LEGAL POACHING. 101 



themselves of the power of netting whicli is so impro- 

 perly given to them by Lord Minto's Act. There are 

 no such exhibitions on the Scotch borders as are com- 

 mon in some parts of England, of parties of ladies and 

 gentlemen assembling to enjoy the sport of netting a 

 river for tront — such, for instance, as that which oc- 

 curred on the Eamont in Cumberland some half-dozen 

 years ago, when Lord Brougham and his friends were 

 interrupted by a party of watchers, and had to make 

 fight in order to keep the net from the clutches of their 

 opponents. The execrations of the angling- community 

 would probably stop these attempts, even if they are 

 to be held legal ; but we are happy to believe that 

 better notions of sport, and some lingering compunc- 

 tion as to the rights of the public, are in Scotland 

 sufficient to deter the class possessed of the privilege 

 from ever proposing to use it. It is to the English 

 notions of exclusiveness, of carefully keeping to oneself 

 whatever one is entitled to, that we owe the prohibi- 

 tions of sport, and the shutting up of pathways, that 

 have led to so much ill-blood of late years. 



The Ettrick is most readily approached from Sel- 

 kirk, a little above which town it is joined by the 

 Yarrow. It rises near the foot of Ettrick Pen, a high 

 hill which also overlooks the source of the Esk. The 

 very head of the Ettrick lies nearer to Moffat than to 

 any other point to which the angler can be conveyed 

 by railway or other regular means ; but there is not 

 any accommodation to be had above Tushilaw, about 

 ten miles fi*om the source of the river, and about thir- 

 teen miles fi'om Selkirk. So that, if he wishes to fish 

 the upper part of the Ettrick, he must take up his 



