THE TWEED — SPROUSTON-DUB. 87 



any in Britain. The Maxwellheiigh station, at which 

 the North British Railway terminates, and a branch 

 of the North Eastern to Berwick begins, is on the south 

 side of the Tweed about half a mile from Kelso. The 

 line to Jedburgh branches off at Roxburgh, and gives 

 command of the Teviot, the Kale, and the Jed. 



Resuming the course of Tweed, the fact that 

 Sprouston-water, which extends from a little below 

 Kelso to Eden-foot, a stretch of nearly three miles, is 

 rented by a Kerss, is greatly in favour of the angler. 

 On this water, which has a very high character, sal- 

 mon-angling can at any time be attained on the usual 

 terms — and heretofore bloody has been the annual 

 slaughter of kelts on Sprouston-dub. But this dub — 

 a large stretch of smooth water — is also the first fa- 

 vourite resting-place of clean salmon and grilse when 

 running up in a flood; and, under the able guidance of 

 the tacksman, novices have often found themselves 

 slayers of more than one " monarch of the tide" in the 

 course of an afternoon. Mr. Stoddart says — " It has 

 been conjectured, by those competent to judge, that in 

 this pool alone there are often congregated, at the 

 same time, a thousand salmon and grilses. I have 

 witnessed five or six good fish, not kelts, taken out 

 here, in the course of little more than half an hour — 

 as fast in fact as they could be hooked and played to 

 bank." For a few years by-past, Sprouston-dub, like all 

 other parts of the Tweed, has not been to the salmon- 

 fisher what it once was ; but it has always its due 

 share of fish. From Kelso downwards, and in the 

 neighbourhood of Sprouston, the trout-fishing is free 

 and perfectly open ; and a good inn at the latter place 



