130 SALMON FISHING IN THE TWEED 



William Purdie at that time rented the Bolside- 

 water, which runs by Abbotsford, and in which I 

 caught this fish. His son, then a little boy, 

 happened to pass by when I landed him, and I sent 

 him home to his father with the salmon ; but it was 

 with extreme difficulty that the little fellow got up 

 the brae, as his 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 his 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 arrives 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. Nothing 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, pulling 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 predic- 

 tions of the said oracle, simply to save the trouble of 



