AND ANGLING SONGS. 35 



glorious amplitude. Yet the mountain-wall and swelling ocean 

 are but pertinents in the scene, for involuntarily from them the 

 eye turns towards those mighty passes, Glen Dhu and Glen Cuil, 

 by which Ben More and its accessory hills find escape for the 

 accumulations of snow and rain. There, and on Kylesku, with its 

 dark barrier of waters and lonely ferry-house, the gaze of the 

 traveller falls, I cannot say rests, for there is no lulling influence 

 in the scene, but much that amazes and excites, if it does not 

 terrify and bewilder. 



Having arrived at Scourie, I called upon my old friend Evan- 

 der Maclvor, Esq., one of the factors to his Grace the Duke of 

 Sutherland, and obtained the requisite permission to angle over 

 the district in his charge, comprising Edderachylis and Scourie. 

 I was also favoured by him with a note to Lord Anson, who, 

 along with Lord Grosvenor, was at that time lessee of the deer- 

 shootings and rod- fishings on the Laxford, and surrounding Loch 

 Stack. By his Lordship I was courteously received, and made 

 welcome to the use of one of his boats on the lake, as well as 

 invited to take a day's angling on the river. The former was 

 fished by me under considerable disadvantages, the da} 7 being 

 highly tempestuous, and the boat under the management of two 

 boys, one of whom was quite unaccustomed to the oar. I was 

 also unprovided with a landing-net, the want of which lost me a 

 number of heavy trout. As it was, I captured, in about five 

 hours, thirty- one sea-trout, many of which were two -pounders ; 

 and one, the pride of the lot, a beautifully proportioned newly 

 run fish, exceeded five pounds in weight. I also caught several 

 nice common trout, the largest about three pounds. This fellow 

 I happened to hook by the tail, and, in the next throw, got hold 

 . of another of equal weight in the same manner. I also, by 

 means of a gaudy grilse-fly, in a deep part of the loch, secured a 

 char, or torgoch, a fish up to that date not known to be an 

 inhabitant of Loch Stack. 



