A DISAPPOINTMENT. 



" Nonne vides 



Regius ut placida tibi majestate per undas 

 Radit iter, liquidoque superbit gurgite Salmo. 



adversum qua spumans ingruit amnis 

 Tollit ovans sese, et multo luctamine victor 

 Exilit." 



JAMES PAHKK (Lord Wensleydale), 



Cambridge Tripos Verses, 1802. 



IT was on a sunny afternoon in September that 

 I started for a part of the river about two miles 

 below Gordon Castle. " A southerly wind and a 

 cloudy sky " are not such necessary conditions of 

 success on the Spey as elsewhere, the rapidity of 

 the stream generally ensuring sufficient disturb- 

 ance on the surface of the water, although a dark 

 day is always welcome to the fisherman. 



The weather had been dry and sultry for a long 

 time. There were but few heavy salmon in any, 

 even of the best pools, and most of these had 

 " tasted steel." The river was much lower than 

 usual at this season, and the water transparently 



