BY THE LOCH-SIDE 169 



Seven-eighths of the lochs of Perthshire cluster 

 round this central brilliant, and seven-eighths of 

 the streams serve to bind these into one, leaving 

 only about one-eighth for the infant Forth. To have 

 the centre of all the romantic beauty and interest 

 summed up in the very words Scottish High- 

 lands for such is Perthshire before him as a 

 picture, one has only to be familiar with a few 

 such labour-saving facts as these. 



Fishers, like snails, come out in force during, 

 and after rain. It would almost seem as if they 

 forecast the change, so rapidly do they appear 

 in the remotest country districts ; dotting every 

 stream-side, where yesterday there were none of 

 them ; and dipping their worm into every eddy and 

 slackening of the tumbling water. There they were, 

 wading through the wet grass, hopping over the 

 dry stone dykes, and, generally, deporting them- 

 selves with an enthusiasm worthy of a better cause. 



I inspected several of the baskets of those who 

 were returning from the loch, and was struck, 

 by no means for the first time, with the number, 

 and insignificance of the trout. One good fish 

 would have been more satisfactory than the whole 

 lot. Fifty of those I saw might have weighed 

 10 or 12 Ibs. Divided by twelve, they would have 



