( 181 ) 

 CHAPTER VIII. 



THE EYE, THE TYNE, AND THE ESKS. 



|HE pedestrian angler passing from Grant's 

 House to the Whitadder is sorely tempted 

 by a burn with some pretty pools and runs 

 that he has to cross ; and indeed most people put up 

 their rods and take a cast. This is the Eye-water. 

 It rises amongst the hills behind Abbey St. Bathan's, 

 but almost from its source flows through upland mea- 

 dows that are rich enough to provide feeding equal to 

 that of most waters that flow at a lower altitude. The 

 trout are both numerous and of good size, and if there 

 has been a flood the night before, the angler bound 

 for the Whitadder cannot do better than devote his 

 forenoon to it, either immediately above Grant's, or 

 above the point where the road to the Abbey crosses 

 it. Half-a-mile or so above Grant's (the Eye flows 

 within a few hundred yards of the railway station) 

 there is a part of the water that seems to have been 

 straightened or cut at some time ; above that it runs 

 in a very narrow bed, down which the angler can fol- 

 low his worm without being seen ; farther up there 

 are pools and good holes. Between Grant's House 

 and Eeston, the next station on the North British, 

 the fly-fisher is greatly interrupted by trees — (we once 

 lost almost a whole day by persisting in trying to fish 

 with fly from Eeston upwards.) There is, however, 



