104 BRITISH FRESH-WATER FISHES 
in 1790. Be the natural term of its years what it may, the 
carp is tenacious of life in a degree far beyond most other 
fishes, and will live for an indefinite time simply wrapped in 
wet moss. 
As already mentioned, the carp is an Asiatic fish, but the 
ease with which it can be transported alive for great distances, 
wrapped in damp cloths or herbage, has been the 
reason of its establishment in probably every 
European country. In Britain its distribution is very arbi- 
trary ; wherever religious communities formerly existed, the 
carp is pretty sure to survive in the neighbouring waters, 
except in the north, where the streams are generally too rapid 
and the winters perhaps too cold. Yet one sometimes comes 
upon carp in the mild west of Scotland in places where one 
would least expect them. On my own property in Galloway 
there is a lonely little tarn situated close to the seashore, but 
on the top of a cliff about one hundred feet above sea-level. 
There is no stream flowing into it, neither is there any visible 
outlet except in time of flood ; it is but a basin in the boulder 
clay, and the whole surface does not extend to a couple of 
acres. Behind it rises a steep, wild fell ; before it stretches 
the expanse of St. George’s Channel. There is not a human 
habitation in sight; a more lonely spot could scarcely be 
imagined. It is a favourite haunt of wildfowl, and in old 
times I used to make my way to it occasionally to secure 
a brace of ducks. Not suspecting that it contained any fish, 
it occurred to me long ago to turn in some trout, which was 
done, and the incident was forgotten. Years afterwards I 
happened to stand on the shore of this little loch on a summer 
day, when suddenly a resounding splash echoed among the 
rocks. A great fish had leaped itself from the dark waters, 
and a few minutes later another rolled up in a sidelong way. 
I never doubted that these were the long-forgotten trout 
which appeared to have grown to amazing proportions ; and 
next day I returned with a fly rod, prepared for spirited action. 
Distribution, 
