174 DAYS AND NIGHTS OF SALMON FISHING. 



America, and the difficulty of steering and shooting 

 down them in safety ; and the accompaniments of the 

 scenery, and the descriptions of these cataracts, have 

 always appeared to me singularly wild and picturesque. 

 They made so great an impression upon my mind that, 

 to form a more correct idea of the sort of thing, I 

 meditated a voyage down the Tay when, filled with her 

 countless tributaries, she goes raging to the ocean. 

 Besides this inducement, I had some small boats which 

 I wished to take to Perth by water, instead of land 

 carriage ; for I was changing my quarters from Meik- 

 leour on the banks of the Tay to the Pavilion on those 

 of the Tweed. These boats were built on Tweedside 

 for fly fishing in small waters, and in warm weather 

 were held for the fisherman by a man who waded in 

 the water, lest the salmon should be scared away by 

 the motion or appearance of the oars, or canting pole, 

 as it might be. Being, therefore, of a very light and 

 diminutive construction, they were not exactly cal- 

 culated to endure the buffets of large and tempestuous 

 waters : one is not apt, however, to be over nice about 

 such things, and accordingly I resolved to put them 

 to the proof. Nor was an opportunity long wanting. 

 After a night of heavy rain, the Tay, which flowed 

 through the park of Meikleour, rose to a fearful ex- 

 tent. This was exactly the sort of thing to suit me ; 

 so I proposed to my fisherman, Charles Purdie, to go 

 down the flood to Perth, a distance of about twelve 

 miles by water. We did so ; and I here insert the 

 particulars of our voyage, as they may serve to give 

 an idea of a Scottish spate. 



