FISHING IN RIVER, STREAM, AND LOCH 171 



sufferings at sea you may have read of, in the boats of 

 the Bounty or on the rafts of the Medusa. So there is 

 in casting over the surface of a sheet of water where 

 the topography of the lower regions must be as a 

 sealed-up chart to everybody except the fisherman who 

 acts as the pilot. And yet it may be agreeable enough 

 by way of variety. We have pleasant memories of 

 cruises in the bays of Loch Awe, in the days when it 

 was far less fished than at present, and where the long 

 odds were against your rinding the fishing-ground pre- 

 occupied, even if you did not get up overnight and 

 stand out to sea in the darkness. We have pleasant 

 memories, too, of expeditions to mountain lakelets in 

 the countries of Rob Roy and Roderick Dhu ; or to 

 localities more remote from the tread of the tourist, 

 in the less hospitable wilds of Inverness-shire and 

 Ross-shire. Half the fun of those rough-and-ready 

 trips often lay in the preliminary excitement as to how 

 you were to find the means of getting afloat. Throw- 

 ing the longest line to any purpose from the shores was 

 made impracticable by the fringes of rushes that shel- 

 tered the broods of wild duck and water-hen. The 

 crazy craft you found to launch often sorely wanted 

 coopering, and you embarked yourself with your pisca- 

 tory belongings on the off-chance of a swim and a 

 shipwreck. 



We used to envy the luxurious independence of a 

 friend who drove about in a boat of his own, mounted 

 break-fashion upon wheels, the light carriage being- 

 constructed of tough hickory-wood, warranted to stand 



