142 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



are for the most part dark, from a dense bottom 

 accumulation of peat. No lively tystie is there, 

 only an occasional cormorant. Boats are unknown 

 luxuries; so one merry day, by the aid of some 

 Shetlanders, we trundled one up the hillsides, 

 across the plateau, and down into the basin that 

 seemed most promising. Never before had line, or 

 human shadow been cast across its surface, except 

 from the shore. 



We were the first, that ever burst, 

 Into that silent sea. 



The trout are, perhaps, not so plentiful as in 

 the Orkney lakes, beside which I had tented on 

 a previous year ; but they make up in size for 

 what they lack in number; and are sufficiently 

 uninitiated in lures to rise eagerly; and lively, 

 when hooked, to afford excellent sport. They are 

 dark in colour, except where they lie on patches 

 of clear gravelly bottom near the edge. While 

 some fished, others lit a fire to cook the spoil ; 

 .and so we spent several gipsy days. 



But, the appetite for trout has its limits ; and 

 fishing ceases to be sport, just in proportion to 

 its success, when one is compelled to eat all 

 he catches, whether he likes or no. This seems 

 to be the weakness of fishing in out-of-the-way 



