AND ANGLING SONGS. 131 



the landlord, a humorous character in his way, but, as we after- 

 wards ascertained, not particularly careful in distinguishing the 

 meum from the iuum. In the Justiciary Court records, a person 

 with a name very similar to his, and associated with Loch 

 Laggan-side, flourishes as a sheep-stealer. In partaking of his 

 cheer, therefore, 1 am led to suspect that we were the unwitting 

 resetters of stolen mutton, and this conclusion is strengthened by 

 the recollection that, on leaving his roof, there was an impression 

 on our minds that undue freedom had been taken with the con- 

 tents of our pockets during the night-watches. 



While quartering here, my friend Wilson was directed by our 

 host to a small lake and its connecting rivulet, on the opposite 

 side of Loch Laggan, to reach which, there being no boat at 

 command, he had to wade the shoal at the mouth of the Pattaig. 

 From this mountain tarn it was dark long before he returned ; 

 and as he had to repass the ford alluded to, no little anxiety 

 was expressed on his account. He came safely back, however, 

 with not only his creel, but his handkerchief and pockets 

 crammed with trout, twenty- six dozens in all, which, averaging 

 them at one-fourth of a pound each, and the average I think was 

 heavier, speaks to seventy-eight pounds. On the day of this ex- 

 traordinary take, the result both of judgment and great persever- 

 ance, I clung to the banks of the Pattaig, and such portions of 

 Loch Laggan in the vicinity of the inn as could be fished with 

 some chance of success from the margins. In the Pattaig I was 

 disappointed, as I had been led, from its position as main feeder 

 to the lake, and from its being in fairish trim, to expect sport in 

 the way of large trout, which, I thought it probable, would at 

 that season of the year have crowded into it in search of food, if 

 not for the purpose of pairing. After beating, however, this 

 river for two hours, during which, although I encreeled two or 

 three dozens of lean, shabby trout, no monster showed face, I 

 abandoned it, without gaining much by the change, for the lake 



