222 MEMORIES OF A RIVER 



been caused by a water vole, whose black coat, 

 as he swims deep in the clear water, is spangled 

 with glistening air-bubbles ; a black coat in this 

 instance and not brown ; for the black race or 

 variety is here often to be seen. 



So we wend our way upwards, past a famous 

 pool where a considerable tributary joins our 

 stream ; then, leaving behind us a hospitable 

 mansion with many happy memories, we pass 

 by stream and linn, each with its story of vary- 

 ing fortunes, under the long hanging wood 

 carpeted with myriads of wild hyacinths, like a 

 sheet of azure, until the upper march is reached. 

 Here often has our gaze been cast enviously 

 upward at that forbidden stretch that seemed so 

 tempting ; not that it was one whit better than 

 our own ! 



Another day, perhaps, we wander downward 

 from the bridge, passing the great pool whose 

 head it spans ; a place where the modern dry-fly 

 expert would doubtless find congenial conditions 

 for his special craft. Here one side of the river 

 is overshadowed by old trees that in ancient 

 days no doubt formed an avenue for the stately 

 old Scottish mansion that shows through their 

 branching foliage, an idea strengthened when 

 we find a tiny stream that here enters the river 

 spanned by a little stone bridge of single arch 



