VENDACE. 147 



" The Vendace is well known," says Sir William Jardinc, 

 " to almost every person in the neighbourhood ; and if, 

 among the lower classes, fish should at any time form the 

 subject of conversation, the Vendace is immediately men- 

 tioned, and the loch regarded with pride as possessing some- 

 thing of great curiosity to visiters, and which is thought not 

 elsewhere to exist. The story that it was introduced into 

 these lochs by the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, as 

 mentioned by Pennant in his description of the Gwyniad, 

 and it is likely that his information was derived from this 

 vicinity, is still in circulation. That the fish was intro- 

 duced from some Continental lake, I have little doubt ; but 

 would rather attribute the circumstance to some of the reli- 

 gious establishments which at one time prevailed in the 

 neighbourhood, and which were well known to pay considera- 

 ble attention both to the table and the cellar. Mary would 

 scarcely prefer a lake so far from even her temporary residence 

 for the preservation of a luxury of troublesome introduction, 

 and leave her other fish-ponds destitute of such a delicacy." 



" An idea prevails that this fish, if once taken from the 

 water, will die, and that an immediate return will be of no 

 avail ; and it is also believed that it will not exist in any 

 other water except that of the castle loch. These are of 

 course opinions which have gradually, from different circum- 

 stances, gained weight, and have at last been received as 

 facts. The fish is of extreme delicacy ; a circumstance which 

 may have given rise to the first notion ; and the introduction 

 of it must have taken place by means of the spawn : the fish 

 themselves, I am confident, could not be transported alive 

 even a few miles. As to the second opinion, they are not 

 confined to the castle loch, but are found in several others, 

 some of which have no communication with that where they 

 are thought to be peculiar." 



" In general habits the Vendace nearly resemble the 



