ETTRICK, GALA-WATER. 325 



Ettrick-bridge ditto, between Selkirk and Thirlestane, 

 on the Ettrick. 



On the high grounds, betwixt where the Eankle- 

 burn discharges itself into the Ettrick and the sources 

 of the Ale-water, a tributary of Teviot, are situated 

 several lochs, the largest of which are Clear-burn, the 

 Shaws-loch, and Alemoor. Clear-burn abounds in nice 

 trout, averaging half a pound in weight. The others 

 contain pike and perch, and one or two of them good 

 trout. They are not much angled in, lying as they do 

 out of the usual track. 



Reverting to Tweedside, there are two or three 

 stretches of water occupied as rod-fishings for salmon, 

 not far from where the Ettrick enters the main river. 

 Those above its junction are the Yair fishings, belong- 

 ing to Alexander Pringle, Esq., of Whytbank, and 

 further down the Faldon-side, Bold-side, and Abbots- 

 ford waters, ( Scott, Esq., of Gala-house). During 



the three weeks that precede close-time, should a flood 

 occur, on the removal of the nets, the sport met with 

 in this quarter is sometimes excellent. Kelts also are 

 killed here, in the spring, in considerable numbers; 

 but throughout the greater part of the open season 

 the salmon fishing is generally very indifferent, and 

 depends entirely upon the state of the river. 



Not far from Abbotsford, on the opposite side of 

 Tweed, the Gala water effects its junction. From the 

 mouth up to the town of Galashiels, about two miles dis- 

 tant, the bed of this stream is one unseemly ditch, 

 blackened with dyes, and containing refuse of various 

 descriptions. At Torwoodlee, however, and from thence 

 to its sources, it is a pure limpid rural river, abounding 

 in trout of respectable dimensions, weighing from a 

 pound downwards. There is a small loch termed 





