AND ANGLING SONGS. 303 



spawning process is carried on. A thick post, erected on a shoal 

 which occurs not far from the centre of the Castle Loch, marks the 

 position of this accustomed gathering-place. Here, within the 

 compass of a circle not twenty yards in diameter, the fish draw 

 together in immense numbers. Rowing close up to it, we had 

 no difficulty, notwithstanding the semi-opaque state of the water, 

 in distinguishing them ; that portion at least of the shoal which 

 hung on the surface. 



Dr. Scott, our entertainer, was, as I mentioned, the tenant of 

 the fishings of the Castle Loch, and a portion of the shootings in 

 its neighbourhood, belonging, at the time of my visit, to the late 

 Lord Murray, one of the Senators of the College of Justice. 

 Although taken as subjects of sport, the fishings cannot with pro- 

 priety be held as such. The rod, no doubt, may be employed, 

 and a large- sized pannier implemented occasionally through 

 means of it ; but the amusement of catching insipid bream and 

 roach in this way is quite as insipid as the fish themselves. In 

 the setting and drawing of lines for pike and eels there is a cer- 

 tain amount of satisfaction, and it was chiefly by this mode of 

 fishing that Dr. Scott made use of his right as the lessee of the 

 loch. He also, as he informed us, took advantage of the perio- 

 dical emigrations of the last-mentioned fish, the outlet of the 

 Castle Loch running close to Vendace Cottage, to capture them 

 by means of traps. 



I may mention that, during my trip to Lochmaben, on the 

 conclusion of the netting operations, a simple and speedy method 

 of flaying a pike, preparatory to its being cooked, was communi- 

 cated to us by our host, who gave the credit of it, as an ingenious 

 process, to the late Sir Humphry Davy, with whom, in his 

 younger days, he had formed an acquaintance during a Conti- 

 nental fishing-tour. We had several subjects to choose from, the 

 best of them a well-fed lucim, of about five pounds in weight. A 

 flat board being obtained (of course, a kitchen-table or dresser 



