METROPOLITAN FLIES. 121 



father with the salmon ; but it was with extreme dif- 

 ficulty that the little fellow got up the brae, as liis load, 

 which was hung over his shoulders, frequently made him 

 stagger back down the rocks which he had from time to 

 time ascended. That little boy came into my service 

 as fisherman some seasons afterwards, and has lived 

 with me now about eighteen years. He is a capital 

 fly-maker and boatman, and a most valuable servant. 

 Some of liis exploits appear in these pages, he being the 

 identical Charlie Purdie so repeatedly mentioned in 

 them. 



A great deal of mystery is made on every river as to 

 the flies you should fish with. Thus when a novice ar- 

 rives at his fishing station, he sends for the oracle of the 

 river ; pulls out his book, crammed as closely as a pot of 

 pemmican, and displays before him the various devices 

 of an Eaton, an Ustonson, or a Chevalier. Kotliing 

 dazzled, Donald much admires what one may be, and 

 what the other ; this he rejects as useless, that he laughs 

 to scorn. At length, after having grinned extensively at 

 those tinselled animals called kill devils, he examines 

 some twenty dozen of your best flies ; and, pulUng out 

 one from the number, tells you that might serve well 

 enough if it had different wings, a different body, and 

 a yellow tail. Now all this is overdone ; but I would 

 advise you to acquiesce in the predictions of the said 

 oracle, simply to save the trouble of argument. One 

 thing you may be sure of; namely, that you may as well 

 attempt to make the Tweed run back to its source as 

 to shake his opinions. 



Now, as there is no month in the year when salmon 



