ATTRACTIVE POWER OF SALMON ROE. 157 



Its wholesale use, however, without respect to river 

 and season, I utterly condemn, in common with all 

 lovers of fair sport ; and although, on the occasions to be 

 made mention of, some may deem that I advance far 

 towards transgressing upon the principle I profess to 

 hold, they will find, if I mistake not, in my argument, a 

 good and sufficient apology. 



The first instance I shall bring forward with respect 

 to the attractive power of this bait, I find jotted down 

 in my angling note-book, as occurring on the 24th of 

 November, 1837. The piece of water fished on was 

 the lower extremity of a short side-stream on the 

 Teviot, about a mile from Kelso, a spot which, in the 

 summer season, was wont to be clear and shallow, and, 

 in consequence, not plentifully stocked with trout. 

 Immediately below, lies a succession of rapid streams, 

 extending onwards above two hundred yards, and then 

 terminating in a large pool or dam. 



Having taken up my stand at the margin of the 

 small snatch of water above described, I commenced 

 operations about two hours before noon, concluding 

 them a short while after three o'clock, during which 

 moderate interval I captured no fewer than eleven 

 dozen of trout, many of them about a pound in weight, 

 and along with these, a clear bull-trout weighing about 

 five pounds. Nor, on leaving off, had I nearly ex- 

 hausted the apparent contents of the spot; I say 

 apparent, for it was evident to me, both from their 

 scarcity at the commencement, and the gradual in- 

 crease of the trout in number as I continued to fish on, 

 that they approached the bait, as it were by a trail, 

 from various quarters further down; some from the 

 rapid streams immediately below, but the greater part 

 undoubtedly from the pool in which these terminated, 



