THE TWEED — ROB KERSS. 83 



and of the rich and beautiful domain that surrounds it, 

 ought to have been satisfied with what he had, without 

 attempting to rob the public of almost the only privi- 

 lege that now belongs to it — that of angling for trout 

 in royal rivers. 



The Makerston - water succeeds Eutherford; and 

 here, at the Trows, a famous Tweed fisherman, Eob 

 Kerss, used to hold sway as lessee from Sir T. M. 

 Brisbane. Here, under Eob's guidance, many of the 

 present Tweed salmon-fishers learned the art. Ma- 

 kerston Trows is the name of a part of the Tweed 

 where the river has wrought a narrow way for itself 

 through the rock, and, as parts of the original stone 

 have proved too hard to be worn away, and remain 

 jutting up in the middle of the bed, the water foams, 

 and boils, and rushes round them with great fury, more 

 like the violent streams born of the Grampians than 

 the equable gladdener of Tweeddale.* The angler who 

 can play and bring to the gaff a new-run twenty- 

 pounder amongst the Trows may consider himself a 

 master in the craft. In Eob Kerss' s time, leave of 

 fishing could be obtained in the Makerston- water for 

 payment to him as " guide, philosopher, and friend," 

 — the fish being paid for at the current price, or left ; 

 and there were few days during the season on which he 

 had not somebody in his boat, or working a fly into the 

 eddies of the Trows, under his guidance. He was a 

 favourite with anglers of all classes — with peer and pea- 

 sant alike ; and preserved his self-respect, and asserted 



* A similarly contracted and rapid part of the Tweed near 

 Yair i8 called " Yair Trows." 



