170 



The most astounding feature in the digestive trans- 

 actions is, that the very organs which are repairing 

 and renewing the body, are able to repair and renew 

 themselves. The receptacle in which the food under- 

 goes all the necessary preliminary changes, must be 

 renovated from the very aliment which it is its duty 

 to elaborate and prepare. And this same renovation 

 must be effected whilst the organs are in full activity. 

 How wonderfully mysterious is all this ! 



The county of Caithness is an interesting district 

 for the angler. It is not, however, so fruitful of 

 bold and romantic scenery as other parts of the north 

 of Scotland. It is comparatively level, presenting a 

 great scarcity of trees and shrubbery, and, in some 

 places, has the poverty-stricken appearance of a per- 

 fect desert. But a contemplative piscatorian can cull 

 pleasure even from the sternest and most negative 

 features of nature. 



The constant succession of bold and rugged moun- 

 tain scenery, in several of the counties we have just 

 passed over, is one of the greatest sources of pleasure 

 which an angler derives from a ramble among them. 

 They present to his eye almost every possible varia- 

 tion; giving it numerous pathways to the summits of 

 the hills, through gorges, ravines, or almost valleys. 

 Mountains, which have the firmest features and the 

 most fixed forms of nature, are yet of a more varia- 

 ble expression than anything in the world. Lakes, 

 trees, meadows, and men, have moods and changea- 

 ble expressions ; but mountains, beyond all other na- 

 tural objects, are subject to moods. This is the result 



