io6 WHITE TROUT. 



opposition to the views of better and more experi- 

 enced fishermen than myself, I established, to my 

 own satisfaction at least, the principle of fine 

 fishing for white trout. I had arrived at one of 

 the most beautiful and most hospitable dwellings 

 in that beautiful and hospitable country, one 

 lovely morning in August. I had been travelling 

 all night and all the preceding day, but there is 

 nothing more refreshing after & long journey than 

 a day's fishing, especially if not of a fatiguing 

 nature. Lake-fishing is always easy, at least 

 to the principal parties concerned ; though the 

 boatmen in that stormy district often have a hard 

 time of it. I have known four strong men, pull- 

 ing with all their might, occupy two hours in 

 getting to the head of a lake not two miles distant, 

 and scarcely then attain their object. Such was 

 not the case on the occasion I refer to. The sur- 

 face of the lake was smooth as a mill-pond ; the 

 mountains, which formed a natural wall a thousand 

 feet in height, against which the waters rested, 

 and which, for aught I know, sustained them to 

 an equal depth below, the red berries of the rowan, 

 and the white fleeces of the sheep which fed, in 

 some miraculous manner, along the almost per- 

 pendicular face of the rock, reflected as in a mirror. 

 Fishing was pronounced to be out of the question, 



