THE MAKERSTON WATER. 329 



fishing, he is enthusiastic beyond measure. To be in 

 the boat with him, when the fish are in taking humour, 

 is a treat well worth the paying for. He never grudges 

 the escape of a fish, and has always an encouraging or 

 original remark at hand to keep up the spirit of the 

 amusement, too often, as regards salmon fishing, apt to 

 flag or die away. 



The Makerston water consists of the following casts 

 which occupy about two miles of the river; Willie's 

 bank, Hirple Nelly, the Orchard-heads opposite Maker- 

 ston house, the Dark Shore, the Clippers, North and 

 South, the Laird's Cast, Elshie stream, Shot, Red Stane, 

 Side Straik, Doors, Nethern heads, Willie's Ower fa', 

 and passing over some highly impetuous water, the 

 Kill-mouth pool. From the Red Stane downwards, the 

 Tweed is confined betwixt walls of rock, and hurries 

 along with rapid violence. The name given to that 

 portion of the river is the Trows crags the word, 

 " trows" being the Scotch for troughs, of which vessels, 

 two joined together at one end, used to be employed, 

 instead of a boat, for the spearing of salmon. I recol- 

 lect seeing a pair of them not long since at the village 

 of Denholm, betwixt Jedburgh and Hawick, which had 

 frequently been put to the test, in night-leistering on 

 Teviot. They consisted of the wooden receptacles, or 

 something of the like construction, out of which cattle 

 are fed, and were so joined that the one formed a sharp 

 angle with the other. In using them, the spearsman kept 

 his legs astride, a foot being placed in each trough, and 

 struck at the fish, through the space formed by the angle. 



I have elsewhere spoken of the Red Stane and its 

 attractive powers, as a stronghold for salmon ; never, in 

 fact, from one end of the year to the other, does it want 

 its occupants; sometimes, in the months of August and 



