LITERARY AND DOMESTIC LIFE. 41 



and back again, certainly two thousand feet high. But on Friday 

 he was much fatigued and kept to the valley, and even yesterday 

 he had not recovered from his fatigue. With respect to myself, I 

 am always knocked up at night, and fresh in the morning. I made 

 right down the middle of the river among huge rocks and stones, 

 avoiding all the pools twenty feet deep, of which there are hun- 

 dreds, many places utterly dried up, others not a foot deep. In 

 flood or rains it must be a most tremendous river. On Monday I 

 think of going to Loch Narget (Maragan ?), about eight miles over 

 the hills, but only if windy and cloudy. 



" On the whole, this is the pleasantest inn I ever was at, and the 

 station in all respects delightful. The Wizard takes a gill of wJds- 

 key daily. I have given up all hopes of rain, and intend staying 

 here a few days longer. We shall be at Cladich on Thursday." 



" Port Sonachan, June 9. 



"My dear Umbs: — We left Luib on Thursday, the 5th instant, 

 and reached Cladich at half-past seven. No Williams, nor room 

 for ourselves, so we proceeded three miles to Port Sonachan, where 

 we have been ever since. Friday was a day of storm, and no fish- 

 ing. Having allowed my boat to drift a few miles to leeward, it 

 took two boatmen three hours to bring me back to port, during 

 which time it rained incessantly, and was bitter cold. I suffered 

 much, and was in fits on Saturday. The fishing was bad, and I 

 only killed nine ; but one was a noble fellow, upwards of two pounds. 

 On Monday kept the house all day. To-day fished eight miles down 

 the lake to Castle Ardchonnel, a very fine old ruin on an island, 

 which I had never seen before ; landed and dined in the castle with 

 Archy and Sandy, time from three to four o'clock ; wound up and 

 returned before the wind, homeward-bound ; beheld the Wizard on 

 a point of the loch, and took him in ; reached Port Sonachan before 

 seven, and dined sumptuously. Angling had been admirable ; sixty- 

 one trout crammed into the basket, which could not have held 

 another. Of these, thirty were from one-half to three-cpiarters and 

 one pound each ; the rest not small ; they covered two large tea- 

 trays. It reminded me of the angling thirty and thirty-five years 

 ago. The natives, especially Archy, were astonished. 



" I understood the Wizard wrote to Blair yesterday ; he enjoys 

 nimself much, and walks about from morning to night." 



