158 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



may be, bass, over the end of a southern pier ; but 

 that does not matter. The boatmen are quite 

 capable of doing everything for him, except actually 

 putting the fish on the hook ; and will prove the 

 most obliging of men, especially if he do not adhere 

 too strictly to the lunch limit. To troll is as easy 

 as to haul in a boat-line which his cast often 

 resembles in strength, if not in thickness and the 

 largest fish are got by trolling. 



Even fly-fishing is brought within his reach. A 

 stiff breeze will carry out the line without any act 

 of his, and, at the worst, the shortest cast is often 

 the most successful. In such open water there is 

 no danger of hooking the bank behind, or the 

 branches above, or the boulder in the centre, or any 

 other foreign body, except it may be the boat. 



I spent a most uncomfortable forenoon on this 

 same Tay, dodging a hook which seemed to appear 

 on both sides, and all round my head, at once. At 

 length the lethal weapon entered the lobe of the 

 boatman's boy's ear ; and I was selfish enough to 

 congratulate myself that it was no worse, that is 

 because it was not my ear. It was the first and 

 only blood that day, and we were all heartily glad 

 when the time arrived to go on shore. 



It is one of the commonest experiences of those 



