208 WILD SPORTS OF THE WEST. 



leaving the streams and shallows without a trial. As 

 we proceeded up the hills the scenery became wilder 

 and more interesting ; here and there the moors were 

 sprinkled with green hillocks, and the range of moun- 

 tains behind was splendidly picturesque. The pools 

 alone had beauty in my companion's eyes, and some of 

 them were indeed magnificent. One was particularly 

 romantic it was a deep natural basin, formed by a 

 sudden turning of the river, where the banks on either 

 side were nearly perpendicular, and rose to a con- 

 siderable height, and, to the water's edge, were thickly 

 covered with hollies and hardy shrubs. At the upper 

 end of the pool, a rock of immense magnitude reared 

 its naked front, and shut out every other object. Round 

 its base, the river forced its waters through a narrow 

 channel, and at the other extremity, falling over a ledge 

 of rocks, turned sharply round a hillock, and was lost 

 sight of. There were but two points from which the 

 angler could command the pool, for elsewhere the 

 banks and underwood prevented his approach : one was 

 a sandbank about the centre, to which, by a narrow 

 goat-path, the fisher could descend ; the other, a small 

 space immediately beneath the rock of green and velvet- 

 looking herbage. At this point the shepherds had 

 erected a hut for occasional shelter, and never was a 

 sweeter spot selected wherein to dream away a summer 

 night. No human dwelling was in sight deep and 

 undisturbed solitude breathed around the blue and 

 lucid pool before the cabin danced in the moonlight, 

 or glittered in the first rays of morning while the 

 rushing waters of the river produced such melancholy 

 and tranquillizing sounds, as would lull to rest any 

 bosom untortured by mortal passions. 



