io6 ANGLING & ART IN SCOTLAND 



powerful in his youth. His face was very ruddy, 

 and adorned with a long nose ; exceedingly blue eyes 

 looked out from under the shadow of shaggy white 

 eyebrows, while a white moustache and whiskers 

 gave to his appearance a distinctly military cast. 

 In the matter of dress, he always wore a very 

 loudly checked suit, with cap to match ; the material 

 employed being distinctive of Glenquoich, as that 

 supplied by Lord Burton to his dependants. 



As a gillie Anderson was not altogether to be 

 desired, for he was a dictatorial old fellow. He 

 would order you about in the most peremptory 

 manner, saying : " Now, sir, ye may just tak' up 

 yer rod — " or, " Now, sir, ye may just pit doon yer 

 rod — " or, "Ye may just sit yoursell doon and tak' 

 yer lunch — ." He had the failing, too, of dressing 

 his own flies. It may sound odd to call that a 

 failing, and in theory it is no doubt praiseworthy ; 

 but Anderson was not proficient in the art. Possibly 

 his flies may have been more successful with salmon ; 

 but the fact that the gut upon which they were 

 dressed was always of the coarsest, precluded the 

 trout from taking them unless a gale happened 

 to be blowing. Perhaps that accounted for the 

 firm belief held by him that trout would never take 



