THE NORTH AND SOUTH ESKS. 191 



breed, we believe ; and while the late Mrs. Ferguson 

 of Biel was alive, permission to angle in it was pretty 

 freely granted. Her heir is Mr. K. Dundas Christopher 

 Hamilton-Nisbet, who we hope is equally liberal. The 

 Burn of Biel, which flows partly through the same estate 

 and partly through that of Mr. Balfour of Whitting- 

 hame, is also said to be populous with good trout. 



While the Tyne is thus almost blotted out from the 

 Scottish Angler's map by encroachments upon ancient 

 rights, other causes have conduced to render both the 

 Esks equally unknown to him, and something very 

 different from trouting-streams. The North Esk is a 

 mere factory drain ; and though the South Esk is not 

 so much polluted, and contains some trouts, it is care- 

 fully shut up from the public. At a meeting of the 

 Commissioners of Supply for the county of Edinburgh 

 in January 1858, we find the newspapers reporting 

 the following discussion : 



" The Duke of Buccleuch, in reference to the statement in 

 Mr. List's report as to the sanitary condition of the villages, 

 said the state of the rivers, and more especially the North Esk, 

 was rapidly becoming a very serious and was already a very 

 grievous evil. At present, the North Esk was so polluted that 

 the water could no longer be used for drinking purposes, nor 

 indeed for any household purpose whatever. It was not even 

 fit for cattle and horses, and in Da.lke.itli Park he had had to 

 erect fences along the stream, to keep them from drinking of it. 

 The effect on the fish was such that, while up to within a few 

 years they had abundance of salmon-trout in it, these had al- 

 most entirely disappeared, though formerly the trout there were 

 some of the finest in the south of Scotland; and, even when they 

 were caught, dressed, and put upon the table, the smell they 

 emitted had been such that they had had to be sent out of the 

 room. On the South Esk there was only one factory, but on 

 the North Esk the bleaching works and other factories were 

 very numerous. He did not know whether the evil was alto- 

 gether due to them, but he had no doubt it was so in a large 



