METROPOLITAN FLIES. 141 



father with the salmon ; but it was with extreme diffi- 

 culty that the little fellow got up the brae, as his load, 

 which was hung over his shoulders, frequently made 

 him stagger back down the rocks which he had from 

 time to time ascended. That little boy came into my 

 service as fisherman some seasons afterwards, and has 

 lived with me now about eighteen years. He is a 

 capital fly-maker and boatman, and a most valuable 

 servant. Some of his exploits appear in these pages, 

 he being the identical Charlie Purdie so repeatedly 

 mentioned in them. 



A great deal of mystery is made on every river as to 

 the flies you should fish with. Thus when a novice ar- 

 rives at his fishing station, he sends for the oracle of the 

 river ; pulls out his book, crammed as closely as a pot 

 of pemmican, and displays before him the various 

 devices of an Eaton, an Ustonson, or a Chevalier. 

 Nothing dazzled, Donald much admires what one may 

 be, and what the other ; this he rejects as useless, that 

 he laughs to scorn. At length, after having grinned 

 extensively at those tinselled animals called kill devils, 

 he examines some twenty dozen of your best flies ; and, 

 pulling out one from the number, tells you that might 

 serve well enough if it had different wings, a different 

 body, and a yellow tail. Now all this is overdone ; 

 but I would advise you to acquiesce in the predictions 

 of the said oracle, simpl3 T to save the trouble of argu- 

 ment. One thing you may be sure of, namely, that 

 you may as well attempt to make the Tweed run back 

 to its source as to shake his opinions. 



Now, as there is no month in the year when salmon 



