160 ANGLING REMINISCENCES. 



the greater part were too nimble for me, and fought 

 themselves oft' the hook ere I could enforce their sub- 

 mission. Out on them ! they are tender-mouthed, yet 

 strong in the tail and of ample muscle, else had I 

 encreeled a neat score of them. See, the seven I have 

 slaughtered make of themselves an honest heap, and 

 might stand in room of an eight-pound slice of salmon. 

 But where, Doctor, hast thou been ? I have missed 

 thee from the water's edge these two hours, yet seem- 

 ingly art thou well-laden with fish, if fish these be on 

 thy shoulders, causing thee such uneasiness. 



Swivel. Ay, that they are ! two and three pounders 

 each 3 I captured them in a small tarn lying not 

 three hundred yards from where we stand, yclept 



Loch L n. 'Twas signified to me by an urchin 



I chanced to fall in with, immediately after your 

 departure ; and although somewhat incredulous of 

 his information, I determined, as it lay at no great 

 distance, to give myself the benefit of a trial. 

 The trout, such as I have taken from it, seem to 

 have been planted there some years ago, and are 

 by no means numerous. In fact, I question much 

 whether they have as yet spawned, notwithstanding 

 the facilities they have of doing so ; there being- 

 several small water-courses running into various 

 parts of the loch. I have mastered thirteen of them, 

 and, strange to say, these were all I encountered ; 

 but they rose with great truth and avidity, and 

 were mostly hooked in the throat or lower part of 



