BOYHOOD IN GALLOWAY 7 



treated our fish with scant courtesy ; if the tackle 

 were strong, and the fish not too heavy, we con- 

 quered ; if otherwise, the trout retired to digest 

 a hook, or to add a new specimen to his museum. 

 But it was at the age of thirteen, when we boys 

 were given a leave of absence for three weeks, to 

 be spent in a fishing expedition , in the enchanted 

 land of Galloway, that I became entirely imbued 

 with the delights of angling, and angling in 

 Scotland in particular. Since that time few years 

 have passed without my spending there a con- 

 siderable portion of each season. 



Galloway is a country filled with a nameless 

 fascination. What is it? It is difficult to say in 

 so many words wherein the charm lies. Possibly 

 only he who approaches it in childhood can hope 

 to catch its subtle atmosphere. There is, I think, 

 a kind of glamour thrown over the scenes of our 

 youth, if the associations be happy, which never 

 leaves us in after life ; and for the angler the 

 feeling is intensified, since Nature speaks to him 

 with an added significance. He acquires all his 

 knowledge of the habits and resting-places of the 

 fish, whose death he wishes to encompass, through 

 the minutest observation of the outward appearance 



