154 THE TAY IN A HIGH FLOOD. 



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 wishted 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 con- 

 struction, they were not exactly calculated 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 extent. This was exactly 

 the sort of thing to suit me ; so I proposed to my fisher- 

 man, 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. 



We were standing at the foot of the sloping lawn 



