CHAP, iv.] THE CLYDE. 163 



portion of his daily food. If persons in search of sea-angling 

 wish to combine the enjoyment of picturesque sceneiy with 

 their pleasant labours on the water, they cannot do better 

 than select, as I did, the rural village of Corry, on the Island 

 of Arran, as a centre from which to conduct their operations. 

 May I be allowed to say a few words about this wonderful 

 island, just by way of a whet to the eye-appetite of those who 

 have never seen it ? Our angler, having arrived at Glasgow, 

 can go down the Clyde by steamboat direct to Arran. There 

 is another and a quicker way viz. by railway to Ardossan 

 and steamboat to Brodick, but most strangers prefer the 

 river ; and let me say here, without fear of contradiction, there 

 is no pleasure river equal to the Clyde, especially as regards 

 accessibility. The steamers from Glasgow peer at stated in- 

 tervals into every nook and cranny of the water, and, on 

 the Saturdays especially, deposit perfect armies of people at 

 various towns and villages below Greenock, who are thus en- 

 abled to pass the Sunday in the bright open air by the clear 

 waters of this great stream. Any kind of lodging is put up 

 with for the sake of being " down the water ;" and all sorts of 

 people merchants even of high degree and " Glasgow bodies" 

 of lower social standing are contented, chiefly no doubt at 

 the instigation of their better halves, to sojourn in places that 

 when at home they would think quite unsuitable for even the 

 Matties of their households. The banks of the Clyde have 

 become wonderfully populous within the last twenty-five 

 years villages have expanded into towns, hamlets have 

 grown into villages, and single cottages into hamlets. Now 

 the railway to Greenock is insufficient as a daily travelling aid 

 to persons whose half hours are of large commercial value ; and 

 as a consequence, a new line of rails has been constructed to 

 come upon the water at Wemyss Bay, about twelve miles be- 

 low Greenock. To your thorough business man time is money, 

 and if he is alternately able to leave his place of business and 



