62 TAME COD POND. 



ber, 18G9, I visited this pond, and was most hospitably 

 received by General McDouall, of Port Logan House, 

 near Stranraer, Wigtonshire. 



After we had transacted our salmon business, the 

 General took me down to see his tame cod. Near the 

 bottom of the garden the sea has hollowed out of the 

 solid rock a kind of amphitheatre about 100 feet in 

 diameter. Formerly there was an iron grating to pre- 

 vent the cod from going out ; but now the passage is 

 barred by a simple wall of loose stones, through which 

 the water can come in, but the cod cannot get out. 

 The tide comes into this remarkable chamber through 

 a chasm in the rock about six feet in width. The water 

 in the chamber is a considerable depth, and the tide 

 ebbs and flows through the chasm, thus changing the 

 water regularly. 



The tide was out at the time of my arrival, but the 

 pond was full of the most beautiful emerald clear sea 

 water. The General has built some steps so as to get 

 down to the pond from the level of the ground above, 

 and he has also made a path round the edge of the pond. 



Standing on the top of the steps, I could perceive 

 some dark-looking bodies deep down in the water below. 

 As we descended these bodies began to move, and on 

 arriving at the edge of the pond I saw a sight which 

 was worth while coming all the way from London to 

 behold. From almost every side of the pond, and from 

 its deepest bottom, came darting towards us great open- 

 mouthed cod-fish. They seemed really to know per- 

 sonally Mrs. Towdie, the woman who is appointed as 

 curator of the pond. She threw a mussel without its 

 shell into the middle of the pond, and in a moment the 

 surface seemed literally boiling with struggling fish. 

 Gradually she threw the mussels nearer and nearer to 



