THE GALA — HERIOT- WATER. 127 



are taken by net by poachers from Galashiels; but 

 still a good angler on almost any part of it may get a 

 basketful. The Gala, however, requires fine fishing — 

 for all but the first year's trouts have been educated 

 in gut and feathers, and perhaps about 80 per cent, of 

 the whole number have been pricked by the hook on 

 some occasion, while not a few have been nearly 

 dragged out of the water, or have even slid through 

 the benumbed hands of the piscator who was fumb- 

 lingly fingering them as he was about to convey them 

 to his pannier. Fear of man has become hereditary 

 in animals since the days when they gambolled before 

 Adam in Eden ; and perhaps fish will by-and-by ac- 

 quire an instinctive knowledge of the lures he uses, 

 and thus avoid the dangerous mouth-test to which they 

 are at present so often subjected. 



The proper source of the Gala is Heriot-water. The 

 other stream called Little Gala, which by its union 

 with the Heriot forms the Gala, is much shorter in its 

 course and smaller in its volume. Heriot-water rises 

 in the hilly parish of Heriot, and runs a little more 

 than five miles before it changes its name. In its 

 upper parts, however, it is superior to the ordinary 

 run of hill waters, and the numerous burns that con- 

 tribute to its size are also better than those of heathery 

 or mossy regions — the hills of this part of Edinburgh- 

 shire being low and undulating, and covered with green 

 verdure. Heriot-water for the first two or three miles 

 has many deep pools, and its trout have a darker hue 

 and a yellower gleam than the starry-sided inhabitants 

 of the Gala. They are also of good size, and of supe- 

 rior flavour. Perhaps as good sport may be had here 



