196 WILD LIFE OF SCOTLAND 



" Do ye think I'd fish wantin' ane ? " replied 

 the phlegmatic Borderer, without turning his head. 



" Whare is't ? " 



" At the end o' my rod." 



Rude, but characteristic. Some of those men are 

 descended from the old rievers. 



Fishing is the predominant pastime of the 

 southern uplands, as shooting is of the Highlands. 

 To possess a stretch of the Tweed is the Border 

 equivalent of leasing a moor ; to be invited to join 

 the fortunate lessee is like spending a week in a 

 shooting-box. One takes a rod to Peeblesshire, or 

 Selkirkshire, as one takes a gun to Perthshire, or 

 Aberdeenshire. Of course, he includes a gun in 

 his Border luggage, just as he puts a fishing-rod 

 into his Highland luggage; but mainly for off-days. 



The Border district is a land of streams, which 

 pass, by a slow increase of volume, the contribution 

 of a thousand tributaries, from moorland burn to 

 salmon river. The exception is the Yarrow, which, 

 at the base of the hills, forms the Loch of Lowes, 

 and, a few yards beyond, expands into sad St. 

 Mary's. At one time it may have had a connection 

 with Loch Skene ; in which case we would have the 

 typical three. 



The lake-fishing is thus gathered within a narrow 



