them con- 
 veniently enough. 
 
 To these various methods of taking fish I must 
 
244 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 add the destruction by means of rake-hooks. The 
 tackle is very simple : it consists of two strong 
 hooks, about two or three inches long, tied back to 
 back, and fastened to twisted gut, on which are 
 put five or six large shot, at equal distances from 
 each other. The fisherman, with a strong rod, 
 throws the line, with these bare hooks attached to 
 it, about a foot beyond any salmon that he may 
 discover lying, and then with a sudden jerk draws 
 the hook into him if he can, and gets him to the 
 land if he is able.^ 
 
 Clean fish are sometimes taken in this manner, 
 and most fishermen are provided with the tackle. 
 In a very low water in the summer, when fly-fishing 
 might have been said to be over, I once hooked a 
 good salmon in the Quarry stream above Melrose 
 Bridge. As a fish was at that time a great rarity, 
 I was particularly cautious in leading him ; never- 
 theless, with all my care, the hook, not having a 
 firm hold, came away from him after I had played 
 him a considerable time. 
 
 Purdie saw him lying in rather an exhausted 
 state in the same stream, which was shallow, and, 
 without saying anything to me, to my great 
 surprise, seized hold of my casting line and broke 
 off the lower end of it ; opened my book ; took a 
 pair of rake -hooks from it; tied them on to the 
 line, and, at the second throw, tucked them into 
 the salmon ; put the rod into my hands, and I 
 killed the fish after all. 
 
 1 This is another of these nefarious devices for persecuting salmon, 
 happily now illegal, but described by Scrope with perfect complacency. 
 —Ed. 
 
LIBERAL MAXIMS 245 
 
 All this to the Southern ear sounds like 
 poaching of the most flagitious description ; but 
 a salmon is a fish of passage, and if you do not 
 get him to-day he will be gone to-morrow. The 
 Tweed used to let for above 12,000/. a year ; 
 judge, then, in what a wholesale manner these 
 fish are caught by long nets and other sweeping 
 modes ; yet in what profusion they continue to be 
 found! You may just as well think of preserving 
 herrings or mackerel as these dehcious creatures ; 
 and there would be no objection to your taking 
 3378 salmon at one haul, if fortune would so 
 favour you, as Commander Ross did at Boothia 
 Felix on the 26th of July 1831. 
 
 - Keep close time strictly ; kill no spawning fish ; 
 tamper not with foul ones of any sort ; preserve 
 the fry ; send the black fishers to Iceland ; but 
 catch as many salmon as you can, recte si possis 
 (meaning with a rod), si non, quocunque modo — 
 that is, with a net or leister, and so forth. 
 
CHAPTER XI 
 
 " 'Tis night, dread night, and weary Nature Hes 
 So fast as if she never were to rise ; 
 Lean wolves forget to howl at night's pale noon ; 
 No wakeful dogs bark at the silent moon, 
 Nor bay the ghosts which glide in horror by 
 To view the caverns where their bodies lie ; 
 The ravens perch, and no presages give, 
 Nor to the windows of the dying cleave ; 
 In vaults the walking fires extinguished lie ; 
 The stars, heaven's sentry, wink and seem to die." 
 
 Lee. 
 
 Before I describe what is called "burning the 
 water," I will make an observation that may be of 
 service to the rod fisher. It is, that salmon which 
 have been disturbed in the night with boats and 
 lights will draw into the streams above, and take 
 the fly all the better for this disturbance the follow- 
 ing morning; and as burning always takes place 
 when the water is very low, they probably will 
 not be found far from the place of the nocturnal 
 operations. 
 
 Trout also will take better for having been 
 routed about, and for change of situation ; a re- 
 markable instance of which I witnessed a few years 
 ago at Castle Combe. A hole under some hatches 
 
BURNING THE WATER 247 
 
 by a mill was emptied of its water, that the trout 
 might be caught and taken lower down the stream, 
 more out of the way of poachers. This was done 
 by means of buckets, and in doing it the water 
 became thick and white, and the fish partook of 
 the same colour. I sent thirty-five brace of these 
 fish, all similar in size, a considerable distance lower 
 down the stream, when they were put under a 
 bridge near my house. Many of them died. But 
 in three hours after the removal I caught eight of 
 the others with a fly without moving from the spot : 
 neither the size nor the colour of the fish could 
 possibly be mistaken. 
 
 THE BURNING 
 
 "Charlie, Charlie," cried Thomas Jamieson, 
 " there's fine sport going on the night ; our maister s 
 minded to burn the water, for she is low enough, 
 ye ken ; so ane o' us will hae to gang and split the 
 twa auld tar barrels for lights, an' the ither mun 
 shdder up to Abbotsford and tell your uncle Tam 
 what's ganging forrat, and say that he has to meet 
 us at the Carrywheel at aight o'clock preceesely. 
 Charlie, ye'd best do the lights yoursel', and I'll 
 hae to win to Darnick, and get the wasters aw new 
 sharpened. Sandy and Rob will come nae doot, 
 and we should hae auld Wat too ; but if he has 
 been fou yestreen, he'll no be worth a bawbee." 
 
 "Ye needna fash yoursel' aboot the like o' 
 him, for he had a wee drap. I saw him the morn 
 riddhng a cart fu' o' sand lyin' again the house end, 
 which he said he was making ready for biggin' ; 
 
248 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 and as I was coming awa' auld Janet gie me a wag 
 wi' her finger, and I jist steppit in. 'What do 
 ye think ? ' says she ; ' the auld vagabun' was fou 
 yestreen, and he gaed out as he thought unseen 
 by ony ; a' watched him, and he hid his siUer amang 
 the sand, for he aye thinks I grap his pouches for 
 it. After he was awa' I sHddered out, and fun' his 
 purse ; there war seeven shillings and a groat in it ; 
 so I gaed to auld Mary Butler's, and bought yet- 
 meal for the bairns' parritch wi' it, and ye see the 
 auld cufFer is riddHng the sand, thinking to find his 
 purse. He'll no be worth a rigmaree the night for 
 fishing.'" 
 
 " Aweel, Charhe, Janet says true ; but wha mun 
 we hae to lead hame the fish ? Tam Hardy or Rob 
 Colyard would mak' good fun. Tam, he'll tell us 
 that lang story aboot the scramidge, and the muckle 
 fish he killed in Leader-water, that misured nine 
 inches atween the een ; and if we hae Rob, he'll get 
 a stick and be gaun through his braidsword exercise, 
 and tell us how he did wi' the twa Frenchmen on 
 the field of Waterloo ; so Rob may meet us wi' his 
 cart to tak' hame the fish, when we come to Brig- 
 end pool. We mun now tak' up the twa boats to 
 the Carrywheel, where they will bide our coming 
 at night ; — and look here, mon : when we are in a 
 sweet wi' pooing them up, we will tak' a wee drap 
 out o' this black bottle." 
 
 The boat in general use for burning at night is 
 larger than the rod-fishing boats, as more room and 
 steadiness is required. In the centre of it, close to 
 the side on which the leisterers strike the fish, is a 
 pole fixed vertically, with a frame at top of it formed 
 
A NIGHT SCENE 249 
 
 of ribs of iron to contain the combustibles. Three 
 men are sufficient to man the boat ; one at the 
 head, another at the stern, as boatmen and leisterers, 
 and the third at the centre to kill the fish and trim 
 the fire. But it will contain more men, if necessary. 
 
 The remainder of the day having been spent in 
 making the arrangements, and the proper hour 
 being now come, Harry Otter and Charlie Purdie 
 went out from the Pavilion to meet the party, who 
 were to assemble at eight o'clock about a mile and 
 a half up the river. The night was most favour- 
 able, it being utterly dark, and not a sough of air 
 stirring. With caution and with difficulty they 
 felt their way step by step at the rocky base of the 
 Scaur, where it dips into the river, till they descried 
 the boat which was to take them across it at the 
 Brig-end pool. The clanking of the chain as it 
 was loosened and flung on the planks sounded 
 harshly in the silence of night; the oars dipped 
 duly, and they were soon on the opposite side of 
 the river, by which means they cut off a great sweep 
 of the haugh, "a huge half moon, a monstrous 
 cantle out," and proceeded in a more direct line to 
 their mark. They went on in darkness through the 
 chilling dews, now and then stumbUng into the 
 patches of furze which were scattered over the 
 haugh ; soon they begin to hear the rushing of the 
 waters through the gorge of the Carrywheel : now 
 it breaks full and loud upon the ear, for they are 
 arrived at the base of the wooded brae that over- 
 hangs the cast. 
 
 Two groups of men, but dimly seen, here await 
 their arrival ; one consists of spectators lying on the 
 
250 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 ground with their plaids thrown athwart their 
 bodies, and the other of the heroes who were to 
 figure in the grand operation : these latter were 
 sitting on the boats, and on the masses of rock 
 beside them on the water edge. 
 
 All being now ready, a light was struck ; and 
 the spark being applied to rags steeped in pitch, 
 and to fragments of tar-barrels, they blazed up at 
 once amid the gloom, like the sudden flash from 
 the crater of a volcano. The ruddy light glared on 
 the rough features and dark dresses of the leisterers 
 in cutting flames directly met by black shadows, — 
 an effect which those will best understand who in 
 the Eternal City have seen the statues in the 
 Vatican by torch -light. Extending itself, it 
 reddened the shelving rocks above, and glanced 
 upon the blasted arms of the trees, slowly perishing 
 in their struggle for existence amongst the stony 
 crevices ; it glowed upon the hanging wood, on fir, 
 birch, broom, and bracken, half veiled, or half 
 revealed, as they were more or less prominent. 
 The form of things remote from the concentrated 
 light was dark and dubious ; even the trees on the 
 summit of the brae sank in obscurity. 
 
 The principals now sprang into the boats. 
 Harry Otter stood at the head, and Charlie 
 Purdie at the stern. These men regulated the 
 course of the craft with their leisters ; the auxilia- 
 ries were stationed between them, and the light 
 was in the centre by the boat side. The logs, 
 steeped as they were in pitch, crackled and burned 
 fiercely, sending up a column of black smoke. As 
 the rude forms of the men rose up in their dark attire. 
 
BORDER RAIDERS 251 
 
 wielding their long leisters, with the streaks of light 
 that glared partially upon them, and surrounded 
 as they were by the shades of night, you might 
 almost have fancied yourself in the realms below, 
 with Pluto and his grim associates, embarked on 
 the Stygian lake. But as the sports began, and as 
 the Scotch accent prevailed, the illusion passed 
 away ; for no poet, that I am aware of, has made 
 the above swarthy and mysterious personages 
 express themselves in the language of Tweedside ; 
 nor could one fancy salmon in the Styx, though 
 they might well disport in the streams of the 
 happy fields beyond. 
 
 "Now, my lads," says the master, "take your 
 places. Tom, stand you next to me ; Sandy, go 
 on the other side of Tom ; and do you, Jamie, 
 keep in the middle, and take tent to cap the boats 
 well over the rapids. Rob, do you and Tom 
 Purdie keep good lights and fell the fish. Halloo, 
 Tom, you have smuggled a leister into the boat 
 for your own use." 
 
 " Ay, ay, that have I, joust for mine ain dever- 
 sion, ye ken." 
 
 "Well, well, you may just keep it, for you are 
 a stout chiel, and it would be hard work to get it 
 from you ; besides, no one can use it more dexter- 
 ously than yourself. Now, then, we will push the 
 boat up the cheek of the stream till we come to 
 the head of it. That will do. Now shoot her 
 across the gorge, and down she goes merrily, broad- 
 side foremost, according to rule. Cap, Charlie, 
 cap, man ! we are drifting down like mad ; keep 
 back your end of the boat." 
 
252 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 " Aweel, aweel, she gangs cannily now ; look, 
 uncle, a muckle fish before ye ; or ever ye kent, the 
 maister's leister gaed through him, and played auld 
 dife. That side, that side, Jamie ; — he's rinnin up 
 to get past. Od, ye have him ; and I hae anither, 
 and anither. Keep a gude light, Tom. Now let 
 us tak' up the boat to the head of the stream, or 
 ever we look the stanes, for there war a muckle fish 
 gaed by that none o' ye gomrells ever saw. There, 
 we are high eneuch now ; baud yer hand, and let 
 her faw doon again : hey, but I see him the noo 
 afore me ; — ou, what an awfu' beast ! " 
 
 So saying, Charlie drove his leister furiously at 
 him ; but whether one of the prongs struck against 
 the edge of the rock above him, which prevented 
 its descent to the bottom, or from whatever other 
 cause, the stroke was unsuccessful, and as he lifted 
 the barren weapon out of the water, there arose a 
 merry shout and guffaw from the spectators on the 
 shore. 
 
 " Cap ! cap ! " cried Charlie, " now baud yer 
 hand ; gie me up the boat ; — od, but I'll hae him 
 yet ; he's gone amangst thae hiding stanes." 
 
 So saying, Charhe brought the head of the boat 
 to the stream, pushed her higher up, and pulled 
 her ashore ; he then landed, and seizing a brand out 
 of the fire, put it into Jamieson's hand, who pre- 
 ceded his eager steps like a male Thais, or one of 
 the Eumenides in pantaloons. He now stood upon 
 a rock which hung over the river, and from that 
 eminence, and with the assistance of the firebrand, 
 examined the bottom of it carefully. His body 
 was bent over the water, and his ready leister held 
 
WARM WORK 253 
 
 almost vertically; as the light glared on his face 
 you might see the keen gUstening of his eye. In 
 an instant he raised up his leister, and down he 
 sprang from the rock right into the river, and with 
 that wild bound nailed the salmon to the channel. 
 There was a struggle with his arms for a few 
 seconds ; he then passed his hands down the pole of 
 the weapon a little way, brought himself vertically 
 over the fish, and lifted him aloft cheered by shouts 
 of applause from his friends on the shore. 
 
 Two or three more fish were taken amongst the 
 stones at the tail of the cast, and the sport in the 
 Carrywheel being now ended, the fish were stowed 
 in the hold of the boat, the crew jumped ashore, 
 and a right hearty appeal was made to the whisky 
 bottle. It was first tendered to the veteran Tom 
 Purdie, to whom it was always observed to have a 
 natural gravitation, but to the astonishment of all, 
 he barely put his lips to the quaigh, and passed it 
 to his nephew. 
 
 " Why, uncle, mon, what the deil's come owre 
 ye ? I never kent ye refuse a drappie afore, no not 
 sin I war a caUant ; I canna thole to see ye gang 
 that gait." 
 
 " Why, I'll tell ye what it is, Charlie. I got a 
 repreef from Sir Walter for being fou the ither 
 nicht." 
 
 " Eh, uncle, how was that ? " 
 
 " ' Why,' says Sir Walter, ' Tom,' says he, ' I sent 
 for ye on INIonday, and ye were not at hame at 
 aight o'clock ; I doubt ye were fou, Tom : ' * I'll 
 joust tell ye the hale truth,' says I ; ' I gaed round 
 by the men at wark at Rymer's Glen, and cam' in 
 
254 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 by Tarfield ; then I went to Darnick, and had a 
 glass o' whisky wi' Sandy Trummel at Susy's, and 
 I war joust coming awa when Rob steppit in, and 
 cried for half a mutchkin. I wasna for takkin' mair, 
 but the glasses were filled, and I did not hke to be 
 beat wi' them, so I tuk mine.' 'And is that all 
 you had, Tom?' said Sir Walter. 'Aye, indeed 
 was it,' said I ; ' but. Heaven have a care o' me, I 
 never was the war of it, till I was ganging up by 
 Jemmy Mercer's by Coat's Green ; and when I cam 
 up by Kerr side I wanted to see Maister Laidlaw, 
 but I thocht I durstna gang in ; and how I got 
 hame I dinna ken, for I never mindet it na mair ; 
 but our wife war in a terrible bad key the morning, 
 because I war sair wanted last nicht. 
 
 " ' Well,' said the maister, ' ye mun never do the 
 Hke again, Tom.' We then ganged to the woods, 
 and thinned the trees ; and I laboured with the axe 
 at thae that Sir Walter marked. 
 
 " ' Now Tom,' says he, ' you will go home with 
 me, for you have been working very hard, and a 
 glass of whisky will do you good ; ' and he cawed 
 to Nicholson to bring Tom a glass o' Glenhvet. I 
 tuk it doon ; and, mon, if ye'd found it — it beat a' 
 the whisky I ever tasted in my life. ' Well, Tom,' 
 said Sir Walter, ' how do ye feel after it ? Do ye 
 think another glass will do ye ony harm ? ' I said 
 naething, but I thocht I wad like anither, and 
 Nicholson poured out ain, and I tuk it. Then the 
 maister said, *Tom, do ye feel onything the war 
 o' it ? ' ' Na, na,' said I, ' but it's terrible powerfu', 
 and three times as Strang as ony whisky I ever 
 drank in my Hfe.' ' Then, Tom,' says Sir Walter, 
 
THE BARLEY BREE 255 
 
 ' never tell me that three glasses o' Susy's whisky 
 will fill ye fou, when ye have drank twa o' mine, 
 which you say is three times as strong, and you 
 feel all the better for it.' Hey, mon, I never was 
 so ta'en by the face in a' my life ! I didna ken 
 where to luk. The deil faw me if ever he cotch 
 me so again ! " 
 
 Tom Purdie's forbearance, however, was not of 
 an enduring quality ; his eyes glistened as he 
 followed the course of the bottle ; three times was 
 his arm extended to make a grap at it, and thrice 
 did he draw it back with modest confusion. At 
 length when all were served he could hold out no 
 longer, but elongating his dexter, he laid fast hold 
 of the bottle, and filling the quaigh to the brim, 
 "Here goes," said he, "to the lousy stranger." 
 After he had drunk, and mended his draught, he 
 kept the bottle in his own custody with a pretty 
 smart allowance in it, in the character of residuary 
 legatee. I had an account, however, to settle with 
 him ; for being the only stranger in company, I 
 fancied his toast meant a reflection upon my 
 cleanhness. What did he mean by the dirty and 
 degrading epithet ? This I demanded, advancing 
 with a warhke countenance, and leister in the rest ; 
 and had not Tom been in a very benign humour, 
 this book might never have been inflicted on the 
 public, for the man was well armed and resolute, 
 and might have leistered me according to art. But 
 putting on his sweetest smile, he assured me that 
 by the " lousy stranger " he meant a newly-run fish 
 with tide lice on it, " which," said he, " are far the 
 best, ye ken." This I well knew, though the 
 
256 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 application did not occur to me at the moment. 
 And here, by the way I beg to observe, however 
 odd it may seem, that you may know the best clean 
 fish, by their having tide Hce upon them. 
 
 "AU hands to the boat again. Come, Rob, 
 give us a merry blaze ; never spare the tar barrel : 
 well done, Vulcan ! Now we have a splendid light 
 on the water, and can see well enough to read small 
 print at the bottom of it." 
 
 " Sandy Trummel, ye great bear, what gars ye 
 stamp and scream at that rate ? " 
 
 Sandy in fact not only stamped and screamed, 
 but swore that he was dreadfully brunt with the 
 pieces of charcoal and drops of flaming pitch which 
 insinuated themselves between his shirt and cape of 
 his jacket behind ; whereat Tom Purdie, who was 
 a considerate and humane man, took up the scoop 
 which was used for ladling out the boat, and filling 
 that capacious utensil with water to the extent 
 of its capacity, came behind the aggrieved, and 
 emptied the whole contents down his back. " And 
 now Sandy, mon," says he, "I hae made ye quite 
 comfortable, and ye owe me a gude turn." But, 
 who would have thought it ? The blood of the 
 Trummels was up ; and seizing a firebrand in a 
 style that did httle honour to his gratitude, the 
 diluted one rushed forward intent on vengeance. 
 Grim looked Tom Purdie, and charging with his 
 leister, he held the foeman at bay. Who can say 
 what Homeric deeds might not have been done, 
 had not Charlie, first whispering to the master to 
 stand fast, given the boat a sudden whirl round 
 with the stroke of an oar, which laid Tom Purdie 
 
AN INTERLUDE 
 
 257 
 
 flat upon his back at the bottom of the boat, and 
 canted Sandy Trummel fairly overboard ? He fell 
 in rather a picturesque attitude, for which I cannot 
 in candour give him much credit, as the affair 
 seemed to be quite involuntary and too sudden for 
 him to study effect. His right hand held the torch 
 aloft for a moment, Marmion fashion, which soon 
 fell and hissed in the current with a train of smoke 
 which trailed along the surface of the water. 
 Sandy's feet were actively employed in kicking 
 his best, by which means he agitated the water in 
 such a manner that, with the assistance of the 
 hght, it made a very brilliant and imposing appear- 
 ance. The stream here being very shallow, he soon 
 began to emerge, and about two thirds of his fair 
 proportions rose up from the channel ; his mouth 
 seemed full of water and abuse ; he soon got rid of 
 the one ; but before he could vent the other, he 
 was anticipated by the boat's crew, who all shouted 
 out shame upon him for his awkwardness, and 
 for having nearly upset the boat in his fall, and 
 endangered the lives of several worthy individuals. 
 Thus a sort of balance was struck between faults 
 on both sides, and Tom Purdie himself assisted 
 him to regain the boat ; " and Sandy, mon," said he, 
 as he lifted him in, " I shall be always willing to do 
 ye the same good service when ye need it ; so yee'l 
 let me ken when the burning pick gets aboard ye 
 again." 
 
 They now passed over some bare streams where 
 no salmon would he ; the navigation amongst|the 
 rocks was somewhat intricate, there being barely 
 room for the width of the boat in some of the 
 
258 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 rapids ; but Charles Purdie hit the thing off to a 
 nicety. They then burned the Glass-wheel Pot, 
 the Oak Tree, and the Noirs, in all of which they 
 got a few fish. 
 
 "Rob," said Charhe, "wail out some o' yer 
 sticks that they may be weel kinelt afore we get 
 into Brig-end Pule ; now, lads, ye mun cap well 
 here, for she will gang owre the stream wi' a 
 terrible flee ; od ! I see them glancing down the 
 pule as thick as herrin'; Sandy, mon, but ye're 
 dancing again ; what's come ower ye ? ye'll be want- 
 ing Tom Purdie's big ladle again, I'm thinkin'." 
 
 " The deil may hae Tam Purdie and his muckle 
 ladle ; for as he nockit off a bit fish in the boat, he 
 dung yun o' the taes o' the waster intil ma leg, he 
 is aye sae camstearie." 
 
 " Ye canna blame me, Sandy, for the mischanter, 
 for ye are aye stammering among the fish Uke a 
 haveril as ye are, and hauf fou into the bargain. 
 Halloo, Sandy, ye'll no crack o' yer deeds the 
 nicht, for yer waster's aye clanking against the 
 stanes, whilst the maister is striking the fish afore 
 ye by dizens ; and see, muckle Tam has Ufted in 
 yun amaist as lang as himsel'." 
 
 " Come, come, lads," says the master, " hold 
 your chsh-ma-clavers, for we are just going into 
 Brig-end Pool ; so keep back the boat as well as 
 you can, or we shall go fiery fast over the stream." 
 
 As the boat neared the pool, the men shouted 
 out, " Auld Michael ! auld Michael ! the charm for 
 auld Michael Scott: trim the boat, and take care 
 the muckle wizard doesna loup intill her." " Od, 
 lads ! " cries Tom Purdie, " pit yer best fut fore- 
 
A BOAT-LOAD 259 
 
 most ; they are lying afore us like sacks, and will 
 be as thick as you can dab them up. Mind the 
 light, Sandy, and take care that kipper doesna 
 wallop out o' the boat. See what a muckle fish 
 Charlie has got ! " 
 
 In fact the men were making a great slaughter ; 
 and when they had gone over the pool two or three 
 times, had half filled the boat with the spoil ; so as 
 they found they were well laden, they called to 
 Rob Colyard to come forward with his cart and 
 take them home. 
 
 " Shove the boat to the shore ; Colyard, come 
 forrat wi' yer cart ; that'll do, mon ; aw bonds to 
 wark, count the fish as ye pit them in ; Charlie, 
 how many hae ye coonted ? " 
 
 " There jest a bunder and twa, great and sma' — 
 whitUng, bull-trout, saumonts, and a'thegither." 
 
 The men passed round the whisky bottle, and 
 we resumed our sport ; I, Harry Otter, stood as 
 before at the head of the boat, and the other men 
 in their allotted places ; we passed pretty swiftly 
 down the streams, broadside in front, striking many 
 fish, till we came near the Elfin Burn, when, 
 observing that the water-break in the centre of the 
 river, caused by a concealed rock, was more gentle 
 than usual, I thought the boat would strike, so I 
 called out to Charhe for caution. 
 
 " Hout, tout 1 he mun let her gang ; there is 
 plenty of water to take her over." 
 
 Charhe Purdie was never more mistaken in his 
 life ; the stream drove us downward at a rapid race, 
 notwithstanding we in some measure moderated it 
 by capping our best with the leisters. Bang went 
 
260 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 the boat's broadside right against the rock, to which 
 she stuck fast till the stream above poured into her 
 in the most effective possible style, and down she 
 went of course. The water, however, was by no 
 means deep ; but those fish, which we had taken 
 since the load went home, found their way again 
 into the river, and began to vanish down the 
 streams. Being deprived of hfe, they went pas- 
 sively along, followed by all the boat's crew, who 
 rushed about and charged with their leisters, 
 " hurry, hurry, splash, splash," till they fished out 
 most of them, the remainder being left to solace 
 the eels. This in common parlance would be called 
 a disaster ; a sort of shipwreck in miniature ; but 
 judging from the merriment it excited, it might be 
 deemed the best sport of the night. 
 
 Whilst these gambols were carrying on, and the 
 men were rolling about in the waters, after the 
 guise of sea calves, Charlie Purdie and I had got 
 the boat to the shore, and heaving her upon her 
 side, had poured the water out : " And now, 
 Purdie," said I, "whilst these clever fellows are 
 catching dead fish, do tell me what you all meant 
 by shouting out * auld Michael ! ' and calling for the 
 charm at the Brig-end Pool ? " 
 
 "Why ye mun ken that Michael Scot, who 
 lived in bygane times, was a warlock, and I cud 
 tell ye mony wonderfu' cracks aboot him, for the 
 hale country rings wi' his foul deeds. Mony years 
 syne there was a brig at yon cast, but the spate ran 
 away a foreby the middle pillar, which stud up in 
 the water as high as ever ; and as the fishermen o' 
 thae days were burning the Noirs, they saw a 
 
MICHAEL SCOT AGAIN 261 
 
 muckle man sitting a tap o' the pillar, wi' a flaming 
 brand in the tae hand, and a lang leister in the tither ; 
 he had a hairy cap on his head, made, perhaps, o' 
 the fur o' the tod, or some sic like beastie, and a 
 long gown on, wi' a linnen dress aneath it, a' doon 
 to his knees, tied rund wi' a queer girdle, which 
 was written aboot wi' magic words, and a lang 
 whinger stuck intill it ; we hae Sir Walter's word 
 for it, ye ken. Aweel, the fishermen who war in 
 the boat were sair frightened, and in ganging doon 
 the water, got as far frae him as they cud, and, as 
 they thought, out o' reach o' him ; but he louped 
 frae the pillar intill the boat from an awfu' distance, 
 and doon she went so soon as he set fut or hoof in 
 her ; and a' the men war drowned, and left the 
 bonny banks o' the Tweed wi' aU their sins on 
 their heads. Then the foul wizard, Michael Scot, 
 was seen by some folks on shore, to rise up and 
 loup on a muckle black horse, that came doon frae 
 the cluds, and he fleed awa on it till he became 
 inveesable. The folk at Darnick pu'd down the 
 pillar ; they did na lave ae stane on anither. Ay, 
 ay, ye may laugh and call this chsh-ma-claver if 
 ye please, but it's true what I tell ye ; I have seen 
 auld Michael mysel'." 
 
 " Where, Charlie, where ? " 
 
 "Why, aince on Cowden -knows I seed his 
 wraith, and his torch a tap o' the hill, and his 
 muckle black horse feeding below on the moor, as 
 plain as I see ye the noo ; and though he is not in 
 life at this day, for he war killed by drinking the 
 kail made o' a breme sow, yet his spirit is abraid, 
 ye ken, and it war that which sent our boat to the 
 
262 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 bottom, for ye hadna a fairy stane ; ^ but ye'U be 
 wiser, I'm thinkin, afore ye burn that cast again." 
 
 " Ay, that will I ; but courage, man ; all is set 
 to rights, so let us have the whisky, for with that 
 and the blazing brands we shall be warm both 
 within and without, and fear no wizards. But if 
 wizards ever visit rivers, I hope they will open a 
 slap in every cauld where there is no local Act, so 
 as to admit of the free run of fish ; for there are 
 many fine-looking streams that are * bridled with a 
 curb of stone.' I do not wish to hurt the property 
 of mill-owners ; but how easy it would be in such 
 cases to accommodate all parties by making an 
 opening at every barrier, and a proper slope con- 
 structed with rolling stones at the back of it; a 
 hatch to be put in at the opening, and drawn only 
 when there was a superfluity of water for the mill. 
 This plan would answer perfectly ; for in very low 
 water fish do not travel, and in a very high one, 
 when they do, the miller would suffer no loss." 
 
 " Well, I wadna say but ye are perfectly right, 
 and I am thinking that a river, hke a road, should 
 be open for aU passengers." 
 
 Most of the dead salmon having been at length 
 forked out of the river, we all got afloat again, and 
 passed down those rapids above Melrose Bridge, 
 called the Quarry Stream, Back Brae, and Kings- 
 well Lices, snatching out a fish occasionally in our 
 course ; then the flame soon gleamed upon the bridge, 
 struck upwards on the roof of the vast arch as we 
 shot through it, and revealed the dark pines below, 
 which shelved down to the margin of the river. 
 
 ^ See note 2 at page 237. 
 
AN OTTER 263 
 
 We were now in a salmon cast called the 
 Whirls, which runs deep and solemn, and we had 
 scarcely set our leisters in the rest, ere we found 
 that a fisherman had been to work before us, and 
 an excellent hand he was at the sport ; he had 
 neither light nor boat, and, being tolerably hungry, 
 I suppose, was devouring a twelve-pounder, all raw 
 as it was, in the dry channel of the river. 
 
 " See ! the otter, the otter ! he has got into the 
 water. Bring round the boat, — quick, quick. Now 
 keep her on the edge of the deep current, and we 
 shall leister him to a certainty." No such thing. 
 He had not yet made up his mind to be leistered ; 
 and, being of a solitary disposition, rather shunned 
 our society than otherwise ; so, instead of attempt- 
 ing to gain the main stream, he went insidiously 
 down the shallows, where no boat could swim. He 
 was thus out of the reach of being speared in the 
 usual manner ; but Charlie Purdie had a go at him 
 by flinging his leister from a distance — 
 
 " Nequicquam patrias tentasti lubricus artes, 
 Vane Ligur." 
 
 It was a complete failure. Charlie followed up the 
 thing, however, by leaping out of the boat ; nothing 
 could be fairer or more honourable, as he thus gave 
 the amphibious animal the advantage of element. 
 The men were all eager and in commotion ; so 
 what with boat and lights, to say nothing of the 
 dreadful tridents, the beast was fairly confused, and 
 almost surrounded. Purdie, who had sent away 
 his leister upon a vain errand, albeit unarmed, 
 continued the chase on foot, and at length gripped 
 
264 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 the brute by the tail ; there was puUing and splash- 
 ing, tiU at last he held the otter up aloft triumph- 
 antly. Now as this position, though not precisely 
 vertical, did not happen to suit the brute's con- 
 venience, the subtle animal managed to twist 
 round, and to fix his teeth on the captor s arm. 
 This was rather disagreeable to CharUe, as the 
 teeth of the otter abound in practical experiments. 
 The posture of affairs then, you see, was as follows : 
 — The tenacious Purdie had hold of the vermin 
 with his dexter, and was loth to relinquish his 
 grip ; the foe, nothing behind in tenacity, fixed his 
 teeth in Charhe's sinister with equal perseverance ; 
 thus both his arms were fully occupied. Nothing 
 daunted, Charlie cried out with Spartan endurance, 
 "Hey, lad, but twae can play at that!" So, 
 extending his jaws, he fixed his grinders in the 
 animal's throat and worried him exceedingly. In 
 fine, after a very ludicrous struggle, he shook off 
 my excellent namesake and flung him on the shore, 
 where he was despatched with the leisters before 
 he could regain the river. Thus ended " the battle 
 of Otterbourne " ; and thus ended, also, our sport 
 for the night ; for the beast, no doubt, had disturbed 
 that cast, which, together with the lower water, was 
 set apart for another night's amusement. 
 
 We now marched home with our spoil, 
 triumphant, — Sandy in front, with the blazing 
 beacon over his shoulder to light our steps, as has 
 been practised from time immemorial ; the others 
 with the fish and leisters. One of the spectators 
 began a concordia discors with his bagpipe, but bade 
 us adieu at Melrose Bridge, and the dulcet sounds 
 
THE LAIRD O' COCKPEN 265 
 
 died away among the pine woods and furze brakes 
 of the Eildon Hills. Then it was that we had the 
 good fortune to meet my most humorous and 
 excellent friend Sir Adam Ferguson, who made 
 rare amends for the loss of our piper by singing the 
 following strains in his richest style, which, as they 
 are not very well known in the South, I venture to 
 subscribe. 
 
 " The Laird o** Cockpen, he's proud and he's great ; 
 His mind's ta'en up wi' the things o' the state ; 
 He wanted a wife his braw house to keep, 
 But favour wi' wooing was fashous to seek. 
 
 " Down by the dyke-side a leddie did dwell, 
 At the head o' his table he thocht she'd look well, 
 Macleish's ae dochter o' Claver's Ha' Lee, 
 A penniless lass, wi' a lang pedigree. 
 
 " His wig was well pouthered, and maist gude as new ; 
 His waistcoat was red, his coat it was blue ; 
 A ring on his finger, his sword and cockt hat, 
 And wha could refuse the laird wi' aw that ? 
 
 " He mounted his meer, he rode cannilie. 
 And rapt at the yett o' Clavers Ha' Lee ; 
 ' Gae tell Mrs. Jean to come speedilie ben. 
 She's wanted to speak to the Laird o' Cockpen.' 
 
 " Mrs. Jean she was makin' the elder flower wine ; 
 ' And what brings the laird at sic a like time ? ' 
 She threw afF her apron, put on her silk gown. 
 Her mutch wi' red ribbons, and cam' awa' down. 
 
 " And whan she cam' in he bowed fu' low. 
 And soon his errand he let her to know ; 
 Amazed was the laird whan the leddie said naw. 
 But wi' a laigh courtsy she turned awa'. 
 
^66 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 " Dumfoundered he was, nae sicgh did he gie, 
 He mounted his meer, he rode cannilie ; 
 But said to himseP, as he gaed through the glen, 
 ' She was daft to refuse the laird o' Cockpen ! ' " 
 
 It had been my intention to give an account of 
 the burning of the water from Melrose Bridge to 
 the Cauld Pool, and so on to Cow's Hole ; but the 
 description, if faithful, would be so similar to the 
 one already given, that it would be lamentably 
 tiresome, and I have been ultra -tedious already. 
 Besides, it must be considered that I have been out 
 of my bed most part of the night ; that I am to the 
 full as sleepy as any of my readers can possibly be ; 
 and, moreover, that my back is half frozen, whilst 
 my front is scorched with the firebrands. 
 
 Farewell ! then, dear brothers of the angle ; and 
 when you go forth to take your pleasure, either 
 in the mountain stream that struggles and roars 
 through the narrow pass, or in the majestic salmon 
 river that sweeps in lucid mazes through the vale, 
 may your sport be ample and your hearts light! 
 But should the fish prove more sagacious than 
 yourselves — a circumstance, excuse me, that is by 
 no means impossible — should they, alas — but fate 
 avert it! — reject your hooked gifts, the course of 
 the river will always lead you to pleasant places. 
 In these we leave you to the quiet enjoyment of 
 the glorious works of the Creation, whether it may 
 be your pleasure to go forth when the spring sheds 
 its flowery fragrance, or in the more advanced 
 season, when the sere leaf is shed incessantly and 
 wafted on the surface of the swollen river. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 Royal Society of Edinburgh 
 
 January 9th, 1843. — The following communications were 
 read : — 
 
 1. "On the Growth of the Salmon," by Mr. John Young, 
 Sutherlandshire. 
 
 Mr. Young has here taken up the subject of the salmon's 
 growth where it was necessarily left off by Mr. Shaw. So far 
 as the earliest or fresh- water state of the fish is concerned, he 
 entirely agrees with the observer just named. He then states 
 the various opinions which prevail regarding the more or less 
 rapid growth of smolts and grilse, and shows, by tabular lists 
 (the result of frequently repeated experiments), that the in- 
 crease in their dimensions is extraordinary, so soon as they 
 descend into the salt water. So far back as the months of 
 April and May, 1837, he marked a number of descending 
 smolts, by making a peculiar perforation in the caudal fin by 
 means of small nipping-irons constructed for the purpose. 
 He recaptured a considerable number of them ascending the 
 rivers as grilse, in the course of the ensuing months of June 
 and July, weighing several pounds each, more or less, ac- 
 cording to the difference in the length of their sojourn in the 
 sea. Again in April and May, 1842, he marked a number of 
 descending smolts, by clipping off the little adipose fin upon 
 the back. In June and July he caught several of them re- 
 turning up the river, and bearing his peculiar mark, the adi- 
 pose fin being absent. Two or three specimens were exhibited 
 to the Society. One marked in April, and recaptured on the 
 30th of July, weighed three and a half pounds. 
 
SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 
 
 As the season advances grilse increase in size, those being 
 the largest which abide the longest in the sea ; they spawn 
 in the rivers after their first ascent, an^ Jbefore they have 
 become adult salmon. / 
 
 Mr. Young also described various experiments instituted 
 with the view of showing the transition of grilse into salmon. 
 He marked many small grilse after they had spawned in 
 winter and were about to re-descend into the sea. He had 
 recaptured them in the course of the ensuing summer as 
 finely formed salmon, ranging in weight from nine to fourteen 
 pounds, the difference still depending on the length of their 
 sojourn in the sear He has tried these experiments for many 
 seasons, but never twice with the same mark. A specimen 
 marked as a grilse of four pounds in January, 1842, and re- 
 captured as -a salmon of nine pounds in July, was exhibited 
 to the Society ; it bore a peculiarly twisted piece of copper 
 wire in the upper lobe of the caudal fin. Those marked and 
 retaken in 1841 were marked with brass wire in the dorsal 
 fin. With these and other precautions, Mr. Young debarred 
 the possibility of any mistake as to the lapse of time. Both 
 grilse and salmon return uniformly to their native streams ; 
 at least it very rarely happens that a fish bearing a particular 
 mark is found except in a river where it was so marked. 
 Salmon in the perfect state, as to form and aspect, also in- 
 crease rapidly in their dimensions on again reaching the sea. 
 A spawned salmon weighing twelve pounds was marked on 
 the 4th of March, and was recaptured on its return from the 
 sea on the 10th of July, weighing eighteen pounds.^ 
 
 Mr. Young is of opinion that salmon rather diminish than 
 increase during their sojourn in rivers, and he illustrates this 
 and other points of his subject by numerous experiments and 
 observations. 
 
 ^ Lord March reported in the Field, August 13, 1898, the capture 
 of marked salmon in the Spey a few days before weighing 24 lbs. , which 
 had been returned to the water in March previous weighing 14 lbs. — Ed. 
 
 Printed by R. & R. Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. 
 
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