An Angler's Paradise. 15 



" By Jove," and at nearly every pond we came to this expression 

 was repeated. Considering that there are upwards of seventy 

 ponds, and he examined most of them, he must have made use of 

 this expression over forty times during his round. But he ex- 

 hibited, although not so demonstratively, the same keen inward 

 sense of enjoyment, and the repeated utterance of these two words 

 proved no doubt a relief to him. Another visitor kept continually 

 exclaiming " Dear me," and the number of times those two words 

 were repeated must have been something considerable, whilst yet 

 another gave vent to his feelings by saying " What a caution !" 



Most visitors have expressed great delight at the sights shown, 

 and have evidently highly enjoyed their visits, whilst yet a few 

 would gaze complacently on the scene as if it were all a matter of 

 course, and as if they had seen the same thing a hundred times 

 before. Need I say these were not anglers? No feelings were 

 aroused within them, and no interested enthusiasm was observable 

 as they gazed upon the masses of fish, which to them no doubt 

 were no more suggestive than a pile of herrings on a costermonger's 

 barrow. 



" Breathes there a man with soul so dead, 

 Who never to himself hath said," 



nor to anyone else either, anything which would be indicative of 

 the fact that he was undergoing that deep sense of pleasure which 

 every angler experiences at even a far less impressive sight. 



I hope that no reader will for a moment think I am unduly 

 poking fun at him far be it from me to do that ; but whilst giving 

 an indescribable amount of pleasure to so many who come here, it 

 is only fair that we who dwell in this most delightful wilderness 

 should get some amusement in return. I am sure all will agree 

 to this. 



But to return to my first friend ; I found he was to be in the 

 neighbourhood for a couple of months, having taken a house 

 along with the fishing on a good trout loch and the stream con- 

 nected with it, so took the earliest opportunity of driving over to 

 make a call. He had just come off Loch Kinder with about 

 fifteen pounds of trout, which were brought in for our inspection. 

 Beautiful creatures they were and in excellent condition, averaging 

 about or near a pound each. After a very pleasant fishy chat, 



