ON RIVERS 87 



the Tay as lightly as a skiff rests on the Thames ! 

 Being nearly flat-bottomed, it drew very little water. 

 Without much effort, one of the gillies was keeping 

 it in position. His companion was putting out the 

 lines. On one of them was an artificial sand-eel ; on 

 the other, a Jock Scott. Both lines having been 

 let down the stream for thirty or forty yards, the 

 rods were laid across the stern ; then, oars in the 

 hands of each, the gillies set about their harling. 

 Immediately I perceived that harling was in 

 principle the same as trolling. Only one of the 

 details was different. Instead of making the boat 

 move bow-forward to keep the lures in motion, the 

 gillies allowed it to drop downstream, very slowly, 

 about three or four yards a minute ; the force of the 

 water was sufficient to keep the Jock Scott floating, 

 or nearly so, and the sand-eel from sinking to the 

 bottom. From side to side of the river, too, the 

 boat moved, thereby causing the lures to search 

 every likely spot. This revealed the motive of harl- 

 ing. Even such considerable rivers as the Don, the 

 Severn, the Avon, the Helmsdale, and the Thurso, 

 can be fished by casting from the bank ; but the Tay 

 is so broad that most of its pools could not be fished 

 thoroughly without the aid of a boat. Before the 

 pool, which is about three hundred yards long, was 

 half-covered, the gillie nearer the stern dropped the 

 oars, which hung on pins ; leapt from his seat, and 

 seized a rod. A salmon had taken the Jock Scott. 

 Quickly the other gillie, having reeled up the second 

 line, pulled ashore ; and he and his comrade landed. 



